General Patton vs. larryfulkerson Focus Pacific #75

[larryfulkerson]

My midget sub operation is up and running at Rabaul. The first midget sub is leaving now on it's carrier for the waters surrounding
Sydney's harbor. I'm going to see what kind of defenses there are there. And Newcastle too. See if I can't shut down some of his
RES runs operating out of Sydney. Plus the large long-range transports that come and go.

[larryfulkerson]

I've put together four midget sub missions and as you can see I chose the four biggest, four busyst, four most needed ports he's got.
If I can keep the pressure on for a awhile this way I might be able to sway the war to be a bit longer or something.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd pick some random spot on the map, a good spot, and see if I couldn't find something to say about it. In this image I see
where Wake is overstacked still by about 300 troops and there's a TF headed to Truk that I can re-direct to Wake to get some of
those troops. Also in the lower right there's an autoconvoy TF that's evidently returning to Osaka and it's got no escort. So the auto-
convoy system is still building TF's with no escorts still. I thought maybe if I put enough PB's in the Osaka hex and made them automatic
that the system would use them. Maybe I ran out of PB's. I'll look into it.

Also, I notice that at least one TF has some SC's as escorts and that's way too inefficient to be workable. I'll see if I can't find some
proper escorts for that TF. In fact I seem to have found four PB's acting as ASW that I can re-purpose. Yeah, this'll work.

[larryfulkerson]

The bad news is that Tracker thinks that the Japan home islands is running out of fuel at an alarming rate. So, since the oil level is on
the rise I think I'll crank up the refineries in the home islands to produce more fuel. At least a little bit, see how that works and go from
there. The problem is that there's a finite amount of oil left to be had and I'm continually having to go further and further to get it. Port
Arthur is getting down to the teen-K's and that's about as hard as I want to push Port Arthur. I'm just about depending on Miri and
Tarakan and Balikpapan and ultimately, Palembang.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me bumping up production by about 40 barrels per day. That's not a big jump and it's not going to show up at all at first but
eventually we'll be pumping out more fuel. I notice too that Miri is almost 1/3 repaired. Sometimes the supply convoy is late getting
into port and the supply level drops below 10K and the repairs stop. D'oh.

[larryfulkerson]

I just now found an autoconvoy TF at Hong Kong unloading supplies from Osaka and it's got two escorts. So evidently I ran out of PB's
at Osaka and the game engine started sending out TF's without escorts. D'oh. I'll have to keep that in mind.

[larryfulkerson]

I just received Brian's third set of moves today. Singkawang finally fell and it's got lots of damage to the facilities due to naval
bombardments that happened. I need to get some engineers to this hex asap and get the repairs started on the port and airfield.
Also, I need an HQ for Singkawang to dispense TT's to the planes. I'm hoping that taking down Palembang will be easier now.

[larryfulkerson]

Today is 10/22/2016 and I've just received some new moves from Brian. He and his wife are celebrating their wedding annivesary and
I didn't expect any moves from him until about next Tuesday but I just got some just now. What a trooper.

My invasion TF headed to Port Moresby is getting closer to their target. I've pre-positioned a carrier group near PM and I've got a SCTF
headed for PM and I've moved a lot of aircraft into the area for top cover and there's not much left to do. I suppose I could lay some
mines in PM's harbor. It's probably going to be an anti-climax when they get there.

[larryfulkerson]

The invasion TF going to Balikpapan is still three days out and I'm going to have to come up with some more escorts because they
don't have enough yet. I need some heavier ships in that TF to soak up the CD gun shots. Maybe I should do some naval bombardment
of Balikpapan first.

[Bif1961]

Bombardment might damage the oil facilities.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961
Bombardment might damage the oil facilities.

And I need those facilities in good condition......of course you're right. No bombardment then. Maybe a brute force push by the
troops will do the trick. Either that or the facilities are doomed.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought it prudent to send Palembang some reinforcements and this time I'm including some SCTF elements for escorts because
it's a perfect storm trying to land on that beach. The Palembang group are outnumbered and are getting bombarded on the ground
and from the air and the need a hand. I'm moving fighter aircraft to Singkawang to provide some CAP and maybe do some ground
attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

I sent some reinforcements to Tarakan and they are having an especially hard time getting troops ashore. The damage is terrific
even though I've got a BB as part of the escorts. I haven't retreated from a gun battle at the shore yet and I don't want to start doing
that but any more damage to the ships and I may have to retreat the ships back to safety.

EDIT: No need to pull the ships back to safety......the transports were all sunk. But at least the people got ashore first.

[larryfulkerson]

My Balikpapan invasion force is almost at their target. One of the troop carrying ships has some pretty awful damage already and the
gun battle hasn't even started yet. Not a good sign. I don't remember a sub incident or anything. That kind of damage is rare for the
regular in-transit damage that ships accumulate over long distances of travel.

[larryfulkerson]

I launched an invasion force from Tokyo to Port Moresby and it's getting closer but the TF headed for Tulagi has a way to go yet. I'm
moving aircraft into the area for the aerial battles that are going to occur soon and I'm looking around for some more engineers to
ship into this AO. I'd like to place some engineers at Milne Bay to build up that area for the empire.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of some of the Auto-convoy system TF's delivering supplies and making RES runs to various places. Takes some of the
workload off me in that I just check them once to make sure it's a safe route and then forget it. Theres no transports at Osaka since
this time last night so I'm guessing they are all out on their routes. I need to ship some more transports from Tokyo to Osaka and make
auto-convoy capable. I'm hoping to eventually get MOST of the routes into the auto-convoy system. A few ships at a time so as not
to saturate the pipeline anywhere. Too many ships loading or unloading at the same port will make the whole process inefficient. The
fault cascades to other hubs and their spokes. I estimate that the efficiency of the logistical system is about 15% or so. Lots of slack.
Part of my routine now when getting moves from Brian is to repair all the damaged ones at ports and route the other damaged ones to
the nearest port and dispatch the repaired ones on new routes. If I could get the auto-convoy system to do most of that it would be a
boon.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Manado - A good place to get an Air HQ into along with a group or two of Ms Nell or Ms Betty with some Zeros.

I've got an Air HQ at Guam that isn't employed.....I'll get it moved to Manado as soon
as I can russle together the transports. There's a lot going on and I've got transports
heading to lots of places and some are more important than others. There's a sort of
priority operating here.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Amphib TF vs bases with CD guns - More ships, less troops. If an LCU has 4000 troops, load unto ships with at least 2 1/2 that capacity. Also, select "load troops only" option in bottom left corner of screen that you use to select LCUs. Second, form a small Amphib TF of xAKLs and load just supply. Combine both TF and add those old slow BBs. Before landing you will need air power to attack ground troops for a few days.

Here's what's hampering my invasions. They are carrying way too much suipply for the
initial landings. And when the invasion is over and the troops are ashore usually there's
an overage of supply and I can send the ships back to it's origination and then unload the
excess supplies before loading the next troop load. Your way is MUCH better. Thanks.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
CD Guns - Open up mod as Allies. Look at the CD guns and then hit "D" to bring up devices. Find out the range of the CD guns. Form Bombardment TF and escort "NOT" to bombard. Set CA and/or BB to range 1k or 2k greater than CD guns. Hit base multiple times
before invading. Get a large AKE nearby to reload from (Manado would be good choice).

I've got an AKE headed to Manado from Tokyo. I made about 5 of them and they are heading
out to Truk, CRB, Babeldaob, and Hong Kong. I sent two to Truk as I want to move one of
them to Rabaul. I need more AKE's yet. I need about a dozen of them in various places.
It would have been good to have an AKE at Kaiveng when I was taking Rabaul. It would have
made the takedown proceed faster. Thanks for jogging my memory about them. You're just
a fountain of good ideas lately. Know that it's appreciated.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the combat reporter report on the sea battle that took place at Port Moresby. I didn't do enough recon of Port Moresby and
Brian had added some PT boats to the mix without my recon finding them and I didn't have the escorts hooked up to the transport
TF properly or something and the transports went in alone and were treated roughly. I have no idea what went wrong and I guess
I'm obviously still learning this game. I'm discouraged.

[Andav]

The opening 6 months or so of the war are a huge learning curve for the Japanese. Don't get discouraged. Make sure you learn to counter what the Allied player is doing. Also take note of what he is doing that you might be able to apply in reverse once he has the initiative.

Was your invasion force following the SCTF? Detaching one of those CLS and 2 DDs to have them sweep the harbor would probably have taken care of the PT boats. Also, what was the moon light for that turn? At this stage of the war, if the moon light is very low, PT boats can be a huge problem. I hate PT boats ...

Wa

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Andav
The opening 6 months or so of the war are a huge learning curve for the Japanese.

It's true. I'm experiencing it ( again ) for myself. There's so much to do and so
much to keep track of and the little details matter and most of what happens in the
first 6 months or so of the war will effect what happens for the rest of the war. I
get that. I'm tempted to just hang onto what I have right now. Maybe try for
Palembang again. And of course Singapore, Manila, Davao, Tarakan, Horn Island, etc.
it goes without saying that grabbing them is important.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Don't get discouraged.

Don't worry.......I broke out some of my favorite intoxicant and all is well.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Make sure you learn to counter what the Allied player is doing.

I'm trying to keep track of where his carriers are because I want to sweep the east
coast of Australia to see what I can sink and I don't need Brian taking back Tarawa
from me, for example. He's aggressive and wily and liable to do almost anything. In
other words, this is my first real contest with him and I have no idea what to expect.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Also take note of what he is doing that you might be able to apply in reverse once he has the initiative.

So far the most damaging thing he's done by way of surprise is ambushing my transports
immediately after they had JUST delivered the troops that took the atol the evening
before. Sank every transport and damaged some escorts. He was going to hang around to
finish off all of them but the KB finally started to show on his radar and he escaped
to fight another day, moving to the south. I think this is where I rapidly put together
an AO group to be able to chase his carriers down and destroy them. As I recall I sank
two CVL's of his. But I've got a game going where I'm Allies against the Jap AI and
the details from that game are mixing in my head. But it's good practice for me and I
get some good insights where to position my subs, for example, in my game with Brian.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Was your invasion force following the SCTF?

As I recall the escorts were already parked in the Port Moresby harbor and I thought
they might act as escorts since they were in the hex already but NNNNnnnnnnooooo. So
along comes all these naked transports into the harbor with the SCTF already there and
they stand off and watch the PT boats decimate the transports. Probably made a video
of it. I'd like to see what their report had to say.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Detaching one of those CLS and 2 DDs to have them sweep the harbor would probably have taken care of the PT boats.

Yeah, you're right. I didn't do nearly enough recon of the situation beforehand. And
another player has suggested I might have bombarded more before invading. Guilty as
charged.

ORIGINAL: Andav
Also, what was the moon light for that turn? At this stage of the war, if the moon light is very low, PT boats can be a huge problem. I hate PT boats ...

Wa

I don't remember what the moonlight was but I believe you when you say no moon time is no
time for mixing it up with PT boats. They can get in close and launch those torpedos.
I can't see a sub wasting a torpedo on something as small as a PT boat. Not cost
effective. I've been known to drive my PT boats into known enemy sub areas to see if
I could get one or more of the subs to waste a torpedo shooting at them. I donn't
remember ever losing a PT boat that way.

EDIT: Ask me another question, will ya? I need to get my number of posts over 28K.