Focus Pacific Redux: OneEyedJacks(J) vs paradigmblue(A)

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

You're putting up a good fight. The one time I played this Lowpe shredded my CAP with sweeps.

Cheers,
CC

That's what Jacks *should* be doing. Instead he's throwing good planes and trained pilots away on escort duty, and it's given me the upper hand in the air - which I really shouldn't have in December of 41.

[paradigmblue]

December 14th, 1941

Uneventful day, not much to report.

CentPac

Guam holds for another day.

Philippines

As usual, I sweep over Jacks landings in the Philippines. He's brought another amphibious TF up, so I visit with Catalinas, which find an xAP with some troops still on it.




I feel that I have the air superiority here now to commit my dive-bombers that have been waiting in Cebu. Two squadrons of Vindicators move to Clark Field, where they will try and damage the amphibious TF currently unloading. Accompanying them will be two squadrons of Buffalos flying CAP as well as Skyrockets on LRCAP at high altitude. Naval search indicates that this TF may have CVEs in its composition - if it does, I can't pass up this opportunity to sink them.

I continue to bomb Aparri as well with my 4E bombers.



Dutch East Indies

Jacks' landing force at Tarakan continues to take it in the teeth from my guns.


I have a naval force en-route to intercept, but it looks like Jacks has at least two surface TFs screening the invasion force - we'll see if my ships can fight their way through.

China

Still quiet here, and I'm OK with that.

Soviet Union

Bombers try to slow down Jacks' invading stack in the north, but do little damage. Hopefully my armor will get here in time to prevent him from cutting the rail line.

Air Losses



The pace of air operations has slowed, but Jacks continues to attack Kwangchowan to little effect and high-losses.

Naval Losses

I lose two xAKLs trying to sneak out of the Philippines to Jacks carrier planes.

[BBfanboy]

Nice work! Have you considered arming your Cats with torpedoes? I stocked up the Air HQ at Clark with 200 torps and set all my Cats to use them and they messed up the Japanese big time, including hits on some combat vessels.
I also used my bomb-capable fighters to naval attack at 1000 feet and found that even 100 lb bombs will cause runaway fires on Japanese xAKs if you get three or more hits. My P-35s took out a lot of the xAKs and my P-40Es took out xAPs and even once sank a CA. Of course you will want most of your fighters for CAP but if the enemy ships come in close you might surprise him with the fighters bombing him. Enemy CAP is usually too high to intercept the low level attacks.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Nice work! Have you considered arming your Cats with torpedoes? I stocked up the Air HQ at Clark with 200 torps and set all my Cats to use them and they messed up the Japanese big time, including hits on some combat vessels.
I also used my bomb-capable fighters to naval attack at 1000 feet and found that even 100 lb bombs will cause runaway fires on Japanese xAKs if you get three or more hits. My P-35s took out a lot of the xAKs and my P-40Es took out xAPs and even once sank a CA. Of course you will want most of your fighters for CAP but if the enemy ships come in close you might surprise him with the fighters bombing him. Enemy CAP is usually too high to intercept the low level attacks.

I like using my Cats with Torpedoes as well, but I find that the miss rate is high enough that if I want a sure thing that bombs are a better bet. With torps I find that I sink ships, but I'm not getting hits on many of them. I think I can slow my opponent down more by putting lots of xAKs in the yards right now than I can by sinking the occasional CL. I'm not sure if I'm right - I usually use torps as you describe, but wanted to try a different tactic this game.

You're completely right about the P-40s being surprisingly effective vs shipping. However, despite my success vs my opponents bombing runs, I'm not at the point where I feel that I can remove my P-40s from CAP.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
My P-35s took out a lot of the xAKs

Holy crap, up until now I completely overlooked the fact that P-35s carry bombs. That's a great use for them - I find that they don't accomplish much on CAP, so I can use them for naval attack without compromising my CAP. Thanks!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: paradigmblue

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
My P-35s took out a lot of the xAKs

Holy crap, up until now I completely overlooked the fact that P-35s carry bombs. That's a great use for them - I find that they don't accomplish much on CAP, so I can use them for naval attack without compromising my CAP. Thanks!

So do the P-26s ... [:)]

[paradigmblue]

December 15th, 1941

Philippines



My larger sweeps hit north of Vigan, but Jacks has considerably reinforced his CAP here. Several waves of my sweeps hit the hex, but don't manage to completely clear the CAP.

Despite this fact, I disrupt it enough that the bulk of my naval strikes make it through, sinking several ships, and badly damaging others. The key result is two fish and three bombs in CVE Iki. With luck it will sink before making port.













CA Asahi also takes two good hits.

Unfortunately, one of my Devastator strikes goes in un-escorted, and gets roughed up pretty badly by Zeroes. They'll be out of action for a few turns as they recover from their losses.

Dutch East Indies



The Japanese try Tarakan again, but are rebuffed.

My surface TF that I had vectored to Tarakan will back off - Jacks has moved a carrier group in from the East, uncomfortably close to my surface TF. Risking valuable ships to sink an empty amphibious TF and a CVE isn't worth it to me right now.

Kates from this carrier group sink my last two xAKLs fleeing the Philippines. I'm not too broken up about it - they're xAKLs, and most of my valuable ships made it out.

China




The Kwangchowan Raids continue. However, it looks like Jacks has moved his strikes and escorts to much higher elevations than previously, exceeding the elevation of my highest stacked CAP. I'll have to adjust next turn, as my results were not as favorable as they usually are above this hex.

Soviet Union



Whoops. I get cocky here with my Soviet bombers, not expecting the LRCAP from Hailar. Next turn I'll begin sweeps and look at my options of disrupting my opponents airfield.

Air and Naval Losses

I only have the replay currently, so I don't know totals as of yet. I know it was a costly day for me, but if CVE Iki sinks, it will have been worth it.

I will be leaving on vacation to Florida tomorrow morning, so no new turn from me for a week. It will be good to get away - Fairbanks will drop down to -25f this week.

[BBfanboy]

A Japanese CVE with two torpedo hits and HF/HD is a goner! You might not see ground losses because the air group can divert to nearby bases.

[Capt. Harlock]

CA Asahi also takes two good hits.

Oh Nooo!! They got the beer! [:D]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

CA Asahi also takes two good hits.

Oh Nooo!! They got the beer! [:D]

No worries - Sapporo will just make more beer to compensate.

[btd64]

Para, Looks like a good game. I'll stay tuned....GP

[paradigmblue]

Thanks Patton.

Returned from vacation last night and got the turn back.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I sunk the CVE despite the 3 torps, and my air losses were very high. I'm going to try again, but I'll need to stand down my naval strike aircraft for a week in the Philippines to recover, and I'll begin to scrape the bottom of my pools unless I keep my attrition to a more manageable level.



Despite not getting as many hits on the CVE as I would have liked, my DBs flying from Clark do some solid work.

[paradigmblue]

December 16th, 1941

CentPac

Guam continues to be bombed and bombarded daily. The plucky defenders still hang on.

Philippines

Jacks moves his amphibious TF back to the safety of Formosa. I still don't see the points for CVE Iki - is it possible that Jacks scuttled her?

My 4E bombers bomb Aparri, to little effect.

Dutch East Indies

No action today. My surface TF as retreated away from Jacks force near Celebes, which is remaining under the cover of a decent sized carrier group.

China

I get cocky with my French destroyers at Kwangchowan, sending them out to intercept Japanese shipping. Instead they run into a cruiser force that quickly dispatches two of my very capable destroyers. Damn.




Soviet Union

I continue to try and bomb the large incursion that looks to be trying to cut my rail line, this time with some sweeps, escorts and LRCAP. The ground forces don't take much damage, but my efforts in the air destroy many of Jacks' Oscars, though I lose more bi-planes than I'd like. That's OK - I'll trade a biplane for and Oscar any day.




Sub Warfare

Two of my subs score torpedo hits today.




They're low value targets, but I'll take what I can get.

I haven't seen much of Jacks' submarine force - I have no idea what they are up to.
Air Losses



I didn't see that many Oscars go down in the replay, so I think 44 losses is on the high end, but even if it's half that, I'm happy with the results.

Naval Losses



Lopsided losses today. I'll miss those French destroyers, they're great ships. I always vacillate about trying to run the gauntlet with them on the second turn to safety, but having them at Kwangchowan as long as possible keeps the Japanese player careful about moving ships around unprotected in their rear areas near Formosa.

[BBfanboy]

The air summary figures show he has lost twice as many aircraft as you have. Nice work! [&o]
I know some of the losses are from Japan's lack of good fighters, but a lot of your fighters are pretty obsolescent too. He doesn't seem to be using them properly.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The air summary figures show he has lost twice as many aircraft as you have. Nice work! [&o]
I know some of the losses are from Japan's lack of good fighters, but a lot of your fighters are pretty obsolescent too. He doesn't seem to be using them properly.

I really don't think he is. I am playing another Focus Pacific game (albeit a much older version) with a much more experienced Japanese player, and even with my P-50s, the air game is in that opponent's favor, and he doesn't even have Tojos yet.

The big difference is that I don't think that OneEyedJacks has swept once in this game, and he has the aircraft to do it.

Because of the active Soviets, Focus Pacific includes large Zero squadrons on Japan's west coast, in striking distance of Vladivostok. I don't think they've been used once since the first turn.

To be fair, I'm considering removing the P-50 squadrons that go active on December 8th in Luzon. They may be just a bit much for Japan to deal with. (That being said, in my other Focus Pacific game it made the air war above the Philippines tense and interesting).

I know that the allies can seem overpowered in Focus Pacific, but then I look at my other PBEM where I've lost the DEI, Morseby, northern and eastern Australia and North Island of NZ all by March (ouch!!), and I think the allies are balanced just fine.

[CaptBeefheart]

Your other game sounds quite interesting. How about offering us a snapshot of that one with some history and analysis of this mod?

Cheers,
CC

[paradigmblue]

I haven't updated it in months, so it's badly out of date, but here's a link to my AAR of that game:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showt ... id=3739682

My opponent, Saros, makes a few key decisions that enabled him to blow through my defenses:

1) Manilla, rather than Pear strike, destroying most of the USN sub fleet at Anchor
2) Then bypassing the Philippines almost completely, isolating them and letting them rot on the vine. The troops that he didn't commit here he used to make a quick capture of Singapore and Palembang
3) Committing the KB to the DEI to make naval and air interference of his invasions impossible
4) Conducting an ruthless air-game, using his Zeroes to great effect in sweeps, only committing bombers once he has devastated my CAP

I've made A LOT of mistakes as well. I'll probably lose all of the southern Soviet Union, as Saros has managed to put 200,000 troops on 3x terrain on the Soviet rail line, and I can't dislodge him.

And here's a link to my opponent's AAR of the same game:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showth ... id=3739706

I haven't read that AAR of course, so please don't discuss any details from my opponent's AAR here.

[Revthought]

I just started an Allied PBEM of Focus Pacific too. We're running two day turns, so that changes the dynamic quite a bit. My opponent is making judicious use of his Zeros in the Philippines; however, a few things make our situation very different.

We had no rule on setting air orders on the first turn, thus, even with surprise I was able to do serious damage to some of his attacks on the 7th. What is more, I think the lack of this HR AND the two day turns led my opponent to forgo Pearl Harbor as he did not want his pilots to face two days of attrition over Hawaii--just a guess.

Having faced this in my stock game with Herbie, I liked the flexibility this gave me. I'm not sure it does much for me in Focus Pacific though, at least not before the Allies actually start to go on the offensive in late 1942. We'll see.

In any case, I'm glad to see this AAR and that you are roughly at the same point in the game I am. This means advice meant for you will help me too!

[paradigmblue]

Yeah, not setting air orders the first turn is an incredibly important HR.

[CaptBeefheart]

Ouch, a $9.95 fee to enter that forum. Is it worth it?

Cheers,
CC