Battlestations: Pacific/Dreadnought

Dreadnought is a large multiplayer map set amongst a large series of islands. A single large island in the center is the focus of the map and spawns powerful units.

Escort
"A US Carrier under kamikaze attacks is trying to make its way to safety. The US must provide air cover until the carrier leaves the battle zone whilst the Japanese must destroy the enemy carrier with their kamikazes before she can escape."

- Map Description

This fairly straightforward mission involves a Lexington-class carrier that must be escorted to safety, or eliminated quickly. Even without air superiority, the Japanese will have to fight an uphill battle against the American pilots as well as the carrier's escorts - a quartet of Fletcher-class destroyers.

The Allies have it fairly easy here - their only spawn point is from the carrier, and they must deploy either Hellcats or SB2Cs. The Helldivers, upon the mission start, are extremely useless, so stick with the Hellcats.

Meanwhile, the Japanese sport suicidal Oscars as their primary weapon. These can be supplemented with rocket-equipped Raidens, but these are typically ignored because Oscars have their own machine guns anyway. The Japanese must outmanoeuvre the Allied CAP, past the destroyer screen, and ram the carrier. Allied defences are extremely thick and it is next to impossible to ram the carrier, but don't worry - support comes in later.

The Japanese have two bases - one to the southeast of the carrier and another to the northwest. Japanese players should try to use this to their advantage and force the CAP to split up, potentially allowing one of the kamikazes in on the carrier or its destroyer escort.

Both the Japanese and the Allies receive AI reinforcements for the mission - the Lexington-class' inclusion of dive bombers into its air wing proves effective against the Japanese, as Japanese reinforcements arrive from the northeast corner. They come in the form of a Mogami-class cruiser and an Akizuki-class destroyer. These ships are the only seabourne units players "have", so keep them covered. As soon as they show up, half of the carrier's destroyer screen moves to engage them. The Americans must keep their carrier covered, as now is the perfect time for kamikaze strikes to sink the carrier.

The American reinforcements arrive a little later, but come in the form of additional aerial units. Two squads each of Tiny Tim TBM Avengers and torpedo-laden B-25s make a run on the Japanese reinforcements. These aircraft appear in the southwest corner and give the Allies considerable firepower. The J2M Raidens prove effective against the bombers, so begin using them on the American reinforcements in an effort to help the cruiser and its destroyer.

Usually everything falls to the cruiser to sink the carrier with help from kamikazes - if it manages to survive long enough, it sinks the carrier and wins the mission for the Japanese. Therefore, the Americans must keep their reinforcements alive whilst also bombing the Japanese ships to try and push the playing field into their direction. Once one team's reinforcements are eliminated, the session usually ends.