Attacking PT Boats by air

[SoulBlazer]

Seems under the new patch, attacks on PT boats by airplanes suffer the same problems as attacking barges.

I put my planes at 100 feet -- Zero's and bombers -- and had them attack a fleet of PT boats.

100 planes all ganged up on ONE ship. **** it, I wanted more then one ship attacked!

On the other hand, that boat took 27 bomb and 20 torpedo hits, winning the award for "Most overkill on a single ship"

[Mr.Frag]

27 bomb and 20 torpedo hits

And let me guess, due to superior Allied Damage control, it made it back to port too!

Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh. I didn't know a PT boat was even big enough to absorb 20 torpedos. There is just not enough hull! It's only 80 feet long! Thats a torpedo every 4 feet and a bomb every 3 feet for the entire length of the boat! Amazing that the 3000 gallons of high octane AVGAS didn't manage to get hit and sink the boat instantly.

[11Bravo]

It is a testament to the skill of Japanese aviators that they were able to coordinate the attack so all the ordinance hit simultaneously.

[Mr.Frag]

While on the topic, I just can't see a PT boat getting hit by a torpedo, just as barges can't be hit by them. The only thing in the water when a PT boat is moving is those 3 props being driven by 5000+ horsepower of raw engines.

Gotta hand it to the guys who served on these bombs as it was well known that even the Navy considered you expendable.

0 to 40+ knots in 11 seconds. Tough to get a car that will do that

[pasternakski]

Well, remember that, in UV, PT boats run on bunker oil, which I have to imagine slows 'em down considerably.

I also have gotten to the "take it with a grain of salt" philosophy: you have to ignore some of the silliness in order to enjoy the game.

[Admiral DadMan]

I didn't have that problem:

Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 38,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 35

no losses

Allied Ships
PT 36, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PT 59
PT 64
PT 43, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PT 44, Shell hits 16, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PT 40, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

[SoulBlazer]

So what did you do for your attack?

[Admiral DadMan]

Originally posted by SoulBlazer
So what did you do for your attack?

Me? Naval Attack, 100ft, 0 CAP. On the third day, they rested;)

[SoulBlazer]

Well, those are the same settings I had. Mine were carrier planes -- Val's and Kate's. I can't understand why they only attacked one ship.

[djoosten]

Why would you want to attack PT boats with carrier planes ? I don't see the real point there, i feel that is more a waste of ammo and fuel from the CV's on other better targets. I'd say if you want to really get ride of them, send in some fast DD's and they will finish them up, also fighter/bombers that have a cannon can finish them up easy, for both sides btw. Surely the allies have the early advantage on this, but on the other hand it doesnt have any PT boats untill the other side gets the right planes heh.

AG are easy meat for P400, P38's .. just need 1 or 2 squadron and they will eat them alive when coming inrange, and they dont drop them on just one boat either!

Now carrier planes, there not the right type to attack these small buggers heh, you wanna keep them for the big boys:)

[Admiral DadMan]

Originally posted by SoulBlazer
Well, those are the same settings I had. Mine were carrier planes -- Val's and Kate's. I can't understand why they only attacked one ship.

That might be a continuation of the single ship strafe bug. Maybe there's a way to run some tests on that.

[djoosten]

Originally posted by Admiral DadMan
That might be a continuation of the single ship strafe bug. Maybe there's a way to run some tests on that.

Well some navy battles seem to suffer this same bug, i have had a Jap light DD got hit 137 shells and then it sank ??? Seems very unrealistic and in the meantime they dont shoot at other boats.

A sample battle:
Jap TF: 2BB, 1CL, 8DD vs US TF: 8CA, 2CL, 10DD

Now in this case it seems more natuaral the CA's and CL's should target the BB's and CL as there primary target while the DD's keep the fight with the other DD's, not saying things get mixed but i don't get why they waste so much 8inch gun ammo on DD's and shoot with 5 inch guns on the BB's ?

This test battle i ended up with 24x 5 inch hits on a BB and all my 8inch hit the a single DD with 137 hits combining the 6 inch from the CL's.

Second run the launched a torpedo attack and sank one of my CL's and at that time the DD with 137 still wasnt sunk untill the very end

[Admiral DadMan]

Originally posted by djoosten
Well some navy battles seem to suffer this same bug, i have had a Jap light DD got hit 137 shells and then it sank ??? Seems very unrealistic and in the meantime they dont shoot at other boats.

A sample battle:
Jap TF: 2BB, 1CL, 8DD vs US TF: 8CA, 2CL, 10DD

Now in this case it seems more natuaral the CA's and CL's should target the BB's and CL as there primary target while the DD's keep the fight with the other DD's, not saying things get mixed but i don't get why they waste so much 8inch gun ammo on DD's and shoot with 5 inch guns on the BB's ?

This test battle i ended up with 24x 5 inch hits on a BB and all my 8inch hit the a single DD with 137 hits combining the 6 inch from the CL's.

Second run the launched a torpedo attack and sank one of my CL's and at that time the DD with 137 still wasnt sunk untill the very end

There's been quite a discussion about that sort of thing. You might want to put it into its own thread rather than have it lost in here.

[djoosten]

Originally posted by Admiral DadMan
That might be a continuation of the single ship strafe bug. Maybe there's a way to run some tests on that.

Well some navy battles seem to suffer this same bug, i have had a Jap light DD got hit 137 shells and then it sank ??? Seems very unrealistic and in the meantime they dont shoot at other boats.

A sample battle:
Jap TF: 2BB, 1CL, 8DD vs US TF: 8CA, 2CL, 10DD

Now in this case it seems more natuaral the CA's and CL's should target the BB's and CL as there primary target while the DD's keep the fight with the other DD's, not saying things get mixed but i don't get why they waste so much 8inch gun ammo on DD's and shoot with 5 inch guns on the BB's ?

This test battle i ended up with 24x 5 inch hits on a BB and all my 8inch hit the a single DD with 137 hits combining the 6 inch from the CL's.

Second run the launched a torpedo attack and sank one of my CL's and at that time the DD with 137 still wasnt sunk untill the very end

[Mr.Frag]

Partial information is not really useful when looking at battle results.

What range did this happen at?

Was it a night turn?

Was there a surprise message?

Did ship names show up during the combat play? (detection value)

Were any ships on fire prior to the start? (detection value)

What ships had radar? (detection value)

Without knowing what really happened, the output AAR is pretty much useless. Obviously a nightime surprise attack at 3000 range is going to result in an extremely large number of small calibur rounds being fired which actually do very little damage against any ship that has some armor, yet from an AAR standpoint, it looks totally nuts!

A DD getting hit by 127 .50 rounds is not going to sink. Obviously, based purely on the number of hits, it was being hit by secondary guns.

[djoosten]

Originally posted by Mr.Frag
Partial information is not really useful when looking at battle results.

What range did this happen at?

>>> first at 2000, second at 7000, Allied surpized the Jap TF and fired before the actuall 2000 showed.

Was it a night turn?

>>> Yes night turn, intercepted TF and moved into position

Was there a surprise message?

>>> Yes Jap surprized and Allied fired on surprized ships after crossing the T or something like it.

Did ship names show up during the combat play? (detection value)

>>> Yes, 2 BB (Hei, Kongo) 4 small DD, 4 normal DD, 1 small CL jap side

Were any ships on fire prior to the start? (detection value)

>>> 5 of his ships on fire after hitting MK16 mines, both BB got his and 3 DD hit mines (i had hidden 120 MK16 mines in the hex he would try to bombard me through) Amazingly none of my ships hit a mine when crossing the area

What ships had radar? (detection value)

>>> i know the CA's, CL's and DD's all had radards, cant tell you in detail right now but will once i get home

Without knowing what really happened, the output AAR is pretty much useless. Obviously a nightime surprise attack at 3000 range is going to result in an extremely large number of small calibur rounds being fired which actually do very little damage against any ship that has some armor, yet from an AAR standpoint, it looks totally nuts!

>>> This battle was nuts true, when at 2000 this was the most impressive night attack i ever pulled against such a heavy TF. He only hit me once on a CA with his 14 inch guns, that was an amazing fact considering the range was then 7000 he missed all at 2000. I did hit with a couple on the BB, 2-3 8 inch and at that range they penetrated the BB's armor, at 7000 it just bounced off.

A DD getting hit by 127 .50 rounds is not going to sink. Obviously, based purely on the number of hits, it was being hit by secondary guns.

>>> true with .50 rounds it shouldnt sink, but i got hit with perhaps about 40 AA rounds max, the rest where 5 inch rounds and 6 and 8 inch rounds.

Ill do a replay of this tonight and copy all the info. Hope i get in the same range again. Ill put a paper and count each round that hits etc in detail.