Where is the enemy carrier?

[FOARP]

I've conquered my way to the middle of the map, I did see the enemy carrier capturing islands but it then seemed to stop in the north-west corner of the map (I haven't seen it, but that's where the last island it captured was). I've sent numerous flights near the last islands it captured and don't see the enemy carrier at all, nor it is in near any of the red islands near there trying to capture them - it seems to have disappeared.

Does the enemy carrier retreat into its own territory? Does it go back to its starting warehouse? Or should I just try to conquer the whole map (which feels like a bit of a chore at this point) and see if I find it that way?

[Duke]

Try to see the pattern of where the enemy is capturing islands and scout accordingly.

[FOARP]

Originally posted by Günter Glieb3n:

Try to see the pattern of where the enemy is capturing islands and scout accordingly.

I did actually do this, thing is, the enemy carrier is not capturing islands, nor does it seem to be at the last island I saw captured.

Does the enemy carrier run without lights? I'm assuming it will be as visible as my carrier is, but I've switched on all the lights.

[PeaceMaker]

It may have moved elsewhere to keep distance away from you cos it's not ready for a fight yet. You just gotta keep searching.

[pavig]

If you start taking its islands it seems to get less shy.

[FOARP]

Originally posted by pavig:

If you start taking its islands it seems to get less shy.

Already been taking yellow islands for the last ~10 hours of game-play. No sign of it.

[Duke]

I spotted enemy carrier in the distance with all lights blazing away.

[TinManNFO]

You might have to just launch aircraft and do ladder or expanding box search patterns to look for it. I'm pretty sure its lights are always on by default, so it should be unmistakable to VID from a distance. I think on one save file I've seen the enemy carrier stalled out somewhere, but this was quite a few patches ago.

[FOARP]

Is there a cheat to find the enemy carrier? I've spent another 10 in-game hours playing and still not found it.

EDIT: no sooner had I wrote this, than something started mysteriously attacking barges near my starting island deep inside my territory - that's got to be the enemy carrier, right?

EDIT2: It IS the enemy carrier!!!! But how did it get all the way down there, and why is it attacking my starting base? Never mind, am at flank speed to intercept!

[Duke]

Originally posted by FOARP:

EDIT2: It IS the enemy carrier!!!! But how did it get all the way down there, and why is it attacking my starting base? Never mind, am at flank speed to intercept!

Excellent please provide an after action report. ;)

[BloodShed]

Originally posted by FOARP:

EDIT: no sooner had I wrote this, than something started mysteriously attacking barges near my starting island deep inside my territory - that's got to be the enemy carrier, right?

That's the behaviour I've seen when I took one of the enemy carrier's islands.

It was capturing islands away from me before the capture.

[FOARP]

It had disembarked some Seals when I got there but the island was still under friendly control. Knowing that even a mass air attacked was likely pointless I instead approached from the opposite side of the island and landed my Bears (mostly battle-cannon armed, but if one artillery gun) and a couple of AA-Walruses. My Bears wiped the floor with their Seals but the enemy carrier came steaming around the island.

Cruise missiles launched by the enemy carrier were intercepted with ease, and the aircraft it launched were shot down by the Walruses. I fired several salvos from the 160mm deck gun, some hit and the enemy carrier was heavily damaged, it managed to get off a salvo in return from its deck gun but happily the shots missed, and a shot from a Bear added to the damage. The enemy carrier withdrew and my 160mm gun magazine was temporarily exhausted. I opened up with my 120mm ground artillery gun - the long flight-time of its shells meant I had to aim pretty far ahead of the enemy carrier and my shots mostly missed but after it turned back towards me I was rewarded with a single hit. I then opened up with my now partially-reloaded 160mm gun and that was all she wrote - battle won!

It has taken my 80 hours of game play to reach this point! In the end I managed to use every weapon except rockets, TV bombs, and 40mm cannon, and captured more than 30 islands.

I enjoyed this game but I'm not going to replay - I think I got my money's worth but by the end it was a bit of a slog. I would love to pay a game with far fewer islands, but more aggressive air/naval patrolling by the AI (not simply stationary until they see you so you can blast them from long range in a lot of circumstances). The islands should be larger and it should be less easy simply to blast land units to shreds with the carrier's weapons - ground combat was actually quite fun but it was almost always better to simply flay the enemy with shells and missiles from the carrier or using air-support.

[Korsyn01]

Great write up! Something I've seen others do is equip a Manta with an AWACS and begin patrolling the map. The AWACS can pick up the enemy Carrier's signature, and the Manta can obviously travel much faster than your own Carrier.

[Devil Dog]

Well that was kind of a let down - I haven't bought the game, been looking at it for months, and still see the same enthusiasm fall off because the islands, aside from the occasional resource pickup basically become a non-factor after capture.

You still can't rebuild static defenses right, but I'm guessing you can leave some mobile units. But what happens when that AI carrier comes calling again (if it does at all), and all your units are out of ammo? Anyways, I guess each map has to end at some time.

And then there's that $50 price