Of Davids and Goliaths

[HansBolter]

Oh those brave but stupid boys in their wooden boats plinking 50 cal. rounds off the hull of the Musashi. [8|]

They did get off a round of fish but none ran true. [:(]

[decaro]

You might get better results w/2 groups of 4-boat PT squadrons rather than 1 squadron of 8 PTs; it's a dice roll for hits, and 2 or more squadrons gives you better odds of scoring a fish.

Besides, half of your boats probably didn't even participate in the battle.

[tocaff]

In a WPO PBEM I (USN) had a PG have an encounter with a Japanese invasion fleet and get sunk.  It did delay the invasion for a day though.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

You might get better results w/2 groups of 4-boat PT squadrons rather than 1 squadron of 8 PTs; it's a dice roll for hits, and 2 or more squadrons gives you better odds of scoring a fish.

Besides, half of your boats probably didn't even participate in the battle.

That's true Joe. only about half did. Each PT boat encounter had about half the boats get away without participating in the fight.

I have had what is probably a bad habit of leaving the PT boat TFs the size they get created ar until that gets whittled down.

In another thread where people where arguing over what is a "gamey" size for these TFs there seemed to be a consensus that 10 should be a maximum size. I discovered last night that the game will create maximum size TFs of 12. I had 15 available when I hit the "deploy" button and got 12 of them in one group. I guess I shoud break it up into smaller groups to get more effectiveness out of them.

Oh and btw....I don't even want to think about recounting what those two behemoths did to Henderson Field....ouch!

[decaro]

Historically there were 3 boats to a PT squadron, so I use 3, 6 (two squads) w/9 boats max in a PT TF.

Also consider that squadron size determines what commanders you get, some of which are more aggressive than others. However, I assume a cautious PT commander will be less likely to be surprised -- as so often happens when the Tokyo Express visits Lunga -- so a good mix of commanders is advisable.

I think about 6 boats/2 squadrons is a good size for 1 PT TF.

And don't forget to lay mines in Lunga; mines and PTs work well together vs. capital ships, and there is nothing more satisfying that watching the Yamato hit a mine, take a fish froma PT and limp home.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

Historically there were 3 boats to a PT squadron, so I use 3, 6 (two squads) w/9 boats max in a PT TF.

Also consider that squadron size determines what commanders you get, some of which are more aggressive than others. However, I assume a cautious PT commander will be less likely to be surprised -- as so often happens when the Tokyo Express visits Lunga -- so a good mix of commanders is advisable.

I think about 6 boats/2 squadrons is a good size for 1 PT TF.

And don't forget to lay mines in Lunga; mines and PTs work well together vs. capital ships, and there is nothing more satisfying that watching the Yamato hit a mine, take a fish froma PT and limp home.

I am a mine fanatic. In my latest solitaire game I have mined every one of my ports and every one of my opponents and additionally mined Tassafaronga as the AI landed a force there to contest Lunga. The AI brought the Hiyo right into the beach flying CAP over follow up reinforcements while the rest of the KB covered from 3 hexes away. The Hiyo hit mines TWICE at Tassafaronga! I was jumping for Joy!

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

... The AI brought the Hiyo right into the beach flying CAP over follow up reinforcements while the rest of the KB covered from 3 hexes away. The Hiyo hit mines TWICE at Tassafaronga! I was jumping for Joy!

That's why players will eventually play PBEM. Further, I understand there's a 50% reduction in air effectiveness for any CV in a shoreline hex.

Well, at least the AI didn't bring the entire KB onto the beach; I've actually had the AI move CV TFs into Lunga harbor at night, only to meet my mines!

What was it thinking?

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

... The AI brought the Hiyo right into the beach flying CAP over follow up reinforcements while the rest of the KB covered from 3 hexes away. The Hiyo hit mines TWICE at Tassafaronga! I was jumping for Joy!

That's why players will eventually play PBEM. Further, I understand there's a 50% reduction in air effectiveness for any CV in a shoreline hex.

Well, at least the AI didn't bring the entire KB onto the beach; I've actually had the AI move CV TFs into Lunga harbor at night, only to meet my mines!

What was it thinking?

The AI isn't the only one stupid enough to do it. I did it out of desperation. All my LBA fighters had been mauled so badly they were on the verge of being drummed out of the service for their piss poor morale. The only way I had to cover my resupply from being decimated by the Rabaul air force was to send the carriers right on into the beach so the limited carrier CAP could cover both the carriers and the transports. Luckily I had a pretty good idea that the KB was tied up in Truk repairing/refitting so I got away with it.

In my current game the AI and I seem to be out of sinc with each other with regard to carrier operations. I go out and stay out for two weeks with no sign of the KB and by the time my pilots are fatigued enough and my ships have been storm battered enough to need rest and refit and I start heading for Noumea, the KB shows up and stays out for a week or so and by the time I can get back out it has retired to port again. This has gone on back and forth for almost three months now.

That surface battle in the screen shot happened the very night I pulled the carriers out of Lunga after sitting there for three days of intense nail biting, worrying if I would lose the entire lot by lingering too long. I got very lucky.

To mitigate the threat from Rabaul during this very risky move I started bombing it daily with Fortresses, Liberators and Hudsons out of Port Moresby to keep the AI honest and make it assign some of the Rabaul fighters to CAP so I would have less of them coming to Lunga. On the heels of the bombardment came the Hiyo escorting reinforcements with the KB backing it up. By the time they arrived I had scattered my fleets and was heading back to Noumea.