IJ commander resurrected - Mundy (A) vs. Castor Troy (IJ) - restricted AAR

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 30, 44
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Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32



Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 43
Ki-84r Frank x 132

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 4 destroyed


first appearance of the P-51D in India IIRC and they come in on the usual stratosweep which is doing them very good as long as they have the dive... only thing saving our kill ratio is numbers, the Mustangs didn't score A SINGLE kill in this engagement as soon as they ran out of their dive... in return our fighters down more than they lose... dive, fixed...


Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P-51D Mustang sweeping at 37000 feet

CAP engaged:
Yokosuka Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 29 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 31276.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
25th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes



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Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 42
Ki-84r Frank x 125

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 4 destroyed


next round, perfectly mirroring the first one, the Mustangs come in at a height our fighters can't even reach, they get the dive for something like a dozen times, downing roughly the same number of our fighters for no own loss... 10+:0 kill/death during the dive? dive, it's been fixed...

the dive is over and we down the at least halve a dozen Mustangs...


CAP engaged:
Yokosuka Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
25 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 38000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
25th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
21 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 18 on standby, 0 scrambling)
21 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 36910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (3 airborne, 15 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
23 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 39000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes



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Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 40,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 40
Ki-84r Frank x 118

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 7 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 2 destroyed


and for a third time and this time the Mustangs enjoy like a never ending dive phase... see the numbers? can't be the dive, must be another reason... but hey, everytime people are searching for reasons I see the DIVE on either side, every time... how comes you always have to search for reasons? Not even numbers were helping here, when the Mustangs finally ran out of dives there were only a handful of them left over the target so not many left to be shot at when their dive ended... it's been fixed, trust me, it's been fixed for sure...


CAP engaged:
Yokosuka Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 3 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
21 plane(s) not yet engaged, 14 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 40000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
25th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
19 plane(s) not yet engaged, 12 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 38910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
16 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 37910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 15 on standby, 5 scrambling)
13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 36000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes

[castor troy]

there is no need to defend Hyderabad's airspace in the end and we can as well abandon the airfield if this is going to be an attritional war but so far we haven't seen a lot of airstrikes in India as we most of the time came up ahead... we get a 1:1 more or less today with unbeatable Mustangs during the dive and our fighters being ahead when the dive ended but the most important fact is we "only" lost 15 pilots (but these were really good pilots)... I don't care much about airframes, all that counts are pilots while all that counts for the enemy are his airframes and as long as we lose fewer pilots than the enemy loses his top notch fighters we're good and I would even go into an attritional war for some time if the enemy wants to...

[mind_messing]

Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 40,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 40
Ki-84r Frank x 118

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K2-J George: 7 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 2 destroyed


and for a third time and this time the Mustangs enjoy like a never ending dive phase... see the numbers? can't be the dive, must be another reason... but hey, everytime people are searching for reasons I see the DIVE on either side, every time... how comes you always have to search for reasons? Not even numbers were helping here, when the Mustangs finally ran out of dives there were only a handful of them left over the target so not many left to be shot at when their dive ended... it's been fixed, trust me, it's been fixed for sure...


CAP engaged:
Yokosuka Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 3 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
21 plane(s) not yet engaged, 14 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 40000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
25th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
19 plane(s) not yet engaged, 12 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 38910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
16 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 37910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 15 on standby, 5 scrambling)
13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 36000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes

You were close, but not quite...

[castor troy]

I see Admiral unescorted carrier task force still coming back, pity 'm still not nearly as much interested in him as it seems the other way around. Though I'm still wondering if he has yet managed not to be defeated in mid 42. Ohh so much knowledge and so much fail. [&o] Only google search boy missing for the party.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 31, 44
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Afternoon Air attack on 61st Division, at 35,40 (Madras)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 13
Beaufort VIII x 10
F4U-1D Corsair x 5

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Beaufort VIII bombing from 5000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb


Last day of the year and we look forward to fend off any Allied offensives in the coming year which will surely be a turning point in this war. After the succesful ground campaigns in India and as succesful naval engagements in the Pacific the Western Allied won't be as much of a threat as the Russians when they activate in mid 45. At that point everything will go down the drain as I don't have much hope to see my outdated ground units being able to stop the highly experienced Russian juggernaut.

We will have an edge over the Russians in the air but we can't stop them on the ground. Which brings me to air R&D, our engineers report both the Shinden and Ki-94-II being ready for mass production. The Shinden is a pure defensive fighter, but the Ki-94-II can also be used in an offensive role if needed. I'm not sure how it will perform in direct comparison to the Frank -r though so we will also keep mass producing the Frank. The IJNAF will rely on the George of which we have over 2000 in the pools.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

I see Admiral unescorted carrier task force still coming back, pity 'm still not nearly as much interested in him as it seems the other way around. Though I'm still wondering if he has yet managed not to be defeated in mid 42. Ohh so much knowledge and so much fail. [&o] Only google search boy missing for the party.

It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from others.

You, it seems, are neither.


For the benefit of others that are more inclined to learn, the problem castor is suffering with his CAP is not that strato-sweeps are broken. Instead, it's several factors that are combining to generate impressive Allied kill ratios.

Some of those factors, in no particular order are:

1. the stats difference between the Mustang and IJ airframes.
2. The lack of effective radar at Hyderabad resulting in poor advanced warning of Allied sweeps.
3. IJ CAP positioning. IJ CAP seems to be stacked at altitude bands of 3k, 5k 15k and 20k. Of those four, only aircraft in the lowest two are able to get into position at reasonable time, and are able to mutually support each other.

The solution to this problem is to concede the dive advantage to the Allies and focus on creating an environment at low altitude that is more amenable to the IJ.

Stacking CAP at 1-5k would be a better solution. Then, there is the chance that the Allied sweep doesn't find the IJ fighters. If they do, then the dive advantage will see IJ losses, but at such low altitude it then becomes much easier for the IJ defenders to get in to advantageous positions for air-to-air combat.

Or you could just think "tHe gAmE iS BrOkeN" or "fIx BuG".

[castor troy]

Wonder if some people realize what *** IGNORED *** means. And then they are even native speakers, must be brain thing.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 03, 45
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Sub attack near Rabaul at 106,124



Japanese Ships
xAK Daigen Maru, Torpedo hits 1
xAK Yoneyama Maru
E No.47
E No.37

Allied Ships
SS Thresher, hits 17, heavy damage


Thresher has been spotted for days and without moving it never got rid of a high DL but the sub was sitting at the entrance of Rabaul so we had to move through the hex... wasn't afraid much with more escorts than troop carrying freighters and the sub being spotted daily and most often attacked... was wrong, the sub hits a freighter (lol! 16 flt dam) and takes two hits and over a dozen near misses in return...


Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

SS Thresher launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Daigen Maru
E No.47 fails to find sub and abandons search
E No.37 attacking submerged sub ....
E No.37 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E No.37 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E No.37 attacking submerged sub ....
E No.37 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E No.37 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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Morning Air attack on Kusaie Island , at 125,118

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 39,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 88

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 4 destroyed


encouraged by the sweeps in India the Allied fly sweeps out of Kwajalein against Kusai where I still have two Frank sentais that are covering convoys going in and out... Mundy as well as so many other players hasn't heard that the dive was fixed so he keeps his fighter keep attacking with a maximum altitude advantage... having the dive, they outright kill 9 Franks for NO loss... hmmm, wasn't the dive, was woodooo... the dive for the Mustangs ended, they kill at least four more Franks but also lose at least the same number of their own... 9:0 with the dive, at best 1:1 without it...

it has been fixed and it has no effect in the air routine...


CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
104th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Kusaie Island , at 125,118

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 50 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 67

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed


the enemy has also set his Thunderbolt squads to sweep and the funny so called air "routine" decided this time that the lost fragments of each squadron, that usually go in at the end, come in first... 2 dives for the Thuds, 1 kill and 1 damaged Frank, dive ended, another Frank damaged and a Thunderbolt shot down...


CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (12 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 17000 and 39910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes
104th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
23 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 40910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Kusaie Island , at 125,118

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 73 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 58

Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses


amazing, 5 Thuds, 4 dives, 3 Franks downed... engagement was over before they ran out of dives...


CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 1 scrambling)
9 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 27000 and 36910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes
104th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
22 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 40910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 40 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Kusaie Island , at 125,118

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 32,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 49

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed


for what reason ever this sweep only got 3 dives, resulting in 2 Franks downed with another 2 during the engagement without a dive for either side... also 2 Thuds downed without the dive...


CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (1 airborne, 3 on standby, 1 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 10 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 24000 and 36910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
104th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 4 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 14 being recalled, 6 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 36910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Kusaie Island , at 125,118

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 37

Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed


what the previous sweep didn't enjoy all went into this one... hmm... must be overly surprising once more... 18 Thuds and I have counted 16 dives for them during which they instanty took down 13 Franks for NO loss... the dive ended at some point when only a handful P-47 were still over the target and while they shot down another Frank they also lost two and had three more damaged... with the dive due to the strato sweep = 13:0 kill rate, the dive ends and it's a 1:2...

surely, the dive AGAIN had no effect here... it must be something else... the dive is always there when we get out of whack kill rates and if the dive isn't there we get kill rates from 1-4:1... but hey, when the dive is always there you can still search for the hundred things you think that are the reason because you know, the dive was fixed and it can't be the reason...


CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 27000 and 37910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
104th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes

[RangerJoe]

No more comments from me, in fact I am going to quit reading this AAR since it appears that you block people who want to help you.

[castor troy]

so lets see, while the concentrated knowledge claims the dive was fixed and has only nuissance effects the dumb noob players that watch the replay keep taking notes and surprise, surprise, the notes come up with numbers that are all but confirming the nuissance effects of the fixed dives...

damaged aircraft crashing on the way back to the airfield or writeoffs aside we counted all outright kills that resulted from a dive with a fighter firing from behind (usual outcome from a dive) at an enemy fighter... clap your hands, the Allied fighters kill no less than 28 Franks for NO LOSS! I'm repeating this, they kill 28 Franks for NO LOSS! For the slower ones, that's 28:0 kill rate. If you come up with the usual comments about exp, skill or the other blah blah, go back in this AAR and see these same Franks killing dozens and dozens enemy fighters for literally no loss when they had the dive which is just as borked. It's not related to either side, it's totally flawed.

Ok the dive was fixed and due to the hundred other reasons for this result, let's look at the outcome when the dive ended. And I guess the hundred reasons besides the dive are still valid then? Would mean they also get 28:0 or the like without the dive beucase it's not the all dominating variable?

TATTTAAAAAAA!

WITHOUT THE DIVE, during these same engagements it's a 9:7 in outright kills favouring the Franks! Again, this is without damaged aircraft crashing or being write offs. With the dive the enemy gets 28 outright kills for NO OWN LOSS and when the dive ended the enemy suffers 9 fighters shot down for 7 kills. Must be voodoo! Same aircraft, same pilots, same weather, same every sh*t because we are talking about the very same engagements. And the outcome? 28:0 with the dive, 7:9 without the dive in outright air to air kills.

Funny, it has been fixed. It really has been fixed. Of course another reason could be I'm just faking these results, I'm faking the screenshots, the combat reports, heck I guess you caught me even faking the game. The real result was looking totally different, perfectly fine and the dive is only a pet peeve of mine that has no effect at all instead of being able to put everything completeyl upside down.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

No more comments from me, in fact I am going to quit reading this AAR since it appears that you block people who want to help you.

You really think I'd care? Go and keep posting your Nazi stuff that seems to be accepted on the main forum.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 11, 45

As there are no convoys going in and out to Kusai the next days we have withdrawn the two shot up Sentais as they have lost no less than 31 pilots and these pilots are mostly irreplacable as these are the ones with up to 2000 mission, 80+ exp and skill.

The more interesting event seems to be happening in the Bay of Bengal as Dinah-III on nav search have picked up enemy carriers South of Ceylon heading South East. Only this small CV task force was spotted and from the looks of it it's probably mostly CVL/CVE, guess British ones as I'm sure the USN is operating all USN carriers in the Pacific.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 12, 45

British carriers are moving South towards Sumatra... no carriers spotted today but several Dinah-III were shot down over the task force, no other ships spotted by increased nav search in the Bay of Bengal or NW and W of Sumatra... no idea what the enemy is up to, that small carrier group is too small to be a real threat nor could it cover an invasion fleet which pretty sure isn't around...

nevertheless we have moved more fighters and bombers into the region but we still have all convoys around Singapore and Sumatra moving along as our oil bases will be well capped...

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 13, 45

movement of the enemy carrier group leaves me puzzled as they are directly moving towards Sumatra which is like sticking their head into a hornet's nest... we have like 1000 aircraft in the region with a 70:30 ratio fighters/bombers (100 fighters are actually Randy fighter bombers that won't be used) so one small step further and a good sized LBA strike could be the end of this carrier group...

we have the aircraft, but the good sized strike will be the problem... the enemy is 8 hexes from Medan where we have shipping going in and out but none of my ships were spotted so the enemy might have limited strike range or is only trying to draw in a strike but a carrier group that is reported to have not even 200 fighters isn't really suited as a CAP trap... [&:]

we have also put the fleet at Singapore into a higher alert state and we also have a good number of fighters at Palembang's airfield now...

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 14, 45
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Medan at 46,76



Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 41
Ki-84r Frank x 86

Allied aircraft
Avenger I x 10
Avenger II x 49
Corsair II x 27
Corsair IV x 14
Hellcat I x 18
Hellcat F.II x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Avenger I: 6 destroyed
Avenger II: 32 destroyed
Corsair II: 10 destroyed
Corsair IV: 6 destroyed
Hellcat I: 9 destroyed
Hellcat F.II: 10 destroyed

Japanese Ships
SC CHa-4, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-5
SC CHa-12
SC CHa-13
SC CHa-25
SC CHa-8
SC CHa-27


the enemy carrier group moves further South along Sumatra's coast and ends up seven hexes from Medan which apparantly brought them into strike range of my shipping there... besides that this carrier group has nowhere near the strenght to offensively tangle with my massed LBA they also run danger to be hit by my LBA... well, spoiling the rest of this day, despite having full DL on the enemy and being in range of three major airfields that were filled with over 400 fighters and 250 bombers, not a single strike even launched... they just didn't, none of them, from none of the three airfields (level 9, 8 and 5, all with air HQ, 99 morale, nice weather)... they didn't even try...

so let's get back to the Allied strike... must be totally surprising (again?), this time it's just the other way around and as I've said, it's not related to the Allied or Japanese side, it's just related to being in the poor situation of being put below the enemy fighters...

to make matters worse, the enemy escorts are not only hampered by being dived on, they get an additional malus for being on escort... my fighter pilots are mostly in the low 70s skill, not comparable with the 80+ elite that was shot down at 28:0 over Kusai but that doesn't matter... with a 1,5:1 advantage in fighter numbers we had the never ending dive on the enemy, the result is even more loopsided... it's fun to grap a sheet of paper and a pencil and just tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick... and at some point you have and insane long row of ticks on one side and no ticks on the other... how comes?

in this case, we count 51 enemy fighters being outright shot down during the dive for ONE Frank being DAMAGED by a Corsair... 51 kills for 1 damaged fighter? 51:0 kill rate? Sounds reasonable... I can already hear the next claim about skill/exp... well, these enemy carrier pilots are the original ones so even if they wouldn't be trained on map, they are perfectly suited even without training... and what about my 80+ skilled pilots that lost 28:0 over Kusai? Also a matter of skills? You think the enemy had 90 skilled pilots doing the sweeps? When these same fighters on escort were shot down in droves over Kusai by my same Frank pilots when they had the dive? Seriously?

But hey, the enemy fighters, better say another Corsair even managed to down a Frank in the engagement when the dive was over... the only thing the escorts achieved besides dying in droves was pushing a dozen bombers through our CAP that sunk a 1 pt subchaser at Medan, not even a tanker was attacked... the enemy could only hope to see the engagement being over after the bombing runs but he wasn't lucky as our fighters kept pounding the enemy, again with the dive (the kills are already summed above)...



Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Avenger II bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
2 x Avenger II bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
1 x Avenger II bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
1 x Avenger II bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
1 x Avenger I bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
352 Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
18th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 33910.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
47th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 30 on standby, 0 scrambling)
14 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes

[castor troy]

the enemy comes in low, our CAP is positioned higher, add in the escort malus and voila, taking the fighter kills from the air losses list we only get a 78:2 in fighters today... add in the bombers and we are at 120:2 or the like... it's been fixed, yeah, it is...

and I'm sure some yay sayer will find ample of reasons why these results occur on and on? Must be all perfectly sane then...

I'd call it broken sh*t and it's never been different nor has it been fixed... I could have set my fighters to 1000ft and have no radar in the hex to end up below the escorts which would have made the outcome reasonable at best but having the altitude advantage and the enemy getting the malus from flying escort has made this a totally unplausible and idiotic outcome... that way the Allied would still fight in the Pacific nowadays and the Mariana's Turkey shoot would have happened on and on and on, but with Allied carrier fleets being stripped of aircraft each time they engaged land based fighters on CAP...

the enemy could do nothing here, his torpedo bombers were set to 5000ft to hit something with their bombs, that means their escorts will be no higher than 8000ft so our CAP will always be higher, either because I have set them to 10k+ by default or due to radar pushing them up into a favourable position... the only thing not getting them up higher would be not enough prewarning time compared to climb or their ceiling being maxed out below the enemy but that would never happen against a carrier strike and only occurs against strato sweeps...

120:2... zzzZZZzzz and please don't tell me I have to add in the 6 aircraft shot down over the carriers while being on nav search...

and there is only one constant every time when I see these loops and it's always the dive... if it's such an obvious, different reason, why does that never happen when the dive isn't involved? Bad luck? For sure...

[29000Kevin]

Well obviously for anymore games their should be House Rules against High Altitude Dog fighting since it nevered really happened in the real Pacific War, 25,000ft is enough.

Secondly you should never play this version of the Babs Mod ever again since it loves and hates you too much (looking at the lopsided results on both sides in the air and the ASW missions where seeing a Submarine = Plane crash)

But the strangest thing is, I've seen the Strato-Sweep strategy completely fail against an organised Layered CAP in a Scenario 2 Game, the game ended with the Allies Giving up (because Free Time became nonexistence).

It seems for some unknowable reason that the Mod broke the Pilot skills system in some way or form since Elite Pilots don't matter anymore in CAP duties.
You should post the Stats of the P-51D and the Thunderbolts and compare them against the Ki-84R Frank just to prove your point that something is not working as intended in this version of the mod.
But maybe seeing the stats could "plausibly" explain in some way how the lopsided results happened.

Another Tactic you should try is to CAP an area at the lowest altitude possible and see if anything happens whenever a Strato Sweep happens.

[BBfanboy]

There was an update to the air combat model - it may have come out after the DBB mods were made in which case it would not have been incorporated in them. I don't remember the details of what changed in the air combat model but it seemed like a big deal to air war fans at the time.

[castor troy]

The Frank -r is pretty much equal to Allied fighters like the Corsair or the Mustang when it comes down to speed, climb. More maneuverable, bad service rating and lower gun value. Frank is better than the Hellcats, George is a copy of the Hellcat. The P-47 is better in every aspect except maneuverability.

It's not the stats of the aircraft, we are comparing pretty much equal aircraft on both sides, same goes for the pilots. In one case my pilots are like super heroes, followed by the next moment they are trashed like shit. Same aircraft, same pilots, the only thing different is one side getting a loopsided long period of dives where they get unbeatable and a loopsided result in the end. Doesn't matter if one side is at 20k and the other at 5k or one side at 5k and the other at 1k. What staggered or layered CAP does is at some point pulling the sweeper hopefully down to lower level but that's not bullet prove, there's still the chance to watch replays with one side diving the other on and on.

And that's against sweeps, but it doesn't work at all with escorted bomber strikes (for the attacker) because the defender will have his CAP higher and the outcome is seen above and in hundreds of other combat reports on the forum. Loops on and on.

If someone thinks results like the above posted is fine, then be it, I will just ignore him and accept that he has no clue of how real life worked which is pretty much the same as 4,5kg rockets clearing a whole island. No need to discuss.

I also don't think the mod is the reason for the results because I get the same with vanilla and a mod never changes a routine, it only changes stats.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 15, 45

needless to say the British carriers turned around this turn to get out of range of my bases on and around Sumatra... I was asking Mundy what the Brits were doing there and I only received "adventure" as a reply [:D]

I still can't figure out what the real reason was though because if my bomber strikes would have launched the enemy could have lost more than just the 110 carrier based aircraft which already is a big loss for the Brits as their replacements are low, very low...