Slitherine

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Japanese Ships
CA Chokai, Shell hits 6, on fire
CL Sendai, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 3
DD Shirakumo, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Shikinami
DD Ayanami, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Asagiri, Shell hits 1
DD Sagiri
DD Yugiri, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Houston, Shell hits 6
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 5
CL Boise, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Alden, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Barker, Shell hits 2
DD Bulmer, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Edsall, Shell hits 2
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 2
DD Stewart
DD Paul Jones, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Whipple, Shell hits 2
DD Parrott, Shell hits 2

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants

More info to follow in the days ahead, but one thing I do is send the 12 to 15 APs to Mare Island to sit there until early '43 when they can upgrade to APAs. The Allies are very short on Assault shipping in '43, so every one of these ships counts. There are two class of xAKs that start in or around India that I send immediately to Cape Town to await 2/42 when they can convert to xAPs. Then, most head to San Fran. There are other's of these two classes in other CW countries, but they form the backbone of my troop lift for '42.
Good luck, my friend!!

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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.

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Fast Transport TF - Unlike Japan, the Allies have very limited ships capable of this mission. I take some of my APDs (many of the Clemson DDs converted to APDs) and ALL the AMC to form one or two TFs. Use them wisely.

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ORIGINAL: dave sindel

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Fast Transport TF - Unlike Japan, the Allies have very limited ships capable of this mission. I take some of my APDs (many of the Clemson DDs converted to APDs) and ALL the AMC to form one or two TFs. Use them wisely.

I learned this lesson the hard way. I used my USN APD's on several meaningless raids early in 1942 and lost all but one of them. Now, in April 1943 when the momentum has shifted, I sure miss the flexibility they provide.

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ORIGINAL: Wargmr

Supply is not as big an issue as the allies. It is plentiful from many locations around the perimeter of the map.

One of Mr. Kane's greatest strengths is his air arm. This is where he is going to test you most in the first year of the war.

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants

American CVs - I've done this in just about every game, place an 18 plane Marine fighter group on them. Job #1 is survivability. I sleep better with 45 fighters on each, even if some are the old Buffaloes. You have the first USN fighter resize in Jan and then again in July to 36. I've taken off my TBs (now Avengers in Oct '42) and gone with just fighters and DBs. For the Allies, I feel that you need to find a way to get the TBs NavT to 70 or more and then I train them in GrnB. I will find some safe place afterwards to get them much needed experience. I believe that relatively low success of American TBs in CV clashes is because the pilots overall Exp levels are too low. I can look at some of my bomber groups and after training them up to near 70 in GrnB and somewhat in NavB, they need some time bombing a base before their hit rate goes up.

P38s - Unless you have restriction on altitude, these are your best early war sweepers (for me, set at 33k). I use the old P-25, P-26s, and even P-39s to replace the P-38s on your restricted air groups in USA. You should then be able to field a few air groups by mid-42.

Marine DB groups - You will get many of these with SBDs. However, VMSB 131, 143, and 233 'may be' able to upgrade to Avengers in mid-42. You may find that one area in which the Allies have surplus of airframes is the USN and Marines. So, go with Avengers where you can.

Leaders - At a steady rate, I go with changing my game long air groups starting with fighter pilots.

Canadian KVs - early war escorts for your many merchant TF.

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ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Great to see you back in action ... and you are facing a really good IJ player in Mr. Kane. Really looking forward to this ...

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants
P38s - Unless you have restriction on altitude, these are your best early war sweepers (for me, set at 33k). I use the old P-25, P-26s, and even P-39s to replace the P-38s on your restricted air groups in USA. You should then be able to field a few air groups by mid-42.

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ORIGINAL: Olorin


Re: CVs, I moved the Wildcat groups at PH and Wake Island to Enterprise and Lexington. I want to follow your advice with Saratoga too, but the problem is she is already off map moving to CT and I have a spare Wildcat group sitting in San Diego. It takes 38 days to redeploy it to CT, which begs the questions:

a. is pilot training taking place while in transit?
b. only 3 USN airgroups will be left in WC for pilot training. Are they enough?