Matrix Games Forums

Just discovered this feature. BUT, I can't tell whether my planes will search within the red outlined area or all the areas outside it. Tried it with the area I want searched marked in red and not marked. My stupid planes don't patrol the area I want either way. I have over 80 navel patrol planes on bases near that area and nothing. Need some help.

For the player the search process is only available at the beginning of a battle. You'll want to pause the game on turn 0 to set the search parameters prior to beginning the battle. The planes will search inside the red pattern. You can set the length and width of the search pattern, but the computer will decide which aircraft will be used for the search and which carriers or surface ships (assuming they carry floatplanes) will be used if you have several in the force. You can set a different search pattern for each force - Main, Scout and Carrier, and for each of your land airbases individually. It is useful to note that the search pattern suggested by the computer is generally, but not always centered on the location of the enemy force. By using this information and then examining the search patterns of any land air bases in the area you can often triangulate the location of the main enemy force rather accurately.

After the initial search is launched you cannot use the search system again; if you want to launch additional searches from your carriers each search plane will need to be launched individually as a separate mission. The computer will still sometimes send out additional searches from your ships that are carrying floatplanes and from land bases but will not automatically send search planes from your carriers after the initial search at the beginning of the battle. For this reason, I generally begin preparing a second wave of search planes from my carriers on turn 1 so that they will be available for follow-up searches. If you have planes that you absolutely do not want to be used for search, it is useful to assign them to a strike mission on turn 0, which will prevent the game from grabbing them for a search mission. The game generally will use bombers rather than fighters for search missions. The game usually sets excessively long distances for search missions. There is little need to search out 300 nm when the enemy is often within 30 to 50 nm. Setting a shorter search distance means your planes will return sooner to become available for additional missions.

Note that the above applies to the player. It is probably safe to assume that the computer will make use of the search system and conduct searches on a continuing basis throughout the battle using all of its available assets.

Okay. Thanks. Originally I had set the search area in red where the pc had it. I wonder why my planes didn't search that area. Oh well we will see next battle.