Alright, it's the night before the Big Enchilada, and all 3 task forces are in place:
The reason why the battleship line is strung out is that I am right behind his 15 hex passive search line, and my old BB's can only move 16 (wanted to have them bombard as many islands as they can next turn). I forgot I needed to have them right behind the line, so the CLs (which I placed first) were arranged to have the BB's in two rows (which as said is too far away). If he does a manual search in this direction he'll pick them up, but I got cap covering them. The 2nd CV task force is refueling from the port there.
Quick rundown of everything else: China, killed another SF (he tried to bugger it off but forgot he left it in the port), damaged a 2nd down to 3 points (he attacked my tank corps, which for like the 4th time retreated again).
India remained quiet tho the rain stopped but didn't want to get his fighters to retaliate vs. my autospotted planes next turn (we know how that has gone in the past), plus my tanks were busy repairing.
Australia, his ships took peeks into my NW ports in search of amphibs (but haven't launched them there-yet). MacArthur's boys moved into position as I upgraded his planes.
I also forgot that amphibs won't move their full movement until the FOLLOWING turn, rrr (I mean I knew that but in the heat of the moment simply had a brain fart), so the Hawaiian ones are still stuck back there, but they'll get their chance to take something I am sure. I also had to sell back 2 chits [Advanced Fighters & AA] to afford them after all of the other upgrading I did.
But got THREE break-a-throughs, Ind Tech, Advanced Subs, AND Ground Attack (which actually got me another level), so not worried, since MacArthur's flyboys will now get extra oomph in their bombing runs. My S&I edge is likely +2 at this point, which is worth an extra chit for all techs.
Theatre: S&I picked up 2 BC's and 2 CVL's near Wake Island, so my fleet is safe from his CVs for one more turn:
Now a quick primer on the options available to both sides in a battle like this one:
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game
Because of how the SC game system works, the stark truth is that the carrier force that gets in the first set of strikes is the one which will have the edge. While remedying this state of affairs from a coding perspective is a topic for a different thread, it presents quite a tactical dilemma.
Balthazor has already been on record as indicating that he likes to leave "bait" laying around in the form of other ships; the enemy CV force takes the bait, thus revealing themselves, and opening themselves up to the enemy's riposte. During our earlier cat and mouse game around Midway 9 months ago (the Turn 24 notes has an awesome pic of both fleets), I was constantly counting the spaces between his carriers and mine, and making sure when I ended my turn that mine were out of range of his (at maximum movement, which in the mod is 22 hexes). If the weather had cooperated I had a shot at him, but no clear weather hexes were within range of his flattops, and I was at that time still outnumbered by him (8 to 6 fleet CVs not including his 4 CVLs), and likely would have sailed back to Pearl anyway.
So, what to do, what to do...
1) Just say the hey with it, sail in there boldly, take whatever slings and arrows come my way, and try to even things up on my turn. Testing revealed that a carrier can be sunk after an average of 3 hits. I do have Radar L2 which gives a +1 overall bonus to their defense. His current force of 9 CV + 4 CVL contains 22 actions. He'll have to save at least half for escort missions tho, so that's 11 strikes. If I am lucky I'll only lose 3, and his remaining ships' air wings will likely be more beat up than mine. I'll have at least 16 hopefully 18 actions left, 9 strikes 3 of his carriers are toast (note I gave IJN carriers a -0.5 defense penalty to reflect their subpar damage control and lightweight construction), and we're now even, with my other builds coming in over the next 8 months (I got #12 last turn along with the Iowa; they'll be upgraded and sent along towards the battlefield ASAP).
At this point both carrier fleets will likely be exhausted, leaving the battle to the surface units. He has an edge in cruisers, but I have more of both types of battleships, which will likely carry the day (my sub and ASW techs are also +1 level better than his last I checked). At worse we both break even, but now we both have likely ~2000 MPPs worth of repairs to do, which for me will take 2.5 turns of income, but for him 8 turns. [6 for the next version of the mod]
2) Continue the cat & mouse games, wait for the right moment to strike. This will involve screening forces (the bait) arrayed along the approaches to where my fleet is lurking. The most expendable unit I have is the light cruisers. My old battlewagons will be bombarding their island targets first, arrayed N-S. I may place the CL's along a SW-NE line with my carriers a given distance to the SE. If I place the latter within escort range they'll protect the cruisers but eat up my air wings (and his), and will also give away my carriers' positions, and if he can get within range of them then we're back to scenario #1.
3) Bugger back to Pearl, refit, reload, return with even more ships. But those National Morale penalties will start hurting, esp. Port Moresby for the Aussies. Plus we both have been itching to test this huge carrier clash. If I leave the Australian-based forces hanging out to dry he'll devastate them. This way he'll be too busy dealing with my fleet to bother them much.
