Contempt for Japanese ASW...

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by TorpX

This is my point. Either you have as a goal, making the sim as dramatic as you can make it, or as realistic as you can make it. I am willing to forgo the constant drama and near-death experiences in return for a realistic sim. After all, I know, sooner of later, I'll make a mistake, or the AI bad guys will get lucky, and administer a good beating, but it doesn't have to happen all the time.

I'm in the same minority as you. While I appreciate the effort that went into making TMO, I often get that "U-Boat being quickly spotted and pursued to exhaustion vibe" that I get in late war SH3. It just doesn't seem to jibe with Japan's historical performance and capabilities.

Certainly, Japan's maritime protection forces did improve as the war progressed. By early 1944, according to Admiral Lockwood, "the enemy was learning from experience, and the task of our submarines was becoming more difficult and hazardous." This was particularly true of aerial escort, at which the Japanese became relatively adept when they could scrounge up the aircraft.

But anyone not hopelessly incompetent is bound to get better at anything tried often enough, and the Japanese navy's eventual improvement at ASW was always relative to it's rather lackluster beginnings. It certainly never reached the sort of suffocating ASW coverage the Allies practiced.