Sardaukar's Newbie Tutorial AAR for Newbies (vs. IJ AI)

[Sardaukar]

Bit annoying that 22nd Indian Brigade decided to surrender instead of retreating in Malacca...but such is war.

Orders for Dec 2-3:

CentPac & USA:

- ship repair adjusted, since several ships had their 1/42 upgrade.

- air missions adjusted.

India:

- SS Trusty sent from Aden to Colombo.

- realized that AF size was not enough for 5 Sqd RAF recombine in Karachi, supply set back to normal

Burma:

- no changes

Malaya:

- AVP Poolster sent to Soerabaja from Singapore

DEI:

- several subs repair adjusted in Soerabaja, 5 subs sent out to patrol

- Makassar BF air transport to Soerabaja starts

Philippines:

- Clark F. troops set to deliberate attack. Maybe we can dislodge enemy tank units before reinforcements arrive.

- withdrawal of B-17 units from Clark to Darwin & Soerabaja started.

China:

- 2 bomber units sent to from Changsha to Chungking, 2 fighter units from Chengtu. Fighters will transfer to Changsha to provide CAP against IJAAF bomber attacks.

Australia, SWPac & Sopac:

- 18th UK Div recombined in Perth and set to strat movement to Sydney.

- 5th AUS fully unloaded in PM, set to Combat mode.

- 6 S-class subs will soon arrive to Brisbane, to be used in Rabaul/New Guinea area.

- we need to dispatch a Cargo TF soon to Suva from Sydney, base is low on supplies.

- Sydney will also need fuel soon, so we have to start to think about fuel convoys from LA-Suva-Sydney and Cape Town - Perth.

[Sardaukar]

That's is about it for now!

I am providing save of Jan 2 1942 for those who do not want to start from scratch:

http://sardaukar.suntuubi.com/datafiles ... pae015.pws

(this will go to save slot 15, so if you have something there, you have to renumber it to empty slot)

New players should now have some ideas how to conduct first weeks of Grand Campaign as Allies and some strategic insight how to continue from here.

Strategic discussions and questions of course welcome. [8D]

Some ideas for future operations as Allies are:

- keep Port Moresby. By keeping it, Japanese positions in SW Pacific area will become untenable after Allied reinforcements start to arrive en masse. Then you can recapture Solomons at your leisure. Remember that if you cannot get convoys i because of IJN air units (Betties etc.) or CVs, you can still use transport planes from Charters Towers/Townwille to transport lighter units like Air HQs into PM (and small amounts of supply). But sooner or later you;ll have to risk sending in convoys escorted by your CVs. If you keep your CV southwest of PM, Betties flying from Rabaul have to meet PM fighters first. Get decent amount of fighters and some dive bombers to PM and IJN life becomes very difficult around New Guinea.

- you can operate 2, maybe 3 Yorktown/Wasp-class CVs from Sydney against IJN invasion attempts. This will require that you have fule transport convoys going on all the time. CVs use lot of fuel. I advocate using Yorktown/Wasp-classes here since they fit into Sydney shipyard if needed. Lexington/Saratoga would need to go back to PH.

- it is possible to start counter-invasion in Solomons quite early, but in most cases you have to reduce IJN carrier force before. It's also advisable to have some AA upgrades and CV air resizes before challenging IJN to CV duel

- after victory in PM/Solomons, you can start New Guinea crawl, that is, advancing NW via NG coast.

- In India/Burma, you will have enough troops in late 1942/Jan 1943 to start counterattack to Burma from Chittagong, Imphal & Ledo.

- in China, hang on there. You may be able to capture some bases from IJA, but do not bother too much with offensives. You need to reopen the supply route from Rangoon first.

- in 1943, you should be in position to attack and invade Marianas from PH too.

[Galahad78]

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar
India:

- Calcutta set to draw 20k+ supplies, so 5th Sqd RAF can upgrade and recombine.

I would like to ask, if it is not much of a PITA (I know you have other games running too [:D]), if you could briefly explain how to "send" supplies from one base to the other (I was trying to do it in China and Burma, to no avail [&:]), and also, as you mention it, what level of supplies are needed for different actions, i.e., for upgrading squadrons, torpedo supplies, fast building of ports/airbases/forts, etc.

Thanks a lot for your time and effort!!!

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: Galahad78

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar
India:

- Calcutta set to draw 20k+ supplies, so 5th Sqd RAF can upgrade and recombine.

I would like to ask, if it is not much of a PITA (I know you have other games running too [:D]), if you could briefly explain how to "send" supplies from one base to the other (I was trying to do it in China and Burma, to no avail [&:]), and also, as you mention it, what level of supplies are needed for different actions, i.e., for upgrading squadrons, torpedo supplies, fast building of ports/airbases/forts, etc.

Thanks a lot for your time and effort!!!

Of then you need 20k of supplies in base to be able to do upgrading etc, or you need to be withing certain radius of Command HQ with those same 20k in their base (this might have been 3x command range). You can increase supply draw from base screen, where there are arrows next to Supply Required. If there are supplies available, they will accumulate there daily, every other day, twice a week or weekly, depending on supply route quality (rail, road, trail). Problem with Burma can be Monsoon season, when supply flow is restricted. In China it is usually lack of available supplies. A base will try to keep 3x Supply required and allows only amount over that to be sent to other bases. By checking bases in China, you see that very few bases have excess supply like that.

Supply level 20k is very critical in many ways, dropping low on supplies will stop you to upgrade air and land units, then you cannot receive replacements anymore. You can still build as long as you have supplies, but building base and forts eat extra supplies. Torpedo supplies are more related to presence of Air HQ within command range (for air) or port size & naval support when it's arming ships and subs.

I think there are more stuff in that excellend davbaker's FAQ-thread.

In this game, i was trying to get Sqd to upgrade from Audax to Mohawks, so I could recombine then, since units won't recombine with different equipment (same with land units too). I got the 20k required by adjusting supply required arrows, but when hovering mouse arrow over Upgrade (greyed out) it said, assitionally Need AF size 7 or more"..argh. Calcutta is only 5.

Note that some bases have number in brackets next to their supply figures like (max. 100) or something like that. This means that base can draw or pass through only that amount of supply per week. You can see those bases in Australian on trail from Alice Springs to Darwin. You can increase that value by building the base up (it gets multiplied). So in base like that, it's useless to set supply draw higher, since it can never go over weeksly limit.

[Sardaukar]

FAQ thread is excellent resource and should be mandatory read for all new players:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2260137

Also, one should read Air mission Coordination Guide:

tm.asp?m=2382494

[sdhundt]

Ok, this has been driving me crazy, you state the following: Set 2 CV TFs to close Wake I, select suitable spot withing Torpedo Bomber normal range from Wake I. and set "Remain in Position". We can cheat a bit, since as Supreme Allied Commander, Pacific (SACPAC), you do have good grasp of enemy intentions, don't you? Note that you have Marine DB unit aboard CV Lexington, transfer it to Wake I. with same settings as above. Also set Marine F4F unit in Wake as above.

How in the heck do you know which DB unit is the Marine unit, either I'm missing something obvious or I'm an idiot. Thanks.

[jds1978]

Marine squadrons contain an 'M' character in their designation...

VMF = Marine Fighter Squadron as opposed to VF = Navy Fighter Squadron

[Sardaukar]

Marine dive bomber units are named VMSB (Marine scout bombing squadron), Marine fighters as VMF.

[sdhundt]

Thanks for the help, I now see it.

[HexHead]

Why do I want to put units in a place that is not defended easily? No, I'm not going to contest a landing and the KB with 2 or 3 CVs. I usually try to fly those valuable Wildcats off Wake onto the Lex.

[aciddrinker]

marked as red

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: HexHead

Why do I want to put units in a place that is not defended easily? No, I'm not going to contest a landing and the KB with 2 or 3 CVs. I usually try to fly those valuable Wildcats off Wake onto the Lex.

Because if you want some early experience about carrier ops, you can hit the original landings with your CVs and with land-based air from Wake. When you have mauled initial landing, pull the Marine air out from Wake and on to CVs and "get the hell out of Dodge", as they say. Preferably before KB arrives to scene. But you have couple of days time do do this...usually. But there is always a bit of risk involved, as described in this AAR.

[HexHead]

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

ORIGINAL: HexHead

Why do I want to put units in a place that is not defended easily? No, I'm not going to contest a landing and the KB with 2 or 3 CVs. I usually try to fly those valuable Wildcats off Wake onto the Lex.

Because if you want some early experience about carrier ops, you can hit the original landings with your CVs and with land-based air from Wake. When you have mauled initial landing, pull the Marine air out from Wake and on to CVs and "get the hell out of Dodge", as they say. Preferably before KB arrives to scene. But you have couple of days time do do this...usually. But there is always a bit of risk involved, as described in this AAR.

OK, I see. Does seem to be a bit dicey, risking flattops for training. IRL, the KB was somewhere else in late Dec41. I have had the Lex sunk retrieving those Wildcats, tbh - AI, that is.

[Mundy]

I don't think you can really predict KB's route after Pearl.  In my game, after hitting Midway, they were heading NNW.  I probably could have hung around Wake for awhile.

M-

<Edit: NNW, not NNE> [:D]

[Sardaukar]

I have seen KB to take at least 3 different routes back from PH strike in mu games vs AI,&nbsp;in this game it was straight towards Wake...which was bit dicey indeed. My operation here was not to train CV air that much, but to bleed IJN a bit by taking a calculated risk. But it's almost impossible to save Wake, since if initial assault is repulsed, AI will soon come back with bigger force and will usually use CVs in support. Nobody fancies CV battle vs KB in 12/41...so supplying and reinforcing Wake is almost impossible in that case.

[Mac Linehan]

Sardaukar -

Am using this AAR as a guide to my current DBB game (allies). Have always been Nipponese, thought I would try it from the dark side of the fence...

Appreciate you intell and guidance.

Mac

[Mac Linehan]

Sar -

Am doing my first time as the Allied player; have a good grasp of the Japanese moves / production but virtually (until now) not a clue what to do with the Allies. This is an very practicable, outstanding piece of work - keep on it and continue to make it good as any mistakes I make will be blamed on you.... <very big grin>.

An expectant Mac

OOPs - have already posted earlier; but will let it stand as your work is very much appreciated!

[HMS_Upholder]

Nobody fancies CV battle vs KB in 12/41...so supplying and reinforcing Wake is almost impossible in that case.

I've just had a fascinating first month of my first grand campaign centered around Wake. I moved Lex and Big E to Wake to fight off the first landing, then sank two 14" BBs and the transports on the second attempt. For its third try, the AI brought at least half the KB. Meanwhile, I had brought in a few extra Wildcats and a DB squadron, an extra coast defense battalion, laid a minefield, resupplied the carriers and brought all the undamaged cruisers and most of the DDs from Pearl. In a wild couple of days I lost Enterprise (but saved about half the planes) and had Lexington damaged but still able to conduct flight operations (but lost about half her planes). Dauntlesses hit two CVs and two CAs escorting them. The next night my cruisers ran them down and sank both (amazingly 8" shells don't penetrate flight decks, but about a hundred of them does decent fire damage). The next morning the surviving carriers were out of each others' range and hit surface groups. I lost an already damaged CA and a DD and they had a 16" dreadnought damaged and the bombardment group turned around. In the south, a similar battle on a smaller scale took place around Canton Island. With the aid of Catalina recon the Saratoga caught a CVL and troop convoy and sank both with the help of a SAG consisting of the super fast French destroyer and some old cruisers that start in the area. The other 16" IJN BB was hit a couple of times and turned around as well.

I think I've benefited from some pretty good luck. I've also played Plan Orange (in a way like most of the IRL commanders) and so had a naive enthusiasm for chasing down CVs with fast SAGs. In early January the Soryu appeared north of Borneo, presumably to hunt the Hermes which was sitting off Kuching raiding the amphibious fleets. I put maximum LR Buffalo CAP over Hermes and sent her to Batavia at full speed. The Soryu launched outside torpedo range and scored some bomb hits that knocked out guns and caused <10 SYS damage. The next day Hermes was in Batavia under heavy CAP. Soryu was in the box between Sumatra, Singapore, Java and Borneo. That night three groups of Dutch, British and American (Boise) cruisers swept up the strait. One made contact and damaged Soryu. The next morning Hermes went north to face either destruction or glory, and finished her off.

I now wish I hadn't evacuated so much from Singapore and Borneo. I'm making a stand along the Port Blair - Java - Timor -PM -Noumea - Suva - Canton Axis and without a full KB to contend with I may be able to stop them there and finish the war in 1943.

So, you can fight carrier battles in 12/41 or 1/42, but only if you're lucky and playing the AI. I presume a human would have concentrated force more effectively at Wake and not exposed inadequate forces at Canton Is and the Java Sea.

Score so far (12 Jan 42):

Allies lost: 2 BBs (PH day 1), 1 CV, 2 CAs, 3 old CLs
Japan lost: 2 BBs, 3 CVs, 1 CVL, 2 CA, ?3 CLs

I await the outcome of my other unconventional plays (anyone else send the AVG to Port Blair?).

[Wikingus]

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar
- transfer one squadron of AVG to Chittagong, you have to change HQ, but you lose only few Political Points when using China Task Force.

Sorry for being such a newbie, but how do I do this? I get the transfering of the planes themselves, but how do I change HQ to China Task Force?

[Sardaukar]

HQ name is in yellow next to unit name, click that.