Sandbox/Spring 2019 E-5

Sandbox Rules

This sandbox is to be used to construct an event guide for the above mentioned event map. These guides are to all of the following requirements:

• List of branching unlocking requirements (If there are multiple requirements, compositions for each path along with the below requirements will be needed to discuss the unlocking requirements in question)

• A list of working compositions that work: (These must have possible alternatives for players who may or may not have all ships needed for a specific path)

• The Path said composition will take (To explain what path the composition will take)

• A summary or description of what kind of obstacles a composition will face.

• A description of the boss node, what it consist and a descriptive guide on what the player should consider for a course of action to successfully win the battle.

• (Optional) Tips to farm to take path to collect certain ships (This will also require a composition, path, and possible description.

Editors are to construct thier own version of thier guide and complete them in a timely fashion.

No other editors are to allowed to edit over other editor's work without the full consent of the editor and his approval to do so.

Several version will be constructed through this page and will be reviewed and approved by the staff/ collaboration committee before being moved for the Event Page Sandbox which it'll be reviewed and updated once more before it can be released.

Overall there will be 3 version of the guide that will be constructed which will include:

• Preliminary Guide
• Polished Guide
• Finalized Guide

With each approval of each version the guide, the said guide will be updated to the main page and construction of the next version will begin.

All guides outside of the approved version will be removed and work will begin from the approved version to make it better for the next version until the finalized version is made.

Totaku's Proposal

Regarding Fleet's associated with this map

Within this operation you will be utilizing the remains of your Pearl Harbor Forces along with fleets associated with the United State Navy as both members will be have bonuses when fighting off against the bosses within this maps. As such the most important ships to consider along with thier bonuses for the main phase of this map is:

• Samuel B. Roberts x1.3
• Akagi, Iowa, Saratoga, Intrepid, Gambier Bay, Johnston, Fletcher x1.25
• Kaga x1.2
• Kirishima, Hiei, Souryuu, Hiryuu, Shoukaku, Zuikaku, Abukuma,Kagerou, Shiranui, Arare, Kasumi, Hamakaze, Urakaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze x1.1

Keep in mind you will likely have exhausted most of your Pearl Harbor members in E-4 but if you saved valauble members such as Kasumi and Abukuma up to this point, you will have a powerful advantage in this map. And if you happen to own set of USN DDs such as Samuel B. Roberts, Johnston, and Fletcher (assuming you got her in E-4 and trained her) they will become very valuable towards delivering the final kill against the last boss on this map.

In addition, for normal and hard difficulty this will be the final tag you will have to deal with so any ships you haven't used from previous maps can be used here.

Once you finish this map all ships can be used here regardless of locks but if you plan to use ships on other maps for post event farming, please tag your ship in thier appropriate locations before sending here as they will be given the Hawaiian Forces Tag if they are used here on this map for the first time.

Step 1: Eliminate the Abyssal Jellyfish Princess

Recommended Fleet

STF - 4 BB, 1CA, 1 CV + 1CL, 2 CA, 1 CLT, 2 DD

Recommended LBAS

Boss Node Bombing
LBAS 1-3

1 Land Based Fighter, 3 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 6 Required)

ASW Bombing (Node B)
LBAS 1

4 ASW Bombers / Toukai (Distance of 1 Required)

Path: B-D-H-J-L-Q

The first phase of the operation will have you go through a total of 3 nodes which can be summarized as the following:

• Node B is a Submarine Nodes, which tame on lower difficulties will feature more Elite and Flagship tier So-class Subs on higher difficulties
• Node H is a carrier node that features some Nu-class CVLs along with Ta-class BBs and some CLs (Tsu-classes on higher difficulties)
• Node L is a Surface fight against some BBs along with a CVL and some other CLs and DDs

Most of the battles are manageable, but node H and L can be problematic due to H (on higher difficulties) having high air power and L having a strong fleet that can possibly do some harm. Having a fighter mule CV along with a CAV fighter mule can help counter most of the air power issues.

Node B's submarines can also pose a problem and in some cases you may want to bring an LBAS full of Toukai to help you pass the node more successfully. While not entirely necessary it is recommended to ensure your survivability.

The boss node on the other hand will have your fleet be pitted up against the Abyssal Jellyfish Princess who will be in a combined fleet along with a CV (Aircraft Carrier Princess on higher difficulties) and some BBs Which can be Battleships Princess on higher difficulties, along with some CLs, DDs and and a sub.

If you Land Base is well trained, they can be strong enough to take out or kill most of the units, especially if they score a direct hit on them. And should be easy enough for your fleet to take out. On higher difficulties, using the Cruising Formation 2 with Nagato and Mutsu to perform their Broadside Special along with Musashi for additional Firepower, and Ise or Hyuuga in Battle Carrier form will help provide additional air power needed to overtake the air power. Bringing in an ASW capable DD will help with removing the sub as well. In addition, bringing in Pearl Harbor members and American DDs like Johnston and Samuel B. Roberts should be more than enough to provide enough damage to kill the boss fleet if you able to wipe out enough.

On final kill, you will be facing a stronger Fleet with stronger ship variants and most notably an additional battleship (Or Battleship Princess) on the final run. Most of the battle of the battle should be the same and if necessary, bring you entire LBAS units to the boss will help making winning the battle far more possible. Once the Abyssal Jellyfish Princess is defeated, the path toward the last and final boss will be open.

Step 2: Unlock the shortcut path for your Surface Task Force

In this process your fleet will need to complete a number of steps to help your Surface Task Force Fleet be able to take a shortcut through the lower part of the map to reach the Abyssal stronghold in the Eastern part of the map. This process will require you to complete the following steps:

• Obtain AS at Node G with a CTF (Normal+ Only)
• Obtain AS at Node F with a CTF (Normal+ Only)
• S Rank Node X with a CTF
• B+ Rank Node V with a TCF (Easy+ Only)
• Obtain AS at Node E with an STF
• Achieve at least AS (No Damage) against Air Raids on your Land Bases at least once.

Once completed, the new path will open for your STF to take which will be faster and easier to reach the boss.

Obtain AS at Node E with an STF

Recommended Fleet

STF - 4 BB, 1CA(V), 1 CV + 1CL, 2 CA, 1 CLT, 2 DD

Recommended LBAS

LBAS 1-2 4 Fighters/ Landbase Fighters (Range 3 Required)

Path: B-D-E

Simplest requirement to complete as you can load you CV and CAV with nothing but fighters as well as use Ise or Hyuuga as a fighter mule. Use 1 or 2 LBAS with nothing but fighter for an easy clean AS and the process should be considered done.

Obtain AS at Node F with a CTF (Normal+ Only)

Recommended Fleet

CTF - 3 CV, 2CA(V), 1 XX (Not an AV) + 1CL, 2 CA(V), 1 CLT, 2 DD

Recommended LBAS

Fighter Sweep Node F
LBAS 1
4 Fighters/ Landbase Fighters (Range 3 Required)

ASW Bombing Node C
LBAS 2
4 ASW Bombers / Toukai (Range 2 Required)

Path: C-F

The sub nodes at Node C can be troublesome, so if necessary set up an ASW LBAS along with an LBAS Fighter group and use them in nodes C and F. Getting AS at Node F should require little effort as you will fighter mule your CVs for an easy clear.

Obtain AS at Node G with a CTF (Normal+ Only)

Recommended Fleet

CTF - 3 CV, 2CA(V), 1 AV + 1CL, 2 CA(V), 1 CLT, 2 DD

Recommended LBAS

Fighter Sweep Node G
LBAS 1-2
4 Fighters/ Landbase Fighters (Range 3 Required)

ASW Bombing Node C
LBAS 3
4 ASW Bombers / Toukai (Range 2 Required)

Path: C-G

An almost identical copy and paste of the Node F AS requirement. Follow the same steps as before to achieve AS on this node.

Score an B+ rank on Node V (Easy+)

TCF - 2 BBV, 4 DD + 1 CL, 2 CA, 3 DD

Path: B-D-H-J-L-N-S-V

Recommended LBAS

Node H Bombing
LBAS 1
2 Land Base Fighters/ 2 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 3 Required)

Node N Bombing
LBAS 2
0-1 Land Base Fighter/ 3-4 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 6 Required)

Node V Bombing
LBAS 2
4 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 8 Required)

Probably the hardest to complete requirement of the map as it'll require you to be able to take a Transport Combined Fleet to the preboss in node X and in order to do that you'll need to have a Low LoS to avoid the Jellyfish Princess boss node. Which will mean you'll need to not use too much LoS related equipment for this segment crippling your fleet's overall performance and having to endure surviving against a difficult series of fights where you will likely lose some ships along the way. As such, it's wise to prepare a Fleet Command Facility for your combined fleet to pull out damaged ships. Along with the help of in-route support to clear out the majority of threats.

In addition, using LBAS for nodes such as H and N which are considered to be the hardest to survive nodes in this segment will help too.

If all goes well, your fleet should eventually path to Node X where they will face a fleet over there consisting of a CL, 1 BB, 2 CA, 2 DDs. In higher difficulties, they will consist of Tsu-class, Ne-classes and Re-classes with the hardest difficulty featuring Elite and flagship variants. In addition to this, the fleet will be in Line ahead or Vanguard formation. While Line ahead will likely result in victory, a Vanguard formation will present a more difficult chance to score the B+ rank cause if the DDs survive, they can easily evade most damage resulting in wasted turns. And reducing your likely hood you'll score a B+ rank. However, once you score a victory, this condition will be considered complete.

Score an S Rank on Node X

Recommended Fleet

CTF - 3 CV, 2CA(V), 1 BBV + 1AV 1CL, 1 CA(V), 1 CLT, 2 DD (Fast fleet Recommended)

Path: C-G-I-K-M-W-X

CTF - 3 CV, 2-3CA(V), 0-1 BBV + 1CL, 2 CA(V), 1 CLT, 2 DD (Fast fleet Recommended)

Path: C-F-H-J-K-M-W-X

Recommended LBAS

Node C ASW Bombing
LBAS 1
4 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 2 Required)

Node M Bombing
LBAS 2
0-1 Land Base Fighter/ 3-4 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 6 Required)

Node X Bombing
LBAS 2
4 Land Base Bombers (Distance of 8 Required)

Depending on the fleet and path your take your will have to use go either a long path around if you avoid using an "Fast" AV/AO, but if you use a fleet with a "Fast" AV/AO which will take you through a faster and more efficient path with less fights to deal with. The quickest way to use a fast AV would be to use a AV Chitose-class or Nisshin, however, if you have plans to keep them for other uses in the event like farming E-4, you can considered using a slow AV and adding a turbine and boiler to make them fast.

Besides the usual submarine nodes and air nodes, the surface battles are mostly similar to the ones you face along the Node V path. But with additional carriers mixed in. However Node X is mainly a copy of node V but with you bring in a carrier fleet, it may be more likely you'll be successful as clearing it out. Which in this requirement, you'll need to eliminate all the ships in node X. If you brin an LBAS and in-route support, this shouldn't be too difficult to achieve.

Score AS on the Land Base Air Raid (Normal+)

Recommended LBAS

LBAS 1-2 4 Interceptors / Land base Fighters

Process should be straight forward as you will simply need to go a few nodes. If necessary the STF fleet route to E is probably the quickest way to trigger the Air Raid. With enough Fighters/ interceptors you can easily get AS to complete the requirements.

Once all the conditions are met, you will unlock the shortcut and your fleet will get a huge bonus for towards the final boss which will be noted in the next segment.

New Bonuses upon unlock

Upon completing the unlocking requirements for the STF short cut your fleet will get an additional buff that will be favorable to American ships and Pearl Harbor Members in which the following bonuses will be applied to when you go to node Z:

• 1.7~1.79x - Samuel B. Roberts, Johnston, Fletcher
• 1.43x - Urakaze, Tanikaze, Hamakaze, Kasumi, Arare, Isokaze, Kagerou and Shiranui
• 1.38x - Iowa, Colorado
• 1.35x - Akagi, Intrepid, Saratoga, Gambier Bay
• 1.32x - Abukuma
• 1.3x - Kaga, Other DDs
• 1.2x - Other CL(T)s
• 1.155x - Kirishima, Hiei, Tone, Chikuma, Souryuu, Hiryuu, Shoukaku, Zuikaku
• 1.05x - Other (F)BB(V) / CA(V) / CV(L/B)

Step 3: Eliminate the Abyssal Pacific Princess

Recommended Fleet

STF - 4(F)BB(V), 1CAV, 1 CV + 1CL, 1-3 CLT, 0-1 FBB, 2-4 DD

Recommended LBAS'

Setup 1: Dropping fighter power to meet AD requirements - Method 1

LBAS 1
1 Fighter/ 3 Land Base Bombers (Range 7 Required)

LBAS 2-3 2-4Land Base Bombers / 0-1 Land Base Recon Plane/0-1 Toukai (Range 7 needed)

Setup 2: Dropping fighter power to meet AD requirements - Method 2 (Good AA Land base bombers required)

LBAS 1-2
3 Land Base Bombers/ 1 Land Base Recon Plane (Range 7 Required)

LBAS 2-3 3 Land Base Bombers /1 Toukai (Range 7 needed)

Setup 3: Land Base Setup for more Newer Admirals

LBAS 1-3
1 Fighter/ 2-3 Land Base Bombers/0-1 Range Extender/ Land Base Recon (Range 7 Required)

Path: D-E-J3-N-S-T-X-Z

The mentioned LBAS segments for this segment is set up to used depending on how prepare you are with your Land Base Equipment, as such an explanation about them will be given prior to the explanation of the boss node itself.

You fleet will need to be well suited for combat and will need to have good LoS equipment as well as a large amount of surface Radars (?/?/5/6) as you will need them to bypass node U which is an Ambush node that has a powerful fleet in wait to eliminate you if you fail to meet the requirements. In addition to this, you can consider bringing in one pre-ASW capable ship if necessary (preferably Urakaze D Kai or D Kai to deal with sub if you wish but because the boss will present a tough challenge, so if possible bring a Toukai in your LBAS is a suitable alternative so you fleet can remain combat efficient.

Bringing in a Big 7 Member that can do a special attack such as Nagato, Mutsu, and Nelson are all good choices for this map depending on your approach on this map and who you decide to bring. You can choose to go brute force by also bringing in Musashi if desired or get additional air support while maintaining combat by using Ise Kai Ni while also using a CV such as Akagi or an American Carrier like Intrepid or Saratoga. And finally a CAV will be necessary to help mule in additional air power. The escort should consist of mostly historical ships from either the Pearl Harbor Team such as Abukuma and Kasumi and/or American ships like Johnston, Samuel B. Roberts, and Fletcher which will all have high damage modifiers which will basically allow for highly damaging torpedo cut in attacks. On lower difficulties such as easy bringing in more than one CLT is also an option to help out, but otherwise on harder difficulties, you should try to limit yourself to 1 CLT. If you choose to bring a FBB in the escort, make her into the designated night battle equipment mule + Surface Radar wilderallowing her to carry the Night Scout, Searchlight, and Star shells as she will help carry the fleet into night battle to help the more important historical DDs deliver the killing blow.

This battle will have you be pitted against 2 Surface Battles and 2 Air Nodes. Note that while the air power for the air nodes of E, S, and later on X are quiet high, the requirement Node Z will be quite low. As such a sizeable able team of fighter planes and Seaplane fighters will be needed to compensate for the air power nodes. If you have most of the good high quality fighter planes you will need ultimately a total of 6 to create enough air power to overcome node X during the final phase of the map. Below is a short summary of the nodes you'll encounter along the way.

• Node E and S are air attack nodes, filled with a sizeable carrier team. Having a decent air power to at least Air Parity will help you with your survival chances.
• Node N is a suface node that can have a Ri-class CA or Ru-class BB as flag along with a mixture of CLs, DDs, and a CVL in tow. Hard mode will pit you against a Flagship or Flagship Kai variant.
• Node X is a surface node that will feature a BB, a CL, some CAs, and DDs. Hard mode will have you battle against a Re-class Elite, Tsu-class Flagship, Ne-class Elite and late model elite DDs and will be in the line ahead or vanguard formation.
  • However, this node becomes more troublesome during the final kill segment as there will be two Re-class BBs instead of one and the formation will always be line ahead.

Node X is an important subject to cover due to the danger you may face there if you challenge hard mode. While it is easily passable on all difficulties lower than hard due to the you will not face Re-class Elite and will face far less significant enemy fleets making this battle easy to pass. The main concern with hard will be the Re-class Elites' preemptive torpedo attacks and the air power they will especially provide when 2 of them are present.

Other than bringing your BBs, you may consider using a CV as a fighter mule or partial fighter mule if you also bring a CAV that will haul Seaplane Fighters and if necessary, you can also use Ise Kai Ni to bring extra air power so you can in turn allow to free up some room for your CV to bring in a dive bomber or torpedo bomber and a Saiun. Overall however, it is important to obtain Air Superiority on this node so you'll have a decent chance of surviving this node with minimal damage. If you can successfully get Air Superiority on X you will very likely get Air Supremacy on the Boss node of Z.

Do note that on Hard, since Re-classes will launch preemptive torpedoes someone in the escort fleet is almost certain to take damage be sure to have a means to deal with this whether it be bringing a Fleet Command Facility or Repair Team to counter the complications you'll face on this node.

Regarding the LBAS Setups

The above mentioned LBAS are some of the methods some players have chosen to tackle clearing the operation with and it should be noted that on Node Z, the boss fleet does not have much air power. At worst (on Hard) you will only be competing with a Wo-class Carrier Kai with various Middle to high tier plane set ups. But due to a Wo-class's air power being low it is easy to over come if you have a simple proper set up to deal with it.

• LBAS Setup 1 is good if you have a good fighter plane and plan to with a series of land base bombing strikes that will have AD making it easy to continue delivering the damage and if necessary and possible a Toukai deliver the killing blow on the sub that will be at the boss node.
• LBAS Setup 2 is for Admirals who own several of the high tier Land Base Bombers like Ginga, Type 1 Land Attacker Model 22A, or Type 1 Land Attacker Model 34, and Nonaka Squadron variants. Which a majority of them has a small but decent amount of air power by themselves. You will need at least an Air power of 63 for the First LBAS to help you knock down the air power far enough to make it easier to pass on the next LBAS sweep and so fourth.
• Setup 3 is good for most player who are newer and lack the set ups for 1 and 2.

All the set up choices are relatively good for helping deliver damage against the boss, but out of all of them, Setup 2 can be the most effective if you have most of the high tier land base bombers. As you can use the recons to boost the contact to allow for a better chance to deliver a higher amount of damage against more armored units like the Wo-class and Ne-class and Heavy Cruiser Princess while still effectively taking out the smaller targets. Since the boss node only has a small amount of air power, 63 or more air power is enough to reach Air Denial with your first LBAS allowing for you to effectively attack the boss while you 2nd and 3rd LBAS can come in with slighlty weaker Air power to deliver a nearly similar effective result.

Setup 1 can serve as an alternative to Setup 2 as it can provide the high AP needed in the first Land Base at the start allowing for all other Land Base bomber units (Land Base 2 and 3) to come in afterwards to deliver a similar result to Steup 2.

Setup 3 is needed for newer people who may not be able to deal the same results as Setup 1 and 2, but can still provide sufficient damage.

Finally if you do own a Toukai, bringing it into the fight can help you wipe out the sub in the fleet, keep in mind though there is a 25% chance it'll fail to do this if it fails to target the escort fleet.

While each have thier own benefits, choose the on you feel will best suit your needs for the boss depending on what land base planes you own.

Killing the Pacific Abyssal Princess

At the boss node, the Pacific Abyssal Princess will come mainly with a strong fleet consisting of battleships, heavy cruisers and a Carrier in her main fleet, while her escort will have Light Cruisers, Destroyers and a sub, as the difficulty increase, you will face off against more Princess types in the fight which will include a Heavy Cruiser Princess and a Battleship Princess Kai (up to 2 on hard) in the final battle and other higher tier opponent including Ne-class Flagships, Tsu-class flagships, Na-class flagships and So-class flagships.

In most cases outside of Hard, the battle should be manageable and winnable since the enemy fleets will be far weaker and will be less likely to tank in most of the damage. But to ensure you have a fighting chance, you should consider using AP shells on your BBs as well as use Cruising Formation 2 with Nagato Kai Ni and/or Mutsu Kai Ni as flag to launch thier broadside attack which can do highly damaging attacks even against more tankier princesses like the Battleship Princess Kai (assuming you have a good confrontation and good contact).Nelson with her Nelson Touch is also a good alternative to use as well.

Your main objective will be to wipe out everyone as many of the unit as you can before night battles commence to have an eaiser time at eliminating the boss.

While it is optional to use Friend Fleet, it is recommended you have the setting on and set on powerful to help produce a quick and effective kill against the boss fleet as one of the formations in the fleet consist on only historical which you'll need to avoid using in your fleet consisting of Akagi, Kaga, Iowa, Intrepid, Fletcher and Isokaze. If you avoid using these members you will have a chance for this fleet to appear which can help wipe out most of the remaining princesses left alive during the night battle phase if all goes well during day battle.

From there any survivors can likely be picked off if you have historical that can exceed the boss's armor and effectively kill her.

The final kill will feature more BBs and less CAs but will more or less be the same save for the armor buff the Pacific Abyssal Princess and[Battleship Princess Kai]]s will get. However if you can proc the same historical fleet and deliver an effective kill result on the day battle, killing the Pacific Abyssal Princess should be easy enough especially if you have a TCI DD like Samuel B. Roberts or Johnston and they happen to be alive enough to perform a Torpedo Cut in to deliver the killing blow.