The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

7/20/42

NoPac: Quiet except for uncontested enemy sweeps over Cold Bay. I have lots of shipping moving around between Seattle and Prince Rupert, but no signs of enemy subs anywhere in the Gulf of Alaska or along the West Coast for months now. I need to do some pre-invasion work - retrieving a few units (from Kodiak) and moving some fuel forward, but I don't want to tickle detection levels.

West Coast: CV Wasp at San Fran just swapped Devastators for Avengers.

CenPac: Momentarily quiet.

SoPac: SigInt that 2nd Div. is aboard marus bound for Luganville. John will be able to scratch another one off his LIST. The four USN carriers quietly pass NZ's south cape.

OZ: A combat TF led by New Orleans moves from Esperance to Perth tonight. Another led by BB Warspite moves from Melbourne to Esperance. This is part of the "alleged quiet build up of forces posing a threat up the west coast."

Bay of Bengal: It looks like my minelayers were working - somehow, the small ones have been replenishing at Akyab. I didn't know that was possible at a level one port even with nav support. No enemy air raids today. I still have 28 inoperational fighters stuck at Ramree - one of the hazards of forward operations at a small base with supply problems. I'm waiting for John to meet the call or up the ante in this theater - he's going to bring more ships. He's going to spring them on me. He's going to do damage. But it's for a good cause.

Capetown Channel: That support TF is two days from map's edge. I hope.

[Canoerebel]

Aleutians Planning

Yesterday's excercise in planning, which resulted in the detailed and largely unreadable chart on the previous page, was rather painful since it followed right on the heels of tax day. The need to concentrate was admittedly helpful. A few thoughts:

1. Diving in like that helped generate new ideas like how to potentially use Nome and Bethel.

2. The complexity and risks of the operation became more apparent. I spent last night mulling over three options: (A) scrub the mission and do nothing or do something far away; (B) change the focus to the Kuriles rather than the Aleutians; (C) proceed with the plan. I concluded that (C) offers the best mix of surprise, sustainability, and disruption to the enemy psyche. So the operation is on with enhanced enthusiams.

3. I rate at 60% the odds that John will move enough carriers to Oz or Bay of Bengal to allow the operation to proceed in September or October as hoped.

4. Most of that detailed chart is "thinking out loud." Obviously I'm not going to invade 15 islands over the course of two weeks. I don't have the ships and the window will close. But the chart helps me to prioritize.

5. Attu is the key base. I don't think it's heavily guarded and I will have plenty of infantry, so this isn't my biggest concern.

6. I'd say Shemya and Amchitka are my two biggest concerns. Shemya has a level three airfield. I don't think it has a substantial garrison, but I'm not sure and I don't have alot of infantry coming. Amchitka probably has a decent garrison. I'm bringing a decent amount, but that one too could be tough. Shemya may really be the key taking that airfield will permit the Allies to immediately implement serious LBA coverage. So time to go looking for more infantry to prep for that target.

7. Agatta, Buldir, Kiska and Ulak should be vacant. These are level zero ports, but engineers should allow the Allies to make progress in establishing small airfields.

[Canoerebel]

7/21/42

Bay of Bengal: Three IJN DDs tangle with the Vincennes TF with neither side taking any damage. The Allied TF retires to Akyab and fully rearms guns, meaning that this level one port has enough naval support to replenish a cruiser. Interesting. I'm expecting John to send in heavier stuff soon.

NoPac: No major enemy activity here or along the West Coast.

CenPac: Nothing major here.

SoPac: More SigInt that 2nd Div. is inbound to Lugavnille. This base will fall shortly. The four USN carrier continue steaming east without incident.

Australia: An IJN sub posted at the SW cape picks off a lone xAK. I hope it might catch a whiff of the New Orleans TF as it passes tomorrow. Lots of enemy activity along Oz's west coast. Good.

DEI: John may be about to land at or near Manado. The base still has supply and is still supporting Dutch patrol aircraft that cover the whole area.

[Canoerebel]

7/22/42

NoPac: Things still slow in NoPac, but there is an IJN sub down around Vancouver Island.

CenPac: Heavy attention to Tarawa including four BBs (Hiei and Kirishima among them).

SoPac: Two BBs bombard Luganville. Invasion expected any moment. (This was one of the "breakwaters" I mentioned at the outset of the game. Man, has it served well in that category.)

Bay of Bengal: Quiet today except for ineffective enemy bombings of Ramree. Ramree's low on supply and I'm arranging to get some in, though it's going to be a week or so before I can offer more than fast transport-type stuff. I haven't sent the turn back, but after three days of standing down my fighters, I'm think I'm going to re-insert two or three squadrons and set Akyab's fighters to LRCAP the base. Cox's Bazaar airfield goes to level four. CL Boise and two DDs are heading back to the fighting after brief time in Colombo's yards.

Aluetians Invasion: Spent time today arranging for upgrades due to merchant shipping at Seattle and Pearl. For some reason, "allow upgrades for all ships on this list" doesn't work for me. Never has. So I have to check each ship individually. My next project is to go through the last two to three months of SigInt reports to check for mentions of the Aluetians (I tried to use Tracker, but didn't like it, so I'll do it the old-fashioned way.)

[Lomri]

I look forward to seeing a game where Nome is useful for, well, anything!

[Canoerebel]

Nome may have some use finally. It starts as a level three port and has 100 naval support. I have a bunch of xAK converting to AKE (I think this is peculiar to this mod). I might put an AD and AKE at Nome. I could then run DD TFs out of Nome to interdict the big IJ bases at Adak and Umnak. Possibly, if my carriers and big combat ships need to stay in the western Aluetians, they could replenish at Nome rather than making the long journey back to Kodiak. Not certain Nome will be useful, but it might. If not, I'll retrieve the USN base force and move it to one of the Aluetians to help with unloading cargo.

[Cpt Sherwood]

The only problem with using Nome is there is no back door. If you base ships there, they will be pinned if he brings a couple of CVs and/or a good SCTF to the area.

[Canoerebel]

My SigInt reports are all blank! Don't know why, but I do know their blank. That means I'm missing a whole lot of intel. No way I'm going to re-run turns to use Tracker. Is there any other reasonable way to retrieve or develop SigInt info?

I did go back through the Operations Reports files from March 1, 1942 to July 22, 1942 to monitor Japanese base building in the Aluetians as follows:

Attu: Port 2 (3/22); Port 3 (7/7)
Shemya: AF 1 (4/26); AF 2 (6/11); AF 3 (7/11)
Amchitka: AF 1 (3/6); AF 2 (3/26); Port 2 (6/5); AF 4 (6/18)
Adak: AF 2 (3/8); AF 3 (3/21); AF 4 (4/9); Port 3 (4/29); Port 4 (5/26); AF 5 (6/13); Port 5 (6/26)
Umnak: AF 1 (3/2); AF 2 (3/16); AF 3 (4/2); AF 4 (4/19); AF 5 (5/3); Port 2 (5/28)

Based upon this plus how the game has unfolded, I read this as: John initially establisihed Adak as his main redoubt. After the Allies moved on Akutan and Cold Bay, John built up Umnak. His rear guard bases seem to be Shemya and Amchitka. Not sure why he chose Shemya (size zero port) over adjacent Attu, which is still a level one airfield.

Over in the Kuriles and vicinity, there has been some development of a few main bases: Ominato, Sapporo, Toyohara, Etorufu Island and Parmushiro. I didn't detect any robust development here.

Analysis: John has some defense in depth in the Aluetians, though I think he's front-loaded at Umnak and Adak. Amchitka's probably got something like a regiment or mixed brigade. Shemya is a real puzzle - could be an engineer unit or could be something truly tough. The fact that John isn't operating many subs in NoPac is a good sign. The fact that he's ignoring Nome and Bethel doesn't mean anything really. I mean, who does pay them any attention? But I like it that he hasn't.

[Crackaces]

That means I'm missing a whole lot of intel. No way I'm going to re-run turns to use Tracker

Hmmm are they blank in the combat reporter? The SigInt is in the combat reports file . I archive mine in a directory off my particular game. Witps Intel Monkey might be handy to go through the combat report files ..

In my opinion Tracker is very powerful in this regards to track changes in deployments.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

My SigInt reports are all blank! Don't know why, but I do know their blank. That means I'm missing a whole lot of intel. No way I'm going to re-run turns to use Tracker. Is there any other reasonable way to retrieve or develop SigInt info?

If you run with the Archive switch in your shortcut they are all in the Archive folder, in order by date.

Probably what is happening is you're opening a previous save while you're waiting on the movie file to come back. When you load a save the text files associated with it load as well and become the current Sigint file. In Tracker this results in the code trying to read "yesterday's" Sigint file, which it already has, rather than the new, present turn Sigint, which will come as part of the movie file.

In Tracker you can manually in-load the .txt file from the tool bar and force the present day's Sigint to load. You have to manually point to the file though.

[Canoerebel]

LoL. Thanks, Bullwinkle. This is very helpful advice!

If, that is, I knew what you were talking about! Archives switch? Shortcut key? What're those? Are they on the map/tool bar for the game? Are they in a file somewhere? Are they keys on my keyboard?

I'll go hunt around the game tool bar and see if I can find an Archives Switch or a Shortcut Key. While I do that, you may be mirthfully rolling on your own floor laughing at my falling for the hold "snipe hunt" or "skyhook" routine.....

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

That means I'm missing a whole lot of intel. No way I'm going to re-run turns to use Tracker

Hmmm are they blank in the combat reporter? The SigInt is in the combat reports file . I archive mine in a directory off my particular game.

Sigint is in its own text file each turn: asigint.txt This is found in the top-level of the Save folder. It holds the Sigint for the last turn processed for that instance of AE. If, in the middle of a PBEM CG, you run a turn of Coral Sea, it will contain the Sigint for that Coral Sea turn and overwrite the Sigint from your last CG turn.

There is an Archive switch avaialble to use in your switch array in the shortcut which automatically does a full archive of all the text file reports, with dates appended. No need to do it manually.

[Canoerebel]

[X(]

I didn't realize Bullwinkle spoke Mandarin!

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

LoL. Thanks, Bullwinkle. This is very helpful advice!

If, that is, I knew what you were talking about! Archives switch? Shortcut key? What're those? Are they on the map/tool bar for the game? Are they in a file somewhere? Are they keys on my keyboard?

I'll go hunt around the game tool bar and see if I can find an Archives Switch or a Shortcut Key. While I do that, you may be mirthfully rolling on your own floor laughing at my falling for the hold "snipe hunt" or "skyhook" routine.....

In the desktop shortcut where you launch the game you have codes entered, correct? For screen resolution, for your CPUs, for alternate fonts, etc.? The codes described in the patch notes for years now? If you use those codes there is one called Archive. If you add this to the string it will create a sub-folder in your Save folder called "Archive" where the text files for each turn--combat report, combat events, sigint, and operations report--are copied, with a date appended to each entry. If you need to see what happened on a turn eight months ago you just scroll down to the date and click.

[Bullwinkle58]

This is the string I use for my desktop shortcut. The codes you need will vary depending on your monitor and PC CPUs.

"C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Beta2\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -altFont -multiaudio -archive -dd_sw -cpu4 -fd -px1680 -py1050

-archive is the code that sets up auto-archiving.

[Canoerebel]

Yipes! I don't think I have one! I looked in my SAVE file and didn't see an ARCHIVE subfolder. All I have are two folders titled JOHN III SUCKS and BULLWINKLE MAKES ME PERSPIRE. (Actually, there are two files I created called AAR NOTES and SCREENSHOTS.) That's all I have.

Am I screwed?

[Bullwinkle58]

This is what the inside of the Archive sub-folder looks like in my game. The files are all in order by type. IOW, all the Combat Reports are grouped together by date, etc. Here are the start of the Allied operation reports, from 12/7/41 onward.

[Canoerebel]

I don't have a shortcut key. I don't know what they are, how to create them, or why I should use them. IE, if that's something hand that all you comely and robust players know to routinely set up before starting a PBEM match, I didn't get the memo.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I don't have a shortcut key. I don't know what they are, how to create them, or why I should use them. IE, if that's something hand that all you comely and robust players know to routinely set up before starting a PBEM match, I didn't get the memo.

How do you launch the game? [X(]

Shortcuts are Windows things, not AE things.

[Canoerebel]

Oh, I have all that stuff! But all my SigInt reports are blank! Every one of them going back to 12/7/41. This is the only game I've played since we started back in December, so I'm not running AE for any other purpose. All my SigInt .txt files are blank, but all the op reports and combat reports are fine, and the jops reports have some info.

Why are my SigInt .txt reports blank? Am I skewered? Am I screwed?