Dutch AVP Arend: Scenario 1 Exploits

[JanSako]

The 40mm is in two slots because 2 different weapons were replaced by this device.
The light (AAMG) slot & Medium (which started out as 20mm I think) were both upgraded to 40mm. The 'heavy' slot that started out as 88 is now the UK made 3.7".

[BBfanboy]

Thanks JS!

[WEXF]

Interesting that the TOE shows 40mm AA gun 42 in two different slots, 2 each instead of 4 in one slot. I wonder if this is because a device the unit had at game start was replaced in the TOE upgrade to 40mm in the same slot. (IIRC there were some Rheinmetal AA guns in Dutch units).
The only other reason I can think of for the same device in two slots is some hidden algorithm for how the AI handles the AA devices protecting the unit - like covering attacks from different directions? I have no evidence of this happening but IRL in a 46 mile wide hex the unit could be spread out enough that the AA guns on one side of it could not fire at an attack from the other side.

Here is the original TOE for the Kendari Base Force. It shows the different AA devices. I have to believe that the reason the current TOE has the 40mm Bofors AA Gun 42 in two separate lines is because of the upgrades you mentioned.

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[WEXF]

The 4th of June will be a day that LCDR Goerk and the rest of the crew of AVP Arend will always remember. After months of repairs the ship was ready to join the battle against Japan. Arend had been assigned a float plane for the first time in her history and the Walrus II of Squadron 700 had been loaded. The 2 pilots were now ready to see if their training had prepared them for the jobs they would be assigned to. WO Hazard had just improved his ASW skill from 40>41. When he was assigned to Arend it was at 33. PO Caruthers also just improved his ASW skill from 39>41. When he was assigned to Arend it was at just 14. The Naval Search skills of the pilots also had improved significantly and were now at 60 and 58.

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In the screen of Arend you may have noticed that she is assigned to TF 246. That TF is made up of 4 ships and LCDR Goerk is proud to have been named commander of the TF with Arend being his flagship. He is well aware that the ships in TF 246 are not likely to scare the Japanese High Command but pride is important for morale.
In addition to Arend, Dutch AVP Reiger, a smaller version of Arend without a float plane and 2 British Flower Class KV make up the TF.

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The KV mount the most powerful deck gun in the TF, 4"/45BL MK IX, with a range of 14000. Not bad but not as good as most deck guns on Japanese subs. The best AA is on the AVP which mount 75mm SA No. 4 guns that have a ceiling of 25000 and could also be fired at surface targets at up to 12000. The KV are mainly escorts to protect the 2 AVP against submarine attacks.
The TF screen shows the destination as Geraldton about 300 miles north of Perth. That base has been recently converted to ABDA Command to allow Dutch patrol planes to use the seaplane support of Arend and the other AVP. The base AF is still only 2(7) but plans are to expand it significantly. The port of Geraldton has already been expanded from 1(1) > 2(1) and is already 76% complete toward a P3 that will make it pretty safe against enemy submarine attacks other than those designed to lay minefields.
A defensive minefield of 75 VHMKII mines has recently been placed in the harbor of Geralton for further protection and is being tended to by an American ACM that made the long trip to Australia from the west coast near SF. Supply and fuel at Geraldton is in decent shape and because the base is on the NW edge of the RR system servicing Perth and the rest of Australia, the future of Geraldton looks promising.

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Plans are being made that will assign more ground and sea assets to Geraldton. For now, its lift the anchor, reassign the Walrus II to "naval search" and set off on what can be considered a "shake down" cruise, but to the the crew of Arend it is much more than that! The weather is clear and LCDR Goerk stands tall on the deck of Arend enjoying the smell of the open sea and the spray that reminds him of why he joined the Dutch Navy.

[Spanno]

Glad to see the Arend is travelling with some backup! All these ship designations are tricky to learn though, but this AAR has definitely helped a long way for me.

[WEXF]

Glad to see the Arend is travelling with some backup! All these ship designations are tricky to learn though, but this AAR has definitely helped a long way for me.

Spanno:
Really glad this is helpful. That is one of the major reasons I decided to do it. WITP-AE is a great game but it is very complex. I learn new stuff every turn. Thanks for your comments.
WEXF

[WEXF]

As the sun cam up on 5Jun42, TF 246 was just 80 miles from Geraldton. The trip so far had been uneventful. None of the ships had experienced any mechanical problems and the Walrus II float plane of 700 squadron had completed its first "naval search" mission.
LCDR Goerk was looking forward to seeing the facilities at Geraldton. He was struck by the vast expanses of clear terrain on the shore between Perth and Geraldton and he couldn't help but wonder how the ground forces at his new base were configured to defend against possible enemy action. He knew that Geraldton had been assigned to ABDA HQ and that there were a number of other ABDA bases nearby that were in various stages of development. Cunderdin was the most developed but was mainly under the supervision of HQ in Perth. Nearer to Geraldton were Cue and Meekatharra, 2 dot bases that had been mining centers for gold and other minerals. All of these bases were on RR connections so there were lots of possibilities that would depend on the availability of men and equipment as well as the plans of HQ and the actions of the enemy.

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[WEXF]

What LCDR Goerk did not know was that the commanders of the three ground units based at Geraldton were currently meeting to discuss their defenses. Command of the Geraldton Fort was in the hands of LTC Poole a decent administrative officer. The fort was a "static" unit and the troops assigned to it could not move as long as the 4" CD Guns were in place.

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The CD guns were capable of penetrating some of the armor on Katori and Yubari Class light cruisers and could even have some impact on a Takao Class CA, but their range was only 11,000 yards.
The Geraldton RAN Base Force was under the command of LTC McEwen who was more of an aggressive officer. His unit supplied the aviation support for the base and had a small amount of naval support to assist in port activities.

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The primary defensive force for the base was the 32nd BN, a part of the 4th Australian Division. It was under the command of LTC Rice, a decent, aggressive officer.
All of the commanders held the same rank but overall command was in the hands of LTC Poole, the fort commander.

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The reason the three men were meeting was that they had just received notice that their single largest deficiency was going to be taken care of. All three units combined had a total of 48 CMF Militia Sections. Although upgrades of these militia troops had been possible for some time other priorities had prevented any changes at Geraldton. That was to change, hopefully immediately.
The change would be significant. It was unclear if the militia would be replaced by CMF Infantry Sections or by AIF Infantry Sections 42 but both would be improvements, especially in their ability to defend against armor. Both possible upgrades tripled the effect against armor from 5>15. Against soft targets the improvements were smaller, only from 14>17>20.
It was well known that a Japanese infantry squad was rated at 5 against armor and 20 against soft targets. The colonels felt pretty good knowing that their troops would be at least at a par with their enemy and somewhat better against attacking tanks. There was no way of knowing how their troops would compare on morale, experience and all of the other factors that come into play in a battle but at least they would have a fighting chance, especially with Geraldton having level 2 forts that were hopefully going to be expanded further.

[WEXF]

Before the three colonels called it a day they talked about what level of enemy attack they might be able to withstand. From their intel they knew that a Japanese Naval Guard unit would have 48 squads supported by 12 HMG squads, some mortars and a few ATG. It would be close but all three men felt they could defeat an attack by a Naval Guard unit.

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If the Japanese attacked with a full infantry regiment the situation was quite different with 108 infantry squads supported by 18 HMG squads plus a sizable amount of artillery.

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Although none of the men said anything, they all hoped that headquarters was busy figuring out additional ways to improve the defenses at Geraldton. They would not be disappointed.

[WEXF]

It was now June 6 and Arend had arrived in Geraldton. Goerk was really looking forward to seeing what was happening at his new base.
He reported in at the fort and got a copy of the current morning report and quickly noticed a few differences from the status report he was given when he set sail from Perth. He put the two reports side by side on a table was was happily surprised by the progress that had been made although he couldn't quite figure out how all of the changes had happened.

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The most interesting changes were:
-The port had progressed from 77% toward size 3 to 78%. Not much of an improvement but it was known that progress was slow once you past the expected top size. More engineers were needed and it does look like 2 more have arrived so maybe progress will be better going forward.
-There were now 115 defensive mines in place where there had only been 75. He wondered if the additional 40 mines might have been placed by one of the US DM that had been in Perth.
-Aviation Support was now showing as 16+10 where it had been at 8 before. Goerk knew his TF accounted for the 10 seaplane support but he did not know where the other 8 aviation support came from. He could tell that there were no aircraft at the base.
-It looked like another "support" type unit had arrived because of the small changes in the numbers of troops at the base.
Goerk was looking forward to a meeting that had been scheduled for later that day.

[BBfanboy]

The Air Support increase could have been the TOE of the Base Force filling out. The supply at the base and presence of AS squads in the pools are all that is necessary.

[WEXF]

The Air Support increase could have been the TOE of the Base Force filling out. The supply at the base and presence of AS squads in the pools are all that is necessary.

Certainly a possibility. However, as soon as the afternoon meeting started the answer to the questions in the mind of LCDR Goerk became clear.
The additional mines were placed by TF 359 and were 40 MK6. These were different than those already in the harbor. As was said by some in this thread it seems having more than one mine field in a hex is a plus. The mines don't have to be different types, just placed at different times. Especially interesting to Goerk was that TF359 was only a single ship, the US Navy's DM John D. Edwards. After the mines were placed the JDE immediately returned to Perth. Next for the JDE was a trip to Melbourne for a scheduled upgrade that could not be performed in Perth. Gorek wished he had been able to share a beer with CDR Bren in the way they had while both their ships were in Perth.

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The answer to the other question on the aviation support and engineers would be a bit more complicated but should be very interesting to those that are following this AAR.

[WEXF]

Goerk noticed that Dutch LTC Van Campenhout was seated near the front of the room. He was introduced to the officers present as the commander of the Ternate Det. Base Force (TBF), an engineering unit that had just arrived at Geraldton. They had been flown in from Exmouth by a combination of PBY-5 and Do-24K-1 patrol planes of the Dutch Air Force. The mission had been made possible by the recent decision to change the HQ of Geraldton to ABDA. TBF was a small unit that currently had 8 aviation support and 2 engineers, the full complement of these devices. TBF also had a single Bren AAMG(2) and 3 support. To fill out their TOE from the current 87% all that was needed was another AAMG and 1 more support. Both were being produced but were in high demand my many units so it was unclear when, or if, TBF would get what they needed. At the present time there were no Bren AAMG(2) in the pool (notice there is no +).

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Goerk knew some of the history of TBF. H knew that the unit that had started at Ternate had been captured/destroyed on 10Feb42. At the meeting it was revealed that the unit was ordered to be rebuilt immediately and 1 PP was paid to take that action. A month later on 9 Mar, the unit arrived at Tjap consisting of only a single Bren AAMG(2) and 1 support. The original unit was equipped with a 12.7mm AAMG but because the Bren AAMG (2) is the upgrade for that device and was available as early as Jan42, it was that device that TBF had when it arrived after being rebuilt. Upon arrival another 1 PP was used to change the command of TBF to ABDA so it could be airlifted out of the DEI.
The move of TBF from the DEI to Exmouth, Australia started on 28March when orders were issued to 5 Do-24K-1 patrol planes from 2 different squadrons. On 29March 4 of the planes continued the mission and on 30March 2 planes from a single squadron completed the move of TBF.
Unfortunately the records for this mission have been lost so it is not possible to analyze why the movement of only a single support and one AAMG required so many aircraft and took three days to complete. Perhaps the distance the planes had to fly was a factor. Following the arrival of TBF in Exmouth it received replacements that brought it to its current level. Fortunately, the records for the air transport mission that brought TBF to Geraldton are available.

[WEXF]

On 5Jun42 all 6 of the Dutch patrol plane squadrons based at Exmouth were given orders to move TBF to Geraldton. Two of the squadrons had planes that were highly fatigued so some planes were set to rest. The distance from Exmouth to Geraldton is only 12 hexes so a round trip is only 24 hexes, well within the normal range of the planes and likely making second flights in a single day possible although not automatic. In fact no flights are automatic, there are lots of things that can go wrong.

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Here is the operation report for 5Jun. It shows that 5 squadrons flew 10 missions to move TBF to Geraldton and that another mission was flown by a single PBY that only carries supplies.

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Here is how the aircraft screen looked on 6Jun before any new orders were written. Seeing that all of the squadrons are showing supply missions, I believe is confirming that all of TBF has been moved. Also notice that all the the squadrons have the same number of aircraft meaning that none were lost on the mission.

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What may be somewhat confusing is trying to use the information in the above screens to figure out what happened within each squadron. To fully understand that more data is needed. I won't publish all of the screens but the method is to look at the missions flown by the pilots in each of the squadrons and see which pilots had their missions increase because of the day's actions.
It turns out that GVT-18 did not fly at all. Three missions were flown by GVT-8. Two were flown by 1 pilot. Together this accounts for the ops report only listing 3 Do-24K flying.
Two missions each were flown by GVT-11, GVT-16, GVT-5 (both by one pilot) and GVT-6. That is a total of 8 missions, one of which only carried supply.
Lots of details here and I expect that most players would not be interested in fully understanding the mechanics of what happened. I also expect that there are players that look at the results of the missions they order and wonder what happened? Perhaps this is a way to understand things. It takes time but the information is available if you want to dig a bit.
If you like this kind of stuff, please let me know.

[Yaab]

Yes, on transport missions, some pilots from the same air group fly twice, why some pilots fly zero missions. I don't how the code selects the pilots for an extra mission.

[WEXF]

Yes, on transport missions, some pilots from the same air group fly twice, why some pilots fly zero missions. I don't how the code selects the pilots for an extra mission.

Good to hear from you. I expect the same can happen on other types of missions depending on the distance flown on the first mission. As for how the code selects who flies any given mission from among the pilots in a squadron, I have to believe it is a series of die rolls. Perhaps a pilot that has already flown in a given day have a harder chance of flying a second mission than another pilot that has not flown at all. This is an aspect of the game that is "deep" into the details, but it could have impact of fatigue and the possibility of op losses.
It also makes the game that much more fun as we try to visualize what is happening.

[Yaab]

I know that CAP pilots can fly two, even three missions per day. I have seen once a Zero air group fly two escort missions per day (AM and PM) from Takao to Manila (11 hexes) - this I can live with. I just don't like the code doing the same for transport missions - too much chance of op losses. Maybe leaders with high Aggresivness rating do this? I don't know.

[WEXF]

I know that CAP pilots can fly two, even three missions per day. I have seen once a Zero air group fly two escort missions per day (AM and PM) from Takao to Manila (11 hexes) - this I can live with. I just don't like the code doing the same for transport missions - too much chance of op losses. Maybe leaders with high Aggresivness rating do this? I don't know.

Again, thanks for adding value to this AAR with your comments. WITP-AE is a great game and the deeper one gets into it the stranger some of the events seem. It makes you think of all the possibilities that "might" be happening.

[BBfanboy]

The AI seems to select the most experienced pilots for missions, and will send the same ones out over and over until they get too fatigued. At that point it will select the next most experienced pilots. But if you have 16 pilots for 12 aircraft you can send 4 to the Group reserve (stand them down locally) so the rest will all fly if the weather and enemy opposition allow.

[WEXF]

The AI seems to select the most experienced pilots for missions, and will send the same ones out over and over until they get too fatigued. At that point it will select the next most experienced pilots. But if you have 16 pilots for 12 aircraft you can send 4 to the Group reserve (stand them down locally) so the rest will all fly if the weather and enemy opposition allow.

Understood. Thanks for the comment.
To expand on what you said, I went back and looked at the pilots that flew two missions and it seems that the AI selects the pilots that have the highest skill for the mission being flown to do the second flight. One of my guys did not have the highest overall experience but was the pilot with the best "transport" skill.