is aircraft worth it?

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Joe

Hi all,

A bit late on the discussion, but I've just recently dug back into SP-MBT recently in resolving battles generated by GDW's The Third World War.

Anyways, I completely agree that aircraft in the game are generally not too terrible effective. I also agree with the reasons presented - namely that actual 'close support' really ISNT that effective within the time your average battle models.

Would it be possible to 'officially' reduce the point cost of the aircraft to model their in-game effectiveness (or lack there of ). Are the points flexible to that sort of 'fudge factor'? I wouldnt want to see them super cheap or anything, but if almost everyone (including the coders) agrees that they arent that effective, it would seem logical to have the points match the perceived effectiveness.

Has this been proposed before or is there some other reason for not wanting to do this?

Anyways, thanks again for all the hard work. Regardless of all the other tactical games that come out, we always come back to SP-WW2 and SP-MBT. The modeling is simply superior to so many other games which boast more bells and whistles.

Well, the points calculator already reduces the points cost of planes well below what their "book" values would be compared to an equivalent MBT or helicopter. And level bombers are even cheaper, but they are meant as one-pass scenario design tools.

The expensive stuff with planes (and flak as the counterpart + AAA radars for them), and the thing they really require to be survivable on the modern battlefield are EW and stand-off missiles.

When examining the available planes or attack helos, don't look at the weapons load that much - first thing to look at is which ones have the highest EW, and then if they have stand-off weaponry. Then examine the enemy equipment for the date, and see if you have a decent chance against the enemy SAM and radar AAA (your EW is at least equal or preferably much better).

Trying to fly say some old mig-19 or Hunter with perhaps 1 or 2 EW points over an enemy with access to EW 6 or so AA is simply giving him a turkey shoot.

But since your arty is in range in SP battles, it is still generally speaking more cost effective than fixed-wing air support. Arty can only be countered with counter-battery fires.

Andy