What’s more valuable a target?

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by skirich

... Poor luck on my part for lining up on that side of the armada.

Visibility, or sonar identification are about it, so since you lined up on the radar blip, you did the right thing, else everyone gets away except you... "target of opportunity" I believe they call it. Don't ruin a good approach to go after something else - unless absolutely necessary, such as you've been ordered to, or you forgot to come up to PD, or maybe you neglected to open the tubes... ahem - I had to bring the XO up on charges for not reminding me...

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Visibility, or sonar identification are about it, so since you lined up on the radar blip, you did the right thing, else everyone gets away except you... "target of opportunity" I believe they call it. Don't ruin a good approach to go after something else - unless absolutely necessary, such as you've been ordered to, or you forgot to come up to PD, or maybe you neglected to open the tubes... ahem - I had to bring the XO up on charges for not reminding me...

should i share the real difference between sinking a IJN carrier or an IJN BB with skirich?
the carrier will be the tougher target because their elude protocol causes them to speed up and move out of the area. some mods will allow them to launch planes to hunt you.
BB's will slow down when the TF is attacked.
and the last piece, BB's are worth more points than a CV. hey, i'm not the programmer here so don't go off on me. if you want to make carriers more valuable then change that value in their config.
but i did not disclose any of this to skirich.

[propbeanie]

Look in FotRSU, and you'll see that all of the enemy renown awarded is lowered, but the BB more than the CV, such that the CV are worth more than the BB. Also, if you go below PD, the carriers will spawn planes, as will most of the BB. Different types of planes, but planes with bombs that fall down the conn hatch nonetheless...

[skirich]

Interesting stuff. I wish the game would have spawned some planes after the Battleship was attacked. Did'nt notice any but that would have been cool to see.



That said, is there any distinction inmap contact info for a battlegroup vs a merchant convoy?


I know task force means warships, but just about every task force I chased was nothing more than a bunch of destroyers.


I'm wonder if there is another way to find these large battlegroups besides just aimlessly wandering the ocean.

[propbeanie]

You don't get to "see" the game spawn anything. No airplane launches, no DD leaving the docks. The game only "spawns" its assets outside your view, beyond the horizon, so about 30nm away, even when you're below PD.

If you're in the Stock game, on the NavMap, you can zoom-in on any identified ship and see its outline, and ascertain from its outline what it is. It may not be always 100% accurate, but more than reasonably reliable. Some mods will exchange that outline for a dot, like the leader of the tracking team doesn't have drawing skills, and just uses a dot instead. Of course, when you're on the NavMap, all you can draw is "X"s, lines & circles... Otherwise, sonar can give you a clue, as can radar, although your crew members aren't "qualified" to tell you that kind of info - you'll have to do it yourself, other than in stock the warships' sonar lines are blue, and a merchants are black. Mod can and do change that.

The game will identifiy a grouping of ships based upon the "lead" vessel. Each group has to have a "leader" that is given WayPoints for it to follow so that it can travel from Point A to Point B. All of the other ships of the group are "attached" to the "leader". If the leader is a merchant, then you have a Convoy. If you have a warship as leader, then it's a Task Force.

If you're in Stock, you will get plenty of "reports" that if you pay attention, you will get clues as to where the Task Forces are. If your are in a mod, most of them have maps laying about the boat with route maps on them. Or, you can just go hang around Truk or Rabaul, or Singapore, or Kobe, etc... Just be forewarned that the DD escorts usually have more than enough boom-boom with them, and more skill than the average Convoy jockey...

[jimmbbo]

Originally Posted by skirich

So was that the right move or should I have gone for the carrier?

IMO it depends on the stage of the war...

Early on, taking out carriers would blunt Japanese offensive capability at a time when the USN was barely hanging on... With the luxury of hindsight, IJN BBs were not a factor in the war, and the carriers presented the largest threat.

From 1943 on, sinking merchants does more damage to their war-making capacity as the number of capital ships was reduced and the US Navy strength is coming up to speed to take out the remainder. Sinking merchants and the raw materials inbound to Japan does more to curtail the war the later it is.

[Barkerov]

Why not shoot at both?