Interception and Range

[DST1348]

Hello,
I have a Fighter with the Operational Range promotion stationed in my city and set to Intercept. Even though my units are inside the (air strike) range of my Fighter, they keep getting attacked by enemy Great War Bombers. My Fighter doesn't launch to Intercept . Does the Operational Range not work with Interception or did I miss something?

In the attached save, I have the Fighter stationed in Dortmund and it covers all units. Yet my Artillery get hit. This happened several times, with multiple Fighters present.

 

[phillipwyllie]

I believe intercept on fighters is broken and doesn't work properly. Aside from that your fighters can only intercept once per turn, and you will need more fighters than the enemy has bombers if you wish all attacks to be intercepted(assuming it works). It's probably best to spam Mobile SAMs as they definitely intercept, and they are a pretty decent melee unit.

 

[DST1348]

I believe intercept on fighters is broken and doesn't work properly.

That seems to be the case They didn't even intercept when the city they were stationed in was attacked by bombers. Is there a way to fix this? I don't think there will be a patch for this...

 

[Lanijon]

Interception isn't broken. You were correct that the range promotion doesn't work with interception. Your strike range is 7 hexes, but the interception range is still 5 (triplanes kinda suck). I moved your military down closer to Dortmund and the triplane shot down their bomber as it should've.

 

[Peng Qi]

Also, triplanes have an interception chance of 50%, not 100%. You likely just got a bad roll when the city itself was attacked.

 

[DST1348]

Interception isn't broken. You were correct that the range promotion doesn't work with interception. Your strike range is 7 hexes, but the interception range is still 5 (triplanes kinda suck). I moved your military down closer to Dortmund and the triplane shot down their bomber as it should've.

I still think it's strange that the range promotion doesn't affect the interception range. I was counting on that.

Also, triplanes have an interception chance of 50%, not 100%. You likely just got a bad roll when the city itself was attacked.

I had about 2 Triplanes, intercepting for 2 turns, so the probability for missing every chance is about 6%.
Well, lesson learned.. Thank you for your answers

 

[reddishrecue]

If triplanes and fighters aren't making it then why not rely on anti air guns and SAMs instead? Land anti aerial units usually intercept much better and don't require oil that much.

 

[Peng Qi]

If triplanes and fighters aren't making it then why not rely on anti air guns and SAMs instead? Land anti aerial units usually intercept much better and don't require oil that much.

Land AA comes really late and on a tech track that isn't mandatory.

 

[Lanijon]

Land AA comes really late and on a tech track that isn't mandatory.

They aren't really that late. AA guns are only one tech after triplanes/GWBs (granted, you also need Railroad, but that's a tech you'd want anyway) and SAMs are one tech after fighters/bombers. And they're only out of the way for culture or diplo games. For domination and science, you'll want Rocketry and Satellites pretty quickly.

 

[RuleroftheHex]

I believe intercept on fighters is broken and doesn't work properly. Aside from that your fighters can only intercept once per turn, and you will need more fighters than the enemy has bombers if you wish all attacks to be intercepted(assuming it works). It's probably best to spam Mobile SAMs as they definitely intercept, and they are a pretty decent melee unit.

Interception isn't broken at all. If you have 2-3 Fighters set up on intercept, you can simply let the stupid AI suicide its planes into your defenses. Since the AI never really uses Air Sweep, they really don't do anything but kill off their plane stacks on you. You will quickly get to Sortie when you set your Fighters to intercept, and with Sortie, it's like you have 6 Fighters. So really, you don't need too many intercepting planes to beat the AI.

 

[Solutionfinder]

Triplanes suck, simple as that...they even get hit while intercepting. But if you rush radar and upgrade them, then you are good to go. Having Total war Autocracy tenet or Brandenburg Gate + (barracks, armory, military academy) helps a lot since you can promote your newly built fighters to intercept 2 times per turn. Interception 1, Interception 2 and Sortie (promotions) ...this will kill any 2 AI bombers per turn. So you can have 1 fighter per city near borders and can feel pretty much safe, maybe 2 if you see AI gathering bombers nearby.

Thing is...fighters don`t get XP while set on intercepting so either you use have the above priviliges or attack with them until you get 3rd promotion. Attacking with interception specialist fighter is not a good idea though.

 

[beetle]

Thing is...fighters don`t get XP while set on intercepting

Sure they do. It is very slow, and maybe only when they get a kill? I have had fighters level up while on intercept duty. Sometimes they die too, especially if I take the sortie promotion before air repair.

Attacking with interception specialist fighter is not a good idea though.

Does the sweep promotion ever do anything? I rarely do sweeps, but they do work. But the sweeping fighter never takes damage and does not earn xp.

I like to have at least two fighters available. One I work to get air repair then sortie and then I leave on it intercept while training up the next one.

 

[beetle]

I had about 2 Triplanes, intercepting for 2 turns, so the probability for missing every chance is about 6%.

It is like flipping a penny. You missed twice, but still a 50% chance the next time, 25% for the turn. Both missed, next turn still 25% chance. You only notice because your are missing. Also, unless a bomber goes down, hits are easy to miss.

 

[Solutionfinder]

Sure they do. It is very slow, and maybe only when they get a kill? I have had fighters level up while on intercept duty. Sometimes they die too, especially if I take the sortie promotion before air repair.

Does the sweep promotion ever do anything? I rarely do sweeps, but they do work. But the sweeping fighter never takes damage and does not earn xp.

I like to have at least two fighters available. One I work to get air repair then sortie and then I leave on it intercept while training up the next one.

Not sure about Triplanes interception since they get damaged from intercepting...but I had fighters only for interception and not once they had gained XP.

Also not talking about sweeping the area. More like of attacking units with fighers to gain XP.

Agree on sortie though. Very useful promotion, especially if you are low on oil.

 

[reddishrecue]

These promotions are great but sometimes I prefer air repair particularly when using b17s. Air repair could get your planes ranking up faster.

 

[beetle]

Not sure about Triplanes interception since they get damaged from intercepting...but I had fighters only for interception and not once they had gained XP.

I am surprised by this since it happens pretty routinely for me. Have you not come under heavy bomber attacks? It is much, much slower than with active attack missions. (It seems slower to me than I would expect, maybe less than even 1 xp per successful intercept? Or maybe they only get xp if they kill the attacker? I for sure don't notice any floating xp text! The level up notifications are always a pleasant surprise.) If your triplanes are getting damaged, they are getting xp, and fighters get damaged from intercept duty too. Pay close attention to the xp bar, as it will be progressing. Of course, in a city stack, it is very hard to keep track of the planes individually. Triplanes get xp from intercept duty more slowly than fighters because they are intercepting only half the time. Fighters and triplanes with the sortie promotion can easily die before earning the air repair promotion, so watch out for that. I have never had a fighter or triplane with air repair die while on intercept duty, even after they get the sortie promotion, so air repair is very nice there.

 

[Amask]

For the case of getting your city bombed while you have interceptors up, it might that there's a graphical glitch. I've seen enemy bombers get killed after one bombing run due to receiving absurd amounts of damage (from 150 to 220). There's no way my cities were strong enough on their own to have a bomber die in one run. So I think the interceptors do their job, it just doesn't show sometimes.