Islands of Destiny: RA 5.0 Japanese Side

[savelius2]

It seems like John's search was terrible for some reason. Getting blindsided by that many allied TFs with zero warning probably had some contribution to the poor showing.

[John 3rd]

I have nearly 60 Emily searching from Wake to Tabitueau and they spotted no movement.

Have got the turn and am now running it.

Hope for calm deliberate movement from Dan. If not then this shall be a blood bath.

[pws1225]

I have nearly 60 Emily searching from Wake to Tabitueau and they spotted no movement.

It is hard to imagine how that many Allied TFs could get so close without being detected. Bad weather, bad luck, both?

[savelius2]

I wasn't saying your efforts to search were bad, but that the outcome was (which seems very odd). You had DL on nothing on the map and then planes and TFs everywhere right on top of your TFs, and you hadn't seen anything at all to the SW for a number of turns. Is something weird with your search settings or squadrons?

Lowpe, at least, seems to be suggesting that DL has a huge impact on many types of missions, from strategic bombing to sub attacks. It seems probable that the poor coordination was related in some fashion.

[Andav]

A screen shot with search arches turned on would be most helpful.

Wa

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: pws1225

I have nearly 60 Emily searching from Wake to Tabitueau and they spotted no movement.

It is hard to imagine how that many Allied TFs could get so close without being detected. Bad weather, bad luck, both?

Weather was pretty bad. That might be a factor.

[John 3rd]

He kept coming. Here is his one strike: 197 Fighters, 265 DB, and 190 Avengers. No coordination penalty at all...

They are met by 395 Zero.

[John 3rd]

Here are the plane losses for the turn:

[KenchiSulla]

Looks like you only received, and almost nothing flew strikes... Don't keep us waiting

[Anachro]

That's a small number of planes downed by flak relative to the number sent on the strike. Did not many get through your CAP, or...?

[crsutton]

I was having trouble with my Allied CVEs reacting. But I then changed them all from Air Combat TFs to CVE Escort TFs and they have not reacted since. Did you have your CVE TF set to "air combat?" Nothing else to add since I am reading both.

[AcePylut]

460 db’s and torp planes – 150ish shot down… Either the 310 remaining turned back, or struck home… ut oh…

[Mike McCreery]

I only see 2 ground losses so if they did hit they may have hit surface ships rather that the carrier TF.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I was having trouble with my Allied CVEs reacting. But I then changed them all from Air Combat TFs to CVE Escort TFs and they have not reacted since. Did you have your CVE TF set to "air combat?" Nothing else to add since I am reading both.

That may be it Mr. Sutton. They were set on 'air combat.'

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I was having trouble with my Allied CVEs reacting. But I then changed them all from Air Combat TFs to CVE Escort TFs and they have not reacted since. Did you have your CVE TF set to "air combat?" Nothing else to add since I am reading both.

Interesting.[&o]

[John 3rd]

It COULD be worse. It, most likely, WILL get worse.

A STF of 5 DDs intercept Kaga's TF and are driven away quite easily by the escorts. As hoped though--it slows down my withdrawal by about 3-4 hexes.

Almost escaped attack this day. Bad weather in the morning prevented anything from the Allies. Unfortunately, weather cleared for the day.

My Zeros don't do too bad. They fought the huge escort for only a little while before penetrating to the bombers. You can see the losses detailed above. As AcePylut comments several HUNDRED do get through and perform their drops.

It COULD be worse.

Carriers
We are going to lose--at a minimum--Kaga (4 B--1TT), Zuikaku (3 B--1 TT), Hiyo (2 B--1 TT) and Nisshin (4B). None of the CVs actually sank last turn but they will this turn. We suffered lite damage to Hiryu (2B), Shokaku (1B), Akagi (1B), Mizuho (1B), and Chitose (1B).

Surface Ships
Kawachi (9 B--2TT) and Ikoma (4B) absorb nearly 100 plane's worth of attention. CL Yahagi takes 4 Bombs and a DD is sunk.

It COULD be worse (I just keep telling myself that)...

Note that with nearly 300 planes attacking they only scored 34 Bomb Hits and just THREE Torps. Pretty darned bad!

ORDERS
All ships with a reasonable chance of survival head for Marcus. This draws us away from his forces and brings him closer to my LBA.

The cripples shall serve as lunch for any pursuing STF.



I truly hope that Dan doesn't come any farther. It would genuinely surprise me if he does. If his blood is up then he will and this will grow far worse...

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

I truly hope that Dan doesn't come any farther. It would genuinely surprise me if he does.

You know your opponent, do you think the plane losses/performance will bother him and cause him to pull back?

[John 3rd]

Not much has gone right with this dismal performance. We need some self-examination and specific work on correcting problems.

Identified Issues:
1. There are a lot of questions I have regarding the fight and, particularly, the horrific raid coordination. I wonder if having so many CVs in each TF was the real culprit? I've never worked on this scale before. My creation of the CV TF was predicated on roughly 400 planes as Kido Butai was at the start of the war. Perhaps that is a total error.

Opinions on this? What do JFB's have to say from their experiences?

2. Air Search seems to be taken care of but it certainly wasn't. Someone mentioned having night searching going on as well. I've never done that--excepting bombardments--is this something useful as well?

3. We've already settled the CVE reaction issue. THANKS!

I can do nothing for how Dan likes to throw of TFs to soak up and pulverize strikes at non-important shipping. The key here is the learn from the fight so that myself and others can benefit.

Even though we're still trying to get away let us look to a post-battle briefing and discussion.

I have turns saved for the three previous days so we can look at just about anything.

[JohnDillworth]

2. Air Search seems to be taken care of but it certainly wasn't. Someone mentioned having night searching going on as well. I've never done that--excepting bombardments--is this something useful as well?

^^^^^^^This^^^^^^
all those ships and all those TF's? Did you have a general idea of where Dan's carriers were? By bad luck or bad design it seems you had no situational awareness. This needs to be diagnosed, understood and fixed.

[John 3rd]

I have always differentiated on Dan as my opponent and Dan as a friend. We've played against each other dating back to Uncommon Valor and WitP. Think it is nearly 12-13 years total now that we've interacted and been there for each other. When my life nearly ended ten years ago he stepped up and provided extremely valuable consultation and camaraderie.

When this game stopped several years ago I took other people to task for their treatment of him and the personal nature of the commentary as well as direct attacks upon him. My 'flamboyant' playing style offends many and leads to very nasty commentary on the other side of any AAR I run. This is something I am used to. Have to admit I do enjoy it sometimes. Twisting the Allied tails can be quite entertaining! Dan did not deserve it years ago and it truly affronted me when he quit the game due to those comments.

Think what I am trying to say is that Dan and I's history goes so far back and runs so deep that we do truly call each other friend.

Keeping that in mind I found this note he just wrote me quite in line with him and his warm, Southern personality:

Thanks in part to the many whippings you've administered in this game and over the years, I suspect I know how you feel at the moment. There have been times when I felt like my hair was on fire, when I could feel my scalp tingle. I swear there have been occasions where I could even feel my hair turning gray. It is an agonizing feeling to get embroiled in a tough battle and then to have difficulty extracting your ships. Oh yes, you have had me right there more than once.

Thanks to lessons I've learned through matches with you (and some others), I know that it takes time to fully recover my sense of balance and determination. Usually, I try to fip turns fast so that I can rid my nostrils of any lingering stench. But sometimes it helps to breath for a spell.

As every Alied player who has suffered at your hands can attest, the climb back out of the gloomy days brings its own rewards and senses of accomplishment. The Japanese in your hands will always be dangerous. This has been a major battle, but it's just the first of many to come. I am under no illusions that you are on the ropes. You've been stung, so you will therefore be all the more cagey and dangerous.

I have the turn mostly done. I doubt you want it right now judging by your last email suggesting that your window for doing turns may have closed today, but send word when you're ready for it.

A class act my friends and readers. I HOPE that this game can bring you into good relationships as he and I (as well as Michael, FatR, Adm Nelson, and several others) have developed. May you be blessed as I have been by this great spirit and camaraderie!