Slitherine

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I´m not helped by the fact that for some incredible stupid reason the game displays airbase damage instead of runway damage. Who the HECK cares about airbase damage???

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ORIGINAL: Spidery

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I´m not helped by the fact that for some incredible stupid reason the game displays airbase damage instead of runway damage. Who the HECK cares about airbase damage???

If this is the case, then it is not working in accordance with the manual. Section 10.4 says it should be the average of service and runway damage.

Anyone interested in knowing whether fort building has been stopped cares about service damage.

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Fort building is only relevant in the early stages of the war.

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ORIGINAL: Powloon

Hi Joc,

Firstly congratulations on the exam result I'm sure this resulted in a suitably large hangover Been a while since I have had to do any but I do remember the sense of relief (and the associated sore head) when they were over!

For what it is worth the Hokkaido option seems like the better option to me with diversionary landings on the off shore islands around Formosa to keep him firmly concentrated on that area. If you get established on Hokkaido I would say that would put you in a game winning position with several large airfields to base not just your B29s but also bring your other 4E bombers within range of the HI (not to mention being able to escort at least some of these raids).

On the other hand if you do land in Formosa (and prevail) you will still likely have to perform another large invasion to get you closer to the HI whilst giving your opponent at least another couple of months to prepare his inner defences and build out the divisions he is rescuing from the PI.

How is the industry reduction going in China? With your control of the South China Sea and the local Chinese industry destroyed it is difficult to see how he is going to be able to support any large force in China.

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ORIGINAL: Encircled

I'd be looking at China in all honesty.

Taking a gamble now, after all the success you've had would be very risky

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

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ORIGINAL: Encircled

I'd be looking at China in all honesty.

Taking a gamble now, after all the success you've had would be very risky

I think China will decide the remainder of the war. I do have a large amount of troops working this avenue. About 12.000 AV. If this proves enough to grind down the Jap army in China remains to be seen. I´m still very reluctant to pull more US troops for China. But some of them are prepping for targets on the Chinese coast. Not enough to establish and hold a beachhead on their own with the 200.000 Japanese troops at Canton/HK. But if Erik stays true to his MO he will soon start to move them out to reinforce his Nanning stack. That requires me to start putting the hurt on that stack obviously. But if the previous bombardment is any indication its looking good.

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ORIGINAL: mind_messing
China is another sideshow theater. Advance until the Chinese troops have been able to break out, then start withdrawing troops for use elsewhere. A land campaign through China is going to eat up time like nothing else.

If you're insistant about Sumatra, take it, then pull some units from Southern China to clear Singapore. Follow this will massive supply hauls to Southern China.

You've a lot of high AV units with great experiance in China, don't let them go to waste fighting in China. Use them elsewhere, like Okinawa or islands thereabouts, to isolate Formosa from the Home Islands and lend credit to your deception.

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I hope you are right that supporting the China army will be impossible for Erik. Thats the plan I´m working on. A reversed China where I have all the cards instead of the other way around in 42!

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I´m so torn about Formosa. I´m still waiting to see if Erik has started a mass evacuation here or not considering the developments on Hokkaido. While it of course is a daunting task to take on 300.000 Japanese troops its also an opportunity to destroy what is left of the IJA outside China and Manchuria.

Hokkaido is still a great opportunity and I would love to exploit the complete negligence shown to the island. 1,3 IDs...! But the only troops I have to spare are the Formosa troops. No substantial reinforcements are coming until the ETO guys show up in 6 months. So its either Formosa or Hokkaido. Formosa I can go in two weeks. Hokkaido would mean 3 months...

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ORIGINAL: Powloon

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I hope you are right that supporting the China army will be impossible for Erik. Thats the plan I´m working on. A reversed China where I have all the cards instead of the other way around in 42!

I wouldn't take my word for it I've still to get my first AI game past December 1941 I would say that it is a good assumption though

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I´m so torn about Formosa. I´m still waiting to see if Erik has started a mass evacuation here or not considering the developments on Hokkaido. While it of course is a daunting task to take on 300.000 Japanese troops its also an opportunity to destroy what is left of the IJA outside China and Manchuria.

Hokkaido is still a great opportunity and I would love to exploit the complete negligence shown to the island. 1,3 IDs...! But the only troops I have to spare are the Formosa troops. No substantial reinforcements are coming until the ETO guys show up in 6 months. So its either Formosa or Hokkaido. Formosa I can go in two weeks. Hokkaido would mean 3 months...

I get what you are saying about prep but after Formosa won't you have another 3 month period where you have reprep for another target and won't that mean you will be really cutting it fine if you are aiming for auto victory? I guess it comes down to whether you think Formosa is the game clincher or not.

One other thing occurs to me if you are seeing troop withdrawals from Formosa are you sure they are not simply the refugees he is airlifting out of the PI being sent back to be rebuilt?

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ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I still don't think you need 3 months to prep for Hokkaido, not if it's as lightly defended as you say. Use your hammers. Smash him. I like the guy, but smash him! If he only has 3 IDs on the whole freakin' island, get on your ships and sail there. It's what, a week at sea? He can't transport as much there as you can in that time. If there are only 3 IDs, you'll face what, maybe one at each landing zone? 1 ID won't disrupt 4-5 that much. Just make sure you've got your CVs ready to cover the amphibs and that you've got more on the way. Once you're on land, he won't be able to kick you out.

Agreed that China is a bit of a sideshow. You're too far along on the calendar to do a big push through here. Accomplish what you can with the Chinese now that you can supply them, but pull out your good troops for elsewhere - especially the armor. He's going to be having trouble coming up with supply to give to his troops on the mainland at this point, so your Chinese will be just fine on their own.

I also say skip Formosa. It's not necessary.


Edit: The VPs on Formosa from the troops would be nice, yes. But compare that to the VPs of the bases on Hokkaido... Plus, you may get him to blunder in a rush to defend Hokkaido, allowing you to sink some of those Formosa troops at sea? ;) That's some easy VPs. Easier than digging them out of the mountains.

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

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ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I still don't think you need 3 months to prep for Hokkaido, not if it's as lightly defended as you say. Use your hammers. Smash him. I like the guy, but smash him! If he only has 3 IDs on the whole freakin' island, get on your ships and sail there. It's what, a week at sea? He can't transport as much there as you can in that time. If there are only 3 IDs, you'll face what, maybe one at each landing zone? 1 ID won't disrupt 4-5 that much. Just make sure you've got your CVs ready to cover the amphibs and that you've got more on the way. Once you're on land, he won't be able to kick you out.

Agreed that China is a bit of a sideshow. You're too far along on the calendar to do a big push through here. Accomplish what you can with the Chinese now that you can supply them, but pull out your good troops for elsewhere - especially the armor. He's going to be having trouble coming up with supply to give to his troops on the mainland at this point, so your Chinese will be just fine on their own.

I also say skip Formosa. It's not necessary.


Edit: The VPs on Formosa from the troops would be nice, yes. But compare that to the VPs of the bases on Hokkaido... Plus, you may get him to blunder in a rush to defend Hokkaido, allowing you to sink some of those Formosa troops at sea? ;) That's some easy VPs. Easier than digging them out of the mountains.

Correction, He has 1,3 IDs on the island! One good one and one rubbish.

I´ll decide in a week I promise! The troops are busy recovering and cleaning up Luzon Regarding the troops in China I still think I´m correct. I don´t need more troops for the SW/SOPAC Commands. I can´t lift half of it as it is. Adding more is not going to change anything at this point. As I said even if I split them into two thats 6-7k AV. More then enough to smash anything outside the HI.

If I lift them out they are just going to sit on Luzon or Mindanao anyway. Now they are burning Japanese supply and HI. It may sound odd but short on landing on the HI I don´t need them. Sea lift is the limiting factor and not the amount of troops.

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Ground combat at Laoag (81,72)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 43076 troops, 598 guns, 1519 vehicles, Assault Value = 2118

Defending force 6444 troops, 74 guns, 115 vehicles, Assault Value = 76

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 564

Japanese adjusted defense: 10

Allied assault odds: 56 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied forces CAPTURE Laoag !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2615 casualties reported
Squads: 56 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 211 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 39 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 46 (44 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 84 (82 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units destroyed 6

Allied ground losses:
63 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

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Ground combat at 71,56 (near Lang Son)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 177866 troops, 3610 guns, 3860 vehicles, Assault Value = 8586

Defending force 115426 troops, 1112 guns, 576 vehicles, Assault Value = 3797

Japanese ground losses:
262 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
50th Tank Brigade
Gardner's Horse Regiment
41st Infantry Division
2nd British Division
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
81st (West African) Division
36th British Division
18th British Division
255th Indian Tank Brigade
14th Indian Division
254th Armoured Brigade
26th Indian Division
9th Indian Division
XV Corps Engineer Battalion
7th Infantry Division
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
19th Motorised Division
IV Corps Engineer Battalion
11th PAVO Regiment
6th Australian Division
17th Motorised Division
14th Army Engineer Battalion
5th Indian Division
11th (East African) Division
XXXIII Corps Engineer Battalion
18th Cavalry Regiment
Guides Cavalry Regiment
Provisionl Tank Brigade
43rd Infantry Division
3rd Cavalry Regiment
27th Infantry Division
9th Australian Division
2/11th Field Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
208th Field Regiment
8th Belfast Heavy Regiment
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment
III Indian Corps
India Command
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
12th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
14th Army
86th Medium Regiment
134th (East Ang) Regiment
134th Medium Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
33rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
20th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
48th Light AA Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
2nd Indian Heavy AA Regiment
Southeast Asia
163rd Light AA Regiment
XV Indian Corps
6th Medium Regiment
1st West African AA Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
1st Indian Medium Regiment
18th SP Field Artillery Regiment
16th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
55th Heavy Regiment
17th Indian Light AA Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
77th Heavy AA Regiment
2/13th Field Regiment
Provisional GMC Grp

Defending units:
58th Division
12th Ind.Infantry Brigade
3rd Division
32nd Division
60th Division
15th Division
17th Division
22nd Division
51st Division
65th Brigade
17th Army
2nd Ind. Field Artillery Regiment
29th Army
25th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
4th Mortar Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Air Defense AA Battalion
38th Army
28th RF Gun Battalion
53rd Field AA Battalion
12th RF Gun Battalion
8th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
35th Army
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd RF Gun Battalion
7th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
14th Naval Construction Battalion

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ORIGINAL: House Stark

Joc, are your troops in China prepping for any important targets? If not, maybe you should prep some of them for Hokkaido while going ahead with the Formosa op. That way you could still campaign for two months in China, and then decide whether or not to pull them back and use them on Hokkaido.

As for going for Hokkaido now, it would probably be a game winner if it succeeded, but do you really want the first test of mass kamis + KB + whatever else the Japanese air force has on the Home Islands to be on an invasion with unprepped troops and no nearby bases for damaged ships to retreat to?

And on another note in regards to your CV TF composition a couple pages back: I noticed you had lots of BB/CA/CL freed up for surface combat, how many BB/CB/CA/CL/CLAA do you have in with your CVs to provide additional AA and draw fire? Having numerous surface TFs to get in the way of his remaining BBs will be important, but you will want probably want a BB/CB and at least a couple cruisers per CV TF. I recall you mentioned Bullwinkle's post that saw his fleet devastated by kamis; if I remember that one correctly he didn't have much more than DD/DEs with his carriers, so most of the kamis went straight for the CVs (Bullwinkle, feel free to correct me if I got this wrong).

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Ground combat at 71,56 (near Lang Son)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 209456 troops, 4243 guns, 4165 vehicles, Assault Value = 8589

Defending force 115468 troops, 1113 guns, 577 vehicles, Assault Value = 3797

Japanese ground losses:
179 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister




On the CV composition I do things a bit differently then others. I have 8 Fast BBs with the CVs. But none embedded in with the CVs. The CV TFs are only CVs/CVLs, CLAAs and DDs... This may be really, really stupid if Erik ever get his BBs to wrestle with me. But I´m forced to do this due to the extreme losses I took in 42. Thats being said the 2 Fast BB TFs never leave the CVs. So they should draw air strikes just as well as they were in the CV TFs. But a surface engagement is a frightening prospect... As can seen in Speedys AAR Japanese SCTFs seem to be able to engage allied CV TFs pretty easily!

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ORIGINAL: icepharmy
I was going to put up a question on how best to escort a CVTF in the war room but it seems that there is no real solution other then embedding BBs with the carriers to keep them semi-safe (the CVs still get shelled and the enemy hardly gets touched but at least its not annihilation). I've tried escort SCTFs with fast BBs or faster CAs in the same hex following the CVTF / SCTF followed one to six hexes by CVTF / multiple SCTFs etc.. And still the same end result - enemy BB/CAs will encounter CVTF first. Of course I play IJN and have no radars but its good to know the allied player with all the help to detection will still have the same problems even in 45

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ORIGINAL: Barb

BBs in CVTFs are big bomb magnet... Can soak up to 2/3rds of all hits. And yet provide crazy amount of AA fire. I would definitely have fast BBs in CVTFs...

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ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

Three things:

1. Congratulations!
2. I would change 5 AF to SoPac or Manila to SWPac. Spend the PPs. You'll see improvement in coordination.
3. Modus Hoperandi is what my brother had in his kegerator last time I visited him. Very, very good beer. We're getting a lot of good West Coast beer in Korea now, and Anderson Valley's Heelch o' Hops has become my new favorite. Even a couple of Korean breweries are stepping up to the plate. Good to see Scandinavia is getting some of this craft beer goodness.

Cheers,
CC

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

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ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

Three things:

1. Congratulations!
2. I would change 5 AF to SoPac or Manila to SWPac. Spend the PPs. You'll see improvement in coordination.
3. Modus Hoperandi is what my brother had in his kegerator last time I visited him. Very, very good beer. We're getting a lot of good West Coast beer in Korea now, and Anderson Valley's Heelch o' Hops has become my new favorite. Even a couple of Korean breweries are stepping up to the plate. Good to see Scandinavia is getting some of this craft beer goodness.

Cheers,
CC

Thanks!

I´m going to switch some of the bases on northern Luzon to SWPAC and see if it makes a difference!

I´m glad to hear others love Modus as much as I do. A friend of mine discovered it at a bar here in Sweden. Now everyone I know have it as one of their most preferred beers. Its fantastic. Very happy to see how the "Ale movement" is spreading around the globe after years of boring Lagers.

Heelch O’ Hops is actually available for order here in Sweden. Have to order a whole case (20 flasks) though so I´m going to see if some of my friends want to share a case with me. So it better be good or we will forward the bill to you!

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Ground combat at Laoag (81,72)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 42935 troops, 598 guns, 1520 vehicles, Assault Value = 2089

Defending force 1808 troops, 20 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 12

Allied adjusted assault: 1055

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 1055 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1466 casualties reported
Squads: 22 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 225 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 16 (16 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (18 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled