Empire of the Sun - DesertWolf101 (J) vs Andy Mac (A)

[RangerJoe]

That is good and as you know, shyte happens!

[DanielAClark]

Good to hear it was only tech trouble.

I fear the worst now...as I get older.

You never know when someone might get sick, or heart trouble, or stroke...

Its good to see this continue.

[DesertWolf101]

I am very new to this forum, but in my short time here I almost started a game with Bill Brown. Lovely man, and his passing is a wake up call. So I think it is natural for us all to fear the worst when we stop hearing back from our opponents.

[DesertWolf101]

March 5, 1942

Submarines

I-156 finds AK Steel Inventor near Colombo and sinks the ship with two fish.

Bay of Bengal

A very large air brawl breaks out over Diamond Harbor as an Oscar sweep goes in supported by Zero CAP from the MKB. The Japanese come out ahead, shooting down about 20 Allied fighters for the loss of 5.

Kate torpedo bombers from the MKB attempt to hit the British light cruiser Dauntless that was attempting to harry the invasion convoys. Only one torpedo connected with the light cruiser but it failed to detonate.

As the first invasion convoy arrives at Diamond Harbor, I find out the hard way that my opponent had heavily mined the place. Japanese DMS vessels valiantly charge in to clear a path and are largely able to do so, but at a cost of being battered by the Indian coastal guns, with three of them immediately succumbing to their wounds. As a result of their sacrifice however, only one AK subsequently hit a mine for moderate damage.

The landing itself was subjected to horrendous fire from Allied 6inch guns. My opponent has reinforced the base with an extra 6inch coastal gun battery and even the field guns of the other Allied LCUs joined in on the shelling. The heavy cruisers Kumano, Suzuya, Chokai, and Maya did their best to shield the transports, taking several hits themselves, but AK Brisbane Maru and AK Kenyo Maru were nevertheless severely battered and will undoubtedly go down. The small destroyer Hasu also took a couple of hits and is badly damaged. The Imperial Guard and 5th Divisions, which will be reinforced with their remaining components, will attempt an attack to take the place the next turn.

Besides the Diamond Harbor Fortress and the additional coastal artillery and field artillery units, my Japanese forces find the Indian 20th Division and the 21st Australian Brigade in the hex. The 21st Australian Brigade in particular is noteworthy but I am not sure what to make of it. Since we are playing with +/- 60 days variable reinforcements, it is possible that this brigade is very recently arrived and has been sent to Bengal instead of being diverted to Australia. On the other hand, maybe the rest of the division is in Calcutta and my opponent has not combined it yet for some reason. Once again too early to tell.

My naval search is picking up more signs of Allied cruisers marshaling closer to the Japanese naval forces south of Vizagaptnam. At this stage I see two primary threats - the huge number of land based Allied bombers and fighters that could strike my invasion convoys, and the prospect of a mass of cruisers charging into my flank as I busy myself with forcing a landing.


Indian Ocean

Naval recon from the Mogami and Mikuma SAG pick up what appears to be a large Allied force, including battleships, that has sailed out of Perth to find them. The Japanese SAG is low on ammo and will attempt to evade. Hopefully this is another sign that Alpine Dingo has worked, but still too early to determine.

South Pacific

More Japanese naval bombardment of Pago Pago. This time though the losses inflicted are relatively paltry.

Japanese troops land on Raoul Island.

Northern Australia

Three Japanese destroyers carry out a harassing bombardment of Broome where my opponent has placed a force of Dutch bombers.

Burma

A CAP of about 30 Zeros and Oscars intercepts a force of 20 B-17D and E bombers near Mandalay that were attempting to hit one of my advancing units. Only two bombers were shot down outright, but a few more might go down from battle damage.

Following the B-17 raid, enough Zero and Oscar CAP was left over the target to inflict considerable losses on subsequent raids by Blenheim IV bombers.

China

The 12th Tank Regiment, arriving at Neikang near Chungking, is driven back out with heavy loss by the 71st Chinese Corps. The Japanese army is assembling at Chungking and will attack next turn.

[DesertWolf101]

Dealing with Fires

Just in case I am missing something, I wanted to ask the following question: Is there anything I can do to increase the chances for my ships to put out fire damage besides disbanding the vessels in the best available port? It's been really hit and miss thus far in the campaign for me, with some vessels putting out high levels of fires in a turn or two and others, particularly the merchant vessels, occasionally seeing very small fires keep growing until the ship is wrecked. As one would expect, it's way worse with my Japanese ships this game than with my Allied ships over the course of the last one.

[RangerJoe]

Escort TF with lots of escorts. Cruise speed if they have to move.

Bring plenty of marshmallows and hot dogs. [:D]

PT boats have suck Japanese merchant ships with their fifty caliber machine guns only, at least for me.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Dealing with Fires

Just in case I am missing something, I wanted to ask the following question: Is there anything I can do to increase the chances for my ships to put out fire damage besides disbanding the vessels in the best available port? It's been really hit and miss thus far in the campaign for me, with some vessels putting out high levels of fires in a turn or two and others, particularly the merchant vessels, occasionally seeing very small fires keep growing until the ship is wrecked. As one would expect, it's way worse with my Japanese ships this game than with my Allied ships over the course of the last one.

Never disband in ports below 5 I have found, and even then I never do it as I would rather dock. I have found the less movement the better, docked is great, set to cruise, and stuff as many ships into the task force as you can. Don't have any supply or fuel or oil on board.

Pray, at sea, move as little as possible. Coastal waters might help. Scratch that, they do help but maybe not much.

Experience and leaders plays a major role. Perhaps have a task force commander too.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Dealing with Fires

Just in case I am missing something, I wanted to ask the following question: Is there anything I can do to increase the chances for my ships to put out fire damage besides disbanding the vessels in the best available port? It's been really hit and miss thus far in the campaign for me, with some vessels putting out high levels of fires in a turn or two and others, particularly the merchant vessels, occasionally seeing very small fires keep growing until the ship is wrecked. As one would expect, it's way worse with my Japanese ships this game than with my Allied ships over the course of the last one.

Read my posts, in particular post #6, in this thread:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... e&#3964157

for details on combatting ship fires.

Alfred

[DesertWolf101]

Thank you guys, very helpful. You will see later why I am asking when I post the turn. [:D]

[RangerJoe]

Thank you Alfred.

Joe

[DesertWolf101]

March 6, 1942

Bay of Bengal

The turn starts off with another amphibious phase at Diamond Harbor, namely the effort to land the remaining components of the Imperial Guard and the 5th Division in anticipation of their pending attempt to take the hex at the end of the turn. The Japanese once again come under fierce shelling from the coastal artillery, but I had cycled in a fresh force of four heavy cruisers and this proved critical in minimizing the damage as much as possible - two AKs are mortally wounded.

Meanwhile, Allied small craft of all kind sally forth from Diamond Harbor and Calcutta. A large number of AKLs, PGs, and HDML type vessels are encountered and sunk as a result. The most noteworthy surface action was the encounter with the light cruiser Dauntless further to the west. The Japanese destroyer squadron that finds the vessel promptly puts a torpedo into the Dauntless and sinks her.

The real heart stopping stuff started during the day phase. Out of nowhere, 12 swordfish from the Hermes head straight towards the MKB at low altitude. Tragically, the CAP of 76 Zeros is too high, and does not intercept before the string bags deliver a devastating blow. CVL Shoho takes 9 500lb bomb hits and is left a blazing wreck. CVL Ryujo meanwhile takes 2 of the bombs and is damaged.

The next wave of 9 Fulmar IIs from the Indomitable is intercepted and promptly dealt with, but the final wave of 15 Albacore I torpedo bombers, again flying under the Zeros, find the Ryujo and put another torpedo into her. I wish I had received Alfred's and Lowpe's tips on dealing with fires before I sent back the turn - I am almost certain the Ryujo is a loss.

On the Japanese side, 32 Kate torpedo bombers attempt to attack the British carriers but do so without escort. Only 6 Sea Hurricanes are on station to protect the British, but together with the incredibly devastating flak are enough to shatter the Kates. The surviving Japanese aviators only manage to damage CVL Hermes with a torpedo and a 250kg bomb.

Finally, land based Fulmar II and Blenheim bombers come in low to strike at the troop convoys, and this they do without fighter opposition as the MKB had been thrown into chaos by the British carrier attack. As a result, AP Buenos Aires is wrecked and a few hundred Japanese troops go swimming.

A few more Blenheim and Hudson bombers go in against the Japanese ships during the rest of the day, but they either miss or are shot down by Japanese fighters.

India

An Oscar sweep goes in over Diamond Harbor. Abour 15 Hurricanes are shot down for the loss of 8 Oscars.

The silver lining from the day is the great success achieved by the Japanese attack at Diamond Harbor, seizing the hex and smashing the Indian 20th Division and heavily damaging the 21st Australian Brigade. Hermes’s swordfish, having diverted to Diamond Harbor, are also caught on the ground and destroyed.

Burma

6 B-17E heavies destroy a few Tina transports on the ground at Mandalay.

New Guinea

23 B-17Es hit Port Moresby but face considerable opposition from Zero fighters, which throws off their aim.

China

The first Japanese attack goes in against Chungking, reducing forts from 6 to 5. The troops will rest the next turn, and go in again the turn after that.

---------------------

This is undoubtedly my worst turn thus far in this campaign. Before I mention my critical mistakes, I have to say that my opponent deserves credit for a daring attack. In particular he had lulled me over previous turns into keeping my CAP high only to switch over to an all-low altitude attack at the critical moment.

Here are the biggest mistakes I made that led to this unfortunate result:

1) The first is the overreliance on LBA, both for long-range recon and for naval attack. At no point over the last several turns did I get any inkling that my opponent had carriers in the area. I picked up several sightings of cruisers and that is what my mind was focusing on. Furthermore, the 60+ Betty and Nell bombers within range of the battle box did not fly this turn due to bad weather. Some bad luck here certainly, but not enough to excuse my overconfidence that the LBA would both warn me in time and provide a powerful counterstrike.
2) My CAP settings were both devastating and inexcusable. There really is not much more to say on this matter.
3) Ties in to the first point, the lack of Zero escort for the Kates was a bad mistake. Given my mistaken belief that there were only enemy surface warships in the area, I elected to maximize my Zero presence to focus on providing CAP over the fleet. That would have been find had I actually placed the CAP settings correctly!

Here is the worst part – the majority of my heavy cruisers are out of ammo, the MKB is in complete disarray, and a task force of 10 cruisers and, gulp, reportedly BBs, is situated only three hexes away from my main invasion convoy. The absolute priority right now is not to have those four divisions sunk before they make landfall in India!

[Lowpe]

British fleet in 1942 is no joke.[X(] I would much rather fight low experience Americans.[;)]

I have managed to save those baby carriers a couple of times, but it took extraordinary measures each time. They are horrendously fragile. I got one into port with 99 sys damage once....only to be sunk a few days later by beasts.[:(]

[RangerJoe]

Early in the game when the small carriers still have Claudes, I put those fighters on CAP at 5000 feet when I am near torpedo bombers. They do good enough work on them. Maybe have some CAP down low, especially against British CVs since those normally don't have DBs on them.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

British fleet in 1942 is no joke.[X(] I would much rather fight low experience Americans.[;)]

I have managed to save those baby carriers a couple of times, but it took extraordinary measures each time. They are horrendously fragile. I got one into port with 99 sys damage once....only to be sunk a few days later by beasts.[:(]

They certainly are fragile. It was sad to see them disappear under a rain of bombs with scores of Zeros over them. It would take a miracle to save Ryujo now.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Early in the game when the small carriers still have Claudes, I put those fighters on CAP at 5000 feet when I am near torpedo bombers. They do good enough work on them. Maybe have some CAP down low, especially against British CVs since those normally don't have DBs on them.

Believe me Joe, this lesson has been learnt the hard way now!! [:D]

Those string bags are a nasty piece of work flying low. Even CAP at 10,000 missed them!

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

...Here is the worst part – the majority of my heavy cruisers are out of ammo, ...

Here is some worse news.

A single ship in a TF which is low on ammo will force the entire TF (if it is Air/Surface/Bombardment) to run for home and decline combat. Being low in ammo is being down to 1/3 main gun ammo.

Alfred

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Early in the game when the small carriers still have Claudes, I put those fighters on CAP at 5000 feet when I am near torpedo bombers. They do good enough work on them. Maybe have some CAP down low, especially against British CVs since those normally don't have DBs on them.

Believe me Joe, this lesson has been learnt the hard way now!! [:D]

Those string bags are a nasty piece of work flying low. Even CAP at 10,000 missed them!

It is best to have CAP within 5000 feet of the bomber stream otherwise they may not be able to greet them properly.

That is also one reason to have your DBs at 14,000 feet - to distract from the torpedo bombers at 100 feet!

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

...Here is the worst part – the majority of my heavy cruisers are out of ammo, ...

Here is some worse news.

A single ship in a TF which is low on ammo will force the entire TF (if it is Air/Surface/Bombardment) to run for home and decline combat. Being low in ammo is being down to 1/3 main gun ammo.

Alfred

I didn't know that, but that makes me glad I took the time to tinker with the task forces and remove the vessels with low ammo from the ones with full magazines. Unfortunately that also means that apart from a couple of exceptions only light cruisers and destroyers will be ready for the fight.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

...Here is the worst part – the majority of my heavy cruisers are out of ammo, ...

Here is some worse news.

A single ship in a TF which is low on ammo will force the entire TF (if it is Air/Surface/Bombardment) to run for home and decline combat. Being low in ammo is being down to 1/3 main gun ammo.

Alfred

I didn't know that, but that makes me glad I took the time to tinker with the task forces and remove the vessels with low ammo from the ones with full magazines. Unfortunately that also means that apart from a couple of exceptions only light cruisers and destroyers will be ready for the fight.

That is another example of why some people get frustrated when their task forces don't do what they order them to![:D]

Ammo, fuel, damage, weather, dl, leadership, settings, overstacking, tons of things. I always like it when the task force changes destination (home port).

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

ORIGINAL: Alfred




Here is some worse news.

A single ship in a TF which is low on ammo will force the entire TF (if it is Air/Surface/Bombardment) to run for home and decline combat. Being low in ammo is being down to 1/3 main gun ammo.

Alfred

I didn't know that, but that makes me glad I took the time to tinker with the task forces and remove the vessels with low ammo from the ones with full magazines. Unfortunately that also means that apart from a couple of exceptions only light cruisers and destroyers will be ready for the fight.

That is another example of why some people get frustrated when their task forces don't do what they order them to![:D]

Ammo, fuel, damage, weather, dl, leadership, settings, overstacking, tons of things. I always like it when the task force changes destination (home port).

Hey Captain, let's go to this other port over here. They have better beer and women!