LargeSlowTarget
Posts: 3638
Joined: 9/23/2000 From: Hessen, Germany - now living in France Status: offline
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Owl [B]Offensive mines - As the Japanese, is it worth while to drop mines in the shallows off Nomea or the Australian ports? [/B][/QUOTE] IMO it is not. So far I had no success worth mentioning in mine warfare off Noumea and Australia, neither against the AI nor against a human opponent. Scores of sub minelaying missions resulted in 2 AP/AK damaged. Allied DMS/MSW discovered and swept most minefields before they could do any harm. You can't use MLs close to enemy airbases, subs can carry only a few mines and allied MSW capacity is quite high. Furthermore, there are few shallow water hexes outside the port hexes (at least off Australia). So if the opponent does not blunder, s/he should be able to keep enough MSW vessel at all important ports. The AI is also quite good in this regard. What you can try is to mine a port and have another sub on patrol at the same hex - maybe you can sink the MSW. But it is risky, I have lost 2 I-boats in shallow waters to Allied ASW but didn't sink a single MSW. Just bad luck, I hope. Hunting MSWs may also be considered gamey, once you have sunk them all you can mine the #*#@ out of your opponent, and since he cannot ask for aditional MSW ships being sent from Pearl... LST
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