User blog comment:Hayashi H/30 October Fighter Quest-chain/@comment-175.156.32.28-20151104080603/@comment-175.156.32.28-20151105004606

Ok I see what you mean, you are referring specifically to the context of carrier task force and minimising double shelling phrase to reduce damage. Your strategy in that case does make a lot of sense, except for 1 little problem: tsu-elite. In that respect but I still don't like using carriers for shelling damage as they don't seem as reliable as BBs. For summer 2015 e7 hard I went with the Akitsumaru-hayasui combination that went full man-mode and smashed thru X-Y-Z(refuelled) for the most part(in between I did use CTF about 6 or 7 times). Probably not the most resource efficient but it got the job done. I did use CTF for shaving by-the-by but I didn't really find it hard to reach the boss node with CTF even with BBs, my percentage chance of reaching the boss was around 30% iirc(including compass trolling), and I didn't really feel that any carriers contributed much to shelling damage against the enemy capital ships anyway(hard to tell, could just have been bad RNG). The problem wasn't reaching the boss node, the problem was dealing significant damage to the boss once you reached. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I still prefer fleets that leave a wake of destruction on the way to the boss. It's better for fleet morale too.

>>Flak guns will shoot 'most' bombers down, not all.

There's no way an 18 slot bomber will survive a tsu-elite AACI, not to mention two rounds of AACI on air-battle nodes. I don't have any screenshots myself but in my experience on hard mode the only slot that can endure AACIs repeatedly is Kaga's 46, maybe Hiryuu/Souryuu's big slot. I can only find this other screenshot someone else uploaded on the Tsu-class page. http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/8/81/Lostplanes.png/revision/latest?cb=20150903135419

In e7 every possible CTF route had at least 1 tsu-elite.

In the screenshot even Kaga's 46 slot got completely annihilated. Now imagine that was a t62iwai on any other slot(all of which are much smaller than 46). No way that carrier going to get any shelling off on the boss mode.. Speaking about the dev's intentions, this is an accurate historical representation of USN flak guns/radar and the technologically advanced radar-fused shells in WW2. Numerous waves of bombers were launched by Japanese carriers and from airstrips, and pitiful few ever made it anywhere near their targets. Fletchers, Atlanta-class and Cleveland-class CLs were just turkey-shooting Japanese bombers. That's why the IJN had to resort to kamikaze, and even then they only ever hit DDs/DDEs and cruisers, never the capital ships they were protecting. This is simply devs accurately representing historical aspects of naval aviation.

For air battle nodes the better strategy is to stack only high-damage bombers because you can to one-shot the enemy tsu-elite within the first wave, to prevent them from getting off a second AACI. A 4-damage dive bomber, even with max rank, will not cut it for killing the tsu-elite within the opening salvo, so better to use that slot for a 13+ damage bomber. You will still lose a lot of bombers but hopefully their numbers will hold out for at least 1 more node. Personally speaking, if the devs want to kill my bombers, I would just be at peace with the fact that all my bombers are going to die anyway, air supremacy or not. I've already gathered up a huge stockpile of bauxite, enough to replace about 40000 planes. So bring on the flak, I say.

>>stacking torpedo bombers benefits armoured carriers more than standard carriers, while using T62 and stacking fighters benefits standard carriers more than armoured carriers

Assuming that the smaller TB slots don't get totally wiped out, which, as the above screenshot shows, is actually fairly likely. What you are basically suggesting is replacing the shelling damage role of battleships with carriers. I've tried it before and it does work to a large extent, but I really don't think it's advisable for anyone without a big stockpile of bauxite. Even then, BBs get AP shells and double attacks during the day, making them very effective at precisely disabling/kill the Wo-kai/(insert threatening capital ship here) that standard carriers with only 1 bomber slot will really struggle to disable. Of course, the devs can introduce some RNG compass factor to discourage battleship usage, but when the boss is called "anti-air" princess and has over 400AA, do you really think the best way to approach the problem is by massing bombers?

>>The carriers are going to shell later than the heavy cruisers ANYWAY, because their range is shorter than the CAs

I mentioned only mid range armoured carriers, not short-range carriers, i.e. the same range as heavy cruisers. I can see your rationale for keeping the shelling phrase to a minimum but most of the time for CTF the problem for me was never with the first fleet getting wrecked, Wo-kai or not. It was almost always the second fleet, even with AACI and air superiority. Easily taken apart by all manners of BBs and princesses and even regular attacks from CA, CL, DD, torps etc. And this strategy is basically hinging on the "plot armour" mechanic to prevent taiha. That doesn't take into account many other smaller sources of damage common on event maps like partially shot-down enemy squadrons, ne-elite, tsu-elite, ni-class-elites, attacks that can actually severely damage cruisers and destroyers, the majority of your second fleet. I used Bismarck for second fleet CTF, and Die Bismarck destroyed the AA princess from about 80%HP with a DA during one night battle, and shrugged off a huge amount of lower damage attacks that could have easily wrecked CAs. I also felt her first-strike ability was invaluable against preboss Wo-kai and Ru-classes, which, depending on the engagement form would have probably only been scratched by CA attacks. Ultimately it is the second fleet that has to kill the boss, so it makes sense to have a broad range of armour/survivability on them. I don't see the logic in basing your entire fleet composition around the wo-kai. It's still just a carrier in a diamond formation, the chances of it landing a hit aren't that high.

I will keep in view your strategy for CTF, but I really don't think T62Iwai is ever going to be viable in all but the most narrow of circumstances unless a)no enemy AACI or b)AACI gets massively nerfed.