Japanese surprise attack never triggers

[mateorondon]

Is something broken about the Japanese surprise attack feature when Japan is being played as?
Every single time I get into a war with japan they get a surprise attack when playing as another nation, but I've been playing a Japan save, I'm at 1910 and I've had 3 wars with Russia and two wars with China, two of them post 1900. Not once has surprise attack triggered sucessfully, even at times when the Russians had large fleets in the Far East at the same time I had comparable forces present.

This last time was the most egregious, as I specifically sent units to the Baltic before war broke out to try to force the damn thing to trigger, and it still failed. I get it failing a few times, but it's pretty much their one defining trait in the game before having access to planes for kamikaze, they historically did it in the 1900s with the Russo-Japanese War, and it's just furstrating that so far I might as well have been playing a nation with any other trait.

[bgp_spook]

I have always had it trigger when I play as Japan. When it triggers, so etimes the attack fails to find a successful target becaue I don't have the DDs for it. Usually, when it initiates, the problem is my DDs run out of fuel before the battle commences.

[Andrew Cree]

Surprise attacks only trigger at a limited number of locations - and as far as I know, the Baltic certainly isn't one of them.

[Seeigel]

It does trigger, I got plenty of them in my many japan starts.

But thinks like the enemy expecting you to go to war (or they declaring war on you) and subsequent wars with the same nation (within a timeframe) lowers the chance to trigger one. You dont fall for the same trick twice ;-)

Also, I never managed to get the submarine suprise attack, but I also never invested much into SS as Japan.

And, you dont need alot of enemy ships to trigger one. I had an carrier force attack on Vladivostok where I sunk 1 BC and the scenario was over, no ships left.


bevore 1925: night attack (with DD force)
between 1925 and 1935 submarine sneack attack
after 1935: carrier force

I guess if you do not meet the requirements (lacking of SS or CV) it doesnt trigger.

And just quoting the manual:

Note: that a surprise attack is not a sure thing. There is a basic chance of 80% for a
surprise attack to take place. This is reduced considerably in subsequent wars with the
same nation (they are not so stupid that they fall for the same trick again). Also, there
might not be suitable enemy ships to target in a location within reach. In such cases, you
will be informed that there was no opportunity for a surprise attack.
Note: Ships in reserve or mothballed status might be included as defending ships
in a surprise attack, even though they will otherwise not take part in battles. This is
to make them vulnerable, and make it impossible for the player to ‘hide’ ships from
surprise attacks by putting them in reserve