Mini subs

[Lecivius]

I used to load tanker TF's in LA & SF unescorted.It takes longer to load these, so I would create a TF, dock it, load fuel, disband & repeat until I had all the ships loaded. Then I would create the Transport TF & route it. Until I got caught by an attack by midget subs and their mother ship. That attack hurt. A lot

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

If you use a midget sub TF, it will not attack the harbor. It will attack TFs only. In order to attack the ships in port, you need to use a midget sub carrier TF and set the destination hex to the target port. Midget subs on their own won't take advantage of that code.

Thanks.

Now the question is will the mothership recover the midget and steam away or does it need to be set for remain on station to recover a midget sub?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

I used to load tanker TF's in LA & SF unescorted.It takes longer to load these, so I would create a TF, dock it, load fuel, disband & repeat until I had all the ships loaded. Then I would create the Transport TF & route it. Until I got caught by an attack by midget subs and their mother ship. That attack hurt. A lot

That is the maximizing the use of midget subs that Alfred is talking about earlier. A 3-4vp midget causing you to allocate a lot of resources, or at least some, in backwater defenses.

I guess the time to be doing all this is in 41-43 when escorts are more scarce for the Allies. It may slow down the inevitable Allied build a few days.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

If you use a midget sub TF, it will not attack the harbor. It will attack TFs only. In order to attack the ships in port, you need to use a midget sub carrier TF and set the destination hex to the target port. Midget subs on their own won't take advantage of that code.

That's interesting, thanks for sharing. FWIW, I never use that method, but rather set the "mothership" to patrol one hex outside the Port and send in the midgets from there. The good news is that survivability seems to be much better (no "obstructions", for one thing), but as you say, they can only attack ships in TFs. If there are no targets, they can even sit there for a turn or two. It doesn't take long for detection to climb rapidly though, and then you have to pull them out.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Now the question is will the mothership recover the midget and steam away or does it need to be set for remain on station to recover a midget sub?

As noted above, you can set it to remain on station, but the better move is to have it patrol across 2 or 3 hexes right outside the port. Because yes, there is no automatic recovery of surviving midgets.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Kull
Because yes, there is no automatic recovery of surviving midgets.

So you have to manually transfer the midget back to the mothership if it survives? Thanks, I was curious about that.

[Malagant]

Another midget sub success story from a new PBEM I've recently started...on Dec 7:

Midget Sub attack inside harbor of Pearl Harbor!!!

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-22

Allied Ships
AK Castor, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

She sadly hit an obstruction on the way out and was lost, but this is my first SSX hit...very exciting!

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: Malagant

Another midget sub success story from a new PBEM I've recently started...on Dec 7:

Midget Sub attack inside harbor of Pearl Harbor!!!

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-22

Allied Ships
AK Castor, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

She sadly hit an obstruction on the way out and was lost, but this is my first SSX hit...very exciting!

SSX Ha-22? That's the intrepid Lt. Inano again. One hell of a mini-sub captain!

[Anthropoid]

Is the enemies DL on your ships somehow recorded in any of the game telemetry and viewable when playing a turn? I'm familiar with how it works (vaguely) but the way you guys talk about it, your looking at a number on the screen? Or just lots of note taking while reports on spotting by enemy scroll through?

Or tracker?

[Fallschirmjager]

Umm guys, they preferred to be called 'little person' subs.

[witpqs]

[:D]

[Anthropoid]

Surprised at the lack of culinary humor.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Anthropoid

Is the enemies DL on your ships somehow recorded in any of the game telemetry and viewable when playing a turn? I'm familiar with how it works (vaguely) but the way you guys talk about it, your looking at a number on the screen? Or just lots of note taking while reports on spotting by enemy scroll through?

Or tracker?

If you mouseover the little person sub task force icon, in black and white it will tell you if there is any detection level. Works on big person sub task forces too. Equal Opportunity mouseover.

[Lowpe]

Well, I lost 13 or so midgets defending the Marianas recently. They were all single ship task forces, coming into coastal waters from deep sea.

They shot twice and missed, both at destroyers.

All were the 500 knot version, which I think really is useful for penetrating harbors. Or that is my guess.

They did give the Allies some experience, some victory points, and cost them some few supply and op points.

[rustysi]

No joy as yet with the mini's. One fired on an APD, missed but was recovered. Most grounded, one got the parent pasted while attempting to launch. She's now limping back to the body shop for a new paint job, looks like it'll make it, but was touch and go for a bit.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

No joy as yet with the mini's. One fired on an APD, missed but was recovered. Most grounded, one got the parent pasted while attempting to launch. She's now limping back to the body shop for a new paint job, looks like it'll make it, but was touch and go for a bit.

I just saw a midget at Pearl penetrate the harbor, miss, and then return to the mothership ok. First time for that.

[adsoul64]

Nice to learn there's at least one thing I'm doing right [:D]
Thanks from my ego, Alfred [&o]

[Lowpe]

From my latest AAR, a midget penetrates the harbor, lines up a juicy xAP and

Midget sub Ha-34 experiences torpedo failure

Argh! Lets scuttle...no launch.[:D]

Of interest, I am 99% sure the mothership was never spotted, so that this might be a big factor in penetrating the harbor.

[Lowpe]

Here we go, the greatest midget sub attack of all time.

From Olorin vs Jocke

Dec 7th, Pearl Harbor:

- A midget sub sinks BB Tennessee with a single torpedo. Magazine explosion.

[Olorin]

In my experience, there is about 30% chance a midget sub will penetrate and score a hit. To actually sink a battleship though... this I've never seen [:D]

[Lowpe]

The full report courtesy of Olorin!



Midget Sub attack inside harbor of Pearl Harbor!!!

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-19, hits 3, heavy damage

Allied Ships
PC Taney
BB Tennessee, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
PC Tiger

SSX Ha-19 eludes ASW attack from PC Taney
PC Taney cannot reach attack position over SSX Ha-19
Magazine explodes on BB Tennessee
PC Tiger loses contact with SSX Ha-19

Unfortunately this hero of the Empire didn't make it back to the mother sub.