No Way to Fight a War (Dixie vs GBL)

[mc3744]

Hi Dixie
Cool graphics [8D]
Could you post once in a while the Intel screen? To get a feeling of the overall losses.

Keep it up [:)]

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: mc3744

Hi Dixie
Cool graphics [8D]
Could you post once in a while the Intel screen? To get a feeling of the overall losses.

Keep it up [:)]

This one? It's not pretty reading for me, but hey-ho. The losses, particularly in shipping are high so far but have been dropping away with an increase where the KB showed up [:@] Generally speaking most of my shipping is now 'outside' the DEI, away to the West of Java/Sumatra in the Indian Ocean or outside the Pacific island chains.

Aircraft losses have been dropping cos I haven't got much else to throw at GBL right now!

[mc3744]

As far as I can tell ship losses are quite normal.
I find air losses a bit high though.
I'm guessing that's because you've been actively engaging Zero's with Buffalo's [;)]
Personally I prefer to keep the Buffalo as a training plane. Air squadrons with maxed out planes train much faster.
I keep them back to train till they are good enough not to waste their Hurricane's [:)]
But I'm definitely the Sir Robin type [:)]

Thanks for the info. It'd be nice if you'd post it every couple of weeks. Helps connecting the dots.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: mc3744

As far as I can tell ship losses are quite normal.
I find air losses a bit high though.
I'm guessing that's because you've been actively engaging Zero's with Buffalo's [;)]
Personally I prefer to keep the Buffalo as a training plane. Air squadrons with maxed out planes train much faster.
I keep them back to train till they are good enough not to waste their Hurricane's [:)]
But I'm definitely the Sir Robin type [:)]

Thanks for the info. It'd be nice if you'd post it every couple of weeks. Helps connecting the dots.

I'm down to around 30 Buffs in the pool and three squadrons. One NZ Buff Sqn is in India, one RAF sqn is in Burma and one RAAF sqn is making it's way down to Oz. Needless to say there is some intensive training going on at the moment, but the Buff has had it's day as a front line fighter. The three squadrons have claimed 12 kills between them so far, up to this point the RAF has lost 76 Buffs in air combat, plus another 26 written off after combat (17.5% of all Allied losses, fact fans!).

In total the RAF and USAAF have lost 179 fighters in aerial combat for a score of 64 Japanese fighters, 48 of which are A6M2 (plus assorted bombers). Almost a 3:1 ratio, however my pilots are widely known to be poor and will only get better. GBL has the advantage of better equipment and better pilots, but this advantage will erode over time. So whilst my losses are high, I'm happy that GBL's better pilots are slowly wearing out.

At the most basic level, those Buffaloes (and particularly) P-40s are lost to me regardless when the PI/Malaya falls. Right now they're still gone, but so have some of GBL's Zeroes. That's going to cost him in HI to build new ones and train pilots.

Also, the sacrifice of the Buffs has helped to evacuate over a division's worth of troops from Singapore. I don't have to deal with sending e-telegrams to the pixelated next of kin so I'm OK there!

[mc3744]

The troop evac out of Singers was indeed a relevant feat.
I dare say that it was probably, at least partially, GBL's oversight rather than the prowess of your Buffalo's [:D]
Still an enviable result. I have to admit that I've never even tried to evac Sing by sea after the first day.
I often had problems saving empty ships running at full speed from day one!

Given the troops saved it was certainly worth it. Good job! I wish I did it!! [:)]

[Dixie]

31st December 1941

A new year beckons and some interesting developments are, erm, developing.


PACIFIC
Two important convoys are heading south through the Pacific, supply convoy WB-01S and the SOPAC support squadron are both on their way to the South Pacific. Between them these two convoys will provide the basis for the support of the Allied war effort in 1942. The plan is to drop supplies and fuel at Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne. USN support ships (AV, AVP, AD, AS, AR, AE, AG) will be based in either Australia or New Zealand to provide forward operating bases when the time is right. There are currently no plans to station any USN oilers in the area, the fast ones will be operating with the carrier TFs and the slower ones will be attached to convoys to keep the destroyers operating.

A further convoy of troop ships escorted by Pensacola and Le Triomphant is at Fiji, where they were to pick up one of the US Base Forces. However, they have been spotted by a Japanese float plane. Given the distance from the Japanese lines, and the fact my ships are still afloat, this is most likely a commerce raider rather than a carrier strike, but I'm not hanging around to find out. The convoy is going to make a break for safety whilst the NZ strike squadrons have been readied for action.

Strong SCTF are departing Pearl Harbor to escort the two vital convoys through the South Pacific, even though they should be routed safely away from any surface raiders it's probably best to err on the side of caution.


NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Japanese soldiers have seized Vanimo on the Northern coast of New Guinea. A strong force of cooks and mechanics stormed ashore under heavy backpacks, the total lack of opposition did not go unnoticed by the Japanese commander who seems to have ordered some of his own men shot. Because, as we all know it's dishonourable to go home without any casualties...


EAST INDIES
Japanese carriers have been spotted 120 miles NE of Batavia, somehow the reported three carriers, two light carriers, a battleship and several escorting destroyers and cruisers has managed to slip past the Allied submarine picket line. Despite a reported five plus carriers the Japanese attacks were on a small scale, either due to the reports being wrong, a lack of targets or some other issue.
The carrier based aircraft launched two dive-bomber raids against a troop convoy on Sumatra's western coast where several small troop ships were attempting to evacuate the last few support troops of the Indian 11th Division.
In conjunction with the carrier raids several land based Betties and Nells launched from Borneo, sinking one small troop ship and a coastal minesweeper.

The KB is now in a position to either sweep down the Java coast or to make a dart into the Indian Ocean. No matter which option he takes GBL is not going to find many targets. A few small freighters are tucked up in Soerbaja along with three tankers, but most Allied ships left the region last time the KB turned up just in case they went for a course reversal. A raid into the Indian Ocean is not too likely at this point, the potential for coming away empty handed is probably not worth the waste of fuel.


MALAYA
Japanese forces now control all of the Malay peninsula north of Kuala Lumpur. With the RAF fighters gone the aerial defence of Singapore now rests entirely in the hands of the anti-aircraft batteries. Strangely it turns out that they are better than the Buffalo squadrons, shooting down one bomber for no losses to themselves. There were quite a few bombers damaged although they all seem to have got home safely.


BURMA AND INDIA
The elite 7th Hussars (xp 75) have arrived in Aden. Fresh from their exploits chasing Italians across the vast expanses of the Western Desert they arrive full of excitement, ready to sit still and guard lots of jungle. With their high experience and tanks they will form part of the garrison for Southern India and be based in the Madras area. From there they should be able to rapidly shift to new positions and shoot any Japs who try and invade from the sea. The general carpness of Jap tanks means the 7th may be a decisive weapon if they're called into action, despite the pretty poor quality of their own tanks.
The soon to arrive 2nd Royal Tank Rgt will be deployed to the Calcutta area in order to provide a similar role in the event of a Japanese overland drive or landing near Chittagong, unlikely though it may be.

Not much else to report, plans are afoot to fully move the Royal Navy HQ from Ceylon to Bombay in order to reduce the chance of the IJN catching the RN at anchor. There's plenty of excess transport capacity in the Indian Ocean right now so it'd be easy to do, any thoughts?
Prince of Wales is going for a refit tomorrow, gaining an extra 100 in AA value. Priceless for when she finally forms some sort of integral element to an RN taskforce... Still, Force Z lives on and will incorporate the RN carriers when they arrive.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Dixie
NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Japanese soldiers have seized Vanimo on the Northern coast of New Guinea. A strong force of cooks and mechanics stormed ashore under heavy backpacks, the total lack of opposition did not go unnoticed by the Japanese commander who seems to have ordered some of his own men shot. Because, as we all know it's dishonourable to go home without any casualties...

Dixie, has anyone ever told you that you are nuts? [:D]

[Cribtop]

He's quite mad.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Dixie
NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Japanese soldiers have seized Vanimo on the Northern coast of New Guinea. A strong force of cooks and mechanics stormed ashore under heavy backpacks, the total lack of opposition did not go unnoticed by the Japanese commander who seems to have ordered some of his own men shot. Because, as we all know it's dishonourable to go home without any casualties...

Dixie, has anyone ever told you that you are nuts? [:D]

Only once, but I didn't listen. Everyone knows that you can't trust a fox to tell the truth [:D]


In a shameless attempt to bump up my viewers, I'm going to post some more pictures of stuff in the pipeline.



I'm particularly pleased with the two tone grey on Indomitable mixed with the blue. Plain grey ships are boring [>:] And everyone knows that the better your in-game ships look the less likely they are to be sunk [:D]

[Dixie]

Time for some strategic thinkings...


I currently have a few scattered groups of B-17s in a position to do something worthwhile. One and a half groups in India, from the Calcutta area they can reach down into Burma and the Thai border area. There's not a lot to hit, but there are raids going up against Japanese troops and airfields.

Two groups are still stationed in the Philippines, from here they can actually bomb strategic targets, which is allowed under our HRs. The targets aren't great, but the best option is probably the oilfields at Miri. It's not going to be a major effort, just enough to give GBL something else to deal with and hopefully force him to station fighters in the rear areas. After a few days of bombing the oilfields it'll be back to hitting airfields for a few days, after that it's probably time to relocate the big burds.

[Mike Solli]

Having been on the receiving end of those buggers once or twice, I'd say you have them placed well. Hitting oil is always a good thing. You won't see the results of your efforts until 1944-5 but fuel shortages wreck the economy. Even if you're not in a position to bomb Japan with B-29s, if he has a fuel shortage in Japan, you're doing the same thing without putting those big shiny birds in danger.

Hitting Japanese troops in Burma in not nice. [:-] He already has a shortage of them and the malaria doesn't help to rebuild them.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Having been on the receiving end of those buggers once or twice, I'd say you have them placed well. Hitting oil is always a good thing. You won't see the results of your efforts until 1944-5 but fuel shortages wreck the economy. Even if you're not in a position to bomb Japan with B-29s, if he has a fuel shortage in Japan, you're doing the same thing without putting those big shiny birds in danger.

Hitting Japanese troops in Burma in not nice. [:-] He already has a shortage of them and the malaria doesn't help to rebuild them.

It's alright, at the moment there's a jolly good chance that the bombs will hit some Thai troops. Given that they aren't as good as Japanese troops and they're only going to quit when the going gets tough I'm practically doing GBL a favour really.

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Time for some strategic thinkings...


I currently have a few scattered groups of B-17s in a position to do something worthwhile. One and a half groups in India, from the Calcutta area they can reach down into Burma and the Thai border area. There's not a lot to hit, but there are raids going up against Japanese troops and airfields.

Two groups are still stationed in the Philippines, from here they can actually bomb strategic targets, which is allowed under our HRs. The targets aren't great, but the best option is probably the oilfields at Miri. It's not going to be a major effort, just enough to give GBL something else to deal with and hopefully force him to station fighters in the rear areas. After a few days of bombing the oilfields it'll be back to hitting airfields for a few days, after that it's probably time to relocate the big burds.

Get those B-17 groups in PH to Oz sharpish via Canton Island-suva route then start training them at ground attack betwen 10,000-12,000 feet. then start to bombard his troops in New Guinea. Japanese fighters find it very hard to shoot them down and when concentrated the B-17 formation is perhaps the most powerful early war weapon the allied player has. Develop the bases at Charter Towers, Townsville, Coen, Cairns and Cooktown and base them there. I attach them to V Bomber Command and have the HQ attached to Fifth Air Force. One HQ at CT's the other at Coen should been all the above fields are within range and thus the chance of a coordinated strike is much higher!

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Having been on the receiving end of those buggers once or twice, I'd say you have them placed well. Hitting oil is always a good thing. You won't see the results of your efforts until 1944-5 but fuel shortages wreck the economy. Even if you're not in a position to bomb Japan with B-29s, if he has a fuel shortage in Japan, you're doing the same thing without putting those big shiny birds in danger.

Hitting Japanese troops in Burma in not nice. [:-] He already has a shortage of them and the malaria doesn't help to rebuild them.

Once he gets Zeroes into Kuching the game will be up and you cannot afford too many B-17D losses as the pools suck. The 19th BG withdraws in June 42 (IIRC) so use them until he has air over Borneo then move them into Calcutta to train up and harass his advance in Burma. When they withdraw you will have a nice lot of veteran pilots in the pool redployed from the 19th!

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

Time for some strategic thinkings...


I currently have a few scattered groups of B-17s in a position to do something worthwhile. One and a half groups in India, from the Calcutta area they can reach down into Burma and the Thai border area. There's not a lot to hit, but there are raids going up against Japanese troops and airfields.

Two groups are still stationed in the Philippines, from here they can actually bomb strategic targets, which is allowed under our HRs. The targets aren't great, but the best option is probably the oilfields at Miri. It's not going to be a major effort, just enough to give GBL something else to deal with and hopefully force him to station fighters in the rear areas. After a few days of bombing the oilfields it'll be back to hitting airfields for a few days, after that it's probably time to relocate the big burds.

Damaging the oil fields early war at Miri or Magwe can be an effective use of the B17s in the absence of other actions. Also, why not base them on Java to burn out what's left of Palembang when he captures that too?

Since you've no HR against it, I assume it's OK for him to burn out all of the HI and LI supply producers in China with strat bombing now? It's this sort of poste/reposte that the common HRs seek to prevent.

I'll be watching with interest...

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Since you've no HR against it, I assume it's OK for him to burn out all of the HI and LI supply producers in China with strat bombing now? It's this sort of poste/reposte that the common HRs seek to prevent.

I'll be watching with interest...

We've got HRs in place to prevent either side strat bombing targets in China. Strat bombing from China is allowed though. We discussed the strat bombing HR and came to an agreement. Strat bombing on a meaningful scale requires a lot of effort and well built bases, which require more support to build and protect properly. Every bomber that's engaged in strat bombing is taken away from another task, be that tactical support or ASW.

This is the price that GBL pays for getting to play as a stronger Japan [;)] Just because I can strat bomb doesn't mean I will, it all depends on how the war progresses. It just gives GBL something else to worry about, if he knows I'm not going to bomb (for example) Palembang or Soerbaja until late 1944 then he's not going to keep much of a defensive air force back there and it'll be out there killing my planes.

There's more to my ramble, but wee 'un is crying so I need to go now.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

Get those B-17 groups in PH to Oz sharpish via Canton Island-suva route then start training them at ground attack betwen 10,000-12,000 feet. then start to bombard his troops in New Guinea. Japanese fighters find it very hard to shoot them down and when concentrated the B-17 formation is perhaps the most powerful early war weapon the allied player has. Develop the bases at Charter Towers, Townsville, Coen, Cairns and Cooktown and base them there. I attach them to V Bomber Command and have the HQ attached to Fifth Air Force. One HQ at CT's the other at Coen should been all the above fields are within range and thus the chance of a coordinated strike is much higher!

The groups with the B-17E have all moved to Oz, although they're mostly based around Brisbane/Sydney where the airfields can support them. There are four more groups with the D model based at PH which are now going to make the trek down to Oz.
I had intended to keep them back as a long range search asset, but I'm feeling the need for some massed air power [:D]

[Dixie]

31st December 1941 (Action)

PACIFIC

Not very much happened here, there are still two IJN submarines loitering near San Francisco and I still don't have much of a deterrent on the West Coast. Things should improve in a week or two as troop ships return from the Line Islands with their destroyer escorts.

Only two battleships remain at Pearl Harbor now, Arizona was the least damaged during the Japanese attack and will be ready for sea in a couple of months so sending her back to the Continental US would be a waste of time. California has remained for the opposite reason, she's so badly damaged that it would take several weeks just to get to the West Coast, tying up escorts for far too long. Instead she's going to remain at PH where repairs will continue until it's safe to move her or something more important (CV/fast BB/DD/CL/AO) needs the drydock.


NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMONS
A lot like the Pacific, very little happening. The only combat here took place over Madang, RAAF Hudsons have been performing night-time bombing raids and although they have achieved very little it's persuaded GBL to move some fighters into the base. Currently it's just Claudes, the Hudsons gave a good account of themselves during the fighting and although no aircraft were shot down the Japanese suffered several aircraft damaged.


EAST INDIES
The Dutch attacked another Japanese TF at Ketapang and have sunk at least one more freighter, possibly two without loss to themselves. It's surely only a matter of time before GBL assigns some LRCAP to the area.

The KB is reported to be retreating away to the NE of Singapore, the time looks to be right to move some of the small civilian ships docked in Java, and hopefully get a pair of tankers loaded with fuel and away safely.





1st January 1942 (Planning)

The year ends with the Allies on the defensive across the Pacific, although in the Western Desert Operation Crusader has ended with the capture of Benghazi. Together with recent Commando raids on Norway, this has created a sense of optimism for the Brits in Western Europe and the Med. The capitulation of Hong Kong and the poor showing of Commonwealth forces in Malaya have provided a blow to British prestige in the East. Perhaps the recent advances will result in an increase in reinforcements for the Far East...

The US, already at war with Germany in all but name has found herself dragged into a Pacific war. The loss of USS Lexington has shown the superiority of Japanese naval aircraft over their US counter-parts. With the USN battleships crippled, the carriers at a massive disadvantage and the submarines seemingly unable to correctly operate their torpedoes the USN is facing an uphill struggle to take the offensive. The only potential bright spot on the horizon is the ramping-up of US industrial output, although all the really cool toys are going across to Britain and Africa whilst the Japanese get to research their late war aircraft and have them turn up early...

The Dutch, already ejected from their homeland can only sit and wait for the inevitable defeat of their forces on Java and Sumatra. Despite the apparent hopelessness of their cause, or perhaps because of it, the Dutch forces have been in the vanguard of the Allied defence at times. A Dutch submarine has damaged a Japanese carrier and Dutch bombers based in Java have sunk several ships during the past week along Borneo's Western coastline.

[witpqs]

Dixie,

In AE certain of the upgrades on many of the old USN BBs are very lengthy. At some point you will have to take stock of each class of ship regarding when you plan to have them back to the States. The long overhauls occur at different times for different classes.

[mc3744]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Dixie,

In AE certain of the upgrades on many of the old USN BBs are very lengthy. At some point you will have to take stock of each class of ship regarding when you plan to have them back to the States. The long overhauls occur at different times for different classes.

On this topic. I noticed that some BB have an upgrade to 'BB' [&:]
What does it mean?