Nikademus
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Joined: 5/27/2000
From: Alien spacecraft
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quote:
Penalizing the USN for being behind the IJN in developing the offensive potential of the aircraft carrier is justified. But according the IJN the ability to match CAP coordination and fleet AAA defense with the USN is just not justified. As was pointed out in "Shattered Sword" IJN carrier construction and recycling the CAP combined to prevent the KB from launching its own strike before disaster struck at Midway
There were a number of factors that prevented the Japanese from launching their own strike, the string of attacks was one of them. In regards to CAP, per the same source, the Japanese CAP was also fully capable of defending KB in similar vein to the US at that time given that the US Fleet defense doctrine was not yet solidified. (This would not occur until later in the war)
Kido Butai was however more 'limited' in how and when it could defend itself. Basically it required good weather and as much advance warning as possible. While the idea of smoke screens and shell firings does sound archaic (and it was in the dawning age of radar), it did help and one incoming raid was spotted coming in while still almost 30 miles away. If an attack was spotted and the CAP was not saturated by a multiple vector attack, it was fully capable of dishing out some adequate defense, which ironically, it did, damaging and shooting down many attackers over the course of the morning. The CAP did suffer from inadequate radios (USN ones wern't much better at the time), a lack of central fighter direction, and no radar. As such they tended to bunch up on the most immediate threat. USN CAP had all of these tactical elements mentioned but they had not yet gelled so the degree of superiority that I'm guessing is the focus of your last post would not be substantial except in specific circumstances (poor weather being the primary one) during the early part of the war. The material was there, but it didn't always sync. Radar's biggest aid during this time was that it gave them a heads up that trouble was coming allowing them to prepare the CV's for battle and attempt to vector the CAP but the primary edge was the CV preperation
Now that we've established that we both can tap this same source, lets get to the heart of the matter.
CAP edge - Allied side already has it. Its called radar - Radar allows Allied TF's to stage lower CAP levels yet get more planes in the air despite it (but not always) Radar also allows for defensive bonus rolls making their attacks better and longer. (but not always) There is a degree of abstraction here.
AA edge - Allied side already has it. Checked the OOB? the 5/38 in particular even without the proximity bonus is far superior to equivilent Japanese weapons that can also attack aircraft. USN/Allied TF in combination with more fragile Japanese planes usually takes a bigger toll on Japanese aircraft in the game.
Japanese mass strike edge -
As i said, its in there but like what i'll write below, its not nearly as big an edge as you are making it out to be at present in the game. I regularily avoid the "coord penalty" by simply keeping my TF's at 2 CV's per TF. Sometimes i'll get away with a 3 CV TF. They can and do regularily launch single large coordinated strikes in the same fashion as the Japan player will see. Hence, per the orig request subject of this thread....my recommendation for any WitP beginner as Allied is, use the CV's in two x CV TF's with a good number of escorts.
Issues:
Sound like a company man yet? Obviously there are some issues that could be improved. I have spent a considerable amount of time tinkering with the game in this regard so its not like i'm not aware of areas of improvement. Mayhaps its just that i spend more time tinkering and less time complaining as in some other threads so that little fact gets lost in the shuffle. (and some users of my work are playfully calling me an Allied fanboy for it given that one result of it is that it makes it tougher on the Japanese during their "happy time"  )
AA edge - I agree that Japanese shipbased flak should be weaker. Even in my mod i'm not always happy with the results i see though as with stock....the Allied TF's still take a bigger toll consistantly. A AA penalty similar what was seen in Carrier Force could be appropriate until mid 43, which is the year quoted in SS for when the Japanese adopted the ring defense.
CAP edge - It has long......and i do mean LONG admitted that the game does not represent large scale fighter battles as well as it might. This problem impacts BOTH sides. Why it is advertised continually as a Japanese-only edge built in i cannot fathom. I should show you my last PBEM result in 43 on how many of my planes Allied fighters downed in ONE DAY over China using just 40 P40's. KB's "uber" CAP as it is called, is primary focused on more than the Allied ability because, well most players are caught in the beginning of this long game so its during the period of Japanese initiative and secondly, well KB is Japanese. Having studied Lundstrom for a long time, i can assure you i reguarily see F4F CAP's slaughtering many times more the number of Kates and Vals AFTER trading a serious number of blows with the Zero escort than they did in real life.
< Message edited by Nikademus -- 2/25/2006 4:04:24 AM >
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Carrier grouping - 
)
. The battle was at 4-hex range, so Drex's TBDs could not engage. (They didn't float very well either). I was operating KB in one TF with a Surface TF in the same hex and 60% CAP. One of Drex's strikes went in against the surface group. One of his strikes did some damage- bomb hits on 2 carriers, but both survived easily. 
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