Hammer of the Gods Godochaos(A) vs Da Hammer(J) NO DA HAMMER PLS

[BBfanboy]

OK - I've seen nose art on aircraft and some of it is downright provocative - but a nose sculpture? I see two problems:
1. How are ya gonna keep it from blowing off?
2. How are ya gonna get the pilot to look for the enemy? [:D]

[godochaos]

Lol BB, shes going to be my new squadron commander!

12-30-41
KB east of Singapore, bombs sing AF, KB loses 1 plane and 9 dmg'd
MKB possibly south of Davao

Japs subs torps an AK ouch

Singapore bombed heavily, ally 3 planes hit Japs 16 but most damgd

Hvy bombing PI,China

Wuchow holds of del. atk
Battle near Changsha

[godochaos]

Rabaul, our CVs loiter but he fled the area
our SAG rolls in and bombards Rabaul AF

[godochaos]

12-31-41
Damaged CL leaving singapore is torpedo'd 2 times and goes down
Ally SS hit nothing

Singapore air combats Ally 18 Jap 18 mostly damg'd by flak

5 bombings in CHina

KB near Palembang, bombs away

[godochaos]

Philosophizing and Strategizing

There was a point where Singapore had no CAP, but lots of bombers, I knew I should pull out the bombers and scatter them to other AF's but I did not. This was a mistake
With KB rolling down towards Batavia and Soerbaja I had gotten out some of the choice transports in advance, but i was just a little slow. It is possible that if he continues south that he will get some kills
If you have ships in repair in port, you cant wait too long to flee. you must take into account that it takes a day or 2 to get them out of repair status. this could get him some kills.

Now that my opponent has adapted to my level of aggression, and now that KB is active in the Batavia Palembang area I need to be patient and not try to force things with my SAGs, i need to try to not give away free kills.
All in all i keep telling myself that I need to back off and pause and wait wait wait when i comes to my desire to strike back.

Its easy to get lulled into thinking that the Batavia/Soerbaja area has some protection because it has quite a few aircraft, well the bulk of these aircraft are useless for CAP, and strike aircraft are useless against KB if they go in unprotected. realistically what are a few groups of 9 level bombers going to do to KB without fighters to escort them? NOTHING BUT DIE. I tried to spread out some of the airgrps in this region so that he can't hit a lot of them at once. I set them on naval search so they wont try to strike KB.

we are able to do a lot more in sopac knowing KB is away.

[BBfanboy]

Don't know if you are familiar with this, but a lot of new players don't get the max benefit out of their CAP because they put the aircraft at altitudes that don't fit their maneuver level. I know higher altitude is good for getting the first pass on the enemy planes, but early on the Japanese have the altitude ceiling sown up. For the Allies, the best thing is to keep their fighters near the top of their best maneuver band. E.g., for the P-40 and Buffalos the best maneuver numbers are between 5K and 15K feet. I would set them to CAP at 14K. The maneuver number gives them the best chance to dodge attacks, if they have good Defensive experience, and the best chance to get on an enemy's tail, if they have high enough Air experience.

The other big key to CAP air battles is to have greater numbers than the attackers.

Mohawks and Lancers have a 5-10 K best band. Click on the aircraft data yellow text for details.

[godochaos]

BB generally I get the altitudes for fighters, from reading the FAQ, i've been checking aircraft data, sometimes i go one band above ideal. Most everything is at 15k
1/1/42
Singapore bombing Ally planes hit 3, Jap 28 but mostly damg'd by flak
hvy bomb PI
hvy bomb China

BB SAG shells Tarakan,and japs land. CD does nothing grrr

KB bombs Batavia 1 hit on my CA trying to get of port
KB bombs Madioen and has 9 jap planes hit
KB bombs Soerbaja and hits about 5 ships, this one hurts because i could not get CA Houston out of the repair dock quickly

[godochaos]

Oh hey I forgot to ask, I have had no action with my subs for 3 days. Can anyone recommend some good shipping lanes for me to squat in?

[BBfanboy]

Well, you could swim under the Golden Gate bridge .... oh, wait, you mean your subs!
The strait between Formosa/Taiwan and the Chinese mainland is a natural channel, as is the deep sea hex just above Batan Island, between the Philippines and Formosa. If you are hunting warships and amphib TFs, sit at the choke points between his route of approach and your bases. Early on, you can get away with putting subs in shallow water because Japanese ASW is so bad.
You could also try near his latest conquests since there are usually follow-up convoys of support troops and supplies.

Also keep an eye on the Detection Level of your subs. Once spotted it is easy to route traffic around them, and even if the TF has to pass through the same hex as the sub it seems to spot the sub and force it to dive more often if the sub has been detected a turn or two before. If I have a DL of 3 or more on a sub I move it at least 5 hexes for a few days and bring it back if I'm still interested in the original patrol area.

There are differing opinions on patrol areas - I like to keep mine small and focused, with little cruising around while others swear by the "patrol around target" setting which sets a random shaped zone over a large area. They put several subs in the same are with that setting to get coverage. As "godochaos" you may prefer the latter approach. [;)]

Good luck.

[godochaos]

BB Very interesting about detection level, thanks for the advice. I'm going to have to take a close look at the reports. What you say makes sense though. I see subs I have a Japan that have no action and tons of SC's and PBs on them, they must be detected.

1-2-42
our CD at Tarakan lights an AK on fire
PBY on naval search hits BB Hyuga with a bomb

PI bombed heavily
moderate bombing china

Singapore large raid 21 jap planes damg'd

KB raids fleeing ships near Soerbaja, not too bad. 2 transports sunk, 2 damg'd. Not the end of the world

Dutch sub hit by ASW 3 hits

Tarakan holds off a deliberate attack

[godochaos]

1-3-42
We landed a small listening post at shortland and the xAP got bombed by Rabaul, but troops landed
CD guns at Tarrakan damg 2 ships. Tarrakan holds which surprises me

Ally subs are back and torpedo 2xAPs one with sinking sounds

Singapore heavy bombing and japs have 28 planes hit, most damgd
We bomb Kuantuan port and miss
Manilla hit by air set to ground attack
2 Japanese attacks in china and in one we lose 2000 men
We are making progress in Sopac unhindered
The japanese still have not bothered to take guam

Balikpapan is raided by KB with minor results

[godochaos]

1-4-42
ASW at PH actually gets 2 hits on a sub
Ally Sub torpedoes an AK
Jap sub torpedoes an ak off australia

BB Hyuga is hit by a Navsearch PBY bomb, I wonder if the navsearch bombs actually do anything

PI: BB nagato bombards mauban, landing at mauban. Heavy bombing clark.

Japanese capture tarakan, but CD hits one more AKL before we flee

KB raid Balikpapan, it seems like they are supporting an invasion somewhere, i see transports

Changsha,Kahsien, Liuchow bombed

Japanese bomb my planes that fled singapore to johore baru

[godochaos]

We hit Rabaul with a bombard ment, then as we flee some Vals try to get us, they miss...whew

[BBfanboy]

About those search aircraft bombs - PBYs carry 500 pounders which can do considerable damage to any thing except ... a battleship.[:(]
Even 1000 pounders do minimal damage to BBs. The best you could hope for is damage to a secondary or AA gun.

[godochaos]

1-5-42
Allied subs hit 2 AKs, Japs subs hit an AKL and a PC

PG Isabel leaves Bataan, and consumed by RAGE attacks the anchorage at Legaspi, Spraying indiscriminate small arms fire everywhere and hitting 2 AKs before getting flattened by a DD.

Hvy Bombing Clark and lots of air activity in China

KB Bombs Balikpapan and then ducks south towards Soerbaja to bomb CA Houston as it leaves in a wounded state to head to safety after being bombed earlier. CA Houston and other damaged ships shake off the attack and get away

Jap troops moving towards Changsha
Johore Bahru gets bombed

[godochaos]

1-6-42
No sub activity

Rangoon is bombed for the 1st time in a while by 15 Bettys, 5 killed and 5 dmgd

Hvy Bombing in china and japs move into Changsha

More bombing of Johore Bahru

Clark and manilla are heavily bombed

KB bombs Balikpapan, seems to be heading north

Heavy construction taking place in SoPac, unmolested
Japanese seem to be taking there time

[godochaos]

1-7-42
Ally subs torp a PB, SS grayling loses a fight with an AKL because SS grayling is a sissy
Japs torpedo an AKL because they can beat an AKL, but we cant

ASW actually hits a sub 3 times in dutch area

Japanese bomb Johore bahru 13 dmgs 1 dest
"" Rangoon 4 betty dest, 2 dmgd
hvy bombing clark and manilla

Hvy bombing in china and we actually successfully bomb changsha enemy troops, big battle brewing at changsha

KB bombs Balikpapan, which is great with me, i know where kb is and im busy getting out lots of ships safely from the area. the houston was bombed trice yet easily got away. very odd how he did not try to bomb ports more when he saw he was hitting good targets.

we established a listening post at milne bay

[godochaos]

1-8-41
odd turn, so I sent a surface combat group with CA's to Rabaul because he is unloading there again. Last turn they were in position to do there dash in so that they will arrive at night. Well they make the dash into Rabaul but they run into a CM 1 space out, they sink the CM and then they STOP. they do not retire, they do not advance to Rabaul they just sit there the whole turn 1 space away from Rabaul getting bombed. 1 CA medium dmg, 1 CA light dmg, 1 dd light dmg. very dissapointed. Really i got off lightly.

Jap subs torpedo an AP and 2 x TKs near soerbaja. The good news is i have stripped so much fuel and oil out of soerbaja that i cant really get any more!! woot
Hvy japanese bombing of Manilla and Clark, ground attack to soften me up
Japs bomb sing and johore bahru

Japs bomb in china, we ground bomb changsha and get some hits. Major Jap build up at Changsha. I dont mind turning changsha into stalingrad

[godochaos]

1-9-41
KB above miri headed NW

Zero sweep rangoon ally lose 3 jap lose 2
More bombing of johore bahru
heavy ground atk bomb Manilla and Clark

USA b-17 bomb Kuantuan

Major fight at Changsha, note i have fort 4

[godochaos]

1-9 cont.
Surface fights at Rabaul, we limp away with some damaged ships but overall not a disaster considering what happened last turn