Airlift Interdiction

[Boco]

From the manual:

AIRLIFT ORDERS....Enemy air-to-air units within range of either the target or destination city have a chance to scramble and interdict the transport.

Does anyone know:

1) What are the odds of interdiction?
2) Does this increase with more fighters in range?

Ming and denizens, I don't mean to be rude with this double post. I asked very similar questions on the scenario creation forum, but realized that more people might know the answer here. I suspect the crossover between the two forums is low.

[Scouse Gits]

In my somewhat limited experience of this timeframe I would say that if they can they will with virtual certainty take down the transport ...

SG[1]

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

It's not a virtual certainty. I usually just go ahead and airlift away, regardless of warnings of enemy fighter presence (usually the risk is worth taking).

More often than not, the flight gets through. I don't know the ratios, though... maybe more fighters=lower chance? I know that if the AI has NO fighters nearby, the warning message won't appear.

[Campo]

This is just anectodal evidence, but the last time one of my games went far enough for the AI to develop fighers, I was in a situation that required frequent airlifts. (I had conquered the first city on a distant continent, and the AI was quite large and throwing everything they had into retaking that city. I hadn't transported enough defenders and they were wiping them out faster than I could build them, so airlifting was the only way to hold the city.)

I airlifted two defenders every turn, from two of my home-continent cities, for about 20 turns. On average enemy fighters shot down close to half my airlifts.

Sometimes they both made it. Sometimes (though more rarely) both were shot down. Usually one made it and the other was destroyed.

[Scouse Gits]

I was under the impression that only one unit could be airlifted either to or from a single airport - is this not correct?

SG[1]

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
I was under the impression that only one unit could be airlifted either to or from a single airport - is this not correct?

SG[1]

No, that's correct, 1 unit can be either airlifted in/out of a city per turn. Campo?

[Campo]

My recollection was faulty (for not the first time). I originally had only one city and rush-built an airport, airlifting every turn. I used a couple cruisers to kill all units in a second city and then captured that, hoping to ease the pressure on my first city. It worked, but then I had the same problem with the second city. So I rush-built an airport there and airlifted from each of two home cities to the two distant cities.

I'd guess my success rate was about 60 - 65%. It was decidely better than 50-50, but not hugely so.

I can't recall if there was any difference between the first situation (one airport on each continent) or the second (two on each).

[Campo]

I want to stress that the results I'm talking about were in no way a rigorous or statistically significant test. I had maybe 20-25 airlifts, and I didn't write down the results. I'm just giving my impression, and it's an old one at that.

If I get some time this weekend (uncertain due to holiday preparations) I'll run a few tests to get more accurate results.

[Boco]

I can see no current reader knows the answer, since virtually no one has more than "somewhat limited experience of this timeframe". I don't think I'd stand a prayer against you in MP.

Anyway, I tried a pair of tests.

A) Nonvet enemy Fighter 3 squares from destination. Friendly vet fighter (movement spent) in destination city. Result: 18% interception after 50 trials.

B) Nonvet enemy Fighter 3 squares from destination. No friendly fighter in destination. Result: 24% interception after 50 trials.

Reading between the lines, you'll deduce correctly that I didn't realize the presence of that friendly fighter until I'd completed some twenty-odd trials.

My bet is that the intercept rate is 20% regardless of the presence of friendly fighters. Not that the results prove it, but I'd naively expect that if a benefit existed the manual would mention it.

[Straybow]

My experience suggests 25% may be closer to actual chances. 18% isn't too far astray from that with only 50 trials. Most of the old hands at testing here use hundreds of trials, I recall one combat test involved at least 1000.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

It might be interesting to see whether 2 or more enemy fighters based nearby, produce a higher intercept chance than a single enemy fighter does. Since you're already testing, of course

[Gatekeeper]

For some odd reason, I had fighters based out of conquered London (I was playing America), and they were intercepting airlifts into Thebes. This has happened repeatedly only in a few games, however.

Gatekeeper

[Boco]

From where to Thebes? Any chance the departure city was within range of your air jockeys?

[Gatekeeper]

It's a distinct possibility, since Mongolia sat astride conquered Europe like a colossus while nuking the former British cities I had taken from them across the Channel.

I don't know why Mongolia would be sending divisions *away* from Europe, since I was massing my surviving armies in nuke-shielded London. Must be an AI thing ... maybe they thought I was going to try using the former Egyptian capital as another jumping off point into Eurasia or something.

Now it's my understanding that you have a chance of blasting an airlift if it's *out of* or *into* a city w/i range of your prop/jet fighters, correct?

Gatekeeper

[Straybow]

That is my impression.

[Boco]

If the manual (p72, MGE) is accurate, then your understanding is right. It is always correct, isn't it?

[Gatekeeper]

Not always, Boco. Late-breaking game changes and/or fixes do not always make it into the printed manuals. That's why a lot games ship w/the "Read Me" file or somesuch thing — those files often contain the most up-to-date changes in a game.

Gatekeeper