Matrix Games

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

After looking for some more info about the B-25 strafers, just to see if I could find anything supporting use of these guns in air-to-air battles, I found some great footage of what they did best. Wiping out airfields and hitting ships. Amazing pics and a great film about an attack on the Wewak area by strafing B-25D1s, showing gun camera footage of the airfield being hit.

http://www.3rdattackgroup.org/missions.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YcvZqKXybc&feature=youtu.be

quote:

ORIGINAL: Colonel Mustard

Maybe a little off-topic, but your first combat report shows "Akagi-1" having J2M3 Jack planes. Is this a carrier squadron? I think the Jack was strictly a land-based plane. Could be wrong, though, any thoughts?

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton

If I recall the killer b25 was an issue way back in the beginning and was fixed. I have never seen this result in my games. I suggest you test this as one combat does not carry much weight.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JeffK

But look at the last combat, you only lost 3 fighters in intercepting a group of 175 Mitchell variants and claiming 7 victories.
How many 50cals were in that bomber group??
In the combat your mostly poorly armoured and armed fighted came out 1-1, far from a devastating loss, especially if one of your pilots is stupid enough to ram one of them.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

...and that's what happens when you overstack your airfields

From the results you posted, to my untrained eye only the first one seems "wrong". A 1:1 kill ratio with bombers is a bit much.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

...and that's what happens when you overstack your airfields

From the results you posted, to my untrained eye only the first one seems "wrong". A 1:1 kill ratio with bombers is a bit much.

In the first one, 28 fighters (17 Franks + 11 Tojos) intercepted 32 Mitchells. 2 Franks and 2 Tojos were either shot down or destroyed on the ground. 9 Mitchells were lost (in air combat or shot down by AA). Hardly a 1:1 kill ratio (most Japanese planes were ostensibly destroyed on the ground).

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ORIGINAL: oldman45

Personally I thought you got off pretty light. In looking over the Army Air Corp Histories, it appeared mid war they were more concerned about flak and flak suppression than the fighters. Perhaps the game is factoring in the nose guns on the D1's.

I read a passage somewhere that some crews painted the glass noses green to try to fool the fighters into thinking they were D1 variants in an attempt to keep them from making head on passes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: JeffK

But look at the last combat, you only lost 3 fighters in intercepting a group of 175 Mitchell variants and claiming 7 victories.
How many 50cals were in that bomber group??
In the combat your mostly poorly armoured and armed fighted came out 1-1, far from a devastating loss, especially if one of your pilots is stupid enough to ram one of them.

This might have made sense if it were early 43, but these are fighters with armor (all of them except the A6M3a), with 20mm cannons, and they are meeting this group with good numbers. There is a reason daylight bombing was considered dangerous in ww2 without sufficient escort. Yes some interceptors would be shot down, but the bombers would suffer quite a bit in the process.

The combat as a whole has more interceptors being shot down than bombers. That doesn't make sense with these numbers and the quality involved. Especially when you consider that situations modeled with 4Es with similar numbers would come out with the bombers shot down at about a 2:1 rate (in my experience).

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: JeffK

But look at the last combat, you only lost 3 fighters in intercepting a group of 175 Mitchell variants and claiming 7 victories.
How many 50cals were in that bomber group??
In the combat your mostly poorly armoured and armed fighted came out 1-1, far from a devastating loss, especially if one of your pilots is stupid enough to ram one of them.

This might have made sense if it were early 43, but these are fighters with armor (all of them except the A6M3a), with 20mm cannons, and they are meeting this group with good numbers. There is a reason daylight bombing was considered dangerous in ww2 without sufficient escort. Yes some interceptors would be shot down, but the bombers would suffer quite a bit in the process.

The combat as a whole has more interceptors being shot down than bombers. That doesn't make sense with these numbers and the quality involved. Especially when you consider that situations modeled with 4Es with similar numbers would come out with the bombers shot down at about a 2:1 rate (in my experience).

Actually, (and this does not necessarily mean it happens in the game) The Americans considered all of their medium and heavy bombers well equipped to handle Japanese fighters without escort. As long as they kept formation and were in sufficient numbers. The bombers were simply better armed than most Japanese aircraft and Japanese fighter pilots were not generally well trained in the group tactics needed to attack bombers. (here is where the lack of radios made a big difference) It was vastly different than in Europe.

Zeros had some trouble bringing down SBDs and avengers if the American pilots were experienced and kept tight formation.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Could this possible be a fatigue issue? All of the previous battles were "normal" while this one really stood out. But this was also the last one. Could it be that the Jap pilots were extremely fatigued at this point? I know I have been getting 30+ fatigue by simple LRCAP without combat.