Chickenboy
Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002 From: San Antonio, TX Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel Hugely broad questions that would require volumes to respond, and then the responses wouldn't be tailored to your circumstances! Specific advice given now will be out of date tomorrow - because circumstances will change. So I encourage you to search for readable Allied AARs (Q-Ball vs. GreyJoy; GreyJoy vs. Kane) and pick up some ideas. Also, just trying things and getting your butt kicked is a good way to learn. Those caveats in mind, here are a few short answers: 1. Singapore needs supply and ground troops. See if you can load up a bunch of xAK at places like Batavia, Soerabaja, Palembang and Balikpapan and send them poste haste. Your window won't be open long, but you might be able to ram in 25k, 50k, 100k, and that would be as good as gold. Your troops "up the Malaysia Peninsula" mostly need to bug out and get back to Singers (don't forget to prep them!). You might leave some behind to slow down the Japs in favorable terrain and to keep them from steamrolling right down to Singers. As a JFB, I can vouch for some of these approaches. Getting supply into Singapore is a worthwhile endeavor. You could easily bring in a few xAKs laden with supplies. A little will go a long way to help. Defending early war upper Malay peninsula against the Japanese juggernaut is a tricky proposition. Japanese can bypass some isolated pockets (e.g., Alor Star) and liquidate them in turn. If you do elect to defend away from Singapore, select some location (in good defensive terrain as CR suggests) astride the railroad. Forts, forts forts and more forts. Build only forts on the Malay peninsula. quote:
2. Luzon is tough to defend in a meaningful way. Get most of your decent troops to Clark Field and, if possible, try to ram in some supply via xAK. Those will be suicide runs, but even ounce will help. If your opponent/AI is negligent, you might have some chances to do some spoiling attacks, but mainly Luzon is a passive theater - your troops just button up at Clark and take a licking until they die. Concur again. Clark (not Manila, not Bataan) should be your fallback position of choice for defense on Luzon. Consider bugging out of Manila with a few select units if you can on the first or second day of the war. For ships that you wish to extricate-consider sailing East to Midway or Pearl if you can. West of Manila will be a sea of enemy ships looking to deal with stragglers. quote:
3. You're chomping at the bit to use your carriers. Every Allied player is. And most of us go and lose them post haste, weep bitter tears, and are tempted to quit. So first rule is: Don't lose your carriers! That means don't take snazzy chances unless you know exactly what you're doing (which generally means you know where the KB is - far away) and why. Oftentimes, hiding your carriers so that an opponent doesn't know where they are and has to allow for them to pop up everywhere is effective. Experienced player can make big use of carrriers early and often, but for a newbie, you mainly just want to keep them out of danger until around June 1943. Probably good advice for new players. For experienced players, Allied carriers can be a most unpleasant surprise to an invasion TF. I would be tempted to use them if an excellent opportunity arose, but they are extremely vulnerable to a surprise Japanese arrival of KB. quote:
5. Generally just hunker down, maximize your CAP, and don't move heavily damaged and vulnerable ships. They're better in port than risking getting whacked out of port. Now, you might consider "fleeing the coop" with lightly damaged ships that can still make good speed. Send them south or southeast or even send them sprinting to nearby ports in the chain (set to disband) so that all your eggs aren't in a single nest. But, often, I leave damaged ships in Pearl for months, until I'm sure the "coast is clear" and until damage is repaired enough to make a journey back to West Coast acceptably risky. On land, my axiom is to try not to get too many of your troops trapped where they'll be forced to surrender. Islands (Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Luzon, Hong Kong, etc.) are deathtraps. Far better to defend where you can retreat or reinforce. Preferably by rail.
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