Slitherine

I just finished the last scenario in the 43 East DLC and wanted to share the numbers that I found for the Russian Air Force.

Prior to the 43 East DLC (so DLC 39, 40, 41, and 42) I shot down a total of 252 airplanes. In the 43 East DLC I shot down an additional 172 airplanes. So make sure you bring your fighters with you for this one

brettz123 wrote:I just finished the last scenario in the 43 East DLC and wanted to share the numbers that I found for the Russian Air Force.

Prior to the 43 East DLC (so DLC 39, 40, 41, and 42) I shot down a total of 252 airplanes. In the 43 East DLC I shot down an additional 172 airplanes. So make sure you bring your fighters with you for this one

One other tip: Unless you are swimming in prestige, it is not advisable to go aggressively try to take air superiority with your fighters. You will incur fewer losses if you hold your fighters back and let the AI come to you. For many scenarios you are usually provided with several aux FlaK units, and use those to hurt the AI planes first before attacking with your fighters.

deducter wrote:

brettz123 wrote:I just finished the last scenario in the 43 East DLC and wanted to share the numbers that I found for the Russian Air Force.

Prior to the 43 East DLC (so DLC 39, 40, 41, and 42) I shot down a total of 252 airplanes. In the 43 East DLC I shot down an additional 172 airplanes. So make sure you bring your fighters with you for this one

One other tip: Unless you are swimming in prestige, it is not advisable to go aggressively try to take air superiority with your fighters. You will incur fewer losses if you hold your fighters back and let the AI come to you. For many scenarios you are usually provided with several aux FlaK units, and use those to hurt the AI planes first before attacking with your fighters.

To further what deducter just stated the mobile AA units the Russians field will also cause a lot of damage to your air units if they range to far ahead of your advance so be careful.

Some good tips, I'll watch out for the red air force when i start the 43 campaign

I've played through DLC 43 a few times already with only three FW-190's and four ME410's, and I never lost an air unit. I play FM level and I still had no problem sweeping the Russians out of the sky (with the exception of Prohkarovka (which is a free for all). I personally think a more timid style of play in using German air units advocated by some players here is unnecessary. In fact, allowing Russian fighters to roam around the map strafing German ground units (and sometimes knocking off a couple of strength points from the ground units with each attack) is more costly than aggressively going after the Russian air force. Don't be afraid to pin your ears back and go after the Ruskies!

Zhivago wrote:I've played through DLC 43 a few times already with only three FW-190's and four ME410's, and I never lost an air unit. I play FM level and I still had no problem sweeping the Russians out of the sky (with the exception of Prohkarovka (which is a free for all). I personally think a more timid style of play in using German air units advocated by some players here is unnecessary. In fact, allowing Russian fighters to roam around the map strafing German ground units (and sometimes knocking off a couple of strength points from the ground units with each attack) is more costly than aggressively going after the Russian air force. Don't be afraid to pin your ears back and go after the Ruskies!

I use 7 FW-190s and 2 ME-410s. I don't recommend letting them strafe your units but you need to be careful when you are strafing their units. The mobility of the self-propelled AA in the 43 campaign makes you much more likely for your airplanes to take damage in situations they would not have in previous DLCs. I find the AIs use of their self-propelled AA pretty good actually.

It really depends on your prestige levels. If you can afford to elite reinforce even in battle, I say go aggressive. But if you can't even afford to elite reinforce, much less overstrength, during the deployment phase, it may not be worth it to go aggressively.

brettz123 wrote:

Zhivago wrote:I've played through DLC 43 a few times already with only three FW-190's and four ME410's, and I never lost an air unit. I play FM level and I still had no problem sweeping the Russians out of the sky (with the exception of Prohkarovka (which is a free for all). I personally think a more timid style of play in using German air units advocated by some players here is unnecessary. In fact, allowing Russian fighters to roam around the map strafing German ground units (and sometimes knocking off a couple of strength points from the ground units with each attack) is more costly than aggressively going after the Russian air force. Don't be afraid to pin your ears back and go after the Ruskies!

I use 7 FW-190s and 2 ME-410s. I don't recommend letting them strafe your units but you need to be careful when you are strafing their units. The mobility of the self-propelled AA in the 43 campaign makes you much more likely for your airplanes to take damage in situations they would not have in previous DLCs. I find the AIs use of their self-propelled AA pretty good actually.

In the future, you might want to consider going with a maximum of 4 FW-190's and four or five ME-410's. Russian AA is fairly good (especially the SPAAG unit), but I find that if they manage to score a hit on one of my planes (which seems to be about a 50-50 chance) they might knock one or two strength points off at most. An outstanding, rare Russian AA hit might knock four off. A 14 or 13 strength FW-190 being knocked down a strength point or two is not going to do much to diminish the FW-190's combat capability.

Zhivago wrote:

brettz123 wrote:

Zhivago wrote:I've played through DLC 43 a few times already with only three FW-190's and four ME410's, and I never lost an air unit. I play FM level and I still had no problem sweeping the Russians out of the sky (with the exception of Prohkarovka (which is a free for all). I personally think a more timid style of play in using German air units advocated by some players here is unnecessary. In fact, allowing Russian fighters to roam around the map strafing German ground units (and sometimes knocking off a couple of strength points from the ground units with each attack) is more costly than aggressively going after the Russian air force. Don't be afraid to pin your ears back and go after the Ruskies!

I use 7 FW-190s and 2 ME-410s. I don't recommend letting them strafe your units but you need to be careful when you are strafing their units. The mobility of the self-propelled AA in the 43 campaign makes you much more likely for your airplanes to take damage in situations they would not have in previous DLCs. I find the AIs use of their self-propelled AA pretty good actually.

In the future, you might want to consider going with a maximum of 4 FW-190's and four or five ME-410's. Russian AA is fairly good (especially the SPAAG unit), but I find that if they manage to score a hit on one of my planes (which seems to be about a 50-50 chance) they might knock one or two strength points off at most. An outstanding, rare Russian AA hit might knock four off. A 14 or 13 strength FW-190 being knocked down a strength point or two is not going to do much to diminish the FW-190's combat capability.

I am trying to get my air force prepped for what I think will be a pretty rough time in 44 and 45. I also have 5 JU-87Gs which I might switch over to ME-410s or a FW sometime during 44. I would say I have only run into 3 or 4 planes that ever gave my FW-190s any problem (I believe they were all Yak-9s though one may have been something else with a lot of experience). I really like having air superiority as I find that even allowing one or two airplanes to strafe your tanks really starts to drain your prestige when you have to replace strength on tigers and panthers.