Notes from a Small Island

[cardas]

Unless I'm sorely mistaken Windows XP (along with that family of Windows OS systems such as Windows 2000) supported 4GB RAM. You'll have to go back to the likes of Windows 3.1 to get below a gigabyte in terms of RAM addressing.

[Canoerebel]

Erik is employing massed land-based and naval air in his strikes against Shikuka. I think he has more than 1,000 aircraft involved. Maybe far more.

How often did that happen in the real war? How often did it happen in 1944?

The tactic is valid and it's part of the fun of the game. I'd do exactly the same. But if I'm facing a threat of that kind, I'm not breaking Death Star into smaller detachments to fit somebody's idea of historical accuracy.

Ditto my game with John III.

[JeffroK]

Afterall, 100ish attack aircraft escorted by 1000ish fighters is an odd tactic itself!

[Canoerebel]

Erik tells me that he had all strike aircraft set to Naval Attack. So he's frustrated that his aircraft aren't acting correctly too.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: JeffroK

Afterall, 100ish attack aircraft escorted by 1000ish fighters is an odd tactic itself!

Too bad the game does not model AVGAS as part of the Oil/Fuel resource. Japan would not for long be able to operate 1000 fighters in support of a strike if it was burning fuel that fast!

[JeffroK]

Yeah, its coming in WITPAE IV.

[ericv]

I tried a lot of reruns with a lot of different settings in a similar situation in 1941 using Ketoi Jima as an allied base with a lot of ships in harbor, lvl 9 AF, a lot of supply and fuel, a lvl 5 port and no landunits whatsoever. no Eng, no HQ. no AV Support .

Naval search from Etorofu with Mavis. Bettys flying naval attack.
Allied artificially enhanced Pilots to exp 60 and 70..
I tried 400 + lightning 38L against 670+ Jap CV Aircraft. All A6M8 and Judy's . I also tried 400+ different kinds of Allied aircraft against 670 A6M8 and Judys. Allied aircraft always on CAP. Japs switching between sweeping, CAP and LRCAP. Judy;s on Navalstrike.

I tried for the allied ships in Ketoi Jima
1. no Allied TF;s
2. all ship in TF's
3. half of the ships in harbor, other half in TF

I tried attacking with the A6M8 from 4 hexes, from 2 hexes. And artificially enhanced the range of the A6M8 to 11 hexes.

It seems to be impossible to get a lot of fighter on fighter action. Fighter losses are almost always very light even after 4 turns..... Jap's bombers get destroyed en masse. Sometimes Jap bombers get through and hit the shipping. sometimes they don't. No matter the altitude bands or plane settings.

surprising with no Air support or HQ at all for the allied fighters.

In the end I used just the 6 original Jap carriers with A6M8 and Judy, against 7 allied fighter squadrons (p39N, p40N, P51B,P38F) same result. Very light fighter losses. Jap bomber slaughter. moderate allied ship damage..

Just strange.

[Canoerebel]

Thanks for testing this and sharing your thoughts, ericv.

I'm discouraged about what's happened. The game may be nerfed due to my plan, though I had no idea this would happen. Erik may not have a way to get a fair crack at my base and shipping. Or, if he does figure out a way, he'll may be able to do so without there being the kind of extreme, prolonged air battle that I was counting on to attrition his pilot corps.

We've discussed this a bit. For now, I think he plans to keep tinkering to see if he can figure things out. I'm just sitting and regretting I turned this into a fiasco.

[Canoerebel]

We're near the end of June, doing a turn every day or two or three. While Erik is working various angles to get his air forces to properly attack Shikuka, I'm doing the same ol' things:

1. Strategic bombing of his bases - the results have been modest with fairly light losses; nearly 2,000 points scored thus far, but we're very early in the game.
2. My moderately damaged carriers made Seattle, where the three of them need about 50-60 days in the yards. Two other fleet carriers needed only a week or two in port will arrive shortly.
3. The two heavily damaged carriers are nearing the West Coast. They're going to Alameda, as long as they don't spring more leaks. They've had good damage control, so I'm optimistic. But they'll need maybe 180 days in port.
4. The balance of the carriers have reformed and are on the move. They're strong but not strong enough to take on KB, though I hope Erik doesn't know that. I may have to taunt and tease him from time to time, though, so that he can't focus solely on Shikuka and Sikhalin Island.

Mostly, though, I wonder if this game is doomed to whither.

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I'm just sitting and regretting I turned this into a fiasco.

Not your fault, boss. You just pulled a Greyjoy'ism [;)]

[jwolf]

The two heavily damaged carriers are nearing the West Coast. They're going to Alameda, as long as they don't spring more leaks.

Wouldn't it be faster to repair one of them in Alameda and the other in SF?

[witpqs]

Is this related to a particular way of using LRCAP?

[Canoerebel]

I think it's related to LRCAP, but you'll probably have to read Erik's AAR to get more information. I know for sure something wonky is going on but I'm not sure what or why.

[witpqs]

I'm only reading one side of this, my LRCAP question was from recalling some comment or other that was made when this first came up. I forget who made the comment.

[Canoerebel]

When this all started, I thought Erik's use of big LRCAP over Shikuka, combined with massive sweeps of the base, wasn't working right. The massive number of fighters only engage in brief, disinterested fighting rather than the carnage I'd expected. This has since happened many other times. Erik (and others, I think) wonder if the wonkiness is created by the vast number of targets in the hex. I have hundreds of ships disbanded in port, plus combat TFs there, plus well over 1,000 aircraft.

Erik is concerned (rightfully so, as far as I can tell) that his strike aircraft aren't flying in the expected numbers. He's only getting dribs and drabs in a target rich environment.

I'm concerned because a surprising percentage of his strike aircraft do get through to launch. In a recent massive raid of 1,000+ fighters, he managed to get about 90 strike aircraft to attack. Of those 90, something like 60 made it through and attacked. I had well over 750 fighters at the base. They barely engaged the enemy fighters and enemy strike aircraft. My losses were minimal while he did lose a fair number of the aircraft involved.

But nothing like you'd expect to see in this kind of environment. I'd expected carnage, with both sides losing lots of planes and Erik losing lots of pilots, since we're fighting over my base. Instead, his fighter corps hasn't been scratched, yet.

[witpqs]

OK, it must have been that discussion. I'm trying to salt away how to avoid that issue in late game, but it seems like a technique is not really discovered yet.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Thanks for testing this and sharing your thoughts, ericv.

I'm discouraged about what's happened. The game may be nerfed due to my plan, though I had no idea this would happen. Erik may not have a way to get a fair crack at my base and shipping. Or, if he does figure out a way, he'll may be able to do so without there being the kind of extreme, prolonged air battle that I was counting on to attrition his pilot corps.

We've discussed this a bit. For now, I think he plans to keep tinkering to see if he can figure things out. I'm just sitting and regretting I turned this into a fiasco.

I don't intend this to be harsh but...

I don't see this as a flaw in the game. You invaded and captured a critical potential airbase (up to level 9) that your airframe superiority allows you to retain aerial control over. Just because Japan can't compete with that (effectively) doesn't mean something has gone wrong with the game.

While yes, the minimal fighter-on-fight combat is a bit weird, I'm not convinced that it's not simply an artifact of LRCAP not being very effective (just writ large in this case).

Shikuka is a long way for IJ planes to fly and try to do anything (except for the long-legged bombers who would be short on escorts) against several hundred Allied CAP. His only chance would be if he still had Toyohara and was able to keep it open and supplied with planes.

If he really wanted to close it, he had a chance to do so when your navy was gone - he could have escorted surface forces in with KB and made a run at a bombardment to damage enough CAP or inhibit the airfield to a substantial degree. He has no chance of doing this if your carriers are in the vicinity, and if he just didn't have the assets in place to do it when your carriers retired to the east... that's still not a flaw in the game's air combat routines.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Erik is concerned (rightfully so, as far as I can tell) that his strike aircraft aren't flying in the expected numbers. He's only getting dribs and drabs in a target rich environment.

This cuts both ways. More strike planes flying for him means more planes and pilots lost, and more VPs for you.

It's also entirely possible that, given that so many of his planes are dedicated to LRCAP (apparently; I'm reading both sides but I don't think he's even posted an exact breakdown of how many units were doing what), his strike craft are refusing to fly into the teeth of an overwhelming CAP without enough dedicated escorts.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I'm concerned because a surprising percentage of his strike aircraft do get through to launch. In a recent massive raid of 1,000+ fighters, he managed to get about 90 strike aircraft to attack. Of those 90, something like 60 made it through and attacked. I had well over 750 fighters at the base. They barely engaged the enemy fighters and enemy strike aircraft. My losses were minimal while he did lose a fair number of the aircraft involved.

This is largely my experience with being struck by bombers. It took a very long time before my pilots were able to shoot them down before an appreciable number were able to drop ordnance. I attributed this to an increasing disparity in pilot skills as the most likely factor, but it's possible that increased access to better radar sets did it. I used comparable numbers of fighters, whether based on CVs/CVEs or at an airfield.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

But nothing like you'd expect to see in this kind of environment. I'd expected carnage, with both sides losing lots of planes and Erik losing lots of pilots, since we're fighting over my base. Instead, his fighter corps hasn't been scratched, yet.

Given the specific circumstances in this game, I'm not at all surprised at what's happening in the combats.

[witpqs]

It seems I was understanding right in the first place - LRCAP is being used (true?). If it doesn't work in this case (as just described by Lokasenna), so what? That's not a bug.

[MakeeLearn]

Where applicable...

" Long Range CAP over Air Combat TF’s is only 20% as effective as over other units since it’s harder to coordinate with an Air Combat TF that is constantly changing course and is using radio silence. "