S3 #74 - Carrier Captains; PTO 1942

Game Settings

  • IJN Players(red) - 83 est
  • USN Players(green) - 84 est
  • Icons – d24 friendly, d8 range, d8 enemy plane
  • Winds – none
  • Clouds - random clouds, varies from frame to frame.
  • Radar –10 mile radius, grey dots, inflight arrow. Minimum alt is 500 ft.
  • Flak - all Flak is limited to 12,000ft in height.
  • IJN Airfields(red) - CVs and in north
  • USN Airfields(green) - CVs and in south
  • Fuel Multipler - set at 1.0 for all planes.
  • Rebuild Time - 300 mins
  • Game Length – 180 mins
  • Lives – 1 life per frame
  • Game Scale - 1 squad = 1 historical unit and 1 frame = 1 set of operations.

Basic Rules

Initial Format - changes due the first frame fiasco in bold italics.

Start Times - each frame uses the following schedule;

  • T-15 - players should report to a shorebase to await carrier mission. Those stuck on the wrong country need to ask for the CM to move them. Make sure you have the right colour.
  • T+0 - Pre-Dawn - CVs enabled, flight enabled for scout a/c, limit 6 per carrier.
  • T+15 - Dawn - flight enabled for CAP a/c, limit 12 per carrier.
  • T+30 - Light - First Strike may launch, min of 8 a/c per carrier.
  • T+45 - Full light - Second Strike may launch, min of 8 a/c per carrier.
  • T+160 - Dusk, last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP.
  • T+180 - Dark, all squads must be in tower or land in the dark.

Operational Restrictions - each side may only conduct operations in the area outlined in the game map. There is a no fly zone in the northwest and a/c may not enter this area at anytime. Player navigated ships may not travel off map at anytime.

A6M3 Restriction - due to an invisible bug with the default skin or PPV UI-105 Nishizawa skin on the A6M3 only those players that can select another skin for the A6M3 may fly it. Otherwise you must fly the A6M2 instead. If IEN fixes this problem the restriction will be lifted.

Strike Hardness - due to the difference in IJN and USN strike capabilities the buff hardness has to remain relatively low or the SBD in particular becomes a beast. Increase to 2.0 for strike from 1.5 initially to allow strikes at least a chance to attack shipping. Ship flak has had some of their damage settings turned down as well as the main guns on the DDs are especially deadly.

Country Colour - make sure you have the right colour selected before logging into the arena. There will be a 30min delay in side switching during the frame. Log in at T-15 incase you have to be switched to the proper side by the CM.

Carrier Teams - there are four carrier teams, two for each side. CarDiv 1 and 2 for the Japanese and TF-11 and TF-16 for the Americans. The team with the highest score at the end of the series is declared the winner. Each team may use any mix of a/c to accomplish their mission, there are no limits to a squad on what they may fly or how many. CVs will load for each team with the same number, C1 for CarDiv 1 and C5 for CarDiv 2; C9 for TF-11 and C13 for TF-16.

Carrier Operations - all a/c types may be used by a squad regardless of its designation. There are no ord restrictions on any a/c and scouts may be armed in that role. Scout, CAP and Strike a/c may be any type a carrier team has available. Flight will not always be enabled to represent the limited capablity of carrier deck operations. After scouts are launched the decks will be shutdown until the CAP launches at T+15. After the CAP launches it will be shutdown until the Strike 1 is launched and then the same for Strike 2. After the strikes are launched flight will be shutdown and opened on a limited basis. All pilots waiting for their carrier should stay at a airbase until a few minutes before their assigned mission launches, then move to their carrier.

  • Scouts - max of 6; launch at T+0 to search for enemy carrier groups or shipping, may act as CAP if scouting done for the night or join a strike package.
  • CAP - max of 12; launch at T+15 to patrol carrier group airspace, no limit on the distance they may cover.
  • Strike 1 - min 8 a/c; launch at T+30 no restrictions on target. The only time a strike may launch without a ship sighting is if their CV is underattack and they have to clear decks by launching.
  • Strike 2 - min 8 a/c; launch at T+45 no restrictions on target. The only time a strike may launch without a ship sighting is if their CV is underattack and they have to clear decks by launching.

Carrier A/C Totals - carriers are assumed to be the best each side has to offer and resupplied and there are no limits on their a/c from frame to frame. It is up to the Frame and Squad COs to decide what a/c they will take.

Ship Nav - there is no ship navigation allowed. All CV groups proceed on a set course outlined before each frame. Due to take off problems at high speed especially on CV6 the AI will proceed at an optimal lower speed and all a/c carriers may be replaced by the longer Kaga. Testing continues.

Ship Gunning - do not do this! You will get a penalty plane. AI flak is much more accurate than a player will ever be so you are only hurting your side by grabbing a gun.

Damaged Ships - ships are ruled damaged if they are unloaded at the end of the night and a kill credit occurs, they are obviously burning and issuing smoke for a prolonged period during the night or a perfect torpedo hit does not register. This is difficult and requires a screenshot or a CM witness.

Ship Settings - the settings for the ships have been tested and these are the approximate goals for damage using the specific S3 settings for ships, bombs and torps. For bombs you have to hit the exact sweet spot for full damage otherwise you will have to hit with many more bombs than necessary. Carriers have a very limited hit box in the middle of the ship near their exhast stacks, the rest of the ships are dead centre. Strafing down ships only works against transports and boats and has little effect against the larger ships. Damaged reduced after Frame 3 as ships still are very difficult to sink.

Ship Destroy Armor Torpedo* 5" HVAR 3" HERP WGr21 60lb Para 100 lb 250 lb 500 lb 1000 lb 1600 lb 2000 lb 50 kg 250 kg 500 kg 800 kg 1000 kg
Kaga 3000 strafe N/E 0.60 4.26 7.52 4.26 15.96 12.77 5.12 2.56 1.60 1.00 0.80 11.63 2.33 1.45 0.91 0.72
CV6 3000 strafe N/E 0.60 4.26 7.52 4.26 15.96 12.77 5.12 2.56 1.60 1.00 0.80 11.63 2.33 1.45 0.91 0.72
DD1 2000 strafe N/E 0.40 2.84 5.01 2.84 10.64 8.51 3.41 1.71 1.07 0.67 0.53 7.75 1.55 0.97 0.61 0.48
DD2 2000 strafe N/E 0.40 2.84 5.01 2.84 10.64 8.51 3.41 1.71 1.07 0.67 0.53 7.75 1.55 0.97 0.61 0.48
Freighter 1000 strafe N/E 0.20 1.42 2.51 1.42 5.32 4.26 1.71 0.85 0.53 0.33 0.27 3.88 0.78 0.48 0.30 0.24
Transport 500 stafe N/E 0.71 1.25 0.71 2.66 2.13 0.85 0.43 0.27 0.17 0.13 1.94 0.39 0.24 0.15 0.12
Boat(VIC56) 250 stafe N/E 0.36 0.63 0.36 1.33 1.06 0.43 0.21 0.13 0.08 0.07 0.97 0.19 0.12 0.08 0.06

*Torpedos must hit within 92 to 88 degrees perpendicular of ship for full effect anywhere on the hull. Some torpedos launched too close will show running underneath the ship. Try and launch as far as way possible. Only a perfect strike from dead 6 on a transport or boat will score damage so for game purposes these ships are shallow draught vessels for which torpedoes are useless.

AI ship flak - all AI shipping will have the lowest possible accuracy and avoidance settings, DDs will engage at 12,000ft to try and keep them moving realistically and still allow some low-level flak protection. The remaining ship types will engage at 2 to make it so they dont move if possible.

Landing airfields or other carriers - individual pilots who are damaged or low on fuel may land another carrier or airfields and must replane from there. Remember deck operations are complicated so you may not be able to replane right away. This does not mean squad operations can be planned to take advantage of this. Squads that run low and must land another location than their home carrier must replane and immediately head to their carrier.

Sunk Carriers - if a team's carrier is sunk they may land at another CV or shorebase. If it is after T+90 when their CV was sunk they are done for the night. If it is before T+90 they may then teleport to a new carrier located in the sunk box on the map.

Carrier Groups - Carrier groups have a random start up location based upon the grid and dierolls. Each carrier team is positioned by random roll in either 6 grids they have exclusive ownership or the 4 grids they share with the enemy. Every carrier group will have a carrier, two destroyers and a freighter and will be set at 30 mph on a random heading. If the heading will put the CV group into land or off the map the Janitors will change it to keep them in play for the entire frame. Players may NOT nav the carrier group. Before pilots launch make sure you know the heading of the CV group and that it will not change suddenly to follow its determined course. It is possible for enemy carriers to be put in the same 20 mile x 20 mile grid as friendly carriers but this can only happen in the four centre grids indicated on the map(G,H,K,L). If a carrier is sunk before T+90 a replacement carrier group will be put in the sunk box for use by that carrier team for the remainder of the frame. Any and all a/c may launch from this new carrier when they are ready. A loss of a CV after T+90 means the carrier team is done for the night. The ships in a CV group will continue on their heading even after the CV is sunk so these will still need protection from enemy attacks.

Merchant Shipping - Each side has a shipping lane that will have a random number of ships with escort moving back and forth near the site indicated on the game map. There is also the chance of anchored or offshore ships indicated in or near the area on the map for both sides. These ships are AI driven and players may not nav them during a frame.

Penalty Planes - players that commit errors in basic rules and do not attempt to correct the error during play will have a penalty plane assigned to their squad. Examples include flying different a/c during a frame, teleporting fields when not allowed by special rules, gunning from ships or flak positions.

  • IJN Penalty Planes - Kate
  • USN Penalty Plane - TBD

Squad Penalty Plane Tallies are kept in the PPlist. It is up to each squad to fly their penalty a/c and let the CM know how many have been flown after a frame so he can remove them from the list. These carry over to the next series so cannot be escaped.

Victory Points - are based upon ships damaged and sunk, planes destroyed as confirmed kills and pilots KIA. Remember AI flak from ships will not score in the log or buffer. See the scoring summary for details.

Victory Conditions - Victory conditions are slightly different this series. Both the side and the carrier team with the most cumulative points at the end of the series are declared the winners.

S3 Clarifications - the S3 staff reserves the right to make a ruling on questions or game situations not answered completely or missed by the rules. For further clarification please post on the S3 forum or email Jabo.

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