Two More CVs, Four Battleships

[Volron]

All this is based off of our current TG's.  Gotta toss that out there.   I don't honestly know what they have in-store for us in the update.

Good points, Volron. But knowing what the enemy fleet is comprised of is as important as knowing where it is. If there is no 'join' button to see with our own eyes I would say that the TFs require specific designations to show types:

TG 203 scouts have spotted a type 1 enemy TG (our current type)

TG 203 scouts have spotted a type 2 enemy TG (U.S. BB)

TG 203 scouts have spotted a type 3 enemy TG (U.S. invasion group)

TG 203 scouts have spotted a type 4 enemy TG (IJN CV group) ..... etc.

I'd love to see a fuller surface fleet for both sides lead to an event like:

http://youtu.be/f-iGLrrwiGw

Ah, good one.  I missed that bit Arlo.  Yes.  What if it added information to the icon in the map (on-board map)?  Mouse over the enemy icon and it will give you the composition.  This will tell you if the CV is damaged and what ship is sunk.

Oh, and TG commanders need a throttle to stop the group when it's time to recover the scout float plane (or lose that scout for whatever acceptable time limit and keep on trucking). Or .... do they?

Losing a scout float plane to combat/fuel should result in:

a: Loss of one scout float plane out of x for 30 minutes.

b: Loss of scout float plane capability altogether for that ship for 30 minutes.

c: Loss of one scout float plane out of x for an hour.

d: Loss of scout float plane capability altogether for that ship for an hour.

e: No penalty. Hell, buffs auger just to re-up faster as it is. It's not like scout float planes can be abused worse than that.

When scouts launch (using "Default Patrol"), they will fly the patrol pattern, then return to where the ship would be based off of the waypoint upon launch.  If the CV waypoint is changed, then the scouts waypoints will adjust accordingly.  This could extend and/or shorten their patrol.  When setting a custom patrol pattern, you only need to click on the TG icon to complete the pattern, and at all times will be color coded to show you if you are exceeding scouts range.  Green means a okay, yellow means danger of losing scout if TG moves further away, red won't let you launch.  If scouts are out when the primary TG ship is sunk, when the TG respawns, scouts inflight will just disappear or explode.  Recovery will be the scout simply flying really slow over and/or next to launch ship, even with ship maneuvering.  Scouts launching will also not be affected by maneuvering.  These are for game play.

Scout Availability:
Down times can be made adjustable, but for the MA, Scout down time should be no more than 15 minutes.

Scout numbers will be based off of ships that are able to launch.  Say we have a CA TG, with just two CA's.  If one is sunk, only half of the scouts would be available.

If a TG has four scouts:
Scout 1: Available
Scout 2: Destroyed
Scout 3: Recovering
Scout 4: On Patrol

[Arlo]

OS2U

Performance

    Maximum speed: 164 mph (264 km/h)
    Range: 805 mi (1,296 km)
    Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (3,960 m)

Armament

    Guns: 2 × .30 in (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine guns
    Bombs: 650 lb (295 kg) of bombs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_OS2U_Kingfisher

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Mitsubishi F1M

Performance

    Maximum speed: 370 km/h (200 kn, 230 mph) at 3,440 m (11,300 ft)
    Range: 740 km (400 nmi, 460 mi)
    Service ceiling: 9,440 m (30,970 ft)
    Wing loading: 86.3 kg/m² (17.7 lb/ft²)
    Power/mass: 257 W/kg (0.156 hp/lb)
    Climb to 5,000 m (16,404 ft): 9 min 36 sec

Armament

    Guns:
        2 × fixed forward-firing 7.7 mm (.303 in) Type 97 aircraft machine guns
        1 × flexible rearward-firing 7.7 mm (.303 in) Type 92 machine gun
    Bombs: 2 × 60 kg (132 lb) bombs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_F1M

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Here's a tactical problem:

An OS2U finds an enemy TG type 5 (Japanese BB style) 300 miles south of it's fleet position. The closest landing spot it has is its own fleet. The Japanese fleet sees the scout plane. Rather than fire AA at it the Japanese fleet launches an F1M to trail the scout plane back to its fleet which is 300 miles north (the F1M's range is 400 nm). The Japanese fleet will steam north behind the scout.

The IJ scout has enough range to reach the U.S. fleet then retreat toward the IJ fleet and land the float plane, if need be, to be recovered by the fleet on its way.

The U.S. scout plane may elect to fly in a different direction than its fleet to avoid leading the Japanese BB to the fleet location but will undoubtedly run out of fuel and have to land in a remote location (whether at sea or on land) to hopefully be recovered later (or to be lost, for good).

Other than stay over the IJ fleet until shot down or out of fuel, is there yet another option?

[Volron]

We don't have the ability to "turn off" the AA on fleets, so the scout will still have to deal with AA.

Based off of what I put in one of my previous posts, it would depend on what options you selected the scout to do once an enemy is spotted.  A "Default Patrol" won't have the scout fly straight out then back, so even at this edge of it's patrol, it would still have sufficient fuel to do things.  If you custom patrol a course, then options become limited.  Either way, the AI won't be coded to fly until it runs out of fuel.  It will RTB when it needs too.  If the scout fails to land inside the TG group, then it's counted as a loss and will be out of action for 15 minutes.  It will also mark enemy planes on the map, so if it's being shadowed, it will show.  If someone "counter scouts", then so be it.  It is an option, but it doesn't guarantee that it will be successful.

Again, this map is only seen inside the TG tower.  You won't see all the marks (TG/Planes) on your clipboard.  Only time you would see a TG mark on the clipboard is if they decided to do a "Scout" option for players, where they could up a plane set to "Scout", and mark TG's on the map.


The tactical problem favors the US fleet quite a bit.  If the US player is paying attention, then the moment the IJN BB group is spotted, it's in serious trouble.  Since it wouldn't have any CV's with it, it's target practice for dive and torpedo bombers.