Battlestations: Pacific/Jaws

Jaws is a typical island archipelago.

Escort
"A Japanese and American carrier force is about to engage each other. Both sides have to sink the enemy carrier before they lose theirs."



This map is extremely straightforward and reasonably balanced, but is extremely slow-paced and heavily reliant on ships. Players only have access to Wildcats and TBFs, or Zeroes and Kates.

As aforementioned, the map is straightforward - players must simply defend their carrier while trying to sink the enemy's. Unfortunately, fights do not revolve around the carriers, and instead are focused on a pair of large fleets heading toward the carrier. The battle in reality depends on who sinks the enemy fleet first.

The Japanese fleet sails in a single narrow line. The Japanese fleet consists of a pair of Fuso-class battleships, and three Akizuki-class destroyers. The Allied fleet has a Renown-class and a King George V-class battleship. The Allied fleet sails line abreast, with ships directly across from each other, and has two Atlanta-class light cruisers sailing for escort.

This battle formation is inherently flawed; the Japanese battleships have 12 guns each for a total of 24, while the Allies have only ten guns on their King George V and six more on their Renown. Additionally, the Allies' sailing formation puts the Renown-class in range far earlier than the King George; this formation also impedes the firing arcs of the King George, forcing it to fire over the Renown. While the Allied Atlanta-class cruisers are stronger than the Akizuki-class destroyers, the Japanese have three of them, thus negating the Allies' cruisers. Therefore, this map inherently goes to the Japanese.

Regardless, each fleet begins within striking distance of the opposing side's carrier. Since carriers are virtually unarmed, the fight ultimately boils down to who sinks the opposing fleet first, not who sinks the enemy carrier.

With such a small unit selection, combined with the addition of the two fleets (which are virtually unstoppable if your own fleet is sunk) makes this map extremely unpopular amongst players.

Siege
"Japanese amphibious forces are about to attack a US controlled island from the northwest. The US must protect the island and destroy the enemy landing forces. The Japanese have to destroy all the coastal defence lines and protect their landing vessels."

- Map description

This rather unbalanced map is rather straightforward for both sides. The Allies have a heavily defended island, surrounded by fortresses, that the Axis players must take over. Axis players have access to Agano-class light cruisers or Minekaze-class destroyers, while the Allies have access to De Ruyters (erroneously flying the American flag) and Clemsons.

The Japanese have to employ every advantage in their arsenal to win, most particularly their torpedoes, because the US land-based defences in particular cause a lot of damage to the very vulnerable SB boats in their landing fleet. The Allies also use a single squad of SBDs to harass the landing ships, but they ultimately aren't a major cause for concern.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this map is its monotony - apart from the occasional SB boat making landfall or the De Ruyter penetrating the Japanese lines, there aren't a lot of other things to do in this map. The fortresses are the Japanese team's primary target, but the extra cannons the De Ruyters have will almost certainly prevent that.

Competitive
"Commanding the guns of your coastline defences, can you stop the enemy overwhelming your shores? As a US land defence force you have to control all the defences surrounding a vital headquarters."

This game mode is very similar to a shooting gallery - waves of almost random enemies will appear and attempt to neutralize your headquarters. Using your shoreline flak and AA batteries, you have to sink all enemy ships and keep the enemy at bay.

The first wave consists always of troop transports. As you destroy enemies, the ante slowly gets upped. Approximately every third wave consists of either dive bombers or kamikaze planes, both of which approach at high altitude. You'll want to keep your eyes peeled for these, as even a few can either neutralize your HQ outright (and end the game for everyone), or knock out your shore defences.

The longer you hold onto your headquarters, the more guns it sprouts. Eventually this culminates with sufficient firepower to sink a Yamato-class battleship, which is one of the waves before the game rolls over back to destroyers and troop transports. There is no end to the waves; simply survive and eliminate the enemy as they come.

Island Capture - Small
Map Description: Similar to pretty much every other small-sized map there is, Jaws has players start in the southwest and northeast corners for a quick battle for an airfield. Naturally, whoever controls this airfield can easily neutralize the last enemy headquarters for an easy win. With heavy cruisers available, this map generally goes to the Japanese, whose heavy cruisers are the strongest in the game. If the Allies can secure the airfield, however, their TBM Avengers give them a distinct advantage.

Unlock Data: The Allies, if possible, will probably want to get the Alaska-class CA to try and even the odds against the powerful Mogami-class. Otherwise, the Allies will want to use as much torpedo power as possible to try and take the airfield, and start employing TBM Avengers. The other unlocks aren't as useful - the Atlanta-class upgrade has more guns but less punch from its guns.

Balancing Notes: This map typically goes to the Japanese, but if the Allies can capture the airfield, their TBM Avengers can create an extremely easy win for them. However, this map is still favoured by the Japanese as their heavy cruisers can punch through Allied cruiser screens and hit the headquarters directly. Overall, the map is reasonably balanced, but only if the Allies are wise enough to employ Tiny Tims.