Starting an airfield from scratch

[Bella]

Building airfields on Dutch Harbour from 0. Even with two construction regiments, and two base forces (total Engineers 84 and Engineer vehicles 25) it seems to be going very slowly.

Does this reflect that building from scratch to level 1 is a longer, more difficult process than from Level 1 to Level 2, Level 2 to Level 3, etc.? Does each progressive Level up take less time?

[Yaab]

Manual, p. 215

Once a port or airfield reaches its SPS, the cost of additional construction increases significantly,
You should consider halting construction or else risk consuming large quantities of supplies
for possibly little benefit. In addition to the normal costs, it takes 10 times longer than normal
to increase a current size 0 airfield with a SPS of zero to a size of 1. These size zero locations
were very unsuitable for airfields (such as Wau, which was built on the side of a mountain)

[Arkham]

What if the SPS is say, 5 but the current airfield is zero?

[Yaab]

Manual p.45

Airfield # (#) indicates the airfield size (to the left of the parenthesis)
and Standard Potential Size (SPS) possible (in the parenthesis).
An airfield can build up to the SPS at normal engineer/supply cost,
but can build up to 3 over the SPS by expending extra engineers
and supplies (although you can never build a size 10 airfield)

(END QUOTE)

SPS of Dutch Harbor in stock GC scenarios is 0(0) port, 0(0) airfield. In two words: world of pain.

[Arkham]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

[Bella]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

True enough. Actually, the Port SPS for Dutch Harbour is 3 in my game, and I’ve maxed that out. Given the advice above, I’ll take the airfield to only 1 (it’s at 75%) and leave it at that. Just want to station a PG Group of P-40’s there for when the IJN carriers arrive.

[Sardaukar]

Well, things USA is not lacking in game are supply and engineers...and Dutch Harbor is quite close to mainland, so even transportation is not that big issue.

[Yaab]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

Well, they doń't call it Dutch Harbor for nothing. You have to reclaim the land from the sea.

[Platoonist]

Another thing to consider is the season. Building up a base in a cold weather zone during the winter months takes twice as long and the campaign game usually starts on an infamous day in December.

[Yaab]

When you pry my shovel from my dead cold hands!

[Platoonist]

One of Dutch Harbor's issues was that the best flat terrain for airfield expansion was on nearby Umnak Island. It had some flat terrain but no decent anchorage. So supplies had to be transported by lighter from Dutch Harbor slowing things down even more.

[btd64]

I learned a long time ago NOT to build a airfield on Dutch Harbor. Takes to long. There are plenty of nearby potential airfields nearby....GP

[BBfanboy]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

The harbour has an SPS (3) which means it can be built to 6 with enough supply and engineers. It's the Airfield that is the problem.

[Bella]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

Well, they doń't call it Dutch Harbor for nothing. You have to reclaim the land from the sea.

Yet Troop capacity is unlimited.

[Platoonist]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

Well, they doń't call it Dutch Harbor for nothing. You have to reclaim the land from the sea.

Yet Troop capacity is unlimited.

I think Yaab was making a humorous reference to the Dutch proclivity for land reclaimation projects. They're always striving to pump the Netherlands drier. About 17% of modern Holland was once under an inlet of the North Sea.

[Chris21wen]

Funny that a place called Dutch HARBOR would have problems building a HARBOR.

A harbour is not necesarily a port. A harbour is a shelter fo boats and ships against bad weather. Put any structure there with the means of help the ships to off load anything and you have a port.

[CaptBeefheart]

There's no problem building a port at Dutch Harbor, but early on you should build up the airfield next door at Umnak and put CAP there at a range of 1 hex instead of the usual 0. Later on, if the Aleutians are not by then a complete backwater, you can put a Seabee regiment on Dutch and eventually get your Level 1 airfield.

Cheers,
CB

[Sardaukar]

Adak I. is pretty good submarine base.

[bradfordkay]

I have a game that has reached March '44 and. even with two USN Construction Battalions working, the airfield at Dutch Harbor is still only a 2(0) and 52% of the way to its full size of 3(0). Yes, the port was maxed out ages ago.

[Macquarrie1999]

I learned a long time ago NOT to build a airfield on Dutch Harbor. Takes to long. There are plenty of nearby potential airfields nearby....GP

I like building a tiny airfield there just for redundancy, but I'm a sucker for redundancy. Agreed that there are much better locations in that area for a full sized airfield.