bradfordkay
Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002
From: Olympia, WA
Status: offline
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Be careful about withdrawing too many units from the PI and SRA. The units there are basically a loss anyway, but any casualty points you gain in the fight for the SRA can be valuable.
You can easily lose the troops when the ships evacuating them are sunk by the overwhelming air advantage the IJN had in the Phillipines, so you will have made it easier for him (AI) to capture the islands and still have lost the units (as well as the PP you paid to be able to embark them upon a ship).
Some people will embark tiny portions of a unit aboard submarines, planning to rebuild the unit in Australia later. To do so, you have to pay the PP for the whole unit, as well as use up valuable supplies needed to rebuild the other troops in the area (to which the units had been evacuated) after the combat in which they're going to be involved. Some consider this tactic being gamey.
I play a middle road - I will pull out a couple of US base force units and the Asiatic Fleet HQ from the Phillipines - maybe the Marine AA unit and I sometimes like to try to get the 4th Marines out for sentimental reasons. Usually by the time I have the PP to do so, it's too dangerous to use ships. I don't use submarines except for isolated units that were shoved out of their bases and left to rot in the jungle. You'll be surprised at the number of those you will have...
In Malaya, there are those who will fight for it. They'll strip India to reinforce Singapore. The AI is fragile - if you actually manage to hold a major location like Singapore or Soerbaja, it will wear its forces down in a Guadalcanal-style campaign of piecemeal attacks. This is an expensive tactic, never to be used against a human opponent (who will then turn and conquer India).
Sometimes I'll pull a unit or two out of Singapore (I like the Australian Infantry) on top of excess RAF base force units (as the Malayan AF is ground to meal, you will find that you have a huge excess of aviation support units). Any infantry withdrawn from Malaya/Singapore will seriously reduce the length of time it takes for the country to fall.
For the DEI, I recommend concentrating on holding the major resource ports as long as possible. I move troops into Palembang, Batavia, Soerbaja, and Balikpapan. The ones that can't reach those will gradually be moved to Timor - and their remnants will go to Australia, but the Dutch don't rebuild quickly enough to be of any real use IMO.
The previous suggestion of establishing a series of bases to protect the supply route to Australia is very sound.
If you like your carriers, do not let them face the main Japanese carrier forces until late '42 at the ealiest (okay, IMO). Keep track of where the Japanese carriers are, and use your carriers in hit and run missions to bloody his nose in different locations. Never keep them anywhere forward for any length of time if you do not know where the Japanese carriers are. If he breaks up the Kido Butai (generally considered to be the main carrier strike force), and you can isolate a couple of his carriers - go for it. Admiral King actually gave similar istructions to Nimitz in the early stages of the war.
< Message edited by bradfordkay -- 1/14/2006 7:00:13 AM >
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fair winds,
Brad
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Sc15, Monkey Allied v Ai Japan, help/advice needed - 
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