75 Zeros vs 18 B17E's. I lose!

[Tanaka]

There is just nothing I can do. I have only one Nick squadron of 12 planes total. What is strange is that almost all my Zeros were damaged by his bombers but that does not show up on this report but does in the combat animation...

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[Nomad]

The Combat Report is heavily influenced by FoW. You would not want your opponent to know how many were damaged would you?

As far as your other concern, A6s are not going to shoot down many B-17s. But they can damage them and again that does not
show up in the Combat Report for FoW concerns. The B-17s also have a SR of 4 so the damaged ones will take a good long time
to repair.

If you would show the entire Combat Report entry we might make more comments.

[Moltrey]

As Nomad says, it is hard to tell with any certainty w/o the full combat report.
My guess is that the game determined that many of your fighters were caught on the ground and/or unprepared. 18 B-17Es can drop a lot of bombs on an airfield in short order.
That's the breaks in WITP:AE, sometimes you get the Bear... sometimes the Bear gets you.

[Tanaka]

The Combat Report is heavily influenced by FoW. You would not want your opponent to know how many were damaged would you?

As far as your other concern, A6s are not going to shoot down many B-17s. But they can damage them and again that does not
show up in the Combat Report for FoW concerns. The B-17s also have a SR of 4 so the damaged ones will take a good long time
to repair.

If you would show the entire Combat Report entry we might make more comments.

Sure thing will just copy and paste:

Morning Air attack on Rahaeng , at 58,56

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 75

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 8

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
3rd Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (9 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes
6th Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (12 airborne, 22 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes

[Nomad]

I would say everything looks about right from your side.
I have no idea how the Allied player fared. Did he fly again the next day?
If so, how many B-17 aircraft flew. That would indicate how many damaged
aircraft he sustained.

There are no guarantees or absolutes. And sometimes you have to make inferences based on
the replay details, the combat report, and what happens in the following turns.

One other thing, were there any ops losses reported? Sometimes aircraft are written off and they
do not show up in the combat replay.

[Tanaka]

I would say everything looks about right from your side.
I have no idea how the Allied player fared. Did he fly again the next day?
If so, how many B-17 aircraft flew. That would indicate how many damaged
aircraft he sustained.

There are no guarantees or absolutes. And sometimes you have to make inferences based on
the replay details, the combat report, and what happens in the following turns.

One other thing, were there any ops losses reported? Sometimes aircraft are written off and they
do not show up in the combat replay.

Thanks for your input. Have not run the next turn yet. He will raid and rest and so on. Very true I will check on the other things you mention. Will try and get my 12 Nicks up there haha

[LowesyPC]

Hey there, what map are you using?

[Tanaka]

Hey there, what map are you using?

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 8&t=309940

[Lowpe]

You had 11 minute warning, which is low....add more radar, and AA.

You actually only fought with 21 planes...almost equal numbers.

Vary your intercepting altitudes. If you are only fighting beasts I have found that being 2k below the bombing run works well, and 2K above the approach and at the bombing altitude. So that gives you a band to patrol at...

[Tanaka]

You had 11 minute warning, which is low....add more radar, and AA.

You actually only fought with 21 planes...almost equal numbers.

Vary your intercepting altitudes. If you are only fighting beasts I have found that being 2k below the bombing run works well, and 2K above the approach and at the bombing altitude. So that gives you a band to patrol at...

Very true he hit me where I had no AA. So what is the 75 vs 21 difference? I had almost 80 planes on 100% CAP. I guess that is the warning problem. Suggestions for best units with radar?

Thanks for the altitude tips will try that!

[spence]

IRL Japanese fighters don't carry enough cannon ammunition to seriously disrupt the bombing run of even a few B-17s. At Midway, in "Shattered Sword" VT-6 attacked the KB and owed its (marginal) survival to the fact that most of the CAP was initially shooting at them with just their 7.7 mm machine guns because they'd used up their cannon ammo wiping out Torpedo 8. Even Devastators had enough armor so that half of them or so managed to drop their torpedoes and 4 of them even survived their attack. B-17s are armored much better than TBDs and have the additional advantage of multiple engines. It should also be noted also that the Japanese CAP didn't even mess with the B-17s that attacked KB due to their very respectable defensive firepower (the B-17s attacked at 20000 feet and didn't hit anything).

[Lowpe]

CAP engaged:
3rd Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (9 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes
6th Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (12 airborne, 22 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes

9 + 12 = 21

Some of the first group might have made it...was their a combat animation after the bombing run?

Set one squadron at 7K. The lower patrol altitude means less time to intercept. On another note, I have always had success using Claudes to intercept beasts...something about their wild agility lets them really dance with the beasts and not suffer. They don't do much but ping the beasts, but usually that is enough.

On land, I never use 100% CAP, almost always use 10% (sometimes more) rest, and generally in the 30 to 50 percent CAP setting.

Can't tell from what you post, but morale, leadership, fatigue greatly effect your performance.

100% CAP runs your frames and pilots into the ground.

[ishtarin]

If you have PDU on, I believe any bomber group can switch to Ki-45s so long as you change them to single engine bombers first.

[Tanaka]

CAP engaged:
3rd Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (9 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes
6th Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (12 airborne, 22 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes

9 + 12 = 21

Some of the first group might have made it...was their a combat animation after the bombing run?

Set one squadron at 7K. The lower patrol altitude means less time to intercept. On another note, I have always had success using Claudes to intercept beasts...something about their wild agility lets them really dance with the beasts and not suffer. They don't do much but ping the beasts, but usually that is enough.

On land, I never use 100% CAP, almost always use 10% (sometimes more) rest, and generally in the 30 to 50 percent CAP setting.

Can't tell from what you post, but morale, leadership, fatigue greatly effect your performance.

100% CAP runs your frames and pilots into the ground.

Woah you found a use for Claudes haha. Gotcha on the altitude that makes sense.

Yeah I don't keep on 100% CAP just useful at certain times...