1943 Grand campaign

[john_txic]

I'm on Turn 165 of 700, on 28th January 1944.

My scores are: 2/18/16 - how'm I doing?

[Dobey455]

Not bad.
I usually would push to get terror closer to 20, but 16 is certainly not too bad.

AS and Ind in Jan 1944 will depend to a great extend on how much the weather has limited you over the "Winter Break" of Oct/Nov '43 - Jan/Feb '44.

[lastdingo]

You're so far away from 85 points that pretty much all this damage will be repaired by the time you reach 85 points.

The points are therefore not an indicator for your advance.

A better indicator would be Allied KIA+MIA : Axis KIA and the quantity of Axis KIA in general. This indicates how much your personnel has suffered or gained experience and how much theirs did.

It would also be interesting to know the reserve pool of B-17 and B-24, for a large reserve for the coming summer campaign would be good.

[john_txic]

OK - I'm now at 28th Feb. '44 and my scores are 3/28/19.

Allied KIA/MIA - approx. 15,100
Axis " - " 3,700

Reserve Pools - B-24D/J - 1,300
B-17F/G - 1,650
Lanc I/III - 330
Hali II/III - 315

[kaybayray]

YIKES !!!!

You are losing Pilots at roughly a 4:1 ratio against the Luftwaffe. IMHO this is unsustainable. I highly recommend you look at Morale, Experience and Fatigue of your Aircrews. I would also recommend you give a read to my thread in the War Room. Even though I have only written about BC my recommendations for Morale, Experience and Fatigue are sound for all units. You are racking up points very quickly but IMHO at too high a cost. But that is me and my way.

Just some thoughts, I dont have much time to ask what and how you are doing things to give you advice but IMHO you are headed for disaster. I could be wrong though.

Later,
KayBay

[john_txic]

It took more than 50 Turns to get to grips with the mechanics of the game, so maybe the next time I tackle the 700 Turn monster I'll do a little better.

I have come to the conclusion that I am doing too many fighter sweeps, and thus incurring unnecessary casualties to airfield FLAK units, and maybe going too light on escorts for my daylight raids. I only rested my day fighter units when their morale dropped to 20 so I could keep up the tempo of my fighter sweeps; I think I'll revise that strategy now I've got a few points on the board.

Wish me luck! (and better planning....)

[kaybayray]

John <S> [8D]

You dont need to start over just make some radical changes IMHO. And like RIGHT NOW....

First, my Cardinal Rule for who flys and who stays home is Morale = /> 50%. I will absolutely NEVER fly a crew with a morale of < 50%. Why? Because they have a high rate of not finding the target, a high rate of losses and a very low rate of damage to the target should they "Stumble" upon it.

Second, Experience... I ALWAYS put the most experienced crew in the Lead and balance that with the Highest Morale to make this selection. Its a trade but Morale is always Factor # 1.

Third, Fatigue... a bit of fatigue is ok but if you push you will lose. It is only OK if you adhere to the two previous constraints of Morale and Experience. But be very careful with allowing points of fatigue to accumulate.



First Radical Change....

I would recommend that you Stand Down your entire Air Force for a period of at least 1 week and if you have already acquired 2 points total across all victory categories I would consider a 2 week stand down. If you are flying crews with a Morale of 20 I dont see how you are actually accomplishing anything. At that low a level they are considering surrender and the FOG of War is most likely overwhelming. Your Morale will repair at IIRC 5 points a day and you need to get everybody up over 50%... at least IMHO.

Next...

I would recommend that you start rotating use of BC and your Daylight Strategic forces on alternate days. This will allow you to gain Experience, build and maintain Morale and eleminate Fatigue from building.

I would also recommend you really look at how you run Sweeps and Escorts. Fighter sweeps should only be done against Airfields that your Recon has confirmed are active with large numbers of AC and low numbers of AA. I would concentrate your sweeps over a few days in an overall operation.... IE... Operation Thunder Clap or something.... Where you hit several Airfields with known concentrations of AC. These Sweeps should be coordinated with you Daylight Strikes.

I am currently working on my next large post to my thread in The War Room covering the Daylight Strategic Operations. Unfortunately I have written it and re-written it several times and am still working on it. I am just not happy with what I have put together so far. Once I am satisfied with it I will post it all.

I would also recommend that you work on developing a method of concentrating your Daylight Strikes and Missions in a region where you can disperse the Luftwaffe intercept and prevent them from being able to concentrate on one Group or Strike. Stack your escorts up to 5000 feet above your Strikes as High Escort and really make use of the 'Delay" for your escorts so you can maximize your Fighter Concentration during a larget portion of your engaged flight path.

These are just a few quick things you can do to avert disaster... at least IMHO anyways.....

Regards,
KayBay

[lastdingo]

Use only robust aircraft on sweeps against airfields (P-47), don't attack well-defended (>50 light AAA) airfields with fighter-bombers and attack only airfields that contain at least one (daylight) fighter group.
Attack well-occupied airfields that have much light AAA but not much (<10) heavy AAA at about 15,000 ft with 2-engine bombers (B-25, B-26, Boston, Havoc) before you launch heavy bomber raids an hour later.

Early on, fighter sweeps are rather a tool to push the Luftwaffe fighter force back (out of Netherlands and Belgium), not so much about destruction. The early aircraft will be replaced soon anyway and you will rarely catch any AI-side pilots in ready aircraft on the ground.

[john_txic]

Some good advice there, chaps....

Bomber Command is in reasonable condition, with most units having a morale in excess of 50. A crew can expect to fly every 3rd night; I converted some 3 Gp squadrons to the Mosquito BIV to enable me to stage more diversion/nuisance raids.

I'll keep the daylight offensive going on a reduced basis, but not call a complete halt: a rest for me is also a rest for the LW!

[lastdingo]

The losses will be severe if you put yourself into an outnumbered position like that.

Also; expect to have some epic battles going on when you resume bigger strikes. I experienced a bad weather period of a week or two in spring '44 as Lw player and after that period I had 800+ bomber streams incoming. I downed about 300 bombers and 100 fighters that day!

[wernerpruckner]

ORIGINAL: john_txic

I'm on Turn 165 of 700, on 28th January 1944.

My scores are: 2/18/16 - how'm I doing?

depends on your plans and playstyle.
Here is a picture of my PBEM with Fochinell, you can see I (as Allied) have huge losses, but I can live with it.
In most of my PBEMs I go with mandatory targetting, therefore the ID goes down very fast from May to August 44, because you´ll usually only have the 15th USAAF and the 205th Group for strategic bombing...everything else is locked in Overlord and Avalanche. (you can always play around it, but I usually don´t)

I´d suggest you concentrate on RR and PORT for the next few months and for targets inside a city (then you not only hit the industry but also score some terror points.

[wernerpruckner]

ORIGINAL: john_txic

OK - I'm now at 28th Feb. '44 and my scores are 3/28/19.

Allied KIA/MIA - approx. 15,100
Axis " - " 3,700

Reserve Pools - B-24D/J - 1,300
B-17F/G - 1,650
Lanc I/III - 330
Hali II/III - 315

You will probably not have any problems with heavy bombers during all the game.....only high end escort A/C are often overused ( that happens to me sometimes, because of an aggressiv playstyle) ... so try to keep LR fighters with your strategic forces and the others with your tactical forces.