Expedition/Support Expedition

Introduction
Support expeditions involve sending a fleet into an expedition to provide additional bombardment during the opening stages of Combat. There are two types of support expeditions, normal support and boss support: Some important points about support expeditions are: In addition:
 * Expedition 33 (15 minutes) is a normal support expedition, only works for pre-boss nodes.
 * Expedition 34 (30 minutes) is a boss support expedition, only works for the boss node.
 * Events come with their exclusive support expeditions (e.g. expeditions 133 and 134 for normal and boss support, respectively) that can only be used throughout the event.
 * These event expeditions are unlocked by default.
 * Ships that take part in support expeditions are exempted from ship locking.
 * Outside of events support expeditions only work in World 5.
 * Support expeditions do not work on nodes that begin in night battle.
 * Sparkling your ships (mainly flagship) increases the probability to trigger support, while using fatigued ships reduces it.
 * For a support type, Support Shelling is the usual choice, while Aerial Support is also used sometimes.
 * Support expedition will end if either of these two conditions is fulfilled:
 * Finish a sortie.
 * The timer runs out before starting a sortie. As long as the sortie is underway, having the counter running out on the way will not disable the support during battles.
 * Because support expeditions are ended but not returned, they do not count for daily and weekly expedition quests.

Support Types
A support expedition requires a minimum of at least 2 DDs (Destroyers). The other 4 slots affect what type of support will be provided. The three types provided are Aerial Support, Long Range Torpedo Attack, and Support Shelling:

Support Shelling
Standard composition is 2 DD, 2 CV(L), 2 BB(V) with 4 ships capable of dealing big damage (2 DD required, maximum 2 CV/CVL, or it will be Aerial Support otherwise, 2 BB added as they also can reach the damage cap). Another option is 2 DD, 2 CVL, which is cheaper, but only with 2 ships capable of dealing big damage; 2 DD, 2 CVL, 2 CA also can be used.

Trigger rate

 * Route support, normal morale: ~50%
 * Route support, only flagship is sparkled: ~60%
 * Route support, all ships are sparkled: ~80%
 * Boss support, normal morale: ~80%
 * Boss support, only flagship is sparkled: ~90%

Shelling damage calculation
$$Attack Power = 5 + FP + \sum{EFP}$$ $$Attack Power = 55 + [1.5 * (FP + \sum{TP} + [1.3 * \sum{DB}])]$$ $$FP := FP - 1$$
 * Each ship attacks randomly selected enemy ship
 * Damage calculated as usual, see Damage Calculation, noting that some modifiers don't affect support shelling, as described below
 * For DD and BB the same shelling formula for basic attack power is used; if FP is ship's firepower, EFP is equipment firepower:
 * For CV and CVL the carrier shelling formula is used; if FP is ships's firepower, TP is equipment torpedo, DB is equipment divebomb:
 * However, in both cases FP is reduced by one point:
 * Applicable modifiers: formation and engagement modifiers, damage cap, critical damage modifier
 * Accuracy (at least from morale and equipment accuracy) also has its effect
 * The following factors are considered to have no effects (or pending verification):
 * Artillery spotting modifiers; thus, there is no need to equip a seaplane
 * Equipment fit and overweight
 * Equipment improvements
 * Aircraft Proficiency
 * AP shell modifiers
 * Light cruiser FP bonus
 * Accuracy from levels/luck (pending verification)

The attack power cap and the importance of accuracy render 2-3 main guns or 2-3 bombers + 1-2 radars as standard setup for battleships and carriers (when dealing with heavily armored targets, DD can use 3 radars to increase the chance for their scratch damage). Sparkling all ships for better accuracy is also recommended.

For example:


 * Haruna Kai Ni equipped with two 46cm Triple Gun Mount and two Type 32 Surface Radar will have 5 + 96 + 2 * 26 = 153 attack power before the cap with +16 accuracy from equipment
 * With three 46cm Triple Gun Mount: 179 attack power before the cap, 143 in head-on engagement
 * Yamato Kai with two 46cm Triple Gun Mount will have 196 attack power before the cap, or 156 in head-on engagement
 * Kaga Kai (or Akagi Kai) with two Suisei Model 12A (or two Ryuusei Kai) will have 55 + 1.5 * 49 + 1.95 * 2 * 10 (or 55 + 1.5 * 49 + 1.5 * 2 * 13) = 167 attack power before the cap, 134 in head-on engagement
 * With three Suisei Model 12A (or three Ryuusei Kai): 187 attack power before the cap, 149 in head-on engagement
 * Hiryuu Kai Ni with two Suisei Model 12A (or two Ryuusei Kai) will have 190 attack power before the cap, or 152 in head-on engagement
 * Yuudachi Kai Ni will have 78 attack power without guns, or up to 87 with 3 guns (Ayanami Kai Ni will have 3 less). For example, with default modifiers, Yuudachi with one gun (or Ayanami with two) will always hit for 40+ damage on a 30- armor ship.

See the following tables for reference