I'm playing Japan, July 42, Allies attack Home Island. I have a defensive force : many planes, a few ships, the Allies have a lot of ships but no air superiority.
Since I want air combat but no sea combat, I choose to click on the "Air" button when combat begins. My planes efficiently defend the Home Island and after 2 rounds, the Allies retreat with some losses. Japanese ships endure some hits from dive bombers but not a single one sinks. Nevertheless, on the next turn, 35 ships are required for patrol on Home Island.
I guess I missed something here but I can't figure what. The manual says "Any successful raid on these [special] bases will force the owning player to patrol that base at least with 25% of his fleet strength [...]". Could we have some details about this point ? What is the definition of a successful raid ? Bombs hitting the ground (not the case here) ? A die roll after any attack, maybe depending on the respective forces ? Are air attacks mandatory or can we achieve the same result with a successfull sea attack ? Do any air attack result in forcing patrols, whether it is successuful or not ?