PaxMondo
Posts: 9750
Joined: 6/6/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lowpe quote:
ORIGINAL: el lobo At Yokohama I have a Zero unit, a Val unit and a Tojo unit. I have not considered putting Georges or Jacks (no Franks yet) out on these islands because of their SR and if I gather correctly, Lowpe does not do this either. Thanks Guys. [/size] For every rule there is a time to break them. When I was attacked in the Marianas I used all my Georges, which was the only fighter I had at the time (no Frank). For you to win this fight you will need everything. I think the only advanced fighter you have is George right now? Until he takes an island, and repairs the runway, the Allies are limited to Hellcats and F4Fs from a limited source. But once a base is taken, then the Corsairs, Jugs and Lightning will appear. No base, no rearming of ships. No PT boats. You have high forts, but there are a lot of bases to cover, it is early, and I suspect the Allies have nearly perfect information from SigInt. Communication is imperfect, so I don't know what your goals are. If you want to hit the invasion beach with a massed KB strike that is one thing. If you are trying to stop him, prevent bases from falling that is another. Plus everything in between and beyond those two aspirations. When I was attacked in like manner, I believe I had stuffed the Marianas with over 800 planes and it wasn't nearly enough. The Allies had used SigInt to attack my weakest bases...and avoided the strong bases for the entire game. You are in a different position than me in that you have the KB present, but I have to tell you the Islands are very vulnerable to surface bombardments, and they are in a line making naval strikes difficult to coordinate. All I can say is you should be trying to bleed them every day you can. I wouldn't hesitate to race in sacrificial three destroyer squadrons now (I am very fuzzy at where everything is). Slow him down, expend his ammo, eat up his torpedoes, absorb his plane strikes, get his ships to react, collide, buy time for you to mass more planes, ships, and troops in the Marianas. Night strikes. Count hexes and pick off his SAGs that react forward to your destroyers. Daytime long distance torpedo strikes at high altitude escorted by your best fighters (poor mans cv sweep), massed I boat attacks (I would send in everything all at once). The early sacrificial attacks will aid the later attacks, and there is always hope something gets thru. To the degree you use some of the tactics, or not, well that is a function of what your goals are and as I said I am unclear on them, as well, really on the tactical situation. I can't stress how much I don't know: pilot training, planes, pools, ground troops, supply levels, naval concentration, artillery, mines, cd guns, supply, prep levels, HQs. All of this lack of knowledge really hamstrings all my suggestions. Everybody that offers advice is using a ton of assumptions that may or may not be true. However, to be honest, instead of the Allies being bleeded as they approach on a very easily identified axis, it is Japan that had a Carrier drop out. Force preservation is not a goal with the Allies at least with their sub fleet. This fight will take all of your JFB cunning, and planning no matter what your goals are. +1 Either you are in or you are not. It may be too late now to be in ... it appears you have something like ~250 aircraft LBA ... far too few to hold against the allied forces coming. As for AV, just like in the early war, you have no choice but to overstack. The risks are great, you will likely have to abandon a fair number of aircraft, but ... The way the allies play is to amass everything they have and then strike. The IJ players tend to try to hold everything, which plays into the allied plan. To counter the allies, the IJ has no choice but to either match the allies or cede the field (they can nip at the edges as they cede, but cede they will). Any other choice results in huge losses. I was not exagerating what was needed for LBA to hold the marianas... 20 airgroups minimum, with at least 15 more in the Bonins to cycle in. The allies have that much massed against you. It means stripping almost every other theatre bare ... the risk involved with choosing to fight or you choose to blood their nose a bit, but cede the marianas to them and all of the units therein. Yes, there are some fights, but the end is already determined. Truk is also marginalized, etc... sadly in terms of strategy there is very little middle ground. As lowpe states, we on the sidelines have imperfect intel, in all cases do not know your full intentions, and of course it is your game. We do not have to live with outcomes. Every decision has ramifications, but do not think that any fight is final. Personally, I hate having to fight in the Marianans (like Burma, I hate it. The terrain is terrible and fraught with challenges, in this case the layout of the isles and proximity to other islands). However, in this case, he is coming far too early in my opinion. Right now, as in every turn, you need to evaluate and decide. My caution is to not underestimate what is needed to accomplish your goals. IJ players art this point tend to over estimate what they can do based upon 1942 results in battles. This is 43 and the allies are far stronger on a unit basis. Based upon what you have shared, you have only enough assets in place to at best bloody his nose ... and only with luck. As lowpe states, you have only parity in air power now ... once he takes a base, he will have superiority within 2 days on numbers alone ignoring plane quality. BTW: choosing to bloody his nose means far different tactics than what has been already discussed ... KB needs to stay farther afield, come in for a strike and then move back out ... that would be a typical tactic. The skill is to choose when to move in, you have to anticipate that carefully 1 or 2 days in advance (just like everything else in this game, the ability to anticipate is crucial).
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Pax
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