Why docked, you'll notice the lil movies that play explaining what the higher ups know. The US almost always knew what the JP's were doing since we could read their code. These briefings why at dock basically tell you what's coming up and where the action will be. However, usually your patrol isn't near where the upcoming action is.
This map is a great tool. Look at the invasions of the Philippines at the start of the war. The map shows all the invasion forces, their paths, ect. All of these are in the game. It's amazing the work Lurker put into RSRD. Best to resize and print this map, because it works with RSRD to perfection. Take the Java invasion. It's hard to see on this, but if you know where Jolo is near Tawi Tawi, this is where the large Java invasion fleet starts. There is a small shipping lane near Jolo. This is probably the largest convoy in RSRD and it path comes by Jolo.
Talk about raising cain, catch a 60 ship plus convoy in shallow water with lil islands to run around you can have some fun.
You see where the other Java forces leave Hainan. See the one path they take, but notice where they split near Sumatra. I won't get into details, but if you can catch the large group before they split up, you'll have enough ships to bring your PC to a crawl. One group heads to the right of Merak, the others more east.
Look at the invasion fleet coming from Palau to north of the San Bern. Notice it states Seaplanes. This group has some Chistose plane carriers. You don't see them often, so it's fun to attack..Jan 12, north of San Bern.
