Coastwatcher Unreliability?

Coastwatcher Unreliability? (Full Version)

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Canoerebel -> Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 2:50:12 PM)
The game generates a lot of useful information. Some is intentional (SigInt, the sound of a ship striking a mine, the sound of a ship sinking vs. the sound of a sub breaking up) and unintentional (at the beginning of each turn, the screen may show enemy TF deployments around the Home Islands that you otherwise wouldn't see nor should you see as you have no detection or reason to see it/them). We also have mouseover info, Recon, recon by bombers (that won't accept a mission vs. a non-base hex if there's no enemy unit there, thus revealing that there's no enemy unit there), etc. There's all kinds of useful info and non-info built into the game, intentionally and not. It's a bit surprising that I've come to treat Coastwatcher reports as utterly unreliable. I don't think I ever got one that was accurate. CA Atago at Rabaul? It's not there. CVL Hosho at Tulagi? It's not there. Subconsciously, I began disregarding the reports at least two games back, doing other things during that phase of the movie. Am I wrong? Have I fallen into a bad habit? Do other players get enough reliable report to use the information? The only useful thing about the reports I can think of is to prompt me to consider, "What might my opponent be up to if CV Zuikaku really was at Darwin?"

HansBolter -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 3:10:07 PM)
The biggest problem with coast watcher reports are that they occur BEFORE two naval movement phases are executed. Every ship supposedly spotted has two opportunities to be somewhere else before your bombing mission arrives. There is no way whatsoever to confirm if they were accurate at the time they occurred. I stopped reacting to them long ago.

Canoerebel -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 3:31:05 PM)
I also received reports that I knew were untrue. IE, that Shoho was "at Rabaul" when she was actually engaged in action that day near Ceylon, etc.

BillBrown -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 3:36:06 PM)
I quit reading them when I got reports that the same ship was at 3 different ports on the same turn. I don't bother to read them any more.

witpqs -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 3:41:41 PM)
Time you could be reading the coastwatcher reports is better spent reading The Coastwatchers (forget the author's name), written fairly shortly after the war. A pretty good read.

BBfanboy -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 3:53:33 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: BillBrown I quit reading them when I got reports that the same ship was at 3 different ports on the same turn. I don't bother to read them any more. Generally the reports are utterly false, or semi-accurate at best. Accuracy is very rare. I saw it when I started playing this game and played both sides so I could get a sense of the FOW in the various reports. One thing that did seem apparent is that the more detail in the coastwatcher report, the more likely it is to be accurate. So if it says X# of ships at port Y, fuggedabautit! If it IDs ship type or class, there is a slight chance it is right. If it names a ship, there could be FOW around the name, but a ship of that class could be there. This is anecdotal - I kept no stats, and I was playing the 1124 patch at the time so I can't speak for the 1126a or 1126b versions.

Lowpe -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 4:25:24 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: BBfanboy If it names a ship, there could be FOW around the name, but a ship of that class could be there. That is not my experience, but if it does name a ship, then there is at least one ship present at the time of the report. You can net some hits on disbanded ships without previous recon by flying & bombing low. Especially good at ferreting out hiding ships...B17 and B29 will of course sink everything. [;)]

Macclan5 -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 5:37:35 PM)
1) Too inexperienced to realize I "should have" watched Coasterwatcher reports and learned to dismiss them as Inaccurate [8D] 2) Was disappointed they did not provide me 'air raid' sightings back to Guadalcanal aka real life. Rabul to my fledgling base. At least I have not experienced this yet...or missed it. 3) should not have used / landed a useful Sep INF Regiment on all those dot bases in order to eliminate coast watchers all around New Guinea when they are evidently useless.... OCD issues on my part. [:D] 4) Now treats as a vague 'immersion' factor much like Tokyo Rose / Axis Sally clone voice. She of course is far more amusing having sunk 2 Carriers, a Battleship, numerous Cruisers and Destroyers out of that PT Boat I squad-vectored in for a little Naval recon / lucky strike chance.

HansBolter -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 6:04:55 PM)
One thing I have noticed as I moved into Japan proper with my operations is the plethora of locations the Japanese get coastwatcher reports for. During that phase the display is jumping all over the map with the binocular icon popping up all over and no reports given back to me. I take those to be Japanese coastwatchers reporting back to the AI. Many of them occur in liberated Chinese coastal bases.

GetAssista -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 6:05:31 PM)
If you spend some turns playing AI with FOW switched off you will understand that coastwatchers are generally seeing things you people would not believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... ... ahem I mean they usually see ships where there aren't any ships at all for hexes and hexes around them.

HansBolter -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/7/2019 6:15:14 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: GetAssista fire off the shoulder of Orion... ... ahem They call that the Horsehead nebula.........no wait a minute, the Horsehead is technically in Orion's armpit. The Flame nebula is closer to off his shoulder.

inqistor -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 7:06:29 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: GetAssista If you spend some turns playing AI with FOW switched off you will understand that coastwatchers are generally seeing things you people would not believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... ... ahem Rutger personally wrote this poem!

geofflambert -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 6:12:59 PM)
All you need know about coastwatchers is explained in the documentary "Father Goose". [image]local://upfiles/37002/96C348FCCBF84ABF96DD02AFB1D1384E.jpg[/image]

Moltrey -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 6:26:42 PM)
Cary is about to say: "Lady... you're making a powerful enemy!" An interesting aside; Cary told an interviewer once that Walter Eckland was about as close to playing his real persona as it got. I still think it is one of his best performances, hilarious. I always get a kick out of the gull who squawks at him repeatedly thru his early troubles. (Oh, buzz off!!)

geofflambert -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 6:34:53 PM)
I had a significant case of the hots for Ms. Caron, too. The accent maybe.

Moltrey -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 8:45:05 PM)
My personal sixties crush was Marlo Thomas of "That Girl" fame. Whew, gets me all ruffled just thinkin' about it. So... how about those old unreliable coastwatchers, eh? I write it off to flavour (note the King's English spelling)!

mind_messing -> RE: Coastwatcher Unreliability? (6/9/2019 8:51:21 PM)
DL increase in DL increase. It is a marginal boost, but it is absolutely no substitute for a proper intelligence gathering effort.

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