The pain of Taiho

[hipcanuck]

Shokaku was a treat, perhaps OP vs others even, but the bombers always got through.

 

Along comes the Taiho and the Essex planes just maul me. Fighters last seconds in a dogfight engagement, even tho the stats say it should take longer. A combined DPS of 483 attacking a 10460 hitpoint target should last longer than 4 or 5 seconds. So the tactic of using your fighters to buy time for the bombers to get past doesnt really work.

 

Dont even get me started on strafes. Being faster and having a higher DPS is a disaster. Cant outrun Essex fighters. Not to mention how the 3 fighter setup on Essex seems to totally dominate the air.

[WanderingGhost]

Welcome to the imbalance of USN vs IJN fighters that exists in all tiers. Part of why CV's need an out and out overhaul, not just new set ups and buffs for USN like some people think.

[skull_122_steel]

21 minutes ago, hipcanuck said:

Shokaku was a treat, perhaps OP vs others even, but the bombers always got through.

 

Along comes the Taiho and the Essex planes just maul me. Fighters last seconds in a dogfight engagement, even tho the stats say it should take longer. A combined DPS of 483 attacking a 10460 hitpoint target should last longer than 4 or 5 seconds. So the tactic of using your fighters to buy time for the bombers to get past doesnt really work.

 

Dont even get me started on strafes. Being faster and having a higher DPS is a disaster. Cant outrun Essex fighters. Not to mention how the 3 fighter setup on Essex seems to totally dominate the air.

1. are your planes still tier VIII or did you upgrade them to tier IX that may be way your planes die so quickly.

2. the AS essex is just that and air supremacy it should be able to rule the skies if played properly.

3. is you are stock them just power through it is a great CV and the three TB loadout is the way you want to go.

[hipcanuck]

49 minutes ago, skull_122_steel said:

1. are your planes still tier VIII or did you upgrade them to tier IX that may be way your planes die so quickly.

2. the AS essex is just that and air supremacy it should be able to rule the skies if played properly.

3. is you are stock them just power through it is a great CV and the three TB loadout is the way you want to go.

 

Not stock. Im not grasping the math behind being instantly vapourized. There is just no way that a typical dogfight should end in seconds. It should take an average of 4 seconds before the FIRST IJN plane dies, and another 4-5 before the second one dies. Conversely, the IJN should be shooting down the US at roughly the same rate. Yet in every dogfight Ive had I've lost all my planes in a very short period of time and killed perhaps 1 or 2.

 

[skull_122_steel]

2 hours ago, hipcanuck said:

 

Not stock. Im not grasping the math behind being instantly vapourized. There is just no way that a typical dogfight should end in seconds. It should take an average of 4 seconds before the FIRST IJN plane dies, and another 4-5 before the second one dies. Conversely, the IJN should be shooting down the US at roughly the same rate. Yet in every dogfight Ive had I've lost all my planes in a very short period of time and killed perhaps 1 or 2.

 

is more than one fighter squad attacking you if not then I have no idea a video may help us because I have seen Taiho on youtube going against an essex and winning in a one on one fight and winning. are you fighting over enemy ships because that may de the problem.

[KingJacko]

lol its not like there is a set time.  Shooting down planes based on chance.

[Cpt_Cupcake]

You also have to deal with more stealth AA ships at this tier, particularly the Mino. That thing will shred planes before you can spot her.

[_Zergling]

dude cmon man.. cv gameplay is an RTS, you have to use your brain. You will be in situations where you are at a disadvantage, but that doesnt meant there isnt a solution.

 

ok so im imagining myself in your situation, playing 2-3-2 taiho vs 3-0-2 essex. my main goal is to get high value strikes in, since if i can get at least 2 strikes off i would have already done more damage than a AS essex could ever hope to do.

 

The main strat here is to bait the enemys fighters on the wrong side of the map, while you bomb on the other side. imagine i want to strike a ship on the east flank. I would bring all my planes well behind my teams front line, so that the essex loses sight of my planes. I then allocate my planes into a bait squad, and a strike squad. for taiho, you would use all your dbs and fighters to bait, and look to use your 3 tbs for high alpha damage. you cant stack dots really well bc it takes time and you dont have time to wait for enemy fighters to come after ur strike squad.

 

so now we have a plan, lets execute. I show my 2 dbs + 1! fighter on the west flank(i want to strike east), while keeping the second fighter in fog of war.  Most Essex's would send 2 fighter squads to chase, 1 to tie up your fighter escort and use the other to shoot your DBs. However, most AS cv players are tomatoes and send 3 fighters instantly to whichever planes they see first. If the enemy sends all 3 fighters, great. You can send your 2nd fighter with the TBs and use it to shoot down floatplanes for a clear drop. However, if the enemy only sends 2 of his fighters to chase your DBs, then you reveal your 2nd fighter right behind your DBs, this forces him to send all 3 fighters because now he needs 2 to match your fighters, and an extra to deny the DBs. While all this is happening, your TBs are flying in the Fog of War to your target, usually you have to take a wide route to avoid being spotted its imperative you stay undetected, bc if he sees your TBs, guess where his fighters are going. Now, its very important that you never actually fight his fighters, because as you already found out, his fighters are much stronger than yours. For the essex tho, he WANTS to fight your fighters ASAP so he can start chasing your DBs freely. You want to bait him towards your fighters by flying them close enough that he will left click on them, but you dont want to fly too close so that they lock in dogfight. If the cv has lazy fighter control and u can get a drop with your DBs, great, but Ideally you want to keep threatening with your DBs to apply pressure on the CV. Once his fighters are far away enough, then you send your TBs straight for the target on the west side, an enjoy the free 50k damage drop and the enemy teams tears as they complain about how taiho OP.