ORIGINAL: n01487477
Jacks,
I've been finding my AA to be fairly underwhelming in this mod ... what are your thoughts on this ? I'm going to ask Nemo about it more just thought I'd get your input before I question him about it.
Damian
I'm assuming when you refer to your AA being underwhelming you are referring to Japanese AAA?
In the light carrier action that recently took place near Davao I think the AAA for both the Allied and Japanese TFs was reasonable.
I've seen little from Carl in regards to attacking any of my bases that have AAA units with his LB. The few times it has happened have been high-altitude strikes beyond the range of my AAA (except for a strike or 2 @ Brunei).
I find the 32k Altitude strikes very... frustrating. My fear is that when the pilots hit upper 90s in experience the bombing damage is going to be much-much worse. With only Oscar II fighters in the foreseeable future and a limited number of AAA LCU that can actually range @ 32k I think I'll find out the hard way... lol. And if things get out of hand - well - Carl and I play well together. @ this stage of the game we've been playing with the 32k Altitude as fair and I'm loath to whine about it. But if my fears prove to be found then I'm pretty sure Carl would have no problems in setting up some kind of an altitude adjustment or perhaps agreeing to a max number of B-17s that can be used against a base in a single turn.
Carl and I have been playing these what-if scenarios for a while now. When we first started out down the road of what-ifs Carl was reasonably weary of getting stuck in some killer Japanese power-play on the order of what Nemo prefers to deploy. I have tried to follow three simple rules in the games between Carl and I:
1. Keep initial assaults by Japan reasonable.
2. No major expansion in Java/DEI until Manila and Singapore have fallen.
3. Maintain a reasonably aggressive front in China and keep my Kwangtung forces such that there is a reasonable basis for maintaining a truce between Russia/Japan.
Other then the possibility of adding weapons to reinforcement AAA units so they can range @ 32k or bringing in the Oscar-II earlier, I would use house rules to deal with any AAA issues.
I'm planning a 2nd game playing the side of Japan as soon as Fionn comes out with his upgraded version of this game (although after talking with NYGiants59 I might try to run that next game using the Iron Storm mod Alikchi seems to be in the process of updating).
I'd add the following changes/house-rules to any future mod like this I play...
- No December 7th Surprise for Japan. No one can tell me that the allies would not have been reasonably ready for war against a Japan that has put this much preparation into building up it's forces. Having watched Germany do this in 1939 in Europe no one would let this kind of thing happen twice in less then two years... Carl and I both kind of waffled on this rule at the beginning of this current game. I think we were both looking for something that kind of fell in between Surprise and having the gloves off on both sides for December 7. In the end we kept the December 7 suprise and allowed the allies to increase CAP and - if memory serves me right - escort missions at forward allied bases like Clarke/Singapore. In hind-sight I think we should have just kept surprise off and let the allies be fully prepared plus still require Japan to be reasonable in their day-1 invasions/attacks.
- LB cannot bomb any higher then 25k for the allies and 20k for Japan. I'm a little torn on this house rule but from what I've observed it seems reasonable. Everything I've seen implies to me that the Allies had a much better targeting system for level bombing then Japan had. And AA in this mod is designed in ranges. I think the 20k-25k range will give the best reasonable defense against AAA while having some possibility of LB hitting a target and will still require some fighter escort if the LB have to tangle with enemy CAP.
Below is all Flak. This seems reasonable to me for my LB coming in @ 6k. As I said, I could wish that more AA LCU have the capability of hitting the allied bombers that bomb @ 32k... Perhaps Nemo would consider that future AAA Reinforcement LCU be provided the access to weapons that can range @ 32k... Carl is now massing 40-50 B-17s in a strike. They aren't really doing toooooooo much damage right now but when they train up this story might change.
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 8
G4M1 Betty x 7
Ki-32 Mary x 23
Ki-48-I Lily x 43
Ki-21-II Sally x 38
Ki-49 -I Helen x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Ki-32 Mary: 2 destroyed
Ki-48-I Lily: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-21-II Sally: 1 destroyed
Ki-49 -I Helen: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 6000 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 6000 feet
13 x Ki-32 Mary bombing at 6000 feet
12 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 6000 feet
10 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 6000 feet
17 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 6000 feet
6 x Ki-49 -I Helen bombing at 6000 feet
11 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 6000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 6000 feet
7 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 6000 feet
8 x Ki-32 Mary bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 6000 feet
5 x Ki-21-II Sally bombing at 6000 feet
5 x Ki-49 -I Helen bombing at 6000 feet
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