Winter 2018 Event

The Winter 2018 Event is scheduled to begin on February 16th, 2018. This Event is titled " Showdown at Operation Shou-Gou! Battle of Leyte Gulf (Part 2)".

This event will serve as a continuation of the Battle of Leyte Gulf from back in the Fall 2017 Event. Unlike the previous event, this event will focus heavily on the Kurita Fleet, Suzuki Fleet and the Ozawa Fleet being the main participants in the event waters. Meanwhile members of the Nishimura Fleet and Shima Fleet will still have a valuable role in the event.

The Event will bring back the new mechanic known as the Striking Force Fleet which will allow you to organize a 7 ship fleet. A new formation is known as the Vanguard Formation which will protect some of the front ships while allowing other ships to evade efficiently. [1]

Details about the event mentioned in Kensuke Tanaka's interview in January's Comptiq and Feburary's Comptiq have noted that the event will serve as the Final Event for KanColle Phase 1. He mentioned that this event will be having you utilize you fleet you developed over the course of Phase 1 to conduct a full-scale operation which will pit you against "Overwhelmingly Large Abyssal Fleets" in a final major battlefront in Leyte to conclude the 2 part event.

In addition to this, Dev Tweets have noted the event will be a Large Scale Decisive Battle. [2]

For additional information regarding event-related subjects and content, please refer to the following links:

• Combined Fleet
• Armor Reduction
• Land-Based Air Squadron
• Transport Operation
• Anti-Air Cut-In
• Line of Sight
• Improving Ship Speed (May become a part of event map requirements)
• Vanguard Formation
• Striking Force Fleet

Historical Background

Disclaimer: The following information is based upon a summary of World War II history and may not have any influence on the game itself. This is for historical reference only.

Battle of the Leyte Gulf

Wikipedia Article on Battle of Leyte Gulf

Known to be the largest Naval Battle in history which occurred in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between the US Navy and Australian Forces vs. the Imperial Japanese Navy as the, fought over the Island of Leyte that served as the IJN's main supply line. Due to the size of this battle, it's recommended to go view the Wikipedia Article on the Battle of Leyte Gulf for additional details. The Fall 2017 Event itself will focus mainly on the Southern IJN's counter-attack operation to attack through the Surigao Strait and the fleet's involved in it.

The Northern Force Fleet - Ozawa's Fleet

The Fleet lead by Jisaburou Ozawa, who lead a decoy fleet into the battle of the Leyte Gulf to help draw out the US's 3rd Carrier Force in an attempt to help Kurita's Fleet safely pass the San Bernardino Strait in an attempt to get to the main landing forces at Leyte. This fleet consisted of the last of the IJN's then functioning carrier force which at the time of battle served as nothing more than a bait fleet to distract Hearsay's Fleet from the real part of the operation. All the Carriers were sunk in the fight resulting inthe IJN losing the last of it's working carrier forces.

The Fleet consisted of Zuikaku (Sunk), Zuihou (Sunk), Chiyoda (Sunk), Chitose (Sunk), Ise, Hyuuga, Isuzu, Ooyodo, Tama (sunk later following the battle), Akizuki (Sunk), and Hatsuzuki (Sunk)

In the KanColle Event, this Fleet plays a role in the 3rd Event Map.

The Central Force Fleet Group 1 - Kurita's Fleet

This Fleet was lead by Takeo Kurita who lead the main fleet that was part of the attack group intended to stage the main assault against the US fleet invading the Island of Leyte. His plan was to invade the American Fleet forces invading Leytw by coming from the North of Samar. During his attempt to traverse the waters he ran into several obstacles which causes several ships in the fleet to sink, but upon passing the San Bernardino Strait was when the Main Forces experienced taking a heavy hit from group of the 3rd Fleet Carrier Task Force that was located at Samar taking out most of Kurita's main forces.

This ships that he had within his fleet were: Yamato, Musashi (sunk), Nagato, Myoukou, Haguro, Maya (Sunk), Choukai (Sunk), Takao, Atago (Sunk), Noshiro, Hatsushimo, Asashimo, Naganami, and Fujinami

The Central Force Fleet Group 2 - Suzuki's Fleet

This Fleet was lead by Yoshio Suzuki who leads followed along with Kurita' Fleet that was part of the attack group intended to stage the main assault against the US fleet invading the Island of Leyte. He was there to help aid Kurita's fleet during the assult on Leyte. During his attempt to traverse the waters he ran into several obstacles which cause several ships in the fleet to sink, but upon passing the San Bernardino Strait was when the Main Forces experienced taking a heavy hit from the group of the 3rd Fleet Carrier Task Force that was located at Samar forcing him to retreat.

The ships he had in his fleet were: Kongou, Haruna, Tone, Chikuma (sunk), Kumano, Suzuya (sunk), Yahagi, Urakaze, Isokaze, Hamakaze, Yukikaze, Kiyoshimo and Nowaki

First Striking Force (1YB), Third Group - Nishimura's Fleet

The fleet lead by Admiral Shouji Nishimura, who would be one of the main fleets that would lead the attack into the Surigao Strait on the night of October 24th, 1944. It would be at this strait he would meet his end after running into an ambush conducted by the US Navy's 7th Support Fleet.

The ships that he had within his fleet were: Yamashiro (Flagship) (Sunk), Fusou (Sunk), Mogami (Sunk), Yamagumo (Sunk), Asagumo (Sunk), Michishio (Sunk), and Shigure.

Second Striking Force (2YB) - Shima's Fleet

The Fleet lead by Admiral Kiyohide Shima, who served as the second part of the Fleet that would conduct an attack against the US Navy at Leyte. He along with Nishimura attempted to invade the Surigao Strait on the night of October 24th, 1944, however after witnessing the fall of Admiral Nishimura's Fleet due to the ambush and bad timing with keeping the fleet in sync Nishimura. He was forced to retreat thus preventing the attack on the Leyte Gulf from the South.

The ships that he had within his fleet were: Nachi, Ashigara, Abukuma, Shiranui, Kasumi, Ushio, and Akebono.

Other members of the Second Striking Force (2YB)

While note entirely connected to the Battle of the Surigao Strait, there were other ships in Shima's Fleet who were a part of his fleet that was also formerly part of Nishimura's Fleet. Whether or not they'll have any impact on the event is unknown.

The Fleet Members consisted of: Wakaba, Hatsushimo, Hatsuharu, Aoba, Kinu, and Uranami

Information

New Ships

New Destroyer Escorts

1. Two new unnamed DE have been introduced onto the cover of Comptiq magazine.
   • The DE are featured alongside Kitakami on said cover which was drawn by Shibafu
   • Kensuke Tanaka mentioned in his interview that these DE will be appearing in this event
   • He has also noted that these DE are not members of the Shimushu or Etorofu-class
     • This suggests that the two likely to be from the named class of either the Mikura-class or Ukuru-class

New Destroyers

1. A British Destroyer that was featured alongside Warspite and Ark Royal as part of an elaborate teaser back in the 4th KanColle Naval Review will make her appearance this event.
   • Outside of the ASDIC equipment that has been released as early teasers, all other details regarding about her are unknown.

Remodel

Musashi Kai Ni is scheduled to be getting her remodel release at the same time as the event.

• Remodel has been announced to have 5 slots (along with a 6th slot via Reinforcement Expansion)

Mechanics

Participation requirements

• Must have a 75% sortie win ratio.
• Must have 5 empty ship slots for new ships.
• Must have 20 free equipment slots.

Special Mechanics

1. The difficulty system first used in Spring 2015 Event returns: you can choose between Operation A (甲, Hard), Operation B (乙, Medium) or Operation C (丙, Easy).
   • Choosing A or B requires certain HQ Level (HQ Lv 35 for B / 80 for A in Spring 2015 Event).
   • An important note to all Admirals intending to clear the event on Hard difficulty - further (new) conditions now apply:
     • When switching difficulty from any other difficulty to Hard, the map's debuff mechanism (where applicable) will be reset.
       • Switching between any other difficulties will not reset the debuff mechanism.
2. The debuff system from Summer 2015 Event's final map, where certain nodes had to be killed to reduce boss armor will return.
3. Returning this event will allow a fleet with seven ships (Striking Force Fleet) to sortie to certain event maps that allow single fleet operations starting from E-2, and also includes the final map of the event.
   • The Striking Force cannot be sortied during exercises or sent on expeditions while it contains seven ships.
   • The Striking Force can only be created and used in the third fleet in the menu (out of a total of four fleets).
   • A Striking Force with a flagship that carries a new piece of equipment, the Striking Force Fleet Command Facility, will be able to make use of the new Single Ship Evacuation mechanic.
     • The new Single Ship Evacuation mechanic that will become available for the Striking Force as of E-4 allowing a single ship in the fleet to retreat from the battlefield after an enemy engagement if she suffered heavy damage.
       • It is possible for the damage to become even worse during a Single Ship Evacuation.
       • Unlike the Combined Fleet's evacuation mechanic, it does not require an escort destroyer.
     • The new Striking Force Fleet Command Facility will become obtainable and useable via the old Fleet Command Facility and the Action Report that can be earned in the upcoming Fall Event. The Fleet Command Facility as well as the new Action Report item will be obtainable on all difficulty levels, including Medium and Easy Mode.
     • Supplementary information regarding the new Striking Force Fleet Command Facility and the Single Ship Evacuation it allows when carried by the striking force's flagship:
       • The evacuation does not require an escort destroyer.
       • The evacuation consumes the ship's entire fuel & ammo reserves.
       • Only one ship can be evacuated per battle.
       • The damage the ship suffered may become worse during the evacuation, but she will never sink.
4. Returning this event, a new Fleet formation will be introduced called the Vanguard Formation.
   • This formation will organize the fleet such that the 3rd-6th/7th ships protect the Flagship and 2nd Ship of the Fleet.
     • In addition, the formation allows for ships to become more evasive in combat situations, especially with well trained Destroyer.
     • This formation is also available only during the duration of the event.
     • The formation will be usable by both normal fleets as well as the Striking Force Fleet.

Quick Info Table

Classification	Map	Name	Fleet Type?	Land-Based Air Squadron?	Color of Tag	Tag Condition & Deployment Restriction	Difficulty Restrictions	Notes
Main Operation	E-1					Tagging: Ships not already color-tagged will be tagged with the color associated with the map when deployed. This tag exists on all difficulties and is not reset on remodel, etc. Deployment Restriction: Normal or Hard: Must have either the same-colored tag or no tag. Easy: No restrictions.	No restrictions. All difficulties OK
	E-2	'					In order to play these maps on hard, you must complete the previous map* on either normal or hard. (e.g., to do E-4 on hard, you must complete E-3 on normal or hard.)
	E-3
Extra Operation	E-4