The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[ny59giants]

He uses single-ship TFs to bring engeneers and supplies to his bases that are full

I would ask him to stop this practice as it is 'gamey' IMO. Why?? The AI will often overlook a single ship and any planes set for Naval Attack will not fly. Even if you use picket ships, I would make sure they have at least 2 ships in it. Others may disagree with me, but just my 2 cents.

[GreyJoy]

Thx NY59, i'll ask Rader what he thinks about the single-ship-TF. I had used it too and stopped to do that only because if not escorted at least by a PC or a PG my xAKs movements tend to be
to be screwed only by the presence of any enemy surface asset...even a PB can scary a non escorted xAK and force her to move back and not complete her task.

The overall situation looks now stable. He has managed to develop all his bases south of Shortland and now he's ready to counter-invade under a strong LBA Umbrella. At the same time the time he had used to build his offensive platform
had given me the chance to build up my own defensive platform (Karaikira and the other bases around Ndeni). I really believe this is the quiet before the storm...a storm
which will be a bloodbath in the air, on the seas and on lands...

[GreyJoy]

For what concerns my air-assets, i've noticed that i'm able to support only a couple of squadrons of Corsairs with the actual production rate (30). Same goes for P-38Gs: untill the J version comes online with only 20 of them produced monthly i can support only 1 squadron.

The balance i'll try to reach from April 43 will be the following:

2 squadrons of 18 corsairs
1 squadron of 25 P-38
2 squadrons of 16 spitsVc
4 squadrons of 16 Kitti III
3 squadrons of 25 P-40Ks
2 squadrons of 25 P-39s
6 squadrons of 18 Hellcats

[GreyJoy]

Rader will be out opf town for the whole week and only be able to do max a couple of turns...so it will be a slow august in game terms...

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

He uses single-ship TFs to bring engeneers and supplies to his bases that are full

I would ask him to stop this practice as it is 'gamey' IMO. Why?? The AI will often overlook a single ship and any planes set for Naval Attack will not fly. Even if you use picket ships, I would make sure they have at least 2 ships in it. Others may disagree with me, but just my 2 cents.

I only disagree that it is not "AI" or Artifical Intellgence , which requires a learning algorithum [;)]. It seems that niether the game nor the developers have learned over the past few years . In reading the house rules thread this has been a pretty fundemental exploit in both WitP and WitP AE. :/

I think this is a good point ...

[GreyJoy]

Examinating the situation in India i believe i undervaluate the strenght of Rader's forces.
I'm using this iatus in game to put togheder some data taken from intel reports and it seems that at Multan he has defenetly more forces than what we expected. If he manages to bomb my advancing units to dust it's possible that my 8000 AVs won't be enough to break his defensive line at Multan...a decisive defeat of my Easter Army will seriously put another dent in the re-opening of the Indian front....but at the same time there ain't no better moment to keep him busy and committed on another front...now he needs all he can muster to break my positions in the Solomons and every plane, every man that i force him to keep in India will lower his power in Sopac... however i cannot deny u that i'm sweating and scared to death to the idea of finding a stiff opposition at Multan...

[Itdepends]

Examinating? "Easter" army?. Surely you're just teasing us now [:D]

[ny59giants]

If your armor based units make up a 'significant' portion of that 8000AV in India, you will do well. In my game as Japan, I take significantly larger losses that the Allies due to the large amount of Armored Brigades present in his attacking forces. He is not even getting 1:1 odds and I'm going to retreat due to this (I'm behind size 5 forts in clear terrain). Use that armor to out flank his position. [:D] 

[GreyJoy]

Yes guys i'm sorry if the quality of the AAR has lowered but here on holydays i really have less time to post and always using the blackberry.
However the eastern army is composed of the best British,australian and indian divisions that were based at Karachi, with 1800 AVs composed of armoured Bdes and BNs, all upgraded to Grants and Stuarts.
I'll try to post a couple of screenshots as soon as i manage to get a decent internet connection with my laptop

Sorry

[Canoerebel]

GreyJoy, if you are able to close on Multan without taking unaccpetable losses to enemy bombers, you can probably force rader to retreat simply by threatening to outflank and isolate Multan.  If you send armored units around both sides, rader is almost certain to retire.  He can't afford to have a huge stack isolated with no path of retreat.
 
On that note, you might send a few units from Karachi due east (south on the game map) on that yellow road through the desert.  If you have a few small and inexpensive armored units roaming around his rear at the same time he's threatened with flanking at Multan, he's going to get a bad case of the yips.

[GreyJoy]

That's the max i could do...a screen shot of the advancing Eastern Army (India Command HQ + 4 Indian Corps)

[GreyJoy]

Analyzing the sigh-in reports it seems that he's almost ready to start the counterinvasion of the Solomons. At least 6 big divisions are reported to be loaded on Marus at Rabaul and most of them are planning for Tassa, Lunga and Tulagi. My air recon spotted only 43 units at Rabaul and a infinite number of Task Forces...that means that nearly 50 units are already loaded on ships ready to move south... Will be bloody...will be something like a japanese D-Day

[GreyJoy]

The good thing is that Rader hasn't eliminated yet the PTs present in the Solomons, nor he has been able yet to reduce my bases as he was able to do at PM. He can close a single base using his Helens, but if he wants to keep all my bases shut he will need his BBs...and i still have a decent surface force to be able to interdict these movements and make him pay...then the landings are a damned serious affair and landing HUGE forces at 3 different bases at the same time isn't exactly a walk in the park...i think that if we can interdict his landings we can have.a chance of survival...

[ADB123]

Greyjoy -

You've got a lot of very nice armour in your Indian column. You ought to split some off to the north and threaten to go around the Japanese forward positions. Take every pathway possible. Speed isn't an issue here - position is.

BTW - do you have any AA units in your column?

Also, as I suggested before, send some combat units along the southern roads too.

As you are attempting in the South Pacific, give Radar too many targets to hit all at once, and too many to ignore.

[GreyJoy]

Yes, the plan is to arrive with the stack at 1 hex far from Multan in order to maximise the AA efficiency and then split my army into 4 different army corps and make some flanking movements.
Another smaller stack will soon depart from hyderabad and will move south...
Yes i have lots of very good AA units with my army and more are read to come from Aden as soon as i manage to get some fighters back at Karachi...2000 more AVs are ready at Aden...

I'm really looking forward to see how my brand new armoured units will perform...Grants, Valentines, stuarts...they should eat alive the jap tanks...

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Analyzing the sigh-in reports it seems that he's almost ready to start the counterinvasion of the Solomons. At least 6 big divisions are reported to be loaded on Marus at Rabaul and most of them are planning for Tassa, Lunga and Tulagi. My air recon spotted only 43 units at Rabaul and a infinite number of Task Forces...that means that nearly 50 units are already loaded on ships ready to move south... Will be bloody...will be something like a japanese D-Day

Splitting his force??

I would take Lunga first, then Tassafaronga by land and amphib Tulagi with as much as possible .

Is he underestimating your forces and thinks he can sweep them all with 2Div+ sized landing??

Are you able to get a decent force at Karikari which you could airlift or APD/LCT into the base being attacked?

[JohnDillworth]

Scenario 2 or not it has to be tough to keep Rabaul stocked with fuel. 4EB port attack at Rabaul might gum up the port a bit. It's hardly big enough to as it is. If he is staging 6 divisons out of there there has got to be some tempting targets

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Analyzing the sigh-in reports it seems that he's almost ready to start the counterinvasion of the Solomons. At least 6 big divisions are reported to be loaded on Marus at Rabaul and most of them are planning for Tassa, Lunga and Tulagi. My air recon spotted only 43 units at Rabaul and a infinite number of Task Forces...that means that nearly 50 units are already loaded on ships ready to move south... Will be bloody...will be something like a japanese D-Day

Splitting his force??

I would take Lunga first, then Tassafaronga by land and amphib Tulagi with as much as possible .

Is he underestimating your forces and thinks he can sweep them all with 2Div+ sized landing??

Are you able to get a decent force at Karikari which you could airlift or APD/LCT into the base being attacked?

He's not understimating. He had plenty of time to recon carefully all my bases. He knows what i have there. And i don't think he's landing with 2Div+....i believe he's landing with 10+Divisions (or equivalent) at each of my base. Based on this assumption i'm trying to have a decent force at each of my three bases. I have to assume that he won't let me reinforce once invaded. However i have 2 full regiments ready at Karaikira and 6 more at Ndeni, along with the equivalent of 2 regiments of Para.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Scenario 2 or not it has to be tough to keep Rabaul stocked with fuel. 4EB port attack at Rabaul might gum up the port a bit. It's hardly big enough to as it is. If he is staging 6 divisons out of there there has got to be some tempting targets

He's staging more than 6 divisions there. He had more than 100 units there!...and yes, with more than 500 ships there there must be some juicy targets...however i've already tried a Night Port attack with 4Es and we didn't get any luck...only a couple of xAKs hit and an AV...but during the day Rabaul is well defended (more than 100 fighters spotted plus the KB CAP) and a 4Es attack will mean the demolition of my 4Es force (always keep in mind that the constant utilization of my 4Es since june 1942 -In india first and then here in SOPAC- has ran dry my pools and now i fly my 4Es with always not more than 10 planes in reserve in pool) and now i MUST keep use them to keep his front-line AFs under a constant threat...i cannot waste my 90 4Es army to sink a bunch of tansports...i'd like to...but i cannot efford it right now...

[GreyJoy]

...can't wait to resume the game....[:'(]