198 Days ?(!) (Full Version)

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Bart_Breedyk -> 198 Days ?(!) (6/14/2002 2:33:58 AM)

So, I've played a number of the scenarios and was doing fairly well when I decided to have another crack at infamous scenario #17. My initial objective this time (as the US) was to avoid the Japanese CV's and concentrate on their shipping in order to;

1) give my aircrews some experience.
2) whittle down the Japanese ability to resupply their forces.

I figured this was the best way to go until I had more Carriers in the area. All in all, things are going pretty well except for one encounter where I traded the Yorktown for the Shoho, not an even trade, but the Yorktown wasn't hurt that badly until a Jap sub avoided the escorting DD's and put three torpedoes into her. Anyway, I have the Saratoga, Hornet, Wasp and Enterprise (late July '42) in a giant air combat force preying on the Japanese shipping runs to Lunga when I get ambushed. While my Dauntlesses and Devastators are busy sinking transports, I get bounced by a huge raid of over 120 aircraft launched from carriers that I hadn't spotted. All in all, although surprising, I did pretty well, shooting down about a quarter of the attacking aircraft and damaging half, but Enterprise, Lexington and Hornet are all hit. The Lex was the worst off (40 sys,38 Flot), then the Hornet (37 sys, 20 Flot), while 'Big E' was barely scratched (12 sys). Once this force made it back to Noumea, I decided it would be a good thing to send both badly damaged carriers back to Pearl in order to get repaired and maybe get some of those nasty Bofors installed. I play a couple of rounds before deciding to check up on the two damaged carriers. Well, I sure was as surprised as hell to find out that the ETA to Pearl for the Lexington was 198 days! Now, I don't know but 6.5 months seems an excessivly long time for a one-way trip to Pearl Harbour.

Has anyone else noticed this, or am I missing something?

Bart



mogami -> 198 days (6/14/2002 2:41:57 AM)

Hi, Thats the time before they are again ready in PH not how long it will take them to get there.



Bart_Breedyk -> (6/14/2002 2:48:23 AM)

Yes, that would make more sense.

Thanks Mogami.

B



Erik Rutins -> Thoughts... (6/14/2002 3:18:15 AM)

Barticus,

Did you repair the flotation damage before you sent them back? For the fastest turnaround, never send them back until all you have left to repair is system damage. Flotation and Fires are repaired well at Noumea, Pearl handles system damage faster and does upgrades as well. Additional damage beyond system damage can also slow down the ship's transit time, but the majority of the time should indeed be for repairs.

Regards,

- Erik



Hartmann -> (6/14/2002 3:31:20 AM)

Wow, Barticus, seems you almost had your personal (and reversed) Midway! :)

Hartmann



Toro -> Yep, been there, done that... (6/14/2002 4:20:55 AM)

Barticus,

You and me both. Although I only had two carriers (Sara and Enterprise, Wasp being tagged by a sub a couple weeks back), I too was pounding the heck out of APs and TKs, sitting ducks in the Lunga hex. Then, low and behold, WHAM! Two mainline CVs (unseen) hit me from the Slot, nail the Sara (though not as roughly as your's). Sara even got her full complement of AC off on an attack on them, but NOT ONE HIT (fire, I say, fire that air commander!).

Know how you feel. I'm fearful of what tonight brings.



Bart_Breedyk -> (6/14/2002 8:48:34 PM)

Erik;

Thanks for the tip, it's something to remember for the rest of the campaign.

Hartmann;

Believe me when I say I was sweating bullets during the raid. I started feeling much better when all the pilots being credited with kills had Anglo-Saxon names!!

Unfortunately, I played through most of August '42 last night only to forget to save the game before exiting (insert sound of forehead slap here). Really too bad because the LBA at Port Moresby managed to sink the CV Junyo.

While we're on the subject, I have a comment and question on naval tactics. It's become SOP for me to assign a large number of surface combatants, CA's, CL's and BB's, to my air combat Task Forces. Although my pilots don't seem to have too many problems hitting enemy carriers, they seldom do enough damage to actually sink the target. Soooo, after a reasonably successful air strike, I will detach a surface combat task force, leaving my carriers only with a bunch of ASW capable DD's. I then retire the CV's as quickly as possible and advance the Surface attack group in the hopes of running down any damaged vessels they encounter. More ofen than not, I can catch a few damaged ships and sink them with gunfire, usually pretty easily since the AI only detaches single DD's to cover damaged capital ships, if at all. In past scenarios, this tactic has netted me with several CV's that I might not have otherwise sunk.

While interested in the Pacific Theatre, I am in no means any kind of authourity, so I was wondering if there were any historical precedents for this tactic? If there are, I will continue to operate this way, but I get the impression that this is 'gamey'. Since I restarted Scenario 17, I have not operated this way, although having a few cruisers accompanying my CV's sure does help with the AA fire.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

B



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