Pursuit Tactics

[Gusington]

So I've been playing the demo for about a week and plan to purchase the full game this weekend. I've been slowly learning how to move around the game, how to use my ships effectively, etc. I played as the Russians first and won according to the game's Ulsan parameters pretty easily, just rushing my ships quickly away from the Japanese threat.

Now I'm playing as the Japanese in pursuit of the Russian ships, and it's not quite as cut and dry :D Out of their four ships present, I have sunk one, and have been chasing the other three for what seems like forever.

Does anyone have any tips on how to catch up with enemy ships that are hell bent on getting away? My Japanese group can do a few knots faster than the Russians and right now are about 5500 meters away, The scenario states that effective gunnery range is less than 1800 meters. How can I close this gap in the quickest way? I am slowly gaining on them now, but is there anything I can do other than speed the game up to catch them quicker?

[Porkchop]

Hammer the hell out of the lead ship until it slows or is burning nicely. The line will slow down. When the lead ship drops too much the others will break the line and try to get away. It should buy you enough time to catch them though. :D

[Gusington]

Thanks PorkChop. Should I bother firing on lead ships if they're 5 or 6 thousand meters away? I've been doing so and scoring hits but the targeted ship's armor seems to be doing its job. Looks like I may just be wasting ammo at longer distances.

[WallysWorld]

I agree with Porkchop's opinion and I also open fire as soon as my main guns are within range. If you have plenty of ammo, do it because a few lucky hits can slow down the lead ship or the entire battle line.

Look at the Battle of the Yellow Sea for Togo shooting at the lead Russian ship which caused the whole Russian line to fall apart.

[Gusington]

Nice, I'll try that WW. So far I'e been letting the ships free fire, occasionally firing on the leader. Once I close to below 2000 meters I'm going to give'em the whats-for ;)

[Jim Cobb]

I'll be contrary just for the heck of it. I shoot up the nearest ship first while moving at high speed. When its speed drops, I shift fire to the lead or number two. The Russians are then totally confused and I mop up.

[WallysWorld]

At extremely long ranges, I usually try to target the lead ship, but any enemy ship will do.

[Rhetor]

At extremely long ranges, I usually try to target the lead ship, but any enemy ship will do.

Keep in mind that with 500 meter intervals between enemy ships, the leading one might be 1 - 1,5 kilometers farther than the last ship. At long ranges you might even succeed in crippling the leading one, but the ammunition consumption would be very high - you might end up with no ammo to knock out the rest.
Targeting the trailing ship might do the trick, because the AI usually slows down for a while when the last one starts losing speed due to damage.