Talk:Combat/@comment-5003891-20141116215619/@comment-5003891-20141125190304

^ @Anon

"If you have air superiority, is anti-air cut-in worth using?" is a very good question which I think a lot of admirals want an answer to. Unfortunately, I haven't found any tests done to answer that question. Therefore, I propose a methodology you (or anyone else who wants to have an answer to the question) can use to test this.

Hypothesis to be tested:
 * Ho: There is no significant difference in damage taken during aerial combat between AA cut-in and no AA cut-in when there is Air Superiority.

Test requirements: Proposed test environment: Proposed methodology:
 * a map with strong enemy bombers. preferably on the first node.
 * ship that can trigger anti-air cut-in often
 * carriers that can equip enough planes to reach air superiority.
 * ships that won't dodge enemy bombers not shot down after aerial combat and fleet AA defense stages.
 * low armor ships preferred
 * 5-5-A. Enemy can either be Re-class + Nu-flagship OR Re-class + 2x Nu-flagship. latter is preferred.
 * Akizuki with 10cmHA+AA Director x2 and Type13 Radar Kai, and another equipment setup that won't trigger cut-in
 * Shouhou and Zuihou equipped with 4x Reppuu each (it can be any light carrier not named Junyou Kai-2)
 * Fatigued state (red face) to decrease evasion
 * fleet will be made up of Akizuki, Shouhou and Zuihou, all fatigued.
 * sortie to 5-5
 * enemy composition and damage received by each ship during aerial phase will be recorded
 * additionally, it can be recoded if Nu did not attack during shelling, and value for parameter api_e_lostcount
 * I estimate 5-10 trials for each setup (AA cut-in and no AA cut-in) but may increase depending on spread of damage between trials
 * statistical analysis to compare the two data sets

For a more complete picture, setups for Air Denial, Air Incapability, Air Parity, and Air Supremacy can be added. I don't have the time, resources or curiosity to do this myself so if anyone wants to do it, please go ahead.

If you somehow want an answer but not from in-game tests, then my answer is "do what you've always done until someone tells you otherwise". The metagame hasn't changed much, and in cases where branching rules require having a DD, you can just add Akizuki there instead of Yuudachi, Ayanami or whoever else you usually bring. reppuu mules and double attack BB remains the end all be all bread and butter cookie cutter build in this game.