How dows Flak work?

[gurkan]

In my current game, I created flaks in cities which are being bombed by other civs. But they are still being bombed and I never saw anything my flaks are doing.

Am I missing something? Do I need to give them any order? How? When?

Thanks for any info.

 

[thetrooper]

I may be wrong about this, but isn´t Flak supposed to be field artillery? A cheap solution to be used out in the open terrain.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Flak (and Mobile SAM) units are moveable-anti aircraft defense. If you put one in a stack, and it gets bombed, you have a chance of downing the plane. (I'm not sure what the chances are, but I'll see if I can find it in the editor). So if you have 10 Flak in a stack of 30 infantry, it will greatly keep your units healthy.

 

[gurkan]

Then, I must use Fighters with Air-S orders for protecting cities as far as I understand. Am I right? That's the case in fact I did after a few more bobardments. But even with 1 Fighter with a Air Superiority mission selected each city, they are still being bombed succesfully.

I wonder why governor always suggests Flaks to me if it does not work for cities.

 

[DragonRunner]

The chances of one flak shooting down a bomber are about 5% i think. Air-superiority has a higher chance. I've read many things that say that 4 is the max, and the chance of shooting a plane down then is 30%? Correct me If I'm wrong.

 

[Theoden]

Flaks do work in cities jsut as well as in the open terrain. Each time the flaks square is bombarded every flak on the tile(up to a maximum of 4) gets a chance to shoot at the plane. The higher anit-air defense the better the chance will be.

I wonder why governor always suggests Flaks to me if it does not work for cities.

Because flaks are the cheapest defensive unit available and the governor just thinks about quick defense.

Theoden

 

[majk-iii]

Fighters and anti-air can only really take on one unit each, right?
...so -Stack them up! Get SAM-sites... build airfields between cities and pack them with fighters and additional flak/sam's (and infantry of course)... if the AI's got fighters send your fighters in before you bomb them... and bomb their airfields/fighter-cities first to get rid of them... find out where the most planes are, and surprise-blitz them with tanks alt. marines if overseas.
Concentrate on getting air-supremacy, with production if neccesary, once you have it... you can just carpet-bomb them to the stone age... like a walk in the park.

 

[SVAN]

Is SAM-battery (one which is city-improvement) is so much effective? Yesterday I have started a war with attacking nicely fortified 28-size city with MI atop of it. To my shock, I was not able to soften it defency by a dedicated stack of 12 bombers (as I usually do if location is too remote for artillery). To my shock, I have been loosing one bomber after another! Just 2 were shot down by jet fighters, while about 8 more were lost to SAM. I guess it was SAM-battery, since unit image have never appeared (shouldn't it?). Only couple of times my bombers were able to get to the city (and the first hit was to Civil Defence!). Then I have quit air attacks and start spending my precious CM stock: after using 4 or 5 just to kill a bomber and a jet, I had to quit this as well! Though I have spent 2 tank armies, and about 20 tanks, I was not able to capture the city. This was clearly THE BEST defence AI did EVER in my memory.
Particulars - CIVIII Conquests, 1.22.

SVAN

 

[Apocalyptic]

I've seen a spearman take out some unbelieveable stuff. Trust me it can be alot worse

 

[General Joey]

I've seen a spearman take out some unbelieveable stuff. Trust me it can be alot worse

Yeah, yesterday it took out my MA!

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Flak have 2 air defense strength.
Mobile Sam have 4 air defense strength.
Fighters and Jet Fighters both can do air-superiority.

For Air Superiority, against Bombers, you have a 50% chance of engaging enemy bombers/fighters. That does not mean you will kill it, just you have a chance to hurt/damage/kill it. Against Stealth Fighters/Bombers, you have 5% chance of engaging.

I believe those are the same chances for Flak/Mobile Sam too. The bad thing about mobile sam/flak is that they only protect against the one tile. But they *are* good for stacks you send into enemy territory away from fighters.

Hope this helps you understand it a bit more.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Flak works quite well, it just doesn't hit every time. I lost a stealth bomber to flak several turns back in my current game. I consoled myself by remembering the F-117 that went down in Bosnia.

I don't build SAM Batteries, if you've got the production, build the mobile units instead. Air threats shift over time, and you can stack these babies where they are most needed.

 

[Flak]

I'm a Software Engineer working for a American company in Graz, Austria.

 

[BomberEscort]

In my current game, I created flaks in cities which are being bombed by other civs. But they are still being bombed and I never saw anything my flaks are doing.

Am I missing something? Do I need to give them any order? How? When?

Thanks for any info.

Check out the AA thread in my sig. for all the details you'd ever want to know on AA Units...