Major Ct Gripe

[Jester]

I was really looking forward to the new "Phillippine Terrain" form all that I had heard about it. I went in tonite to thourghly check it out and promptly "had my balloon popped!"

Hellcats are available from only two of the four Allied carriers available!  I was informed one was an "Invasion Fleet" and the other turned out to be a BRITISH carrier!

First, I can live with the Royal Navy getting in on the act. No problem there. More help the better. But the invasion fleet also should have aircover. Normally this would be provided by Wildcats from CVE's but since we have none how about activateing the Hellcats & Avengers from there. PLEZ!

Second, seems the Marines got stuck with the old F4U-1 Corsair again.  If history serves me right by 1944 they should be flying the F4U-1D by now as standard.

In all fairness, the Japanese Side does seem to be set up very well with the Zeke, Tony & JU88 as a Betty replacement. Good work there.

[Saintaw]

Andijg, I understand the thing about the F6F not being available, but it's already a turkey shoot as it is right now for the allies, untill the IJN forces have something a bit faster than they have now... we already have enough uber (fast) planes compared to them. Put in the F4UD in there and the only one flying IJN forces will have to be masochists. (hint for Hblair )

PS: Sabre, how about adding the C205 for IJN forces as a substitue that 202(<- whatever that is a substitute for) is only good for laughin' at it ?

[WildBlue]

Turkey shoot huh? Last 2 times I've been in, the allies had their butts in slings! Yesterday, we were mauled 16 or 17 to 7 at one point, and when flown by someone who knows what they're doing, those Ki's are beasts! Sure, allies can run for separation, but as soon as you get back in, it's either kill on first pass or run again (of course, this might be just because I suck and no-one else has this problem). And as far as the jabo capability of the F6F, down low the zeke's have a good chance of racking up kills. All in all, from what I've seen, it actually looks fairly well balanced right now. Obviously there will be times when one side or the other is outnumbered badly, like what I said earlier. BTW, after about an hour and a half of getting raped by Ki's, some of the knights left. Once the allies started gaining advantage, several knights suddenly decided that "this sucks i'm leaving you gangbangin rooks!"... looks like they coudn't handle their own medicine, lol. Andijg, you might want to look at sabre's post about the planeset... looks like there is some consideration being given to perking our kitties. This would leave several of the squad out in the cold for a bird to fly. Guess we could up the corsair if they do, but...

[Sabre]

My most humble apologies for your dissappointment over the absence of the Philippines terrain.  The terrain architect worked diligently, but by last Wednesday it was clear he couldn't have it done on time.  The CT team was faced with a decision to go with another European theme or try to do a PTO anyway.  I took some of my concepts for the Invasion of the Philippines set up and tried as best I could to addapt them to the Ndisles map.  Hopefully it has been a tolerable substitute for all those who really wanted a change from 109's and 190s (love the LW planes myself, but was looking forward to flying something with meatballs on the wings as well).

Your kitty is safe Wildblue; it's the P38 that's likely to get perked.  The F6F is a good match for Ki61, and I've not heard any complaints about it being to uber for the planeset.  The C202 is meant to be a substitute for the Ki43 (not quite the turner, but a good match in firepower for the Oscar).  As for why there's an Allied CV that's got no aircraft, that's because it was "captured" from the Japanese.  As there is not one instant in recorded history of anyone capturing an entire CVBG, let alone using it against the enemy afterward, I have aircraft disabled.  Since I don't have any way to make sunk ships stay sunk, I decided to treat a captured CV as a "newly arrived" surface action group.  Capturing it helps your sides cause, but not too much.  Finally, the F4U-1 is being used for the reason sited by Saintaw above, and because the planeset is supposed to be centered on mid-1943.  Please don't get too wrapped up in the date, however.  The main thing was to get a bit more use out of the draft horses (versus the thoroughbreds) while providing as balanced a PTO set up as possible.

Sabre
CT Team

[Jester]

Tks for the update Saber. !

I only raise so much noise because I have a squad that is going to start flying the "Cats" off the CV's during our squad meetings.
We will be flying in the CT as long as it stays PTO or we can get our Cats from a CV.

[Löwe]

In all fairness my beloved squadies, the KI-61 and the A6m, are good airplanes for this setup. It's a little shocking to go in there and get your rear end handed to you by these Japanese planes, when you read about the dominance of U.S. airpower in the Pacific from 1943 on. A few facts to remember. The planes we fly in AH are not real, each plane will perform to it's best specs as programed in the game. Nobody is flying a wreck thats held together with spares from other wrecks, we each get a brand new plane everytime we take off. Also there is no attrtion of the pilots as in a "real war". The Japanese players are not kids rushed through flight school, they are guys who have been doing this a while for the most part, and like all of us they get better with time. Actually we are the upstarts, most of us in the squad have six months or less experiance in AH. So this means we got to fly smart, and make as few mistakes as possible. This is an intense matchup, and I am looking forward to our CT ops.

[Nifty]

Hey, Low...  I got a Zeke for ya to shoot at!  

[WildBlue]

Yup, I agree about intense matchup! Sabre, thanks for leaving the F6's as they are, and I just noticed the 1C is available and unperked! Didn't check on niki, but I certainly support lowering the perk on it if neccessary. This should be an interesting fight, I've already made sure I have some tape to put my shot off butt back on, lol! And of course, to promote good relations, I'll loan it to the Ki drivers I'm gonna splash . Zekes huh? Well, I guess I'll take along some rockets for the slow movin weedwhackers , lol. Now that every ijxx pilot will be lookin for my 6, you guys (VF-27 ) will know where to find 'em, lol!

[Sabre]

Uh, don't know if you're pulling my leg or not, but the F4U-1C is most definitely not supposed to be active in this set up.  I'll have to check this as soon as I get home.  Admittedly, I had a bit of trouble getting the arena reset.  It makes it easier if you write down the name of the tables you create, btw:mad: .

Anyway, glad it meets with your general approval:).  We aims to please (and to kill:D ).

Sabre
CT Team

[eskimo2]

I love the set-up Sabre!

IMHO, the Hellcat is in it's element here.
In spite of being new to the F6F, I am currently running a 28 to 2 K/D in it, as good as I could ever hope to do with any plane in any set-up.  I'm well past due to die, a few times over, but I can clearly give credit to the Hellcat for getting me home when I figured I was as good as dead.

As far as matching history, a big part of the US airpower success in the pacific mid to late war, was numbers.  We had em.  We also had better trained and more experienced pilots.
Equal training and numbers, whos to say that the US would have been so dominant?
The CT suggests that equaly trained pilots and numbers on both sides would have resulted in a fairly even blood-bath.

eskimo

[WildBlue]

Guess I should have kept my mouth shut, lol. Yes, I just checked to verify... the F4U-1C is available at a27 right now. In fact, I'm gonna go surprise the ijxx with it before ya take it back out !

[Löwe]

Nifty.

I can't kill ya if you won't hold still!!!!!!!!!!:D