Return of the Sheep! - JocMeister(A) vs. MrKane(J)

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: obvert

The issue with CD guns during the invasion bonus is that the unload rate is so high that the TF gets everything off in one go and that also limits the disablements of the troops. It's almost like using late war Allied APA/AKA.

GJ landed at Geraldton in the face of 36 x 6" Aussie CD guns and a few other assorted smaller 4" CD guns and still attacked to take the base the following day. He lost a few ships, but not enough to make up for the lost Allied units I had expected to be able to hold out against a weakened landing force.

The loss of four PC is going to hurt. I'm struggling for enough escorts every day.

Aaaaw, and here I was feeling all pleased with myself! [:(]

Don't mean to be a downer. Just thinking that before you pile any more on Pago maybe wait until the end of the bonus.

I was as pretty surprised that the guns at Geraldton did virtually nothing to the landing troops, but it was my bad for not thinking of the bonus before defending forward in OZ. As always, mistakes are the best teachers! [:)]

[JocMeister]

I know I know.. just pulling your leg a bit! [:)]

[JocMeister]

Leaving town until Thursday! No updates or turn until then. [:)]

[JocMeister]

Got a turn back to Tom but I´m to tired (and pissed off) to write the update. Tom fooled me AGAIN. While the price won´t be anything game changing I don´t like when I make stupid mistakes. [:@]

[BBfanboy]

Are there any smart mistakes? I need to make some of those myself ...[;)]

[Cribtop]

I accidentally dated a Brazilian immigrant once. Best mistake ever!

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"] January 19th to 22nd January [/font]
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AV seems more and more likely for each day. Nothing positive to report

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DEI
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Balikpapan, Miri, Brunei and Palembang are now in Japanese hands. None suffered any damage in the capture. Batavia is encircled and Japanese troops are racing down the rest of Java.

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China
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The roadblock to Ankang is slowly being whittled down. From 900 AV to 650 in just 2 weeks. 2 DAs, daily bombardment and relentless bombings from the air give me little hope here. There are NO reserves to be had any more. Once Ankang is lost the can threaten Chungking and I will have to abandon Sian and probably southern China as well.

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SOPAC
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Stupid, stupid, stupid.

After KB showed up outside Pago Pago I spotted a TF moving NW. I didn´t have a great DL (5 or so) but there was several BBs and CSs spotted in the TF. I was sure this was the KB retiring. It was not.

On the 22nd the KB show up outside Tahiti sinking about 20 xAKs and more critically 10 big TKs. These TKs had almost 100.000 fuel onboard. I´m kicking myself quite badly right now.

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Overall mood.
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I´m being absolutely pummeled all over the map. AV is looking very likely and I don´t really know what I can do to avoid it. If I could stalemate China I could possibly stave it off. But Tom will break through before January is up and that will open a floodgate of Japanese troops pouring into the Chungking basin and its 300x multiplier. Add to that the VPs for Chinese troops and I will be in serious problems not even counting the added VPs from other locations.

Any advice or thoughts are welcome at this point! [:)] May sound odd but watching Tom play is fascinating. He moves so fast, so focused and don´t make any mistakes. He knows the strengths of the Japanese side and weaknesses of the allies. And he plays them both to the max squeezing every once out of it.

[DOCUP]

Chin up buddy.  You will get yours.  That's what I keep telling myself.

[JeffroK]

Isnt it 11 mths before AV is calculated??

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Isnt it 11 mths before AV is calculated??

Yes it is, but planning to avoid it must begin on the first turn!

[DOCUP]

You can do it

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: DOCUP

You can do it

Probably not. But I will try! [:)]

[Barb]

Try to play Scen 1 next time ... I doubt he will be anyway near AV without all the extra stuff from Scen 2 ... [;)]

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Isnt it 11 mths before AV is calculated??

Yes it is, but planning to avoid it must begin on the first turn!

Only 44 days into the war, well over 300 days before the end of 42.

Plus, IMVHO, why play any game like this for points????

[ny59giants]

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

After KB showed up outside Pago Pago I spotted a TF moving NW. I didn´t have a great DL (5 or so) but there was several BBs and CSs spotted in the TF. I was sure this was the KB retiring. It was not.

On the 22nd the KB show up outside Tahiti sinking about 20 xAKs and more critically 10 big TKs. These TKs had almost 100.000 fuel onboard. I´m kicking myself quite badly right now.

You have enough PBYs to prevent this from happening and AVD/AVs to disband in a base to allow some naval search. Hope you don't mind me piling on with what happened?? When you do something like this, it will hurt for some time.

Auto Victory - I know player play for this, but I don't. For me, its when one side or the other surrenders. For Allies, can I get Japan to surrender before 1 Sept 45?

[HansBolter]

Most people here know that I only play the AI and even I never, never put more than 4 tankers in any given TF.

I realize this is 20/20 hindsight and somewhat salt on the wound, but learn from the error.

Dispersion is the key to avoiding catastrophic losses.

And, yes, scenario 2 is easy mode for the Japanese player....avoid it at all costs.

[jokeon]

I am not familiar with game, but it appears that when playing against the best players it is often advisable to adopt a strategy that encourages losses.

In particular, it looks like going for losses in the air war would do you good. The multiplier means even losing two to one you would come out ahead in AV. So send in the fliers and hope for a return.[:)]

[Lowpe]

Trying to find a positive here...maybe he has to rearm the KB?[:)]

You have your carriers, your battleships, Pearl's starting planes, and India. No reason for this to have happened other than too fast play. Oh well, move on and disperse and protect your ships across the map and check all your search...it should be outstanding given the start.

From the map there is no search there? None at all. No sub pickets. No surface pickets. No planes. Just a bunch of juicy targets that had no reason to be there without search and protection.

[JocMeister]

Thanks for the posts guys.

Yeah, it was a stupid mistake and shouldn´t have happened. As Micheal says I should have had air search up at Tahiti. But AS is so critical I didn´t want to waste anything at Tahiti as I don´t plan on using the base at all. As Hans points out I also should have settled for a small TF. But lack of escorts is really problematic right now and I have to resort to big convoys for now. Nonetheless I knew KB was in the area (the Tanker TF was originally slated for Pago Pago) and I should have moved them out until 100% sure KB had left the area.

I´ll take the lesson and move on.

JeffK,
Because I want to make a point. Almost every Japanese player claim that its "impossible" to play Japan with PDU OFF. I want to show that its not. At least not when a outstanding Japanese player faces a mediocre allied one. [:)]

Lowpe,
Lost most of my subs at Manila. The few I have are still operating at DEI. The S-boats are moving toward OZ though. He should have run out of sorties soon. At least running low as he diverted some of the SCTF protection to hunt shipping instead.

jokeon,
Welcome [:)] You are right. With a PDU OFF game I should have some opportunity to inflict losses in the air in a couple of months. Need to get all those 20+ EXP pilots trained first though.

General note regarding AV/VPs.
When I started playing PBEM I was very skeptical of VPs and AV. In fact I never even looked at the VP score other then trying to confirm losses. As I played the game I realized that much of the game make very little sense if you are playing "for fun". For those of you who followed my game vs Erik know this was something that slowly dawned on both of us as we played deeper and deeper into the game. As you play past 43 the "simulation aspect" of the game really crumbles and it becomes nearly impossible to try and keep things "historically plausible". This is why I think many games never make it past 43. But from a VP perspective (and game perspective) things still make sense even in the late war.

At the very least its a motivator to play on for both sides even when things are already decided. I struggled immensely with motivation in 44 and 45. No doubt Erik must have suffered that 10x worse (playing the losing side at that time). Had we played for VPs there is still something to strive for.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JockMeister

General note regarding AV/VPs.
When I started playing PBEM I was very skeptical of VPs and AV. In fact I never even looked at the VP score other then trying to confirm losses. As I played the game I realized that much of the game make very little sense if you are playing "for fun". For those of you who followed my game vs Erik know this was something that slowly dawned on both of us as we played deeper and deeper into the game. As you play past 43 the "simulation aspect" of the game really crumbles and it becomes nearly impossible to try and keep things "historically plausible". This is why I think many games never make it past 43. But from a VP perspective (and game perspective) things still make sense even in the late war.

At the very least its a motivator to play on for both sides even when things are already decided. I struggled immensely with motivation in 44 and 45. No doubt Erik must have suffered that 10x worse (playing the losing side at that time). Had we played for VPs there is still something to strive for.

Agreed. It would have been a very different game played for VPs. It was the first real PBEM for us both though, and for that reason it maybe was better that it wasn't for points. We were able to try some things, not feel the pressure quite as much, and deal with setbacks more easily. That said I enjoy the motivation plaint for points gives now in my other games. As Japan you're looking for every little thing to conserve, get points from the Allies and not get your forces trapped or lost. As Allied your focused on logistics, getting the base built up and seeing the rewards for that pile slowly on the points tally, then hoping an deploying for some early surprises that could get even points or better to improve the ratio before 1/43.

The darkest days are dying the invasion bonus, and after that it should get better. You know what will come later Jocke, so do the little things now and keep conserving your forces unless given a golden opportunity. Players as aggressive as Mr Kane don't like sitting around doing nothing, so maybe you can lead him slightly astray by pulling back even farther.