Allied Task Forces

[DocDarm]

I'm out of Pearl Harbor in a Gato around 1942. I see a friendly task force headed out towards the Coral Sea. I get into the middle of them and figure I'll see where they go, but you can't really do Time Compression with this.

Is it worth the tedious effort to remain with my Task Force? Or am I just wasting time?

~DocDarm
Fort Lauderdale

[Monica Lewinsky]

Waste of time.

[DocDarm]

Don't sugar coat it for me or anything.

[Effigy]

Originally Posted by DocDarm

I'm out of Pearl Harbor in a Gato around 1942. I see a friendly task force headed out towards the Coral Sea. I get into the middle of them and figure I'll see where they go, but you can't really do Time Compression with this.

Is it worth the tedious effort to remain with my Task Force? Or am I just wasting time?

~DocDarm
Fort Lauderdale

Tried the same thing once, and hope someone can answer this as well.

In my situation I was NNW of Rabaul on a patrol mission. Saw unidentified TF light up on the map and went to engage. Turned out to be friendly so I decided to join them. I stayed with them for a few hours. They appeared to be heading to Rabaul. Unfortunately as we approached the boundary for my patrol marking I had to return to my plotted course; I didn't want to reset the patrol timer. When the mission eventually completed I decided to head to Rabaul for a harbor raid and to see if I could spot the allies. No sign of the allies when I arrived at the dock. Two DD's patrolling and a bunch of stationary merchants.

As I was moving into position to blitz one of the DDs, survivors started popping up all over the map. Friendlies. Scoping around there were a dozen or more allied aircraft in the area, bombing the hell out of everything. It was awesome, and even though I didn't have a friendly TF marker anywhere near, I assume it was the same friendly TF from before that arrived just NW of Rabaul on the other side of the island. I had taken a more Northeastern approach to the area, and so they would have been out of radar range for me to even know they were there if that was them.

Had to be them... And I wonder what would have happened if I'd stuck with 'em now. Would the air raid have sent enemy vessles to our position? Who knows...

What's even cooler, imo, is in the previous patrol I was sent to Rabaul to recon the area and take pics of a couple carriers in the area. I did, then sank both of them and left. Was that friendly TF approaching Rabaul based on my recon, or was it just coincidence? I like to think it was directly because of the intel I provided, which would be really, really cool. Of course, if they were looking for the carriers I took pics of, they must have been pretty mad to realize I'd already sunk em (can't resist, on recon missions, lol...).

Anyway, I enjoy meeting up with friendly task forces, and would like to know if it's worth the effort to stick with em as well. Much like flying in formation, there's something really satisfying in the idea of doing 10kts with a huge, friendly TF and helping them out if they bump into trouble. Plus it's just fun sitting on the deck and using the binos to look at all the other ships around you. Don't get too close though, they panic and start hitting back emergency to avoid collision. lol

[Herr_Pete]

i have tried it when i was in my U-Boat, i followed a Japanese Task force! real waste of time lol

[LeeVanSpliff]

Originally Posted by Effigy

They appeared to be heading to Rabaul. Unfortunately as we approached the boundary for my patrol marking I had to return to my plotted course; I didn't want to reset the patrol timer.

I don't think it will reset actually. I know I'm constantly running in and out of the patrol areas when hunting something.

Originally Posted by Effigy

Anyway, I enjoy meeting up with friendly task forces, and would like to know if it's worth the effort to stick with em as well. Much like flying in formation, there's something really satisfying in the idea of doing 10kts with a huge, friendly TF and helping them out if they bump into trouble. Plus it's just fun sitting on the deck and using the binos to look at all the other ships around you. Don't get too close though, they panic and start hitting back emergency to avoid collision. lol

Yeah! Staring at friendly ships has a unique charm in SH4!

[Digital_Trucker]

Originally Posted by LeeVanSpliff

I don't think it will reset actually. I know I'm constantly running in and out of the patrol areas when hunting something.

It doesn't reset, it just doesn't count down while you're outside your patrol area.

[Drakken]

As long as you do not do as I did once, which was confuse a Lexington CV for a Japanese CV. She ate four of my eels on the port and leaned heavily to sink afterwards.

[Frederf]

I would be afraid that you'd follow the TF for ten days only to have them magically vanish at one point. Not that I can usually keep up with TFs, they typically go like 20 knots or more!

[Gigalocus]

I followed one for days, only thing that happened was occasional enemy airstrikes. The burning T3 tanker propably gave us away