AA UNITS

[cosy657]

Why can all aa units have switchable modes as when in ground role they can be used in breaking up infantry attacks . the germans and soviets expect all guns to defend and attack with all weapons available

[Rood]

Agree and therefore I always made changes to the equipment.pzeqp to implement this.

I did lower their attack and defense values when in ground mode though and of course their air attack (defense) became passive.

[captainjack]

Switchable AA can be quite powerful and the suggestion of caution with attack values is sensible. It is historically valid for several armies. The germans definitely used their light AA for direct fire, and I believe the Italian Breda was good for this. It probably shouldn't be allowed for all weapons or all armies. For example, the British army did sometimes use 3.7" as AT but only in a real emergency because of a combination of shortage of heavy AA, very high profile and difficulty getting the depression low enough to hit tanks. And because the 25 pounder could do a decent job as an AT gun and the tanks were supposed to be fighting other tanks. So a 3.7" probably should be relying on passive attack instead of switching.

I suspect the French 25mm AA would have worked quite well in a direct fire role (as would many 37mm guns) but they were so short of AA guns in 1940 they probably wouldn't have done so routinely, though I do allow it for a hypothetical unit in late 1940 (afterthe historical surrender date) in my French mod.

For me, the most difficult thing is to get a good animation for the ground attack. It's beyond my current skills but the Amulet mod has a decent autocannon sound for the smaller guns which is a good start.

[ptje63]

Does not apply to 88mm gun. When in AT role I agree it has low defense but should have HIGH offense strength which is not reflected in game.

[McGuba]

Switchable AA can be quite powerful and the suggestion of caution with attack values is sensible. It is historically valid for several armies. The germans definitely used their light AA for direct fire, and I believe the Italian Breda was good for this. It probably shouldn't be allowed for all weapons or all armies. For example, the British army did sometimes use 3.7" as AT but only in a real emergency because of a combination of shortage of heavy AA, very high profile and difficulty getting the depression low enough to hit tanks. And because the 25 pounder could do a decent job as an AT gun and the tanks were supposed to be fighting other tanks. So a 3.7" probably should be relying on passive attack instead of switching.

I suspect the French 25mm AA would have worked quite well in a direct fire role (as would many 37mm guns) but they were so short of AA guns in 1940 they probably wouldn't have done so routinely, though I do allow it for a hypothetical unit in late 1940 (afterthe historical surrender date) in my French mod.

I absolutely agree with the above and decided to make it more or less like that in the next versions of my mods. For a number of reasons I do not think they would add this feature to the official version of the game so modding is the only solution.

Currently some testing is on the way but I am happy with the result so far. Those light AA guns have some limited offensive ability, but since they have low ground defense they also suffer losses in the attack. Meaning that their use is not always cost effective. The only exception might be the 2cm Flakvierling which is quite good against soft targets as it indeed had a tremendous firepower and was feared by the allies. But again, it has low defense so it will suffer losses as well in attack. Also it was only available in limited numbers for the ground forces as the Kriegsmarine was another a major user of the gun for its U-boats and ships. It will be reflected in its price.

For me, the most difficult thing is to get a good animation for the ground attack. It's beyond my current skills but the Amulet mod has a decent autocannon sound for the smaller guns which is a good start.

I have managed to make some proper new/modified animations for these. As an added bonus the ground attack animation of the 2cm FlaK can be used for the Pz.II series and the SdKfz recons as they were equipped with essentially the same autocannon. It can replace the unhistorical single shot AT gun animation of these units currently used by the game. Hopefully I can release something in a couple of days.

[Kolaris]

Hopefully I can release something in a couple of days.

I look forward to it!

[captainjack]

Hopefully I can release something in a couple of days

I hear my Panhard gunners planning a party!