[Skybird]

Learn how to tune the campaign, and plan your missions and that of the AI yourself (also for other squadrons). It makes your life easier, and costs you much fewer planes. The campaign AI is far from optimal. If you see on campaign map AI flights having no more ammo, manually send them home. Also send them home when they have only Sidewinders left. Arm all AI flights manually that are under AI control. the AI often fails miserably in weapons loadouts.

In the above, I mean you should arm and plan ALL AI lfights yourself - not just those belonging to your package, or flights of your squadron. Check all flights of all squadrons.

In air battles, keep your distance. In ground battles and campaign planning, use the same reason you would use in reality. SAM's and radars first, factories and civilian structures last. Early in the campaign, just CAPs in your territory, and close to the front. Some hours later in the first day, careful first strikes around the front. After 18 hours or so, start medium range strikes. Hitting depots has no effect in the game, save your flight for something more useful.

Be careful about taking out all air bases in the beginning. Not only is that often a costly enterprise, but the AI keeps on producing aircraft, which then get stpockpiled while being grounded. If you miss to revisit hit airbases frequently, all those stockpiled aircraft suddenly scramble in one swing into the air when an airbase is repaired (3-6 hours or so), and you face the often mentioned, much feared "Wall of Migs". In the beginning it is better to kill his airplanes in the air than hitting the airbases on the ground. This detail works different than in reality. the reduction in his air capacity is more lasting. that is why in campaign in the first 5-6 hours or so you should give 100% priority to CAP over your own airfileds and near the front, and do no other kind of missions. the first hours are mig-hunting exclusively. After that, go on Mih-hunts inside his territory, coupled with SAM-hunts. After SAMS and major radar installtions taken out, go for the airbases. and then, for the remainder of the campaign, it is constantly hitting airbases and economic targets. Protection from Migs then is almost no more needed, do not waste too much ressources on CAP then.

Always keep a CAP over your airbases. The AI does not do that, you must do it manually. Place their patrol zone 30-50 miles ahead of the airbase, along the expected enemy approach route. Give CAPS AMRAAMs, not Sidewinders.

Use those campaign sliders and zone priorities and readjust them every couple of hours. I do it in 4-6 hours intervals.