Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Leandros


Hi, all!

I’m not sure if this place (AAR’s) is meant purely for duels between two players or if it’s acceptable for a Rookie to put in one against the Japanese AI? Some may have picked up that I have ventured into WitP to hopefully use it as a tool, sort of filing system, in a book project I’m fiddling around with – the working title
is “Saving MacArthur”. Just now I have a non-updated version of the game just to get the feeling of it and how it works. I’m trying to keep relatively close to
the RL except for items which differs because of the revised pre-requisites I’m working from. I shall get back to that as it develops. This exercise shall be a sort
of thinking-aloud test for me and I shall appreciate any inputs which goes on how I’m using the system and the results (or lack) thereof. I’m sure the veterans
here shall easily see what I’m doing blatantly wrong - in thinking as well as in execution. Eventually, I hope to use the editor to develop the scenario I’m
striving for. I started with the basic scenario and I can only say that it (the game) is getting more and more interesting. I think I I’ve already got a better
understanding of the logistics system, as it were, even if I’ve just scratched the surface. It seems I shall be able to use it relatively well to the purpose I
hope for. But, it’s a long way to go. My book project is presently at 2-300 pages and is only approaching end of January. Here I’m only in
the beginning of January.

Keep in mind that the game is not entirely historic - changes were made to make it more playable for both sides. Against the AI, the game works from a random choice of 13 scripts that set their strategy, i.e. the priority of their conquests. It will react somewhat to unexpected opposition but it is not up to a human opponent's problem solving. This means you can get away with some things that would not have been successful against the real life Japanese.
Besides that, there is the hindsight factor - because we know what happened in real life during the outset of the Pacific War, we will do things differently (like not sending Force Z into waters patrolled by Japanese torpedo bombers). That said, your idea to follow historic strategies to see what happens sounds like a good approach.

General:

My main object now is to test how fast US, Australian and Dutch reinforcements can be fed forward to the Philippines under a somewhat different pre-requisites
than the RL, while most of them in the beginning are used to secure what I like to call The Philippine Relief Route – through the Moluccas. To that effect
priorities are:

1. Menado
2. Zamboanga
3. Ambon

The sequence is based on time available and defense status. First, a little so-far summary. Here goes:

January 3rd 1942.

Only recently have problems developed with the supply system as it took some time before I grabbed how it worked. I have presently auto-convoyed most actual bases.
To compensate my delay in this I have initiated a lot of independent convoys. I see now that it all has to start from the supply bases, and to work from there
forward towards the front. Time is of the essence. Presently I’m just concentrating on The Philippines and the securing of the supply lines there. China, Russia,
Burma and Malaya are allowed to live their own lives. Only a couple of occasions have I “loaned” a few extra resources from the Allies. The Dutch and Aussies are
very cooperative. I’m not drawing on British resources, other than to compete a little with them about Dutch resources.

I like your plans. Sneaking supply in is the key to everything at this stage. Fighting a war uses huge amounts of supply and your bombing campaign at Davao could not have continued long.

1. MacArthur is withdrawing into Bataan in an orderly fashion. His air force has survived surprisingly well but the fighters and bombers have been withdrawn
to Mindanao. I hope to return the fighters shortly.

2. Manila is emptied with a consequent loss of transports. One large convoy got away.
3. I’m trying to redispose the Visayan forces, transferring several regiments from the other islands to Mindanao. It has not been without hick-ups, I still
have a little problem with the coupling between transport resources and ground or air units to be moved.

The ship amphibious TF loading system IS tricky. I approach it like this: Look at the "Stacking Limit" and "Cargo Load" for each unit to be transported. Add up all the limits and then all the cargo loads. Amphibious ship loading does not use space effectively so you need at LEAST 10% more space for passengers and for cargo. For amphibious invasions later, you will also need even more cargo for supply of the landings.
After you have your figures for passenger capacity and cargo capacity needed, create the Amphibious TF and start choosing ships based on their capacities until you have just over the target amount. You need at least one AP type ship for each unit loaded. Unless you are trying to strip all the goodies from the base, choose "Do Not Load Fuel" and "Do Not Load Supply". Click on "Verify Load" and see if all units show loading 100%. If not, click "Add More Ships" or, if there are no more ships, decide which unit you will not load and use the back button to go back to the unit load screen. De-select the unit(s) you are not taking and click on "Verify Load" again. When you are happy with the load click "Accept Load".

4. Zamboanga is being reinforced. USN Canopus has set up base there for a part of the submarine force. One P-40 and one P-35 squadron is based there.

5. The Japanese have invaded Davao and Jolo. They have been chased out of Davao with a constant pressure of bombing and submarine blockade. Ground forces
also closed in on them. Presently the base is used by the PBY’s again. A strong submarine force is patrolling on the outside.

6. Jolo is being harassed by our submarines as well and there has been a couple of nightly DD bombardments and daily bombings by B-17’s flying from Cagayan
and Dutch Martins from Menado. Several Jap transports have been sunk but also DD Pope.

More and more you will find that reloading your ships with ammo is difficult because all the ports big enough are seized by the Japanese or the supply is gone. Be sure to pull back and regroup when supply and damage to your ships dictates.

7. On the 27th two enemy convoys approached Menado, a CV/BB force from east and some escorted transports from west. A US/Dutch DD force drove off the
transports, later a sea battle between an Allied Cruiser/DD force and the Japanese carrier TF took place in the Eastern part of the Celebes Sea. CA Canberra,
CL Marblehead and DD Bulmer were sunk. They took with them BB Hyuga, CL Nagara and DD Ykaze. Harassed by bombers from Menado, Ambon and Cagayan the Japanese force
withdrew towards east (I hope). Only two days later some transports, I don’t know if they were new or a second convoy, popped up outside Ternate and started to
land troops without any resistance. Three Japanese transports, a PB and DE Saga has been sunk in and around Ternate.

Claims of sunk ships by Allied intel early in the war are greatly exaggerated. Unless you put 4 or more torpedoes into BB Hyuga I doubt she is sunk. You will need to learn to copy Combat Reports to post for assessment by experienced players.

8. Menado has been reinforced with the Australian Gull and Sparrow Force and an Aussie Ind. Coy. Menado is essential to keep the Relief Route open.

Japan started the war to gain access to the oil in the Dutch East Indies, so that is ALWAYS an area targeted by the AI scripts. You might hold Manado for a while but by March the IJA will be on Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Air patrols will make sneaking ships to the Philippines virtually impossible.

9. All available B-17E’s, and some PBY’s, have been ferried westward across the Pacific. Twelve B-17E’s are now assembled on Ambon. The B-17D’s are operating
out of Cagayan.

At game start Allied pilots are at a poor state of training and throwing them into battle too soon will waste the planes and the pilots. Until they train to 70 level in one skill (like land bombing) and 60 + in defensive skill they are not going to gain much against their losses.

10. The Japanese have struck in New Guinea and The Solomons, in this sequence: Mabang, Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Kavieng only a couple of days ago. They are now
firmly established on Guadalcanal.

11. The Langley convoy has departed Brisbane with 47 A-24’s (27th BG - Light). (That’s cheating a little - OTH I lost the artillery brigade being off-loaded
by mistake in Pago Pago. I have sent transports from Brisbane to pick them up but the loading takes time). The convoy left Brisbane unescorted but I have now
arranged for a link-up with a cruiser/DD force that was ahead of it.

Where is this convoy headed? If the Solomons is the target, are you prepared to lose all those aircraft and ships? After Pearl Harbour, the Japanese Carriers (KB) usually go to Truk and react to any Allied invasions within three days sail.

12. CV Enterprise has just passed through the Torres Strait – destination Ambon where it shall fly off 15 P-36’s taken onboard in Pearl. When passing the
narrowest part of New Guinea a SBD squadron flew over on the other side and bombed Madang port. All planes returned safely. Enterprise is escorted by two CA’s and five DD’s.

Do a few raids to give the pilots experience, but most of the time it is best to keep your carrier's location unknown, so the enemy has to be cautious on moving forward.

13. 2nd Marine Brigade, an infantry regiment and various support units, Seabees and Army, Navy and Air Force Base Forces are “somewhere in the Pacific” –
heading west. They shall be dropped off as the situation demands.

Don't keep them on the ships for too long. Not only do they suffer fatigue and morale hits, IJN subs are superb at this stage against very weak Allied ASW.

Problems:

1. Various Philippine inter-island transports have been sunk. This has delayed the reinforcement of Mindanao.

This is the normal course of events in this game. Submarines can bring in a little supply, but ships are on a suicide mission.

2. A transport carrying another Australian Ind.Coy was torpedoed north of Rockhampton. It sank while trying to reach port.

Start training some of your bomber/patrol groups in Naval Search and others in ASW patrol. It will take months, but eventually you can drive the subs away from your coasts.

3. CV Yorktown experienced some sort of trouble just after departing San Diego on her way to Pearl. Due to lack of fast escort she ventured out on the journey
on her own. Big mistake. She’s still on fire and is taking in water. Has returned to San Diego now.

Check the Yorktown's ship screen over on the right side where it says "Last Damaged By", to see if it lists a cause. IJN subs sometimes lay mines in coastal hexes. Collisions also happen, especially in large TFs.


More to follow.

Fred

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: Besides that, there is the hindsight factor - because we know what happened in real life during the outset of the Pacific War, we will do things differently (like not sending Force Z into waters patrolled by Japanese torpedo bombers). That said, your idea to follow historic strategies to see what happens sounds like a good approach.
I like your plans. Sneaking supply in is the key to everything at this stage. Fighting a war uses huge amounts of supply and your bombing campaign at Davao could not have continued long.

quote:

Claims of sunk ships by Allied intel early in the war are greatly exaggerated. Unless you put 4 or more torpedoes into BB Hyuga I doubt she is sunk. You will need to learn to copy Combat Reports to post for assessment by experienced players.

quote:

Japan started the war to gain access to the oil in the Dutch East Indies, so that is ALWAYS an area targeted by the AI scripts. You might hold Manado for a while but by March the IJA will be on Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Air patrols will make sneaking ships to the Philippines virtually impossible.

quote:

At game start Allied pilots are at a poor state of training and throwing them into battle too soon will waste the planes and the pilots. Until they train to 70 level in one skill (like land bombing) and 60 + in defensive skill they are not going to gain much against their losses.

quote:

Where is this convoy headed? If the Solomons is the target, are you prepared to lose all those aircraft and ships? After Pearl Harbour, the Japanese Carriers (KB) usually go to Truk and react to any Allied invasions within three days sail.

quote:

Start training some of your bomber/patrol groups in Naval Search and others in ASW patrol. It will take months, but eventually you can drive the subs away from your coasts.

quote:

Check the Yorktown's ship screen over on the right side where it says "Last Damaged By", to see if it lists a cause. IJN subs sometimes lay mines in coastal hexes. Collisions also happen, especially in large TFs.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The text can get corrupted in the video memory. This happens on one of my PCs.

I play in windowed mode, which works a bit better for switching in and out of the game.

The video memory resets on my machine by clicking on a hex with nothing in it, I usually pick an ocean hex with no TFs, but any empty hex will do. Then minimize and maximize again. This usually clears the problems for me.

Bill

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The Solomon Islands are one of the early Japanese targets, taken to secure the path along northern New Guinea to the DEI. These landings always seem to have very strong Surface Combat TF (SCTF) support.

IIRC, that Marine Combat Engineer unit was part of a Marine Division, and the division cannot now be formed. Divisions fight better than their individual components and get additional devices (like more artillery) when they are formed. You should use PP to buy back the destroyed Marine Combat Engineer unit when you can. To do that you have to go to the destroyed units list in the Intel Report. It may take a day or so for the unit to show up.

About Saratoga - be very wary of sailing your carriers into predictable ports such as San Francisco, LA and San Diego. IJN subs will now be on patrol along the West Coast. I would send her to Pearl Harbour instead, and have an ASW TF and aircraft on patrol to clear her path there of IJN subs. Those aircraft can easily be moved by a single cargo ship in an Air Transport TF.

To keep ships from trying to RTB to refuel, you need to set a home base closer to its area of operations (so the minimum fuel requirement is less) and/or change the routing information for the TF to "Direct" and "Absolute". This is especially necessary when they are at minimum fuel and you want to rendezvous with an AO TF. Don't forget to set the AO TF routing to "Meet TF xxx". Then all you need to do is set a destination hex for your low fuel TF that is within the travel radius of the AO TF. In an emergency you can also take fuel from any other ship that has more in its bunkers than it needs to do its mission and RTB.
Caveat - subs CANNOT be refueled at sea, even from an AO or another ship or sub. Set their home port to the nearest one that has fuel, and don't forget to adjust if the Japanese take the base!

Do not move Yorktown to San Francisco because of the aforementioned subs. San Diego has a big enough shipyard to handle the carrier, just disband it, put it into "Stood Down" repair and then change "Pierside" to "Shipyard". You can even change the priority for the repair if you want to put more resources on it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wdolson

If you have updated to a more recent patch, you can buy back a lot of destroyed units. It will take some time for the unit to reform and the unit will be rebuilt
from the pools over time, but you can get it back.

Bill

quote:

ORIGINAL: Leandros
January 5th 1942
3. The Dutch have concentrated a 139-type bomber force at Pontianak, north-western corner of Borneo. The other concentration is in Menado.

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: At Davao you are seeing one of the weaknesses of the AI scripts - if they don't take something they are supposed to take, they keep sending more to the same place even when the situation is hopeless (e.g. a mid-1942 attack on the Hawaiian Islands).

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: Striking carriers is a very tough proposition - the Zero is superior to the Allied Fighters available and the KB pilots are the best in the world. That said, there are enough chance elements that you might get to plant a few bombs on their decks. Weather is a big element. It can hide your strike until it comes in out of the clouds or it might hide the carriers so you never find them. The AI usually places CAP in the 10-20,000 foot range so sometimes a very low level strike (1000 or 100 feet) can sneak by the CAP and strike before they are spotted and the Zeros get down to that level. Numbers of strikes can have an effect on reducing CAP too - the fighters have to land to refuel and re-ammunition so there are fewer on CAP to stop later flights. Carrier Naval strikes cannot be directed to a particular spot so sometimes they are decoyed by convoys, especially anything with APs or AOs in it.

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: If you are thinking of committing Enterprise and Lexington to the fight, keep in mind that their initial performance will be terrible - especially the Devastators which rarely get a hit and about 80% of their torpedo hits will be duds. Better to use bombs IMO. The USN fighter pilots are good, but not enough experienced to fight crack Zero pilots with their early model Wildcats and Buffalos.

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: About QE/QM - they are great ships for hauling lots of troops but they can take little equipment and they need a large port to dock at (Level 7, I think). On the first point, you will need to load up a lot of slower ships with the Marines' equipment and have them follow weeks behind or, if in the same convoy, negate the Queens' speed advantage.

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Well done!

You don't say what damage the enemy CVs suffered - would be interested to know. Can you use the Print Screen button to capture the combat report, copy it into a
picture handling program like Paint and then save it as a JPEG to your hard drive. Then when you want to post it just start a post window, write your intro
text, click the box at the bottom that says "Embed picture in post" and then click on the "Click here to upload!" text. You can then browse to wherever you stored
the picture, click on it to select it and click OK. The Combat Report picture should then be posted with your text.

quote:

The presence of Nates in that battle tells me the enemy force was the one with CVEs and maybe a CVL, not the main KB. That is entirely an appropriate target
for an Allied CV with support from LBA, because it has far fewer aircraft to defend or attack with than KB. Did the transports at Menado draw their strike? That
could be why your strike got through to them..

quote:

Unless you have had time to build substantial forts (level 5 or more) I doubt you can hold out against an IJA division at Davao. If you want to fight
somewhere in Mindanao the best hex IMO is the mountain hex between Davao and Cagayan. You get the defensive benefits of mountain terrain and no malaria effects.
The same advantages work for the IJA if you attack there, so resist the urge and let them suffer the losses attacking you.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wdolson

There are also some free software programs out there for doing screen captures. I use an open source program called ShareX.

Bill

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Well done!

You don't say what damage the enemy CVs suffered - would be interested to know. Can you use the Print Screen button to capture the combat report, copy it into a
picture handling program like Paint and then save it as a JPEG to your hard drive. Then when you want to post it just start a post window, write your intro
text, click the box at the bottom that says "Embed picture in post" and then click on the "Click here to upload!" text. You can then browse to wherever you stored
the picture, click on it to select it and click OK. The Combat Report picture should then be posted with your text.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Leandros
Problem is, at one stage, I lost the Singint and Combat Report buttons. Just open spaces in the headline. I haven't bothered with it, I shall soon upload from the
CD which just arrived. In the meantime I'd like to continue a little on this scenario as it is. Also, I do not use the combat report movies to save time when
running it.

quote:

The presence of Nates in that battle tells me the enemy force was the one with CVEs and maybe a CVL, not the main KB. That is entirely an appropriate target
for an Allied CV with support from LBA, because it has far fewer aircraft to defend or attack with than KB. Did the transports at Menado draw their strike? That
could be why your strike got through to them..

quote:


We shall see....I'm not even sure if they found the enemy carrier force. But there surely were several CV's in it.

quote:

Unless you have had time to build substantial forts (level 5 or more) I doubt you can hold out against an IJA division at Davao. If you want to fight
somewhere in Mindanao the best hex IMO is the mountain hex between Davao and Cagayan. You get the defensive benefits of mountain terrain and no malaria effects.
The same advantages work for the IJA if you attack there, so resist the urge and let them suffer the losses attacking you.

quote:


I'm afraid you are right. It could maybe have helped if I had been able to follow MacArthur's stratgy, that of reinforcing Mindanao from the other Visayan Islands
and if that bloody Pensacola convoy hadn't off-loaded the artillery regiments at Suva I might even have had one of them on Mindanao Before tings heated up. After
all, the convoy (in RL), was in Brisbane December 22nd. In my scenario they would have been there almost a week earlier (no shuttling back and forth due
to Washington vaccilations).

Fred

WitP AE - Test team lead, programmer

quote:

wdolson wrote: If you restart the game at some point, you can redirect the convoy at start. Though the small assets you can get to the PI in the first
couple of months is just going to be a drop in a big ocean. You have weak PI divisions and smaller US forces facing experienced divisions.

quote:

BBfanboy wrote: Not trying to make your workload harder, but if you want some help with the game the forum can show you what you can glean from report
details - e.g. if the CR shows hits on a carrier and the following text info says "fuel storage explosion" you can get some assessment of the likely state of
damage on that ship.