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What are they good for? I have many of them as the US player and I have yet to find a purpose for these craft.

They are to slow to attack subs. They are to weak to act as pickets or speed bumbs to bombardment task forces. They are to short legged to act as barge busters. What do people use them for? Targets? Set them out in harbors to draw enemy planes into a high CAP area? I would really like to know. Right now I keep sending them back to Pearl, and played with a small group with a tanker to see how you can increase there expereince.

Pg's and SC's what purpose do they serve?

UncleBuck

If you take the time and spend the effort, they are very good at anti-sub missions. They do have to be trained for it though. Put some SCs with high ASW DDs and search out those IJN subs. Once they have tried to hit a few their experience goes up pretty good. The SCs have mousetraps which are deadly against subs whey they get enough experience to find and hit one. They will need to be at least 55 in experience to be effective.

I put them into small TFs and send them out on shakedown cruises to let them gain experience. When their experience level is around 60 I let them guard harbours and their vicinity (because they are indeed short-legged). That Mousetrap / Hedgehog is a very effective AntiSub-Weapon that DDs seem to lack (haven't seen one with these rocket launchers yet). But to make the crews use them they need more experience (-> shakedown cruises manual 8.26). When an IJN sub attacks such a TF it will usually kill one SC but all the other SCs have a fair chance to kill the sub with their Mousetraps IF they gained enough experience points.
Better to have an SC killed than an AP/AK or something much bigger!
IMHO SCs/PGs are no good for escorting convois. I leave that to DDs.
So don't send them back to Pearl! They aren't useless at all!
Let them run around in a quite are (Noumea / Efate / Luganville where they can replenish) for a while before giving them guarding tasks.
Hope that helps.

bye, Gecko

Thanks that is what I have been doing, well shake downs. I have been setting them with a Mother ship, AV, Ak or somehting like that. Set them in a quiet area and bring them up that way. I have a good cadre of trained SC's I have one SC 517 with a Day rating of 75 and a Night rating of 69. I am sure he will be the first to fall in a sub attack . Thanks for the ideas. I will give it a try.

Given the point value of an SC, if there are any subs nearby, I'd rather have them wasting torpedoes on SCs instead of my bigger ships.

The hegehog/mousetrap usually only damages subs instead of killing them because they have such a small warhead. They hit quite often though so the sub is still out of action as it heads home for repairs.

It seems odd and I don't have stats to back this up, but I've found that while they don't attack subs, one or two SC/PCsy seem to deter sub attack. In my experience unescorted convoys and convoys escorted by DDs are attacked much more often than if a single SC or PC is present. Too many SCs however will draw attacks.

Convoy duty gives the SCs the same experience as shakedown cruises and their short leggedness doesn't matter because you can replenish at sea from the AK/APs they're escorting. One note, however. I often disband convoys either at port or just short of port becuase SCs are favourite targets for 2E and 4E bombers (even though they're so small).

Very early in Scen 19 run them up to Lunga on "training" missions. Every once in a while they will run into a Japanese troop convoy or supply convoy or even some warships. Those SC's which survive come back with high night time experience numbers. And those are the ones that go out sub killing with the DD's around Noumea.

I like to use the SCs in ASW TFs on their own. Putting at least 10-12 in an ASW TF allows mob tactics that can sometimes work despite inexperience. As mentioned earlier, the point value makes it a no-lose scenario for the US. Even if all of the SCs fail to find the sub, the IJN player will think long and hard about risking his subs for minimal return. Sort of like when a US sub surfaces to take on an IJN barge and sinks it. 0 points gained, ammunition expended, location revealed - the only plus would be if the IJN player had high value cargo on it. IMHO, the ASW theater is strictly about odds and the risk/reward question. In that sense alone, SCs are useful indeed. Good luck!

I normally use the SC's as escorts for routine/rear area convoys with AP's. Noumea to Loganville, Brisbane to Townsville, etc. Granted there short legged, but the AP's keep em fueled, and I can't recall a successful Jap sub attack on those convoys. Can't prove it, just don't recall it.

My SCs and PGs never seem to gain in experience.

We have now reached October 1942, they patrol all day and all night and their experience has not budged.

To much jungle juice on shore leave...

Actually, with some experience they are very valuable ships. Use them for their intended roles-escort and port protection. Keep them at sea and the experience will grow. They repair sys damage fast. Very usefull ships. Frankly, if used correctly, I have yet to find a ship in UV that is totally useless.

crsutton wrote:Actually, with some experience they are very valuable ships. Use them for their intended roles-escort and port protection. Keep them at sea and the experience will grow. They repair sys damage fast. Very usefull ships. Frankly, if used correctly, I have yet to find a ship in UV that is totally useless.

I agree, they are very useful when trained up i usually pair SC tf's up with a DD tf and set then on Patrol over sub sightings once they are trained up they usually hold there own.

Those mouse traps were deadly, when on target.

http://www.microworks.net/pacific/armam ... setrap.htm

create a SC TF and send it to tag along with a transport TF. What usually happens is the the IJN boat engages the SC's first, and the Transport doesn't get a lot of attention. And the SC's get a lot of sea time, with a readily accessible source of fuel nearby.....

I wanted to resurrect this thread to discuss IJN anti-sub measures.

I make it a point to have PG's and PC's out at sea for every turn that they are undamaged (< 10 sys) and have sufficient fuel. A few are posted individually to escort transport and replen TF's. Still, it's exceedingly difficult to move their experience above the 50 level, and to make them in any way effective in hunting and killing subs. At best they seem to either act as fodder for subs or perhaps to drive subs under, but they don't seem to net the IJN any kills.

What are peoples' strategy to develop the experience and effectiveness of IJN PC's and PG's and to use them to advantage on anti-sub patrols?

Even as fodder for subs, that would be reason enough to use them. Rather they expend torps against a 2 pt target than a valuable DD or transport. Although I have seen SCs successfully pursue subs, I have never seen a PC or Pg do so.

I have killed IJN subs with an all PC taskforce but it is rare. I think having a lot( huge amount) of ASW aircraft helps along with aircraft on Naval Search.

Also as Drex points out they are worth less points than those APs, TKs, and AOs. Also having one in the TF will force the sub to attack submerged, much less chance of a hit than a surface attack.

I've been trying to use my IJN PC's and PG's (mostly PC's) in "wolf packs" for training and on anti-sub patrols in the S. Sea area. I try to race them towards enemy subs that have been sighted, but this rarely results in attacks by them on a sub; usually they don't even sight them, which is why I'm looking for more options.

I of course also try to assign some of my aircraft to ASW too, but at best they seem to make contact.

I am finding that if you form a taskforce with 2 destroyers that have two types of depth charges 1 PG several SC'S an APD and a MSW plus PT'S when available they work pretty good in a duel purpose role. (mine clearing, anti sub and a little AAA to boot ) just run several of these task forces between ports back and forth and you start getting respectable hits on subs and take care of those pesky little mines that pop up. [:'(]