Out of fuel PT boat attack

[Og]

In my current email game I just send my PT boats all spread out on the coast of japan. The aircraft won't attack them because they are too small but they still mannage to close to 2000 yards at night and fire their torps (even though they have been out of fuel for weeks).

yours
Og

[mavraam]

In the tutorial, after reading a post on the PT boats, I decided to make some 'fleets' of surface raiders, with 25 PT boats in each and send them after transports. I had such good luck with them, I wondered what the hell I needed subs for! But I decided this was an exploit, especially when I realized that after they were out of fuel, I could still move them 1 hex every turn, so I stopped using them.

It seems there need to be some tweaking with these things.

[Deathifier]

Bombers/fighters set to attack at 100ft should chew them up, same applies for AG's.

Particularly effective if whatever is used has cannons on them.

- Deathifier

[Peever]

Ships never quite run out of fuel in WitP. They will always be able to move at least one hex a turn. The manual says this is so you don't have to send ships out to tow them in. Sending them out to the Japan in that fashion is an exploit.[:-]

[donkuchi19]

I was rescueing my PT boats from the PI. I sent them south towards Espiritu Santu. Of course they ran out of fuel quickly but are still heading for the island. On the way, they encountered a Japanese Transport convoy and blew the heck out of it. I think it was heading towards Kavieng or Rabaul. Sunk three transports and damaged another. Apparently the Torps on the PT boats have no problems.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: Deathifier

Bombers/fighters set to attack at 100ft should chew them up, same applies for AG's.

Particularly effective if whatever is used has cannons on them.

- Deathifier

True, a good fighter can maul some PTs but the problem with PTs is the lack of real warships doing enough damage to them. In my PBEM I had 5 PTs move up the PI coast and attempt to mess with my landing at Lingayan. I had a surface fleet of 1 CA, 2 CLs and I think 4-5 DDs that intercepted them. In the battle I sunk only 3 of the PTs allowing the others to escape.. In my opinion that is not realistic.. The 'real' warships would have hammered the PTs into nothing - especially since a single hit from the cruiser's main guns would all but destroy a PT... Even if the PTs ran, the DDs could give a could chase (so could some cruisers depending on class) and probably kill or cripple a few more.. A fleet of 25 PTs is nearly invincable, as an equal amount of warships will at best kill 6 or so per combat, whereas if the PTs get close enough (or lucky enough) can put a whooping on the entire enemy TF...

Xargun

[Feinder]

Xargon,

You mean that a 5" shell, that weighs 80 lbs, with 15 lbs of High Explosive (that's a lot of fire-crackers!) would blow apart a boat made of plywood in 1 shot?!

[/sarcasm]

I think the problem is that our over-zealous crews keep firing at every scrap of driftwood with a survivor clinging to it, instead of finding another target.

-F-

[kaleun]

2 solutions: 1: Get rid of the 1 hex rule. If a ship runs out of fuel then it will need to be "towed" back (get a ship with fuel out to it to refuel it)
2: PT boats out of fuel cannot attack
and perhaps a house rule to limit the size of PT boat TFs 15 boats sound fine.

[Damien Thorn]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

2 solutions: 1: Get rid of the 1 hex rule. If a ship runs out of fuel then it will need to be "towed" back (get a ship with fuel out to it to refuel it)
2: PT boats out of fuel cannot attack
and perhaps a house rule to limit the size of PT boat TFs 15 boats sound fine.

A better rule would be either:
1 Don't let PT boats out of shallow water hexes. 60 miles from land is enough for unitis that were designed t odefend bases.

or

2 If in a non-coastal hex, don't use the special code that lets PT combat start at very close range. They should be spotted at distance like normal ships and let the chips fall where they may.

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

2 solutions: 1: Get rid of the 1 hex rule. If a ship runs out of fuel then it will need to be "towed" back (get a ship with fuel out to it to refuel it)
2: PT boats out of fuel cannot attack
and perhaps a house rule to limit the size of PT boat TFs 15 boats sound fine.

While more 'historical' your first solution was axed a long time ago for practical reasons (game wise) It would create a pain in the butt situation for players not to mention a swatch of new coding.

the run out of fuel/no attack suggestion is good.

[Bradley7735]

I think if any ship runs out of fuel, it's defensive and offensive abilities should go to zero. I do like that they move one hex per phaze, though (keeps the headaches down).

That way, if a player wanted to run amok far from a fuel source with a death star of CV's, they'd be sitting ducks if they actually ran out of fuel. As it is now, I don't really fear running out of fuel, unless I need to get somewhere fast.

that's more of my 2 cents.

bc

[UncleBuck]

I think Defensive fire should stay the same but Offensive fire, should be reduced or if the game calculates combat using the maneuver and speed of the ships, that that speed be 2 Kts. They would be sitting ducks, but sitting ducks with guns. A battleship is still very dangerous even if it is sitting still.

[Guderon]

ORIGINAL: UncleBuck

I think Defensive fire should stay the same but Offensive fire, should be reduced or if the game calculates combat using the maneuver and speed of the ships, that that speed be 2 Kts. They would be sitting ducks, but sitting ducks with guns. A battleship is still very dangerous even if it is sitting still.

Perhaps, but any ship (even a heavily armed/armored BB) would quickly be pounded into rubble if it couldn't maneuver. Once the enemy ships had the correct fire solutions, it would be over very quickly. Not to mention how deadly any torpedo attacks would become...[X(]

[MadDawg]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus

the run out of fuel/no attack suggestion is good.

Its a good start, but I think that it only solves part of the problem though as they can be used in task forces with larger ships from which they can refuel. Maybe if they couldnt refuel this way also? Then people have a problem transporting them though.

In reality a PT task force attacking a group of enemy warships would have to be very lucky to get a hit in, but at the moment it seems quite easy. I think that this points to something being a little off in the combat engine with regards to PT boats (maybe they are too hard to hit or are too accurate with their torps).

Dawg