Units · Air
Air forces - the arm that decides who can move
Air dominance changes everything underneath it. Without it, your armor moves at night. Without it, your fleet picks easier waters. Without it, your strikes face the full weight of enemy air defense. NationFall makes air the contested layer first - fights for it before anything else gets decided.
And in modern war, getting it requires a SEAD campaign that costs you sorties before it pays back. The doctrine is the strategy.
Aircraft categories
What's available, what each is for.
Air superiority
Fighters
The arm that contests airspace. WW2 prop fighters (Spitfire, Bf 109, P-51) → late-war jets (Me 262, Meteor). Modern: F-16, F-15, Su-35, Eurofighter. Maintains air control or loses it.
Strategic strike
Bombers
Heavy bomb-load aircraft. WW2 strategic bombers (B-17, Lancaster, He 111) → modern (B-2, B-52, Tu-95). The arm that hits target classes - power, industry, logistics, command - at strategic depth.
Battlefield strike
Attack Aircraft
Close air support and battlefield interdiction. WW2 (Stuka, IL-2, Typhoon) → modern (A-10, Su-25, F-15E). Punishes enemy ground forces without long-range planning. Vulnerable to air defense - wants air superiority first.
Air dominance
Stealth Aircraft (modern only)
F-35, F-22, J-20, Su-57. Era-locked to modern scenarios. Engage in contested airspace where conventional fighters can't survive. Critical for SEAD against integrated air defense.
Persistent presence
Drones (modern only)
UAVs and loitering munitions. Cheap per sortie, persistent on station, useful for both ISR and strike. The asymmetric advantage that turned several recent real-world conflicts. Magazine-constrained at scale.
The four strike doctrines
When you commit air forces in NationFall, you don't pick "send 100 planes." You set doctrine - how the aircraft are committed and how they split across four roles. (See how combat works for the full doctrine planner.)
Strike
Direct attacks against enemy ground forces and military formations. Highest immediate impact, exposes aircraft to air defense.
SEAD
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. Costs sorties now, makes every future sortie cheaper. The opening move of most modern air campaigns.
Strategic
Strikes against the four target classes (power, industry, logistics, command). Long-tail damage; invites escalation.
Counterforce
Strikes against enemy aircraft, missile launchers, strategic stockpiles. Trades sorties now for future safety.
Era progression
Air warfare changed more than any other arm between 1939 and today.
WW2 (1939)
Air is decisive but not all-weather, and air defense is anti-aircraft artillery rather than integrated SAM systems. Air superiority is achieved by attrition; SEAD as a doctrine barely exists.
Strategic bombing is mass formation, not precision. Casualties to the bombers are high. Late-war jet introduction changes the calculus near the end of the scenario.
WW3 (modern)
Air is contested first. Integrated air defense (S-400, Patriot, THAAD) makes a naive strike package suicidal. SEAD is the opening move; stealth aircraft do the dangerous work; drones provide persistent presence.
Strategic bombing is precision-strike, not area-bombing. Magazine logistics matter - runs of cruise missiles and JDAMs run dry in sustained campaigns.