Aerial Combat
Aerial Combat Breakdown
Aerial Combat is one of the Day Battle intermediary phases. In this phase, allied and enemy fleets indirectly fight each other for aerial dominance and airstrike potential, granting either fleet some substantial advantages in the subsequent combat phases.
Aerial Combat has the following structure:
- LBAS's Jet Assault
- Fleet's Jet Assault
- Land-Based Aerial Support
- Stage 1 - Battle for Air Superiority
- Stage 2 - Fleet Anti-Air Defense
- Stage 3 - Airstrike
If an LBAS phase happens before the Aerial Combat phase, the enemy fleet state, such as plane slots and Fighter Power used for the subsequent Aerial Combat, is carried over. This can be used to tamper with the Enemy's Aerial Combat initial conditions.
- See LBAS for more details.
In case neither fleets meet the requirements, the sub-phase will be skipped.
Planes in combat phases | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plane type | Detection | Contact | Airpower | Opening airstrike | Day Cut-in | ASW |
Fighters | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
Torpedo Bombers | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Dive Bombers | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Jets | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
Carrier Recons | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Recon Seaplane Recons | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
Bomber Seaplane Bombers | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Seaplane Fighters | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Large Flying Boats | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Rotorcraft | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Liaison Aircraft | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Jet Assault Phase
Planes that participate in this phase:
If any carrier on either side is equipped with Jets, the "Jet Assault" (JA) Phase will commence first of all. The JA Phase may only commence during battles where Airstrikes can be performed. The JA follows the same rules as Stage 3.
The defending side is allowed to defend against the Jets following the same rules as Stage 2, however, Jets possess great Anti-Air Resistance, specifically during the JA, and enemy AACI cannot be triggered during this phase either.
Jets also take part in the regular Stage 3, but in exchange, they are subject to enemy Anti-Air prior to the JA, and again during Stage 2.
Steel Cost: every time the Jet Assault Phase is triggered, is automatically subtracted from the stockpile.
Jets Steel Cost | |
---|---|
|
Stage 1 - Battle for Air Superiority
Planes that participate in this phase:
- Fighters:
- Bombers
Following a possible Jet Phase, the fight for Air Supremacy will begin. The main objective of this phase is to define the Air State imposed on each fleet, by comparing each fleet's Air Power, more commonly referred to as Fighter Power (FP).
- The Air State achieved can be critical, especially to trigger certain mechanics like Artillery Spotting/CVCI, Contact, or Night Contact.
Fighter Power is defined by each plane equipped in the fleet that participates in this phase.
Fighter Power Formula | |
---|---|
|
After Fighter Power is calculated for each fleet (FP and EFP for allied and enemy fleets, respectively), the values are compared, and Air State is determined, based on the following:
Air State | Fighter Power Range | Allied Planes Shot Down | Enemy Planes Shot Down | Airstrike Contact | Artillery Spotting | Night Contact |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Air Supremacy (AS+) 制空権確保! |
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{FP} \ge 3\text{EFP} }[/math] | 3/120 - 7/120 | 0 % - 100 % | Allied Only | Allied Only | Allied Only |
Air Superiority (AS) 航空優勢! |
[math]\displaystyle{ 3\text{EFP} \gt \text{FP} \ge 1.5\text{EFP} }[/math] | 9/120 - 21/120 | 0 % - 80 % | Allied & Enemy | Allied Only | Allied & Enemy |
Air Parity (AP) No text |
[math]\displaystyle{ 1.5\text{EFP} \gt \text{FP} \gt \frac{2}{3}\text{EFP} }[/math] | 15/120 - 35/120 | 0 % - 60 % | Neither | Neither | Neither |
Air Denial (AD) No text |
[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{2}{3}\text{EFP} \ge \text{FP} \gt \frac{1}{3}\text{EFP} }[/math] | 21/120 - 49/120 | 0 % - 40 % | Allied & Enemy | Enemy Only | Allied & Enemy |
Air Incapability (AI) 制空権喪失! |
[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{1}{3}\text{EFP} \ge \text{FP} }[/math] | 30/120 - 70/120 | 0 % - 10 % | Enemy Only | Enemy Only | Enemy Only |
After determining it, each fleet will lose a random number of planes across all slots based on the imposed Air State.
Proportional Air State Shootdown Formulas | ||
---|---|---|
Allied Fleet
|
For each slot of the Allied Fleet:
| |
Enemy Fleet
|
For each slot of the Enemy Fleet:
| |
|
- Notes
- Aircraft will be launched regardless of the carrier's state (except Sunk).
- The Air States between the allied and enemy fleets are mirrored. For example, attaining AS+ imposes AI to the enemy fleet.
- If both sides launch no planes, the Air State will be Air Parity.
- By solely using planes with no AA stat, an enemy fleet might start Air Supremacy Combat with 0 total Fighter Power.
- In such case, the allied fleet will attain AS+ even if no planes are launched.
Stage 2 - Fleet Anti-Air Defense
Planes that participate in this phase:
Following Stage 1, the Fleet AA Defense phase allows each fleet to reduce the incoming Airstrike damage by shooting down enemy planes.
- Each bomber is assigned to a random enemy ship.
- Ships are picked regardless of damage state, ship class, and position in the fleet have no influence.
- Even ships that cannot be targeted by airstrikes such as submarines can be chosen to defend against a given bomber.
- Sunk ships cannot be chosen to defend[1], but sunk enemy ships can still activate Anti-Air Cut-in for the fleet[2]
- Ships are picked regardless of damage state, ship class, and position in the fleet have no influence.
- When a ship defends against a bomber, it rolls two concurrent but independent events, each with 50 % chance of success:
- The first roll, denominated Proportional Shootdown, or Prop for short, reduces the slot size by a given % value.
- The second roll, denominated Fixed Shootdown, or Fixed for short, reduces the slot size by a given X value.
- There is therefore a chance of 25 % to trigger both effects, 25 % to trigger only Prop, 25 % to trigger only Fixed, and 25 % to trigger neither, for each bomber.
- Player-side ships are also guaranteed to shoot down at least +1 plane in addition to this, see Anti-Air Cut-in for details.
Adjusted Anti-Air
Adjusted Anti-Air is a set of values derived from each ship and the entire fleet. For a single ship, this value Ship Adjusted AA applies weights on different pieces of equipment to further increase its effectiveness against enemy air threats. For the fleet, this value Fleet Adjusted AA has the objective of further increasing the influence of particularly high Anti-Air ships on either side by strengthening the entire fleet's air defense performance.
Adjusted Anti-Air Formulas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allied Fleet
|
Ship Adj AA
|
Allied Fleet:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fleet Adj AA
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Enemy Fleet
|
Ship Adj AA
|
Enemy Fleet
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fleet Adj AA
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Proportional and Fixed shootdowns
- Ship Adjusted AA is used to calculate Proportional shootdown.
- Ship Adjusted AA and Fleet Adjusted AA are used to calculate Fixed shootdown.
Prop/Fixed Shootdown Formulas | |||
---|---|---|---|
Allied Fleet
|
Allied Fleet's ship:
| ||
Enemy Fleet
|
Enemy Fleet's ship:
| ||
| |||
|
Guaranteed Shootdown Formula | |
---|---|
| |
|
Anti-Air Resistance
Specific planes, in particular skilled variants, remarkable aces or state-of-the-art aircraft may present a special AA resistance property. AA resistance is presented in form of "Ship AA Resistance/Fleet AA Resistance", with each value being used in the respective above formulas.
This property is arbitrary to each aircraft, but loosely fit in the following categories:
- Extremely high resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.5/0.5
- High resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.5/0.7
- Average resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.6/0.7
- Low resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.6/1.0
Anti-Air Cut-in
Using special equipment setups, ships may perform one of multiple special Anti-Ait Cut-In mostly referred to as AACI, during Stage 2.
- AACI types
- Each AACI is defined by its "ID" (its API value), and is arbitrary (see the below table).
- They are then mostly referred to by their "ID".
- Some older AACI may be referred to by their abbreviation, such as BBR for AACI 5.
- For all AACI, the "ID" therefore fully determines:
- The setup of the AACI and the ships able to trigger it,
- The "Trigger Rate" and the "Priority Order",
- The "K-value" and "shot down per slot" value,
- AACI effects
- Grant a multiplier to the "Fixed Shootdown" of all allied ships, referred to as the K-value, regardless of what ship triggers it,
- Remove a fixed number of planes from each enemy bomber slot ("shot down per slot").
These effects make depleting the entirety of enemy planes much more feasible.
- AACI triggering
- Only one AACI can be performed per battle,
- On "Aerial Combat Nodes", AACI can be triggered twice, one per phase.
- Only a ship equipped with proper AACI setups can trigger one (see the below table),
- If multiple ships are equipped with AACI setups, each ship will roll their available AACI in ID's "Priority Order" (see the below table).
- If IDs are tied, priority goes by fleet order from top to bottom.
- Thus, for a given fleet & setup, some ships will take priority over others always the same way.
- If one ship fulfills the requirement for multiple setups at once, then it will be able to roll each individual AACI in ID's "Priority Order".
- The trigger rate is unaffected by Stats like the damage status, Fleet AA, Ship AA, Adjusted AA, Air State, or any other parameter like Luck and LoS.
- It is possible for all AACI rolls in a fleet to fail, triggering no AACI.
- If the enemy fleet has a valid setup, it may as well activate an AACI. If that happens, no animation will be shown, but the effects will function normally.
- It can activate during the regular airstrike phase, but not during other phases like the Jet Assaults, LBAS phases, OASW, or Shelling phases.
- There is a bug that allows enemy ships to activate AACI even if they were sunk[1].
For the following table:
- is used to indicate any Large Caliber Main Gun
- is used to indicate any High-Angle Gun (dual-purpose guns/HA guns), including Main HA Guns and Secondary HA Guns,
- is used to indicate any AA Gun,
- is used to indicate any AA Fire Directors
, - is used to indicate any AA Shell
- is used to indicate any Radar, including Surface Radars,
- Air is used to indicate an Air Radar (any Radar with AA stat of 2 or higher).
Do note that some setups also required a maximal or minimal base AA stat for the equipment to be counted.
- This exclude any stat gained from Fit Bonuses or Improvement.
AACI List
AACI Patterns | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ID | Priority Order |
Setup | Shot down per slot |
K-value | Rate | Users |
None | Triggers if no other AACI is activated | +1A = 1, B = 0 | 1.0 | N/A | Player's fleet only | |
1 | 12 | +8A = 3, B = 5 | 1.7 | 65 % | Akizuki-class | |
2 | 17 | +7A = 3, B = 4 | 1.7 | 58 % | ||
3 | 28 | +5A = 2, B = 3 | 1.6 | 50 % | ||
4 | 16 | Air | +7A = 5, B = 2 | 1.5 | 52 % | All |
5 | 29 | 8+ AA 8+ AA Air | +5A = 2, B = 3 | 1.5 | 55 % | All (except Akizuki-class) |
6 | 30 | +5A = 4, B = 1 | 1.45 | 40 % | All | |
7 | 38 | Air | +4A = 2, B = 2 | 1.35 | 45 % | All (except Akizuki-class) |
8 | 35 | 8+ AA Air | +5A = 2, B = 3 | 1.4 | 50 % | |
9 | 48 | +3A = 1, B = 2 | 1.3 | 40 % | All | |
10 | 6 | 9+ AA Air | +9A = 3, B = 6 | 1.65 | 60 % | Maya Kai Ni |
11 | 9 | 9+ AA | +7A = 2, B = 5 | 1.5 | 55 % | |
12 | 42 | 9+ AA 3+ AA Air | +4A = 1, B = 3 | 1.25 | 45 % | All |
13 | 36 | 8+ AA 9+ AA Air | +5A = 1, B = 4 | 1.35 | 35 % | All (except Maya Kai Ni ) |
14 | 27 | Air | +5 | 1.45 | 62 % | Isuzu Kai Ni |
15 | 37 | +4 | 1.3 | 55 % | ||
16 | 26 | Air | +5 | 1.4 | 62 % | Kasumi Kai Ni B & Yuubari Kai Ni (not Toku/D ) |
17 | 45 | +3 | 1.25 | 55 % | Kasumi Kai Ni B & Inagi Kai Ni | |
18 | 46 | 9+ AA | +3 | 1.2 | 60 % | Satsuki Kai Ni & Inagi Kai Ni |
19 | 23 | 7- AA 9+ AA | +6 | 1.45 | 58 % | Kinu Kai Ni |
20 | 39 | 9+ AA | +4 | 1.25 | 65 % | |
21 | 24 | Air | +6 | 1.45 | 60 % | Yura Kai Ni |
22 | 47 | 9+ AA | +3 | 1.2 | 60 % | Fumizuki Kai Ni |
23 | 49 | 3~8 AA | +2 | 1.05 | 80 % | UIT-25/I-504 |
24 | 40 | 3~8 AA | +4 | 1.25 | 40 % | Tenryuu-class Kai Ni |
25 | 10 | Air | +8 | 1.55 | 60 % | Ise-class Kai/Ni |
26 | 15 | Air | +7 | 1.4 | 55 % | Yamato-class Kai/Ni |
27 | 20 | Air | +6 | 1.55 | 55 % | Ooyodo Kai |
28 | 31 | Air | +5 | 1.4 | 55 % | Ise-class Kai/Ni & Musashi Kai/Ni |
29 | 25 | Air | +6 | 1.55 | 60 % | Hamakaze B Kai & Isokaze B Kai |
30 | 34 | +4 | 1.3 | 45 % | Tenryuu Kai Ni & Gotland Kai/Andra | |
31 | 43 | +3 | 1.2 | 52 % | Tenryuu Kai Ni & Inagi Kai Ni | |
32 | 41 | OR OR |
+4 | 1.2 | 50 % | Royal Navy Ships & Kongou-class Kai Ni/B/C |
33 | 33 | 4+ AA | +4 | 1.35 | 45 % | Gotland Kai/Andra |
34 | 13 | +8 | 1.6 | 55 % | Fletcher-class | |
35 | 18 | OR |
+7 | 1.55 | 55 % | |
36 | 19 | OR OR |
+7 | 1.55 | 50 % | |
37 | 32 | +5 | 1.45 | 40 % | ||
38 | 1 | +11 | 1.85 | 57 % | Atlanta-class | |
39 | 2 | +11 | 1.7 | 57 % | ||
40 | 3 | OR OR |
+11 | 1.7 | 56 % | |
41 | 5 | OR OR |
+10 | 1.65 | 55 % | |
42 | 4 | Sp 6+ AA | +11 | 1.65 | 64 % | Yamato-class Kai Ni |
43 | 7 | Sp | +9 | 1.6 | 59 % | |
44 | 14 | Sp 6+ AA | +7 | 1.6 | 54 % | |
45 | 21 | Sp | +6 | 1.55 | 40 % | |
46 | 8 | 9+ AA Air OR 9+ AA Air |
+8 | 1.55 | 50 % | Haruna Kai Ni B |
47 | 44 | OR OR 4+ AA |
+3 | 1.3 | 69.3 % | Shiratsuyu Kai Ni Shigure Kai Ni/San Murasame Kai Ni Harusame Kai Ni |
48 | 11 | 4+ AA | +9 | 1.75 | 64.7? % | Akizuki-class Kai/Ni |
49 | 22 | 8+ AA 8+ AA 4+ AA | +6? | 1.5? | ? % | Fujinami Kai Ni |
- Examples
- Akizuki with 8+ AA 8+ AA Air 9+ AA fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 1, 2, 3, 13 (in this order).
- The resulting trigger rate is 95.22 %.
- Fletcher with fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 34, 35, 9 (in this order).
- The resulting trigger rate is 88.80 %.
- Musashi with Sp fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 42, 43, 44, 45, 5, 28, 8, 13 (in this order).
- The resulting trigger rate is 99.73 %.
- Isokaze B Kai with 8+ AA 8+ AA Air 9+ AA fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 29, 5, 8, 13 (in this order).
- The resulting trigger rate is 94.15 %.
- Sequential AACIs
The Sequential AACIs were the AACIs introduced with the implementation of Johnston, allowing to a single ship to roll multiple AACI IDs at once, greatly increasing the trigger rate. Since the 26/05/2023 update, this mechanic is defunct, being available to all ships.
- See here for more details.
Stage 3 - Airstrike
Planes that participate in this phase:
With both preliminary phases executed, the final Aerial Combat Stage, Airstrike, is performed. In this phase, each bomber from the Allied Fleet and Enemy Fleet that still possess a slot size higher than 0 selects a ship to attack. The attack target is randomly picked following the same rules as Shelling target selection. The targeted ship is not necessarily the ship that has defended against said bomber during Stage 2.
See Damage Calculations for details on airstrike damage.
- Notes
- Each bomber is assigned to a single ship and performs exactly one attack. The same ship may be selected to be attacked by multiple different bombers.
- The attack is unaffected by the battle's Engagement and the Fleet's Formation, as well as the Carrier's morale and damage state.
- Submarines are untargetable by Airstrike
Contact
Contact is a special mechanic that increases the damage of all bombers participating in the Airstrike Phase. Specifically, it may be triggered during Stage 1, but has no effects until Stage 3. When successful, the Squadron performing Contact will be shown on top of the opposing fleet's "Radar", together with the text Making contact! (触接中!, shokusetsu-chū!).
- Contact may be triggered only under AS+, AS, and AD. It cannot trigger under AP and AI.
- At least one Sp Carrier Recon, / Torpedo Bomber, Recon/ Seaplane Recon, or Large Flying Boat must be present.
- Bomber Seaplane Bombers cannot perform contact.
Step 1: Contact Trigger
This step determines if any contact can trigger at all. Each plane that can perform contact contributes to the trigger rate based on the plane's LoS stat and current slot size.
- Only Torpedo Bombers do not contribute to the trigger rate, but may still trigger the contact with the minimum rate possible.
Contact Trigger Rate Formula[1] | |
---|---|
| |
|
A single roll is performed using the Final Trigger Rate. If successful, Contact advances to Step 2.
Step 2: Aircraft Selection
After a successful Step 1, each plane will roll a Selection rate to be allowed to perform contact. The rolls are performed for each plane independently following a set priority, from highest to lowest. The priority for Aircraft Selection is:
- Accuracy stat, starting from highest.
- The Carrier's position in the fleet, starting from Flagship.
- The Equipment slot position, starting from the first.
Aircraft Selection Formula[1] | |
---|---|
|
The first Squadron that succeeds to be selected will perform Contact. If all planes fail to be selected, Contact will not trigger, even if Step 1 was successful.
If successful, then Contact will grant an additional damage multiplier based on the selected aircraft's stat.
Accuracy | Damage Modifier |
---|---|
0 | 112 % |
1 | 112 % |
2 | 117 % |
3+ | 120 % |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 KanColle Kai decompile
Anti-Air Rocket Barrage
Certain ship types have the ability to trigger an "Anti-Air Rocket Barrage" (AARB), completely negating any airstrike damage they would otherwise take.
- The only ships types able to trigger this mechanic are:
- The ship must be equipped with a 12cm 30-tube Rocket Launcher Kai Ni .
- It is often referred to as "RLK2" or "Rosa Kai Ni" for short.
AARB Trigger Rate Formula | |
---|---|
|
If the AARB triggers on a ship, the ship will slide forward, and Rocket Barrage Successful (噴進弾幕成功, funshindan maku seikō) will be displayed over its card.
- If the ship does not take any damage during the airstrike, the same animation will also be played, even if the AARB failed to trigger or the ship was not targeted by any bomber.
- Generally when a ship is targeted by any bomber and takes no damage, the text "miss" will be displayed over the ship's card, but if the AARB actually triggered, nothing will be displayed instead.
- Notes
- It is possible to achieve more than 100 % activation rate.
- There is another anti-air barrage animation in-game for only AA Shells. No effects were found for it.
- The combination of a AA Shells and the RLK2 is also supposed to have extra effects. No effects were found for it.
- The uselessness/cosmetic-only role of AA Shells in this mechanic might be an historical reference to the real T3 shells, being extremely ineffective in their AA role, and being compared to simple "fireworks".
- Smokes reduce the AARB trigger rate, either directly or by reducing the Adjusted AA.