Bridges of Toko-Ri HELP

[Phoenix100]

Can anyone help me with this scenario? Anyone who has played it through and mastered it, as the US? I cannot get anywhere near success. Am I actually meant to be able to get strike packages through and knock-out the AAA targets without being utterly decimated? Actually worse than decimated. Decimated is 10% losses, I guess, whereas I'm lucky to get out short of 80% losses, for little success. Can't get any strike packages in and out, or hardly any, whether I use missions or try to do it manually. Can it be done?

Cheers!

[mikmykWS]

Some good tips in an old string

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A couple tactics I found worked:
- Keep everyone below 6000 feet at all times... the Chinese radars never spot you, and the Chinese fighters never come hunting. Half my losses were trying to dogfight MiG-15s in Panthers and Banshees. You will eventually have to deal with some of them (they go after the A-26s) but not in the early stages.
- Use the Recce Panthers at min altitude, mil power, a single pass over each AAA area to find/locate as many emplacements as possible. No second passes though, those get you very killed (see below).
- Focus on the 100-mm sites first, once you ID them (that's what the Recce Panthers are for) they carry the radars and make it MUCH more likely your strike forces get spotted and engaged
- Launch attack aircraft in two-ship formations... send them roaring over the target in trail (~2nm separation) at mil power, min-release altitude for whatever weapon they're carrying. The first plane will nail down target location, the second one can release. Then they both haul butt and get back to the ship.
- ABSOLUTELY NO REATTACKS, most of my strike aircraft losses were on a reattack. The OODA Loop for most of the AAA is ~20 seconds... ie, it takes them 20 seconds to recognize a potential target and start firing. At mil power and if you use terrain masking well, it limits exposure. But once you're spotted the first time the OODA Loop no longer applies, and as soon as you're in range you'll get lit up.
- I broke loose one of my destroyers to hit the one AAA site that's (barely) in range... get the DD (or several) in position, send over a recon flight, and let rip. There's no scoring penalty for 127-mm shells, and that's one AAA site your strike pilots don't even have to worry about.

[Phoenix100]

Great help there. Thanks, Mike. I wonder why Matrix's search engine is so awful - when I searched under the scenario title it didn't turn that up.

[mikmykWS]

Antiquated forum software or a stuffed database. It is not their fault though as an upgrade or migration could be uber expensive in terms of their employees time etc. and they could lose stuff. Tough call to make. I will say though it is better than it was a year ago!

Mike