Ok, as my poor old spotter planes always get clobbered on their first run I wonder if anyone out there who has success with them can lend some tips?
I think my problem is that I always bring them in over enemy lines. Now that I have been thinking on it I believe the best course of action would be to bring them in from your side of the map, have them circle just over your forward area, and exit your side again.
Is this the best way, or does someone know another method?
I always bring them in over my side,and have them orbit just on the enemy side of the line. It works most of the time,unless the enemy has deployed Flak close to the front.
I then exit from my side of the map.
One more tip - let it circle over YOUR side of the map first and see if it brings any long range AA fire. If it doesnt, move bit closer to enemy next time. If it does, you should have at least rough idea where AA assets are. Smoke them (and bombard if you have anough arty) and then move it closer. And so on, so on.
I had mine circle directly over an AAA nest. How'd that go? Not too good! lol
I don't know if it still workd in this version of WW2, but I used to redline my Jabo's bombbs or rockets and send thm in along the map edge. That would draw AA fire, yet give the Jabos a chance to survive. The key is spotting and then supressing the flak. Czrrpak's nibbiling technique also works.
IMHO the real problem is that spotters go in one at a time ( have their own phase of the turn) so you really can't 'swamp' the AD. So you have to figure out some way to suppress the flak before having your spotter go deep. In the tourny. I plan on saving my spotter until the last 1/2 to 1/3 of the game and use it to hunt ammo dumps. By turn 15 or so I should have a pretty good idea of where the Flak is and be able to supress, if not kill it. We will see.
Thanks for the tips guys. Will try next time.