Yeah, this game does fog of war pretty decently. You think you sank him? Guess what, he managed to limp home to repair. That carrier you only got two bomb hits on? Well its a burning wreck and is going to be scuttled but you'll never know it until months/years later.Sardaukar wrote: Fri Feb 02, 2024 6:19 pm Even very experienced IJN pilots mistook AO Neosho as carrier and later sunk it in Coral Sea.
Do you press the attack or do you retreat and maintain your forces? Press the attack you might knock them out of the war, or you might lose all your carriers and be impotent for two years until the Essex's start coming off the line. Retreat means you might be letting them off the hook but you survive to fight again. What to do..what to do. Those scouting reports may or may not be accurate.
(FWIW, this really gave me appreciation for Fletcher's decision making after Coral Sea and Midway, as well as early naval battles for Guadalcanal. People called him timid or a coward. I now think he was right to protect the sparse fleet.)