THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE DEATH STAR
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:20 am
NEED TO RANT A BIT
I've been playing PBEM UV for quite some time now (mostly as the USN). Naturally my IJN opponents (and myself when playing the IJN) have put together a "Death Star" composed of every available carrier which sails around blasting everything within range to atoms and which is quite impervious to virtually any USN attack throughout 1942 - I'm guessing that in 1943 it may not fare as well though I have either lost to an IJN AV on 1/1/43 or had my IJN opponent disappear from the face of the earth as that date approached so I can't speak to the "Death Star's" durability in 1943.
Some of the "Death Star's" abilities do not seem to be supported by historical records:
1) The ability to put 100+ fighters on CAP from multiple TFs and have them all act in concert. The USN can do this too but it seems to be hard-coded that the USN almost never launches a strike by more than about 50 planes in 1942 so the 100+ IJN CAP can usually devaste each raid before the bombers attack whereas the USN contends with strikes as described below so even 100 F4Fs can never shoot down enough bombers to prevent the sinking of the carrier(s). Since not every IJN fighter even had a radio and the IJN did not even attempt to develop a fighter direction radar doctrine (such as the USN eventually developed) the IJN ability to control this gigantic CAP is clearly ahistorical. The USN was trying to develop this doctrine but certainly to have it function reliably in 1942 (at least) would be ahistorical as well (but at least the USN had a foggy idea about how it should function. Seems to me that it functioned quite well in '43 when Saratoga & Princeton raided Rabaul though.
2) The ability to launch a coordinated attack by over 200 dive/torpedo bombers covered by 70-80 fighters as well. The Kido Butai first team didn't even manage that at Pearl Harbor when they had months to rehearse every move in the hangar and on the flight deck before hand. Nine CVs/CVLs at Philippine Sea never managed to get more than 110 planes (total) sorted out into a single strike (though I imagine that staff work/flight deck crews were somewhat degraded from 1942 standards). At Santa Cruz Junyo's strike was not coordinated with Shokaku's and Zuikaku's so there is no record of anything like the "Death Star's Super Raid" anywhere in the historical record.
Perhaps this is just sour grapes but seems to me that alot of the scenarios: 12 15-17, 19 are pretty well scripted (barring some unlikely disaster such as USN subs/mines being able to put several IJN heavy carriers out of action). The IJN player simply has to delay doing anything until he can build his "Death Star" and then take whatever he wants to take. As far as carrier battles are concerned I for one have never seen the USN even break even (irrespective of whether he has all F4F4s and TBFs equipping all squadrons and all 6 CVs) in a direct confrontation with the "Death Star" even with LBA (which never attacks the CVs) in support.
In Scens 12, 17, 19 and the one where the IJN starts with Port Moresby captured (15 or 16) the IJN player has everything but the kitchen sink available to him and the USN player gets the same old, same old reinforcements even though it would seem that the MAGIC guys in Pearl Harbor would likely to have been able to determine that the Japanese had determined to stake everything on an effort in the South Pacific and therefore some resources might safely be diverted from the Central/North Pacific thence as well. Since there is no likelihood that the USN Player is going to get anything additional (if you set the USN commitment level to 200% there is next to nothing extra to commit through the summer of 1942 anyway) there is no pressure on the IJN player to do anything before he can build his "Death Star".
Anyway I have a few questions:
1) Any IJN player out there ever won a long scenario without creating this ahistorical monstrosity?
2) Any USN player ever go head to head with the typical "Death Star" and come out on top or at least ding it up bad enough to make further offensive moves by the IJN improbable?
3) I really like UV but the scripting this "Death Star" is getting a bit stale.
4) For those who know, does the IJN build Death Star's in War in the Pacific too?
I've been playing PBEM UV for quite some time now (mostly as the USN). Naturally my IJN opponents (and myself when playing the IJN) have put together a "Death Star" composed of every available carrier which sails around blasting everything within range to atoms and which is quite impervious to virtually any USN attack throughout 1942 - I'm guessing that in 1943 it may not fare as well though I have either lost to an IJN AV on 1/1/43 or had my IJN opponent disappear from the face of the earth as that date approached so I can't speak to the "Death Star's" durability in 1943.
Some of the "Death Star's" abilities do not seem to be supported by historical records:
1) The ability to put 100+ fighters on CAP from multiple TFs and have them all act in concert. The USN can do this too but it seems to be hard-coded that the USN almost never launches a strike by more than about 50 planes in 1942 so the 100+ IJN CAP can usually devaste each raid before the bombers attack whereas the USN contends with strikes as described below so even 100 F4Fs can never shoot down enough bombers to prevent the sinking of the carrier(s). Since not every IJN fighter even had a radio and the IJN did not even attempt to develop a fighter direction radar doctrine (such as the USN eventually developed) the IJN ability to control this gigantic CAP is clearly ahistorical. The USN was trying to develop this doctrine but certainly to have it function reliably in 1942 (at least) would be ahistorical as well (but at least the USN had a foggy idea about how it should function. Seems to me that it functioned quite well in '43 when Saratoga & Princeton raided Rabaul though.
2) The ability to launch a coordinated attack by over 200 dive/torpedo bombers covered by 70-80 fighters as well. The Kido Butai first team didn't even manage that at Pearl Harbor when they had months to rehearse every move in the hangar and on the flight deck before hand. Nine CVs/CVLs at Philippine Sea never managed to get more than 110 planes (total) sorted out into a single strike (though I imagine that staff work/flight deck crews were somewhat degraded from 1942 standards). At Santa Cruz Junyo's strike was not coordinated with Shokaku's and Zuikaku's so there is no record of anything like the "Death Star's Super Raid" anywhere in the historical record.
Perhaps this is just sour grapes but seems to me that alot of the scenarios: 12 15-17, 19 are pretty well scripted (barring some unlikely disaster such as USN subs/mines being able to put several IJN heavy carriers out of action). The IJN player simply has to delay doing anything until he can build his "Death Star" and then take whatever he wants to take. As far as carrier battles are concerned I for one have never seen the USN even break even (irrespective of whether he has all F4F4s and TBFs equipping all squadrons and all 6 CVs) in a direct confrontation with the "Death Star" even with LBA (which never attacks the CVs) in support.
In Scens 12, 17, 19 and the one where the IJN starts with Port Moresby captured (15 or 16) the IJN player has everything but the kitchen sink available to him and the USN player gets the same old, same old reinforcements even though it would seem that the MAGIC guys in Pearl Harbor would likely to have been able to determine that the Japanese had determined to stake everything on an effort in the South Pacific and therefore some resources might safely be diverted from the Central/North Pacific thence as well. Since there is no likelihood that the USN Player is going to get anything additional (if you set the USN commitment level to 200% there is next to nothing extra to commit through the summer of 1942 anyway) there is no pressure on the IJN player to do anything before he can build his "Death Star".
Anyway I have a few questions:
1) Any IJN player out there ever won a long scenario without creating this ahistorical monstrosity?
2) Any USN player ever go head to head with the typical "Death Star" and come out on top or at least ding it up bad enough to make further offensive moves by the IJN improbable?
3) I really like UV but the scripting this "Death Star" is getting a bit stale.
4) For those who know, does the IJN build Death Star's in War in the Pacific too?