Battlestations: Pacific/Dreadnought

Dreadnought is a large multiplayer map set amongst a large series of islands. Unlike other maps, it is completely symmetrical. Its defining feature is a single large island in the center, a large focus during Island Capture. 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.

Siege
"Japanese landing forces are attacking a US island from the south. The US must sink the landing ships and protect the coastal defence lines. The Japanese have to provide air cover for the landing forces and destroy enemy fighters and land forts."

- Map Description

Here, the Japanese are attempting to land on a heavily fortified American stronghold. The Japanese have a HUGE disadvantage in this map, as the base's defences include several Fortresses, which are immune to standard machine gun fire. The Americans also have a huge firepower advantage with their superior rockets. As a result of this huge unbalance, this map is best played with less experienced players on the American side and elite aces on the Japanese side. Both sides have access to only two planes: the Americans have access to HVAR Corsairs and Helldivers, while the Japanese have rocket-equipped Raidens and D4Y Judies.

As aforementioned, the Allies have it easy on this map. The enemy landing fleet to the south consists of only three units - Troop Transports, Daihatsus, and SB Boats - all of which are easy pickings for rockets. The troop transports, however, have a lot of HP. Your best bet against these is to either focus rocket attacks or use SB2Cs on them - the Helldivers take down the ships faster but are far more vulnerable to enemy AA. All the Americans have to do is strafe down as many units as possible - a task made even easier by how bunched together the Daihatsus are. Any expert of low-altitude flying can easily sink entire waves of Daihatsus single-handedly. SB Boats in this mission are vulnerable to machine gun fire, but are best tackled with rockets. Two volleys of rockets from two Corsairs is enough to sink one.

The troop transports and SB Boats will constantly respawn so long as the Japanese have some "strength" left. Keep the pressure on the landing fleet, but also be sure to shoot down as many enemy fighters in your airspace as possible. The Japanese, meanwhile, must focus on the island itself. It is extremely difficult, but not impossible, for the Japanese to win on this map. The trick the Japanese must employ is to target their secondary objectives - that is, the enemy fortresses and land defences. Most of the island is covered by fortresses and a smattering of Heavy AA and Coastal Gun positions. A flight of Raidens or Judies is enough to neutralize these positions first and make things easier for future waves. Judies can equip bombs with which to bomb the enemy fortresses and take a lot of health of them. The fortresses are the key to the Japanese victory; eliminating a fortress will take a lot out of the American "strength". To make matters somewhat easier, the Raiden's guns are powerful enough to damage these heavy fortifications. Judy guns, however, are not; this is proof that Raidens equip a different kind of gun than other similar aircraft.

The Raidens' rockets, however, leave something to be desired. Raiden rockets don't pack nearly as much heat as the American ones, but they do seem to proximity detonate against enemy aircraft. This makes Raidens the plane of choice for the Japanese; some of them can choose to fly top cover for the invasion fleet (and protect the vulnerable landing ships) while others can strafe down the enemy fortresses. The enemy headquarters itself does not pack a lot of AA firepower, but it is totally invulnerable to any kind of gunfire.

Raidens, however, cause very little damage individually to the land bases. It is imperative, therefore, to pick a Fortress and have everyone on your team strafe it, in a "death by a thousand cuts" manner. Alternatively, if your team is extremely coordinated, it is possible to have the entire team use Judies. Four flights of Judies almost guarantees a fortress down, plus or minus a few due to enemy CAP or misses.

Neutralizing all the enemy land bases will be enough to knock the Americans out of the game. If not, proceed to shoot down enemy fighters and patrol boats (which constantly respawn, like your own troop transports) until the Allies' strength runs dry.

Competitive
"How effective are your kamikaze strikes? Can you make them all count? As a Japanese force you must transport the Ohka kamikaze rockets into attack range, then launch and fly them into enemy ships."

- Map Description

Competitive Dreadnought is one of the few instances in the game which players are able to use an unlock unit despite not having unlocked it in the first place. For Competitive Dreadnought, all players are on the Japanese side. Everyone in the game spawns as a squad of three Ohka Carriers. The mission is a test of your abilities to fly Ohkas into targets, gaining points. To the north are large fleets of Allied warships. These fleets consist of almost every Allied unit in the game sans submarines. To an Ohka, however, they are nothing but targets. Your most notable adversary will be the Atlanta-class cruiser, which can flak a lot of Ohkas out of the sky before a successful attack is landed.

Most players choose to simply fly their Ohkas into the fleet and hope for the best, as against the AI there aren't a lot of options that can be taken. Flying extremely high and or extremely low (a tactic Japanese ace Saburō Sakai suggested for kamikaze pilots) has no effect on the AI, which can target you no matter where you are.

This mission is primarily about engaging your boost at the right time. More often than not, all your rivals fly in single file, with the most bloodthirsty pilot up front. However, remember that Ohkas cannot take a lot of pounding. The first pilot in the line is also the first target lined up by the AI. The second pilot is not much better off. The farther back in the line of Ohkas you are, the safer you'll be and the higher the chances of you striking an enemy. However, being the first to hit an enemy is important as well; some of the gold objective brackets say not to destroy the target, but to hit the target.

All in all, there is very little strategy in this map, as all you have to do is kamikaze the Allied fleet as much as possible.