Dutch AVP Arend: Scenario 1 Exploits

[PaxMondo]

... Experimentation with your toys can lead to interesting discoveries.

Yes it can!

[WEXF]

I appreciate all of the comments. My main goal in doing this AAR is to get a better handle on all of the basics of the game.
I have set up two tests to see if AVP Arend and Valk can conduct air missions while underway.
The first test is with Arend:

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Arend is part of TF295 and has ordered a "naval search" mission for the Walrus II on board.

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The two pilots have flown 17 and 56 missions so far. If they fly a mission in this test the missions numbers should increase for one or both of the pilots.
The second test is with Valk and is basically identical to test 1.

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The pilots on Valk have not flown any missions before.
WEXF

[WEXF]

Results of the tests to check on whether the Walrus II could fly missions from AVP Arend and Valk while the ships were underway confirm that they can.

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If you compare this screen to the one just above it you can see that one of the pilots flying from Valk now has 2 missions where he previously had none. Test 2 did not show any flights from Arend but there could have been many reasons why the plane did not fly. It could have been weather, the ratings of the commander, the fatigue of the airframe, etc. It doesn't really matter given the result on Test 2.
Results of the day show Carnarvon now 26%>P3. The numbers for OR are following the same pattern that we have seen for many days. Command (me) has decided that rather than continue to post all the details of the movement of RP, I will do a summary at the end of September.
The major piece of news came from Geraldton. A B25c pilot reported details of a contact with a Japanese submarine.

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Intel has reported that I-20 was sunk.

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More details on the attack were expected to be reported at a later time.

[PaxMondo]

The major piece of news came from Geraldton. A B25c pilot reported details of a contact with a Japanese submarine.

I20D25.1a.jpg

Crickey, you AFB's get SO much intel!!!!

[RangerJoe]

The major piece of news came from Geraldton. A B25c pilot reported details of a contact with a Japanese submarine.

I20D25.1a.jpg

Crickey, you AFB's get SO much intel!!!!

That is from the in game reports of the turn.

[WEXF]

Additional details were presented on the B25c squadron that attacked I-20 off the coast of Geraldton.

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The Dutch squadron had the majority of its aircraft set for a "Naval Search" mission at 2000 feet with a maximum range of 11. ASW is a "Major Skill" of the squadron. The altitude was chosen to increase the chances of spotting submarines.
Skills of the pilots show that while they were not that well trained in Naval Search they were much better trained in ASW.

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Command commented on the intel received from the pilot. It is well known that reports from pilots are sometimes exaggerated. Was I-20 actually sunk? Was it even hit at all? Did the enemy sub surface, fire at and damage a B-25? All questions that could use some confirmation.
Two screens were shown. The first showed the degree of damage each of the 14 airframes in the squadron had before the mission. None of the planes had any damage.

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The second screen showed that after the mission one plane had 4 damage.

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While it could be argued that the damage was caused by something other than the AA reported by the pilot, command believes that this data is more likely than not confirmation of the attack. It seems clear that the pilot caught I-20 as it surfaced and was able to hit it with a 500# bomb. The extent of damage caused to the submarine is not known although it is expected that I-20 either has sunk or is in bad shape.

[BBfanboy]

About 80% of the reported hits on subs by aircraft are mistaken. Even those that do hit might not cause it to sink, but they would put it in the shop for several weeks.

Your pilot fatigue is getting rather high - likely because of the 11hex search at relatively low altitude. Other players report no problem spotting subs when flying at 6000 feet, which game developers stated is the best altitude to see the width of a 10º arc at 12 hexes (max recommended search for patrol aircraft.) At 2000 feet your sea horizon is much less than what you can see at 6000, so you should go out a shorter distance to be able to see the sides of the 10º wedge. Or you should increase your altitude to see the entire wedge over a longer distance.

I presume you know that ASW is a more intensive search so the effective distance of the search is halved to account for this. If you set the aircraft to a range of 8 on ASW search it will only search four hexes out - but is more likely to find and attack a sub. I mention this for any newcomers who might not know the game's behaviour.

[WEXF]

About 80% of the reported hits on subs by aircraft are mistaken. Even those that do hit might not cause it to sink, but they would put it in the shop for several weeks.

Your pilot fatigue is getting rather high - likely because of the 11hex search at relatively low altitude. Other players report no problem spotting subs when flying at 6000 feet, which game developers stated is the best altitude to see the width of a 10º arc at 12 hexes (max recommended search for patrol aircraft.) At 2000 feet your sea horizon is much less than what you can see at 6000, so you should go out a shorter distance to be able to see the sides of the 10º wedge. Or you should increase your altitude to see the entire wedge over a longer distance.

Thanks for this posting. I am watching the fatigue of the pilots but I don't think that they are getting too high. I do have 20% resting to keep fatigue on both the pilots and airframes under control. I use 30% as a figure on fatigue that I don't like to exceed.
I was not aware that 6000 feet is the best altitude to search for subs. That is excellent info.
WEXF

[PaxMondo]

In general, use rest to keep your pilot fatigue out of the double digits. Double digit fatigue will lead to Ops losses. Ops losses are something that directly reflect YOU the player; they are losses that you can control and represent a gift to your opponent.

As you play more, you will come up with a bunch of rules to guide you in setting your rest policy and in knowing how many planes/groups that you will need for a task. My goal for overall ops losses is under 10% of my total losses. This is not easy to achieve, moreso because what it really means is that my normal Ops loss rate is closer to 5%, and it will slip up higher when I need to surge more forces to accomplish goals or defend a specific target.

Why pay so much attention to this? Conserving pilot Exp. By late '42, most of my squadrons are filled with pilots that are +80 in their primary skill, and pushing 80 Exp, By mid '43, a typical bomber group looks like this:

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I'm still putting most of my +80exp pilots into TRACOM to save for the later war effort (this units just got culled) and push through more pilots in training. Exp is a key stat for NIGHT ops. So, making those pilots now for my late war night ops groups, both fighter and bomber.

[WEXF]

Excellent advice. I'll watch fatigue on both the pilots and airframes closer. Single digits seems low but if the missions are not that important why not rest more of the squadron. Makes sense. Thanks for the posting.
WEXF

[PaxMondo]

Excellent advice. I'll watch fatigue on both the pilots and airframes closer. Single digits seems low but if the missions are not that important why not rest more of the squadron. Makes sense. Thanks for the posting.
WEXF

Every sortie carries the possibility of exp/skill advancement. Keeping groups on CAP behind the lines not only secures against surprise attacks, but also continually increases your pilot pool.

[WEXF]

The morning of 26Sep was quiet. No new enemy activity had been reported and the engineers had the port at Carnarvon 29%>L3. Unknown to all but a very few there was a high level meeting at Geraldton that the crew on Arend would have been interested in. There were only three people at the meeting: AM Brooke-Popham, Commander of ABDA, LGen Spoor, KNIL Army Command and MGen Overakker, 6th KNIL Regiment. The agenda clear. It was well known that ABDA HQ was being recalled and the timing was now just 2 weeks away.

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KNIL Army HQ with a Command Radius of 5, would then be the senor Dutch former ABDA commander. KNIL Army HQ was only a shell of what it was supposed to be with only 4 support instead of the 240 called for in its TOE.

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Support troops were needed everywhere by the Allies but a decision had been made to allocate some to building up KNIL Army HQ now that ABDA was leaving.
The commander of the 6th KNIL Regiment attended the meeting because his unit was the first of the many Dutch units currently in Australia that was being looked at closely to determine how it would fit into the overall Allied plan for the defense of Australia. Currently at Geraldton was a single rifle squad, a Vickers Squad and a 47mm AT Gun. The unit was 87% disrupted and was being supported by other support troops at Geraldton (the green 3).

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There was a tiny remnant of the unit on the outskirts of Palembang that was about to be destroyed by continuous enemy bombing. It had no supply and only 6 dispersed support squads.

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A few other Dutch unit were still on Merauke, Coco Island and Christmas Island IO but they were also likely to be eliminated in the upcoming months.

[WEXF]

The 6th KNIL Regiment had a TOE that was impressive. Many of the important elements were no longer available but the unit could be built up with some artillery, engineers and support troops. It would take time but it could be done.

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This approach had already been taken with some other units and been successful.

[WEXF]

26Sep found the port at Carnarvon 32%>L3. Some of the Dutch units scheduled for receiving replacements had already added some devices. The 6th KNIL Regiment added an engineer and 6 Support. The additions were helpful in reducing the disruption of the unit from 87>62. Further additions could well happen in a few days.

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The 1st KNIL AA BN also was able to add some devices. They started the day with a single 80mm and 3 40mm AA guns.

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The TOE of the unit calls for some larger guns.

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4 3"/20cwt AA guns were added and the 80mm gun was sent back to the pool. The new guns can upgrade to the weapons listed in the TOE should they become available. The added guns have a ceiling of 16000 feet and will be a welcome addition to the air defenses of Geraldton. It is likely that additional 3"/20cwt guns will be added shortly. Time will tell.

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[PaxMondo]

Bigger bases supply more replacements faster ... base size is Port+Airfield. HQ's help, and you need excess supply ... the more bases nearby and the bigger, that also helps.

[WEXF]

28Sep found the port at Carnarvon 36%>L3. As Command was evaluating all of the upcoming impact of the departure of ABDA HQ in less than 2 weeks, AVP Arend was docked at Geraldton and taking a some time to repair the Walrus II she carries. The fatigue level had reached 32 and it was time for some attention. When repairs are complete, Arend will head north to Exmouth.

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For those that have been following this AAR from the beginning, it might be interesting to notice that since the beginning of the war the experience level (Day/Night) of the crew of Arend has improved from 25/20 > 35/27. There still is lots of room for improvement but every little bit helps.

[PaxMondo]

... since the beginning of the war the experience level (Day/Night) of the crew of Arend has improved from 25/20 > 35/27. There still is lots of room for improvement but every little bit helps.

You will be hitting the country limit on EXP soon. At that point, exp will not increase except in battle. Since this is a support ship, battle is not something that should be encouraged, so the crew exp is going to peak soon. There was a table shared somewhere with the limits ... but I'm not finding it right now ... but xAK types peaked at like 40 or so.

[WEXF]

Thanks for the comment. Watching the experience levels of the crew of Arend is a small but interesting part of this AAR. Hopefully, Arend will not take part in any significant encounter with Japanese warships. That being said, Arend could well have run ins with enemy subs or suffer air attacks like she did at the beginning of the war.

[WEXF]

29Sep found the port at Carnarvon 39%>L3. The process of filling out the units of ABDA Command was continuing. At the daily meeting plans were shared about the significant upgrading of the Australian 2/9th Armored Regiment. This unit was one of several that were going to have their TOE modified.

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The number of M3 Grant/Lee tanks would increase from 5>40 and the number of Stuart tanks from 5>18. The briefing indicated that the supply of tanks in the "pool" was encouraging but it was impossible to know how many would be allocated to the 2/9th. Time would tell.

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It was pointed out that 2/9th was located within the command span of ABDA HQ and that it had been placed in "rest" mode to meet the requirements of the TOE upgrade process.

[WEXF]

30Sep found the port at Carnarvon 42%>L3. The morning briefing was focused on reporting the results of the TOE upgrade of the 2/9th Armored Regiment at Geraldton. The 2/9 was one of 7 armored units that had been upgraded.

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The 2/9 looked quite different. The Bren Sections, ACVs and engineers were gone and the number of M3 Grant/Lee tanks had risen from 5>13 with all support troops now being motorized. The unit was only at 35% strength and it was clear that additional tanks and support troops would be added.

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It was also reported that this was not the final planned TOE reorganization for the 2/9 (* after "This unit is composed of").

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The future TOE change would mainly be upgrading the Stuart tanks.
Game Note: 2nd TOE upgrade is 8 months away and the 2/9 will be withdrawn in 24 months, so whether the next TOE upgrade will happen depended on developments in the war.