Sqz stands down. The AAR is now concluded. Sqz (A) vs. obvert (J)

[Macclan5]

Subscribed.

I look forward having extensively read much of your previous AARs

Despite the forward fuel supply woes it actually looks as if you are in a reasonably strong position?

Strategic map suggests Guadalcanal, Munda, Nomea, lower New Guinea are all yours; further a line in the sand in Burma?

I guess if your Naval Losses are "dozens and dozens" of TK and xAK - if you also will have troubles "moving supplies" it will be worse than anticipated.

Can you share an idea of Naval Loss ships ratio ? Aircraft loss ratio ?

Maybe you are unable to attack and could fall "behind historical schedule" but if you can defend then the waves of upgrades and armaments are just coming on.

[Macclan5]

ahh timing. Just noted the 'line in the sand in Burma' is Chinese troops.

Moving them back will be a further drain on your logistics ! ? !

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Macclan5

Subscribed.

I look forward having extensively read much of your previous AARs

Despite the forward fuel supply woes it actually looks as if you are in a reasonably strong position?

Strategic map suggests Guadalcanal, Munda, Nomea, lower New Guinea are all yours; further a line in the sand in Burma?

I guess if your Naval Losses are "dozens and dozens" of TK and xAK - if you also will have troubles "moving supplies" it will be worse than anticipated.

Can you share an idea of Naval Loss ships ratio ? Aircraft loss ratio ?

Maybe you are unable to attack and could fall "behind historical schedule" but if you can defend then the waves of upgrades and armaments are just coming on.

Glad to have you along and thank you for sticking around after reading my other AAR's. I lose it on occasion, but always come around to dealing with the situation and soldiering on. I'm just so competitive, that at times it clouds my judgment and I let my passions get the better of me.

I will go into much more detail as we progress. On paper the Allied position looks good, but the lack of fuel, supply and a massing of combat power makes a major advance anywhere impossible at the moment. I will consolidate what I have, reorganize my combat strength and get the logistics in place to sustain the offensive push. I give myself the next two months to get everything in place, make some local gains where I can and be in a position to unleash a renewed Allied offensive to start 1944.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Macclan5

I guess if your Naval Losses are "dozens and dozens" of TK and xAK - if you also will have troubles "moving supplies" it will be worse than anticipated.

I have plenty of everything, it's just that most assets are sitting in ports far from the action doing nothing. This tends to validate CR's comment about micromanaging logistics is one of the first things to go if motivation is lacking.

[BBfanboy]

Not just lack of motivation. Impatience is also a factor in not doing logistics. It isn't exciting and players that want an exciting game will want to push forward the fighting units and plan to "bring up the support later" - but later never catches up with current.

I started a campaign against the AI with the intention to see what happens if I push back hard against opening Japanese moves. Since I was not expecting to continue the exercise beyond stopping IJ expansion I left logistics (and China land battles) alone. It did not take long for the lack of fuel and supply to arrest my efforts and I had to play the game as intended!

[SqzMyLemon]

Erik is really pushing for us to install the latest beta, so I agreed to do so. Erik's game wasn't on the last official update, but the one previous, so he'll have to upgrade from a little farther back.

I think this is the last of any version or beta issues we need to address. I should be able to start working on my first turn later tonight, unless I get a turn from my other PBEM which remains my priority. I've told Erik it will be some time before I will send the turn. There is so much that needs to be done immediately, and I don't feel the date allows me to introduce new measures over 3-4 weeks of game play. Something to look forward to is the 5528 PP's I have to spend. Priority will be leadership changes, if necessary, before worrying about command or restricted LCU related expenditures.

[SqzMyLemon]

.

[Lowpe]

The latest Beta is great. Adds so much more flavor for the lcu screen for example.

Takes away some exploits.

Improves bombardments a bit...more likely to happen.

[SqzMyLemon]

A brief note on the three major theatres where the Allies are currently engaged.

The most worrisome is the Central Pacific. The Marcus Island debacle will most likely result in the loss of U.S. 25th Division and four other LCU's. Restoring the situation isn't an option, unless Erik does absolutely nothing there for 3-4 weeks. There isn't any transport capacity available to withdraw the troops from the atoll. There isn't any fuel or supply close at hand to send to the atoll. The bulk of the American navy is currently southwest of the atoll, but fuel is low and an immediate withdrawal to Pearl Harbor is in order. I won't throw good money after bad. Allied forces on Marcus Island are doomed unless I am given time to work a little magic.

Burma appears to be held securely by the Japanese, and the Allied forces have banged their collective heads at a wall for some time. Supply is low and the tactical position is overall poor and ripe for local Japanese counterattacks. Priority here will be to establish a better overall position and change the axis of the Allied advance.

The silver lining appears to be the Solomons and New Guinea where the Allies have made some good progress. However, this is offset by not enough fuel, supply or troops to exploit the gains already made. I will focus Allied efforts here in the short term. I will look to improve the overall position with small operations meant to expand the perimeter and bring more pressure to bear on the Japanese. Rabaul is securely held by Japan and sports an impressive amount of aircraft. Dealing with Rabaul is the order of the day.

Darwin is still in Japanese hands. I will address this problem in conjunction with operations against the Solomons and New Guinea.

The Gilbert and Marshall Island chains are untouched by Allied forces. This will change, and I hope to start putting pressure on these Japanese positions immediately.

I have no clue on where the Japanese navy has been operating or what their naval capacity is in any particular theatre. I'll have to probe to find out. I will be reorganizing the naval search and recon capacity of Allied forces throughout the Pacific to get a clear picture of what I am facing in the air, on the ground and at sea.

[SqzMyLemon]

That's it from me until I get knee deep into the next turn.

[PaxMondo]

[Lecivius]

Now in charge...

[SqzMyLemon]

I'm making some good progress on the turn. I sorted out all the idle shipping issues I had for North America last night. I'll have Pearl Harbor topped up with enough fuel to meet my immediate needs in the Central Pacific within a few weeks. Within two months, she'll be overflowing with fuel, supply and shipping.

I also took a long hard look at Burma. I think I identified the major problem as supply, and it's lack thereof. Then I started to dig into why. Well, there is a huge amount of Allied air and ground units committed to the theatre. The majority of these units have all been set to receive replacements and upgrades. Almost the entire Chinese Army is in Burma, and guess what? The majority of these LCU's have also been set to receive replacements and upgrades. As far as I know, only replacements incur a supply cost, adding new devices do not. The amount of units all taking in replacements is contributing to the supply drain.

What next? Well almost every base in the theatre is set to expand, be it airbase or forts, or both. Every base has been set a supply draw which must be wreaking havoc on the supply routine. Just too many bases are competing for the same limited pool of supply. Some bases are stockpiling as much as 50k while troops starve in the field.

The solution has been to turn off all but the most pressing base expansion requirements. Temporarily all units will have replacements and upgrades turned off, especially the massive Chinese Army. I expect to see an immediate improvement in the level of supply after instituting these changes.

I requested the last two weeks of combat reports to get an idea of where the action has been. I get a sense of the air war in Burma and what just happened to the largest concentration of Allied ground forces near Taung Gyi. The Allied forces have just suffered a huge tactical defeat and are shown withdrawing towards Lashio. Over 1200 combat squads were disabled and the Allied combat modifier indicated a (-) supply. No shit. I will withdraw, consolidate and improve the supply situation and get these forces back into the war as quickly as possible. At least I have plenty of forces available, they just need better direction and some TLC (supply!).

The air force in Burma is in good shape, but the supply situation here needs to be improved to sustain an air campaign. Anti-Air defences are not what they should be. There are huge concentrations of FLAK in Ceylon and India proper. I spent whatever PP's were necessary to get the restricted units bought out for deployment to Burma. Erik has a nasty FLAK induced surprise coming his way. Unfortunately, there will be huge delays getting the AA into the theatre as they have to take the land route. Why? Because there are a total of 4 DD's in the Indian Ocean. There's a few BB's and CL's at Colombo, but essentially I have no naval capability in the IO at all. Meanwhile there are 32 DD's in port at Sydney, including most of the British ones.

I'll get everything sorted, but the killer is the time it's going to take. Months of delay. [:@]

My next session will be Australia, the Solomons and New Guinea. Then deal with the Marcus debacle and put things in motion for some offensive activity in the Gilbert and Marshall Island chains. Last will be pilot training and leader changes. The pilot pools are low, I think there are only 132 fighter pilots in the reserve pool for example. Many air units are training pilots, they just seem to have never been sent into reserve and new inexperienced pilots brought in. Bombers are in better shape with 500+ in the reserve pool. Maybe this hasn't been an issue as most squadrons have great pilots, so maybe there's been low attrition.

Lot's to do, but I like this aspect of the game. Some screenshots to follow on the weekend showing the tactical situation in the major theatres.

[Lowpe]

I should have told you to not be afraid of globally turning everything off. I always had to.[:)]

Luckily the game makes it real easy to do.

I can't believe you asked for the last 2 weeks of combat reports. You are better off not looking, and trying to piece things together by the reports in game. Morale, sunk ships, fatigue, they all tell a story.

One of the first things I do is sort plane squadrons by fatigue and then by morale. Sometimes you can find some real gems....10 morale pilots on the front lines with 40 fatigue. Ouch.[:D]

Then do the same with your troops.

Then sort ships by endurance and see how many have no fuel and are halfway across the Pacific.

It is a real eye opener. I have to say Olorin has spoiled me, as he had almost nothing wrong or in poor shape, and had a great back area organization. Really, it was a marvel.[&o]

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I can't believe you asked for the last 2 weeks of combat reports. You are better off not looking, and trying to piece things together by the reports in game. Morale, sunk ships, fatigue, they all tell a story.

Actually Erik offered so I asked for the last two weeks. I wanted a sense of where the fighting was occurring and what happened to the latest Allied offensives. I got my answers for both Burma and what happened at Marcus Island. I also wanted an idea of where Erik was committing his air units and how. Again, I got the answers I wanted.

It's all good. I feel much better preparing the turn knowing I'm not inadvertently sending my air or ground forces into a buzz saw in Burma or New Guinea.

[Macclan5]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I also took a long hard look at Burma. I think I identified the major problem as supply, and it's lack thereof. Then I started to dig into why. Well, there is a huge amount of Allied air and ground units committed to the theatre. The majority of these units have all been set to receive replacements and upgrades. Almost the entire Chinese Army is in Burma, and guess what? The majority of these LCU's have also been set to receive replacements and upgrades. As far as I know, only replacements incur a supply cost, adding new devices do not. The amount of units all taking in replacements is contributing to the supply drain.

What next? Well almost every base in the theatre is set to expand, be it airbase or forts, or both. Every base has been set a supply draw which must be wreaking havoc on the supply routine. Just too many bases are competing for the same limited pool of supply. Some bases are stockpiling as much as 50k while troops starve in the field.

The solution has been to turn off all but the most pressing base expansion requirements. Temporarily all units will have replacements and upgrades turned off, especially the massive Chinese Army. I expect to see an immediate improvement in the level of supply after instituting these changes.

I requested the last two weeks of combat reports to get an idea of where the action has been. I get a sense of the air war in Burma and what just happened to the largest concentration of Allied ground forces near Taung Gyi. The Allied forces have just suffered a huge tactical defeat and are shown withdrawing towards Lashio. Over 1200 combat squads were disabled and the Allied combat modifier indicated a (-) supply. No shit. I will withdraw, consolidate and improve the supply situation and get these forces back into the war as quickly as possible. At least I have plenty of forces available, they just need better direction and some TLC (supply!).

The air force in Burma is in good shape, but the supply situation here needs to be improved to sustain an air campaign.

Really that sounds more of a nuisance than a problem.

You have the troops, entrenched in (probably) good bases, with good AF or LBA coverage. Further they are upgrading.

(PDU on or off ?? - I assume on but what does the LBA look like if its a primary front)

There must be hundreds of thousands of units of fuel and supply in Abadan and Capetown.

Now its simply getting it to flow into <insert here> Bombay, Madras, Goa, etc and set the spinners high in Chit.

It looks like you still control Chit / Cox's B and maybe even Aky based on the strat pic.

A nuisance..... i.e. 1 month delay to anything effective beyond defend.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Macclan5

Really that sounds more of a nuisance than a problem.

I'll have to disagree here. The philosophy to just advance and expand everything in Burma and hope supply will eventually move where you want it to, and having every base set to draw supply was a mistake. Factor in the entire Chinese Army is in Burma and competing for all the supply needed for offensive operations and you do have a problem, a big one. Throw in the needs of the air force and it gets really ugly. If I had a navy in the IO, I could send massive amphibious taskforces to restore the situation directly.

I haven't yet had a chance to post details of the troop dispositions in Burma, but there isn't really a coherent plan to advance. That is another huge problem. Prepping for bases hasn't been maintained and many units are hopelessly out of date. The Allies need to get moving, spending 1-2 months just holding their positions so the supply situation can be restored is a killer, and will allow Japan to be that much more effective defending Burma. I'd bypass Burma all together if I had the option, but no navy present means no options.

Unfortunately, I'm having to reorganize every theatre. Supply and fuel are just not available to allow for offensive operations. In my book, that is a huge misallocation of resources. Having massive amounts of fuel and supply in Abadan, Aden, Cape Town and North America doesn't do the Allied war effort any good. By this game date, forward areas should be bursting at the seams with fuel and supply.

[ny59giants]

I know Joseph knows how OCD I am when it comes to logistics, regardless of my situation. [;)] I like to use the T2-SE-A2 Class TK from LA to Pearl in a CS Convoy with 2 to 4 escorts. This TK has relatively low Endurance 8000, but a very high fuel capacity of 13915 which makes it ideal for this role (no need to refuel away for USA). An Allied player needs one good size CS Convoy bringing fuel to Pearl on a regular basis.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I know Joseph knows how OCD I am when it comes to logistics, regardless of my situation. [;)] I like to use the T2-SE-A2 Class TK from LA to Pearl in a CS Convoy with 2 to 4 escorts. This TK has relatively low Endurance 8000, but a very high fuel capacity of 13915 which makes it ideal for this role (no need to refuel away for USA). An Allied player needs one good size CS Convoy bringing fuel to Pearl on a regular basis.

I'm starting to be just as OCD. I like moving stuff around. [8D]

[SqzMyLemon]

Just waiting for an e-mail back from Erik to confirm his HR for altitudes. I have a 25k maximum altitude limit in my other PBEM. Francois and I are up for changing this if the need arises. I think he'd prefer to play without restrictions and I'm getting there myself.

Erik mentioned that he and Historiker were using the 2nd best maneuver band, but he really liked what he had going with GreyJoy as far as limiting sweeps and CAP.

15k 41
20k 42
25k 43
32k 44-46

I'm not sure what I think of this one. I have no clue on how these altitudes might play out in the end game. I'm not too concerned with what he ends up choosing in the short term, but I'll definitely want to see how things develop to determine if we need to revisit altitude down the road. As soon as I hear back from Erik, it will only take me 30mins to finalize my air missions for the turn. I can then send the turn and we are on!