I'll keep the Avengers on my CVs but will try to host most of the divebombers on my CVEs as dive-bombers are really poor weapons platforms for taking on enemy CVs and BBs. Torpedo bombers can cause the sort of flooding I want to see in order to kill enemy CVs.
In the late war, you are undoubtedly correct. But in this mod, how is American torpedo performance in Jan '43? From historical results and the AAR's I've read, bombs do a reasonable job of taking out all but the toughest Japanese CV's. (Granted, you want torpedoes against BB's -- even 1000-pounder bombs haven't got the penetration ability needed.)
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
Well, you have to remember a couple of things here:
1. Many of my Dauntless units are USMC units with 60 -70 Exp.
2. In this mod several of the IJN CVs have beefed up deck armour as part of the alternate history in which the IJN decided to boost active defence against torpedo bombers and passive defence against dive-bombers.
3. If you want to damage ships put bombs in them, if you want to sink them but big holes in them beneath the waterline .
I think the Dauntlesses would do more damage than the Avengers at less cost but I think the Avengers would cause more sinkings ( which is my goal ). Sink a few instead of damaging a lot. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
BJ,
MAD isn't a radar type. It is a "Magnetic Anomaly Detector"... Basically since they didn't gauss-sweep submarines ( as they did some surface ships to protect them against magnetic mines ) subs were magnetic and thus caused a detectable aberation in the magnetic field if one flew over them.
Less useful with Titanium-hulled subs like the Alfa obviously but there were none of those in WW2 .
To get MAD into the game it had to be a bit of a hack and so that's why the MAD appears as it does.
Radar improves spotting. I haven't noticed it impact hit rates at all.
Mike,
Aye, this is a very early version of the mod and thus the SBDs don't get the carrier-killing loadouts which I later added. 1000lb GP bombs are still damned useful but they won't cut it vs Shinanos.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, it looks like I may have spotted another error in the mod. I was reviewing combat files and noted that the F4U1 flies off CVs fine but the F4U1-CV doesn't (* the CV version is flown by NAVY units only ). This would be embarrassing if true but I can work it by just posting 2 F4U units onto land bases and using them hard enough to use up the 50 replacements per month.
Most importantly though it means I'll need more Hellcats for my USN squadrons IF true.
So, to check this out I'm running a CAP check by sending my CVs out against Truk. I'll force an attack on my CVs and when that attack comes in I'll see whether or not the F4U1-CVs fly. If they do then the invasions go in ASAP, if they don't then I'll probably need another week or so to get enough Hellcats to replace the F4F4 squadrons on my CVs. I will probably keep the F4U1-CV squadrons though as I can fly them onto my land bases once I take them and that'll help keep those bases open ( Ulithi, I'm looking at you here ).
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, after today's action it appears that the mod is actually working as designed. The Corsair-CV subtype DO fly and fight from CVs. its the non-CV subtype which don't fly ( which is as designed ).
So, basically the 120 Corsairs the USMC has access to every month are of no use to me on my carriers, DAMN !!!! I need to go back into port and rejig a few things. I will keep the USMC squadrons on the CVs and once I near Ulithi I'll just fly them there as a sort of "advance guard". This does, however, mean that my CV TF defence is short about 120 fighters which I thought would defend it. So instead of 340 front-line fighters defending the TF I have only 200 defending it... That's a pretty big drop IMO. I'm considering downgrading the USMC units to Wildcats and hoping that the Wildcats can survive long enough to kill bombers once the Corsair-CVs and Hellcats kill the escorts...
I'll think on this and decide tomorrow.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/01/43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Eniwetok [Nanyo] at 77,78
Japanese Ships
SS I-162
Allied Ships
AP Empress of Australia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Eniwetok [Nanyo] at 77,78
Japanese Ships
SS I-162, hits 2
Allied Ships
PC K-15
PC K-14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Okha [Sakhalin I] , at 76,27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Moppo [Chosen] , at 58,38
Allied aircraft
A-20G Havoc x 16
B-17E Fortress x 27
No Allied losses
Heavy Industry hits 2
Beginning to hit Korea from China in an attempt to show him he needs even more fighters to defend his HI than he might have previously thought.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Changkufeng [Chosen] , at 63,34
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 59
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
Heavy Industry hits 16
And hitting Korea again from coastal Soviet Union. Again, just a "Hey there, you need to CAP this." strike.
Combined with the demonstration of my ability to shred escorts for his strikes I think this slow ratcheting up of fighter needs will drive him to distraction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Swatow [South China] , at 45,42
Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 3
Ki-32 Mary x 21
Ki-21-II Sally x 89
Ki-15II Babs x 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Majuro [Nanyo] , at 84,88
Allied aircraft
P-35A Hawk x 23
P-39D Airacobra x 71
No Allied losses
Port supply hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Tarawa [Gilberts] , at 84,95
Allied aircraft
Beaufort VII x 12
No Allied losses
Airbase hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Wake Island [USA] , at 85,72
Allied aircraft PB4Y-1 Liberator x 8
My first USN 4-engined bomber squadron is fully in the fight. I plan to use these to keep Wake and rear-area IJN bases suppressed thus allowing me to focus my B-17s and B-24s on strategic raids on the Home Islands.
I have Shturmoviks to burn ( about 500 in reserve ) so I'm happy to throw them away in raids over Canton --- especially as I finally attacked it today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on IJA 104th Division, at 43,41
Allied aircraft
B-26A Marauder x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 3
Beaufort VII x 21
Blenheim IV x 61
Wellington IC x 3
TBM-1 Avenger x 12
Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort VII: 1 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
1 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on IJA 104th Division, at 43,41
Allied aircraft
A-20G Havoc x 6
B-17E Fortress x 30
B-25D Mitchell x 48
Beaufort VII x 73
Hudson IV x 21
Japanese ground losses:
67 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on IJN Kwajalein Base Force, at 81,84
Allied aircraft
A-24 Dauntless x 12
P-35A Hawk x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 16
SBD-3 Dauntless x 82
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 71,78
Today, to test my CVs out I sent them into action within 5 hexes of Truk. I didn't want to launch any raids, I just wanted to see how survivable they'd be in a fleet action and how my new fighters compare to the Wildcat.
My conclusion is that if the Corsair can get a 1:1 exchange rate vs Tojo IIIs ( and it gets better ) then the Seafire is a 2, the Hellcat a 2.5 to 3 and the Wildcat a 9.
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 4
Ki-44III Tojo x 15
G4M1 Betty x 18
Ki-43-II Oscar x 9
Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 41
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 24
F4F-4 Wildcat x 47
F6F-5 Hellcat x 96
When morale works against you. Instead of breaking off pretty much every plane here decided to spend itself against my CAP. The number of escorts was, again, very low. 21 fighters escorted and that's utterly inadequate. Obviously Damian wasn't expecting me to try to provoke naval attacks with a quick dash into his escort range.
This was a bit better escorted but still proved insufficient. So, so far today about 95 Japanese fighters and fighter pilots went into the sea. It would have been better to test my defences against a single raid escorted by 95 of them but I guess Damian has massively overloaded Truk and that's why his LBA isn't as co-ordinated as it should be...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Jolo [Jolo] at 39,59
Japanese Ships
DD Uranami
DE Hasu
DE Kuretake
DD Hato
DD Yamakaze
Allied Ships LCT LCT-60, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
LCT LCT-64, Shell hits 1
LCT LCT-66, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
LCT LCT-67, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
LCVP LCP(L) No. 17
LCVP LCP(L) No. 36, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
LCVP LCP(L) No. 204
LCVP LCP(L) No. 205
LCM 532E
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Eniwetok [Nanyo] at 77,78
Japanese Ships
SS I-162
Allied Ships
PC K-15
PC K-14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Yap [Nanyo] at 55,68
Japanese Ships
DD Numakaze
DD Shirakumo
Allied Ships
SS KXVI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Jolo [Jolo] at 39,59
Japanese Ships
DD Uranami
DD Yamakaze
DD Hato
DE Hasu
DE Kuretake
Allied Ships
SS S-41, hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 24857 troops, 549 guns, 488 vehicles, Assault Value = 2845
Defending force 116672 troops, 1759 guns, 50 vehicles, Assault Value = 3200
Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 88695 troops, 1612 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3200
Defending force 135436 troops, 1815 guns, 816 vehicles, Assault Value = 2845
Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton [S China]
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 121131 troops, 1643 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 6809
Defending force 33305 troops, 429 guns, 303 vehicles, Assault Value = 774
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 8
Allied max assault: 6454 - adjusted assault: 4880
Japanese max defense: 648 - adjusted defense: 4121
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 8)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 8
Japanese ground losses:
305 casualties reported
Guns lost 10
Allied ground losses:
2202 casualties reported
Guns lost 90
Vehicles lost 2
Well, well, well. The Chinese managed to pull it off. Canton should fall within the next week or so and then Hong Jong will quickly follow. Once that happens I'll bring in fighters and begin basing bombers in these two places in preparation for a major anti-HI offensive against Formosa and China. This should really discomfit Damian.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 25,44
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 4981 troops, 72 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 179
Defending force 5671 troops, 16 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 126
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 32,36
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 3641 troops, 174 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 95
Defending force 2192 troops, 0 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 6
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, my CVs made it back to Eniwetok for replenishment and replacement of the F4U1 Corsairs. Fortunately I just had enough F4F4s in the pools and thus I managed to swap all the USMC Corsairs for F4F4s. That will help improve my TF protection significantly. It'll be about 4 days before those plane groups are back to full strength and then I'll move out for Ulithi/the Marianas.
I've decided that if my CVs survive the battle to come I will then extend northwards through Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima etc and begin setting up P-51 sweeps over Tokyo. That ought to write the Japanese forces down rather quickly.
I've had a look at the TF composition and decided to downgrade my USMC units to Wildcats.
At present my CV TF carries the following fighters:
Wildcats: 150
Hellcats: 149
Corsairs: 60
Seafires: 20
Wildcats will ONLY CAP over my CVs while the Hellcats and Corsairs might be allowed to escort.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, today was a bad day. It looks like two IJN CV TFs combined to send one massive strike ( and a couple of small ones ) in. Also several of my fighter groups seem not to have flown as there were only about 50% of the Corsairs in the air.
Still, overall, it wasn't a terrible day. I have 1 Brit and 3 USN CVs in perfect shape still, which means enough deckspace for 300 planes PLUS another 300 spaces on my CVEs. 1 CV is in serious danger ( 60+ sys damage and 2 more are moderately damaged.
In return the IJN CV airgroups have been butchered with very little chance of major reinforcement. Tactically an IJN win, strategically a USN win....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 50 encounters mine field at Guam [USA] (63,66)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 68,77
For some reason another 30 or so Corsairs didn't fly. This is crucial since the Corsairs are rather better than the Ki-44 III so could have saved a lot of Wildcats from being shot down which would then have allowed my Wildcats to kill more Vals and Kates.
Japanese aircraft
E13A1 Jake x 3
Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 46
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 38
F4F-4 Wildcat x 110
F6F-5 Hellcat x 126
Japanese aircraft losses E13A1 Jake: 3 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 68,77
Japanese aircraft Ki-44III Tojo x 123
D3A2 Val x 55
B5N2 Kate x 65
123 Tojo IIIs... Too many for my poor boys to fully tackle.
Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 46
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 38
F4F-4 Wildcat x 110
F6F-5 Hellcat x 126
So, I killed most of the Tojo IIIs but far too many of the Vals and Kates got through. Why? Simple, the Tojo IIIs killed almost every Wildcat in the air and I was relying on them to survive long enough to shoot down lots of the strikegroups.
Half the Corsairs, a third of the Seafires and almost every Wildcat were shot down/ The Hellcats survived surprisingly well with barely 1/4 being downed. The main problem is that my CAP is now sufficiently weakened that follow-on raids will have many leakers.
On the other hand from a design viewpoint the fact that this massive CV battle- 243 IJN planes vs 320 USN fighters - resulted in at least 60 IJN leakers shows that the design goal of allowing leakers in battles against Ueber-CAP was achieved. Not perfectly but as good as a mod is going to get without introducing massive imbalance.
Allied Ships CV Lexington, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Formidable, Torpedo hits 1
CV Saratoga
CV Indomitable, Bomb hits 2
BB Washington
BB Indiana, Bomb hits 1
CV Wasp
CA Chester
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 2
CV Enterprise
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 68,77
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 16
D3A2 Val x 22
B5N2 Kate x 20
Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 13
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 8
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2
F6F-5 Hellcat x 40
Allied Ships
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Wasp CV Illustrious, Bomb hits 1
BB Washington
CV Indomitable, on fire
CV Enterprise
Hornet and FOrmidable are hors de combat. The rest can still fight. So, back to port to replace my losses ( I have 100 Wildcats, 30 Hellcats, enough Martlets to replace the Seafires and NO Corsairs. I've lost about 250 fighters so should be able to replace almost all of them. ) and then sortie again. I'll combine this with a P-51 surge toward Ulithi - which should help split the enemy's fighter and bomber forces ( and provide LRCAP for invasion fleets if my CVs lose the next round of fighting ).
There won't be any retreat next time. It is 8 days from Eniwetok to Ulithi and no matter whether my CVs sink or not my battleline and transports and some 120,000 men are going to head for Ulitihi and use that base as the next springboard for the advance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Yap [Nanyo] at 55,68
Japanese Ships
DD Numakaze
DD Shirakumo
Allied Ships
SS KXVI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 25060 troops, 553 guns, 493 vehicles, Assault Value = 2847
Defending force 116659 troops, 1760 guns, 49 vehicles, Assault Value = 3205
Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 88856 troops, 1617 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3205
Defending force 135679 troops, 1818 guns, 821 vehicles, Assault Value = 2847
Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton [S China]
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 139624 troops, 1783 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 7668
Defending force 31947 troops, 400 guns, 305 vehicles, Assault Value = 745
Allied max assault: 5504 - adjusted assault: 2148
Japanese max defense: 589 - adjusted defense: 7225
Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)
Japanese ground losses:
687 casualties reported
Guns lost 13
Allied ground losses:
2196 casualties reported
Guns lost 90
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Amoy [South China]
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 51818 troops, 541 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2816
Defending force 9074 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 133
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3
Allied max assault: 2533 - adjusted assault: 474
Japanese max defense: 140 - adjusted defense: 81
Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied forces CAPTURE Amoy [South China] base !!!
Japanese ground losses:
830 casualties reported
Guns lost 16
Allied ground losses:
187 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Amoy becomes the base for the first La-5N unit I have. I'm interested to see how they perform. Based on the stats ( speed, armament etc ) they should be a little better than the Ki-44III so I'm interested in using them to defend Amoy and, when I have sufficient P-38s, P-51s etc available sweeping Formosa with them. There are about 600 HI on Formosa and I'd like to be able to bomb them.
This is probably a good time to point out the difference between a critical weakness and a critical strength.
The HI is the enemy's critical weakness. Without HI he dies almost immediately.
KB is his critical strength.
In order to win I merely need to survive his critical strength but I need to hit his critical weakness. This explains why I'm less focussed on killing his CVs and more focussed on surviving them. KB isn't crucial to my victory, hitting his HI IS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 25,44
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 4981 troops, 72 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 179
Defending force 5847 troops, 15 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 138
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 32,36
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 3637 troops, 174 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 95
Defending force 2100 troops, 0 guns, 23 vehicles, Assault Value = 5
Well, today was a bad day. It looks like two IJN CV TFs combined to send one massive strike ( and a couple of small ones ) in. Also several of my fighter groups seem not to have flown as there were only about 50% of the Corsairs in the air.
Maybe the problem with the Corsair squadrons wasn't the the type of plane, but the squadron itself. Isn't that about the same proportion of no-fliers you had when some of your squadrons were using the non-CV version of the Corsair?
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
No, I don't think the squadron was the problem. I think the Corsairs are a match for the Tojo III but I don't think that they are more than that. This is quite disappointing, especially as I get only 170 Hellcats and 54 CV-capable Corsairs per month and Damian seems to be making about 400 Tojo IIIs per month.
So, I'm going to try drawing his strikes in while I can still provide some cover from my land bases and then see what happens.
I amn't too hopeful of the outcome and if I can't destroy his strikegroups then I think I will be left with no alternative but to try to work my invasion fleets around Papua New Guinea into the DEI and China where I can work them along the Chinese coast, outflanking IJA land forces and threatening to allow Chinese forces into the rear of the IJA troops holding off the Soviets.
So, it really is a state of flux. Right now I have only 30 Corsairs and 100 Hellcats on my CVs backed up by about 120 Wildcats. I just don't see that being enough to break the IJN CVs. So, I will have to try and hold out until I can replace all those Wildcats with Hellcats --- which will take a month. The problem is in one month I'll gain 170 fighters but Damian will gain 400 so time doesn't work for me that way.... hence my consideration of an entirely new approach.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, over the past two days my CVs have moved past Ponape towards Truk. Damian has responded by holding his CVs in reserve north-west of Truk while he beefs up the CAP over Truk. I then sent in my planned P-51 sweep which took down about 50 of his fighter in return for 30 of mine. The next day my CVs kept closer under LRCAP from Ponape. Damian refused the bait and my CVs went unmolested.
Tomorrow my ships will find themselves 180 miles from Truk configured as follows: 2 x BB TFs each containing 4 BBs, 5 CAs, 2-3 CLs each and about 12 DDs, 1 CL TF comprising 4 or 5CLs and about 15 DDs, 1 CV TF ( comprising 4 CVs, 2 BBs and about 18 DDs ), 1 CVE TF ( about 8 CVEs, 1 BB and about 16 DDs ).
His BBs are now at Truk and my main concern is that they not be available to smash the amphibious landings I have preparing at Hainan and which I plan to use to unhinge the southern flank of his Chinese position --- which will get me many sizable Level 9 airfields within bomber range of the Home Islands but outside of his fighter range.
Consequently tomorrow I will decide whether to:
a) retreat, frustrate Damian and then come back for another nibble after I've replaced my Hellcat and Corsair losses or
b) send in my SC TFs in a battle of mutual anihilation in which my battleline and his battleline destroy eachother off the waters of Truk.
I can replace those losses ( and have at least a half-dozen BBs immediately available for use to support landings off China ) while he cannot so mutual anihilation may well be a strategically beneficial option right now... I'll decide when I see the turn back from Damian.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
*chuckle* Oh I think this current game is absolutely winnable without ever sinking his CVs.
Once I get bombers at Shanghai then the Home Islands begin to be toast, my Chinese ground forces can push north into Korea - which could potentially free up the Soviets - garnering airbases as I go and, eventually, if I took the Korean peninsula I'd have P-51s within range of almost every sizable base in the Home Islands.
Probably at some stage he'll concede a fight with his CVs in my air cover but, to be honest with you, I have to survive his CVs, I don't have to sink them... and the longer the game goes on that way the more I begin to like the challenge of winning this game without ever launching a CV-based strike on his CVs.
That'd be an interesting challenge to set oneself, especially in a fangs out game like this.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Consequently tomorrow I will decide whether to: a) retreat, frustrate Damian and then come back for another nibble after I've replaced my Hellcat and Corsair losses or b) send in my SC TFs in a battle of mutual anihilation in which my battleline and his battleline destroy eachother off the waters of Truk.
There's a joke that the classic definition of mixed emotions is watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Cadillac.
I confess to something like that. On the one hand, I like nothing better than BB v. BB fights. On the other hand, I like to achieve objectives at the minimum practical cost. I would have to say that the problem of the Tojo III's vs. your not-yet-reliable Corsairs makes this a point in the game to exercise caution. Also, it seems to me that the American torpedoes are still at a severe disadvantage against the Long Lances. (Not that they'll ever be fully equal, but by late '43 they should be a somewhat closer.) Would you be able to force a daylight battle rather than a night battle?
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
Harlock,
Couple of points:
1. No, if it is anything it will have to be a night battle so that most of my ships can be out of there by morningtime.
2. In this mod the IJN decides that CVs are their "war-winners" and, as such, it doesn't concentrate on 24" Long Lances on their DDs. Instead they mount more 21" torpedoes and use the spare tonnage to add more AAA and DP guns.
Caution? LOL! Sadly my version of caution is "to attack less aggressively". Sitting back till late 43 just isn't on the cards. I'm already disappointed that this game won't be over by mid-43 and will last into 1944. Sitting still till 1944 just isn't an option for me, for others, yes but not for me.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Well, I decided to be cautious.... I left a small SC TF ( 1 CL and 2 DDs) within 5 hexes of Truk and pulled my CVs back. I put their fighters ( and the fighters at Ponape ) on LRCAP over this SC TF and when the Japanese strikes came in I hit them hard.
My losses were much higher than the enemies as I had to commit about 140 F4F4s to battle and so, obviously, lost almost every single one of them but when the battle ended I had destroyed about 170 IJN/IJA planes ( and pilots ) in return for some 350 of my own fighters. My CVs will have to rebuild for a month but the loss of another 100 Ki-44 IIIs ( and their pilots ) most assuredly helps attrition the Japanese.
In other significant news I've upgraded my 2nd Red Air Force unit to the new generation of Soviet fighters ( which first became available in January 1943 ) and have several RAAF units upgraded to Corsairs in China as well as several P-51 USAAF units. In short I have enough there to really hold the air over my own bases. That will soon be put to the test as major Royal Navy forces are gathering at Hainan with a view to loading troops and extending my advance in China.
Canton fell today and that means Hong Kong will follow very shortly. Soon I'll have enough bases to mount devastating sweeps over Formosa to clear the way for my bombers and that should allow me to bring the Japanese HI down to roughly 12,000 by the middle of next month. That will represent a 2,000 HI drop over the past two months. Bearing in mind that my bomber and fighter forces are only experiencing the first portions of their major expansion at the moment this destructiveness this early is quite encouraging.
In other news: I'm still trying to decide what to do with my US Army troops. I have them all loaded onto ships but with his CVs blocking my path and his much superior CV air arm I am pretty much stymied. I am currently using this to my favour by attriting him on terms favourable to my own forces BUT I would really like to be able to achieve more with this force than just wearing down the enemy Ki-44 III groups.
An important sidenote on OODA loops and morale:
OODA loops - Right now Damian is very much caught in a reactive loop. I'm also hitting his morale a little by reminding him of this and pointing out all the possibilities that his reactivity is giving me elsewhere. Basically, if I am prepared to take the losses, I can take out any one of his bases ( or series of bases ) that I want. I need to keep my losses somewhat down though if I want to be able to make a landing on the Japanese Home Islands by the end of 1943 and so I don't want to throw ships away at this stage, I just don't get massive reinforcements until 1944 and, frankly, I'm quite a bit ahead of schedule in this game... although Damian has improved hugely and over the past few months has correctly shifted forces to the necessary axes at the appropriate times whilst arranging dyssynchronous cover of the areas uncovered and that has slowed me. It's fine though as I play for the challenge, not the win.
Morale: Morale is a fickle thing. Sometimes something as simple as truly exploring the strategic situation can be disastrous to morale. The trick with morale is to, as much as is possible, be as unmoved by success as you are by massive defeat. Losing 6 CVs should have no more emotional impact than sinking 6 enemy CVs for no loss is. Yes, there are strategic implications to various exchange ratios but one those strategic implications lead to varied moods then one's decisions become emotional and that's not good. Sure you have to have a good sense for how emotions impact on decision-making but you then need to feed that knowledge into a logical decision-making matrix.
Right now Damian should, if the seeds I've planted in recent emails have taken hold, be despairing at the lack of a major BB action. He had nerved himself up for a climactic battle in which he would risk all ( his battleline and his CVs ) in order to win a crushing victory. Not only did I rob him of the massive battle but at the cost of 1 DD sunk I've managed to, yet again, butcher his CV airwings. The emotional cost of nerving himself up for such a battle only to find that nothing even close to what he was expecting occurred will be very psychologically wearing.
On top of that he has the additional stressors of:
a) the airplane losses in return for a DD and
b) my carefully planted suggestion one day before I declined climactic battle that this might all be a feint for a major thrust in China and his realisation that the only way to save China is to shift significant forces into there but that in doing that he not only weakens his Truk-based defensive forces but also puts wear and tear on his ships, increasing the risk that they have to be in port and no use anywhere when I strike.
I think he must feel like a mouse lying in between a cat's paws right now and that can't be a nice feeling. Its my job now to feed the overvalued ideation that I can predict his every move and turn it to my advantage. Its not pretty but its the best way I can continue to advance in the face of, frankly, overwhelming aerial and naval might. His surface fleet is still a bit better than mine and his CVs are both more numerous and stocked with better fighters and more experienced strike groups.
Add in the fact that his land-based fighters and strategic bombers are better than mine and that he has a greater amphibious capacity and the only area in which I'm stronger than him is in raw numbers of land troops ( thanks to the Chinese ). Even there though in terms of raw combat power I doubt I beat him by much... and he's defending islands and bases he's had 6 months+ to dig into.
Only psychology is allowing me to continue the advance... well, psychology and a ruthless willingness to throw away hundreds of obsolescent planes in utterly one-sided tactical and operational defeats in order to secure strategic victories.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Michael,
Why the screwball comment? I would have thought it was self-evident that in the face of superior forces only psychology and manoeuvre ( supported by deception/psychology etc ) could succeed in allowing further advances.
Maybe I'm missing something you're seeing though?
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Why the screwball comment? I would have thought it was self-evident that in the face of superior forces only psychology and manoeuvre ( supported by deception/psychology etc ) could succeed in allowing further advances.
Maybe I'm missing something you're seeing though?
let me add my 2cts - feel free to state that and explain why I'm wrong. I held my breath a bit when I read that only psychology is allowing you to continue the advance.
In my opinion, in addition at least the logistical situation must allow you to continue the advance. Psychology-based advance that cannot be backed by real supplies will not persist in the long run - I did not think this through, but maybe in Rommel's North Africa campaign examples for backing this point of view may be found...
Just my 2cts while waiting for the game file [;)]...
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