Some extra tips: 1. Get OPs up ASAP after spawning on an airhead. 2. Flares and recon planes can help expose enemies in the drop zone, however, I still think it’s best to have an actual physical presence there to protect it. 3. Smoke shells from arty can help focus enemy attention away from you airheads and help obscure their sight lines. Even to the sky. 4. Use the map and/or any previous map knowledge to place your airhead in a good spot. Don’t forget to zoom in on the map to make sure you are placing the airhead exactly where you want it. In regards to the “dropping a bombing run shortly before your airhead lands” tactic and why it isn’t included in the video: While this works well, I think the tactic can be improved upon in some cases. With airheads mostly being offensive tools, the end goal is to use it to position your squads to take enemy territory. I like to keep my bombing run to support those very squads once they have pushed near the enemy strongpoint. In some cases this is only waiting a short period longer for the bombing run. I don’t want my bombing run on cooldown when my squads need it. This is extra useful when using the “reinforcing” airhead which is probably the best use of airheads at the end of the day. However, there are certain situations where this can be more useful. Such as if your airhead is in a position where your bombing run can be used for clearing the ground around the airhead AND as support, or if you don’t know if the drop site is clear of enemies. Say you dropped an airhead very close to a strongpoint or something like that with no friendlies already on the ground. Another reason to use it is late game where you are in a ‘do or die’ situation and that airhead could make the difference between a win or a loss. Big thanks to Slim X for providing some nuance here. I will be making a video at some point to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches.
I want to add to the "recon before you drop". I don't think recon unit is like a available asset all the times. Best thing I realized over time is that: 1. Recon planes don't give a real idea of enemies in the area. As you drop an airhead in a empty area it may get disnantled anyway; 2. The same applies in the opposite, I have dropped airhead straight into crowded strongpoints and nobody went to dismantle those. So, my trick usually is: Drop supply 2 minutes in advance and monitor if they get dismantled. If not, call airhead straight on point, maybe a little in the enemy back. After 15 seconds call supplies plus ammo in a area that is probably visible to the enemies but still tricky to get. The example of chapel in utah, I would drop in the trenches south the decoy while the true supplies (control) plus airhead just behind the bushes alongside the creek. If they work, strongpoint very likely capped in 2 minutes, if not, at least the team is not running and fighting on useless territory, overextending from where needed
Whats also very important is being able to analyze and understand the map, where hedgerows are, where open lines of sights are, always good to drop the airhead in a trench rather than an open field.
Usually i ask for only SLs to deploy on AH (to reduce the amount of normal troopers there) and put their OPs. As their squad troop's die, they slowly can deploy at the OP. This simply reduces the 20sec screen plus still keeps troops defending - there is no point to go cap with AH and let the front line open if you don't have an OP as backup
Great vid! excellent tips. My hot tips: zoom in on the map when placing the airhead. you can often improve your airhead drops by knowing the maps and giving your airheads better cover. try sticking them in between buildings, close to walls or in wheat fields. spam click around a bit until the game gives you a green light. You can also "preplace" your airhead, and mark it up before you call it in. This way you can get a 2nd opinion from the command chat or get your recon to move in and try and cover it if needed. About the airhead deception, it only works on German side - as the ammo parachute is also red. The additional, lately popular, airhead trick is the "hail mary airhead + bombing run combo", I find it is only worth it if a lot is depending on the airhead or if you can also get a known enemy garrison with the bombing run (a successful airhead with no enemy garry is just too delicious to pass up on). Oooh final comment: Airheads are expensive, but especially on NIGHT maps they are absolutely worth it or even necessary on Ramagen.
Another tactic ive used in the past especially on offensive is to drop supplies in areas i know ill want a garrison far before i have ability to use it. If the supplies survive then I'll have a stash ready for an airhead squad to get on to and build our forward garrison without calling as much attention hopefully. This does take some knowledge of maps to ensure you aren't just setting things into an open field.
Sometimes I'll call for artillery smoke on the point to lower visibility of most of the enemy team and hopefully less watchful eyes on the skies to sneak past them. The more confusion I can cause them the more time I can buy my advance. I wonder if smoking a drop zone would be useful at times. That being said i like playing interceptor of airheads as often as i can and will play back for this reason.
Smoking drop zones is fantastic, if I'm in hq I do it. Remember, airheads makes no sounds and sometimes look just like normal map assets. Average lv 20 player won't even realize he passed such threat and so even alert squadmates. Or alternatively, you can mix it. You can drop smoke, call in airhead, as soon as it reach 50% drop you start firing HE until it lands. You can fire a last HE round up to 4 seconds from as soon as it's available to spawn, otherwise you are going to kill teammates after. After, you go back to smoke and it should be good enough to capture the enemy strongpoint
One thing is if there's an airhead available and it's getting late in the game sometimes a Hail Mary drop into or next to a strongpoint, combined with heavy cover bombardment from arty/tanks/bombing runs will win the point and the match. Another thing is know where walls and barriers are. I've won strongpoints on offensive dropping an airhead into a point that was technically inside the circle, but hard to reach by the defenders, due to high walls or other obstacles. For a real effective decoy and diversion process drop supplies, airhead, ammo, and a bombing run or other strike all at the same time. The various aircraft all coming at the same time, and the multiple chutes in the air, will overwhelm the command chat with different leads, false positives, improperly placed markers from people guessing, mistaken IDs, etc. Even an experienced player will hear "airhead" look up and see an ammo drop or a supply torpedo and think "that's just an ammo drop" and potentially dismiss the threat until its too late, arguing about whether the other SL actually saw an airhead or not.
Hi Hansen!!! I remember you saying you were new to commanding, but didn’t realize it was your first time! Anyway, you did a great job that match and, had that airhead worked, it would’ve worked well as we could’ve accomplished two goals with it. It was just also a good example of the risks involved with placing airheads near high traffic areas. Hope you understand I wasn’t ripping on you personally. As far as your Stuka strike goes: th-cam.com/users/shorts3D3Itzjtze8?feature=share Good talking to you again and hope to serve under you again someday!
I've only played commander a handful of times but one of the best Airheads I remember placing was a "Leapfrog" Airhead on Remagen. Most of both teams' units were fighting over the bridge, it was also the middle control point. We eventually captured it. I put an Airhead down on the river bank near their next point and we very quickly overran their last two points.
One of the last games I played we were defending our last point when I noticed the enemy launch an airhead to our south, I let our squad know and me and another squadmate high tailed it over there. We tried our best not to just blindly run in and that proved effective because they only had I think recon protecting the airhead and we were able to wipe them out with the airhead. Then, for some reason, they dropped supplies over there and we went back to see if they had someone build a garrison but we found nothing. I guess they used it as a fake-out to get more of us over there but it was just the two of us so it wasn't really effective.
I some times drop the aireards like 3secs after a bombing run, but i don't use to take the Commander role any more, i was temp-banned the last two times that i took it so... i try to aboid the command chat/radio roles nowadays; but identify the low or no traffic zones as know or have an idea of the low visibility areas of each map are imo the best tips, besides momentum.. resources etc.
I understand your comment on not including the airhead-bombing run combo, but I have to mention its effectiveness especially when used to create an additional angle of attack. I commanded a game that Monoespecial & Razbora admin-casted a few months back where i succesfully did this in the final minutes of the game (th-cam.com/video/P0BnrD-3akA/w-d-xo.html) Attacking Chapel on Utah with 4mins to go, i knew we had a strong push south of the point, but it was slowing down as alot of enemies on the point were facing south and engaging them. Our panther maneuvered to the north east side of the Chapel and was shelliing the Chapel with HE, forcing enemies to not want to face the north. So when my airhead play came in, you can see that even though the position wasn't perfect at all, it opened up an attacking front to the north, completing the encirclement. By the time the enemies started to react to the airhead, south push made it to the point and took out the garrison. In closing, airhead+bombing run combo may have a low success rate if used by itself, but I would still mention it as a play, as understanding when to use it can give your team the win when everyone is saying otherwise.
That was fun to watch and a nice win! Congrats! It always feels so satisfying when snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. There are some differences between what you did and what I’m talking about in my comment though. First is that your airhead is in a spot where it can be used for airhead clearing AND support. My comment is mostly referring to people who are just trying to use that bombing run so anyone who came close to the airhead will be cleared out with no other benefit. Second is that you only have 4mins left in your match. I’m mostly referring to doing this throughout the match and not in a situation where cooldown isn’t a worry anyway. So those are good things that I will add to my pinned comment. I will be critical here though: I don’t think this specific bombing run helped you really achieve anything as shown in the video. First is that it didn’t clear any enemy out from near the airhead as there weren’t any enemies pushing it or in a position to lock it or dismantle it. Second is that it only looks to have killed 2 enemies and those enemies were on the other side of the point. It also looks like 2 new enemies spawned in just a couple seconds after the run was over. If that’s true then your bombing run netted zero in reducing enemy strength in the point let alone helping the players spawning on the airhead. The first airhead spawn is unsuccessful and the second one was almost locked out, however a massive success. Part of what seemed to help that is the few teammates you had get into the point from the west to disrupt that enemy that was in the top floor of the church. My analysis isn’t that the bombing run helped you at all, but simply that you used an airhead to open up that second front and complete your encirclement. Which is a perfect play. After that you get their garry down and do a good job of occupying cover so their last ditch bombing run doesn’t kill very many of you. It actually looks like it killed more of their guys than yours! Haha! Perhaps you didn’t know your airhead was clear in the first place as it doesn’t seem like you had any friendlies in that area and with you being in a ‘do or die’ situation I don’t fault you for trying to use this tactic one bit. In regards to the commentators..these guys are great! However, they are streaming so hype is a big part of what they are doing. That’s why everything is “insane” and every moment is an “oh my god!” moment and every move is a “most powerful move.” Not that your victory wasn’t a great one, but just cuz those guys say something doesn’t make it gospel. That all being said, I will amend my comment to highlight your points here. Thanks so much for your input!
@@GebatronGaming Many thanks for taking the time to reply in detail. It was an epic round; super grateful it was caught on video. I agree, my bombing run wasn't lethally effective in that clip, but I felt suppression-wise it helped the airhead by keeping the majority of the enemy's focus away from its position (that's what I hope for; kills / spawn removal / suppression). I'm unsure if dropping the AH alone would have made it unnoticed by the enemy (who was/still was peaking through 2nd floor chapel). I take your point in running the recon plane beforehand, but in that round I didn't have the time nor the munitions for bombs if I did. It's arguable that the obvious use for bombing runs should be used to mainly remove the enemy in support of your own troops, as you can make a play that may turn out to be a game-winning decision without killing anyone. A great example of this that I experienced was on Hurtgen, re-attacking North Pass. We had a bad commander who left the moment we lost the mid point. While all-out defending Ruins as an SL for 30 mins after losing mid-point (still had no commander), I decided to swap quickly into commander role and take a chance with that AH+Bombing Run combo directly on North Pass. Bombing run killed no one, but hit it the garrison which was within a 50m radius of where the airhead landed. This now created roughly a minimum 200m radius from the AH's position free of garrison-spawns, allowing my team to directly spawn into an undefended hard cap. A good enemy team may have had a half-track or a couple OP's on North Pass to counter this quite easily. This was a pub, and anticipating the pub-match mentality of 'the longer you attack, the less spawns you may have on defense', I executed on that play and turned a 2-3 meat-grind into a 5-0 win 20mins after. (Not airhead related but-) Another small rule-breaking play we made was in a competitive match where we ran a half-track into the Hospice hard-cap with 5mins left after being down 2-3 for 90% of the game. Regularly in pubs this is highly preached against. However, the commander made that play fully knowing how the map looked, where the enemy attention was caught up, and pulled off a very exciting 3-2 finish. You share very accurate fundamental information in your videos and I really enjoy your content because of this. The more people learning this game who take your advice, the better for all of us. I just want to share that while learning these lessons, you may want to keep a very small window open to the exception to these lesson, especially regarding these high-risk/high-reward plays. Maybe it's mainly vets that this stuff applies to. It's like how people refer to art: "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist".
I was discussing your bombing run specifically, which did not also take out a garrison, in terms of eliminating enemies from the cap. Unless I missed it, I thought your troops pushing from the south took out the garrison. Either way, that garrison would be destroyed by a bombing run on top of your own airhead or one that went through 30s later at a slightly different angle as it’s chance in the first place unless you know about it beforehand. Of course I understand that taking out garrisons is a strength of the bombing run. I’m not saying don’t use the bombing run…I’m saying that under certain circumstances it’s better to not use it so soon as to only support the airhead, but the troops that spawn in 30s-60s later. With this method your bombing run is over roughly 30s before your troops spawn in and a full minute from the second wave. That’s plenty of time to recover from any suppression effects, IMO. Not only will the suppression game mechanic be worn off, but the simple audio and visual disruptions are long gone plus troops have time to bandage and reoccupy the bomb site. There’s even enough time to build new spawns. Now if you need to make sure the airhead landing site is clear of enemies then this is the way to go. If you don’t have to then I think it’s better to wait a little longer. A recon plane can help here, but my guide didn’t mention a recon plane. Rather that you have a couple boots on the ground near your airhead to protect it. I understand that might be harder in pub matches but shouldn’t be a problem for more organized groups. Especially in your case as I’m sure you had an idea of how that was going to go and didn’t just panic drop your airhead. An early bombing run also gives enemies a larger window to spawn back in than a later run. In regards to your half-track play. That’s awesome! I actually believe that halftracks are underutilized in this way and even point out that using them to “punch” into places can be game changing in my Half-Track Tactics Guide. The only thing I add is that I think you should have passengers in the half-track to help keep the area safe until you get that first spawn in. Not sure if your CO did that or not. All this to say that I don’t really see things as “rules” but there is usually some sort of “conventional wisdom” around how things usually play out. In my pinned comment I stated that the AH+bombing run combo was a “bad tactic” and I was wrong in choosing those words. I should have said something like “I don’t use it too often as I think there is a better way under circumstances that you can create by following some of my tips” or something like that. So thank you for bringing it up and making me think about it more openly. To me this combo is “the conventional wisdom” and what I propose and try to do is actually breaking the rules by not doing it. Just like with the half-track move where everyone just hides them far away. Most of the time that is fine, but there are times where you’ll want to be more aggressive. I believe that the normal way of doing the AH+bombing run combo is, like you say, high risk high reward, but I think doing it a different way makes it more of a medium risk high reward. I’ve decided to make a video talking about the strengths and weaknesses of both methods as neither is perfect. Nothing is and there is always nuance. I should have included my thoughts on it in this video, but decided not to as the video was already getting very long. Longer than anyone wants to watch regarding airheads. Haha! May I reference your comments in the upcoming video to help better illustrate the different approaches? Again thanks for engaging and for watching in the first place.
@@GebatronGaming For sure, please use my comments as you see fit. You offer great insight and ideas about the game, so if anything I've mentioned can assist with that feel free to include it. I take your bombing run critique as well. The timing I have down is to clear the area the moment the AH touches down, eliminating anyone that may be under it. The suppression effect from the bombs I touched on is mainly for the AH landing (camouflage if you will). Most cases I always ask attacking SL's if they recently got the garrison on the point, or if they see it / have an idea where it is. If no one responds, then I decided on the next play to make (of which ah+bombs is an option). You've addressed the majority of points I've brought up; highly grateful for that. Definitely see your point in you providing more medium-risk/high reward play-ideas. It does make sense to go that route as a relatively new/intermediate player starting out. My only hope is that the more people play, the more they understand when is the right time to make those high risk plays.
My advice would be don't call in an airhead until your defensive garrison network is setup. I have lost multiple games where we take middle point, get a garrison up, everyone's battling and I call an airhead on next point... we lose the garrison on the point we just took now we have people spawning deep on the offensive when in reality we need bodies to hold the point we just took. It can either make you a hero commander or completely screw your team... I've screwed my team far more than being a hero so just make sure you've got at least 3 garrisons on or around the point your defending before you call in a "kill shot" airhead
Dude, you should at least mention the use of bombing run + airhead + place airhead onto the enemy point. This approach should be a 101 for every commander. In addition, placing an airhead that is too far away from the enemy point in non-competitive mode is literally a waste. Too often, most people would start to spawn at a remote airhead at once, and then, no one will be defending the frontline. It's almost a pitfall for the noob commanders. For them, the only suggestive way to place an airhead is to place it onto the enemy point with a bombing run; otherwise, it's just too easy for other players to spawn at a remote airhead and create a vacant frontline - then lose their defending point.
See pinned comment in regards to the airhead+bombing run stuff. I can see your concern about having too many people spawning on an airhead that’s a long way away, but I really haven’t had too many issues with that in my matches. I just tell people what I want done before I drop it and most people understand. It is something to be aware of though so thanks for the comment!
Some extra tips:
1. Get OPs up ASAP after spawning on an airhead.
2. Flares and recon planes can help expose enemies in the drop zone, however, I still think it’s best to have an actual physical presence there to protect it.
3. Smoke shells from arty can help focus enemy attention away from you airheads and help obscure their sight lines. Even to the sky.
4. Use the map and/or any previous map knowledge to place your airhead in a good spot. Don’t forget to zoom in on the map to make sure you are placing the airhead exactly where you want it.
In regards to the “dropping a bombing run shortly before your airhead lands” tactic and why it isn’t included in the video: While this works well, I think the tactic can be improved upon in some cases. With airheads mostly being offensive tools, the end goal is to use it to position your squads to take enemy territory. I like to keep my bombing run to support those very squads once they have pushed near the enemy strongpoint. In some cases this is only waiting a short period longer for the bombing run. I don’t want my bombing run on cooldown when my squads need it. This is extra useful when using the “reinforcing” airhead which is probably the best use of airheads at the end of the day. However, there are certain situations where this can be more useful. Such as if your airhead is in a position where your bombing run can be used for clearing the ground around the airhead AND as support, or if you don’t know if the drop site is clear of enemies. Say you dropped an airhead very close to a strongpoint or something like that with no friendlies already on the ground. Another reason to use it is late game where you are in a ‘do or die’ situation and that airhead could make the difference between a win or a loss. Big thanks to Slim X for providing some nuance here. I will be making a video at some point to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches.
I want to add to the "recon before you drop". I don't think recon unit is like a available asset all the times.
Best thing I realized over time is that:
1. Recon planes don't give a real idea of enemies in the area. As you drop an airhead in a empty area it may get disnantled anyway;
2. The same applies in the opposite, I have dropped airhead straight into crowded strongpoints and nobody went to dismantle those.
So, my trick usually is:
Drop supply 2 minutes in advance and monitor if they get dismantled.
If not, call airhead straight on point, maybe a little in the enemy back. After 15 seconds call supplies plus ammo in a area that is probably visible to the enemies but still tricky to get.
The example of chapel in utah, I would drop in the trenches south the decoy while the true supplies (control) plus airhead just behind the bushes alongside the creek.
If they work, strongpoint very likely capped in 2 minutes, if not, at least the team is not running and fighting on useless territory, overextending from where needed
Whats also very important is being able to analyze and understand the map, where hedgerows are, where open lines of sights are, always good to drop the airhead in a trench rather than an open field.
Great advice! Thanks for being a channel member. How are you liking having early access to videos?
@@GebatronGaming loving the early access videos :)
Usually i ask for only SLs to deploy on AH (to reduce the amount of normal troopers there) and put their OPs. As their squad troop's die, they slowly can deploy at the OP.
This simply reduces the 20sec screen plus still keeps troops defending - there is no point to go cap with AH and let the front line open if you don't have an OP as backup
Great vid! excellent tips.
My hot tips: zoom in on the map when placing the airhead. you can often improve your airhead drops by knowing the maps and giving your airheads better cover. try sticking them in between buildings, close to walls or in wheat fields. spam click around a bit until the game gives you a green light. You can also "preplace" your airhead, and mark it up before you call it in. This way you can get a 2nd opinion from the command chat or get your recon to move in and try and cover it if needed.
About the airhead deception, it only works on German side - as the ammo parachute is also red.
The additional, lately popular, airhead trick is the "hail mary airhead + bombing run combo", I find it is only worth it if a lot is depending on the airhead or if you can also get a known enemy garrison with the bombing run (a successful airhead with no enemy garry is just too delicious to pass up on).
Oooh final comment: Airheads are expensive, but especially on NIGHT maps they are absolutely worth it or even necessary on Ramagen.
Great tips! Thanks for watching!
Another tactic ive used in the past especially on offensive is to drop supplies in areas i know ill want a garrison far before i have ability to use it. If the supplies survive then I'll have a stash ready for an airhead squad to get on to and build our forward garrison without calling as much attention hopefully. This does take some knowledge of maps to ensure you aren't just setting things into an open field.
I do that too and put that tip in my Commander Tips video. Thanks again!
@Gebatron Gaming lol I probably learned it from you then 🤣
Sometimes I'll call for artillery smoke on the point to lower visibility of most of the enemy team and hopefully less watchful eyes on the skies to sneak past them. The more confusion I can cause them the more time I can buy my advance. I wonder if smoking a drop zone would be useful at times. That being said i like playing interceptor of airheads as often as i can and will play back for this reason.
Good tips! I like intercepting them too. Thanks for the comment!
Smoking drop zones is fantastic, if I'm in hq I do it.
Remember, airheads makes no sounds and sometimes look just like normal map assets.
Average lv 20 player won't even realize he passed such threat and so even alert squadmates.
Or alternatively, you can mix it. You can drop smoke, call in airhead, as soon as it reach 50% drop you start firing HE until it lands. You can fire a last HE round up to 4 seconds from as soon as it's available to spawn, otherwise you are going to kill teammates after.
After, you go back to smoke and it should be good enough to capture the enemy strongpoint
One thing is if there's an airhead available and it's getting late in the game sometimes a Hail Mary drop into or next to a strongpoint, combined with heavy cover bombardment from arty/tanks/bombing runs will win the point and the match.
Another thing is know where walls and barriers are. I've won strongpoints on offensive dropping an airhead into a point that was technically inside the circle, but hard to reach by the defenders, due to high walls or other obstacles.
For a real effective decoy and diversion process drop supplies, airhead, ammo, and a bombing run or other strike all at the same time. The various aircraft all coming at the same time, and the multiple chutes in the air, will overwhelm the command chat with different leads, false positives, improperly placed markers from people guessing, mistaken IDs, etc. Even an experienced player will hear "airhead" look up and see an ammo drop or a supply torpedo and think "that's just an ammo drop" and potentially dismiss the threat until its too late, arguing about whether the other SL actually saw an airhead or not.
Bro caught me on my first match as commander
I hit a moving tank with a Stuka in that same round, your point is invalid xd
Hi Hansen!!! I remember you saying you were new to commanding, but didn’t realize it was your first time! Anyway, you did a great job that match and, had that airhead worked, it would’ve worked well as we could’ve accomplished two goals with it. It was just also a good example of the risks involved with placing airheads near high traffic areas. Hope you understand I wasn’t ripping on you personally. As far as your Stuka strike goes: th-cam.com/users/shorts3D3Itzjtze8?feature=share
Good talking to you again and hope to serve under you again someday!
@@GebatronGaming Haha Bro thats amazing, I never thought anybody saw that and you even recorded it! Very good video! subbed!
I've only played commander a handful of times but one of the best Airheads I remember placing was a "Leapfrog" Airhead on Remagen. Most of both teams' units were fighting over the bridge, it was also the middle control point. We eventually captured it. I put an Airhead down on the river bank near their next point and we very quickly overran their last two points.
Blitz ‘em!! Nice work!
8:30 looks like it's cloudy for you 😆
Yeah I see I did a poor job of cropping there. Hahaha!
@@GebatronGaming You can't hide your "adult animes" 😛
One of the last games I played we were defending our last point when I noticed the enemy launch an airhead to our south, I let our squad know and me and another squadmate high tailed it over there. We tried our best not to just blindly run in and that proved effective because they only had I think recon protecting the airhead and we were able to wipe them out with the airhead. Then, for some reason, they dropped supplies over there and we went back to see if they had someone build a garrison but we found nothing. I guess they used it as a fake-out to get more of us over there but it was just the two of us so it wasn't really effective.
I some times drop the aireards like 3secs after a bombing run, but i don't use to take the Commander role any more, i was temp-banned the last two times that i took it so... i try to aboid the command chat/radio roles nowadays; but identify the low or no traffic zones as know or have an idea of the low visibility areas of each map are imo the best tips, besides momentum.. resources etc.
I understand your comment on not including the airhead-bombing run combo, but I have to mention its effectiveness especially when used to create an additional angle of attack.
I commanded a game that Monoespecial & Razbora admin-casted a few months back where i succesfully did this in the final minutes of the game (th-cam.com/video/P0BnrD-3akA/w-d-xo.html)
Attacking Chapel on Utah with 4mins to go, i knew we had a strong push south of the point, but it was slowing down as alot of enemies on the point were facing south and engaging them. Our panther maneuvered to the north east side of the Chapel and was shelliing the Chapel with HE, forcing enemies to not want to face the north.
So when my airhead play came in, you can see that even though the position wasn't perfect at all, it opened up an attacking front to the north, completing the encirclement. By the time the enemies started to react to the airhead, south push made it to the point and took out the garrison.
In closing, airhead+bombing run combo may have a low success rate if used by itself, but I would still mention it as a play, as understanding when to use it can give your team the win when everyone is saying otherwise.
That was fun to watch and a nice win! Congrats! It always feels so satisfying when snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
There are some differences between what you did and what I’m talking about in my comment though. First is that your airhead is in a spot where it can be used for airhead clearing AND support. My comment is mostly referring to people who are just trying to use that bombing run so anyone who came close to the airhead will be cleared out with no other benefit. Second is that you only have 4mins left in your match. I’m mostly referring to doing this throughout the match and not in a situation where cooldown isn’t a worry anyway. So those are good things that I will add to my pinned comment.
I will be critical here though: I don’t think this specific bombing run helped you really achieve anything as shown in the video. First is that it didn’t clear any enemy out from near the airhead as there weren’t any enemies pushing it or in a position to lock it or dismantle it. Second is that it only looks to have killed 2 enemies and those enemies were on the other side of the point. It also looks like 2 new enemies spawned in just a couple seconds after the run was over. If that’s true then your bombing run netted zero in reducing enemy strength in the point let alone helping the players spawning on the airhead. The first airhead spawn is unsuccessful and the second one was almost locked out, however a massive success. Part of what seemed to help that is the few teammates you had get into the point from the west to disrupt that enemy that was in the top floor of the church. My analysis isn’t that the bombing run helped you at all, but simply that you used an airhead to open up that second front and complete your encirclement. Which is a perfect play. After that you get their garry down and do a good job of occupying cover so their last ditch bombing run doesn’t kill very many of you. It actually looks like it killed more of their guys than yours! Haha!
Perhaps you didn’t know your airhead was clear in the first place as it doesn’t seem like you had any friendlies in that area and with you being in a ‘do or die’ situation I don’t fault you for trying to use this tactic one bit. In regards to the commentators..these guys are great! However, they are streaming so hype is a big part of what they are doing. That’s why everything is “insane” and every moment is an “oh my god!” moment and every move is a “most powerful move.” Not that your victory wasn’t a great one, but just cuz those guys say something doesn’t make it gospel. That all being said, I will amend my comment to highlight your points here. Thanks so much for your input!
@@GebatronGaming Many thanks for taking the time to reply in detail. It was an epic round; super grateful it was caught on video.
I agree, my bombing run wasn't lethally effective in that clip, but I felt suppression-wise it helped the airhead by keeping the majority of the enemy's focus away from its position (that's what I hope for; kills / spawn removal / suppression). I'm unsure if dropping the AH alone would have made it unnoticed by the enemy (who was/still was peaking through 2nd floor chapel). I take your point in running the recon plane beforehand, but in that round I didn't have the time nor the munitions for bombs if I did.
It's arguable that the obvious use for bombing runs should be used to mainly remove the enemy in support of your own troops, as you can make a play that may turn out to be a game-winning decision without killing anyone.
A great example of this that I experienced was on Hurtgen, re-attacking North Pass. We had a bad commander who left the moment we lost the mid point. While all-out defending Ruins as an SL for 30 mins after losing mid-point (still had no commander), I decided to swap quickly into commander role and take a chance with that AH+Bombing Run combo directly on North Pass. Bombing run killed no one, but hit it the garrison which was within a 50m radius of where the airhead landed. This now created roughly a minimum 200m radius from the AH's position free of garrison-spawns, allowing my team to directly spawn into an undefended hard cap.
A good enemy team may have had a half-track or a couple OP's on North Pass to counter this quite easily. This was a pub, and anticipating the pub-match mentality of 'the longer you attack, the less spawns you may have on defense', I executed on that play and turned a 2-3 meat-grind into a 5-0 win 20mins after.
(Not airhead related but-) Another small rule-breaking play we made was in a competitive match where we ran a half-track into the Hospice hard-cap with 5mins left after being down 2-3 for 90% of the game. Regularly in pubs this is highly preached against. However, the commander made that play fully knowing how the map looked, where the enemy attention was caught up, and pulled off a very exciting 3-2 finish.
You share very accurate fundamental information in your videos and I really enjoy your content because of this. The more people learning this game who take your advice, the better for all of us. I just want to share that while learning these lessons, you may want to keep a very small window open to the exception to these lesson, especially regarding these high-risk/high-reward plays. Maybe it's mainly vets that this stuff applies to. It's like how people refer to art: "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist".
I was discussing your bombing run specifically, which did not also take out a garrison, in terms of eliminating enemies from the cap. Unless I missed it, I thought your troops pushing from the south took out the garrison. Either way, that garrison would be destroyed by a bombing run on top of your own airhead or one that went through 30s later at a slightly different angle as it’s chance in the first place unless you know about it beforehand. Of course I understand that taking out garrisons is a strength of the bombing run. I’m not saying don’t use the bombing run…I’m saying that under certain circumstances it’s better to not use it so soon as to only support the airhead, but the troops that spawn in 30s-60s later. With this method your bombing run is over roughly 30s before your troops spawn in and a full minute from the second wave. That’s plenty of time to recover from any suppression effects, IMO. Not only will the suppression game mechanic be worn off, but the simple audio and visual disruptions are long gone plus troops have time to bandage and reoccupy the bomb site. There’s even enough time to build new spawns. Now if you need to make sure the airhead landing site is clear of enemies then this is the way to go. If you don’t have to then I think it’s better to wait a little longer. A recon plane can help here, but my guide didn’t mention a recon plane. Rather that you have a couple boots on the ground near your airhead to protect it. I understand that might be harder in pub matches but shouldn’t be a problem for more organized groups. Especially in your case as I’m sure you had an idea of how that was going to go and didn’t just panic drop your airhead. An early bombing run also gives enemies a larger window to spawn back in than a later run.
In regards to your half-track play. That’s awesome! I actually believe that halftracks are underutilized in this way and even point out that using them to “punch” into places can be game changing in my Half-Track Tactics Guide. The only thing I add is that I think you should have passengers in the half-track to help keep the area safe until you get that first spawn in. Not sure if your CO did that or not. All this to say that I don’t really see things as “rules” but there is usually some sort of “conventional wisdom” around how things usually play out.
In my pinned comment I stated that the AH+bombing run combo was a “bad tactic” and I was wrong in choosing those words. I should have said something like “I don’t use it too often as I think there is a better way under circumstances that you can create by following some of my tips” or something like that. So thank you for bringing it up and making me think about it more openly. To me this combo is “the conventional wisdom” and what I propose and try to do is actually breaking the rules by not doing it. Just like with the half-track move where everyone just hides them far away. Most of the time that is fine, but there are times where you’ll want to be more aggressive. I believe that the normal way of doing the AH+bombing run combo is, like you say, high risk high reward, but I think doing it a different way makes it more of a medium risk high reward.
I’ve decided to make a video talking about the strengths and weaknesses of both methods as neither is perfect. Nothing is and there is always nuance. I should have included my thoughts on it in this video, but decided not to as the video was already getting very long. Longer than anyone wants to watch regarding airheads. Haha! May I reference your comments in the upcoming video to help better illustrate the different approaches? Again thanks for engaging and for watching in the first place.
@@GebatronGaming For sure, please use my comments as you see fit. You offer great insight and ideas about the game, so if anything I've mentioned can assist with that feel free to include it.
I take your bombing run critique as well. The timing I have down is to clear the area the moment the AH touches down, eliminating anyone that may be under it. The suppression effect from the bombs I touched on is mainly for the AH landing (camouflage if you will). Most cases I always ask attacking SL's if they recently got the garrison on the point, or if they see it / have an idea where it is. If no one responds, then I decided on the next play to make (of which ah+bombs is an option).
You've addressed the majority of points I've brought up; highly grateful for that. Definitely see your point in you providing more medium-risk/high reward play-ideas. It does make sense to go that route as a relatively new/intermediate player starting out. My only hope is that the more people play, the more they understand when is the right time to make those high risk plays.
My advice would be don't call in an airhead until your defensive garrison network is setup. I have lost multiple games where we take middle point, get a garrison up, everyone's battling and I call an airhead on next point... we lose the garrison on the point we just took now we have people spawning deep on the offensive when in reality we need bodies to hold the point we just took. It can either make you a hero commander or completely screw your team... I've screwed my team far more than being a hero so just make sure you've got at least 3 garrisons on or around the point your defending before you call in a "kill shot" airhead
@@Danjok1313 That’s great advice!
Great content!!!🎉
Thanks. And thanks for being a channel member! Do you like having early access to videos?
Dude, you should at least mention the use of bombing run + airhead + place airhead onto the enemy point. This approach should be a 101 for every commander. In addition, placing an airhead that is too far away from the enemy point in non-competitive mode is literally a waste. Too often, most people would start to spawn at a remote airhead at once, and then, no one will be defending the frontline. It's almost a pitfall for the noob commanders. For them, the only suggestive way to place an airhead is to place it onto the enemy point with a bombing run; otherwise, it's just too easy for other players to spawn at a remote airhead and create a vacant frontline - then lose their defending point.
See pinned comment in regards to the airhead+bombing run stuff. I can see your concern about having too many people spawning on an airhead that’s a long way away, but I really haven’t had too many issues with that in my matches. I just tell people what I want done before I drop it and most people understand. It is something to be aware of though so thanks for the comment!