Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Can you provide links to tests which show supply not being used to repair bases? I am very curious as it really does appear to be used and the manual does make it clear that supplies are used to effect repairs ( yeah I know the manual is FUBAR but when it says what you seem to see you tend to believe it ).

As to supplies not being a problem. Well, if 80,000 tons doesn't get spoiled the other 320,000 tons he lands DOES. So if 80% wastage isn't a problem for you then that's fine. I would detest 80% wastage and view it as a significant planning error personally - not one which would interfere with the mission's success but one which would rob me of my enjoyment of the operation as I play not to win but to put together knife-edge, succesful operations and the finer the margin the more I enjoy the op. 80% wastage in a succesful operation means, to me, that I could have run 4 more concomittant, succesful, operations and thus, actually, it just proved that I over-committed and wasteful -- essentially a failure.I know others don't share that approach but that's where my comments come from. Also I'd point out that with a single-engined plane costing about 20 tons of supply to "spawn" on Iwo the loss of 50 planes will cost 1000 tons in terms of respawning.

Still, the fact that repairs don't cost supply does change the arithmetic a bit alright.

I think that while Iwo's position is strong you guys are both being FAR too blase about the problems. 80% spoilage is horrific. I always do the math to ensure there is NO spoilage. I even dock ships and leave them there until the base has used up enough to let them unload without causing spoilage. There ARE areas there which a Japanese player can capitalise on. I don't think John will do so succesfully but that's no reason not to point them out.


Overall what Japan SHOULD do is simply interdict the supply runs to Iwo using KB and rely on LBA to blunt further advances. This would be the indirect approach and would be asynchronous enough to gain some useful advantage. John isn't an indirect thinker though so it won't happen and he's limited to optimising his force on force attritional engagement.


Accepting 80% spoilage is completely outside of my mindset though. OUCH !!! A Japanese player who accepted 80% inefficiency in his operations would go down to defeat in no time at all - and deservedly so.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
...
Dan needs a torpedo bomber that can carry torps out to 5 hexes;
I don't know Allied A/C ranges in Big-B. Can the Beaufort carry a torp that far?

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ORIGINAL: Big B

quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
...
Dan needs a torpedo bomber that can carry torps out to 5 hexes;
I don't know Allied A/C ranges in Big-B. Can the Beaufort carry a torp that far?

Actually - after checking ...no

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

9/16/43 to 9/19/43

Iwo Jima: The Jap defenders were finally wiped out on September 16. The eight American divisions involved in the attack (and many of them also involved in the invasion of Midway) are pretty roughed up - AVs range from about 175 to about 333 (the latter for a Marine division). All but one of these units are prepping for Naha. An F-5 recon unit transferred in from Midway on the 16th, rested a day, and then flew over Saipan, Pagan, and then Saipan again, and reported that the KB is anchored at Saipan. Six Jap CVs were sighted there on the 19th.

Carrier Raid on the Home Islands: The US carriers are going raiding tonight - they'll take station four hexes southeast of Osaka/Kobe. There will be six TFs flying 303 Hellcats (212 set for CAP, about 90 for escort duty), 216 SBDs, and 161 TBFs. Cursor intel does't reveal much in port there (four or five APs is about it), but this raid is as much about "sending a message" that the HI are no longer safe as it is about sinking ships. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing goes wrong.

Operation Crescent Moon: John's been reading my thoughts again. He's augmenting the defenses on Okinawa. Cursor intel revealed an increase to three units at Naha on the 17th, and to 5 units on the 19th. CV Intrepid and CVL Langley are nearing Midway. A number of important transport TFs are on the way there from San Francisco. The big reinforcement convoy should be ready to leave Midway for Iwo in about a week or ten days.

Eniwetok: SigInt reports just 5,341 Jap troops at this island base. That's something to think about in the future, should I decide to "back fill."

Australia: Quiet.

Burma/In dia: Allied bombers will begin regular raids on Moulmein to give the appearance that this will be the next target. The Royal Navy carriers finally made Colombo and took on much-need fuel. The Royal Navy invasion of "someplace" will take place sometime in the next month or six weeks. The most likely target is Port Blair.

China: I've got hords of units moving adjacent to Haiphong and Hanoi again, but it's just a bluff to draw John's attention to this area.

Points: The Jap lead is almost exactly 2:1 now - nearly 44,000 to nearly 22,000; that's a vast improvement over what it was not too long ago.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The raid on the HI is chancy simply because I may run into alot of LBA, but my carriers won't be encountering Jap CVs. Knowing that the KB is way down at Saipan gave me the info I needed to send out my carriers for a few days.

I will bet everything I have that the KB won't be raiding Iwo, at least anytime soon; anyway, that base can take care of itself for a few days while my carriers are off. Iwo LBA includes three Corsair squadrons and a big (54 aircraft) Hellcat squadron. There are also at least five CVEs posted there, each with about 20 Hellcats.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The raid on the HI is chancy simply because I may run into alot of LBA, but my carriers won't be encountering Jap CVs. Knowing that the KB is way down at Saipan gave me the info I needed to send out my carriers for a few days.

I will bet everything I have that the KB won't be raiding Iwo, at least anytime soon; anyway, that base can take care of itself for a few days while my carriers are off. Iwo LBA includes three Corsair squadrons and a big (54 aircraft) Hellcat squadron. There are also at least five CVEs posted there, each with about 20 Hellcats.

KB is not 'way down' at Saipan. He can easily reach a position to intercept your carriers with KB anytime (from a position north of Pagan). He can even bring his slower carriers along and give his whole fleet some additional LRCAP (assuming that Pagan is at least a level 2 AF?) with land-based fighters.

Iwo can certainly take care of its own. But it seems that it currently will offer you no help if you encounter KB.

Not sure about BigB-Mod. If Hellcats are as good as in stock in this mod, you can even fight against the whole of KB. But the pilots need to be rested if you fight. And you'll need some luck with carrier reactions (but this applies to both sides, of course).

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John called foul on himself. Said he loaded a bunch of carriers with Jack fighters that don't belong there and asked to re-do the turn so that he could swap for appropriate fighters.

How is it possible to do that?

quote:

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

quote:


John called foul on himself. Said he loaded a bunch of carriers with Jack fighters that don't belong there and asked to re-do the turn so that he could swap for appropriate fighters.

How is it possible to do that?

You can load any 1E plane (at least fighters) onto a CV - this is useful for ferry purposes. Historically accurate (i.e. WASP(i think - i might have been HORNET) ferrying fighters to Malta - they flew off once in range.

In game, the planes can fly off, but can't land on a CV - only at a land base.

So, it is quite possible to load them in port if you thought they are carrier capable (and are not).

BTW - John was also surprised to learn this (on his AAR).

EDIT: It was WASP - see also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wasp_(CV-7)

quote:

Ah, now I understand. Thank you rtpasso. So I could transfer P-39s to one of my CVs in port, and then ferry them to another base to unload. But those P-39s wouldn't fly CAP (or any other mission).

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ORIGINAL: castor troy

John doesn´t have the dilemma that Jacks won´t fly from the CVs. They fly Cap, they fly escort, they fly nav attack, they fly everything from the carrier that they also fly from a land base. So he will have Jacks instead of Zekes, never have made it that far in BigB mod but if they are nearly as effective as in stock you will lose 4 or 5 times more aircraft to the Jacks than you would lose to the Zekes.

Even if they are carrier capable in the game, it´s totally gamey to use Jacks on carriers.

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ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

quote:

ORIGINAL: castor troy

John doesn´t have the dilemma that Jacks won´t fly from the CVs. They fly Cap, they fly escort, they fly nav attack, they fly everything from the carrier that they also fly from a land base. So he will have Jacks instead of Zekes, never have made it that far in BigB mod but if they are nearly as effective as in stock you will lose 4 or 5 times more aircraft to the Jacks than you would lose to the Zekes.

Even if they are carrier capable in the game, it´s totally gamey to use Jacks on carriers.

To be complete, it was certainly John's expectation that the Jacks would fly in the naval air role from carrier decks and he certainly got a world of criticism from readers about gaminess (because it was unhistorical) in using Jacks from carriers, although at least one knowledgeable individual raised a warning that it might not work. His zeal for correcting the deployment seemed to increase when that issue was raised

@ Canoerebel:

It was the apparent universal opinion that correcting the deployment was the fairest thing to do. You will be much better off without Jacks flying from Jap carrier decks as castor has said.


I do have sympathy for your point for the redo erasing the loss of his CS's. A fair compromise might be to have John purposely scuttle those ships that were sunk or mortally damaged (along with their air complement). You can verify this has been done when they eventually show up on th sunk ships list (I think it shows on the ocmbat replay too).