FSO Frame 1 thoughts.

[Squire]

At work night shift, and I have some time to reflect upon the design, and how it all went...

First off <S> to Bearkats and the IJN that was an intense and fun fight. Well flown.

I enjoy the CiC stuff, but it is stress filled and im releived frame 1 is done.

Ok a few comments:

Im going to come down on the "nyet" side re: the BDA pics thing, I think its too ponderous a task to be snapping screenshots in the middle of a huge fight. I would suggest that perhaps a single "high value target" be assigned a BDA photo mission? but not all of them. To get no points for bomb damage without photos from a surviving rtb'd pilot on top of all the other hurdles, maybe too much to ask. The IJ get full pts for gnd targets not hit, with none of the risks involved in this setup.

The #s were very close for pilots @ 230 or so for each side, so no big issue there. I will comment on the design though that have one side all "attacking" with one all  "defending" with a 50/50 split. The USN had to sortie 32 TBMs and at least 1/3 of the fighters in Jabo mode, while the IJ just flies 100 percent CAP with no targets to hit of their own, with an equal # of a/c. 

Im thinking a 60/40 split would have been more appropriate, especially as the defenders are in 1944-45 cannon armed rides (save the 32 A6M5s), in other words, the a/c are equal in quality, its not F6Fs vs A6M5s. 

Anyways, all it is is feedback for future debate/consideration...I had fun, for me thats #1, it was a tough slog, and I will cya all next week.

I want to thank all my guys for giving a good effort, especially the Bomber/Jabo grps, they had the toughest jobs by far. <S>.

PS:

I have not yet heard from my squad leads as to what if any BDA photos we got, I will send an email out tmmrw. Let me know what you need me to do. If you want me to post them I will. 

[BMathis]

<---- Got owned   

[Roidrage]

<---- Got owned   

Our flight of 10 F6Fs ran into a flight of around 15 N1ks, we were handling them alright when another flight of around 15 N1Ks jumped in. We had on survivor. So, we got owned as well.

[Stoney]

Im going to come down on the "nyet" side re: the BDA pics thing, I think its too ponderous a task to be snapping screenshots in the middle of a huge fight.

I've got the logs for backup scoring, and we'll compare.  If its not something that's feasible, we'll drop it.

The #s were very close for pilots @ 230 or so for each side, so no big issue there. I will comment on the design though that have one side all "attacking" with one all  "defending" with a 50/50 split. The USN had to sortie 32 TBMs and at least 1/3 of the fighters in Jabo mode, while the IJ just flies 100 percent CAP with no targets to hit of their own, with an equal # of a/c. 

Im thinking a 60/40 split would have been more appropriate, especially as the defenders are in 1944-45 cannon armed rides (save the 32 A6M5s), in other words, the a/c are equal in quality, its not F6Fs vs A6M5s.

I'm going to look at any adjustments that need to be made with respect to numbers and see what we need to do.  I may plus up the USN side.  Standby for more information there.

Good feedback there.  Nice to read reasonable, rational, and constructive criticism.  We try and mix the batter just right, but sometimes the recipe needs tweaking.  All changes will be in place for frame 2.

[Sloehand]

My experience was horrible, and I don't mean because I got shot down, but because I had no involvement/influence in what happened.  I'm hoping it's just a fluke or one time thing that it was so miserable.  Flew for 40/50 minutes into a horde of higher alt enemy and died without being able to do a thing, good or bad.  Must have been close to 5 to 1 odds before we got close to land, let alone a target. 

Don't know if it was really clever strategy by the IJN, bad planning by the U.S. command, just bad luck, or a faulty game set up.  Waiting to hear the overall assessment of what happened so I can figure it out.  But this offered no enjoyment whatsoever.  Will stick it out for next two frames, then decide if it's worth the wasted time. 

Sorry to be so negative, it was just colossal un-fun.  More like a quickie Snapshot than a mini-Scenario.

[Squire]

Take a few days Slow, I know it sucks to have a bad frame, I have been there BELEIVE ME, but dont just yank your squad out, thats not helpfull. If anybodys to blame on the USN side, its me. FSOs can have very unforgiving frames (for any # of reasons), thats par for the course, but dont let it sour you on the whole thing dude.

Last FSO frame I ran into a blob of P-38Gs in my A6M2 grp, yeehaw. it happens.

...Anyways I just wanted to have a few constructive point made, not going to add fuel to some long flame thread. FSOs are still the best part of AH, warts and all. They aren't easy to design (I have done that) or lead (done that too).

[Getback]

I was shot down, still had a blast. Sure need to work on my fighter skills though. I'm too use to b and z in the ma.

Nice job Warloc <S>

[wrongwayric]

Reminded me of last months frame 3 where 2 large equal forces ran right in to each other. Only this time wasn't any clouds to hide in. Because of the way we ran our defensive cap i don't think any group was more than 5 or 6 miles from at least 2 other groups. This gave us almost immediate help available when encountering a larger force. Was still fun and interesting.
AKsleepy

[AKDogg]

Well sloehand,  I not sure where u were but every allied aircraft I ran into was 25-30k while i was 22k.  I still managed to survive and kill them butas far as what I saw, allied aircrafts was higher then IJN aircrafts.

[Saxman]

East attack group's fighter sweep was between 25-27k. We STILL had to look up to see the dozens of Ki-84s and N1Ks.

For that matter, WERE there even any Zeros out there?

Personally, I think numbers of Franks and Georges should be much more restricted because there weren't all that many of them built historically, but I'm sure the Axis would complain about that.

[Husky01]

There where 43 A6Ms used.

[Nefarious]

Osaka Bay was a hornets nest of N1Ks and Ki61s. A huge fight ensued and within minutes I was separated from my group. I dove on a Zeke 5 that was going after a squaddie, got a fuel hit on him, Climbed back up but got beat by a Tony. I heard my remains were plucked out of Osaka Bay later by a Fishing Boat.

Great fight, Flying over Osaka area must have been a daunting task in real life. Ack was thick. Great frame, after the initial engagement, I thought I was going to be able to accomplish something that rarely happens for me. Returning to base.

<S> sidey of the Raw Prawns.

[2fly]

With all offense vs all defense the numbers should probably be adjusted to 60/40 or 55/45 in Allies favor next time.

I would say that this sort of vicious defense is why Rosevelt made the decision he did to end the war.

[SpiveyCH]

     Think all the zero's were in the 15-11 sector at the ammo factory.  We had 21 pilots with no escort.  Our F6F's were loaded with bombs and we were able to hit our target, but there were too many fighters for us to handle.  We were able to get our BDA pilot back and landed.  Think there were 3 to 5 out of the 21 that made it back. 

     I would guess there were at least 40 pilots in the target area, I could be wrong.  As for all the allied pilots being higher, that was not the case for us.  Our orders were to climb to 15k and go level.   We got to target, we hit target (49 objects destroyed), engaged NME (we took 9 down with us), we got the BDA photos, then returned about 3 pilots to the cv groups. There was 60 mins left in the and I had the guys land.  Just was too far of a flight to be able to up again.  Was not worth scratching the factory a bit more.

[ROC]

Our flight of 10 F6Fs ran into a flight of around 15 N1ks, we were handling them alright when another flight of around 15 N1Ks jumped in. We had on survivor. So, we got owned as well.

Hi Roidrage, that might have been us , except I counted out about 16+ F6s I think.

Were you out ocean side of A87 area?  Tahgut and I had been called out to search.  We spotted a large group of F6Fs, and  vectored the closer group of Clowns into you, the Nightmares were right on their heels and came in shortly after engagement.

What a fight!!  to you if it was you, and feel free to accept that salute if not simply because that was a fun frame.