Split Task Force
 

So I was trying to pull an End around on a supposedly HUGE task force by the looks of the 15-20ish sonor contacts i was getting and I kept getting dogged by aircraft (middle of the day but im daring) and low and behold the task force sent 3 destroyers WAYYYYYY far out to come get me. I tried to use the external camera and see if I could see the convoy way over yonder but these DDs were so far away from it I couldnt even see them in external camera.

So my question is Has anyone else seen this??? They broke away part of the task force just to kick my butt because their planes werent doing quite the job. It was nice to see the AI be a little more aggressive for once because it definately kept me away from getting any closer to them.

Not quite that far out, but they do leave their convoys and taskforces. How far where you from the main taskforce? I have seen them go about 3-4 miles out of the way when they think I am near. Also do you find that they depart at random times also, just to see if they can find you? :hmm: :hmm:

If you are fairly close to the TF and aircraft spot you, I would see them
dispatching a few DDs into your area for a search. Even if they can't find
you, it will keep you under while the TF moves on. I would say that TF
Commander is a smart cookie...

JIM

I had one recently where they detached an escort carrier to keep me busy, but sent him without any destroyer escort. Now, they did still have 3 flight decks in the task force (2 out of 3 Shokaku carriers and a seaplane tender) and only 5 destroyers to begin with, but I would have expected at least 1, maybe 2 destroyers to come with it. I sank the escort carrier while submerged, but never could reaquire the task force.

Sent you a bone you couldn't resist chewing so the rest could get away.
-Pv-

I would call that a poor sacrifice. That TF commander would make a lousy
baseball coach...

JIM

out of curiousity what year did you encounter a carrier task force ?
im still in 41, and never saw one, im not claiming its not accurate, i dont know.
but i would like to encounter a carrier at least once :)

July 1942 and November 1942, I encountered another one last night with 3 Hiryu class carriers. The first one was east of Kyushu and southeast of Shikoku, while the second was in the area between the Banda Sea and the Celebes Sea. The second one had three battleships in it as well.

I havnt gotten a carrier in visual range yet but I usually assume Im near one when I start getting about 3-8 planes at a time attacking me... they come in pairs of 2 and make it very hard for an end around once they have your position.

thanks :) will have a go at a 42 career.
i keep hoping that ill manage to get involved in the battle for midway, but always get retired before it happens.

The air attacks from the CVs are pretty absurd, actually. CVs didn't just launch planes all the time, in order to do so the entire force would have to steam into the wind while they were conducting ops.

Maybe a handful of Zeros (no bombs, they virtually never carried bombs) as a CAP.

I'm seriously thinking about eliminating the air groups from the CVs, and replacing them with a single group of 1-3 zeros---it's not like they get in realistic battles anyway.

Don't start with an old boat. Some people have reported that if they start the career with an old boat (probably S class), when the boats get retired so do they, even if they've since switched to a different boat. Starting in 1942 with a Gato based in Pearl will have you leaving port on June 12. I can't recall the precise dates I encountered these task forces, either.

However, I can give you some ideas. If you look at the map, you'll see a line of small islands trailing southwest from the Japanese home islands down towards Formosa (modern day Taiwan). Task forces run up and down the eastern side of these islands a lot. Many of them are small 4 ship groups, 3 destroyers and a liner carrying troops of some type, but the larger groups also run these routes. There's quite a few in the East China Sea as well. The presence of the merchant ships slows the task forces down. Auxiliary oilers in the big ones tend to limit the speed to about 12 knots, so it's possible to intercept if you're both close and ahead of them.