Kido Butai

[Desertmole]

Currently Kido Butai is sailing around with all six carriers (and has for over two months). Will it break up or am I stuck with this monster? In UV it seemed like the Japanese would pile all the CVs into on CVTF and keep them there.

By the way, in an earlier thread, I mentioned that KB had been without resupply for several days and yet s still steaming at 6+ hexes a day. Well, this must be a record, as it has sailed between Batavia and Samarinda from 17 Jan to 14 Feb '42, with nary a tanker coming in its direction. Don't know how they are doing it, but we need to use it in cars in the US to end our oil dependency.[:D]

[alanschu]

I don't believe I have seen it split up, though in the early days of 1942 I was able to score a hit with Catalina night torpedo attacks from Java as well as Palembang, as well as a submarine (I made a sub "minefield" in the Java Sea) attack, which sunk a few ships.  Further bombardments that got through the cap were able to drop some 250 lb and 500 lb bombs, which only helps.  Once you get the Essex class CVs, you can create a fleet that can counter it pretty well too.  TBF Avengers are very useful, and when you get the Hellcats, I'd almost argue that Allied CV Task Forces are excessively overpowered.  CV Essex, CV Bunker Hill, CVL Independence, and CVL Cabot sail around off the coast of Japan in October 1943 and only one attack was able to actually penetrate my CAP, but it had no hits.
 
 
Also, for refuelling, if they simply stop in a hex with other ships, they may get refuelling from that task force.  I recently started moving around a Surface Combat Task Force with lots of Battleships (i.e. huge endurance), and an Air Combat Task Force covering it, and this has resulted in my being able to keep that Air Combat Task Force out much longer than normal.  Plus all I do is make a quick stop at Hollandia for refuelling, and I can get right back into the thick of things.

[JJB647]

What AI difficulty level are you playing? The AI gets a supply and combat bonus on hard or very hard settings.
Play a PBEM. It's much more challenging and enjoyable.

[Nikademus]

count your blessings. I've reguarily seen the AI split up the KB which only serves to make it very vulnerable to patient human player. The AI needs quantity to counter it's intuitive limitations. (and playing on Hard setting helps a little too)

[Feinder]

If you're playing vs. a human, most likely KB will stick together until you either attrit it with LBA (luck bomb hit puts a CV in the yards for a month, and you slow whittle it down), or you have a mega-CV battle with your own CVs (not advised any time soon).
 
But the AI, might well keep KB together as well.  Of course, you might get some "odd" situations.  Once I was was playing "team" with my brother vs. the AI.  It was about April '42, and Japan had just "stopped".  As in, no invasions.  No KB.  No nothing.  We went looking for KB.  Nothing.
 
We flipped over to head-to-head (to find where the AI had stashed KB).  It was along the west map-edge (past Broome), out of gas, just sitting there.
 
I guess it was hiding it there for a suprise counter-attack...
 
[8|]
 
F-

[bradfordkay]

In games against the AI, I have seen the KB split up as early as May - June of '42. I once had the three Yorktown class carriers catch the Shokaku, Zuikaku and Zuiho steaming between Port Moresby and Thursday Island (they had split away from the KB near Amboina and came east to support landings at Buna). My ships were coming up from Noumea and attacked a day after they had wasted some of their aircraft against PM.