Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

I have a question for the experienced players. I am the allied player in my game. I am trying to fend off the insidious japanese subs, who are threatening my valiant merchant fleet. In the rule book it states that sub captains will evaluate the risk and gain of each opportunity and decide whether or not to attack. The question is, does anyone have a magic formula for number of cargo ships and number of escorts in a fleet given that the sub threat is moderate? I assume the more escorts, the less likely a sub will attack.

As a side question, is there anything players can do to influence the effectiveness of sub attacks. My subs are getting a lot of shots off at the japanese, but 3 out of 4 shots are missing, and then of course 50% of the hits are duds.

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

rtapasso, thank you for the reply.

escorts in each tranpsort TF and an escorting asw fleet, certainly would do the trick. It is still the first month in the war, so I don't have a lot of escorts to spare. My hope is to have at least 3 escorts (msw, avd, pg, etc.) with each fleet of 2-5 AK/AP. I want to have enough ships left to have at least some roving ASW fleets.

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

rtapasso, thank you for the reply.

escorts in each tranpsort TF and an escorting asw fleet, certainly would do the trick. It is still the first month in the war, so I don't have a lot of escorts to spare. My hope is to have at least 3 escorts (msw, avd, pg, etc.) with each fleet of 2-5 AK/AP. I want to have enough ships left to have at least some roving ASW fleets.

Usually i use much larger convoys in order to cut down on escort requirements (around 25 ships, but you can put up to 100 in a transport TF) - some stay at each location visited and unload, while the rest of the transports continue on. The unloaded transports pick up escorts from returning convoys. Sometimes i have an ASW TF stationed in one zone for this purpose (returning empty transports) -i.e. between SF and PH.

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!

For convoys to SOPAC/SWPAC area i use 6-10 AKs escorted by 1x MSW/PG/AVD/'four-stacker' DD. The route Hilo/Palmyra/Canton/Pago Pago/Efate Noumea has 2x PBY squadrons at each location, with a 3-4xDD ASW TF at Canton and Pago Pago for when subs are spotted (P.H. and Noumea have enough ships to use for ASW as a matter of course).

Convoys of APs when carrying LCUs will have 1 escort for 2 transports.

ORIGINAL: Crimguy

Do you put the DD's and MSW's directly in the TF or set up an escort convoy? Does it make a difference?

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

Later on you might include some DEs in an important supply convoy, but DDs are too valuable (IMO). Like others above, I run lots of smaller (5-10 ship) convoys, with MSWs and SCs as escorts (for supply convoys, only one of these). Even though a single escort doesn't often get to make attacks, it does seem to discourage sub attacks to some extent.

DDs, DMSs, DEs are quite useful in troop convoys, and - of course - in ASW TFs. I agree that having patrol aircraft up over the supply routes can also be very helpful.

I will not run large (25+ ship) supply convoys unless I start to take a lot a merchant losses. I feel that only a few of the ports in the Pacific can handle such large convoys (remember, the game unloads all ships at the same time), but am willing to change that attitude the same way that the US did in the Atlantic after the U-boats "Happy Time".

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

Later on you might include some DEs in an important supply convoy, but DDs are too valuable (IMO). Like others above, I run lots of smaller (5-10 ship) convoys, with MSWs and SCs as escorts (for supply convoys, only one of these). Even though a single escort doesn't often get to make attacks, it does seem to discourage sub attacks to some extent.

DDs, DMSs, DEs are quite useful in troop convoys, and - of course - in ASW TFs. I agree that having patrol aircraft up over the supply routes can also be very helpful.

I will not run large (25+ ship) supply convoys unless I start to take a lot a merchant losses. I feel that only a few of the ports in the Pacific can handle such large convoys (remember, the game unloads all ships at the same time), but am willing to change that attitude the same way that the US did in the Atlantic after the U-boats "Happy Time".

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

I'm still not sure how effective subchasers are in WITP, but I found them to be invaluable in UV. I would include one or two in every supply TF, and my supply TFs were rarely attacked by subs. My SCs did little actual damage, but the Japanese subs did very little damage to my ships (this did carry over into other TFs, if I had escorts in those TFs there were few attacks). Because of my experience with them in UV, I am continuing to use them in a similar manner in WITP. I found them to be highly ineffective in ASW TFs, as that usually resulted in sunk SCs...