jackyo123
Posts: 697
Joined: 2/4/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel I've just reached December 1942 in my PBEM game. I've related my concerns about sub warfare both in my AAR and in a thread called "Nuclear Subs" that's probably fallen down to page two or three now. The recent Hot Fix seems to have toned down the lethal nature of subs against ASW (at least Allied ASW, I can't speak for the other side), but I still have concerns about the nature and balance of submarine warfare based upon a "year" of experience: 1. Submarines (at least Japanese submarines) are able to operate too close to major Allied bases with near impunity. ASW TFs and air patrols are not effective in attacking or suppressing enemy submarines. 2. ASW ships are nearly worthless at prosecuting attacks against enemy subs - at least in late '42. I frequently sight subs and my ASW occasionally attacks, but those attacks seldom result in any hits. I think ASW ought to be more effective - at least against submarines operating close to major bases where they are sighted. 3. I think ships are too brittle. I've lost several hundred ships to subs in my game - no, that's not an exaggeration - and the vast majority went down after a single TT strike. I know single torpedoes can cripple or sink large ships, but quite often ships proved remarkably durable. This is especially true with respect to TK and AO. Those ships were pretty tough to sink, but mine take one TT and they go under. I even think AKs are too brittle - I think 98% of my AKs hit by a single TT go under, inlcuding those docked and at port (with the commander dying in every case - poor guy is always in the way of the explosion or else can't run down the gangplank or swim to shore). 4. It ought to be nearly impossible to hit a moving destroyer. They were almost never hit in the real war for good reason: they're nimble and fast. The recent Hot Fix addressed this, but I lost another post-Hot Fix and it was in an ASW TF returning to port. Not saying DDs should be immune, but I get the sense after twelve months of game play that they are targeted far too often. If I'm right and if tweaks are made it should benefit both sides in the game - it will tone down submarine effectiveness somewhat, which probably will benefit the Japanese more than the Allies. I completely agree with you about #1; air patrols are weak, though admiteddly my asw units only have about 50 to 55 exp, with asw ratings in the 30's, for the most part. Catalinas set to 3000ft on asw missions with 60+ experience do occassionally hit subs. But they never sink them. In 12 months of play, ive not had a single enemy sub killed by air attack, despite having all my bombers and patrol aircraft running ASW (i dont really need my LRB for offensive operations until late 42, and i vre come to realize that unless its a perfectly clear sky and my forces have experience of at least 65, that my lrb's will almost never hit ships - even stationary ones unloading - that its useless to train them on naval attack. I leave that for the dive bombers). Re: #2 - worthless is too much of an overstatement; their main problem is that DC's dont do enough damage. Even a few near misses on a DC were usually enough to rattle the sub and force it to the surface, where ramming often took place. In one famous incident, a PT boat rammed, twice, a much larger japanese (s class?) sub in the sopac and was able to 'roll it over' and it sank. The PT boat flushed it to the surface, used its guns when it came up, and rammed it until dead.) I would think a 25% to 35% increase in DC strength would do the trick. #3 - not sure. Many many merchies went to the bottom after a single torp hit, esp if it was heavily loaded or was carrying combustible war materials. Certainly some of the bigger ships, such as tankers, should be able to absorb a couple of hits - but i think they do. I've had several tankers limp into port with 75/75/75 damage ratingd. #4 - completely agree. DD's that are actively hunting for subs on asw missions or acting as escorts on transport/ambhib/escort missions should have less than a 1% chance of being hit. They were too nimble.
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