saddletank
31 Aug 06, 10:05
Campaign statistics
Someone mentioned it would be a good idea if the game presented the user with a tally of all losses etc. I thought I'd try this and see what statistics it threw up. I wrote out an excel spreadsheet listing location and date of action, Russian ships involved, Japanese ships involved, losses on either side, total accumulated losses of warships, total accumulated losses of Japanese merchant shipping (inc neutrals) and campaign days elapsed.
The sheet is attached. Remember these findings are drawn from just one campaign that has so far lasted 20 days and obviously the strategies used define the results you'll get.
What it strongly shows is that the Sea of Japan is the place where the Russians can win the war. Here I captured and sank 18 out of 22 merchant ships taken during the campaign to date. I sent the Angara round to operate out of Vladivostok and for part of this period both auxiliary cruisers and the Vladivostok squadron operated off the south coast of Japan. For a week I enjoyed a 'happy time' where no enemy were encountered and the pickings were rich. After about a week however a player needs to withdraw from here and go back to the Sea of Japan. This strongly suggests that the captured neutrals wireless their position before surrender and the AI responds. After a certain number of 'distress calls' it is wise for the Russian player to cease operations in that location as it will be come very hot.
I found my most successful ship was the Lyena, operating alone she captured 7 neutrals in 12 days on her 2nd cruise.
Second most successful unit was the Vladivostok cruisers, capturing 5 neutrals in 9 days on their 3rd cruise.
I began by detaching the faster Bogatyr from the other 3 Vladivostok cruisers but operating in the Tsushima area she only captured 3 neutrals, sank 1 Maru and sank 2 10knot auxiliaries in 13 days, so I attached her back to her sisters as I found that with just 3 cruisers I had to run away from almost every Japanese cruiser force I met. Unfortunately the one time I did meet the Chiyoda nd her 7 old PCs I was low on ammunition and returned to Vladivostok.
The Vladivostok cruisers were able to sink 40 torpedo boats in 2 separate actions. This was fun but I'm not able to draw any conclusions about how useful it was. I suspect the AI uses these as trip wires to find Russian raiders so possibly sinking them does help. I would not say their loss is any great material (i.e. battle winning) handicap for the Japanese but it must hurt their patrolling ability.
On the western side of the Korean peninsular the war was very different. I had Tsesarevitch damaged in the initial PA attack and she had not finished repairs by the time these statistics were gathered. Thus I had 6 BBs in the battle squadron and refused to face Togo's force until I had 7. With Pallada and Boyarin sunk in the PA attack and Novik and Askold damaged I kept the heavy units ashore for much of the first part of the camapign. Varyag and Koreyets escaped from Chemulpo although the latter boat is of no value.
When Askold was repaired she and Yaryag were sent on raiding cruises with Leytnant Bukarov the fast TB doing her own thing.
Varyag was the most successful of the western raiders, sinking 3 Marus and 1 auxiliary cruiser in a space of 17 days over 2 separate cruises.
Bukarov sank 1 merchant and the Askold met nothing but enemy heavy forces.
Much of teh time these three ships spent their days running away from things and fearing surprise night time meetings.
The western campaign area is a small piece of water compared to the eastern area and the Japanese cruise persistently with the Mikasa, Adzuma, Yoshino and Chin Yen squadrons which makes raiding almost fruitless.
In a future campaign I would keep the slow cruisers only at PA (Bayan, Diana and Pallada and Boyarin of they survive the night attack) and send all the others to Vladivostok where they can do much more damage.
I found that it takes the Japanese a week or so to crank up to war speed as regards merchant ship sailings. Not much was found in the first few days but after 2 weeks the waters of the Sea of Japan and off their south coasts were crowded with merchant ships.
My lack of success in the western area meant that of the 22 merchants taken, only 5 were Marus. 2 of them off Assan Basin, 2 in the Tsushima Strait and 1 off Ullung. I do not know if the camapign scoring system counts a Maru as equal to or more in value than a neutral but I suspect they are equal and if so this makes raiding off the western Korean coast even less attractive.
The repeated meetings with 10 knot auxiliaries became tiresome but again I suspect the AI put the information got from them before they sank to very good use.
What would I do differently next campaign?
1) Mine Chelumpo approaches like crazy - this campaign was begun when mining was bugged so I hardly did any. Varyag which can carry mines, and is fast, is useful for this.
2) Use the Russian battle squadron with slow cruisers and TBs attached to 'get noticed' south of the Elliot Islands purely with the aim of pinning Togos main battle force in that area.
3) Send every other cruiser to Vladivostok and kick merchant butt on the eastern side of the map.
4) Take heed of when the Japanese see you either with TB patrols or auxiliaries: move out of the area and raid elsewhere - don't hang about.
5) Send more forces to the Japanese south coast from week 2 to week 4 then withdraw them to the SoJ. Leap frog operations between these two areas to keep the Japanese on their toes.
Someone mentioned it would be a good idea if the game presented the user with a tally of all losses etc. I thought I'd try this and see what statistics it threw up. I wrote out an excel spreadsheet listing location and date of action, Russian ships involved, Japanese ships involved, losses on either side, total accumulated losses of warships, total accumulated losses of Japanese merchant shipping (inc neutrals) and campaign days elapsed.
The sheet is attached. Remember these findings are drawn from just one campaign that has so far lasted 20 days and obviously the strategies used define the results you'll get.
What it strongly shows is that the Sea of Japan is the place where the Russians can win the war. Here I captured and sank 18 out of 22 merchant ships taken during the campaign to date. I sent the Angara round to operate out of Vladivostok and for part of this period both auxiliary cruisers and the Vladivostok squadron operated off the south coast of Japan. For a week I enjoyed a 'happy time' where no enemy were encountered and the pickings were rich. After about a week however a player needs to withdraw from here and go back to the Sea of Japan. This strongly suggests that the captured neutrals wireless their position before surrender and the AI responds. After a certain number of 'distress calls' it is wise for the Russian player to cease operations in that location as it will be come very hot.
I found my most successful ship was the Lyena, operating alone she captured 7 neutrals in 12 days on her 2nd cruise.
Second most successful unit was the Vladivostok cruisers, capturing 5 neutrals in 9 days on their 3rd cruise.
I began by detaching the faster Bogatyr from the other 3 Vladivostok cruisers but operating in the Tsushima area she only captured 3 neutrals, sank 1 Maru and sank 2 10knot auxiliaries in 13 days, so I attached her back to her sisters as I found that with just 3 cruisers I had to run away from almost every Japanese cruiser force I met. Unfortunately the one time I did meet the Chiyoda nd her 7 old PCs I was low on ammunition and returned to Vladivostok.
The Vladivostok cruisers were able to sink 40 torpedo boats in 2 separate actions. This was fun but I'm not able to draw any conclusions about how useful it was. I suspect the AI uses these as trip wires to find Russian raiders so possibly sinking them does help. I would not say their loss is any great material (i.e. battle winning) handicap for the Japanese but it must hurt their patrolling ability.
On the western side of the Korean peninsular the war was very different. I had Tsesarevitch damaged in the initial PA attack and she had not finished repairs by the time these statistics were gathered. Thus I had 6 BBs in the battle squadron and refused to face Togo's force until I had 7. With Pallada and Boyarin sunk in the PA attack and Novik and Askold damaged I kept the heavy units ashore for much of the first part of the camapign. Varyag and Koreyets escaped from Chemulpo although the latter boat is of no value.
When Askold was repaired she and Yaryag were sent on raiding cruises with Leytnant Bukarov the fast TB doing her own thing.
Varyag was the most successful of the western raiders, sinking 3 Marus and 1 auxiliary cruiser in a space of 17 days over 2 separate cruises.
Bukarov sank 1 merchant and the Askold met nothing but enemy heavy forces.
Much of teh time these three ships spent their days running away from things and fearing surprise night time meetings.
The western campaign area is a small piece of water compared to the eastern area and the Japanese cruise persistently with the Mikasa, Adzuma, Yoshino and Chin Yen squadrons which makes raiding almost fruitless.
In a future campaign I would keep the slow cruisers only at PA (Bayan, Diana and Pallada and Boyarin of they survive the night attack) and send all the others to Vladivostok where they can do much more damage.
I found that it takes the Japanese a week or so to crank up to war speed as regards merchant ship sailings. Not much was found in the first few days but after 2 weeks the waters of the Sea of Japan and off their south coasts were crowded with merchant ships.
My lack of success in the western area meant that of the 22 merchants taken, only 5 were Marus. 2 of them off Assan Basin, 2 in the Tsushima Strait and 1 off Ullung. I do not know if the camapign scoring system counts a Maru as equal to or more in value than a neutral but I suspect they are equal and if so this makes raiding off the western Korean coast even less attractive.
The repeated meetings with 10 knot auxiliaries became tiresome but again I suspect the AI put the information got from them before they sank to very good use.
What would I do differently next campaign?
1) Mine Chelumpo approaches like crazy - this campaign was begun when mining was bugged so I hardly did any. Varyag which can carry mines, and is fast, is useful for this.
2) Use the Russian battle squadron with slow cruisers and TBs attached to 'get noticed' south of the Elliot Islands purely with the aim of pinning Togos main battle force in that area.
3) Send every other cruiser to Vladivostok and kick merchant butt on the eastern side of the map.
4) Take heed of when the Japanese see you either with TB patrols or auxiliaries: move out of the area and raid elsewhere - don't hang about.
5) Send more forces to the Japanese south coast from week 2 to week 4 then withdraw them to the SoJ. Leap frog operations between these two areas to keep the Japanese on their toes.