As far as in the existing game what exactly does the HQ represent? Is it supposed to represent a central reporting point for war activities. A central point that receives intel on enemy activities and would pass the word through a central command to scramble defenders to intercept and repel enemy. Thus when the HQ is destroyed that side loses its ability to know exactly where the enemy is, in the form of lost local radar and the dar bar. That’s not how it happened in WWII.
Local air wardens, watched the sky along with local radar and passed the information along to local control centers, the local control centers pass the intel along to sector control who passed the intel along to a central command control. The result of this command structure ensured that even when an attack destroyed the central command control, sector and local control still functioned. Local air raid wardens still reported spotting enemy aircraft and keep local control advised, local control passed that information on to sector control. I think that’s what our darbar is supposed to represent.
Perhaps if HiTech hardens the HQ for now that will remove any one side from being able to destroy the HQ with one group of bombers and thus preserve the current darbar warning system failure, which everyone claims prevents them from finding a fight. But long term and in the new release of Aces High would it not be better to rethink the whole HQ and local radar, darbar interaction. Perhaps a different approach, one more in line with how aircraft spotting was actually accomplished during WWII. An approach that allowed for an interruption of one or two elements of the command and control but did not result in total blindness of the entire country.
We know that local control is the field radar at each base, but even if that radar is down, local air raid wardens still did there thing in WWII so, there was local knowledge of the sector (darbar) and perhaps down to a grid level within the sector based on keypad, because local air raid wardens were reporting enemy aircraft spotted in their little section of the sky. How this could be modeled in the game; for any sector you fly in you see local darbar even if local radar at a field is down. Instead of the current display of the dar bar in the upper left of each sector, Just the enemy darbar shows by keypad in that sector as reported by the air raid warden for his section of the sky.
You can have four sectors make up a sector control zone and as long as sector control building is up the darbar is available in all four sectors and shows the location of enemy aircraft by keypad. Because local air raid wardens are reporting in to local control and local control is reporting in to Sector Control.
All Sector Control report up to the Central Command Control, the HQ. In order to completely blind a side, one would have to destroy the HQ, all Sector Control Centers and all local radar at the field. Tie Air raid wardens to towns, As long as at least one town building remains standing there are air raid wardens reporting local air craft (darbar) in that sector.
This approach creates more destroyable targets that represent Sector Control Centers. Requires attacking teams to hit many different targets to blind a side. Not just one HQ building. May help generate large scale missions which will generate lots of combat. OK, flame away.
