Airfield Operations
Every plane has a stand, a home, and a place in the queue for the runway.
STANDS
Each Airfield has parking stands by type, and each plane is assigned its own stand when it's built or lands, and keeps it while flying. Stands across a city's airfields add up, and a city can't build an aircraft without a free stand of the right type (see Buildings).
| STAND | L1 / L2 / L3 | FOR |
|---|---|---|
| FIGHTER STANDS | 6 / 10 / 15 | Air superiority, ground attack, maritime strike, electronic warfare, tactical bombers |
| HEAVY STANDS | 1 / 2 / 4 | Strategic bombers, missile carriers, AWACS, air transports |
| HELIPADS | 4 / 7 / 10 | All helicopters |
| DRONE SHELTERS | 4 / 6 / 8 | Attack, recon, swarm and naval drones |
HOME AIRFIELD
Every air stack has a home airfield: the one it was built at (the city's airfield with the most free stands), or the one you last ferried it to. Returning to base means flying home first. Splitting a stack keeps the home; if the home airfield is destroyed, the flight returns to the nearest friendly base instead. New aircraft never join an existing stack on their own.
TAKEOFF AND LANDING TAKE TIME
| PHASE | WHAT HAPPENS |
|---|---|
| DEPARTURE | Each plane taxis from its own stand, holds short of the runway, and takes off 12 seconds after the one before. The lead circles a form-up loop while the rest join; the formation leaves once it points toward its target, never back over the field. |
| ARRIVAL | The formation joins the airfield’s holding loop, strings out in trail, and each plane peels off onto final 15 seconds apart, lands, and taxis back to its stand. The mission or ferry ends when the last plane is parked. |