Allied vs. Jap AI

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: bigrock

Fascinating story jimh009. Thanks! I am about 3 months ahead in time as your game, but in a similiar position. It will be interesting to see the outcome of yours (if you can maintain the enthusiasm for you writing) [;)]

I would be interested in you thoughts on the replacement capabilities for allied aircraft. From about May 42, I was finding that I had a severe shortage of aircraft replacements. The factories were just not keeping up with losses. (In the defence of the brave pilots - thay had destroyed nearly 1300 Betty's) Are you having the same problem?

Yes...particularly for carrier aircraft. I have "just enough" p-39's and p-40's, but F3's and F4's are rare indeed. It's why I suspect the next two months are going to be, well, rather boring...as I patiently wait for the airgroups to rebuild.

I enjoy writing the AAR, and at least a few people seem to find it helpful in coming up with strategies/tactics, so I'll keep at it. AAR's may not be as long, but will still be posted. In any event, the next two months are likely to be rather boring since the Allies are now in regrouping/moving stuff/consolidation/preparation phase. I don't plan on any offensives whatsoever, so unless the Japanese do something (much harder with the losses of 6 CV's), my game will be slow throughout the rest of the summer.

Still have all your carriers in your game? And what have Japanese carrier losses been??

[jimh009]

This AAR Covers the period June 8th - June 14th, 1942

General Observations

Quiet. Right now I'm just moving stuff around, building up stocks and getting ships repaired/upgraded. Three CV's will soon arrive in Pearl and begin the laborious upgrade process. Once done, the other two CV's now in the South Pacific will make the trip to Pearl Harbor to be upgraded themselves.

Wasp just arrived...with F4's even. For a period this July, it's quite possible the USS Wasp will be the sole carrier in the South Pacific, although it will have a strong BB task force for surface support. I think it's better to leave the South Pacific a bit weak for one-two weeks if it will help speed up the upgrade process and allow the allies to get moving on offensives faster.

Upcoming Lunga Offensive

Troops are planning for Lunga. Reconnaissance of Lunga is now daily. All transports that will be needed are congregating at Noumea or in Sydney (where the AK's upgrade to AKA's). By August, every AP and AKA in the Allied navy will be sitting in Noumea, 100% repaired and ready to participate in an invasion that hopefully goes a bit smoother than the Milne Bay one!

However, even using all the AP's and AKA's in the US Navy's arsenal, I still won't have enough transports. So, a lot of xAP's will also be used. The xAP's will be used to bring in support elements, while the AP's for the initial combat elements. I hope to unload a massive amount of stuff in the first days of the invasion...thus relieving the need for continuous convoys to Lunga. But, I guess we'll see in two months.

Initial time line for the Lunga invasion is mid-late August. The timeline depends entirely on aircraft carrier upgrades and when all carriers have a full compliment of aircraft.

Canton Island

The Japanese unit that invaded Canton Island, then hung out on the beach and did nothing while the allied units on Canton slowly wiped it out via artillery attacks is now history. I unloaded the 2nd Marine Regiment and that, in conjunction with what I had already on Canton, wiped out this Japanese Naval Infantry Brigade in one deliberate attack...despite being outnumbered.

I'll be re-parking a surface task force here from now on. For a while, I had to leave Canton uncovered due to naval needs elsewhere. But a CA, CL and two DD's are in-route...and they should be enough to prevent all but a carrier backed invasion.

China

So much for the Chinese offensive the Japanese launched. It consisted of one brigade! That brigade caused one of my zero supply Chinese Corps to retreat from a hex, but I then moved in a Chinese Corps that was fully supplied. One deliberate attack and...presto...that Japanese Brigade was eliminated. So one less Japanese land unit to worry about.

Alaska

Landed a weak infantry force on Attu Island. Also have a somewhat stronger infantry battalion on Adak Island. I don't have base forces for either place, and doubt I will anytime soon. But at least I can finally prevent the Japanese from doing a no-cost walk-on invasion of key Alaska islands.

Diego Garcia

The reinforcement battallion I landed on Diego Garcia helped eliminate the Japanese unit that tried to take it. I'll leave that battalion behind to improve the Garrison, although I doubt the Japanese will try to take the island again due to their carrier losses.

India/Burma

The Japanesse land units trying to take Imphal continue to get whacked each turn by artillery bombardments and air raids. Give it another month and maybe, just maybe, I'll give it another try and do a deliberate attack. A month of artillery attacks that whack 100-200 casualties per turn can really degrade even a strong unit. Add in 100-200 casualties per turn from air raids and, well, you get the picture. Already, one of the three artillery units that Japan lugged to Imphal is history...it was eliminated by counter-battery fire. So Japan is down to four units now in Imphal. Better yet, my reconaissance shows nothing else moving toward Imphal.

Chittagong is nearing Level 6 fort. I've kept the AV at 1000, just to be safe.

The Prince of Wales...finally repaired after fleeing Singapore...set sail from Cape Town. Two hexes from Colombo, a Japanese torpedo slammed into her. So, once again, the Prince of Wales goes back into dry dock...this time for two months. Guess that teaches me for NOT sailing the Prince of Wales around to the US West Coast...where it would be far more helpful most likely, especially in light of the 6 US BB's that have been sunk.

General Supply and Fuel Situation

Improving, would be the word to describe it. As for supply ex-China, Noumea and Australia are overflowing. In China, the situation is ever-so-sloooooowly improving. Bases that once had none now have at least a little bit. Particularly, central China is getting back into the orange/white levels. Elsehwere in China, though, "red supply" still predominates.

Fuel wise, Noumea is up to 100K and Sydney has around 90k. With the winding down of operations in the South Pacific for the next 1-2 months, and with more British tankers arriving on the West Coast on a weekly basis, I suspect I'll finally be able to bring Noumea up to 200K+ fuel by the end of June or early July. Ditto for Australia. Plus, while it is very inefficient, using boring xAK's to bring in fuel to other bases (including Pearl Harbor), has also helped modestly boost fuel reserves. I've added 100K fuel to Pearl Harbor using nothing more than boring xAK's, and unescorted at that!

[jimh009]

A Battle AAR for June 15 - June 21st, 1942

Just when you think the game is going to be boring for months on end, leave it up to the Japanese AI to throw a few wrinkles into the game. Several days ago, I had warning of the approach of the "other half KB"...so three CV's.

As fate would have it, I only had 1 carrier at Noumea, the Hornet. Three other CV's are in Pearl upgrading, and 1 carrier (the Saratoga) had two turns earlier headed to Sydney to complete it's upgrade, too.

So...one Allied Carrier with beat-up aircrews vs. three Japanese CV's with fully trained aircrews...not good odds! Moreover, Noumea is absolutely overflowing with ships right now, as I've been concentrating more and more here in preparation for the Lunga offensive in August.

The AAR below covers 3 game turns (or three days)

The Japanese really surprised me. On the first turn, their CV's first attacked Rossell Island without warning. They accomplished nothing but losing some planes in the process...the fighter squadron at Rossell Island has 120 kills and sky high pilot experience (it's my best air unit in the theatre).

At the end of turn 1, I was 100% confident that the Japanese CV's would, on the next turn, begin to circle around Lunga and head North, perhaps bombing Ndeni or, less likely, Luganville. As such, I moved up a good chunk of the fighters (3 of 6 squadrons) I had at Noumea to reinforce Ndeni (2 squadrons) and Luganville (1 squadron joined the 1 already there). I also removed the three dive bombing squadrons I had at Noumea...placing two of them at Ndeni and one at Luganville. The torpedo squadron of Avengers at Noumea was also moved to Luganville. Thus, Noumea had no offensive firepower, just defensive CAP.

It was my hope that the Japanese carriers would thin their air groups by bombing Ndeni and Luganville, and with some luck...ok, lots of luck...the allies might just get a lucky bomb or torpedo hit. If that were to happen, I'd then race the Hornet up and try to engage it. Not knowing what would happen, I left the Hornet in Noumea at the end of game turn 1.

To be safe, though, I also turned the Saratoga around (which was a few hexes from Sydney) and started it back toward Noumea. I tasked a surface force from Noumea to meet it and merge with it (I had removed most escorts from the Saratoga task force since they weren't due for upgrades).

But the Japanese surprised me on the 2nd turn. Instead of turning, the carriers continued to the South and ended up at the end of that turn (the 2nd turn of this battle) to the Northwest of Luganville and the Southwest of Ndeni...just off the map below.

Well now, that changes things, doesn't it? I had all these damn transports floating around in various places and all of a sudden they needed to be somewhere else in one big hurry. The approach of the Japanese carriers also opened up two big tactical dilemmas.

First Tactical Dilemma : Where will the Japanese carriers go now? They were just off the map (below). They could either swing around and thread between Ndeni and Luganville, bombing one or both places. Or...

Second Tactical Dilemma : They could make a beeline for Noumea, going between Luganville and Noumea, ending up in the vicinity of Efate.

My land based air groups were perfectly positioned if the Japanese decided to bomb Ndeni and Luganville and thread between these two bases. And that was what I hoped for.

But...what if the Japanese kept going South? More specifically, if they did, what to do about the CV Hornet and it's thinned out air groups? I could race the Hornet out of Noumea and away from the battle...and hope the fighters at Noumea protected the port. Or, I could race the Hornet out to the east, sort of using it as "bait" in order to protect the port. Or, I could dust off a strategy I once used with great success in WiTP and hope like hell that it worked under the new rules in AE.

In that old stock game in WiTP, the Allies had Lunga in June with a few fighter squadrons there. I had three carriers guarding the unloading of troops and supplies. Allied search failed, and suddenly, 7 Japanese carriers showed up in two different TF's a day away. That was bad news, as there was no chance of getting the transports/troops out of harms way in time. So, instead of sacrificing the stuff being unloaded at Lunga while fleeing the Allied carriers, I pulled every single ship under the CAP umbrella of Lunga, turned the CAP on 100% of the carriers and land based air and hoped for the best. In that game, it worked out better than hoped. So...maybe it could work here?

Thus, I kept the Hornet TF with it's 5000 flak at Noumea (the flak was so high because most of the escorts of the Saratoga group were added to the Hornet group), undocked. I also had all LCU's and AA units at Noumea switch to combat mode...just in case the Japanese carriers decided to bomb the base instead of the carrier TF. With 6 AA units, Noumea could put up some pretty fearful flak.

The next turn (the 3rd turn) the Japanese continued on toward Noumea and ended up as is shown in the map below...directly in-between Noumea and Luganville. The Japanese launched the first strike against the Hornet task force. Oddly, only Zero's and Val's appeared...there were no Kates. The raid, as it was coming from three carriers, wasn't massive and was smaller than expected, just 10 zeros and 30 Val's (I think they lost quite a few planes attacking Rossell Island a few days earlier). Thankfully, the CAP screen was 100% effective...only a handful of Val's got through and those the flak chewed up. Total losses for the Japanese were 20 Val's and a few Zeros.

Following that, Allied land based air got in the mix....and accomplished nothing but trade plane for plane with the Japanese zeros. For some reason, the Hornet group didn't launch an attack on the AM turn. Then the weather turned nasty at both Noumea and over the Japanese carriers, so there was no second turn air strikes whatsoever.

The map below shows the situation at the end of the 3rd turn of battle. The next post will be the 4th turn, which I haven't played yet.

The plan is to keep the Hornet at Noumea, hoping the Japanese try to bomb it again. One more attack that fails like the last one will greatly deplete the Japanese air groups, allowing the lonely Hornet to race toward the Japanese carriers the following turn and hopefully catch them off guard. The Saratoga will also be finally getting into the mix, and will trace the route followed on the map. Finally, I'm greatly hoping that the land based air I have at Luganville and Ndeni can take "pot shots" at the Japanese carriers as they retreat.

So...stay tuned.

[jimh009]

June 22nd, 1942

Well...not something you see everyday. I also now know why the Japanese air strike against Noumea was so weak...there is only one carrier, not three! So much for the vaaunted Allied intelligence.
Anyways, I changed my attack plans that I had laid out in the previous post, deciding to be more aggressive. And during the whole battle phase, this happened...which I've never seen before.

[jimh009]

June 23rd

While I don't think it's officially sunk yet, the time above water of the CV Akagi is quite limited. For reasons I can't understand, the AI continued to push this one carrier "raiding force" deeper to the South, leaving it just a few hexes away from Noumea.

Anticipating this, I moved down two divebombing squadrons, one fighter squadron and one torpedo squadron from Luganville/Ndeni. I put four fighter squadrons on a mix of CAP and LRCAP. The LRCAP was set to provide some air cover for the US Hornet, which has a grand total of 8 functional fighters!

I changed my plans in the previous post. After staring at the map for a while, and figuring this was a raider force, and because the Val's were destroyed in the previous turn, I decided to "risk the Hornet" in a clash out in the ocean. Since the Hornet has only devastators, I need to be "close" in order to be in range....something that wouldn't happen if the task force remained in Noumea. So, I tasked the Hornet with getting the Japanese carrier force, and to hell with the losses!

As you can see in the above post, while the Hornet was sailing out to where I sent it (4 hexes away), it bumped into the Japanese carrier force...in broad daylight. too bad we didn't get into a surface fight...the Allies would have trounced the Japanese.

But it didn't matter. During the AM turn, the Japanese got the first strike in. The LRCAP from Noumea saved the day. Because all the Val's had been destroyed the previous day, this Japanese strike was 15 Zeros and 25 or so Kates. A few torpedoes were dropped, but all missed, and 20 kates never made it back home.

The Allied carrier counter-strike wasn't exactly overwhelming, but it did enough damage to make things easier for what came later. No torpedoes found their mark and all but one Devastator was destroyed, but two bombs hit the Akagi causing fires and heavy damage. Then, land based air from Noumea got involved. As the Akagi had no air cover, the dauntlesses and Avengers from Noumea had a field day...4 bomb hits and 2 torpedo hits on the Akagi, plus sinking a CL and one DD.

Here's the position at the end of the 5th day of battle. I've peeled off a surface TF from the carrier group, hoping to engage the Japanese remanants in the upcoming night turn. Failing that, the Hornet...down to 3 fighters, 10 dive bombers and 1 torpedo bomber...can hopefully finish it off. If not, there is always land based air, I guess, provided the Japanese are still in range.

[jimh009]

June 24th, 1942

Well, the surface force I peeled off from the Hornet finished off the two CL's and two DD's that had been escorting the now-sunk Akagi. So, the entire Japanese task force was eliminated, right down to the last ship.

While it's great that a fourth heavy Japanese CV is gone, the air group on the Hornet is absolutely decimated. With the achingly slow replacement of fighters, I have to wonder if the air group will be even close to full strength by mid-August...the anticipated Lunga invasion date.

I'm moving the Hornet down to Sydney to rest, regroup and do the July upgrade. The Saratoga's update will just have to wait until later, I guess. The Saratoga has a reasonably strong air group, so it's now tasked with guarding Noumea until the CV Wasp shows up and the three CV's in Pearl finish their upgrades.

China

The Japanese are close to taking Pakhoi. But elsewhere in China, supplies are finally, at long freaking last, beginning to find most Chinese units.

India/Burma

There are many problems with the "jungle march" to Imphal by the Japanese, as I laid out in a previous post. In the map below, you can see the results...two Japanese division and two Japanese artillery regiments are now surrounded. Their supply has been cut-off for the past 10 days, too. I've been doing daily bombardment attacks on the Japanese forces here, along with daily air strikes. Now that the Japanese are surrounded, it's time to start "sacrificing" some of the Indian and British units. I want these Japanese units eliminated...not just weakened! And if it means taking steep losses to accomplish this task, then so be it!

Between the shattered division by Chittagong (which has an assault value of 1) and now the two Japanese divisions that might soon be eliminated in Imphal...the "door to Burma" is being thrust open, providing all sorts of unique and intriguing options later this year and into 1943.

The Japanese divisions in Burma are some of their best, so eliminating three of them is a huge victory by the allies.

Canton Island

The Japanese looked like they were about to invade Canton, but then called it off again...perhaps they saw the Surface TF I have guarding the island.

Lunga Offensive Preparations

Noumea is home to 100+ ships and that number if growing daily, as more and more ships move into the region, usually carrying troops or fuel. Assuming the carriers are ready to go, I expect the Lunga invasion to commence in mid-August.

The invasion of Lunga will be multi-pronged. First the Marines, some tanks, combat engineers and a Army regiment will storm ashore...hopefully securing the base. Then I'll offload a USN base force, port detachment, aviation base force, HQ, Air HQ, AA and the list goes on. Basically, I want to try to dump everything off at once with tons of supply so as to avoid having to bring it all in piecemeal. A marine and army regiment, along with a base force and engineers, will also take Tulagi. I figure at least 100+ transports of various kinds will be involved in the invasion, including every single AP and AKA the US Navy has.

[Andy Mac]

Jim can you send me a save if possible before the Akagi YF was wiped I would liek to see why the AI sent it there

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Jim can you send me a save if possible before the Akagi YF was wiped I would liek to see why the AI sent it there

I can send you the "pre-turn" save. That save still has the Akagi TF still alive, although the Akagi itself is sunk (it sunk the turn before). Will that work?

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Jim can you send me a save if possible before the Akagi YF was wiped I would liek to see why the AI sent it there

Also, I've never dug around in the files for the game, so you'll need to let me know where and which file you want.

[Andy Mac]

Yes just send me the save please I can run it to identify whuch AI script you are using and and why its sent a single CV to its death
 
(Had it sent 7 I would not be askign but would be saying how wonderfull the AI is !!!)
 
a.mcphie@btinternet.com
 
Ta
 
Andy

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Yes just send me the save please I can run it to identify whuch AI script you are using and and why its sent a single CV to its death

(Had it sent 7 I would not be askign but would be saying how wonderfull the AI is !!!)

a.mcphie@btinternet.com

Ta

Andy

Where can I find the save file you want? And what's the name of the file??

[Andy Mac]

The pre turn save is fine the one with the remnants of the Akagi gp

[jimh009]

Sent. Hopefully I sent you the right file. It was 2.5MB in size.

[Andy Mac]

That was the right one nice catch I will fix it for the patch

[jimh009]

This AAR covers the period between June 26th and July 10th, 1942

General Observations

Slow...some might say boring. No naval clashes. No wipeouts of task forces. Just the occasional ship sunk by aircraft from Port Moresby as the Japanese try to keep Lae/Finschaven in supply.

Allies are busy moving troops, supplies and ships to Noumea/Sydney for the Lunga offensive. Once I get the 4 CV's fully repaired and moved to Noumea (another month at most), the offensive will be ready to go. The two surface TF's with 4 BB's are already in-route. The Lunga offensive will have, I suspect, 200+ ships involved...the damn operation is growing by the day.

Allies subs are getting more and more Japanese tankers in/around Palembang.

Fighter squadrons in the PM area continue to give better than they take, shooting down dozens of bombers (Helens and Sally's in particular), along with a healthy number of Oscars.

Battle of Imphal

Is over. Japanese invaded it about a month ago. Against the 1800 AV and tons of armor/artillery and a good HQ, the two Japanese divisions and three Japanese artillery divisions had no chance of victory. However, the speed of their defeat totally surprised me.

First initial deliberate assault a month ago did little. But then I managed to totally surround these Japanese units. After another week or bombardment attacks, I made the first deliberate attacks. The first two attacks were expensive...the British/Indians lost just as many troops as the Japanese. However, the odds continued to improve. First attack was made at 4-1. Then 8-1. I gave my troops a rest for a few days, then attacked again. That attack was nearly done at 50-1, wiping out 8K Japanese troops for 1K Allies. And the following turn it was over...two Japanese divisions and three artillery regiments completely eliminated.

So...victory in Burma!

The loss of three high-quality infantry divisions for the Japanese in Burma is a huge vicotry for the allies. These three divisions are normally part of the five division compliment that "garrison Burma" for years and years and years. With these five divisions around, the Japanese really can prevent the British/Indians from doing any sort of an invasion.

But two are gone now...and never coming back! A third division exists in "name only", after having been shattered repeatedly at Chittagong. This leaves one more high quality division in Akyab and another one, presumably, at Rangoon.

Once I get the troops at Imphal fully rested up and rebuilt up to strength, it might be time to start considering an overland offensive to Myklitna/Shebow. But for now, I'm content to just sit and wait.

General Supply Situation

With the exception of China, the supply/fuel situation has improved dramatically. The addition of the bulk of the British tankers, combined with using a large amount of xAK's for two months, allowed fuel supplies to swell. Sydney has 150K fuel as does Noumea (which has another 200K fuel in route). A small tanker force is doing round trips now between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco. PH currently has 580k fuel, and should be approaching 900K or more by the time PH starts being used for significant offensives.

In China, supply situation is slowly improving. But months if not years away from contemplating any sort of major offensive.

[88l71]

Just thought I'd pop in and say this is a GREAT AAR. I really, really enjoy reading it and at the same time somewhat wanting to resist temptation to do so because you explain things really well, and I'd rather figure them out for myself [:D]

Of course, I suck at resisting temptation so I'll probably end up being a regular on here..

[jimh009]

ORIGINAL: 88l71

Just thought I'd pop in and say this is a GREAT AAR. I really, really enjoy reading it and at the same time somewhat wanting to resist temptation to do so because you explain things really well, and I'd rather figure them out for myself [:D]

Of course, I suck at resisting temptation so I'll probably end up being a regular on here..

Glad you're enjoying the AAR and finding it useful. Sometimes a "few hints" can go a long ways toward preventing disasters, too!

[jimh009]

This AAR Covers the Period July 11th - July 17th

General Observations

Slow, slow and slower...just like much of the Pacific War during this time period. The buildup at Noumea for the Lunga invasion continues. All land units have arrived, as have most of the ships. Last 3 CV's and one BB TF are in-route and should arrive within a week.

Weak Carrier Airgroups & the Lunga Invasion

Allied airgroups are relatively weak right now. Only a few aigroups are "full strength". Most are understrength, especially those still flying the F3 variants. The Hornet is also carrying skelton Dauntless crews, too.Part of this is due to the pokey pace of replacements. However, as I thought about it and examined my airgroups, I realized that there was more to it.

First off, I have six CV's. By this time in the war, the Allies had lost the Yorktown and Lexington...thus two fewer carriers to "keep refilled."

Secondly, I have like five+ land-based F4 squadrons and several Dauntless squadrons. This has obviously effected the replacements of F4's on the carriers. With hindsight, I would have turned "upgrades off"...at least for half a year or so....to allow the carriers to get reinforced first. But nothing I can do about it now. Of course, the flip side of this means that I have surprisingly strong land based air right now, at least in terms of fighter protection.

Thirdly, despite my best attempts to keep the "pace slow", the Japanese AI kept up a pretty torrent pace until recently. Because of this, my CV's have been "used more" than either was expected or as happened during real-life. As such, my losses have been higher...either from fending off land-based air when covering the reinforcements for Rossell Island, Milne Bay and Port Moresby, battling the Japanese Carriers in three engagements now, or essentially patrolling the Coral Sea and sinking Japanese invasion task forces and surface raiders (those BB's destroy a lot of divebombers). While all these patrols of the Allied CV's were successful and accomplished far more than lost (always a good sign), this heightened activity led to larger losses than can be easily replaced early during the war.

That said, while Allied carrier airgroups are weakend, they aren't decimated (for the most part). There is "just enough" fighters between the six carriers I have to provide enough air cover for the upcoming Lunga operation. Additionally, the Devastators are being relatively quickly replaced out for Avengers...providing a much needed boost in striking power. This is especially helpful because the Dauntless groups on three carriers are half-empty shells...plenty of pilots but down to 1/3 aircraft. Thankfully, the lack of Dauntless's isn't quite the huge deal it would otherwise be since the "lost divebombers" DID result in 7 Japanese aircraft carriers, a BB, plenty of transports and DD's and other ships finding a watery grave.

For this reason, I don't expect heavy Japanese naval interference in my Lunga invasion...the heavy losses sustained by the IJN really does limit their options. As such, most resistance I expect for the Lunga invasion is from land based air. I believe the US CV's have plenty of fighter cover to fend off the land based air. And since the Japanese on Lunga have been "nice" and built up a Level 3 airfield for me, once I secure the base, I can immediately fly in fighters I have based in Luganville and Ndeni to relieve some of the burden from the US CV's. I'm dragging an AirHQ and plenty of aviation support to Lunga so that I can turn Lunga into a functional base as soon as I capture it from the Japanese.

Tentative Units for Lunga Invasion

1st USMC, plus all the "other elements" of the 1st USMC such as the combat engineer unit, tank unit, engineers, artillery, etc...In addition to the Marines, these are some of the other units going in: An Army Regiment, Tank Battalion, 2 field artillery units, Naval Base Force, Amphib HQ, Air HQ, Aviation Base Force, Sea Bees, Two Marine Raider/Parachute Battalions, Marine defense battalion, and two AA units. I suspect, if all goes well, more than 50K worth of supplies will likely be unloaded by the (at minimum) 100+ transports I'll be using. And this is just for Lunga.

For Tulagi, I'm looking at One Marine Regiment (from the 2nd Marines), 2 Raider/Parachute Battalions, an Army Regiment, One Tank Battalion, Combat Engineer Regiment, with follow on forces to include a Base Force, Port Detachment, Sea Bees, AA and a Field Artillery Regiment.

I actually expect MORE resistance at Tulagi than I do at Lunga during the invasion....it seems the Japanese have a tank regiment on Tulagi, where-as there isn't much on Lunga right now. Reason I'm dropping off so much at Lunga is because I want the forces there to beat back the inevitable Japanese counter-moves (I fully expect the AI to land troops once the Allies take Lunga).

Other Engagements

A Japanese sub finally found it's mark...sinking 3 xAK's in one whack near Colombo. This is the first successful Jap sub attack in, well, at least over a month.

Of course, at least when my subs aren't running out of fuel, they are scoring lots of hits, too. A few ships each turn succumb to Allied subs, it seems. In particular, the Dutch subs around Palembang are doing a nice job of whittling down Japanese tankers. What is kind of odd, though...and this is probably due to how I use my subs....I honestly dont' think an Allied sub has sunk a single Capital Ship unless it was already crippled.

A bizzare Japanese bombardment group showed up at Midway. It consisted of a bunch of CS's and two CVE's. Yes, they bombarded...or at least tried...to bombard Midway. Unfortunately, they bumped into the PT boats I have there. They sunk one of the CS's and damaged one of the CVE's, although the other CVE really scorched the land based air I had on Midway.

Alaska continues to be slowly reinforced and supply bases are being built up, but it's a very, very low priority area.

I've removed the Marine Regiment at Pago Pago and have unloaded it at Noumea. Goal it to "rebuild" the 2nd Marine Division once the last regiment arrives from San Diego.

Noumea

Continues to swell with supplies, fuel and ships. 180K fuel here, despite the presence of 300+ ships. Another 100K about to be unloaded, and another 200K on the way. AV is currently 2500! However, much of that will soon be deposited on Lunga and Tulagi. Similar to stock, I plan on using Noumea as the "base" for all operations in the South Pacific.

Burma and India

Betty's continue to "nuke" the weak land divisions I have based outside/around Imphal. I have Hurricane's on LRCAP and they are doing a pretty good job of inflicting damage on the Betty's (800+ lost now) and really inflicting damage on the Helen's and Sally's that also try to bomb these land units, but for now, the Japanese seem to have plenty of Betty's and I can't stop all of them. I never realized how nasty Betty ground attacks can be against non-dug in infantry troops! In one strike, they caused 99% disruption and destroyed all 15 squads of a weak infantry battalion I had just marched back into Kolemyo. Nasty!

Beyond that, everything quiet in India/Burma, which suits me just fine. The Japanese do have at least two strong infantry divisions left in Burma...one is based in Akyab and the other at Mandalay. A third is probably at Rangoon. Thus, a stalemate had ensued. The British/Indians really aren't strong enough to engage these three Japanese divisions, especially considering current air assets. However, the elimination of three Japanese divisions totally prevents the Japanese from trying another lunge toward Imphal or Chittagong or anyplace else. So....a sitzkreig is the likely outcome in Burma until I decide to 'get moving'...something I probably won't do until mid-1943, when many more land LCU's and Indian units start arriving. Besides, what's the rush???

[Graymane]

I just downloaded the new patch and am going to start a new Dec. 8th game v. the Jap AI. If you had to start over, could you summarize what you would do differently?

I'm seriously considering moving the forces loaded on transports (British Div dest Singapore and 2 Bde dest Ragoon) to Soerabaja and Palambang and make a fight of it. Also considering evacing the 3 BFs from the PI with all the naval support.

[88l71]

Will be interesting to see what happens with production and CV airgroups on carriers later in the war, with Essex and Independence class arriving, increased fighter numbers on carriers, and the changeover to Hellcats.