Bombardment attacks

[DKF12]

Is there a way to insure bombardment occurs at night. I get little to no counter attacks at night.
I was thinking I could take it to a hex one move away then go in full speed at night
Thanks

[BBfanboy]

Nothing is certain because of weather or sometimes interruption by enemy ships, but it helps if you ensure you have a good DL on the target the day you are staging for the bombardment and then ensuring you can dash in during night period. Set the LAST major ship in your TF list to put up NIGHT FP recon with range=0, altitude 1000. You don't have to name the target of the recon. I also set other FPs to night Recon from one or two hexes away during the approach. I am not sure if it makes a difference (bombardment might take place before the night air missions) but it can't hurt. Besides, it helps grow the FP pilot's experience and Recon skill.

[RangerJoe]

I do believe that the night Recon during the bombardment helps the accuracy and thus the damage. You do have to make sure that the pilots have a high enough experience so they are not afraid to fly in the dark . . .

[Sardaukar]

I think the Float planes are supposed to drop flares on Bombardment targets and such.

Night Recon can make quite difference in results. You see in Combat report "acts as spotter to BB xxx" etc.

[BBfanboy]

RJ, Sardaukar, I think you misunderstand me. The flare dropping and shot calling is probably done by the FP launched at 0 distance. The last major ship in the list is the first to bombard so that is the one that should be set to Recon at 0 distance. The other aircraft launched from one or two hexes distance may or may not get there and deliver their report before the bombardment - I just don't have evidence one way or the other. And we don't know if they dropped flares or not, do we? I know the Japanese FPs (Washing Machine Charlie? ) that harassed the marines on Guadalcanal dropped flares and the occasional bomb to disturb their sleep, but would they do that during a bombardment from the sea?

[Sardaukar]

I usually also recon with float planes on day phase too, just to be sure.

Have to remember the range=0 thing, though.

[Bullshark]

Does FP Recon matter for Amphibious Invasions?

I have never seen a Recon msg for invasions, even though I have day Recon on the Island as a recon target and have no evidence it improves the assault.

Edit 10/14/24
For Shore Bomb. BBFanboy i s correct. I just had a few in game attacks to check. The Recon msg. is from the planes flying from these ships, ie. BB Recon, CA Recon etc. I usually only see a recon msg from the first (flagship, or first ship with a FP) two ships that Bombard, though sometimes I only get one recon mission.

I also find that range does not matter for a recon mission to fly. BB may be right on this since sometimes my night Bomb. recon does not fly. But then I do not specify a target for my recon. A long time ago BillBrown stated you do not need to specify a target for night recon, but maybe you do and range O gives a 100% chance the mission will fly. weather permitting.

[RangerJoe]

Recon would not hurt and it should help due to the increase in the DL of the target. Not just the ships firing but also the ground combat must be considered. So having night and day recon should help.

[BBfanboy]

Does FP Recon matter for Amphibious Invasions?

I have never seen a Recon msg for invasions, even though I have day Recon on the Island as a recon target and have no evidence it improves the assault.

For Shore Bomb. the Flagship/ Largest ship fires first: not the last per BBFanboy. It's the BBs firing first then the sequence is by ship size. The Recon msg. is from the planes flying from these ships, ie. BB Recon, CA Recon etc. I usually only see a recon msg from the first (flagship, or first ship with a FP) two ships that Bombard, though sometimes I only get one recon mission.

I also find that range does not matter for a recon mission to fly. BB may be right on this since sometimes my night Bomb. recon does not fly. But then I do not specify a target for my recon. A long time ago BillBrown stated you do not need to specify a target for night recon, but maybe you do and range O gives a 100% chance the mission will fly. weather permitting.

A bit more explanation about the first ship to fire in a bombardment TF. I mentioned "major ships" which means the biggest, heaviest ships with the biggest guns. I tend to group my TFs with similar ships together, so I often have 3-4 old US BBs bombarding. If those are same displacement/class, it is always the last in the list that fires first (check the Combat Reports detail below the combat results section). It doesn't matter which one is flagship - I often have set a different ship as flag and it does not fire first if it is not last in the TF list.

What about different classes? Well size matters up to a point. In a group of old US BBs the heaviest class will normally fire first (starting with the last of that class on the list). Note that the Colorado class has bigger guns than other old US BBs, but it does not necessarily fire first because it is not the heaviest old BB class.
And If Force Z survives to bombard, BB Prince of Wales bombards first even though the BC Repulse is heavier and has 15" guns vs 14" for POW. I haven't had other BCs to play with to test that further, but I did have BC Repulse working with some US BBs and the US BBs fired first. I conclude that BBs outrank BCs in the game's consideration of bombardment sequence.

So all that to decide that the last heaviest ship in the list should definitely have its FP set to night recon, range 0. You can set other FPs in the TF that way too, but I have never seen confirmation that they were launched - only that first FP is listed in the combat details.

[DKF12]

WOW
What a wealth of information
Thanks