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

[Canoerebel]

Yes, there are good reasons for him to guess "India," but working against that is the fact he might decide India is just too far forward to ultra defend in 1943, and India is an awfully large subcontinent to try to cover everything.
 
Yes, you should be orchestrating several feints, and yes you should have another real amphibious operations or two timed to go in just after India, or just before, depending upon your evaluation of what works best.

[GreyJoy]

Ok...i'm dreaming about a Surat Landing escorted by CVE (and maybe a brit CV - have to check if i'll have any by that time-) with only wildcats aboard (so stripping down all TBs and SDBs)...The KB would be a problem if it springs up...no doubt about that...but i think i can efford to lose my CVEs and some transports...
...at the same time my 6 US CVs will escort a full invasion of...don't know...the Mariannas for example...or Java (which is too big to be everywhere well defended)...where my tanks could make the difference...

Wet Dreams at the moment...but i think i'm entering in the right menthal mood in order to shift from the defensive to the offensive prospective

[GreyJoy]

Solomons planned

PS: is that so clear that i'm not willing to work today[:D]

[witpqs]

How about a current map of the Karachi approaches?

[WLockard]

I think I would upgrade Milne Bay to a Yellow or Green circle, I think it is important to hold that "corner"

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Solomons planned

PS: is that so clear that i'm not willing to work today[:D]

Actually, you should plan on siezing Milne Bay and Woodlark. Fortify and hold them and then build them to the max as soon as you can. PM is valuable if you can take it without a slogging fight but Milne Bay is the gateway to Lae with a good port and level 8 AF. Woodlark can be a level 8 AF base and gives you fighters in range when it is time to supress Rabual. If PM is heavily defended-you can ingnore it and just go through Milne Bay. I did in my campaign and it did not have a negative effect. Hold Milne and he won't be able to supply PM. Until his Air Force is negated. (mid 43) I realy like to focus on grabbing island bases where his only option is to counter-invade. They are easy to defend and a good chance to kill Japanese ships.

The thing about scen #2 is that if you don't grab and take an objective fast, he will have plenty of air power and units to quickly react and you can get bogged down. In the Solomons I looked to just grab any base that was not well fortifed (or empty) and did not worry about his well defended locations. Invasions of Munda, Shortlands or Buka which usually are well defended offer him an opportunity to react and hurt you. Fortunately, with LSTs and all of the LCs that the Allies get, there is no bad base for the Allies in the Solomons as long as the Airbase can be built up. Don't shy away for level 0 ports or 1 ports as they are easy for the Allies to supply.

Basically in 1942 and early 1943 if you don't think you can take an objective in two to four days then it is not a good idea to try it.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Oct 29-30 1942

Turns keep on flowing...and it's sometimes hard to do them, the AAR, planning and have a RL (job, GF, beers...all that useless stuff!).

However...Rader changed tactic in India. He moved his DDs closer to the coast and put a full Rufe Daitai on LRCAP from Surat. The bait worked well and i lost 25 light bombers on low naval against his CAP...damn me to be so stupid! I have not to be lazy and must change tactic every time a thing works fine...cause Rader is fast to take countermeasures!

However his Netties came again... 70 of them...escorted by 100 Tojos with more 150 Tojos and Oscars on Sweep....losses are light in the air but another CL (Calendon) was torpedoed...ARGH![:@]

I think the pace of your air war is slowly convincing him that you aren't worried about supply, and that he better tighten the blockade. DDs won't dom it, but it will be a slow bleed for you both.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok, i did some homework.

As far as i can tell right now, by the beginning of june 1942 i should be able to mass in Aden the following forces for a counterinvasion (without stripping too much the Pacific front):

Infantry:

6th Indian Div
8th Indian Div
9th Aus Div.
22th East African Bde
29th Brit Bde
34th US Inf Rgt
158th US Inf Rgt
(in reserve: coming at Mombasa on the 23.05.1943 the 11th African Div)

Tank units:

31st Armoured Div.
762nd US Tank Bn
763rd US Tank Bn
754th US Tank Bn
193rd US Tank Bn
766th US Tank Bn
767th US Tank Bn
640th US Tank Destr Bn
632nd US Tank Destr Bn
637th US Tank Destr Bn

Plus a bunch of small Australian Tank companies sized units

HQs and Artillery units are still to be decided. I just know that the engineer forces will be provided by the Brits (that already have a lot of base forces parked at Aden), while the artillery will be american.

Now the challenge is to organize the logistic to bring all this stuff to CT and Panama and then to UK to get ready to move to Aden (is UK-Aden shorter than CT-Aden?????)

The first step is to move all the predicted australian units to Perth and to start immediately to move transports to Perth in order to move ASAP to CT.
Then i need to re-group the american units to PH and move them to Panama...problem is that some of them are already operating in the Solomons so it won't be an easy task.

Then i need to take a deep thinking about which transport to use...move them...pick up those units...regroup...provide enough fuel for all these movements...and at the same time let me enough ship capabilities to keep up the flow of supplies and fuel and the troops movements for the pacific theatre...it wil be a real mess!

You mean June 1943.[:)]

Is that all the USA infantry you can scrape up by then? And no USMC at all? You need a lot more infantry than that. Also, the USArmy is overflowing with AA and arty by the summer of 43. Strip the WC. It's pretty cheap in PPs to buy out. Also, Seabees are cheap and awesome builders. You should have a dozen or more units available. Don't be cheap. This op is a Big Deal.

CT to Aden isn't bad, but unless the unit is already in Oz I'd use the EC. Fast loads, unlimited supply for replacements/TOE upgrades, rail from everywhere. Strip Hawaii back to the WC and rail everything to the EC. Forget Panama. Eats fuel, the Canal can't handle the ship volumes, and it's not a time-saver. There's no rail bottlenecks in the game; CONUS has unlimited capacity.

Check the manual (there are tables) for transit times for UK, EC, CT-Aden, etc. Remember that offmap to offmap doesn't burn fuel or have range restrictions, so you can even use xAKLs to haul stuff. Go on-map even a little and fuel can bite you.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Thor's Hammer

Love the anology and love the plan about dropping the whole fleet out of the wormhole when it opens. You would have to store the whole fleet at Plymouth and Rosyth and surly the Jerry's would spy them and alert their allies!

Except in AE the Jerrys are drunk 24/7. [:)]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

About India:

my fears were well felt... we're losing the "grip" over Karachi.
Now i have less than 150 operative fighters and, even if the odds are still in our favour, our ability to protect Karachi is fading away.

Forts 9 is your ability to protect Karachi. Expand your thinking to encompass more than the air elements of the game. Not doing so will bite you.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy


Do you really think Rader won't be waiting for such a move of mine? I sincerly don't.... Till now Rader has shown a great ability to foresee my strategic plans and has always been very fast in re-act at any changment of mine.

I do fear that by may 43 the whole combined fleet (KB included) will be parked at Colombo and Bombay waiting for my counterinvasion to come...

Doggone it!!!! (Insert saltier languiage to taste.) As CR said, STOP THINKING LIKE A DOORMAT!!

If his fleet is there, GREAT! You can sink it. Do you understand what I'm advocating you bring? Leyte Gulf in the IO, man. Every single stinkin' birdfarm you own, CVEs too, with front-line planes. He wants a stand-up fight, give him one. You will replace what he sinks. He can't. Mid-1943 you have to have your offense hat on. Make him scared of you. Isn't it about time?

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

So the question is...what would happen if we face eachother in june 43 (without any Essex) with him having a complete air superiority (consider the amount of LBA he will have at Hyderabad, Bombay and Surat) ??
Will it really be safe and wise to bring everything to India? Or wouldn't it be better to keep some of my assets (especially naval assets) in the pacific to keep the pressure and eventually exploit his need to keep the KB in I.O.?
Because as soon as the Med opens he will be in real danger so i bet he will be forced to reinforce his presence in the I.O....but that leaves the pacific exposed...he cannot be everywhere!

Lord...tough calls....

Oh, didn't finish reading before I did my last.

Where did I say you HAD to counter in India? Use the flexibility great strength gives you. If he has Bombay packed with his whole air force, don't go there. Go farther south. Sumatra? Colombo? Madras? Assess the situation and react. You can move your navy orders of magnitude faster than he can redeploy his LBA and its needed support train. Get up on the balls of your feet and use your naval power. This is a naval game; act like it. Pick the battlespace. Make him react to you.

[GreyJoy]

BW i'll reply to you later...thanks in the meanwhile!

Oct 31 - Nov 1 1942

Another day of fire and blood in the skies over Karachi.
Rader sent everything he had this time. 300 IJAAF bombers, 200 IJN bombers and some 600 fighters (both sweep and escort).
My 100 fighters did wonders...again...don't have any other words to define the will of fighting, the courage of those guys...the last reef of the western world against the waves of the yellow barbarians (ok, sorry...din't want to offend anyone...was just giving some amphasys to my speech[:)]).
We downed nearly 250 enemy fighters during these two days, losing 80 of mines...but only 16 pilots (some badass aces among them[:(]).

Despite the numbers of planes that got through my CAP he managed to destroy only 17 planes on the ground...[8D]

70 jap units arrived at Multan today. We bombed again the AF but we already faced a stiff AA...even if it was on strat moving mode...i bet all his engineers and base forces are there, along with flak...we'll try to keep it shut...now my 4Es reached their ending operative time so every loss will be a good loss if it's a sacrifice to slow his advance...and he HAS to pass through Multan if he wants to get to Hyderabad...
We'll hit again tomorrow (storms forecasted) and we'll hit every time we can!

still 500k supplies at Karachi...not bad.

The Logistic for the counterinvasion has started...and i can confirm that it's a mess to organize everything and at the same time keep an aye on the ongoing operations in the pacific!

Will comment in detail later about my ideas for the invasion...

Thanks for your attention!

Later....

[GreyJoy]

Ok the 2nd and 3rd November will be remembered as the ugliest day for the USN...Rader managed to muster 200 fighters on sweep over Lunga...along with the whole KB and a surface raider SCTF...you could guess how it ended....

[GreyJoy]

lost something like 60 transports and my whole Cactus Air Force...and what really makes me hangry is that, despite having LOTS of catalinas i didn't see them coming...neither the SCTF nor the KB...will be forced to use the same "picket line" tactic that Rader uses...

[GreyJoy]

Ok GJ...take a deep breath...shit happens...you went lazy in the Solomons thinking that 100 fighters were enough to protect your voulnerable ships...you got slapped...and you well deserved it. Now THINK, reorganize, don't lose your mind and feel confortable knowing that you have TONS of transports...that none of the precious AP - AKs went down and that you barely lost some time...and maybe part of some units (not vital ones)....
 
it's hard...when you think you're comin up from the hell...he pushes you back down again...[:(]

[GreyJoy]

Ok, let's explain.

on the 2nd Nov (night), without any previous sighting, Tanaka arrived at Tulagi with a CL and 7 DDs...sunk something like 40 transports unloading supplies...my DDs and PTs based at Lunga, despite the reaction set to 3, didn't move....then he arrived at Lunga and fought with my DDs....badly damaging 3 of them...we scored some hit...but we didn't fire a single torpedo (while i was lucky that he had already fired all of his own...)...then the day came and he sent 200 fighters on sweep from Rabaul and Green Island. Zeros and Oscars. I had 120 fighters based at Tessafaronga and Lunga with a couple of Air HQ present...my fighters did good but in the end they were all damaged or without ammo/fuel...then 30 subs popped up from nowhere and started to take out what was left of my ships at Tulagi....then it came the KB that parked herself at 7 hexes north east of Tulagi....they attacked my TF unloading at Tessafaronga...none of my wildcats took off....they were all grounded by the previous fights...Tanaka managed to get away without a scratch...

The second day was the same...with sweeps that grounded my fighters and the KB destroying what was left of my transport fleet...his subs did the rest, sinking 10 fleeing AKs...

At Karachi the usual day...sweeps, escorted bombers....decent odds but we're losing 20 planes on the ground each day....simply too much...

We bombed again Multan but now the base has so many engineers that we're not really able to keep it close...soon TONS of fighters will be based there and the game will be over...

ok, too depressed now...need to sleep over these harsh defeats and to find some more spirit for tomorrow...

[FatR]

Observed exchange rates are utterly unsustainable for Japanese. Even if enough planes can be produced - which in Scen 2 isn't that painless, given the crushing pilot training tax - pilots will be killed off rapidly. A good Japanese player should have a decent pilot reserve at this stage (due to running a serious on-map training program from Day 1), but not nearly enough to weather a bloodbath like this. Particularly naval pilots are almost always in short supply.

On the other hand, it is not impossible that Rader is already using second-rate pilots against Karachi, while keeping elite units in reserve. But segregating units by skill (save for just filling sacrifice groups with replacement pilots, which should have been losing even worse), while possible, requires extreme micromanagement...

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Ok GJ...take a deep breath...shit happens...you went lazy in the Solomons thinking that 100 fighters were enough to protect your voulnerable ships...you got slapped...and you well deserved it. Now THINK, reorganize, don't lose your mind and feel confortable knowing that you have TONS of transports...that none of the precious AP - AKs went down and that you barely lost some time...and maybe part of some units (not vital ones)....

it's hard...when you think you're comin up from the hell...he pushes you back down again...[:(]

"Just when I thought I was OUT, they pulled me back IN!"

Name that movie for $500, Alex. [8D]

You can't ever rely completely on air search. I don't always know why the b ad guys weren't seen, but it happens, and it happened in RL too.

That said, he shouldn't be able to cream 60 transports in one attack. The code mechanics limit how many Tfs an attacker can hit before he runs out of op points. If he attacks a TF consisting of 60 ships he's going to attack 60 ships. If he finds 10 TFs with 6 ships each he'll get off maybe three attacks at most with one TF. If he sub-divides his own he'll maybe get more, but he's also vulnerable to counter.

When you have to run supply missions to the edge of his space chop up your forces into multiple TFs rather than the One Big Convoy. I learned what you did the hard way in my first game, losing 40 ships in one attack when they were jumped while unloading. Now I split up. It's more clicks, but it helps a lot.

[crsutton]

Yep, never mass your ships. And if you do not know where KB is, you have to assume it is potentially within striking distance-of everything. Call it Survival Course 101.