Task Force Question...
 

As I slipped out of Pearl on March 12 '42, I've found myself in the midst of a nice sized American task force consisting of around a dozen destroyers, 3-4 Cruisers, two flat-tops, and several support ships. My current orders are to patrol east of Honshu, near Tokyo, yet the task force is steaming southwest at a modest 12 kts.

The chance to be involved in a full scale naval battle is damn sure enticing, yet I don't want to run point for this force for a month with nothing to show for it....but the timing and heading are 'roughly' right for some serious action around the Coral sea. :hmm:

We are only 4 days out of Pearl now, and I could easily turn west-northwest toward Japan without concern for fuel. I could also run through to Brisbane to refuel before heading on to my assigned area if I have to. Soooo I'm very curious...are task forces usually on the way to an engagment or just randomly patrolling?

I don't know for sure. I suggest you create a save and follow the TF and report back with the results, would be interested to know myself.

Good luck keeping up with them and having enough fuel to get home !

At only 12 knts I'll have a good bit of endurance...my biggest worry is that they'll get 1/2 way between Pearl and the Coral sea and make a turn west. At that point I'll have to make for the nearest gas pump and over to my assignment. As for now, I'm hoping they stay on course for the next few days and keep me in range of Brisbane AU.

I'm not going to worry so much about the save, I'll just play it out using Captain's Discretion. If it turns out to be a bust, it would take just as long to reload from Pearl and over as it would to just head back northwest.

I've been snapping a few screens and jotting down notes, so if all goes well...I may have enough stuff to have a big fat AAR posted sometime in the next few days.:yep:

Awesome, I look forward to the outcome.

There are relatively few battles scripted in the game. Coral Sea is in May, and it won't take 1-2 months to get there. The next batte is Midway. My guess is that it's a wild goose chase.

Never know though.

Hope you get some screenies of that, It sounds awesome :cool:

task forces are going like convois. They spawn somewhere at some time at some propability rate and go on their route with slightly randomized waypoint shifting and kill anything on their way. When they reach final waypoint they disappear.

Its a lot of fun to see when a taskforce comes across a big size convoi with a lot of escorts. But mostly they will just go through their waypoints without much trouble but one or two single merchants.

Well...it turned out to be a bust. The task force made it halfway between Pearl and the Gilbert Islands and took a turn to the southeast. I hung with it until we hit the equator, then made for Tokyo via Midway.

I can't complain too much though, as I ended up between two med sized convoys both travelling south about 15NM apart. I'd hit one, run away, surface, run to the other. I was only able to bag 4 merchants though....my aim sucks. :yep:

Anyways, I overstated the size of the American Task Force a bit. On final count it was 2 Tankers, 1 light crusier, 2 heavy crusiers, 7 destroyers, and the two Carriers.


And a pic of me sailing within the destroyer screen.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8.../sh4/sh4-1.jpg