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Another question... - 5/18/2004 8:47:49 PM

scorryuk

Posts: 88
Joined: 4/13/2004
Status: offline

Need help with my ground campaign on scen 16. First of all how do you take Gili back from Japs? I order my INF to march there and it isn`t allowed. Can`t go to any hex nearby. Pretty sure I can`t land troops off ships at Gili harbour and beach to east seems to have sea between it and mainland.??? Also any good tips for victory in ground battle. Currently beseiging Lunga and it`s proving slow going. Artillery bombardment, air and naval support only seem to inflict double figure casualities. If this war of attrition continues at the same pace it`s going to take years to win!

Post #: 1

RE: Another question... - 5/18/2004 9:26:14 PM

Mundy

Posts: 2869
Joined: 6/26/2002
From: Neenah
Status: offline

In my game, I just wrested control of Gili-Gili from the Japanese. I hit it with port strikes from Australia based B-17s (about every other day) for 3 weeks followed up with B-26 raids from Moresby for 2 weeks preceding the invasion. One Australian Division by sea was enough after fully ashore 2 days. I didn't expect it to succeed so quick, so the Japanese were certainly weakened.

Unfortunately, I now have full attention of Rabaul's air group, and keeping my troops supplied is a bit of a chore. Another problem is a weekly bombardment mission coming in that I'm having trouble countering. My carriers are replenishing their air groups after feeding them into a buzzsaw. Didn't lose any flat tops though.

< Message edited by Mundy -- 5/18/2004 1:26:14 PM >

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 2

RE: Another question... - 5/18/2004 9:40:04 PM

grraven2004

Posts: 273
Joined: 3/4/2004
From: Cuyahoga Falls OH
Status: offline

I have noticed that supply has alot to do with how fast a ground force is defeated. In my scen 17 I just took Lae on the second day after fully unloading 2 inf divisions. I have had GG,PM and Buin maxed out from the beginning. I was able to prevent the IJN from taking GG with a timely CV raid. Cost me both the Lex and Yorktown but I feel it was worth it as it kept the pressure on Northern New Guniea. With those bases Lae hasn't been resupplied and every effort has been met with the airgroups left from the CV's I lost. Many veteran players have said over and over that running a base out of supply is the only real way to win a ground battle. Just make sure you keep track of all the transports going to and from the invasion target and hit it over and over with LBA whenever possible.

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 3

RE: Another question... - 5/18/2004 10:37:25 PM

scorryuk

Posts: 88
Joined: 4/13/2004
Status: offline

Been giving both bases quite a punishing. but initial qestions still unanswered- where exactly do you land troops when taking Gili. And when you are taking on 10,000 enemy troops how can you expect to overwhelm them when every air/naval/groung attack seems to only knock of a hundred or so men at a time.?

(in reply to grraven2004)

Post #: 4

RE: Another question... - 5/18/2004 11:32:39 PM

AmiralLaurent

Posts: 3351
Joined: 3/11/2003
From: Near Paris, France
Status: offline

Troops should be landed directly in Gili Gili. It's the only way to get there.

Gili Gili is a port and may be accessed by TF. All TF will sail via Basilaki (the island east of Gili Gili, in the next hex) so it's a good idea to retake it if the Japanese occupied it (but the AI don't do that) and then put extensive minefields here before sending the invasion fleet.

Then about the ground losses, the first thing to know is that the bombardment disrupts far more men than it kills. And in a battle a disrupted man is value nothing, as is a dead man. The only difference is that the winning side may send back troops aftert he battle to a non-malarial base (Townsville, Rock, Brisbane, Noumea or Truk) and then all disrupted squads will recover.

In UV, ground defences will hold a given amount of time, where casualties will remain of some percent of the troops involved (and the ratios between losses of the two sides will rarely be more than 5) and then one of the side will collapse, if the other has more troops and manages to disable a good part of the enemy troops. Then losses will be almost nil for the victorious side and the losing side will be swept in some days.

IMOO, this is OK for Japanese victories, as Allied troops will surrender (Bataan and Singapore for example are good example of ten of thousands of Allied troops "lost" in some days). But the Japanese were not surrendering in mass and the attrition war should be far more longer in their case.

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 5

RE: Another question... - 5/19/2004 1:19:14 PM

scorryuk

Posts: 88
Joined: 4/13/2004
Status: offline

Cheers. Only thing that made me doubt u could land troops directly at Gili harbour was that I tried this at Lunga and it said I wasn`t allowed.

(in reply to AmiralLaurent)

Post #: 6

RE: Another question... - 5/19/2004 5:15:39 PM

Lex Talionis

Posts: 32
Joined: 2/11/2004
From: United Kingdom of Great Britain
Status: offline

Hi scorryuk

Whilst you can't march your troops directly from say Port Moresby to Gili Gili as it comes up as "NOT ALLOWED!!!"; you can march them there 1 hex at a time e.g. select hex next to PM as designation, when it reaches there, designate the next adjacent cell to where you are, and so on and so forth till GG is reached. I have used this on a couple of times to overcome "NOT ALLOWED!!!" from GG-PM & GG-Buna & PM-GG.

Your troops will be extremely fatigued and will have major disruption though, especially if you marched them over the mountains.

Regards

Lex

_____________________________

"Time is an adversary that suffers no casualties and never retreats; only advances."

(formerly "Skeletor" until the hack attack)

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 7

RE: Another question... - 5/20/2004 2:32:40 AM

scorryuk

Posts: 88
Joined: 4/13/2004
Status: offline

Many thanks for all help given. But as you know this game is all about details and so I`m just going to keep asking ..... My next query is how long would it take to starve a garrison into submission. Say I manage to block supplies reaching a 3,000 strong force in Gili for 2 weeks. Is it worth investing time and naval assets to maintain blockcade against IJN. Will it produce dramatic results (men dying in hundreds) or will it just give me a 15-20% edge come any land invasion? I ask this because I would not like to invest so much of my time trying to achieve this for it to fail. Never seem able to spot transports until they are already unloading despite large no. of planes on nav. search. So just been trying to wear down IJN navy by inflicting greatest no. of losses at least cost to my own assets. Let my LBA attack Gili just to give them something to do!!

(in reply to Lex Talionis)

Post #: 8

RE: Another question... - 5/20/2004 7:22:59 AM

doosekoop

Posts: 11
Joined: 4/29/2004
Status: offline

i am by no means an expert on this but i would suggest you mine gg , get some subs in and around the port and cap your minelayers from pm if you have it , then get busy bombing the port to stop any more buildup after you nuetrilize there buildup you can bomb troops and shore-bombard the place until you bring the levels down then hit them with transports of troops and some heavy ships on shore bombard while unloading and then attack and you should be victorious! Of course this is just speculation from a desktop commander. I took buin and strangled shortland like this and i am still pounding them down but dont know if this works so let me know before i launch my invasion! : )

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 9

RE: Another question... - 6/12/2004 3:56:06 AM

Wannabe

Posts: 38
Joined: 5/13/2004
From: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Status: offline

Any luck? I am in the same situation, and have not played for a month. All I can do is share my plan and let you know after the fact.

I have 6 APDs, and have found them to be efficient at offloading troops relatively quickly since I won't see any landing craft for months. So, I get an infantry division to PM, and basically ferry infantry regiments to GG 2 APD loads at a time; I load one group, next turn I load the next, etc. I will also airdrop my only airborne unit from PM on the first turn, putting up with the horrible assault they conduct to get more boots on the ground. When I believe I will not lose the entire group by doing so, I attack to see what kind of odds I currently face, and build up accordingly.

Prior, I will attack every day with bombardment, either air or naval. PM is doing fine, will have the Fifth AF HQ there in about a week. Squadrons of B-26s and B-25s will bomb every turn possible, but I doubt I will do so for more than two weeks. B-17s and B-24s to attack Rabaul to slow down the Betties, and plan to keep my two BBs plus cruisers nearby to react.

I did mine GG some time ago, but I learned in taking Lunga that mining my objective to slow down his reinforcements is a bad idea. I lost more ships to my minefields than he did, including one of my precious few DMs. I don't mind losing the captain, since he was obviously an idiot, but I miss the ship and crew.

I also have Buna and Dobodura, which are not getting much supply, but give him something else to think about, and keep my Catalina patrols close enough to his lines of communication that I should see most of what is coming.

As to my CVs, I have four present and active, and he has lost 1 CV, 2 CVLs, and another CV took three bomb hits so I assume it is gone for now, I have not decided. I am considering either keeping them near the beach for CAP, or a raid to Shortland/Rabaul, just to keep him busy. That 20% efficiency penalty for long-range CAP makes me prefer to use my carrier planes for other things than long-range CAP.

That's the plan, anyway. Take it for what it's worth, since I am no UV veteran.

(in reply to scorryuk)

Post #: 10

RE: Another question... - 6/12/2004 6:23:17 PM

scorryuk

Posts: 88
Joined: 4/13/2004
Status: offline

Update. Since posting this I sucessfully took Gili and Lunga.

Gili fell first. Had successfully prevented IJN from landing any supplies or reinforcements. Sent regular aircraft over from Aus to bomb port and ground troops. Threw in a naval bombardment for good measure and after 7 -8 turns loaded up some tough infantry units from Brisbane and launched invasion. 2 convoys of 3APs. Recon had shown that I would outnumber him by few thousand troops. Relied on luck of weather and the small size of convoy because CVs busy elsewhere. Risky but his bombers had been busy recently and were due rest. Landed (taking few hits on ships in process!)and used deliberate attack for a few turns to soften him up before switching to shock attack. Set all attack, including eng. brigade that I had brought along- they took down fort defences! Never large casualites on any 1 day until last one when base fell. Enemy still had 2,000 troops so assume they surrendered.

Repeated this recipe for Lunga. Had been gradually landing forces and building base SE of Lunga for couple of weeks. We had both built up forces of 20,000 men on each side. Was little worried because though I might need larger forces but had already committed so just keep shipping in supplies through base I had started . To tell u the truth I had so many troops in rear bases I just decided they needed a good fight somewhere. If they died, never mind as long as my CVs were ok. (pretty heartless I know!) Marched my troops from here rather than land directly on Lunga. Seemed safer. After I felt they were sufficiently softened up and lacking in supplies I made few shock attacks. Death or Glory!, I thought. Few turns later Lunga fell despite having 17,000 defenders left. Alot of them retreated NW. AGs started to arrive in later turns- not some wether to resupply for counter attack or to retreat. Will make for good target practice anyway. But have learned that supply is definately the key to this game- in both cases I had it and he didn`t!

< Message edited by scorryuk -- 6/12/2004 4:28:12 PM >

(in reply to Wannabe)

Post #: 11