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RE: november 1942 - 1/24/2010 9:56:59 AM

LoBaron

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Joined: 1/26/2003
From: Vienna, Austria
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quote:

ORIGINAL: offenseman

True but the supply line is so long.� I'd rather put an AV and some Mabels in Marcus. You wouldn't see PH but would see ships coming down the middle from pretty far out.� As with many things in this game, I am anxious to see how it plays out.

The supply line is much shorter than to the south pacific. And he doesnt need to send transports there on a regular basis. Midway base is big enough to store supplies for
a reasonable garrison for 3+ months of operations (granting that he is mainly doing naval search and not much else). Betties are great naval search planes and he got more
of them, if he brings a HQ he can even arm them with torps as a "nice to have" option.
An AV at Marcus needs 2-3 surprize bomb hits or a small raiding fleet to put out of action again, countering Midway would need an operation under air cover.

And the EW timing is critical for erstad, knowing 5-7 days in advance whats coming at him (compared to EW from Marcus I.) can mean the difference
between a successful Allied offense and a bloodbath.

That said it seems like erstad underestimated the Midway defense a bit or decided speed is more important than prep.
I�m also looking forward to the next updates.

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december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:23:45 PM

aztez

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Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline

LoBaron: Cheers. He did definately calculate wrong here in terms of ground unit and ship losses.

I mean we have "killed" nearly 16 000 enemy troops which an high number to be paid even for Midway.

Oh, I don't mind him doing this since I can recapture the base later on with "ease" if chosen to do so. It is just too isolated but as you said it can serve as float/recon plane base.

I think he wants this base to as an early warning buffer base and there it will serve it's purpose quite nicely.

Personally I have used the base as submarine station. It is not an disaster even if/when the base is lost though.

More worried about the actual losses on ground combat. Maybe this is taste come when we start going forward.

offenseman: I think he will dump the supplies in with couple of runs. He really cannot keep it supplied with regular transport convoys.

Allthough his economy must be in great shape otherwise he would not be doing the things he has done so far.

cfulbright: You actually read my mind. There is only SST Argonaut available and it has left Pearl Harbour last turn.

I haven't converted more since I think we need more "combat" submarines. They really are causing a lot more damage than in the classic witp.

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Post #: 1352

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:24:54 PM

aztez

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Midway (november 30th - december 1st 1942)

The japanese transports came back and unloaded supplies into the ground combat units already ashore. Our coastal guns and mines caused some damage...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 40 encounters mine field at Midway Island (158,91) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

22 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
DMS W-19, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DMS W-15, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Mikazuki, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Yamasimo Maru, Mine hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Midway Island - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

15 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Kirishima
BB Kongo
DD Kagero
xAKL Konsan Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
SC CHa-45, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC CHa-44

Allied ground losses:
33 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Midway Island - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

25 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Kirishima
BB Kongo
DD Yayoi
DD Kagero, Shell hits 1
xAKL Konsan Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC CHa-44, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Midway Island

2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
xAKL Yuki Maru, Shell hits 1
BB Hyuga

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Midway Island

6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
xAKL Taiyu Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB Hyuga

5in CD Gun Coastal Battery engaging xAKL Taiyu Maru at 12,000 yards
BB Hyuga fires to suppress enemy guns at 12,000 yards

No suprises here since he came in fully committed to capture the atoll so he will most likely achieve this.

KB launched couple of raids againts our troops and caused moderate damage. The reports indicated some carrier aircraft damaged.

SST Argonaut is loaded and moving towards Midway as we speak. Also some regular submarines are entering the area so hopefully these vessels can sunk few ships.

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Post #: 1353

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:25:46 PM

aztez

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From: Finland
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Burma (november 30th - december 1st 1942)

Dave continued to hit Cox's Bazar last turn. I wonder why is he so obsessed with this base. It is nice but to me secondary.

BB Yamato and and IJN cruisers continued bombard the base from the sea. Personally somewhat suprised to see BB Yamato here. No doubt BB Musashi is with her.

We also managed to engage mini KB here too...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,44

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 51

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 5
SBD-3 Dauntless x 11

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIc Trop: 2 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 7 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Unyo, Bomb hits 1

... Dave stated that CVE Unyo only needs an paint job. Damn, we really have been unlucky with his carriers.. we have missed naval bombings, had quite a few submarines assault these vessels etc. The end result is most likely that his carriers are still on full swing.

Mini KB launched an strike againts bastion at Cox's Bazar...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Cox's Bazar , at 54,43

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
D3A1 Val x 16

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 6
P-40K Warhawk x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
D3A1 Val: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed

...a few of his aircraft downed. Not bad kill ratio here.

Hmmm, he really has been aggressive lately and I wonder what the main strategy with him is this time around. I think he trying to force me to make an error which will lead up longterm benefits.

Another quite obvious conclusion is that his economy is in excellent shape. As stated earlier my recon flights indicated the bulk of the DEI bases suffering 0% partisan/engineer sabotage. That was unlikely FOW taking these actions into play.

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Post #: 1354

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:26:34 PM

aztez

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Intel screen december 1942...

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Post #: 1355

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:27:19 PM

aztez

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Fighter replacement pools...

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Post #: 1356

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:27:52 PM

aztez

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Bomber replacement pools...

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Post #: 1357

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:28:41 PM

aztez

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Top aces...

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RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:29:31 PM

aztez

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IJN ship losses.. (Heavy FOW included.. no doubt)

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Post #: 1359

RE: december 1942 - 1/24/2010 5:30:09 PM

aztez

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Allied ship losses...

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Post #: 1360

RE: Midway DB attack - 1/24/2010 8:02:57 PM

wpurdom

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On that attack by 115 Vals, I'm curious what altitude he attacked from: I would expect more losses if dive bombing from 10,000 ft. (unless lvl 4 entrenchments are better than I realized), not so much from 15,000 (glide bomb) or 20,000 (horizonal.

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RE: Midway DB attack - 1/24/2010 8:48:01 PM

aztez

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wpurdom: I would assume he is bombing those raids around 10 000 feet. That would be most optimal alltitude for such strikes.

Keep in mind that I did not have that much on the base itself so the damage is equal to that fact.

Another thing is that these missions must be secondary objectives since his 1st priority is to have naval strike cover for this operation.

Midway (december 2nd - 3rd 1942)

The submarine fleet "scored" an reported hit on CV Hiryu. Whether or not this report is false remains to be seen but the ship is shown on sunken list.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Kure Island at 157,90

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CA Furutaka
CL Tatsuta
CS Chiyoda
DD Shiranui
DD Karukaya
DD Asagao

Allied Ships
SS Peto

SS Peto launches 6 torpedoes at CV Hiryu
DD Karukaya fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Asagao fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

That was the first actual combat event of the turn so it started quite nicely. SS Peto just might be 1st crew to actually sink one of his main assets.

Fingers crossed. I commented to Dave that his carriers have been very lucky ones in this PBEM and the response was...

"Yeah, but I think their luck is starting to run out..."

As expected KB supported his ground combat units at Midway and another big strike was launched.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 6th Marine Defense Battalion, at 158,91 (Midway Island)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 60 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
B5N2 Kate x 115
D3A1 Val x 90

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 6 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 23 damaged

Allied ground losses:
49 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (0 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled)

This time around the carriers did better and most likely the base will fall within turn or two.

This is the reason why... the fortifications started to decrease and are now down level 1.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Midway Island (158,91)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4139 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 138

Defending force 2255 troops, 65 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 23

Japanese adjusted assault: 48

Allied adjusted defense: 32

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
480 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
222 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 15 (1 destroyed, 14 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
144th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
116th USAAF Base Force
6th Marine Defense Battalion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Midway Island (158,91)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3764 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 117

Defending force 2010 troops, 65 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 23

Japanese adjusted assault: 32

Allied adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
297 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
127 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 13 (0 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
144th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
116th USAAF Base Force
6th Marine Defense Battalion

...not bad at all though. We did inflict severe damage to many units and scored nice hits on transports... and maybe sunk an Carrier and a Battleship with the total loss of Midway along with its garrisoning troops.

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RE: Midway DB attack - 1/25/2010 1:55:08 AM

cfulbright

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Question - is 15K DB attack a glide attack or a dive attack? I thought 10-15K was dive? Now I'm confused.

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RE: Midway DB attack - 1/25/2010 1:57:04 AM

cfulbright

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Aztez - So for future based on the bloody counter-attack you did on Midway, it may be best not to counter-attack, but to just sit there and let Dave get a bloody nose on your defenses.

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RE: Midway DB attack - 1/25/2010 4:09:51 AM

wpurdom

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Sorry, my bad. My memory was faulty - I have No reason to doubt that glide bombing is 16-19K as stated in another thread. Though there was the comment that above 10 K the dive bombing has problems.

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RE: november 1942 - 1/25/2010 5:34:06 AM

crsutton

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I think my opponent is going for Midway as well. Earlier in the game though. But I can't see a problem. There is no way he can keep major fleet assets there forever and as soon as he directs KB eleswhere, I will just take it back. Garrison limit is 6,000. Anymore than that and you just burn up supply. And I got lots of troops sitting in Pearl with nothing to do. In fact, it might be a good idea to start prepping a division for Midway now.

Not a big deal. In fact in AE unlike WITP, whoever has carrier superiorty is going to gobble up small Islands at will, but as soon as command of the sea is lost, he will lose those bases back just as fast. Things like OZ, India, China, outer Pacific Islands that looked good for Japanese players in WITP are not necessarily a good thing in AE. Japan can overexpand in AE and that can be a bad thing.

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RE: november 1942 - 1/25/2010 7:38:18 AM

aztez

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cfulbright: You are correct 10-15 000 feet should be dive bombing attack according to the developers of the game.

The Midway atoll actually did fall last turn so he has it on his hand now. I have fleet ready but at the moment no need to rush it. If it becomes an annoyance than we will move the schedule ahead.

At the moment the offensive responses are weighted in since there are good examples what the price is when you are not "ready".

I'am satisfied on active defensive gains regardin Midway and Aleutians operations.

wpurdom: Ok. I did know that above 10 000 feet divebombings had problems. The AA flak is deadly below 10 000 feet that much is obvious.

crsutton: It seems quite obvious target. As I understand our PBEM journeys have been rough.

An tip for you though. If you have extra artillery unit to spare than I would recommend that you moved it there. Also, place a lot of mines into Midway.

Those steps should do quite a lot of extra damage. Than Dave used max. 50 ship per TF method which might have caused more damage to him.

The carriers are very important and at the moment those odds does favour the japanese player. As shown in Canoebrels AAR it is absolutely vital in AE.

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RE: november 1942 - 1/26/2010 5:24:54 PM

aztez

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Midway (december 4th - 7th 1942)

As expected japanese troops captured the base at Midway on december 4th. The outcome of the final battle was no suprise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Midway Island (158,91)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4544 troops, 68 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 107

Defending force 1842 troops, 65 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 20

Japanese adjusted assault: 41

Allied adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Midway Island !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
555 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (0 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2897 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 323 destroyed, 128 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 118 (117 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 90 (68 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Assaulting units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
144th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
116th USAAF Base Force
6th Marine Defense Battalion

..the 6th Marine Defense Battalion have made their mark on the Pacific theatre.

Dave started an immediate minesweeping operations at Midway. I had few comments which in total some +150 mines were cleared and only 1 DMS was hit. Than again FOW is so diffrent when it comes to mines that really noway to tell what the damage of these weapons has been.

This is actually one part of the game where I'am looking forward of hearing are the mines actually doing anything to the enemy or are they waste of effort so to speak.

One suprise though and that came from KB. Instead of staying around Midway it showed up near Johnston Island and launched couple of strikes agains small replenishment TF there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Johnston Island at 164,112

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 52
B5N2 Kate x 36
D3A1 Val x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DMS Southard, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Laida, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Hirondelle, Bomb hits 9, and is sunk
DMS Hopkins

In total we damaged some +20 enemy aircraft. Hopefully he moves a bit more towards Pearl Harbour soon. Than he will have his hands full of action.

As said didn't expect this to happen though. He seems to be quite confident when it comes to his carriers.

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RE: november 1942 - 1/26/2010 5:25:47 PM

aztez

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China (december 4th - 7th 1942)

The japanese made intense bombing runs againts our troops near Kweiyang. Last turn I moved some US fighters in here to intercept these raids.

In total we downed maybe around 10 aircraft but most importantly distrubted these ground assaults from his airforce. This was the thing we wanted since I was expecting another ground offensive here.

,..and it came last turn as expected. Recon flights had shown he had moved some fresh units into area.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 75,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 162592 troops, 1400 guns, 846 vehicles, Assault Value = 6047

Defending force 123058 troops, 693 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4343

Japanese adjusted assault: 2282

Allied adjusted defense: 6775

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
9896 casualties reported
Squads: 32 destroyed, 1280 disabled
Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 646 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 52 disabled
Vehicles lost 215 (14 destroyed, 201 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6368 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 243 disabled
Non Combat: 114 destroyed, 238 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
37th Division
5th Tank Regiment
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
39th Division
6th Ind.Mixed Brigade
10th Tank Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
26th Recon Regiment
35th Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
26th Engineer Regiment
40th Division
6th Division
12th Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
116th Division
69th Division
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment
14th RGC Temp. Division
13th Tank Regiment
51st Recon Regiment
5th Armored Car Co
104th Division
41st Division
110th Division
22nd/B Division
21st Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
4th Mortar Battalion
5th RF Gun Battalion

Defending units:
52nd Chinese/C Corps
28th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
16th Chinese Corps
76th Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese/B Corps
46th Chinese Corps
36th Chinese Corps
8th Route Army
4th Chinese Corps
14th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
39th New Chinese Division
10th Chinese Corps
60th Chinese/B Corps
4th War Area
11th Group Army
9th Group Army
35th Group Army

...not bad at all. We nearly achieved 1:3 ration and yet again our forces gained some valuable experience points.

I do expect this pressure to continue but somewhat suprised to see +6000av worth of infantry here.

Both sides have suffered huge losses here if you these battles together.

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RE: november 1942 - 1/26/2010 9:07:57 PM

aztez

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I thought it might be an good idea to recap the 1942 in theatre by theatre since the thread is now almost 50 pages long.

I know that speak from both us (Dave included) when I say that the response from the readers has absolutely fantastic. I know Dave has wondered what is ongoing in there by just judging the amount of comments/views.

We started this right from AE release so we have encountered many bugs and have had implement some HR while the game has progressed. This would not have been possible if we did not feel this is an gentlemans game and there is always need for tweak balance when the game progresses. That is what an good PBEM partner is about.

Overall this journey has been quite an rollercoaster. I do feel like I have fought an octopussy here. Many times I thought great he is hurt only to be hit hard few turns later. Many times I thought why on earth is he doing all the things and in hindsight he has succeeded on many things.

I still do think that AE do need tweaking and have said quite frankly some concerns. Many have been fixed while many still remain hopefully to be tweaked. These remarks have not been intended harmful for the AE team or developers. They have done great job allthough the game can be even much better.

I know the feeling that many readers feel that why on earth have not invaded Kuriles, Marshalls, Burma, DEI other significant places since some AAR's have these kind of developments. Quite honestly I know what on misplaced adventure will cost me and I still think some of the early expanding allied players will have tough time in 1943's. The japanese production and pilot training will guarantee this fact.

Rest assured that we shall be moving on when the time is right and we will have huge battles ahead of us. No doubt about this. As for where does the hammer fall is yet undecieded. There are options to be weighted.

For the new readers or lurkers I say welcome. To the old regular readers I will thanks for the support and that will be needed in later years too, By reading in the forums it sometimes feels like it is foregone conclusion that allied forces will prevail. I happen to think otherwise and very careful planning is needed in order to break the japanese frontlines.

Now it is time for the recap part of this. There are few weeks remaining in 1942 but it is close enough to summarize the ongoings.

I recommed to read the day to day summaries if you get intrested in this campaign.

Central Pacific

This PBEM started with devastating Pearl Harbour raid which pretty knocked out the Battleship row docked in Hawaji. It took several months to gain even some sort of an surface combat fleet in CenPac.

As for this not be bad enough we lost 2 US CV's from the start. Other was sunk by the KB while other damaged was hit by an lucky IJN submarine interception. This was very significant development and got the ball rolling for him. In the hindsight I should have immediately moved the RN carriers into CenPac but I did not do this, That would have even the odds somewhat.

In the spring of 1942 Dave raided Christimas Island and propably would have invaded the base had our P39D's fought out bravely enough to most likely cancel this operation. Now the Christmas Island is an strong base and I don't see him throwing any assaults againts it anymore.

A bit further down in the south Pago Pago was an base I had in mind of reinforcing and building up. Unfortunately Dave had plans for it and intervened with substantial force. I think that newly "found" problem with CD guns played part here. Either way there was no stopping him landing those troops and we lost quite a few ground units in return.

I thought he was finished but as you read lately Midway became an target too. Thankfully the landings did not go as we he had hoped for. The base is lost but the prize was heavy.

North Pacific

This operational area was quiet for months. I hadn't moved any substantial amount of troops or equipment here.

Than all hell broke lose here when we found some transports here. At first I thought this was minor skirmish but how wrong I was. Few turns later KB showed up and it became very obvious that would even seize Anchorage if no immediate action was taken.

Basically I moved a lot of WC aircraft and bought out quite a few units. These things gave me more time to actually organize an stubborn defensive line.

Yet again both sides paid hige prize here. I lost more ground units but he also got hammered. This daily juggernaught took several weeks to end and I think he came into conclusion that the push forward was not what he wanted to see all the way through.

Also the operation Tango which included 80% of the capital ships allied had left was and long hesitated "gamble". The stakes were high but in the end this single operation propably halted his advance since KB lost a lot of pilots and aircraft. Having said this hasn't stopped his aggressive carrier use though.

Thie quiet Alaska kind of became do or die deal for the allied side. Happy to say that it should be more than ok now.

Why did he assault here. I have come to conclusion that he has read quite a few AAR's and really became worried if this place was left for the allied player to build up freely.

South Pacific & Australia

The first few weeks saw the usual q�ick capture of Port Moresby and Rabaul. As an good japanese player will do.

What I did not expect was an rapid assault agains Noumea. I had send in US infantry there and thought I was safe. A big lesson learned here was that allied players should not try to build up too many bases at first few months. Instead put the thin troop enforcements into maxium of 2 bases in order to have any chance of survival.

The whole Noumea deal might have been diffrent story had not the KB shown up here too. I had gathered an combined Naval force of cruisers here and thought they were intercepting an oncoming surface + transport fleet. To my shock the allied search planes had missed the enemy carriers and this lead up to lopsided slaughter of my surface combat ships.

After this happened I knew Noumea was doomed which was an correct assumption.

This left only Fiji's here. I knew he had his carriers here and knew he was coming soon. Now the loss of those 2 carriers came into play. Something had to be done and I lurked my carriers close by and flew in 80% of remaining carrier squadrons from combined RN & US TF's.

I know he did not expect this and we were highly unlucky here. The aircraft took off and made strikes againts KB. The fortune was not with and no carriers were hit. Eventually he gained air supremacy and while our troops fought hard here they could not resist the overwhelming force brought upon here.

After these Dave simply seized the remaining islands at Solomons and New Guinea with no real threat to worry about.

I had intel of upcoming assault againts NZ, This did not happen but I'am sure this operation was in the books though. Why did he not come here? Well most likely the operational losses around Fiji's became too high.

In Australia Dave landed in the northern coast. Really nothing I could have done. I could have send in more troops from the south but that most likely would have resulted to severe ground losses plus it might have triggered an enemy invasion of southern australia.

My troops at north were simply out maneuvered and cornered. I was not expecting this so his armoured units really thought us an lesson here. The quickness was the biggest suprise here.

Dave has seized Cairns and few other bases further down in the south. Now, I was worried for upcoming major ground assault but these simply seemed to be feint operations.

He has now withdrawn into Darwin area and no doubt these bases are well guarded.

Philippines

The US submarines were very disappointing at first. They were operational and scored only couple of minor hits. Nowdays it is an completely diffrent story and I can say that keep these beast alive. They are major asset in AE.

Japanese main thrust came through north and we encountered an supply bug at Clark Field. The base had supplies but ground units refused to take them. Thus the casualty level was high. When this was found we agreed on small ceasefire here but this was too little too late since the actual damage already done. The Clark Field fell and Manila was our last bastion here.

Had the supplies being drawn here I think we could have hold on to couple more weeks here.

The merchant ships docked in Manila were slaughtered +90% when they tried to escape into south. The carnage was done by Mini KB and some very deadly torpedo bombers.

One of the most bizarre and few mistakes was seen at Bataan. Here an enemy battleship TF wondered in and coastal guns caused havoc. Japanese lost an battleship and rest of them were very lucky to escape! Another good point to show on how a few lucky dice rolls could have given quite diffrent outcome.

The Luzon eventually fell and the rest of the Philippines was mopped without any significant opposition.

Malaya, Burma & India

Dave opted for an histrorical approach at Malaya. So, the push came through north. I could have saved/moved ground units out of here but decieded not to since to me it was something I felt was wrong.

We fought and fought and my defensive line was moved south of Singapore. By changing leaders here I had some good results but the outcome was never in doubt. As it should have been.

Prince of Wales escaped and it is still the flag ship of Royal Navy. I did make an blunder though and had it on full speed thus it +80% sys damage and it was in repair yards for months. BC Repulse was not as lucky and eventually it was lost in action at DEI. POW also was involved but managed to escape.

One lesson here was that below level 5 forts are not strong. I think has been tweaked somewhat but the initial release versions had this dilemma.

There was no action at Burma first but once the japanese came they came in with force. I had withdrawn further up into north and whle it was an bad move in the end it was good too since at least I managed to save few units back into India. I think fighting in the south would have resulted into complete wipe out of my armies.

After the Burma theatre has become slaughter festival of aircrews. RAF was heavily involved and japanese have substantial airforce presence here. One thing you need to keep in mind is the leaking CAP. It really can be annoying at times. Yes, this "feature" is daily business and I have sometimes +10 fighters fighting out in the base which I do not want to. Hopefully this will be fixed sometimes in the upcoming patches.

The supply routines has been changed a lot here. When we fought the draw function allowed him to move a lot supplies around with minimal effort. The same thing could have been done with allied side too. How much of an diffrence this actually made well noway to tell. The battle was over before the changes were applied into game.

Some might wonder how AVG did. Well, not good, not good at all. This was very frustrating since I had high expectations on their performance. IJA Zeros made short work of them.

Nowdays Burma is intresting place. I think he has moved in substantial amount aircraft and infantry units. How much and where is still somewhat foggy due to limited recon capabilities here. Also, IJN has strong naval presense here with BB Yamato and MIni KB being most notable ones.

India has been peaceful. There are still reports that enemy is preparing for landings here but I seriously doubt these. Than again I have doubted many things and almost as many times being proven wrong.

DEI

I moved units into Java from nearby bases. The main bases were naturally Batavia and Soereabaja which were the last ones to stand.

The big mistake was that I had higher hopes of ABDA lba bombers hitting actually enemy ships. That assumption came from the classic witp and I needlesly lost too many aircraft here. That propably cost me some turns and made the enemy advance more quickly.

One thing I would do diffrently is to reinforce Palempang. This was is the key in Sumatra and if you do not do this it will fall quickly most like with industry intact too.

Overall the damaged done to the resource centers and other industrial assets seem to have been minimal. Whether it is actually possible to cause more damage to these key establisments is uncertain. I have my doubts on this issue.

Other than we had some nice surface combat action and managed to engage quite a few transports. I wohn't go into details but you can read about these in greater details on the actual day to day summaries.

An tip I would like to make is that Banshee divebombers can be very useful here if japanese player is not careful enough. So, move them in and use them with thought. It might pay in dividens later on.

China

This country has given me a lot of headaches, In the initial release this theatre was severely unbalanced and with new tweaks via patches has improved the feeling here.

I had the initial though of holding into bases which had forts but bad terrain. This was an deadly mistake since I overestimated many things...effectiviness of forts, the impact of enemy armour and artillery units and experience levels vs shock assaults. Add those extra Manchuko troops and it pretty much spelled disaster all the way.

The combination of these above facts would have lead into complete annihilation of chinese armies. Both of us felt that something was not right here and agreed several tweks. The shock assults were banned and ceasefire was put into action for an while.

Japanese stormed Loyang area and this is really bad and dangerous place to fight out. Even with patches I don't think this is the place to be.

Another key thing here is an railroad system, Do not underestimate this when playing as allies since while you might have an av advantage in some places this railroad network can swiftly change the balance of the battles.

We have discussed this country in these pages so to summarize things good leaders + good terrain bonus = much better performance.

Also I think an allied player is better off with the new patches so do not think this an example what will happen here. As said this theatre was serously flawed in the initial realese which has now been improved via patches.

As you can see I have lost a lot of ground and now the fight of china freedom is raging on. The invincible japanese juggernaught has been halted, Whether or not permanently remains to be seen.

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Post #: 1370

RE: november 1942 - 1/27/2010 6:59:54 PM

Rob Brennan UK

Posts: 3685
Joined: 8/24/2002
From: London UK
Status: offline

Nice summary ..

quick question re leaky CAP. Does it leak if you set range to 0 ? I havnt been in a position to test this of late so i'm curious.

GL as ever

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Post #: 1371

RE: november 1942 - 1/28/2010 3:29:50 PM

Sardaukar

Posts: 9847
Joined: 11/28/2001
From: Finland/Israel
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Nice summary ..

quick question re leaky CAP. Does it leak if you set range to 0 ? I havnt been in a position to test this of late so i'm curious.

GL as ever

I have requested that option before, but I never got answer. Jwilkerson said then that it does leak even when set 0.

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Post #: 1372

RE: november 1942 - 1/28/2010 5:04:45 PM

Rob Brennan UK

Posts: 3685
Joined: 8/24/2002
From: London UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Nice summary ..

quick question re leaky CAP. Does it leak if you set range to 0 ? I havnt been in a position to test this of late so i'm curious.

GL as ever

I have requested that option before, but I never got answer. Jwilkerson said then that it does leak even when set 0.

thanks for the reply sadurkar , shame though as i think if you set 0 it shouldnt leak but im sure they used RL instances to explain the implementation of leaky CAP and tbh sometimes its a real boon.

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Post #: 1373

RE: november 1942 - 1/28/2010 7:00:40 PM

cfulbright

Posts: 2778
Joined: 5/7/2003
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Aztez - Now that we've all learned of the different DB bombing behavior based on altitude, I wonder if the reason you didn't score more hits in Fiji from your ground-based carrier squadrons was because you had them at a higher altitude. Can you find out what they were flying at? Do you still have that save file?

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Post #: 1374

RE: november 1942 - 1/28/2010 7:05:44 PM

crsutton

Posts: 9590
Joined: 12/6/2002
From: Maryland
Status: offline

Very good summary. Your game and canoerebels have really helped those of us who are trailing you in our pbemails.

One note for Australia for all Allied players. Oz is weak at first but has some really fine mobile units. There are a number of tank regiments and light recce forces but better yet. Oz gets three cavalry brigades and two motor brigades. All of these units get a heavy dose of light and medium tanks! They are fast and strong and balanced. You will not have enough units to send a massive force to the Darwin area but the bulk of these mobile units should be there. They are strong and fast, can handle any Japanese armor unit and can quickly move away from heavy but slow Japanese Infantry forces. In addition, you get a number of American tank units that are equipped with about 50 stuart tanks. You can send these to Darwin as well. I think mobility is the key to a defence around Darwin. You may not win but you can mess up the Japanese plans.

I am in the middle of it now. So will have to see how it plays out.

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Post #: 1375

RE: november 1942 - 1/30/2010 10:27:41 AM

LoBaron

Posts: 4776
Joined: 1/26/2003
From: Vienna, Austria
Status: offline

Wow, good summary. Its been a long road Aztez.

Also the point chosen for it is perfect because I think you are close or at the turning point of the game.

Australia: I can only guess but I think that erstad underestimated the supply costs of keeping an OZ campaign
running. It was very costly for him and with 20/20 hindsight he should have probably stayed in the Darwin area
as a buffer for DEI but not try to move further south where he was just bled dry. (wonder if he still got some tanks in
his pools...)

DEI: I don�t think its a mistake to rely on some ABDA bombs hitting ships. Your were unlucky on some occasions
and erstads approach was really well planned. He is a good offensive player with always an eye for defense and thats
probably the most dangerous combination there is.

China: as with all early AAR�s until the arrival of the patch the fight there was too onesided and now, after the land combat patches,
you can�t hope to reclaim as fast as you lost. But that is the only twisted result on a grand scale as far as I can see and you can live with it anyway.
Kweyang will be an interesting battle for the weeks to come.

About the leaky CAP: I dislike and like it at the same time. It can be a real pain if the opponent forces it, but thats a bit gamey IMO anyway.
On the other hand its not unrealistic. I don�t think that CAP was set up in a 20 mile radius around the defended base only but probably
streched along some theat axis.

Good luck for the next years and thanks for this great learning experience and entertainmment!

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Post #: 1376

December 1942 - 1/30/2010 7:42:35 PM

aztez

Posts: 4031
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline

Rob: Thanks. Thought that would be in order since the journey has been long.

I have tried all the tricks and have seen no improvement of leaky CAP. After reading what Sardaukar said I have kind of given up on the issue.

Sardaukar: Yeah, exactly what you posted. It does not make any diffrence.

I second the improvement though since it was ok to have in classic witp but now with nerfed allied production system it really is "annoying" at times.

cfulbright: It might have been the issue among other factors. I will try look up the turn (if I haven't deleted it from the archives) and if it is there I will check the alltitudes out.

crsutton: Thanks. I have followed Canoerebels and Q-Balls AAR's and some others too. They are quite diffrent and I still think many of the allied players underestimate the japanese hordes of aircraft.

This happened to Canoerebel and the hordes really can make an diffrence.

I would summarize the biggest diffrence to most of the AAR's being that Dave have kept pushing assaults even at this "late" date. I would love nothing else than to see him slow these down. Good play by him not doing that.

Hmmm, intresting idea. I will look into this since that can be effective especially in Oz with open terrains where armour can roam.

LoBaron: Thanks. The date is an turning point of an kind but as said above Dave has chosen very wise strategy. Simply do not obey the guidelines of when to stop advancing.

The lack of replacement aircraft for the allied side is severe and I doubt that the pilot quality is that much diffrent in late 1942's too.

The buffer zone is wise to do. There are few AAR's where northern oz was not seized and it really has hurt the japanese side. Personally I think this has been sideshow and this just an guess.. had I moved significant amount of infantry into north immediately there would have landings in southern oz. Kind of split the country into two operations. This just an guess but I strongly have felt like it.

I have wondered the same thing. I think must have them or why else would he kept on assaulting in china. I read somewhere that he had incrased the production so tanks are pretty much at hand now.

His aircraft pools seem to be in excellent shape too and he has kept flying offensive missions all round the map with carriers and lba crews. Noway I could keep up with this kind of relentless pressure.

Agreed. Allthough bombing ground units might have been more effective at times. The biggest thing was that the resource centeres seem to be seized in good shape. Now, this is really hurting me. The biggest one at Palempang was reconed to have 0% damages!

China, china.. oh well lets say that if I ever start an game there with allied forces than it would have been very diffrent story. It is tough to get over the initial flaws here since we had advanced so long forward before the patches started arriving. Better late than never so happy for the community to get these things fixed.

I will try keep things intresting in future years.

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Post #: 1377

RE: December 1942 - 1/30/2010 7:43:39 PM

aztez

Posts: 4031
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline

Burma (december 8th - 13th 1942)

This has active area of operations. The bad thing is that it has been the japanese forces doing the dancing,

BB Yamato and other battleships have visited Cox's Bazar and Chittagong. Allied divebombers laucnhed couple of strikes but I think the bombs just bounced off these steel monsters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 2
Vengeance I x 13

Allied aircraft losses
Vengeance I: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 1

We got reported two bomb hits on BB Yamato so at least few paint buckets are needed.

The good old Vilderbeest torpedo bombers though at least reported an hit on BB Fuso...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 2

Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest III: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Torpedo hits 1

...needless to say that I'am skeptical on this due to previous reports.

The leaking CAP has been worse here since I have seen 20 bombers intercepting at Cox's Bazar when they were ordered to fly above the skies at Chittagong.

As said ok with classic Witp but not with nerfed allied replacement rates in AE.

The Tojo fighter seems to be very good and my Hurricanes have been unable to deal with them! As expected he has many of these fighters here and in China.

I need to deal with this issue one way or the other.

My bomber crews have been kept out of frontline duties and they are training and gaining experience here.

The sweep and bombing pressure put up by japanese is definately increasing around Chittagong day by day.

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Post #: 1378

RE: December 1942 - 1/30/2010 7:44:41 PM

aztez

Posts: 4031
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline

Pacific (december 8th - 13th 1942)

The map details the minor skirmishes around the map but I would like bring in couple of issues.

First being the fighter, divebomber, torpedo bomber alltitudes. We encountered very weird bug. I started working on the turn normally and noticed that there something wrong.

The fighter, divebomber and torpedo bomber alltitudes were set on 14,000 feet and the CAP at 40%, This thing affected all the squadrons not being on training mode. It had no bearing on which country or model the squadron was.

Dave reported the same thing. Hopefully we will not see this in the future.

Another thing being japanese ASW. I noticed that there is an thread about it but I wohn't get involved with JFB issues. However it is effective since I had like 10 submarines around Okinawa area and further up in the north... well they are gone except few of them.

How this was done? Well I suppose by via elite japanese ASW squadrons. No doubt flying them at 100feet and in high numbers. I will check these a bit more detail later on.

..than again Dave just said that there was no high numbers flying ASW around the regions so it might be related to the 1st issue.

I will look into where these vessels have gone or most likely time traveled.

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Post #: 1379

RE: December 1942 - 1/31/2010 1:30:45 PM

Sardaukar

Posts: 9847
Joined: 11/28/2001
From: Finland/Israel
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I think the major issue in that ASW thread was the extremely high naval skill with IJN ASW TF commanders. Naval skill is most important aspect in ASW combat.

BTW, don't worry about mistakes, I think I am quite experienced player vs. AI and I still make some major FUBARs when playing against it. Like:

- thinking that 2 Indian brigades can hold Port Blair..scratch 2 brigades
- thinking that BB sent to repairs to WC from PH won't sink (79 major flooding)..sank 2 hexes before Seattle..

- thinking that it's safe to send CA escorted by 2 DD to PH after repairs in Seattle...IJN CV TF intercepted them during voyage...now that got me peeved.

- thinking that it's good idea to invade Katka (spelling?) in Burma in 1943 with 2 brigades..somehow they got surrounded and wiped out...

That to be said, I think there are too much red on that map.

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Post #: 1380