Air defense advice sought

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jwolf
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Air defense advice sought

Post by jwolf »

New player here, in my first campaign as Allies, early February 1942. My problem with air defense is that my fighter groups can't withstand under pressure, even if their losses are very small. Here is the most recent example, at Columbo with air support 150.

February 6: 54 fighters plus another 4 damaged or under maintenance.

That day, Columbo was attacked by the mini KB (augmented by Kaga). There was a morning sweep and an afternoon air attack. My losses in the sweep were 3 planes destroyed, none damaged. In the air attack, no allied losses.

So I should be in good shape, right? Wrong.

February 7: 27 fighters active, plus 25 damaged or under maintenance.

This pattern has repeated itself throughout the campaign, in any major base where I seriously attempted to hold air power for a time against the Japanese attack. Sometimes my air to air losses were bad enough to cripple my air force. But more often, my losses were small to moderate, but as in the example above, so few planes were left able to fly that I had to concede air superiority by default. Just one or two days of enemy sweeps would do this every time.

What am I doing wrong, and how can air defense be set up so that it can be maintained?
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Lokasenna
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by Lokasenna »

You need to have secondary groups ready to fly in, or stood down and ready to be in the air on Day 2 (risky) - basically, you need to rotate your units. If you notice that only 27 out of 52 planes are airworthy on Day 2, you need to either pull out or reinforce. Even if you only lose a handful of planes in the initial strikes, many more could be damaged or get worn down by the combat and are thus stood down for repairs or maintenance as you are noticing.
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rustysi
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by rustysi »

You say you have 150 AS at the base, but not how many total planes stationed there. AS is needed for all A/C not just those flying. So not enough AS or just the minimum could result in A/C fatigue. What type of A/C intercepted you (Claudes or Zero's)? Claudes's have 7.7mm MG's and could result in many damaged A/C, Zero's would probably just splash you.

It might be this..

Go to the Air Uint Information screen (drill down on your air unit icon). Bottom left there are three choices in yellow. Click on plane. Look at your fatigue levels. If these are near their limit, involvement in a 'furball' may push many planes into the shop. So if fatigue levels are high it may just mean that unit needs extended time for repairs even though the A/C could technically fly.

Also things like low moral and pilot fatigue may result in planes being damaged on landing (just a SWAG, never saw anythng concerte on this). Check your OPS report for messages of A/C 'damaged on landing'. If you find a lot of pilots in the group with high fatigue and many damaged on landing messages there you go.
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rustysi
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by rustysi »

Oh, something else I just thought of, don't neglect AAA. I understand that the Allies in SEAC get a few large AAA units, use 'em to good effect. I mean you did say air defense, right?
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume

In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche

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jwolf
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by jwolf »

Columbo has a classified number of AA units, but they are plural. And there are no other planes there, only the fighters. Some bombers are stationed at nearby bases (mostly for search and ASW), but Columbo has fighters only.

The sweep was against Zeros, the second attack had Claude escorts along with Kates and Vals. The combat report said none of my planes were damaged, though a few may have had mishaps upon landing.
BattleMoose
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by BattleMoose »

Firstly I would make sure you have enough air support.

Secondly if your fighters got into a large scrap, many will be damaged.
jwolf
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by jwolf »

ORIGINAL: BattleMoose

Secondly if your fighters got into a large scrap, many will be damaged.

Even if the combat report doesn't say so? I mean, typically you see a summary: x destroyed, y damaged; and in this case y was zero both times.
BattleMoose
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by BattleMoose »

I don't think it actually shows damaged for Air to air combat, for flak and shore bombardment it does. *shrug* It stands though, if your planes get into a big fight, you will have many more damaged than destroyed, its usually how it goes down, WAD.
witpaemail
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by witpaemail »

If you are playing with Fog of War on, the reports dont mean a lot.
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Barb
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by Barb »

Combat Reports just couldn't give you the real image of what happened. To know exactly how many planes were lost and damaged, you have to see the Combat replay and count them yourself.
I suppose that the sweep had downed some airplanes, and damaged much more. Allied planes usually have higher durability and armor, so they are getting damaged instead of shot down.
Also each plane has a service rating and fatigue... these and actual damage to the airframe can count in getting the plane into the repairs... and also out of them.
That is why it can take a heavily worked and damaged B-17 15 days to get out of repairs...
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JeffroK
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by JeffroK »

Airbase damage??
Always have some engineers handy.
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witpaemail
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RE: Air defense advice sought

Post by witpaemail »

ORIGINAL: Barb

Combat Reports just couldn't give you the real image of what happened. To know exactly how many planes were lost and damaged, you have to see the Combat replay and count them yourself.
I suppose that the sweep had downed some airplanes, and damaged much more. Allied planes usually have higher durability and armor, so they are getting damaged instead of shot down.
Also each plane has a service rating and fatigue... these and actual damage to the airframe can count in getting the plane into the repairs... and also out of them.
That is why it can take a heavily worked and damaged B-17 15 days to get out of repairs...

Go to the info screen (press "i") and look at aircraft losses. Click on the yellow "today" at the top and it will sort it down by numbers of aircraft lost today. While this isnt 100% accurate for enemy losses (its about 90% accurate however it seems), it IS accurate for your losses.
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