Airfields

[Easy1]

We might wanna abstract airfields to certain extent. Why? Because almost every area in industrialised countries that equals a province in HOI3 had an aifield.

Unable to find comprehensive maps that illustrate this, although these two should give an impression of the density.

Note that in first map, only the operational ones are shown, and in the latter map only US airfields are shown

 

[Cpack]

I also thought often about airfields. The map you show include definately small gras field airfields which can handle 1 or 2 squardons, which mean about 10-30 planes.
So this is a little bit under the scope of the game.

But I'm also the opinion, that you should have more airfields in HOI IV, including some field airfields for only 1 fighter squad, quick to build which can't be upgraded, or if, then much more costly.
For me this means the first level should go way faster then the other levels...(If I speak in HOI3 implementation)

But we don't know how air war will be designed in HOI IV, so we have to wait how it is handled.

 

[Abadon777]

Not all airfields on that map are military airfields. Even thought commercial airfields can refuel military planes they cannot repair or rearm the planes that would land there.

 

[keynes2.0]

Not all airfields on that map are military airfields. Even thought commercial airfields can refuel military planes they cannot repair or rearm the planes that would land there.

The tiny commercial airport in my hometown did exactly those things. The town numbered around 5k people if that when the war started.

Or just look at what the seabees did in the pacific. They would have planes flying within months of the first american foot touching ground. Major bomber commands were operating out of bases that weren't even on paper 6 months before.

 

[juv95hrn]

This is what I don't like with airfields in HOI3. You rebase fx 30 Nav bombers to a lvl 1 airfield. They arrive with half org. You send them out to deal massive damage in a naval battle within hours and decide it in your favour. You then redistribute them to air fields to rest.

I don't like that you can death star mass so many units on low level air fields. I would like to see a hard cap. But then your AI allies with zero oil and fuel in their depots will overstack them.

Other than these problems I think HOI3 airfields worked ok. Maybe a hard time delay after rebase would be needed along with a hard cap, say x2 the air base level of non-ai air units. And then I suppose light, medium and heavy air units should stack differently.

 

[Bullfrog]

I always imagined large airbases in HOI were actually representing many smaller ones, but having an airfield in every province would be rather useless considering the way air units are organized and how they operate.

If air units were regional or area based as far as basing and combat, rather than provincial, their actual presence and utility would be better simulated.

 

[debozewolf]

This is what I don't like with airfields in HOI3. You rebase fx 30 Nav bombers to a lvl 1 airfield. They arrive with half org. You send them out to deal massive damage in a naval battle within hours and decide it in your favour. You then redistribute them to air fields to rest.

I don't like that you can death star mass so many units on low level air fields. I would like to see a hard cap. But then your AI allies with zero oil and fuel in their depots will overstack them.

Other than these problems I think HOI3 airfields worked ok. Maybe a hard time delay after rebase would be needed along with a hard cap, say x2 the air base level of non-ai air units. And then I suppose light, medium and heavy air units should stack differently.

30 Nav bombers would have exactly ZERO effect on the battle because of stacking penalties. Ten or more units is 100% stacking penalty. Are you sure you're not talking about HOI2?

 

[Cpack]

30 Nav bombers would have exactly ZERO effect on the battle because of stacking penalties. Ten or more units is 100% stacking penalty. Are you sure you're not talking about HOI2?

Maybe there all on one airfield but attacking in stacks of 3 in different provinces...

 

[Evil4Zerggin]

30 Nav bombers would have exactly ZERO effect on the battle because of stacking penalties. Ten or more units is 100% stacking penalty. Are you sure you're not talking about HOI2?

I think they ended up capping the stacking penalty at -80%.

 

[Jonas]

I don't like that you can death star mass so many units on low level air fields. I would like to see a hard cap. But then your AI allies with zero oil and fuel in their depots will overstack them. Other than these problems I think HOI3 airfields worked ok.

Allied air units crowding my airbases was a very big problem in HOI3, making CAS- and TAC- bombing at the front very hard with 15-30 units immediately filling up any newly conquered airfield, leaving only the rear ones for me. While those allied units did preform reasonably in the intercept role, they never used their bombers because they did not have ground troops fighting in the region which could trigger the bombing missions. Maybe there could be a diplomatic switch to allow or disallow foreign air units on airfields in provinces under human control.

 

[Murmeldjuret]

It is very easy to build an airbase in flat areas or on slightly uneven ground. Clearing forest/jungle to build a more sheltered one takes much longer, but no Industrial capacity only a month or so of an engineer team. I would make more sense if engineer teams could build them, and then IC would be used to build and push supplies to them.

 

[Fawr]

I'd like to see stacking limits done based on the airfields the planes took off from, rather than the province where the battle is taking place in.

 

[Cpack]

I'd like to see stacking limits done based on the airfields the planes took off from, rather than the province where the battle is taking place in.

Maybe not a strict stacking limit, but similar to the way divisions are handled with combat_width.

For example lvl 2 airfield. You can launch 2 air divisions to attack, some other are in reserve and can only start to combat if the others are annihilated or landed due to low org level.

 

[Bluestreak2k5]

I think some of you are misunderstanding some of the ways we used airfields, especially in the pacific. Yes it is true we could have airfields up in a matter of months, but we also had 24 hour air cover.

If the airfield had a capacity of 30 super flying fortresses, 24 of those 30 could take off and do their bombing mission at night on 1 target, and a second group of 24 could be arriving back from a different target. Counting the losses that would be sustained (6 max) they would still probably be able to field a full 2 groups of 24 bombers, operating 48 planes total out of a base that can hold 30.

You could do the same thing in France as Germany, an airfield could hold 48 fighters, but 2 groups of 24 flying 12 hour flights... thus ensuring that the airbase is never over capacity.

We also had "refueling airfields" in the pacific, where planes would just land and change crews, refuel and take off again, with essentially very little repair ability. These bases could realistically handle many times its maximum capacity in 1 day.


Given all this, I hope they abstract airfield and a lot fo air operations out to a "regional" level the way that "Industries" will be. That way you could simply build airfields in the "region".

 

[keynes2.0]

If the airfield had a capacity of 30 super flying fortresses, 24 of those 30 could take off and do their bombing mission at night on 1 target, and a second group of 24 could be arriving back from a different target. Counting the losses that would be sustained (6 max) they would still probably be able to field a full 2 groups of 24 bombers, operating 48 planes total out of a base that can hold 30.

Until it rained... or the planes needed maintenance.

 

[Evil4Zerggin]

Just made some maps for HoI3. Here's the air base map for comparison: http://www.hoi3wiki.com/File:Air_base_map.png

 

[Easy1]

It is very easy to build an airbase in flat areas or on slightly uneven ground. Clearing forest/jungle to build a more sheltered one takes much longer, but no Industrial capacity only a month or so of an engineer team. I would make more sense if engineer teams could build them, and then IC would be used to build and push supplies to them.

Building an airfield t the time was very heap indeed, that's why you had them everywhere. Having them built by engineers rather than industry, or at lest to certain level by engineers, is a rather good idea.