Slitherine

Okay, so I play the first atatck of the game, Luftflotte 1 vs KOP. Seven times I played that same move (restarting game). Seven different results. From no hits to LF 1 to 4 hits on it (from Polish air and KOP). Effectiveness ends up ranging from 75 (starts at 78 ) down to 63.

Is there a combat chart of results? I don't mean that you can look at, but, does the game have a set number of possible results? Like rolling a die 1-6? Or is it much more random than that with more possibilities each combat?

The combat is more random than odds based wargames. Think of combat as rolling dice needing certain values to score hits.

I know you get the number of dice as your combat strength + 4. So a 10 step German fighter will roll 14 dice first against the Polish fighter and then against the KOP land unit (ground strike).

The combat formula is rather complex taking many factors into the formula (effectiveness, attack factor, defense factor, survivability etc.).
Since you score hits per die you roll it means you have better chances to get extreme results.

Because of the risk for combat to give nasty results you have to plan your attacks so you won't get your critical units receiving high losses exposed after combat. The chance of scoring a hit is a function of effectiveness so it's a good idea to bombard a target hex from the air so you deliver both shock damage (lowering the effectiveness) and combat losses before you attack the unit. This way you will receive fewer losses.

Another important thing to remember is to initiate the attack with a unit that will not end up in the front line after all combat and advance after combat is completed. It's usually the first land attack that will inflict most damage to the attacker.

Air combat is particularly nasty and unpredictable. So it's a good idea to repair your air units often so they can't be finished off by airstrikes on the airbase if you received a lot of damage.

It takes awhile to get used to the spread in combat results, but once you are familiar with it then it's not a big deal. Over time the results even out. Some players like to take risks and initiate battles when the odds show 4:4, 3:5 etc. while other players want 5:3, 6:2 or better before attacking. It's all about playing style and how likely the opponent can exploit your bad combat results and kill the unlucky unit in his turn. I can be quite aggressive when I know I have plenty of units (e. g. Russia in 1944), but e. g. in Libya I have to be very careful because one unlucky result can mean you lose a precious unit that allows your opponent to launch an offensive.

Thanks for the explanation!

Next one might be about effectiveness!

Yes, there is a numner of attacks and a hit rate for each combatant.

So say you have 14 attacks (strength 10) and a hit rate of 50% that would mean on average you score 7 point damage.
The spread is also tones down since the procedure is done twice and the result is the avareg of both results. Contrary in Commander Napoleon at War it uses only one procedure and hence the results are more varying and wild.

Example
You score 8 hits first run
You score 4 hits second run

CEAW will use (8+4) / 2 = 6 so you inflict 6 strenght point damage on enemy.