rader -> RE: Caging the Tiger~ Rader (J) vs. GreyJoy (A) (6/11/2011 9:20:15 PM)
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However, just this turn we spotted a huge allied fleet near Marcus moving west (see below). It definitely contains several task forces and definitely carriers. It could be a raid or diversion, but it is big enough that it looks more like an invasion (although no transports spotted yet). If it is a legitimate invasion, possible targets include Marcus, the northern Marianas, the Bonins, or something beyond and a little bit crazy like the Ryukus/Formosa (I doubt the latter). My overall defense plan has been to ignore the Solomons completely, building up only Rabaul and a few bases. I've also ignored the Gilberts completely, although I did retake Tarawa after an earlier abortive invasion. The Marshalls are also realtively undefended. When I decided to go for India, I decided that I would virtually ignore the outer perimiter, and focus on guarding a limited line that runs Kuriles-Japan-Bonins-Marcus-Marianas-Truk-Palau-West New Guinea-Timor-Java-Sumatra. I later decided that to leave Rabaul to the Allies would be a little too much of a gift, so I decided to extend the line just a bit to include Rabaul. But even Rabaul itself is practically undefended. For anything outside this line, I would make it look like I would defend it, but really there is practically no AV there, and I would give it up without much of a fight. Part of my thinking comes from my other game where the Allies ignored the Gilberts and Marshalls without any problems. Indeed, what is the purpose of holding the Marshalls at all? It just spreads out your troops, and once the Allies have carrier superiority, you are just creating a big POW camp. With the KB near India, I have left sizeable troops in the Pacific, and defensive priority has gone to places that aren't easily defended by Netties. Thus, Marcus is fully stacked with 6500 troops (a little over the limit and almost all are combat engineers - the cream of the IJA), the Bonins are fairly well defended with about 500 AV for each of Iwo and Chichi, and most of the troops not in India are in the Marianas. With the allied fleet sighted, we're flying in more troops to Iwo, Chichi, and the Northern Marianas just in case, and the KB is going to retire from the Karachi area in case it is needed. I'm also activating most of the Japanese subs, which are now based at Truk and will race at full speed towards the allied fleet. Plus about half the IJN is based at Palau. They will stand by and monitor the situation... [image]local://upfiles/14041/7D5B4CCCFE174BD7B618D5217D44ABDF.jpg[/image]
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