See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: jmalter
Worried that only half your strike-aircraft launched.

I'm pretty sure any CV strike launched from costal waters is automatically halved.

Jim

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

APD ASW is not as good as DE's. IIRC the numbers are DE-6, APD-4, original DD configuration -2.

APDs have 6 ASW

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: jmalter
Worried that only half your strike-aircraft launched.

I'm pretty sure any CV strike launched from costal waters is automatically halved.

Jim

Used to be all coastal, but was changed to port hexes only.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

And the really neat thing is that APDs can do ASW duty too, even when they are loaded.

Yes, they're still excellent for the era as APDs. Not as good as some of the RN DDs, but really good versus the ASW 2 rating on most USN DDs before the first upgrade cycle. The non-APD route is DEs I think, and I don't recall the difference with an APD's ASW rating. But the Fast Transport capability is gold to me. It makes the Marine Raider LCUs very handy.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: jmalter
Worried that only half your strike-aircraft launched.

I'm pretty sure any CV strike launched from costal waters is automatically halved.

Jim

Used to be all coastal, but was changed to port hexes only.

+1 Hans

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

And the really neat thing is that APDs can do ASW duty too, even when they are loaded.

Yes, they're still excellent for the era as APDs. Not as good as some of the RN DDs, but really good versus the ASW 2 rating on most USN DDs before the first upgrade cycle. The non-APD route is DEs I think, and I don't recall the difference with an APD's ASW rating. But the Fast Transport capability is gold to me. It makes the Marine Raider LCUs very handy.

Yup, allied APDs are gold into allied hands. You'll get so many DDs, DEs and PFs that you don't really need to worry about ASW past 4/42, while the APDs are rare and very usefull, especially in SWPAC environement

[apbarog]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I may go with the APD's after all. I was just feeling the real lack of ASW currently and thought this was a good way to remedy that situation. I will at least split the conversions, and possibly switch to all APD's. I need to learn more about future reinforcements as the Allied side, something that I am not familiar with. Thanks again all.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

Thanks for the advice everyone. I may go with the APD's after all. I was just feeling the real lack of ASW currently and thought this was a good way to remedy that situation. I will at least split the conversions, and possibly switch to all APD's. I need to learn more about future reinforcements as the Allied side, something that I am not familiar with. Thanks again all.

Take a look at the first DEs. Then look at the PFs. Wipe your chin. Proceed with the early 1942 "education." [:'(]

[apbarog]

4 Mar 42

I moved a small minesweeper to Banjoewangi, on the eastern tip of Java, as bait. The Japanese cruiser force arrived as expected, and obliterated the sweeper, but didn't hit any of the mines placed there. Was worth a try.

The daily artillery attack at Clark occurs. Casualties are negligible, but supply on Luzon is starting to get low. I have subs bringing in supply to Bataan, but it isn't keeping up with the daily grind. It helps though. The longer the 2+ enemy divisions are tied up here, they aren't somewhere else.

I did decide to place the Clemson and Wickes destroyers into conversion to APD's. The ASW is less than the dedicated DE's, but still better than what I have now, and as pointed out, the good stuff is on the way.

[apbarog]

5 Mar 42

Jolo in invaded. It is lightly defended. Another back filling operation by the Japanese.

Lahat, near Palembang, falls. A small Dutch unit surrenders. Other Dutch remnants are gathering on the west coast. Air transports are picking up the stragglers for added defense of Java. Very small additions, but seems better than waiting there to surrender.

No indications for the next big move. With Singapore taken, the Japanese could sneak a fleet out into the Indian Ocean toward Ceylon, and do so unobserved. I'm starting to thin out the shipping at Columbo just in case.

I'm also no longer sending convoys from Abadan or Cape Town to Australia. For now, Australia is supplied through New Zealand from the US. I'm more confident that there aren't raiders in the South Pacific. The Indian Ocean is ripe for raiders.

[apbarog]

6 Mar 42 and 7 Mar 42

Jolo is attacked but not taken. This was followed up with an artillery bombardment. I will shock attack next turn. Probably suicide, but it could work out. Forces seem evenly matched.

The first US sub action in the Kuriles takes place. SS Trigger, operating from Cold Harbor, gets a working torpedo to hit an xAKL, probably sinking it. It was unescorted. This will raise the alert in this area. I expect all convoys to be escorted from now on. Mission accomplished.

A Burmese unit is kicked back into the jungle near Lashio. It will hold its position and jump back onto the rail line if the opportunity arises.

Some mines are laid in the straits northwest of Singapore. SigInt shows the Japanese 144 Infantry Regiment is loaded on an xAP and headed for Rangoon.

A small xAK task force is spotted just east of Majuro. Probably shuffling forces in the islands. Could be part of a move on Baker or something else to the south.

Japanese carriers have been absent for awhile. Last contact was at Singapore for one group, and leaving Balikpapan to the north for the other. I suspect this group also went to Singapore.

Still large numbers of ground units at Singapore and Davao.

The Japanese are well aware of my transportation of supply to Bataan by sub. I have about 10 US subs doing this, emptying Philippine islands of supply for Bataan. I expect some kind of response to this soon, so I'll switch back to supplying China for a bit.

A few other subs are redeploying to Ceylon for expected action in that area soon.

Ground units at San Francisco are being assigned future objectives including Pago Pago, Suva, and Noumea. Some need to be bought out first. The 40th Infantry division will be purchased in about 5 days. The liner Queen Elizabeth is awaiting this unit there.

[apbarog]

8 Mar 42

One of the great things about AE, for me, is the individual story of ships surviving the odds and making it to safety. One of those stories almost ended today, and may still end tomorrow. AS Otus, which I believe started out in the Philippines, made the long trek to Australia after (I think) taking a torpedo hit. It repaired all of its SYS damage at Perth, and left there with FLOT damage in the 30's. It then proceeded to Melbourne fine, but found the port crowded and a long repair time there with a small repair yard.

I knew that there was at least one sub between Melbourne and Sydney, but I decided to risk it and send Otus to Sydney for a quicker repair. On this turn, just 2 hexes from Sydney, I-169 put another torpedo into her, pushing the FLOT damage into the 60's and SYS damage into the 20's. With the engine damage, it can now move one hex. I chose to send it to the adjacent size 3 port, just south of Sydney. Hopefully it will make it, and the port will be big enough to save her. Fortunately there is no fire damage.

Big battles are great, but the little stories are great too.


The only other notable event this turn was that Jolo fell. My desperate shock attack there never happened as the base fell with the Japanese deliberate attack.

[Bullwinkle58]

ASes are close to my heart. I did refits with four I believe. My dad served in two, including USS Orion, which is in the game. I played with my Tonka trucks in the wardroom of USS Hunley when I was four, and attended the arrival conference in the same wardroom as supply officer of USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN634(G).

Couple of things you could have done. Always other things of course. With system at zero a trip to CT would be a low-risk. Route south to the exit hex and she'd have been in CT's yard in about 45 days. Or stay in Melbourne as a stash and wait for room. The Allies in 1942 have very little need for ASes. Most boats are out of size 7 ports like Pearl, Brisbane, Darwin, Soerbaja. Perth can use an AS for a pretty long time if you focus on building the AF and forts (and you should.) ASes come into their own later when you island hop forward.

But there's no need to give every ship whatever it needs to fix right away. It's hard to watch pier queens day after day, but until you have a handle on ASW it's sometimes best to let the support guys go and fix the shooters.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

8 Mar 42

One of the great things about AE, for me, is the individual story of ships surviving the odds and making it to safety. One of those stories almost ended today, and may still end tomorrow. AS Otus, which I believe started out in the Philippines, made the long trek to Australia after (I think) taking a torpedo hit. It repaired all of its SYS damage at Perth, and left there with FLOT damage in the 30's. It then proceeded to Melbourne fine, but found the port crowded and a long repair time there with a small repair yard.

I knew that there was at least one sub between Melbourne and Sydney, but I decided to risk it and send Otus to Sydney for a quicker repair. On this turn, just 2 hexes from Sydney, I-169 put another torpedo into her, pushing the FLOT damage into the 60's and SYS damage into the 20's. With the engine damage, it can now move one hex. I chose to send it to the adjacent size 3 port, just south of Sydney. Hopefully it will make it, and the port will be big enough to save her. Fortunately there is no fire damage.

Big battles are great, but the little stories are great too.


The only other notable event this turn was that Jolo fell. My desperate shock attack there never happened as the base fell with the Japanese deliberate attack.

You did the right thing by ducking into the nearest port rather than take a chance the sub won't find it before you got to Sydney. Flotation damage is often exaggerated the first turn after being hit and getting to port lets you pump out the non-major flooding, and take care of the system damage. As Bullwinkle58 states, you can afford to be patient and let the small port do what it can before sending Otus on to Sydney. Meanwhile the sub will get tired of hunting and go elsewhere.

[apbarog]

9 Mar 42

AS Otus does make it safely into Port Kembla. It was a close call. I-10 got a shot at 2 escorting PC's, missed, and didn't spot Otus this turn.

Sally's bomb the ground troops at Medan. I don't expect a direct landing here, when an undefended base is available south on the rail line.

The most interesting thing for this day was that I got heavy activity in SigInt at 150,49, which is 3 hexes west of Attu Island. I have a sub transiting the area, which is now diverted to Attu to watch the expected landing next turn. I already have some Cats a bit to the east. They didn't see anything this turn. Next turn they will recon Attu directly, as well as search the area.

With a few slightly early air group withdrawals, I got enough points to buy out the 40th Infantry Division. It is now loading on liner Queen Elizabeth for a quick trip to New Zealand, most likely. The rest of the division will follow. West Coast units, mostly unpurchased so far, are being allocated for the South Pacific.

[apbarog]

10 Mar 42

The SigInt from the last turn was correct. Attu was invaded this turn. SS Trigger was on station, was sighted, and took some minor damage. Invasion forces included a naval guard unit, a JNAF AF support unit, and a naval construction unit. The Japanese plan on staying.

In a related SigInt hit this turn, there is a TK moving to Paramushiro Jima.

In China, Chinese units at Pucheng are bombed. The terrain is just rough here, so they will take a pounding. The fort level is 2 here. I'm undecided whether to stay and defend, or just pull back west into the wooded hexes.

The Japanese cruiser task force that has been hanging out at Denpassar moved toward Soerbaja, stopping at the tip of the island that runs parallel to the north coast. It didn't do anything except draw the Dutch air force, which had to be the objective. The cruisers were LR capped. Dutch losses were about 8 bombers and 7 fighters. No Zero's lost.

On a technical note, my opponent is having PC problems, and installed AE on a different computer. He had to use the latest version of DBB, ver 14. I'm using version 13. The extended maps we are using are still the same. Is this an issue? It was my understanding that the database matters when you start a game, not during the game, as the info is stored in the saved game file. Is this correct? We both got a message that the Database was Updated on this or last turn, but everything looked and ran ok during the turn.

[apbarog]

While awaiting a definitive reply in the Tech Support section, our game is on hold. My opponent is observing a crazy garrison number in one of his cities (2000 I think). A few turns ago, he had to switch PC's, and he installed version 14 of DBB-B. We had been using version 13, and I continued to use 13 for the last few turns. His weird garrison number may or may not be related to the upgrade.

We may just roll back the game a few turns with him installing the older version 13, and pick up the game from there.

[apbarog]

The game is back on. I had to redo just this last turn, so nothing lost really. The Mukden issue turned out to be a typo in DBB-B version 14, with the garrison accidentally set to 2000 instead of 200. My opponent has gone back to version 13 to stay in synch with me.

The only other in-game thing I can add is that another Australian unit popped up in Columbo. It is now being loaded to go to India. Ceylon will continue to be minimally defended.

[apbarog]

11 Mar 42

Near Soerbaja - Japanese Cruiser force moves to Probolinggo, and sinks 2 HDML's.

At the SE tip of Australia - I-10 is engaged by US DD's on ASW duty. No hits obtained. 4 enemy subs spotted from here to just north of Sydney. Allied air force is starting to put planes on ASW duty as they are trained well enough for it.

At Attu - SS Trigger fires at a Japanese DD and misses, and takes some minor damage with depth charges. Trigger will now RTB.

On Java - All Dutch bombers were supposed to be stood down, but a few were missed with the redoing of the turn. 5 bombers with 5 escorts go after those cruisers again. All bombers miss, and most of the attackers are shot down.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: apbarog
The game is back on. I had to redo just this last turn, so nothing lost really. The Mukden issue turned out to be a typo in DBB-B version 14, with the garrison accidentally set to 2000 instead of 200. My opponent has gone back to version 13 to stay in synch with me.

You know I have that issue as well in my game but I was just going to send a bunch of divisions there to meet it. Probably should have realized it was a bug in a mod.