Pearl TOO Easy?

[Rammstein0991]

Using my IXD-2 (U-894) this morning I decided to go waaaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb and raid San Francisco, I figured, hey bound to be something juicy there right? so off I went. Got there (after sinking a victory cargo) and well, SHIP CITY there were several vessels from small split's to victory C's and even a few T3's all sitting in the open. I sank a few of those but I didnt find what I REALLY wanted, big gun warships, flat tops, etc... so (stupid as it was) I got a hairbrained idea into my empty coconut of a skull, I'd go see if I could sneak into Pearl Harbor HI.

I knew itd be almost impossible to get in, but I also knew was the caliber of targets I not could but WOULD find there, so off I go. After a while taking my time to get there (avoiding planes) I get close to Pearl and find a destroyer patrolling near the SE coast near Honolulu, I turned around and hit him with my only "Zaunkonig" from tube 5 and proceeded away from the area and towards Pearl again. Lo and behold here comes in another Destroyer who for some ungodly reason didnt notice me, I turned when I notice he had stopped (possible sonar check) and fired a TI at him at high speed on surface impact setting, just as it almost hits him he goes full throttle and turns away, I'm thinking he is turning to begin a run on me, but as I am looking at my world map to get a better look at his position I see the message "enemy ship destroyed"...he had turned AWAY from me and somehow steered right back into the path of the torpedo he had just evaded moments earlier.

Deciding to try and make my run on the harbor I managed to reach the harbor entrance with no further excitement (though I noticed two VERY fast blue lines whipping back and forth over the area where those two DD's met their very stupid end). As I enter the harbor its like heaven, 4 carriers, light and heavy cruisers and the BB North Carolina. With my first two torpedos I sink the carrier near the entrance to the harbor, she let off a series of explisions and went down w/o further fuss, then I decided to turn and nail the North carolina, and so crawling along at 1 knot (SR) I managed to swing around and I fire off two at her thinking I'll probably need to hit her again....well, I didnt.

As soon as torpedo #1 hit the entire freakin thing exploded, it was like watching the worlds largest firecracker, a wall of flame from bow to stern, maybe I hit a fuel tank or something idk, but she went down. Once I got over my shock and awe, I proceeded into the harbor for one more ship to sink (by this point I had two stern tubes and the external stern reloads which had not yet been brought in due to space) I ended up nailing another carrier and then I made my way at 1 kt out of Pearl and back out to sea, arriving some time later back in Surabaya. after around 2 months at sea I had over 144K tons and I never got hit once.

The reason for my entire long little monologue there is to ask this question...Is it just me or was Pearl WAY too easy to get into, I mean as the one of if not THE most important US base in WWII you'd think thered be no way on gods green earth I as a German would get within a mile of the harbor there.

Have any of you found it this easy or am I just a weirdo with a freakish streak of luck?

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by Rammstein0991

Have any of you found it this easy or am I just a weirdo with a freakish streak of luck?

No, it's just easy.

One of the major flaws of SH4 has always been the ease with which one can infiltrate a major enemy naval base. It doesn't seem to matter the nationality of the base. For instance, there was a 45 foot deep anti-submarine net at the entrance to Pearl harbor, but I notice you didn't mention one. There were minefields planted outside the harbor entrance, but you didn't run into those either. There were Kingfisher patrol planes that ran continuous anti-submarine patrols over the area too after the Japanese attack, but not in the sim. Add to that the fact that one never has to fight coastal tides or currents in the game since they are not simulated. Last of all, there is never much of a furious reaction from local forces after seeing capital ships blow up an anchor. The harbor just carries on as before.

So why not harbor raid?

[Rammstein0991]

Glad its not just me, I love that I made off with such tonnage (wouldbnt be surprised if they replaced "uncle Karl" with me ) But it just surprised me how easy it was.

And yeah I didnt see any sub nets at all, tsk tsk Ubisoft...you got lazy

[Admiral Halsey]

Originally Posted by Rammstein0991

Glad its not just me, I love that I made off with such tonnage (wouldbnt be surprised if they replaced "uncle Karl" with me ) But it just surprised me how easy it was.

And yeah I didnt see any sub nets at all, tsk tsk Ubisoft...you got lazy

You think this is bad? You should take a look at the stock battles.

[Rammstein0991]

I heard they were bad, never tried to get involved in one though, Always stuck to merchant traffic except the rare cases where I was "lucky" enough to have a TF spawn almost on top of me

[Admiral Halsey]

Originally Posted by Rammstein0991

I heard they were bad, never tried to get involved in one though, Always stuck to merchant traffic except the rare cases where I was "lucky" enough to have a TF spawn almost on top of me

Trust me they are awful.

[merc4ulfate]

I made it to Pearl in 1940. I went through the Panama Canal. There was nothing there at Pearl, not a single ship. There were sunken Battleships however.

Evidently the game will not add shipping to Pearl before Dec. 1941

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

I made it to Pearl in 1940. I went through the Panama Canal. There was nothing there at Pearl, not a single ship. There were sunken Battleships however.

Evidently the game will not add shipping to Pearl before Dec. 1941

Mein Gott im Himmel! U-boats in the Panama canal.

As long as you pay your toll no questions asked.

[Bunkerw0808]

I raided Midway with my KO-HYOTEKI (midget sub mod) while playing campaign.

I had difficulty on hard. I was suprised by the weak resistance even though i torpedoed a Carolina battleship! I saw some PT's and armed tugs.......I had to laugh THEY FIRED AT THE WATER and i was like 20m under the sea. No destroyers anywhere so i thought i was having a lucky streak and went to Pearl.

I was going in all quiet.....Turned away to have a sip of coffee.........BANG a destroyer starts pounding me with dept charges!



YOU WHERE LUCKY

[merc4ulfate]

Originally Posted by Dread Knot

Mein Gott im Himmel! U-boats in the Panama canal.

Up until December of 1941 German as well as Japanese merchant and military vessels could use the canal. In December 1941 the Panamanian government declared war on the forces of Japan and Germany.

While it was always the intent for the canal zone and Panama as a country to remain neutral for world shipping the americans made sure that was and never would be the case.

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

Up until December of 1941 German as well as Japanese merchant and military vessels could use the canal. In December 1941 the Panamanian government declared war on the forces of Japan and Germany.

In addition to the canal usage, prior to 1941, most of Japan's merchant ships were serviced in US and UK shipyards. This was in part due to the focus on warship production at home. However, as a result the instant the war started and those foreign shipyards were no longer available, Japan suddenly found they had an insolvable logistics problem on their hands. Maintaining their extant merchant fleet at a constant level of operational readiness and performance, along with all those damaged and building warships.