A dark day for the Allies .. We tried to attack a TK off Ragoon and our LCAP did not show up at all [:@]
That won't ever work.
LRCAP is a variation on CAP. In this game CAP is essentially a defensive mission. For offensive purposes, SWEEP instead is the correct mission.
You don't own Rangoon and I believe you have no LCU present at Rangoon. Thus you are not going to get LRCAP to fly over the skies of Rangoon. Hence any bombers sent over Rangoon are not going to receive any fighter support unless you place a fighter unit on ESCORT which will provide the equivalent of close escort. I doubt you have any airfields close enough to Rangoon to allow for close escort.
Do not ever assume that you can get a SWEEP mission to co-ordinate with a bomber strike. There is no inherent co-ordination between the two. Which is not to say you can never get a SWEEP to fly close to/same time as the bomber stream. This is why it is always best to fly the SWEEP in the morning and the bombers in the afternoon when with luck no enemy CAP remains following the morning fight.
If the lament was that your LRCAP failed to appear over an Allied TF operating in the vicinity of Rangoon, again you are expecting too much. LRCAP over TFs is very inefficient, particularly in the case of CV TFs. You are lucky if any planes will fly over the TF and then usually it is only a fraction of the air unit's planes.
Ya .. I was expecting my LRCAP to intercept the Betty's near Akyab and prevent them from hitting the CVTF ..and least resist ..
However .. there is no Radar yet at Akyab so that might be a factor .
That also means that my thoughts on LRCAP over Tabetuea are not correct. Here I was hoping that LRCAP could protect my CVTFs operating in that area. Clearly that is not so. If they do its gravy rather than depend on it ...
Lesson learned and thanks for the Feedback Alfred as always ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
Ya .. I was expecting my LRCAP to intercept the Betty's near Akyab and prevent them from hitting the CVTF ..and least resist ..
However .. there is no Radar yet at Akyab so that might be a factor .
That also means that my thoughts on LRCAP over Tabetuea are not correct. Here I was hoping that LRCAP could protect my CVTFs operating in that area. Clearly that is not so. If they do its gravy rather than depend on it ...
Lesson learned and thanks for the Feedback Alfred as always ..
Correct.
Still worthwhile to have LRCAP over any CV TFs operating near Tabetuea, just don't rely on them as the main protection for the carriers. As you said, a gravy.
One thing though which you might wish to consider regarding your LRCAP over at Tabetuea is that presumably you are most concerned about intercepting Bettys dropping torpedoes. That being so you might care to consider putting your LRCAP, which presumably is being provided by LBA, to fly at 7k feet. That way they will already be at the altitude to intercept the Bettys on their approach run. Your carrier Wildcats can be set at a higher altitude than the Allied LBA in order to take care of the escorting Zeros from above.
Excellent Thought Alfred ... The Indomiable is history I suspect .. she put out the fires but can do only 3 knts. The next round of Betty's will sink her for sure .. hopefully some LRCAP from Akyab show up and at least shoot down some Betty's for the effort.
Looking at the Combat Reports over the past two weeks, I suspect 3 squadrons total. The latest bunch of 24 are a new addition into the theater.
I stood down my bombers this turn and concentrated all my fighters to LRCAP and CAP. Hopefully we shoot down some bombers. I think we get 6 or so and this will slow down this effort.
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
That sucks Crack. I learned that LB Fighters don't do good LRCAP with carriers in my canal game. Koniu sunk 2 of my carriers doing that.
That sucks Crack. I learned that LB Fighters don't do good LRCAP with carriers in my canal game. Koniu sunk 2 of my carriers doing that.
Hmmm Now you tell me !!! [:'(]
Well a Brit carrier is not a big big loss and if my BB can get out of there I will be quite happy .. we shall see . I await the combat results ..
I am not quite concenred wiht my ability to project airpower over Tarawa. He has 24 Nell's ready to smack an Invasion Fleet. The Ol' Prewar BB's maybe will not only be bombarding but being Torpedo cushions ... [8|]
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
You didn't ask lol. Id be worried about the Nells but I have become a worry wart.
I got a taste at exterme range .. the good news .. at exterme range no torps .. just bombs .. all missed ... but they penetrated unescorted the CAP in numbers .. numbers that if I were closer .. I would be 2 CV's less ...
one must be aware early because we have no platforms yet that can project into the Nell's space. Very soon although I will have level 5 fields at Tabatuea and once they hit level 6 I can lauch B-17's at maximum range and at night ...maybe start hitting his airfields. certainly running bombardment forces in are going to get torped ..too many hexes to cover that remain in range ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
Just a reminder. Only the marine paratroopers can go in on the SST's. Also if you perform and airborne assualt it halves the AV of the attacker on the day of the attack. Just throwing this out their. If you got some APD's around use them to load the raider unit. You can also do an airborne assualt with either the marine paratroopers or the Aussi ones. Might be a lil over kill but bring the hammer down hard on him.
Just a reminder. Only the marine paratroopers can go in on the SST's. Also if you perform and airborne assualt it halves the AV of the attacker on the day of the attack. Just throwing this out their. If you got some APD's around use them to load the raider unit. You can also do an airborne assualt with either the marine paratroopers or the Aussi ones. Might be a lil over kill but bring the hammer down hard on him.
Ok good ...Thanks for the info .. The Marine Raider Rgt are paratroopers. The Marine Raider Rgt are a load cost of 720. But I am thinking you are right. Do not use SST's but just unload them with APD's at 180 per ship rather than the 130 its 4 APD's .. 5 if we want some comfort .. I just thought of 3 SST's at 390 and drop the rest in by air.
There is 10 AV on Ocean Island fort level 2. That would be 4-1 dropped to 2-1. I have experince and morale on them and have prepared for this assault.
This turn we continue to position resources ...
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
The day starts with a raid on Magwe occupied by reserve forces headed for Mandalay .. every troop dead counts .. every troops disabled counts in this Malaria zone ..
Morning Air attack on 18th Division, at 57,47 (Magwe)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 30
Hudson IIIa x 12
Hurricane IIa Trop x 8
Hurricane IIb Trop x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
The forces were uncoordianted .. so the second group does not fare as well ...
Morning Air attack on 18th Division, at 57,47 (Magwe)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 10
Hurricane I Trop x 8
Hurricane IIa Trop x 8
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane I Trop: 2 destroyed
Hopefully these are trainee's and not any of the more experinced pilots ...
The Chineese decide to get into this action .. I am doing a bombing run just to get a picture of the forces coming up the road .. the supplies wasted must be balanced with recon from bombing ..
Morning Air attack on 12th Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 85,54 (Nanchang)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
We get very very lucky .. The escort does not merge in time and SS-I28 gets a shot at a full xAP ...[X(]
Submarine attack near Lahaina at 185,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-28
Allied Ships
xAP Esperance Bay
WHEW!
This turn will be more beans, butts, and bullets .. postion forces for a May strike .. There are AFB's that believe in waiting it out .. but I am thinking there has to be some proddding and poking to upset the IJ planning cycle .. less the IJ remains on the inititive on his schedule ..
Right now . I am getting intercepts that he is prepping units to attack Darwin. This is an extermely difficult area to defend from my perspective because the IJ can supply at will and I have zero infrastrcuture to transport supplies. Any attempts will run into air and naval interdiction. I can set the boundries and my original plan anticipated such attack (see page one of this thread ) we just set forces into Alice Springs, and Carines .. and set the line of how far we will allow them to advance ... until 1943 ..
More later ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
I might be wrong but I don't think the Raiders are paratroopers. They weren't in real life. There commandos but not airborne soldiers. I remember reading somewhere that you can't even load them on subs. You might have to use actual paratroopers and use APDs for the raiders. But I might be wrong. I haven't tried any airborne assualts or sub invasions.
I might be wrong but I don't think the Raiders are paratroopers. They weren't in real life. There commandos but not airborne soldiers. I remember reading somewhere that you can't even load them on subs. You might have to use actual paratroopers and use APDs for the raiders. But I might be wrong. I haven't tried any airborne assualts or sub invasions.
I think you are right .. the Marine Paratroopers have "Para42" squads .. the Raiders are just plain ol' infantry .. ADP's are the order of the day ..
After the Gilbert operations I have to focus on getting a lot more troops to New Caladonia and the Land of Oz .. According to Intel ..it looks like the IJ want to force the issue in the Solomon's and have forces preping for invasions of the North and East Coasts of Oz ..I would really prefer not to have a major engagement in this area but we already have USN/USAAF base forces in the area and Oz is quite prepared at the "line of death". This would be quite interesting to have unfold in 1943 with stronger USN submarine forces, much stronger LBA, and the IJ player with forces stuck in Oz ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
Japanese ground losses:
190 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
2270 casualties reported
Squads: 122 destroyed, 54 disabled
Non Combat: 169 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 24 (21 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 34 (33 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 2
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
The USN torps do their thing .. a nice juicy TK target but a dud ..[8|]
Sub attack near Tokara Retto at 100,63
Japanese Ships
xAK Asosan Maru
TK Hoyo Maru
PB Tokotsu Maru
Allied Ships
SS Grenadier
SS Grenadier launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Asosan Maru
Grenadier diving deep ....
I have yet to figure out the code to keep my submarines in port so they will upgrade .. I thought maybe it was a problem wiht too many at PH .. but alas SF has the same problem . it does not matter what disbandment setting or what have you .. it is totally random is the sub stays in port and upgrades ...[:@]
I hope Michealm fixes this ..
More later .. lots of stuff moving these days ... I am quite concerned with the penatration of Mavis PA's into the Battlespace .. but this will have to be managed. I will stage outside of range 400 miles and then close during the night to start attacking the begining of the day phase.
One piece of good news .. the 2 AO's I hit at Milli in March have been reported sunk .. that is two possible refueling platforms I do not have to deal with ...
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
That would be 300 troops killed/wounded from the 74th Inf Regiment .. They have suffered about 1K causualites in their march to Mandalay and subsequent attack . Each day we attrite more AV and these troops take more supply .. it is a very slow patient process ...
Things are coming together in the Gilberts. We continue to postion forces for taking Ocean Island first and then Tarawa ..Once we consoldate and build air bases it will be late June early July and we can focus on defending the Land of Oz and New Calodonia ...
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
That would be 300 killed/wounded today 1K over this week. We have punished the IJ for not supporting thier troops with air cover and AA. We have in this campaign averaged 100 causualties per day for the month of April. Nothing compared to the 50K plus troops in country but it is a slow battle of attrition that adds up each day until teh IJA can no longer sustain the effort and we go on the offense.
They have grown tired and are sending units to Burma ..
34th Field AA Battalion is loaded on xAK Nihonka Maru moving to Rangoon.
3/34th Field AA Battalion is loaded on xAK Kumagawa Maru moving to Rangoon.
I wonder how long that will take? I have no way to intredict anyway ..
The IJNAF attacks Darwin.
Night Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
I suspect very soon the KB will show up .. I will retreat the bombers stationed there towards Alice Springs. I have no aviation support South beyond Darwin and this area is extermly difficult to supply for the Allies. Although the Aussie PM is quite upset .. we have no plans to resist north of Alice Springs.
In the meantime we continue to stage in the Gilberts ... We have an airfield next to Tabatuea and will start transfering aircraft as soon as its level 1 .. then Recon flights to Malkin are possible. Its a very slow process that takes paitance in this game. Each step brings one closer to fulfilling the strategic plan.
One other thing of note .. I-6 is supposed to be sunk .. it looks like it has come back from Davy Jones' Locker to haunt my shipping once again ...[8|]
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
We sent an ASW force to Puget Sound with the plan of leavingt the Tiger up there to escort transports ..we found our quarry
ASW attack near Tacoma at 209,54
Japanese Ships
SS I-18, hits 6, heavy damage
Allied Ships
DD Ralph Talbot
PC Tiger
DD Patterson
It takes quite a few more hits to sink a submarine I think but I got 3 critical hits according to the animation report.
The SS Grenadier finds somethings to shoot at but alas all duds ..
Submarine attack near Moppo at 99,54
Japanese Ships
xAKL Oridono Maru
Allied Ships
SS Grenadier
Sub attack near Saishu To at 99,56
Japanese Ships
xAK Toyooka Maru
Allied Ships
SS Grenadier
SS Grenadier launches 2 torpedoes
xAKL Oridono Maru is sighted by SS Grenadier
SS Grenadier launches 1 torpedoes at xAKL Oridono Maru
This is a good commander that will engage ... I will bring this one home and save him for 1943 1944 [;)]
The other news to present for today is the IJA 41st Infantry Regiment has caught the 16th Indian Brigade. This means stopping the movement toward Akyab and getting pined into combat. I will continue to ground attack and bombard while I stall for time and set up Akyab's defense. I still have ground forces coming and it time now to deploy our reserves in India.
Ground combat at 55,48 (near Ramree Island)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 3592 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 123
Defending force 1786 troops, 29 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 77
Japanese adjusted assault: 101
Allied adjusted defense: 88
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)
FO Chadwick, W.E. of No.273 Sqn RAF attains ace status!!
We kill about 150 out of a unit of 3600 or about 2.9% Very acceptable to the IJA at this time. But each day they grow weaker ..
I suspect Christmas IO is the next target to put pressure on India and start projecting the battlespace toward Ceylon as well as I have mentioned that Darwin is most assuredly in the IJA sights. Then things will stablize ...
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
******************************************** MAY 1st 1942 *************************************************
The Cherry Blossums Bloom in Nippon ---this year. The Allies contunue to buy time waiting for the US manufactory infrastrcuture to win this war ..certainly its not going to be my knowledge of this game [;)]
Strategically the IJ are planning more committment to the attack on Darwin. I am not sure how I can use this information. Because unlike decoding the message for Midway where all the cards were on the Allies side ... here the occupation of PM, Java, and a lack of Aussie transporation infrastruture North of Alice Springs makes this area completely untenable for an advantagius campaign. The only loss are the resources in the adjacent ports going to the evil ones.
What we can do is build up bases in Alice Springs and continue to build our East coast bases around Carnes. Also, I am thinking the IJ will get a shock when we take Tarawa and start projecting patrols into the Marshal Islands' battlespace.
I do think this will change the Allied strategic plan from the standpoint of forcing a battle in the Solomons. Orginally I just wanted to draw the line at New Caladonia and use P-38's @ Ndeni escorting LB's from Luganville to project airpower on the Solomons while attacking the Marshals. This move is going to force the Allies to enage in a full fledged Solomon's Campaign. We will begin planning today.
14th Army is planning for an attack on Darwin.
Operationally, we have had sub attacks the last three turns. The USN has postioned subs well and with RADAR we getting off another attack .. all Duds .. but we have another Captain that can do something. We have replaced every one of the Submarine Commaders with agression, leadership, and Naval less than 50.
Sub attack near Nauru Island at 127,124
Japanese Ships
xAK Kohoku Maru
PB Fumi Maru #3
Allied Ships
SS Haddock
---------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Nauru Island at 127,124
Japanese Ships
xAK Kohoku Maru
PB Fumi Maru #3
Allied Ships
SS Haddock
SS Haddock launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Kohoku Maru
Heavy Rain today in Burma so our attacks on a jungle hex are attrited further .. but we draw in some Zero's into a fight they did not want ..
Afternoon Air attack on 41st Infantry Regiment, at 55,48 , near Ramree Island
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 40
Hurricane I Trop x 7
Hurricane IIa Trop x 8
Hurricane IIb Trop x 40
The loss of "static restricted" aircraft in Java has altered the 2:1 loss ratio to 1831: 1069 , or 1.7:1. Japanses A6M2 Zeros and Bombers lead the lost airframes. In fact, 8 IJ airframes lead the pack before the P40E at 85 losses.
Below is the Pilot Training Situation:
Pilot Summary
Total pilots: 15992
Active pilots: 7931
WIA pilots: 13
MIA pilots: 4
KIA pilots: 17
Inactive pilots: 1091
Delayed pilots: 6936
By nationality/exp: Number Avg experience
US Navy : 1026 57
US Army : 2827 51
US Marines : 514 47
Australian : 326 52
New Zealand : 95 50
British : 621 56
French : 0 0
Dutch : 67 52
Chinese : 140 43
Soviet : 2105 50
Indian : 69 46
Commonwealth : 0 0
Philippine : 14 49
Communist Chinese : 0 0
Canadian : 127 47
WitPTracker does not format well into text but a look at the IJN losses shows a postive trend of sinking 4 DD's 1 AO, (I think a second one that took more bombs one sunk also), 1 TK, and 26 Transports .. and 1 CVL sunk in a carrier battle that also damaged 2 other CVL's with no Allied losses. The frst 5 turns of the game saw full AP's getting waxcked by USN & Dutch submarines taking down IJA forces into the deep blue sea.
The picture below shows exactly why to upgrade USN submarines even though they cannot make a torp stick ... in the Combat Reports above you see that the SS Haddock found a xAK. Before the upgrade I experienced multiple TF's just rolling over the top of a SSTF with no response. Now I get information. Information I can use. The Torps might all be Duds but I would not trade a single submarine for the recon they deliver.
The Brit SCTF is in postion to intecept if this convoy is headed to Ocean Island or Tarawa. I have a pretty good picture of the odds and intercept point. We shall see how the next turn unfolds. We still have 6 days to postion forces in this area and decide on our attack.
Attachments
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"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
