Mediterranean Maelstrom

[killrDan]

As Shakespeare once said. much ado about nothing...and yes, there could be some improvements/adjustments/whatever made but overall it worked out pretty well for both sides.  I saw some hairy furballs.  I know the axis pilots had fun too, at least the ones that shot me down did  .  I'm looking forward to the next one already!  I'm going axis if it's ETO and allies if it's PTO.  Nice job guys!

[tunnelrat]

I know the F4F pilots had a great time, and we were outclassed by every fighter the enemy threw at us.  We did quite well, in fact.

Big  to the coordinators and participants alike, particularly the Axis bombers that saw the whole thing through.

[kilo2]

So are you going to open the forums up cms I am interested to see the allied forums?

[coombz]

I somehow managed to miss this thread 

I am sure those here with more knowledge than me have already made a lot of good points with regards to the way the scenario worked out.

However from my personal point of view there are a few things I feel compelled to mention:

1) Defending Malta was a faily easy proposition for us as Allies, tactically. However it did not seem from my cockpit (and I have a lot of in game film and FRAPS footage that backs this up) that we had an significant numerical advantage, in fact many times it was the opposite.

2) The Axis fighters did not play to their strengths, imo. Only once in all the frames did we encounter a group of 109s that fought us using their speed advantage and BnZ tactics, and that was very tough and frustrating engagement. Every other time the 109s got stuck right in and turn fought with us, sometimes going all the way down to the deck*. This did not prove very effective for the LW to say the least.

On one occasion our single squadron engaged what appeared to be 3 squadrons of 109s flying just ahead of a wave of bombers. Pretty much all of these 109s engaged us (without much success) and no one stayed high to protect the bombers.

*this would have been a good move if it was used as bait to get us too low to engage a wave of incoming buffs. However as I will further describe in 3) , this didn't happen.

3) Whatever the Axis plans/tactics were, it seemed like they weren't executed very well. For example, we found flights of bombers on their own, coming in from predictable areas. We found bombers and fighters at the same time, but the fighters immediately abandoned the bombers to mix it up with us, and the bombers got killed. Personally I did not ever notice a time when a wave of fighters would come in, engage us and drag us down, to be followed by bombers to take advantage of the hole opened up.

I'm no master tactician, but it also seems like a small squadron of bombers with the main fighter push could have been used as a distraction, while another bomber force came in NoE from another side. Nothing like this ever seemed to happen, it was like the Axis weren't even trying to make it hard for us to get the bombers.

Only once in all the frames did we find bombers coming in in a very cunning and hard to predict position (blame Bruv's buff sniffing nose for finding those, sorry jerry)


This isn't meant as an attack on the Axis pilots or planners, just trying to say that I think the scenario could have been a lot more hard for us...SHOULD have been a lot more hard for us. I was predicting fighting the 109s to be a right pain in the a**...but they didn't play to their strengths. I was anticipating a tough time attacking high alt escorted buffs in a slow-ish plane with limited ammo...but it turned out to be really easy because the escorts didn't do their job very well.

I think blaming it on the setup is a bit weak. I do agree that defending a few keypads around Malta is a lot easier to co-ordinate and execute than the kind of attack the Axis had to put together, but that doesn't mean it was impossible or unwinnable. I for one would be very happy to play it again, on the Axis side this time. 

[Brooke]

I agree with many of those points but do disagree with some.  Details of which and why are in my previous posts.

[Butcher]

Sorry I missed this thread  thanks Coombz you pretty much gave a good summery of why there was whine and cheese.

[Brooke]

It isn't all whine and cheese in my opinion.

[Dantoo]

I saw a 110 crash into a ship while shooting.  He killed some guns.

Did anybody else hit a ship, of any type, in any frame? I saw a bunch of Ju88s get through a bomb run on the ships from mid-level totally unmolested. I vaguely recall somebody saying nothing was hit.

I'm just trying to figure out if there was a pre-conceived notion that the ships were too hard to sink and therefore attacks weren't continued with?  Was the bomb sight calibration difficult or simple?  If it really is too hard to complete a mission because of settings then that can have a huge impact on morale and performance.  I've seen it many times in special events.

The ship defence had holes in it and it was stressed more than once from personal observation.  That nothing was sunk can't be blamed on the hardness setting if nothing was actually hit. Need to look further than that if anybody is looking to tweak the setup.

A quick look at the thread leads me to believe that much is being attributed to radar that shouldn't be.  The Allies used scouts and a coordinated reporting and information system to good effect.  Squadrons weren't flying out to intercept dar bars.  They were directed to where scouts reported target numbers and types, kept away from enemy fighter concentrations and held back in depth for more effective use.

The radar at Malta was a generally a lot more effective than the simulation in this scenario.  British radar of a number of types was in use and was able to detect Axis planes as they were getting airborne on Sicily.  Sector fighter control was 2 years more mature and effective than that which is so well known from the Battle of Britain.  From memory the settings in use did seem to allow darbar at extreme ranges on occasion.  We can tie darbar to a range from a radar site? Suddenly I am unsure.  If not, better to use dot dar and make it available from the tower only.  I prefer that for scenarios in any case.  Much immersion value there.  If you want a demo someday of what that can be like I am more than willing to give up some time and effort.

Thanks to the teams that put so much work into planning, constructing and running the event.  You are the reason I pay subs to HTC.  Thanks to the guys who role up and play.  You are appreciated.

[KCDitto]

It was all my fault and I have been sent to Russia to command a Storch unit.......

[Rino]

     Could have been much worse Ditto, could have been given a slot in this unit 

[KCDitto]

 

[gpwurzel]

Ditto, take it from a previous CO (Coral Sea 2009) - dont feel bad fella, I bolloxed it up majorly as well. Fault has nothing to do with it.

Wurz (now get flying Mr, that's an order - or something like) 

[swareiam]

Ditto, take it from a previous CO (Coral Sea 2009) - dont feel bad fella, I bolloxed it up majorly as well. Fault has nothing to do with it.

Wurz (now get flying Mr, that's an order - or something like) 

Yeah, I was his XO. So I know how bad he Bollexed it up. 

  Wuz