The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[BillBrown]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Miri produces oil and has a refinery. Does that mean she'll generate fuel? If so, Shazaam! This should've been a higher priority.

Truth be told I have been wondering why you have not been looking to pick up Tarkan or Miri as a gas station. Even if they are damaged you have engineers who can have those pumps running in a week

Engineers have no effect on the repair of oil wells or refineries.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

If you are buying out Aussie units at a 25% discount then it sounds like you are transferring them to an unrestricted HQ that is in the same command structure rather than say a US HQ. There is an aussie corp that allows this. You'll find the same thing happens if you buy out US units under the unrestricted air HQ that sits inside the restricted command structure. For this reason many players have a HR that full PP must be paid when buying out units.

I've never bought restricted American units by using air HQ.

Surely there's no thought that buying restricted Australian units by assigning them to their own I Corps HQ or II Corps HQ is in some way tainted?

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Miri produces oil and has a refinery. Does that mean she'll generate fuel? If so, Shazaam! This should've been a higher priority.

Truth be told I have been wondering why you have not been looking to pick up Tarkan or Miri as a gas station. Even if they are damaged you have engineers who can have those pumps running in a week

The answer to that is complicated. To this point, fuel hasn't been an issue for my ships. My chief concern with Miri, Balikpapan, etc. is to (eventually) deny John access to their oil. That has been a secondary priority due to the significance of the primary objectives.

A month ago, I decided not to allocate B-29s to raids on Balikpapan, Miri and Tarakan, only because I'll be taking those bases (or taking control of airspace) in the medium term, so why use the Superforts on hardened targets?

But Palembang and the Java oil fields may be a different matter. I have no plans to invade those places until very late in the game, if ever. So I might target them, from time to time, to reduce fuel availability.

Or I may just concentrate on totally severing John's LOC from DEI to Japan. That's not such a wild-eyed dream at this point.

[BillBrown]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

If you are buying out Aussie units at a 25% discount then it sounds like you are transferring them to an unrestricted HQ that is in the same command structure rather than say a US HQ. There is an aussie corp that allows this. You'll find the same thing happens if you buy out US units under the unrestricted air HQ that sits inside the restricted command structure. For this reason many players have a HR that full PP must be paid when buying out units.

I've never bought restricted American units by using air HQ.

Surely there's no thought that buying restricted Australian units by assigning them to their own I Corps HQ or II Corps HQ is in some way tainted?

Not as far as I am concerned.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

If you are buying out Aussie units at a 25% discount then it sounds like you are transferring them to an unrestricted HQ that is in the same command structure rather than say a US HQ. There is an aussie corp that allows this. You'll find the same thing happens if you buy out US units under the unrestricted air HQ that sits inside the restricted command structure. For this reason many players have a HR that full PP must be paid when buying out units.

I've never bought restricted American units by using air HQ.

Surely there's no thought that buying restricted Australian units by assigning them to their own I Corps HQ or II Corps HQ is in some way tainted?

Not as far as I am concerned.

It does mean you can't buy out the HQ(s) themselves without increasing the cost to assign new units to them. IIRC, one of them starts assigned to Australian Command so is restricted.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel



I've never bought restricted American units by using air HQ.

Surely there's no thought that buying restricted Australian units by assigning them to their own I Corps HQ or II Corps HQ is in some way tainted?

Not as far as I am concerned.

It does mean you can't buy out the HQ(s) themselves without increasing the cost to assign new units to them. IIRC, one of them starts assigned to Australian Command so is restricted.

Any unit bought out under the Australian I and II Corps is free to roam. It cost about 1/3 of the usual PP point expenditure to do so and is one of the quirks of the game, I suppose. It is kind of interesting as those two actual HQ are restricted and need to be bought out if you want them to leave Australia But nobody thinks it is gamey to make use of them as they are legitimate Infantry HQ. New Zealand and Canadian units don't have that luxury so you pay full PP fare for them. They tend to be the last units I buy out-if at all. I would object if I thought my opponent were buying out infantry units under air HQ's.

[MakeeLearn]

Despite all this carnage, I ended up with four good bases, the engineers have built aifields at Beaufort and Balabac to level two, 6th Australian is now 55% prepped for Miri, and John apparently hasn't reinforced the base. So an operation that seemed to be swirling down the toilet turned into a pretty successful venture.

General Serendipity has saved many "gone wrong" military plans.

Now... about those strawberries....

[Bif1961]

Why not drop mines at night at Palmebang with B-29s, the allies did it during WWII.

[Canoerebel]

I might when I'm within range.

Thus far I haven't done any aerial mining. I'm reserving that until within normal range of several key ports, so that I can keep John guessing. I'm close to being in range of the southern Home Islands, Palembang, and Singapore, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm not targeting Hong Kong because I think John has cleared it of ships due to its exposure.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I might when I'm within range.

Thus far I haven't done any aerial mining. I'm reserving that until within normal range of several key ports, so that I can keep John guessing. I'm close to being in range of the southern Home Islands, Palembang, and Singapore, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm not targeting Hong Kong because I think John has cleared it of ships due to its exposure.

Get those long legged recon and search planes working for you! That is a huge Allied advantage, think of all the misdirection you can sow with it.[:)]

[Canoerebel]

I use and abuse my long-range recon and search, both for info and misdirection. With regard to Fun House, that part of the op went into effect just before D-Day. They've been overused ever since.

I'm chronically short on reconnaissance planes and PBYs. The pools and replacement rates for the latter are one of the abuses the game foists on the Allied player. I'm getting by and I'll manage with what I've got, but sheesh!

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I might when I'm within range.

Thus far I haven't done any aerial mining. I'm reserving that until within normal range of several key ports, so that I can keep John guessing. I'm close to being in range of the southern Home Islands, Palembang, and Singapore, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm not targeting Hong Kong because I think John has cleared it of ships due to its exposure.

Aerial mining works well only with bases that are in range of your DDs. Any base further back can just be patrolled by a AM or DMS and the mines are for most part useless. Instead I use them to support my offensives by mining nearby bases that the enemy can use to base raiders or transit reinforcements. That way any slow AMs that might show up can be intercepted by my DDs.

[Canoerebel]

Me and my boys, ages 19 and 22, were laughingly remembering great lines from Mister Roberts tonight.

When I was their age, I enjoyed the movie. I distinctly remember thinking that the female navy lieutenant nurse (played by Betsy Palmer) was kinda old and not a knockout.

Forty years later, I wonder: "What the heck were you thinking?"

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BillBrown




Not as far as I am concerned.

It does mean you can't buy out the HQ(s) themselves without increasing the cost to assign new units to them. IIRC, one of them starts assigned to Australian Command so is restricted.

Any unit bought out under the Australian I and II Corps is free to roam. It cost about 1/3 of the usual PP point expenditure to do so and is one of the quirks of the game, I suppose. It is kind of interesting as those two actual HQ are restricted and need to be bought out if you want them to leave Australia But nobody thinks it is gamey to make use of them as they are legitimate Infantry HQ. New Zealand and Canadian units don't have that luxury so you pay full PP fare for them. They tend to be the last units I buy out-if at all. I would object if I thought my opponent were buying out infantry units under air HQ's.

It is actually exactly 1/4 of the "usual" PP . It's because it's within their top-level command HQ.

Realistically, it doesn't make much difference in stock. The Aussie units don't have very deep pools for squads.

[Canoerebel]

In this game, I pretty much ruined the British by destroying 18th UK Division on Sumatra. The expense was worth it, but that unit will never play another role in the game other than protecting an important rear base at 1/6th strength.

But the Aussie divisions, especially 6th, 7th, and 9th, have been in the thick of things in campaigns from Burma to the Aluetians to Big Tent to Fun House. They've been everywhere and served well. Thus far, none of them has taken heavy damage, so I haven't experienced the shallow-pool problem that Loka refers to.

The Aussies have been studs in this game.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I might when I'm within range.

Thus far I haven't done any aerial mining. I'm reserving that until within normal range of several key ports, so that I can keep John guessing. I'm close to being in range of the southern Home Islands, Palembang, and Singapore, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm not targeting Hong Kong because I think John has cleared it of ships due to its exposure.

Aerial mining works well only with bases that are in range of your DDs. Any base further back can just be patrolled by a AM or DMS and the mines are for most part useless. Instead I use them to support my offensives by mining nearby bases that the enemy can use to base raiders or transit reinforcements. That way any slow AMs that might show up can be intercepted by my DDs.

In my experience, aerial mining is garbage. All it does is risk your planes to ops losses. The minefields can only be laid at enemy bases, and are automatically detected by the enemy.

In a strait, with CD guns, the minefield being detected probably doesn't prevent the enemy from avoiding them entirely. But they're still basically worthless.

[Barb]

What about mining Manila, and several other ports on Luzon to deny free access to enemy reinforcements, supplies or evacuations? [;)]
You are not going to Manila port anytime soon until Bataan is cleared. Dropping some mines to Bataan will be even more effective as it is a narrow strait.

[njp72]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In this game, I pretty much ruined the British by destroying 18th UK Division on Sumatra. The expense was worth it, but that unit will never play another role in the game other than protecting an important rear base at 1/6th strength.

But the Aussie divisions, especially 6th, 7th, and 9th, have been in the thick of things in campaigns from Burma to the Aluetians to Big Tent to Fun House. They've been everywhere and served well. Thus far, none of them has taken heavy damage, so I haven't experienced the shallow-pool problem that Loka refers to.

The Aussies have been studs in this game.

They generally are in real life as well.

Sorry I just couldn't resist

[zuluhour]

she was a bombshell.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna




It does mean you can't buy out the HQ(s) themselves without increasing the cost to assign new units to them. IIRC, one of them starts assigned to Australian Command so is restricted.

Any unit bought out under the Australian I and II Corps is free to roam. It cost about 1/3 of the usual PP point expenditure to do so and is one of the quirks of the game, I suppose. It is kind of interesting as those two actual HQ are restricted and need to be bought out if you want them to leave Australia But nobody thinks it is gamey to make use of them as they are legitimate Infantry HQ. New Zealand and Canadian units don't have that luxury so you pay full PP fare for them. They tend to be the last units I buy out-if at all. I would object if I thought my opponent were buying out infantry units under air HQ's.

It is actually exactly 1/4 of the "usual" PP . It's because it's within their top-level command HQ.

Realistically, it doesn't make much difference in stock. The Aussie units don't have very deep pools for squads.

Actually they do in a way. Australia has so many independent brigades that once the real threat of Japanese invasion is gone I start breaking them down to fill the squad and device pools. I even break down some weak divisions but eventually rebuild them. Doing this can keep all of the Australian divisions in the field and leave a decent supply of replacements to fill in losses. The bigger pain in the neck is devices but careful management will do the job. The big problem with Australian and other Commonwealth units is that if you screw up and lose a full division, there is little chance that you can ever rebuild it.