The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I put the Indian division there when everybody told me that Colombo could not be defended...so i evacuated it and sent everything i could to Diego, hoping i could surprise him...

Basic rule of thumb for islands:

1. If he has air and naval superiority, he can bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.
2. If you have air superiority, you can make him pay to bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.
3. If you have air and naval superiority, you can make him pay for a long time, in multiple phases, to bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.

superiority, he can bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.
2. If you have air superiority, you can make him pay to bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.
3. If you have air and naval superiority, you can make him pay for a long time, in multiple phases, to bring enough to take you out no matter what you have on the island.

My hope at Diego was not to stop him...i was hoping to surprise him - like we did on Addu atoll - and force him to redeploy and bring in more forces...thus losing lots of time... it didn't happen, but i don't regret that much...was a gamble and as in every gamble you need to be ready to face the defeat

[GreyJoy]

April 14-15 1942

Ok, finally a quiet turn. In China he keeps on pounding Chungking and Chenghtu...
In India, as said, we managed to get of the Calcutta area enough forces and redeploy them. We've lost 2 bdes that were vaporized by his bombings and a tank bde who got stuck behind enemy lines with no hope of being saved. However i think i'll have now a week of breathing space. Learnt the lessons tough: never stay on strat op mode [:D]
The KB is again splitted in two division. One is moving north again (now more or less at the Bombay latitude) while the other one is covering Diego Garcia.
At Addu Atoll we're both resting...no need to push now...we're gonna get pounded soon enough that it's better to save some supplies for the last stand.
We had a bad problem in the Aden Channell...i got a RN SCTF that was directed to Karachi but, when in the middle of the Channell, all of a sudden, it's route became 9999 and it keeps on telling me that i cannot direct the TF on map...[&:]
Mid april is passing...more than 1 month after the invasion...And we're still fighting! HURRA!

[Canoerebel]

In my opinion, you are getting it exactly wrong in dividing your force between Bombay and Karachi.  Do it the other way around (2500 AV at Bombay and 1500 at Karachi).  If you do, you stand a fighting chance.  If you don't, you are toast.

[ny59giants]

Could you post some screenshots of India?? Please hit "F6" to turn off hexsides and then "W" so we can see hexside control. Thanks!!

[GreyJoy]

Hi guys...

hope this is clear enough for you...i don't understand this screen shot[&:]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In my opinion, you are getting it exactly wrong in dividing your force between Bombay and Karachi.  Do it the other way around (2500 AV at Bombay and 1500 at Karachi).  If you do, you stand a fighting chance.  If you don't, you are toast.

Karachi only matters if Aden and (lesser) CT are "open." The Japanese here have esentially closed both, or are near to doing so, so long as the KB remains in theater. Especialy if it is a split KB. With that, I agree with your point. GJ's perhaps last, best hope is to fortify Bombay, use the x4 bonus, try to live on organic supply, and kill time while waiting for CONUS to generate ships and troops to open a third front in the Pacific for some VP relief.

China remians the elephant in the room though. Once it is truly dead, Russia beckons with no diversion of troops from India. But GJ has to handle what he can, and forget about what he can't. Given the Japanese OOB invested in India, particularly tanks and bombers, it's past time to stop the piecework defense and run for Bombay.

[Canoerebel]

Bullwinkle is a clever moose. Listent to the clever moose!

I do think, though, that there is merit in allocating troops sensibley between both Bombay and Karachi. By putting a decent number in Karachi and then receiving the "across the dead-line reinforcements" that arrive there, you make the enemy's task much more complicated. Having two big Allied bases has alot of advantages over one really really big Allied base IMO. Having the two forces the enemy to allocate forces in both directions and gives the Allies opportunities to strike and move. But once the Allies are down to a single base, the enemy can concentrate everything there and just hammer it with bombers and battleships until nothing is left.

I therefore advocate complicating the enemy's life as much as possible.

Since I keep repeating myself, probably boring everyone to tears, I will now yield the floor.

P.S. I could edit my post to fix the misspellings, but even I am tired of reading my stuff.

[GreyJoy]

Thank you guys for all your insight and analysis.
The only problem i do see between Karachi and Bombay is that they're not mutual supportive...they're too far away from each others...
So to say he can limit himself in sitting some 1000 AVs in Bombay, without attacking...just blocking. Develop at the same time Pona airbase and close any shippings to/from Bombay and then drive to Karachi with 10.000 AVs...
don't know...
 
16-17 April 1942
The Kb (1st Division) is moving towards Scoodra...seems to be alone, without an invasion fleet.
Lost contact of the other CAR Div...may be lurking in the shades...
Addu Atoll hasn't been attacked yet...he's for sure gathering more forces for a second invasion...and that's a small victory to my eyes.
In India the evacuation towards Bombay and Karachi proceeds now smoothly.
A CL jap division is getting to Karachi...let's see what he's up to now.

In the meantime my Marshalls invasion forces are slowing being moved to PH and Christmas Island. I have something like 250 cargo ships at hand in SF...MASSIVE!...the point is...what to do with my CVs?....
 
Overall a quiet turn...
 
I still have to understand the administration level of the AFs...I've tried to look for it in the forum but was not able to find any thread that tells me how i can support more groups in a give AF...with Air HQs?

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

China remians the elephant in the room though. Once it is truly dead, Russia beckons with no diversion of troops from India. But GJ has to handle what he can, and forget about what he can't. Given the Japanese OOB invested in India, particularly tanks and bombers, it's past time to stop the piecework defense and run for Bombay.

Don't think he come come to Russia now...at least not untill he has done with India. However cannot do much about it. In russia my plan is to run north as soon as the war springs out and dig there and wait for him to come...not much more i can think about.

[PresterJohn001]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Thank you guys for all your insight and analysis.
The only problem i do see between Karachi and Bombay is that they're not mutual supportive...they're too far away from each others...
So to say he can limit himself in sitting some 1000 AVs in Bombay, without attacking...just blocking. Develop at the same time Pona airbase and close any shippings to/from Bombay and then drive to Karachi with 10.000 AVs...
don't know...

16-17 April 1942
The Kb (1st Division) is moving towards Scoodra...seems to be alone, without an invasion fleet.
Lost contact of the other CAR Div...may be lurking in the shades...
Addu Atoll hasn't been attacked yet...he's for sure gathering more forces for a second invasion...and that's a small victory to my eyes.
In India the evacuation towards Bombay and Karachi proceeds now smoothly.
A CL jap division is getting to Karachi...let's see what he's up to now.

In the meantime my Marshalls invasion forces are slowing being moved to PH and Christmas Island. I have something like 250 cargo ships at hand in SF...MASSIVE!...the point is...what to do with my CVs?....

Overall a quiet turn...

I still have to understand the administration level of the AFs...I've tried to look for it in the forum but was not able to find any thread that tells me how i can support more groups in a give AF...with Air HQs?

CV's hmmm lots of options from supporting your SOPAC invasions - force multiplier to sending em round to Karachi... heres my hail mary.. port raid singapore from other side of Java then sail towards India killing transports. I'd bet that the Jap invasion of India is dependant upon supply imports (althugh prob a big stockpile already).

Watch the KB rush toward you and run. Sneak stuff into Karachi.


*not legal advise, follow at own risk

[:D]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: PresterJohn

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Thank you guys for all your insight and analysis.
The only problem i do see between Karachi and Bombay is that they're not mutual supportive...they're too far away from each others...
So to say he can limit himself in sitting some 1000 AVs in Bombay, without attacking...just blocking. Develop at the same time Pona airbase and close any shippings to/from Bombay and then drive to Karachi with 10.000 AVs...
don't know...

16-17 April 1942
The Kb (1st Division) is moving towards Scoodra...seems to be alone, without an invasion fleet.
Lost contact of the other CAR Div...may be lurking in the shades...
Addu Atoll hasn't been attacked yet...he's for sure gathering more forces for a second invasion...and that's a small victory to my eyes.
In India the evacuation towards Bombay and Karachi proceeds now smoothly.
A CL jap division is getting to Karachi...let's see what he's up to now.

In the meantime my Marshalls invasion forces are slowing being moved to PH and Christmas Island. I have something like 250 cargo ships at hand in SF...MASSIVE!...the point is...what to do with my CVs?....

Overall a quiet turn...

I still have to understand the administration level of the AFs...I've tried to look for it in the forum but was not able to find any thread that tells me how i can support more groups in a give AF...with Air HQs?

CV's hmmm lots of options from supporting your SOPAC invasions - force multiplier to sending em round to Karachi... heres my hail mary.. port raid singapore from other side of Java then sail towards India killing transports. I'd bet that the Jap invasion of India is dependant upon supply imports (althugh prob a big stockpile already).

Watch the KB rush toward you and run. Sneak stuff into Karachi.


*not legal advise, follow at own risk

[:D]

LOL...[:D] I gotta say that i'm thinking a lot about a raiding operation...but first: my CVs are far from being Nallies/Betties proof at this stage and secondly without them i cannot do any major operation in CENTPAC...

A good turn today!

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 18,19 42

The Addu Atoll jap invasion force has been pushed back into a sea-grave[:D]. We've killed 3 Naval Guard Units...some 5/6000 men all togheder!
Finally my last small trick paid some dividends...Rader was incredibly lazy this time. he had four days, after he realized that the invasion was failing, to finish with my Bde there...but he didn't do anything...
Well, i guess with Diego Garcia he doesn't really need Addu at all...so he can simply let me rot there...i'll be bypassed. It's however a good feeling to finally kill some japs!

The KB is getting close to Scoodra, while some japanese single ship raiders are trying some nasty tricks between Karachi and the Aden Channell. He sunk a couple of AMs...nothing of any worth above all.

A Jap CL is spotted by my Cats south of Coal Harbour (Aleutinas)...my Cats report to have hit him twice...don't believe them but i'll send anyway a DD division to look for him...

At Chengtu the Japs have finally destroyed the forts. In 4 days of harsh fightings the japs have lost some 15.000 men against 8000 of mine...but i don't have replacements while he does!

In the North of China, at Hami, two jap divisions, supported by 2 tank rgts are ready to conquer the city...no way to run...i'll simply stand and die there.

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

Ground combat at Addu (16,52)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5104 troops, 37 guns, 47 vehicles, Assault Value = 138

Defending force 2471 troops, 36 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 64

Allied adjusted assault: 116

Japanese adjusted defense: 10

Allied assault odds: 11 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1360 casualties reported
Squads: 207 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 146 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 46 (36 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units destroyed 1


Allied ground losses:
102 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Assaulting units:
2nd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
45th Indian Brigade
Addu RN Base Force

Defending units:
62nd Naval Guard Unit *VAPORIZED*

63rd Naval Guard Unit *VAPORIZED*

64th Naval Guard Unit *VAPORIZED*

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[&o]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

So to say he can limit himself in sitting some 1000 AVs in Bombay, without attacking...just blocking. Develop at the same time Pona airbase and close any shippings to/from Bombay and then drive to Karachi with 10.000 AVs...

Yeahbut, WHERE is this shipping to or from Bombay going to come from? He owns the IO, even more once he ges Socotra and Addu. I agree with CR that Karachi shouldn't be stripped, but if Aden is blockaded, all you're going to get is the one division in the LOD package, when and if he triggers it. Karachi is only x2 terrain.

Bombay can be a stalemate if you have the supply. Look at CR's game with Q-Ball. Once he's in the hex the x4 works against you if you attack him, so don't. Play for time. You're going to need to decide what portion of your supply is worth throwing at air power at all, let alone worrying about supporting bases. Bombay may need to just hunker down and take it, for months. Get the supply in there now. If you've upgraded to the beta click on "Yes" in the Bombay stockpile line for supplies and fuel, and flow max towards it with the spinners. Give Karachi some help, but if he's closed the IO it has much less utility than if you could still get in from Aden.

[GreyJoy]

We have some serious bug problems related to the TFs appearing from nowehere out of the off-map channells and some other that get stuck there
Trying to find a workaround now...
 
I'll reply to you Bullwinkle as soon as we solve this

[GreyJoy]

The problem seems to have been solved (at least for now) running a turn with the old official patch...finger crossed.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

So to say he can limit himself in sitting some 1000 AVs in Bombay, without attacking...just blocking. Develop at the same time Pona airbase and close any shippings to/from Bombay and then drive to Karachi with 10.000 AVs...

Yeahbut, WHERE is this shipping to or from Bombay going to come from? He owns the IO, even more once he ges Socotra and Addu. I agree with CR that Karachi shouldn't be stripped, but if Aden is blockaded, all you're going to get is the one division in the LOD package, when and if he triggers it. Karachi is only x2 terrain.

Bombay can be a stalemate if you have the supply. Look at CR's game with Q-Ball. Once he's in the hex the x4 works against you if you attack him, so don't. Play for time. You're going to need to decide what portion of your supply is worth throwing at air power at all, let alone worrying about supporting bases. Bombay may need to just hunker down and take it, for months. Get the supply in there now. If you've upgraded to the beta click on "Yes" in the Bombay stockpile line for supplies and fuel, and flow max towards it with the spinners. Give Karachi some help, but if he's closed the IO it has much less utility than if you could still get in from Aden.

Supplies are stockpiling at Bombay. More than 100.000 right now and going up. Troops are gathering there. What i'd badly need now are those 9.2 CD guns instead of the crappy 6 inch we have in India...


APRIL 20-21 1942

So it finally came at Addu Atoll...he brought everything but the kicthen sink...i mean, 5 BBs, 5 CAs and lots of DDs to bomb the place back to stoneage. 1000 casualities on my side and the CD gun unit placed there vaporized (and i mean destroyed)...well, at least this mean he's spending time to reduce this little stronghold...and time is on my side.

The KB is splitted in two and it's operating near Scoodra, clearly trying to close the door to India from CT.

His subs are reconning the Hawaii with glens...well, at this stage i'd love if he'd really come to the Hawaii cause they have been strongly reinforced...think they're now untakable, even for the mighty combined fleet.

hbe's troops are advancing in India...getting close to Delhi...but i don't think he's gonna trigger the death-line before he's really ready with all his hordes... i keep on seeing in the insight report many units still moving to Singapore and Chittaong...how much does he have at hand!? my goodness...

My 4Es in India are almost ready to start their campaign...few more days and we'll begin...pretty worried about the supplies we're gonna spend with them however...
At the moment the witptracker tells me in India i have 580k supplies and some 400k fuel...would it be enough?...hard to say.

In China Chengtu is down to 1 fort...and with very very few supplies left...time's is running up for the chinese allies...

Japanese raiders spotted near Pago Pago and near Perth...

2 US Full divisions are now moving to Oz...

[GreyJoy]

.

[ADB123]

but the administrative level of a base is determined by what? I've looked in the manual but am not able to find anything...

The administrative level is determined by the number of Air support points you have there. Once you get up to 250 air support points you can support an unlimited number of planes

Because SF is a big base and only supports so few groups? I have smaller bases that support more groups than SF...what's the trick?

It can support more, if you have more than 54 air support points there, but in this case most of your planes are training, and administrative support is not applied to planes that are training.

So let me understand...there are 2 kind of limits...a number of "engines" stacking limit and a "administrative" limit...i get the first but don't get the second... Do the Air HQ give bonuses to these limits? I have many Air HQs (one of 5 ranges and the others of 1 range)...how should i dispose them?

Essentially, the "engines" limit abstracts the quantity of planes that you can physically keep at a base. If you have too many planes, as defined in the game by quantity of engines, not all planes will be available to fly at the same time. It affects your ability to fly sorties.

The "administrative" support is the number of people available to keep the planes running. If you have more planes than support personnel, the effectiveness of the support personnel will be reduced, until you reach the "magic" number of 250. So if you have 100 active planes and only 40 air support troops it will be difficult to keep your planes in repair.

Air HQs have air support personnel in them - many have 100 or so. So you add those to the air support troops in you base forces to get the total administrative support.

The "range" of an Air HQ is the range in which it will assist in coordinating sorties, and if it has torpedoes, the range in which it will supply torpedoes.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Supplies are stockpiling at Bombay. More than 100.000 right now and going up. Troops are gathering there. What i'd badly need now are those 9.2 CD guns instead of the crappy 6 inch we have in India...

For any Allied players reading this who have not upgraded to the latest beta, that stockpile ability added recently is a literal gamechanger. The ability to spin up demand and then make it stick in a key bastion is priceless.

As far as CDs I doubt he'll come at Bombay by sea. If you fall back, as you should, he can use the RRs to get his horde there without muss or fuss and avoid landing losses. He'll probably use his armor to leapfrog forward with superior mobility, take the railheads, then move the infantry and other LCUs by rail without getting fatigued.

[Canoerebel]

I'm a little surprised he didn't land at Goa, Surat, or the little base across the bight from Surat, but perhaps he was fearful of an encounter with American carriers. He can almost cross India fast enough via para-assault and armor, but not quite as fast.

If he doesn't know where your carriers are at the moment, that's probably keeping him extra cautious in the Indian Ocean. That's a precious commodity for you, so protect that lack of knowledge on his part until you're absolutely sure revealing the location of your carriers is worth it. Once he gets all his LBA set up after taking bases, he won't be as concerned about these things, but at the moment he probably is.

That may be why he has Glens around Hawaii: he may be trying to get a sniff of your carriers.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Supplies are stockpiling at Bombay. More than 100.000 right now and going up. Troops are gathering there. What i'd badly need now are those 9.2 CD guns instead of the crappy 6 inch we have in India...

For any Allied players reading this who have not upgraded to the latest beta, that stockpile ability added recently is a literal gamechanger. The ability to spin up demand and then make it stick in a key bastion is priceless.

As far as CDs I doubt he'll come at Bombay by sea. If you fall back, as you should, he can use the RRs to get his horde there without muss or fuss and avoid landing losses. He'll probably use his armor to leapfrog forward with superior mobility, take the railheads, then move the infantry and other LCUs by rail without getting fatigued.

That may be why he has Glens around Hawaii: he may be trying to get a sniff of your carriers.

Yes, it's a gamechanger...if only i had this before i could have saved lots of supplies in India!

However my concerns aren't for a landing at Bombay but for a nuke-bombing by his BBs...
His troops will surely rush towards the gates of Bombay but my hope is that he anyway will need some time to get supplies to the front and also to build up the bases he needs to support his operations (i hadn't built up any base in India except for Karachi, Bombay and Madras...so this should take him some time!)

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I'm a little surprised he didn't land at Goa, Surat, or the little base across the bight from Surat, but perhaps he was fearful of an encounter with American carriers. He can almost cross India fast enough via para-assault and armor, but not quite as fast.

If he doesn't know where your carriers are at the moment, that's probably keeping him extra cautious in the Indian Ocean. That's a precious commodity for you, so protect that lack of knowledge on his part until you're absolutely sure revealing the location of your carriers is worth it. Once he gets all his LBA set up after taking bases, he won't be as concerned about these things, but at the moment he probably is.

That may be why he has Glens around Hawaii: he may be trying to get a sniff of your carriers.

Yes, you're right CR...he may be fear my CVs...and now they are ready and i need to decide where to deploy them...hard call...

He however really didn't need to land northwards of Bombay...he's already steamrolling me with his tanks that keep a pace of advance really crazy!