Allies Set-up Spreadsheet for AE

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Okay, slowly working forward and I think I am getting the hang of this. I am gradually withdrawing units out of Malaya and PI and DEI, those that want to go. Looking at DEI, the KNIL Army cmd and the MLD look as though they are moveable but when I try to move them from Soerabaja to say Ambon, they do not appear, I have tried Tpt TFs and Amphibious TFs but they do not appear on the load lists. Turned them into Combat mode for Amphibious and strategic mode for Tpt. Still no appearance! Are they immoveable? I would like to tuck them away in Merauke or somewhere else out of the way so that the DEI forces still have a viable HQ.

An HQ with [R] after the name is restricted. Read through the relevant section of the manual as it's very important to understand the intricacies of dealing with Restricted units of all sorts

Some of my air groups are getting quite experienced and I am getting aces of 8 and 7 springing up. My air combat results are very much my way with a general 2:1 loss rate. I intend to withdraw the pilots and send them to units under training. So, I did a check on air groups and a number of them are red, thus slated for compulsory withdrawal inside a month. What does this mean to me as far as airframes and pilots go?

When they withdraw, do the airframes and pilots go into the pool or are they lost to me? If lost, is it worth pulling out all the experienced pilots and replacing them with noobs, thus gaining the benefit of my having them train all this time? Or do they go into the general reserve pool and I can access them. The manual seems rather indeterminate about this but does seem to take the slant that they MUST be withdrawn (or suffer PP hits) with the perhaps not intended suggestion that they are may be lost. Am I being paranoid about this or is the program really out to get me?

Click the "Withdraw Group" button and it will tell you what will happen - airframes lost, pilots to pool, both lost, etc. In that pop-up window, you can then select "No" and the action won't take place (but you'll know what will happen when it does).

Also I have looked at my pilots list. Some of their skills are marked in red. That is the one colour the manual does not address. It talks about grey and black and yellow and green but I cannot find what red means! Help!

Pilots in red are "Leaders", and the code can make it tricky to pull them out, but it can be done by closing the "Pilot" window and opening it again - all the "red" names will disappear except the actual squadron commander (assuming he's a pilot).

[LGKMAS]

Starting to come to grips with things now.
Convoys are moving supplies and Tpts are trooping troops. Had a few good engagements with Japanese cargo TFs and sunk a few. Dutch subs are sinking AKs rather regularly as are the s Boats.
Air engagements are about 2:1 in my favour. Pilots are getting up near the 70 mark and I am regularly culling out those in the front line who get high experience and sending them to the pilot reserve and then having them sent to the units that are training. I thought I read that this enables the training units to get experience faster, although not overnight. Is this correct?
Also getting worried about Burma. Singapore has fallen, early. But I did extract the 8 Aust Div and 18 UK div was sent to Calcutta so that was to be expected.
But is Rangoon a good place to defend to the death? looking at the map, it seems that the only way the other locations in Burma can be supplied is through Rangoon. Pegu is facing a sizeable Japanese threat and although I have a division in Rangoon with level 3 forts, is this a good idea or are they likely to be cut off and lost?
Surprised at the Japanese attacks in China. Some are nearly suicidal with the Japanese loosing 3000 casualties and the Chinese only a dozen or so. There have been a few large losses on the Chinese side as well so I suppose it evens it up.
Pacific, lost Wake. Don't we all? Ambushed a TF near Midway. Japanese lost a cruiser.
SCTF ran into about six Cargo/Tpt TFs at Rabaul and severely degraded them. A-24s at port Moresby are regularly sinking AKs trying to land troops and supplies at Madang.
Dutch forces are falling back with commands to Merauke and Koepang.
Question, if the Japanese take Soerabaja/Batavia, does this cut off replacements etc for the Dutch?
Overall, apart from a growing uneasiness over Rangoon, I am happy with the way things are going.

[RangerJoe]

Abandon Burma, it is a trap. It takes a long time to walk to India and if the Japanese take the coast along Akyab through Chittagong, you have hexes of jungle to walk through.

The Chinese will eventually lose battles because they won't have enough supply. Consider stockpiling their infantry in order to get their support build up enough to take care of the unit. Fall back to good defensive positions and guard your flanks.

The Dutch lose their replacements according to the date, not what they own on the map.

Pilots below the squadron average will gain experience faster. By putting higher skilled and experienced pilots on the squadrons it increases the average. Consider waiting until they get 80+ experience, then send them back to help train others. As Allied, you don't need to send them to Tracom. You could also consider making a squadron or two of experts and use them to ambush the enemy.

[LGKMAS]

Thanks. I was getting rather concerned about Rangoon. Now I know I should be very concerned and need to worry about pulling units out of there.
I tend to leave the Chinese be for the most part. I pulled a number of units back into hill country and left them there. I confess I had such a poor view of the Chinese and their supply problems that I decided to use them merely as something to soak up Japanese units and supplies. Now I need to have a serious look at what they are capable of doing.
Re the Dutch, I guess I was trying to ask that if the reinforcement base was taken by the Japanese, do the various HQs disappear or waste away or what? I know the MNIL or whatever is a grey R HQ. So transferring it to some other Command is expensive and I would like to keep my PPs for something worthwhile. Or is this the something worthwhile I need to use them on?
I may have to re-think my SE Asia plans. I obviously have tried to build up too far forward and will suffer for it. If it all turns to clag, then at least I have every day backed up and I can restart, without having to re-enter 4000+ units from scratch.

[RangerJoe]

If you want to save Restricted Dutch units, get a base in Australia switched over to the Dutch. Then you can airlift at least part of the units there. Even if the units have little to no combat strength, the universal engineer, the support squads, and other such devices are useful at a base.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Thanks. I was getting rather concerned about Rangoon. Now I know I should be very concerned and need to worry about pulling units out of there.
I tend to leave the Chinese be for the most part. I pulled a number of units back into hill country and left them there. I confess I had such a poor view of the Chinese and their supply problems that I decided to use them merely as something to soak up Japanese units and supplies. Now I need to have a serious look at what they are capable of doing.
Re the Dutch, I guess I was trying to ask that if the reinforcement base was taken by the Japanese, do the various HQs disappear or waste away or what? I know the MNIL or whatever is a grey R HQ. So transferring it to some other Command is expensive and I would like to keep my PPs for something worthwhile. Or is this the something worthwhile I need to use them on?
I may have to re-think my SE Asia plans. I obviously have tried to build up too far forward and will suffer for it. If it all turns to clag, then at least I have every day backed up and I can restart, without having to re-enter 4000+ units from scratch.

Don't give up entirely on the Chinese. You can't fix all the problems for all of them, but you can build an elite and fairly effective (for them) fighting force by selecting a few units to move close to sources of supply and let them fill out TOE (build pool stockpiles of the devices they need and release them to one unit at a time when they are enough). Restrict the number of new recruits joining the units by turning off "replacements" - this will ensure that experience levels will rise rather than keep being diluted. Prep the units for a target and let the prep go to 100%. Then leave it there and the experience gains will be better than if you switch prep. And from the start, make sure they have the best leaders the Chinese can get. High Land skill is more important than Aggression - they will be fighting mostly in defensive strongholds rather than trying to attack the Japanese in theirs. Once the units get 50% experience and a few anti-tank and AAA weapons, they will fight decently in good terrain.

[LGKMAS]

Okay
I decided I had missed too much to make it realistic. I had missed the concept of Amphibious forces being able to evacuate. I had missed the idea of AKEs being able to re-arm vessels not normally able to do so. I missed the idea that ACTFs had a finite sortie ability. I failed to grasp the idea of re-arm completely!! I was completely bamboozled until it was too late about R HQs and the units under them. So I went back and restarted.
Now I am using Amphibious TFs to extract LCUs that are valuable. I have sent 18 UK Div to India rather than be a sacrificial lamb at Singapore. AUS 8 Div has been extracted and rebuilt at Darwin. Singapore still stands as at 19 Jan 42, despite all this. And so does the PI.
I have had a great run of luck at Rabaul. I pulled the Aus forces out and then got concerned about Milne bay, based on my Uncommon Valour days. So I sent a SCTF there. After a few turns, my PA found some ships at Rabaul so I sent the SCTF in to bombard it. That led to a series of SCTF encounters that sank quite a few IJN xAKs.
So I sent the SCTF back to Brisbane to re-arm and found the Dutch SCTF nearby, having pulled it out early to Merauke. That went in today and hit another 6-7 xAKs loaded with troops. In addition I had a rush of blood to the head and sent all 4 CVs to attack Rabaul from Pearl, which suddenly found a target rich environment in the Marshalls and they sank 19 xAKs as well as a TK and some SCh. That is enough and I am now sending them back to PH.
So Far the restart has worked well as I am keeping a list of WDIF for each day. WDIF= What did I forget. As something goes wrong I am noting what I should have done and making damned sure the next day I don't make the same mistakes. This approach seems to work.
I have extracted nearly all the Burma forces to Akyab or Cox's bazaar without loss by using Amphibious TFs.
My kill rate in aircraft is nearly 3:1 which I find rather gratifying but am not sure why.
With the SCTF, ACTF and the S boats and Dutch boats, I have managed to sink about 100 IJN xAKs as well as a CVL and 6 CLs.
Once the USN torpedoes start to work, the losses should be much higher, I hope.
All in all, thanks to the tips, advice and guidance here, I know that despite this being a loss period for the Allies, which it is, I am inflicting hopefully significant losses on the Japanese which should affect later battles.

[LGKMAS]

Not certain what went wrong there. I know I typed in something about the results of bombarding Rabaul. The result was I found myself in surface combat with a series of about six cargo/tpt TFs that I proceeded to sink with great loss of troops.
not sure why that did not appear in the post.

[btd64]

What scenario are you playing? Also, I would guess that your playing the AI. When you start playing a live player your results will be a lot different. But still fun....GP

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Okay
I decided I had missed too much to make it realistic.

Been there, done this.....many times. The first time in, you realize there are all sorts of things you can and should do differently, just because there are sooooo many of the finer-tuned mechanics to learn. Plus there's the inevitable bone-headed stuff that all of us do when playing our first grand campaign.

The second time through (as you are seeing), it's very easy to exploit the AIs weaknesses, especially as it tries to follow the "early war expansion script". So, as in real life, the Japs are sending out lots of small and poorly defended invasion convoys, and it's really easy to wipe them out. The problem is, the AI will keep sending small TFs to try and fulfill the script (or in some cases will just assume it was successful and move on to goal #2).

And it will, very rapidly, start to feel like you are shooting fish in a barrel. Because...you kind of are.

Now that's fine if you enjoy that sort of thing, but if your real goal is to experience something more akin to the real War in the Pacific, you'll have to put some handcuffs on your actions. In general, if the Japanese AI is allowed to fulfill it's missions in the first 5-7 months of the war, you'll be faced with a much tougher opponent, entrenched inside a contiguous perimeter, and you'll need to root them out, island by island. All while dealing with tough Naval SCTFs supported by carriers and land-based air.

It all depends of course, on you. Play whatever style you enjoy, but also be aware (as btd64 rightly points out), that successful or entertaining strategies used against the AI are certain death if used against even a decent human opponent. If PBEM is your long term goal, keep in mind that it's easy to acquire bad habits against the AI.

[RangerJoe]

Those bad habits formed against the AI are entertaining for the other side . . .

[LGKMAS]

Starting to self-isolate at the moment (Still healthy and want to stay that way!) and finding more time to really get into the mechanics.
Now I check everyday to see if there are any SSTF's tied up alongside when they should be out on patrol.
Checking ship repairs to see if I can free up shipyard space.
Locating the various fragments from the Sir robin defence and trying to unite them.
Letting small divisions rest and train so they gradually get up to full strength
Checking all ports to send out supplies and fuel (LA, San Fran, Aden, Capetown etc) to see if the steady flow is working
Remembering to Dock TFs to improve loading etc.
Looking at the sightings list to see if there are patterns. Generally Zeros, Kates and Vals together should indicate a Carrier TF somewhere.
Continually checking pilot experience and deciding who I can cull and send to poorly experienced units.
Sorting out who belongs to which HQ so I can get them together.
and the list goes on and on.
I think I mentioned I am using the scenario that starts with 8 Dec and I have pushed the level up one notch from Historical.

I take the point that the AI can do strange things. The latest is a three AK TF landing troops at Noumea! In late Jan 42! Doesn't seem to have any escorts. I have about 60 B-26s there but unfortunately none of them seem to be able to take off because of weather, although Noumea is supposedly only overcast!
But I do have the 8th Marines and a few others there so I am not that concerned. They should push off the invasion and there is a SCTF on it's way to tackle the ships.

Given that, I wonder if the AI ever tries to invade the West Coast?

The more I look, the more I find Things that help out with the decision making.

[LGKMAS]

Okay
Jap invasion of Noumea is no more. Sunk and defeated!

I will take the point that the AI is wont to try and repeat these annoying activities.

On another note, I an re-organising my subs after the evacuation of the DEI. And I realise I have only about 6 AS. And when I scroll through expected arrivals I find only about another 5-6 due for the rest of the war. This seems rather small. Am I missing something? Or can some of the existing ships be converted to AS?
I have tried to find an easy way to see if any can but all I can do is click on ships able to be converted and then try and scroll down looking at each one of them. I found a stack of ships able to be converted to AG and AKE/AE but so far none that make it into the AS category.
So is this all we can expect, 5-6 currently (Feb 42) and only another 5-6 for the rest of the war?

[Alfred]

Scenario 1 starts off with 9 AS and has 15 more arriving in the future.
 
Alfred

[LGKMAS]

I think I am scenario 6.starting 8 Dec.
I have now worked out there are about 12 USN 2 RN and 1 Dutch arriving from 1/1/42. I just got one of them at Cristobal but I think in all of 42, I only get 4 over the whole year and the last one is in December so you might as well call it 43. Most start arriving mid 43 so I will have to be careful where I put the few I have at the moment.!haven't found any conversions to AS yet but I haven't gone through them all. Looks like it will be unlikely though.
Never a dull moment
How are you guys holding up under COVID-19?

[BBfanboy]

I do not recall seeing any Allied ships that can convert to AS either. Bear in mind that any AE or AKE can rearm a sub with torpedoes. The AS benefit is in speeding up minor repairs for the sub. I never found that I did not have enough AS ships for the job. You need to keep them far enough back that enemy recon will not find them in port. That means fairly scattered around the perimeter so you should have enough. Send them out under escort though.

Hunkered down for the COVID-19 outbreak. Still go out for groceries about once a week. Actually fairly pleasant now, light traffic, no problems finding parking spaces, few people in the store so getting groceries is a quick process. Got fuel last week - cheapest it has been in years. Otherwise, puttering around the apartment and waiting for the spring thaw to start. Saw a flock of geese yesterday and there is no open water anywhere around that I know of. Could be some at the base of the dam on the Red River.

[LGKMAS]

" Bear in mind that any AE or AKE can rearm a sub with torpedoes. "
Ah! Wondered about that. I cannot seem to wrap my head around the re-arm table in the manual.
As a guide, do people station the short range Dutch subs at Colombo or Perth, or even Calcutta. I am thinking now that AKE/AE can re-arm them, I could station a AKE at Carnarvon, keep the fuel up to Carnarvon and use the short legged Dutch subs from there. Any that need repairs just head down to Perth. I would need good air cover for this but it seems feasible.

I am currently tidying up the mad rush to put garrisons everywhere right at the start which meant you took what was available rather than what was under the right HQ. A number of units are under different HQs, such as the Americal Div regts. The cost to change HQs so I can rebuild seems high. Do the PP drop over time or do they stay the same and you hope your daily addition of PP will let you eventually do things. To Take an extreme example, at LA I have the 40th inf Div. To Change HQs so I can deploy it to the South Pacific is a massive 1925 PPs. That's all PPs for nearly 40 days.

Did the weekly visit to the local supermarket and stocked up on what essentials were there, such as eggs, bacon and wine. People are all social distancing and security staff are there to make sure that happens. Lines taped on the ground to ensure you don't get too close at the checkout. seemed rather civilised for what is supposed to be the end of days.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

" Bear in mind that any AE or AKE can rearm a sub with torpedoes. "
Ah! Wondered about that. I cannot seem to wrap my head around the re-arm table in the manual.
As a guide, do people station the short range Dutch subs at Colombo or Perth, or even Calcutta. I am thinking now that AKE/AE can re-arm them, I could station a AKE at Carnarvon, keep the fuel up to Carnarvon and use the short legged Dutch subs from there. Any that need repairs just head down to Perth. I would need good air cover for this but it seems feasible.

I am currently tidying up the mad rush to put garrisons everywhere right at the start which meant you took what was available rather than what was under the right HQ. A number of units are under different HQs, such as the Americal Div regts. The cost to change HQs so I can rebuild seems high. Do the PP drop over time or do they stay the same and you hope your daily addition of PP will let you eventually do things. To Take an extreme example, at LA I have the 40th inf Div. To Change HQs so I can deploy it to the South Pacific is a massive 1925 PPs. That's all PPs for nearly 40 days.

Did the weekly visit to the local supermarket and stocked up on what essentials were there, such as eggs, bacon and wine. People are all social distancing and security staff are there to make sure that happens. Lines taped on the ground to ensure you don't get too close at the checkout. seemed rather civilised for what is supposed to be the end of days.

The PPs may go up due to reinforcements and/or disabled devices being repaired.

Base the subs farther away, then move them to a refuel point and start the patrol from there. It takes more time and clicks but it is safer. Perth may not be safe against a human opponent.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

The PPs may go up due to reinforcements and/or disabled devices being repaired.

Base the subs farther away, then move them to a refuel point and start the patrol from there. It takes more time and clicks but it is safer. Perth may not be safe against a human opponent.

Further to what RJ has said, turn OFF replacements and upgrades for all units that are not going to be in front line action right away. This reserves the devices in the pools to go to front line units with replacements or upgrades ON. It also makes the units NOT receiving replacements cheaper to buy out with PP. PP costs are calculated per device (squads are devices too).

Re: the refueling point for subs - unlike other ships, subs cannot refuel from a tanker or AO even if disbanded in port. You need to offload fuel into a port at least level 1. Note that a base with only a size 1 port cannot store much fuel without it evaporating from inadequate storage. Off load up to the max fuel number on the base unit screen upper center.

[LGKMAS]

Okay, thanks for the replacement tip. I will turn off replacements for those I want to change HQs.

So far I am still getting a 3:1 favourable exchange rate wrt Air. I know that the IJN and IJA had some rather fragile planes but is this normal? I don't think I have come across the KB in combat yet, so possibly I am not up against the first string.

One mnor area that puzzles me, at the moment.
5 Sdn RAF. It seems to be split into two dets. One is an Audax det doing Bomber work. The other is a Mohawk det doing fighter stuff. The Audax det has a note that it will upgrade to mohawks. When is this likely to happen? Can I force it somehow? Those Audaxes are cute but I'd rather have Mohawks.