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RE: Summary of the Past 10 Days - 8/23/2009 6:53:36 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Yes just send me the save please I can run it to identify whuch AI script you are using and and why its sent a single CV to its death

(Had it sent 7 I would not be askign but would be saying how wonderfull the AI is !!!)

a.mcphie@btinternet.com

Ta

Andy


Where can I find the save file you want? And what's the name of the file??

(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 91
RE: Summary of the Past 10 Days - 8/23/2009 6:59:03 PM   
Andy Mac

 

Posts: 15222
Joined: 5/12/2004
From: Alexandria, Scotland
Status: offline 		The pre turn save is fine the one with the remnants of the Akagi gp

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 92
RE: Summary of the Past 10 Days - 8/23/2009 6:59:35 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		Sent. Hopefully I sent you the right file. It was 2.5MB in size.

(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 93
RE: Summary of the Past 10 Days - 8/23/2009 8:14:00 PM   
Andy Mac

 

Posts: 15222
Joined: 5/12/2004
From: Alexandria, Scotland
Status: offline 		That was the right one nice catch I will fix it for the patch

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 94
Japanese Annihilated at Imphal - 8/25/2009 4:03:13 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		This AAR covers the period between June 26th and July 10th, 1942

General Observations

Slow...some might say boring. No naval clashes. No wipeouts of task forces. Just the occasional ship sunk by aircraft from Port Moresby as the Japanese try to keep Lae/Finschaven in supply.

Allies are busy moving troops, supplies and ships to Noumea/Sydney for the Lunga offensive. Once I get the 4 CV's fully repaired and moved to Noumea (another month at most), the offensive will be ready to go. The two surface TF's with 4 BB's are already in-route. The Lunga offensive will have, I suspect, 200+ ships involved...the damn operation is growing by the day.

Allies subs are getting more and more Japanese tankers in/around Palembang.

Fighter squadrons in the PM area continue to give better than they take, shooting down dozens of bombers (Helens and Sally's in particular), along with a healthy number of Oscars.

Battle of Imphal

Is over. Japanese invaded it about a month ago. Against the 1800 AV and tons of armor/artillery and a good HQ, the two Japanese divisions and three Japanese artillery divisions had no chance of victory. However, the speed of their defeat totally surprised me.

First initial deliberate assault a month ago did little. But then I managed to totally surround these Japanese units. After another week or bombardment attacks, I made the first deliberate attacks. The first two attacks were expensive...the British/Indians lost just as many troops as the Japanese. However, the odds continued to improve. First attack was made at 4-1. Then 8-1. I gave my troops a rest for a few days, then attacked again. That attack was nearly done at 50-1, wiping out 8K Japanese troops for 1K Allies. And the following turn it was over...two Japanese divisions and three artillery regiments completely eliminated.

So...victory in Burma!

The loss of three high-quality infantry divisions for the Japanese in Burma is a huge vicotry for the allies. These three divisions are normally part of the five division compliment that "garrison Burma" for years and years and years. With these five divisions around, the Japanese really can prevent the British/Indians from doing any sort of an invasion.

But two are gone now...and never coming back! A third division exists in "name only", after having been shattered repeatedly at Chittagong. This leaves one more high quality division in Akyab and another one, presumably, at Rangoon.

Once I get the troops at Imphal fully rested up and rebuilt up to strength, it might be time to start considering an overland offensive to Myklitna/Shebow. But for now, I'm content to just sit and wait.

General Supply Situation

With the exception of China, the supply/fuel situation has improved dramatically. The addition of the bulk of the British tankers, combined with using a large amount of xAK's for two months, allowed fuel supplies to swell. Sydney has 150K fuel as does Noumea (which has another 200K fuel in route). A small tanker force is doing round trips now between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco. PH currently has 580k fuel, and should be approaching 900K or more by the time PH starts being used for significant offensives.

In China, supply situation is slowly improving. But months if not years away from contemplating any sort of major offensive.


(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 95
RE: Japanese Annihilated at Imphal - 8/26/2009 3:19:55 AM   
88l71


Posts: 218
Joined: 9/17/2007
Status: offline 		Just thought I'd pop in and say this is a GREAT AAR. I really, really enjoy reading it and at the same time somewhat wanting to resist temptation to do so because you explain things really well, and I'd rather figure them out for myself

Of course, I suck at resisting temptation so I'll probably end up being a regular on here..

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 96
RE: Japanese Annihilated at Imphal - 8/26/2009 3:46:23 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: 88l71

Just thought I'd pop in and say this is a GREAT AAR. I really, really enjoy reading it and at the same time somewhat wanting to resist temptation to do so because you explain things really well, and I'd rather figure them out for myself

Of course, I suck at resisting temptation so I'll probably end up being a regular on here..


Glad you're enjoying the AAR and finding it useful. Sometimes a "few hints" can go a long ways toward preventing disasters, too!

(in reply to 88l71)
Post #: 97
A Quiet Week in the South Pacific - 8/26/2009 4:25:16 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		This AAR Covers the Period July 11th - July 17th

General Observations

Slow, slow and slower...just like much of the Pacific War during this time period. The buildup at Noumea for the Lunga invasion continues. All land units have arrived, as have most of the ships. Last 3 CV's and one BB TF are in-route and should arrive within a week.

Weak Carrier Airgroups & the Lunga Invasion

Allied airgroups are relatively weak right now. Only a few aigroups are "full strength". Most are understrength, especially those still flying the F3 variants. The Hornet is also carrying skelton Dauntless crews, too.Part of this is due to the pokey pace of replacements. However, as I thought about it and examined my airgroups, I realized that there was more to it.

First off, I have six CV's. By this time in the war, the Allies had lost the Yorktown and Lexington...thus two fewer carriers to "keep refilled."

Secondly, I have like five+ land-based F4 squadrons and several Dauntless squadrons. This has obviously effected the replacements of F4's on the carriers. With hindsight, I would have turned "upgrades off"...at least for half a year or so....to allow the carriers to get reinforced first. But nothing I can do about it now. Of course, the flip side of this means that I have surprisingly strong land based air right now, at least in terms of fighter protection.

Thirdly, despite my best attempts to keep the "pace slow", the Japanese AI kept up a pretty torrent pace until recently. Because of this, my CV's have been "used more" than either was expected or as happened during real-life. As such, my losses have been higher...either from fending off land-based air when covering the reinforcements for Rossell Island, Milne Bay and Port Moresby, battling the Japanese Carriers in three engagements now, or essentially patrolling the Coral Sea and sinking Japanese invasion task forces and surface raiders (those BB's destroy a lot of divebombers). While all these patrols of the Allied CV's were successful and accomplished far more than lost (always a good sign), this heightened activity led to larger losses than can be easily replaced early during the war.

That said, while Allied carrier airgroups are weakend, they aren't decimated (for the most part). There is "just enough" fighters between the six carriers I have to provide enough air cover for the upcoming Lunga operation. Additionally, the Devastators are being relatively quickly replaced out for Avengers...providing a much needed boost in striking power. This is especially helpful because the Dauntless groups on three carriers are half-empty shells...plenty of pilots but down to 1/3 aircraft. Thankfully, the lack of Dauntless's isn't quite the huge deal it would otherwise be since the "lost divebombers" DID result in 7 Japanese aircraft carriers, a BB, plenty of transports and DD's and other ships finding a watery grave.

For this reason, I don't expect heavy Japanese naval interference in my Lunga invasion...the heavy losses sustained by the IJN really does limit their options. As such, most resistance I expect for the Lunga invasion is from land based air. I believe the US CV's have plenty of fighter cover to fend off the land based air. And since the Japanese on Lunga have been "nice" and built up a Level 3 airfield for me, once I secure the base, I can immediately fly in fighters I have based in Luganville and Ndeni to relieve some of the burden from the US CV's. I'm dragging an AirHQ and plenty of aviation support to Lunga so that I can turn Lunga into a functional base as soon as I capture it from the Japanese.

Tentative Units for Lunga Invasion

1st USMC, plus all the "other elements" of the 1st USMC such as the combat engineer unit, tank unit, engineers, artillery, etc...In addition to the Marines, these are some of the other units going in: An Army Regiment, Tank Battalion, 2 field artillery units, Naval Base Force, Amphib HQ, Air HQ, Aviation Base Force, Sea Bees, Two Marine Raider/Parachute Battalions, Marine defense battalion, and two AA units. I suspect, if all goes well, more than 50K worth of supplies will likely be unloaded by the (at minimum) 100+ transports I'll be using. And this is just for Lunga.

For Tulagi, I'm looking at One Marine Regiment (from the 2nd Marines), 2 Raider/Parachute Battalions, an Army Regiment, One Tank Battalion, Combat Engineer Regiment, with follow on forces to include a Base Force, Port Detachment, Sea Bees, AA and a Field Artillery Regiment.

I actually expect MORE resistance at Tulagi than I do at Lunga during the invasion....it seems the Japanese have a tank regiment on Tulagi, where-as there isn't much on Lunga right now. Reason I'm dropping off so much at Lunga is because I want the forces there to beat back the inevitable Japanese counter-moves (I fully expect the AI to land troops once the Allies take Lunga).

Other Engagements

A Japanese sub finally found it's mark...sinking 3 xAK's in one whack near Colombo. This is the first successful Jap sub attack in, well, at least over a month.

Of course, at least when my subs aren't running out of fuel, they are scoring lots of hits, too. A few ships each turn succumb to Allied subs, it seems. In particular, the Dutch subs around Palembang are doing a nice job of whittling down Japanese tankers. What is kind of odd, though...and this is probably due to how I use my subs....I honestly dont' think an Allied sub has sunk a single Capital Ship unless it was already crippled.

A bizzare Japanese bombardment group showed up at Midway. It consisted of a bunch of CS's and two CVE's. Yes, they bombarded...or at least tried...to bombard Midway. Unfortunately, they bumped into the PT boats I have there. They sunk one of the CS's and damaged one of the CVE's, although the other CVE really scorched the land based air I had on Midway.

Alaska continues to be slowly reinforced and supply bases are being built up, but it's a very, very low priority area.

I've removed the Marine Regiment at Pago Pago and have unloaded it at Noumea. Goal it to "rebuild" the 2nd Marine Division once the last regiment arrives from San Diego.

Noumea

Continues to swell with supplies, fuel and ships. 180K fuel here, despite the presence of 300+ ships. Another 100K about to be unloaded, and another 200K on the way. AV is currently 2500! However, much of that will soon be deposited on Lunga and Tulagi. Similar to stock, I plan on using Noumea as the "base" for all operations in the South Pacific.

Burma and India

Betty's continue to "nuke" the weak land divisions I have based outside/around Imphal. I have Hurricane's on LRCAP and they are doing a pretty good job of inflicting damage on the Betty's (800+ lost now) and really inflicting damage on the Helen's and Sally's that also try to bomb these land units, but for now, the Japanese seem to have plenty of Betty's and I can't stop all of them. I never realized how nasty Betty ground attacks can be against non-dug in infantry troops! In one strike, they caused 99% disruption and destroyed all 15 squads of a weak infantry battalion I had just marched back into Kolemyo. Nasty!

Beyond that, everything quiet in India/Burma, which suits me just fine. The Japanese do have at least two strong infantry divisions left in Burma...one is based in Akyab and the other at Mandalay. A third is probably at Rangoon. Thus, a stalemate had ensued. The British/Indians really aren't strong enough to engage these three Japanese divisions, especially considering current air assets. However, the elimination of three Japanese divisions totally prevents the Japanese from trying another lunge toward Imphal or Chittagong or anyplace else. So....a sitzkreig is the likely outcome in Burma until I decide to 'get moving'...something I probably won't do until mid-1943, when many more land LCU's and Indian units start arriving. Besides, what's the rush???



(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 98
RE: A Quiet Week in the South Pacific - 8/26/2009 6:14:30 PM   
Graymane


Posts: 520
Joined: 3/31/2005
From: Bellevue, NE
Status: offline 		I just downloaded the new patch and am going to start a new Dec. 8th game v. the Jap AI. If you had to start over, could you summarize what you would do differently?

I'm seriously considering moving the forces loaded on transports (British Div dest Singapore and 2 Bde dest Ragoon) to Soerabaja and Palambang and make a fight of it. Also considering evacing the 3 BFs from the PI with all the naval support.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 99
RE: A Quiet Week in the South Pacific - 8/26/2009 9:49:53 PM   
88l71


Posts: 218
Joined: 9/17/2007
Status: offline 		Will be interesting to see what happens with production and CV airgroups on carriers later in the war, with Essex and Independence class arriving, increased fighter numbers on carriers, and the changeover to Hellcats.

(in reply to Graymane)
Post #: 100
RE: A Quiet Week in the South Pacific - 8/26/2009 10:16:48 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Graymane

I just downloaded the new patch and am going to start a new Dec. 8th game v. the Jap AI. If you had to start over, could you summarize what you would do differently?

I'm seriously considering moving the forces loaded on transports (British Div dest Singapore and 2 Bde dest Ragoon) to Soerabaja and Palambang and make a fight of it. Also considering evacing the 3 BFs from the PI with all the naval support.


Not too much, truthfully. I guess the big things would be to run like hell back to Singapore instead of trying to fight things out forward. I would also try to make a stand somewhere in the PI instead of running and hiding in Bataan...the Japanese captured the PI in late February in my game (Bataan fell quickly and easily to the Japanese).

(in reply to Graymane)
Post #: 101
RE: A Quiet Week in the South Pacific - 8/26/2009 10:18:21 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: 88l71

Will be interesting to see what happens with production and CV airgroups on carriers later in the war, with Essex and Independence class arriving, increased fighter numbers on carriers, and the changeover to Hellcats.


A year from now, the lack of planes for carriers really won't be an issue. The Allies get plenty of FM2 Wildcats and Hellcats. It's just a matter of getting through the "early period."

(in reply to 88l71)
Post #: 102
Game Continuing - 8/27/2009 1:02:03 AM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		I just downloaded the new patch...nice. I suspect lots of people will be "starting over" in their game, but I won't. Thus, this AAR will continue.

Reason I won't be restarting is because the AI hasn't done too many "dumb moves", and none of it's "dumb moves" materailly changes the scope of the war. While the AI took some nasty losses in some of their uncovered invasions, at the end of the day, the AI still conquered the bases it wanted (except for in the South Pacific). And while the AI got thrashed in Burma trying to take Chittagong/Imphal, since the British will be sitting behind their fortifications for the foreseeable future, that thrashing doesn't change much, either.

Plus, some of the dumb things the AI has done, I haven't (deliberately) taken advantage of. Additionally, where this game stands right now in terms of Japanese expansion is kind of eeriely similar to real-life. Lastly, other than the Japanese losing two CVL's more than they did historically, losses by the Japanese (except for perhaps in transports) haven't been that high.

So I'll continue this game. The big test, as far as I'm concerned, isn't about the beginning of the war. It's the middle of the war...can Japan slow down the Allied advance? And if so, how does it do it?

Finally, it's the middle game I've always enjoyed the most. The planning of offensives. Gathering up all the forces. Making the invasions. I guess the reason I like this part of the war is because neither side "dominates." The period of Japanese domination is over, but the Allies haven't built up to that dominating strength yet, either.

Although the "quiet China" scenario IS appealing, right now in the game China IS dead quiet and is likely to remain that way for the forseeable future. If my game is any indication, players can pretty much forget about China after the first 1-2 months once a line is stabilized. I also suspect the next year will also be "dead quiet" in the Burma/India theatre, too.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 103
RE: Game Continuing - 8/27/2009 3:07:33 AM   
88l71


Posts: 218
Joined: 9/17/2007
Status: offline 		Restarting your game would suck at this point, and you still get the database changes if you don't restart. Not restarting mine either (since I already procrastinated for so long on turn 1)

No China is tempting but I figure it's better to just man up and figure out how to deal with it, and if, as you say, it dies down anyway, then hopefully it won't be too ovewhelming.

Mid phase is my favorite too, since it's when all my favorite aircraft (Corsair, P-38, Hellcat) start showing up and for reasons you mentioned. I always like slowly starting an Allied offensive, gradually building up in S and SW Pacific, creeping my way up NG and the Solomons...

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 104
RE: Game Continuing - 8/27/2009 8:33:02 AM   
mikesankey


Posts: 8
Joined: 3/27/2005
From: UK
Status: offline 		Great AAR. Each day I cannot wait to read the next instalment.

Everyone has just started talking about downloading the patch.

I've looked right through the product page and members secion and cannot find the patch for WITPAE. Am I missing something?

Mike

(in reply to 88l71)
Post #: 105
RE: Game Continuing - 8/27/2009 10:57:46 AM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: mikesankey

Great AAR. Each day I cannot wait to read the next instalment.

Everyone has just started talking about downloading the patch.

I've looked right through the product page and members secion and cannot find the patch for WITPAE. Am I missing something?

Mike


Go into the members section and then click "my games". You'll see the patch under the Admirals Edition download.

Glad you enjoy the AAR.

(in reply to mikesankey)
Post #: 106
Allied Forces Take Guadalcanal - 8/27/2009 11:43:54 AM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		This AAR covers July 18th - August 9th

General Observations

The July period of this AAR is quite boring...nothing happened beyond the typical bombing raids the Japanese try at Port Moresby, Imphal and Diamond Harbor. Meanwhile, all I did was position all the forces for the Guadalcanal Invasion. So, let's jump into the invasion...where I also learned a few things. The initial plan was to both invade Lunga and Tulagi. However, for reasons explained below, I only invaded Lunga initially. Tulagi will happen in two weeks or so.

The Lunga Invasion : Forces Involved

Assault Forces : Entire 1st USMC, 1st USMC tank, 1st USMC FA, 1st USMC Combat Engineers, 1st USMC Parachute, Second Field Artillery Unit, Two Army Tank Batallions, Amphib HQ Corps.

Follow-on Forces : USMC Air Wing, USN Base Force with 100 Naval Support, Field Artillery Unit (so three total artillery units), See Bees, EAB Unit, Air HQ, 3 AA units.

Supply to be unloaded - More than 100K

The Invasion

As you can see, I had quite the pile of forces involved for both the initial assault and the follow-on. Total assault value of the assault wave was 800. I knew that I was bringing more than necessary to take the base. However, I do expect the AI will try at some point to land more units on Guadalcanal. By taking all these ground units during the assault, it guarantees that I'll have the necessary ground units already there if/when the time arrives.

AP's and AK's were used exclusively for the assault wave...NO xAK's or xAP's were used. After the Milne Bay Invasion a few months earlier, where a ton of troops/materials were lost during the "wade ashore" phase (as most of the troops were landed with xAP's), I learned my lesson!

However, the Allies don't have that many AP's or AK's. And LST's and LSD's aren't yet available. As such, the 22 AP's I had filled up remarkably quickly...I used 10 AP's for the 1st USMC division alone. All the remainder AP's and AK's quickly filled up with the rest of the assault wave (the AK's were used for field artillery and tanks). As such, I had no extra AP's or AK's lying around to use for the invasion of Tulagi...this is why it will have to wait.

Unquestionably, I could have "economized" and used about 5 less AP's than I did. However, I wanted ALL the assault forces ashore on one turn. And...it worked! All assault forces, with plenty of supplies, were ashore by the end of the first day. Even better, the Marine Division and related elements took NO losses...the bombardment and airstrikes caused enough disruption of the Naval Guard Unit there (which had 120 AV or so) to prevent it from having any sort of effective resistance. And, unlike WiTP, when invading a hex that has no enemy resistance, the invader won't lose tons of troops (in stock WiTP, simply invading a blank hex could often cause you 20% losses).

The day after the invasion, the Allies took the island using a simple deliberate assault and sustained virtually no casualties. On the third day, the base now secure in hand, I started to unload the follow on forces (all in amphib TF's too), which fully unloaded in about 4-5 days. There really is a MASSIVE difference in unloading times....xAP's work, but they are pathetically slow compared to AP's. Of course, xAK's are even worse than xAP's, too.

One the airfield was repaired, I flew in two fighter squadrons, a torpedo squadron, dauntless squadron, banshee squadron and a catalina squadron. The Japanese had built Lunga up to a size 4 AF and size 2 Port (how thoughtful of them). As such, I have a nice, large airfield to cover future operations from.

Naval Resistance at Lunga

I got sort of lucky. As the carriers approached Lunga, they discovered a small surface TF with a BB. I suspect that it was just "on patrol", as I've seen it on occasion before. I didn't even realize it was there....but luck can happen! The airstrikes against the BB were pretty pathetic...as the BB didn't sink although it was heavily damaged.

Then, on the fifth day after the invasion, the Zuikaku showed up. The Kaga two weeks earlier did a raid on Rossell Island that pretty much wiped it's air groups (the fighter squadron I have on Rossell Island is my best). As such, I suspect the Zuikaku was the only carrier around that the Japanese could use to challenge the invasion of Guadalcanal. Needless to say, against 6 Allied CV's PLUS all the land based air I had on Lunga...the poor Zuikaku didn't stand a chance. It's initial strike was shot down by CAP. However, the Allied strike was terribly pathetic. 100+ torpedo bombers and dauntless dive bombers produced 1 hit! Happily, land based air from Lunga than got involved...causing heavy damage along with two torpedo hits. On the following turn, the Zuikaku was sunk (although it took three carrier strikes to do it!). In addition, a CL that was part of the task force was sunk and a BB was heavily damaged. I actually think the land based air from Lunga was far more decisive in this mini-battle than my six carriers were...they scored far more hits.

Air Resistance at Lunga

The biggest question of them all...where in the world is Japanese land based air? Japanese land based air is very active in Burma/Java and Finschaven (which tries to bomb Port Moresby every day). Yet against the invasion force, not a single land based air strike happened. While land strikes wouldn't have done much good against the 6 carriers I had, I was still expecting some nasty air battles in Lunga itself...as the Betty's tried to sink some of the transports. But it never happened.

Preparing the Invasion

Just some thoughts on preparing the whole invasion. As this invasion had more than 200 ships involved, it was quite large...especially for so early in the war. Besides the 3 CV TF's, I had 3 Surface/Bombardment TF's (two of which had two BB's each in them), 2 ASW forces (one stayed with the carriers, the other went with the invasion fleet), 2 replenishment TF's, an separate Amphibious Supply TF, two minesweeper TF's, a "support TF" (AGP, AKE, ACM's, etc...) that I disbanded in port at Lunga, plus the two invasion TF's described next.

The invasion task forces had two parts...the assault TF and the follow-on TF. The Assault Force consisted of 2 CA's, 6 DD's, 2 CL's, 6 minesweepers, 9 APD's and all the AP's and AK's in the US Navy. In total, it was around 50-60 ships. I decided to keep the initial assault task force in ONE task force, instead of in two or three like many players do. Later in the war, when I have more vessels, I'll likely do that. But for now, I thought it best to keep everything in one well-covered invasion fleet (which also had 5000 flak!).

The follow-on task force contained all the base elements, etc. Consisting of 6 DD's, 6 minesweepers and 50+ xAP's (no xAK's), it hung out one hex from Lunga until the base was secured before unloading. There's no reason to unload any base force or other support elements "under fire."

Organizing and Loading

The invasion was based out of Noumea, which has a size 6 port now (soon to be 7, hopefully). It took about five days to load up everything and get all the ships organized. This was significantly less time than I expected. Indeed, the 1st USMC itself loaded up entirely with supplies in one day.

Once all the ships were loaded up, I took the carrier and surface TF's up to Lunga, where they parked themselves two hexes from the base. The rest of the forces follow them, taking about four days to reach the carriers. I didn't use the "follow" command as I didn't expect much air resistance, and what air resistance I did expect was likely to be directed at the carriers. Later in the war, like when invading Saipan, I will have to have all the forces "move together" hex by hex using the "follow" command.

Don't Do This!

Never use APD's in amphibious assaults. I loaded the parachute batallion on APD's in an amphibious task force. The disruption of these units was 90+ by the time they went ashore at Lunga! Meanwhile, the disruption of the units in the AP's were ZERO. Thus, APD's are NOT troop transports. Instead, use them exclusively for running in supplies.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 107
RE: Allied Forces Take Guadalcanal - 8/28/2009 2:42:51 AM   
Chad Harrison


Posts: 1395
Joined: 4/2/2003
From: Boise, ID - USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jimh009

Never use APD's in amphibious assaults. I loaded the parachute batallion on APD's in an amphibious task force. The disruption of these units was 90+ by the time they went ashore at Lunga! Meanwhile, the disruption of the units in the AP's were ZERO. Thus, APD's are NOT troop transports. Instead, use them exclusively for running in supplies.



The table on page 120 of the manual gives a daily disruption of 30 to Allied units in a APD. So, how many days do you need to be on these things before its gets to 100?

Actuall this table is very interesting in general. Find out very quickly that some ships, even though they can go a long ways and can carry infantry without penalty, are a bad choice for long distances to the invasion. Such as the LCI.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 108
RE: Allied Forces Take Guadalcanal - 8/28/2009 3:07:42 AM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Chad Harrison


quote:

ORIGINAL: jimh009

Never use APD's in amphibious assaults. I loaded the parachute batallion on APD's in an amphibious task force. The disruption of these units was 90+ by the time they went ashore at Lunga! Meanwhile, the disruption of the units in the AP's were ZERO. Thus, APD's are NOT troop transports. Instead, use them exclusively for running in supplies.



The table on page 120 of the manual gives a daily disruption of 30 to Allied units in a APD. So, how many days do you need to be on these things before its gets to 100?

Actuall this table is very interesting in general. Find out very quickly that some ships, even though they can go a long ways and can carry infantry without penalty, are a bad choice for long distances to the invasion. Such as the LCI.



Thanks for that reminder...I forgot about that. So much for using LCI's for invasions that require more than a few days of travel.

(in reply to Chad Harrison)
Post #: 109
RE: Allied Forces Take Guadalcanal - 8/28/2009 3:19:12 AM   
88l71


Posts: 218
Joined: 9/17/2007
Status: offline 		Thanks for the tip about APD's, though I figured I'd use 'em to move small BF units to small friendly ports rather than amphib assaults, which looks like a good idea.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 110
How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/28/2009 5:28:38 AM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		This AAR covers the period August 10th - September 1st

These turns were played quite quickly...I sort of ignored most of the rest of the world beyond Tulagi and vicinity. About once a week I took a "look around" and organized supply convoys and moved reinforcements to Pearl, but other than that, I sort of "whizzed through" these 3 weeks of turns.

PS...if you have a dual-core machine, use the -cpu2 command. OMG...what a difference it makes. I use this command line to start the game and I REALLY noticed a difference. Gone are the delays when clicking. Also noticed is a big improvement in how fast graphics render (I have a very powerful laptop, too...so if I notice a gain, someoone with a less powerful laptop really should see a big difference).

"C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -cpu2 -dd_sw

The Tulagi Invasion...Or How Not To Do An Invasion

After successfully taking Guadalcanal with few casualties, after spending a week unloading all supplies and support troops, the transports along with four carriers headed back to Noumea. The carriers needed torpedoes (Noumea finally hit a size 7 port) and the AP's and AK's were needed for the invasion of Tulagi.  The Enterprise/Yorktown hung around Lunga for something to do. Likewise, I kept the three Surface TF's "parked in Lunga." I dragged an AKE up to Lunga so as to be able to replenish the gun ammo when needed....something that would prove immensely helpful in the upcoming invasion of Lunga. Without that AKE, I almost wonder what might have happened.

The invasion force for Tulagi consisted of one Army Regiment, One Tank Batallion, One Marine Regiment, Field Artillery Regiment, Marine Raider and Marine Parachute Batallion. All told, about 350 AV. So, it wasn't a "wimpy force" by any means.

Intel showed 10K troops and 100 vehicles at Tulagi, suggesting a Naval Guard Regiment with a Tank Regiment. With hindsight, it was obvioius that I didn't drag enough troops to Tulagi consideriing the resistance involved.

The initial landings went well enough. Following the shore bombardment, troops unloaded on Tulagi with tiny losses and no disruption...and I thought, so far, so good. The following day, I did a deliberate attack. Despite having an assault value of 350 vs. the 100 for the japanese, the modified assault value led to 1-2 odds! The Japanese lost more than the Allies and the fortifications were reduced by one level. However, the disruption of my units went up noticeably.

After a day of rest, I tried another deliberate assault...again, 1-2 odds, and this time Allied units lost more than the Japanese. Not good! I examined the units on Tulagi and noticed one interesting thing...the Marine Regiment had taken ZERO casualties. Instead, the casualties came from the Tank Batallion and Army Regiment. And the Marine Raider was essentially wiped out. I thought this was highly unusual. But before I could figure out a plan to deal with this, a good chunk of the IJN decided to show itself.

Over the next week, there was a parade of IJN ships heading to Lunga. A tokyo express arrived and clashed with a BB TF I had. The engagement was brief with no losses for either side, but the IJN BB was caught by land based and carrier air. The Mutsu soon found a watery grave. Then two Jap CV's showed up...the Hiyo and Ryujo. Against six allied carriers back by land based air in Lunga, they had no chance...and were quickly sunk. Then yet more forces tried to land troops/supplies at Tass. These naval forces were also promptly engaged and sunk by surface forces or land based/carrier aircraft. So...all in all...a great success for the Allies, although the air wings on virtually all Allied Carriers have been wittled down to "thin at best" and "skeltal at worst."

Except Tulagi. Throughout this entire time, I stopped bombarding the island with ships and stopped the daily bombing by Dauntlesses and Avengers. When the naval action was finally over, I tried another deliberate assault. Although my troops were well rested, had no disruption and had tons of supplies, the modified attack happened at 1-4 odds!

I waited a few days, and bombarded the heck out of Tulagi...but a few days later, when I tried yet another deliberate attack, I still had 1-2 odds, with equal losses. Finally recognizing I didn't have enough forces, I used the AP's and AK's that had unloaded the Marine regiment and sent it one hex over to Lunga. There it picked up another Marine Regiment that had invaded Lunga. Two days later it was loaded up and waded ashore on Tulagi.

That was when I got a rude surprise! Because the Marine Regiment I had on Lunga hadn't "planned" for Tulagi, it took 40% losses just struggling ashore (compare that to the nearly zero losses for the units of the initial Tulagi invasion force that had 60+ days of planning for it). The disruption of that Marine Regiment also shot up to 90%. Thus, I had to wait five days for that unit to lower it's disruption before I could do anything. During that five days, Tulagi was bombed by planes and bombarded by ships.

I finally launched another deliberate attack on Tulagi and got 1-2 odds again. Damn! However, the Japanese lost a lot of squads in that attack versus little for the Allies, so that was one good sign. Examining the units again, once again I noticed that the Marine Regiments took ZERO casualties, where-as the Army Regiment and Army Tank Batallion took all of them.

After this, I tried a new tactic. I waited a few days for the troops to lower their disruption again, then did another deliberate attack with ONLY the Marine Regiments. That did the trick...1-1 odds and lowererd the Japanese fortifications to 0. Two days later, a final deliberate attack wiped out the last Japanese forces with 300-1 odds.The same day, forces that moved from Lunga to Tass also wiped out the last Japanese forces there, too.

Lessons Learned

First off, make doubly sure to have enough troops to begin with. It's clear that while I had numerical superiority over the Japanese, it wasn't by much. And due to the terrain/fortifications on Tulagi, the small numerical superiority of the Allies was removed...leading to the 1-2 and 1-4 odds I initially saw. Thus, for future invasions, even those little atolls, it's crucial that the Allies have at least 2-1 numerical superiority over the Japanese...preferably more. If your intel shows 100 enemy tanks...the Allies better show up with 200 or more!!

Secondly, take more tanks! I suspect that the tank regiment that Japanese had on Tulagi really changed the combat modifier. I only had one tank batallion compared to the tank regiment of the Japanese....thus, the Japanese had more tanks than the Allies. For future invasions, I will always be dragging along many, many more tanks, even if intelligence doesn't show any enemy tank formations.

Thirdly, "planning is everything." The Marine Regiment that hadn't planned for Tulagi sustained nearly 40% losses storming ashore at Tulagi. Compare that to the nearly 0% losses of the units that had planned for Tulagi. What this means, practically speaking, is that once an invasion is "underway", it's "too late" to bring in more forces unless those forces have already planned for it.

Fourthly, because of the above...it's crucial to have a "reserve" afloat. That reserve will need to have planned for the invasion hex for 50+ days (just like the assault forces have). If I had a reserve afloat and which had adequate planning for Tulagi, I suspect Tulagi would have fallen in three to four days instead of 3 weeks!

Fifth...I suspect the only reason I was able to get Tulagi was because I could bomard it daily with 2 BB bombardment TF's and bomb it daily with Dauntless dive bombers. Naval bombardment isn't what it was in WiTP (thankfully), but it's still damn important. Over time, you do degrade the enemy units. Like wise, I've noticed the bombing ground units by aircraft is quite effective in killing troops and increasing their disruption (some strikes are more effective than others). The AKE and replenishment task force I had based in Lunga were crucial in allowing me to keep up a daily naval bombardment of Tulagi, and the six CV's allowed for continuous air attack. For future invasions, I will be making "big use" of air attacks  against Japanese ground units (something I never did in stock WiTP). I also will likely have 2+ days of naval bombardments, instead of just one.

Sixth...always drag along a combat engineer regiment. I forgot to do that for the invasion of Tulagi, and I suspect that is one reason why fortifications only fell by one level at at time.

Other Stuff

Despite the non-stop action, fuel reserves in Noumea continue to go up. I have a parade of tanker TF's moving back and forth between LA and Noumea. There is 250K fuel points in Noumea now, along with 300K supply. Sydney has 150K fuel and PH has 600K fuel. I've also bee moving fuel to Luganville, Brisbane and Auckland from Noumea. The British tankers made ALL the difference in this. Without them, the Allies would never have been able to build up these fuel stocks.

Now that Tulagi/Lunga/Tass are under Allied control, I'm looking at future offensives. As the Japanese carrier force is all but annihiliated, the US doesn't need to worry about big naval interference. Shortland Island is next on the list in the South pacific, while Baker Island/Tarawa are on the list in the Central Pacific.

However, before I can do any of that, I need to "plan" and, just as importantly, wait a month or two for the decimated Allied carrier airgroups to rebuild.

(in reply to 88l71)
Post #: 111
All's Quiet and AI Thoughts - 8/28/2009 6:27:37 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		This AAR Covers the period September 2nd - September 7th

General Observations

Very boring period. More of a "house keeping" phase than anything else...I sort of neglected some of the usual tasks during the campaign to take Tulagi. About the only excitement was the japanese BB TF taking a pleasure cruise around Milne Bay, past Port Moresby, through Cape Horn and beyond. Sadly...my carriers were out of position to catch this sightseeing task force.

Two Japanese subs were finally sunk...they are like the first subs sunk in months.

The patch really solved the problem I had with submarines running out of fuel (they weren't returning to port soon enough). So, if you haven't upgraded to the recent patch...do it!!

Japanese air forces are really making an effort to bomb Chittagong and Imphal. Both these bases come under strong, daily raids. But the British fend them off, usually at pretty high losses to the Japanese. Judging by the slowly but ever-increasing losses, my guess is that Japanese pilot experience is starting to take a tumble due to previous losses.

Troubles for the US Navy

The US Navy is in "trouble" in terms of Dauntless dive bombers. The replacement rate for dive bombers is 21 per month. None of my carriers are at full strength...and one of them still has the old helldivers on board! The Hornet is down to 10 total dauntless bombers, too. Doing some quick calculations, it seems that the US Navy carriers will be lucky to have a full compliment of Dauntless's by, oh, early Spring!

The carrier fighter situation is somewhat better. Two carriers still have F3's on board, but those will soon be converted to F4's during the October upgrade cycle. The other four carriers have full strength F4 squadrons. The F4 replacement rate is 45 per month, so, in about 2-3 months or so US Carriers should have full fighter protection. By early 1943, I'll have plenty of F4's, since existing land-based F4's begin to convert to Corsairs.

During this interim period, I'll be forced to rely on Avengers more than usual. Only the Enterprise still carries the Devastators...and that will soon change during the October upgrade.

Another bummer is that the US Navy receives it's first "replenishment carrier" pretty soon...a CVE (I forget the name). This CVE normally carries 54 wildcats and 54 dauntlesses. Due to the dive bomber shortage, though, I suspect the replenishment carrier will "be empty" of spare dive bombers for the foreseeable future (unless it arrives with them already onboard).

Thankfully, I have nothing major planned for the next 1-2 months. And since the IJN's carriers have been decimated (5 of the original KB sunk, two "mini-CV's" and 2-3 CVL's), the need for full-strength Dauntless squadrons isn't as pressing as it otherwise might be (after all, most of the dive bombers lost were against Japanese naval forces).

As for future plans...

The Future

Port Moresby - Japan has, despite the losses, managed to land some sizable forces at Buna. There is one division there. That isn't nearly strong enough to boot the 800 AV I have out of Port Moresby, but it's a start. My guess is that, if they can land more forces in Buna, they'll try another overland march. So, I'll need to keep lots of AV here and be prepared to defend Moresby for the foreseeable future.

Munda & Shortland Islands - The 2nd USMC division is currently planning for Shortland Islands. Intel shows only a weak force there, so it will be easy to take. I'm leery about taking it, however, because Shortland is smack-dab in the range of everything at Rabaul...and I'm doubtful is allied land based air is strong enough to fend it off yet. By February 43 (when the Corsairs are available), the story will change. But in October/November 1942....doubtful. Still, it's something I'm contemplating.

Tarawa and Baker Island - Baker Island will be the next invasion spot, followed by Tarawa. My carriers can handle whatever Betty's might be in range, and the Japanese Navy is a non-factor now. Anticipated dates for Baker Island invasion will be in late-October or November and Tarawa in late November or December.

Alaska - The Japanese navy paid Dutch Harbor a visit. The lone carrier that bombed Dutch Harbor accomplished nothing except sinking one xAKL. Hardly worth the fuel burned!

The AI is "Raid Happy"

One flaw with the AI is that I think it's "raid happy." It simply sends it's carriers or Surface TF's on too many raids...and worse..often does it in "too feeble" of strength. In my opinion, raids are quite risky (one reason they weren't done much during the war itself and one reason why I don't do it)....they often accomplish little and put some of your most valuable naval assets at risk of taking a torpedo or stumbling across a previously unseen superior force. So far, Japanese "raids" have sunk a handful of DD's and xAK's, at a cost of several carriers, two BB's, five CA's and numerous CL's and DD's.

Note, I'm not talking about bombarding enemy bases or trying to intercept shipping that is flowing into nearby enemy bases (such as the Japanese trying to raid Lunga...that makes total sense). Instead, I'm talking about these weird "deep-sea" raids that have sent Japanese forces deep behind enemy lines (like way to the South of Canton Island or the BB TF that is now making a pleasure cruise through Cape Horn)...where they often are never seen again after stumbling into superior forces or getting tagged by land-based air. Likewise, carrier raids against large, well-fortified enemy bases (aka...Colombo or Sydney) in mid-1942 also make no sense unless every carrier is involved (and can thus overwhelm land-based air). The Half-KB that showed up to bomb Colombo accomplished nothing but lose it's valuable planes and pilots and burn lots of fuel...all to sink one local minesweeper! The Junyo's attempt to raid Sydney ended up even worse...it sunk no allied ships and the carrier itself was then quickly sunk.

Overall, I do like the AI's aggression. But I think the AI "over-uses" it's naval forces...and often when it uses them, it doesn't use them in enough strength to ensure success.


(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 112
A Quiet September - 8/29/2009 7:26:50 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline 		AAR Covers the period September 8th - September 26th, 1942

General Observations

Very quiet. Japanese have pretty well been stopped cold...there isn't any more expansion they can do. Basically, the loss of the entire KB carriers along with 2 Junyo type CV's and two CVL's has robbed Japan of any real expansion possibilities. So, they are on the defensive for the rest of the war.

Fortunately for Japan, the Allies are slowed by a severe shortage of carrier aircraft. All the naval engagements have kept the carrier aircrews way below strength. Dauntless divebombers are a very scarce commodity, and it will take at least 2-3 months for my 6 carriers to even have a full compliment of F4's. As such, Allied offensives will be somewhat limited...between the upgrades and lack of aircraft, I'll pretty much be limited to using three carriers at a time.

India and Burma

Only thing going on here is the "air war" over Chittagong. Almost daily Japanese air raids try to bomb Chittagong...often with 100+ aircraft coming from 3 airbases. But the Hurricanes and P40K's that are there have been putting up a great show...inflicting far more losses then they take. This is the type of air war the Allies love. :)

The Japanese have also reinforced Mandalay...intel shows 2+ divisions there. This makes me glad I "took a pass" on an overland offensive following the destruction of two Japanese infantry divisions at Imphal. Give things another 9-12 months and then it will be time to strongly consider invading via the Imphal route. Until then, I'm content to site and wait and enjoy the "sitzkreig" that is going on in Burma right now.

China

Supplies are continuing to trickle in to units that haven't had any for months. Had just enough supplies to kick out a weak Japanese unit that had been trying to cut off Nanning from Liuchow. Now I just need to boot out the Japanese units that are actually in Nanning. But the Chinese units that hold Nanning still have 0 supplies, so this battle might not be happening anytime soon.

South Pacific

The Japanese have 1+ divisions now at Buna. I'm content to let this division wilt on the vine and starve...I'm not gonna bother doing an overland march or seaborne invasion to knock this invasion out. Instead, in the New Guinea area, I'll be focusing future operations on Fischaven and Cape Gloucester. Japanese units in other bases (such as Lae) will just sit and starve.

Lunga - The carrier Kaga, the last of the original KB, was sunk when it arrived to cover an invasion. I had four carriers luckily in position and raced them to Lunga. One strike and it was over...the Avengers proved their worth (the carriers were down to 40% strength in dive bombers). The invasion force of Lunga then showed up next turn...and was promptly sunk by the BB TF I had parked there.

Tulagi - With Lunga safe and secure now, I've started pulling units out of Tulagi. I'll just keep a construction unit, base force, infantry regiment and coastal gun regiment. But the Marines have been pulled back as well as the tank batallion. I'll consider pulling out the 1st USMC division at Lunga once Shortland Islands have been taken in early 1943.

Alaska - Intel shows a Japanese batallion prepping for Kiska. I have a weak infantry company there now, so will attempt to reinforce using an infantry battalion at Dutch Harbor before the Japanese arrive. I have no naval units in the theatre to block an invasion, so the Army troops there will be on their own.

Noumea - Beginning to swell up with forces again, as I've begun to take some of the garrison units off of Suva/Pago Pago/Rossell Islands and have moved them to Noumea. I'm setting these units to plan for various attack that will occur later in '42 or early 1943.

Future Attack Plans Coming Into Focus

If given the choice, I tend to prefer the "Central Pacific" attack route instead of hopping up New Guinea base by base. Due to the decimation of the Japanese fleet, and having lost zero carriers myself, I easily have the strength to do this. As such, other than taking a few key bases (shortlands, finschaven, cape gloucester, buka) to isolate Rabaul, I have NO plans to do a "General McCarthur" and march up New Guinea. Instead, later in 1943 or 1944...when the Allies have secured bases in the Marianas and Peleu, the Allies will "march down" New Guinea instead, taking a few key bases like Hollandia.

These are the tentative attack plans, with the roughly anticipated dates:

1. Munda - Currently unoccupied, so less an invasion than an occupation. October 1942.
2. Baker Island - Troops planning for it. November 1942.
3. Tarawa - December 1942 or january 1943.
4. Shortland Islands - January or February 1943
5. Nauru Islannd and Makin - Currently unoccupied, but I'll need a strong force for the garrison. March 1943.
6. Mili - March 1943
7. Majaleop - April 1943?
8. Isolate Rabaul taking other key bases - spring and summer 1943.

Due to my primary attack going across the Central Pacific, I'll soon begin the process of "pulling out" troops from Australia and Noumea...and moving them to Pearl Harbor. This includes Australian units, too...such as the Australian 7th (which I've dedicated to attacking in the Marianas). I find it much simpler to base all operations out of Pearl, instead of trying to coordinate forces coming from multiple bases that are scattered all over the place. Additionally, supplying Pearl Harbor and related islands is much simpler and quicker than trying to keep Australia and Noumea up in supply for intense combat operations. I'm building up the Hawaiian bases at Hilo and Lihuana. This will make it easier to launch large invasions from Hawaii.

My "main" central pacific base (in the Marshall's/Gilberts) is slated to be Mili...I'll have a USN base force here. Mili is chosen since it can base 30K troops...thus allowing for a strong garrison and a large base force. Unlike Tarawa and Makin (also 30K islands), Mili is more centrally located...providing more operational flexibility and reconnaissance capabilities for the Allies.

Two Things Slowing Down Attacks

In terms of naval forces, land based air and troops, the Allies are in a position now where they could launch plenty of very strong attacks. However, two things are hindering operations. First, as mentioned, is the depleted air power on Allied carriers. And secondly is the lack of AP's and AKA's. I only have enough AP's and AKA's to really be able to land one division, a field artillery unit, two tank batallions and a combat engineer unit. While more AP's will soon arrive, as will the first LST's, I doubt I'll have enough transport capacity to do "multi-pronged" attacks in any sort of strength anytime soon. As such, I'm relegated to doing one attack on a base, going back to Pearl/Noumea to pick up more troops, sailing off and then doing another attack, etc...Needless to say, this slows things down...massively! Maybe by spring of 1943 I'll have enough transports to be able to launch two large scale attacks simultaneously.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 113
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 4:48:51 PM   
Jepo1501

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 8/16/2009
Status: offline 		This is great, very interesting and informative, what do you mean by the units 'planning' for the attack for 50 days? Is that were at the bottom right of the unit information screen were it says future objectives you need to put in the target up to 50 days prior to committing that unit. Sorry if it a dumb question.

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 114
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 4:53:34 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Jepo1501

This is great, very interesting and informative, what do you mean by the units 'planning' for the attack for 50 days? Is that were at the bottom right of the unit information screen were it says future objectives you need to put in the target up to 50 days prior to committing that unit. Sorry if it a dumb question.



Yeah...planning = "future objective" on the unit information screen. You want that number as high as possible for any place you are attacking (or defending for that matter). A minimum of 50 seems to be needed to avoid the wipe out that happened, although even a number like 40 helps quite a bit. If you hit 100 you're golden.

(in reply to Jepo1501)
Post #: 115
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 5:06:28 PM   
Jepo1501

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 8/16/2009
Status: offline 		Thats great, thanks for the advice. I have never played this kind of game before but i love it, but its very complicated! I suppose i will eventually get used to it.....learn by my mistakes!

(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 116
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 7:35:34 PM   
jimh009

 

Posts: 368
Joined: 5/15/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Jepo1501

Thats great, thanks for the advice. I have never played this kind of game before but i love it, but its very complicated! I suppose i will eventually get used to it.....learn by my mistakes!


Trial and error is definitely the best way to learn, followed by "just screwing around" and seeing what happens when you do "this" or do "that." Also be sure to have the manual handy...it can bail you out of those few nagging things that never seem to make sense.

(in reply to Jepo1501)
Post #: 117
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 10:56:01 PM   
Tanaka


Posts: 4378
Joined: 4/8/2003
From: USA
Status: offline 		Great AAR! What was the reason for the marine units never attacking? Was this a bug?

quote:

ORIGINAL: jimh009

This AAR covers the period August 10th - September 1st

These turns were played quite quickly...I sort of ignored most of the rest of the world beyond Tulagi and vicinity. About once a week I took a "look around" and organized supply convoys and moved reinforcements to Pearl, but other than that, I sort of "whizzed through" these 3 weeks of turns.

PS...if you have a dual-core machine, use the -cpu2 command. OMG...what a difference it makes. I use this command line to start the game and I REALLY noticed a difference. Gone are the delays when clicking. Also noticed is a big improvement in how fast graphics render (I have a very powerful laptop, too...so if I notice a gain, someoone with a less powerful laptop really should see a big difference).

"C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -cpu2 -dd_sw

The Tulagi Invasion...Or How Not To Do An Invasion

After successfully taking Guadalcanal with few casualties, after spending a week unloading all supplies and support troops, the transports along with four carriers headed back to Noumea. The carriers needed torpedoes (Noumea finally hit a size 7 port) and the AP's and AK's were needed for the invasion of Tulagi.  The Enterprise/Yorktown hung around Lunga for something to do. Likewise, I kept the three Surface TF's "parked in Lunga." I dragged an AKE up to Lunga so as to be able to replenish the gun ammo when needed....something that would prove immensely helpful in the upcoming invasion of Lunga. Without that AKE, I almost wonder what might have happened.

The invasion force for Tulagi consisted of one Army Regiment, One Tank Batallion, One Marine Regiment, Field Artillery Regiment, Marine Raider and Marine Parachute Batallion. All told, about 350 AV. So, it wasn't a "wimpy force" by any means.

Intel showed 10K troops and 100 vehicles at Tulagi, suggesting a Naval Guard Regiment with a Tank Regiment. With hindsight, it was obvioius that I didn't drag enough troops to Tulagi consideriing the resistance involved.

The initial landings went well enough. Following the shore bombardment, troops unloaded on Tulagi with tiny losses and no disruption...and I thought, so far, so good. The following day, I did a deliberate attack. Despite having an assault value of 350 vs. the 100 for the japanese, the modified assault value led to 1-2 odds! The Japanese lost more than the Allies and the fortifications were reduced by one level. However, the disruption of my units went up noticeably.

After a day of rest, I tried another deliberate assault...again, 1-2 odds, and this time Allied units lost more than the Japanese. Not good! I examined the units on Tulagi and noticed one interesting thing...the Marine Regiment had taken ZERO casualties. Instead, the casualties came from the Tank Batallion and Army Regiment. And the Marine Raider was essentially wiped out. I thought this was highly unusual. But before I could figure out a plan to deal with this, a good chunk of the IJN decided to show itself.

Over the next week, there was a parade of IJN ships heading to Lunga. A tokyo express arrived and clashed with a BB TF I had. The engagement was brief with no losses for either side, but the IJN BB was caught by land based and carrier air. The Mutsu soon found a watery grave. Then two Jap CV's showed up...the Hiyo and Ryujo. Against six allied carriers back by land based air in Lunga, they had no chance...and were quickly sunk. Then yet more forces tried to land troops/supplies at Tass. These naval forces were also promptly engaged and sunk by surface forces or land based/carrier aircraft. So...all in all...a great success for the Allies, although the air wings on virtually all Allied Carriers have been wittled down to "thin at best" and "skeltal at worst."

Except Tulagi. Throughout this entire time, I stopped bombarding the island with ships and stopped the daily bombing by Dauntlesses and Avengers. When the naval action was finally over, I tried another deliberate assault. Although my troops were well rested, had no disruption and had tons of supplies, the modified attack happened at 1-4 odds!

I waited a few days, and bombarded the heck out of Tulagi...but a few days later, when I tried yet another deliberate attack, I still had 1-2 odds, with equal losses. Finally recognizing I didn't have enough forces, I used the AP's and AK's that had unloaded the Marine regiment and sent it one hex over to Lunga. There it picked up another Marine Regiment that had invaded Lunga. Two days later it was loaded up and waded ashore on Tulagi.

That was when I got a rude surprise! Because the Marine Regiment I had on Lunga hadn't "planned" for Tulagi, it took 40% losses just struggling ashore (compare that to the nearly zero losses for the units of the initial Tulagi invasion force that had 60+ days of planning for it). The disruption of that Marine Regiment also shot up to 90%. Thus, I had to wait five days for that unit to lower it's disruption before I could do anything. During that five days, Tulagi was bombed by planes and bombarded by ships.

I finally launched another deliberate attack on Tulagi and got 1-2 odds again. Damn! However, the Japanese lost a lot of squads in that attack versus little for the Allies, so that was one good sign. Examining the units again, once again I noticed that the Marine Regiments took ZERO casualties, where-as the Army Regiment and Army Tank Batallion took all of them.

After this, I tried a new tactic. I waited a few days for the troops to lower their disruption again, then did another deliberate attack with ONLY the Marine Regiments. That did the trick...1-1 odds and lowererd the Japanese fortifications to 0. Two days later, a final deliberate attack wiped out the last Japanese forces with 300-1 odds.The same day, forces that moved from Lunga to Tass also wiped out the last Japanese forces there, too.

Lessons Learned

First off, make doubly sure to have enough troops to begin with. It's clear that while I had numerical superiority over the Japanese, it wasn't by much. And due to the terrain/fortifications on Tulagi, the small numerical superiority of the Allies was removed...leading to the 1-2 and 1-4 odds I initially saw. Thus, for future invasions, even those little atolls, it's crucial that the Allies have at least 2-1 numerical superiority over the Japanese...preferably more. If your intel shows 100 enemy tanks...the Allies better show up with 200 or more!!

Secondly, take more tanks! I suspect that the tank regiment that Japanese had on Tulagi really changed the combat modifier. I only had one tank batallion compared to the tank regiment of the Japanese....thus, the Japanese had more tanks than the Allies. For future invasions, I will always be dragging along many, many more tanks, even if intelligence doesn't show any enemy tank formations.

Thirdly, "planning is everything." The Marine Regiment that hadn't planned for Tulagi sustained nearly 40% losses storming ashore at Tulagi. Compare that to the nearly 0% losses of the units that had planned for Tulagi. What this means, practically speaking, is that once an invasion is "underway", it's "too late" to bring in more forces unless those forces have already planned for it.

Fourthly, because of the above...it's crucial to have a "reserve" afloat. That reserve will need to have planned for the invasion hex for 50+ days (just like the assault forces have). If I had a reserve afloat and which had adequate planning for Tulagi, I suspect Tulagi would have fallen in three to four days instead of 3 weeks!

Fifth...I suspect the only reason I was able to get Tulagi was because I could bomard it daily with 2 BB bombardment TF's and bomb it daily with Dauntless dive bombers. Naval bombardment isn't what it was in WiTP (thankfully), but it's still damn important. Over time, you do degrade the enemy units. Like wise, I've noticed the bombing ground units by aircraft is quite effective in killing troops and increasing their disruption (some strikes are more effective than others). The AKE and replenishment task force I had based in Lunga were crucial in allowing me to keep up a daily naval bombardment of Tulagi, and the six CV's allowed for continuous air attack. For future invasions, I will be making "big use" of air attacks  against Japanese ground units (something I never did in stock WiTP). I also will likely have 2+ days of naval bombardments, instead of just one.

Sixth...always drag along a combat engineer regiment. I forgot to do that for the invasion of Tulagi, and I suspect that is one reason why fortifications only fell by one level at at time.

Other Stuff

Despite the non-stop action, fuel reserves in Noumea continue to go up. I have a parade of tanker TF's moving back and forth between LA and Noumea. There is 250K fuel points in Noumea now, along with 300K supply. Sydney has 150K fuel and PH has 600K fuel. I've also bee moving fuel to Luganville, Brisbane and Auckland from Noumea. The British tankers made ALL the difference in this. Without them, the Allies would never have been able to build up these fuel stocks.

Now that Tulagi/Lunga/Tass are under Allied control, I'm looking at future offensives. As the Japanese carrier force is all but annihiliated, the US doesn't need to worry about big naval interference. Shortland Island is next on the list in the South pacific, while Baker Island/Tarawa are on the list in the Central Pacific.

However, before I can do any of that, I need to "plan" and, just as importantly, wait a month or two for the decimated Allied carrier airgroups to rebuild.




_____________________________


(in reply to jimh009)
Post #: 118
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 11:11:46 PM   
Andy Mac

 

Posts: 15222
Joined: 5/12/2004
From: Alexandria, Scotland
Status: offline 		They were attackong just not the spearhead there is spme randomness especially in arty .

Key lesson is preparation preparation preparation - you must have 50% prep for an invasion against any kind of defence

(On atoll invasions I insist on >75% prep)

(in reply to Tanaka)
Post #: 119
RE: How Not to Do an Invasion for the Allies! - 8/30/2009 11:37:42 PM   
Tanaka


Posts: 4378
Joined: 4/8/2003
From: USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

They were attackong just not the spearhead there is spme randomness especially in arty .

Key lesson is preparation preparation preparation - you must have 50% prep for an invasion against any kind of defence

(On atoll invasions I insist on >75% prep)



Any way to choose who is the spearhead?

_____________________________


(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 120
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