Yes, BH, those statements quoted are true. Regardless, they DID prosecute attacks, read the reports from our subs.
There is a difference between strategic doctrine regarding ASW and defense of the sea lanes, and particular tactical engagements between ASW assets and submarines.
The resources devoted to ASW (mentioned in the quote) are not just technical inovation (which was certainly lacking), or training, but simply SHIPS. Escorts, the notion of actually putting merchants together and escorting them. The Fleet DDs that are always with merchant in game were simply not tasked in large numbers except on the front, and even then, not in the numbers seen in the stock game.
It's the NUMBERS of escorts that are the biggest issue in stock SH4, NOT the quality, IMO. The sheer numbers of escorts---and the type, fleet DDs---in the stock game show the largest historical inaccuracy wrt ASW.
The specifics of how the warships prosecute attacks is honestly pretty minor. We have 5 skill levels to play with, in addition to various sensor settings. There is a setting to adjust their loiter time or something similar. Rl IJN DDs were excellently crewed. They were very capable platforms, but had specific issues (DC depth setting is a prime example). I think DC depth can be set, but I think it is global, not by date...
It needs some playtesting, but there are a few things needed to make the IJN ASW capability accurate.
1. A totally new campaign. The stock campaign has absurdly high resources given by the Combined Fleet to ASW outside of naval escort. Meaning that warships would get escorts, invasion forces, and direct military shipping, in particular the % of the merchant marine commandeered by the IJN shipping supplies to front line naval bases. Regular merchant traffic should be pretty much SOL until 1943, and then only barely escorted by stock SH4 standards. Convoys that do get escorted need smaller escorts. Maybe the odd fleet DD as leader, but subchasers and minesweepers (or armed trawlers) as the more typical units (late in the war Kaiboukans or Matsu DEs which we lack). Simle test is to add up TFs and convoys weighted by the tiem interval between spawns and % chance, and see how many DDs are expected (average). Look at the "subhunter" groups, too. They amount shouldn't exceed the actual number of DDs in the IJN, ideally it should be less by some margin. Other escorts then take up the slack, or indeed form the bulk of such forces.
2. Within the new campaign, the skill levels get tweaked. With the 1.3 AI capability, AI can probably default to the middle setting (in stock it's either novice or veteran with rather a lot of "elite" in TFs). In stock SH4 "novice" AI is useless, you can surface near them and they ignore you. This can go a long way to mitigating the AI to the extent it is ahistorically capable in SH4 1.3. I'm not sure it is, however, my deaths seem to be mistakes on my part, not super capability on theirs.
3. DC mods. DCs are way too powerful. DCs with more realistic power will make even depth accurate attacks (assuming modding the shallow early war DCs is not possible) far less effective than stock.
4. The last step would be tweaks to the sensors, etc., though those will feed back with the AI settings.
tater
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