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Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 4:05:13 PM   
John Lansford

 

Posts: 2662
Joined: 4/29/2002
Status: offline 		It's early '43 in my CG and I have a foothold in the Central Pacific (Tarawa/Makin), but everywhere I look the AI has fortified the bases I usually use in my island-hopping campaign. Mili, Maloelap, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, all appear to be stuffed full of defense forces, and when I sent a bombardment TF to hit Mili, all I got for my troubles were 4 BB's with 20+ System damage from the CD guns there.

Where have the rest of you gone next in the Central Pacific? I'm eyeing Ponape since early recon indicates no one's there, but IIRC the port there is nonexistent and I'd like somewhere I can build up to a useful point.
Post #: 1
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 4:47:43 PM   
ckk

 

Posts: 1268
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: Pensacola Beach FL
Status: offline 		I went Roi-Namur and the Eniwetok. Painful but doable, scenaio 9 btw. The next stop will be Tinian. Bullwinkle says that that's the easiest Marianna. Looking for an island that can be built to a 5 airfield. If Tinian is too tough look at Agrihan
quote:

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

It's early '43 in my CG and I have a foothold in the Central Pacific (Tarawa/Makin), but everywhere I look the AI has fortified the bases I usually use in my island-hopping campaign. Mili, Maloelap, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, all appear to be stuffed full of defense forces, and when I sent a bombardment TF to hit Mili, all I got for my troubles were 4 BB's with 20+ System damage from the CD guns there.

Where have the rest of you gone next in the Central Pacific? I'm eyeing Ponape since early recon indicates no one's there, but IIRC the port there is nonexistent and I'd like somewhere I can build up to a useful point.


(in reply to John Lansford)
Post #: 2
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 5:13:01 PM   
freeboy

 

Posts: 9088
Joined: 5/16/2004
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		bi pass and hit NG?

(in reply to ckk)
Post #: 3
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 5:42:35 PM   
John Lansford

 

Posts: 2662
Joined: 4/29/2002
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: freeboy

bi pass and hit NG?


I'm seriously considering that; other than Truk and Rabaul and Buna, there appears to be very little in the way of troops in that area. Some of the bases along the northern shore of NG are still Allied, the AI has never occupied them. I already occupy Gasmata and may leap up north of Finschaven or Kavieng to totally isolate Rabaul.

(in reply to freeboy)
Post #: 4
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 6:11:31 PM   
sfbaytf

 

Posts: 1122
Joined: 4/13/2005
Status: offline 		I had 2 thrusts. The main one was through NG with Rabaul and Kaivieng captured too. This thrust made it to the Jolo area and then when North to the Phillipines.

The second thrust was through the Central Pacific. This probably wasn't necessary, but I really wanted to gain experience in taking atols with the new stacking rules. My first attempt at Tarwara was a disaster. I ended up re-embarking the assault force and leaving it to my opponent. I then proceeded to take Eniwetok, Roi, Kwajalein, Maloelap, Popnape, Woleai and Yap.

Some of these places required me to re-embark the assault force and reassault with fresh troops. If for any reason your initial assault force gets bogged down or supplies get low, you may find yourself in a real bind. Once the supplies run low, it's hard to resupply to the point where your units are fully supplied. In general I found air strikes and bombardment affect the defenders more that usual due to the small size of atols. Make sure you bring along engineers. I would usually land a divison with an engineer regiment. If I took the place I would immediately reembark most of the units.

US Marine regiment and US army regiment are good canidates for atol assaults. Generally if you land 2-3 one gets beat up in the initial shock attack. Atols are one place I would not create a fully self contained MAF type force with base forces, construction engineers and other support units alongside the assault force- due to stacking limits. Take the place first, then re-embark the assault force when you take it and once the assault force is off the place, then disembark the support troops to make the atol an airbase/port.

No matter how you load the assault force on amphibious ships, you should have a few AKs loaded with supplies and with the initial assault force.

CD guns can be a pain. The only way to minimize that is to bomb the port like crazy and pound the garrison with air strikes. Try and make the enemy eat up as much supply as possible. Try and isolate the atol. Mine it. Attack any resupply vessel trying to resupply the place.

(in reply to John Lansford)
Post #: 5
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 6:17:34 PM   
Chickenboy


Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ckk

I went Roi-Namur and the Eniwetok. Painful but doable, scenaio 9 btw. The next stop will be Tinian. Bullwinkle says that that's the easiest Marianna. Looking for an island that can be built to a 5 airfield. If Tinian is too tough look at Agrihan
quote:

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

It's early '43 in my CG and I have a foothold in the Central Pacific (Tarawa/Makin), but everywhere I look the AI has fortified the bases I usually use in my island-hopping campaign. Mili, Maloelap, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, all appear to be stuffed full of defense forces, and when I sent a bombardment TF to hit Mili, all I got for my troubles were 4 BB's with 20+ System damage from the CD guns there.

Where have the rest of you gone next in the Central Pacific? I'm eyeing Ponape since early recon indicates no one's there, but IIRC the port there is nonexistent and I'd like somewhere I can build up to a useful point.



ckk-are you playing versus the AI or PBEM. If the former, yes, Tinian is frequently the least defended of the bigger Marianas bases. If the latter, all bets are off-depends on how your IJ opponent defends the Marianas. Prowling eyes prohibit me explaining my central Pacific defense strategy in more detail here...

_____________________________


(in reply to ckk)
Post #: 6
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 8:05:29 PM   
freeboy

 

Posts: 9088
Joined: 5/16/2004
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		Well, if you take out there bases with night raids, he is much more reluctant to support any offensive actions and you can combine this with daytime raids against his shipping ,soon you can simply bipass anything in your way to hit NG and march! I like this isolate and destroy model as even a smaller force well supplied can take RB or other bases IF you can cut off all resupply! simply wehre them out, r u in pbem or solo?

(in reply to Chickenboy)
Post #: 7
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 10:20:28 PM   
ckk

 

Posts: 1268
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: Pensacola Beach FL
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy


quote:

ORIGINAL: ckk

I went Roi-Namur and the Eniwetok. Painful but doable, scenaio 9 btw. The next stop will be Tinian. Bullwinkle says that that's the easiest Marianna. Looking for an island that can be built to a 5 airfield. If Tinian is too tough look at Agrihan
quote:

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

It's early '43 in my CG and I have a foothold in the Central Pacific (Tarawa/Makin), but everywhere I look the AI has fortified the bases I usually use in my island-hopping campaign. Mili, Maloelap, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, all appear to be stuffed full of defense forces, and when I sent a bombardment TF to hit Mili, all I got for my troubles were 4 BB's with 20+ System damage from the CD guns there.

Where have the rest of you gone next in the Central Pacific? I'm eyeing Ponape since early recon indicates no one's there, but IIRC the port there is nonexistent and I'd like somewhere I can build up to a useful point.



ckk-are you playing versus the AI or PBEM. If the former, yes, Tinian is frequently the least defended of the bigger Marianas bases. If the latter, all bets are off-depends on how your IJ opponent defends the Marianas. Prowling eyes prohibit me explaining my central Pacific defense strategy in more detail here...

This is versus AI. First go round in AE after couple years off. But Andy Mac has overloaded all the obvious places with 15,000 well entrenched troops with CD's I don't remember in WITP. Less historical but more interesting- This game I saw what was in Guadacanal and bypassed it and went and got Rabaul. Never would have tried that in WITP. Now I believe I need a base for 4E bombers to pound any of the Mariannas and recon is telling all are full upYap Pellelieu etc and others are too small Ulithi, Rota so this Algrihan looks inviting

(in reply to Chickenboy)
Post #: 8
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/1/2010 10:38:34 PM   
Bullwinkle58


Posts: 11302
Joined: 2/24/2009
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: John Lansford


quote:

ORIGINAL: freeboy

bi pass and hit NG?


I'm seriously considering that; other than Truk and Rabaul and Buna, there appears to be very little in the way of troops in that area. Some of the bases along the northern shore of NG are still Allied, the AI has never occupied them. I already occupy Gasmata and may leap up north of Finschaven or Kavieng to totally isolate Rabaul.


It depends on what you're after. I went Cent-Pac--Tarawa, Wotje, Kwaj (skipped and isolated Roi-Nam, Milli, Jalut, etc.--they have lots of CD). Paused after Eniwetok, built up supply and fuel piles there, moved up support ships, then Saipan. Got clocked there (massive CD, lost 2 BBs plus dozens of other ships.) Paused with Saipan, moved HUGE piles and support in, then took Tinian. Much easier with local LBA and short transport equals less troop disruption. Still, AI had a bad-ass CD unit at Tinian too. I used bombardment and LBA softening up, but one flaw in the engine is there's no good way to supess CD on small islands. Port attacks usually just blow up supplies and piers, and LCU attacks spread around and don't really hurt CDs. I had 8 CV air wings pounding Saipan for a week before, plus a smallish bombardment group. I had reconned for two months from Eniwetok. I had BBs and cruisers in with my primary infantry landing TFs, and they got creamed. 150+ hits per phase per BB. Even with all LST/LSD/APA/AKA landing forces I lost probbaly 70 transports between Saipan and Tinian. I may or may not try Guam.

An advantage of the Marianas is it puts you in 4E range of the Jimas, and the AI clusters ships like crazy in that water. I've been doing 4-CV raids up north out of Saipan, taking out AKLs by the dozen, and my subs are based at Saipan now (historical) and have very short re-arming runs.

I did Rabaul and most of northern NG in 1943 and early 1944, and they were pretty easy. But I don't intend to slog across the PI, so I'm not sure it was worth the time. Rabaul is a nice resupply and jumping off base, but the AI didn't try to hold it at all. Very easy knock off.

I've also just re-taken Wake as a "guard base" to stop raids up the middle in Cent-Pac. Wake was surprisingly hard. Above average CD, and I couldn't get supplies ashore in the face of the CDs. Two infantry regiments sat there getting chewed until I said F-it and sent in the 4th Mar Div. That was two shock attacks and it fell. Medium transport chewing here as well, but not as bad as the Marianas.

In my next game I'm going into the editor to tone down the CD on a few bases, Saipan one of them. I don't doubt that the CD OOB is historic, but the engine's ability to allow counter-fire is not. I've been to Saipan, and the terrain isn't Iwo Jima. There's no way those CDs would be at 90% effectiveness a week after the landings with 8 air wings, offshore BBs and CAs, and Marines ashore with organic attillery. Yet they shot up my landing ships until the island fell.

So, NG is very doable, but you ought to have a plan for after that. Cent-Pac isn't better or worse. It just appeals to me historically.

< Message edited by Bullwinkle58 -- 4/1/2010 10:40:41 PM >

_____________________________

The Moose

(in reply to John Lansford)
Post #: 9
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/2/2010 3:39:16 AM   
derhexer


Posts: 251
Joined: 9/19/2007
Status: offline
quote:

I went Roi-Namur and the Eniwetok. Painful but doable, scenaio 9 btw. The next stop will be Tinian. Bullwinkle says that that's the easiest Marianna. Looking for an island that can be built to a 5 airfield. If Tinian is too tough look at Agrihan


There is a scenario in AE that starts in 1943, or did you let the computer play with itself until it got to 1943?

(in reply to ckk)
Post #: 10
RE: Central Pacific Strategy - 4/2/2010 5:38:48 PM   
ckk

 

Posts: 1268
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: Pensacola Beach FL
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: derhexer

quote:

I went Roi-Namur and the Eniwetok. Painful but doable, scenaio 9 btw. The next stop will be Tinian. Bullwinkle says that that's the easiest Marianna. Looking for an island that can be built to a 5 airfield. If Tinian is too tough look at Agrihan


There is a scenario in AE that starts in 1943, or did you let the computer play with itself until it got to 1943?


This is scenario 9 Played from the beginning

(in reply to derhexer)
Post #: 11
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