Scen 21 - SPOILER SPOILER

[PaxMondo]

And the RSY is over full: HMS PoW sent to CAPE for repairs.




HMS Repulse went toe-2-toe for several rounds against 2 IJN BB's. I doubt I will be able to save her. It would mean holding Columbo AND safe sea lane passage to the CAPE for another +30 days to get enough water pumped out of her to make the trip.

[PaxMondo]

And more ...



HMS Sovereign ripped up a couple of TB raiders and her escorts (Stronghold/Thracian) did their jobs shielding her from repeated LL attacks. She's not badly hurt but I had to put her in because she had lost 3knots off of her already lumbering pace. I should have her out in 5 or 6 days.

[PaxMondo]

last one:

[CaptBeefheart]

As in NZ, I managed to sneak in barely enough ground reinforcements to hold the line at Koggala and Jaffna. I didn't hold out on that one based on naval superiority--I lost a lot of Stringbags and Albacores and a few surface units before giving up. Koggala still has a bunch of IJ units in Dec 43 (all convoys stopped going there in July 43 or thereabouts). The last deliberate attack I did went very poorly for my chaps. I might wait a year.

I'll be invading Manus soon and already have Horn, Buna, Finschafen, Umboi and Shortlands (and most other bases to the south of those). Will branch to Dobo and Samlauki next month as well as further up the New Guinea coast. I'm avoiding CenPac on this one.

I think the KB is still powerful. It hasn't reacted in the SWPac or SoPac theaters. Some KB subset still does Midway and Johnston trashings periodically, although since I put an SS torp into a flattop on the last one, that might be it for those runs.

Cheers,
CB

[PaxMondo]

So, up to Mar 1, 1942. Blazing speed, eh?

Biggest issue and not sure exactly how to address it in the AI: Mine fields. Manila, Bataan, Soerbaya, Singers, etc. Any where that the allies have a minefield, the AI clears them by running ship through them. I have gotten almost as many VP's from mines as anything else.

Fighting landings (multiple) in West Oz right now and Ceylon. Holding my own, barely in OZ. Ceylon, I'm about to be overwhelmed. I can't match either the naval nor the air forces arrayed against me, although I am costing the AI dearly: 2:1 or better in the air, and I'm losing few pilots battling over my bases. So, my pilot pools of experienced pilots are growing fast.

Burma: fighting a slow withdrawal, but I think doing well. Just lost Phu(?) and now fighting in Toungoo. Starting to get better supply flow into Burma from Ledo. Schwebo is built up to the point that I think I can hold there if not before.

China: AI is stalled at Loyang. Keeps attacking at 1:100 odds and getting creamed. This prevents the advance on Changsha (I'm pretty sure it is a trigger, but I haven't checked the AI files to be sure). Sian is being assaulted now, but should hold for at least another week or more. With the losses the IJA has taken at Loyang, I'm not sure they will ever be able to take CK. I also have fought them to a stand still at Nanning.

[CaptBeefheart]

I don't do mine warfare against the Computer. I also run only about 30% of my subs and do two-day turns as a handicap.

By the way, I'm up to April 1944. I just took Biak and am about to expand further into the DEI from Saumlaki and Kai-Eilanden on a vector toward Balikpapan and Tarakan. I retook Darwin and am retaking bases to the west and south of it. There's a big stack at Alice which I'm slowly eroding. In Burma, I cleared out the middle bases and am about to take Toungoo and points south. I've ignored CenPac and not gone beyond the Aleutians in this iteration. A Corsair VMF at Funafuti has some of the game's best aces as they bag about 5 Betties a day. The enemy still has big stacks at Koggala and Imphal and I have the actual bases. I'm wary of trying to reduce them.

One thing I have realized is that a base like Rabaul (with something like 150 light industry) will have to be invaded or else I'll have to naval bombard it from Shortlands (or somewhere closer) for the rest of the game. So, that and Kavieng will eventually be dealt with as I head forward. As they have 60-70K troops each they won't be easy.

Cheers,
CB

[PaxMondo]

I don't use mines either, but they are in place with the initial setup … and the AI is just impaling itself on them. Worse than usual, quite a bit worse actually.