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Re: the Wake F4Fs, yes, there are few carrier capable aircraft and most of them are F2A Buffalos! The Wake pilots are
pretty good, if I recall and can soon be trained up enough to meet the Zeros of KB.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the replacement rate for naval fighters is not great for several months, so if you
use your carriers aggressively you will use up fighters faster than you can replace them.

Carrier fighter squadrons re-size later, after experience shows that a squadron of 27 is not enough to maintain CAP over the
carrier plus escort a strike to target. Numbers matter in A2A battles.

Note that carriers can operate up to 5 squadrons at a time, and most carriers have residual space for planes in the beginning
(before the re-size). Look around the board for F4F squadrons to put on your carriers. Some of the F4Fs may be wasted on land-based
permanently restricted training squadrons. Use the "Upgrade" settings to change the aircraft type in these restricted squadrons to
Buffalos or even the P-26 or P-35 if there are some in the pools. Once the upgrade happens the F4Fs will go to the pools over a period
of days. Have another Unrestricted squadron set to upgrade to F4Fs and when they do, get them close enough to your
carriers to fly onto one. You can exceed your carriers' designed aircraft complement by 10% without penalty (e.g. Lexington's capacity of
90 aircraft can be exceeded up to 99 aircraft), but you may need to split a new squadron flying on to leave some aircraft behind as a detatchment
to avoid exceeding the operational limit of the carrier.

It will take about three months for a "Carrier Capable" squadron to become fully "Carrier Trained". I think
the only difference between the two designations is the rate of operational losses, not their fighting qualities.

I don't have any restricted F4F for now. So what i did is setting already existing F4F squadrons to Not Upgrade, so that the F4F Bufaloes on the LExington and the Saragota are Upgraded in priority.

[center]December 7th, 1941
H-5 Before Pearl Harbor Assault[/center]


Malaya

Let's now moove to the West in Asia. Malaya is quite a straightforward part i think. We know it is gonna fall at some point, all we can do is delay and save as much as we can, a bit like the Philipines.


Naval :

First thing i do is send all ships from George Town to Colombo : 2*xAKL, 2*xAK and 2*xAP, 1*AMc and 4*HDMLs.

Dutch Subs around the Peninsula are set to patrol around the Eastern and Southern Coast.

Force Z is rebased to Soerabaja but will remain in Singapor for now. It will leave with the first evacuation convoy in a few days.

Damaged ships in Singapore, along with other smaller ships (ML,YMS,HDML) are assembleed into a taskforce. They are set to leave the port for the Dutch stronghold asap.

The CM and DM stay to lay some mines in the port.


Air Force

All planes able to fly are redirected to Singapor. It will allow them to be shipped away little by little as Japanese troops loose ground. A problem with this is that Singapore starts getting crowded with planes, and short on Aviation Support.

All squadrons are set to reinforce with rookies.I sence they will get experience pretty fast in this area.
However, despite the Airplane stack limit not being reached, the lack of Support for now will slow down all air operations, so only a limited number of planes will be set to fly.
All Patrol Planes and Recon planes are set to Naval Search on the Easter Coast, toward Kuantan. They are joined by a squadron of 14 Bleinheim.

2 Groups of Buffalo are set to 60% CAP, Range 0 , 15000ft. 2 other groups are set with 40% CAP,Range 4 and 15 000 ft.

All Vildebeests and Swordfishes are set to Naval Attack, 13 000 ft and Range 4, Using Torpedoes.

All other planes are stood down.


I wonder if i can give any more orders to the squadrons without suffering to big penalties?



Ground Units

Retreat is set as on the map below. Units circled in Blue are set to strategic moovement, and the others in Purple are set in Purple.
The objective is to retreat to a series of 3 lines, until Singapore eventualy falls.
The 4 regions with a red dot are set to Build up forts, while SIngapore also build up its Airfield.

[center][/center]

All available BF are sent to Singapore to help support the massive amount of planes there. Just one is left to Mersing to help building the fortifications.

All non circled units are set to rest.

The two australians brigades are set to Strategic moove and redeployed to Singapore to be later shiped to OZ.

the troops in Kota Baru will have to slow down the Japanese advance and buy other LCUs time to retreat.

Finaly, i increase Singapore's supply requirement from 4K to 20k to pull all the supplies from other bases back to here.

[center]December 7th, 1941
H-5 Before Pearl Harbor Assault[/center]


Philipines

The big delaying terrain. How long will we be able to hold?


Naval :

75 % of the subs in Manilla are sent in patrol. the shortest range subs are patroling mostly in Northern PI, while the longest ranges are displatched in East China see, around Japan southern islands, nearby Saigon and other Japanese ilsands or potential targets.

A first convoy composed of all DDs, most transports, TK and support ships is created, destination the East Indies.
For now; PT boats, Subs and AS ships will remain in Manilla, as well as a few transports which will be used to evacuate supplies,planes and men when time will come.

Most of Southern Naval units are sent to Soerabaja.


Air Force

All planes from Northern PI are gathered in Clark field. Others in southern islands will remain here until last minutes to provide

Naval search capacityes (from the B-17 and the Catalinas).

P-40s will try to be evacuated, even if i don't think this will be possible. Waiting for that, all squadrons are set to (60% CAP 30%Rest, 15000ft , 1 Hex to cover all 3 defensive hexes).

P35 and P25 are set to 100% Escort Training.

Patrol planes and Bombers are set to (60% Naval Search 20 % ASW Search, 6000 ft) and cover almost all coasts of PI.

The O-47 is set to 100% Training Recon.


Ground Units

Most LCUs will die here since attached to PI HQs. The last stand will be done as usual in the golden triangle of CF, Manilla and Bataan, where construction of Defenses have started. LCUs in northern PI are set to retreat to this area, where others soutehrn ones will remain in position.

All units bug ENG and mooving ones are set to Rest.

Keep in mind that once he starts bombing Manila it will become untenable for subs to use as a support base. Singapore will be similarly under threat of bombing.

Since subs need a decent size port (or an AS) to reload torpedoes, your subs will have to be ready to move to Soerabaja or Columbo, or make the long journey around Oz.
Fuel is a big consideration - you need to have enough to get to the next safe fuelling stop. For this reason, I would set the sub Home Port to Tarakan or Balikpapan now
so that the sub will head there for fuel when it gets to minimums. If Manila is still operating and not threatened, you can always change the sub to go there instead (you
will be notified in the Op Report of "sub TF ## leaving patrol zone to refuel", so you have the chance to change it.)

The thing you do NOT want to happen is leaving your subs set to Manila home port and when it comes under attack, finding out you do not have enough fuel to get to another
base. Subs are the one ship that you cannot refuel at sea using another ship or sub.

Thanks, i immediatly rebased all my subs to Balkipapan for now, i will see how it turns out. I will try to send my AS there too.


[center]December 7th, 1941
H-5 Before Pearl Harbor Assault[/center]


DEI/Borneo/Soumatra

Nothing much to do here. I just cancel a few solitary ships, and set the planes to training for now. We will see how things turn out and act accordingly later, for now this part is rather safe.

Batavia and Soerabaja are set to expand Port, Airfield and Fortifications.

[center]December 7th, 1941
H-5 Before Pearl Harbor Assault[/center]


China

The big piece of land somewhere in Asia. Once again, i took inspiration on Sardaukar's AAR for beginer in the general strategy, i hope he didn't have a copyright on it If he did, well sorry but i don't have any way to pay.



Naval :

Seriously?



Air Force

Nothing much to report in China Airpower appart from outdated planes. I mostly set fighters to 100% Escort training.



Ground Units

Now that is what i call something. The two pictures below illustrate the general strategy:

[center]


[/center]
- The line in red is the one we plan to hold off the Japs, using terrain and natural assets
- Units circled in blue are set to moove behind this line while staying in combat mode
- Units circled in purple are set to moove back in Move mode.
- Other units are left to Rest or Combat if they are directly in contact of an enemy unit.

I know units on the plain are going to get uterly obliterated, but as Sardauk precised, it's a good thing to keep the Railroad cut in these plains to denie supply to the japanese as long as possible.

I hope i get the general idea in china, even if it will be quite hard to have a unit rotation when you have most of them already in the front line.

Don't underestimate the Chinese fighters. Most pack 4 x 7.62mm Shkas MGs in Centerline position. Those MGs have accuracy of 108 (most accurate aircraft MGs in the whole game). The fighters have armor 1, plus ridiculous manoeuvrability of 50 points. Too bad you don't get replacements for them.

Before continuing, i would like if possible some advices on India and Australia.

I had a look at various topics on these two fields, but if the other theatres are quite straigthforward, i am a bit lost on what i should do with the units there (esp Australia).

I admit a bit of enlightments would be welcome here

Hi everyone,

After a period of intense work i'll be getting back to where i left. Anybody has advices to my last question before i carry on?


Thanks and see you for the next update!

ORIGINAL: BlitzX

Before continuing, i would like if possible some advices on India and Australia.

I had a look at various topics on these two fields, but if the other theatres are quite straigthforward, i am a bit lost on what i should do with the units there (esp Australia).

I admit a bit of enlightments would be welcome here

What you do depends on your assessment of what he could do and where he is likely to do it.
Search the forum (War Room or the AAR area) for a topic about a list of the Japanese divisions. This list is your start point to estimate how many
divisions he could throw at India or Oz.

From your combat reports you can often get the names of divisions and their locations, and the SIGINT report will give other clues. If it looks like
he has a lot of divisions (10 or so) not accounted for, expect that they may be moving to Oz or India. It is very difficult for the Japanese to try to take all
of both Oz and India, although many players take some of each country.

Watch the SIGINT report for clues about which bases the Japanese are planning to attack.

Until around November of 1942, the Japanese can take just about any place they want, but not all of them.
Your job is to protect your critical bases in both Oz and India and build up your forces to fight back. This means you should not
fight for the sake of fighting, but only as part of a plan to protect key bases and delay him. Northern Oz is not worth fighting for IMO, but I would make a hard
fight for Brisbane and points south of there. India has some key cities like Karachi, Bombay and Madras that should be fought for, but Calcutta is too close to
Burma where the Japanese can push a lot of troops through.

If he commits a lot of troop strength to taking islands in the Southern Pacific, you can probably start building Calcutta, Columbo and some northern Oz bases. There are just
too many variables to give a quick answer on what to do. Use your judgement and soon you will begin to be able to guess what you can do and what might hurt you.

Also, try to assess your opponent's personal playing style. Does he take big risks or move steadily and in small steps? Is he very organized and attentive to details or does
he rush things to get to the next battle? Once you know how he likes to play it will help predict his next moves.

Good Luck!

I suggest a more aggressive approach in China.

It is quite easy to liberate the entire string of bases from Nanchang to Sinyang in the opening phase and then to drive to Nanking and Shanghai in the second phase.

In my last game Shanghai yielded 850k supply when it fell.

I play IronBabes C (secn 30) w/ extended map and stacking limits against the AI.

The AI will not exploit the game mechanism that allows attacks on airfields to destroy the entire supply source of armies in the filed the way most PBEM players do.

Hi everyone

I've fanaly managed to get back to the game seriously. I am currently 7 games in games, and i have a few questions to ask you before i come with the big picture.

- My Buffalos in Singapore are really packing up some kills and gaining nice experience. Is there any way i can transfer these pilots to an other squadron with better planes?
- In the PI, bot sides are invaded and the waters are getting dangerous. I'm planning to start an evacuation of Manilla, but is it worth saving the P40 in there? I'd be tempting to, but it's quite a heavy PP cost.
- I've started a convoy from Sydney to SF, but they are so slow..they barely advanced about 30 tiles in a week. Is it normal? did i forget something?

- What infos would you be interested in seeing on that first week of fighting?


Thanks!

To return pilots to the General Reserve from which they can be picked up by another squadron:
- In the squadron screen, click on the Pilots hypertext at the bottom. When the list of pilots comes up go to the bottom
of that screen and change the hypertext where it says "Transfer pilots to:" from Squadron Reserve to General Reserve.
Now just click on the buttons for "Transfer Pilot" in groups of 1, 5 or 10. If you do not want to transfer all of them, sort
them first by clicking on the Air skill to get the best pilots at the top and change the selection at the bottom from "Experience (overall)"
to "Air Skill". If you make a mistake you can get them back by going to the squadron screen and selecting "Request veteran".
It may take several days for the pilots to be available in the pilot pool, but use "Request Veteran" to get them into the squadron with
better planes. You may need to send some inexperienced pilots to the General Reserve to make room for the veterans.

Edit: Meant to add that you might be able to return the pilots to the pools by disbanding the squadron but you might lose the aircraft when you do that.

Also keep in mind that pilot pools are not universal, so you can't get the British pilots into an American squadron.

Re: the Philippine P-40s - I wouldn't bother with the P-40Bs, and the P-40Es I would take only if there were good pilots
and a good leader. You also have to consider where you can get them to (i.e. are drop tanks going to be available for the trip)
and whether they will be destroyed later anyway (e.g. if they get to Java and cannot go further. You also have to guess how
much success they may have before they are destroyed. It's all a judgement call that only you can make.

Re: the convoy - the progress sounds like you have 10-kt. vessels with the convoy. These are not worth the slow-down involved
for the rest of the convoy and I would cut them loose to proceed independently. They are generally short-ranged and will have
to hit a couple of fuelling stops on the way back. Your convoy may already have done some ship-to-ship refuelling that delayed its
progress.

Hello everyone!

My game is progressing slowly. I'm getting pushed back, but i guess it's normal for 42. China is a mess, i don't know what do do here XD

Anyway, this is not why i'm here. I had a technical question to ask.Thanks to BBFanboy's advices, I have set a series of short ranged transports to convoy supplies from EC to CT. He told me that offline boats were not using fuel, and therefore could be set to full speed.

However, i realized that most of my offmap ships are now out of fuel, and will take a month to reach their destination. Did i do something wrong? Or is it me who didn't understand something?

ORIGINAL: BlitzX

Hello everyone!

My game is progressing slowly. I'm getting pushed back, but i guess it's normal for 42. China is a mess, i don't know what do do here XD

Anyway, this is not why i'm here. I had a technical question to ask.Thanks to BBFanboy's advices, I have set a series of short ranged transports to convoy supplies from EC to CT. He told me that offline boats were not using fuel, and therefore could be set to full speed.

However, i realized that most of my offmap ships are now out of fuel, and will take a month to reach their destination. Did i do something wrong? Or is it me who didn't understand something?

To not use fuel both the departure and arrival base must be off-map - I think I described it as "between off map bases". If you are going between an on-map location and an off-map one, fuel will be used as normal.
I also learned a day or so ago that you need enough fuel for one hex travel (40 nm) on each ship doing the trip between off-map locations or the AI will treat the TF as "out of fuel".
I now have a convoy expected to take 142 days to get to EC USA, but I am not worried because ... I did this once before when I forgot to give a ship that was at 0 fuel a little sip before sending it on its way. Somewhere along the line the AI decided that an invisible fuel source filled up the one out of fuel.
Also, travel between off-map bases causes no system damage to your ships, even if they are out of fuel.

About China - I don't have any magic solutions to suggest - just try to get as much supply there as possible and resign yourself to losing hordes of troops. Best China defence currently on view is in Obvert's AAR Felix, Ferdinand and Frupac.

What difficulty setting are you using? As this is a stock AI game, you need to be at HARD level minimum. You should go to VERY HARD at least once/month for a at least a few turns. Otherwise the AI side will starve out on supplies and it Offensives will grind to a halt.

Hello, people from various horizons

My campaign is going veeery slowly, as i'm still learning the ropes and all. I am now on the verge of 1942, a very big year.

Instead of doing a very long summary of what i've done, i put my save game at your disposal. Concrete thing are better than a long text

http://www.filedropper.com/wpae033

My game version it : Beta 1.7.11.23x10 , with Da big babe + extended Map and stack limit.


Enjoy and feel free to comment

ORIGINAL: BlitzX

[center]December 7th, 1941
H-5 Before Pearl Harbor Assault[/center]


China

The big piece of land somewhere in Asia. Once again, i took inspiration on Sardaukar's AAR for beginer in the general strategy, i hope he didn't have a copyright on it If he did, well sorry but i don't have any way to pay.



Naval :

Seriously?



Air Force

Nothing much to report in China Airpower appart from outdated planes. I mostly set fighters to 100% Escort training.



Ground Units

Now that is what i call something. The two pictures below illustrate the general strategy:

[center]


[/center]
- The line in red is the one we plan to hold off the Japs, using terrain and natural assets
- Units circled in blue are set to moove behind this line while staying in combat mode
- Units circled in purple are set to moove back in Move mode.
- Other units are left to Rest or Combat if they are directly in contact of an enemy unit.

I know units on the plain are going to get uterly obliterated, but as Sardauk precised, it's a good thing to keep the Railroad cut in these plains to denie supply to the japanese as long as possible.

I hope i get the general idea in china, even if it will be quite hard to have a unit rotation when you have most of them already in the front line.

Unless you are prepping for a PBEM game there is no reason to be so timid in China.
It is rather easy for a player to liberate most of China by the end 42 against the AI.
My current game is in June '42 and I am at the gates of Nanking.
Shanghai is the true prize in China. Last game it yielded up 850k supply when I liberated it.

I admit my knowledge of the game doesn't allowme to plan such a great scale thing

I'm still trying to grasp on how land fighting works