Early Spring 2024 Map E-4 - New Operation Z (revised)

[Kahlev]

I guess I'm the rare breed to not use touch for p1. It's definitely not historical bonus so big that CV = free kill like summer 23 e5 as a couple of crit fishing is needed. But unlike usual because of how easily the new cvs can be deplaned the carriers are given almost free reign to shoot to their hearts liking. For LD there'll be challenging to get those crits, though I cleared it without reranking my planes on both LB and carriers. Though this strat does require all 3 bases to be sent to the boss + at least duck proper setup tier of AACI to work.
Where the carrier heavy fleet shines is for chipping. I got mostly day S rank, with one of them that had a carrier retreat on C node and needing to eat an extra node.

I think it also has a lot to do with your personal luck regarding targetting on this one. For me, every single run at P1 boss started with at least 1 carrier chuuha, and after the first combat round all carriers often were already at that state (enemies were having laser guided crit damage shots, basically), so my CV damage was heavily nerfed. Touch was a lot more consistent in that regard, but i can totally see you getting better fleet performance if the enemies don't cripple your carriers early in the fight.

[Ink20]

E4H P1+P2+P3

Unlock
Haruna, Kongou, Shoukaku, Zuikaku, Kiso, Fletcher mod.2
Taihou, Shoukaku, Zuikaku + Haruna, Kongou, Kiso, Yahagi, Fletcher mod.2, Suzutsuki
Yukikaze, Taihou, Shoukaku, Zuikaku + Haruna, Kongou, Kiso, Yahagi, Fletcher mod.2, Suzutsuki
Mogami, Ryuuhou E, Taihou, Shoukaku, Zuikaku + Yahagi, Fletcher mod.2, Suzutsuki, Ayanami, Tashkent, Yukikaze
Yukikaze, Ryuuhou E, Taihou, Shoukaku, Zuikaku + Kongou, Mogami, Yahagi, Tashkent, Fletcher mod.2, Suzutsuki
1 LBAS of toukai to SS node and the other 2 for bombing

P1
Yamato: triple 51cm, 51cm +6, AP kai +4, turbine, new boiler +7, rangefinder+
Musashi: 51cm +7, 51cm +6, AP kai +4, turbine, new boiler +7, rangefinder+
Shoukaku: murata, egusa, iwamoto +10, f6f5 +10, rk2 +10
Zuikaku: murata +2, egusa, reppu k2, f6f5 +10, rk2 +10
Suzutsuki: 10cm+AAFD +10, 10cm+AAFD +10, smoke kai +2, t13 radar kai +10
Kaga: shinden, shinden, f4u7, reppu11, f6f5 +10, rk2 +10
+
Mogami: sextorp +9, sextorp +9, 11B(night), minisub D, slo
Ayanami: triple ox LM +10, triple ox LM +10, quintorp +9, tslo +2
Yukikaze: quad ox LM +10, quad ox LM +10, quintorp +9, tslo +4
Yahagi*: quad ox LM +10, sextorp +9, minisub C +5, HF/DF +3, tslo +8
Fletcher mod.2*: smoke, t4 sonar +6, RUR-4A, repair goddess
Tashkent*: starshell, searchlight +10, t4 sonar +6, mk.32 ASW torp, repair goddess

LBAS1(G): hayabusa(64), hayabusa(64), nonaka, ginga(skilled)
LBAS2(G): hayabusa(65) +10, hayabusa(65) +10, M32(tainan) +3, nonaka +3
LBAS3(G): ginga(skilled), M22(251) +2, nonaka +5, hiryuu(skilled)+missile +1

Boss support: 3BB 1CV 2DD

I started chipping with a fast CTF+smoke but the first 2 sorties ended at C so I switched to smokeless slow STF (Yamato, Musashi, Ryuuhou, Kumano CVL, Suzutsuki, Suzuya + Mogami, Yahagi*, Yukikaze, Ayanami*, Fletcher mod.2*, Tashkent*) to avoid closing torpedoes and got 5 S-ranks and 2 retreats. However, that wasn't enough for LD (CVL's bombers were too easily wiped out) so I went back to CTF and, after trying various fleets and reranking LBAS, this one worked (boss killed by Shoukaku)



P2
Kasumi: FCF, daihatsu, daihatsu, mast +1
Nisshin: kyoufuu +10, kyoufuu k2 +7, kyoufuu k2 +10, kyoufuu k2 +1, rk2 +10
Yamakaze: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu
Amagiri: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu, rk2 +10
Uranami: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu, rk2 +10
Asashio: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu
+
Ooyodo: 20.3cm(3) +10, shiun(skilled) +2, smoke kai +2, smoke, 10cm+MG +10
Ooshio: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu
Arashio: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu
Michishio: daihatsu, daihatsu, daihatsu
Heywood*: 5inch+GFCS, 5inch+GFCS, GFCS +2
Hamakaze*: HF/DF +3, mk.32 ASW torp, ASW torp

LBAS1(J1): hayabusa(64), ginga(skilled), ginga(skilled), B-25 +2
LBAS2(J2): toukai, toukai, toukai(901), toukai(901)
LBAS3(O): t1 hachiman +8, nonaka, nonaka +3, nonaka +5

Another bad start with green-T at J1, smoke not mattering and retreat, then fixed things to allow the use of FCF (I started with 9 DD, so I added Kasumi) but everything went like the previous sortie with the exception that this time I got 2 heavy damaged ships (lol). After that, I finished in 4 sorties (-187-245-245-223).

P3
Chougei: SFFCF/12cm+MG +5, kyoufuu k2 +10, 11B(night)
I-58: katsu +3, SSP+LM torp(6) +1
I-47: katsu +2, LM 53cm torp(8)
I-400: katsu kai +2, SSP+LM torp(4), LM radiolocator+snorkel +2
Mikuma: GFCS+5inch CD, 5inch CD +2, SK+SG +10, minisub D, rk2 +10
I-401: katsu kai +1, SSP+LM torp(4) +4, LM radiolocator+snorkel +2
Ro-500: SSP+LM torp(6), LM radiolocator

LBAS1(S): catalina, ginga(skilled), ginga(skilled), B-25 +2
LBAS2(S): nonaka, nonaka +3, ginga +6, shinzan kai
LBAS3(S): t1 hachiman +8, nonaka +5, ginga +3, shinzan kai +2

Boss support (LD only): 3BB 1CV 2DD

Chipping went faster than I expected (even though I didn't get any kill) thanks to vanguard + SFFCF and I cleared on 3rd LD battle (sniped but probably even Ro-500 could have removed the last 3hp). I used 1 Mamiya+Irako and 1 submarine supply material to make things faster.



*OASW

[ofi123]

Finally took my fleet to the sim. Surprisingly fcf didn't decrease by boss kill rate by but actually increase it by a significant amount from 19.3% without fcf to 26.5% with, by reducing the retreats from 50% to 15%

@Kahlev
Give the rate sim gave me for killing the boss, I doubt I need much luck to get the kill.

[goesto11]

@ofi123: Thanks for the sim data. To me it's more a question of ease of clearing. No question the CVB + CVL comp can work (that was my original plan), maybe it sims out different, but I suspect that the Yamato touch fleet with 3x historic CVB will just do better than the CVB + CVL fleet to some degree.

[Etrigan]

I just cleared E4H-1, and here's a quick note for anyone still struggling with it. TLDR - If the sub nodes are causing problems, leave 1 LBAS to deal with them and add boss support.

I used 1 LBAS base full of toukai split between A1 and E while chipping, but I sent all three to the Boss once I hit last dance. And my pass rate went to hell. 9 LD runs, of which only 3 reached the boss. And while C was horrible, the sub nodes seemed just as bad. Either A1 would knock someone to chuuha who got finished off at C, or a ship chuuha at C would get sniped at E. Full sparkling of the escort fleet didn't seem to make a difference - 5 runs were full sparkle, of which only one reached the boss.

LBAS performance at the boss wasn't fantastic either, so I set one LBAS back to ASW duty and added boss support. Sub nodes weren't an issue, managed to sneak through C, and done in 1.

[silentcap]

I'm stuck at Phase 3 LD and asking for some help with my fleet comp in case I'm doing something wrong:

Chougei (lv53): Kyoufuu K2, 2xKyoufuu Kai (+1, +1)
I400 (lv99): Late Model Bow Torpedo Mount (4 tubes) (+2), Special Type 4 Amphibious Tank (+2) [Late Model Radar & Passive Radiolocator + Snorkel Equipment]
I401 (lv99): Late Model Bow Torpedo Mount (4 tubes), Special Type 4 Amphibious Tank (+1) [Late Model Radar & Passive Radiolocator + Snorkel Equipment (+2)]
Mikuma (lv90): 10cm Twin High-angle Gun Mount Battery Concentrated Deployment, 8cm High-angle Gun Kai + Additional Machine Guns (+2), Type 2 Seaplane Fighter Kai (Skilled), Type 21 Air Radar Kai 2 (+1)
I-203 (lv99): Late Model Bow Torpedo Mount (6 tubes), 21inch 4-tube Bow Torpedo Launcher (Late Model) [Submarine Radar & Passive Radiolocator (E27)]
I-201 (lv98): Late Model 53cm Bow Torpedo Mount (8 tubes), Submarine 4-tube Stern Torpedo Launcher (Late Model) (+3) [Late Model Submarine Radar & Passive Radiolocator]
I-13 (lv97) (dupe): 21inch 6-tube Bow Torpedo Launcher (Late Model)(+3), Special Type 4 Amphibious Tank (+3), Special Type 4 Amphibious Tank Kai (+2)

LBAS #1: Taitei, Ginga (Skilled), 2xB-25 (non-mod, +2)
LBAS #2: 2xGinga (non-mod, +3), 2xT1 Land Attacker (Nonaka Squadron) (+2, non-mod)
LBAS #3: 2xShinzan (+7, non-mod), Shinzan Kai (+2), T1 Land Attacker (Hachiman Force)

I specifically equipped my submarines with certain late model submarine torpedoes and submarine radars (and one of the new Ka-Tsu tanks if they have a slot to spare as they can apparently trigger a cut-in attack) after reading this page to maximize my chances of sinking the boss. However, the closest I managed to get is the boss left a single-digit HP at the end of NB. Oh yeah, I'm using boss support here and using diamond on the airstrike nodes (and vanguard on surface battle nodes).

[Ken G]

@silentcap Are your LBAS planes at max chevrons? I'd say you are very close to clearing, so just keep trying. Another way is to take one of the tanks from I-13 and give it to either I-201 or I-203 to spread out the damage.

There's also the AS special attack, though that requires you to select echelon (or line abreast) formation and uses a consumable, but you can F5 if you fail to sink the boss and prevent the consumable to be used.

[silentcap]

@Ken G

Yes. All my LBAS planes are at double chevron when I did my LD attempts. Gotta try those tips that you mentioned at the same time for all my next LD attempts from this point onward. Getting to the boss node feels like a coin toss (I was only able to reach the boss node once after every ~5 runs) to me so I want to maximize my chances of sinking the boss as much as possible. I really want to clear this phase so I can begin Phase 4 ASAP.

BTW, just two questions for Phase 4:

1. After clearing Phase 3, I can start chipping the HP bar for the Phase 4 boss right?

2. I can run dupes of ships in a combined fleet so long as they're in different fleets (i.e. the main ship is in the main fleet while the dupe is in the escort fleet) right?

For question #1, asking this to ensure that the combined fleet that I'll be sortieing (which will be based off yours) after I'm done with Phase 3 will be getting the correct tag for Phase 4 (Z Decisive Battle Fleet Gold Tag).

For question #2, I plan to use Yuubari (both my main and dupe) as 2 of the 6 CLs needed in the combined fleet that I'll be using. While it's actually possible to run duplicates of a ship in a combined fleet (provided that they're in different fleets), I want to ensure that there will be no surprises waiting for me (i.e. I have to go an extra node because of that) once I do that. Also, this will be the first time I'll be using the main and the dupe of the same ship in a combined fleet and it just feels odd to me for some reason.

[Ken G]

@silentcap

1) Yes, you can start chipping immediately.

2) Yes, one in main and one in escort.

To start at the correct starting point and lock, make sure you have at least 3 CL in your fleet (STF). Also, you can verify whether your fleet is set up correctly by purposely putting in one CL/DD with the E4-2 tag (Wake Island Transport) and then checking the sortie prompt. If it does not throw out any red warning message to prevent the sortie, means you will sortie to 2nd starting point and given the E4-2 tag which is not what you want.

The fleet I posted goes through the shortest route, so no issues if you are going to base it on mine. If you happen to off-route, you may post your comp and I will check.

[goesto11]

@silentcap. If you have not cleared P3 already, I'd re-order your LBAS a bit Put the T1 Hachiman first in LBAS Group 3 followed by Shizan then Shinzan Kai. Also definitely would move one tank from I-13 and put on I-201/203 as Ken G suggested.