AI distribution of forces (Spoiler warning!)

[Rhetor]

The AI gets something wrong.

To hunt down my Vladivostok cruisers the AI always sends the "Chiyoda" + 6 PCs and some DDs. I have begun the campaign four times, and for the fourth time I have massacred this force with minor damage to my ships; only once did they cause me problems, when I encountered them at night - see my AAR.
I know that the AI at the beginning of the war sends two ACs (IIRC "Asama" and "Iwate") to bolster that force. However, this two ACs do not merge with the aforementioned force, but operte independently. When these two encounter my four Vladivostok cruisers, they invariably run away. Only when the "Chiyoda"&co looms somewhere in the distance, they try to close in.
Shouldn't these ACs join the others in the hunt for Admiral Essen?

[Bullethead]

The IJN (human or AI) has a real problem with regards IRN cruiser warfare. Except for chance starting conditions, such as at night or with the Russians embayed against a coastline, no IJN cruisers have any real hope of ever firing their guns at Russian ACs and PCs, as long as the Russians don't want to fight. This is because all the Russian ACs and PCs have about the same speed as their IJN opposite numbers, and are often slightly faster. So if a battle starts beyond gun range, which it almost always will, it will remain so unless the Russians decide to help the Japanese close in.

The only way for the IJN to force Russian cruisers to battle (outside lucky starting conditions) is to run them down with faster ships before the Russians can disengage, hoping to slow the Russians so the IJN ACs can get to grips eventually. But only the DDs have the speed to do this with any real hope of success before the battle ends, and they'll almost certainly all sink or be crippled in the process, so this tactic will only work once per game. And even if the DD sacrifice slows the Russians, odds are the Russians will still get away with just some damage once the DDs are dead or stopped. Hell, even 1 lone gunboat can stomp all the DDs by herself. Then the Russians go home, repair, and come back out, and now the IJN has nothing left that can catch them.

Thus, an IJN strategy of seeking to destroy the Russians has a very low chance of success. In addition, there are always multiple Russian cruisers out there, not just the ACs. If the IJN concentrates against 1 Russian cruiser force, the other Russian raiders have a free hand. Therefore, the IJN really needs to do something besides trying to fight the cruisers.

It seems to me that the best thing the IJN can hope for is just to keep the Russians spotted. I have noticed that those Russians that keep being shadowed by IJN forces that don't even attempt to close the range never find any merchants. I assume that this is because the merchants hear the spotting reports and alter course to avoid known Russians. If the merchants get through, then the IJN succeeds, even they never sink any Russians.

[Mobeer]

There are some approaches that seem to work against the Russian Cruisers:

1) Give them a fair-ish opportunity to fight.
For example, the four Vladivostock cruisers will fight against five equivalent Japanese cruisers. This gives the player a good chance to sink these ships, or at least force them into constant repairs. In my current campaign I've used a marginally superior cruiser force to invite the Russians to fight five times against my cruisers. None of the Vladivostock cruisers are left now.
But this approach fails for auxiliary cruisers, which always seem to run because of their low combat value.

2) Fight at night.
This can be done by pursuing with fast cruisers, or by constant patrolling. Eventually a battle will occur at night at short range. The Japanese force needs to be powerful enough to win this battle, so the player generally cannot just pick a few of the fastest Japanese cruisers as a task force.

3) Make the Russians fight often.
This worked well in old versions when the AI would run home after every battle. This kept the Russians away from the merchant ships. It doesn't work so well in recent versions.


General approaches I've used:
a) Mount a standing patrol south of Vladivostock in strength. Normally the Russians will run, but if the battle occurs at night then combat can ensue.

b) Use all available destroyers to engage auxiliary cruisers. Destroyers can be repaired fast, so it is worth withdrawing damaged destroyers as need be. The total destroyer force should be enough to sink an auxiliary cruiser.

[saddletank]

Mobeer, you should cut and paste that into the 'campaign strategies' thread which has fallen down the pages a bit now. It could use a bump as there is some handy stuff in there.