Against the Wind: Cuttlefish (Japan) vs. Q-Ball (Allies)

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
I mostly use the 10 and 12-knot freighters for this, reserving the faster ships for long-haul work.

Very interesting. My intent is to do the same thing. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
I am sending out lots and lots of supplies at the moment, though, especially to China. Shipments totaling about 125,000 supply have recently reached or are en route to Shanghai, Tientsin, and Tsingtow.

Now this I didn't expect. I was hoping China to be self sufficient. [:(]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

Why did the patch drop supply levels?

I have no idea. The patch notes say the following about supply:
- Numerous supply tracing improvements
- Numerous supply/resource movement improvements
- The generation of Daily supplies at Chinese bases has been distributed to more bases, rather than being concentrated in a small number of locations. Overall, Chinese supply point generation has increased, to about the same level of supplies as in the original War in the Pacific game (it was a bit lower before).

Somehow some of these changes may have interacted oddly with a game in progress.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
I am sending out lots and lots of supplies at the moment, though, especially to China. Shipments totaling about 125,000 supply have recently reached or are en route to Shanghai, Tientsin, and Tsingtow.

Now this I didn't expect. I was hoping China to be self sufficient.

It might be. I didn't notice any real supply problems in China until the patch. They might have been there all along and I didn't see how bad they were until the nice new map icons appeared, or they might have been caused by the patch. It's hard to say.

[khyberbill]

Now this I didn't expect. I was hoping China to be self sufficient.

That may depend on how aggressive you are in China.

[FatR]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Now this I didn't expect. I was hoping China to be self sufficient. [:(]

Seems that constant battling takes its toll after 2-3 months. Inland China also constantly demands more fuel for HI, even though the shortage is pretty slim and should be very easily covered by stockpiles in Porth Arthur. At the moment I'm trying to haul some fuel to ports closer to Harbin.

[witpqs]

In a thread over in the Tech Support forum a developer (forget which one) said that a couple of bugs were fixed which were causing LCU's to use less supplies than they should have been using.

[Jones944]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

[font="Arial"]Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill.[/font]
- CEO Nwabudike Morgan: The Ethics of Greed

Lol! Loved that game at the time it came out.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

In a thread over in the Tech Support forum a developer (forget which one) said that a couple of bugs were fixed which were causing LCU's to use less supplies than they should have been using.

Found that thread, thanks. Yes, what I am seeing is consistent with my ground units suddenly sucking a lot of supply out of nearby cities, leaving the units with supply but the cities with yellow exclamation points next to them.

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill.
- CEO Nwabudike Morgan: The Ethics of Greed

Lol! Loved that game at the time it came out.

I'm glad someone recognized this quote! Alpha Centauri was great, one of my all-time favorite computer games.

[Cuttlefish]

[font="Arial"]It was like a dark stain spreading all over the huge sea: the area of safety diminished, the poisoned water, in which no ship could count on safety from hour to hour, seemed swiftly to infect a wider and wider circle.[/font]
- Nicholas Monsarrat: The Cruel Sea

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6/17/1942 – 6/21/1942

Japanese submarine I-28 had been set to patrol a line just south of the Aleutians, from near Adak to just below Dutch Harbor and back again. For a couple of weeks it had been an uneventful patrol, though its Glen had seen some activity at Umnak. Then the submarine detected a westbound convoy. On 19 June it torpedoed and sank DD Sands just south of Umnak; on 20 June it torpedoed AP Nightingale south of Adak, causing heavy fires and damage and inflicting casualties on whatever unit was being carried; and on 21 June it pursued the convoy to its apparent destination at Adak, where it sank AP Alcoa Polaris. Torpedoes expended, it is returning to Yokohama to rearm.

Java: it is all over on Java. Stick a fork in it, it’s done. The remnants of the Dutch army there, reduced by defeat and retreat to nine units and 5300 men, surrendered at Banjoewangi. The four Japanese divisions on Java will rail back to Soerabaja where they will rest for a few days and begin prepping for their new assignments in Australia (except for the Imperial Guards Division; they have tickets to Burma).

Noumea: the forts at Noumea are down to level 1 but the defenders remain stubborn. Enemy fighters have been swept from the skies, though, giving Japan complete control of the air over the island. A handful of Allied heavy bombers attacked Japanese positions there on 21 June, however. They probably came from Suva. Though they did no damage Zeros will try to intercept them tomorrow if they try it again.

China: the supply lines are clear and units are in place to prevent Q-Ball’s sneaky incursions, so the Japanese army outside Liuchow will move back in and resume the attack on the city.

Pacific: Milne Bay now has a real port and airfield. The airfields at Luganville and Tabiteuea are now at level 4 and both bases have torpedo-carrying Nells and a Zero daitai to escort them. A Japanese force is heading down to Efate from Truk with a naval guard unit and a JNAF company to take possession of that base.

Odds and Ends: CVL Ryujo is out of the repair yard at Singapore and moving to rejoin Zuiho and Shoho at Soerabaja. Most of the Japanese destroyers not involved in the Noumea operation have been rotated back to the Home Islands for upgrades. Japanese forces are moving to capture Bacolad, the last Allied outpost in the Philippines.

[BigBadWolf]

It looks like everything is falling in place very nicely. Maybe too nicely? [:-]

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
(except for the Imperial Guards Division; they have tickets to Burma).

If I were them, I'd demand a refund. [:)]

Noumea: the forts at Noumea are down to level 1 but the defenders remain stubborn.

Do you plan sailing a few BBs in there and pasting the daylights out of the place? Or does that fall under "bad idea" in AE?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

Do you plan sailing a few BBs in there and pasting the daylights out of the place? Or does that fall under "bad idea" in AE?

No, it's a good idea and I've done it several times. Battleship bombardments in AE are not the wrecking crew they were in WITP, though. My last bombardment there, conducted by four battleships against a base where I have a very high detection level, inflicted only 150 casualties and most of those were disruptions. On the whole a good and necessary change, I think.

[Cuttlefish]

[font="Arial"]To conquer the command of the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat.[/font]
- Giulio Douhet: The Command of the Air, 1921

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6/22/1942 – 6/28/1942

On 27 June the RAF, which had been very quiet since being driven out of Malaya, came a-calling at Mandalay, a swarm of Hurricanes and some bombers. The Zero daitai defending Mandalay treated the Hurricanes roughly, shooting down over between 15 and 22 of them while suffering 6 losses. Ha, I thought to myself, that will teach him.

It taught him to bring more fighters. The next day Mandalay was attacked by 137 fighters and 40 bombers. There were Hurricanes, P-40s, P-39s, and P-400s; I have the feeling that if he had Sopwith Camels he would have sent those too. This time I lost 10 planes while shooting down only 5 and the airfield took some damage.

Though I had only lost 7 pilots over the two days I withdrew the Zeros to Rangoon. I will cede the air over Mandalay while bringing up more engineers, more aviation support, and a bunch of AA. The latter should really have been there already; two AA units, planning for Mandalay, have been crated up in strat mode at the Singapore docks for weeks waiting until I got around to shipping them to Rangoon. Bad Cuttlefish! I was waiting for a big convoy but no longer. The guns are loading now.

Noumea: things here continue to go well. The forts are at 0 and the odds improving. The 41st Division’s strength has plunged recently. He could be out of supply, or the accumulated weight of air attacks from Luganville and battleship bombardments might be having an effect, or, as alert reader Rapunzel pointed out, he could be evacuating them via air from Suva. I don’t know. I have LRCAP over the island (they tangle mostly ineffectually with the 3 or 6 4E bombers that now visit the place daily) and no PBYs have been reported shot down but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

Sumatra: no enemy troops remain on Sumatra. Sabang fell on 23 June and with it went the last 7500 Dutch troops on the large island. With that the campaign in the DEI is effectively over. There are still a few isolated garrisons here and there but I am moving to mop those up.

In a Sunburned Country: transports, surface ships, and mini-KB are all moving into position for the upcoming invasion of Australia. Simultaneous landings will occur initially at Broome, Derby, and Wyndham; a reserve division will follow on where needed or at Darwin. Paratroops are being moved to Timor to take part in the invasion as well.

Under the Sea: Q-Ball’s submarines have been active, sinking a destroyer near Singapore, a freighter near Koumac, and an xAKL near the Home Islands. Japanese subs have scored no kills since I-28’s rampage in the Aleutians.

Organizationally Challenged: there were some things about AE that I did not fully understand when this game started (heck, there are still things I don’t fully understand). One of them was how unit organization and command structure worked. As a result I launched my beginning attacks the same way I did them in WITP, by grabbing whatever units were handy and throwing them at the target.

Now that the Philippine and DEI campaigns are over I have divisions whose components are scattered halfway across the map and my command structure is a mess. One of the big jobs for me now is bringing some order back to the situation. This will involve a lot of shuffling units around but fortunately the only big demand for troop transports at the moment is the Australia operation.

I also need to begin moving units from an offensive to a defensive posture in places like Java. Decisions must be made about where forts will be built, where forward defensive units and reserves go, where aviation support gets allocated, things like that. Running an expanding Imperialistic empire is no bed of roses!

[BigBadWolf]

I also need to begin moving units from an offensive to a defensive posture in places like Java. Decisions must be made about where forts will be built, where forward defensive units and reserves go, where aviation support gets allocated, things like that.

I would like very much hearing about this in detail as you go along, if you can find the time to explain.

Running an expanding Imperialistic empire is no bed of roses!

Hear, hear. JFB's work is never done

[Swenslim]

As JFB myself i have a dillema in my PBEM game, is there any strategic sense to fight for Noumea and even farther for Fiji ? I see only too overstreached communication lines and not enough quantity of AF support units.
At Solomons using chain of airbases at Shortland, Munda and Guadalcanal i can build almost insurmountable fortress and quickly recieve reinforcements and supply from Truk and HI. But Noumea looks very far away to support her defence if my carrier force is in bad shape.

Maybe you can explain what profit can bring for japan side Noumea and Fiji ?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Swenslim

As JFB myself i have a dillema in my PBEM game, is there any strategic sense to fight for Noumea and even farther for Fiji ? I see only too overstreached communication lines and not enough quantity of AF support units.
At Solomons using chain of airbases at Shortland, Munda and Guadalcanal i can build almost insurmountable fortress and quickly recieve reinforcements and supply from Truk and HI. But Noumea looks very far away to support her defence if my carrier force is in bad shape.

Maybe you can explain what profit can bring for japan side Noumea and Fiji ?

This is an excellent question. I can give you my thinking on the subject, at least. As far as New Caledonia and the New Hebrides are concerned, the profit is not so much what they bring to Japan as what they deny to the Allies. During the real war Luganville, Efate, and Noumea were all major American forward bases in the Pacific. It was from here that the Guadalcanal campaign was supported.

The game lets you see why. It is possible to build very large bases here, capable of supporting a lot of ships, planes, and troops. By denying them to the Allied player it forces him to stage a counterattack from further back, from Fiji or New Zealand. Take these and the counterattack just about has to come from Hawaii, as Australia will be almost cut off from the east.

The Allies will take them back, of course, in the end. But it will take time and effort and for Japan the second half of the game is all about trading space for time. The longer the road the Allies have to travel the better.

[stldiver]

There is also the second advantage which was why Japan went to Midway. To try and engage the allied player in a decisive battle early in the war when Japan has the strength and advantage in military aircraft.

This goes along with the deny, to force the allied player to defend a position that he feels he cannot lose. But there comes a line where you may step to far, in terms of logistics.

Each of us will learn our own boundary and what are adversaries boundaries are. Thats is one of the reasons this game is so addicitive.

Good Luck Cuttlefish.

[Canoerebel]

Both cuttlefish and stldiver are exactly right.  And there may even be a third reason:  sometimes, an aggressive play will prompt an opponent to panic or otherwise act in a hasty manner, thus "flushing" game.  Q-Ball is probably too good to fall into this trap, but plenty of players make costly mistakes when an aggressor is being aggressive.

[Alikchi2]

That leads to another question - do you commit your carrier force to defend Noumea or whatever the farthest strategic point is, or do you hold back and preserve a force-in-being? What's the breaking point between forward defence and strength conservation, and is a place like Midway or Fiji worth it? Maybe keeping the KB together could serve as an effective detterent until late 43.. or not?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

That leads to another question - do you commit your carrier force to defend Noumea or whatever the farthest strategic point is, or do you hold back and preserve a force-in-being?

You get Rafe as close to Tokyo as possible before launching those B-25's! [:D]

[Cuttlefish]

[font="Arial"]A good plan violently executed Now is better than a perfect plan next week.[/font]
- George S. Patton Jr.: War As I Knew It, 1947

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6/29/1942 – 7/3/1942

With July upon us the pace of operations has slowed. The only real offensive operation during the last few days has been the belated Japanese capture of the bases on the southern coast of Borneo; Bandjermasin, Sampit, and Ketapang.

Reconnaissance shows a lot of Allied troops at Darwin. At the same time the siege of Noumea shows no sign of ending soon. So now it is decision time at Cuttlefish HQ. Should I proceed with the Australia operation or instead send one or two of those divisions to Noumea and bring the battle there to an end?

I think I may try both. I could send a fresh division to Noumea and at the same time capture Broome, Derby, and perhaps Wyndham. Those troops would still be in sufficient strength to get Q-Ball’s attention. He would probably be able to stalemate me at Katherine, behind Darwin, but the purpose of the operation would be to draw Q-Ball’s attention, not to overrun half of Australia. As I control the sea and air off the Australian coast there it would seem to be a low-risk operation. Port Hedland, which probably has quite a few resources, is also a worthy target.

China: things have paused in the north since I captured Loyang and Chengchow. I am shifting forces down to reinforce operations in the south and at the same time I intend to threaten Changsa. Liuchow is under attack by Japanese forces again but I will need more strength to capture the place, I think.

Burma: more troops and support are heading towards Burma. Q-Ball continues daily bombing runs against Mandalay but not nearly on the scale of his initial attacks. Four AA units have either just reached Rangoon or are on the way. Japanese AA is not really very effective but a couple of units at Mandalay should at least add a bit of wear and tear to his daily attacks.

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The situation around Liuchow. Note the number of resource convoys at or near Hong Kong.