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Cont. - Afternoon Phase

Now aware of enemy carriers in the area and spotting them with recon, the mini-KB launches its own strike first which, despite the bloodbath in A/C the day previous, is of decent strength. Only four bombers make their way through to strike at CVL Chateau Thierry, with none getting any hits in.

In return, we launch are own strikes that seem to suffer disproportionately given the large disparity in escorts versus John's CAP. Nonetheless, enough hits are recorded to significantly damage or sink ships of the mini-KB. CVL Ryuho takes 2 bomb hits and 1 torpedo hit, CV Junyo 2 hits, and CV Hiyo a bomb and a torpedo. 1 CVE is sunk outright with 3 more in dire straights - the total should probably go up. One of our subs puts a nice 2 torpedoes into a CVE. Additionally, we launch small attackes against CB Aino again with some hits, she's shown with heavy damage and heavy fires.

Nonetheless, we did damage, we should have causes decimation.

Cont. - Victory by both Land and Sea

I was most worried about the situation at Horn Island itself, because the previous day's attacks had been terrible and were STILL showing level 6 forts for Japan. I was very worried: it had 6 forts, the landings and attacks had devastated our assault units, and John's attack on the 4th had thrown my plans into chaos and disrupted potential reinforcements. Here was the combat from the 4th.

Ground combat at Horn Island (91,128)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 17367 troops, 518 guns, 396 vehicles, Assault Value = 906

Defending force 22089 troops, 278 guns, 144 vehicles, Assault Value = 706

Allied adjusted assault: 144

Japanese adjusted defense: 431

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 6)

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1651 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 118 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 40 (4 destroyed, 36 disabled)
Vehicles lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3822 casualties reported
Squads: 33 destroyed, 210 disabled
Non Combat: 89 destroyed, 59 disabled
Engineers: 40 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 73 (9 destroyed, 64 disabled)
Vehicles lost 164 (70 destroyed, 94 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

But here's the fun part. In desperation, on the 5th we launched numerous bombardments in the night as well as large-scale bombing runs in the day. This apparently had some sort of effect, much more than I was expecting. In the shock attack of the day (someone explain atolls to me cuz I'm not setting them to shock, in what conditions is this automated beyond the initial landings?) somehow, someway the forts were down to 0 and in a very nice shock attack we took the base outright. That was a quick 3-day victory for an atoll with a 28k garrison and 700+AV.

This was my favorite part of the turn, far more enjoyable than the carrier air battle.

Upon landing, a unit must shock attack if landing on:

- Any size atoll.
- Island size 1 or 2.

If a unit is ashore, and additional part(s) of the unit land, the unit must shock attack.

---

Perhaps remnants of the unit landed on the subsequent turn?

I'll give my final tally tomorrow and update on the "interesting situation" as to my thoughts. Below you can have a sneak peak at the situation as well as the a/c losses for the day. For the days events, we know a CVE has sunk, I suspect at least 2 more CVEs will, in addition to potentially a CV or CVL. A CB and other surface vessels might be included in that. The damage we can inflict tomorrow if we pursue might potentially be great. But should we?

We can discuss tomorrow. Sneak peak here and you can probably guess my thoughts.



Current A/C Stength of Carrier Task Forces, there is a replenishment CVE at Townsville, 2 Yorktown-class CVs are 3 days from repair at Brisbane.

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Upon landing, a unit must shock attack if landing on:

- Any size atoll.
- Island size 1 or 2.

If a unit is ashore, and additional part(s) of the unit land, the unit must shock attack.

---

Perhaps remnants of the unit landed on the subsequent turn?

This is very much the case and I didn't realize they'd keep shocking. Very useful info. Pretty much makes is a necessity that all troops be on an AKA/APA/LS for an atoll landing.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Upon landing, a unit must shock attack if landing on:

- Any size atoll.
- Island size 1 or 2.

If a unit is ashore, and additional part(s) of the unit land, the unit must shock attack.

---

Perhaps remnants of the unit landed on the subsequent turn?

This is very much the case and I didn't realize they'd keep shocking. Very useful info. Pretty much makes is a necessity that all troops be on an AKA/APA/LS for an atoll landing.

My understanding is that only the Atoll and islands with 6000 stacking limit triggers the SA. I have not tested this since I changed to the newest official patch from the older .1124 . I know I landed on some non-atoll islands without shock attacking lately but I didn't note the island size and some of the islands were unoccupied by enemy troops so a SA was not invoked.

I would suggest that if all of the unit does not land and there are only small parts left to land, forget unloading the rest. Use lots of transports, especially if you don't have the APAs/AKAs yet, to maximize the number of troops unloaded. APDs are useful to unload some supplies but also consider some transports dedicated to just supplies. One turn to unload and then leave.

Tactical Situation

Looks like the entire Kaigun is on its way, converging on the area of action around Horn Island. Or, at least, it was until the sudden appearance of my carriers. Who knows how yesterday's actions might change John's calculus. Looking at it, an aggressive commander might still see a good opportunity and push forward. First, there was mini-KB coming from the west until it was hit by my carriers. Second, there now seems to be some sort of counterlanding force escorted by strong BB SCTFs (no doubt including the BB Yamato/Musashi) coming down south towards Lae from Aitape/Hollandia. Finally, the main KB made an appearance east of the Solomons from its suspected location heading southwest towards the Coral Sea. I suspect John thought my carriers had left and was thinking he could trap a large portion of my navy by surrounding it from all sides and destroy it.

He might very well still try this as his strong surface forces outclass mine in the local area (I have 1 operational fast BB, as well as numerous CAs/CLs/DDs versus probably a lot of BBs). Moreover, if KB is all his remaining fleet carriers, then he could have ~720 A/C, not including CVs I don't think are operational yet (versus ~715 A/C on my carriers currently thanks to yesterday's air losses, adding my CVEs augments my fighter numbers by ~100). I could definitely foresee him continuing east and trying to trap my forces against Portland Roads or my carriers if they go west past Horn Island. In my favor, if he comes my way, he faces the danger of strong LBA CAP augmenting my carriers. Portland Roads and Port Moresby are both level 9 airfields and I have hundreds of fighters I can deploy. I COULD destroy mini-KB, but it carriers big risks if his carriers charge west; the more prudent course might be to move back to Portland Roads and replenish my aircraft while also sending my replenishment CVE north from Townsville.

My heart says pursue, but my head says no. Decisions.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Anachro

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Upon landing, a unit must shock attack if landing on:

- Any size atoll.
- Island size 1 or 2.

If a unit is ashore, and additional part(s) of the unit land, the unit must shock attack.

---

Perhaps remnants of the unit landed on the subsequent turn?

This is very much the case and I didn't realize they'd keep shocking. Very useful info. Pretty much makes is a necessity that all troops be on an AKA/APA/LS for an atoll landing.

My understanding is that only the Atoll and islands with 6000 stacking limit triggers the SA.

Absolutely wrong. This one is solid. Trust me.

You will notice on mouse-over that bases show such if they are atolls or island size 1 or island size 2. They don't show this line if they are larger islands. They put that change in specifically to help players know when a landing shock attack was mandatory.

That said, I'm surprised by how well the landing turned out despite the ill-effects of the landings/shocks. Did my bombardments reduce the forts from 6 to 0 in one turn? How do you explain that?

Disruption and fatigue.

ORIGINAL: Anachro
That said, I'm surprised by how well the landing turned out despite the ill-effects of the landings/shocks. Did my bombardments reduce the forts from 6 to 0 in one turn? How do you explain that?

Your shock attack obtained 6 to 1 odds. Shock attacks reduce fort value by one for every odds level.

It is in the manual. Somewhere.

ORIGINAL: alimentary

ORIGINAL: Anachro
That said, I'm surprised by how well the landing turned out despite the ill-effects of the landings/shocks. Did my bombardments reduce the forts from 6 to 0 in one turn? How do you explain that?

Your shock attack obtained 6 to 1 odds. Shock attacks reduce fort value by one for every odds level.

It is in the manual. Somewhere.

Normally the Combat Report would have a line saying "Allied assault reduces forts to 0" in that case. The one he showed did not say that.

It could be what RJ suggests - that the bombardments eliminated all enemy AV so that forts were irrelevant and treated as 0.

Well, no advice here, so I'll have to do the scariest thing and take my own. Here's what it says:

1. Reposition subs to pickup as many damaged ships as possible around the Gove area.
2. Send various small SCTFs (CL and DDs) at flank speed from Portland Roads towards Gove to try for some sort of intercept.
3. Send carriers to Portland Roads to replenish air wings in case John decided to move in force towards me with his Northern and Eastern Fleets.
Analysis: The main danger is to the north and east. If John backs off, we can always send our carriers west a day later.

What do you think? Or we can go 6 hexes west now and then retire to Portland Roads on the 7th.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Well, no advice here, so I'll have to do the scariest thing and take my own. Here's what it says:

1. Reposition subs to pickup as many damaged ships as possible around the Gove area.
2. Send various small SCTFs (CL and DDs) at flank speed from Portland Roads towards Gove to try for some sort of intercept.
3. Send carriers to Portland Roads to replenish air wings in case John decided to move in force towards me with his Northern and Eastern Fleets.
Analysis: The main danger is to the north and east. If John backs off, we can always send our carriers west a day later.

What do you think? Or we can go 6 hexes west now and then retire to Portland Roads on the 7th.

If he has not yet packed the straits around Horn Island with subs, it might be best to transit them now. If he does use flank speed to bring in KB you want to be able to escape without the risk of having a torpedoed carrier or two to slow you down.
OTOH, if your LBA is really strong and you think you could take on KB near one of your land bases, that could be a good strategy too. But John will have subs hunting for your carriers and your dive/torpedo bomber losses are a handicap for getting back at him.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If he has not yet packed the straits around Horn Island with subs, it might be best to transit them now. If he does use flank speed to bring in KB you want to be able to escape without the risk of having a torpedoed carrier or two to slow you down.
OTOH, if your LBA is really strong and you think you could take on KB near one of your land bases, that could be a good strategy too. But John will have subs hunting for your carriers and your dive/torpedo bomber losses are a handicap for getting back at him.

As far as we can tell, there are no subs in the area yet. As for the strength of our LBA, Townsville, Portland Roads, and Port Moresby are all level 9 airfields. Between those three bases and Milne Bay, I have 521 land-based fighters that can help with CAP. My bigger worry is the amount of capital ships in his northern surface fleets and how they can simply overwhelm the ability of my bomber aircraft to inflict damage through saturation, even more so when combined with his KB. That is to say, I'm not worried at all about his carriers attacking me, the greater danger is his BBs, BCs, and CBs getting into surface action range.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

If he has not yet packed the straits around Horn Island with subs, it might be best to transit them now. If he does use flank speed to bring in KB you want to be able to escape without the risk of having a torpedoed carrier or two to slow you down.
OTOH, if your LBA is really strong and you think you could take on KB near one of your land bases, that could be a good strategy too. But John will have subs hunting for your carriers and your dive/torpedo bomber losses are a handicap for getting back at him.

As far as we can tell, there are no subs in the area yet. As for the strength of our LBA, Townsville, Portland Roads, and Port Moresby are all level 9 airfields. Between those three bases and Milne Bay, I have 521 land-based fighters that can help with CAP. My bigger worry is the amount of capital ships in his northern surface fleets and how they can simply overwhelm the ability of my bomber aircraft to inflict damage through saturation, even more so when combined with his KB. That is to say, I'm not worried at all about his carriers attacking me, the greater danger is his BBs, BCs, and CBs getting into surface action range.

Then go through the strait and mine the heck out of it! Maybe your carriers can pick off a CA or two.

Not to mention mines and destroyers . . .

I have a lot of DMs and no mines in stock to use them with. We've sent our carriers a little west to see what we can catch, while making it an easy trip back to Portland Roads next turn. In addition, many subs will try to pick off damaged (and undamaged) ships, 2 CL/DD SCTFs, 1 DD SCTF, and a PT squadron will also try their luck. We'll see.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

I have a lot of DMs and no mines in stock to use them with. We've sent our carriers a little west to see what we can catch, while making it an easy trip back to Portland Roads next turn. In addition, many subs will try to pick off damaged (and undamaged) ships, 2 CL/DD SCTFs, 1 DD SCTF, and a PT squadron will also try their luck. We'll see.

Sounds like it's popcorn time!