Naval War Arctic Circle - (for Greybriar) Q & A

[undercovergeek]

Just playing through the tutorial and im impressed so far, in fact more than that, im liking it very much, i have just passed tutorial number 3 (sink ship, kill planes, dont lose too many planes) and have a few questions for the enlightened gentlemen here before trawling the Paradox forums:-

1 - i lost 2 planes to out of fuel - is there no auto return to base or do i need to manage that?
2 - is there a description anywhere of the unit uses/descriptions - i had 4 F18 strike aircraft but their designation was 'electronic warfare' - so............ what do they do, and how do they do it?
3 - is ground attack possible - i wanted to take out the airbase in Scotland

thanks for any advice

[steve58]

Just playing through the tutorial and im impressed so far, in fact more than that, im liking it very much, i have just passed tutorial number 3 (sink ship, kill planes, dont lose too many planes) and have a few questions for the enlightened gentlemen here before trawling the Paradox forums:-

1 - i lost 2 planes to out of fuel - is there no auto return to base or do i need to manage that?
2 - is there a description anywhere of the unit uses/descriptions - i had 4 F18 strike aircraft but their designation was 'electronic warfare' - so............ what do they do, and how do they do it?
3 - is ground attack possible - i wanted to take out the airbase in Scotland

thanks for any advice

1 -- You can send up a tanker to refuel or you can click on the plane, click on the Movement planner...there is a RTB button in the upper right corner.  Been a while since I played, so I don't remember if there is an auto-return or a warning msg about low fuel.

2 -- not sure about this one. might want to check the forums

3 -- Ground strikes are very possible. If some of the available planes aren't already set up for a ground strike, you can change out the plane loadouts on the flight deck.  The planes will gray out until they are reloaded and ready to go...

[Herman Hum]

1 - i lost 2 planes to out of fuel - is there no auto return to base or do i need to manage that?

The planes will usually return to base when they reach Bingo fuel state.  They can sometimes run out of fuel enroute, but this is rare.  What might have happened is that Auto-Evasion was enabled and they were fired upon.  When they went to high speed to evade, they did not have sufficient fuel for the return voyage.

2 - is there a description anywhere of the unit uses/descriptions - i had 4 F18 strike aircraft but their designation was 'electronic warfare' - so............ what do they do, and how do they do it?

There is no function within the game that shows you the capabilities of your units.  The best you can do is call them up and hover the mouse over their weapons and such details.  The pop-up window information is all there is.

[Huw the Poo]

1 - i lost 2 planes to out of fuel - is there no auto return to base or do i need to manage that?

All planes have a bingo fuel setting.  When they hit it they will automatically return to base; however the calculation is a bit off, and I have seen them occasionally run out before they get home.  That usually only happens if they have to fly a long way back or if I make them fly faster.  To conserve fuel, try to keep them at military cruise or whatever it's called - that's the most efficient setting.  I can't remember whether altitude had anything to do with it...it may be something they were talking about maybe implementing but I'm not sure.

2 - is there a description anywhere of the unit uses/descriptions - i had 4 F18 strike aircraft but their designation was 'electronic warfare' - so............ what do they do, and how do they do it?

There certainly isn't anything in game, despite a clamour for it on the Paradox forum.  However you can change a plane's loadout before they take off, although it can take a lot of time before they're ready again.

3 - is ground attack possible - i wanted to take out the airbase in Scotland

Yep - see Steve's answer.

[undercovergeek]

thanks you guys - ill trust the system to look after the bingo fuel guys

'electronic warfare' led me to believe they could sit above the enemy and jam stuff - shrug, and the E3 - i kn ow what it is, or at least what its supposed to do, but how do i know if its doing its job right?

airbase destruction it is then

thanks all

[Huw the Poo]

'electronic warfare' led me to believe they could sit above the enemy and jam stuff

That's exactly what they do; check out the "special weapons" tab of each plane, you'll see an option to use jammers.  If I recall correctly.

and the E3 - i kn ow what it is, or at least what its supposed to do, but how do i know if its doing its job right?

They're great at detecting stuff.  If you're detecting units when none of your other assets ought to be able to, it must be the E3 doing its job.  You may as well always tell them to fly at maximum altitude so they get maximum radar coverage.

[undercovergeek]

yeah i figured id stick him up there and switch on active radar, and switch everybody elses off for super stealth

[meadbelly]

'electronic warfare' led me to believe they could sit above the enemy and jam stuff

That's exactly what they do; check out the "special weapons" tab of each plane, you'll see an option to use jammers.  If I recall correctly.

and the E3 - i kn ow what it is, or at least what its supposed to do, but how do i know if its doing its job right?

They're great at detecting stuff.  If you're detecting units when none of your other assets ought to be able to, it must be the E3 doing its job.  You may as well always tell them to fly at maximum altitude so they get maximum radar coverage.

All radar coverage is not equal. I've managed to park an orbiting E3 without an escort a fair distance from anything expected, only to discover  a MIG when it launches a missile -- well inside normal detection range. I've been able to accomplish the same with a couple of IL-76's. If they are high, fly in low.

[LongBlade]

All radar coverage is not equal. I've managed to park an orbiting E3 without an escort a fair distance from anything expected, only to discover  a MIG when it launches a missile -- well inside normal detection range. I've been able to accomplish the same with a couple of IL-76's. If they are high, fly in low.

+1

Generally speaking nothing should be left unescorted.

[meadbelly]

I'll often park my air escort assets at medium elevation with the radar on. This is both gamey and practical. Gamey -- I think I've figured out a tendency in the AI to send fighters against apparently-unescorted airborne radar assets. Radar on-escorts make this less likely.

Practical -- what Longblade sez. 

If I have the assets, I'll fly an E3 at high elevation and an E2C Hawkeye (ok, that doesn't look right -- the propeller-driven carrier-launched early warning radar plane thingie is what I mean) at low to medium elevation. This only only helps with air targeting and identification, but also helps with spotting ship assets.

(I surmise this is a result of the lower elevation on the not-a-E2C, but it is possible it also because of better look-down naval-focused radar capacity.)

[jomni]

F-18 configured for electornic warfare = EA-18G Growler.

[undercovergeek]

yeah...... but wassit do, and how does do it? is it best to patrol on a CAP, escort, or just be used as a well informed strike fighter?

[Nefaro]

yeah...... but wassit do, and how does do it? is it best to patrol on a CAP, escort, or just be used as a well informed strike fighter?

I don't have the game (still waiting for the ability to Save.. wtf?) but you should generally use your EW aircraft to jam in strike packages.  I dunno if the game allows for this, automatically, if EW planes are assigned to Escort strike aircraft or not.

I suppose you could also try to use 'em on enemy search aircraft, in specific cases, although these aren't always so clean-cut a choice as escorting strikes and would probably only work to delay your detection a bit.

[meadbelly]

yeah...... but wassit do, and how does do it? is it best to patrol on a CAP, escort, or just be used as a well informed strike fighter?

The EW suite jams radar, big and small. In terms of game play, you need to select the plane(s) and go to their "special actions" tab (I don't currently have the game installed to reference correct terminology.)

In terms of use, within the game, it is probably best used to accompany strike packages. It will theoretically reduce ship and land based search radar's capability in terms of resolution -- in other words, the can't see how many planes you have in a strike package as easily. I believe it will also degrade incoming anti-air missiles from getting a lock on any planes with the jamming sphere.

Theoretically, you could but them in an orbit over any target (land or sea) and help degrade any potential missile attacks, but I haven't tried that.

I don't find them particularly effective in the game, but I'm not sure if that's my issue or the game's.

[Huw the Poo]

Theoretically, you could but them in an orbit over any target (land or sea) and help degrade any potential missile attacks, but I haven't tried that.

This definitely works.  There's an early mission in which, depending on the difficulty level you've set (which influences the organisation of the enemy's assets) it's almost essential to orbit and jam some ships to prevent them firing long range surface-to-surface missiles.