DD for surface combat

[Cavalry Corp]

OK so what is the most imortant qualities for DD chosen for surface combat apart from Long lance torps
speed , agility ?
Guns / rate of fire ?
Experience ?
leadership ?

Michael

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: cavalry

OK so what is the most imortant qualities for DD chosen for surface combat apart from Long lance torps
speed , agility ?
Guns / rate of fire ?
Experience ?
leadership ?

Michael

Armor! Go FLETCHERs!!! [&o]

[Cavalry Corp]

The Shimakaze looks about the best Japanese DD ( but all though its fast it agility is not as high as others ) did Japan only build one ?

M

[DuckofTindalos]

No destroyer has enough armour for it to have great effect on surface combat, and Long Lances are vastly overrated. Lots of guns, and lots of speed.

[Cavalry Corp]

I always thought the jap DD were better most of the time because of the night training and torps ?

[Nikademus]

Luck.

It pays to not get targeted. [:D]

[DuckofTindalos]

Oooh, profound...[:'(][;)]

[Cavalry Corp]

So in surface action ships are using full speeed ?

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

No destroyer has enough armour for it to have great effect on surface combat, and Long Lances are vastly overrated. Lots of guns, and lots of speed.

In my admittedly limited experience, I have never seen more than a couple Long Lance hits in combat. They are not the scourge of the seas. The IJN 18in aerial torpedo on the other hand.....

[Nikademus]

I believe that the ship's max speed and mvr rating are factored in. As the ship takes damage it slows down....making it easier to tag. This certainly happens when attacked by aircraft delivered weapons.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: cavalry

The Shimakaze looks about the best Japanese DD ( but all though its fast it agility is not as high as others ) did Japan only build one ?

M

Yup, only one unfortunately.....

[Honda]

Durability.

[Mike Solli]

I think DDs are dead meat once they get hit in surface combat.  That means different things to me depending on who you are playing:
 
Allies:  Send 'em into the fray.  You got lots more.
 
Japanese:  Be very careful when you expose your DDs to surface combat.  If you have a huge advantage, well, maybe you can risk them.  For the most part, however, you need to avoid losing DDs (and all other warships) unnecessarily.  You never have enough and probably won't ever have more than you start with on 7 Dec 41.

[crsutton]

Leadership is the key. You want an aggressive IJN leader with good qualities. You should see more torps hit then. Likewise you can expect more rounds of action. It is true that the long lances do not seem to hit so much but they are ship killers and if they hit a ship early on, that ship is not going to do much fighting. In a fight with multiple rounds of action, all things being equal, the IJN should come out better. TF size is a key too. I find that large surface TFs tend to get surprised more often and do not fare so well in a fight. DD TF of seven to nine ships seems to work well.
 
I have only seen it once but Tanaka once surprized a superior Allied force, fired all of his fish and then broke off. Never seen it happen again. Of course, he did not score a single hit.[X(]
 
Allied DDs, it is best if they all have radar. Other than that, I am willing to accept a few more losses for a chance to sink Japanese DDs. If you fear the long lance and don't want a decisive fight then use a cautious commander (Lord knows, you got plenty of them) If you want multiple rounds and a fight to the finish, use an aggressive commander.

[Cavalry Corp]

OK thanks for all the tips
M

[Cavalry Corp]

Talking long lance ...
Do you mean the DD torp as a weapon - or type of long range attack. which I assume would not happen at night when most surface combats take place ?

M

[Mike Solli]

When people talk about the Long Lance, it's the torp.

[Cavalry Corp]

Well I see lots of hits with these weapons ?
I know there is a type of attack called long lance as well - that usually misses

[niceguy2005]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

No destroyer has enough armour for it to have great effect on surface combat, and Long Lances are vastly overrated. Lots of guns, and lots of speed.

Tell that to the Boise. In a PBEM she ran into 6 DDs and never got off a shot.

That said I think quality of radar, followed by number of guns would be the most important factor for a DD. But then, it depends on what you're asking the DD to attack.

[engineer]

The overall TF size has a big effect, too.  Larger task forces are more difficult to control so you'll get rounds where some of the ships don't fire at all and that will be a bigger problem with progressively bigger TF's.  About eight ships seems to be the largest TF before things turn rapidly downhill.  Smaller task forces of two to four ships will be very handy in combat, but if they're outnumbered then that just means getting hits before they're mauled.  Training, experience, and leadership adjust these figures up or down.  You can use the "follow" command to break big formations into multiple 8 ship squadrons and then you can end up in a "tag team" surface combat that can be utterly devastating to the losing side.  The point squadron will get mauled, but if it wins it's fight against the opposition, then the follow-on squadrons can finish off the opposition or leave them 5 knot floating wrecks with little damage to themselves.  Two eight ship surface combat task forces will typically do more damage than a single 16 ship TF.  Of course, any strategy that relies on numbers tends to favor the Allies, or the very early phase of the game for the Japanese.