Tactical Groups

**Tactical Groups** along with the Strike Groups are the main opposition you will face during the Campaign. There are always 12(24 on Hard) Tactical Groups present and they do not respawn. A given Tactical Group may either be of the carrier type using aircraft or missile type using missiles. Tactical Groups do not move between cities randomly like Strike Groups do; they only react to any alarms you cause in their range.

When located using Intel cities, Tactical Groups will come with "A", "N" or "AN" symbols. The first indicates an aircraft TG, the second a missile TG, and the third one a mixed TG.

### Aircraft Tactical Groups

The aircraft "groups" are composed of a single Longbow. They are mostly dangerous because of the strike range of their planes - as Pyotr points out, up to 2000km. However they never leave the city they spawn in and have no way of detecting incoming ships so dealing with them is identical to dealing with any normal city - you will just have to fight the Longbow in addition to the garrison itself. The Longbow will slowly launch planes during combat however they are limited to using their autocannons (which are comparable to a single 2A37) and therefore don't pose much of a threat; you can also easily destroy them all while they are still on the deck.

To deal with them from a distance, missiles are preferable - the Longbow will immediately launch T-7s armed with AA missiles to intercept any planes spotted within range (something to remember if you're bombing other targets nearby) so using bombers against them is risky and trying to shoot down enemy T-7s with your own usually ends up with both sides destroyed. The missiles on the other hand will not be intercepted and they target largest ship in the group which in a typical garrison will be the aircraft carrier.

If you are spotted within the range of an ATG and know that planes are incoming move a combat ship in the direction you expect them to come from as they will attack the first thing they see(note that it can take up to two and a half hours for the planes to arrive) You can then rely on proximity fuse ammunition to shoot them and their munitions down, and/or your ship's engines to simply dodge their attacks. All in all enemy aircraft are a lot less dangerous than enemy missiles; they also never turn nuclear.

The ATGs will send T-7s as scouts in the direction of alarms within 4000km, though the T-7s will turn back after 2000km to not run out of fuel. If the T-7s spot your ships you can expect LA-29s to follow shortly. The AI prefers to use T-7s as scouts and air superiority planes while using LA-29s exclusively for bombing.

The AI aircraft are **not** subject to the 10 hour refuel & rearm timer as yours and they will keep coming back until you either die, move out of the reported area/detection range or destroy all their aircraft. The Longbows in ATGs will never replace lost planes.

### Missile Tactical Groups

The missile groups are composed of a Tarantul armed with two A-100 missiles and a mix of Tarantul MRL/Hound/Eagle escorts - all ships with impressive range for their size; the lowest bingo fuel range is Tarantul's 1348km. With speeds of over 450km/h across the board they're much more likely to catch you than the lumbering Strike Groups. They normally sit in the city they spawned in and only move out if you are spotted in their bingo fuel range.

The Tarantul itself comes equipped with an IRST sensor with maximum range of 300km; upon detecting any ships in said range it will fire its A-100 missiles. Then, if the group contains combat ships (on Normal difficulty the Tactical Groups can spawn as a lone Tarantul) and if their fuel allows it they will also move in to attack directly.

Because of the IRST directly attacking cities with MTGs is not recommended. Even if you shoot down the incoming A-100 missiles the sensor guarantees that you will be reported the moment you enter visual range making a Sudden Strike impossible. In addition, the escorts can be surprisingly dangerous in combat because their large fuel tanks block their turrets' line of fire - this causes their weapons to "desync" forcing you to dodge way more shots than you normally would (the Hound is particularly guilty of this with its three Molots)

MTGs are best dealt with at range using aircraft. This is because the planes always prioritize ships with missiles - so they will all focus on the Tarantul first. This not only removes the danger of A-100s but it also eliminates the IRST sensor which makes Sudden Strikes possible. Note that this requires you to catch the MTG on the ground; hitting them in the air is almost impossible with LA-29s and difficult with T-7s. The MTGs never try to defend themselves from aircraft or cruise missiles with their A-100s but using the latter is not recommended as it's down to luck (garrison composition) which target the Kh-15 will strike first.

If you are spotted in the flight range of a MTG move a combat ship ahead to both intercept the incoming A-100 missiles (preferably with proximity fuse ammunition) and then also the MTG itself if it decides to attack. Note that if you destroy the Tarantul the range of the MTG will *increase* as it's the shortest ranged ship of the bunch.

If you trigger a Nuclear War the MTGs will rearm with A-100Ns making them significantly more dangerous.

### Bugs

The strategic map will sometimes not draw the symbol(A/N) for the Tactical Groups. See Bugs.