Matrix Games Forums

Kaga and Hiyo are still dicey.  Anytime sys dam approaches 50%, they can accumulate more quickly.  Move slow and make sure they have lot's of DD escorts.  Good luck.

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Shoho for Hermes is a bad trade. What kind of damage was reported on the 2 hit Allied CVs, in the combat replay? 3 and 2 torps might be enough to sink them both, but with those cripples of yours if Allies have the rest of their CV fleet there you wont be able overwhelm them. Allies have 450+ aircraft aboard surviving CVs while you can only bring ~400. I might not take my chances with the Japanese damage control against their CVs, but they now might be more interested in escorting the cripples of their own rather than the amphibious TFs...

I would agree - losing the Shoho in trade for the Hermes is a bad trade. As for the 2 allied CVs - Combat Reports say the both took 3 torps each - usually 3 torps is enough to sink a capital ship so I am guessing 1 of them is FOW. But even if only 2 torps hit the CVs there are in the same condition mine are - 40ish damage for system and float. I have 1 sub looking for them now and am moving more into the area. Hopefully I can finish one or both of them off.

Xargun

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Kaga and Hiyo are still dicey.  Anytime sys dam approaches 50%, they can accumulate more quickly.  Move slow and make sure they have lot's of DD escorts.  Good luck.

Now that they are in the clear, they will slow down and I will assign escorts. If they can get to the Kuriles then I can save them - unless something bad happens to them. I can send ARs to them and then move them to a repair yard fairly easily from the Kuriles.

Xargun

Xargun, carrier battles like that make me cringe. Here's something I do. If possible, I send a CVE TF to follow KB, just in range to the west. They are spare flight decks to take on planes if KB has some damaged carriers. Sometimes it doesn't work quite the way it's planned though. I once had it too close to KB and the Allied CVs went after them, sinking Hosho and Taiyo. KB trashed the Allied carriers though. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Shoho for Hermes is a bad trade. What kind of damage was reported on the 2 hit Allied CVs, in the combat replay? 3 and 2 torps might be enough to sink them both, but with those cripples of yours if Allies have the rest of their CV fleet there you wont be able overwhelm them. Allies have 450+ aircraft aboard surviving CVs while you can only bring ~400. I might not take my chances with the Japanese damage control against their CVs, but they now might be more interested in escorting the cripples of their own rather than the amphibious TFs...

I would agree - losing the Shoho in trade for the Hermes is a bad trade. As for the 2 allied CVs - Combat Reports say the both took 3 torps each - usually 3 torps is enough to sink a capital ship so I am guessing 1 of them is FOW. But even if only 2 torps hit the CVs there are in the same condition mine are - 40ish damage for system and float. I have 1 sub looking for them now and am moving more into the area. Hopefully I can finish one or both of them off.

Xargun

I mean... Do you still have the combat replay somewhere? In the saves sent emails or somewhere? Review it - it'll ask for player 2's password, but just hit enter and it lets you review the turn replay, just without the stuff Allied player would see. What kind of damage are they reported to suffer... Fuel, ammo or internal explosions, what kind of flooding, possible listing etc. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Xargun, carrier battles like that make me cringe. Here's something I do. If possible, I send a CVE TF to follow KB, just in range to the west. They are spare flight decks to take on planes if KB has some damaged carriers. Sometimes it doesn't work quite the way it's planned though. I once had it too close to KB and the Allied CVs went after them, sinking Hosho and Taiyo. KB trashed the Allied carriers though. [:D]

I thought about bringing in the baby CV TF (1 CVL and 2 CVEs) behind but they all have their own air groups so that may not have helped much. Most of my CVEs with no internal Air groups are sitting in port - not sure what to do with them.

Xargun

ORIGINAL: Erkki

I mean... Do you still have the combat replay somewhere? In the saves sent emails or somewhere? Review it - it'll ask for player 2's password, but just hit enter and it lets you review the turn replay, just without the stuff Allied player would see. What kind of damage are they reported to suffer... Fuel, ammo or internal explosions, what kind of flooding, possible listing etc. [:)]

Yeah - the allied CVs were both reported to be listing twice (right after torp hits), but no explosions. They are reported as heavily damaged.

Xargun

Ok I have just sent the next turn off to Rob and took a hard look at the actual Major damage on the ships and they don't seem too bad (except for Kaga). Here it is (Major damage only- SYS/FLT/ENG):

CV Akagi - 0/4/0
CV Kaga - 0/24/23
CV Hiyo - 0/8/21
BB Yamato - 0/25/0
BB Yamashiro - 0/18/0

So roughly a month in drydock for everyone but Akagi and Kaga. Akagi will be a couple days and Kaga will be more like 2 months. Both Akagi and Kaga need to do their upgrades too so it will work out. Luckily my repair yards are mostly empty except for an occasional conversion or upgrade.

Replacing the aircraft will be easy and I should be able to pull experienced pilots out of the reserves to fill their ranks.

Xargun

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: Erkki

I mean... Do you still have the combat replay somewhere? In the saves sent emails or somewhere? Review it - it'll ask for player 2's password, but just hit enter and it lets you review the turn replay, just without the stuff Allied player would see. What kind of damage are they reported to suffer... Fuel, ammo or internal explosions, what kind of flooding, possible listing etc. [:)]

Yeah - the allied CVs were both reported to be listing twice (right after torp hits), but no explosions. They are reported as heavily damaged.

Xargun

Both reported to be listing and counter flooding twice!? Those are the weakest(as in, least durable) Allied CVs: they are very likely in much worse condition than your cripples! Any Allied CV aircraft destroyed on the ground lately? [:)]

ORIGINAL: Erkki
Both reported to be listing and counter flooding twice!? Those are the weakest(as in, least durable) Allied CVs: they are very likely in much worse condition than your cripples! Any Allied CV aircraft destroyed on the ground lately? [:)]

Yes to the listing / counter flooding. Haven't seen any destroyed on ground aircraft since the first fight - where I believe the Hermes went down - roughly 30 British planes destroyed on the ground. I watch the lost airplane screen closely each turn and am hoping to see some soon.

Xargun

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Xargun, carrier battles like that make me cringe. Here's something I do. If possible, I send a CVE TF to follow KB, just in range to the west. They are spare flight decks to take on planes if KB has some damaged carriers. Sometimes it doesn't work quite the way it's planned though. I once had it too close to KB and the Allied CVs went after them, sinking Hosho and Taiyo. KB trashed the Allied carriers though. [:D]

I thought about bringing in the baby CV TF (1 CVL and 2 CVEs) behind but they all have their own air groups so that may not have helped much. Most of my CVEs with no internal Air groups are sitting in port - not sure what to do with them.

Xargun

Those are the guys I use. Sometimes I'll escort them with Hosho for CAP & ASW support.

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: Erkki
Both reported to be listing and counter flooding twice!? Those are the weakest(as in, least durable) Allied CVs: they are very likely in much worse condition than your cripples! Any Allied CV aircraft destroyed on the ground lately? [:)]

Yes to the listing / counter flooding. Haven't seen any destroyed on ground aircraft since the first fight - where I believe the Hermes went down - roughly 30 British planes destroyed on the ground. I watch the lost airplane screen closely each turn and am hoping to see some soon.

Xargun

Can Hermes carry 30 planes?

Hermes carries 20... Theres either some FOW in the exact numbers or you also got a British CV but majority of its aircraft managed to fly to a land base...

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Hermes carries 20... Theres either some FOW in the exact numbers or you also got a British CV but majority of its aircraft managed to fly to a land base...

Or were lost in other combat .. .not ground losses ...?

Wow - just ran the next turn and Rob came storming west and caught my fleeing cripples. In a very one sided attack (since I didn't have any planes in the air) consisting of multiple waves all of my cripples were sunk. [:@] [:@] [:@] The worst defeat in so far in the game - my own little midway. He also took Amchitka destoying another 50 planes on the ground that were stuck there. In all told I lost over 100 planes last turn - most of them had no pilots.

I will do another update later but I'm a bit depressed at the moment - I thought I had escaped.

Xargun

Kaga, Hiyo and the 2 BBs? [:(]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Kaga, Hiyo and the 2 BBs? [:(]

Yep - everything was lost. The escorting DDs were untouched and fled at flank speed and escaped the next turn. So it looks like I have suffered a Midway-like defeat.

CV Kaga
CV Hiyo
CVL Shoho
BB Yamato
BB Yamashiro

all lost in exchange for a crappy CVL and two crippled CVs. This will change my strategy quite a bit as I won't get another CV for at least 6 months.

The Akagi is beat up some but will make port this turn and will be repaired in roughly a month. So that will leave me with 6 CVsm plus a smattering of CVEs and CVLs.

One thing I did notice is that I was able to buy back all the air groups from the lost carriers [:D] So over the next 6 months I will receive a bunch of air groups allowing me to at least use the planes at bases.

Xargun

Did you lose many good pilots?

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Did you lose many good pilots?

I think I lost a total of like 20 pilots total (10 KIA and 10 MIA). I was able to remove all pilots with any shred of skills from the surviving air groups and the carriers the turn after they were crippled - I was even able to get the ones from the Shoho before she burned to the waterline. So I have a lot of good and decent pilots saved - and in 6 months or so I will have all the air groups back -- just no mobile platform to use them from.

Xargun

Yep - everything was lost. The escorting DDs were untouched and fled at flank speed and escaped the next turn. So it looks like I have suffered a Midway-like defeat.

CV Kaga
CV Hiyo
CVL Shoho
BB Yamato
BB Yamashiro

The Yamato is gone in 1942??[X(][X(] Wow -- you wuz robbed!