Salutations and solicitations.... 1EyedJacks (J) vs Nemo (A)

[Grfin Zeppelin]

An Army or Air division hq and a naval guard I would say.

[Capt. Harlock]

I wanted to test just how effective a low-level raid into Singapore harbour might be but I didn't want to tip Mike off that I am checking the ground for a raid early next month so I decided to send only a small number of B-17s in and act as though it was an error following transfer from a different theatre.

And, yeah, if you think that such conduct is unfair then you have the right to think so and the right to decide never to play me. I may not be doing any major subterfuges but if one little white lie is going to prevent him catching on to a major multi-hundred bomber attack then I'm quite prepared to sell him the dummy.

This is one of the times I'm on your side. Moving units or attacking in such a way as might give a deceptive impression seems, to your humble correspondent, an entirely legitimate thing to do. In Cuttlefish's game against Q-Ball, Q-Ball sent a weak invasion convoy against a central Pacific island, knowing that the report of casualties on board the transports would make Cuttlefish believe that was his main axis of attack. In reality, Q-Ball was going for the DEI, and he succeeded. Telling an opponent something false is a problem, allowing an opponent to deduce something false is something else again.

[Nemo121]

Well I'm sure it'll be misrepresented by some. It seems that if they can't take umbrage at something you actually said they'll just twist it untilnthey can get offended.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nemo,

I think you'll find your B-17's very effective in whatever role you use them. I've learned that they are absolutely deadly against ships disbanded in ports. They may not be able to hit a ship at sea, but they come into their own when bombing a port. Their ability to decimate CAP and reach those bases behind the lines should make it extremely effective for you to pound his shipping recuperating in various ports.

I don't think attempting a small raid to gather intel on how effective a larger operation may be can even be called a "little white lie" as you are not misleading anyone by doing so. Most people have no problem with letting an opponent's units do the speaking for them [;)].

I have to say I'm really impressed with your analogy of events and the extreme pressure you are applying. I have suffered a little of the same by an Allied opponent in another PBEM. I haven't been following the Japanese side of things much in your matchup, but I'd hazzard a guess that he's just overwhelmed by the sheer number of obstacles and reverses he's suffered and that has completely paralyzed him, causing him to lose focus. I think at a time like this he needs to step back and not look at the big picture (it's depressing after all [:D]), but concentrate on areas of the map that he can defeat you and accomplish some of his goals all with the aim of setting himself up to be in a better position to tackle the nightmare that is Palembang. That will mean giving you a free hand in some areas and a chance to grow stronger yet, but if he doesn't stop the bleeding soon it's going to get much worse for him. If he attempts to commit his forces piecemeal to simply hold the line you will simply hit him somewhere else just exacerbating the problem he faces,. I agree with you, I think he needs to commit KB and company to an operation that actually deals you a reverse somewhere, but it's not the time to take on your strength. A reverse here and there may not matter to you, as you've often stated being willing to lose assets or real estate in pursuit of your strategic goals, but for him it's extremely important to accomplish something meaningful and build some confidence/momentum. He needs to ignore Sumatra, as painful as that may be, and strike elsewhere to put himself into a better situation to deal effectively with it later, if it's not already too late. Just some thoughts.

[Nemo121]

Hi there SqzMyLemon,

Well, I think people see what they want to see and what is matters less than their personal bias. That has been made clear to me in recent days.


I agree with you re: what Mike should do in terms of general approach. He needs to step back, clear his mental state and look at things rationally and logically on a whole theatre basis deciding which areas he just needs to hold my forces back in and which areas he needs to smash me in. Right now there are 5 theatres.
1. Sumatra
2. Southern DEI/Mindanao
3. Aleutians
4. Marshalls.
5. China

Burma is so quiescent as to be an irrelevance until Sumatra is sorted.

Anyways, I think he needs to figure out just what he is going to do with those regions. China needs a re-organisation of his ground forces. Once he does that he'll be fine. I don't have the strength to take fortified cities. The Aleutians can be handled by the committment of another 300 or 400 AV to Onnekotan Jima. If he does that he'll have over 1,000 AV there but he'll retake the island and can then redeploy them. If I were him I'd use those 1,000 AV to attack Pearl Harbour but we'll see what he does. In recognition of this risk I have decided to bring another regiment into the area and use APDs to shuttle that in to Onnekotan Jima over the next month. That should bring me defensive force to over 300 AV and will serve the purpose of meaning he'd have to bring more than an additional 300 AV to bear to break my defenders. I want Onnekotan Jima to be a tar baby and it has served that purpose extremely well, tieing down significant naval and IJA forces at a minimal Allied commitment ( 2 regiments of ground troops ).

So I think it comes down to the Marshalls and Sumatra and Southern DEI. Personally if I were him I'd send KB into the Marshalls to conduct port and naval strikes against my rear echelon bases in the area. He could sprint in from the north and be gone within 2 days at minimal risk since I can't have too many fighters defending the rear area bases. So long as he avoids Ponape he should be fine. I would then replenish at Truk and quietly slip into an area south of Talaud before doing a maximum speed sprint into the area between Kendari and Ambon. He could then sweep westward and northward from there clearing out my forces around Soerabaja and Balikpapan ( neither of which would have anywhere to go give that KB would be blocking escape routes south and Netties would be blocking them north.

By focussing on naval strikes and careful usage of strike ranges to avoid strikes over Allied bases one could conduct such a raid with minimal risk of running into significant Allied CAP.

That would be a successful, minimal risk cruise which would lose very few pilots, probably no ships and demonstrate an ability to strike into my operative depth which I'd have to account for in the future - through committing more forces to SLOC security, thus weakning my speartip.

Right now I think southern Sumatra is suicide for the Japanese. I have about 4,500 AV there and Level 5 or 6 forts as well as about 1,000 planes with another 600+ planes within 1 to 2 days transfer range. He can't prosecute an invasion in the face of that force, IMO. This is not even counting the fact that right now if he sends anything to Singkawang or Singapore he gets visited by CLs and DDs that evening so even to try to load his troops for the invasion of Sumatra now would require him committing his battlefleet for several nights of attritional combat JUST to protect the loading of his invasion fleets. If they succeed at that ( and usually the attacking ships get into the transports ) he will then have to transit to Oosthaven, facing torpedo and bomber attacks and then protect the landing at Oosthaven from 6 Allied BBs and numerous more CLs and DDs which will have orders to make for Oosthaven and smash the landing or die in the process.

When this is all over it'd be great fun to have someone take over and try and force a landing in southern Sumatra just so we could see how it would turn out but right now I think it would be a disaster unless he committed KB to the fight and was willing to burn out its airgroups entirely in the process ( at which point in time I'd take advantage by activating the Marianas/ Mindanao axis ).

I think that by the end of 1942 Japan is going to be reduced to northern and eastern China, Formosa, Japan and Korea as well as an isolated base at Truk. I'm not sure about the Phillipines. I should hold Mindanao unless he pulls a major force out of nowhere but I'm not sure if I can invade and retake the Phillipines proper. I think there's a good chance of me retaking the Marianas in order to secure shortened, direct SLOCs between CONUSA and major US bases in the Phillipines. At that point I think it would make sense to call the game although if he fights on things will prove very difficult as his perimeter will be so small by then ( Aleutians, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Formosa ) that KB will be able to cover any point in the perimeter with a 1 day dash from Tokyo Bay. That means I won't be able to really use manoeuvre to negate KB as I have done over previous months.


As things remain Mike assures me he has a plan but I have little idea what that might be. About the only thing that I can see that makes sense is taking northern Sumatra to get the oil at Medan and then, perhaps, pushing infantry south through the jungles. Apart from that the only remote possibility I see is really off the wall stuff like mounting an invasion of Oosthaven or a major Pacific drive. He definitely has the troops and ships for this but I think the strategic situation argues against this at this time, IMO. Mike might see things differently though. He may think taking Marcus, Midway and Guam would bring me out and into combat. It won't but I could see why he think it might - especially since the last time he tried it I was nearby and sent my CVs in and killed an IJN BB and a whole load of assault shipping.

[Nemo121]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 09, 42
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 9,000 Yards

The traditional night raid went in and achieved inconclusive results again.

Japanese Ships
CL Sendai, Shell hits 2
CL Kinu
DD Hagikaze
DD Sagiri

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead
DD Dunlap
DD Fanning
DD Barker, Shell hits 1
DD Bulmer
DD Edsall
DD Parrott
DD Whipple
DD Stewart



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Night Time Surface Combat, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shigure
DD Yugao
xAK Zyuyo Maru
xAP Montevideo Maru

Allied Ships
APD Manley
APD Colhoun
APD Gregory
APD Little
APD McKean
APD Stringham

At Onnekotan my APDs ran into an IJN reinforcement convoy. They avoided combat which is a pity as they look like they might have done some damage.

Note the use of DDs as escorts.


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ASW attack near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Japanese Ships
DD Yugao

Allied Ships
2 SS Cachalot


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ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84

Japanese Ships
PB Nako Maru #2
AK Sasako Maru
AK Sado Maru
AK Hirokawa Maru
xAK Gosei Maru
xAK Kansai Maru
DD Tawakaze
DD Akikaze

Allied Ships
SS Shark

This was important as this sighting vectored the Marblehead TF onto this IJN convoy.


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Pre-Invasion action off Onnekotan-jima
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

187 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
DD Yugao
xAP Montevideo Maru
DD Shigure

Japanese ground losses:
326 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled



DD Yugao firing at 205th Field Artillery Battalion
DD Yugao fired at enemy troops
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards


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Amphibious Assault at Onnekotan-jima

TF 74 troops unloading over beach at Onnekotan-jima, 136,48

Japanese ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



18 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost in surf during unload of 48th Engr Rgt /2


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Invasion Support action off Onnekotan-jima
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

106 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
DD Yugao
DD Shigure
xAP Montevideo Maru

Japanese ground losses:
167 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled

That's a lot of dead engineers and support troops. Obviously this is an attempt to drop the fortifications which my troops are relying on.

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Day Time Surface Combat, near Tandjoengpinang at 50,85, Range 21,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Okikaze, Shell hits 4
DD Hakaze, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Akikaze, Shell hits 1
AK Hirokawa Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire
AK Sado Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires
AK Sagami Maru, Shell hits 7, on fire
AK Sakura Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
AK Sasako Maru, Shell hits 3
AK Kinka Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Kansai Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Gosei Maru, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Nako Maru #2, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tawakaze, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

So, one IJN DD sunk, a PB heavily damaged and two xAKs heavily damaged. I've got multiple fires on the AKs also. AKs are useful for opposed amphibious landings. Hmm, this makes me wonder, could he be planning an opposed amphibious landing in this region? If he is the only real target would be Southern Sumatra.

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 1
DD Fanning, Shell hits 2
DD Barker, Shell hits 1
DD Bulmer
DD Edsall
DD Parrott
DD Whipple, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Stewart


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Day Time Surface Combat, near Paramushiro-jima at 138,49, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo
CS Nisshin
CA Nachi
DD Suresushio

Gees, talk about penny-packeting one's CVs out... If it weren't just utterly contra-indicated by my strategy I really would be tempted to send a couple of CVs in here to kill Junyo and Nisshin. On the plus side it does show the value of this continued side-show in the Aleutians. For the past two months he has committed troops and ships and airplanes to this venture and I've had to commit almost nothing apart from the original two Regiments of troops and a few ships for supply runs.

Allied Ships
APD Manley
APD Colhoun
APD Gregory
APD Little
APD McKean
APD Stringham




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ASW attack near Singkawang at 56,88

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 18
xAKL Hanakawa Maru
PB Tokotsu Maru
PB Naruto Maru #3

Allied Ships
SS KXIV, hits 8, heavy damage

Hmm, I have a new radar-equipped CL force at Palembang. I think it may just visit Singkawang tomorrow. It looks like there will be rich pickings at Singapore ( as the convoy with all the damaged AKs attempts to dock there ) and at Singkawang - as this heavily escorted convoy attempts to do whatever it is doing ). Hmm, choices, choices.


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 51,86

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 16

No Japanese losses


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 51,86

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
G3M2 Nell x 15
G4M1 Betty x 16



Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Stewart, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Whipple, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

One of my DDs stayed with the cripple and they paid the price. The rest of the ships are safe back under the air cover of the CAP at Palembang.

At this stage I may do a small LRCAP trap in this area to kill some of these Netties.


Aircraft Attacking:
15 x G3M2 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
16 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

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Morning Air attack on 161st Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima)

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 21



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)


Aircraft Attacking:
21 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 15000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 42nd Construction Regiment ...
Also attacking 161st Infantry Regiment ...


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
B5M1 Mabel x 3



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CA Portland

Hmm, this CA TF should have made 16 hexes and been within a few hexes of Balikpapn by morning-time. Instead it only made 5 hexes in total. Weird. It pays a small price for this later on but a price worth it given the drubbing it gave the IJN yesterday.

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 18



No Japanese losses

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 1
G4M1 Betty x 10
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 17
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 46
Ki-30 Ann x 25
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 41



Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 9 damaged
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground


Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 45

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 15



Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses



Runway hits 6

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Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes


Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 3
B-18A Bolo x 3


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-25, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SSX Ha-27, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage


I removed the everyday China and Kwajalein raids but I had to leave this in. ANOTHER two Midget submarines. This is getting to be pythonesque.

Runway hits 4
Port hits 1


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro-jima at 140,49

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
B5N2 Kate x 7



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
APD McKean
APD Colhoun

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 32


Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 9
Fulmar II x 3
Martlet II x 3
Hurricane I Trop x 6
Hurricane IIa Trop x 12
Hurricane IIb Trop x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 26


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 5 destroyed

I'm happy to gain significant experience over my own territory and allow the IJAAF to lose its best pilots at a disproportionate rate. Overall Mike can definitely overmatch me if he really commits to these raids but I don't want to show him just how weak I am - I am currently getting about 60 first-rate fighter replacements per month ( P-40Es, Hurricanes and Kittyhawks ) so losses like this really hurt. On the other hand he is losing more fighters than me over Palembang and losing FAR more pilots.

Plus nothing will make him attack more fervently than showing weakness. Time to suck it up, laugh the losses off and make him think my pockets are bottomless ( as opposed to having no more than 50 first-rate fighters of all types in the pools [:D].

Once I hit May 1942 I get about 36 Hurricanes and 36 x P38s per month. That changes my first-rate fighter replacement rate from about 60 per month to about 110 per month ( cause I think I lose some early Hurricane replacements ). That pretty much doubles my ability to sustain attrition and since those 36 Hurris are armed with 4 x 20mm cannon each that means no more damaged IJAAF planes. Hits will be kills, which will help tremendously.

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 42


Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 6
Martlet II x 2
Hurricane I Trop x 5
Hurricane IIa Trop x 10
Hurricane IIb Trop x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 17


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 1 destroyed
Martlet II: 1 destroyed
Hurricane I Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed

What happened here was a bit strange. My CAP seems to have been grounded entirely. I had NO planes in the air when this sweep came in. Then my CAP rose to attack the IJAAF planes in groups of 1 and 2. As each plane entered the fray it would be attacked by multiple Oscars until it was destroyed. At that point another Allied fighter would take off and the same thing would happen again.

Overall while I think it is a bit strange that not a single Allied plane was in the air at the beginning of combat I've got to say that this did model the effects of trying to climb up to fight Oscars from below quite well. The Allies got badly drubbed here and that's a realistic outcome given the tactical picture which pertained.

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 7



No Japanese losses

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 9



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Jarvis
CA Minneapolis
CA Portland


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B5M1 Mabel x 3



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CA Minneapolis, Bomb hits 3, on fire

Only one penetrated. The rest just bounced off the belt armour. Minneapolis will be fine.

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Afternoon Air attack on 18th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 2
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3



No Japanese losses


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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro-jima at 140,49

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
B5N2 Kate x 7



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
APD McKean, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
APD Stringham, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Damn, that hurt...


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ASW attack near Manado at 75,99

Japanese Ships
SS I-168

Allied Ships
DE Sutlej


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Manado at 75,99

Japanese Ships
SS I-168



SS I-168 is sighted by escort
I-168 bottoming out ....
Sub escapes detection


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ASW attack near Babeldaob at 91,96

Japanese Ships
DD Tatsukaze

Allied Ships
SS O24


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Invasion Support action off Onnekotan-jima
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

42 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
xAK Zyuyo Maru
xAP Montevideo Maru
DD Shigure



xAK Zyuyo Maru fired at enemy troops
xAP Montevideo Maru fired at enemy troops
DD Shigure fired at enemy troops


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Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 136737 troops, 1361 guns, 499 vehicles, Assault Value = 5297

Defending force 97666 troops, 594 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3069

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese adjusted assault: 4991

Allied adjusted defense: 9619

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 5)

Interesting, interesting. He has tried to attack again but found out that the force I've left behind is well-calibrated to keeping him pinned down. He has also fatally weakened the forces at Changsha just 5 or 6 days before my encirclement is completed. Excellent timing, for me [8D]


Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
22596 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 1154 disabled
Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 674 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 142 disabled
Vehicles lost 120 (1 destroyed, 119 disabled)

The kills aren't too impressive but look at all those disablements. OUCH!!!


Allied ground losses:
3448 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 238 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 184 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 34 disabled

My own losses are, comparatively, miniscule. This is important because don't forget that the Chinese only get 200 squads per month. The IJA can actually afford a war of attrition against the Chinese rather better than one would initially imagine. My forts were reduced from Level 6 to 5 but since I have been actively building them all along they should pop back up to Level 6 in no time again.


Assaulting units:
34th Division
13th Division
55th Infantry Brigade
10th Division
58th Infantry Regiment
12th Division
13th RGC Temp. Division
116th Division
3rd Division
11th RGC Temp. Division
6th Division
10th Tank Regiment
39th Division
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Tank Regiment
40th Division
9th Armored Car Co
51st Infantry Brigade
17th/A Division
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Const Co
9th JAAF Base Force
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
13th JAAF Base Force
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Road Const Co
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
6th RF Gun Battalion
11th Army
10th Mortar Battalion
11th Field Artillery Regiment
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd JAAF Base Force
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
54th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
9th Prov Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
50th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
16th Construction Regiment
20th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
27th Group Army
29th Group Army
10th Group Army
25th Group Army
9th War Area
17th Chinese Base Force
19th Group Army
30th Group Army
3rd War Area
32nd Group Army
56th AT Gun Regiment


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Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3978 troops, 104 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 214

Defending force 20774 troops, 149 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 767

Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
1st Marine Raider Battalion
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
161st Infantry Regiment
1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
111th USN Base Force /9
47th Construction Regiment
42nd Construction Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
C Det USN Port Svc /1

Defending units:
62nd Naval Guard Unit
67th Naval Guard Unit
61st Infantry Group
Guards Mixed Brigade
63rd Naval Guard Unit
64th Naval Guard Unit
65th Naval Guard Unit
48th Engr Rgt /1


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Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3636 troops, 28 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 191

Defending force 268 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 10

Allied adjusted assault: 37

Japanese adjusted defense: 3

Allied assault odds: 12 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), leaders(-), disruption(-)
preparation(-)
Attacker: op mode(-)

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Assaulting units:
19th Australian Battalion
1st Motor Brigade
3rd Motor Brigade
2/10th Armoured Regiment
754th Tank Bn /1

Defending units:
1st Indpt SNLF Coy

Training, training, training.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 86,42

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 24743 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 956

Defending force 30688 troops, 254 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 1079


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
15th Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps
27th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
43rd Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
14th Group Army
15th Group Army

Defending units:
35th Division
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
11th Division


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 90,40

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 36057 troops, 283 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1016

Defending force 25822 troops, 212 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 934

Allied adjusted assault: 458

Japanese adjusted defense: 5008

Allied assault odds: 1 to 10

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
551 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2864 casualties reported
Squads: 71 destroyed, 126 disabled
Non Combat: 84 destroyed, 138 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Ouch, this time I got spanked. I lost 10 days worth of Chinese replacements right here. Time for this force to retreat.


Assaulting units:
22nd Chinese Corps
19th Chinese Corps
42nd Chinese Corps
35th Chinese Corps
16th Chinese Corps
4th Chinese Cavalry Corps
23rd Chinese Corps
3rd Prov Chinese Corps
2nd War Area
6th Group Army
13th Group Army
18th Group Army

Defending units:
14th Division
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment
102nd NCPC Route Brigade


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Nanchang (85,54)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30127 troops, 114 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256

Defending force 5863 troops, 46 guns, 89 vehicles, Assault Value = 162

Allied adjusted assault: 594

Japanese adjusted defense: 163

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
413 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 51 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
205 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Well, this is another Japanese-held city which has fallen to my troops and another portion of a division which I may just be able to maul before it can get away.

Assaulting units:
99th Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
22nd/B Division
17th JAAF Base Force


Tomorrow I'll send a CL TF into either Singkawang or Singapore ( depending on where I think I can get the biggest payback based on today's recon flights ) and will try to get the Minneapolis TF and the APDs back home. Apart from that I'll just continue exploiting into China, building the encirclement and bringing the shipping into position for the Malaysian venture.

I also want to check what the exchange rate was like over Palembang so I know precisely how long I can afford it for.

[Walloc]

Once I hit May 1942 I get about 36 Hurricanes and 36 x P38s per month. That changes my first-rate fighter replacement rate from about 60 per month to about 110 per month ( cause I think I lose some early Hurricane replacements ). That pretty much doubles my ability to sustain attrition and since those 36 Hurris are armed with 4 x 20mm cannon each that means no more damaged IJAAF planes. Hits will be kills, which will help tremendously.

Just a heads up. Note that u only get 24 P38Es. The replacement dates are only for May as the end date is May 42. IIRC u start to get 40 P38F in 8/42 but only for that and the following month then u go down to 20 P38Gs a month, until 6/43 IIRC.
8/42 or 9/42 depending on how u view it, is the date u really start to get any US Army figthers in force. As u get 65 P40Ks from 9/42 and for 1 month IIRC even along side the 35 P40Es. Along with P-38 and P-39Ds.
U get some planes with arriving squadrons too ofc.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[Q-Ball]

This game is very interesting, and I think Nemo's fortress Sumatra approach is a good one, and really hurting his opponent.

1EyedJacks though is making piles of mistakes, both tactical and strategic. The Japanese at this stage should be able to make fighter attrition work to their advantage (because IJN/IJA fighters can be replaced, Allied replacements have limits). There is no way the Japanese shouldn't have a Betty umbrella over the whole SRA by now, putting a torpedo into anything that floats. But all along, I think Nemo has devised good traps, but 1EyedJacks has obliged by walking right into all of them.

Anything that an Allied players pushes forward into your rear in early 1942 should be an opportunity to bypass and leave for later. A Betty base at Den Passar, Koepang, and a couple other spots, and any troops on Talaud Island may as well be on the moon for all the good they are going to do Nemo. But, as long as 1EyedJacks allows uninterrupted supply lines into his rear, Nemo will keep taking advantage of that and make him pay. He needs to assert control of the Seas in the SRA, until he does that, he'll go nowhere, even though he has plenty of strength to do so. And once you have control of the ocean, everything on land will eventually fall into your pocket, no matter how many troops are there.

Hate to say all that about 1EyedJacks, he's a good sport and probably will get alot better after this game, just hasn't the experience others have.

It would be interesting Nemo for you to play an experienced opponent and see how much you can disrupt the game. Maybe you have, I just haven't seen an AAR on that

[Capt. Harlock]

Hmm, I have a new radar-equipped CL force at Palembang. I think it may just visit Singkawang tomorrow. It looks like there will be rich pickings at Singapore ( as the convoy with all the damaged AKs attempts to dock there ) and at Singkawang - as this heavily escorted convoy attempts to do whatever it is doing ).

That should be fun to see -- you're already getting remarkable results from Marblehead when you consider 60% of her main guns are casemated instead of turreted. (You mentioned training your admirals to "cross the T" and it indeed seems to have paid off.)

[Nemo121]

Q-Ball,

Well, I think that while your assessment is right we need to look at why what is happening is happening.

E.g. Let us agree that 1EyedJacks is making errors in terms of strategy in terms of not simply choosing a single portion of the front and committing an overwhelming force there in order to gain the superiority necessary to impose his will. The question which I think is needed to be asked to determine what that means about his ability is WHY he isn't doing that.

I would argue that a poor player would fail to impose himself because he doesn't realise that he has that capability or doesn't recognise the benefits which accrue from that. I think 1EyedJacks recognises the capability and the benefits but I think that he has found himself manoeuvred into a situation in which he just doesn't have the free mental reserve ( which I'll define as thought cycles which are not committed to any other thoughts - kinda analogous to CPU cycles ) to devote himself to a root and branch strategic re-evaluation which, I think, would be necessary to get himself going again.

I've done my best to create and further enhance this situation and he has fallen into that trap. As such he is now reacting operationally and tactically and not really strategically and that is, IMO, costing him the strategic initiative and the ability to push his strategic goals ( which he does have ).

I think that throughout history whenever commanders have found their OODA cycles to be overwhelmed they often enter into one of two states:
1. The first I like to call "paralysis by over-analysis" in which they continue to believe that if they can just speed up their analysis they'll eventually catch up. Unfortunately they are usually so far behind that they just are analysing the wrong data with an incorrect/outdated mental context and thus they fall farther and farther behind.

2. The second is a state in which they are so overwhelmed by one layer that they simply stop functioning within that layer and usually drop down a level or two and try to "win" through being able to cope well at that level.

You can see that at Leuctra, Cannae, Tannenberg etc where commanders pretty much gave up the ghost of the strategic picture and started trying to win the operational/tactical levels of things while the strategic picture kept getting so much worse that no amount of lower-level success was actually going to make a difference.

So, I think it is easy, once you overwhelm someone's OODA cycle for them to look bad in real life and in-game but I would always seek to remind people that being able to be overwhelmed within the OODA cycle isn't something which can only happen to poor players. It can happen to anyone and once it happens and brain freeze steps in it is easy to continue making poor choices long after people outside of the situation ( and unaffected by the OODA cycle ) can clearly see what has happened and what has to be done.

E.g At Cannae the situation was NOT irretrievable at all. The Romans simply had to marshall their auxiliaries better, refuse their flanks with their rear-most cohorts and deploy their light troops ( who had retreated from the front and were sitting behind their cohorts ) such that they screend the rear of the army. In reality the Romans DID actually break the Carthaginian line ( a local, tactical success.... and incidentally this occurred at the point where one of the two Roman commanders decided to move forward to urge his troops on when he saw the battle at the flanks going badly and got overwhelmed ( he was a 2nd-stater in the terms I defined above ) - which is something most people forget - and merely lost that battle because no-one took the strategic-layer decisions necessary to stave off the defeat that the Barca brothers were about to inflict at that strategic layer.

It is easy to look at the Roman commanders there and think they were crap but, really, they were pretty decent and just got overwhelmed by something outside of their understanding at the time. They fell back on their SOP and DID achieve what always won them battles in the past. The Barcas had just made that breakthrough an irrelevance in that particular battle.

We can all see what happened and what should have occurred as a counter now but OODA games aren't aimed at defeating the OODA cycles of dispassionate onlookers. They are aimed at overwhelming the OPFOR CO's processing ability and I think that the OPFOR's conduct has to be viewed within that context.

So, bottom line, I think it is easy to look bad to onlookers when you've been Boyded but I think that we all have to remember we can all be Boyded. I have a lot of sympathy for people who get overwhelmed on the OODA side of things. It has almost happened to me a few times. I think the difference is that since I'm aware of the potential I mentally do an objective check of whether I'm getting too drawn in to low-level concerns from time to time and if it is beginning to happen I pull back. If you're not used to doing that then I think it can be almost impossible to avoid, particularly against someone whose primary strategic focus is to make that happen to you.



As to the Netties:
Well he has tried. He has tried many times and that's one of the reasons he has lost about 400 Netties in the past 4 months. Every time he extends their range beyond 5 or 6 hexes I set an LRCAP trap or CAP trap and shoot down 15 to 20 Netties in a day. If he did extend his Netty range to 20 hexes now I have no doubt I'd shoot down upwards of 100 Netties the next day. I think that in the current game system where all one can do is set a circular range it is pretty much impossible for him to establish a Netty umbrella over the DEI so long as I hold Palembang and base 200 fighters there.

He MUST clear Palembang in order to establish his Netty umbrella and I'm just not certain he is willing to lose the 400 to 500 fighters that clearing Palembang would require ( since I have fighter reserves nearby and he has to figure I'd commit them to keeping Palembang secure... I wouldn't but he doesn't know that. I'm quite happy to abandon Palembang and leave it to his bombers as my FlAK there will down 1/3rd to 1/2 of all bombers he commits to medium-level ( 6,000 feet to 12,000 feet ) raids. The only reason I have CAP there at the moment is in order to protect my CL-TFs and if need be I'll abandon those raids for a little while and base the CL TFs at Oosthaven instead.


As to walking into traps. Somewhat agreed. AARs by their nature tend to only list the traps which work. Many times traps I've considered are not feasible because of precautions he has taken. When they are feasible you read about it in the AAR. When they aren't I don't mention it since otherwise I'd have to type 3 times as much .


His rear: I'm not in his rear... Marcus, Marshalls, Midway, the Aleutians and Talaud were the front line. Even Malaysia is the front line. I'm merely pushing my outpost line forward really and battering back his outpost line. I don't have the strength to push into his rear or push back his main defences yet. Even with Mindanao I'm only able to land there because I already have 500 AV holding Cagayan and so have safe bases to race transports into.


As to the bases you mentioned... I'm not really so sure. I've chosen my bases with a view to ensuring that my faster transports can hop from one base to the next within a day. This means that to get at my transports he has to send Netties into my base hexes where my CAP can butcher them ( which is favourable to me ) OR he has to send SC TFs into my base hexes to fight my SC TFs ( which again results in favourable attrition to me ) OR he has to commit KB to the region to prevent further advances ( which again is favourable to me as it allows me to move forward and launch invasions in other theatres ). I truly don't think his choices are as simple as setting up some Netty bases and sweeping all before him. If it were that simple he'd have done it. He is not a bad player at all BUT none of the options he has are good. Pretty much everything he can think of is something which works in my favour. Initially he tried those things anyway and learnt that I was happy for them to happen since either in terms of attrition or strategically or manoeuvristically they worked in my favour and I wouldn't have given him the opportunity to try them unless they were things I wanted him to do --- caveat: I do, obviously, still make huge mistakes from time to time just like anyone else but I'm talking here about times when I'm sending forces into regions on purpose and not just cause I mis-clicked or something silly ).


As to playing an experienced opponent. Well, again, I think it is easy for experienced opponents to look bad when their OODA cycles get overwhelmed and I wouldn't view being overwhelmed in terms of one's OODA cycle to place someone as being a poor or even average opponent. I think only the best people could avoid being Boyded in terms of their OODA cycle. But does that mean you aren't an above average player? No, I don't think so. In other simluations, including some which are used for training by various militaries I had the opportunity to play professional soldiers ( mostly Sergreants, Captains and Majors ( few lieutenants for some reason) and a few Lieutenant Colonels) and I've found that everyone's susceptible to OODA cycles. Some handled it better than others but I think everyone, me included, is susceptible. I think that's one of the great benefits to the Soviet style of warfare really. It imposes a huge OODA burden on one's opponents while minimising it on one's own officers. I think that some of the mindlessness with which it can be applied is certainly a huge problem but that sort of planning with a bit of leeway can, I think, be very effective.

I really do think though that once someone gets overwhelmed in terms of OODA ( which can happen to anyone ) then it can be easy to see what they should do but can be very difficult to see or do that if you were in their shoes and I think that needs to be borne in mind whenever judging anyone's play - against me or anyone else.


I like to think though that 1EyedJacks is enjoying the game ( I think he is ) and is learning a few lessons from it. I know I am. I will also say that he's been a good opponent and a nice guy which, to be fair, is hugely important. There are people on this forum I simply wouldn't play because I know I wouldn't enjoy their email communication and for a game like AE I wouldn't commit to a game with someone I thought would be a braggart or otherwise unpleasant to play.



LOL Harlock!!!!,
Really? I had no idea about that. A CL is a CL is a CL after all unless it is something like one of those IJN long-lance conversions. Ok, well I'll expect better things from the 4 CLs and a CA I should have operating out of there after tomorrow then ;[8D]



In today's turn the IJAAF lost 21 Oscars over Palembang and the Allies lost about 20 fighters. I'm going to keep the cover for one last series of strikes and then I'll consider pulling it back. This shouldn't take more than 3 days.

In other news since I'm prepping for an air offensive myself now I've begun really reconning Singkawang and Singers properly. I have 3 recon units online and 2 are reconning Singers with 1 reconning Singkawang. Whenever I do strike I should have a very high DL and excellent results.

I've, belatedly, done my comb-through of training squadrons and brought the total number of 70+ A2A skill pilots in my general reserve to 84. Next month should see me graduating the first few >70 skill naval and ground attack pilots. My front-line squadrons are a mix of 70+ A2A skill pilots and others in the 60 to 69 skill range. I am leaving them in there to either improve or die in place as it is just too much of a headache to rotate them into the general reserve and then from there into a CONUSA training squadron.

I've also spent 300 PP upgrading all of my fighter and bomber squadron COs in the northern DEI to the skill mixes I want. My dive-bombers have high naval skill leaders, my fighter pilots have high aggression and aerial combat skill leaders, my B-17s have high ground skill leaders and my torpedo bomber units have high naval skill leaders.

I've also moved my premier RAF squadron ( the 232nd ) into Palembang. It has 37 kills in return for about 3 planes shot down and so I'm interested to see how it does. I've also upgraded two USN fighter squadrons to F4F-4s at Oosthaven and am sending them to Palembang for some live-fire training.


I've also, truthfully, told Mike that I intend to engage in rotation by nationality and arm of service. Today the USN enters the fray with the British Royal Navy squadrons, tomorrow I'll bring in Dutch fighter squadrons and then the day after that it'll be the turn of fresh USAAF fighter squadrons. I haven't told him that I won't continue the rotation endlessly though. That would be a little much. It is a good opportunity for me to assess which squadrons can survive in the air vs Oscars and thus which planes I should base at Djambi when it comes time to sweep Singers before my big port attack at the end of the month.

[Alfred]

Or the explanation could be a lot simpler viz that your opponent is still just trying things to learn how they work in AE and is not attempting to maximise his play.

Alfred

[Nemo121]

Well, anything is possible but from his communications via email it is clear he is playing the game and not just conducting random testing.

If I thought he was just doing testing in-game I'd resign. I have no stomach for that sort of malarkey.

[BBfanboy]

Hi Nemo 121 et al! I have just read all 20 pages of this AAR - loving the great strategy and incisive analysis of risks/opportunities! Many thanks for taking the time to instruct us newbies. [&o]

On another note, you mentioned some time back that you thought Japan had about 12 CAs. There are actually 18, four of which are the smaller 6-gun Aoba class. Six additional CAs could account for some of the heavier opposition by SCTFs you are seeing.

As for CLs, Japan has 20 of the old ones and builds 4 of the modern Agano class and one Oyodo during the war. I think they start to appear in 1943. Two of the old ones are rated as training cruisers only good for 18 knots or so.

The game seems to model the historical US gunnery in night battles in which all the US ships aim at the biggest radar blip [usually the closest] and leave the rest of the enemy force unengaged. This often means one Japanese ship gets clobbered but several US ones take significant damage or "torps up the chuff"![X(]. I don't know of any way of getting around this other than perhaps choosing very competent admirals? Having many more ships than the enemy just seems to mean that some will not get into firing position at all during the battle ....[:(]

[Nemo121]

On the 10th April 1942...

Well the Marblehead TF intercepted the damaged enemy transports from the previous night but somehow they managed to get away. The other CL TF comprising radar-equipped CLs and DDs didn't intercept anything at all. Ah well, sometimes luck goes against you. C'est la guerre.

I-158 clobbered the AD Rigel I was sneaking into Palembang to support the reloading of torpedoes on my DDs so it looks like I'll have to try again with another AD... this time relying on escorts rather than stealth to get in.

ANOTHER midget submarine ( Ha-12 ) is sunk at Kwajalein today. Seriously does this base spawn midget submarines or something? It is getting beyond a joke. [8D]

58 Oscars sweep Palembang again. My fighter force only mounts a limited response due to base overstacking ( although that is intentional on my part as I prefer to have my fighter squadrons only commit a portion of their force each turn in order to preserve my force should a bit of a disaster befall me some day. Well, that and the fact that with smaller fighter squadrons the current stacking rules work against the Allies. 5 x 16 plane squadrons = 80 fighters. The IJAAF can host 220 fighters on the same size base without triggering overstacking. I think this is a significant flaw in the game design as it creates an imbalance which is actually the opposite of reality. In reality the Allies had better administration and could run more squadrons from a given field than the Japanese.

In any case I am confirmed as having lost 5 fighters and the IJAAF is confirmed as having lost 5 Oscars. I'm sure a few more will be ops losses as they make the long flight home though so, again, I should be coming out with 1.5:1 loss ratio in my favour. The F4F-4s were a bit of a disappointment as it seems the Sea Hurricanes made most of the kills. I'll keep VF-3 and VF-42 in the fight for a few more days just to see how they do longer term. I think I may also begin pulling out the smaller RAF squadrons to see what sort of CAP I can put up if I confine Palembang to just hosting my 5 largest squadrons.

Medan gets pounded, again, by over 120 bombers and a small IJN force shows up around Talaud launching a half-dozen B5N1s which torpedo one of my xAKs unloading engineers at Talaud. Time to mount some LRCAP again methinks.

In terms of ground combat there were two significant fights in China today. In the first....

Ground combat at Nanchang (85,54)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 29916 troops, 114 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1240

Defending force 5444 troops, 46 guns, 89 vehicles, Assault Value = 142

Allied adjusted assault: 1141

Japanese adjusted defense: 81

Allied assault odds: 14 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Nanchang !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1999 casualties reported
Squads: 35 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 119 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 23 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 85 (85 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2


Allied ground losses:
285 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Assaulting units:
99th Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
22nd/B Division
17th JAAF Base Force

That looks like the end of this component of the 22nd IJA Division. It has been forced back twice now and is only a shell of its old self. The long arm of the twin encirclements of Changsha is now almost complete with the capture of this base.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 81,58

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8489 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 317

Defending force 2246 troops, 27 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 74

Allied adjusted assault: 120

Japanese adjusted defense: 125

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
224 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
161 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
73rd Chinese Corps

Defending units:
102nd Infantry Regiment

Hmm, it may be that a shock attack combined with some ground attacks by my bombers - the 15 bombers I have in the China theatre - might shift this defending Regiment. I'd like to push them back towards the coast at Wuchow etc in order to help protect the flank of my forces marching for Canton. I don't see any huge forces at Canton but I'm sure I must be mistaken. I have 3 Corps heading there which shouldn't be enough to force out even a regiment but should be enough to pin them down and protect my forces encircling Changsha from being surprised by amphibious landings in the south.

I am receiving intel reporting that more troops ( including tank regiments ) are making for Northern Sumatra. I have 4 convoys between 2 and 5 days out and by the time they are done unloading I'll have added another 400 AV to my defensive AV and will be confident enough of holding, particularly as I'll have quite a few engineers along to help out.

[Nemo121]

I've been having a look at my forces in Burma and while I don't want to weaken things too much I have been looking at the trails running from Moulmein down to Thailand proper. I don't expect to break through... In fact breaking through might actually be harmful to my plan but I have two more Indian divisions about to enter Burma, have about 600 AV tied up behind my lines guarding rear area bases and am beginning to think to myself that if I combined them with a division from my blocking force in eastern Burma ( which is preventing the IJA force which reacted to my initial counter-attack from Burma from entering Burma ) and one of the two divisions guarding against the Imperial Guards Division moving north to Moulmein from Tavoy then I could push a 1,000+ AV force into Thailand and force Mike to commit another portion of his reserve. This would lessen his ability to react to any landings I might make in Malaysia proper.


Basically he has taken 500 AV from his reserve and committed them to hold Hankow, another 700 AV to attack Onnekotan Jima, 400 AV to try to clear Mindanao and about 600 to 700 AV to take northern Sumatra. That makes a total of 2,200 AV. Since the SRA comprises about 5,500 AV or so that leaves another 3,000 AV uncommitted and available to guard against my attacks from the Marshalls, my drive into Mindanao via Talaud, any other major Chinese incursions and anything I can conjure up from Burma.

Since by the end of the month I intend to encircle 5,000+ AV at Changsha that'll require a committment of force from the SRA to break that siege. If I can complicate his task by stalemating him in Mindanao, which I'm trying to do, AND in Northern Sumatra, which I'm committing 400+ AV to do AND by making him commit 1,000 AV to defend southern Thailand from a force coming over the jungle trails then I am going to rapidly deplete his SRA reserve and make it impossible for him to gather up sufficient forces to try to rescue both the 5,000+ AV in China and the Malaysian peninsula. He can do one or the other but not both. And whatever way he chooses to jump will grant me a large strategic victory... Essentially it'll be a win/win situation for me so long as I can ensure his SRA reserve is sufficiently depleted.

Well, when I started the post I wasn't sure what I'd do. Now I'm sure. It is definitely time to gather a force and push through the jungles into Thailand proper, threatening Bangkok with capture. That'll make him commit more of his reserve and leave him with too little available to counter both strategic conundrums I'll hand him.

[Nemo121]

So, today I ordered 1200 AV and a couple of HQs to begin the move towards Bangkok....

The aerial losses list was also very interesting. It looks like I lost 8 fighters in the air over Palembang in return for 17 Oscars - 13 A2A and 4 ops losses. 2:!. I'm pretty happy with that.

China is the theatre which keeps on giving. I think Mike must have put an Oscar unit in Nanchang as well as a Dinah unit since today my ops losses for Japan included 46 Oscar Ics ( 4 ops losses from Palembang and a 42 unit Sentai of Oscars at Nanchang ) and 13 Dinahs ( a chutai's worth ).

So, not bad at all, I killed a total of 59 Oscars and 13 Dinahs today.


The IJA is moving on Medan. I only have about 250 AV there so I'm pulling back in order to receive reinforcements from the British convoys unloading at Sabang. The IJA is also moving on Cagayan. I am low on supplies there with only 400 tons of supplies in the base so I have ordered my transport aircraft ( DC-3s etc ) to begin flying supplies in from Manado. With a little luck I can fly in enough supplies for the Filipinno troops there to hold long enough for some of the US Army and USMC Regiments to begin transitting into Mindanao once Talaud has its first airfield built to allow fighter CAP of the convoys as they transit into Davao.

That's really about it. I'm pulling back to defensive terrain in northern Sumatra with a view to drawing more IJA troops into the region, continuing to attrit his forces in China and continuing to try to create the CAP chain I need to protect convoys making for Mindanao.

Two SC TFs are going to hit Singkawang tonight as I've spotted some enemy DDs, PBs and xAKs there while the Marblehead TF is finally going into port to begin receiving its much-needed upgrades. Another AD, this time escorted by a PG, has been ordered to make for Palembang from the Cocos Islands. If I can keep this attrition rate up ( 2:1 vs Oscars and 3 or more to 1 for Zeroes ) I just may be able to hold onto Palembang. We'll see how it goes.

[Nemo121]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 11, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Bassein at 51,52

Japanese Ships
SS I-162

Allied Ships
xAK Texan, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

I'll say this for Mike. His subs do always tend to come back. I avoid them for a while but he always notices, moves them around and finds my new routes. I'd say 1/4 or so of all my losses have come to his subs. Sometimes I was running risks and got hit but more recently I've been able to afford escorts and he still gets his hits in.

xAK Texan is sighted by SS I-162
SS I-162 launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Texan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,88, Range 2,000 Yards

Ah, night raiding TFs, how I love thee....

3 PBs, a subchaser and 3 xAK(L)s. Not a bad haul for a night's raiding. By morning these ships were all back within CAP of Palembang again. He had been here for over a day so I think he unloaded the unit he was transporting. I imagine all I sank were half-empty freighters unloading a few supplies.

Japanese Ships
PB Bisan Maru #3, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
SC Ch 18, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Mexico Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Hakuyo Maru, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
xAKL Hanakawa Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
PB Naruto Maru #3, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
PB Tokotsu Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Exeter, Shell hits 2
DD Arrow
DD Decoy
DD Electra
DD Express
DD Paladin
DD Panther



Reduced visibility due to Thunderstorms with 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 17% moonlight: 2,000 yards
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
Range closes to 7,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 5,000 yards...
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
Range closes to 3,000 yards...
Range closes to 2,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 2,000 yards
Japanese ships attempt to get underway
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 2,000 yards

At 2,000 yards there weren't many misses and the IJN TF was rapidly despatched.

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 11

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 7
Sea Hurricane Ib x 2
Martlet II x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 23
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 2 destroyed

Today was the first day my new fighter squadron COs were in charge and it showed with even more lopsided losses than normal.

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Morning Air attack on 161st Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 21



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Aircraft Attacking:
21 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 15000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment ...
Also attacking 161st Infantry Regiment ...


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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 27



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 6
Sea Hurricane Ib x 2
Martlet II x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 21
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

I estimate I lost perhaps 2 or 3 planes in total but the IJAAF looks like it lost at least 8 planes. Pay attention folks, better squadron COs really does pay off. There was a HUGE difference in the bounce ratios today compared to other days. Previously the second raid was always bouncing my pilots. Today even though my pilots arrived in dribs and drabs they still managed their fair share of advantageous positioning and bounced the enemy Oscars repeatedly.


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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 46 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 18



No Japanese losses



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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 20
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 5
Ki-30 Ann x 25
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 24



Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-Ic Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 2 damaged


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)


Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 3

I'm quite happy to let him bomb this. My guys are pulling out of this clear hex terrain and back to the jungles where the defensive bonus of the terrain will be to their benefit.

I had hoped to hold Medan but the way Mike closed the airfield prevented me flying troops in. It seems that even flying boats can't fly troops in if the airfield is closed... which is weird. So, instead of flying in 60 to 70 AV per day for 3 days I couldn't fly in anything at all... That 200 AV was the difference between staying and fighting and running as the IJA closed in.

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Morning Air attack on 73rd Chinese Corps, at 81,58

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 9
Ki-36 Ida x 17
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 12
Ki-51 Sonia x 21



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on 73rd Chinese Corps, at 81,58

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-30 Ann x 12



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 18



Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 2 damaged

Runway hits 14

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 18



Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 16

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Morning Air attack on 18th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 11



No Japanese losses



Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 5000 feet *
Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb

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Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 24



Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged



Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 6

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Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13246 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 783

Defending force 6455 troops, 116 guns, 157 vehicles, Assault Value = 219

Japanese adjusted assault: 126

Allied adjusted defense: 247

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

I'm loading another Regiment for the Aleutians and am bringing supplies in also. I'm going to see what I can do to try and wriggle some more supplies ( and a fighter squadron ) in. Mike has it closed down pretty well though and apart from flying supplies in by PBY ( which won't be enough to sustain me ) I amn't sure what I can do without risking more xAKLs.

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1219 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 62 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
314 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled


Assaulting units:
64th Naval Guard Unit
61st Infantry Group
62nd Naval Guard Unit
Guards Mixed Brigade
65th Naval Guard Unit
63rd Naval Guard Unit
48th Engineer Regiment
67th Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
1st Marine Raider Battalion
161st Infantry Regiment
1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1
205th Field Artillery Battalion
47th Construction Regiment
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
42nd Construction Regiment
111th USN Base Force /9
C Det USN Port Svc /1


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Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3760 troops, 28 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 197

Defending force 141 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2

Allied adjusted assault: 55

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 55 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

And this brave little independent company is finally wiped out. The reason I celebrate this is that it will prevent Japan getting free intel about my ship comings and goings at Talaud in the future.

Assaulting units:
1st Motor Brigade
3rd Motor Brigade
19th Australian Battalion
2/10th Armoured Regiment
754th Tank Bn /1
803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion

Defending units:
1st Indpt SNLF Coy


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Ground combat at 86,42

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 24840 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 962

Defending force 30737 troops, 254 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 1082



Assaulting units:
43rd Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
27th Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
14th Group Army
15th Group Army

Defending units:
35th Division
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
11th Division


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Ground combat at 81,58

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 8367 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 311

Defending force 2086 troops, 27 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 60

Allied adjusted assault: 162

Japanese adjusted defense: 85

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
323 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Close but no cigar. On the other hand I suffered 18 casualties to 323. I'll attack again tomorrow and should have reduced him enough today to get the 2:1 I need tomorrow to push him back again.

Assaulting units:
73rd Chinese Corps

Defending units:
102nd Infantry Regiment


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1st Indpt SNLF Coy Wiped Out at Talaud-eilanden by attrition!!!


In whatever alternate history books would have been written about this war carriers would have gotten less coverage than raiding TFs. The work of the raiding TFs operating out of Palembang has really been excellent. They aren't exactly facing the IJN's cream of the crop as I think most of that is tied down guarding CVs and Truk and Badeldoab but they really are making IJN operations around Singapore a real headache.

In other news the number of engineers at Djambi has gone up from 9 to 94. That should help it move from a Level 1 to Level 3 runway ASAP. I'd like a level 3 as I'd like to sweep Singapore with 100 fighters and still be able to commit 50 torpedo-bombers carrying torpedoes to the port attack mission. The IJN BB and CA I damaged a couple of weeks ago are in Singapore harbour and I'd love to sink them with multiple torpedo strikes. Level bombers won't cut it for those targets but torpedo bombers will do nicely and my RAF torpedo bombers are really, really well-trained by now.

[Nemo121]

BBfanboy,

Thanks for the post... In WiTP and AE I think the magical number of ships for an SC TF is 8. Based on some very detailed statistical testing in WiTP ( done by someone else whose name I forget right now... If anyone remembers please pipe up, they should get the credit for their evidence-based work ) and my own in-game testing SC TFs with 2 main combat ships and 6 escorts - ideally 6 DDs but possibly 2 CLs and 4 DDs if you want extra punch vs enemy CLs for a BB TF - seems to work best.

I sometimes deviate from this but generally speaking you'll see my SC TFs always hovering around 8 ships. 2 CLs and 6 DDs or 1 CL and 7 DDs or 2 BBs and 6 DDs or 2 BBs, 2 CAs and 4 DDs. Sometimes if I think the enemy will have lots of DDs I might go for 2 BBs, 2 CAs and 6 DDs. Generally though 10 is the maximum I would ever go for unless I'm just going for the "horde of DDs" approach. That is, however, rare.

Obviously if the enemy TF comprises 4 BBs then I would go with a 4 BB TF myself 99% of the time + escorts ( 4 to 6 DDs ).

Raiding TFs are a bit different but if I think I'm going to hit serious combat then I will stick with the 8 ship TFs. I think it is also VERY much worth choosing competent admirals. Since these were night combats I chose aggressive Royal Navy admirals who were unafraid to close with the enemy. My reasoning was that at long range Long Lances can still kill my ships but I'd hit nothing whereas at short range everyone would have a good chance of hitting everyone else and so I'd cause naval attrition ( which is, if you remember, one of my main goals for early 1942 ). It seems to have worked out pretty well with enemy losses being pretty equal to mine overall - which is a win for me as my replacement potential is just so much higher.

I also seem to be forcing him to escort things much more heavily which also spreads his strength and actually makes my raiding even more effective. Personally I think he should just flood Palembang with CLs and DDs until my raiders are killed. Hell, even a few CAs can fit up the river there. He'd take losses but without clearing out that hornet's nest I don't think he's going to make much progress in this region.

IJA army losses have now risen from under 400 when the Chinese offensive began to just under 900. So that's 500 points x 3 squads destroyed per point = 1500 squads destroyed. That's a lot of HI to be diverted in rebuilding those units and that HI is coming right out of his aerial and shipbuilding budget --- which can only help me.

I think I'll have an opening in May 1942 into June 1942 when I'll get some good fighters ( F4F-4s, P-38s and Hurricane IIcs ) but by mid-June I should be expecting to see Tojos in the air. From what I've read those will easily be a match for my F4F-4s, P-38Es and Hurricanes. Hopefully by mid-June I'll be properly ashore in Malaysia and so securely lodged that he can't dislodge me again.

[BBfanboy]

Glad to see someone else has already done the leg/data work on the optimum SCTF size and composition. TLAR [that looks about right]![:)]

When I mentioned admirals it was in the context of trying to get allied ships to spread their fire around at several enemy ships and not overkill just one.
Case in point - in you first two battles with Fuso & Yamashiro practically all the hits were on Yamashiro even though she was toast after the first round. That left Fuso unattended and it was likely Fuso that killed your battleship in round two. Don't know if there is a way to manage the programming so that your ships shoot at the most dangerous opponents, not the nice bright fires of the already doomed.[:-] Force composition and good admirals do not seem to guarantee appropriate fire distribution.

It may be a hard programmed FOW function for which there is no work-around but if anyone has had any success in avoiding the "All for One" tendency I would like to hear it.

[Xxzard]

The War Plan Orange basic tips guide, (based on the original WITP combat routines) always recommended a combat TF size of 8. Considering that in WPO, surface combat is practically the only way to destroy the enemy, and therefore received greater attention, I would consider this a valuable piece of information.