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KBAD creamed me off Midway in a night battle in June 1942.
I was on my way to bombard Wake, when he appeared 6 hexes off Midway...and we all know what that means.

As luck and timing had it I was unspotted by him just two hexes south of Midway when he showed up six hexes west of Midway. So I quickly changed mission from Bombardment to Surface Action and moved north two hexes to patrol Midway and lay in wait for him.

I had been waiting for this opportunity..., got my night experience up 50 or more (from the abysmal 35 I had to start at), seven battleships with a clear field of fire and - I knew he was comming, he didn't even know I was there....and I had RADAR with no mountains in the background![:D]

Then - he surprised me, [8|]got a free Long Lance attack phase, and proceded to destroy me!

Hat's off to KBAD!![8D]

This Blows!!![X(]

(For the record - Kirishima was sunk by Midway aircraft the next day...)

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/25/42

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Midway at 95,61

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 20, on fire (My note - all 20mm and 1.1" AA hits from Colorado)
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
CA Haguro, Shell hits 3
CA Nachi, Shell hits 10
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 2
CL Kinu
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Urakaze
DD Hamakaze
DD Arashi, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Tanikaze
DD Oshio, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
DD Arashio
DD Arare, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
BB Colorado, Shell hits 3, on fire
BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 6
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 24, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Idaho, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB New Mexico, Shell hits 8
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
DD Preston
DD Flusser, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Tucker, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Cassin, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Downes, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Porter, Shell hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Midway at 95,61

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, on fire
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CA Haguro
CA Nachi, Shell hits 1
CA Ashigara
CL Kinu, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Abukuma, on fire
DD Isokaze, on fire
DD Urakaze
DD Hamakaze, Shell hits 1
DD Arashi, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tanikaze
DD Oshio, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Arashio, Shell hits 2
DD Arare, on fire

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
BB Colorado, on fire
BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 3
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
BB Idaho, and is sunk
BB New Mexico, Shell hits 3
BB Mississippi, on fire
DD Preston
DD Downes, and is sunk
DD Porter, Shell hits 2, on fire

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Another game result from the Twilight Zone. The game has so much potential, but it's results like these continue to have me scratching my head and wonder what f**cking history books the game designers consulted when they designed this mess.

I don't know about that.

The USN crews weren't particularly well experienced. All sorts of things can happen in a combat situation.

With all those slow capital ships up against a more nimble, experienced opponent, with Long Lances on board and I could see this result.

Perhaps Tanaka was the IJN commander.

Perhaps the TF commander became overconfident, who knows.

Radar was not the instrument we have today - and people were still quite suspicious still.

Just feel lucky that Tama and Oi weren't there!

ORIGINAL: bbbf

I don't know about that.

The USN crews weren't particularly well experienced. All sorts of things can happen in a combat situation.

With all those slow capital ships up against a more nimble, experienced opponent, with Long Lances on board and I could see this result.

Perhaps Tanaka was the IJN commander.

Perhaps the TF commander became overconfident, who knows.

Radar was not the instrument we have today - and people were still quite suspicious still.

Just feel lucky that Tama and Oi weren't there!

Tanaka can command all IJN TFs simultaneously in the current design, and given the emphasis on leaders, such a design oversight has a big impact on the result. Whatever, I think the results are always whacky when TFs are this big...oh, and I just love the fact that the BBs were at 1000-2000 yards yet again!

KBAD is my dearest life long friend going back to high school (over 30 years).

God I hate KBAD sometimes! LOL!!![:D][:D][:D]

Did you here that?! - I'll get you! (and your little dog too! hahaha)[:D]

B

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker

ORIGINAL: bbbf

I don't know about that.

The USN crews weren't particularly well experienced. All sorts of things can happen in a combat situation.

With all those slow capital ships up against a more nimble, experienced opponent, with Long Lances on board and I could see this result.

Perhaps Tanaka was the IJN commander.

Perhaps the TF commander became overconfident, who knows.

Radar was not the instrument we have today - and people were still quite suspicious still.

Just feel lucky that Tama and Oi weren't there!

Tanaka can command all IJN TFs simultaneously in the current design, and given the emphasis on leaders, such a design oversight has a big impact on the result. Whatever, I think the results are always whacky when TFs are this big...oh, and I just love the fact that the BBs were at 1000-2000 yards yet again!

Were they 1000 yards apart? I can't find a range anywhere. If they were, then yep it is pretty screwy.

You're right though, Jutland in the Pacific makes things fall apart fast.

Mmmmm, not really plausible. The number of times the Japanese Navy pulled off a surprise of that magnitude was only once - Savo Is.
But at Savo, don't forget that the Japanese really fought two separate quick actions against isolated portions of the allied naval forces. The first action was five Japanese CAs and one CL against two Allied CAs at close range (both caught unprepared - waiting for an expected air attack in the morning) and the second round caught three US CAs sandwiched between the same Japanese forces (the US ships again unprepared and resting up for an expected air attack in the morning).
So in both cases - Savo was fought not only with the priceless advantage of surprise on an unprepared enemy, but also fought with local overwhelming superiority in each phase of the two actions.

The only battle that historically looks like the one above would have been Surigao Straight - which had a much different result, as one would have expected.

I don't know, but it looks like the game engine just made a die
roll and decided "Savo Island it shall be" without any more sense than that.

Demo

ORIGINAL: bbbf

I don't know about that.

The USN crews weren't particularly well experienced. All sorts of things can happen in a combat situation.

With all those slow capital ships up against a more nimble, experienced opponent, with Long Lances on board and I could see this result.

Perhaps Tanaka was the IJN commander.

Perhaps the TF commander became overconfident, who knows.

Radar was not the instrument we have today - and people were still quite suspicious still.

Just feel lucky that Tama and Oi weren't there!

ORIGINAL: bbbf

Were they 1000 yards apart? I can't find a range anywhere. If they were, then yep it is pretty screwy.

You're right though, Jutland in the Pacific makes things fall apart fast.

You are correct in that the range is not listed...but when the shooting began (after the free Long Lance phase) it started at 5000 yds and closed to 2000 yds - hence all of Colorado's AA fire against Hei.

B

ORIGINAL: Big B

ORIGINAL: bbbf

Were they 1000 yards apart? I can't find a range anywhere. If they were, then yep it is pretty screwy.

You're right though, Jutland in the Pacific makes things fall apart fast.

You are correct in that the range is not listed...but when the shooting began (after the free Long Lance phase) it started at 5000 yds and closed to 2000 yds - hence all of Colorado's AA fire against Hei.

B

Blind folks stub their toes less often than battles are fought at 2000 yards in WITP.[:(][:)]

Yep that's a real big problem, I also hate that BBs fight it out at 2000 yards using machine guns, especially when one has a large 10+ DD screen. If for nothing else the DD screen would notify the BBs that an enemy is there...

SO my advise is wait with all night surface acion against the japanese until 10/42 when SG radar appears on the ships. From ten on their night fighting value is almost doubled...

ORIGINAL: Demosthenes

Mmmmm, not really plausible. The number of times the Japanese Navy pulled off a surprise of that magnitude was only once - Savo Is.
But at Savo, don't forget that the Japanese really fought two separate quick actions against isolated portions of the allied naval forces. The first action was five Japanese CAs and one CL against two Allied CAs at close range (both caught unprepared - waiting for an expected air attack in the morning) and the second round caught three US CAs sandwiched between the same Japanese forces (the US ships again unprepared and resting up for an expected air attack in the morning).
So in both cases - Savo was fought not only with the priceless advantage of surprise on an unprepared enemy, but also fought with local overwhelming superiority in each phase of the two actions.

The only battle that historically looks like the one above would have been Surigao Straight - which had a much different result, as one would have expected.

I don't know, but it looks like the game engine just made a die
roll and decided "Savo Island it shall be" without any more sense than that.

Demo

Big B and I were discussing this the other day. In the game, one side always seems to achieve surprise over the other in a naval battle. I have no idea how this plays into a battle outcome, but I've noticed that the Japanese achieve surprise at a greater frequency than the Allied forces...if the Allies get any surprise at all, which I can't seem to remember any.

What if the game engine is screwed up? The Japanese play/move first. So every turn I watch is Japanese first moves and then the Allied response. What if turn seniority overrides the surprise iniative in a battle? This seems to be the case. Too many times the game has told us that the Allies have the advantage in surprise...but the Japanese react first. This is something worth looking into...IMO.