An Aussie Beta Affair - Luskan V Raver!!!

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag
...The numbers only tell half the story. They do not give you a breakdown of what types of troops were there.

Fair answer. So how do you tell the quality of the troops/artillery/vehicles you are attacking before you decide to commit to the battle? How effective is recon?

[Raverdave]

Good to see my "suck the supply out trick" has had some effect. I am now in full retreat from Canton, my troops are worn out and if I stayed I would only get thumped even more than I already have. I am really going to have to sit down and re-think my strategy for China. Instead of confrontation I am going to try and think up some sort of distruption tactics.

As Bananan boy has already said, I have spotted the TF that is heading towards Rabal......little can be done.[:(]

I am molre than happy if Luskan tries to sink the ships fleeing from the PI and the DEI as there are full of fuel and supplies that would otherwise have fallen into his hands[:)]

Things at Yenen sre going well, Luskan is loosing a lot of troops in his effort to try and kick me out....bleed you bugger bleed!

There were/are a lot of Subs still around PH (about 10) but my ASW surface TF is starting to show some results with at least one sub sunk, and I am sure one damaged. It is a target rich enviroment and will only increase the experiance of my ASW DDs. IIRC Banananananana boy has lost about 4 subs in total. Not a bad effort so far.

I have decided to mave my CVs return to PH in order to prepare for a new operation that I am planning, but the distances are so vast in this game that it will take some weeks to gather my ships for the planned operation. For those of you whom play UV and are used to thinking in terms of "days" start retinking in terms of "weeks" for the planning and movement of ships. it takes a long time to gather units in one place.

[sven6345789]

question about supply:
if i got it right, you transport oil and resource to japan and transport fuel and supplys back to the front.
Now the IJN left a lot of its navy at singapur because of oil being close by and refineries being available in the dutch east indies. Is this industry available in WITP

[Luskan]

Well things are progressing slowly - Kuantan fell to my ever victorious troops (even before my big units arrived) and there is only one enemy base left on the southern PI (excellent - I can remove my big inf units and sent them on to wherever).

Also, the south seas detachment took relatively light casualties getting over the beach and wll no doubt take the place in short order.

In china things have stalled in the urban areas, but I'm bringing overwhelming force into Yenen and will soon have the grunt there to wipe Wuchow and Ichang out - perhaps even clear that entire railway line.

Nice to hear Raver tell me where I can find his CVs. I'll be waiting for them where he least expects it (you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know where Raver is going to be sending them next).

Two damaged BBs entered Osaka this turn for repairs, while a pair of damaged dds are entering hong kong to take advantage of the excellent repair facilities I captured there.

[Pascal_slith]

ORIGINAL: Luskan


Two damaged BBs entered Osaka this turn for repairs, while a pair of damaged dds are entering hong kong to take advantage of the excellent repair facilities I captured there.

Did the Brits have any engineer units in Hong Kong before you captured it? If so, why didn't they sabotage the repair facilities?

[Mr.Frag]

Nice to hear Raver tell me where I can find his CVs. I'll be waiting for them where he least expects it (you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know where Raver is going to be sending them next).

[:D]

I try and keep it simple myself, I send mine to Japan ... after all, that is really the point of the game isn't it? [;)]

[Raverdave]

What Bananananana boy has failed to explain to everyone is how he got slapped in PI at a place called Tugugone (S?[&:]). In the attack he lost 2500 troops![:D] Mac is laughing his arse off !

[Luskan]

Of course, Raver is lying about Tugeragerao. My troops made a feitn and withdrew, prudently deciding that htey didn't have the force on hand to tackle Raver's fort and rather well positioned blocking force. Especially since I unloaded 8 eng units, and 6 art units, 2 arm units and another two big mixed brigades at Aparri that are reassembling after disembarking, and are gaining op points for their move and assault at tugeraro. As long as I've got enough strength there to hurt Raver if he pulls out - that is fine.

This turn my troops from legaspi reached Naga, and found a similarly well positioned blocking force in effect. Fortunately I have reinforcements on the way there too (more inf, and 1 more eng unit). These two reinforced armies are also waiting upon their respective HQs to arrive and add plenty of grunt to the proceedings. They will crush Manila, clark and tugerao between them (and I have a few little inf units that will probe lingayen on the way).

In china my troops lost 90 troops to Raver's 1300 - so soon the place will be mine. Which is good because then I can chase Raver's retreating n chinese back down to the railway intersection by canton and kick them out of there too - freeing up the whole railway.

yenen was very quiet this turn, as was alor star.

Slowly but surely Raver's level bombers in the SRA are improving. They are starting to score better hits, do more damage, and now even launching against targets with zeros on CAP (brunei mainly). I'm hoping that rabaul falls in the next few turns.

[Raverdave]

The situation as of 18th of December in the PI.

[Raverdave]

..................and in China....................

[Raverdave]

..............in the DEI................

[Raverdave]

......And last but not least....Malaya and Indochina. Enjoy!

[Luskan]

Finally a few things are falling into place. Extra troops getting into position - air units getting some much needed replacements, a few leadership changes around the place. Raver's bombing in malaya just smacked one of my destroyers up a fair bit (was a small bomb but it did lots of damage).

Hangchow fell to my ever victorious troops and I've got more than enough strength to chase Raver's retreating forces back to Wuchow and trap them there against my forces coming up from Canton - the perfect pincer movement really. hopefully I can get there before he gets set up in Wuchow too strongly (too much firepower in the one city tends to make urban combat really costly if you don't get in fast - just like yenen where Raver's defence has stalled my troops completely - also like at alor star where I've got superior numbers and firepower - I just can't get enough momentum to push him off the line).

Rabaul fell this turn which was excellent - although the south seas detachment have taken 400 casualties in this operation (and my troop and most inf gun supply pools are empty due to my universal upgrading of my armaments industry).

Raver's dds around PH copped a few torps from my subs this turn - they're still biding their time for a CV like target to show up, but can't get too greedy.

Hong Kong was pretty messed up when I took it, but I've had engineers there to clean things up.

[DoomedMantis]

wheres my turn though thats what i want to know

[Raverdave]

In fact only ONE of my ASW DDs got hit with a torp at PH, but it was a bad hit, she will not be sailing anytime soon, and then only if she makes it to port.

China is a real mess for me at this point. Everytime I think up a new idea against Luskan in our PBEMs he some how manages to out-fox me in China[:(]. I am trying a different tactic against Mogami in that I am scattering my units and trying to simply sit astride his supply lines where as with Luskan I made an effort to put together a number of large armies, which simply makes his job easier[8|]. However the race for Wuchow is on ! think my Chinese units are faster at running away than Luskan's LCUs are at running forward (or at least I hope!).

I must say that I am happy with the way things are going in Malaya, banaanananananana boy has hit a speed bump in the form of Alor star which will really put a spanner in his time table.

In the DEI Luskan's deep thrusts to the south of Sulawesi came as a surprise and the aircraft that he now has stationed there make a nice blocking force, cutting off anything that is trying to flee to Australia. I now have to re route shipping around Java. Also taking these to southern points of Sulawesi puts him within striking range of Australia and no doubt will be used as a spring board for an attack on Darwin and Broome. (I think that not only CAN the IJN player take these two towns but also that he must to blunt future allied operations in '42/'43.

Things in the PI are going well but there is a very large force building at Vigan (some 40,000 if the intel is correct) and I would think that they will soon march towrds Clark. I am unsure of what to do with the two PA divisions at Tuguegarao. They have put up a good defence but the IJN forces at Vigan, when they move, will threaten to cut the escape route. Maybe a fighting withdrawl is in order.

[Luskan]

Another turn and another of my subs goes down. This time I over rided the computer and thought I'd sneak a sub into Suva (fiji) harbour and lie in wait for any of Raver's traffic that is likely to stop there on the way south. Unfortunately Raver was there first and his DMS ships caught my sub in shallow water and sent it to the bottom.

Oh well. [8|]

The combat continues in china at a slower pace - and Raver attacked in the PI - aware that if he can't dislodge my two armies he is in trouble. Fortunately his blocking forces at Tugeragao and Naga and my armies there are equally matched. I've got a few HQs on the way in to boost my troops even further (not to mention many many reinforcements).



Operation Dandruff has been approved by the high command - something that should really give Raver a nasty few shocks. It is a fiendishly complicated plan that is risky, but could shorten the war (as in, bring my side closer to final victory). There are several targets, several different objectives, and of course, the basic idea is to overwhelm him on several fronts - and hopefully his resources won't stretch far enough to cover all those objectives.

I've spent PP points getting my best admirals and generals into place, while Raver has to be wondering where the extra divisions and big brigades he hasn't seen ni Burma/malaya/PI that I usually deploy in my opening charge are. They're lots of places - but soon they'll be somewhere that I hope he can't afford to loose (and therefore he has to fight with what he has nearby). The risk is that in splitting my troops up over so many objectives, I guess the wrong place to send the proper cover - and Raver's CVs might catch me off guard.

[Pascal_slith]

Can you move ship repair facilities for either side? Can you build these elsewhere for either side?

[Jaypea]

Is it possible to direct repair efforts in a port to specific ships, so they will get repaired faster than other ships in the same port? In UV it always seemed to repair first the lesser important ships rather than the important BB's and CV.

[Mr.Frag]

Is it possible to direct repair efforts in a port to specific ships, so they will get repaired faster than other ships in the same port? In UV it always seemed to repair first the lesser important ships rather than the important BB's and CV.

Nope, that is a perception problem. It is just a case that the smaller ships repair much faster.

Just so you are aware, major repairs take a LONG LONG LONG time. UV repair speeds were very quick compared to reality. WitP is reality. There is no sending that 80% SYS damage BB off the map and getting it back in 2 months. It will sit in a repair yard, sucking up repair points for over a year.

A port repairs at a rate based on it's size (10 being the biggest and best)
A repair yard generates xxx points that get applied on top of the port rate
Repair ships add a bonus to up to 4 ships (I believe the maximum effect is 4x AR's)

[Pascal_slith]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Is it possible to direct repair efforts in a port to specific ships, so they will get repaired faster than other ships in the same port? In UV it always seemed to repair first the lesser important ships rather than the important BB's and CV.

Nope, that is a perception problem. It is just a case that the smaller ships repair much faster.

Just so you are aware, major repairs take a LONG LONG LONG time. UV repair speeds were very quick compared to reality. WitP is reality. There is no sending that 80% SYS damage BB off the map and getting it back in 2 months. It will sit in a repair yard, sucking up repair points for over a year.

A port repairs at a rate based on it's size (10 being the biggest and best)
A repair yard generates xxx points that get applied on top of the port rate
Repair ships add a bonus to up to 4 ships (I believe the maximum effect is 4x AR's)

OK, have the major repair capabilities of the bases that DO NOT have ship repair yards been limited? For example, let's say I lose a major gun turret on a BB. Can that only be repaired in a ship repair yard and no longer at any large base?