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Post by epsilon19 on May 28, 2023 20:33:24 GMT -6
As it stands, seaplane tenders have very little place in direct combat outside of scouting due to the relatively anemic strike loads that floatplanes are capable of carrying and their vulnerability to fighters. However, the existence of floatplane fighters, including floatplane variants of the Zero, Wildcat, and Spitfire, and bombers, such as the N-3PB Nomad, Aichi M6A Seiran, Yokosuka D4Y Suisei, and a floatplane variant of the Swordfish, were not unheard of, if somewhat rare, during the first world war, interwar era, and into the second world war, and would provide AVs with real strike capabilities during these times, in exchange for being less capable than their carrier-borne counterparts and forcing AVs to give up space for useful scout aircraft. This would allow combat focused AVs to be a viable, if likely suboptimal option compared to true carriers prior to the introduction of missile-capable helicopters near the very end of the game.
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Post by cormallen on May 29, 2023 6:27:54 GMT -6
Very true, the first actual air strikes vs shipping were flown from AVs. Warspite's swordfish even flew dive bombing sorties in Norway!
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Post by epsilon19 on May 29, 2023 9:42:24 GMT -6
These would also allow for the use of aviation battleships a la the Ise-class conversions and provide cruisers with some long range striking power. In order to balance this out, a system similar to the way that jets are done, where there's a checkbox that increases the weight per plane (presumably less so than jets, around 1.2-1.3x), but allows for the safer use of, in particular, floatplane bombers, representing a dedicated magazine for the bombs and torpedoes these planes would use. Without it, floatplane bombers could still be used, but with the associated risks of an unarmored or very lightly armored magazine or hanger, whereas, with the checkbox active, it would lessen the risk of the munitions for floatplanes being detonated. Of course, the combat floatplanes would also have lower speed and maneuverability than their carrier-launched counterparts.
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