Battlestations: Pacific/Coral

Coral is multiplayer's sole dark and stormy map, set exclusively at night for all game modes. There are very few islands to hide amongst, so a lot of the fighting will be out on the open seas.

Escort
"Yamato against Iowa. The showdown of the super-battleships. The odds will favour the one with the closer air support. Both sides have to sink the enemy flagship before they lose their own."

- Map description

This is a rather even battle. Each side has two carriers, a battleship, and two destroyers. The first to lose their side's battleship loses. Armed with dive bombers, fighters, and torpedo bombers, players must secure the skies and sink the enemy battleship. The Allies have access to Corsairs, Helldivers, and TBF Avengers for their attack group, while the Japanese have Raidens, Jills, and Judies. For some reason one of the Japanese carriers is also capable of spawning Zeroes. This is likely a glitch, but the difference is negligible.

The destroyers enter the fray first to do battle, but it takes them several minutes to do so. As a result the first attacks are generally dogfights, until the destroyers come within range. At this time players should begin dive and torpedo bombing attacks against them, so as to weaken their overall firepower. The Japanese have a pair of Akizuki-class destroyers while the Allies use two Allen M. Sumner-classes. Both are capable of securing the airspace above them for quite some time, and the destroyers will continue to fight until one side has been eliminated. The remaining destroyers then advance onto the battleship, and inevitably meet their demise there. It is possible, however, for them to cause considerable damage to the battleship by using their torpedoes. It is important therefore to sink them before they close the range.

With the destroyers gone, the battleships move in to engage each other. Henceforth it is a simple slugfest between the two, and the odds will indeed favour the battleship with additional bombers supporting it. Simply sink the enemy battleship to win.

Siege
"A crucial encounter is about to begin between major US and Japanese fleets. Both sides have to assist their fleet and sink as many enemy ships as they can."

- Map description

This relatively balanced map is essentially a Cruiser Duel with the addition of AI-controlled battleships. The fleets change in composition, but all the major battleship types appear for both sides: New York, King George V, South Dakota, Iowa, and Renown for the Allies, and Kongō, Fusō, and Yamato for the Japanese.

Each player is given control of a single non-unlockable heavy cruiser of their choice (Northampton and York or Mogami and Takao) to try and sink the opposing battleships. The battleships are worth their relative point costs in Island Capture, with Yamato and Iowa removing the most strength out of the enemy when sunk while Kongō and Renown remove the least. Strength is also deducted upon sinking other players.

How you play hinges a lot on which side you play, as Japanese and Allied cruisers are extremely different. The Japanese have a considerable edge in this battle as their cruisers are considerably more powerful than the Allies, in terms of both artillery and torpedo armament. The Allies should try and avoid letting the Japanese in close to torpedo attacks; they must engage at a distance and try to cover their battleships. In this sense, the mission is more similar to a Siege mission than initially meets the eye: the Allies must protect their battleships against the Japanese torpedo cruisers.

Competitive
"An Allied submarine group is harassing hostile ships deep within enemy territory. As a US sub commander, can you claim the biggest share of the prey? You have to take advantage of your submarine's stealth abilities and sink as many enemy ships you can."

- Map description

This map is very balanced and is the perfect place for players to practice submarine hunts. Each player commands a single Narwhal-class submarine against a huge number of hostile warships. They can choose between an east or west spawn; close to both spawns are two huge fleets of troop transports. There are ten ships in each fleet - 20 total. At the mission start, therefore, try to see where your rivals are spawning. If they converge on the east or west spawn, spawn at the one with fewer rivals. Ideally, you want to get all 10 ships to yourself. This alone is usually enough to get you in the lead and keep you there for a while. None of the cargo ships have artillery, so be sure to stay on the surface; subs travel faster on the surface than submerged, so zoom right amidst the convoy and tear things up with your torpedoes and deck guns.

Once the fleets dwindle, however, the mission truly begins and you'll be forced to fight heavily armed warships - Minekaze-class destroyers hunt for players unwilling to go to crush depth, along with E13A Jakes that are sometimes golden objective targets. Your twin machine guns, although generally considered insignificant, can potentially bring one of these down and earn you a considerable number of points. Just watch out for their quadruple depth charges.

Large groups of cruisers and occasionally a battleship will also appear to the south from the eastern spawn. These are all targets for you and your rivals. Be aware, however, that the points are awarded to whoever lands the final torpedo hit. Try to sink your targets quickly; otherwise they may be stolen from you.

Island Capture - Small
Map Description: This dark and stormy map is somewhat awkward in that the Allies have to defend only a single base - a combination airfield and shipyard. The Japanese, meanwhile, must defend their shipyard and a single aircraft carrier. This makes things somewhat more challenging as they must choose whether to bring their carrier into battle (and have their planes make shorter trips) or to keep it back and be forced to fight the Americans without air support.

Unlock Data: The Japanese are completely unable to select Ohkas for this battle, but the Allies are free to pick the TBM Avenger. Allied players can easily use this as a game-winner, but the Japanese can fight back with fighter screens. Most of the fighting will be on the waves, so pick a ship or anti-aircraft unlock. The Allies can pick a submarine unlock and try to sink the enemy carrier to remove all Japanese airpower in the region.

Balancing Notes: The Allies have an advantage here as the Japanese are unable to bring their Ohkas to bear. Meanwhile the Allies still have access to their TBM Avengers. Japanese fighter cover is essential to keeping ships afloat.

Click on a Headquarters to see what it can spawn.

CV(1) - Sōryū-class
Japanese planes 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * A6M Zero
 * D3A Val
 * B5N Kate
 * J7W Shinden
 * J9Y Kikka

Island Capture - Medium
Map Description: Medium is identical to Small, but adds upgraded submarines and another Japanese carrier into the mix. This puts the Japanese at a slight advantage in terms of mobility. The Allies have easy access to Supply Base 3, so the Japanese must take the two northern bases to even things out. Most of the fighting will be in the corner of the map, on the waves. The Allies can deploy TBM Avengers, but the Japanese still cannot deploy the Ohka Carrier. Combine this with the Japanese tendency to send their forces northward, and you have an easy approach to the primary Japanese base from the west. The Japanese will want to safeguard this area, preferably with recon planes, as far out as possible to ensure that surprise attacks are spotted quickly.

Unlock Data: As aforementioned, the Allies can deploy TBM Avengers, which can be used to make devastating surprise attacks against the Japanese main base from its west. J9Ys can be deployed from the Japanese carriers and are extremely fast and loaded with rockets, and will be a perfect TBM interdiction unit. Ship unlocks are preferred overall, as it takes a long time for units to get back into the fight if they are sunk. The US can also choose to deploy upgraded submarines and try to sink the Japanese carriers. A Tone-class ship is a good ASW ship that doubles as a good surface fighter, so Japanese players shouldn't discount this underrated unlock for this map.

Balancing Notes: The Japanese can't deploy Ohkas, which makes responding to American TBMs quite difficult. However, with the extra mobility provided by the two carriers, this helps negate things a little. The Allies need to protect only one base, but they have a quick shot at capturing the supply base to the south.

Click on a Headquarters to see what it can spawn.

HQ 5 (Japanese)
🇨🇴

CV(1) - Sōryū-class
Japanese planes 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * A6M Zero
 * D3A Val
 * B5N Kate
 * J7W Shinden
 * J9Y Kikka

CV(2) - Sōryū-class
Japanese planes 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * A6M Zero
 * D3A Val
 * B5N Kate
 * J7W Shinden
 * J9Y Kikka

Island Capture - Large
Map Description: Unlike Dreadnought and Swirl, this map is extremely asymmetric. The Americans start at the top and should try to use their carriers to capture the two Supply bases nearby whilst protecting them from Japanese airpower. The Japanese sport quite a bit of firepower and mobility on this map, especially in the form of their Tabbies. The Allies have no C-47s, and should rely on troop carriers and LSTs to capture islands instead. While the Allies often get a Command Point advantage early on, they will be hard-pressed to defend both carriers from incessant submarine and air attack.

Unlock Data: The Japanese still can't use their Ohka carriers, so the Allies again have the advantage. Their TBM Avengers can be launched from carriers that can be moved around. The Japanese will likely want to invest in the I-400 to destroy the Allied carriers to try and even the odds some. The Japanese will primarily want to rely on ship unlocks in order to fight the Allies' air superiority.

Balancing Notes: The Allies can spawn from a pair of carriers, which gives them a lot of mobility. The Japanese have only a single base to protect and therefore can concentrate their firepower, but they still lack the Ohka while the Allies can use TBMs.

Click on a Headquarters to see what it can spawn.

HQ 5 (Japanese)
🇨🇴

CV(1) - Yorktown-class
Allied planes 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * F4F Wildcat
 * SBD Dauntless
 * TBF Avenger
 * P-51 Mustang
 * P-80 Shooting Star
 * TBM Avenger

CV(2) - Yorktown-class
Allied planes 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴
 * F4F Wildcat
 * SBD Dauntless
 * TBF Avenger
 * P-51 Mustang
 * P-80 Shooting Star
 * TBM Avenger