Uber P39's

[Ross Moorhouse]

Here is an answer for you...

"The bombers crews would be more tired, but the long range combat air patrol would be at the disadvantage, because of higher disruption"

[DoomedMantis]

Originally posted by Ross Moorhouse
Here is an answer for you...

"The bombers crews would be more tired, but the long range combat air patrol would be at the disadvantage, because of higher disruption"

Does this answer though why I am losing twice as many zeros to bombers? His bombers are flying every day, and I have been rotating 2 from 6 squadrons and resting the other 4 (fatigue was too great otherwise - flying from Lunga to Irau), and I now have squadrons down to 2 fighters left in some of them. My zeros have been getting slaughtered and far outstripping replacements.

It didn't help when I had a battle with 140 zeros (both 2's and 3's) over Cooktown escorting 12 Betties against 60 F4's and 12 P40's and lost 76 fighters and 6 betties to CAP and he lost 30 F4's and a few P40's.

My fatigue before I flew was 0 and the average experience was around the 65 level

[Cutman]

Doomed,
It's bad enough that your p-39's shot down all of my aircraft
but now you have to post IT?;)

[DoomedMantis]

Originally posted by Cutman
Doomed,
It's bad enough that your p-39's shot down all of my aircraft
but now you have to post IT?;)

well I was trying to help;)

plus it was anonomous (or something like that spelling anyway), and I wasn't just including you.

I noticed though that you didn't send them back this turn:D

[Raverdave]

With V2.10 I am finding that you have to rest the Zero pilots more often than before so that they retain their edge....I am rest my Zero Squadrons two days out of three. Hope this helps.

[zed]

Rereading portions of SAMURAI Sakai reguarly shot down Mitchells and Marauders and Airacrobras. He thought b-17s extremely tough and frequently the bombers shot down the attackers. the Airacobra was slower than the Zero and less manuverable. Perhaps 2.1 assumes they are King Cobras (p-63s). Remember too that Sakai said the Wildcat presented problems.

[kbullard]

This weekend, after a UV hiatus, I started Scenario 17 (version 2.10) as the Allies versus the AI. All realism options were on, including variable reinforcements. It's now 7/25. I took a quick peek as the Japanese to confirm the numbers:

Allied Losses
----------------
36 x P-39D
35 x P-40E
31 x P-400
16 x Wirraway

My top ten pilots (3 KIA) have 44 kills: 24 in P-39D, 8 in P-400, 7 in P40E, 5 in F4F (I've managed to avoid a major naval engagement).

Japanese Lossses
-----------------------
174 x Zero
62 x Betty
37 x Nell

The top ten Japanese pilots also have 44 kills, all attributed (of course) to the Zero except for one Rufe pilot with 3 kills! However, all of the top 7 Japanese pilots were KIA/MIA.

There are lots of other variables, but the P-39D certainly appears to be doing well -- more than holding its own against the Zero. And the Japanese are lossing their qualitative edge in a huge hurry. This is despite my previous experience (probably 1.4 based) that the AI would play very conservatively.

Kurt

P.S. - I noticed the reported aircraft losses were identical as the Allies and Japanese. In other words, as the Allies, I saw the exact Japanese losses, and vice versa. Is that right?

[Yamamoto]

Originally posted by kbullard
P.S. - I noticed the reported aircraft losses were identical as the Allies and Japanese. In other words, as the Allies, I saw the exact Japanese losses, and vice versa. Is that right?

Yes, that is correct. Fog of War doesn't affect the number of planes reported killed on each side. The only thing it affects in terms of victory points is the ships sunk. Therefore, you can work backwards from the total victory points and accurately calculate the true value of ships sunk. I do this when I want to know if I've just sunk an important ship like a CV.

Yamamoto

[Nikademus]

Originally posted by DoomedMantis


The P40E's should rule though, especially as they are piloted by the fearsome Aussie pilot, unequalled in all the world

You might be right DM....right now i'm at the beginning of SC19, (couple months in) and the IJN-AI is making a fierce air-bid over the skies of PM.

My faithful No's 75 and 76 RAAF squadrons were nearly destroyed through sheer attrition before i finally rotated them when two new P-400 FG's activated. By this time both units were done to 6 planes for one and 3 planes for the other.

Yet during the whole period, regardless of loss or damage......their Morale never wavered, staying at 80 to 90 the entire time!

You guys are animals baby... must be the beer.


(on P-39's and 40's)

P-39's are suffering far more heavily than my 40's and deploying Wirraways was proved in combat to be the desperation ploy that it was (i'm getting wacked with 60+ Zero raids and need all the help i can get)

The 39's get some licks in but they're paying the $$$ for it. Dont see anything "uber" about them. I'd reduce them to ground support or night duty if the AI wasn't playing so agressively (love it......cant wait to see if the AI will really try to assault PM or not.....they've got Gili Gili and Buna, but PM has been battering their transports and i've sunk a dozen confirmed so far......but only one IJN warship so far (a small DD)

[Yamamoto]

Originally posted by Nikademus

Yet during the whole period, regardless of loss or damage......their Morale never wavered, staying at 80 to 90 the entire time!

Unlike my A6M2 pilots whose morale seems to drop down to the 30s very quickly no matter what. I don't know what the formula is for calculating morale changes but, personally, I would think that every time a group shoots down an enemy plane their morale should go up (the shooters, that is, not the shootees ).

Yamamoto