false sinkings?

[spence]

During combat replays, are messages which report the sinking of a ship to be believed? In my limited experience against the AI such messages invariably report truthfully. I know that not all sinkings are reported during the combat phase when they happen and that it may be the end of the game when an enemy ship finally shows up as having sunk. In my first PBEM game I have seen a report that the gallant Yorktown has gone downafter taking an tremendous beating (during turn 5 of #19). I haven't actually started my turn 6 yet and had to go to work right after the replay and although I believe the Yorktown will be missing from my OOB when I do get a chance to look it I started wondering whether the game allows for reports of sinkings that never happened.
I believe the Enterprise was reported sunk 7 times during the war and the Yorktown was at least a very unpleasant surprise at Midway. Can't remember whether the IJN thought her sunk at Coral Sea or just out of action from damage.

QUESTION: Has anybody ever had a ship turn up NOT sunk after the combat screen said that it had sunk?

Unfortunately, the reports of the Yorktown's demise were not greatly exaggerated.

[Curval]

From what I have read on this BB, if you get a "Ship Sunk" report then it is a fact. You can sink ships for which you do not get a report though...therein lies the fog of war.

[Attack Condor]

In my epic vs. Quark, his invasion of Australia was prefaced with bombardments at Townsville, and there I caught and mauled his cruisers when they lingered too long. Anyhow, I got reports that Haguro and Nagara were sunk... even giving me the commanders names.

Unfortunately, it wasn't true. Quark confirmed to me over e-mail they were still afloat and about a 50 - 50 chance they'd survive. Silly thing was I had already posted the info in the AAR. <shrug> From now on, I'm just going to believe the ship sunk list in the intel screen.

[Mr.Frag]

Always go by the ship sunk list as it is the final truth for all details. If it shows up there, it's confirmed to be gone. too bad there is no fog of war applied there to aircraft losses as I can tell turn by turn the exact strengths and losses just by looking at the (I)nfo screen.

[DJAndrews]

You can have a pretty good idea of ships that sink by keeping close track of the score and all its component parts. If you subtract the components from the total score you will get a number which is equal to the sum of the unreported sinkings. If you have been watching torpedo and depth charge hits, then you can make a pretty good guess as to what the unreported sinkings are. I expect that some would consider this a bit "gamey" but its really much the same as watching for large operations or "on the field losses" in estimating whether a CV has sunk. Unfortunately you aren't given an option of applying FOW to the total score or the component score (which would allow you to mask this failing of the game).

By the way, watch the ship names. I just had two Shinkoku Marus sink in the same turn. One was a tanker, the other a 1K AP.

Finally, I'm curious Mr. Frag. Doesn't the status of available replacements mess up direct assessments of current squadron strength? Up to about the Fall of 42 the replacement pools keep Japanese sqns nearly complete (except perhaps his Nells). Once his pool is exhausted then you can be fairly precise in terms of strength but I'm not sure you can be before.

[Attack Condor]

I can usually get a good read on something sinking when messages about at sea rescues get displayed. Something just slid under the waves.

[Mr.Frag]

Naw DJ, you get a pretty good feel for the types of planes used coupled with knowing squadron sizes and replacement rates. It is pretty easy to have a good idea of whats left. Since squadron sizes are finite numbers, you can also reverse engineer just how many squadrons are at a base based on what flys against you.