Mission «Close Air Support»
Article · Mission «Close Air Support»
Mission «Close Air Support» in Hearts of Iron IV
The order that lets a Close Air Support plane help your divisions in a ground battle. It does not paint the sky. Air Superiority first, then this button.
One button on the air mission bar: Close Air Support. What it does, why you click it, whether you need it at all, and who gets the order.
No plane designer here. You get the gap between the order on the wing and the line in the battle with a similar name. And why a thousand Close Air Support planes on the wing is not a thousand in one fight.
What it is
Close Air Support is an order. You give it to an Air Wing, and the Close Air Support planes go into a ground battle.
Here is how it works. The wing sits on an Air Base. You assign it to an air region and press this button. The planes join a fight that is already going and hit the enemy division. Not factories. Not ships. Not enemy planes. The division that is already fighting.
Sounds simple, and it is. The game is blunt: assist divisions in ground combat. Picture this: your divisions are already fighting, and help arrives from above. This is not a separate war in the sky. It is help for the battle on the ground.
How hard they hit depends on two things. First — Ground Attack on the Close Air Support plane: the bigger that number, the worse for the enemy division. Second — how many planes the game actually lets into that fight. A thousand on the wing is not a thousand in the battle. More on that below.
Two things with almost the same name. People mix them up all the time.
- The order Close Air Support is the button on the wing. Without it the plane does not hit the ground, even if the wing is hanging over the front.
- The line Air support in the battle window is already the effect. The game: direct air support lets the divisions fight better. That is a bonus for your divisions in that fight, not a second button.
This button does not paint the sky. Green and red regions come from the Air Superiority order. Air Superiority first, then this button. Otherwise enemy Fighters shoot your Close Air Support down before they can hit the division.
One more simple rule. If the wing’s Range does not cover the whole region, the mission works worse. 50% coverage — 50% of the maximum. The tooltip says so. You can stamp out a thousand Close Air Support planes, park them on a base at the edge of a huge region — the button glows, almost nobody is in the fights.
Why
The first and most obvious reason is to help your side in a battle that is already going. Your divisions fight on the ground. The Close Air Support plane hits the enemy division from above. It hits the whole division, not tanks separately and infantry separately. The game tracks two numbers: Organization and Strength. Organization is how long the division can keep fighting before it breaks. Strength is how many people and how much equipment are still in the division, together. The battle tooltip says how many planes joined, how much Organization and Strength they stripped, and how many Anti-Air shot down. Without this button the wing just sits over the front.
The second reason is to make that same fight easier for your divisions. When the planes actually join, your side gets the Air support line. That is a bonus to how your divisions hit in that battle. The cap is up to +25%. The full bonus only if as many planes joined as Combat Width allows. The button glows and nobody is in the fight — no bonus, and no hit on the enemy either.
The third reason is to understand the cap. Otherwise it looks like a thousand planes should wreck any battle. That is not how it works. Combat Width is how much space divisions take in a fight. The wider the enemy front, the more Close Air Support the game lets into that battle. In the game:
| What gets in the way | Cap | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Planes in one battle | 3 per 1 enemy Combat Width | On Plains, width 70 — 210 max in that fight. Urban, width 80 — 240. The rest go to other battles in the region or wait |
| Night | Organization and Strength damage ×0.1 | Night battle: the hit on the enemy division is ten times weaker than by day. The button glows, it barely does anything |
| Anti-Air in the division | shoots planes down and cuts the hit | The game shows Anti-Air efficiency and how much Organization and Strength never reached the enemy |
| Enemy sky | Fighters shoot the planes down | Red region. Air Superiority first, then this button |
So why “I have plenty of Close Air Support and the fight is stuck”. Three simple reasons.
- Read the battle tooltip, not the wing. The air overview says a thousand. In the fight — fewer. The cap is enemy Combat Width. The rest do not fit this battle: they wait, or they go to another fight in the same region.
- Night. The hit on the enemy division’s Organization and Strength is ×0.1. You stare at the button and cannot see why the enemy will not break. Often the answer is night.
- Anti-Air in the division. Support Anti-Air and the Anti-Air battalion shoot your planes down and stop part of the Organization and Strength hit from landing. Naked infantry without Anti-Air suffers a lot. A division with Anti-Air in the template takes the hit more calmly.
Do you need it
Yes — if there are ground battles in the region. This is the main order for a Close Air Support plane. Without it your divisions fight alone, and the plane does not hit the ground.
No — if there are no battles. Over empty rear, quiet for a week, the order just burns Fuel. This mission’s consumption multiplier is 1.0 — the same as Air Superiority. Interception is 0.2. Exactly five times. Two thousand Close Air Support planes circling a quiet region is a fine way to stop your own tanks on land: the Fuel ran out in the air.
| Mission | What it does | Fuel |
|---|---|---|
| Close Air Support | Joins a ground battle, hits enemy divisions, gives your side a bonus | multiplier 1.0 |
| Air Superiority | Paints the sky. Does not hit enemy divisions in the fight | multiplier 1.0 |
| Interception | Stops enemy missions: bombing and Close Air Support. Cheaper. Does not hit enemy divisions itself | multiplier 0.2 |
Red region — Fighters on Air Superiority first. While the sky is theirs, your Close Air Support gets shot down and barely reaches the division. Once the sky is not red — put the Close Air Support plane on Close Air Support. This button does not paint the sky.
A small country still needs the order, just not on the whole map. One front region, where you are actually fighting. Three ocean regions “so the plane is not idle” — no. There are no ground battles there. There is only Fuel.
Who gets the order
Close Air Support is the main one. You put this order on it in the region where a ground battle is happening. Ground Attack is what that plane is for.
Tactical Bomber can use this button too. Range is usually longer. You take it when the Close Air Support plane cannot reach the region.
Assign
- Close Air Support — main order on the front region
- Tactical Bomber — if the Close Air Support plane lacks Range
Do not assign
- Fighter — that one wants Air Superiority
- Strategic Bomber and Naval Bomber — factories and ships, not the division in the fight
The beginner mistake is hanging the wrong order. A Fighter on Close Air Support barely hits the ground: it has little Ground Attack, and it is not holding the sky while it tries. A Close Air Support plane on Air Superiority does not hit the ground at all. Fighter wing: Air Superiority. Close Air Support wing: Close Air Support, and only once the sky is no longer red.
Bottom line
Close Air Support is the order that lets the plane help your divisions in a ground battle. It hits the enemy division’s Organization and Strength and gives your side a bonus of up to +25%. This button does not paint the sky. You want it where a ground battle is happening. You do not want it over empty rear: Fuel here is the same as Air Superiority, five times Interception. One battle takes 3 planes per 1 enemy Combat Width: on Plains at width 70 that is 210 max. At night the Organization and Strength hit is ×0.1. Anti-Air in the division shoots the planes down and stops part of the hit. Air Superiority first, then this button. Look at how many planes joined the fight, not how many the wing lists.