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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Radar Day

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RE: Radar Day - 3/21/2010 7:13:28 AM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: bklooste

Looks like a death� trap to me for subs..throw in some mines as well.

I would really like to mine places like Oosthaven, Merak, and Denpasar since these are passages into the Java Sea. My biggest problem, though, is that mines are really scarce. I am not sure if this holds for the allies, but the Japanese have to think long and hard about where to place mines. You also need to have ACMs available so the minefields are maintained.

Right now, witpqs has been avoiding my ports because of the mine threat. I know that the SS Gar hit a mine a few months ago at Truk when it laid a mine field there. (another thing you want to be sure to do is have mine sweepers scattered about so that you can sweep up sub laid mines quickly.) That seems to have made him very cautious about entering my ports. (He also laid a mine field at the dot base just south of Kwajelein but SS S-36 was reported hit by one of my ASW planes, so I was alerted to the possibility of a mine field being their before any of my ships stumbled on it.)

Since he has been avoiding ports, this makes those bases he has to go through in order to get into the Java Sea very attractive candidates for mine fields.

Oh, and be sure to station mine sweepers at Palembang and check the non-base hexes leading to it regularly for mines. That is one way the allies can get around risking their subs in Japanese ports: by mining the approaches.

(in reply to bklooste)

Post #: 181

RE: Radar Day - 3/21/2010 7:38:54 AM

bklooste

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quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

quote:

ORIGINAL: bklooste

Looks like a death� trap to me for subs..throw in some mines as well.

I would really like to mine places like Oosthaven, Merak, and Denpasar since these are passages into the Java Sea. My biggest problem, though, is that mines are really scarce. I am not sure if this holds for the allies, but the Japanese have to think long and hard about where to place mines. You also need to have ACMs available so the minefields are maintained.

Right now, witpqs has been avoiding my ports because of the mine threat. I know that the SS Gar hit a mine a few months ago at Truk when it laid a mine field there. (another thing you want to be sure to do is have mine sweepers scattered about so that you can sweep up sub laid mines quickly.) That seems to have made him very cautious about entering my ports. (He also laid a mine field at the dot base just south of Kwajelein but SS S-36 was reported hit by one of my ASW planes, so I was alerted to the possibility of a mine field being their before any of my ships stumbled on it.)

Since he has been avoiding ports, this makes those bases he has to go through in order to get into the Java Sea very attractive candidates for mine fields.

Oh, and be sure to station mine sweepers at Palembang and check the non-base hexes leading to it regularly for mines. That is one way the allies can get around risking their subs in Japanese ports: by mining the approaches.

Thats what i was thinking with all those planes and ASW TF he will get reactions some of which will take him through the port hexes. Esp when your ASW force is in the hole in between.

Speaking of which what planes are on Naval Search ? I seem to find Naval search better than ASW.

How do the allies mine these ? DO they have mine laying subs ?

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Post #: 182

RE: Radar Day - 3/21/2010 1:24:02 PM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: bklooste

Thats what i was thinking with all those planes and ASW TF he will get reactions some of which will take him through the port hexes. Esp when your ASW force is in the hole in between.

Hmm, interesting idea. Still, the first places to get mines are going to be Merak, Oosthaven and Denpassar. Sorebaja also needs a field. (In the DEI, Singapore and Balikpapan currently have mines right now.)

quote:

Speaking of which what planes are on Naval Search ? I seem to find Naval search better than ASW.

Mavis's of course. Plus Dinah and Babs units, since there are not enough Mavis's. These guys are searching my perimeter. For my interior, I use Jakes and Alfs for ASW work. (I have been steadily upgrading the short legged Petes and Daves to Jakes as they become available.) I have also been cross training Sallies and Rufe's on ASW. I just started with the Sallies. Their primary mission was airfield suppression while I was in the initial expansion phase. After Singapore and Palembang was captured, I set them to training on NavB. Now that that is in the 60s, I am starting to train them on ASW. The Rufes get trained on escort until they are in the 60s, and now I am starting to train them in ASW. Several Val units are also cross training in ASW, mainly to bring their experience level up. ASW is one of those low risk combat missions you can fly to bring the experience level of newbies up, although even that is slow.

quote:

How do the allies mine these ? DO they have mine laying subs ?

I am pretty sure they have some dedicated mine layers, like the Nautilus. Plus, any sub can lay at least a few mines. Which makes me think that in order to get more minefields, maybe I should use my subs as mine layers. I have about 400 type 88 mines (sub mines).

(in reply to bklooste)

Post #: 183

RE: Radar Day - 3/21/2010 5:33:23 PM

Grotius

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quote:

A full fledged multi-division fight is not something I relish.....Darwin should be invaded in a about 3 or 4 days.

I was interested to read these comments in juxtaposition. Won't Darwin be a full-fledged multi-division fight?

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Post #: 184

RE: Radar Day - 3/21/2010 6:33:01 PM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Grotius

quote:

A full fledged multi-division fight is not something I relish.....Darwin should be invaded in a about 3 or 4 days.

I was interested to read these comments in juxtaposition. Won't Darwin be a full-fledged multi-division fight?

No. He only has one unit at Darwin, the static CD unit. He is bugging out of northern Australia. I assume because of his supply problems there. He may also be trying to preserve his units for a defense of southern Australia.

(in reply to Grotius)

Post #: 185

RE: Radar Day - 3/22/2010 1:50:55 AM

Grotius

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Ah, I see. Now that I look back, I see you did mention that in your post with the strategic map, in which you talk about a possible landing at Perth too. I share your reluctance to try anything at Ceylon; brr. I'd rather try Perth -- or just dig in.

I was also interested to see your focus on 'cleaning out dot bases', another item you mentioned a few posts back. If you turn them red, I suppose enemy subs automatically appear on the map at the dot base, and possibly at adjacent bases. That "recon function" of dot bases hadn't occurred to me, but it makes sense. I suppose even empty friendly dot-bases have a few notional garrison troops (or coastwatchers?) that spot enemy ships and subs. And I assume the automatic "occupation by Japanese" process takes place too slowly for your liking.

I hope you don't mind a couple more questions. I recall you saying somewhere (in this AAR or another thread) that you just realized some LCUs could upgrade to radar in the spring of 1942. Did you have to set some "upgrade" switch to "on" to achieve this, or did it happen automatically?

Finally, I'm curious about the disposition of your Air HQs. I think you mentioned one in Jolo or thereabouts, one in Victoria Point, one or two in the South Pacific? Does it matter which Air HQ goes where? That is, do aircraft perform better if they are near their parent HQ? I ask for selfish reasons -- thus far I've moved only a couple Air HQs forward, and I need to stop procrastinating...

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Post #: 186

RE: Radar Day - 3/22/2010 3:37:13 AM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Grotius
I was also interested to see your focus on 'cleaning out dot bases', another item you mentioned a few posts back. If you turn them red, I suppose enemy subs automatically appear on the map at the dot base, and possibly at adjacent bases. That "recon function" of dot bases hadn't occurred to me, but it makes sense. I suppose even empty friendly dot-bases have a few notional garrison troops (or coastwatchers?) that spot enemy ships and subs. And I assume the automatic "occupation by Japanese" process takes place too slowly for your liking.

Automatic occupation only happens for bases adjacent to your occupied bases. So if you don't have anyone in the adjacent base, or the dot is not adjacent, it will not be occupied. Also, it appears that base occupation depends on how much AV you have at the adjacent base. The more AV, the higher the chances a base will be occupied.

I am not doing this because the subs will show up at those bases on the tactical map. They won't. There are no coast watchers for subs. Rather, by turning everything in the area red, when I go to the global map and see a green dot, I will know that it is a sub my search planes have spotted. Right now, it is hard to differentiate between subs (or enemy TFs) and allied bases on the global map. By having everything within my sphere red, I can quickly check the global map for green dots to see if my search planes have spotted something somewhere. It is more difficult to scroll around the map seeing if there is a sub or TF spotted somewhere, and you might miss it because the icons are so small, or might be sitting on top of a map legend (like an island name) making it hard to see even if you know it is there. (Sometimes I can't even find my own TFs when they are sitting on a name, like "Japan" or "Honshu".)

Another advantage of occupying the dots is that the allies cannot sneak somebody in and start building the base without you knowing until an airfield suddenly pops up!

Also, when they invade a dot, you will get info on just what units are being used for the invasion.

quote:

I hope you don't mind a couple more questions. I recall you saying somewhere (in this AAR or another thread) that you just realized some LCUs could upgrade to radar in the spring of 1942. Did you have to set some "upgrade" switch to "on" to achieve this, or did it happen automatically?

To upgrade any device, you need to allow replacements.

For the Japanese, I have found the following units get radar:
JNAF aviation units. These are the ones with 24 aviation support.
JAAF base forces. These are units with 48 aviation support.
Some of the AAA regiments. (look for ones the really big ones with sound detectors)

Units that do not get radar:
JAAF aviation units. these are the ones with 24 aviation support.
Special base forces. these are the ones with naval support points and 24 aviation support.

It looks like you need to pair a JNAF aviation unit with a special base force (or some combination like that) and/or a JNAF or AAA unit with an air HQ for your major bases. I have a problem right now in that all the JNAF units are over in the pacific, while over in the DEI/Burma area I have mainly JAAF units. (There are also some JAAF base forces there, plus that radar equipped AAA.) If I had know about the limitations and capabilities of the various units, I would have mixed the distribution of units better to have a balance of radar and non-radar equipped bases. For instance, I would have used JAAF aviation units down at Fiji/Somoa/New Caledonia, since I don't expect those bases to be subjected to 4E LBA. Instead, if they get attacked it will by carrier AC because they are about to be invaded!

quote:

Finally, I'm curious about the disposition of your Air HQs. I think you mentioned one in Jolo or thereabouts, one in Victoria Point, one or two in the South Pacific? Does it matter which Air HQ goes where? That is, do aircraft perform better if they are near their parent HQ? I ask for selfish reasons -- thus far I've moved only a couple Air HQs forward, and I need to stop procrastinating...

I would guess that units stationed near their own HQ perform better. But I have not been very good about keeping things organized that way. I have been more interested in the command radius of the air HQ than which planes are attached to it. I suppose my dispositions are less than optimal in this regard, but it is a level of micro-management planning beyond my point of tolerance.

I think I should post a map of my air HQ dispositions. If you look back a page or two (two I think) you can find a series of maps that lay out my planned defenses. These maps show the locations of various air HQs.

(in reply to Grotius)

Post #: 187

Wow! - 3/22/2010 6:18:03 AM

CapAndGown

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June 17, 1942

Darwin was invaded today. This was quite a lesson on the mechanics of the game.

Before the landings commenced, a TF made up of 3xBB and 6xCA (plus DDs) bombarded Darwin to try to suppress the CD guns before the amphibious force landed. What a reception they got! 531 coastal guns shots fired. As I watched the replay I was wondering if these guns ever missed. One shot after the next kept hitting my ships. Fortunately, most of them bounced off. Nevertheless, the did knock off AA guns and cause some damage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

531 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Shell hits 34, on fire
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 33, on fire
BB Nagato, Shell hits 10
CA Kako, Shell hits 6, on fire
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 8, on fire (a few of these penetrated)
CA Nachi, Shell hits 2
CA Haguro
CA Myoko, Shell hits 3
CA Chokai, Shell hits 8, on fire

Allied ground losses:
235 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 10 (0 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11
Port hits 6
Port fuel hits 5

After watching that I was chagrined about what would happen to my amphibious force. But apparently the BBs had done there job. The firing on the landing force was extremely weak. No ships were sunk outright, though I did end up scuttling a PB.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Darwin
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

8 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
AK Sakito Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire
PB Shuko Maru #2, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PB Toshi Maru #2
PB Busho Maru
AK Akagi Maru
PB Shonan Maru #6
AK Ayatosan Maru

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported

Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Then the actual landing began. And lo and behold, almost no casualties.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amphibious Assault at Darwin
TF 113 troops unloading over beach at Darwin, 76,124

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

10 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 24th/A Div

Once the troops were ashore, the enemy bombardment showed that they are very, very weak. My troops have disruption in the low 20s and are somewhat short on supply, so I won't attack next turn, but the turn after I will shock attack and that should be sufficient to capture the place. Let's hope so because I don't want to have to face those CD guns again!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Darwin (76,124)
Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 866 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 16
Defending force 4325 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 152

Assaulting units:
Emery Point Fortress

Defending units:
24th/A Div /80

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by cap_and_gown -- 3/22/2010 6:26:37 AM >

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Post #: 188

Lesson Learned - 3/22/2010 6:43:56 AM

CapAndGown

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Now for the lessons learned.

The regiment I landed had a load cost of about 4400 troops. I used 8 AKs to load them which meant a little over 500 troops per AK. Call it 550. The AKs unload at 600 load points per phase, unlike xAKs and xAPs which unload at 250 points per phase. I unloaded in the afternoon phase. Basically, the AKs were able to put almost the entire regiment onto the beach in that one phase. Only 90 points (5 support squads) are remaining on one of the AKs. Unfortunately, I should have loaded some separate AKs with just supplies and added them to the invasion TF. This would have ensured that not only was the entire regiment (or almost the entire regiment) unloaded in one phase, but it would have been fully supplied as well.

So for the Japanese player, after the bonus is gone, your best bet is to convert whatever xAKs you can to AKs.

The other lesson involved the value of preparation points. The entire 24th division was 100% prepped for Darwin. When I saw that witpqs was bugging out, I decided I would only use one regiment instead of the entire division. In the screen grab below you can see that this regiment has almost no disabled squads. For invasions where I have not had the units prepped, disablements have been between 20 and 50% since the expiration of the initial bonus. So prep points are key to getting ashore with minimal casualties. (This also points to the other effect of Japan's early bonus: fewer casualties suffered during amphibious invasions.)

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by cap_and_gown -- 3/22/2010 7:11:21 AM >

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Post #: 189

RE: Lesson Learned - 3/22/2010 8:01:19 PM

Grotius

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quote:

If you look back a page or two (two I think) you can find a series of maps that lay out my planned defenses. These maps show the locations of various air HQs.

Yep, two pages back. Air HQs near Timor, one in the Fiji area, one at Rabaul, one at Georgetown, one planned at Rangoon. Probably some others that I missed. All looks quite sensible to me.

quote:

I would guess that units stationed near their own HQ perform better. ...I suppose my dispositions are less than optimal in this regard, but it is a level of micro-management planning beyond my point of tolerance.

Likewise. I'm trying to ensure that this game doesn't consume my *entire* life. :)

quote:

For the Japanese, I have found the following units get radar:

That info was very helpful. Like you, I didn't realize that JNAF units get the bulk of the radar, along with those big JAAF base forces. I may have time to reorganize who goes where so that I can get some radar in places like Burma.

quote:

So for the Japanese player, after the bonus is gone, your best bet is to convert whatever xAKs you can to AKs. ... The other lesson involved the value of preparation points.

I was aware of the importance of PPs after the bonus is gone, but I hadn't fully appreciated the importance of AKs. Good to know!

So I assume you'll capture Darwin tomorrow, June 18?

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Post #: 190

Darwin Captured - 3/24/2010 1:09:02 AM

CapAndGown

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June 18, 1942

Darwin fell today. This cost me three more PBs. My troops were under supplied and there was still a fragment of the 24/A division on board one of the AKs. So I decide to offload that final fragment and use one other AK to unload supplies. The rest of the AKs retired to get away from the CD guns. With the supply delivered, and with the help of a bombing attack by Sallies based at Lautem, Darwin was quickly secured on the first shock attack. Apparently, between the naval bombardment and the air attack, the disruption of the CD unit was sufficiently high to be a factor. Also, it seems to have shot off all its supply attacking my ships. (With 531 shots in defense in one round, it would seem so!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Darwin (76,124)
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4425 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 154
Defending force 844 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Japanese adjusted assault: 220
Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 220 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Darwin !!!

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

Allied ground losses:
1438 casualties reported
Squads: 26 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 99 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 17 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 43 (41 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

After this experience of an opposed landing after the Japanese bonus has expired, I am more confident that an amphibious invasion of southwest Australia is doable. This could only happen in July, however, since the AKs I have converted will not be available till then. The big question then is not one of getting ashore, but of what we will face when we get there and how many troops will be needed. The Aussies will be able to rapidly move in reinforcements by rail. My estimate is that Kalgoorlie is heavily defending precisely because it is a vital rail connection to eastern Australia. There is also the question of how many British/Indian/American reinforcements have been delivered to Oz. I also need to consider that the allies have no doubt been receiving a steady supply of reinforcements and are no doubt preparing for their own offensive somewhere. A lot of the AARs I am reading indicate that the allies can go on the offensive as early as August of September of 42. I need to be ready for this and any troops still engaged in trying to conquer Perth at that time will not be available to shore up a threatened sector. I am especially concerned with my defenses in Burma and on Sumatra. Burma only has about 3 division equivalents for defense. I need at least one more. And Sumatra is very lightly garrisoned. I need to build up the western bases on Sumatra so as guard against an amphibious invasion aimed at my vitals.

So I have still not decided on whether to go after Perth or not. I think it will mostly depend on being able buy some more divisions out of Manchuria/China, which needs to balanced out by my need to buy out base forces and air units.

(in reply to Grotius)

Post #: 191

Air HQ dispositions - 3/24/2010 1:29:56 AM

CapAndGown

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The following is a map of my Air headquaters dispositions.

This set up is not final. The First Air Army arrived not too long ago in Tokyo and I plan on sending it down to the Solomons/New Guinea region.

Placement of Air HQs was determined by the command range of the HQ and the availability of nearby bases. So, for instance, an Air flotilla was placed at Georgetown which can provide support to Alor Star and Taiping. Another Air flotilla is at Rangoon which supports Pegu and Bassien. Another flotilla is at Luganville. Two bases on islands adjacent to Luganville are in the process of being developed. In other places, the distance to bases and the number of bases that could be supported was greater, such as at Noumea, Suva, Upolo, Sorebaja, and Lomblen. The idea here was develop a large number of level four bases within range of the Air HQ.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 192

RE: Air HQ dispositions - 3/24/2010 4:44:42 AM

Grotius

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That looks like a very sensible use of your Air HQs. Do you have one in the Kuriles or Aleutians? I suppose it's unlikely he'll come from that direction. If you had to guess, where do you think he'll come -- Burma and the Central Pacific, say?

In WITP I used to take some of the Aleutians, but even in Scenario 2, I'm finding it harder to spare the ground troops and base forces to do so.

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Post #: 193

RE: Air HQ dispositions - 3/24/2010 6:46:10 AM

bklooste

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I would forget putting my Air HQ and lots of troops at Noumea and Suva if allies attack there its good as it allows a gradual withdraw from over extended positions.

Milne bay/PM , Timor , Burma and Marshals are prob top of the allied list and they need lots of overlapping bases. If these are lost many forces may be cut off.

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Post #: 194

RE: Air HQ dispositions - 3/24/2010 4:42:15 PM

Grotius

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I guess some (most?) HQs do return as reinforcements even if they're wiped out, so maybe losing a forward Air HQ wouldn't be a disaster. Still, I have no idea how long that would take. So maybe bklooste has a point; maybe keep one or two Air HQs in reserve, then see where his assault comes?

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Post #: 195

RE: Air HQ dispositions - 3/25/2010 12:52:00 AM

CapAndGown

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June 20, 1942

Hiyo arrived today. Ruyho has now been accelerated.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grotius
That looks like a very sensible use of your Air HQs. Do you have one in the Kuriles or Aleutians? I suppose it's unlikely he'll come from that direction. If you had to guess, where do you think he'll come -- Burma and the Central Pacific, say?

In WITP I used to take some of the Aleutians, but even in Scenario 2, I'm finding it harder to spare the ground troops and base forces to do so.

quote:

ORIGINAL: bklooste
I would forget putting my Air HQ and lots of troops at Noumea and Suva if allies attack there its good as it allows a gradual withdraw from over extended positions.

Milne bay/PM , Timor , Burma and Marshals are prob top of the allied list and they need lots of overlapping bases. If these are lost many forces may be cut off.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grotius
I guess some (most?) HQs do return as reinforcements even if they're wiped out, so maybe losing a forward Air HQ wouldn't be a disaster. Still, I have no idea how long that would take. So maybe bklooste has a point; maybe keep one or two Air HQs in reserve, then see where his assault comes?

Since all these questions/comments are related, let me respond to them together.

The big question, of course, is where are the allies going to attack?

All my efforts have been directed towards securing a position where the allies will find it difficult to support their eventual offensive with LBA. I want their bombers to come in unescorted. I want them to be flying at long range so their op losses increase. And I want them to fly from airbases that cannot be built to such a size that they can carry a full load. I also want it so that even if they can shut down one, two, or even three airfields, there will still be nearby airfields that remain operational.

With these goals in mind, an analysis of the map shows that there are two main attack avenues the allies can use where their LBA can be used most effectively: Burma and Australia. There is not much I can do about Burma except build the airbases around Rangoon and ship in a bunch of AAA. Australia, OTOH, is a threat that can at least be mitigated.

My strategy has focused on trying to isolate Australia from reinforcement and resupply. This was the point of the Noumea/Fiji/Somoa operation. Holding the NFS Trio (Noumea/Fiji/Somoa) slices into the LOC between the western US and OZ. In addition, these islands, IMO, need to be held as a group. This is because of the criteria I laid out above: I can form clusters of airbases at each of these groups so they cannot all be shut down; the closest threats to these islands are very far away (New Zealand, Australia, Society Islands), and/or they are difficult to build up very much because of their low SPS value (Society Islands). Allowing the allies to hold any one group of this Trio, say New Caledonia or Somoa, would put all the rest in danger since they could now build up substantial bases from which to fly their 4E bombers.

So much for isolating Oz from the east. Isolating Oz from the west is more difficult. Ideally, I would like to hold Perth. I may still go for that. Right now I have a patrol base at Cocos islands and the Mavis's there can search almost out to the map edge. Witpqs also has be concerned about a CV raid into the India Ocean.

So, how much stuff has he already brought into Oz? And how much can he still sneak in by sending convoys along either the extreme southern edge of the map (Pacific route) or extreme western end of the map (Capetown route)? I don't know. At the very least, his fuel situation in Oz should not be very good because of all the extra fuel his convoys will have to burn going around my positions.

Whatever the case may be in Australia, I do not have to worry about an offensive launched out of Darwin/Broome/Hedland towards the eastern DEI. My Timor defenses have suddenly become much less critical, at least for a good long time. He is not going to wander into the bight between northern Australia and Timor/Flores. This would not make any sense since it would be much shorter to just go from Perth to Java than to make a massive detour to the east to invade Timor. So the Air HQ at Lomblen is now going to be moved over to Sumatra.

What about an offensive aimed at regaining the NFS Trio? Like bklooste, I consider such an offensive less likely. Witpqs is starting to build up Tahiti and Christmas Island. But it is hard to imagine a major offensive being launched out of just these two bases. In addition, it would seem to be better to try to just cut these islands of by invading the flanks at the Gilberts and/or the Solomons. Nevertheless, there is a chance he may invade them, and if so, I want to be able to hit his ships with torpedoes. This means having Air HQ. So there they stay. And yest, Grotius, I read on the forum that Air HQ will respawn after 30 days.

What about an offensive aimed at the Solomons? With Timor off the table for now, this would be a logical objective. Whether he goes that way or not will depend on how much I have been able to disrupt reinforcement of OZ. For now, at least, he does not appear to be building bases in northeastern OZ. So an offensive out of the quarter does not seem likely any time soon. Nevertheless, I am building up bases up and down the Solomons chain and along the northern coast of New Guinea as rapidly as I can. (Back in January I bought out almost every engineering in Manchuria so I could develop bases faster.)

What about the Kuriles/Aleutians? Well, I do not have an air HQ there. There is no real good spot there to place one since you can't really form a cluster of bases which an Air HQ could support (at least in the Kuriles. that may not be the case over in the Aleutians). It would basically just support the base where it is located, and that would be it. That seems like a waste to me. So in the Kuriles, I have scattered the regiments of one division across the islands he would most likely invade, built up the forts, stationed a heavy cruiser TF and have reserves sitting on Hokkaido that can be used to reinforce any one of the islands he invades. (The premise being that the garrison regiment can hold out long enough so that reinforcements can arrive before the island is captured.)

This leaves the Marshals/Gilberts, Burma, and the Western DEI. I fully expect that the Marshals/Gilberts will come under attack at some point. I am building up the bases there in anticipation of such an offensive. My guess would be that he would first assault Canton and Baker. Canton is held with two SNLFs, while Baker has just one SNLF. They are basically indefensible, so I am not going to do anything more to defend them. I have done nothing to build the airfields or ports there. I have built the forts at Canton to level 4 and at Baker to level three. But that is not going to mean much when he lands an entire Marine division there.

If anything, Canton and Baker serve as early warning stations of a coming offensive. It is further west, around Taubetia that I will put up some resistance since there I can build (and am starting to build) a cluster of mutually supporting airfields. Ditto for the Marshals.

Every allied player seems to be going through Burma like a hot knife through butter. So this is the main threat axis, it would seem. Not much I can do about it, though, except dig deeper and bring in more troops.

The one threat axis that I have not seen any allied player exploit yet (generally because they have launched their eastern offensive into the eastern DEI and or the Solomons) is the western DEI. Yet this is the one I am currently most concerned about. Just because Timor is off the table for now does not mean an amphibious invasion of the DEI could not be launched. Rather than having Timor as the objective of such an offensive, however, an allied player might aim for western Sumatra and the islands just off the coast. From an allied perspective, this target might be very attractive. It offers multiple bases that could easily and rapidly be built up to size 8 or 9. If the allies got ashore here at multiple points, it would be impossible to shut down all these bases and very quickly they would bomb Palembang and Singapore in to the stone age. This is what I am most concerned about since witpqs has been building up India quite a bit. It may be the case that a lot of the reinforcements that might otherwise have gone to Oz went to India instead. So the Air HQ at Lomblen is going to be shifted over to Padang and the bases in that region built up and garrisoned with a regiment a piece.

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Post #: 196

More Radar - 3/28/2010 2:59:26 AM

CapAndGown

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June 30, 1942 (July 1 orders phase)

Since the last update I have generally been focused on capturing dots, building bases, and cleaning up the Philippines. Panay is now cleared and Leyte is in the process.

U.S. subs have been active all across the map but have not scored because all of their warheads have been duds. The newly arrived Hiyo ended up in the sights of one U.S. sub, but the warhead failed to detonate. An AO was also shot at by another sub, but again, no boom. Several xAKs have also been targeted, again without results. The only successful attack sunk one of my DMS's. I have had a few reports of my ASW planes attacking enemy subs and this last turn a Sally unit is reported to have hit the Dutch sub KXIV.

Hiryu made it to Singapore a few turns back. I upped the priority to critical and the repair estimate is currently 70 days. (120 days on normal)

KB's 1 & 2 are now gathering at Soerebaja. I am planning another sweep of the Indian Ocean to look for convoys. Shuikaku and Zuikaku now both have radar. Besides looking for convoys, I want my CVs down in the DEI in preparation for a possible landing in western Australia.

I am still considering such an invasion, but the AKs are still about a week away from being ready. And then then they need to make their way down to Java to pick up the troops. Another option is Diego Garcia. For some reason, witpqs has not been building this base. Maybe he has been concentrating on building forts. But without having the airfield or port built up, this island cannot hold a lot of supply without spoilage occurring. I would like to use the KB's to do a recon here, but I would need to wait until the troops are almost ready so as to not give away my intentions.

It still appears as if I have successfully isolated Australia from the east. In addition to my patrol planes based in the Tonga Islands, I now have a picket line of subs, including Glen carriers doing naval search, down at the bottom of the map. This picket line was only just established a few turns back, so maybe I just haven't seen anything yet. But the pattern of base building in Australia signals a very defensive stance.

The Emily became available today. In comparing the Emily to the Mavis I found that the H6K5 version of the Mavis (which became available in April I believe) has radar.

I did not realize that. So I decided that while I would keep the Emily factories around so they can auto-upgrade next year (the later model Emily has radar, the early model does not) I would concentrate on pumping out more Mavis H6K5's. I bumped production up to 18 a month. I may bump that some more. I am assuming that a radar equipped search plane is much better than a non-radar equipped one.

The arrival of the Tojo has been advanced to August. As soon as it is available, all my Oscar production is going to switch over to Tojo production.

In the R&D realm, I decided to go heavily into Frances research. Peggy factories were converted over to Frances. The Helen IIa will be my army bomber of choice for the rest of the war except for those units that can be converted to Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy's when they become available. (This model of the Peggy carries a torpedo.) The Frances will become the replacement for Betty's and Nell's. I am also considering ditching the Betty in favor of the Nell. No real need to have both of these and I do not seen much advantage of the Betty over the later model Nell. They are both torches waiting to be lit by the first allied fighter that comes along.

I have ordered Vehicle production expanded to 150. I am down to just 531 Vehicle points after the arrival of the elements of the 1st and 2nd tank divisions.

I have plenty of Armament points (about 90,000) and have shut down all but 95 factories. Between shutting down Armament production and the expansion of HI in the SRA, I have been accumulating about 5,000 HI points per turn. I have over 500,000 in the pool right now.

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Post #: 197

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 3:32:22 AM

bklooste

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I dont think Western and NW Sumatra is viable ( though it is scarry as no one defends it) as an offensive due to the lack of decent port , the Strength of strong Japanese bases and the lack of allied land forces. This would require multiple divisions which would be hard.

You cant really cut of Australia he can sail a Huge convoy covered by 4 CVs straight through the middle and only KB can stop it or alternatively use the off map routes.� The 3 routes are equally promsing are Timor , Milne Bay�� and Lunga are all equally attractive.

quote:

Whatever the case may be in Australia, I do not have to worry about an offensive launched out of Darwin/Broome/Hedland towards the eastern DEI. My Timor defenses have suddenly become much less critical, at least for a good long time. He is not going to wander into the bight between northern Australia and Timor/Flores. This would not make any sense since it would be much shorter to just go from Perth to Java than to make a massive detour to the east to invade Timor. So the Air HQ at Lomblen is now going to be moved over to Sumatra.

The direction of attack does not really matter he can come from Brisbane Darwin or Perth. Since you prob own Darwin, Timor is a good target , it makes his job easier but also you have a big problem ( if you own Darwin) . Though odds on he will prob clean Darwin up first. LBA is not taht dangerous in AE all he needs is a CVE or 2 and the Betties get trounced and he gets plenty of CVEs later.

quote:

What about an offensive aimed at regaining the NFS Trio? Like bklooste, I consider such an offensive less likely. Witpqs is starting to build up Tahiti and Christmas Island. But it is hard to imagine a major offensive being launched out of just these two bases. In addition, it would seem to be better to try to just cut these islands of by invading the flanks at the Gilberts and/or the Solomons. Nevertheless, there is a chance he may invade them, and if so, I want to be able to hit his ships with torpedoes. This means having Air HQ. So there they stay. And yest, Grotius, I read on the forum that Air HQ will respawn after 30 days.

Ne Australia is a strong base of operations due own the point base in the Torres staights ( between tip of oz and papua ?)

< Message edited by bklooste -- 3/28/2010 3:34:40 AM >

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Post #: 198

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 3:46:23 AM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: bklooste
Ne Australia is a strong base of operations due own the point base in the Torres staights ( between tip of oz and papua ?)

Yes.

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Post #: 199

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 4:13:21 AM

PaxMondo

Posts: 9750
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Thanks for sharing the production information.

quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
The Emily became available today. In comparing the Emily to the Mavis I found that the H6K5 version of the Mavis (which became available in April I believe) has radar. I did not realize that. So I decided that while I would keep the Emily factories around so they can auto-upgrade next year (the later model Emily has radar, the early model does not) I would concentrate on pumping out more Mavis H6K5's. I bumped production up to 18 a month. I may bump that some more. I am assuming that a radar equipped search plane is much better than a non-radar equipped one.

The Mavis gets radar, but not until the device becomes active, right? ... sometime in '44? Not aware that it happens right away. If it does, I will keep Mavis as well.

quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
The arrival of the Tojo has been advanced to August. As soon as it is available, all my Oscar production is going to switch over to Tojo production.

Curious about this. I like the Tojo, but the range of the Oscar is so good for sweeps. Have you thought about that? How will you handle sweeps without the Oscar?

quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
In the R&D realm, I decided to go heavily into Frances research. Peggy factories were converted over to Frances. The Helen IIa will be my army bomber of choice for the rest of the war except for those units that can be converted to Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy's when they become available. (This model of the Peggy carries a torpedo.) The Frances will become the replacement for Betty's and Nell's. I am also considering ditching the Betty in favor of the Nell. No real need to have both of these and I do not seen much advantage of the Betty over the later model Nell. They are both torches waiting to be lit by the first allied fighter that comes along.

I too have decided upon the Nell. Better range, similar stats otherwise. What do you see in the Frances? It looks just so-so to me ...

quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
I have ordered Vehicle production expanded to 150. I am down to just 531 Vehicle points after the arrival of the elements of the 1st and 2nd tank divisions.

Wow, higher than I have had to go. I hadn't noted you having a big tank losses to date ... did I miss something?

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Post #: 200

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 5:15:15 AM

bklooste

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Speaking of LBA i dont think its that strong , but when mixed with subs and raider Surface forces it will be quite effective.

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Post #: 201

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 2:03:48 PM

CapAndGown

Posts: 3206
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quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

The Mavis gets radar, but not until the device becomes active, right? ... sometime in '44? Not aware that it happens right away. If it does, I will keep Mavis as well.

You are right. The radar device in the plane data is greyed out. So it is not available yet. Very disappointing. I will continue building the Mavis H6K5 anyway.

quote:

Curious about this. I like the Tojo, but the range of the Oscar is so good for sweeps. Have you thought about that? How will you handle sweeps without the Oscar?

I am not expecting a whole lot of sweeping by 1943. I would expect the allies will be on the offensive with a crap load of planes by then. And I need a plane that can actually damage the enemy, not just tickle them.

quote:

I too have decided upon the Nell. Better range, similar stats otherwise. What do you see in the Frances? It looks just so-so to me ...

The Frances has better durability than either the Betty or Nell and it has armor. The range is not as good, but I would only use that longer range for naval search, not naval attack. I do not set the range of my Betty's or Nell's greater than the range of the Zero's or Oscars in the same hex when they use drop tanks. So this means they are limited to 14 hexes at best.

quote:

quote:

I have ordered Vehicle production expanded to 150. I am down to just 531 Vehicle points after the arrival of the elements of the 1st and 2nd tank divisions.

Wow, higher than I have had to go. I hadn't noted you having a big tank losses to date ... did I miss something?

I had not increased it earlier, so I had only built a big enough stock pile to handle the arrival of the tank divisions with hardly anything left to spare. Some of those tank units arrived at 77% TOE, so I will need some more in order to build them up to full potential. Plus, of course, I need points for replacements for other units.

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Post #: 202

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 6:27:48 PM

PaxMondo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

The Mavis gets radar, but not until the device becomes active, right? ... sometime in '44? Not aware that it happens right away. If it does, I will keep Mavis as well.

You are right. The radar device in the plane data is greyed out. So it is not available yet. Very disappointing. I will continue building the Mavis H6K5 anyway.

quote:

Curious about this. I like the Tojo, but the range of the Oscar is so good for sweeps. Have you thought about that? How will you handle sweeps without the Oscar?

I am not expecting a whole lot of sweeping by 1943. I would expect the allies will be on the offensive with a crap load of planes by then. And I need a plane that can actually damage the enemy, not just tickle them.

quote:

I too have decided upon the Nell. Better range, similar stats otherwise. What do you see in the Frances? It looks just so-so to me ...

The Frances has better durability than either the Betty or Nell and it has armor. The range is not as good, but I would only use that longer range for naval search, not naval attack. I do not set the range of my Betty's or Nell's greater than the range of the Zero's or Oscars in the same hex when they use drop tanks. So this means they are limited to 14 hexes at best.

quote:

quote:

I have ordered Vehicle production expanded to 150. I am down to just 531 Vehicle points after the arrival of the elements of the 1st and 2nd tank divisions.

Wow, higher than I have had to go. I hadn't noted you having a big tank losses to date ... did I miss something?

I had not increased it earlier, so I had only built a big enough stock pile to handle the arrival of the tank divisions with hardly anything left to spare. Some of those tank units arrived at 77% TOE, so I will need some more in order to build them up to full potential. Plus, of course, I need points for replacements for other units.

Ahh, thanks for the clarifications. Particularly the vehicles, makes perfect sense.

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Post #: 203

RE: More Radar - 3/28/2010 8:23:05 PM

CapAndGown

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Just an update on the Mavis/Emily issue. Since it is now apparent that the Mavis does not get radar any earlier than the Emily, I am switching over to Emily production. The Mavis factory was switched over to making Vals since I am a little light on that plane. The Emily is clearly superior to the Mavis, with a higher durability and the addition of armor.

I also just noticed that the Frances has a service rating of 4. This is clearly a drawback. But I will continue to research this plane.

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Post #: 204

Thoughts on Convoys - 3/30/2010 4:37:14 AM

CapAndGown

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July 7, 1942

Still not much happening. Troops are landing in Mindanao as part of the clean up effort in the Philippines. More dot capturing and lots of base building. Still waiting for the AKs to come on line.

This post is mainly about my thinking regarding convoys, and in particular tanker convoys.

I am using Singapore as my hub where oil and fuel from Medan/Palembang/Miri/Balikpapan are delivered before being loaded on tanker convoys to be sent to Nagasaki.

Up to now I have just been concentrating on using the largest tankers available to form two really big convoys that are well escorted to get as much fuel and oil up to the home islands as possible in as few convoys as possible. Tanker size, however, is not the only consideration. I now realize that the speed of a round trip is just as important. The quicker the turn around time, the more oil/fuel that can be delivered in the same amount of time.

With this in mind I am now going to rework my convoy system:

One convoy will be made up of Type-N TL tankers and oilers. Japan has 8 TK ships of this type, and 4 AO models. Together, these 12 ships can form a 120,000 ton convoy (plus escorts) which will carry 138,000 tons of oil/fuel (12,800 tons each). The cruise speed of these ships in 15 knots. They will be escorted by ships that also have a cruise speed of 15 knots.

At least one other convoy will be made up of Type-1 TL tankers. More convoys of this type may be added later since there are many of this type of tanker being built in the merchant shipyards. These TKs/AOs carry 11,600 tons of fuel/oil and have a cruise speed of 14 knots. They also will have escorts with a cruise speed of 15 knots.

Another very large TK is the Tonan Whaler class. Unfortunately, this TK only has a cruise speed of 13 knots. There are also not that many of this class available. I count only five in the inventory and it doesn't look like any more will be coming. So rather than make a separate TF with this type, I am going to combine them with a resource convoy of Lima and Toho class xAKs. Manzyu type TKs will also be added to these resource convoys. Manzyu's have a capacity of 7,950 tons.

For the Palembang/Miri/Medan/Balikpapan shuttles I will use the smaller tankers such as the Type-1 TS class TKs (1250 tons) and Std-C class TKs (2850 tons).

< Message edited by cap_and_gown -- 3/30/2010 4:40:17 AM >

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Post #: 205

RE: More Radar - 3/30/2010 1:58:45 PM

PaxMondo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

I also just noticed that the Frances has a service rating of 4. This is clearly a drawback. But I will continue to research this plane.

Yep, and that is my issue with it. It will be interesting to see here in your AAR how the Frances works for you when you get there.

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Post #: 206

AFB help needed - 3/31/2010 7:55:06 PM

CapAndGown

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From: Virginia, USA
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July 10, 1942

So, the majority of my AKs will be available in a couple of days. I still need to get the troops and the ships down to Java (3 divisions prepping for Australia are currently in Manilla). That will take 2 weeks. Once on Java they can load up for the invasion.

I have lots of tank regiments and even two tank divisions, as well as numerous infantry divisions that I could use for this invasion.

The question is: should I still invade? It now looks as though the landing would take place in early August. Is this too late to mount an offensive aimed at capturing Perth? Do I need to start thinking about a possible allied offensive? Is there some way of figuring out how much opposition I might face?

Right now, the eastern DEI is secure from attack. The Solomons also seem secure for now since he has not been building his northeastern bases. It would seem that late summer/early fall allied offensive, if one is being planned, would target either Burma and/or the Marshals/Gilberts. Or, possibly, western Sumatra or the Kra Isthmus.

My fear is that I get deeply embroiled in a campaign to capture Perth just as the allied counter-offensive begins, leaving me with little to counter it.

It seems to all come down to how much stuff he has brought into Oz, which is unknowable, and how much else he has to throw into an offensive elsewhere. In a worst case situation, what all do the allies have at this point in the war that they can throw at me and, based on what they have available, what would be the best way to employ these assets: amphibious assault or overland?

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Post #: 207

RE: AFB help needed - 3/31/2010 8:02:04 PM

sfbaytf

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Ghenkis Khan here , yes attack, attack, attack!!!

Ok, I've been browsing some of the AAR's and it seems like some of the Japanese players have been invadng places like Perth. I'm kinda of fuzzy as to what will be gained. As an allied player, when I go on the offense, I would just let the Japanese keep Perth.

I'll have to check and see how many VPs are involved, but it would seem to me it could just turn out to be a large self made POW camp.

How are you going to keep all of these places supplied? As it is playing conventionally Japan has problems keeping SLOC's open. Once the allieds do go on the offensive all they have to do is retake some key locations and much of the gains in far away places will be cut off from easy resupply.

You my find youself in a position where you're not defending behind a solid position with secure interior lines of communications.

What is your fall back plan when the allieds go on the offensive? Will you be able to transport these valuable and experienced troops to where they will be needed, like Saipan, Rabaul or some other key area? Will you be able to protect troops being transported from sub, air or surface attack?

Right now at July 10th the allieds don't have that much in offensive capabilites-depending on previous losses, but they do start to get CVE's trickling in. In a couple of months the P-38's start to arrive. If playing with historical allied torpedoes-you're approaching the period when they begin to improve.

What will you do if the Allieds decide to focus their upcomming offensive in the Central Pacific?

< Message edited by sfbaytf -- 3/31/2010 8:19:46 PM >

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Post #: 208

RE: AFB help needed - 3/31/2010 8:08:53 PM

CapAndGown

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sfbaytf

Ghenkis Khan here , yes attack, attack, attack!!!

Ok, I've been browsing some of the AAR's and it seems like some of the Japanese players have been invadng places like Perth. I'm kinda of fuzzy as to what will be gained. As an allied player, when I go on the offense, I would just let the Japanese keep Perth.

I'll have to check and see how many VPs are involved, but it would seem to me it could just turn out to be a large self made POW camp.

I don't know why other Japanese players are attacking Perth. I know what I am after: to further isolate Australia from reinforcement. I would like to hold Perth and southwestern OZ in order to sever the Capetown-Australia LOC. I am not doing it for VPs.

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Post #: 209

RE: AFB help needed - 3/31/2010 8:26:46 PM

sfbaytf

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How confident are you in holding Australia and keeping it completely isolated? Personally I never faced this sort of situation. In our last game my opponent tried to take Fiji and failled. This time around he mentioned it was a mistake to try and expand too far as Japan. Much better to take enough to hold a solid defensive line and focus on defending from a position where he had the advantage of interior lines of communications.

He also recently mention that for years he was stockpiling resources, fuel and oil and that his warehouses were "bursting" with supplies and resources.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out for you later on-especially from a logistical standpoint. For now Japan still has the advantage, but technologically, you're approaching a point where the air war will begin to even out and eventually go against you.

I would also be concerened about the torpedoes on subs beginning to work more often for the allieds. As Japan you're a long way off from the "D" class escorts with their sub killing capabilities and the devs may tone that down.

As the old saying goes "he who defends everything everwhere, eventually defends nothing" from what I've been able to gather from a quick looking over of the situation. As an allied player I would begin raiding your supply lines of communications in the South Pacific with small fast destroyer/CL fleets and subs.

I would be focusing on offensives in the Gilberts and Marshalls. LBA plays a minor role in these areas. The Gilberts are taken you're going to have a very long line of communcations that is vulnerable to being cut off at a number of places. Its then just up to the allieds to decide when and where to attack.

In general by mid to late 43 the war usually has moved on to other locations and Fili/Noumea become something of a back water for the allieds. You should be thinking ahead and planning how to get your garrisons out of the backwater areas. Having them doing nothing isolated when they could have been digging in and delaying the allieds elsewhere is not good.

In some ways you've simplified the allieds life and complicated yours.

The allieds no longer have to resupply Noumea and Fiji and can utilize those resources elsewhere.

You now have the additional problem of how to keep you new acquisition in supply, what to do with them and the forces garrisoning them and how to successfully integrate distant places into a solid line of defense in the face of an increasingly powerful enemy.

Think of it this way. You have 2 people who make the same amount of money. One goes out and acquires a lot of stuff-big home, fancy car, nice clothes and lives beyond their means.

The other person rents, drives a beater, has practical but not the latest and greatest fashions. This person lives below his means.

A storm is on the horizon and great incertainty is in the forecast. Who is in better shape?

< Message edited by sfbaytf -- 3/31/2010 10:06:17 PM >

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Post #: 210