The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

I think I know where his air force will be: Kendari and Makassar.

Other bases - Ternate, Koepang, Balikpapan, Soerabaja - are a bit too far to efficiently contribute to strikes.

I won't be set up to bombard for a few turns.

But your post reminds me - I have a great deal of fighters in Big Tent, but nearly all of them are LBA. I need to move some in from northern Oz to serve as reinforcements.

[AcePylut]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: crsutton
I think I would have ignored the Celebes but gone for Manado and Talaud island. Manado is a great port and threatens not only his oil but the PI. Move up to North Borneo from there and his oil is going to be cut off regardless. But six of one.....

Ross, there's a reason I didn't choose that vector. It's something I haven't touched on and won't. But if you keep reading into the spring of '44 months, you'll see why I chose to move west rather than to the NW.

Because there's a big POW camp in Sumatra, made of prisoners taken during the failed invasion from last year? amirite?

[BBfanboy]

I think Canoerebel needs to keep Op Sec on his next campaign until he is spotted by the Japanese. It is just too easy for casual comments from those in the know to give something away (unintentionally, but still given). I have been guilty of nearly doing that a couple of times but fortunately some veterans called me on my goof, and I was able to delete it quickly.

[Canoerebel]

After some wise counsel from Bullwinkle many months ago, I rethought my practice of posting misleading information in my AAR. Now, I cover about 80% of what's going on - the obvious stuff, like Big Tent, at least when it's already underway. But the other 20% remains pretty closely guarded, just to guard against the accidental leaks BBFanboy referred to. It is easy to give subtle things way - things that aren't obvious, except to a player in tune with little nuances that disclose great truths. Or something like that. (Purple prose!)

[T Rav]

That's why I only follow one. When it's over, I'll read John's. Not that I give much advice, anyway.

[Canoerebel]

Most of my CVs have at least one fighter group whose pilots have an average experience in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Here is one from Saratoga.

These guys have more kills than most pilots in other squadrons.

Many of my carrier fighter pilots fought long and hard defending Sabang. That was a tough fight, ultimately a lost fight, but the pilots benefited tremendously. They were fighting over their own base, so when their aircraft (mostly F4F) went down, they usually survived.

So one tangible benefit of the Sumatra campaign was that it helped hone the American carrier fighter pilots.

John probably got an analogous benefit. His ships bombarded Sabang daily for months. I guess the experience level of their crews are rather high.

[anarchyintheuk]

When, if ever, your CVs get some down time, it looks like some pilots could use remedial defensive training.

As always, enjoying the aar.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

After some wise counsel from Bullwinkle many months ago, I rethought my practice of posting misleading information in my AAR. Now, I cover about 80% of what's going on - the obvious stuff, like Big Tent, at least when it's already underway. But the other 20% remains pretty closely guarded, just to guard against the accidental leaks BBFanboy referred to. It is easy to give subtle things way - things that aren't obvious, except to a player in tune with little nuances that disclose great truths. Or something like that. (Purple prose!)

Pink, maybe... don't know about purple.


RE: his fighter-less KB... perhaps he is trying to entice you to attack him, at which point he'd fly all his fighters back? That doesn't make much sense, though, so what you suggested is probably the case as it makes slightly more sense.

[Canoerebel]

Loka, that's what I've conjectured in previous posts - that John sent his fighters to the DEI, hoping their skilled pilots would help strike aircraft make it through Death Star's CAP. (Or perhaps it was to boost any CAP traps he's setting.)

But the weird thing is that he's left his carriers where they've been sighted for a good ten turns. That can't help him in any way that I can see, and it's probably hurt him gravely (as I think events will show). My guess is that he just hasn't noticed the detection levels and thinks his carriers are out of sight.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Loka, that's what I've conjectured in previous posts - that John sent his fighters to the DEI, hoping their skilled pilots would help strike aircraft make it through Death Star's CAP. (Or perhaps it was to boost any CAP traps he's setting.)

But the weird thing is that he's left his carriers where they've been sighted for a good ten turns. That can't help him in any way that I can see, and it's probably hurt him gravely (as I think events will show). My guess is that he just hasn't noticed the detection levels and thinks his carriers are out of sight.

Yeah, that he's left them there is the only reason I'm grasping at other possible explanations. It could be that he just hasn't noticed, but that would be odd, too - you'd think he'd have checked on them at least once, and at least for me a DL on the mouseover is pretty hard to miss.

[Canoerebel]

My thought was that he would move his fighters back to KB as soon as Death Star was beat back. Then he'd send his carriers on a raid into the Coral Sea, where he knows I have lots of vulnerable merchant ships (both those departing Big Tent and those involved in transport of fuel + supplies to Oz).

[paullus99]

Again, it appears that John is desperate to "do something," whether or not that something actually makes sense in the grand scheme of the war.

I've never gotten the sense from him that, after the initial expansion phase, that he was actually pursuing any grand strategy....all of his actions appeared (and appear) to be nothing more than plan to either kill ships (raids) or bring about a decisive encounter with your Carrier Fleet.

Whereas your style of play is very much built around logistics and long-term goals, John appears to think, at best, at the Operational Level, but mostly tactical over the course of the game.

It makes sense that his mods are built around giving the Japanese the most toys to play with, because I doubt he could ever really deal with a war in which he was forced to rely on something other than his fleet.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: crsutton
I think I would have ignored the Celebes but gone for Manado and Talaud island. Manado is a great port and threatens not only his oil but the PI. Move up to North Borneo from there and his oil is going to be cut off regardless. But six of one.....

Ross, there's a reason I didn't choose that vector. It's something I haven't touched on and won't. But if you keep reading into the spring of '44 months, you'll see why I chose to move west rather than to the NW.

Crap! Now I have no choice but to stick around....

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Most of my CVs have at least one fighter group whose pilots have an average experience in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Here is one from Saratoga.

These guys have more kills than most pilots in other squadrons.

Many of my carrier fighter pilots fought long and hard defending Sabang. That was a tough fight, ultimately a lost fight, but the pilots benefited tremendously. They were fighting over their own base, so when their aircraft (mostly F4F) went down, they usually survived.

So one tangible benefit of the Sumatra campaign was that it helped hone the American carrier fighter pilots.

John probably got an analogous benefit. His ships bombarded Sabang daily for months. I guess the experience level of their crews are rather high.

Actually, once your ship crews reach a certain level, they are not going to go much higher. Never really seen a Japanese ship crew increase it experience much. Because they are near the top anyways. Biggest jump is when American ships in 1941 go through (and survive) a major night battle. Experience may go up 20 points. "Seeing the elephant." I noticed that in stock American crew levels just suck through 1943 and take a dramatic jump in 44 but Da Babes has them coming on with much better experience in 43. Still a nice jump in 44 though. My only beef is that some American ships fight for four years and their crew level still are not anywhere near some of the fresh meat coming on in 44.

[Canoerebel]

2/1/44

Bumper Car: The joy riding ended today when my vehicle collided with enemy search aircraft. IE, the cat is out of the bag. John caught a whiff of several TFs approaching Marcus Island from the east. He doesn't know exactly what's our there, but he's seen enough to make the right deductions.

Unfortunately, KB disappeared from the screen this turn. Had it remained in the Solomons one more turn, I think I would have green-lighted Bumper Car. But sub Cero well to the north of the Solomons (and on a direct line to Marcus) reported 10/10 detection. Those facts plus John's email comment suggest to me that he's going to act.

There's no reason for me to risk the army division, the carriers, the combat ships, and the handful of excellent transports without knowing KB's whereabouts. I've turned the transports around (they're slow), but the carriers will continue moving towards Marcus. I want to feed his mania another day. (On the very slight chance that KB shows up in the Coral Sea tomorrow, I can still turn the transports around.)

With the surprise spoiled, now my hope is that Marcus will still serve it's main purpose - to draw John's attention. He's already having to choose between whatever he planned and Marcus. Let him come up here now, I'm thinking, and leave me with less to worry about in the DEI.

Still, there's the disappointment of a long-planned op getting turned around just prior to completion.

[Canoerebel]

2/1/44

Carousel: Death Star is moving slowly to allow the amphibious ships to keep up and to carefully keep just far enough away from Makassar and Kendari so that my carrier aircraft don't visit either base. Makassar appears to be his chief CAP trap base. See map for most of the details.

[Canoerebel]

John's comment with that last email: "BUSY turn.  LOTS happening."

That, in addition to the info gleaned from the map, is what makes me think it's probable that he's sortying KB to Marcus.

[paullus99]

That wouldn't surprise me in the least - he's itching for a fight & I'm sure he believes that he stands a better shot at whatever you have out there, as opposed to the known quantity of what you have in the DEI.

[BBfanboy]

Time to put a wall of subs about seven or eight hexes away from your transports and CVEs. Sub traps can be more fun that CAP traps!

[Anachro]

Given the many declarations that John is the reincarnation of Jeb Stuart...Canoerebel, if you had to rate your self a ACW general, who'd you be?