Coral Sea (Scenario 3) Human Allies v Hard AI

[Energisteron]

Situation - May 11

Caution to prevail, except for Subs operating around Tulagi.

CVs will provide greater LRCAP to Port Moresby, while the Wirraways will undertake Recon of the enemy base at Lae. We can maybe put in a strike there if fighter strength is not too strong. We'll also increase our ASW to attempt to scare off 2x SS the enemy is creeping towards our CVs.

Meanwhile land-based Search will concentrate on finding out what, if anything, those enemy Cruisers are up to.

[Energisteron]

Outcome - May 11

Nothing much happens. There's two small night raids by Nells against Port Moresby but damage is minimal at most and neither side takes losses.

At Tulagi SS S-38 takes slight damage from a depth charge attack, and she will withdraw to Brisbane for repairs.

Bad weather prevents effective Search and prevents Recon of Lae.

Situation - May 12

Almost identical to 24 hours ago except S-38 leaves Tulagi. Two replacement subs will head that way today.

[BBfanboy]

I hope you are moving your CVs every turn so those subs cannot close on them!

[Energisteron]

Hi BBf

Yes, CVs are going dizzy doing 80 NM triangles! [:)]

[Energisteron]

Outcome - May 12

Again this operation seems to be fizzling out, unless the Japanese AI really does have a surprise for me!

At Tulagi, S-42 attacks APD Yuzuki with 4 torpedoes and misses. Somewhat angered by this intrusion, Yuzuki attacks S-42 time and time again, gaining just one hit, but the sub's pressure hull is punctured and she's struggling to stay stable. She will head for our nearest base, Ndeni, 360 NM away!

Elsewhere, our 2 Oilers pass each other off Bundaberg. I had a horrible thought that perhaps the enemy Cruisers currently out of observation may have intended to hit them, but fortunately not. In any case, I don't see how 3 Cruisers could evade our land-based criss-cross search pattern from Rockhampton and Brisbane.

Warhawks are put into Port Moresby from Cooktown, and these are replaced by another Warhawk squadron from Townsville. Thus for today our Carriers had no LRCAP from Townsville.

Nothing else to report.

Situation - May 13

Two subs now withdrawing from Tulagi and the other will move northwards up the island chain since there's been a fair bit of 'boating' around the islands!

No time for any significant aggressive move now on our part. Carriers will move slightly closer to Port Moresby, and may strike at Lae.

[Energisteron]

The Outcome - May 13

There's a heavy daylight airstrike on Port Moresby, and despite the presence of the newly arrived Warhawks and Wildcat LRCAP from the Carriers, the raid still gets through and causes some significant damage. It is going to be difficult to keep the airfield operational.

Nothing of note elsewhere.

[Energisteron]

Situation - May 14

I believe this is the last day of the Coral Sea operation, so we'll make one final move, an air strike on Lae.

I'm sure the graphic below explains our plans adequately.

[Devonport]

Well played this time!

What are you going to do next? Really enjoy your descriptions and excellent maps.

[Energisteron]

Hi Devonport

I'll just report the final turn and then I may return to play the Japanese side in this same scenario.

Otherwise, I'll move on to the Mountbatten's Folly scenario.

To be honest, the full War scenario is still very intimidating. I admit it is a work of art, but I wish there were more of these smaller operational scenarios. For instance, has no-one done a Midway scenario? If they have I've not found it.

[Energisteron]

Outcome - May 14

So the scenario winds up with a damp squib. Literally!

There is a typical night raid on Port Moresby by Nells from Rabaul, which causes minor damage equivalent to what we can repair daily, but severe weather entirely curtails our attack on Lae and there's no action at sea so there it all ends.

As can be expected it is a decisive Allied Victory (details to follow).

[Energisteron]

The RESULT - May 15

We won decisively because we held on to Port Moresby and destroyed their Transports. Nothing else really mattered.

The loss of our small Surface Combat TF provided a very awkward moment, but proved a blessing in disguise, when seemingly, the enemy Carriers pursued them instead of protecting its Transports. Remarkably, we never properly identified their Carriers, and whatever happened to their CVL, which was initially reckoned to be in the vicinity of their Transports, I really haven't a clue!

One comment about the weather. It was surprisingly bad, much worse than I recall in my previous playthroughs. This may have worked to our advantage, but it did not on the night when our doomed TF was speeding out of harm's way and yet was shadowed all night long by Carrier spotter planes. If the weather had been inclement then it could have been a different story!

Thanks to the designer once more. It's a great scenario. And thanks to all those who've offered comments, help and advice.

Bye for now!

[Bif1961]

Now best 2 out of 3?

[BBfanboy]

A very good result!

Note that one of the key things for both sides in a longer campaign is keeping their experienced pilots alive. Your aircraft losses were mostly over your base or crashing at it, and unless it said the pilots were KIA, they are still available in future. When you get to the Grand Campaign, you will be hard pressed for the first six months and forcing him to fight over bases you control is one way to bleed his best pilots while giving yours the best chance of survival.

Re: Midway, I think the developers probably felt that it would not be possible to duplicate the historic feel of the battle because there were so many odd factors that led to the US victory (like the Tone float plane that was late taking off and then had radio problems after sighting the US carriers). In a PBEM version of this battle the IJN player would never repeat the mistakes made IRL and the result would be a consistent massacre of the US fleet.

I hope you play the Marianas scenario at some point. That one is a couple or three months long but has some tight time constraints for taking the objectives and a very powerful IJN surface fleet to deal with. The logistics also require you to get a lot of supply and fuel moving to where it is needed. And there is ASW and Carrier combat guaranteed. I had the most fun with that one.

[Energisteron]

Hi Bif

I guess so. Two from three wouldn't be that bad! But I think I'll play the Japanese next time.

Hi BBf

Thanks. I believe I was lucky, very lucky. Even the badly damaged sub made it back to Ndeni!

You make some good points and these are the things I'm gradually beginning to pick-up on. I noticed many of my pilots, even on occasions those crashed at sea near Port Moresby, did return to action. It would have been good to get a bit of intelligence once in a while from a Japanese POW pilot. I'm sure we would have caught several.

I agree about Midway and thinking about it all previous versions of that campaign I've played have had a special set-up to reflect the extraordinary circumstances that led to such a decisive result. If I recall correctly, one duplicated it with a set-up which did NOT hinder the Japanese fleet so as to show what really could have happened. Needless to say, in that version, it was very difficult not to come away with a crushing defeat.

Marianas is a good suggestion. Maybe one for the Christmas period.

[Deathifier]

Hi Energisteron,

Good to see you learning about carrier combat and the speed with which task forces (yours and theirs) can be sunk.

ORIGINAL: Energisteron
No, someone commented on my Aleutians thread that there was a hotkey to show air balance I think it was in each hex. Unfortunately, despite looking through, I can't find that remark.

This was one of my comments and it turns out I was getting my games mixed up.

Air Balance (airbal) is shown next to the base name when you hover over the base on the main map.
However it is in the WITP created just prior to the Admiral's Edition (i.e. the one the Admiral's Edition was built on).

So you aren't seeing it because it is not there in the Admiral's Edition.

My apologies for the inaccurate information.

If you put "airbal site:matrixgames.com" in to Google (or some other search engine) you'll see what I was talking about.
Google even has some pictures of it if you select its image search.

- Deathifier

[Energisteron]

Thanks for your clarification, Deathifier.

So, for once, I wasn't actually missing something!

[Zecke]

well done¡, just to point that most of the time if you risk the AI retreat his first objetives.

[Zecke]

But is better to go with the whole NAVY[:'(]

[Zecke]

the AI likes very very very...much PORT MORESBY

[Energisteron]

Hi Zecke

Yes, I am sure that Port Moresby is a do or die objective for the AI.

I have not looked how the AI is set-up by designers in WitP(AE). I have made some fairly complex AI plans with other wargames ('Combat Mission: Normandy' especially) and I have always liked to spring some surprises but in this scenario Port Moresby is so important that I cannot really see what alternatives could be planned.

I may well start again from the Japanese side over this weekend or later today.