another Newby's questions...

[Alfred]

With auto TF leader off, TF flagship captain become TF leader.
 
In AE, be a man, don't try to find shortcuts or loopholes.  Pay the PPs to select your leader if you don't want to be at the mercy of the largest ship captain.
 
Alfred  

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: sajm0n

Any way to force certain leader to be Cdr of a task force? Im making Baby KB2 and everything is fine until i add BB's, then 30 air guy takes over from Zuiho's captain... Outside leader for PP?

I name some of my fleets, and pay PP to assign a task force commander. Having a task force commander makes the fleets more effective for their roles. I think.

When the task force need repairs, etc. I make sure to leave one ship active in the task force so that the commander doesn't get re-assigned to the pools.

For example, the Captains of my fleet carriers have very high naval skills and quite frankly I don't even look for their air rating. While the task force commander of the CV TF has a very high air skill. I want a CV Captain to be able to fight fires, avoid torpedoes, etc, while I want the TF Commander to coordinate air strikes.

I am not 100% sure I have all that right according to the game engine, but it has worked well in my games.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Alfred
In AE, be a man, don't try to find shortcuts or loopholes.  Pay the PPs to select your leader if you don't want to be at the mercy of the largest ship captain.

Unless it is ASW TF, which is prone to self-disbanding at the end of a patrol routine

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Unless it is ASW TF, which is prone to self-disbanding at the end of a patrol routine

That happens to you?

I include a port of call with some support ships for rearming in the patrol route set to max refuel.

The problem I have with ASW TF commanders are they are few and far between for good ones. But worth every PP.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: sajm0n

Ok another thing...
So im using Kull's spreadsheet and one of the things suggested is to ship 2nd division's parts to Malaya in order to rebuild division. Why to Malaya, because Southern Army HQ is in there? If i changed everyone's HQ to... i dont know, General Defence, i could theoretically rebuild it in Tokyo?.
What about 16th Army HQ being in Babelbaob at the moment - i cant ship everyone and rebuild division there instead (even if i changed last 3 regiments to be attached to 16th Army)?

(i wanted to post printscreen, but i cant yet; 3 parts are attached to 16th Army, and the rest to Southern Army HQ's)

Let's look at the comment in cell B16 on the "Strategy & Reference" tab:

2nd Div: Four subcomponents are in Japan (III/4 Bn in Iwaki and 16 Regt, 24 Regt, & 2 FA in Sendai). Send all to Tokyo for immediate transfer to Malaya. Three battalions are with Southern Army HQ and will cost 125 PP each to transfer to 16 Army HQ. Recommend not paying the PPs until AFTER the units arrive in Malaya. Hopefully all the troops arrive safely, but if any ships are lost to Allied subs, at least the PP payment will be cheaper. Of the 3 divisions in this "related issues" section, 2nd Div is the most important to combine.

1) In order to combine all the sub-elements into a single division, they need to be in the same hex, which could be anywhere. In this case, we need 2nd Division to participate in the conquest of Singapore (you'll notice that most of the sub-units are already prepped at 100% for Singapore, which is important), so that's why you have to send all the elements to Malaya.

2) Most of the sub-units are already associated with a single HQ (16th Army), but three battalions are assigned to a different HQ (Southern Army) and MUST be transferred to 16th Army in order to combine all into a division. Point being, that is the smallest number of PPs you would have to pay in order to get all units into the same HQ.

3) The physical presence of the HQ is not required, so it doesn't matter that 16th army is located elsewhere. In fact, unlike with Air HQs, there is no direct combat benefit from the specifically assigned HQ - so Land HQs never *need* to be collocated with their reporting elements.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Unless it is ASW TF, which is prone to self-disbanding at the end of a patrol routine

That happens to you?

I include a port of call with some support ships for rearming in the patrol route set to max refuel.

The problem I have with ASW TF commanders are they are few and far between for good ones. But worth every PP.

I've never had any task force inexplicably disband.

Alfred

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: GetAssista
Unless it is ASW TF, which is prone to self-disbanding at the end of a patrol routine

That happens to you?

I include a port of call with some support ships for rearming in the patrol route set to max refuel.

The problem I have with ASW TF commanders are they are few and far between for good ones. But worth every PP.

Shanghai looks large enough? Found a slew of my SCs there recently and an empty lane that they were supposed to cover. Granted it does not happen at the end of each patrol. No, they will take their time and go out several times. And then wa-ah... PPs down the drain

ORIGINAL: Alfred
I've never had any task force inexplicably disband.

Alfred

Sure there is some explanation to that one too. I prefer the one where the ships accumulate some sys damage from storms or such and decided that they had enough. The fact that they disband w/o any player's interaction is still there.

[sajm0n]

ORIGINAL: Kull

Let's look at the comment in cell B16 on the "Strategy & Reference" tab:

2nd Div: Four subcomponents are in Japan (III/4 Bn in Iwaki and 16 Regt, 24 Regt, & 2 FA in Sendai). Send all to Tokyo for immediate transfer to Malaya. Three battalions are with Southern Army HQ and will cost 125 PP each to transfer to 16 Army HQ. Recommend not paying the PPs until AFTER the units arrive in Malaya. Hopefully all the troops arrive safely, but if any ships are lost to Allied subs, at least the PP payment will be cheaper. Of the 3 divisions in this "related issues" section, 2nd Div is the most important to combine.

1) In order to combine all the sub-elements into a single division, they need to be in the same hex, which could be anywhere. In this case, we need 2nd Division to participate in the conquest of Singapore (you'll notice that most of the sub-units are already prepped at 100% for Singapore, which is important), so that's why you have to send all the elements to Malaya.

2) Most of the sub-units are already associated with a single HQ (16th Army), but three battalions are assigned to a different HQ (Southern Army) and MUST be transferred to 16th Army in order to combine all into a division. Point being, that is the smallest number of PPs you would have to pay in order to get all units into the same HQ.

3) The physical presence of the HQ is not required, so it doesn't matter that 16th army is located elsewhere. In fact, unlike with Air HQs, there is no direct combat benefit from the specifically assigned HQ - so Land HQs never *need* to be collocated with their reporting elements.

Yeah i read everything few times, but theres so much stuff in many tabs, i couldnt remember everything or know why i was doing those 3700 things the way i was told ;p
I probably would figure it out on my own, but when everyone was already in Tokyo, button "Rebuild Unit" wasnt available and i didnt know why. Only later i noticed 2 of the 3 battalions were packing/unpacking and that was the reason...

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Unless it is ASW TF, which is prone to self-disbanding at the end of a patrol routine

That happens to you?

I include a port of call with some support ships for rearming in the patrol route set to max refuel.

The problem I have with ASW TF commanders are they are few and far between for good ones. But worth every PP.

Make a SCTF, select a leader, transfer out the ships that won't go into your ASW TF and keep just the ships that you want in your ASW TF, then switch the SCTF to and ASW TF.

[Lowpe]

I have never ever done it. Feels kind of dirty, to be honest - but then again something to think about.

[sajm0n]

Code: Select all

Morning Air attack on TF, near Vanikoro at 124,145
  
 Weather in hex: Heavy rain
  
 Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
 Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
  
 Allied aircraft
       F2A-3 Buffalo x 7
       SBD-3 Dauntless x 15
  
 Japanese Ships
       AMC Hokoku Maru

Ok i think something is bugged here. Theres no way i sent my ACM in the middle of nowhere. Actually few days ago same thing happened at the similar (or the same - need to check) spot, but i ignored it. Now I'm wondering if my ACMs are teleporting there from somewhere (i'll check later) and im really losing those ships, because otherwise its free (but gamey) scouting report on the position of enemy carrier.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: sajm0n
Theres no way i sent my ACM in the middle of nowhere. Actually few days ago same thing happened at the similar (or the same - need to check) spot. I'm wondering if my ACMs are teleporting there from somewhere (i'll check later) and im really losing those ships, because otherwise its free (but gamey) scouting report on the position of enemy carrier.

Those two raiders (AMC not ACM) start the GC games deep in the south pacific. If you re playing against the AI and do not change their course they usually fall victim to US carriers

[sajm0n]

LOL, ok ...[8|]
...but I'll take it, my KB is closing in, maybe i can catch them

[CaptainBokarati]

Okay, time to hijack my thread back!

Finally it is ten days after my 10th post, so I guess and hope I can finally ask my question number #04:


#04: Ghost sightings
In that Coral Sea scenario (still my first game...) I got a lot of erraneous sightings. For example:
1942-05-06: 2 Japanese ships in Townsville hex (no ships there, neither mine nor Japanese AI)
1942-05-07: 4 Japanese ships near Noumea
3 Japanese ships near Noumea
fact: two single-sub Japanese TFs near Noumea, none of mine
1942-05-08: 2 Japanese ships near Townsville, going west (two hexes further, there is one of my DD/AO TFs; it didn't move through the hex (came from further east), but is moving west
1942-05-10: 2 Japanese ships near Bundaberg, moving sw (no enemy ships there, a single sub of mine patrolling)
1942-05-11: 4 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
5 Japanese ships near Brisbane
3 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
fact: a surface TF (2x CA 3x DD) is patrolling around Fraser Island, searching for the contacts from yesterday; addiotionally 2 single-sub TFs of mine also in the vicinity
1942-05-12: 5 Japanese ships near Koumac
8 Japanese ships near Koumac
9 Japanese ships near Noumea
fact: still only two Japanese single-sub TFs in the area
8 Japanese ships near Cooktown
one or two Japanese single-sub TFs in the area; six of my own ships in two TFs (same hex) in the area
1942-05-13: 9 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
6 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
fact: see 11th: 2 single-sub TFs and the surface TF, no enemy ships
3 Japanese ships near Noumea (still those 2 Japanes single-sub TFs)
1942-05-14: 8, 6 and 4 Japanese ships near Noumea
7 Japanese ships near Cooktown

And I saw that the Japanese suffer from the same problem, seeing Allied fleets around Truc where there is none at all.

I really think that is a bit over the top. A ghost ship? Yes, sure. A ghost fleet? I don't know. A repetitive sighting of a ghost fleet? Hmmmm. If those airborne searches are that unreliable, I wonder why to do them at all. Or do I only believe it when the game gives me the little red icons? But why give me those operation reports if they are to be ignored anyway? Especially those reports around Noumea were repetitive; so even waiting until the same reports pops up several times would have led me on a ghost hunt... [&:]

Any opinions how to take all these ghost sightings?

Cheers,
Bokarati


Edit:
And what in this post made the forum software believe I was about to post an email adress, a website or a telephone number...? [&:]

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: CaptainBokarati

Okay, time to hijack my thread back!

Finally it is ten days after my 10th post, so I guess and hope I can finally ask my question number #04:


#04: Ghost sightings
In that Coral Sea scenario (still my first game...) I got a lot of erraneous sightings. For example:
1942-05-06: 2 Japanese ships in Townsville hex (no ships there, neither mine nor Japanese AI)
1942-05-07: 4 Japanese ships near Noumea
3 Japanese ships near Noumea
fact: two single-sub Japanese TFs near Noumea, none of mine
1942-05-08: 2 Japanese ships near Townsville, going west (two hexes further, there is one of my DD/AO TFs; it didn't move through the hex (came from further east), but is moving west
1942-05-10: 2 Japanese ships near Bundaberg, moving sw (no enemy ships there, a single sub of mine patrolling)
1942-05-11: 4 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
5 Japanese ships near Brisbane
3 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
fact: a surface TF (2x CA 3x DD) is patrolling around Fraser Island, searching for the contacts from yesterday; addiotionally 2 single-sub TFs of mine also in the vicinity
1942-05-12: 5 Japanese ships near Koumac
8 Japanese ships near Koumac
9 Japanese ships near Noumea
fact: still only two Japanese single-sub TFs in the area
8 Japanese ships near Cooktown
one or two Japanese single-sub TFs in the area; six of my own ships in two TFs (same hex) in the area
1942-05-13: 9 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
6 Japanese ships near Rockhampton
fact: see 11th: 2 single-sub TFs and the surface TF, no enemy ships
3 Japanese ships near Noumea (still those 2 Japanes single-sub TFs)
1942-05-14: 8, 6 and 4 Japanese ships near Noumea
7 Japanese ships near Cooktown

And I saw that the Japanese suffer from the same problem, seeing Allied fleets around Truc where there is none at all.

I really think that is a bit over the top. A ghost ship? Yes, sure. A ghost fleet? I don't know. A repetitive sighting of a ghost fleet? Hmmmm. If those airborne searches are that unreliable, I wonder why to do them at all. Or do I only believe it when the game gives me the little red icons? But why give me those operation reports if they are to be ignored anyway? Especially those reports around Noumea were repetitive; so even waiting until the same reports pops up several times would have led me on a ghost hunt... [&:]

Any opinions how to take all these ghost sightings?

Cheers,
Bokarati


Edit:
And what in this post made the forum software believe I was about to post an email adress, a website or a telephone number...? [&:]

Fog of war...there may of been a ship there at some point, or not. FOW will give you strange reports now and then....GP

[CaptainBokarati]

Question #06:
Air groups: When I set the order for training, I may chose what the air group should train for. If I set a major mission and assign some training in the lower part of the screen (next to CAP and LRCAP and things), what will the pilots train for?

Question #07:
CAP range, LRCAP range: In some AARs I found the range of CAP mission mentioned. I understood the manual that CAP is only for the hex the squadron is based in, LRCAP only for the hex I chose?

Question #08:
LRCAP: I take it that the hex chosen for the main mission is the hex that the game will use for the LRCAP mission as well? Since I cannot assign two different targets... I.e. if my wildcat squad escorts bombers to the Shortlands and has set an LRCAP percentage, it will LRCAP the shortlands as well?

Thank you very much and sorry for the many questions...

Cheers,
Bokarati

[CaptainBokarati]

Fog of War... Yeah, I get that. But repetitive sightings of fog fleets? I have read AARs where the narrator comments about a single suspect line in his ops report and sends ships to investigate. That was in a full campaign game. I am getting these ghost sightings in my tiny coral sea scenario (on one day 5, 8 or 9 ship TFs in an area where there are only two single submarines), how many of them will I get in a real game? And how to sift through it?

Well, but apparently this is not unusual behaviour, so I guess I have to learn to live with it... Does it get less when my crews get more experience with naval search?

Thanks again!

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: CaptainBokarati

Question #06:
Air groups: When I set the order for training, I may chose what the air group should train for. If I set a major mission and assign some training in the lower part of the screen (next to CAP and LRCAP and things), what will the pilots train for?

What you are training is written right of training percentage. It is mostly your secondary mission.

Question #07:
CAP range, LRCAP range: In some AARs I found the range of CAP mission mentioned. I understood the manual that CAP is only for the hex the squadron is based in, LRCAP only for the hex I chose?

CAP can react up to two hexes (probably with lower number of planes, page 172 7.4.1). You can set it lower range, so enemy won't lure your planes onto dangerous territory.

Question #08:
LRCAP: I take it that the hex chosen for the main mission is the hex that the game will use for the LRCAP mission as well? Since I cannot assign two different targets... I.e. if my wildcat squad escorts bombers to the Shortlands and has set an LRCAP percentage, it will LRCAP the shortlands as well?

Technically you can set both CAP and LRCAP, so you can "assign" two targets. LRCAP at Shortlands will be there for whole turn (especially during your sweep with other airunit), if there are enough planes to use, and LRCAP percentage is high enough. No need to escort anything. Remember, that chance for escort is lower, if escorting units is set to different altitude, than bombers. LRCAP causes really high fatigue. Don't use it too long with the same unit.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: CaptainBokarati

Fog of War... Yeah, I get that. But repetitive sightings of fog fleets? I have read AARs where the narrator comments about a single suspect line in his ops report and sends ships to investigate. That was in a full campaign game. I am getting these ghost sightings in my tiny coral sea scenario (on one day 5, 8 or 9 ship TFs in an area where there are only two single submarines), how many of them will I get in a real game? And how to sift through it?

Well, but apparently this is not unusual behaviour, so I guess I have to learn to live with it... Does it get less when my crews get more experience with naval search?

Thanks again!

Usually, when I get a search report there is something there. Many times what is reported to be there is not what is actually there. I've also found that the longer you have something under surveillance, the more likely it is that the report will be closer to the truth. I suspect, without knowing, that the number of planes you have searching, the quality of their naval search ratings, and the distance that they travel during the day has a whole lot to do with the accuracy of their report.

One sure fire way to determine if CVs are present is to have one of your search planes get shot down by CAP. It happens to me a lot as Japan in 44-45. [:)]

[sajm0n]

funny reports im getting:

Turn_ 9: BB Pennsylvania - Enemy ship falsely reported sunk - Originally reported sunk on turn 5
Turn 15: BB Pennsylvania - Enemy ship falsely reported sunk - Originally reported sunk on turn 10
Turn 16: BB Pennsylvania - Enemy ship sunk near San Francisco

Give me a break lol
Im still sitting at 8 BBs sunk, while i know its more like 4