Pacific at War 1941-1945 v.3.63

[larryfulkerson]

Notice the new highlights under the selected unit and it's siblings?
I'll post the new files needed for that effect on the next post below.

[larryfulkerson]

This file is the work of gamer aperfecturkel and we thank you all of us.

[thomasharvey]

This screen shot shows all 8 BBs at Pearl Harbor were sunk or heavily damaged. However, 5 of them will be repaired and returned to service. The Arizona and Oklahoma are permanently sunk. The Nevada is out of the scenario by being sent to Europe. The other 5 will be repaired and returned to service on the dates they were returned historically.

Had they not been sunk at Pearl Harbor, the Allies would be able to use them now. Some will not return until 1944 now.

[thomasharvey]

This view shows the fleet forming off of San Francisco. Normally they would be near Pearl Harbor but with Midway in Japanese hands it is not safe. Once Midway is retaken then Pearl will be used as the main base again.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Here's the supply situation in the Phillippines right now and it's not getting much better for all the troops in-country.
Planning ahead I can see how these guys are going to get tired, turn red and not combat worthy any longer so I'm
probably going to need to bring in some fresh troops and soon. To keep the advance going.

How much has your supply situation here improved now that you've captured the rest of the roads on the northern part of the island, and around Manila?

[larryfulkerson]

I've had a request for the supply situation around Manila and the northern end of the Phillippines and here's a picture
of the situation as it exists right now. Supply levels are great around Lingayen and drops off away from there. The
southeast side of Manila is the worst I think. I thought repairing the rails and clearing the roads would allow the
supply to flow better than it is. I'll work around the problems.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd put some moves on Port Moresby because it seems like a target that might be ripe for the picking. Early in
the war so as to avoid the Allied build up that happens over time. The longer the war lasts the more stuff he's going to
get. He's going to have CV's coming out of his ears.

[larryfulkerson]

I made a hole and followed up on it and voila I'm into the Chinese backfield. I'm going to find some more people from
somewhere and pour them into the hole too. Make it wider and higher. I'm coming down with a case of victory disease.

[larryfulkerson]

The west end of Sumatra is secured and there's only two places in Malaya that still have Allied troops and that's on the
east coast and at Singapore. There's only a single unit on the east coast but Singapore itself is a fortress with arty
and HQ's and he dropped the bridges leading into Singapore so I have to attack across the river and he flew in some
fresh aircraft to replace his losses. I think he's planning on staying for the duration. He expects to be rescued from
the Weest Coast of America. Surely.

[larryfulkerson]

An Allied riverine unit pulled up next to one of my infantry units and I attacked it and it retreated upriver. So I
attacked it again and it retreated upriver again. So I'm thinking that if I box it in and THEN attack it I might be
able to kill it.

[larryfulkerson]

The Allied railroad made the difference for the Indians and the British. They beat me to Pegu and the bridges over the
river. And my troops are worn down and tired and aren't ready for combat and won't be for about two weeks gametime.
This is the worst case scenario. He can push my boys back until they are back in Bangkok now. I miscalculated on the
trek through the jungle being faster. It wasn't.

[larryfulkerson]

You WITP-AE players will be glad to know that I captured Palembang AND Balikpapan AND Miri. Oil galore. Too bad
the production of oil and resources and fuel don't mean much in TOAW4. It's abstracted out of the players
control. Maybe in the future in a future version of TOAW.

[larryfulkerson]

Meanwhile north of Hong Kong I'm railing in reinforcements to take the trek to Kwellin and then down to Henyang so as
to trap a lot of Chinese troops and isolate them from their supply source. Maybe try to push toward Hanoi and that
group.

[larryfulkerson]

So there I was sailing one of my subchaser's minding my own business heading to Balikpapan and all of a sudden I'm jumped
by some Allied planes. But the Jap CAP takes care of it. The four losses the Allies suffered were just damage to the
planes no shoot down's. D'oh. My boys need some more training. I mean look how many were on CAP. It boggles the mind.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Midway now. What's missing you ask? The planes. There's no planes. It's got to have an Emily group for recon,
sea interdiction and some light bombing. And some fighters for CAP. And a Betty group for sea interdiction. I'll
look around and see if I can round all that stuff up right now.

[larryfulkerson]

I flew in a unit that had some Betty's and Nell's and now the Pearl area is under survailence and I can bomb that place
at will. And thee are anti-ship planes and are deadly. Now if I just had some fighters with the same range.

In WITP-AE right now I would be expanding the airbase and the port, setting the bombers on night missions for Pearl
specifically the ports and airfields and LCU's in that order. Maybe try dropping a bridge. The problem would be the
fighters as the Allies are supposed to get some night fighters at some point in the war. I don't remember when, I think
in the late war period. Some P-61's I think.

[larryfulkerson]

This is some info about the Black Widow, the P-61 that I found that I thought you might like to know.

[larryfulkerson]

I found some fighters for Midway and I'm not sure but this may be the finest Fighter Squadron I have
in the Navy. Navy pilots typically had more training than IJ Army pilots and more experience and
were as a result a little better pilots than Army pilots and their proficiency shows it. I've seen
Army pilots with proficiency as low as 50%. I send them to China for the practice they might get
and watch them improve slowly. Other than that those are my recon pilots all of a sudden.

The one drawback to this unit is that it's a mixed-type unit and the other type in this case is
the Claude's which I find dismaying. They are a liability in this situation and I'm glad their
range will keep them out of most of the fights this unit will be involved in. Close in I can
count on them to deliver however there will be losses.

Now that the Betty's and Zero's are at Midway I'm wondering if I need base any Emily's there at
all. They might perform a more useful service at Tarawa ( unless there's already an Emily
group there). And I need to capture an airbase in the Guadalcanal area too. That will extend
the reach of my fighters and long-range patrol aircraft. The Allies have to come at ME and I
want to seal off all the avenues he might use.

[/img]

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Wake right now. I need to replace those IJ Army planes with some of the longer-ranged Zero's and there's an
engineer unit and an armour unit that need to be replaced with garrison INF and then I can use the engineers and
armor to help take down another island base. They would rather do that than get embroiled in a land war in Asia.

[larryfulkerson]

I started to look for some fighters, some Zero's to park at Wake and I thought I'd share my process with you.
First I open up the air report and click one time on the heading named "mission" and then scroll through the
list looking for a group that has a range of 58. I just happened to know that the range of a Navy Zero is 58.
I find some that are dedicated to a carrier just now and I don't bother those. But down the list a little ways
is another who is based in Borneo right now and I've decided he can be moved to Wake if he's got the range to
get there. I'll check on that and get back to you.