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I'm a newbie here in forum and with UV, so forgive my simply question. [:)]

Have been playing Uncommon Valor for few days and it is very good game. But I do have problems to use surface forces. I'm playing with Japan 42-43 campaign (don't remember exactly which). My surface force consist 30+ knots BB's, CA's and DD's, commander is very aggressive. Still I have seen only one battle with surface force.

Question is how can I follow/hunt enemy fleets?

Most surface battles happen in port hexes.

Don't try to intercept carriers on the open seas, as you'll most likely end up in the bottom of the South Pacific.

unless of course u intercept the carriers at night, wen they cant launch aircraft.............

then

THEY will be on the bottom of the pacific[:D]

So I need to play more defensively with them and put them in port? And I believe they must be undocked to fight better? Is it even possible to follow enemy taskforce?

Oh btw, I do use hit-and-run tactic with my battle fleet. It's so nice to see my ships doing night raids. [8D]

ORIGINAL: marky

unless of course u intercept the carriers at night, wen they cant launch aircraft.............

then

THEY will be on the bottom of the pacific[:D]

Not likely. Most likely, if you guess right and end up in the same hex as a CV during the night phase, the surface group will sink one or two destroyers and never fire a shot at the CVs. This is to simulate the fact that the CVs turn and run and the DDs sacrifice theirselves. The only time you will get a shot off at one of the CVs is if they are alone.

ah yes of course

forgot about that

that actually happned

in october 44 during the battle of leyte gulf

a bb/ca/cl/dd force under takeo kurita met an escort carrier group, protected only by destroyers

only 1 escort carrier sank (cve uss gambier bay), and several dds and des

1 of the most heroic actions ever performed by destroyer men

they sacrificed themselves to save the carriers

smoke screens, torpedo runs, u name it

they were evn shooting AA shells at the japs

the force btw, included Yamato

jsut goes to show u that destroyer men have brass balls [:'(]

Use them just like you would have if you were a real Japanese commander. That is; shoot for night attacks. (retirement allowed). I think the major mistake of many new players is the tendency to use massive task forces loaded with BBs. Don't do this. Actually BBs were especially vunerable in night actions and should be left out for bombardment duty and carrier escort. The game models this very well in that in a night action against small ships, your BBs will rarely get a shot off. Also, BBs and large TFs are easier to spot thus lessening the chance for surprise and increasing the chance you will be surprised. This will tend to negate the greatest asset of the Japanese surfaces forces-the incredible long lance torpedo.

BBs are very expensive and valuable. Why send then into a situation where a lowly DD, or PT boat for that matter, can put some hurt on them. Two torpedo hits on your average BB will put it out of the war for six months or more.

IMHO, the ideal night surface force consists of one or two CAs, one CL, and four or five DDs. Rather than send in a massive TF, I will send in two or three TFs of this size. On occasion one will get ripped but my experience is that in the end they are the most effective and have the greatest chance of dealing our some long lance damage. (real ship killers). The other benefit to a TF of this size is that it rarely gets spotted in advance by air searches. This gives you a tactical edge as you can generally hit an exposed transport TF without your opponent being prepared. I really like raiding with small DD forces as well. You will never be spotted by air and if you are, just cancel the raid.

Your TF commander is very important as well. A cautious commander will bail out early or avoid action altogether when faced with a superior force. Perhaps losing a ship or two but living to fight. An aggressive commander will go hell for leather and may just lose them all. On the flip side, an aggressive commander will stick around for more rounds and deal out more damage when you have the upper hand

Excellent tips crsutton! Thanks!

In my previous game I did send 10 ships task force to night raid. There was two battleships, cruisers and destroyers. I was shocked when allied's couple CA's hammered my superior task force badly.

So, what is small task force? How many ships? Do ships have specific 'visibility' - I mean attribute for easy it is to spot them?

What about CA's and CL's. Is it better to send only ligh cruisers or heavy ones too?

I prefer CAs in surface group, leaving CLs for AA protection. As for engaging CV in surface action I managed it !! Playing against AI as US, scen 16, mid-june. Had been sending in Tf under cover of darkness to haress Lunga and nail transport ships unloading. On way in bumped into enemy TF consisting of 2 CVs, 2 CAs and 4 or 5 DDs. DDs fought expected rearguard action to allow CVs to escape and so they did. But it was such a unique occurance that I could not resist reloading to see if it was possible to get a CV. This time the engagement played out very differently with my CA scoring 2 hits on IJN CV and sinking couple of DDs. And as a bonus once CVs had retreated my TF proceeded to enter Lunga harbour sink 3 APs and bombard airfield. Single most rewarding turn I`ve ever had! And proves that CVs can be shelled.

I once managed to put a torpedo in a CVL with a PT.

I just split the PTs into 4 possible hexes and put them on no retire.
It's a bit of an exploit, since they end up with no fuel and can still make it back to base.

I'm playing the AI in Scenario 17 right now and the IJN is acting very oddly ... I had sunk 3 CV + 1 CVL and lost 2 CV's and had to send 2 more back, so I'm down to one carrier which I wasn't risking alone at this point. I was able to hold Tulagi and Lunga and the Japs also landed on the Beach due west of those bases and I pushed them off and now have an Australian Division there with some engineers building the base up until I move them off. But now the Japs are running their carrier TF's into that base at night, as if they were Bombardment groups, but they don't really do anything because they're Air Combat groups. So I built up a Surface Combat group and I can see when they're getting ready to do this, so I set up and send the Surface Combat group in on the same night (retirement allowed, react to enemy). I've crippled the Kaga and Zuiho doing this, both later sunk by air power I'm sure (they have yet to show up as sunk yet, but I'm pretty sure 21 bomb hits at short range (SBD's carrying 1,000 pounders) is enough to finish off the Kaga ).

One time I was also able to catch a couple of severely damaged enemy carriers off of Gili Gili during the early phases of Scenario 17 and sink them with a CA/CL/DD surface combat group, but that involved a great deal of luck since I had to estimate what hex the carriers would end up in (and by luck the two carriers ended up in the same hex).