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Day Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30
Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 71
B-26B Marauder x 90
Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 8 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
141 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 55
Aircraft Attacking:
36 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 20000 feet
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Day Air attack on Tenimbar , at 36,81 [8D]
Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 118
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 57
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 18 destroyed, 58 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 3 destroyed, 31 damaged
Allied ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1
Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 7
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 16000 feet
Hortlund was totally upset about this attack. It wasn´t that he forgot to stand down his bombers that pissed him off, it was the result! He thinks that it is completely ridicoulos that Allied fighters can take down Japanese bombers in droves! IN DROVES?? [X(][&:]
Well, 57 Kittyhawks shot down 13!! Helens over Tenimbar another 6 were lost A2A but must have crashed on the way home or during landing and 5 were claimed lost to flak. Hmm, IMO this result is pretty near reality and is something I would expect in real life. 57 fighters claim 13 out of 118 medium bombers being shot down over the target. Not too much, not too few IMO. After sending this turn, he told me that no more turns would arrive for a while as Nikmod really pisses him off as in his oppinion cripples the Japanese completely, making Allied bombers super immune to Japanese fighters, while Allied fighters can take down Japanese bombers just like in stock! [X(]
One day after this battle happened I can say now that Japanese bombers are also at least 4 times as hard to down as in stock, there are not just leakers, but 90% of strikes of 100+ bombers are getting through Cap of 60 fighters. For me, IJN bombers vs Allied fighters is working excellent in Nikmod. Japanese fighters have 0 problem to take down Allied fighters at all, but are helpless against Allied medium bombers, not to talk about 4E bombers, as those seem to be nearly immune to everything (but are damaged all the time and available in very low numbers concerning replacement rates). I agree 100% with Hortlund that kill rates of Japanese fighters against Allied bombers are too low. IMO they should be doubled but that´s it then. What Hortlund seems not to accept is the fact that Allied fighters had far more fire power than the Japanese fighters and that Allied bombers could take far more damage than Japanese bombers. So weaker Japanese fighters and stronger Allied bombers just have to result in lower Allied bomber losses when they encounter Japanese fighters compared to Japanese losses when Japanese bombers encounter Allied fighters. This is realistic. What is a problem is really the fact that lets say 80 Zeroes only take 10 out of 200 Mitchells down, which seems to low for me, but perhaps someone can correct me.
While I have some problems with the mod too (probably far less thans with stock though) I think it´s like Nik said: the overall picture looks good, so again thanks for the work he puts into creating the mod!
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Day Air attack on Dutch Harbor , at 103,36
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 63
No Allied losses
Runway hits 9
Aircraft Attacking:
48 x P-39D Airacobra bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 8th Tank Regiment, at 34,27
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 67
Kittyhawk I x 14
Beaufighter VIC x 10
No Allied losses
Japanese ground losses:
21 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Hurricane IIb bombing at 2000 feet
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