Land-Based Air Squadron is a mechanic introduced with the May 3, 2016 update that also started the Spring 2016 Event.

Outline

This mechanic allows aerial support to be launched from allied air bases. The attack will occur prior to the fleet's attack (after detection and before the fleet does its aerial combat phase).

Usable Plane Classes

  1. Land Attackers
  2. Interceptors
  3. Carrier-based Fighters  
  4. Carrier-based Bombers  / 
  5. Seaplane Bombers & Fighters  
  6. Carrier-based Recon Planes, Recon Seaplanes & Flying Boat  / / 

How to Use

Each Squadron consists of 4 flights. Each flight can be equipped with a different plane, and the amount differs depending on the type of plane it is: 4 for planes in class 6 above and 12 for all others.
When an equipped plane is removed, the removed plane will be temporarily marked "transferring" (配置転換中) and will not be able to be equipped during this time.

Clearing E-4 and E-5 of the Spring Event increases the number of squadrons that can be utilized.

Each plane has its own equip cost (in bauxite) that is immediately deducted when it is equipped; thus, rapid change of equipment will drain your bauxite quickly. The equip cost for the slot is calculated this way: [math]\text{Equip Cost of Slot} = \text{# of planes allowed in slot(4 or 12, depending on what kind)} \times \text{Equip Cost of Plane}[/math]

As of May 5th, your airfields can be attacked by enemy planes. If your airfield gets heavily damaged too often, your planes will be fatigued faster and increase costs of airfield supports. To avoid this, use the air defense option outlined below.

Tables of Usage Costs

Carrier-Based Fighters

Carrier-Based Fighters
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
19 Type 96 Fighter  +2 3 3 36
20 Zero Fighter Type 21  +5 7 4 48
21 Zero Fighter Type 52  +6 6 5 60
22 Reppuu  +10 5 7 84
53 Reppuu Kai  +12 5 8 96
55 Shiden Kai 2  +9  +3 3 6 72
56 Shinden Kai  +15 2 9 108
96 Zero Fighter Type 21 (Skilled)  +8  +1  +2  +2 7 4 48
109 Zero Fighter Type 52 Model C (601 Air Group)  +9  +1  +1 6 5 60
110 Reppuu (601 Air Group)  +11  +1  +2 5 7 84
152 Zero Fighter Type 52 (Skilled)  +9  +1  +1  +2 6 5 60
153 Zero Fighter Type 52 Model C (Iwai Squadron)  +10  +1  +1  +2 6 5 60
155 Zero Fighter Type 21 (Iwamoto Squadron)  +9  +1  +1  +3 7 4 48
156 Zero Fighter Type 52 Model A (Iwamoto Squadron)  +11  +1  +1  +3 6 5 60
157 Zero Fighter Type 53 (Iwamoto Squadron)  +12  +3  +2  +4 6 6 72
158 Bf109 T Kai  +1  +8  +4 2 6 72
159 Fw190 T Kai  +2  +10  +2 3 6 72

Carrier-Based Bombers

Dive Bombers
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
23 Type 99 Dive Bomber  +5  +3 6 4 48
24 Suisei  +8  +3 4 5 60
57 Suisei Model 12A  +10  +3  +1 5 6 72
60 Zero Fighter Type 62 (Fighter-bomber)  +4  +4  +3 4 5 60
64 Ju 87C Kai  +9  +5  +2 4 6 72
97 Type 99 Dive Bomber (Skilled)  +7  +1  +4  +2  +2 4 4 48
99 Type 99 Dive Bomber (Egusa Squadron)  +10  +5  +3  +4 4 4 48
100 Suisei (Egusa Squadron)  +13  +1  +5  +4  +4 5 5 60
111 Suisei (601 Air Group)  +11  +4  +1  +1 5 5 60
148 Prototype Nanzan  +11  +1  +4  +2 ? ?
154 Zero Fighter Type 62 (Fighter-bomber/Iwai Squadron)  +4  +7  +3  +1  +1  +2 5 5 60
Torpedo Bombers
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
16 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber  +5  +4  +1 4 5 60
17 Tenzan  +7  +3  +1 5 6 72
18 Ryuusei  +10  +4  +1 6 7 84
52 Ryuusei Kai  +13  +3  +2 6 8 96
82 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (931 Air Group)  +6  +7  +2 4 5 60
83 Tenzan (931 Air Group)  +9  +8  +2 ? ?
93 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Tomonaga Squadron)  +11  +1  +5  +4  +3 4 5 60
94 Tenzan Model 12 (Tomonaga Squadron)  +14  +1  +6  +5  +3 5 6 72
98 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Skilled)  +8  +5  +2  +2 4 5 60
112 Tenzan (601 Air Group)  +10  +4  +2  +1 5 6 72
113 Ryuusei (601 Air Group)  +13  +5  +3  +1 6 7 84
143 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Murata Squadron)  +12  +1  +5  +4  +2 4 5 60
144 Tenzan Model 12 (Murata Squadron)  +15  +1  +6  +4  +2 5 6 72

Seaplane Bombers & Fighters

Seaplane Bombers
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
26 Zuiun  +2  +4  +4  +1  +6 5 6 72
62 Prototype Seiran  +6  +11  +1  +6 4 10 120
79 Zuiun (634 Air Group)  +2  +5  +6  +1  +6 5 6 72
80 Zuiun Model 12  +3  +5  +7  +1  +6 5 7 84
81 Zuiun Model 12 (634 Air Group)  +3  +6  +9  +1  +7 7 84
Seaplane Fighters
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
164 Ro.44 Seaplane Fighter  +2  +1  +2  +1  +2 3 4 48
165 Type 2 Seaplane Fighter Kai  +3  +1  +1  +1  +2 4 5 60

Land Attackers & Interceptors

Land Attackers
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
168 Type 96 Land Attacker  +8  +10  +1  +2  +2 8 10 120
169 Type 1 Land Attacker  +10  +12  +2  +2  +3 9 12 144
170 Type 1 Land Attacker (Nonaka Squadron)  +12  +13  +3  +2  +4  +1 ? ?
Interceptors
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
175 Raiden  +6 Template:AntiBomb+5 Template:Intercept+2 6 72
176 Type 3 Fighter Hien  +9 Template:AntiBomb+1 Template:Intercept+3 3 7 84
177 Type 3 Fighter Hien (244th Air Combat Group)  +9 Template:AntiBomb+3 Template:Intercept+4 7 84

Recon Seaplanes, Carrier-based Recon Planes, & Flying Boats

Recon Seaplanes
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
25 Type 0 Recon Seaplane  +1  +2  +1  +1  +5 7 5 20
59 Type 0 Observation Seaplane  +2  +4  +1  +2  +6 3 6 24
102 Type 98 Recon Seaplane (Night Scout)  +1  +3  +1 6 8 32
115 Ar196 Kai  +1  +5  +1  +2  +5 3 5 20
118 Shiun  +2  +1  +1  +8 4 9 36
163 Ro.43 Recon Seaplane  +1  +1  +2  +2  +1  +4 3 4 16
Carrier-Based Recon Planes
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
54 Saiun  +2  +9 Avoid Crossing the T - Disadvantage 8 9 36
61 Type 2 Recon Aircraft  +3  +7  +1 5 6 24
151 Prototype Keiun  +2  +11  +2 8 12 48
Flying Boats
Equip Dex
Number
Name of Plane Statistics Combat Radius Equip Cost
per plane per slot
138 Type 2 Flying Boat  +1  +1  +12 20 25 100
178 PBY-5A Catalina  +2  +2  +9 5 6 24

Detail of Each Action

There are 5 actions each squadron can take: Standby, Mission, Air Defense, Take Cover, and Rest.

Action Effect
Standby   Default state.
Use if you wish to sortie without utilizing the squadron.
Mission   As you enter the sortie, for each squadron you chose to send on a mission, you can choose up to 2 nodes that the squadron will perform mission at.
You can choose the same node twice for the squadron; if so, the squadron will have two phases to itself.
Note that each squadron has a maximum radius in which it can carry out a mission; you will be unable to use the squadron beyond its combat radius.
Costs   and   upon selecting a mission run.
Air Defense   During certain maps (such as E-5 and E-7 of the Spring 2016 Event), the enemy can perform air raids against the player's airfield, inflicting damage to planes and resources. This action orders the squadron to perform air defense in order to reduce the damage inflicted to planes and resources.
Take Cover   Orders the planes to scramble to avoid enemy attacks. This, however, renders the base vulnerable.
Rest   Will restore morale at a faster rate. However, the planes will suffer heavier damage if under attack while this action is taken.
This also reduces your natural bauxite regeneration rate to 1 per 6 minutes (instead of 1 per 3).

Equipment Screen

 
(Example taken from Spring 2016 Event) Click the icon surrounded by the blue box to access the LBAS equipment screen. The icon surrounded by the brown box shows that LBAS can be utilized in that map (in this case, E-4).
 
Equipment screen for the Air Squadrons. The five tabs at top correspond to the following plane classifications, in order: (1) Land Attacker, (2) Interceptors, (3) Carrier-Based Fighters, (4) Carrier-Based Dive and Torpedo Bombers, (5) Carrier-Based Recon Aircraft, Seaplanes (including bombers and fighters), and Flying Boats.
 
The 4th slot of this airfield is currently under the transfer restriction, and so is the Ar196 Kai that was equipped to it.

Upon gaining the ability to utilize the Land-Based Air Squadrons, you will gain access to a separate equipment screen (see first image to the right for how to access the screen). Each airfield has 4 equipment slots, and each slot can be equipped with a different plane. You are able to change the lock status of planes in this screen (and this is currently the only way to place locks on land attackers and interceptors).

In the equipment screen, the overview of each equipment lists the following, in order:

Equipping a plane to an airfield slot follows the same procedure as equipping a piece of equipment to a kanmusu: click on the slot you wish for the plane to go into, click the plane you wish to equip, and confirm the choice. Note that the usage costs of the plane being equipped is immediately deducted at this time.

Transfer Restriction

There are a few things to keep in mind when equipping the airfields:

  • Each time a plane is unequipped from a slot (other than being moved to another slot), the plane goes under transfer restriction (配置転換中) and will not be able to be equipped by anything, including ships (in fact, it will disappear from the equip list as if something else is equipping it), until the restriction expires.
  • Each time a plane is unequipped from a slot and another plane isn't replacing it at the same time (this can happen when you drag-and-drop a plane out of a slot), the airfield slot itself goes under transfer restriction and nothing can be equipped to that slot until the restriction expires.
  • It takes 20 minutes for the restriction to expire.

See the 3rd image to the right for an example of both a slot and a plane under restriction.

Combat Radius

This is a stat that cannot be directly check anywhere except at the equipment screen; it shows how far from the starting point the plane is able to be sent to. The radius of all planes in the specific squadron is taken, and that is how far the full squadron can go on a mission.

Example: It takes a Carrier Task Force at least 5 nodes to reach the boss of E-4 of Spring 2016 Event.

  • Any squadron with an average Combat Radius of at least 5 can be sent to the boss node, even if the CTF itself takes 6 nodes (since ABCEFK and ABDEFK are both possible routes).
  • A squadron with an average Combat Radius of 4 can be sent to the following nodes: A, C, D, E, F, and H. (Node B is not a combat node)

Some things to keep in mind:

  • Whether a node can be deployed to is calculated via the shortest route (in terms of nodes), even if the fleet itself takes detour.
  • Since there are multiple starting points depending on the fleet composition, some plane compositions will only work for specific fleet setup. For example, a squadron with an average Combat Radius of 4 can only be used to attack the E-4 boss of Spring 2016 Event if a Surface Task Force is used (as the shortest route to boss from that starting point has a total of 4 nodes).
  • The combat radius for a named plane is the same as the base plane.