Airgroup bombing accuracy

[wga8888]

I started a Guadalcanal sceanario vs AI Hard, with me playing the USN in advance of starting my currently PBEM game of the same scenario. The AI game is now at 12-Sep-42 (pbem at 23-Aug). AI leaves a lot of exposed AKs and and whatnot in places like Buna with no air cover. Targeted for many turns by my A20s, and Fighter Bombers doing strafing attacks. I discovered a few turns ago my better airgroups now have a Bombing Accuracy metric. Most groups still do not have one [none yet have such rating in my pbem game, opponent is not careless with ships). Anyone have an idea what the thresholds are for an airgroup to get a Bombing Accuracy rating? Is it based on the number of missions? I have an A20 group with a rating of 38% but only has an 52 experience so does not seem to be a experience based issue.

[wga8888]

My best A20 group is at 38%; best B17 at 39%, and have a P39 group at 58%

[RangerJoe]

Just a guess but:

What is the percentage chance of an aircraft in this unit hitting the target? [8|]

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Just a guess but:

What is the percentage chance of an aircraft in this unit hitting the target? [8|]

With a bomb (or gun), or with itself ?[8|]

[Alfred]

It isn't a particularly useful metric.
 
Alfred

[Shellshock]

For whats it's worth here's a quote on the subject from LoBaron the celebrated author of the Air Mission Coordination Guide.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

You can safely forget that hit percentage, it has no meaning without context, and the context mixes up over time.
(context in this case among others: target size, bomb load, altitude, mission type, range to target,...)

[BBfanboy]

Alfred told the forum several years ago that it does not have much relevance to any specific attack. He did not elaborate, and has not done so above.

I ask myself why it is in the game then, and it could be that it is just "flavour" for the group's experience and abilities. It could indicate the best attack results achieved so far, in ideal conditions with a good die roll. Or it could be an average of recent accomplishments, but things like weather, squadron leader abilities, terrain, etc play so much more into the results of an attack that the bombing accuracy is not a great indicator.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Alfred told the forum several years ago that it does not have much relevance to any specific attack. He did not elaborate, and has not done so above.

I ask myself why it is in the game then, and it could be that it is just "flavour" for the group's experience and abilities. It could indicate the best attack results achieved so far, in ideal conditions with a good die roll. Or it could be an average of recent accomplishments, but things like weather, squadron leader abilities, terrain, etc play so much more into the results of an attack that the bombing accuracy is not a great indicator.

My guess is it simply wasn't fully developed. I always thought it was primarily designed to be used with strategic bombing especially night bombing. Again, just a guess.

[Ambassador]

I always understood it as flavour, like the kill scores and the ace status.

[Yaab]

Shouldn't dive bomber groups have highest accuracy ratings?

[RangerJoe]

No, the aircraft that carry the most bombs and only bomb relatively large targets like a city should have the best accuracy. It is hard to miss a city, especially in daylight during good weather.

The more bombs you have, the greater chance of hitting something. So a torpedo bomber on a low level bombing run with multiple bombs would have more chances to hit. I would routinely see Kates with an 80+% bombing accuracy, especially after targeting a bunch of merchantmen. Sometimes more bomb hits were recorded than there were bombers.