Patrol vs Attack?

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    • Patrol vs Attack?

      Forgive me if this has been asked & answered.

      Let’s say there is a situation of an enemy unit moving towards you, you have a group of 5-10 bombers. Which option is the better one to choose? ATTACK? Or PATROL? I never really understood the differences, obviously I get the purpose of “patrolling” but it’s very vague on how it functions.

      Will patrols activate “defensive” actions? Also, if they both attack the enemy, is there ANY advantage to using “attack” as if you use “patrol” they don’t really seem to have to go back to refuel, where as if you attack, you have to return to base after each attack??

      so I just need someone to explain to me (in simple terms, as I’m still fairly new) which option I should use between Attack & Patrol against advancing units, & why? As of now, I typically use “attack” because I don’t understand how patrol works in a combat situation.

      Thanks so much! & again, so sorry if this has been answered before! :)
    • Attack has its place, too, when your target is a lone, unprotected unit.

      However, always escort your tac bombers with interceptors.

      And follow SBDE guidelines to get the most punch and efficiency with your units.

      SBDE link...

      Quick Guide: SBDE
      But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
      Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
      That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.

      - Lord Byron
    • Patrolling aircraft attack everything in their radius at 25% strength every 15 minutes and all attacked units respond at 25% strength. If you can get at least 2 attacks per hour given refueling and flying times it is more time efficient for damage. Attack will follow a single stack, even if it moves (not sure if attacking aircraft will relocate to a different airbase if the target moves to far since I rarely use attack), whereas patrol will stay in place and attack any stacks within it's range. If there is a single enemy stack in one direction that you can destroy with a single attack go with attack so your planes are available for redeployment; if your target is likely to be under your patrol radius for quite a while, use patrol.
    • eruth wrote:

      Patrolling aircraft attack everything in their radius at 25% strength every 15 minutes and all attacked units respond at 25% strength. If you can get at least 2 attacks per hour given refueling and flying times it is more time efficient for damage. Attack will follow a single stack, even if it moves (not sure if attacking aircraft will relocate to a different airbase if the target moves to far since I rarely use attack), whereas patrol will stay in place and attack any stacks within it's range. If there is a single enemy stack in one direction that you can destroy with a single attack go with attack so your planes are available for redeployment; if your target is likely to be under your patrol radius for quite a while, use patrol.
      Yes, as eruth said patrol is less efficient in terms of damage so if you want to wipe out some unprotected troop use attack but if you just want to keep the territory of the patroll without enemies is better to patroll them. Also for better results you need to control the number of units you use. Here you can check it for 100% damage at max number of units, but in CoW 1.5 this has changed and I think that it doesn't matter the units you have when it cross the 15 units it starts to descend:

      i. Aircraft – Interceptor – 5
      ii. Aircraft – Naval Bomber - 5
      iii. Aircraft – Strategic bomber – 5
      iv. Aircraft – Tactical bomber - 5
      v. Anti air – 8
      vi. Anti air – SP – 6
      vii. Anti tank – 8
      viii. Artillery - 8
      ix. Artillery – SP – 6
      x. Armored car – 8
      xi. Infantry – Commandos - 8
      xii. Infantry – Infantry – 8
      xiii. Infantry – Mechanized - 6
      xiv. Infantry - militia - 11
      xv. Infantry – motorized - 8
      xvi. Naval - Battleships – 3
      xvii. Naval – Carriers – 3
      xviii. Naval – Cruiser – 5
      xix. Naval – destroyer - 7
      xx. Naval – submarines – 7
      xxi. Tank - destroyer – 5
      xxii. Tank – heavy – 5
      xxiii. Tank – light - 6
      xxiv. Tank – medium - 5
      xxv. Aircraft - Rocket fighter - 5
      xxvi. Railroadgun - 3
    • I find patrol better against larger stacks of units to slowly erode them. Using attack against larger stacks will often cause the loss of 1 TAC bomber.

      Against active players, on patrol you are at risk of interceptors or AA ground units moving into your patrol circle while you are not looking.

      Against 1 or 2 artillery attack usually kills them in 1 hit.

      Experiment against the AI units, they are pretty dumb, so you can adjust as you see the bombers are most useful.
    • GeneralAumSum wrote:

      Patrol is too op in my opinion, I have discussed this with Flemishpagan, and now I fell like I should tell everyone why.

      let’s say ur enemy has an infantry unit u want to attack but u do not know the strength, simply u can patrol the area with the plane and find out the strength then attack it.
      That's not OP, that's just using sound tactical sense. Ariel reconnaissance was an important part of WW2; part of the reason the allies succeeded at Normandy was because they were able to get reconnaissance on German positions but the Germans were unable to get reconnaissance on the Allied buildup.
    • If one masters the hidden mechanics of the patrol, it will give an aura of invincibility to your planes until you go inactive.
      "As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable." Albert Einstein

      "Giving up is not an option in war, for it proves one's incapability and incompetence as a leader." - Me (Little Racoon)