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Interesting thread.

So how many of you feel that completing one or both is not ideal in game terms - but build them anyway as the Pacific War and the IJN without these monsters seems "wrong"?

Interesting thread.

Yes, it is. I would build at least Yamato. A smart Japanese player should be able to get value out of her the way the Germans got value out of Tirpitz: a threat that constrains the Allied ability to move in contested areas. Example: if the Allies attempt to build an airbase in the Aleutians during winter months when CV's are less effective, Yamato can nuke the precious engineer units.

I would love to get my hands on both Yamato and Musashi in the opening months of the war.. The simple truth is in my opinion is that they are glorified artillery.. Good artillery but very thirsty and very hungry....

Can someone post a surface combat report where they were effective?

No. I would not build the Musashi. I did the first time around, but I also got very short on fuel in the endgame, so ... in my second game I'm not building her.

I mainly used them for bombardments. I can't remember ever having a naval engagement with them other than hitting PTs on the way in. They are good AA platforms for the medium fast CVs in the mid-to-late game as well, as long as you don't sail them around a lot. By this time I had the KB stashed for special occasions.

I did some tests against the Iowas once and the USN got the better of it by a long shot.

ORIGINAL: Cannonfodder
Can someone post a surface combat report where they were effective?

Here are three engagements...if I recall correctly the Yamato fired exactly 1 main gun round which hit. One is a bombardment, but it did sink 2 AVDs.

I posted it in my AAR somewhere...

I think the Yamato had broken off from a larger group and was going to merge with a destroyer division but the task forces ended up reacting all over the place unexpectedly.

ORIGINAL: obvert

I did some tests against the Iowas once and the USN got the better of it by a long shot.

The questions are really:

1) Can you get an engagement against pre-Iowa BBs?

2) Can you use them effectively without burning too much fuel?

3) Are you a sucker for Rule of Cool?

It depends upon my game strategy and so each game i start this is a unique question. Most times, YES, I do build her and in my mod Shinano is still a BB and will sometimes get built. IJ is desparately short of capital ships, and BB's are potent bombardment platforms. As Nemo once stated, the best counter to the B29 is to kill it before it takes off.

The only time i've built it it was sunk by, not less, than the Colorado !!!!![8|][X(]

However i'm building her again. Japan simply needs every capital ship it can master, even if fuel is scarse

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

The only time i've built it it was sunk by, not less, than the Colorado !!!!![8|][X(]

However i'm building her again. Japan simply needs every capital ship it can master, even if fuel is scarse

How did the Colorado sink it?!

I would expect the Colorado didn't fare very well either. When the big guns slug it out often the first one to score a hit wins the fight. IJN damage control isn't the good either. If the Colorado managed to cause flooding damage and the Yamato was a long ways from home, it may have succumbed.

Bill

For me fire, more than flooding, is what sinks my IJN ships. I fear bombs far more than torps because of fire ....

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

For me fire, more than flooding, is what sinks my IJN ships. I fear bombs far more than torps because of fire ....

Same, mostly. It really depends on the crew and dice rolls also. I've seen IJN ships come back from 60+ Fire, but it's rare.

I've also seen minor floatation damage get repaired - they don't seem to fare too much worse than USN ships in that regard. It's the fires and system damage that kill.

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

Absolutely finish building her.

I stop it until Yamato completes building so I have room to accelerate needed vessels, CVs, DDs, Tks and such but once Yamato comes on line she's back to building.

Without any other strategic thoughts put into place I'd rather have the USN focusing their wrath on one of the two mega BBs than the fragile deck of a CV.

Agree 100%.

I wouldn't sail them all over the ocean though, but you may know what has been said about a fleet in being. I would think that an AFB who ignores these behemoths does so at his own peril.

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna


... I've seen IJN ships come back from 60+ Fire, but it's rare.

.

Very rare. And then I think of all the ships I have lost that had less than 20% fire ... and then zoomed to 80% and done the next turn ... [X(][X(][X(]

I like the Musashi. She sinks real good.[:D][:D][:D]....GP

Hell, for the cool factor, absolutely finish that job! [8D]

It's practicality and return in investment for the costs involved (not only in HI points in finishing it, but the time spent repairing in the yards after battle damage, etc.) is another matter, however...

build yam.

I had a similar experience against the Yamato. The Revenge blundered into the Yamato in the Indian Ocean in the middle of a thunderstorm. At 1000 yards the Revenge put an entire broadside into the Yamato and then pummeled the Yamato until she went down. I probably hit the Yamato 20 or 25 times with the Revenge's main armament before the Yamato sank. It was a lucky engagement for sure but all that Japanese HI expenditure got erased by an almost 30 year old BB.

I always build the Musashi, and keep her building from day 1. Yeah, that does slow down the late war CVs, but that's something I can live with. I'm very conservative with my ships when I can, but will use them if the result is strategically important. I don't like surface engagements, but if I am setting one up, I always try to have heavier ships than my opponent. If his largest ship is a CA, I send in BBs, etc. The problem with surface engagements is that, even if you win one, your ships are going to the yard for a long time. But the yard is better than the bottom of the ocean. I don't send my ships sailing all over the globe. They sit in port until they have a specific mission. That way, I save fuel and have a fleet in being for my opponent to think is always just over the horizon.

Have you ever seen what the Yamato and Musashi does to a ground force in a bombardment? I love it!

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Have you ever seen what the Yamato and Musashi does to a ground force in a bombardment? I love it!

Yes, yes I have