So... is anti-air any good?

[Earmuffs]

Just asking because I haven't seen anything in depth about it on streams (or missed something).
And Daniel hasn't used them in his divisions (that I've seen). And there's no stats for them on the wiki.

Are they worth it? Is the damage bombers do during combat worth using an anti-air instead of an artillery or anti-tank? Even if the enemy has complete air superiority. I mean you have to research them and produce them, it seems very expensive time wise.

Would it be worth having divisions of just anti-air? Like 6 anti-air tanks or something sitting in a capitol or other valuable province. But than isn't that what state anti-air is for?

I dunno, maybe I'm missing some blindingly obvious thing about them.

 

[Vidkjaer]

I only think divisions in combat will contribute to the combat of enemy close air support.. which is disappointing to me. so i think you cannot build AA divisions

 

[kviiri]

I only think divisions in combat will contribute to the combat of enemy close air support.. which is disappointing to me. so i think you cannot build AA divisions

Well you can build a division with nothing but AA, it's probably not going to be very effective against non-planes though.

State AA might be very good if you want a conservative approach to air combat. It both downs enemy planes and reduces damage suffered. Probably a good investment if you're struggling to shield your plants.

 

[t6.28]

It also looks like they have quite good hard attack and piercing. Not as good as anti tank or tank destroyers , but they are cheaper, so they might be put to use for that.

Here are their stats on the wiki http://www.hoi4wiki.com/Land_units_by_unit#Anti-Air

 

[Dr. Frog]

It would be nice if mobile AA did a little bit of state AA (though not nearly as much as actual state AA), not just when being attacked; I fear mobile AA will be underpowered.

 

[Voffvoffhunden]

I find bringing in some AA support to be generally worthwhile, but that depends on your situation, of course.

In general I think Daniel's lack of AA use has been mainly down to playing with limited resources, and therefore focusing his production on things that will have more immediate impact on action in the stream.

As a side note it's worth mentioning that artillery, anti-tank and anti-air all can be used as either support units or as a unit in the division proper. And you can develop tank variants with these specialisations to drive along as part of your panzer hordes, of course.

 

[sgt.stickybomb]

No, anti air is not good at all, and this has been a running theme in the Hearts of Iron series. The devs should at least give AA some piercing/ hard attack capability to simulate how they were sometimes used as anti tank weapons like for example the mighty flak eighty eight. mobile AA like M15 half track should also have soft attack and some piercing and hard attack.

 

[jalapen0]

No, anti air is not good at all, and this has been a running theme in the Hearts of Iron series. The devs should at least give AA some piercing/ hard attack capability to simulate how they were sometimes used as anti tank weapons like for example the mighty flak eighty eight. mobile AA like M15 half track should also have soft attack and some piercing and hard attack.

I believe they did just that this go around.

 

[Denkt]

In HOI4 anti air fire reduce the damage aircraft do against land and naval units, maybe it reduce the effects of enemy air superiority.

Anti air also have pretty decent hard attack and piercing.

 

[Bridger15]

AFIAK, State based AA instalations only protect your infrastructure and factories. They do not assist in ground combat.

 

[Gort11]

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but the fact that we've never seen a player build an AA unit in the hours of footage they've released so far is kinda pointing to AA being a waste.

 

[Denkt]

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but the fact that we've never seen a player build an AA unit in the hours of footage they've released so far is kinda pointing to AA being a waste.

And how many players have we seen playing the game

 

[ArcandSpark]

It would be nice to see both division AA and state AA useful so that when you lose air superiority you are not totally screwed. I'm not saying that it should stop attacks but it should be a deterrent.

 

[Denkt]

It would be nice to see both division AA and state AA useful so that when you lose air superiority you are not totally screwed. I'm not saying that it should stop attacks but it should be a deterrent.

It is actually very good for countries who have to little resources as anti air guns are much cheaper then aircrafts and probably much harder to destroy from the air then fighters. It is also a decent anti tank gun with about half the hard attack of the standard anti tank gun which again is very good for a resource poor nation.

 

[Mokael]

panzer hordes

That made my heart smile

 

[Athan.]

As a side note it's worth mentioning that artillery, anti-tank and anti-air all can be used as either support units or as a unit in the division proper.

Noob question -- what would the value of this be? Is it to say that you could benefit from setting up a Division template filled with anti-air as combat units rather than a support unit, perhaps sitting behind your defensive line shooting at the enemy planes over your region?

 

[BigBobBear]

Noob question -- what would the value of this be? Is it to say that you could benefit from setting up a Division template filled with anti-air as combat units rather than a support unit, perhaps sitting behind your defensive line shooting at the enemy planes over your region?

when the unit is a support unit it dosnt take up any space on the main division template, since you each line can only have that kind of unit, so a tank line can only have tanks

the support unit gives less of a bonus to the division but it takes up no space, so its a trade off for what you want, he explained it in one of the www

 

[Daleran]

I think it can be useful this time around in certain situation. It has enough piercing and hard attack to take out light tanks and its cheaper than AT guns. (225 for AA vs 360 for AT in 1940). This might be preferable for smaller countries that just do not have the resources to completely field an air force and anti tanks guns to compete with the majors. Instead of developing an air force, just throw a little AA in all you units to somewhat mitigate the effect's of the enemy air force and it will give all your units the ability to pierce light tanks. Heck, the 1943 AA can even pierce 1942 medium tanks and 1940 Heavy Tanks. If your enemy is still using old equipment the AA can actually do something against them.

 

[Mokael]

Noob question -- what would the value of this be? Is it to say that you could benefit from setting up a Division template filled with anti-air as combat units rather than a support unit, perhaps sitting behind your defensive line shooting at the enemy planes over your region?

I think if you have an artillery as a battalion rather than a company it provides more firepower, but uses more supplies. So I'm guessing AA battalion will provide better defense against bombers than a company.

 

[Denkt]

Support guns (I mean all of them) have a bit less attack and piercing and a bit worse stats overall but do not effect the division in any negative way like paratroopers can still paradroop and so on, just pure gain.

Support guns are suited for smal divisions because the gain from the guns are big for a smal division and the gain from other support companies who compete with the support spots are low for smal divisions.

For a large division you are probably better off using the support slots for the support companies and use line guns as they are known as (those that take up combat slots).

You can only use one of each support gun but you can use as many line guns as you can fit which again is more useful for large divisions.