Battlehawks 1942: Finished

 We continue the Battle of Midway with an attack on the Hiryu, before it can launch a counterattack on American forces. This particular battle is one the Americans lost, but would quickly regroup on to eventually take out the Hiryu later on. Which is why this is moderately difficult.

This is another mission that falls into the category of not being able to win because I can't aim bombs for crap. The Japanese are especially braindead this time around. Sure, they fly around a bit, but I manage to gun down three of them, no need for me to worry about getting shot in the back. At this point, as long as I'm not starting out surrounded by enemies, bombing missions are pretty routine.

So, likewise is the Hiryu defense mission. There's something about Japanese fighters that make them harder to take down American bombers. It's not entirely the whole tailgunner thing, as I don't have as much trouble with Japanese bombers. This made me check what the manual had to say about weapons, and it turns out what I should have been doing is using the primary machine guns as a rangefinder for the secondary cannons. Turns out they aren't just there for additional firepower, they're what I should be using to actually damage enemy planes.

This kind of works, but owing to the whole nature of dogfighting, it can be tricky to do right. At least I know partially what I've been doing wrong. On the mission front it seems like you can't actually win the mission unless you take down every single enemy plane before they hit the ship. Again, friendly AI isn't that helpful and if one gets away from you, you aren't going back after it.

The American campaign gets a followup of a defense mission, protecting the Yorktown from bombers sent from the Hiryu. To tell you how this goes, it's followed up by another mission in which the Americans protect the Yorktown. Nine enemies, in a nice formation, and one friendly plane. This one was one I didn't know if I had a shot at, since there were so many and I didn't have that much ammo.

And I just get it in one. My ally actually downs three himself, though at least one was an assist. All but one were shot down, and even that guy is limping home, probably to a burning ship. It's unintentional, but the game is really hammering home how badly you get screwed if you don't provide fighter cover to bombers.

The Japanese mission is three bombers head to the Yorktown to destroy it, four enemy fighters block the bombing run. The game trips me up, because I keep thinking this is a torpedo bomber even though I'm in a Val. Otherwise, it's more annoying than your average bombing mission because the enemy planes keep deciding I'm the juiciest target in the sky.

The Americans once again have to defend the Yorktown, this time, torpedo bombers. I presume this is because aerial bombs are difficult to use in a way that actually sinks a ship rather than just putting a hole on the top of it. I prefer not to make sweeping assumptions about a style of attack I really have no understanding of beyond finding it easier to pull off. The mission itself is another straight-forward one, defend the Yorktown against two groups of three bombers. The tricky part is that the first group isn't the one you're facing.

This isn't as hard as I imagined it would be. Oh, sure, it took a few tries, and the first attempt was sheer confusion because I didn't realize the enemy was already at ground level, but one that was through? I actually got it. Surprising. I think I would have beaten every Midway mission on the American side if we don't account for my terrible accuracy with bombs.

On the Japanese side, this is still a hard mission, but I'm really not sure why. There are three enemy planes and two friendlies, and you are in a Kate, which means no front guns. You're close enough to the target that it doesn't matter and a little bit of dodging and they're in your rear sights. Once again, my difficulty lies in hitting the damn ship, a task made more difficult because the game placed me at the end of the carrier. At least that's the excuse I'm going for, since so many times I could have sworn I hit the carrier only for the game to go, nah, you didn't.

This brings Midway to an end. In real life, this was the deciding factor that ended the Japanese's chance of winning the war, since a significant chunk of their carriers were now at the bottom of the ocean. While the Americans did lose the Yorktown, it's generally understated how absolutely maddening American industrial capacity was in those days. With the Japanese forces on the run, the Americans changed tactics and went on the offensive.

This quickly led into the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. The Japanese were building an airstrip on Guadalcanal Island, one of the biggest southern Solomon Islands. Marines were sent to prevent the Japanese from achieving air superiority in the region and capture the airstrip. They succeeded, but the Japanese didn't take this lying down, making the capture of this new base a living hell for the marines there for two weeks. This is, in of itself, incredibly impressive and worthy of a game all on its own. It even includes something that you'd think would be a mission in-game, the Battle of Savo Island, wherein the Japanese planes sunk four allied cruisers. What, no easy missions for the Japanese?

The actual battle begins with constant bits of bad luck for both parties. The Japanese planned a big counterattack, which the Americans figured out thanks to scout planes and submarines. The American task force was further south, to protect shipping lanes. But the patrol planes, found troop transports headed for Guadalcanal, and bombers were sent off. The patrol planes? Also spotted by the Japanese, so they reverse course and the American bombers find nothing. The task force, not yet expecting a battle, sends its escorts off for fuel, leaving the carriers with only air cover. Finally, radar detected planes off the Japanese carrier Ryujo, so the Americans sent their own.

Our first mission as an American is of course, to bomb the Ryujo...with a torpedo bomber. The rules for torpedo bombing as an American are different than when you play as the Japanese, even if I've been playing them roughly similar anyway. Under a hundred feet and under a hundred MPH. This is the first time that being an American has screwed me over. Remember, American planes have trouble getting height unless you go full-speed, whereas Japanese planes don't have that trouble. With the Avenger torpedo bomber they've given me? This thing sinks like a stone.

The Japanese, meanwhile, defend the Ryujo and it's a fairly easy mission. You get an ally and there are four bombers. The trick is, it's two torpedo and two regular bombers. You have to rush the torpedo bombers, since they're already on the path to hitting the Ryujo. The problem is, that this doesn't put you in a position to take out the second group of bombers before they dive. You have to get lucky enough for your ally to take out one and then catch one yourself. It's very tense, to say the least.

Next up, the Americans defend the Enterprise against bombers, this time they actually bothered to bring an escort. Two groups, seven planes total, first group has three escorts, second has two. There's one friendly. The real trap by this time is less anything to do with combat and more just getting stuck trying to get a bead on one. If anything, the fighters are even easier as hostiles than bombers, simply because the second you actually hit them it only takes a few shots before they hit the ground.

The Japanese mission, despite as usual being harder, is quite simple. Two bombers, one friendly fighter and two groups of two American fighters. It's not overwhelmingly easy, but it is easy enough that as long as you manage to cause smoke to pour from an enemy plane, your allies will finish them off. I managed to get through the whole thing with zero friendly casualities, a first in this game.

The third Solomon mission as the Americans is interesting. Fly your torpedo bomber as a fighter against a group of Japanese bombers as they go after the Enterprise. I like the idea, not just another traditional shoot or bomb the targets mission. Even if it actually is. The Avenger torpedo bomber is unique in having only one front and rear gun as opposed to two. It is by far the easiest mission I've done yet, aced in one, friendly plane survives. The game even gives somewhat bad advice, don't let the Japanese get on your tail. When I have a tailgun, it doesn't matter if someone's on my tail.

The Japanese side mimics this by having you defend your fellow bombers against their bombers. The idea is to escape, help your three friendlies back while you deal with four hostiles. In practice, just gun them down. Sure, the American machineguns are heavier, but you get enough support here to take them out. The mission debriefing screen, after I had once again cleared out the hostiles first try, didn't give me a success screen, because I didn't take out all the hostiles. There might be a fifth I just damaged, or the game might be hiding another group of hostiles, but either way, it's some lame crap to be "escape with your lives!" in the mission briefing and then pull a switcheroo on me.

The final American mission here is a bombing run on the Japanese Support Group. Which means for once, I'm not actually bombing a carrier. Or am I? The game in the end mission briefing says I didn't hit the carrier, which could mean anything. Considering my accuracy with bombs, trying is probably a bad idea, but at least I handled the "deal with enemy fighters" part handily. The Japanese side is a bog standard defense mission, just fly as a fighter, defend against two dive-bombers in a dive.

This takes us to the last part of the campaign. The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The Japanese are still trying to take back Guadalcanal, and their latest task force has been spotted by the Santa Cruz Islands, east of Guadalcanal. Still a part of the Solomon Islands, in case you didn't know.

Our first mission is a dive-bomb run on a generic carrier. Enemy resistance is fierce, the game advises me to fight them off before doing my attack run. They're not kidding, because as near as makes no difference, you're up against six fighters straight off and two a bit further away. One friendly bomber makes no difference, he isn't doing squat before getting shot down. It goes the usual way, I have fun trying to figure out how to fight them, and fail to bomb the carrier. The Japanese side is at this point, the usual carrier defense mission. The only odd thing is, you start ten thousand feet above the enemy, which is quite the dive.

The second American mission is to defend the Hornet in the battle it was destroyed in. This is the only American mission listed as impossible. In comparison to the Japanese ones, it's probably closer to hard. You have to defend against two groups of two dive bombers and two groups of two torpedo bombers. There's one friendly who will inevitably get shot down. You yourself have to immediately dive towards the torpedo bombers, then wait near the carrier to take out the dive bombers. 

You'd think the Japanese version of this mission would be easy, but it's hard. In theory, it's fair, two torpedo bombers, of which you are one, and two dive bombers against four fighters. As per usual, any bomber in the hands of AI is about as useful as a heat-seeking missile on the surface of the sun. The description implies that the friendly planes will do something of value, like delay the enemy before they gang up on you. The Japanese torpedo bombers have no front guns, so there's an excuse there, but the dive-bombers just sit there and take it. They also really don't provide that much of a delay, seeing as you start so far away from the carrier you're bombing that you can't even see it on-screen.

The Americans, meanwhile, have to sink the Shokaku, this time for real. Torpedo bomber, no special consideration. You start far away, there are three friendly planes who do contribute a little bit, but mostly just get shot down. Typical mission, but the Japanese version is interesting. It's supposed to be impossible, but there are only six enemy bombers, two torpedoes and four dive. There's even a friendly, he got one hostile. Because the game is now addicted to putting massive distance between bombers and the ships, getting there before the required time is simple. I got it in one.

The final American mission is something different, protect damaged torpedo bombers as they return home from their attack. The American fighter you get has low ammo stores and the first group of enemies is located in such a place that you have to practically stop your engine to engage before he attacks the friendlies. That said, enemy fighters seem to miss the bombers on their first attack, which works in your favor. Just get them on their turnaround. I still couldn't get all three bombers home safely, but did manage two with those tactics.

The Japanese mission is the same, except you only get one friendly and there are multiple escorts. As the likely final mission of the game, this is disappointing, because it feels like unless you get shot down, you win. You're telling me that a campaign that felt like it was constantly asking more of the player just ends with a mission that plays out like I'm getting a participation trophy?

Next time, we'll see if I can summarize my thoughts on this...thing.

This Session: 3 hours 30 minutes

Final Time: 8 hours 20 minutes