Overview
Walktrough and strategy for third plane challenge – Attack on Force Z
Introduction
Another extremely difficult mission, but can be done if you know what you’re doing. You are facing small British fleet, consisting of 2 battleships, aircraft carrier , 2 destroyers, and CAP fighters. You have only 2 airfields and some attack planes at your disposial. To win the mission you need to sink only the battleships, but this isn’t enough for us. We will destroy all of them. Ready? Let’s begin.
Preparing first strike
Start with taking off 4 squadrons of Betty’s equipped with 250 kg bombs, and then switch to another airfield to get 4 squadrons of Oscars to the sky. Do it exactly in this order, because it takes longer to the bombers to take off than fighters, and believe me – time is everything in this mission.
Then start grouping your planes in front of the enemy fleet
Getting rid of the escort
When your planes are at position, start attack. Use Oscars as meatshield against Hurricanes, send one squadron to fight one squadron. It’s crucial to get Hurricanes away from your bombers, or they will shred them in seconds. Order 2 squadrons of Bettys to attack Hermes.
When Oscars caught attention of British fighters, prepare for bombing carrier. Pull off low altitude bombing strategy on Hermes (more info in my other guide Tips and Tricks) and sink her in one, swift stroke.
If one run isn’t enough, get second squadron to finish her off, but remember you need to destroy Hermes with 2 squadrons, if you doesn’t succeed – restart. After Hermes is no more, send destroyers to the bottom the same way – One squadron must sink one destroyer.
If you do everything correctly, the escort is laying at the bottom after your first strike, leaving only two vulnerable battleshps on map. If some Hurricanes left in the sky, finish them off with next wave of Oscars.
Taking care of battleships
Now your primary target is Repulse, because she is 5 knots faster than Prince of Wales, and when she reach eastern border – You’re fu*ked. Get the Betty’s to the sky, but now with torpedoes, and start sending them in front of the battleships, exactly as you do in the first strike. But you ask- Why? torpedo bombers should attack from the broadside not from the front! BULLSH*T!! Attacking from front have one major advantage over attacking from broadside – you won’t be shot down with AA fire, because not all of them can fire at you. That’s why. Peacefully land your empty bombers, take off new ones, form striking group in front of them and DEVASTATE Repulse with massive attack. You will notice that in this mission, AI of you allies is dumb as f*ck, they drop torpedoes innacurately and often from too high altitude, potentally ruining your day. If you want something to be done right, you need to do it on your own. Send squadrons to attack with delays between them, and manually drop most of the payload – here’s little trick: after dropping torpedo press E, and immediately after Q. This way you will switch to next squadron member, and manually drop his torpedo.
When Repulse is uder the sea, do the same thing with Prince of Wales. This should not be a fight, more like execution, but is necessary to finish the mission
When last battleship will be sent to Davy Jones locker the fight is over. You can take the well- deserved breath. That was intense.
