Board Thread:Special Events/@comment-1820055-20141114104501/@comment-25697426-20141118145028

Cleared, HQ 78

Main fleet

Suzuya (lvl 51): 2x20,3cm, Zuiun, Type 3 shell

Mutsu (lvl 63): 2x46cm, Type 0 Observation plane, Type 3 shell

Haruna (lvl 73): 46cm, 41cm, Ar196 Kai, Type 91 AP

Kumano (lvl 66): 2x20,3, 2x Zuiun

Kaga (lvl 54): 3xReppu, 1xShiden Kai 2

Akagi (lvl 52): 3xReppu, 1xType 62 F/B or Shiden Kai 2

Escort fleet

Poi (lvl 60): 12,7cm Kai 2, 10cm HA, searchlight

Sendai (lvl 63): SKC 34, 20,3cm, Night Scout

Hatsuharu (lvl 69): Akizuki's 10cm HA+Fire director, regular 10cm HA, Type 13 air radar Kai

Shimakaze (lvl 44): 12,7cm Kai 2, 10cm HA, Type 91 Fire Director

Shigure (lvl 64): Quint O2, Quad O2, 10cm HA

Ooi (lvl 59): 2x15,5cm secondary, Ko-hyoteki

All ship levels are given by the time of the last boss kill.

Total 13 sorties, 12 with composition above, one time tried to substitute CVs with CVLs to be able to use Surface Task Force, but decided that the loss in plane count was not worth it.

Out of 12 attempts the fleet above went B-D-G-J 10 times (several retreats at D and G), C-E-G-J 2 times.

Out of 13 sorties, 3 retreats at D (one of DDs hit to red by enemy torpedoes), 3 retreats at G (all were caused by Aircraft Carrier Princess in shelling phase), 4 "A", 3 "S" boss battles.

Regular support expeditions were used during all sorties except the very first one, boss support expedition was used only once. I found out that it was usually possible to deal decent damage to the boss if the fleet actually managed to get to her without too many ships in yellow/orange (FWIW, last boss kill was done with red T, and without boss support expedition). On the other hand, support shelling was extremely useful in node D, usually disabling torpedo attacks of at least 2 enemies. Node G was the biggest problem, and the reason I stacked all that AA equipment.

Boss drops: Atago, Shouhou, Myoukou, Nagara with A rank, I-401, Hiyou, Kiyoshimo with S rank.