4 Player Game AAR with new PBEM++ (Game 2)

[rjh1971]

The only thing that is worrying me with this, is that each time I damaged/destroyed a transport, the WA readiness status raised a bit. 3/3. Isn't that supposed to happen on a chance based? Is it pure bad luck, or a rule?
Will have to test that premise next turn .

Whenever a Transport Fleet owned by the Western Allies is damaged by a German
submarine attack (during the German player’s turn), there is a 25% chance of it increasing
by one (1). There is a 50% chance it will increase by one (1) if the Transport Fleet is
destroyed.

[kondor]

Spring is here and with it a new offensive on France.
This time we avoided the forts and marched down the coast.

[kondor]

ORIGINAL: rjh1971

The only thing that is worrying me with this, is that each time I damaged/destroyed a transport, the WA readiness status raised a bit. 3/3. Isn't that supposed to happen on a chance based? Is it pure bad luck, or a rule?
Will have to test that premise next turn .

Whenever a Transport Fleet owned by the Western Allies is damaged by a German
submarine attack (during the German player’s turn), there is a 25% chance of it increasing
by one (1). There is a 50% chance it will increase by one (1) if the Transport Fleet is
destroyed.

I've had 4/4 increase so far. Damaged or destroyed trasnports.

[rjh1971]

Spring 40.

German U-boats were redeployed in France and were able to cross the English Channel with impunity, measures are underway to prevent this happening again.

LF were sent to escort convoy routes in the Atlantic, RN expects a heavy uboat attack for the summer.

Supplies will be sent to China next turn to help them against the Japs. Supplies were also sent to the Philippines and Java, in case the Japs fail to take them the Light fleet will flee from the harbours in those areas.

I'm afraid we're all interested in the Pacific Tuna (Cveta knows what I'm talking about [:D])

[kondor]

Heavy submarine pressure in the Atlantic is not letting go. After a daring run the last turn, towards warm French ports, this time the Kriegsmarine captains decided to go even more to the south.
WA has too many convoys to protect and not enough LF to cover it all.

This time I've damaged about 3-4 transports, and none did trigger WA awareness penalties. I should have mentioned it earlier. [:)]

[kondor]

You might say why am I not closer to the UK? Here is the reason. The second UK CV is out. Home islands are heavily defended.

[kondor]

Do you see that lonely transport in the Scotland port? It's not there anymore. [8D]
A brave HB crew managed to send them paddling despite 2 AA units in defense (They must have been drunk).
This is revenge for that allied bombing of transport in W. Germany port, a few months before.

[kondor]

And finally, Goebbels shared some pamphlets of GE forces in advances of ONLY defending upgrades.
We only want to defend ourselves from growing capitalist (and communist) threats.

[kondor]

Oh yeah, we are inviting our Rumanian, Hungarian, and Italian friends - please join us! It's no fun without you!

Disclaimer: none of the animals were hurt during these events, and none of my forces gained a veteran star. Please remedy the latter.

[rjh1971]

Summer 40 Western Allies

The RN starts a major hunt for U-boats in the Atlantic, things did not go well at first as a light fleet got damaged, but then the second attack managed to sink a U-boat in the South Atlantic 1 zone.

Further attacks were swordfish joined the hunt managed to damage an elite U-boat.



So far so good, but...

The analysis of German forces in Europe give grounds to believe OKW could be planning Sea Lion seriously. Unfortunately British intelligence realized this too late (while in the production phase) when they found out that two more transport fleet had been built in Eastern Germany. Home Guard was then mobilized and the production of TF put on hold. If the Germans manage to land the WA will be in serious trouble. They will have to pull out all the stops next turn or they won't be able to try again until Spring 41 as winter prevents amphibious invasions, then they will have a delayed Barbarossa.

[tcart]

Russia Spr 40 - sorry, missed a turn there. Will watch to see what happens in the UK with interest (and trepidation).
Russian plans to spy their way to tech seem to have hit a dead end. Axis counterintel must be really high. Or I'm just unlucky.

I continue to reinforce Belorussia.

In the only interesting news on my front, the Chinese note that the Japanese invaders have kept quite a few troops in the South. That left me an opening in the north, which I was happy to take. It may cost me, as inevitably the Japanese will counterattack, but in the short term it'll cost him supplies and US WR. Any time the Chinese can throw off the Axis timetable they should take the shot.

[kondor]

GE Fall 40 turn.
A submarine continued down to South Africa, met a transport, sunk him, and got destroyed in the process.
It was damaged, but probably because it was too far from a friendly port - it ended up destroyed?
Submarine number dwindles, down to 3 operational GE subs.

But the pressure continues, a few more convoys hit.

[kondor]

Resource point at Scotland damaged, AA is not efficient vs single HB. WA will have to move FT for protection.

[kondor]

Italy joined! (Finally! Looking at Rumania/Hungary).[8D]
And I've conquered Yugoslavia before the coup, hoping this will trigger the joining of my axis allies.

Malta taken in the first turn, Africa corp established, and now Egypt is in serious danger. The med will become a hot area in the next few turns.

Have I damaged the WA TF enough to choke Egypt? Probably some troops from India/Australia will make it, but not from the UK.

Now the 2 UK CV-s have many juicy targets to choose from. Subs, or something else, hm...

I'm eager to see the conclusion.

[kondor]

ORIGINAL: tcart

Axis counterintel must be really high. Or I'm just unlucky.

You are not unlucky, I've invested a lot in counter intel. As I suspected that SU will try something like this. Was it worth it? Who knows, I think so.
I've invested a small portion of supplies into spying on my ally - Japan. So far, I didn't get anything back. And I don't want to invest more, as IJ tech advances are not very useful to me.

[tcart]

I'm sure there's a math answer to this question. For the Russians it's a no-lose proposition. We either gain a lot of tech or we cause Germany to spend resources on CI, which I hope will weaken Barbarossa down the road.

But I'd rather have the tech. LOL.

[tcart]

Russia Fall 40

Very little to report. Building continues apace. The Russians are also well advised to start stockpiling supplies and, as important, prepositioning them. Your rail network is going to be crunched for the first couple of turns, so get everything where you think you're going to need it.

One priority is moving factories back to the Urals. So have supplies sitting ready for the rebuild. If you're going to make a stand somewhere, make sure it, too, is fully supplied.

Otherwise it's all about prep. Keep in mind that if you're going to either lose a factory (hello, Kiev) or relocate it, you don't want to waste production building units that won't be finished and moved to safety. It can be good to spam militia the turn before the Germans attack, if only to slow them down and keep the panzers from going deep early (ie in Belorussia).

China feels very good about messing up the Japanese conquest. We retreat to the hinterland to preserve our forces for later.

[rjh1971]

WA Fall 40

Subs were attack in the Atlantic to force them to dive and allow flow of supplies. No second attack were attempted as they have increased their evasion value to three and WA's antisub technology is still at 1. No point is wasting supplies and depend on automatic hits (5% chance). Sea lanes were opened once more. Germany is down to three subs, more are sure to be in the production queue but we'll take care of that problem when it arises.

Egypt was reinforced. Germany will have to decide whether to launch a strong and early Barbarossa or go for Africa, clock is ticking away...

Italian East Africa was occupied and Axis forces expelled.

[kondor]

Winter 40.
Subs attacked but came up empty-handed. It must be too cold for the sailors in N. Atlantic, so I recalled them back to France for R&R.

In this turn, the Luftwaffe has started bombing England. As my FT-ers range is up to 2, this is a possibility now.
First, the airfields raid, went well (as expected).

[kondor]

Follow up attack with HB-s was conducted with full air superiority, I was in doubt this time. Should I strike valuable resource points or port bombing? I've opted for the latter.