Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

Here is a screenie of my game with Viberpol. It is scen #2 and we just entered 1945. Note his air losses vs mine. And, I can say that I have not seen any drop in the efficiency or numbers of Japanese aircraft. So if you are playing scen #2 this is what you can expect from a competent Japanese opponent.

However, Allied aircraft and now Allied pilot skills are such that the Allies can win the air battle at most any point chosen. You won't, however, be able to win an attrition battle.

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ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
I plan to build a CAP TRAP there, to hopefully shoot down some CV planes, in exchange for some crappy xAKLs or something. We'll see if it works.

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ORIGINAL: Saros

Fast transport of supplies or equipmment probably. The Ansyu's can carry 1kt if placed in a FT task force.

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ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

4/5/43:

Dead PBs:

Those PBs were fast transports, but they didn't work very well; we sank 3 trying to supply Selaroe. One of them struck a mine of mine.

I wonder if those bases north of Darwin are running low on supplies; it's risky to send in such ships, and I've been bombing them for 2 months now.

KB:

About 4 days ago I sighted KB via Sub near Ootong Java. Today, I spotted KB at TRUK, via one of those PB4Y Recon planes which are AWESOME, by the way. I wish I had 50!

What Next?

I feel like I am not being aggressive enough.....Ideas?

I can't take on KB and live right now, and he has a ton of LBA. I count at least 750 fighters in my front; that might be all of them, but that's still alot.

I am keeping busy hauling stuff to Australia for future use; Oz is awash in fuel, stacked high with beans and bullets, and Yanks everywhere terrorize the locals while waiting for action. Even forward bases like Darwin have plenty of everything. Except targets I can get to easily.

I have a couple moves planned: Solomons, north of Darwin, etc, but nothing grand, not yet.

Suggestions?

Burma:

Not sure what I am doing wrong, or Greyjoy is doing right, but I'm stuck here.

I planned a re-do of the air offensive, by bombing Mandalay, but recon showed over 300 figthers! No thanks, not with RAF replacement rates. I'll lose that battle of attrition. That's alot of the 1943 problem vs. Scenario 2; the Japanese have more planes, and more replacements for those planes, than the Allies. That will change, but not quite yet, and the RAF is particularly constrained.

On the ground, he has made good use of the terrain. I tried breakthroughs in a couple spots, starting with 2-3 weeks of ground bombing (which doesn't do much in rough terrain, but does cause some disruption), followed by attacks by Maximum Stacks. Nothing even close to success. The only option is to OVERSTACK maybe, and try that, but supply is tough enough along that border without that problem. It's the only place on the map that supplies are a problem for the Allies.

I think long-term I'm not going anywhere here. There are alot of Japs and Thais there, and I may be better served sailing around them, when I can.

Any ideas? Bomb a stack for a couple weeks, attack with Tanks and all you got....that's the only formula I know.

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Engineers:
The “name” of a device does not matter, only the device data matters. Any Eng unit can always build, but if it has Anti-Armor <1, it cannot reduce forts. If it has Anti-Soft <9, it cannot AV. If it is “named” Construction or Labor Eng, but is a Type = 23 (squad), it will not build. If it also has a-a <1, and a-s <9, it won’t do anything but eat (i.e., nothing but ‘bodies’). So there is a matrix of different Eng squads that represent a mix of abilities; build stuff, reduce forts, able to AV, some of the above, none of the above. DaBigBabes uses this matrix (according to our appreciation as to how it falls out) to help limit in-game tempo, by limiting in-game infrastructure.

Shore Party:
Shore Party is a sub-set of Nav Sup. Shore Party devices assist in loading/unloading but do not assist in repairing or rearming. Repair/rearm bases were very far and few between, for both sides, and thus with BigBabes, but both sides recognized an imperative for stevedoring and non-integral lift capability. Thus Shore Partys and a skoosh of code that lets them give an unload bonus to TFs. A Shore Party switch may be set for a Vehicle, such as an LVT-2 Amph Trac; It may be set for a Type = 24 Eng squad, like USA Port Srvc Sq, in which case it may also help build; It may be set for a Type = 23 Squad, like USA Amph Sup Sq.

Check the editor often, and become familiar with all the different kinds of units available. For example:

USMC Pioneer Sq – Squad type – No Build, Yes AV, Yes Shore Party, No Reduce Forts
USN Constr Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, Yes AV, No Shore Party, No Reduce Forts
USN Spec Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, No AV, Yes Shore Party, No Reduce Forts
USN Base Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, No AV, Yes Shore Party, No Reduce Forts
USA Port Svc Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, No AV, Yes Shore Party, No Reduce Forts
USA Amph Sup Sq – Squad type – No Build, Yes AV, Yes Shore Party, No Reduce Forts

IJA Shipping Eng Sq – Squad type – No Build, No AV, No Reduce Forts, Yes Shore Party, LC = 17
IJA Cmbt Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, Yes AV, Yes Reduce Forts, No Shore Party, LC = 17
IJA Const Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, No AV, No Reduce Forts, No Shore Party, LC = 17
IJA Const Labor Sq – Squad type – No Build, No AV, No Reduce Forts, No Shore Party, LC = 20
IJN Const Eng Sq – Eng type – Yes Build, No AV, No Reduce Forts, No Shore Party, LC = 17
IJN Const Labor Sq – Squad type – No Build, No AV, No Reduce Forts, No Shore Party, LC = 20

So IJ Const Labor doesn’t 'do' anything and, what’s more, has a larger load cost. This represents the large manual labor component (Chinese/Korean) that results in 1000 man Eng Bns/Rgts without giving much additional capability. Typical IJA Const Bns/Rgts have 32 Const squads (590 ‘men’, 1088 total with the support, etc.), but 16 squads are Const Eng, while 16 are Const Labor. It's a way to have 32 squad (1000 man) Bns/Rgts with half the capability of a corresponding 32 squad Allied unit.

Even though many squad devices don’t ‘do’ anything (and many Eng devices can’t assault), they are still marginally useful (apart from the Eng devices being able to build). Anti-Soft = 8 (typically) so these units may still ‘shoot’ during the pre-assault fire phase. They ‘shoot’ better than the default firepower of a 251 Eng or 252 Sup device, so that’s something.

Different load costs also allow Const Bns/Rgts to be tailored as to troop count and, therefore, load ability and troop population on atolls and small islands.

per JWE