Is it just my bad luck, or do aircraft get shot down a bit too easily in SPWW2?
I find myself real hesitant to call in the flyboys only to have them crash and burn on an already chaotic battlefield. Then I have to deal with the airforce and all their enquires and red tape etc. and they want statements from all the eye witnesses, and to visit the crash site...(like they suspect friendly fire or something) It's just not worth it...
Surely low flying WW2 aircraft weren't this vulberable to AAA?
That depends. Flask shot down almost 70% of the allied aircraft lost in WW2. That number is easy to argue, since afte the fall of '44, the germans were so short on pilots and feul that there wasn't much besides flak shooting at allied aircraft. I lost an Uncle straffing a german fighter base, which was considered the most dangerous mission in Europe. Most of the Allied aces that finished the war in POW camps were shot down by flak. So, yes, the light flak was very dangerous to those who had to go down and fight in it.
There are things you can do to cut your loses. Ask your mentor for a lesson on Supressing Enemy Air Defenses (hereafter SEAD).
Might also be that in PBEM games especially people tend to get more and more powerful flak than historically accurate?
Narwan
In two of my current games (winWW2) enemy air flies back and for without much of a problem. First game I have experienced german flak, second is soviet AA (didnt manage to give a shot even once in 3 turns)
I have a problem with some of Vesku's Me 109s buzzing around strafing my artillery..., last ten or so turns now - not a single hit so far..., maybe if I feed my Soviet gunners some more vodka they will start putting some lead in the air...:mad:
Flak stories - I love it!..
I had a recent game against Beppe42 where I lost decisively.. it was India/Pakistan in the early 80's (?)..
anyway- I played India and we both had a base experience of 65.. nearly all of my armor was KIA'd by his rocket armed F104's.. I had a good number of AA guns around.. and only 1 ZSU-23 SPAA mount..
the ONLY thing that took a shot at his airdales during the entire game was the lonely SPAA.. all of my other guns remained silent.. even when there was good LOS, and the aircraft were in range, ...
Anyway - his ability to kill my stuff with impunity was a real game breaker - along with his radar directed AA, good tactics, lousy mistakes on my part..
I have a WW2 game running with Stonefire set in 1938 - Spain.. again we are both seeing that our AA guns rarely shooting at aircraft unless the aircraft passes within about 300 meters of the gun.. so my Breda's were able to severely work over his center of attack early in the game, and killed alot of stuff in the process
The issue is still in doubt..
Seems that troops with an experience level of around 60 are more afraid of thier own AA guns that the aircraft they should be shooting at..
-Greybeard
One of czerpak's Il-2s just came in bombing my innocent troops, then proceeding right across a concentration of Flak guns..., made it through without damage...
...German Flak officer raging, banging helmet against the ground...
Greybeard and I also has game where his planes seemed to blow up everything while my flak guys ate strudel and drank coffee and pointed at the explosions. Meanwhile his flak took out my airforce. And the Luftwaffe was superior! Ha! :)
Yeh - don't forget about COIN aircraft that seem to really enjoy working over thier own troops.. and scattering all over the map..
:P
-Greybeard