Terrible Carrier ops?

[Misconduct]

I recently just got a bran new carrier, essex class and set myself up a Task force to play around the kwajalein, my air crews are barely average, 60 leadership, 63ish Inspiration. I have my carrier to not refuel so it doesn't burn Op points and all fighters were to CAP first turn, weather was Part Cloudy.

5 of 50ish Wildcats were on cap, which were shot down easily, and of 50 or so torp/dive bombers I had only 5 Torp planes hit my target which wasn't anything.

Needless to say in 2 turns it did absolutely nothing, hardly any if any sorties were made and I tried putting my crews on training to get the points up however its getting annoying, any chance to know what im doing wrong?

edit: can anyone show me a forum post that can explain better what I am doing wrong? Seems I can't find any decent on carrier ops

[engineer]

It sounds like you just have inexperienced pilots.  Hits go way up when your pilots have an experience level of 70 to 80.  Check out this thread in the MUST READS:
 
[blockquote]
CV TF composition: Lots of useful tips on the creation of carrier TF's. Tips on coordinated strikes, escorts, AA and lots of other stuff concerning carriers.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=749272

[/blockquote]

[Misconduct]

Not hits, not even flights at all.

[Yamato hugger]

ORIGINAL: Misconduct

I recently just got a bran new carrier, essex class and set myself up a Task force to play around the kwajalein, my air crews are barely average, 60 leadership, 63ish Inspiration. I have my carrier to not refuel so it doesn't burn Op points and all fighters were to CAP first turn, weather was Part Cloudy.

5 of 50ish Wildcats were on cap, which were shot down easily, and of 50 or so torp/dive bombers I had only 5 Torp planes hit my target which wasn't anything.

Needless to say in 2 turns it did absolutely nothing, hardly any if any sorties were made and I tried putting my crews on training to get the points up however its getting annoying, any chance to know what im doing wrong?

edit: can anyone show me a forum post that can explain better what I am doing wrong? Seems I can't find any decent on carrier ops

Well its really hard to tell from just this and no screenshots what is going on, but I will try.

First off, you say all your fighters were on CAP, so I have to assume this means you had LRCAP set to 100%? Or do you mean you had your fighters assigned to escort with a 90% CAP. It matters. If you had 100% on LRCAP with no target set, the squadron commander goes where he feels like going, and also you dont have a ready CAP on deck. If you have the carrier TF assigned as the target of LRCAP then at least 25 or so of those "50ish" fighters should be up at all times with 25% more available "on call". So you can see without more info its hard to diagnose your problem.

Again you are very vague about the target, type of mission, ect for your strike aircraft. No mention of enemy strengths and strikes at all. In order for anyone to really help you figure out what you did wrong (if anything) we have to know EXACTLY what it was you did to begin with.

[Misconduct]

Apologise for not giving enough information, here are some screenshots I will best describe the situation by the photos.

Here's a photo of my TF, the carriers have been sitting in the hex for 3 turns, and 1 Squadron of Hellcats are set entirely to CAP my taskforce. However not once in 3 turns have they even took off, secondly only 1 flight of 5 wildcats of my other 4 groups - with the same settings as the hellcats, even capped the TK. I am going against 45 Fighters, 75 Bombers of kwajalein Atoll.

Edit: This is start of a 43-46 Stock campaign, Allies maybe few turns into game - I was attempting to soften up Maloelap and take with a Raider bat. My 2nd TK Consists of CVE's, a 3rd TK which are bombardment. However not 1 strike from Kwajalein has even targeted any of the other groups.

[Misconduct]

Second image is of my fighters Moral and CAP settings, Each attack IS targeting the carrier so the CAP fighters should of been overhead, they did NOT target any of my other taskforces only my carrier Essex/Enterprise.

I hope this was enough information and I again am sorry for bugging the forums with stuff like this but I really tried to read it up and couldn't find a definative answer. If you need anymore information I will post more photos. Thanks again.

[stldiver]

Looks ok, If I want to cap over the hex or fleet I'm in I do one of two things.

1) set escort and cap from 70 to 90 percent, if I want heavy cap, do this most of the time so attack groups get some escort
2) set LRCAP 100% with no target, range can be 0 for over target or set at max, in case I change the next day to escort and forget
to reset range from zero.

Not sure your problem but if your playing the computer, try those two scenario's. I have never tryed to set LRCAP to the same fleet but
I think it should work.

Two cents worth.

[Misconduct]

ORIGINAL: stldiver

Looks ok, If I want to cap over the hex or fleet I'm in I do one of two things.

1) set escort and cap from 70 to 90 percent, if I want heavy cap, do this most of the time so attack groups get some escort
2) set LRCAP 100% with no target, range can be 0 for over target or set at max, in case I change the next day to escort and forget
to reset range from zero.

Not sure your problem but if your playing the computer, try those two scenario's. I have never tryed to set LRCAP to the same fleet but
I think it should work.

Two cents worth.

Problem is in 3 turns - 5 wildcats of over 50+ CAP fighters are even intercepting the incoming planes.
I Did try setting LRCAP with a Target and Without, even firing the Head officer and replacing him, still nothing.

[wworld7]

ORIGINAL: stldiver

1) set escort and cap from 70 to 90 percent, if I want heavy cap, do this most of the time so attack groups get some escort

I would try this, as I agree I always send some planes as escorts (it just seems right). My settings are usually between 50 to 80 percent CAP.

[Nomad]

I think the problem is here( from the manual )

Long Range CAP – The air unit’s aircraft will fly combat air patrol over all friendly units in a hex other than the one containing the air unit’s base. Long Range CAP will attempt to intercept any enemy planes flying into the hex containing the Long Range based on the range to the hex being protected and the normal radius of the aircraft flying Long Range CAP. Long Range CAP over Air Combat TF’s is only 20% as effective as over other units since it’s harder to coordinate with an Air Combat TF that is constantly changing course and is using radio silence. When Long Range CAP is set as the Mission, the unit’s CAP level is set to 100.

Even though you are flying LRCAP over the same TF they are flying from, I think the program is cutting your CAP because it is over an Air Combat TF. You are only starting with 10 aircraft on CAP and something else is cutting that by 50%. Try again using Escort with 90% CAP and you should see a lot of aircraft over you CVs.

[Misconduct]

ORIGINAL: Nomad

I think the problem is here( from the manual )

Long Range CAP – The air unit’s aircraft will fly combat air patrol over all friendly units in a hex other than the one containing the air unit’s base. Long Range CAP will attempt to intercept any enemy planes flying into the hex containing the Long Range based on the range to the hex being protected and the normal radius of the aircraft flying Long Range CAP. Long Range CAP over Air Combat TF’s is only 20% as effective as over other units since it’s harder to coordinate with an Air Combat TF that is constantly changing course and is using radio silence. When Long Range CAP is set as the Mission, the unit’s CAP level is set to 100.

Even though you are flying LRCAP over the same TF they are flying from, I think the program is cutting your CAP because it is over an Air Combat TF. You are only starting with 10 aircraft on CAP and something else is cutting that by 50%. Try again using Escort with 90% CAP and you should see a lot of aircraft over you CVs.

Wow you hit the nail on the head, I am a complete idiot. I read and re-read that entire section and couldn't figure it out, but you are absolutely right. All my fighters were on cap, and attack planes were hitting their targets since they had CAP now.

I did manage to use the LRCAP in between Kwajalein and my TF with 1 squadron of wildcats with excellent success.

Thank you all for your answers, Salute Nomad!