Matrix Games Forums

April 2, 1942

Quiet day again...

The siege of Maryborough is broken!

It would be nice to pocket and destroy this IJA Army, but I doubt that will be the outcome...which is ok as the offensive has more important goals in the short term...Rockhampton will be cut off tomorrow by rail from the north and west...too bad I can't cut the southern rail line.

I would like to use some Navy to bombard, but I have lost track of the KB and there are 60 Betties/Nells at Rockhampton.

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

The Vindicators are slow and ponderous, but have a great range, better than any other later model dive bomber.

I typically keep one or two operational squadrons of Vindicators until the pool runs dry.

Allied pools are so low in '42 that it has always made sense to me to get as much mileage as possible out of the 'obsolete' aircraft.

Thank you![:)]

Scorecard

I get two squadrons of Wellington Ic in the next few days...with their range and SR they will make a great night time bomber of Magwe.

Also, they can carry 2 supply into China...

Wish I got more of them.

Not pictured below, I start getting Lancers for China, I converted one fighter squadron with 1 plane, and will fly them out to Ledo once repaired.

I did try night campaign with the British 2Es against Magve without success. Tried again with Liberators in 43 with the same poor results. It seems Oil fields are "immune" from night attacks.

I love the Wellington but it is fragile - little defensive armament and seems easy for flak to shoot down too. Find a place where there is no fighter opposition and only light flak (that you can fly above) if you want to bomb something. Bomb merchant ships too.
To give them the best survival rate I can, I bring in some veteran pilots with Defensive skill in the high 60s or more.

ORIGINAL: 821Bobo

I did try night campaign with the British 2Es against Magve without success. Tried again with Liberators in 43 with the same poor results. It seems Oil fields are "immune" from night attacks.

Having been on the receiving end in previous Japanese games, night bombing can be horrendously successful. Although it is not easy, and you need to really work the system.

In this game, I have had good success with night bombing industry. Not great, well considering the pilot quality and DL levels, that is to be expected.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I love the Wellington but it is fragile - little defensive armament and seems easy for flak to shoot down too. Find a place where there is no fighter opposition and only light flak (that you can fly above) if you want to bomb something. Bomb merchant ships too.
To give them the best survival rate I can, I bring in some veteran pilots with Defensive skill in the high 60s or more.

Used to Japanese bombers I am, it is not fragile![:D]

Sweeping attacks:

Given the Allies horrendous advantage in AA and Japanese paucity, it leaves a lot of the fighter force available for sweeping attacks, strafing attacks, and 1000' foot bombing runs.

I plan to give them all a workout, have already used them. The P38J and the D25 Jugs are especially attractive although their common role is high altitude sweepers I have other plans for some (most) of them.[X(][;)]

Curious to see what effect the camera has with the Fulmar!

Also, I continue testing the 100' and 1000' sweeping attack. I think as a stand alone offensive mission, the effectiveness isn't great, but rather used in conjunction with other offensive missions, could be very strong indeed, as RangerJoe has alluded to in previous posts.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe


Having been on the receiving end in previous Japanese games, night bombing can be horrendously successful. Although it is not easy, and you need to really work the system.

In this game, I have had good success with night bombing industry. Not great, well considering the pilot quality and DL levels, that is to be expected.

I have had great success in airfield night bombing as well, in such extend that we had to put limits on it. But when I targeted oil, no hits.

ORIGINAL: 821Bobo

ORIGINAL: Lowpe


Having been on the receiving end in previous Japanese games, night bombing can be horrendously successful. Although it is not easy, and you need to really work the system.

In this game, I have had good success with night bombing industry. Not great, well considering the pilot quality and DL levels, that is to be expected.

I have had great success in airfield night bombing as well, in such extend that we had to put limits on it. But when I targeted oil, no hits.

I have posted some night hit replays in previous messages so it can be done![:)]

We do have a HR, one of the very few ones, that limit total Airfield or Port night attacks to no more than 50 total planes worldwide per night.

I have been exploring divebombers recently, especially the Vindicator (which I like), and came across these guys with multiple bomb loads....my goodness, what IJN CV killers these guys are![X(]

I have always been a fan of the dual small bombload the Lilly DB has, and been very satisfied with its damage output and hit capability, but here these guys really bring the payload!

SR3 kinda sucks for a DB though.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

SR3 kinda sucks for a DB though.

Just like Judy...on CVs it is not bad at all. Normally they are almost always one attack and run for the hills...[:D]

April 3, 1942

Been trying to bomb Dacca's LI for several days in a row, but for whatever reason the bombers strayed for the last several days, but today some got thru.

Moonlight has been high, 100% a day or two ago.

Go figure.

I need to increase and do the maximum 50 planes per night at runway/port bombing.

Go Dutch!

They found their way! Not always the case.

Curious to see what effect the camera has with the Fulmar!

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Also, I continue testing the 100' and 1000' sweeping attack. I think as a stand alone offensive mission, the effectiveness isn't great, but rather used in conjunction with other offensive missions, could be very strong indeed, as RangerJoe has alluded to in previous posts.

Interested to see how this plays out for you.

For what it's worth, I've been pretty pleased with the flexibility of training all my fighter pilots on LowNav, as it lets you effectively do some limited point defence of your airbases without needing specialised planes.

It helps that the Allied aircraft lineup tends to be fairly heavy on the bombs and cannon.

On the dive bombers, I've always struggled to use the Vengeance. Six hex max range is just meh, and given that they mostly operate on the western side of the map I've never felt they've had much impact compared to the longer ranged anti-shipping platforms like the Beaufighters/Beauforts.

Fulmars set to sweep at 100' and 1000' part of a coordinated attack with our squadrons.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

On the dive bombers, I've always struggled to use the Vengeance. Six hex max range is just meh, and given that they mostly operate on the western side of the map I've never felt they've had much impact compared to the longer ranged anti-shipping platforms like the Beaufighters/Beauforts.

Thanks m-m.[&o]

Have you used the Vengeance at night as an anti shore bombardment role? This is what I was planning on doing.