New submarine superexploit discovered!

[Istfemer]

I have just discovered a wonderful bug/feature/exploit in v3.2 of Matrix Edition Pacific War!
Though this bug is probably much older than this version and might have been present in Gary Grigsby's original release.

I call it the Submarine Teleporter Trick.
Now, I knew that submarines were very useful in the Pacific War, but this finding truly opens new horizons (er, depths?) for them.
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So then, what do you do?

Step 1 - Put a sub group on patrol in the hex you want to teleport ships FROM. Get one fresh from the port or redeploy one of your groups already on patrol - it really doesn't matter.
Step 2 - Hit Alt-M, then hit Space and select the desired Task Force. Now you are at the Task Force screen.
Step 3 - Click left mouse button once on a desired ship/ship stack. (small ship data screen pops up)
Click right mouse button once to clear it, then click it again to leave the Task Force screen altogether. (and again if you get a blank screen below)
Step 4 - Now at the bottom of the main game screen your chosen ship's/ship stack's name will be displayed instead of the usual name of a patrolling sub group.
You'll also see some weird (sometimes negative) Time and Attack numbers.
Step 5 - Use i,j,k,m and up,left,right,down buttons ONLY to navigate. Select the target port you control. Now hit R.

Voila! Your chosen ship/ship stack should materialize in the target port. Saratoga in Calcutta at turn 2? Not an impossibility anymore. Lexington and Enterprise in DEI? Really, why not?

You can now customize somewhat the Japanese starting ship positions during a non-historical turn.
You can select up to 6 hexes (the number of available Jap sub groups) from which to teleport ships.
Move that Kido Butai to Maloelap Island. Add CVLs and CVEs to it. Bombard Pearl with BBs and CAs. Run wild.
Allied player can also put some ships in the ports of England and Eastern U.S and they will repair there, safe from Japanese aircraft.

This works ONLY on Task Forces (in port or at sea) and you can teleport ships ONLY to a friendly port. (isolated or not - does not matter)

Be careful not to left-click anywhere on the map after Step 4 (well, empty land hexes seem safe), or else your ship/ship stack will be forever lost in the void.
This is the only way to wind up with ships in "port" at non-sea bases, like in the middle of China. (BUT THEN those ships will become permanently unreachable and open to attack by LBA)

Teleportation does not respect flagship status, which means you can lift entire Task Forces stuck at sea.

[Istfemer]

But wait, there's more!

You can also teleport APs loaded with LCUs and AVs loaded with aircraft squadrons! As well as supplies, fuel and other things.
Follow the procedure described above. The AP/AV should materialize in the target port, but it'll show up as empty. The base will also be empty.
Don't panic, just create a Transport TF with that AP/AV. It will now appear loaded. Disband or unload this TF and the LCUs/squadrons will be transferred to the target base.
The same applies to ships carrying fuel, supplies etc.
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Play a "What If" scenario, where both Empire of Japan and Allied Powers developed teleportation technology in late 1941! [:D]

Make a landing at Pearl on 12/7/41. Evacuate Malaya and Philippines with few losses and little effort. Garrison Rangoon with 5 US Divisions.
Instantly transfer fuel from Palembang to your Jap HQ bases. Deny fuel to the Emperor. Supply isolated bases year round.
All of these become a possibility with the Submarine Teleporter Trick! [&o]

Update: Teleporting ships in this manner completely drains them of their fuel. So keep that in mind.

*If you are wondering, this bug was discovered during my futile attempts to get sub groups into TFs.

[bradk]

Wow

[Istfemer]

So this bug I found is a twin to the one described in this thread.

I think I found a big bug I can't remember read of before. I tested with ver. 2.1, but think it is the same in the older versions.
It is possible to bring each ship to a port you want to at once if you do the following:
1. The destination port has to have at lest two Task Forces in it. (Can be empty TFs)
2. The ship(s) you want to transfer has to be in a TF. Build one if necessary.
3. Klick on the TF so that it is displayed in the bottom right corner.
4. Now right click on the destination port in TF mode. (It has to be visible on the map. Don't scroll the map!)
5. Right click once again.
6. Now simply remove the TF by pressing 'R' and it is in the destination port.
It occurs also in PBEM games. I thought the Enterprise is a Yorktown-class ship and not from Star Trek. Could you please fix it. Greetings, Marc

Yes, I can confirm that approach still works. Almost 14 years have passed and that bug is still not fixed.
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I have to admit that Marc's approach is the more convenient one most of the time, as ships don't lose fuel upon a jump.
It is also much faster, since you don't have to teleport each ship individually.
And of course, it does not require submarines.


Nevertheless, my approach still has a few uses:

1. It has unlimited range, as you can freely scroll the map.
Can be useful in those cases where your TF is cut off from destination port by a long stretch of map.
(example: CBI theater after a successful Japanese offensive)
You can, of course, just make a ship run towards the destination and teleport later, when you'll be in range, but why risk ships and lose a turn? Alternatively, you can try replenish-teleporting first. If after doing that you're still not within map range of the destination port, this is where my approach shines.
2. It does not require 2 empty TFs at destination port, which is handy if you are out of unused TF numbers. A rare occurrence, that.
3. It does not force-unload troops, aircraft, supplies, fuel etc at destination base if you don't want them there.
Those get to remain hiddenly loaded in port — a neat feature you can capitalize on. Somehow.

Oh, and you can cram ships into non-seaside bases. [8|]

[Istfemer]

Aaaand another way of doing it, discovered by Dan in Toledo 13 years ago:

I have a way that you can move TF's anywhere across the board. I don't like to use it but sometimes I do as a way to make things quicker. (I like reality too but I also want to complete the game in under 200 hours). Click on any TF. Keep it highlighted. Change the function from TF to AF. Right click on any friendly AF. It will bring up the list of AC at that AF. Then click on remove TF. Your TF will be in that port. I've done this sometimes when it takes an unreal amount of time to get somewhere or as a "get transport" type of function. Its useful to save time when you have tons of ships in tons of ports. Anyways, for those interested in saving time, this is how you do it.

This approach has some advantages over that of Marc's, as it does not require two Task Forces at destination port and additionally allows you to put ships into non-sea bases, just like my teleportation via submarines does. [:)] I'll add that switching to Army instead of AF works just as well.

However, my points #1 and especially #3 regarding the features of submarine approach still stand.

[Istfemer]

Just wanting to be thorough here:

SHIP TRANS command ('t' hotkey) doesn't check whether gaining TF and losing TF are in the same hex.
This allows for yet more free ship teleportation for everyone. Especially since empty TFs can be created in any sea hex at will.
It's possible to transfer ships to such a TF (in any sea hex within the same Strategic map) like you would do it if two TFs were in the same hex.

Nevertheless, my point #3 still stands true. [:@]

So many holes in this game...