S3 Series

http://www.squadselectseries.com

New map up. Nothing much changed except 90 and 96 were closed and are not open for play in Frame 2. They willl be destroyed and closed before Frame 2 begins.
Issue with fields not being closed was a wrong setting in the arena setup, fixed now.
Uber otto on the G4M1s has been dailed back. Settings seem to really depend on the a/c type and formation. Generally the AI G4M1s behaved well just their otto was uber. Level AI bombers are easier to control, strike a/c want to drop down and pick their own targets then they start running into all sorts of problems.

Running the same G4M1 formations into Port Moresby for testing purposes. Will try and make sure they are loaded every night at 8pm Easten 5pm Pacific.

Reports of a/c sinking into the runway at 103. Tested it but couldnt reproduce the problem. Please practice a few landings at 103 to see where the problems are.

S6 updated with Frame 1 score. It can be downloaded off the main page.
IJN jump out to an early lead 129 to 96 based upon highly experience air crews with fusion quark beams. Excellent escort on the sometimes drifting AI mbls prevented heavy losses especially in the east where the vals and kates had to get down low to hit targets. Attacks deep in Japanese territory went generally unnoticed during the night but P39s took out several shipping targets and docks east of Lae. Japanese bombers were unlucky and could not close several locations just missing the last one or two structures. AI mbls seem to attack destroyed targets just as effectively as undestroyed ones so were of no help in a cleanup roll.

Frontline remains the same with 90 and 96 closed for operations. They will re-open in Frame 3. Japanese troops report heavy resistance in the mountains and complain of a shortage of food and munitions over the long trek in.

Late frame, we didn't find any C47's southwest of Port Moresby, but we did kill a few stuck on the ground there.

II./JG 77 did find those C-47s late in the frame about a grid away.

Jabo,

All of our kills were not done my our AI's.

Salute!

Ditto to Hawk's comment.

Don't turn down otto!!!!

I personally had 2 or more "assists" while manually gunning, and so did several Knights.

Gums sends....

Just to clarify AIs mbls not player AIs are being reduced. The AI mbls have two settings; skill and gunnery. The higher the gunnery the better their otto. Player AIs mimic the arena settings for players.
AIs are pretty stupid so it doesnt seem to matter much what the skill setting is but a high gunnery setting with a compact formation as the G4M1s had made it almost impossible for decent attacks to succeed. I did see lots of high 6 attacks but even the ones from the side and front were getting dinged mercilessly.
Its a bit of trial and error on my testing to get them right but we are almost there. I think they behaved relatively properly last frame but they still get stuck on hillsides and miss most of the targets.

Bomber players have a high bufftuff and decent otto so they should be difficult to bring down. In the S3s bombers are attacked by groups of fighters and need the toughness to have a chance of survival. All bombers need to be attacked from the high port or infront and not from the dead 6 or rear beam. Player driven bombers are worth a lot of points and should be treated with great respect.

Speaking from the 23rd's experience in frame 1, I'm glad you have decided to tone Otto back a bit. We executed a perfect low 12 head on attack and lost at least 3 pilots to the uber 7.7mm nose gunner with others ( including myself) barely escaping. While a bit at odds with history ( Betty's were notorious for catching fire), I appreciate the compromise.
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edited for fat-fingering

So what you did is make it easier for the Betty's to be shot down.

Hawk, I disagree brother, sorry. We didn't take down any of the bombers we shot at Head-On in that attack (3 Vic's) with P39s. 3 pilots lost thier planes and several (including myself) suffered serious damage to 3 gunners shooting a 7.7mm. All that was requested was a reasonable chance of success...don't you feel that's fair?

(in retrospect, I'm sure that a dumb lo-6 attacker will be twacked even with it toned down...as it should be)

You guys missed Jabo's post I guess he is reducing the Otto skill for the AI's as they hold a close formation and are almost impossible to get into. He is doing nothing the Human aircraft.