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Erkki -> RE: 4E Night Bomber in Air-to-Air (8/6/2014 9:09:36 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Spidery
Until the development of "Wilde Sau" (or airborne centi-metric radar) there was no way to use mass aircraft to counter night bombing runs. Instead, the Germans relied upon en route interception by one aircraft at a time but at multiple spots.
The game doesn't model any form of en route interception. The massed searchlights needed for Wilde Sau don't exist. There should be no historic expectation for the Japanese to intercept Allied strikes. Historically, the Japanese had great difficulty countering night raids.
Using a small number of aircraft on night CAP seems to achieve historic results. That is, it does little damage, loses few planes, but decreases bomber accuracy. If you use ahistoric tactics then undesirable outcomes result.
Also, fighters at night should attack from below the aircraft and not above (it is very hard to see a plane at night below you against dark land). Whether the game models that I have no idea.
Arguably, the problem is that night bombing of facilities is more effective than historically was the case and therefore a counter is needed to what was, mostly, just a minor annoyance. However, the unusual effectiveness of night bombing is, in part, just a consequence of the ability to maintain an ahistoric tempo of air operations across the board. Fortunately, the Japanese have a limited counter, they can realise there is an issue from December 7th and deploy night fighters earlier than historically was the case.
Another issue not modeled is the ease with which you can swap aircraft between day and night roles. This doesn't model the use of different camouflage patterns for night or day use, different bomb sights, etc.
This doesn't mean you may not want House Rules to give what you consider a better gaming experience.
Hey,
How should night CAP of a few planes disrupt bomber accuracy?
This was how a night fighter sortie usually went: took off, flew around and either saw nothing or chased a few contacts(radar or GCI), returned home. If they got to attack a bomber, that bomber was usually surprised and destroyed. There were cases of night fighters shot down by bombers(or blinded by flashbangs in some cases) but those were few. Most night fighters shot down were done so by other night fighters lurking near home base or friendly flak. That of course in Europe where there was considerably more sorties flown. Managing to intercept a bomber without radar or GCI in Pacific or Burma must have been a nightmare - just as was trying to bomb and hit something...
Not quite what you see in the game. If the algorithms can be changed for night combat, somehow making night fighters much, much more likely to just disengage(Ki-45 cant stay in formation, running out of fuel etc. reports) and allow them to do maybe just on average 1/5 or 1/4 of an attack per plane, and nearly completely or completely disable bomber gunners, would give more plausible results. In my opinion.
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