Plane loiter - comparison

I testet different loiters on flat maps with constant sight to units (rather unrealistic). Just because it was brought up in the thread about UKF that straffing Support is op (especially with heavy tank in same commander). I just wanted to know always, so finally I tried them with CheatCommand Mod to get some information about their performance at ideal conditions (flat + full sight + idle units).

Testing circumstances:
-constant sight to all targets (should be not always the case in battle situation)
-flat surface
-took a grid of 3x3 and put a heavy tank in it (experimented with Churchill / IS-2 and Tiger)
-additionally put 3 squads in it (1x Sturmpios / 2x Volks) and a set-up MG-34
-one Volks squad behind sandbags, other units in the open
-no unit was moving

Did it multiple times, placed the units always the same.

Results:

Ostheer JU AT-Loiter for 200 Mu and USF P-47 AT-Loiter for 240 Mu both don't attacked/harmed infantry as expected and killed IS-2 or Tiger reliable, Churchill always stayed alive with about 1/10 health left. Seems to me both abilities have quite a punch and are worth their munition, although I do think JU AT-Loiter should cost 240 munition too. I saw no difference in outcome.
Both are great abilities that help you to win tank battles and finish off damaged tanks. Just keep up the assault in a tank battle to not loose sight and get maxium effect out of ability.

IL-2 AI Loiter for 180 Mu and UKF AT+AI Straffing Support for 200 Mu performed completely different. The soviet AI Loiter killed no more than 8-9 guys, often less. Wipes were rather rare. UKF loiter was similar, in addition it scratched the paint of the tanks. Maximum damage it dealt was about 1/3 health of a tiger, but sometimes it just was about 1/10.
Absoluetely dissapointing, expect them to be worse with less sight. A waste of munition, take a commander with offmap artillery instead if you want to hurt infantry and tanks alike.

The results on the UKF strafing support surpises me, it definitely felt stronger in-game. Gonna test it myself too. I wonder how much damage a single strafe does in comparison (for example when the enemy reacts quickly to get out of sight/range of more strafes).
One thing I'm sure about tho is that it adds a lot to the chaos factor, planes buzzing + rockets flying around while tanks advancing left and right is just pure madness, such attacks usually push back the germans succesfully.

The results on the UKF strafing support surpises me, it definitely felt stronger in-game. Gonna test it myself too. I wonder how much damage a single strafe does in comparison (for example when the enemy reacts quickly to get out of sight/range of more strafes).
One thing I'm sure about tho is that it adds a lot to the chaos factor, planes buzzing + rockets flying around while tanks advancing left and right is just pure madness, such attacks usually push back the germans succesfully.

I absolutely agree with you that the ability pushes back the germans with its effects alone but I always thought it would deal a lot more damage. It seems the effects fooled me too. The results of my small test run were disillusioning if you keep in mind that I arranged the best possible framework conditions for the ability to be successful.
On the other hand I didn't expect the two AT-Loiters destroying a single full health Tiger/IS-2 completely. These two abilities performed rather better than expected.