LoBaron -> RE: What Am I Doing Wrong (No Khyberbill Please) (1/12/2014 8:35:03 AM)
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ORIGINAL: Icedawg I am getting my butt handed to me in the air war over Akyab. I have top-notch pilots flying CAP in Tojo IIc's at 31k feet. Time and time again, small sweeps by Hellcats shoot the crap out of my guys. Here's the combat report for the latest sweep. Note, the Warhawks were not involved in the combat, but for some reason, they showed up in the combat report. Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 44 NM, estimated altitude 41,800 feet. Estimated time to target is 18 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 42 Allied aircraft P-40K Warhawk x 4 F6F-3 Hellcat x 14 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 8 destroyed No Allied losses CAP engaged: 9th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (22 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 22 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 31000 Raid is overhead 64th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 20 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 31000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes This is not an isolated event. It has been happening about every other turn for the past week or two. I outnumbered him by 3:1 and my guys were flying a plane with slightly-to-considerably better stats - slightly greater speed and maneuver rating and considerably greater climb rate. The Hellcats did get the bounce (since our HR limits CAPs and sweeps to 2nd best maneuver band, the best altitude I could do was the 31k feet). My pilots were all 70-80 experience and 70-80 air and defense skill, so we're not talking about much of a pilot skill differential here. Top squadron commanders were in charge, so that doesn't explain it either. What do I need to do to avoid results like this in the future? You HR is part of the issue, another is the better durability of the Hellcat, but your setup plays into the hands of the attacker as well. You do not use mutally supportive CAP layers, and you try to get as far up as possible (into the realms of the Hellcat) instead of low down where the Tojo excells. What are the P40Ks doing there? LRCAP supporting the sweep, or part of the sweep as well. If LRCAP, at what alt are they set? Edit: The CAP engaged messages also might point to a problem (raid warning is 18mins out but 9th Sentai engages only when the raid is overhead), this might be due to other small sweeps/raids, but in any way I would address the above first, and then look at further issues in detail if the results still are not satisfying.
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