bradfordkay
Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002 From: Olympia, WA Status: offline
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A couple of points to add, valid mainly for playing the AI. When trying to get ships out of the Philippines, I find that 1 or 2 ship convoys have a much better chance at escape. The larger task forces will gather more attention. I expect to lose 2 to 4 ships out of Naga. You're going to have enemy forces in Naga quickly, so you don't have a lot of leeway in waiting to fill those ships. However, there's the Japanese CVL (Ryujo?) TF that lies SE of Legaspi waiting to feed your ships to the fishes, thus I expect to lose a few of those ships. Don't waste the effort to send an HQ to Bataan in hopes of bringing in enough supplies that the Corregidor unit will fire at passing TFs. They'll only fire at AI TFs that are invading Bataan. If you move USAFFE to Bataan, then the CD unit in Manila won't have enough supplies to defend itself when invaded a month later. You can sneak in to Manila/Bataan the occaisional single ship supply TF, espeically in December/January. By February they might still get there, but are usually sunk before they fully unload. I believe that against the AI, it is definitely worthwhile to send Force Z to contest the Khota Bharu landings. Even if the results are bad, the Japanese surface combat forces have to return to base for more ammunition. In games where I didn't send Force Z, I lost far more of my Malaysian AF to attacks on the SCTFs rather than on the Transport TFs. Didn't sink as many transports either. When I send Force Z, the transports are left uncovered for a while. I like to send the extra Dutch forces (those smaller garrisons and base forces that are scattered about) to start building and holding PM and Milne Bay. I think that if they're built up early enough, they can be held (at least against the AI!).
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fair winds, Brad
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