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UBER PT boats with out a doubt , the most cocked up, unbalanced, un realistic result (well 2nd most, air 2 air wins that) thing I have ever seen.


I sometimes wonder why I keep on keeping on

Yes -Ive just been defeated by 16 of them -my entire navy has been defeated by them!!!

It sucks.

Hmm...funny. My PTs tend to just die. <shrug>

They are a pain in the a..e!

But, the IJN hated them IRL as well. Just look at the MTB squadrons in the Solomon campaign.

One feture I don not like is when they use their .50cals to pound the living daylight out of my DD's, yea right. Sure the .50cal carries a punch but try to hit something with an unstable mount going at 39kts performing evasive manuvers be it a DD or what ever.
You have one opportunity and thats when the boat lines upp for torpedo release, 10 seconds max. Defensive fire from a DD puts 1000% more lead in harms way!

There are several ways to clean theese litle bugs out but it's not going to hapen without loss and it takes time.

Pesonaly when playing the allies I think it's good to have some way to defend forward bases against the endless bombardement runs of the IJN. Would never do a run out to max range and run out of fuel attack myself, but a run out and get back on one fuelload attack I use frequently.

Q

Well them Americans had a President who served on PT's so they must like them&nbsp;[;)]

Anyways going back to the topic... they are usefull but I wouldn't call them an UBER weapon or something like that... thay can get sometimes frustrating but oh well they tend to sink often.[:)]

ive calmed down now -got crappy dice rolls me thinks!

Still it was a terrible turn!

Sorry, but your opponent should offer you a rerun.

What happened just cannot be explained in any logical way - and cripples you unfairly.

If i was playing you, i would have had a good laugh - then scotched the turn.

the problem with PT boats is that they are extremely cheap and you don't have to care about them. I would like to have such weapon - just place 2 flotillas with 6 PT boats and forget about them... they won't do anything in the most cases but you can get good (or bad dice roll[:D]) and screw enemy fleet. Even if they didn't score a single hit, losing 12 VP (that is what you get for 12 sunken PT[8|]) was worth spending enemy fleet(s) ops points. And all you have to do is grab deeper in your bag and place another 12 PTs....[;)]

Herbieh, perhaps these PT boats have good experience? (efficiency is all about dice roll and experience)?

So assuming a large fleet bumps into 12 PT's and annihilates them without damage to themselves, which is very unlikely it seems, is getting those 12 VP's even worth the amount of ammunition they lost to engage in that fight?

The only thing the PT boats I have seen manage to do well is get themselves shot to smithereens if they engage anything heavier than barges. Oh, they will ding up a tin car or two, and scratch the paint on cruisers, unless they have the Daniel Boone of torpedo aimers, and the torpedo fairy sprinkles some magic dust on the firing mechanism which allows the torpedo to explode. Then the might possibly be able to have a hint of a chance of almost managing to inflict some serious ('tis more than a scratch) damage. Usually they seem to be specialists at catching 5" shells that have been unloaded through the barrel.

I tend to play house rules using them , seems to make the magical appearing PT's a thing of the past.

1) only create in size 9 ports
2) if going further than 1/2 range they need an AK along
3) no gazillion 1 ship PT boat groups.
4) 12 max in any one base (same TF)
5) no mixing them with DD's etc. (so no radar).

that tones the blighters down to realistic levels imo. 95% of the time though they still get clobbered but they seem to heavily disrupt bombardment runs , which is fair enough. very very occasionally one may sink a DD .. and i also hate 50cals killing off DD's .. ok shoot up some crew support weapos etc. but sinking one ! .. Thinking about that ,, wonder if you could mod it to remove the 50cals completely ? as they rarely see japanese barges anyway.

What version are you running? Under 1.08.01 I have only lost a DD to a lucky torp hit but I have sunk a ton of PT boats.

Be it Ai or human, PT boats seem to usually hit AK..rarely... or 1% chance to hit anything else. Usually IJN just sinks them and moves with their mission. They are cheap and cheerful, tho. And good remedy against Bombardment TFs. And once in blue moon one gets very lucky. I do remember one post which was pre-1.6 where PT boats actually torpedoed IJN CV !!

I've been using a 12 max per base rule for some time now and have been getting reasonable results. I'd never use the 1 ship TF trick.

Nor me

ORIGINAL: Charles_22

So assuming a large fleet bumps into 12 PT's and annihilates them without damage to themselves, which is very unlikely it seems, is getting those 12 VP's even worth the amount of ammunition they lost to engage in that fight?

of course not, that is what i was trying to say with my poor english...[:)]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK
5) no mixing them with DD's etc. (so no radar).

*wonders if he should point out that the 6/43 refit for US PT Boats gives them radar*

Radar? My PTs are dead by then. They are the most use less vessel in WITP. I keep them in Pearl. That way they do not get in the way of actual fighting vessels.

ORIGINAL: RevRick

The only thing the PT boats I have seen manage to do well is get themselves shot to smithereens if they engage anything heavier than barges. Oh, they will ding up a tin car or two, and scratch the paint on cruisers, unless they have the Daniel Boone of torpedo aimers, and the torpedo fairy sprinkles some magic dust on the firing mechanism which allows the torpedo to explode. Then the might possibly be able to have a hint of a chance of almost managing to inflict some serious ('tis more than a scratch) damage. Usually they seem to be specialists at catching 5" shells that have been unloaded through the barrel.

I think this falls under the it-depends-on-what-side-you-are-playing syndrome. I haven't played enough to see uber-PT's when being IJ, but I had seen the uber-ASW from the allies on previous versions. At the same time a lot of the allied players were making claims that their ASW was worthless, which in my book means the results are ofen skewered to make it the most difficult for the human player, assuming we're playing the AI. So far it seems that the ASW and PT performance falls under that category. I'm not too sure that there's been many reports of great shifts in performance amongst the human player in the aerial realm though.

Here is some PT Boat action I just had in my last turn with U2.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ponape at 71,79
Japanese Ships
CA Takao
CA Kako
CL Agano
CL Kiso
CL Tenryu
DD Kagero, Shell hits 2
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 1
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio
DD Isokaze
DD Shiranuhi
DD Minegumo
DD Ikazuchi
DD Akebono
DD Sazanami
DD Ushio
Allied Ships
PT PT-257
PT PT-258
PT PT-259
PT PT-260
PT PT-261
PT PT-262, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-263
PT PT-264

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ponape at 71,79
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Haruna
CA Maya
CA Kinugasa,  on fire,  heavy damage
CL Isuzu
CL Natori
DD Hatsukaze
DD Yamagumo, Shell hits 5
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 8,  on fire (Note this ship was hit in an earlier engagment)
DD Yugiri
Allied Ships
PT PT-257
PT PT-258
PT PT-259
PT PT-260
PT PT-261, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-263
PT PT-264, Shell hits 4, and is sunk