Insanity. Obscenity. Indecency. ITAKLinus (A) vs DesertWolf101 (J)

[ITAKLinus]

My question still stands and I have no access to the manual right now: does an AF lvl2 with airHQ provide torpedoes to Betty/Nell?

I remembered I did in such a small AF but I also remember the min AF was lvl4 so now I'm confused and I won't have the manual at hand until I come back from work (in ages.... [8|])

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

My question still stands and I have no access to the manual right now: does an AF lvl2 with airHQ provide torpedoes to Betty/Nell?

I remembered I did in such a small AF but I also remember the min AF was lvl4 so now I'm confused and I won't have the manual at hand until I come back from work (in ages.... [8|])

Yes, if the higher supply requirements are met.

Alfred

[ITAKLinus]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

My question still stands and I have no access to the manual right now: does an AF lvl2 with airHQ provide torpedoes to Betty/Nell?

I remembered I did in such a small AF but I also remember the min AF was lvl4 so now I'm confused and I won't have the manual at hand until I come back from work (in ages.... [8|])

Yes, if the higher supply requirements are met.

Alfred

Alfred, thank you so much! You saved me the late night digging into the manual! [&o][&o][&o][&o]

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus




...Is India bulletproof safe? Not at all.
My plan is to send the initial reinforcements loaded on ships to Australia (!) and prioritize the airlift of Chinese to India. In the meanwhile, I try to send some AA and AT in China, where they're always welcome.

Basically, I plan to use Chinese troops to defend India together with all the already present troops and the unrestricted anglo-indian reinforcements go quickly to Australia.
Rationale being that it's easier to ship those troops from Australia to India than vice-versa in case of need...

You should revisit your rationale.

The north-south Indian Ocean SLOC is very vulnerable to enemy air and naval interdiction from Sumatra and Java. Convoys traversing the north-south route therefore have to be very heavily escorted by Allied heavy assets (= capital ships) to deql with the potential threat. This ties up important Allied naval assets and because the enemy is not so similarly constrained, extends the Japanese initiative time frame.

The much safer Indian Ocean SLOC is east-west. Unless the KB is more or less permanently parked in the Indian Ocean, a development which very much frees up the Allies for early offensive operations elsewhere, the only substantive threat to the east-west traverse comes from IJN subs. The really fast Allied freighters can even be used without ASW escorts as their speed makes it hard for enemy subs to get into position to launch torpedoes.

Of course there is a cost attached to the east-west SLOC; time. From memory it isabout 5 weeks to sail Perth-Cape Town. To which the sailing time from Africa to India has to be added. More specific details were posted by me in DesertWolf101's first AAR. I would be very surprised if you haven't done your homework on your opponent by reading his previous AARs.

The bottom line is send units from India to Australia which you are confident you will never need in India (or vice versa). Relying on them being able to be quickly recalled is extremely dangerous thinking.

Alfred

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus


...I'm still sending [R] troops and planes in Prince Rupert and other locations around. I need to garrison heavily the sector in case DesertWolf tries a coup de main...

The main northern coup de main you have to safeguard against is one directed at Portland. Lose Portland and you lose almost all your future arriving USN CVEs (plus pother significant assets too). The triggerring of the emergency American reinforcements will not be an adequate substitute for the loss of all that ship "construction".

Japan will tend to approach Portland either by a direct amphibious assault (with the option of disembarking first at Tacoma)
or by landing in Canada which does not trigger the American emergency reinforcements. A Prince Rupert landing indicates a drive to the Canadian prairies to destroy the substantial Canadian raw material production, whereas landing in the vicinity of Vancouver (and its off shore island bases) allows for either an aerial campaign to harvest strategic VPS or an overland drive (which will trigger the emergency reinforcements) on Seattle (to knock out the irreplaceable Allied 4E factories et al) and subsequently on Portland.

Alfred

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus


...Omar doesn't capture Miri/Brunei and leaves his fellas over there. I guess he realized I would have heavily bombed both?...

Not if he knows your 4E are hiding at a Filipino level 1 AF. You can't launch offensive operations from a level 1 AF.

Alfred

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Move the base forces in Burma and the Burmese AAA unit into China. Those base forces also have some AAA plus they are useful in the mountain bases with their engineers.

I am trying to fill them up in Burma: do you think it's advisable to send them in China immediately?

Yes, it takes awhile for those units to get there and they will start to fill out right away. Just move the ones that you don't need in Rangoon plus a base farther north.

You can also set them to take the first upgrades to the 3.7 inch AA guns. The engineers will be useful in the mountain bases and you can base Hurricane squadrons there for air defense. These will also be useful in helping to move the Chinese air force fighters out of China in their I-16s to train in India while also showing up on the enemy recon as fighters. When you get enough pilots trained, then they can go into a unit with the Chinese P-40Bs or other fighters.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

...The big scandal is that his naval landings in northern Malaya were some kind of a feint. He re-loaded many troops and now there are various ships heading toward Mersing. Nothing I can do: my surface forces are too far away and would be terribly inferior to his ones. I don't fully grasp the reason behind the feint, though: he could have just landed everything in Mersing on day-2 and get the place immediately. Probably I'm missing something from the big picture...

He has avoided the Singapore torpedo bombers. By the time the fleet arrives qt Mersing, it will be covered by Japanese fighters based in northern Malaya. This frees up IJN capital ships for operations elsewhere.

Alfred

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

...Most of the Indian LCUs are moving in Calcutta, where they will receive replacements, repair disabled devices/squads and then be redistributed all around...

This is not necessary. There are several Indian bases, besides Calcutta, where they can do this.

What you prose to do has several con, I won't go into the pro side.

1. Defense of India is ultimately based on trading space for time. For that you need built up interior fortifications with LCUs suitably prepped for their base.

2. To send the majority of LCUs to Calcutta early is guessing that is where the main blow will come. If you guess right, the LCUs will only be of value if they are prepped for defending Calcutta. Sending them off to another base with Calcutta as their planning objective is not good.

3. As the intention is to redistribute them from Calcutta, why lose valuable time by not sending them straightaway to their ultimate destination where they can build up the fortifications and be properly prepped.


India starts off with its dedicated engineer units all broken down into very small detachments. They need to be consolidated into their parent unit in order to have a reasonable number of engineers at work.

Alfred

[ny59giants]

You will need those xAK to xAP conversions. The plentiful 12 knot xAKs take 60 days to go round trip from San Fran to Sydney and back. That means just 6 trips a year. You will get more than enough Liberty xAKs throughout the war. I was forming large Cargo TFs at San Fran in 44/45 and loading up 80k in supply every three days.

You need to pull out of service EVERY AP that is able to convert to APA in 3/43. I sent them to Alameda to sit there until then. In '43, you'll need every one of them to keep your counter-offensive rolling.

[RangerJoe]

I send them to the East Coast to run supplies to the Canal Zone for ships that arrive there so they can have a load when coming onto the map. They could also go to Cape Town just as well. I also use the AKs that can become AKAs for this as well.

[rustysi]

My question still stands and I have no access to the manual right now: does an AF lvl2 with airHQ provide torpedoes to Betty/Nell?

9.4 AIRFIELDS
Airfields accommodate, repair and resupply air
units, and serve as a point from which to launch
air strikes.
Airfield size has many effects. It is easier to
damage and destroy aircraft on the ground at
smaller airfields (less dispersion). It is also more
likely that planes will suffer operational losses
when landing at smaller airfields.
Level bombers require an airfield equal to size 4
+ (bomb load / 6500) rounded down. So, a B29 requires a size 7 airfield to avoid the penalties.
Light bombers require a starting airfield of 2 rather than 4.
Penalties include:
»» Increased operational losses on takeoff.
»» A reduction in their range as air units cannot fly combat
Missions at greater than their normal range.
»» A diminished (extended range) bomb load.

Sorry I'm coming to the party late, but according to this Netties require a level 4 AF to operate at full capacity. At an AF of lvl2 they'll operate at extended range which does not include torps.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

My question still stands and I have no access to the manual right now: does an AF lvl2 with airHQ provide torpedoes to Betty/Nell?

9.4 AIRFIELDS
Airfields accommodate, repair and resupply air
units, and serve as a point from which to launch
air strikes.
Airfield size has many effects. It is easier to
damage and destroy aircraft on the ground at
smaller airfields (less dispersion). It is also more
likely that planes will suffer operational losses
when landing at smaller airfields.
Level bombers require an airfield equal to size 4
+ (bomb load / 6500) rounded down. So, a B29 requires a size 7 airfield to avoid the penalties.
Light bombers require a starting airfield of 2 rather than 4.
Penalties include:
»» Increased operational losses on takeoff.
»» A reduction in their range as air units cannot fly combat
Missions at greater than their normal range.
»» A diminished (extended range) bomb load.

Sorry I'm coming to the party late, but according to this Netties require a level 4 AF to operate at full capacity. At an AF of lvl2 they'll operate at extended range which does not include torps.

Read this thread:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... =torpedoes

Alfred

[rustysi]

OK, learned something new. That's AE for ya.[:D]

[ITAKLinus]

Guys, I got extremely busy days in the last week.

I should be able to update the AAR and reply starting from tomorrow.


For the time being, I can just say that the situation is quite a disaster for the evil side: the Japanese are everywhere! [:D][:D][:D]

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

Guys, I got extremely busy days in the last week.

I should be able to update the AAR and reply starting from tomorrow.


For the time being, I can just say that the situation is quite a disaster for the evil side: the Japanese are everywhere! [:D][:D][:D]

Or alternatively, we can head over to the Italian site and read the discussion. Coimbra (sp) is wrong re Midway. Your plan is sound but slow. The proposed infrastructure build up is slow and you won't have many assets for the plan, unless you take them away from other important zones, which would probably be a mistake.

On the positive side, unless it is all a prelude to a Japanese coup de main, it doesn't matter much if it takes time to carry out the plan.

Alfred

[rustysi]

Guys, I got extremely busy days in the last week.

No worries, it happens.

My game has been extremely slow for quite some time now. Fortunately its against the AI, so I don't have to explain.[:D]

[ITAKLinus]

Time for a recap!

I'll start replying to the many interesting and helpful posts later (thanks to everyone [&o])


13 DECEMBER 1941 - PART 1


I go theater after theater to give a general picture.


NoPac

Here we are quite static since the initial invasions done by the Japanese.

I have little to none air cover and very few available assets to dedicate to the area. I'll employ mostly short-legged xAKL to resupply the area but the convoys are yet to be formed.

Many units are gathering in Prince Rupert. Some of them will be bought out and sent to the area. My plan is to hold the triangle Prince Rupert - Kodiak - Anchorage. Wishful thinking? Probably.

Given the loss of Midway, I'll need to go quite slow and in a very straightforward fashion. I'd like to retake Dutch Harbor relatively quickly but for sure I don't have the time or the units to do so now.

On the flip side, it's winter and so I highly doubt the Japanese can massively build up the area before the end of the landing bonus. I think it's going to be a very secondary theater of operations, but I need to push back the japanese ASAP.

[ITAKLinus]

13 DECEMBER 1941 - PART 2


I go theater after theater to give a general picture.


CenPac


Nothing special. KB stayed in the area for quite a while and finally pounded again my ships yesterday, no big damages are inflicted, albeit my surviving BBs will take ages to repair.

Of the 4 surviving BBs, a couple have system damage around 60-65. IIRC ships in shipyards sink when they reach 100 system damage (or 99?), so I have to pay attention. Not that I can do much...

Yesterday I decided to send the CAP up and they performed really well, apparently downing 18 A6M2 Zero. Omar's pliots are for sure very tired after a week of continuous sweep/escort/CAP missions.

From my side, I've evacuated all the non damaged ships.

In this first week of war I hadn't the opportunity to use PH, given the proximity of KB. I hope now I'll be able to fix this and start sending out some untis.

My understanding is that the KB will rush EAST trying to catch the convoys going SOUTH from the West Coast. From my side, I'm sending them to Panama instead of having the dangerous in-map movement. It's much much slower but what can I do? Not much, given the total absence of any kind of protective asset in the area.

Hope he will waste precious KB time with this move.

I've also to reinforce various bases around the Pacific, especially the vital Johnston Island.

[ITAKLinus]

13 DECEMBER 1941 - PART 3

SoPac


Here nothing is moving. The Japanese have stopped their advance in the Gilbert area, not capturing the essential Tabiteuea yet.

In the Salomon sector, there have been various landings on the NORTH side of PNG but nothing else after the initial Rabaul landing.

My carriers are in the area (tomorrow around Santa Cruz Islands) and I've decided to show them a couple of turns ago. I don't think he will advance too much without carriers.

I'm now in the process of sending away all the large merchant ships from Australia (destination = West Coast), keeping some minor xAKLs and xAPs around. I don't have much to sealift currently and Omar has already shown he really enjoys smashing the large amount of cargos which start in Australia.
Fundamentally, I could protect them but I don't see the need of their presence there: I need them for the massive US-Australia sealift.


Australian units are gathering in Sydney, where I'm reforming the various divisions and giving them replacements. I'm tempted to send the 1st Australian Division to Noumea, with the idea of requiring the Japanese something more than a token effort to take the place. It's a mad idea but I might implement it over the course of the next weeks.
I'm trying to create some kind of protection for the Townsville area, but it's nothing more than wishful thinking: in case he attacks en masse soon, I won't be able to oppose him above the LOD.