A thought on "balance" for FSO Götterdämmerung - The Fall of Berlin

[LilMak]

That pretty much illustrates my point about where this event is imbalanced. Even in this ideal situation, there is little chance of dealing any significant losses to 234s. So Axis are getting,  what amounts to, free hangar kills and an increase in fighter numbers for the Axis simply because there is no need to even attempt an escort.

[Devil 505]

LilMak, what you said makes perfect sense. But the same logic applies to the Allies. Because there is little chance of stopping the Ar 234's, the Allies could have, and probably should have, abandoned any attempt to kill them. It would have been smart to only post the bare minimum of pilots to defending against jabo 190's and stacking the offense otherwise with LA7's. If the Allies made an effort to gain localized numerical superiority before engaging with the Axis, the allies probably would have seen some success.

Here is a general break down of my battleplan for Frame 2.

Objectives:
1. Target hangars and town at A80 with all 12 sets of Ar 234's. Target chosen for this mission based on having the higher number of hangars and the likelihood of minimal defense. 8 190A-8's would scout the NW approaches to A2 before commencing attack at A80. Ar 234's would rearm at A5 and then mount strikes against the hangars at A13.

2. Use 12 FW190A-8's to attack A13 town at T+50-55. 190's would loiter on either side of Berlin and act as scouts until T+45 before turning to target. Strike delay was selected in order to contain any defending fighters over A13 as to prevent them from rearming and assisting their egressing attack force before we could eliminate it.

3. All other fighters are dedicated to mounting defense. 262 will serve as long range scouts with the purpose of finding every Tu-2 and directing the other fighters to them.

4. Concentrate all aircraft on A13 after T+60 to mop-up remaining Allied fighters and ground targets.

[Dantoo]

Devil your suggested plan is basically what the Allied CICs gave us.  It never worked and couldn't.

Frame 3 differed hardly at all from the other 2.  Defenders continually harassed by 262s and Ta152s that couldn't be brought to battle.  Any attempt to either remain on ground or refuel nearby was fraught.  This meant driving about at throttle settings way below what was needed to maintain energy to interdict anything.
Attackers needed to get to their targets early for the reasons you point out + they would only ever have the fuel to recover to a base that was on the front line knowing that those bases were going to capped from 10 mins in. 

By the time the main attack started in frame 3, I was rearming at the only base that wasn't constantly flashing.  I had scouted

I didn't give a damn by that time as it was clear the designer was determined to enforce a fatal flaw that is only exposed where the rules of the event require "a credible force" to be defending for the full first hour, and then crippling the tools provided to do it with.

Just to emphasise the point about not intercepting the ARs.  In frame 1 they were merely watched by the defenders as they tore the base apart.  It was fun flying circles until T+58 with the field burning below.  The main attack didn't hit the field until about T+61 by which time it was all over.

Frame 2 was marginally different in that the ARs came in higher and as a group.  This allowed for some of them to be intercepted as they were at least a legit target at that point.

Frame 3 was rinse and repeat frame 1.

Nobody on any Allied orders issued that I saw, nor in discussions on game day that witnessed, put any effort into intercepting ARs.  They were an opportunity target at best and yes quite a few took that opportunity when it was served.  It wasn't a central point in any plan though.

FWIW I died 3 times.  I hit a tree, the ground, and lastly the ground and then a tree.

Rgds.

[captain1ma]

we were in JG88's and got ripped to shreds in no time over the target.... I was very upset about it. but we did manage to get bombs out.

i kinda felt bad for the allies, cause they shot me up and i never returned fire. oh well, theres always next month!