Japanese CAS missions in PTO

[Anomander Rake]

Won't make the plane a war winner, but maybe a bit more useful.

Pilots of Empire thank you for your efforts. Now it's very useful plane. I think especially due to this plane AB role.

[Aurorus]

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget


Well, unfortunately my esteemed opponent does not keep the Chinese hordes in the open, but in the cities and behind level-6 forts, and the armored version comes a tad late.

I watched the movie "Patton" once. In the movie, Patton says, "Fixed fortifications are a monument to man's stupidity." I have no idea if he actually said this or not, but there is some truth in it. If you opponent abandons the countryside, take control of the countryside. isolate the cities and starve them. Units with 0 supply are combat ineffective regardless of the level of fortification.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Aurorus

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget


Well, unfortunately my esteemed opponent does not keep the Chinese hordes in the open, but in the cities and behind level-6 forts, and the armored version comes a tad late.

I watched the movie "Patton" once. In the movie, Patton says, "Fixed fortifications are a monument to man's stupidity." I have no idea if he actually said this or not, but there is some truth in it. If you opponent abandons the countryside, take control of the countryside. isolate the cities and starve them. Units with 0 supply are combat ineffective regardless of the level of fortification.

In the game, they still fight at 25% AV with no supplies. The AV declines as squads are disabled by combat or starvation/disease and lack of supply means they almost never recover, so those are completely combat ineffective. It does take a long time for starvation to wipe out an enemy unit. Meanwhile at least one of your units is tied up in the hex controlling the hexsides or six units are tied up outside the city/base hex blockading supply flow.

[Panther Bait]

As a defined category, I am not aware of any plane being called a "glide bomber". However, smaller planes that could drop bombs (including attackers, fighter-bombers, heavy fighters, etc.) would often bomb in a shallow-to-moderate dive. This was particularly true if trying to bomb point targets (tanks, pillboxs, etc., infantry emplacements) and/or if they did not have any type of off-bore bomb sight. They would aim the plane to aim the bombs with a little lead to compensate for the drop of the bombs, similar to how you would aim something like HVAR rockets.

[BBfanboy]

Right. Lack of dive flaps/ speed brakes meant not every plane could dive bomb, so a shallower glide was the best they could do.

[Dili]

Depending on speed, wing loading some could almost dive.

[Yaab]

I believe I can dive...

[Dili]

Did Pzl 43B could ? i have it in my mod.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Dili

Depending on speed, wing loading some could almost dive.

The big problem isn't the dive itself, it is rounding out at the bottom when the stress on the wing is most extreme. Dive brakes keep the speed down so the G forces on the round-out are bearable by both plane and pilot.

[Panther Bait]

Correct, any plane can dive (almost) vertically for at least a little while. The questions are: Will the wings stay on when I pull up? Will the controls lock up when I try to pull up? Will I blackout before I pull up? Etc.

As others noted, dedicated dive bombers had features to mitigate these problems from dive brakes, to beefier structure, more elevator authority, even including auto-pull-up devices like the Stuka. For non-dedicated dive bombers there are things you can do to mitigate the buildup of speed in the dive, like dive shallower, enter the dive at as slow a speed as you can, or make the dive much shorter than a standard DB would dive (either start lower or drop higher).

Mike

[LargeSlowTarget]

Any plane can dive - once [:'(]

For level bombers, fixed or lowered landing gear creates drag and thus slows the dive.

I faintly remember having read somewhere that in one of the carrier battles, a Dauntless pilot deliberately dropped the landing gear during the dive in order to slow down his plane even more, allowing him to dive to a lower altitude before recovery and thus was able to plant his bomb with greater accuracy. He was also making himself a better target for AA.