TriggerMaru and the Tokyo Express

[Gibus]

Hello,

I discovered the Tokyo Express with TMO 2.0
It makes the round trip from Rabaul to Guadalcanal to 33 knots! That is about 1,200 nmi.
Were they able to sustain this pace for so long, without fail, with enough fuel?

Gibus

[WernherVonTrapp]

They shouldn't maintain that speed (historically) for the entire trip. That's, pretty much, the top speed for many IJN DDs. Limitations with the game engine may cause things to behave differently for various reasons, however. Nevertheless, those speeds were usually maintained only for enemy held territories (waters, skies, land, etc.) and tops speeds for direct evasive/attack maneuvers. If you happened upon them at (33!) knots, they may have just emerged from an air attack. It would usually take an IJN DD, even a newer model, anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes to reach that speed. Older DDs could take as long as a half hour.

[Gibus]

I confirm: the speed is 33 knots throughout the voyage.
That's why I wonder.

[tater]

They'd leave Rabaul at such a time that they could cruise at a more fuel efficient speed until they got to the edge of possible air attack from Guadalcanal, then they'd dash in at high speed. I'd think still below flank speed. Fuel economy vs speed would have some speed below flank where they'd save a lot of oil. Endurance at flank speed for a DD is literally just hours.

When I did my layers, I made them steam in the low 20s as far as Shortland, then a dash at around 30 knots (with some near zero speed waypoints at guadalcanal, then a dash out). I ran them using the mission editor "play" button, and messed with the speeds til they were out of air range by dawn.

[Armistead]

I use RSRD, the JP's make many runs to GC, mostly the DD groups spawn at Shortland Island. Some groups go north around GC and back through, others come straight in.

You can get them to chase you towards allied ships, however you'll watch them win everytime.

Mostly it's groups of DD's, 12 or more.

[Ducimus]

I'll fix it later.

[tater]

It's not all that critical, really. Bottom line is that your sub gets ONE chance to shoot, if they move 30 knots, or 33 (or 27, for that matter :) ).

[Ducimus]

It's not all that critical, really. Bottom line is that your sub gets ONE chance to shoot, if they move 30 knots, or 33 (or 27, for that matter :) ).


I recall that being my general idea when i scripted it, primarly because I have them set to respawn every 2 to 4 days like clockwork. I forget the exact time frame, but it was fairly frequent.

edit:

On second thought, I WONT fix it. If you miss your chance, wait around, you'll get another shot, if your in the right spot at the time.

[tater]

I actually had the automated editor change the speeds every so often by a small amount. Many speeds I set in my campaign (most, in fact) were fractional, too.

"time contact, take range... ah, he must be making 7 knots!"

Try 7.134, or 7.239, etc :)

You can have the automated campaign editor randomize all the speeds in e heartbeat.