dawn patrol

[Phoenix100]

I'm new at this. I've played Dawn Patrol (in ANW) about 8 times now, same dismal result always. Is there any way to win as the Norwegians? I get whacked every time. Help!!!

[Phoenix100]

Should add - I played both versions of Dawn Patrol. No diff. The little boats go down quickly. Mostly I never even detect the enemy.

[JRyan]

Ah Dawn patrol...a Classic.......There is no set way to win, you just have to keep trying.......Do a search for AAR (after Action Reports) and see how others tackle it. It will teach you quickly.

Hint, Run Silent until Radars are needed....Guess.....Examine ESM contacts.

[Phoenix100]

Thanks JRyan. Where do you mean to search for AARs? There's only a handful on this site, and none for Dawn Patrol. Is there another place to find them?

[Phoenix100]

I did actually win last night, but it was as bad as losing, I thought, because it seemed to have nothing to do with anything I did. Somehow I found the Russkies before they found me, but it seemed like pure chance.

[CV32]

ORIGINAL: phoenix
Thanks JRyan. Where do you mean to search for AARs? There's only a handful on this site, and none for Dawn Patrol. Is there another place to find them?

Here's one for Dawn Patrol at HarpGamer.

[JRyan]

One of the best I have read is available here.....I am working on getting this released for Download but the publisher has not got back with me...




The Harpoon Battlebook.....

[Phoenix100]

Thanks for responses. I've won a handful of times now. But it all seems like pure luck. You send out the Storm class boats with sensors off and you have no control over who detects who first. If the Russkies spot you first that's it, because those boats seem to have no missile defence at all. You could just regard them as sacrificial entities, of course. You lose two or all of them, but you find out where the Russkies are and you sink them ok and win, but that seems like an awful way to command. Can't really see other options though, as if you keep back the vulnerable Storm class and send out the Oslo you might not lose it, but it will certainly get damaged - and then you lose anyway. It's an interesting little scenario, at least. teaches you quickly how limited your options are, and how sudden naval warfare is. Hours of nothing, then it's all resolved within about three minutes.

[TonyE]

Phoenix, I think that is the right take-home, especially for missile boats. Your only hope is to detect the other guy first and hope you fire before his missiles hit you, anything past that, including survival, is a bonus. It is a bit shocking to the system to take it a bit further and think about torpedo boats against missile boats, good luck!

[FreekS]

War is brutal,

Mybstrategy for winning Dawn patrol included hiding behind a big fat merchantship and hoping he would get hit by the enemy SSMs.

Freek

[Anonymous]

Hi,

my strategy playing this one bases on force division: I split my forces to the flanks and in the center. The flank forces going active as a decoy, the central forces keeping silent. Thus I always lose at least one or two units, but win because the AI is out of ordnance when the main forces arrive.

[JRyan]

Ralf that is slick, I never even thought of that. I had assumed force in mass.....Interesting indeed.

[Anonymous]

Ethan,

ORIGINAL: JRyan

Ralf that is slick, I never even thought of that. I had assumed force in mass.....Interesting indeed.

I know that many Pooners try to win without any losses. I try to win every time I play it, accepting losses. Since those Russian missiles are superior, it´s hard or maybe impossible to win without major losses.

Thus this scenario needs a different treatment IMHO: Give them targets, wait till they are out of/short on Sirens - then strike back.

[CV32]

Or, if you were someone like Capt Michael Barkai, you might say 'eyn kol bayaa' and press the attack with no intentions of accepting anything but total victory. [:'(]

[Anonymous]

ORIGINAL: CV32

Or, if you were someone like Capt Michael Barkai, you might say 'eyn kol bayaa' and press the attack with no intentions of accepting anything but total victory. [:'(]

hehe...ya ole Canadian Warhorse [:D]

[Phoenix100]

Thanks for all the answers. I came back to the scenario again recently and had to laugh because it's so completely out of your control, in a way. I agree you can do a few things to win it if you accept losses. I also agree that it's hard to see how to win without losses. The active flank decoy does seem to work.

Is the battlebook mentioned by Jryan available anywhere in any form?

[Anonymous]

Hi Phoenix,

you´re welcome.

regarding the Battlebook: Try ebay.