Oi, Kitakami useful in game?

[Terminus]

Damn, "Commander Stormwolf" has posted some uninformed things here, but that last one... Yowza.

[Boomer Redleg]

Hey - this brings to my mind another question regarding torpedoes and ships: Is there anything in a task force or ship commander's stats that improves torpedo attacks? 70+ in Naval skills maybe? I'm guessing crew training helps also. Is there a way to "train up" the ship crews and officers short of throwing them into the mix?

I read that if I get a new ship I can send it on a cruise and it will work as a shake-down cruise to improve a ship's crew stats but what about those ships that I start out with?

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Damn, "Commander Stormwolf" has posted some uninformed things here, but that last one... Yowza.

+1

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Dili

Just asking if this two cruiser with their huge torpedo battery version have been useful in game, i haven't keep up with AARs

As Termy and others state, the IJ CL's are uniformly pretty useless and are just VP's for the allies. They are too undergunned, lack armor ... yeah, pretty useless. [8|]

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: Boomer Redleg

Hey - this brings to my mind another question regarding torpedoes and ships: Is there anything in a task force or ship commander's stats that improves torpedo attacks? 70+ in Naval skills maybe? I'm guessing crew training helps also. Is there a way to "train up" the ship crews and officers short of throwing them into the mix?

I read that if I get a new ship I can send it on a cruise and it will work as a shake-down cruise to improve a ship's crew stats but what about those ships that I start out with?

There's no special "torpedo attack" skill that you can train up. Higher crew exp, better ship captain, better overall chance of hitting something.

[JohnDillworth]

but 14 of them put into action around Guadalcanal would have been devastating

14 of these vs 14 Brooklyn class? Who wins?[:)] 10 Brooklyn?, 7 Brooklyn?
The USS Boise (all rise) in clear weather at long range?

[bbbf]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

but 14 of them put into action around Guadalcanal would have been devastating

14 of these vs 14 Brooklyn class? Who wins?[:)] 10 Brooklyn?, 7 Brooklyn?
The USS Boise (all rise) in clear weather at long range?

Depends - if the one in a thousand perfect torpedo salvo comes off, thy would be seen as a wonder weapon and everyone would wonder why no-one else had the brilliant idea as well.

In the other 999 universes, they are the useless piles we know them as.

That's the problem with all these wonder weapons - the chances of them coming off is so low, they are a waste of effort.

[Commander Stormwolf]

14 kitikami better than 2 kitikami + 12 kuma / nagara

[Commander Stormwolf]

14 kitikami means 40x14 = 560 more long lances

[Commander Stormwolf]

14 kitikami a lot more useful than 14 allied prewar CL (omaha, etc)

would have been devastating if used to support a battle line
against a warplan orange type surface battle

[Commander Stormwolf]

14 kitikami useless as part of a CV battle

[Dili]

In my opinion if it occurs at least once a success then the perception changes.

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Dili

Just asking if this two cruiser with their huge torpedo battery version have been useful in game, i haven't keep up with AARs

As Termy and others state, the IJ CL's are uniformly pretty useless and are just VP's for the allies. They are too undergunned, lack armor ... yeah, pretty useless. [8|]

I don't know about the "useless" label. I'm starting to find that just about all ships in this game have some little niche that they fill quite nicely.

For example, I am playing DaBigBabes C so mine warfare is virtually non existent. With so few mines in the pool, AMc's don't have much mine-clearing work to do. But, I accidentally discovered that they can be added to barge TFs and can haul a decent amount of supply. They have a much greater range than barges, so I've been using them in what effectively amount to fast transport TFs.

As for any Japanese CL, they can be used in fast transport TFs or as surface raiders in areas where you don't expect much in terms of enemy escort and air cover. Also, if you can manage to make the Kitakamis visible in an area, you can make it look like you are willing to defend an area more seriously than you actually are. This can make your enemy overcommit. Those overcommitted forces can't be added to other areas that you are defending in earnest.

Now, what I do find useless are all of these "Shipping Engineer" regiments and companies. I have no issues with loading/unloading rates even in ports lacking shipping engineers, so they don't seem to be needed. They have no assault value, so they can't even be used as garrisons. Other pretty useless LCUs are all of the little "machine gun" AA units. All they have are the little 20 mm AA guns, so their ceiling keeps them from hitting anything but dive bombers. Has anyone found any use for these seemingly useless LCUs?

[Lokasenna]

Early on I like to send the shipping engineers to small forward bases to help with supply unload, etc.

The AAMG units, though... No idea.

[Icedawg]

I can see that. When you're scrambling to set up early forward bases (Dec 41-Feb 42) they can help at some of those smaller (or non-existent) ports.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

I can see that. When you're scrambling to set up early forward bases (Dec 41-Feb 42) they can help at some of those smaller (or non-existent) ports.

Once done expanding, put them all in your oil ports and they will increase the amount of oil / fuel / resources you can load per turn. It may not be much, but they can help load up needed items at the smaller ports (like Palembang, Miri, Tarakan, Balikpapan).

As for the small AA units, what about putting them at your larger ports to provide protection against port attacks ? They should be able to help defend against dive and torpedo bombers attacking ships in port - possibly even against TFs docked or in port.

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Dili

Just asking if this two cruiser with their huge torpedo battery version have been useful in game, i haven't keep up with AARs

They should make really good powder kegs when Allied ordinance hits them.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: Icedawg

I can see that. When you're scrambling to set up early forward bases (Dec 41-Feb 42) they can help at some of those smaller (or non-existent) ports.

Once done expanding, put them all in your oil ports and they will increase the amount of oil / fuel / resources you can load per turn. It may not be much, but they can help load up needed items at the smaller ports (like Palembang, Miri, Tarakan, Balikpapan).

As for the small AA units, what about putting them at your larger ports to provide protection against port attacks ? They should be able to help defend against dive and torpedo bombers attacking ships in port - possibly even against TFs docked or in port.

Helps with fuel yes, but I was under the impression that the only thing that boosted Oil/Resource load rate (other than port size) was having Oil or Resource centers in the hex.

After the expansion, I would transition these units to forward replenishing bases, or maybe even all the way back to the more forward repair bases such as Singapore, Manila, or even Soerabaja or Saigon.


And it's true, I guess AAMGs aren't entirely useless. They do fire on planes that have already attacked by dropping their bombs or torpedoes. Other than that, they're useful against strafe attacks and keeping your opponent "honest" in the height setting of his attacks.

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Dili

Just asking if this two cruiser with their huge torpedo battery version have been useful in game, i haven't keep up with AARs

As Termy and others state, the IJ CL's are uniformly pretty useless and are just VP's for the allies. They are too undergunned, lack armor ... yeah, pretty useless. [8|]

I would like to state that I never said anything about them being useless. I said that they were on a par with their non-modified siblings, i.e. the decision to outfit them with all those torpedo tubes was a waste of resources.

[Terminus]

BTW, sorry for hijacking your thread hijack.