Great Naval Battles 2 campaign question

[agathosdaimon]

thanks for that info, i think i am probably only halfway able at the moment to stick to your tips


i would like to know more about how to trasnfer aircraft? - do i make a transfer mission for aircraft on an aircraft carrier and send them to henderson?

you say the planes get wasted at henderson? what do you mean by this, they disappear if i dont use them or something?

i am bit confused there -
i cant fly planes directly from espiritu as its too far


also is it possible for me to send squadrons of planes lookng for IJN ships? i can select divebomb and torp missions for cv planes but how do i set a location or ship if these have not been located yet? and also is it possible to ever conrol planes in the air apart from recalling them?
i had earlier launched some fighters from the wasp when it was being torpedoed an the fights just hovered above the carrier - how do i send them after the bettys?
the only time it seems i can get planes to shoot down bettys is whne i have a percentage on CAP but i dont know how this relates to also readying and launching planes manually





so you dont suggest that i venture any furhter towards jap bases beyond guadalcanal?
i am glad then that i moving my carrier down south as the Bettys did make a beeline right for wasp and put alot of torps into it

[Randomizer]

Okay, just loaded up the American campaign, I had forgotten that Espiritu Santo has no fighters or dive bombers. A Transfer Mission allows you to transfer aircraft between bases and I believe that you can also transfer from but not to aircraft carriers. Henderson has a hanger capacity of 100 but if you can get more Wildcats and Dauntless's there it will help.

One way to do this is to fly them off damaged carriers that can still run flight ops. Repairs may take weeks or months and the air groups will be far more use at Henderson.

The B-17s are useless against ships and not much better against the Japanese ground forces on Guadalcanal but any attrition helps the Marines. For air defence, a CAP of 25% to 33% is generally adequate. One problem with aircraft management in the game is that all planes of the same type need the same loadouts AND once the ready process starts, no additional planes can be readied until the process underway is completed. This is an unfortunate function of the game system and bares no relation to reality. This means after an air to air fight, the replacement CAP will hold up the ready queue for the 30-minutes it takes to ready the next wave of the CAP.

You can send air strikes into the blue but you cannot redirect them after launch and therefore doing so is generally a bad idea. But if it means clearing the flight deck in the event of an imminent Japanese attack on your carrier, sacrificing the planes might save the ship from the additional fires and damage caused when ready planes are hit by bombs.

The Japanese can strike further than the Americans and this range advantage can be a big problem for the US carrier groups. I have found that dispersing the CVs in single carrier task forces is better for the USN while the Japanese have poorer flak and benefit from concentration. Indeed, transferring carrier planes to Henderson and laying up one or more CVs might even make a viable strategy in some situations.

You win the whole enchilada if you can clear the Japanese garrison from Guadalcanal and only the Marines can do that. Remember Capt Wayne P. Hughes, USN (Retd) and one of his fundamental Cornerstones of Naval Warfare is "The Seat of Purpose is on the Land". In GNB2 this is absolutely the case.

-C

[agathosdaimon]

okay cool, - ships cant bombard land targets can they?



how do i transfer the carrier planes to henderson field though - i can select a transfer mission, but nothing seems to happen, i see nothing come up letting me choose henderson - or is the carrier supposed to be on teh x at henderson?



there are some b17s down at espiritu, but they cant reach guadalcanal i dont think, i tried to send them but they only went so far and never got there - i am not sure if they crashed into the sea or knew to turn around when fuel was half way

[Randomizer]

Japanese ships can bombard Henderson but I am really not sure if American ships can bombard Guadalcanal. Create a bombardment task force and after selecting the flagship a window should open with the allowed targets. If there are none then the US cannot bombard, which seems strange as they certainly did during the real campaign.

When launching a Transfer mission the target window should open. Note that the range for Transfer missions is greater than for combat missions. The B-17 force should be able to reach Guadalcanal with a bomb load but there was some aircraft range issues before the 1.1 version patch was released. Is your game patched up?

-C

[agathosdaimon]

my game is patched up yes - i checked it and also i recall that prior to the patch the bettys couldnt reach guadalcanal
i will have to check the b17s again in case i screwed up something.



i had some planes on a carrier that i gave a transfer mission, but no window ever came up - is there some time necessary that needs to elapse?


i havent tried a bombardment tf yet as my existing tfs have not reach espiritu yet - i can only make new tfs missions when ships are in port yes?


i have decided to withdraw bb n carolina - its taking why too much damage and listing badly, it will hobble down to espiritu, - i hope repairs dont take too long

[Randomizer]

I just ran a test and sent 12 Avengers and 12 Dauntless from Enterprise to Henderson Field.

- Sailed Enterprise into range of Henderson. Selected Ready and Transfer Missions for 12 of each type and OK.

- Aircraft reported ready after the 30-minute prep time. Selected Launch and the window opened giving both Henderson and Espiritu Santo as possible bases for the transfer.

- Selected Henderson Field and the planes all launched and flew there where they reinforced the existing Cactus Air Force. In 12 days the Enterprise Air Group should be back up to strength.

Also tested bombardments and the USN can conduct bombardment missions against Guadalcanal.

No idea why you cannot seem to get these things to work, sorry.

-C

[agathosdaimon]

okay i wiill have to try things out again, maybe i didnt wait long enough - at the moment though its night of aug 8 with IJN attacking i will have to wait till its daylight again i suppose before launching flights