Notes from a Small Island

[RangerJoe]

La Triumphant

More like a very small cruiser than a destroyer . . .

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

12/14/44

Uruppu: The Ki-83 is online. I've heard that it's good but I don't recall facing it before. I assume it's tough but not some kind of uber-weapon that shoots down everything that flies.

In this skirmish, IJ fighters on LRCAP encounter a good squadron of sweeping Corsairs. In the past, Japanese fighters on LRCAP don't perform well against good Allied fighters. That seems to be the case here, too.

It's fast and it flies high. It has cannons for armament (exclusively, IIRC?).

It's a good sweeper. As a heavy 2E fighter, it does not climb very fast. Not as good at defense, but still passable.

I'm learning that nothing really stands up to the Corsair (especially massed Corsairs) in a sweeping role. I've been looking at a lot of combat reports from various games, and need to go back to check my own.

[JohnDillworth]

Does La Triumphant have radar? I've had a ton of luck doing this with TF of 2 Fletcher's. Fast so hard to hit, plenty of fire power and the late war radar finds stuff

[Bearcat2]

The Ki-83 isn't that great against fighters

[Canoerebel]

I went to the Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins game in Atlanta last night. The start was delayed 1.5 hours due to rain. I left the game in the 6th inning, got home at midnight, and ran the turn. I did a snazzy screen capture and it disappeared somewhere. It was on my computer, saved to some obscure and wrong file. I tried a couple of searches without luck and was too tired to hunt it down. So this is the highly abbreviated report.

12/15/44

NoPac: Weather socks in the bombers that were to target Uruppu. The ingressing herd moved west from the Aleutians without detection. Allied carriers and carrier air are ready to resume ops, so Death Star reforms and well head east tonight to provide cover for bombardment TFs and to meet and provide security for the ingressing herd in two or three days.

Australia: Allied troops auto-flip the last enemy-held base in Oz.

LaTriomphant: No enemy air sorties, and the DD makes it at flank speed into the open ocean north of New Guinea. I think she'll draw within LRCAP range of P-38s at Manus tomorrow.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Does La Triumphant have radar? I've had a ton of luck doing this with TF of 2 Fletcher's. Fast so hard to hit, plenty of fire power and the late war radar finds stuff

She does have radar, though I didn't know that until you asked, prompting me to check.

She was parked at Perth when I decided to send her up near Soerabaja to check out detection levels. No detection led to orders to patrol near Balikpapan, etc. etc. So this wasn't a long-thought-out plan.

[Canoerebel]

12/16/44

Near Ceylon: This is the first Japanese sub I've seen in the IO or Bay of Bengal since the game began 3/1/44. I'm sure Erik sent it to monitor for possible invasions of Sumatra or Malaya. That it stumbled across this LSI(L) should prompt Erik to make logical deductions.

But those deductions will be wrong. This LSI(L) had been parked at Albany (near Perth) for several months, after handling a very small invasion of that vacant base. About ten days ago, I decided to send her "naked" to Ceylon, supposing she'll be of more use in that theater. So she's an isolated ship on no particular mission.

Perhaps I'll get lucky and Erik will see all kinds of possibilities.

[Canoerebel]

12/16/44

Uruppu: A modest bombardment. AV ratio is nearly 3:1. Allied fatigue and disruption are minimal (mostly 0/3). BB NJ/Iowa TF will bombard tonight and Allied army will attack tomorrow.

With Erik's new fighter online, he'll be considering ways of using it to max advantage. From Ye Peanut Gallery it sounds like it might be best employed in a sweep role? I don't know if he'll chance a sweep of Shikuka, given the number of fighters there. He might, if confident enough or desperate enough. If he could somehow wear out the CAP and reach this ships....yikes.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

12/16/44

With Erik's new fighter online, he'll be considering ways of using it to max advantage. From Ye Peanut Gallery it sounds like it might be best employed in a sweep role? I don't know if he'll chance a sweep of Shikuka, given the number of fighters there. He might, if confident enough or desperate enough. If he could somehow wear out the CAP and reach this ships....yikes.

If that fighter is configured with all cannons as a bomber killer, would he not use it in a LRCAP role instead of sweep? It doesn't sound like it is nimble enough to dogfight with your fighters, and cannons are too slow firing to be great against fighters.

[Canoerebel]

12/16/44

NoPac: Now comes the mild-mannered Allied commander to actually post this in my own AAR rather than Anachro's.

Tomorrow there will be a one-day window for Erik to hit the ingressing herd in the open. The herd should rendezvous with Death Star the day after.

If there are not hiccups tomorrow, things will begin rolling the day after, once the rendezvous is successfully made.

[Canoerebel]

At Shikuka today, certain small, subtle maskirovka orders were issued.

[RangerJoe]

Now comes the mild-mannered Allied commander to actually post this in my own AAR rather than Anachro's.

See - there ARE alternate universes out there!

[Canoerebel]

Yes. I seem to have found one consisting of worm holes, twilight zones, and Shia LeBeouf wannabes.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

12/16/44

With Erik's new fighter online, he'll be considering ways of using it to max advantage. From Ye Peanut Gallery it sounds like it might be best employed in a sweep role? I don't know if he'll chance a sweep of Shikuka, given the number of fighters there. He might, if confident enough or desperate enough. If he could somehow wear out the CAP and reach this ships....yikes.

If that fighter is configured with all cannons as a bomber killer, would he not use it in a LRCAP role instead of sweep? It doesn't sound like it is nimble enough to dogfight with your fighters, and cannons are too slow firing to be great against fighters.

I have minimal experience with it against bombers. Against fighters, even just escorting fighters, it does not perform well.

It is best in a sweeping role by far.

[Canoerebel]

12/17/44

Uruppu: First bombardment in four days or so. Modest results. No shore fire.

[Canoerebel]

12/17/44

Uruppu: Allied attack comes off at a strong 1:1, drops forts to 4, and reportedly inflicts more casualties on Japan (but note that the number of squads destroyed or disabled is much higher for the Allies).

Most importantly to me, the US Army combat engineering regiment is still in fine shape, with 160 AV. Fatigue and disruption are minimal (teens for most units, no more than 20 for any unit). The Allied army can attack again at any time, but I will wait a few days for my own reasons. The ice is cracking but it would be counterproductive if it gave way at this particular moment.

[Canoerebel]

12/17/44

Sumatra: Mouseover categorizes this as a major enemy combat TF, though it's probably a CL/DD TF. It would be a nice little achievement if Erik deployed anything meaningful to this corner of the map, given what's to come elsewhere over the next few weeks.

[Canoerebel]

12/18/44

Uruppu: A decent bombardment, measured by the previous performance of this TF. The 3x terrain makes it tough to score by bombardments, I think. Makes sense, measured by Iwo, Peleliu, etc.

[Canoerebel]

12/18/44

Uruppu: Decent bombardment. During the "movie," I noticed that the AV of one of the IJA divisions dropped to 191.

The ratio is up to 3:1 for the first time.

The Allied army should be in fine shape to attack. I need to take a look at things before deciding the right moment for the attack - it might be tomorrow or the day after.

[Canoerebel]

12/18/44

NoPac: Reading about logistics is like watching paint dry for readers. But this stuff is high drama for me - getting this ingressing herd safely to Shikuka is vital and filled with tension. So far it's gone smoothly. When it arrives and begins unloading goodies - supply and reinforcements - viewing the goodies is like opening packages on Christmas morning.

But I wax too loquacious over paint drying....