The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

Night bombing has taken place sporadically, but it hasn't been effective. I don't think John has enough good airfields to mount a night-bombing campaign that would be helpful to him. But perhaps the KB on night attack? Hmmm. I've never considered that before. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

[JeffroK]

I would be concerned about 2 points you mentioned.

The ability for JIII to swamp your air defences using LBA, he would have a number of large airbases within range of his Air Force, many out of range of all except your 4E. He would also be getting some airframes which would be superior to all except your small number of P38's. You will get into an attritional battle which at start your pilot quality will help but lack of airframes will hurt. IMHO you will end up siphoning aircraft including F4F-4 into the battle for Sabang.

Your "lack" of Infantry. Again you could be facing larger numbers of IJA Divisions, admittedly on good defensive terrain and you are a long way from US Divisions arriving on the West Coast. The Brit, Australian & Indian replacement pools are not large, fighting heavy battles in Burma & on Sumatra could empty them quickly.

IMVHO, item 9 should be setting up for an attack on an island somehwere far away from Sumatra but important enough to get attention, and have it ready to spring when eyes are looking elsewhere (may be too late though).

I am sure someone can trawl the OOB and see what forces you have available for action, what surprise have you planned for stage II?

[Canoerebel]

I don't think John can cobble together enough good infantry to win the campaign on the ground. He has too many divisions too far away...and too many divisions that have been fought to a frazzle. Am I overestimating? Possibly, but that my best estimate.

The air war could be problematic. I don't have any Lightnings to speak of This is something I need to check into with John or the other developers. I only have one squadron (P-39G) on the map right now and it has just 10 or 12 aircraft. I think the replacement rate is 1 per day and there's nothing in the pools. And the squadron hasn't been involved in combat much at all. Seems kind of crazy.

I do have a fair number of P-40K - perhaps 100 at Sabang now, with 10 in the pools and replacement of 2 or 3 per day. This is my workhorse and performs well against the Tojo.

The F4F-4 is present in larger numbers. It should hold up well against the Zeroes, but not as well against the Tojo.

[Nemo121]

I don't think John has enough good airfields to mount a night-bombing campaign that would be helpful to him

He doesn't need a campaign, just 1 night. I closed a larger airfield, defended by more fighters and FlAK and engineers in August 1945 in a single night by sending in my bombers and fighter-bombers at 100 feet to maximise their potential to hit.

You are utterly focused on the ships and planes in the daytime and I don't think you've considered the potentials of night-time raids. You should read the 1st couple of days of that AAR to see their effectiveness. Right now I'd be planning to hit Sabang, at night with every IJAAF bomber I had followed by an IJNAF + KB massacre of your shipping the next morning. It'd work too. You need to counter it before you sleepwalk yourself into a massacre.

Be honest: Did you have ANY night CAP over Sabang before this was mentioned? I bet you didn't.

[Canoerebel]

No, I haven't had any night CAP. I don't think I've had a single squadron flying night CAP since the beginning of the game. John has tried just a few small nightime missions with very little success.

Allied CAP at Sabang has handled the relatively small Betty raids at night. Currently, moonlight is 50% and dropping. How big of an impact will that have? Will he need to await the next cycle of close-to-full moonlight?

How many squadrons should I put on night duty? I can spare 25 Buffaloes without losing any sleep, but how many "front line" squadrons do I need in the air?

[Nemo121]

Non-specialised night-time CAP is just there to disrupt the raid. As such I use Mohawks, Buffaloes etc for that role since you don't need good fighters to cause disruption. So, if you have 25 Buffaloes then that's what I'd put on night-time CAP. The only danger would be a low-level night-time raid so I generally don't set night-time CAP to more than about 6,000 feet. I ALWAYS have night-time CAP ( even if it is just a squadron of Mohawks ) since you never know when your opponent will get creative. Right now you're banking on his incompetence and that's not going to get you as clean a win as allowing for competence.

Full moon at 100 feet at night is best but, really, the key components are being undisrupted and being at low level and made en masse. Probably, IF he is thinking of doing this ( and he mightn't be, its just that its what I'd be doing and when I saw you mention night-time Netty raids for the first time I realised he might think of it ) he is holding off for full moonlight but you might as well counter it now since 25 Buffaloes during the daytime won't achieve much but could just save the base at night.

[desicat]

CVE's + shipping + PP's = Marcus Island, while the KB and the rest of the IJN are busy of course.

[paullus99]

Getting some night CAP up would be a good idea - I agree with Nemo that even a small number of bad planes can make it nearly impossible for the Japs to hit anything of importance (especially in low moonlight situations).

Just like Kirk vs. Khan - you need to always be thinking in three dimensions, not just two.....

[DW]

Just like Kirk vs. Khan - you need to always be thinking in three dimensions, not just two.....

Would quoting Melville help? Or, is that just for JohnIII?

I recommend this:

"There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."


If he's not taking about night-time CAP set at 6000 feet, I don't know what he's on about.

[Paladin1dcs]

Not only would a Night-Ops CAP break up any major raids, it could also stop a harassment raid from affecting your unit's fatigue and morale levels, which should reflect in better results in daylight operations.

[Canoerebel]

A small interlude to reflect on the ebb and flow of the game - and what it means or doesn't mean.

John and I have played so long and know each other so well that we usually, though not always, know when the next turn is coming. The turns come when work and family scheduels permit, usually regularly, and when disrupted there is nearly always a heads up.

For the past three weeks things have been pretty frantic due to the game's high level of excitement resulting from the big Allied invasion and John's response. Our schedules, however, haven't permitted us to play nearly as often as we'd like to, which only heightens the anxiety and drama.

I sent John a turn late yesterday morning after he said he' be in a position to flip it back. But nothing else came all day...and into the night...until I finally got an email at about 9 p.m. John said that his power had been out much of the day and had only just come back on.

So I went to bed certain that a turn would arrive while I was asleep - John always sends his last turn of the day within an hour or two fo midnight, his time. But when I awakened this morning, there was no turn nor any email explaining what might have happened. This is pretty unprecedented. Perhaps John's power went out again. But the imagination runs wild. Did he achieve such a great victory that he's taking his time in order to savor the moment? Nah. If he'd scored a big victory, he'd been active in his AAR. Could it be that he suffered such an ignomious defeat that he's no longer continent and can't bear the thought of sending me the results and posting them in his AAR? Well, here's hoping!

But in all likelihood some real life situation has really snared him, taking him away from the game for an unprecedented 24 hours. So here I wait, knowing that nothing major likely took place, but hoping that Japan blundered into appalling defeat.

[pws1225]

As a reader of both AARs, I have noticed that from time to time John posts in his AAR in the wee hours of the morning (sometimes 2:00 or 3:00 AM). Perhaps he is simply tuckered out.

[Canoerebel]

He might be, but I can tell you that I am flat wore out to a frazzle. In the days immediately before the invasion - 2.5 weeks ago real time - I began having trouble sleeping at night. I often would awake to see if a turn had arrived. If so, I'd sometimes get up and head into work to run the turn. If not, I'd sometimes spend an hour in the forums. I've had maybe two good night's sleeps out of the past 18. I'm exhausted!

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

He might be, but I can tell you that I am flat wore out to a frazzle. In the days immediately before the invasion - 2.5 weeks ago real time - I began having trouble sleeping at night. I often would awake to see if a turn had arrived. If so, I'd sometimes get up and head into work to run the turn. If not, I'd sometimes spend an hour in the forums. I've had maybe two good night's sleeps out of the past 18. I'm exhausted!

Well, the good news is you might just be getting old, but, I suspect, as you seem to imply, it is the uncertainty of a major enterprise hanging in the balance.

Bobby Lee probably had some sleepless nights around this time 150 years ago.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

... Could it be that he suffered such an ignomious defeat that he's no longer continent and can't bear the thought of sending me the results and posting them in his AAR? Well, here's hoping!

...

John's incontinent? Depends on the outcome? Is that the same as PO'd? [;)]

Seriously, I hope you can get caught up on sleep before it leads to forgetting something important. I hate it when sleep deprivation leads to an obvious oversight by either side that affects a major battle. [:(]

[Canoerebel]

I hate the thought of some quirk of the game throwing the game way off course. Yesterday, for the first time, I wondered what would happen if John created a massive sacrificial-lamb fleet of xAKs and xAKLs and flooded Sabang with them at the same time he sent in his combat TFs; the idea being that my combat TFs might expend their ammo shooting at pigeons instead of the alligators and wolves. I hate the very thought! I briefly considered creating my own fleet of xAKs to do the same thing (I have at least 70 low-value ships in port), but ultimately decided that's just not kosher. So I won't do it and I hope John won't do it.

To me, sending 200 level bombers on a nighttime raid at 100 feet to smash an airfield is pretty much the same thing. It's way beyond what would have been possible for Japan in reality and is, I think, designed to take advantage of the game's workings. So I hope John won't do it - heck, I hope he won't even think of it.

[Squamry]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Yesterday, for the first time, I wondered what would happen if John created a massive sacrificial-lamb fleet of xAKs and xAKLs and flooded Sabang with them at the same time he sent in his combat TFs; the idea being that my combat TFs might expend their ammo shooting at pigeons instead of the alligators and wolves. I hate the very thought! I briefly considered creating my own fleet of xAKs to do the same thing (I have at least 70 low-value ships in port), but .....

Why does this remind me of Dr Strangelove?

[Cap Mandrake]

Geez, CR, you sure use purdy words.

Wouldn't Nells at 100 ft get the heck shot out of their balsa wood wings by AA? Also they have not the payload to shut down a level 6 field...break some airframes, yes, but shut it down, no.

[Canoerebel]

Why does that comment remind me of Deliverance?

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I hate the thought of some quirk of the game throwing the game way off course. Yesterday, for the first time, I wondered what would happen if John created a massive sacrificial-lamb fleet of xAKs and xAKLs and flooded Sabang with them at the same time he sent in his combat TFs; the idea being that my combat TFs might expend their ammo shooting at pigeons instead of the alligators and wolves. I hate the very thought! I briefly considered creating my own fleet of xAKs to do the same thing (I have at least 70 low-value ships in port), but ultimately decided that's just not kosher. So I won't do it and I hope John won't do it.

Your remark about it not being "kosher" is exactly on point. These things run a spectrum. Some feel that whatever the game engine allows goes. Soaking up carrier sorties with merchants or SCTF ammo and sorties with these sacrificial flotillas is on the same spectrum. Clearly the game engine 'allows' both players to do it. Is 'do unto others' the best you can do in this case?

Does this make you reconsider your extensive use of 'picket' xAKL and xAKs? I'd consider that the other pea in this pod, were I in John's position. Not identical, but comparable.