Possible Interception Issue Patch 1.06.66

[anthonykevinluke]

Hi Simovitch an co,

I mentioned a week or so ago that Axis ftrs were experiencing some difficulty in intercepting bombers. At least twice in the last week (game time) I have had large numbers of single engined Axis ftrs intercepting bombers but not engaging. This despite adequate fuel, height advantage, frontal positioning and no allied escorts. This was overwhelming demonstrated in the raid I played through last night. Allied B17s attacked Ruhr; one stream heading in direct across Holland and Belgium and another flying North of Ruhr and turning due South after passing Vorden afld. I knew roughly that the Allied ftrs would be skosh on fuel around Vorden and had 11 x JGs (over 400 single engined ftrs) and 1 xZG (ME110s) in position, with a 5000ft height advantage, good fuel, excellent morale and no fatigue (first time they had flown in 10 days). I hit intercept and they proceeded to happily escort the 150 x B17s all the way to Mulheim rail without firing a shot. I had a similar group gathered to the South (with three gps of ZGs) and they too failed to engage ... The only groups to actually engage the bombers just over the Ruhr were the 4 x ZGs of ME 110s. Once flak broke them up there about a dozen or so interceptions by 109s and 190s. All the work was done by the ZGs from contact through to most of the pursuit. What is very interesting is that the only acft to have 'bomber direct' in Doctrine was the only acft to actually effectively intercept ... So, are others seeing this? I retried the raid intercept several times but same result, the single engined acft basically escorted the allied bombers to the tgt and only had a few intercepts on stragglers.

There have been so few allied bomber raids that I have not had the opportunity for this to hit me, thought the couple in Italy were just bad luck, but this seems very wrong. As many do, I choose to abandon France, Holland and Belgium except for some Stabs and part JGs acting as raid recon and early warning. I apply the theory of 'he who defends everything defends nothing', I only note this to explain why I have had so few chances to attack allied bombers over Europe (new patch they have only come as far as the Ruhr three times).

For your consideration.

Cheers,

AKL

[simovitch]

Try this tactic: Get a small flight up there (good job for the D.520) to intercept one of the big contacts near the Dutch coast so you can get a visual ID on the component aircraft of the raid. Then you can cherry-pick and target the escort flights directly with waiting patrols and intercepts. This should peel off the fighters so you can get to the bombers further inland.

[simovitch]

The Allies are not going to be ramping things up even in marginal weather until they get some pathfinder groups later in the year.

[anthonykevinluke]

HI Simovitch,

As always thankyou for the reply. As you noted below I do use the Stabs to recon incoming raids but the ftrs still seem fixated on the bombers. That aside, my main query is still regarding the perceived difficulty in actually attacking the bombers by the Axis interceptors. They seem to have a tendency to not actually attack but just to fly along with them until fuel runs out or the raid is broken up a bit by flak. If I am the only one seeing this then I'll put it down to bad/weird luck and continue on regardless. I re-ran the raid below 8 times to see if it changed and on the eighth attempt 2 of the 11 JGs following them managed to engage before the raid crossed into the Ruhr (following them from Vorden afld all the way down to Mulheim).

Current game at 17/09/1943, allied Score is 1/0/9 and losses are allied 1,468 to axis 337 (100+ were Italian acft).

Cheers,

AKL

[simovitch]

Well, for now, I'm not seeing anything odd in the code and it looks like you have a pretty good kill ratio going. The LW should just enjoy 1943 while it lasts. We do appreciate the reports so keep them coming.

[mark dolby]

Hi AKL.
The kill ratio of about 4-1 is roughly what you need for a win in May/June/July '44 but I think you know that. The strange reluctance? of the LW to hit the bombers early on was also something I experienced but this condition does change. As to the targeting directly of Allied FG, it's very hard for the JG to be successful when those FG are trying exactly the same. The improved Allied AI is much better at protecting it's bombers but a canny LW commander can get that 4-1 ratio for the long game win.
Mark.

[anthonykevinluke]

As always thank you both (Mark and Simovitch) for your replies and continued work on the game. I will drop an update on the next 'Sudden Death' date, and any relevant observations. Again, many thanks.

Cheers,

AKL