Blind pilots ?

[Garush]

Hello everyone !

I still have a hard time understanding Warplan Pacific, but I persevere because I think it's a great game, like Warplan Europe. But there are a LOT of things I don't understand.

The latest: I play the allies in a PBEM game, I spotted almost the entire Japanese fleet in Truk. Wishing to send these beautiful ships to the bottom, I launched two carrier raids with no less than 9 aircraft carriers. But each time, I inflicted NO losses because the result was: “Enemy fleet spotted”. Er... in the middle of the Pacific ocean, why not. But in a naval base? So the question is: are these naval pilots blind ? Like: “Look, it's those big boat, those flat top ships moored at the quay ! ". Unless the Japanese fleet has decided to make circles in the water just at the time of my assaults (twice) ?

Or unless I (again) missed something ?

[ncc1701e]

Everything is calculated from the reconnaissance level of the hex you are attacking.
This is important to understand.

Several ways to improve the reconnaissance level:
1. Use a COMINT on this hex
2. Before attacking with your carrier based planes, try to do a naval attack with land based planes.

[Garush]

Everything is calculated from the reconnaissance level of the hex you are attacking.
This is important to understand.

Several ways to improve the reconnaissance level:
1. Use a COMINT on this hex
2. Before attacking with your carrier based planes, try to do a naval attack with land based planes.

I agree with what you said... IN THE OCEAN !!! NOT in a naval base !

Or, if the boats are not docked, because it is true that a single hex covers a very large area, each fleet would need an "In port" or "At sea" status, in which case the fleet at sea should use oil. But you just CAN'T miss docked ships !

[ncc1701e]

In this thread, I had plenty of land based planes covering Truk islands. I don't know if this is adding a detection bonus. I am not sure. My pilots did perform well.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=389171

[stjeand]

Ships are docked but not always docked.

That is to say YES there is a port there but the ships constantly move in and out and around...

Each turn is 2 weeks long...not just a few days.

Though I do believe that it is still possible for the pilots to get lost on the way to attack...happened a lot back then.
Even attacking a land base.

IF they were close enough to see it the ships would have tried to escape.

[AlvaroSousa]

For example Japanese spotting said there were CVs at PH... that was their main target. But they left. And this is a peace time nation.

Raid on Toronto was a huge gamble for the UK.

If the Japanese port struck Singapore the 1st day of the war they would not have found the 2 BBs there because there were already at sea.

German ships in Norway were hard to bomb. They got lucky on the Tirpitz spotting it.

Frogmen attacks sometimes worked sometimes failed in the Med.

Then there is the chance to be spotted and having to abort.

Lot's of reasons a port strike fails. Otherwise the USA navy would just walk up to Tokyo and blast the Japanese fleet every game late in the war.

[ncc1701e]

Raid on Toronto was a huge gamble for the UK.

[ncc1701e]

Or unless I (again) missed something ?

What is important in an air raid is to have many air units around. Carrier based planes and land based planes. Why?

I have came to the conclusion that the message Enemy Fleet Spotted +1 is super important. What it says is that the reconnaissance level of the enemy fleet has increased by one step.

As such, to perform a good carrier strike, I always start with land based planes to:
1. recon the type of ships in port. Perhaps two patrol groups don't need attention of your carriers
2. try to increase the reconnaissance level for a good carrier strike

[AlvaroSousa]

Also specific measures to stop torpedo attacks in port. Alexandria had 2 layers of protection. One to enter the harbor, another to torpedo the boats.

It's tricky to compensate for all these realistic issues.

In a game I will GLADLY exchange 2 to 1 with the Axis navy to wipe them out.
In reality no one would do that. There are people on these ships and sacrificing men to get an exchange for naval supremacy goes against empathetic code.

Similar to Glowworm ramming Hipper. Hipper turned around and picked up survivors. Mathematically they shouldn't as prisoners use resources and soldiers to keep. Since Germany was short on resources it was mathematically correct to abandon them. But the human in us doesn't let that happen.

Interestingly after the was the commander of the Hipper contacted the UK and told the admiralty of what the commander of the Glowworm did and that he should received the highest military honor for bravery. The DD rammed the Hipper in an attempt to sink/cripple it. I forgot the commander name but he was the only one to receive the award due to the request of an enemy commander.

[Garush]

Thanks for all the details. Sorry for the a little too aggressive tone, but it's true that Warplan Pacific, even if it's a very good simulation, is a particularly frustrating game when you can't understand its mechanics. You will agree, however, that carrier combat is not very common in Warplan Europe. And I don't remember having an “Enemy fleet spotted” result the few times I bombarded German submarines or ships in a port with my strategic bombers.

My error of assessment also comes from the fact that I knew the composition of the Japanese fleet because I had faced it shortly before. There is also the report "9 ships with... 6 CV and 3 BB" which corresponded perfectly to the knowledge I had of the enemy fleet. Now, it is true that Japanese ships could be at sea.

Another determining element: the level of effectiveness of the attacking ships. But while I am used to monitoring this efficiency like milk on fire for my land and air units, I have never needed to do so with ships, both Allied and Axis, in Warplan Europe. But my ships had a lamentable level of efficiency, which probably explains their inability to find the enemy fleet.

Well, I will continue my game hoping to do better next time. Something tells me it's not going to be easy... (+ cry).

[stjeand]

I have the issue ALL the time in WPE...especially when the German surface fleet raids. Very often the Allies can't find them.

Even attacking the ships in port.

I am not sure efficiency has anything to do with searching...but it should.