The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[BBfanboy]

The asterisks seem to correspond with the KIA in the fate line ...[:(]

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The asterisks seem to correspond with the KIA in the fate line ...[:(]

There's one exception: Major Shilling, about halfway down the list.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The asterisks seem to correspond with the KIA in the fate line ...[:(]

Perhaps it means that they were killed while changing planes...[;)]

[paullus99]

Ouch - that has got to put a serious crimp in his escorts. If I remember correctly, his DDs really took it on the chin - both in Sumatra and the slaughter around Wake.

What do you think he has left, for escorts, at this point?

[Canoerebel]

Yes, the Kaigun was already hurting, especially cruisers and destroyers, so this will be keenly felt. Kaigun estimates:

1. Five BBs and a CB (he gets two of those in this mod) sunk: I think that leaves him with 7 BBs and 1 CB (a bunch of his BBs have been damaged in the DEI during Big Tent, but I bet they're back in action.)
2. I think he's lost 10 CAs with two heavily damaged in recent action (one ate two torps at Talaud a week ago, the other just chewed up in battle last turn). I think he has six available at the moment (I'll have to check if he gets extras in this mod; he may: two, I think). But he doesn't have many CAs available, especially if he wishes to use any for KB escorts.
3. I think he's lost 19 CLs, with only a handful remaining (I tallied this months ago, but my recollection is that he's very short). This has been pretty apparent in recent weeks, where I've only seen him using a single CL. These are great raiding ships, especially in tight waters like the Middle Philippines, but he doesn't have enough to work with. The cost of attrition.
4. I estimate he's lost about 115 destroyers. Months ago I checked how many he gets total - I think it was around 160 in the game. If that's true, he's in dire straits. If he uses a certain number for KB, how many does that leave for combat duty?

I'll open the editor and count up and then edit this to give more accurate information. But I think Kaigun is in bad shape.

[paullus99]

Wow, I suspected it was bad, given the suspected losses to date, but if he's down 115 or so DDs out of 160, that leaves 45 or so (give or take).

You would expect that you'd need at least 8 - 10 per carrier task force (maybe 4 - 6, because it's John)...which I would suspect means that at least half of his remaining DDs are with the carriers.

That really puts him behind the eight-ball.

[Canoerebel]

Here's a cleaner report based upon the editor:

BB: 12 total in the game, he has lost 5. He has 7 left.
CB: 2 total, he has lost 1. He has 1 left.
CA: 20 total, he has lost 10 with 2 heavily damaged recently. So he probably has 8 available.
CL: 25 total (that's not many); he's lost 19, leaving him with 6 available.
DD: 224 total, he has lost about 115, leaving him with about 109

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Here's a cleaner report based upon the editor:

BB: 12 total in the game, he has lost 5. He has 7 left.
CB: 2 total, he has lost 1. He has 1 left.
CA: 20 total, he has lost 10 with 2 heavily damaged recently. So he probably has 8 available.
CL: 25 total (that's not many); he's lost 19, leaving him with 6 available.
DD: 224 total, he has lost about 115, leaving him with about 109

Tracker has a nice tab for that, with every ship quantity for both sides on one page, pre-done. I know you love Tracker. [:'(]

[Canoerebel]

I gave up on all forms of automated record keeping. I gave it an honest try. I hated it.

[Canoerebel]

Here's an apt analogy.

In the 1990s, my law firm (it wasn't mine, but I worked there) transitioned to an automated telephone system. It kept track of the length of our telephone conversation by client and by matter. So, if I dialed the State Department of Labor and spoke to John Doe for 15 minutes about my client, Big Lizard Company, about it's application for an exemption for Gorns, the telephone system would record those 15 minutes under Client Big Lizard Company, Matter Gorn Exemption. Then my time and the expense of the long distance call was automatically billed to my client.

To make that work, at the beginning of the call I had to enter the client number, the matter number, probably my grandmother's birth date and weight, and then the area code and telephone number.

We met with the telephone technician for a training session as we converted over to their system. After ten minutes, my partner, Jimmy Dick Maddox (who served on the USS Paddle during WWII) said: "You mean I have to push 25 buttons to make a phone call?"

That's all he said.

Technology.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I gave up on all forms of automated record keeping. I gave it an honest try. I hated it.

In this case it's not really record keeping. It's a dictionary. The tab keeps track of losses for both sides, but on Turn 1 you know exactly how many of each ship type you'll get until 1946. To see the other side just make a second Tracker install and load a new scenario playing them. Save the shortcut and you're done, for years.

[Canoerebel]

I only have dim, nightmarish memories of having to load things in weird ways, saying incantations, having to re-load every turn, having to massage things in weird ways or they wouldn't work, having them not work even when they were properly massaged, and giving up after generating about three reports.

I ain't going back there. I'd rather go back to being a lawyer. I have nightmares, sometimes (seriously) about being a lawyer.

[Bullwinkle58]

So how long did you spend in the editor? [8D]

[Encircled]

I can't imagine playing without tracker

I can't imagine playing without a spreadsheet tracking enemy units

I can't imagine playing without my sub kill spreadsheet

I may have issues!

[paullus99]

"Issues?"

Nah, we're all crazy here.....

[ny59giants]

Next time I'm in Chattanooga, I will have to sneak across the border for an intervention at Dan's. I've done them long distance with John, so this shouldn't be as bad. Or maybe it will be! [:D]

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

So how long did you spend in the editor? [8D]

I didn't open the editor. I just opened the game, went to the ships screen, and counted by 15s (or sometimes 17s). It took five minutes (look at the length of time that transpired between my two posts).

[Canoerebel]

Looking again at Japanese carriers (thanks to your kind promptings, gents, as per your questions), here's the IJN carrier status, as best I know:

1. CV: John gets a total of 17 in this mod; four have been sunk.
2. CVL: A total of 10 (three conversions); five have been sunk.
3. CVE: A total of 12; eight have been sunk.

I doubt John has all carriers on map at this point - some aren't schedule for more than a year - but if he did, he'd have a force of 22 carriers, 13 of which would be fleet.

I'm guesstimating (I could do this more precisely) that he can carry a total of about 1250 aircraft.

I haven't revealed Death Star's composition, but it will have an advantage against KB even if every carrier is on map.

Pure luck is a factor that can even the odds. Two other things that I try to allow for: (1) a combined KB and LBA strike; (2) John stripping his carriers of strike aircraft, loading them with fighters, and then drawing a big raid that gets chewed to pieces.

With regard to LBA, I'm trying to stay far enough from his biggest fields to lower the risk. The building of big Allied airfields also reduces the risk, partly because I can draw LRCAP and partly because those fields create "clutter," confusing the game engine a bit so that it's hard for John to reliability get strike packages to fly beyond my airfields.

With regard to him loading up his carriers with fighters: he did that very thing in the Makassar Strait a few weeks back and he did it in our previous game. This is one of the big Rock. Paper. Scissors. aspect of the game that I've referred to in vague fashion for weeks. I won't say any more than that I'm aware of this threat and employing some countermeasures.

[bradfordkay]

It seems to me that if his carriers have no bombers then they are vulnerable to attacks from both submarines and SCTFs.

[Canoerebel]

Rock. Paper. Scissors.