Pete/Jake Port Attack?

[WiTP_Dude]

Anyone else use the CS ships for port attacks on the first turn?

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 12
F1M2 Pete x 20
E13A1 Jake x 7

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 2 destroyed
F1M2 Pete: 7 destroyed, 2 damaged
E13A1 Jake: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
SS Shark, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Princess of Negros, Bomb hits 1
SS Pickerel, Bomb hits 1
PT PT-41, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
SS Saury, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x E13A1 Jake bombing at 2000 feet
3 x F1M2 Pete bombing at 2000 feet
14 x F1M2 Pete bombing at 2000 feet
11 x B5N Kate bombing at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Batavia , at 19,59

Japanese aircraft
F1M2 Pete x 9

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
F1M2 Pete: 5 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Siberoet, Bomb hits 1
AP Buyskens, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x F1M2 Pete bombing at 2000 feet

[admiral56]

Usually, i dont...30kg boms are mostly paint removers right?

[pauk]

i don't use them for port attack, but i think it's pretty good idea to put them on naval attack (search level 30-40). Float planes are not so bad against transport ships [8D]

[Caltone]

From another post I made, beware the mighty Pete! Keep in mind though the target was a cripple. These guys can be fine against transports, especially cripples.

[esteban]

I don't see why you shouldn't use them on turn one. They don't pack much of a punch, but every bit of extra damage helps.

[mogami]

Hi, They are IJN pilots. If you lose them you have to use a trained pilot from your pool or wait for the pool to empty and then use untrained pilots for your scouts.

[Caltone]

I agree with that regarding the Jakes Mogami, but I've found the Pete's to be nigh useless. Lets put it this way, If I lose a Pete, the Emperor doesn't lose any sleep that night [:D]

[mogami]

Hi, The function of the Pete is to spot and supress enemy submarines in the hex it is located in. It does this to good effect. Set the Pete to 1k feet and range 1. When a cheap worthless Pete spots the enemy submarine that otherwise would have put a torpedo into a valuable ship you'll thank the pilot. That is unless you've already killed him and not replaced him. Since there are ship carried Petes that cannot be anything but Petes you have a choice. Use them or not but a trained Pete pilot will spot more submarines then untrained Pete Pilot and replacing trained pilots is expensive no matter what aircraft you assign them. Better to keep alive all the pilots that other wise are only threatened by ops loss then kill them trying to hit with a 30kg bomb and then running out of trained pilots for A6M2 and G4M groups. (you only have 100 pilots to last until you train groups for replacements. Once you are out of the pool pilots you have to disband part of an active group to get trained pilots or you have to let untrained pilots into your groups. Don't waste your 100 starting pilots on floatplanes. Once the pool is empty you will always be using replacement groups for active groups and the 10 per month pilots for floatplane and patrol groups (prefer patrol groups over floatplane groups)

[Caltone]

99% of the time my Pete's fly ASW as I've posted in advice to other players. That is indeed the best use for them. I think we do have a bit of leeway though since we have 45 or so in the pool and losses among them are rare. In the screenshot I posted above, I used a 16 plane Pete squadron on Naval attack from a CS to hit the crippled Holland. I did this so my CV TF which had crippled the Holland could persue the rest of her TF. Prior to this turn and in the turn immediately after, the Pete's were on ASW duty. But as you can see, they worked OK in mop up duty and took no losses from a single crippled ship.

I typically use the Pete's in ASW roles within my TF's (most BB's carry them) and on island outposts for the same reason. It's very nice when you are sailing supplies into a distant atoll and the Pete's on duty spot the sub waiting for you.