I usually use diagonal rows of AA emplacements all 'outside' the base and surrounding it from all direction; and i leave sufficient space between emplacements so that they are not damaged in mass by plasmite bombers or satellite strikes. The idea is to force vtol to pass over a field of AA for a sufficient time so that it is destroyed or heavily damaged before it gets to my base or in its way back. Yet i wonder if you guys use better strategies, and particularly more economic ones, in confronting vtol.
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Assuming that the bombs always hit a turret and not somewhere inbetween, this should result in minimum splash damage while keeping firepower relatively concentrated.
While i find the question interesting, it is hard to answer in general. It mainly depend on the VTOLs you want to counter and what kind of strategy you are following.
On the other hand, after minute 29 it becomes irrelevant, due to one of two reasons. You either do not have sufficient time to build something because you are under severe pressure to build defenses at all (resulting in building rows, cause its just 1 click) OR you get bombarded by plasmite VTOLs which make the geometrical shape irrelevant unless you want to build AA with 5 spaces between each site.
In general, and that goes for artillery as well, it is best to have some spacing between each site. That some can be 1 or 2 or more fields. Since on some maps also space is a limited resource, i, personally, tend to build with 1 space and later fill those spaces as well.
This is definitely not the best economic shape of AA, but on the other hand a good econmy means it should survive long. And long survival CAN come from enemy bombers not being able to get close (meaning a lot of AA in a place where the enemy VTOLs have to pass). Unfortunately (but balance wise exactly how it should be) this is not possible and then again after minute 29 everything is close to irrelevant.
What is a good economic thing is to mix avenger/vindicator sites with whirlwind/stormbringer sites. One damage dealer and one rate of fire dealer. Unfortunately you cannot really do this on your own (meaning you have to do team games (with people who know what they are doing)).
For a start it is really best to spread out AA around and in your base with no exact geometry. That makes it harder for the enemy. Every second they spend to look where the next site might be is a second they dont spend looking elsewhere.
Again, nice question, but unfortunately impossible to answer. Unless you can answer the following question (without further input): Is it better to have AA close together in order to maxime damage on the incoming VTOLs (which then might never come cloe enough), or is it better to have AA spread out as best in order to minimize the damage you take per bomb?
It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. - Carl Friedrich Gauss
Yeah multiple ways of placing AA is needed considering circumstances of course. For a critical defence you will indeed need to pack in as much AA as you can, especially in hi-oil maps. For weak targets, like a single oil derrick it is better to spread out a few batteries in hard-to-hit locations so that they can kill off some vtol:s without becoming the main target.
I guess the best place for a "geometrically economic" pattern of aa is when it comes to controlling a specific area of the map and owning the airspace if that area. Using a good pattern you can ensure effective AA coverage without the risk of losing all your batteries in a single strike(a plasmite bomb might take out five or six, but not the entire area)
Jorzi wrote:Using a good pattern you can ensure effective AA coverage without the risk of losing all your batteries in a single strike(a plasmite bomb might take out five or six, but not the entire area)
Not entirely true. A single plasmite bomb will kill basically all 5x5 fields around the bomb field, plus potentially more due to burn. Therefore _any_ geometric shape you consider will be obsolete around minute 29, when you get plasmite bombers. At least currently with 2.3.6 and armor working. Depending on the map, obstacles and other factors, you only need 4-12 bombers to drop a bomb on the first line/field of AA. And that single bomb will be enough. Then you might consider spreading the AA out more, but then more bombers will come through/be able to drop a bomb. Neither way will help. All you could do is using interceptors (sunburst, flak). The use of interceptors can make the geometric shape (so spreading it out) interesting again, but without it is currently only a thing of building VTOLs (namely plasmite bomber) vs. building AA and currently the VTOLs will win that battle.
Of course all this is only applicable to ver. 2.3.6 and on high power maps. But then, on low power maps you normally would not consider a geometric shape of anything. If you build structures at all, you will only build them in essential locations, shokepoints and AA maybe in the vicinity of oil derricks, hidden behind a mountain or something like that - like Jorzi said.
It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. - Carl Friedrich Gauss
AA placements doesnt really matter with anything other than plasmite imo, when plasmite comes into play, ive found the best tactic is to capture as much ground as possible, by land this could be anything from having sensor towers around so you can see and bomb/ground attack enemy ground units or artillery, but the only efficient way to defend against plasmite is to capture as much ground as possible and spread the AA as thin as possible. Also a couple of hover AA tanks.
The more space you have to build the less effective vtols become.
Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.
