The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[JeffroK]

Be careful about sending your forces out in penny packets, 4 Fletchers will get swamped, 8 Fletchers might survive a battle.

[poodlebrain]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Sadly minefields won´t protect you. Not even 900+ mines and nor will CD guns. [:(]

Not sure if its intentional or not but CD guns are only effective against landings and covering straits. Mines are mostly just a waste of time. I use them to protect against enemy mine laying subs.

One of the quirks of the game. Bombardment TFs can stay outside of CD range and minefields, but still have range to reach airfields that would likely be farther inland than the CD artillery.

Given the low number of mines produced, why doesn't the game allow you to sweep your own mines and recycle them? Defensive minefields in rear areas are useless for the Allies from 1943 onward. They have more than enough minesweepers to patrol every port making any Japanese attempt to mine with subs an exercise in futility.

[Canoerebel]

Mines at Sabang are a significant asset. I began this seige with 962 maintained by two ACM. There are still 956. Six IJN ships have hit mines - a CA, two CL and three DD. John hates seeing the Kaigun attrited by two things in particular: mines and PT boats. They seriously get inside his head (especially PT boats back in the WitP days when they were uber weapons).

Back in mid to late January, a Japanese combat TF visited Sabang. A CA and a DD took hits. The CA was subsequently sunk (as was another CA, if memory serves) while retiring. That was the last visit by an enemy combat ship for nearly a month. For a long time, I considered making a post about those two mines being the turning point of the campaign since they bought so much time.

Every mine hit now is signficant, not just for the ships damaged but for John's morale. He loves his ships.

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Did you note the makeup of the big combat TF featuring Yamato, Nagato and Fuso? There were no CAs. Not a one. The escorts consisted of CL Agano and five DDs. That was such an odd combination that it gave

That may have been intentional. I'm not keeping score on his losses, but it has been widely discussed to keep ship types grouped & not mixed. It had something to do with range gates. Also, you try to watch your ship speeds (don't mix fast & slow BB's etc.).

Hopefully someone with a better understanding than I will chime in & correct me if I am wrong.

[Canoerebel]

John has lost nine CAs by my count, so he's hurting on that score. CAs seem like Japan's Achilles Heel, to me. He does get four extra in this mod, but at least two don't come along until later.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Sadly minefields won´t protect you. Not even 900+ mines and nor will CD guns. [:(]

Not sure if its intentional or not but CD guns are only effective against landings and covering straits. Mines are mostly just a waste of time. I use them to protect against enemy mine laying subs.

From various discussions on the forums including multiple devs, both intentional and historical.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

With the KB in a blocking position, these are my options right now:

1. Flood the KB with merchant ships to soak off sorties.
Would you really do that? Is that a reaction to his night bombing just after discussing it?

Then send combat ships to Sabang. This I won't do on general principles. Nemo, a crafty tactician, would do so without hesitation. But I'd hate that if it was done to me and I'm sure John would hate it if I did it to him.

2. Bring in the American carriers. No can do. I currently have five and fighter numbers are low. The odds of success would be remote.

3. Hunker down and take punishment until something gives, if ever. Let mines and subs do some work. There's lots of supply to work with. Try to dance with the CL Cleveland and Birmingham TF to prevent these last ships from getting wiped out. Even if John shuts down the airfield, he still has work to do to get to Sabang and take it.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Would you really do that? Is that a reaction to his night bombing just after discussing it?

wiptqs - you should have read the rest of the paragraph:

This I won't do on general principles. Nemo, a crafty tactician, would do so without hesitation. But I'd hate that if it was done to me and I'm sure John would hate it if I did it to him.

[Canoerebel]

I just returned from a nice hike in the mountains during which a far more apt comparison for John III occurred to me: He's not Jackson, Hood or McClellan. He's Phillip Sheridan at Cedar Creek, riding hard to rally his troops and save them from utter disaster.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Would you really do that? Is that a reaction to his night bombing just after discussing it?

wiptqs - you should have read the rest of the paragraph:

This I won't do on general principles. Nemo, a crafty tactician, would do so without hesitation. But I'd hate that if it was done to me and I'm sure John would hate it if I did it to him.

I had read that, but I was surprised even to see the item listed.

[Canoerebel]

John and I exchanged email last night and this a.m. about night bombing.

First, I asked him his intentions and understanding about it. He replied this way: "No Night Port Bombing. Avoided it but went after the AF previous turn. Fairly useless attempt..."

Then he modified this later in the nightt: "Have thought a lot about this topic and have decided to go with no night bombing PERIOD. Was going to go along the lines of no Port Bombing but then thought that that wasn’t consistent. Consider the issue settled. Am reasonably sure I changed everyone for this turn. I think..."

I replied this morning:

"When we originally discussed the issue of night bombing in 2013, our concerns came from widespread reports in the Forum that it was rather borked. Those reports might have been exaggerated or the issue might have been addressed in later patches. If so, let' discuss.

"There will come a time when Allied night bombing is historical and I'll want to use it. But if it's borked in some way then we'll need to address it then too.

"Of course, Japan did use night bombing. As I recall there were occasional Betty raids in the islands campaigns. They weren't large numbers, as I recall, nor were the particularly effective.

"So I'm open to discussing, but would like to make sure we're on the same page with the same understanding.

"So until further notice, neither of us is night bombing. But let's discuss if you wish to."

Unless night bombing is totally borked (I haven't heard anything of that sort in years, so I don't think it is), I intend to engage in it when I draw close enough to Japan to employ it. I'm sure the Allies used it in limited quantities earlier in the war, but I won't. Before I commence night bombing (perhaps months before), I'll let John know that I intend to use it historically (or, historically within the context of the game - meaning if I invade Okinawa tomorrow I'd consider using it). But if it does turn out to be borked, we'll address the issue then.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: witpqs
I had read that, but I was surprised even to see the item listed.

I was just listing the options that are available but making it clear that's one I wouldn't use.

[zuluhour]

I'd really like to hear what people have to say about night bombing, assuming the latest patch and particularly the DBB scenarios. I have been using it
to some effect but I certainly have seen nothing to get happy or mad about. I have seen NO spectacular results and found the Nick to be a worthy opponent
at night. I seriously doubt I got more than a dozen hits and half a dozen planes on the ground over Rangoon in 6 months of night bombing by Libs and
fortresses. They NEVER coordinated. I feel it just added a dimension to the game and forced Japan to use up base space for night fighters he could have
otherwise employed. Your port raid was successful. Perhaps all the cards fell right for you, ie the die rolls, Japanese preparedness etc..

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

I'd really like to hear what people have to say about night bombing, assuming the latest patch and particularly the DBB scenarios. I have been using it
to some effect but I certainly have seen nothing to get happy or mad about. I have seen NO spectacular results and found the Nick to be a worthy opponent
at night. I seriously doubt I got more than a dozen hits and half a dozen planes on the ground over Rangoon in 6 months of night bombing by Libs and
fortresses. They NEVER coordinated. I feel it just added a dimension to the game and forced Japan to use up base space for night fighters he could have
otherwise employed. Your port raid was successful. Perhaps all the cards fell right for you, ie the die rolls, Japanese preparedness etc..

Do you notice a fatigue difference when using them and regular aircraft at night?

[zuluhour]

I had not really noticed much as every raid seemed a little different.
Weather: Thunderstorms: lucky to get one 500 pounder on anything. (I have only really tried this in Burma, very little in the Pacific)
Co-ordination: I NEVER got squadrons to combine nor a full squadron to carry out a raid, regardless of weather.
Losses: I suffered 20-70% (guesstimating) damaged a/c every challenged raid losing maybe 15% to Ops over the course of a month worth of raids.
Fatigue: I almost always fly a 1%-0% fatigue, I can't help it. Libs and Forts I stand down after 99% of every raid. As I am about to commence some night time
raids over Thailand I'll keep a closer eye on this.

One Success: I do think I had one or two solid raids over new Guinea. Neither was defended by fighters and flak was light. I think I remember getting
3 on the ground and scoring double digit hits. These were the exception for me. I will email Skygee on our next turn to see if he'll volunteer anything.

ps. As a follow up, I also feel like the missions are less likely to fly in the first place, though I generally do not review the 4E squadron leaders unless I
something strange happens. I start looking at them when I cull the pilots for the superforts.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Here's an update, and likely your answer, regarding engineers. As I'll show in a moment, they did suffer disruption but no fatigue or disablements. In fact, all support troops (HQ, engineers, base support) suffered about 50% disruption, 0 fatigue, 0 disablements in the bombardments. But the ground troops weren't touched. Here's an example including all major ground troops and engineer units (note that there are alot of the latter). Figures are: Disruption/Fatigue/Disablement

1. SWPac HQ: 47/3/0
2. 164 RCT: 0/3/0
3. 132 RCT: 0/3/0
4. 762 Tanks: 0/2/0
5. 1st Marines: 0/5/0
6. 813 EAB: 49/3/0
7. 2 USMC EAB: 41/3/0
8. 193 Construction Reg't: 49/3/0
9. 8th Sea Bees: 49/3/0
10. 15th Sea Bees: 49/3/0
11. 22nd Sea Bees: 49/3/0

Supply at the base is now 282k. It was at 302k just before the bombardment, but there was also a transfer of at least 10k (and possibly considerably more) to Langsa. So the bombardment had minimal affect on supply.

Disruption is no doubt part of the issue that slowed repairs. The other is probably the high level AF (9) and high level forts.
Forts don't show damage per se but a level 9 AF protected by level 6 forts is a huge chunk of concrete and engineer effort. To restore a damaged AF you also restore the forts that were associated with the AF.
At least when you are originally building them, a high level of forts existing before construction on an AF level requires more effort to ensure the increased AF facilities keep forts of the same level. So I believe that applies during repairs too.

[Canoerebel]

2/21/43:

That night, he came down with a fever. In the cool of the morning, when he opened his eyes, there were 20 warriors on horseback watching him. (He didn't know it in his delirium, but they were an Arapaho hunting party not at war with the white man - at the moment, anyhow.) Believing his life would end right there and then, Clint rose to his feet unsteadily, pulled his pistol from his belt, and ran at the hunters, screaming his fool head off and brandishing his weapon. The Arapahoes, believing they were in the presence of one who had lost his mind, kicked their ponies into motion and left him standing there, his eyes feverish and a foolish grin on his face.

Battle of Sumatra: No sign of enemy combat ships today (and none seem to be coming up the slot from Singers, as near as I can tell). But John finally commits his airforce against Sabang. The result is friction - the fickle lady smiles on the Allies this day. John loses about 180 aircraft, including 46 Tojos (important attrition that keeps his sweeps at a reasonable pace), 87 Kates, and 52 Sallies and Helens. The CAP performed well (probably because the IJAAF fighters were in escort roles) and the AA was stout. John got spanked a bit. If this discourages him from using bombers against Sabang, then that's one threat that's been reduced. Friction is my friend right now. Perhaps my only one.

The KB remains west of Sabang. Allied subs are near and showing detection, which gives John that to worry over. The Birmingham/Cleveland TF will vacate the port again tonight. Mine are still 956, so no enemy casualties last night (nor any visitors, best I can tell).

Sabang's engineers have recovered now. Runway damage is down to 19. Supplies at 276k. No immediate threat to the troops at Langsa and the hex to the south (though I'm guessing John will mount a ground campaign there; I'd prefer that over an amphibious assault of Langsa).

Allied combat ships are spread out and awaiting that elusive (and risky) window to break for Sabang. BB North Carolina returns to the map tomorrow. I don't see her getting a chance to go to Sabang anytime soon, and don't know if I'd want to even if there was a good window.

Here's hoping the IJN battlewagons are still days away. At this point, John's BBs seem to be his only route to winning this campaign on any kind of timely basis. So please, Lady Friction, work your magic on the Kongos.

[JeffroK]

ooooh.

He should have swept for a day or 2 before trying this, maybe he assume that his BB caused ore damage.

[witpqs]

Yup. Even sweeping the same day would have been better, but maybe he felt he didn't have enough fighters for escort and sweep. Good news for the defense!

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Yup. Even sweeping the same day would have been better, but maybe he felt he didn't have enough fighters for escort and sweep. Good news for the defense!

I thought that but maybe his sweep didnt fly?