No, combat engineers are squads with a name like "[Nationality] Engineer Sqd". Regular engineer squads are named "Engineers" (same for all nations).
Engineers can build forts/airfields/ports, but do NOT help in bringing fort levels down.
Combat engineers CANNOT build forts/airfields/ports, but can bring forts down.
PA reinforcements are not too bad, but PS (inf) really suck...PS Eng. is very useful unit, like ctangus said.
Considering how few naval HQs allies get, you might want to save Asiatic Fleet HQ - this is the unit I miss most in my game.
What in the world would I do without you guys? [&o] (RTFM is NOT an option).
OK, SO the withdraw list has changed to the PS ENG unit, 21st PA ID and the 4th Marines. I also have another sub on its way to see if it can get there in time to lift another ubnit out.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
A wonderfully quiet turn. In fact, if it were a person, it would be eligible fo sainthood, for today occured three miracles.
Miracle 1
Faber, bless his little warmongering penguin heart, did not even attack Clark today, just contented himself with an artillery shoot.
Miracle 2
He also left PM alone for the day. The mass exodus of aircraft continues and the population of the field is down to *only* 115 aircraft, of which 29 and Warhawks, 16 Hurris, and 10 Cats. The rest are damaged.
And lastly, and most divelenly, Miracle 3
Due to some odd confluence of circumstances in the spacetime continuum, the BFs at Clark have managed to repair the sole surviving P-40 in the PI. This means that my top US ace, Lt. Gies and 35 of his squadron mates have made their way to China (all aboard one P-40, mind you [8|]) and will thence go to India to continue the fight!!!!!!
Thread be blessed. [&o][&o][&o]
The other significant event of the day was another attck on Soerabaja. I'm down to 4 forts. I lost ~1900 men, Faber lost ~1000.
Faber also took San Jose, Californ.....err...PI. [;)]
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
Miracle 1
Faber, bless his little warmongering penguin heart, did not even attack Clark today, just contented himself with an artillery shoot.
And lastly, and most divelenly, Miracle 3
Due to some odd confluence of circumstances in the spacetime continuum, the BFs at Clark have managed to repair the sole surviving P-40 in the PI. This means that my top US ace, Lt. Gies and 35 of his squadron mates have made their way to China (all aboard one P-40, mind you [8|]) and will thence go to India to continue the fight!!!!!!
Must be Karma compensating for your being down a quart on American BB's. But bombarding Clark while resting his penguins actually sounds like a good idea. Any thoughts on why the CR would have showed Clark falling?
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock
Must be Karma compensating for your being down a quart on American BB's. But bombarding Clark while resting his penguins actually sounds like a good idea. Any thoughts on why the CR would have showed Clark falling?
If its an accounting thing, I better get a heck of a lot more good karma to make up for that fiasco.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
Clark falls! Although the news was not unexpected, it was still met with both sadness and anger. The brave fight which Philippino and American units have put up against the Japanese hordes for almost 3 months has been an inspiration to all. Entirely cut off for supply and reinforcement, bombed mercilessly and with supplies dwindling steadily these men found the strength and fortitude to continue the struggle. They saw the Navy retreat, saw the Air Corps decimated and most of the places they knew in the days of peace occupied by Japanese invaders. And yet they fought to the last drop of strength, destroying thousands of enemy soldiers and piles of enemy equipment. Now, evicted from the last prepared positions on the island of Luzon, they have retreated into the wilderness of the Bataan peninsula.
The Pago ASW TF found I-2 east of the island and seems to have plastered it pretty
good. Theres another enemy boat in the vicility which is next in line.
S-18 has been sunk by Japanese ASW. No real fault here. Faber just got a bunch of good hits.
Faber occupied Russel in the Solomons chain.
The last detachment of the AVG has gone the way of the others. 16 of the Tigers went up against 29 Zeros over Mandalay. 15 of them fell, taking 5 Zeros with them. My only recourse at this point is to suspend bombing ops by the RAF. Their planes are much too fragile. I will continue using the 2 B-17 groups, however, as they seem to give at least as good as they get. I'm going to start looking for some other targets for the Brits. Damned Zero bonus.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
2/23/42 (I havent run the turn yet...just going off of the CR Faber sent with the turn.)
A BTF headed by the the Haruna and Nagato visited Soerabaja. CD seems to have taken a good bite out of the Haruna (6 hits), the Nachi (2), and Sendai and Kashii (2 each).
A sweep of Mandalay by 36 Warhawks out of Impal foind no Zeros (wouldnt you just know it....and the one day Impal gets socked in, they're there, ripping the AVG a new one).
Faber decided to bomb Koepang. 31 Raisins escorted 27 Betties and were met by 10 Demons. The Dutch did fairly well, losing only 4 to 1 Zero and a Betty.
PM got smasked again. 5 Huris and 16 Warhawks went up against a ridiculous swarm of 89 Zeros escoring only 37 bombers. I lost all 5 of the Aussies and 11 P-40s. The damage caused by the bombers was negligible but damn....! Suffice it to say that I will be remembering this with sick glee when my Lightnings and Corsairs are ripping Faber's planes to ribbons. [:@]
Another Attack at Soerabaja. The Dutch engineers seem to have raised the forts back up to 5 which is now down to 4 again. Faber lost 1200+ to my 1700+.
Faber took Singkawang (no real surprise there, it was defended by 2 understrength BFs.)
The big pending question is...where the heck am I going to find the figthters to CAP PM?
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
Warhawk sweeps over Mandalay have increased to 40 aircraft as more of the airgroup transfers in to Impal. No Zeros since the massacre of the AVG.
Complete annihilation of the PM CAP (I may have referred to this event in a few threads [8|]). I lost 2 Hurricanes and 8 Warhawks for one Raisin. Pathetic.
Faber takes Kuala. No action anywhere else.
The most interesting part, however, is not in the CR. The Indomitable TF (CV, all the CLAAs I can scrape together and 6 DDs) had just set out for Australia when they came upon some sort of impressive-looking IJN TF about 7 hexes SW of Ceylon. Preliminary recon showed all the indications of a BTF (BBs and CAs). I scrambled the battle fleet (3 Rs IIRC, a couple of CA and CLs and all the DDs) and sent them on a course to intercept a possible bombardment of Bombay or something along that side of the coast. All the Blens were restaged to Columbo PDQ and the recon in the area was increased by another 1/2 sq of Brit Cat Is and 3 Dutch Dorniers. The thinking here was that if he tries to take a swipe at Ceylon, he'll get beaten silly by the Blens and the Swordfish and Vildebeests. If he tried for Bombay, the SCTF will have him, backed up by the Indomitable.
Another TF has appeared south of PNG. My guess is the KB is back after gassing up at Rabaul. I'm going to try my best to sneak the AV reinforcements to PM along the coast.
EDIT: OK...on second reading, claification is required. The Indomitable TF did not "come upon" them, as it were. The IJN TF was spotted about 8-10 NW of the Indomitable and I sent them moving to contact.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
Sometimes simple precautions pay off in the most wonderful ways. An AP transporting the 2nd USMC Garrison Bat. to Noumea was in Pago when Fabers sub hit that empty AK east of Noumea. I took the precaution to include an ASW vessel to escort int in. Today, that vessel, the DMS Boggs, drove off a Japanese sub. Had it not been there, that sub would have blasted my AP point blank. Yay for me.
Another uneven exchange over PM. I traded 3 Hurricaned and 4 Warhawks for a Raisin. If the people of london routinely saw these kinds of odds during BoB they would have given up. [:@]
The entire Illustrious 49th is down to 9 planes and 30 pilots. About half dozen more are hospitalized with wounds (and thats just from what I can see on the Top Pilots list). The Hurri squadron is down to about 9 of which 6 are repairing. Its annoying that I can reinforce the 49th but not the Aussies (the "add 1 plane" button is grayed out [:@]). I have thrown in about 20 Warhawks to reinforce the 49th. Most of the stuff is out of Pm now, only fighters and Cats left in addition to about a dozen broken bombers and Aircobras.
Here's the kicker. That BTF in the Ceylon area....gave me the slip it seems. My first guess is that Faber caught wind of being detected and called the thing off. I went on that assumption when I sent the Indomitable TF south to see if I could make contact but the pursuit is probably fruitless. The battle line is also being sent south to support but I'm probably just burning imperial gas for naught. There is, of course, still the possibilty that Faber set off west, along the edge of the map, but hopefully my Cats in Bombay will spot him.
The Av TF headed for Pm is moving along the coast, so far undetected it seems. Its all just as well because they will get absolutely plastered when they get spotted in PM. In fact, if Faber knew just how bad I have it there, he's come marching straight in and take it. My forces there add up to 3 brigades on paper. Howver, one of the is the PM which was never much of a fighting unit, the 30th Oz which is missing most of its support and one that is actually pretty whole. Add to that the BF and the 808th EAB and there you have it. One division landed in relative cohesion should be able to kick me out easy. As it is, Faber is getting brazen since he figured out that I withdrew the bombers. I have no idea if he knows why (maybe he thinks that he closed the airfield), but he's been running convoys to Lae like crazy. I hope to be able to disabuse him of the notion that he's beaten me in the very near future (Thread willing).
I have also sent the CV TF, now 4 strong, north. I want to figure out what it is thats sitting south of the PNG before I engage, but should it be something I can take, I want to have the boys ready and on hand.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
In the early afternoon of 2/26, a Catalina patrol aircraft out of Trincomalee spotted a trio of unidentified aircraft 300 miles SW of Ceylon. As it attempted approach, the Catalina was spotted by the aircraft, which were then identified as enemy Zero fighters. The Catalina was able to radio its contact and location before taking cover in a cloud bank.
A strike from the carrier Indomitable was immediately spotted and launched. The strike, consisting of 15 Swordfish attack planes escorted by 9 Fulmar fighters arrived at the specified coordinated shortly after 1400. It was met by a heavy CAP of some 40 Zero fighters. In the struggle to break through to the enemy fleet 6 Fulmars and 4 Swordfish were lost and several more sustained damage. Another Swordfish was lost to flak. A torpedo strike was recorded on a Japanese CVL identified as the Shoho and another on a BC of the Kongo class.
As the FAA strike turned back towards home, the first of three Japanese waves arrived over the Allied TF. 24 B5N bombers escorted by a dozen Zeros were met by 8 Fulmars which shot down 2 Zeros and 2 Kates while losing none of their own. 8 more Kates were brouught down by very effective flak as the task force commenced evasive maneuvers. Despite the best effort of the conn, one torpedo struck home on the Indomitable slightly forward of the island. Only due to timely and desicive efforts by the damage control parties was the breached compartment sealed off and isolated. Thanks to the valient efforts of these men, the carrier escaped serious damage and was able to continue the action with only a slight reduction in speed.
Two more waves of Jaoanese bombers followed, each consisting of a dozen Kated and 8 Zeros. The Indomitable and her escorting cruisers maneuvered brilliantly while the CAP Fulmars brought down 3 more aircraft albeit losing 3 of their own. Enemy attacks met with no further success and 5 additional bombers were brought down by AA gunners. Several more enemy planes were seen to be leaving the scene with visible signs of damage.
As the last Japanese attackers departed, the FAA strike returned, and was taken aboard with no further incident. The TF was then ordered to head north for Trincomalee and safe harbor. A continuance of the action was deemed impossible for the next day due to a shortage of operable Swordfish bombers. Of the 10 which returned from the strike, 6 were deemed not immediately flyable, 2 of those requiring lengthy and serious repairs.
2/26/42
The first carrier action of the war ended in what I am considering to be a draw. Although I may have come out slightly ahead of Faber in this one, I cannot confirm this, and even so, the margin is much to small for comfort. During my strike, the Shoho, Hosho and Kongo were positively identified, although judging by the size of the strike, there is another CVL/CVE there which I had not spotted.
The damage I got in this thing has been ridiculously light. The Indomitable system damage did not break 10, and there is no FLT to speak of. I lost 5 Stringbags and 9 Fulmars, all easily replaced. The reason I think that I might have come out ahead is that I'm hoping that the Shoho is a bit more thin skinned and that that torp hit a spot. I have no illusuions that the hit on the Kongo did the least bit of damage.
So, while my airgroup is shot for the time being, he's still got more than enough airpower to sink me 3 times over. Hence, I'm running for Ceylon at top speed. The SCTF is doing the same, seeing as how they are now nothing more than targets. All thats left now is to make it to Trinnie safely and declare victory. [:D]
In other news....
A BTF led by Nagato and Haruna paid Pontianak a visit.
There are no Zeros over Mandalay and (blessedly), no strike on PM. The AV TF is making its way along the coast.
The KXIV got beaten pretty badly by APDs around northern Java. 20 sys damage, heading to Darwin.
Soerabaja was attacked again, forts down to 3, Faber lost ~1000, I lost 1800+. No repeat of Clark here. [:(]
Faber took Samarinda against no opposition.
Three of the big supply TFs from the WC have arrived in OZ. One is Sydney, one in Brisbane and one is being sent from Brisbane to Darwin. The fuel TFs, being a bit slower, are still lagging behind.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
OK. I'm strarting to get seriously ticked. [:@]
PM...15k+ supply in base...monthly requirement somewhere around 3k IIRC...I can reinforce the 49th...I can reinforce the Catalina unit....there are 33 Hurricanes in pool....5 RAAF set to SWPac HQ.....
WHY CANT I REINFORCE THE &^(*&%(&*% HURRICANE UNIT?????!!!!!!
[:@]
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
You need 20,000+ supplies to draw replacement aircraft from a base otherwise they may fly in from an other base within range........
Now just find the nearest supllied base whithin hurricane range from PM.......[:D]
I suppose you need to have 20,000+ supply in PM in order to be able to draw replacement Hurris.
Faber's I-4 walked into a pasting. It ran afowl (pun intended) of that TF that transported the 2nd MarDiv to Noumea. Now on its way back to the WC, it tripped across a sub east of Christmas Is. I think my 3 DDs hurt him pretty good.
I've ordered the 5th BG to start bombing Kendari. 27 Forts did pretty good, shooting down 2 of the 8 CAP Zeros. I think the B-17 is the only effective fighter I have.
Another slaughter at PM. I lost 4 Huris (only 2 left) and 7 Warhawks (About 12 left). I've had it with this. I'm grounding both of them and let Faber do his worst with the airfield. The USMC unit is on its way from Noumea...via slow boat.
Everything else is pretty quiet.
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
