General Patton vs. larryfulkerson Focus Pacific #75

[larryfulkerson]

It took a little more than three full minutes to make this image look this way and I'll never get those three minutes back so enjoy the
show. I'm eyeballing Milne Bay as a possible target. He's got 10K+ troops there but I'm bombing them everyday and I think maybe
sometime soon they will be so disrupted that it may just be possible to push them over. So I'm putting together a project to gather
all the assets needed for the invasion. Let's call this operation Shiny Chevy 2 ( I've already launched an operation with almost
an identical name in a different game ). I'll need some INF of course and I'm guessing at least a division.....and some engineers to
take down the forts they have built there and some AF guys for the airfield for rapid deployment of aircraft into the hex. I've got some
CM's that I can use to lay some mines there to dissuade Allied subs. This might just work.

EDIT: Yes, I realize that I should replace the Nell's at Buna with Zero's and move the Nell's to a base further away. I moved the Nell's
to Rabaul and flew some Zero's into Buna. And the Nell's are now doing ground attacks on Milne Bay.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Brian this Sunday morning. Here's an image I made up just now by reusing an image I posted 15 turns ago with,
on the right side the same shot just now and you can see that I'm not keeping up with the demand of Ha-35's and so on. This is
handy for me to be able to judge which engines to boost and which to switch to a different engine etc.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of some of the shipyards in this mod. You can see that there's one at Truk now and one at CRB that I don't remember
being there in the stock version. Maybe there's more changes that I'm not aware of.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Brian. Here's the result of my bumping up the R&D for several engines. I don't remember if I bumped up all of them
but these I'm sure about.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the 3rd set of moves I've received from Brian today. That's pretty cool. Anyway, I've received new moves from Brian and it's
time for an update. Um......I'm starting to run into a danger close situation on the fuel remaining at Tokyo. I need to be able to refuel
all the transports that are bringing goodies to the home islands. The TF's aren't all landing at Tokyo but if the fuel is getting low at
Tokyo surely it's getting low everywhere else because of the flow of fuel and supplies in the normal course of game mechanics. I'll take
a look at that to see if that's accurate.

[larryfulkerson]

Yeah, it's true. Tokyo has it's fuel stockpiling turned on and nobody else in the home islands does so all the excess fuel is flowing to
Tokyo just like it's supposed to and it has the most fuel of any home island city. Kobe is down to it's last 29K of fuel. I'm going to have
to retard the outbound shipments of fuel to the hubs at least temporarily. Fortunately the hubs are flush in fuel right now so operations
can continue for about another week. Give or take a day.

[larryfulkerson]

Tracker says that I'm down to my last 28 days of fuel in the home islands. But that line about subtracting the HI_fuel_cost from the
barrels of fuel suggests that if I turn down the HI production the fuel will last longer. That sounds like a last ditch kind of thing but I'm
aware of it.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me turning off the HI at Tokyo just to see what difference it makes in the consumption rate if any.

[larryfulkerson]

There's about 1.6Meg HI in the pool and I'm building over 10K per day so I'm thinking that cutting that in half to about 5K per day is
okie dokie at least for a little while. The point is though that I shouldn't have to turn off the HI. I need to produce more fuel is the
trick. So I'm thinking of boosting the refineries a little bit in the home island cities.

[larryfulkerson]

So there I was in the industry dialog to boost the home islands refineries and I found them already boosted. Probably for something
related to the fuel level problem. I must have done it on some previous turn and forgot about it.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been bombarding Milne Bay for several times now and it's starting to get some good hits. I forgot to allow the escorts to bombard
too so it was just the Heavy Guns Ship that fired. I didn't even have a spotter and still got some decent hits.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening in the game so far. I've gotten one of my SCTF's trapped at Balikpapan because of the presence of an Allied
carrier and escorts. I need to find the carriers that will volunteer to help them out. I just happen to have a bunch of them off the east
coast of Australia. It was slim pick'n's in terms of sunk ships and I'm thinking those carriers are better used elsewhere. So I'm pulling
them out the east coast area into Rabaul's waters and send one group to Truk and rest and refit everybody and about a week from now
I'll have somebody to help out that SCTF stranded at Balikpapan.

[ny59giants]

Logistics, logistics, logistics...

In other words, I see too many oil producing bases still in Allied hands and lots of useless SE Pacific bases red.

In late Jan '42, I have a fully functional Palembang and Medan on Sumatra. Djambi is slightly damaged (50 oil). Tarakan and Balikpapan will be captured within the week. Gen Patton has not put up much resistance. You have given him time to create a "Fortress Palembang." If you do take it, the industry may be almost totally trashed. [:(]

What are your future plans to capture Sumatra, Java, and Borneo??

[Bif1961]

Why not route the Carriers off of eastern OZ to DEI and brush off the Allied carriers if he sees you coming they will move off allowing your trap surface forces to escape and then you can get fuel in DEI and then send the ones you want refitted to the HI.

[larryfulkerson]

Gen Patton has not put up much resistance.

I agree totally. I'm starting to wonder if he's sandbagging or concentrating on another game with somebody else. I believe he has
another PBEM game going besides me. Which reminds me.....I started an anti-AI game as the Japs for the practice and I've
noticed that I'm getting the two games mixed up in my head. Maybe something like that has happened to Brian. I'm no genius so
I hesitate to think it's me doing something right. I'm kinda new at this and I'm making all kinds of mistakes and false starts and so on.
I should have Palembang already. I concentrated on Bataan instead. Now that Bataan has fallen those divisions can be used on
Palembang, Java, Timor, etc.

You have given him time to create a "Fortress Palembang." If you do take it, the industry may be almost totally trashed.

Yeah, I agree. It's not looking good for the Japs. I'm taking too long invading important places.

What are your future plans to capture Sumatra, Java, and Borneo??

Like I was saying above, the freed up troops at Bataan have been moved to Manila and most of them are headed for Mersing. I've
loaded up and dispatched two TF's already. They'll probably arrive withing about a week. Also, Cagayan fell so I've got some
troops that are moving to Davao that I can use in the Celebes areas. I've been loosing a lot of ships to invasions, especially the
transports and I'm thinking of landing at Medan or Padang on Sumatra and marching down the length of the island capturing bases
as I go. Oh, wait. I have completely forgotten about any garrisons those bases might need. Anybody know if Sumatra is like China
and requires a garrison at a lot of it's bases?

[larryfulkerson]

Why not route the Carriers off of eastern OZ to DEI and brush off the Allied carriers if he sees you coming they will move off allowing your trap surface forces to escape and then you can get fuel in DEI and then send the ones you want refitted to the HI.

Good to know I've chosen correctly. Thanks for the tip but I've already pulled the carriers back to Truk and they are getting refueled
and refit for the trip to the DEI and the Palembang operation. I think maybe I should leave a sort of mini-KB at Truk just in case Brian
gets adventurism. I've got about 12 carriers of various kinds so I'm thinking maybe three should stay at Truk and the rest can take
part in the takedown of Palembang and Java etc.

EDIT: Thanks for posing you guys. I'm hungry for good advice. It's really appreciated.

[ny59giants]

I first plan on where my Air HQs are going to be sometime in Dec '41. For me. it come down to Palembang/Oosthaven (or Toboali if Palembang is not immediate), Denpasar, Koepang, and Horn Is to isolate SRA/DEI (backfill later). Ms Nell/Betty make it costly for Allies to get in and out. [;)] Next, is plans to capture oil centers. Your Amphib TF get BBs or CAs to soak up those potentially nasty Dutch CD gun hits. When speed unloading is essential for your invasions, then those small "Shipping Eng" LCU or another source of Naval Support are a must to unload quickly.

Your wasting time march your troop on Mindanao to Davao. There is a size 3 port 1 east of Cagayan (Butuan).

Yes, Gen Patton's other game is vs me. [:)]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
I first plan on where my Air HQs are going to be sometime in Dec '41. For me. it come down to Palembang/Oosthaven (or Toboali if Palembang is not immediate), Denpasar, Koepang, and Horn Is to isolate SRA/DEI (backfill later). Ms Nell/Betty make it costly for Allies to get in and out. Next, is plans to capture oil centers. Your Amphib TF get BBs or CAs to soak up those potentially nasty Dutch CD gun hits. When speed unloading is essential for your invasions, then those small "Shipping Eng" LCU or another source of Naval Support are a must to unload quickly.

Sounds good. I'll see if I can't put this into motion.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Your wasting time march your troop on Mindanao to Davao. There is a size 3 port 1 east of Cagayan (Butuan).

I need to look around more. Or learn how to use my tools. Tracker doesn't seem to have a page devoted to Bases and what
kind of ports and airfields they have. The City List dialog does though and I could use that I suppose although there's no way to
separate out the different regions.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Yes, Gen Patton's other game is vs me.

Oh wow. Coolness. Is it too early to ask who seems to be winning? What's happening in your game right now. Are you keeping
an AAR? I'll read it.

EDIT: "Tracker doesn't seem to have a page devoted to Bases and what kind of ports and airfields they have."
I found out that the Bases tab will fill this need just fine. I need to look around more.

[ny59giants]

Approaching end of Jan '42. Captured - Midway, Johnson, Christmas, but didn't land enough at Palmrya. KB1 & 2 back in Marshalls heading for Truk. Canton and Baker next over here. Singapore fell on 8 Jan 42. Palembang was very lightly damaged. Invading Tarakan and Balikpapan in next few days. Luzon - he decided to stay at Clark and Bataan, but BTS Lite uses SL so he will pay for this. Three divisions landed at Kalidjati on Java and they can see Batavia from one hex away while 4x tank rgt racing down both coast towards Soerabaja. Using two other divisions to capture rest of Sumatra, divided and using small Amphib TF.

Plans - Ceylon, western Australia, and down to Noumea.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Approaching end of Jan '42. Captured - Midway, Johnson, Christmas, but didn't land enough at Palmrya. KB1 & 2 back in Marshalls heading for Truk. Canton and Baker next over here. Singapore fell on 8 Jan 42. Palembang was very lightly damaged. Invading Tarakan and Balikpapan in next few days. Luzon - he decided to stay at Clark and Bataan, but BTS Lite uses SL so he will pay for this. Three divisions landed at Kalidjati on Java and they can see Batavia from one hex away while 4x tank rgt racing down both coast towards Soerabaja. Using two other divisions to capture rest of Sumatra, divided and using small Amphib TF.

Plans - Ceylon, western Australia, and down to Noumea.

Wow. That sounds like an exciting game. I had guessed you were the Japs because Brian is almost always the Allied player. We're
actually playtesting his scenario #75 mod and we've had to restart at least once already for small nit noy bugs and every time we
restart I'm the Japs. I'm learning a lot and I'm finding my way around the game mechanics just fine now and I'm starting to get a
feeble battlefield awareness thing going on. WITP-AE is a fabulous game.