[Shan]

I believe that - considering all the arguments brought up - planes should be left as they are. AA guns may need improvement but this would have to include all autocannons so better leave them alone too.

Planes can be painful if they're turned against you. It depends a great deal, however, from which direction you're being attacked. If it's a frontal attack a tank will only be immobilized, which IMHO is reasonable if a bomb explodes close by, while even cannon shells can be lethal if they hit your rear. Also, the AI always seems to find great targets and blow up my loaded trucks, ammo dumps, etc... just my bad luck.

On the other hand - if I heavily bet on air and buy a squadron, I am almost always disappointed- if I use them carefully I get no effect and if I let them overfly the rear zone even the AI will get some of them down with massive AA... so I'd only buy a few and use them carefully, as well as take advantage of the spotter effect.

And yes, flak seems to be quite ineffective. First thing, rookies dont hit anything - but if you've ever tried to operate a manually aimed AA gun and tried to track an aircraft coming in low + fast then you'll understand... Only after gaining veteran status during long campaigns they become a little more useful and might even hit+disable something - but hardly ever shoot down. (And veterans dont build up quickly either for towed flak units - how do you get them making kills without getting them killed? Expose them to direct or indirect fire and they're gone).

Its the mass that counts. Playing the Soviets, for instance, I dont buy 37mm AA any more, I go for cheaper 3xDshK AAMGs to cover the whole area with them. If a unit fires, it has 3 shots... you can do the maths. Damage is less but the 37mm also doesnt shoot down a lot with 1 hit - I'm satisfied if the damn planes dont gome again anyways.

While in WinSPMBT, 2-4 radar-controlled guns 'deny' the whole airspace to helos + are a serious threat to planes, manually aimed guns are a different matter. You will need several batteries to cover that same map and still get a lower hit chance. I experimented a lot and have never been able to completely 'deny' a certain map area to enemy plases, which is quite easy to do in MBT.
Also, they're really relatively ineffective against infantry in the open (even if infantry is moving)- might score some damage once in a while but all said, not much better that a MMG or HMG squad. I tend to use SP flak to soften up the hordes of infantry but it's a risky job - you have to keep out of range and the effect is small... but as I said, this is true for all autocannons so changin that is kinda impossible.