Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

If it runs short of fuel or ammo, it will return to it's home base, refuel/rearm, and return to the patrol zone.

(I haven't kept up on the naval thread) You mean it acts kinda sorta like a CS convoy where the TF will automatically go home, refuel/rearm, and then return to its patrol zone? If so, kewl!

You can set this independently, so the Kaga for example is on 60% CAP (Over herself) and 40% on LRCAP over the invasion force off Fiji. You can also have some pilots training at the same time so in the above, if I had some rookie pilots on the Kaga, I could for example reduce her CAP to 40%, keep the 40% LRCAP, AND have 20% of her pilots training all at the same time.

For bombers you can do even more than that. You could for example have 30% on naval attack, 20% on naval search, 20% on ASW patrol, and 30% training. All these different missions are settable in 10% increments from 0 to 100%.

Totally kewl !

RE the sub thing, one dampener I failed to mention is the sub will have to pass its leadership check to react. No one knows the algorithm probably. What's it primarily based on? Aggressiveness? So not every sub nearby will react. Well, I'll be interested to see if this is a problem.

He came in with the Enterprise and Lex trying to get to the New Caledonia landing force. The Hiryu/Soryu (hex 1) launched strikes and hit the Enterprise. The CVL group (hex 2) was under weather and didnt participate although the combat report says that some of their CAP was dirverted. Counterstrike on Hiryu hit nothing. The Lex launched an afternoon raid at a BB force (hex 3) getting 1 1000 SAP bomb on the Mutsu. She currently has 1 sys damage on her that could have been from moving. Suffice it to say Mutsu wasnt impressed.


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Noumea at 108,162

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 32,050 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
B5N2 Kate x 13
D3A1 Val x 25



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 3
F4F-3A Wildcat x 11


Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Salt Lake City
CA Northampton



Aircraft Attacking:
16 x D3A1 Val diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
8 x D3A1 Val diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
1 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

CAP engaged:
VF-2 with F2A-3 Buffalo (0 airborne, 2 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 30000 and 33200.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 43 minutes
VF-6 with F4F-3A Wildcat (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 32000 and 33000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers



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Morning Air attack on TF, near Belep Islands at 106,157

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 3
F4F-3A Wildcat x 11
SBD-2 Dauntless x 34
SBD-3 Dauntless x 26
TBD-1 Devastator x 11


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-2 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 10 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 11 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu
BB Kirishima
CA Nachi
CV Soryu
CA Chikuma



Aircraft Attacking:
12 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
10 x SBD-2 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
10 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 5000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
13 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
16 x SBD-2 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
Zuiho-1 with A6M2 Zero (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 32150
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
Soryu-1 with A6M2 Zero (3 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 32810 , scrambling fighters between 17000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes
Hiryu-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 32810 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes
7 planes vectored on to bombers

Hell, that was quite an anti-climatic fight... Does weather have an impact on the efficiency of dive-bombing and torpedo-bombing? Can we believe the "severe storm" and "heavy rain" factors played a large role into foiling the strikes on both ends? Does it explain why the combat report has the bombers attacking in droves instead of smaller groups?

Thanks in advance

Allied carriers withdrawing toward New Zealand. They launched an ineffective am strike against a CL squadron bringing landing troops to Norfolk Island for no effect. If thats the best he can muster after 1 strike vs 2 carriers, he will be hard pressed to survive the attack by 8 that is closing in from the north and north east. Normally I shy away from bringing my carriers in so close to a major base, but he hasnt had time to reinforce it.



Morning Air attack on TF, near Norfolk Island at 113,170

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 47 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes


Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 2
SBD-2 Dauntless x 6
SBD-3 Dauntless x 7
TBD-1 Devastator x 8


Allied aircraft losses
SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Natori
CL Kuma



Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
6 x SBD-2 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
8 x TBD-1 Devastator launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo

ORIGINAL: HistoryGuy

An interesting gamut of reactions to the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor. It appears most vessels opened fire fairly quickly with ready guns (predesignated weapons that were manned and ammunitioned) while more guns joined in once GQ sounded. Because they were in port for repairs, etc. some weapons were partially disassembled or lacked ammunition. That said, losing only eight planes does seem a bit low, even considering that a portion of the 29 total losses were attributable to USAAF fighters.

. . .

HistoryGuy, I just wanted to thank you for all of your very informative posts. I know the AE team has been especially grateful for your help, but the rest of us appreciate it too!

The situation at Canton Island:

Malaya. He did a full Sir Robin and left these 3 bases undefended, so I took them with para assaults and railed 4 divisions plus support on down. They are now marching overland on Singapore.

Panzer Armee Burma begins its move to Rangoon. These are tankers of the 1st and 2nd armored divisions from Manchuria. The RTA (Royal Thai Army) is heading in the back door towards Mandalay.

Southern PI. There are no allied ground units left on this map.



The only troops he has left in the PI are at Bataan. I have the 16th and the 48th just moved in this turn. The 33rd and 38th (and a whole lot of arty) will be joining then soon.

Aleutians: Last game I landed a regiment here and it was met soon after by a SCTF built around the Colorado, so this time I landed with 1 airfield company and a sub flotilla patrols the waters. I sank an AG north of Adak a few turns ago, so I suspect he has troops on Kiska. I had planned to take the base and then transfer control to Japanese Defense Command and put a Mavis squadron in, but it wont let me change control of the base so it will take a few turns to transfer some recon planes up.

Edit: Cancel that. Just figured out how to do it. If you change command of the ground unit, you can then change command of the base, so there is now a Mavis squadron stationed here. One of the ones that "cant leave Japan" [;)]

Oh well 1 more month correcting the loophole...[:D]

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

Hell, that was quite an anti-climatic fight... Does weather have an impact on the efficiency of dive-bombing and torpedo-bombing? Can we believe the "severe storm" and "heavy rain" factors played a large role into foiling the strikes on both ends? Does it explain why the combat report has the bombers attacking in droves instead of smaller groups?

Thanks in advance

You didn't answer me Yamato Hugger. I wish you lose and have Japanese carrier crews bits floating everywhere! I wish Nagumo has diarrhea during the next US CV strike! I wish Soryu and Hiryu collide and explode! I wish Hiro Hito had cotties! Booooh!

ORIGINAL: Dili

Oh well 1 more month correcting the loophole...[:D]

Not a loophole. Working as designed.

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

Hell, that was quite an anti-climatic fight... Does weather have an impact on the efficiency of dive-bombing and torpedo-bombing? Can we believe the "severe storm" and "heavy rain" factors played a large role into foiling the strikes on both ends? Does it explain why the combat report has the bombers attacking in droves instead of smaller groups?

Thanks in advance

You didn't answer me Yamato Hugger. I wish you lose and have Japanese carrier crews bits floating everywhere! I wish Nagumo has diarrhea during the next US CV strike! I wish Soryu and Hiryu collide and explode! I wish Hiro Hito had cotties! Booooh!

Nagumo isnt aggressive enough for me to be a carrier commander. He is commanding the Mutsu's BB division. As for what caused the lack of any decisive result, I have no idea.

Looks like he's still attracting 1000 pounders like flies anywhere you put him, better send him off in a ASW group [:D] [;)]

Well, as you probably already saw, I-18 sank a sub. One of my sub flotillas attacked and sank the Kittyhawk, an AKV (aircraft transport) that had a squadron of B-26s aboard judging by the destroyed aircraft report. The ship was a few hexes SW of Tahiti when it went down. New Caledonia has been secured and Fiji is holding out. I hit Suva at 3:1 last turn, but it had a level 2 fort. The 2nd div (less the 3 bns of the 4th regt) is loading at Noumea and going to head over.

I have 2 AS and 2 more sub flots headed to Fiji ready to establish a base there.

He has been complaining about lack of supplies at his forward bases in southern China and has begun pulling back.

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger


You can load up to 1/3 more pilots than your maximum number of planes, so I usually operate at 100%. As for CAP percentage, on my carriers I operate between 40% and 60% CAP depending on situation. In WitP if you wanted to fly LRCAP, it had to be at 100%. This is not true in AE. You can set this independently, so the Kaga for example is on 60% CAP (Over herself) and 40% on LRCAP over the invasion force off Fiji. You can also have some pilots training at the same time so in the above, if I had some rookie pilots on the Kaga, I could for example reduce her CAP to 40%, keep the 40% LRCAP, AND have 20% of her pilots training all at the same time.

For bombers you can do even more than that. You could for example have 30% on naval attack, 20% on naval search, 20% on ASW patrol, and 30% training. All these different missions are settable in 10% increments from 0 to 100%.


I have yet to see an ASW force react to a sub, and I have had several instances now where a sub was positively identified within a hex or 2 of one of my ASW forces with a react set to 6. Also, I have never seen one of my subs react to an ASW force. Now personally I think that ASW should react to subs more often than subs reacting to other TFs. Personal opinion. But I happened across this too late to fix before release.

Great news about those settings, pity that ASW TFs don't seem to react tho.

Well perhaps there are factors working here that have not been explored. Crew skill levels, captain's experience, admiral present, type of sonar or any type of radar for the Japanese. Would all of these be factors in an ASW group reacting? Personally, I would expect very few Japanese ASW groups reacting in 1942 for all of these reasons. It should be a very rare event. Have you seen any American ASW force react in the game? They might be a little better but still not very good in 1942.

I wonder if a late war hunter-killer group with an escort carrier and sophisticated sonar and radar-plus decent skill levels, be more likely to attack. It remains to be seen.

But if the designers did the job correctly then a ASW reaction in 42 should be a rare event indeed.

I think outside of operational losses the Americans only lost three subs to enemy action in all of 1942. After that, it was about one a month for the rest of the war. American subs were pitiful in 1942 but they at least should have little to fear from Japanese ASW efforts.

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger


You can load up to 1/3 more pilots than your maximum number of planes, so I usually operate at 100%. As for CAP percentage, on my carriers I operate between 40% and 60% CAP depending on situation. In WitP if you wanted to fly LRCAP, it had to be at 100%. This is not true in AE. You can set this independently, so the Kaga for example is on 60% CAP (Over herself) and 40% on LRCAP over the invasion force off Fiji. You can also have some pilots training at the same time so in the above, if I had some rookie pilots on the Kaga, I could for example reduce her CAP to 40%, keep the 40% LRCAP, AND have 20% of her pilots training all at the same time.

For bombers you can do even more than that. You could for example have 30% on naval attack, 20% on naval search, 20% on ASW patrol, and 30% training. All these different missions are settable in 10% increments from 0 to 100%.


I have yet to see an ASW force react to a sub, and I have had several instances now where a sub was positively identified within a hex or 2 of one of my ASW forces with a react set to 6. Also, I have never seen one of my subs react to an ASW force. Now personally I think that ASW should react to subs more often than subs reacting to other TFs. Personal opinion. But I happened across this too late to fix before release.

Great news about those settings, pity that ASW TFs don't seem to react tho.

Well perhaps there are factors working here that have not been explored. Crew skill levels, captain's experience, admiral present, type of sonar or any type of radar for the Japanese. Would all of these be factors in an ASW group reacting? Personally, I would expect very few Japanese ASW groups reacting in 1942 for all of these reasons. It should be a very rare event. Have you seen any American ASW force react in the game? They might be a little better but still not very good in 1942.

I wonder if a late war hunter-killer group with an escort carrier and sophisticated sonar and radar-plus decent skill levels, be more likely to attack. It remains to be seen.

But if the designers did the job correctly then a ASW reaction in 42 should be a rare event indeed.

I think outside of operational losses the Americans only lost three subs to enemy action in all of 1942. After that, it was about one a month for the rest of the war. American subs were pitiful in 1942 but they at least should have little to fear from Japanese ASW efforts.

maybe little to fear from a historical minded IJN player...perhaps should have more fear from a semi-god-like AE player...

George Macdonald Fraser, author of the Flashman papers, once equated loading Irish troops on a ship to sheep herding without a dog.

Not ENTIRELY off topic.