coral sea scenario tips

[lostsm]

hello

i just started playing this game, and after being overwhelmed by the full campaign, i decided to start a little smaller and go for the coral sea. past pacific theatre games are the likes of pto 1 and 2 so I'm really excited to get into this game

i've played the coral sea scenario twice as the japs. first time it was a draw (did not capture enough bases), second time it was a marginal victory (used a fast transport to hop and grab a bunch of islands).

in my games, i never have been able to take PM. first time I thought my LCUs could reach PM by the trail, but that didn't work, and on my second try I had 4 or 5 transport TFs drop off troops at PM.. the assaults always failed and my troops ended up retreating.

also, another thing limiting my points I believe, is that I can't find the allied air combat TF. it never shows up! I have all my patrol crafts (about 4 units) at the south base patrolling at a range of 8 to 10, while my other aircrafts at rabaul set to naval attack/airfield. since there's never any contacts they always go to PM..


what might i be doing wrong? how can i get the amphib landings at PM to work? why are my infantry so slow to move from Lae (or Buna or Gili gili!) to PM? should i pair them up with ENG and HQs? Load up a lot more supplies in my transports?

i figure a marginal victory is nice and all, but i'd really like to get a decisive victory. seeing how i'm really new at this I have a feeling i'm overlooking something but i just don't know what

thanks for any help

edit: oh and my CV fleet is moving around south of guadal/PM, with only the float planes set to 100 naval search with the carrier aircrafts set to escort (and 50 CAP)/naval attack (with 0 naval search)

[bradfordkay]

The trail from Buna is extremely tough marching. If I recall correctly, the Coral Sea scenario only lasts one or two weeks, and it will take longer than that for any troops to march over the Kokoda Track to Port Moresby.

Plan on there being a reinforced brigade at PM, so this means that you should bring at least a whole division plus supporting troops (make sure you bring combat engineers) in order to make an amphibious landing work. You also want to use as many transports as you possibly can, even if it is three times as many as you think the unit needs. The more ships that your troops are spread among, the faster they will unload. Since this is a seriously large invasion force, you'll want to cover it with your carriers. Doing so should bring about the confrontation with the allied CVs.

good luck!

[Barb]

I was not able to take PM within Coral Sea scenariotoo - too few, too scattered, too late troops. If the scenario was say 2-5 days longer it could be done.

Allied carriers are at sea already at 1st turn sailing into Bismarck Sea. To catch them you need to sail almost directly there - or to let your carriers to be spotted and tracked by allied air search (from PM). If you miss the US carriers - they will simply turn back to Noumea.

[Chris21wen]

I doubt you'll make Buna on the track. Most LCU normally march at a rate of 2 mph on a track so each hex will take 30 days.

For any assault you need a minimum of 3:1 AV advantage plus support and an HQ. Make sure all units have PM as the objective and set a Command HQ that is within its command range to the same objective. Ideally prep points should be 100 but anything >50 normally works. But zero PPs is better than not setting an objective.

Covering with invasion with your CVs will bring the enemy carriers out to play.

[lostsm]

thanks for the helpful tips

took a break from a grand campaign i played for a few game weeks, and loaded up this scenario. glad to say that i got my decisive victory this time around using some of the info in here

first off set all troops to prepare for PM, then i used as many APs as possible to load up quickly the most valuable troops; command hq, corps hq, high assault INF, etc. set my transports at full speed and had to keep taking out the ones with sys damage out of the main TF to make it on time. PM was captured with one day to spare. final score 3108 vs 1337

sadly, even with my carrier TF and also a bombardment TF (of 4 CA) following up the transports, the allied carriers didn't show up. is the AI just not aggressive enough in this game? i mean, this isnt like the full campaign where at the start the allied AI doesnt have much choice but to back off, in this scenario the allied AI has a fair chance at hurting me. well at least my subs sunk some transports [8D]

[anarchyintheuk]

There's a longer campaign using the same map. It's good for developing long range goals and how to effect them.