total noob needs help

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Carriers At War >> After Action Reports >> total noob needs help

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total noob needs help - 1/1/2009 5:42:55 PM

sushidog

Posts: 65
Joined: 2/20/2008
Status: offline

I just bought this game (thanks for the Xmas sale, Matrix!), and I'm totally sucking at it so far. I've played the Wake scen about 10 times now and I always end up losing a carrier, and losing the scen. I don't mind losing, in fact, if I was winning I'd feel the game was too easy. But I'm not really making any progress so far, so I'm maybe missing something.

I ARM all my planes an hour before dawn and I usually have CAP set to about 75%.

When I get spotted by the IJA, I'm not sure what to do next. I set CAP to full, but that only gets me 10-18 fighters, depending on the carrier. The IJA sends in 60-100 planes and I lose a carrier, end of scen.

Is there any sort of defense to employ? Or is it all a matter of me finding him before he finds me?

It's still fun and I look forward to getting better at it.

Thanks,

Grant

Post #: 1

RE: total noob needs help - 1/3/2009 3:45:29 PM

Unhappy

Posts: 124
Joined: 6/9/2007
Status: offline

Hi sushidog,

Just a couple of suggestions, watch the weather - if you can stay under heavy clouds because it makes your task forces harder to spot. Also, if you have surface forces available, try to position them between your carriers and the enemy forces. They will sometimes attract attention away from your carriers so they don't bear the full brunt of an enemy attack. I'm sur you will figure it out soon.

(in reply to sushidog)

Post #: 2

RE: total noob needs help - 1/3/2009 4:29:50 PM

funkatron3000

Posts: 23
Joined: 7/23/2008
Status: offline

Hey sushidog

I had the same problems starting out that you're having. Unhappy's advice about your surface units is right on. Think of you surface units as bomb sinks that absorb enemy carrier attacks and divert those attacks from your own carriers. This is what the USN ended up doing, as brutal as it sounds.

I personally like to mass my carrier task groups together with 20 to 60 nautical miles (nm) (that's 1 to 3 hexs) of space between them. This way the CAP from each carrier will cover the other carriers. The downside is that this will hamper scouting effectiveness. If your task groups are more spread out, your scouts are more spread out and will cover more space. It's one of the major tactical decisions you'll have to make in the game.

At Wake, the USN has a unique advantage, in that Wake is basically an unsinkable flight deck. I would use Wake the way the USN used Midway, as a forward scouting post. Try sending out scouts from Midway and hold your carriers about 100 to 160 nm (5 to 8 hexs) northeast of Wake. That way Wake does the scouting and your carrier-based SBD Dauntlesses do the attacking. Your Dauntlesses might get slaughtered but hopefully they can deliver some blows in the process.

If you see a major incoming strike and haven't launched one of your own, crank your speed up to full and move in a direction other than the one you were moving. Sometimes you can partially or completely avoid a strike that way. Unhappy was right about hiding under clouds too.

(in reply to Unhappy)

Post #: 3

RE: total noob needs help - 1/3/2009 6:24:57 PM

sushidog

Posts: 65
Joined: 2/20/2008
Status: offline

Not long after first posting here, I got my first few wins at Wake. I used cloud cover as much as possible, but it did seem to be a case of whoever scouted the enemy first won the scen. I'll try the suggestions about running if I get spotted, using other TGs as bomb sinks, and using Wake as a scouting base (didn't know that was possible).

In the meantime, I've also played the Pearl Harbour scen as the IJA and won, and Coral Sea as the USN and squeaked out a marginal victory. SO I'm getting a little better.

I tend to just use the autostrike feature most of the time. Are there real advantages to micro-managing my forces more precisely? In a game as quick as CAW, micromanagement isn't the pain it can be in larger games.

-fin

(in reply to funkatron3000)

Post #: 4