When an airplane is patroling it is actually attacking if there are enemy units in the action area. And yes, every unit has air damage, even if it's little. You can check it in each unit description.
It's reminds 'The Lost Battalion' WWI movie 2001.
German soldiers with rifles vs UK scout plane.
That is part of the great "fix".
Now instead of using Fighters as scouts like we had for decades. We have to worry about setting them on "Patrol" to pop subs, when all it takes is a few LC moved into the patrol area to make that useless.
Same with AC or balloons into a fort.
The mechanic isn't "25% of damage" dealt, it's "25% of att/def strength used to calculate whether damage is incurred." If damage is dealt, it's dealt in full hit points, not 1/4 hit points. They need to either fix the coding so it's actually 25% of the damage, or correct the phrasing of the description. I vote they make it 25% of damage.
A better correction would be if fighter patrol reverted to the original, i.e., only attacking enemy aircraft, and bomber patrol was the one that interacted with ground units. There's no reason for a fighter on patrol to attempt to attack ground units, just like there's no reason for a bomber on patrol to attempt to attack other air units.
On a side note, unless I'm wildly mistaken, fighters have always been at risk for damage from enemy ground units while patrolling, but the incidence of damage taken was much, much lower. Like 24-28 hours before any real risk of losing the fighter was incurred.
You can scout hidden units inside a fort, but you have to pull the fighters as soon as possible back if you have noticed how many there are. So dont let them patrol too long.
Also you scout units when you fly over the fortress
infantry do not have anti aircraft weapons shooting fighters while patroling with rifles is waste of bullets .. airplanes fly too high in the sky prehaps the only infantry chance to shoot back is when fighters is flying lower to the ground
Which in the case of it flying an actual attack in WW1, it would have been, and that's why the defensive damage that ground units deal to aircraft that are attacking them is very much realistic.
As far as the new mechanic is concerned where patrolling has become borderline unusable (and this is being sold as an improvement to their "flexibility", just to add some insult to it), it's awful, no doubt about it. The fact that a developer even came up with the idea that fighters on patrol should attack ground units is quite disheartening, not even to mention that this nonsense was actually implemented.
Edit: Well arguably, for an aircraft to effectively scout in 1914, when the only tool available to do it would have been binoculars, maybe it would have had to descend to dangerous altitudes to actually see stuff. Let's give a benefit of doubt point for realism. This however doesn't help with the in-game balance, which I think has shifted extremely heavily against aircraft with this change.
Patrolling bombers are now more powerful because I am in a game where five groups of 2 bombers patrolling over a major battlegroup wiped it out in less than 2 hours simply by moving the patrol every time the BG moved. Oh and with careful usage, there wasn't a single bomber lost. Oh, btw, we're talking 2 BBs, 43 arty, 3 ACs and 330 infantry lost.
Patrolling bombers are now more powerful because I am in a game where five groups of 2 bombers patrolling over a major battlegroup wiped it out in less than 2 hours simply by moving the patrol every time the BG moved. Oh and with careful usage, there wasn't a single bomber lost. Oh, btw, we're talking 2 BBs, 43 arty, 3 ACs and 330 infantry lost.
And patrolling fighters? Sneak a couple of ACs in the patrol radius and I reckon it's gone. It's no longer possible to safely use fighters to patrol combat areas. It's just asinine.
You can patrol, but after patrol you have to get the fighters right back if its a big stack
So.. how do I now protect my ground units from bombers?
I used to be able to leave some fighters patrolling overhead to protect them, I assume that that mechanic has also been removed then?
Relatively recent update have given Armoured cars significant anti-air capabilities. so use them to escort when you have planes patrolling.
On the sea, LCs have highest anti-air, followed by BS (Which is kind of an all rounder anyway).
use balloons and armored cars. Balloons especially in naval stacks as they don't lose strength on the water.
Yep! Exactly what HardEight just recommended.. I've found balloons and AC are the best defence for protecting marching stacks against aircraft. As far as the losing aircraft on patrol was a real thing during war in 1914. Remember it only takes one well placed bullet from a ground troop to kill a pilot or damage an airplane enough to make it malfunction and crash. Yes they were a factor and yes many realized an aircrafts future potential as a weapon. But in 1914 they aren't what won the war.
Yo, so my fighter got wrecked patrolling your fort, and the only baddies there were foot soldiers! Did your guys get ninja anti-air guns, or are planes super weak now? I think maybe another plane of mine accidentally messed it up, or maybe the game's just glitching. Let's check the replay and see what went down, bro. If it wasn't one of those things, we gotta tell the grown-ups about this bug mess.
I think maybe another plane of mine accidentally messed it up
Given that you post with foreground text matching background color, I'd give user error a strong maybe.
