[Red Devil]

Originally Posted by tater

From the air, they'd very likely be spotting the WAKE from any distance, not the boat itself. In 1944, many jap patrol aircraft had radar.

I have to say I'm baffled by many planes in RSRDC in the middle of the ocean, I counted on the last 8 patrols or so, and before I altered the airstrike cfg, I saw ZERO aircraft using the RFB Airstrike.cfg. Not one plane seen in many patrols.

Aircraft range is a problem with the airstrike system in SH4. My previous solution (for my campaign) was to grossly reduce some plane ranges. The zero, for example. yes, they had long range, but they'd not be out flying patrols over the ocean, they'd be either a CAP near an airfield, or they'd be on a specific mission someplace (which "Airstrike.cfg" doesn't model). So I dropped the zero's range to 40nm, and reduced the number in the airbase to 1-2. I similarly reduced the range of CV based aircraft to what you'd expect for them patrolling a TF. 40nm for val and kate. The betty is long-ranged, and also has to fill in for the G3M used in a maritime patrol role as well. Reducing the planes in the airgroups helps.

I'm working on a mod for myself (which I might release at some point) that is designed to bring the RSRDC air contacts into a rough balnce from what I've been reading in patrol reports. My "eyeball" estimate is 1-2 plane contacts per day within a few hundred miles of jap held areas. Some days maybe none, other days 2-3, average 1-2 someplace.

PRs typically have plane contacts upwards of a dozen per patrol.

Your guesstimate sounds fairly accurate to me, I look forward to your mod. Dont know why I never thought of it before but I have a couple of contacts who were the "real thing" due to my pages on US Subs in The Pacific on my web site. I will ask them.