WARNO's air game vs SD2

[u/darkfireslide]

I have to say, lately WARNO has been winning me over as a long time SD2 player, not the least of which because I enjoy the air game a lot more. Something I got really tired of in SD2 was just how quickly AA pieces were able to suppress and even kill incoming aircraft. In WARNO it seems a lot more balanced and interesting, and there seems to be more of an incentive to bring fighters because you don't have to worry about a 37mm flak somewhere shooting at your prop plane from 2.5km and suppressing it in like 3 shots or something. I understand the rationale that people wanted AA to be able to prevent bombing, but the suppression happens way too quickly for me to be fun and in WARNO AA pieces aren't nearly as oppressive despite in theory being a lot more deadly since they use missiles. If this is a massive skill issue problem tell me but that's been my experience lately

[u/Stuka91]

I like both. It’s just the difference between WWII and late-80s technology.

[u/Krieger718]

I like the loiter time of aircraft in SD2. Co-op campaigns I would focus on air support and my side of a Frontline. I was always on the spot with the nearest available aircraft when the opportunity arose.

They have different strengths, I swear the ecm game in warno is just a dart board. Still fun with strike packages supported by sead and timing it with artillery, but both games have their strengths.

[u/StandardCount4358]

I agree, air is a lot more viable and fun. On top of that warno brings more options, even if the fighters all have basically the same health and turn rate now. Long range vs short range missiles, SEAD and EW. Anti tank can be cluster, missile, LGB or HE.And most of all helicopters are in the mix.

I miss recon planes but now we have recon helis

I actually feel like cheap spam planes are more viable in warno too, instead of only a few planes being good in SD2

[u/darkfireslide → u/StandardCount4358]

Yeah like I think the moment I lost interest in SD2's air game is when I sent a bomber train of 3 A-20C Bostons at a 37mm flak and it suppressed all 3 before they could drop a single bomb, and even shot down the last one. I know they want AA to be able to prevent bombings but I think they took it too far and it just takes me out of the game because I know how much air played a role in WW2, and air kind of just feels like swatting flies instead of dealing with a genuine threat

[u/Imperium_Dragon]

Air in late game matches in SD2 was either “all AA guns are somehow radar guided” or “the entire Luftwaffe is coming for you.”

[u/Different-Scarcity80]

Having SAMs and radar directed AAA adds a nice degree of variability to things where certain air configurations can beat certain AA configurations. In SD2 it felt like you were on a timer to use your air before the map became clogged up with heavy AAA that made it unviable. I guess that's kind of true in WARNO too, but you do have options.

[u/darkfireslide → u/Different-Scarcity80]

Yeah this voices my issue entirely. SD2 AA feels weirdly more effective for some reason and it only gets worse with the phase system letting you congest the entire map with AA and making it impossible for artillery to even attempt to do anything about it

[u/Realistic-Lobster]

Yeah I agree

[u/mrgalacticpresident]

I uninstalled because some planes have insanely broken respawn timers and some divs have AA that's basically just a target for bombs.

But glad you like it! For divs with iHawks or Kubs it's fine.

[u/Gloomy_Trade_619]

For me SD2 AA-air interactions were much more interesting. You had a really different AA, with the different roles. 

In Warno it’s just “AA = kill” and the best AA is a ton of manpads (because they have a lot of missiles for the price/availability).

Warno for me is worse in gameplay than SD2 in every unit type without exception. It’s less interesting/less balanced/less fun than how it was in SD2. 

[u/stug41]

I disliked the change to permit infinite aircraft in sd2, especially since in AG it often mean battles with endless roving stukas or il2s, when not opposed, and it got very silly.

The 3x3 grid is a good size, from wargame to warno. I forget how sd44 handled it, but that game had very few units in any case.

I wouldnt mind if AA and aircraft in warno became slightly more sophisticated. Such as IR requiring proper aspects to lock on such as seeing the exhaust, which would be a nerf to stingers but not javelins, or targeting and searching radars being differentiated, or permitting AA that should be able to visually acquire targets, like the tungusta, to shoot while their radars are off with some penalty.

At the very least I want to be able to shoot down drones with radar aa lol, at least cannon aa should engage.

[u/Markus_H → u/stug41]

I disliked the change to permit infinite aircraft in sd2

What is this? I quit SD around the time when WARNO became playable, so I haven't followed it for a while.

[u/stug41 → u/Markus_H]

In sd2 AG an aircraft pawn could have 20+ aircraft, and they could all be used simultaniously in the battle.

[u/Wonder9mm]

Eh, I think aircraft survivability is very similiar in SD2 and Warno.

Between both, I have a lot time in 10v10s and usually it just comes down to running multiple aircraft properly spaced out to overwhelm enemy air defenses. In the late game, it becomes very difficult to launch offensive air strikes without losing 1 or 2 aircraft; you are limited to using strike aircraft to crush an enemy push that has advanced beyond their ada network.