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paradigmblue -> RE: Veteran Player needs some advice - No Hooper! (1/25/2016 4:46:05 AM)
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Here are my tips. I'm not the best player, so many of them may be common sense to you, while others need to be taken with a grain of salt:
Using dot hexes:
1) Naval Search. Disband single AVPs in dot hexes that you know that the Japanese player will not take. Once those bases are behind his lines, fly in a Catalina squadron to operate from the dot hex. This is very hard for him to spot if it's behind his naval search envelope. Keep the base supplied with SST's.
2) Ambushes. Disband destroyers to dot hexes and patiently wait for the Japanese player to advance past them, then use those destroyers as shipping raiders. This is especially effective near ports like Palembang or Soerejaba where Japanese tankers will transit regularly. After they finish their raid, disband the destroyers back to the dot hex until they run out of ammo, at which point you'll need to try and sneak them out. Chances are you'll lose your destroyers, but I would gladly trade a DD for a Japanese tanker. You should have subs in these areas as well, which will allow you to scout the tanker TFs and sortie your DDs to intercept what the subs missed.
In regards to the air game:
1) The air war is won or lost with fighter sweeps. Sweep aggressively and at high altitude with your planes that have the highest top speed over the bases that he needs to protect. Inversely, if your opponent is sweeping your bases, unless you absolutely need to protect it, don't contest it until you have a substantial quality advantage in air-frames and pilots. A good Japanese player can out-produce you in quality for the first half of the war, and can outproduce you numerically throughout almost the entire conflict if they manage their industry well. I've made the mistake too many times of fighting over airspace that isn't critical - don't be like me. Instead, use ground based AA as your deterrent as much as possible - it's much more durable than using fighters that can be swept from the sky.
If you absolutely need to put CAP up above a base, layer your CAP.
2) Break up his fighter coverage with night-bombing. When you're facing 2-3 squadrons of Japanese fighters and can't break his CAP, start night bombing. The turn after he assigns a squadron to counter your night bombing, sweep. You'll be facing one less squadron of defenders, which can make a huge difference in the outcome.
3) I also am bullish in using PBYs as torpedo platforms. You need to manage this very carefully, as you don't want to squander your most important recon assets. However, when used properly you can force your opponent to keep air-cover over well back from the front lines. Others have mentioned using other planes to scout for the PBYs, but I like using them on Naval attack 50% and Naval Search 50%. Make sure to ensure that your search arcs aren't over his bases when setting this up, as you don't want your fragile Catalinas to go after his port, which will be most likely defended by CAP. Send them in low - 1000 feet - to avoid interception. Many times you can sneak in under any LRCAP unless the LRCAP is set to under 10,000ft.
I think that many players don't mine as aggressively as they could. Use your sub-based mines constantly. Japan doesn't have a huge amount of mine-sweeping capability, so make him move them around the map. Wait until you can lay about 75 mines, mine a port that he uses, and repeat. This may not do a lot of damage, but it forces him to commit ASW capabilities to ports well behind his lines.
As others have said, taking small, unoccupied islands can force a Japanese player to spend a lot of time and fuel putting out these small fires throughout the empire. On a larger scale, use that principle to keep him unbalanced. If he is going hard for the South Pacific, don't invest in the South Pacific, but instead invest in the Aleutians and set up a late 1942 invasion of the Kuriles. You don't have to hold them, you just have to make him divide the KB - either in time or in being - between two geographically disparate locations. The only defended hex in the Kuriles is Pramushiro-jima, which starts with 0 forts and 35 AV. If your opponent doesn't reinforce these islands they can be easy pickings, and he will be forced to respond.
Many people advocate a full evacuation of the DEI. I disagree. Your opponent's primary goal early game is to grab the oil there, as it is what will fuel his economy. Instead of withdrawing your Dutch forces, instead concentrate them at Palembang and Soerejaba. The rest of Sumatra and Java don't matter - he'll grab them eventually anyway. But if you can hang on to those two hexes for an extra month or more, it can have long-term consequences for your opponent.
Don't fight over what doesn't matter. If you can get some licks in defending some key locations, great, by all means do it. You can replace ships and troops better than your opponent can. However, remember that the more ground that your opponent takes, the more he has to defend. Nothing that he can take, save Pearl Harbor, is going to impede your ability to take the fight to him in 1943. Take a look at the game map real quick, especially the North Pacific. He can take everything that he wants in the South Pacific, in India, in China, in Malaysia, and in Australasia, and there is still nothing standing between the West Coast and the Marshall Islands. Or the Marianas Islands. Or even the Bonin Islands. In a broad sense, everything that the Japanese player takes that does not provide them with a large amount of VP or resources/oil is actually hurting their ability to wage war, and in a real sense doesn't add a great deal to their ability to defend the HI.
Don't skimp on supplies. By mid 1943 you have enormous shipping capacity and effectively infinite supplies. Move those supplies forward - they don't do you any good on the West Coast. Instead, move them in bulk to forward hubs so they can be distributed quickly to where they are needed. I see a lot of allied players keeping their shipping and supplies at the West Coast and using the West Coast as a supply hub, which means that their ships are taking huge round trips for every supply run.
Similarly, as soon as troops arrive on the West Coast, move them to Pearl or another forward staging area where they can be deployed more quickly. Nothing is worse than finding that you need more aviation support at a base and then having to wait two weeks for a base unit to be dispatched from San Francisco. Instead, have your amphibious lift capacity deployed at these forward hubs, ready to deploy quickly, while keeping some large transports headquartered on the West Coast to transport troops forward as they arrive.
Always be base building as the allies. Always. Even North American bases help your VP totals.
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