Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: kaiser73

Allied problem is the fighters: they still perform less than zeroes. And in addition, while he can replace losses fast in pilots and aircrafts, i can't. My pool doesn't allow me to defend for prolonged time anywhere he decides to focus on.

Even in PM, i could hold 10 days. Then i started to get low on replacement of good aircrafts (P-40B and P-40E) while all the other aussie aircrafts are just sitting ducks. and so i was forced to withdraw to avoid losing too many aircrafts.

Patience is the friend of the allied player. However' it's also true that if you don't try at least to slow down Japan and keep him honest in planning his invasions, you find him in NZ by end of May .

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ORIGINAL: Nikademus

quote:

ORIGINAL: kaiser73

Allied problem is the fighters: they still perform less than zeroes. And in addition, while he can replace losses fast in pilots and aircrafts, i can't. My pool doesn't allow me to defend for prolonged time anywhere he decides to focus on.

Even in PM, i could hold 10 days. Then i started to get low on replacement of good aircrafts (P-40B and P-40E) while all the other aussie aircrafts are just sitting ducks. and so i was forced to withdraw to avoid losing too many aircrafts.

Patience is the friend of the allied player. However' it's also true that if you don't try at least to slow down Japan and keep him honest in planning his invasions, you find him in NZ by end of May .

Truer words were never spoken. Having been forced to play Japan consecutively for a while, I've learned some hard lessons myself in regards to air ops and one of the biggest lessons i learned was, dont go into an area unless you've got the assets (logistical/military) to get the job done. As with Java, I quietly built up my forces in the Solomons area in anticipation of serious resistance having been badly burned my last trip into this region which i had assumed would be 'quiet' while i focused on events closer to home. While attrition tactics inevitably favor the Allied player in the long run, i've learned that the Japanese player can also benefit from those same tactics if he's prepared ahead of time. Having commited over a FG's and a half's worth of modern P-40's to the defense of PM, I was able to wear the enemy down with an even larger force i had amased and coupled with heavy suppression attacks against the airfields, my harvest of enemy planes destroyed is perhaps the highest yet in any game i've played (800 on the ground alone) As previously noted, I've been particularily aggressive going after B-17 concentrations now that the pipeline to the 8th Air Force has been shut off (Even more so now with the 39th BG now deleted from the latest version)

Even the Allied player cant sustain such losses indefinatley so quickly and so early in the game. Yes, i took losses, yes my avg exp values are declining as aces are killed here or there, and the pilot pool has been in a debit situation for some time now, but it's won me local superiority and made the job of the other services that much easier and it buys me time as well as all that material will have to be replaced.

Perhaps a lesson to be noted here too is that focusing alot of airpower at one or two points isn't all about advantages but also had disadvantages as well. That tends to get lost in alot of the threads where concentrated airpower gets ranted about as a game breaker.

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However, i don't know the alternative. leaving Java and PM completely undefended since day 1 ? still dubious about what could be the best strategy. i don't like giving PM and Java free to the Japs. it gives them another month of free time to try something else.

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ORIGINAL: Nikademus

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However, i don't know the alternative. leaving Java and PM completely undefended since day 1 ? still dubious about what could be the best strategy. i don't like giving PM and Java free to the Japs. it gives them another month of free time to try something else.

Very true as well. Personally, I think your defense of Java was very well laid out as well as historically plausible. It only failed in the end because I brought in overwhelming force, including the KB to pound your multiple bomber capable airfields into the dust through constant pressure. I even had enough airpower to go after your PT boats (another hard lesson i learned in the past)

The only alternative would have been not to fight and as you said, and as Mogami has stated in regards to the "Sir Robin" defense, it only allows the Japan player to move that much faster. IMO, the Allied player must always defend the SRA for that reason. Its not a freebie like it was in PacWar....the Japan player has to work for it, even if in the end he holds all the cards. As far as PM is concerned, thats more of a grey area from what i've experienced and read....some players like to make a fight of PM, others do little and prefer to defend from the shores of Oz. For our game i'd say it's a decent strategy as i tend to play cautiously, ensuring a careful advance before moving. Against a more agressive player it might not work so well as the Japan player might simply leapfrog or go somewhere else.