OP lose of kawanishi H6K and H8K

[bigbaba]

hi all,

in my current PBEM, i notice a extreme high operational lose of my flying boats. i never had such loses in any other UV-game. after 4 months, i lost 41 mavis and 15 emily without any enemy contact although i use them only for naval search.

is it just "bad luck" or a bug or am i doing something wrong with them? i set them at 20.000 ft. and at 100% naval search. the pilots have high experience (over 70) and moral and realy low fatigue.

[tocaff]

Sometimes the weather causes the high loses.

Why 20K feet?  Did you know that the search is more effective at about 6K?  I also use about 80% so the pilots always stay fresh with high morale.

[pasternakski]

tocaff right on the money again. Six thousand is the ONLY altitude for naval search.

I shut my air search down on thunderstorm and rainy days unless there's something I've positively got to get there overnight - I mean - know (like a suspicious sighting from the previous day that could mean big trouble if I don't get ready for it).

[Kingfisher]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

tocaff right on the money again. Six thousand is the ONLY altitude for naval search.

Interesting. I've always left mine at whatever default setting the squadron was set at. Good to know.

[Denniss]

I once used my rare F5 Lightning recon planes for naval search at 20k alt (to let the pilots gains some experience) and suffered relatively high OP losses, too. It seems something is either buggy in the code or some unknown effects (weather, icing) are effective so the attrition rate is way higher than normal.

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: Denniss

I once used my rare F5 Lightning recon planes for naval search at 20k alt (to let the pilots gains some experience) and suffered relatively high OP losses, too. It seems something is either buggy in the code or some unknown effects (weather, icing) are effective so the attrition rate is way higher than normal.

It may be the dreaded "Icarus effect."

[RGIJN]

Made the same experiences. Japanese float- and seaplanes are pretty fragile in general. So I set them on Naval search except for bad weather (rain, thunderstorms) and vary between 50...100% then. The most experienced Chutai´s / squadrons (XP over eighty) are usually deployed for ASW patrol, 50...100% also. The H8K Emily has a superior range, you can keep them backwards as they can easily cover the entire map! If they get below 6 a/c per Chutai you better rest them for a while since their replacement rate is too low to refill them later on, and you need these flying boats!

[Empire101]

I generally fly my Naval Search missions slightly higher 8-10 thousand feet as they 'sometimes' get shot down by flak from taskforces [:@] , and NEVER fly them in bad weather unless there is something major going on ( like a CV group near Lunga ). They really are your eyes and ears and should be treated as such [:)] 

[bigbaba]

ok guys, thanks for the feedback.

maybe i should be more "conservative" with the recon-flights and use 10% of the level bombers for naval search...although i realy need this 10% strike power.

the loses are just far more then in my other games.

[anarchyintheuk]

Using your strike aircraft at 10-20% search will increase the detection level and id of your targets as well, making a strike more likely. . . in theory at least.

[bigbaba]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Using your strike aircraft at 10-20% search will increase the detection level and id of your targets as well, making a strike more likely. . . in theory at least.

there is something true about what you said.

i had a strike from rabaul with only the float planes flying naval search and not the bombers...and had only 60-70 bombers on the naval target.

the next day, all bomber groups had 10% of their planes for naval search and...i had 157 bombers on the naval target.

setting some bombers on naval search seems realy to improve the strike coordination.

[Ike99]

I shut my air search down on thunderstorm and rainy days unless there's something I've positively got to get there overnight - I mean - know (like a suspicious sighting from the previous day that could mean big trouble if I don't get ready for it).

I usually have my naval search set to 30%, on thunderstorm days I set them to 10% or rest them, unless as you say I absolutely think something is needed to be seen. Thunderstorms, bad weather, for certain cause higher OPS losses.