The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[bradfordkay]

Remember, if the Germans had taken Antwerp in December 1944, Patton's army would have been back on the end of a very long logistics train. It was this ridiculously long logistics train that had brought his forces to a complete halt in the late summer/early fall of 1944. Don't put your troops into a similar situation.

[Canoerebel]

Makassar isn't Antwerp. Patton's Army is fully fueled and provisioned for four months of operations in the Rhur and beyond.

It's a complicated situation. I'm interpreting a lot of information and may be making mistakes. But I think I'm right. We'll know in about two weeks.

[Canoerebel]

A brief story about three capital ships. During Operations Big Tent, Third Ring and Carousel, the Allies lost one capital ship (CLAA Richmond, sunk near Babar in a surface engagement involving BB Nagato).

Three other capital ships were hit by single torpedoes during the operations. They holed up in various ports for a long time due to the threat posed by enemy subs. Here's an update:

1. CVE Altamaha was damaged about the same time Richmond went under. She eventually made it to Sydney. She has completed repairs and joined an escort carrier TF station in SoPac.

2. CL Leander: she limped to Normanton and had an extended stay. A week ago, she began station-to-station sprints - Horn Island, Portland Roads, Cooktown, Townsville. Now she's a day or two out of Sydney.

3. CL Mobile: Like Leander, she stayed in Normanton. She suffered heavier damage, but began the station-to-station routine a few days ago. She's now at Horn Island and will move to Portland Roads tonight. Barring enemy sub activity, she'll be at Sydney in a week.

[Lokasenna]

Capital ships? That assessment is generous for Leander and Altamaha at least [:'(]. Sub-capitals maybe. Mobile... eh.


In any case, about the 2 CVs under upgrades. I wouldn't worry about just giving them 4-6 DDs or so as an escort and you can always run that at full speed for a single day to catch up with the rest if you need to. Full speed for 1 day from damage levels of 0 or 1 shouldn't be a big deal.

[Canoerebel]

She won't have any trouble catching up - LST's will be setting the pace for the vanguard.

P.S. By the time the carriers are ready, the LSTs will be a quarter of the way to the beaches.

[Capt. Harlock]

Capital ships? That assessment is generous for Leander and Altamaha at least . Sub-capitals maybe. Mobile... eh.

I think CR's definition is anything larger than a destroyer.

[Canoerebel]

3/23/44

A busy day all over. See map for many exciting details.

[crsutton]

Hmmmmmmm. Time to venture a guess. John's position in China is so bad that you could easily end the game by investing in a build up there. You already hold a line that if pushed forward a bit would put B29s well within home island range. I seem to remember that you pulled off a massive invasion of China in one of your first AARs. Could that be in the works again? You would have to sail pass a lot of enemy bases and tangle with KB but with your carrier strength it could be done. Yep, that is my call. A massive invasion of the Chinese mainland would drive a knife into the Japanese war effort. And at this point his only option would be to contest it with everything he has. Only drawback is that if your fleet gets creamed there is no where to run for cover. The question remains are you crazy enough to try this? You have done just about everything else. Why not?

[sanch]

I thought maybe China or Korea too, particularly given the ambitious Big Tent operation. But then I thought that if he fights on mainland Asia, then his navy is relegated to keeping SLOC's open, but not otherwise grinding down enemy ground units (and there will be a lot of them there).

So my guess is Luzon or Formosa. Here he would have much more use for his navy, particularly to blockade the defenders (which would improve the odds for success considerably), as well as bombardments. And it would likely accomplish his goal of grinding down the IJN.

[witpqs]

Operating those bombers out of China means you have to pump in lots of supply to avoid starving the Army. Need a good SLOC for that.

[Canoerebel]

There have been a lot of good guesses and plenty of the kind of analysis you'd expect from veterans.

Selection of the primary targets five or six months ago was made with the Japanese navy in mind. That emphasis is even more important today. Should John indeed lose an important naval battle, he's going to have trouble stopping anything anywhere. But while he still has a credible naval force (as he does today), his penchant for aggressiveness can cause some problems.

The targets selected are, I think, important enough to force John's hand, but are fairly reasonable. That reasonableness is what should give me the latitude to focus on John's navy, if he commits it.

[Canoerebel]

3/24/44

A good and productive day across the map, with one irritating little exception involving an upgrading carrier at Townsville. New and exciting details shown on map. And if you order now, we'll pay shipping and handling.

[Canoerebel]

SigInt usually provides helpful puzzle pieces. (SigInt is one of the most fun aspects of the game, at least for an Allied player.)

[Canoerebel]

The biggest decision I made in the game was in January 1943, to leave Sumatra to stand on its own while shifting almost the entire Allied army and navy to the West Coast.

The second biggest decision was made a year later: how to merge the Hawaii and DEI components for Fun House.

[BBfanboy]

I think originally you intended to sneak DS South then West past John's holdings in the Gilberts and Marshalls (which probably do not have much in the way of search by now) and swing up to Hawaii or Johnston Is. to refuel and then join your new "thundering herd".

With the unexpected upgrade of two carriers imposing a 10 day delay you now need to go north more directly. If you do that between the Marshalls and the Solomons your intentions will be obvious. But if you go back into the Fun House theatre and then blast out to the NE (as your arrow shows) it will look like you are trying to relieve John's pressure on Carousel/Fun House or just seeking battle with KB, or even clearing a path along the east side of the Philippines for an attack there.

The itty bitty problem is that KB has disappeared again.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Operating those bombers out of China means you have to pump in lots of supply to avoid starving the Army. Need a good SLOC for that.

Dan always takes a couple mil with him and with Rangoon soon to be open it should not be a problem. Thing is, John's position in China is so awkward. It is just too tempting. In fact, now that I have broached it, if Dan does not do it I will have to question his manhood...[:D]

[BBfanboy]

If those units in China are nearly starving (and they usually are) they will not have filled out TOE and will have low morale.
It will take six months of supply convoys to Rangoon to get them in decent shape for an offensive. More than anything they will need AA guns and anti-tank guns (or allied tanks). I think Dan's shipping is already tied up supporting his deep penetrations.
Maybe the Chinese front could be broken open in 8 months after Indochina is cleared.

[witpqs]

I do not think adequate supply will flow from Rangoon into China for either land operations alone or a heavy bomber offensive. See my ARR for one example. (Shameless self plug! [:D])

[Flicker]

TOKYO!

Taking Yokohama and Tokyo would gut Japan's engine manufacturing, as well as providing 850 points and 7500 points to the Allies. Plus John might consider surrender.

My next wildest guess is Shanghai, worth 1500 points to the Allies and provides the opportunity to link up with Chinese. The port and airfield can be built to 9/9 and it has a 50 repair shipyard.

What I would like to see is Keijo to Mukden, mostly to see if the Russians can be triggered by Dan killing off the Manchukuo army.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

SigInt usually provides helpful puzzle pieces. (SigInt is one of the most fun aspects of the game, at least for an Allied player.)

Idunno, sometimes it's moderately annoying. A couple of turns ago I got multiple, duplicate messages that Hakodate Fortress was located at Hakodate. Really?! I didn't know that! You've got an example in here, too.

Not that I'm complaining, but the extreme random nature of it is nuts sometimes. If I had to guess on how it's coded, it's a random on how many report lines you'll get in a turn and then it runs through a function that many times to fill out each line, drawing from the list of all LCUs or all bases (IIRC the game is coded in C or C++. I'm intimately familiar with linked lists in that context.). The radio transmissions bits might work differently. Heavy activity definitely seems to increase the chance that the enemy will pick up the transmissions.