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Battle Damage Assessment - 1/2/2020 8:32:26 PM

Rogue188

Posts: 30
Joined: 11/26/2019
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If you read my last update on the bad luck thread, I had an engagement with the Japanese that finally resulted in a US victory. It goes to show how well the game can simulate reality and the experience taught me a few things. Unless you can actually see a ship sink during the attack, its really hard to know the outcome of the battle. Even if you put 5 bombs on a ship, there is no guarantee it was sunk.

I found myself asking: How much damage did I inflict? Is the Shokaku group still coming? Do I keep my carriers on station? Do I risk long range land bombers attacking the TF? My CAP and some of my Dauntlesses have been greatly reduced, should I retire? Suddenly I realized what it must have been like for Adm. Fletcher at Midway or Coral Sea. How do you make the best decision with only limited information? Where do you draw the line between prudence and over confidence. I am lucky that I can stop and reload, but you can't do that in real life. It was an interesting moment and I thank Matrix games for publishing a game that can force you realize what it must have been like for a real life Admiral.

< Message edited by Rogue188 -- 1/2/2020 10:14:14 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/2/2020 8:43:07 PM

btd64

Posts: 9973
Joined: 1/23/2010
From: Mass. USA. now in Lancaster, OHIO
Status: offline

If your squadrons are that beat up and you have no LBA to fly CAP with, I would take the victory and retire....GP

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(in reply to Rogue188)

Post #: 2

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/2/2020 9:54:42 PM

BBfanboy

Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline

The only real reason to watch the combat animations is to get more information on damage done than the combat report provides. This is especially true for damage to ships from sub, aircraft, surface warship and coastal artillery attacks. Unless you know the caliber of the weapons hitting the ships and see the messages about additional damage (like "Damage to the Engines", or "Severe Casualties to Damage Control Parties", it is hard to know if you scratched them or hit them hard. And you can read the fire and smoke animations to estimate current fire levels. Knowing whether a hit penetrated the ship or just went off on the deck or hull armour is also important.

I know you can get some additional info on enemy aircraft losses and LCU squad/device attrition by watching the animations but I find them less important that the ship/sub combat ones. After a while you get pretty good at estimating which enemy ships likely sunk/burned up and which might still be limping back to port.

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(in reply to Rogue188)

Post #: 3

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/3/2020 2:34:18 AM

Kull

Posts: 2625
Joined: 7/3/2007
From: El Paso, TX
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rogue188

I found myself asking: How much damage did I inflict? Is the Shokaku group still coming? Do I keep my carriers on station? Do I risk long range land bombers attacking the TF? My CAP and some of my Dauntlesses have been greatly reduced, should I retire? Suddenly I realized what it must have been like for Adm. Fletcher at Midway or Coral Sea. How do you make the best decision with only limited information? Where do you draw the line between prudence and over confidence. I am lucky that I can stop and reload, but you can't do that in real life. It was an interesting moment and I thank Matrix games for publishing a game that can force you realize what it must have been like for a real life Admiral.

It is THOSE MOMENTS that give this game a depth like no other. In my current campaign, the Marines are on Guadalcanal, but I had to race the transports out the very next turn because something Red was coming down the Slot, and it looked big and bad (and yes, I've read my history!) So now they are on the island, and the Japs are bombing the hell out of them, and supply keeps dropping and I KNOW there's an enemy CVTF out there somewhere, and his SCTFs swing past the beaches periodically, and more supply is desperately needed but when can I get it to them and will they hold out until then?

It's amazing often you get these real war = AE war moments, and while it's edge of your seat as it happens, you savor those memories later. It never gets old.

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(in reply to Rogue188)

Post #: 4

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/3/2020 11:07:42 AM

Trugrit

Posts: 947
Joined: 7/14/2014
From: North Carolina
Status: offline

+3

Rogue188,

I think you have found it, the way I did many years ago.

This game, like Baseball which I love, is an aquired taste.
You have to stay with it until you can really see it for the first time and understand.

When I first started playing this game my first reactions were boredom and anger at myself.
How can I be this stupid? Am I doing something wrong? Then I had that breakthrough
moment of sucess and I realized that I had felt this way before in the real navy.
In that moment, I was back in the fleet again. I was home.

In this game the unknown factor, the human factor, just seems like magic to creep in.

As I�ve said before:

You would not think a group of designers would make a game that can bore you, anger you,
confuse you and also give you great joy and satisfaction all the same time. They did.

In other words, this game will show you what it feels like to be a real fleet Admiral under pressure.

War is a dark room with loss, tragedy, stupidity and boredom on a vast scale.
It is a very rare and a very great game that can invoke deep intellectual and emotional
responses from the player. It can be boring and tedious for long stretches just like the real navy.
Then it can change real fast and put your heart in your throat.

Welcome to the dark room.

Welcome to War in the Pacific � Admiral�s Edition.

(in reply to Rogue188)

Post #: 5

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/3/2020 1:34:14 PM

Anachro

Posts: 2506
Joined: 11/23/2015
From: The Coastal Elite
Status: offline

Yes, the fog of war is a real thing and adds a whole new dynamic to decision-making. Not many games have that dynamic.

(in reply to Trugrit)

Post #: 6

RE: Battle Damage Assessment - 1/7/2020 12:57:35 AM

RangerJoe

Posts: 13450
Joined: 11/16/2015
From: My Mother, although my Father had some small part.
Status: offline

Of course, take the victory and relish it.

As far as Operation Shoestring, have a sub laid minefield or two with S-boats and/or Dutch subs with working torpedoes on patrol to react. On dark and/rainy nights, that is also perfect for torpedo boats.

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(in reply to Anachro)

Post #: 7