Noobie question (Full Version)

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Lecivius -> Noobie question (8/25/2007 8:37:27 PM)

Hey all. I'm new & having a lot of fun with this, but I'm coming across some puzzling & curious game statistical questions.

I'm currently playing solo in the campaign staring in 42. I am trying to fortify Gili & PM, but I am getting pasted by Japanese forces from Rabaul...10/13/42 & a convoy to Gili took an air raid with 32 Zeros and 106 Betty's. The CAP I had of 42 Warhawks only generated 7 P40's actually on the intercept, and Gili does have full aviation support including radar. Scratch one convoy. Same turn Lae generated an Air Raid to a convoy trying to get to Port Moresby(2 hexes away) with 22 fighters and 42 Betty's. Four Squadrons of Kittyhawks & P39's on CAP never made the intercept.

I'm not complaining, I like a challenge. I'm trying to figure this game out.

1) Lae is 99% destroyed from bomber strikes. Rabaul is under constant B17 raids that do nothing to slow them down, but have whittled my B17 bomber force down to @ 42 planes in 3 groups. How does the AI allow such large raids from badly damaged bases, and how can I slow them down?

2) Why does my CAP fail so badly? I understand not all planes are gonna make it on the intercept, but I never shot down a Jap plane in either raid even though I had 5k in altitude advantage and over 100 planes in the 2 CAPs.

3) There is another simular air armada in Kwajalin, and yet another in Truk. How does the AI generate so many a/c? If they would have had this much firepower in real life, Watchtower would have had a totally different ending.

4) Lastly, when can I expect my bombers to start sinking ships? My SBD's hit an naval force incoming to Guadalcanal. I hit an AK with 9 1000lb AP's & strafed it 4 times with Wildcats and it's still afloat the next day [&:] This seems to be a theme so far in my combat abilities.

Any tips & info are greatly appreciated [:)]



Terminus -> RE: Noobie question (8/25/2007 9:42:19 PM)

1): How sure are you of Lae's state of disrepair? It might not actually be as devastated as you think (I'm guessing it's not, since the bad guys are flying from there).

2): CAP has to have a HUGE number of things go right to work properly. Are we talking Long Range CAP over the convoys or only CAP over the ports when the ships came in?

3): The Japs have oodles of AV support units and Air HQ's that let them spawn far more ready aircraft than was really possible.

4): Do you know for sure that the ship is afloat, or have you simply not been informed of its sinking? With Fog of War on, you might not see it happening.




Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (8/25/2007 9:52:27 PM)

1) I'm mousing over Lae, which now shows 100% Airfield damage.

2) Long Range CAP over PM, Base CAP over Gili.

4) I'm sure the AK was afloat, because my PT boats attacked it the next turn 3 hexes away from where it was bombed.  On fire, but afloat.  It was still afloat when the animation quit.  The inteligence report screen doesn't show it sunk yet, but I dunno if thats suppose to be accurate since I'm new to the game and it seems that a 100% accurate report on what you have done to the enemy would be...cheating [:'(]



Terminus -> RE: Noobie question (8/25/2007 10:17:52 PM)

With Fog of War, it can take weeks before a ship appears on the Sunk Ships list. With that many bombs and bullets, it's most likely gone down.

Try recce'ing Lae; with planes coming out of it, I can guarantee you it's not that damaged.

As for CAP, as I said, there are many things that need to go right. Weather, Supply, AV, Commander skill checks, detection, aggression, strength ratios... With LRCAP, it's all that and disruption due to having to fly to the LRCAP hex and back.



Yamato hugger -> RE: Noobie question (8/25/2007 11:03:22 PM)

Well Lae can be 100% damaged, and still operate floatplanes (Mavis/Emily, Jake et al, or that Zero fighter float (the name escapes me atm - Im old). If all you are seeing is a line comming out in conjunction with Rabul raids, then most likely it is one of the above.

Strikes wont come from an airfield over 50% runway damaged.



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (8/25/2007 11:35:54 PM)

Aye, that's the way I understood it.  If thats right, that means the direction of the raid is wrong ( which is ok, I can handle something like that) but Rabaul is launching over 200 aircraft a day in raids [X(]  I thought that may be amiss, so I wanted to check, so I can better understand the mechanics of the game.



AW1Steve -> RE: Noobie question (8/26/2007 10:06:59 PM)

I think Rufe is the name your searching for.[:)]
quote:

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger

Well Lae can be 100% damaged, and still operate floatplanes (Mavis/Emily, Jake et al, or that Zero fighter float (the name escapes me atm - Im old). If all you are seeing is a line comming out in conjunction with Rabul raids, then most likely it is one of the above.

Strikes wont come from an airfield over 50% runway damaged.




Yamato hugger -> RE: Noobie question (8/26/2007 10:31:21 PM)

Yes, thats it.



KPAX -> RE: Noobie question (8/27/2007 3:06:16 AM)

Plus most of the fighters in the theater early on are not that great of fighters.  The DEI and Oz early war fighters do not stand much of a change against the Zeros.



Alfred -> RE: Noobie question (8/27/2007 11:41:24 AM)

Lecivus,

The LRCAP has to be specifically placed over a TF for it to cover an incoming ship convoy.  Thus to cover your convoy located 2 hexes from Port Moresby, your Port Moresby fighters on LRCAP needed to have the convoy specified as their target.  Also note that fighters will only do LRCAP out to their normal range, not their extended range.

Alfred



hvymtl13 -> RE: Noobie question (8/30/2007 2:55:46 AM)

Rabaul is a scary place dude. The only way I can manage to keep that many planes off my operations is to get in there early on with 3 CV's in two groups. One CV in the back providing extra Cap cover on the forward CV's with LR cap. It's still risky, but I've gained at least air parity in and around PM using this tactic of giving him a target to throw his air against and deminishing his forces considerably.
If you take serious damage though, it's a long run to Sydney or Pearl...
I also believe that if you push hard enough in the Marshals he will transfer some of his air power out there and leave the solomons in a little better shape for your ops.



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/6/2007 6:26:19 PM)

Thanks for the tips guys [;)] I'm trying hard to get a good grasp on this so I can start playing PBEM and at least provide a challenge [:D]

With that in mind, let me ask a few more questions. I came due to upgrade Enterprise & Saratoga. I sent them back to SF for yard work. SF has it's base plus 4 AR's in it. I try to keep the strain of repair off of this yard by shipping the smaller ships such as cruisers, AKs etc to the other ports, but it has been 32 days and these guys are still at 4 in SYS. I read some of the other threads on repair, but I don't seem to be getting my pointy head properly around the concept. Any tips/clues/strategies in repair would be appreciated.

On another note, I bombed Rabaul & Lae into the Stone age prior to an assault planned towards the end of March '43 on both. This has really put a strain on my bomber force in PM, which is maxed in Airfield capacity & support. I also have some new squadrons in the US that have been sitting at Seattle under Traing lvl 10% but are not getting to full strength. Again, any tips/clues/strategies in repair would be appreciated.

Lastly, I took the northern Japanese port of Toyonora (sp). I have repaired the damage to the port, I have the port at lvl 4, and I have 1 16 plane B17 bomber group bombing northern Japan. I notice I am getting no repair points from this harbor when looking at anchored ships even though it shows an icon with a repair yard with 100 points. When can I expect to have a forward repair yard (if ever). And what is a good target to begin Strategic Bombing? Manpower, the Mitsibishi factory, Shipyards, Merchant Marine yards etc?

Sorry for all the questions, and I really do appreciate feedback.



RUPD3658 -> RE: Noobie question (9/6/2007 9:44:06 PM)

Are your ships docked or disbanded in port? If they are docked (Still part of a task force) they will not upgrade. They must be disbanded in port to upgrade.




Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/6/2007 10:57:12 PM)

I dock any incoming damaged TF, replentish them, then disband the TF. I did get a message showing the carriers were being upgraded. Their repair does go down, but at a snails pace. It showed 24 Sys damage to start, but 30 days later they are both at 12 & 9 sys damage. I am taking any other ships with higher damage & rotating them off to San Diego, L.A., or Seattle. There are some AK's, and small craft with damage less than 6 to Sys, with the damaged ship count never going over 8 ships at anchor.

I did put the Washington into Seattle at about the same time, after it took a torpedo. It had 44 Sys dmg & is now at 14. Seattle shows less repair points after mousing over the repair icon, and has no AR's ( I sent those to the Japanese port I took control of, with the hopes of creating a forward repair base). It is this discrepency which is confusing me [&:]



RUPD3658 -> RE: Noobie question (9/6/2007 11:27:23 PM)

Are there repair points accumulating at the base?



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/6/2007 11:50:39 PM)

Probably not, since I have no clue how to look or what to look for.  Looking in the anchorage for SF shows 823 repair points at this point in time



Gibbons -> RE: Noobie question (9/7/2007 12:04:18 AM)

 
Lecivius, do low level recon at bases you need info on and use as many patrol planes that you have for a turn or three.

Gibbons



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/7/2007 12:37:05 AM)

I've been trying to get my brain around a great thread on the repair issue here

I"m confused as to durability, and it appears that there are some background random checks in repair that can really drag out repairing. Am I getting closer?



rtrapasso -> RE: Noobie question (9/7/2007 1:09:11 AM)

quote:

. It showed 24 Sys damage to start, but 30 days later they are both at 12 & 9 sys damage.


Actually this sounds about right...



VSWG -> RE: Noobie question (9/7/2007 5:25:15 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

I've been trying to get my brain around a great thread on the repair issue here

I"m confused as to durability, and it appears that there are some background random checks in repair that can really drag out repairing. Am I getting closer?

dtravel is the forum expert for repairs. There's another good repair thread by him in section II.B here:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1274014



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/7/2007 9:06:57 PM)

Aye, I've been going through those links [8D] Oy Vey, this is a lot of info to process [;)]



hvymtl13 -> RE: Noobie question (9/26/2007 11:25:24 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

On another note, I bombed Rabaul & Lae into the Stone age prior to an assault planned towards the end of March '43 on both. This has really put a strain on my bomber force in PM, which is maxed in Airfield capacity & support. I also have some new squadrons in the US that have been sitting at Seattle under Traing lvl 10% but are not getting to full strength. Again, any tips/clues/strategies in repair would be appreciated.
Sorry for all the questions, and I really do appreciate feedback.

Your hitting rabaul in March 43? I'd be interested how this works out. imo Your going to need alot of repair points after that landing inless you go across land attack from Gasmata..?

Check your aircraft replacement pool in the intel screen. You most likely have depleted the available airframes and using alot of the ones left for replacements on your bombers losses over Rabaul.

Message from HQ:
Timeline for Rabaul invasion overly optimistic<end>
Recalculate new timeline and submit for review<end>
End Transmission

Can't tell you about repairs. Like you and most others I place them in port and wait, checking them turn after turn in hopes they repair another point.



Historiker -> RE: Noobie question (9/26/2007 11:31:20 PM)

I also have a noobie question:
Is it important, that units have the same HQ as the base they operate from? I shipped even North Pacific Planes to Australia...



Lecivius -> RE: Noobie question (9/27/2007 12:17:42 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: hvymtl13

Your hitting rabaul in March 43? I'd be interested how this works out. imo Your going to need alot of repair points after that landing inless you go across land attack from Gasmata..?


Aye, I Took Gasmata in January, flew in a Base Support unit & put in 3 squadrons of F4F's for pure CAP and walked across. You need Gasamata anyways for Bombardment TF resupply. After a short period you take Buka, and with Guadalcanal the Solomons are effectivly a giant Jap POW camp. In this game, Rabaul fell after a 12 week seige. I've taken it twice in AI games now. It's a PIA, but I know of no other way to keep Betty's from blasting furure convoys as the game progresses. After that its an end run to the PI going south of New Guinea, with a second prong advancing across the Central Pacific using TF58 for deep marine strikes. Use the RCT's of North Command to island hop to the north Japanese Island and it's game over by Christamas 1944.

I still don't have a good grasp on repairs [:(] I expect to finish this last game, play a game from the Jap side so I can get a grasp of economics, add CHS mod (since it appears to fit my liking of history) and start looking for another n00b to run a PBEM [;)]



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