Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

2. Lack of intel (Nav Search by the squadron would likely improve this, but does the game treat intel gathered by the squadron's own pilots as better than intel gained by other squadrons dedicated to Nav Search?)

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace
I have seen many posts indicating that setting torpedo bombers, whether land-based or CV-based, to 10-20% Nav Search increases the likelihood they will attack.

Is there any definitive answer on this game mechanic?

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ORIGINAL: Maallon

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

2. Lack of intel (Nav Search by the squadron would likely improve this, but does the game treat intel gathered by the squadron's own pilots as better than intel gained by other squadrons dedicated to Nav Search?)

As far as I know this is not the case, it is not important from where the Intel is coming from, all that matter is the DL and MDL of the detected ships. So no, you don't need to set your TB squadrons on Nav Search, as long as there are other squadrons who are already doing Nav Search in the area.

But setting them on Nav Search can increase your chances on finding enemy ships and/or raising their DL further, though this is very situational and you need to ask yourself if it is worth it to hold back several TBs for NAVS instead of torpedoing the enemy.
A higher DL on the enemy fleet is always useful though and battles can be decided through that, but there is no rule of thumb answer, you must assess the situation and make the appropriate decision.

If you haven't done so already, I would very much recommend reading chapter 10 of the manual.

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace
I have seen many posts indicating that setting torpedo bombers, whether land-based or CV-based, to 10-20% Nav Search increases the likelihood they will attack.

Is there any definitive answer on this game mechanic?

What this likely means is that the 10-20% Nav Search planes will increase the DL of the enemy fleet further and thus make it more likely that your squadrons will attack the appropriate targets.
Also if you don't have other search assets in the area you definitely need to set some of your squadrons (including float planes if available) on Nav Search, because you will be more or less blind otherwise.

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ORIGINAL: HansBolter

I am one who likely helped start this 'urban legend' as I have been claiming, based solely on anecdotal evidence, that this has been the case going all the way back to the Uncommon Valor days.

I noticed, over the course of many games, that I got better results in the way of actual sorties flown, when the squadrons tasked with the NAV Attack mission had a NAV Search setting of at least 10%.

When I relied exclusively on the PBY squadron at the base for NAV search, the NAV bombers would sit and do nothing.

As soon as I assigned a NAV Search setting of 10% to each of the bombing squadrons, they started flying missions.

Yes, we are all aware there are many, many factors that contribute to a given squadron flying or not, but there is simply no substitute for experience and I have witnessed this effect over dozens, upon dozens of games.

Perhaps it is something as simple as the DL being increased by the application of additional searches. I typically don't stand down the PBY squadron just because I'm searching with the bomber squadrons so perhaps its the double duty that is paying off.

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ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Who knows, maybe there is also a communication check with the unit about the results of the Naval Search and by tasking part of the unit for this, then the unit is more likely to fly an attack mission.

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

...(Nav Search by the squadron would likely improve this, but does the game treat intel gathered by the squadron's own pilots as better than intel gained by other squadrons dedicated to Nav Search?) ...

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ORIGINAL: Alfred

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ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

...(Nav Search by the squadron would likely improve this, but does the game treat intel gathered by the squadron's own pilots as better than intel gained by other squadrons dedicated to Nav Search?) ...

No.

Any difference in intel quality here results from the naval search rating of the pilots themselves, not as to which unit did the sighting (however, don't overlook the impact of point 4 below).

Assigning some bomber planes to naval search does not ipso facto, increase the odds of the bomber unit sortieing against an enemy task force. Players need to take into account the following.

1. The detection level of an enemy TF is an aggregated number obtained from many sources.

2. In each phase, the player is only notified the first time a plane spots an enemy TF. Aircraft from other units which also spot the same enemy TF in that phase increase further the detection level but the player is not directly informed of the additional spotting.

3. There are many factors which can ground an air unit and not carry out its mission. These factors are not in play for searching but are in play for bombing in the same phase. IOW, if the unit could fly some naval search, it can also fly off to bomb. Bear in mind that the grounding factors may come into play for some but not all units at the same location, let alone if different locations are involved.

4. Most bomber types have shorter legs than dedicated patrol types, hence any subsidiary searching by a bomber unit will probably be limited to a much shorter search range than that assigned by a player to a patrol unit. The shorter the search range, the better the odds of finding something. This is the search density factor in play.

Alfred