dr. smith
Posts: 221
Joined: 6/30/2004 From: lost in space Status: offline
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While waiting for the patch, put my '41 campaign aside and tried the '44 campaign. So after weeks of playing as Allies just hoping for a paint scratch against IJN ships, I thought "Butt-kickin' time is HERE!!!" Ooops. Not quite. 1. Sent my 7 CVs with 8 CVLs on a "World Tour" of Ponape, Truk, Satawal pounding airfields, before I realize "Daggummit, gotta pound Saipan before the invasion!" and set off for Saipan. But the deadly triangle of Palau, Yap, Ulithi beckons. "Come on, plenty of easy pickin's here!" I heed the siren call and think 120 F6Fs is enough cover and detach the Enterprise, Lexington (CVs), Princeton & San Jacinto (CVLs) group to pound the enticing triangle, to this welcome: Day Air attack on TF at 55,65 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 100 D4Y Judy x 67 B6N Jill x 53 Allied aircraft F6F Hellcat x 50 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 80 destroyed, 5 damaged D4Y Judy: 42 destroyed, 27 damaged B6N Jill: 20 destroyed, 23 damaged Allied aircraft losses F6F Hellcat: 60 destroyed, 11 damaged Allied Ships CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 2 CVL Princeton, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage CVL San Jacinto, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1 CV Lexington CA Indianapolis OK, not too bad, should be fine! --------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 55,65 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 22 D4Y Judy x 16 B6N Jill x 8 Allied aircraft F6F Hellcat x 11 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 6 destroyed D4Y Judy: 10 destroyed, 11 damaged B6N Jill: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged Allied aircraft losses F6F Hellcat: 10 destroyed, 1 damaged Allied Ships CV Lexington, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CV Enterprise OH NO, not Lady Lex! Well, maybe she can recover planes . . . ------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 55,65 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 14 D4Y Judy x 18 B6N Jill x 8 Allied aircraft F6F Hellcat x 8 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 4 destroyed D4Y Judy: 5 destroyed, 12 damaged B6N Jill: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged Allied aircraft losses F6F Hellcat: 12 destroyed Allied Ships CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 3, on fire CV Lexington, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CVL San Jacinto, Bomb hits 1 C'mon Captain Kirk, get Scotty's ass in gear!!! ------------------------------------------------------------ Day Air attack on TF at 55,65 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 114 D4Y Judy x 39 B6N Jill x 22 Japanese aircraft losses D4Y Judy: 6 damaged B6N Jill: 1 damaged Allied Ships CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CVL San Jacinto, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 1 CL Birmingham &*%$#@&%%*$$!!!!! ***************************************************** End result, with everybody still in range: Entereprise 99-82-49 San Jacinto 99-56-49 Enterprise 41-65-39 (go Scotty go!) Princeton reef-bait I can see part of my problem, in my exuberance of playing the Superior Allies in 44, I was sadly lacking in in-depth planning, as when the invasion forces got to Saipan with only 1 day of Air bombardment: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval Gun Fire at Saipan (63,64) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 6 destroyed G4M2 Betty: 2 destroyed Ki-57-II Topsy: 2 destroyed Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 5 destroyed Ki-84-Ia Frank: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses A-36A Apache: 2 destroyed 270 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships LCI(G) LCI-69, Shell hits 16, on fire, heavy damage LCI(G) LCI-68, Shell hits 12, on fire, heavy damage LCI(G) LCI-67, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage AK Fomalhaut, Shell hits 2 AK Prince Georges, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage AK Leonis, Shell hits 16, on fire, heavy damage AP Fremont, Shell hits 5, on fire AP Herald of Morning, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage AP Winged Arrow, Shell hits 15, on fire, heavy damage AP Cavalier, Shell hits 6, on fire AP Custer, Shell hits 4 AP Harris, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage AP Heywood, Shell hits 12, on fire, heavy damage ML Keokuk, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage DE Baron, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage Allied ground losses: 1201 casualties reported Don't look too "suppressed" to me, damn flyboys! ------------------------------------------------------------ Then, I had assigned a bunch of CVE task forces to provide air cover to the landing forces and assigned them "Follow TF" tasks. Man, it was just like those fog-shrouded 200 car pileups. These STUPID CVE say "Ooh, is that a coastal gun, lemme get a look at it!!!" and boy did they look: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval Gun Fire at Saipan (63,64) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 21 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CVE St. Lo, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage actually got 60 miles from Saipan before sinking! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval Gun Fire at Saipan (63,64) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 46 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships DD Laws, Shell hits 2 DD Bullard, Shell hits 1 CVE Gambier Bay, Shell hits 6, on fire CVE Kitkun Bay, Shell hits 5, on fire Both will make it back home, but with about 60 Sys damage ---------------------------------------------------------------------- So, no matter WHAT scenario, you still gotta PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!!!
< Message edited by dr. smith -- 10/12/2004 2:17:05 PM >
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