wade@nmtvax.UUCP (02/26/85)
Possible Modifications to Midway:
A. Increase the effectiveness of AA fire, especially that of cruisers
and battleships escorting carriers. One of the main purposes of the
escorting ships was to provide effective AA cover, and in the game,
once the attackers are past the CAP, there is very little resistance,
and what little there is comes from the players ship while the escorts
sit idly by and watch.
B. Add Destroyers and torpedos. Destroyers are valuable escorts, and were
used in the battle of Midway, as in most major engagements. In addition
to adding AA fire, they carry torpedos for ship to ship combat. Many
cruisers also carry torpedos, although the american torps were almost
useless because they were so unreliable. For example, the Maya had
sixteen 24 inch torpedo tubes and the Atlanta had eight 21 inch torpedo
tubes.
Example Destroyers:
American:
DD Kelly, 1760 tons, six 5" AA guns, ten 21" torpedo tubes
Japanese:
DD Yukikaze, 2033 tons, six 5" AA guns, eight 24" torpedo tubes
C. Add a refuelling and rearming delay on all aircraft, rather than allowing
them to take off again as soon as they land. Planes in CAP should also
have to land periodically rather than staying up indefinately.
D. Add the transports and support ships the Jintsu was escorting, they would
make fun targets and would give the japanese something to protect.
Any more suggestions?
Richard Wade
nmtvax!wademom@sftri.UUCP (Mark Modig) (03/04/85)
Yes, a few more, that I am working on even as we speak...
1) The sun has to go down sometime folks, and it's kinda difficult to
fly in the dark. Designate two times as sunset and sunrise.
Planes are not allowed in the air between a sunset and sunrise.
If a strike doesn't quite get back to their ship or Midway before
sunset, the planes ditch.
2) As long as you add nighttime, you might as well make it so that
everyone starts each new day unspotted-- you have to find your enemies
all over again. At least you'll have some idea of where to
look.
3) Damage control and repair-- a ship could repair torpedo and bomb
hits at night, up to a maximum of one torpedo hit and 2 bomb
hits for the entire game. Larger ships, say BBs, and CVs, might
be allowed to repair more.
4) Strikes should occasionally miss their targets.
5) As near as I can tell, the code always tells you when you have
been spotted by an enemy plane. Make it so there's a chance
you don't see the scout, so you can get a nasty surprise attack.
6) Bogus sightings. Unclear or just plain wrong sightings played
an important part in the battle.
7) Need to change the range for the planes. Japanese planes had a
range of about 35 miles or so greater than the Americans,
particularly the TBD, a plane entirely different from the TBF,
a half dozen or so of which were on Midway at the time.
This means that it should be possible for the Japanese to hit
American carriers while remaining out of range from a return strike.
Since this is an important strategic consideration, it should
be implemented.
AA fire seems OK to me-- unless you have a couple of BBs or CLAAs
escorting your carrier, if a lot of enemy planes get thru the CAP,
you are in trouble. AA can't get 'em all, nor should it. I agree it
would be nice if your escorts were a bit more enthusiastic (and
smarter) about helping you out, tho. I'm not sure about this, but I
don't think it is possible to shoot down your own planes with AA;
this should be fixed if it is true-- if you're attacked with all
your planes still on the carrier and you get them off while the
attack is going on, your AA fire should shoot both enemy and
friendlies down.
Definitely need the destroyers and transports.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.
Mark Modig
sftri!momyee@ucbvax.ARPA (Peter E. Yee) (03/06/85)
The main problem with adding the ships under 5000 tons is the sheer number of these suckers. Currently the program has to keep track of about 1400 planes and a fair number of ships. To add destroyers would slow the game down too much (unless you are running on a Cray :-)). I like the other suggestions, and I will forward them to the author. Who knows, perhaps he or someone else will make some of the mods. -Peter Yee ..ucbvax!yee yee@Berkeley.ARPA
6615lp13@sjuvax.UUCP (palena) (03/14/85)
In article <368@sftri.UUCP> mom@sftri.UUCP (Mark Modig) writes: >Yes, a few more, that I am working on even as we speak... > >1) The sun has to go down sometime folks, and it's kinda difficult to > fly in the dark. Designate two times as sunset and sunrise. > Planes are not allowed in the air between a sunset and sunrise. > If a strike doesn't quite get back to their ship or Midway before > sunset, the planes ditch. > >2) As long as you add nighttime, you might as well make it so that > everyone starts each new day unspotted-- you have to find your enemies > all over again. At least you'll have some idea of where to > look. > >3) Damage control and repair-- a ship could repair torpedo and bomb > hits at night, up to a maximum of one torpedo hit and 2 bomb > hits for the entire game. Larger ships, say BBs, and CVs, might > be allowed to repair more. > >4) Strikes should occasionally miss their targets. > >5) As near as I can tell, the code always tells you when you have > been spotted by an enemy plane. Make it so there's a chance > you don't see the scout, so you can get a nasty surprise attack. > >6) Bogus sightings. Unclear or just plain wrong sightings played > an important part in the battle. > >7) Need to change the range for the planes. Japanese planes had a > range of about 35 miles or so greater than the Americans, > particularly the TBD, a plane entirely different from the TBF, > a half dozen or so of which were on Midway at the time. > This means that it should be possible for the Japanese to hit > American carriers while remaining out of range from a return strike. > Since this is an important strategic consideration, it should > be implemented. > >AA fire seems OK to me-- unless you have a couple of BBs or CLAAs >escorting your carrier, if a lot of enemy planes get thru the CAP, >you are in trouble. AA can't get 'em all, nor should it. I agree it >would be nice if your escorts were a bit more enthusiastic (and >smarter) about helping you out, tho. I'm not sure about this, but I >don't think it is possible to shoot down your own planes with AA; >this should be fixed if it is true-- if you're attacked with all >your planes still on the carrier and you get them off while the >attack is going on, your AA fire should shoot both enemy and >friendlies down. > >Definitely need the destroyers and transports. > >That's about all I can think of at the moment. > >Mark Modig >sftri!mom There is a game that I have on disk for the Apple II that fits all of these criterion.It's called Midway.Since I have it on disc I don't know the name of the company which publishes it,but it's strange to hear you discussing these modifications when I played a game which has all these built in.It might pay to look into it.This game works with a 24-hour clock,with night bombing.There are no American destroyers but there are Japanese battleships as well as Carriers.