New AAR - but not as good as Snigbert's

[Erik Rutins]

Sorry I don't have time to type a lot in here, but I'll give you these five...

ADM I. Yamamoto
Overall Skill 71
Inspiration 78
Surface Actions 80
Air Operations 65
Land Combat 33
Administration 65
Aggressiveness 62

VADM C. Nagumo
Overall Skill 58
Inspiration 64
Surface Actions 43
Air Operations 76
Land Combat 11
Administration 62
Aggressiveness 51

ADM C. Nimitz
Overall Skill 71
Inspiration 68
Surface Actions 84
Air Operations 57
Land Combat 51
Administration 63
Aggressiveness 64

RADM R. Spruance
Overall Skill 69
Inspiration 66
Surface Actions 65
Air Operations 73
Land Combat 24
Administration 62
Aggressiveness 63

VADM W. Halsey
Overall Skill 71
Inspiration 82
Surface Actions 76
Air Operations 76
Land Combat 34
Administration 47
Aggressiveness 90

I pulled these stats from the Editor. In the game, what you see are the Overall Skill and Inspiration as well as a text summary of your general perceptions regarding the officer in question.

Regards,

- Erik

[mogami]

Hi, I would be afraid to kibitz your game not having enough of the picture. I would think the situation favoured the Japanese with all those birdfarms roamng around (provided you can keep them fueled) Who is in command of your various TF's. Has anyone suprised you (good or bad) What are your long range plans?


Erik thanks for the leader info

[madflava13]

Iain-
Any thoughts yet as to where you're going to send those 2 Divisions from Truk? Granted I'm not playing your game, but for my money (and assuming the supply situation is favorable) I'd send at least 1 Reg. from one to Guadalcanal with the remainder of the Div at Shortland in case reinforcements are necessary.
Any sense that the Allies are making a move towards Guadalcanal and the CV raids are the first move?

[Joel Billings]

Be careful sending them anywhere, as the malaria will start weakening them the minute they hit land.

Something for all of you to keep in mind when planning your campaigns.

[mogami]

Sung to "Oh Christmas Tree"

"We like it here,
we like it here.
Your F&^%$# A,
we like it here.

We shine our boots,
we shine our brass.
Just to kiss MacArthur's A$$.

And if we get Malaria,
We still police,
the Area.

We like it here,
we like here.
Your F^%$# A,
We like it here."

Is Malaria automatic? Supply related? What is the percentage lost? (can you post a more detailed description of malaria and general lack of supply effects?)

[Crocky]

I learnt about setting carrier TFs not to react the hard way Iain Yorktown and Enterprise covering landings on Gilli Gilli all of a sudden spot an enemy TF of 2 CV and 1 CVL and go racing of to Rabual chasing the carrier TF........got a couple of 1000 pdrs on the Shokaku but the response Bettys and Nells from Rabual......Vals and kates from the TF the CAP fought valiantly but were overwhelmed by the end of the day both carriers were down to 5 Knots crawling away strikes the next morning sank both...

Moral of the story dont let your carriers go chasing the enemies close to their bases

[Joel Billings]

This is from a month old version of the manual. You will have to play the game to find out the details of how badly fatigue impacts units, and what is acceptable in terms of allowing troops in jungle areas. This is a one time event (posting from the manual) as if I spent my time answering Mogami's good questions, the game would never come out and I would have posted the entire manual within a day. I leave any follow up to this post to the great group of testers we have on UV. I realize this post will no doubt generate more questions than it answers, but I thought it might help. Enjoy.


18.4 Supply/Fatigue Effects on Land Units

Defensive and offensive fire of land units low on supplies will be reduced. Once a unit has less supplies than its reported supply need, it stands a chance of having its combat fire reduced. Once totally out of supplies, it will eventually have its fire greatly reduced.

Ground units will gain fatigue every turn. More fatigue will be suffered by troops that are marching or in combat. Each turn, units will attempt to reduce their accumulated fatigue. The following items impact the amount of fatigue reduced:
1) The amount of support available in the hex versus the support required by the units in the hex. Units that are in hexes that have support available that equal or exceed the support required for that hex will reduce the greatest amount of fatigue. The less support available, the less fatigue is reduced.
2) Whether the unit is in a malaria- free zone. Truk, Noumea, Goro, Basse-Poya, Koumac, Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Charter Towers, and Cairns are considered malaria-free zones. Units in these hexes will reduce the most fatigue.
3) Whether the unit is occupying a base, and the size of the base. Units occupying a base will reduce more fatigue, with the larger the base (airfield size plus port size) the greater the fatigue reduction.
4) The supply level of the unit. A unit that has supplies equal to or greater than its supply need will reduce more fatigue. The less supplies the unit has below its needs, the less the fatigue reduction.

When a unit’s fatigue level gets high, elements of the unit will slowly become disabled. When a unit has more disabled elements than undisabled, it will begin to have elements destroyed instead of just disabled due to high fatigue.

[mogami]

"as if I spent my time answering Mogami's good questions, the game would never come out"

OK I will work on my France 1940 scenario and leave you guys alone. I can wait. (I don't want a lynch mob after me):eek:

[IChristie]

I only managed to play one very weird and wild week this evening. Here's the report from the front.

Once again comments and suggestions are welcome.

Joel's point about Malaria was very interesting and not one that I had picked up from reading the draft manual.

Mogam, Kibbitz away, I said I wanted to hear your advice, I didn't say I'd take it So there's I take full responsibility for anything silly that I try at someone else's urging!

11 July - an anticlimactic day. The Saratoga TF steams out of range of all but the LBA from Lunga. They have another try at her but obtain no further hits.

In other news - the USS silversides puts a torpedo into Zuiho (Rats!) and 3 Bostons finally manage to hit one of the transports on the Rabaul to Lae supply run (this is the 4th or 5th time they have attacked these transports - usually in far greater numbers).

After a bit of soul searching I decide to make one last attempt to sink Saratoga. I form one large CV TF with Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Ryujo, sending Zuiho back to Rabaul with the escorts from the other TF. I will send this force south with orders to react to the enemy and see if they can catch Saratoga. I have a bit of buffer before they hit US LBA range.

12 July - In an exchange of strikes at extreme range I manage to put 2 more 250kg bombs into the Saratoga and shoot down the entire SBD strike launched against the carriers.

I cancel the "react to enemy order" to keep the TF from going too far south, but move them a little farther in case the days damage slows the US TF down.

13 July - I get into range again only to have the weather close down air ops. I decide that I can't fight the Allies and Murphy too, so the TF is ordered to withdraw.

An update on the supply situation. Rabaul is now flush with more than 110K tons of fuel and 85K tons of supplies. SHortlands, on the other hand, has run out of fuel (the previous stockpile that I quoted as 50K was actually only 10K - I read the supplies column instead). Lunga still has 6K tons of fuel and over 25K tons of supplies. The tanker convoys are all back at Truk reloading so I send them off in different directions to rebuild stocks at the fwd bases.

I sent the better part of one division (the 2nd) to Shortland and they are beginning to arrive now. I decided to move one reg't on to Lunga in case a threat does develop - which seems unlikely with the US carriers licking their wounds for a few weeks at least. New base forces and engineer units have arrived at Truk and I embark them for Lunga as well. My goal is to get Lunga up to a level 4 (bomber) base and build up as much aviation support as possible. Once I do that I will be able to reach out and touch allied shipping well into the Coral sea.

In the meantime the field at Lunga has gotten overcrowded so I move the bombers back to Rabaul and move the Chutai of Emily's forward to provide even longer range patrol coverage.

While looking around I notice that a tanker appears to have arrived at Port Moresby. I sortie all the level bombers from Rabaul in a port raid to see if I can catch her in port.

15 July - WTF! The larger US CV TF appears to have turned around and steamed right back north again. My carriers pick them up and launch a long range strike with no effect. A quick check of the carrier airfleets shows that they have been badly depleted. The whole TF is down to just 160 a/c which would give it fewer than two fully equipped US CV's. I move Vals and Kates in from Rabaul to beef up the complement and order the TF to move well north into the slot.

The USS Silversides is finally put out of my misery after having shadowed the Zuiho all the way to Shortland, launching attacks every night. Escorting DD's finally catch and sink her.

16 July - The American CV's steam right up to Guadalcanal. In another exchange of airstrikes the Akagi and Ryujo both suffer bomb hits while the Hornet is struck by 3 bombs and a torpedo. The Big E continues it's charmed existence and is not even scratched despite being the focus of 15 kate bombers. The flak from the US TF seems to be very effective.

I decide to try another tactic. I am going to move some Betty's down to Lunga the field is still small for them but it's worth a try for a couple of days.

17 July - The US carriers retreat south again. I get another couple of long range strikes in and finally manage to put a bomb into Enterprise. The Betty's do sortie from LUnga but fail to find the Carriers replenishment TF. The Akagi is now dangerously low on fuel but I decide to move cautiously south, on the off-chance that the days bombing have slowed the US CV's down.

18 July - It hasn't. The US CV's scamper south out of range. My replenishment TF finally catches up to the carriers and tops Akagi up. A large fuel shipment is just about to arrive at Shortlands so I will send the carriers there to lick their wounds. The Bettys should probably go back to Rabaul before they all end up as hangar queens.

Nells from Rabaul sortie a couple of times to attack a convoy in Port Moresby but they fail to find the target each time.

Well, time to take stock again. I have several convoys arriving in the combat zone with new base forces and engineers as well as some combat troops. In addition, I have spread air groups spread willy - nilly amongst carriers during the last week of excitement. Hopefully the US CV's will stay away for a few days while I get the mess straightened out.

[mogami]

Hi, IChriste I don't think I have a clear enough understanding of what can and cannot be done. I don't want to continue making a pest of my self over issues that will clear up as soon as the game is released. But!!!:D If you can post what the status of the following locations currently is (taken from screen shots)
Owner: Size of Facilities: Max size of Facilites:Suppy:fuel:LCU:Air Units

for locations with more then 1 possible hex pick the best hex or note if they are all the same.

San Cristabal
Malaita
Santa Isabel
Munda
Vila
Choiseul
Tulagi
Taivu
Lunga
Russell I
Shortland
Gilli Gilli
Buna
Gasmata
Buin
Buka
Rabaul
no name Island 15 hexes west of Lunga and NE of Gilli Gilli
any thing east of San Cristobal (it is off my screen shot)

The basic idea of my general plan is to be able to have Rabual become a safe rear area base while establishing a main battle zone formed by the triangle Gilli Gilli Shortland Lunga.

There will be 3 other smaller battle zones
Rabaul-Gasmata- Shortland
Lunga-San Cristobal-Maliaita
Lunga-Shortland-No Name Island

the bases forming each triangle would require at least to contribute to the recon of their area if other uses not possible.

The aim would be to issure air superiority within the zones.
I don't have a map (screen shot) of the area east of San Cristobal
but the long range goal would be to move east after the bases in the Lunga-San Cristobal-Maliata zone were capable of providing support. (establish a new zone to the east)

So the primary mission after securing the bases making up the battle zones would be to build them up with Shortland replacing Rabaul as the staging area. (Rabaul would remain a main depot/repair base)

Land Combat Units in excess of what is required to defend bases should remain in Truk (the Malaria free zone). Units earmarked in the future for operations will only move south when all other preparations completed.

We need a list of LCU by type in order to determine if a rotation is possible and how long a period units will remain in the combat zones.

Things already accomplished
You have secured All the bases (or at least kept the US off of them so they are available)

Reduced US offensive power to within acceptable limits. IJN stands to win any carrier battle in the near future while bases are enlarged.

Presently engaged in transfer of supplies (amount required to be on hand prior to next phase has to be decided as well as what the lower limit is to be)

more later

[rhohltjr]

Originally posted by Joel Billings
Iain's AAR is great reading. As for the mines, yes, I've seen subs listed as sunk by mines so I assume they can hit a mine like any other ship. By the way, the sunk ship list gives the name of the largest weapon that hit each ship that is sunk. That way you get a sense of what did in the ship.

Joel

Pausing the reading to ask this ...
Can subs shoot at other subs? So far have not seen any action in AAR with sub vs sub(maybe I missed it if so). Back to reading...and waiting....and PacWar...

[Ron Saueracker]

Hi, Iain. Sounds as though both the IJN and USN carrier forces have pretty much blown their respective loads. Sounds as though carrier ops for both side should be minimal for the next month or so. What is the game timeframe required to work up new airgroups, overhaul ships, repair damage, and manage crew fatigue? Does the game give the allies the advantage here?

Sounds as though the sun is still rising in the South Pacific!:D As well, the allies had better organize a P 38 fighter sweep as soon as they are available to knock both you and your operations advisor Mogami out of the sky during your tour of the bases you are builing up or it's going to be a long war!;)

[mogami]

Operations Advisor Mogami sheldom if ever leaves his moutain retreat near Gotemba besides Mt Fuji. Nestled in his quiet garden in his 80 foot deep steel and concrete reinforced bunker. He likes to listen to decandent western music (Mozart and Brahms) while staribg blankly at faded circa 1850 maps of the South Pacific and fire off obscure and impossable suggestions to the active commanders. Well stocked with Orion and Sapphro Beer and American Camel cigarettes he plans on remaining tucked away intill the computer chip is invented sometime in the 70's when he will emerage to purchase vast amounts of stock in IBM and Micro soft with his accumulated back pay.

[IChristie]

Mogami,

As further proof that great minds think alike (or that fools seldom differ ). I would say that the basics of your plan are more or less what I have been trying to do (though perhaps a bit less coherently than you lay out). I probably have a bit of hole in my plan in that I have not really closed the largest triangle. I'll have to take a look at that tonight.

The only (very minor) change I might make is replace Gasmata with Lae as it is already a fairly substantial base.

I am at work (sigh) right now, so I can't extract the info that you asked for. I'll try to post it later tonight in at least some detail.

No problem by me if you want to post detailed questions. As I am not on the beta or development team you won't be diverting any effort if I answer as best I can. Again, I issue the disclaimer that I can offer no more than "player" advice and potentially outdated at that!

[Ron Saueracker]

WHaaa haaa haa ha!:D

[mogami]

Greetings, there are several smaller battle zones I did not mention because I seem to recall we only have 6 or 7 support units. Lae-Gasmata-Gilli being one of them that would need to be in place before the Allies were ready to mount any thing in the New Guenia(sic) area. Gasmata-Rabaul-Shortland is the defensive area for the protection of our supply route. (We never want the US to feel they can operate in this zone. )

[Jason629]

Yep....that Lae, Gasmata, Gili triangle can be most crucial if the Japanese want to reinforce and supply New Guinea. Wouldnt want a replay of the "Bismarck Sea". BTW, that un-named island 15 hexes west of Lunga appears to be Woodlark Island. If my map reading skills are correct. Dont know if that was the name back in 42-44.

[mogami]

Thanks thats as good a name as any. I was all set to rename it "Bird of Paradise" Island once Ichristie planted a Rising Sun on it. I might be committing heresy here but I never have any long range plans for capturing Port Morsby (but we still need open lines to our bases this side the Stanley Mtns. )
I consider Morsby to be a Japanese picnic basket, we'll eat whatever they put in it . But It is too close to larger bases for us to occupy with out being drawn into a aerial meat grinder.
My interests are all to the South East of Lunga.

[Jason629]

Why not! The Japanese renamed Wake after they took it (Bird Island ironically enough). So, I figure its entirely within the interests of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere to rename Woodlark....once they take it..that is....

As far as Port Moresby goes, I am inclined to agree with you. Just assert air supremecy from the other side of New Guinea and tear up anything he puts in there. But much like Midway, I think its a losing proposition to try and take and hold the place.

[Ron Saueracker]

Does anyone have an ides as to how long it takes (game time) for depleted units to work up. I'm talking about ship maintenance overhauls, replenishing/uprgrading air groups and LCUs, battle damage repair, and unit fatigue (if any)? I'm curious as it would seem in IChristie's campaign that the carrier forces have just about been spent.

As for Port Moresby, I'm inclined to agree with Master Mogami and Jason. Building up Henderson Field (oh, sorry..."Furious Falcon Roost") to a level bomber bastion as Iain seems inclined to pursue would seem the more strategically beneficial. One could basically control the South Pacific southeastern approaches from such a base. Do the Bettys and LR Zeros have the range to hit Espiritu Santo from there?