New to planes - help me!

[Robson Duarte]

Hello forum. I'm at IA and have 2 Air Space (researching Aviation up to 3 right now), and wanted to get some tips on how to properly use my air units.

I'm currently rolling with a bomber, but hitting only buildings that are out of the harm's way, like stuff placed at the bases' edges, or something near a tower that I just took down. In wars, I went as far as sabotaging towers in order to take them down with the bomber, so I could go for my original target on the next bomber run. This has kinda worked for me so far, but I find it hard to use the bomber against bases that have a good tower + AD + redoubt disposition. Also there are a few times when I miscalculate the corner it'll come from, which usually means the end of it... not funny.

And then there are jets, which seems to be the most used end-game air unit. I tried using 2 of them, and was pretty happy with their performance against forest defenders and spawned tanks when fighting a bit farther away from the "inner base". However, since they fly through a much wider area and also during more time than bombers, I tend to lose them when the opposing aerial defenses are not too spread out.

With all of that being said, I'd be thankful if you could send me any tips on how to use my planes... the things going over my head now are:

1) How are jets like towards end-game? Do they become tanky enough not to get destroyed after the 1st strafe? Or they don't, but having 5 or 6 of them means that they can do some work before I lose my entire fleet?
2) What's the overall strategy to keep jets safe? Avoiding using them near aerial defenses at all costs? Having the ground troops prioritizing the destruction of aerial defenses? Sending one or two jets to slow the air defenses near my original target, and then the rest to take it down?
3) If I used a jet + bomber strategy, I was thinking about sending the jet ahead to tank some damage and slow the aerial defense, then bomb it to create some air space... would it work? Or the tower would shoot both aircrafts and not only the jet?
4) How heavy should I change my ground army composition based on my air units? Should I drop all machine gunners and a few riflemen if I'm using jets, or a few heavy infantry and howitzers if I'm running the bomber?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pckrn]

1. they survive better later with both improved hp and the increased numbers, but you still need to pick your targets carefully. actually, even in industrial you’ll feel they become much more useful once you can use 3 airspace and upgrade at least until they change colors

2. the tactics you mentioned are all useful. i would also like to add that it helps a lot to have an idea of how many strafes are needed to destroy which building. and a tip on where the planes come from: draw an imaginary line down from alliance gate and across from the embassy. the point where the two lines cross is the center of the map for aircraft

btw towers get slowed by fighters but airdefenses dont

3. yes it works. i used this strat even before the bomber was buffed

4. i think the whole composition should be considered together, rather than one depending on the other.

very smart questions for someone who’s only just started using air units.

you can probably make use of a more advanced tip:

where you click to launch your aircraft matters. even if to attack the same target, where you clicked to give that order can change how the plane approaches the target, and what it targets next after that first target is destroyed.

 

[yemen]

If your army is coming in from one side (say the dock) and has passed the halfway point, you often want your fighters to come in from the cleared side to take less damage. But by default they come from the nearest side to the spot you targetted. So if you target on the ground nearer to the side you want to deploy from, they will come from that side, and pick the closest target to where you tapped. Gives you some control to not have them overflying things you don't want on the approach at least. Harder to target a specific unit or building though.

Your general ideas are good. I will try for areas where the air defenses aren't too dense, and maybe send one to suppress the closest tower while the other hits a primary target. In industrial, their main purpose is just to kill defending tanks. Later, with 4 or 5 and more HP, you can use them in pairs to clear air defenses and towers, and then go back to pick other targets off once you have a path.

I have always just used fighters. Early on it doesn't make much difference, but to keep both up to level as you age up is a tremendous investment of time and oil. You can get by without bombers, but not without fighters, so I have focused on the fighters first. If you play for long enough that you have oil and armory time to spare, come back for the bomber upgrades then.

 

[Mixie]

However planes often circle like a disoriented man

 

[Attila]

where you click to launch your aircraft matters. even if to attack the same target, where you clicked to give that order can change how the plane approaches the target, and what it targets next after that first target is destroyed.

Can you elaborate on that thanks?

 

[pckrn]

planes fly in from the edge nearest to where you tap, and the next target is one nearest to where you tap

 

[Robson Duarte]

pckrn and yemen, thanks for your comments. Especially the one about the "map center" based on the alliance gate and embassy... I used to struggle a bit to calculate the starting point from my aerial attacks because of the uncleared forests!

I just started experimenting with the 3rd air slot and bomber + fighter is working decently for me so far... can't say that I don't miss the 2nd and even the 3rd fighters, but replacing all my riflemen by heavy machine gunners and getting a few donated bazookas are helping me taking down tanks.

I'll try the 3 fighter formation again once I push Aviation to lv 5 and finish all the 4 upgrades I still have to do in IA. As of now they just don't have enough HP to be reliable enough - my bomber has even less hit points, but with a way shorter and more predictable pathing + careful deployment, I'm doing a better job on keeping it from getting destroyed after the 1st on 2nd deployment -.-

 

[AbbyVille]

Fighter planes requires leaning curve. It can be steep at times. Some base set closer to one corner and the plane will come from the nearest edge. This process takes a while to embedded into your attacking system. Even when you think you got it down you still get thrown curveball like sending out 3 plane to the same target 2 would come out from one side while another one come out from another side usually the dangerous side and get shot down.

If if you have only 3 air space you’d be better off running with just fighter plane and leave the bomber til you have 4 air space, but by then 4 fighters can do some serious damage and clear path for the rest of your troops.

 

[Saruman the White]

When you advance have some tests with Transports. I like them a lot. They are not easy to kill even if they have been hit by a SAM trap, they could make several paratroopers deployments almost everywhere on the map, while paratroopers are very good warriors vs everything but the Town Center.

I agree that 4-5 Fighters could be deadly, especially when accompanying Heavy Cavalry or Heavy Tanks. This is another strategy that works well for me. The worst enemy for your Fighters are SAM traps and Towers