ORIGINAL: Prince of Eckmühl
Fast carrier task groups could travel about 400 miles OVERNIGHT.
441.52 miles/12 hrs at 32 knots, to be exact, and 275.95 miles/12 hrs at 20 knots, which used to be the normal (cruise) speed. [:D]
Right, they were fast. But I (and others it seems) think that these task groups don't have much space to manoeuvre on these small maps, one can't use speed (maybe coupled with the enemy's problems to spot the player's assets) as a real advantage, since the cruise speed of enemy TGs always seems to be higher than the historical cruise speeds, and they seem to hit the pedal each time their planes got back. Also, search planes seem to spot enemy TGs most of the time, I can't spot a (working?) algorythm to depict a situation where search planes suffer of technical failures (broken radios) or where they are shot down before they can spot/relay the position of the enemy task force.
I'd still say quite some of the actual historical encounters were limited to a relatively small part of the theater (if you look at the size of the PTO), despite a TG's speed, due to limited (historical) ranges of strike a/c or weapons (in surface battles), due to the US reading vital parts of the IJN communications and due to IJN or USN forces being bound to support ground operations many times.
Also, unlike in the real world, the player is being limited (additionaly) regarding the selection of routes or approaches, either by the map's boundaries or by the low number of supply units, where the latter were able to keep up with a TGs cruise speed (~20 kts), historically, imho.
The "manageable/limited area" thingy was even more valid for battles like the one at Midway:
It was "just" about what direction the japanese Carrier group would choose for their approach/attack, as the strike range was an expected/known constant in this computation. Also, the US had accurate infos about the complete IJN OOB prior to the start of the battle, because the IJN code had been cracked.
It then was only a matter of proper search procedures, and, a certain amount of luck regarding the japanese search planes failing to spot the US TGs at an early stage and having troubles with a failed radio device later on, giving the US the opportunity to assemble at an advance position ("Point Luck") really close to the actual strike range.
It's also worth noting that Midway PROVED that IJN carrier assets couldn't go on station and fight in effective range of Allied air-bases.
Well,
no ...... it just proved they couldn't go on station in effective range of 3 US carriers - the equivalent of 1 1/2 IJN carrier divisions (assembling NE of Midway, undetected by the IJN) -
AND a landbase. They couldn't bombard 2 targets simultanously, as the different types of targets (airbase in contrast to 3 carriers) called for different a/c armament, plus they made a series of bad and time-consuming reconsiderations (they equipped bomber squads with bombs for a 2nd wave scheduled to head for Midway, just to change their minds a bit later and equip the bombers with torpedos, for example), although their superior amount of aircrafts should have been able to smash the US carriers.
It's a fact that the USN caught the IJN with their pants down. It wasn't a "wild west"-style duel where the guy who pulled his gun first won, ya know
Even worse, shortly before the operation, the IJN search planes scheduled to refuel at the French Frigate Shoals (to recon Pearl Harbor - to get infos about the location of the remaining US carriers) could not be deployed, as the shoals were occupied by US warships.
The result was that Nagumo did not know anything about the whereabouts of the US carrier groups, which displayed THE dark horse in his considerations. He still kept sticking to the initial plan, rushed his forces to Midway, although he could have deployed 5 carriers, instead of 4, and diverted vital surface forces in order to execute a simultaneous attack on the Aleutian Islands. So you might want to include hasty/stubborn planning on the IJN side, if you review the Battle of Midway.
I think you
over-estimate the impact of strikes launched from Midway's airbase. Allied land-based air-cover (the "umbrella" u were talking about) expanded to its fullest extent in 1943 in the Atlantic Ocean, but did not feature a similar expansion in the Pacific until around 2 years after Midway, except for the temporary advanced umbrellas provided by the US carriers.
The Japanese forces, in turn, did not have long-range/turbo-charged a/c's, unlike the US, so the japanese "umbrellas" were less effective and smaller than you might think. I've read about rare japanese bomber runs that were one-way (note: not kamikaze) missions, as their targets were way off-range, and the bombers' fuel tanks did not hold enough fuel to return.
Also, Japanese bases like Truk and others were left out (regarding invasion -> isle hopping), but were completely neutralized by continous Allied bombing raids.
The IJN strikes on Darwin (given, RAAF at Darwin had only 11 modern planes) and other bases, and the excursion of a IJN group towards the Indian Ocean, despite some resistance from RAF airbases, rather
proves that strikes from Allied airbases were less of a threat during the first 12-18 months of the Pacific War than depicted in some literature/docs, especially the strikes coming from Midway were not much more than a kind of harassment, in terms of forcing the IJN to employ their Zeros more often, just - if at all - raising the chance of them being low on fuel or being in the process of rearming when the real threat (US carrier wings) would appear on the scene. The
bombers on Midway didn't hit anything afaik, and
only 3 survived the battle, this puts the virtue of airbases into perspective, for the first 12-18 months. for sure.
Some of the Allied airbases (Henderson airfield for example) even didn't have enough aircrafts to seriously counter enemy threats until some units were rushed to the theater.
Except for Port Moresby, and for Saipan and Okinawa later on, Allied airbases mainly employed fighter squadrons to counter IJ bombers/fighters.
It's not surprising, that the final diversion of the IJN fighters in the Battle of Midway was achieved by one of the US carriers' bomber squadrons.
One or both sides are assigned missions against a land-base which gives the fighting focus and definition. The situations depicted by the game are historical in nature, albeit with variants. Were the game maps to be quadrupled in size, squared in area, if you will, it wouldn't significantly alter the nature of the fighting, because the fighting should still revolve around the objective(s).
Well, the objective would not change, right, but there are details which make things less believable in this game. A TG can sit in or right next to an enemy harbor, without getting any fire from coastal artillery (since it's not rendered). As IJN, you can "gut" Pearl Harbor and sink every frickin ship in there.... you can finish off the US TGs inside, if you send in your surface TGs - by completely ignoring the US airbases in the beginning. Such defects in scenario design and game design could be ignored and the game could be more fun, if the player's TGs would have more space to manoeuvre and if 1 or 2 days would be added in terms of a mission's duration. Although the scenarios might be accurate regarding historical duration the short amount of time and limited space make it a piece of very limited enjoyment.
As has been noted previously, what IS needed in the game are exit points
Well, this sounds like a good idea, basically, but it could be exploited in SP and MP if you don't expand map sizes. It will be like "gun and run" most likely, one side might be able to pull off an early strike, just to take advantage of a bad weather front above his TGs (so that enemy strikes would not be able to score substantial hits) and then run home to hide under mommys skirt (Pearl), in order to save the score advantage til the end of the scenario. It might also lead to situations where you chase enemy TGs, with you, after crippling their main assets, not being able to finish off the enemy's main assets, as they reached the exit area.
My 2 cents... err wait... 10 bucks now, sorry [:D]
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