Air strikes vs. targets spotted by aircraft

[ComradeP]

Currently, tactical bombers sent in to attack a target spotted by air recon won't attack an enemy unit if it's not spotted at the beginning of the strike turn, unless the target unit is spotted by air recon during the strike turn as well.

This might be working as intended, but it does impose significant limits on the use of tactical air support.

At this scale, it's somewhat problematic. A unit called in to attack a formation of T-34's moving in a certain direction or defending a certain position in the open would normally still be able to find it at this scale. The unit will, at most, be 2 kilometres away from the initial strike point, which isn't much considering the spotting range of pilots in an aircraft.

[Dog Soldier]

At this scale, it's somewhat problematic. A unit called in to attack a formation of T-34's moving in a certain direction or defending a certain position in the open would normally still be able to find it at this scale. The unit will, at most, be 2 kilometres away from the initial strike point, which isn't much considering the spotting range of pilots in an aircraft.

FWIW, interdiction strikes are the mechanism which have a frequency set by the pdt already simulate air attacks on troops moving from location to location as a formation.

I think, and this my read of the way the system works, is at Kursk at least, there was significant fighter aircraft of both sides over the battlefield much of each day. In my readings about the battle many ground attack strikes were turned back for many different reasons, target identification being only one of them.

Because we can pinpoint locations with great accuracy as game players does not translate over to the same being true for the air units involved which are being simulated.

At least that is MHO of how to read the default optional rules set and the way the game handles air strikes on ground targets reported by air recon only with no ground force confirmation.

Dog Soldier

[ComradeP]

But we already have an interception percentage, an air availability percentage related to visiblity and a general availability percentage to cover what you mention.

There's also no chance involved in the actual air strikes, they will never strike when a target is no longer spotted. There's no chance they'll find a new one unless that target is spotted. The rule that they'll target units in an adjacent hex also only applies to spotted targets.

What this means is that mobile units in particular are difficult to impossible to target, whilst the battle included numerous examples (also mentioned in the design notes) of attacks by aircraft breaking up tank attacks. You can't reliably replicate that in the game, due to the delay mechanic.

The only way to do this in the game without requiring units to be spotted twice by air recon is predicting the movement path of enemy units correctly, scheduling the air strike for the hex you believe they'll end up in or adjacent to, and being able to spot the unit on your turn.