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in addition to ny59giants' good advice, i suggest you pull up your LCU screen (hotkey G) & filter for USArmy. turn off replacements for all USArmy units except those at Tulagi, and run some add'l supply into Tulagi - get your combat strength rebuilt!

your really lucky those Tulagi boys aren't highly forted, OTOH they can draw supply from 2 adjacent hexes. You're forced to act against the whole complex & must prevent his new supply from arriving. Sounds like Air-bombing at Tulagi is beyond your resources at present, but you've got to keep some pressure on, in the form of repeated LCU / TF Bombardment attacks, to gradually attrit them & prevent them from rebuilding.

April 13, 14 1943

A strange, savage and, overall, good turn.

Rader's intentions remain completely obscure to me. The KB has moved away from Rabaul and now i don't know where it is.
Those who seemed a big SCTF ended up to be a fast transport TF...but empty!!
This Huge convoy (probably bringing supplies to Tulagi cause no troops were present) arrived during the day of the 13th...so avoiding my main combat TF (flag-ship CL Richmond) but found my DD TF ready to welcome him.
The battle that followed was not as heavy and my DDs didn't proove to be too smart, not launching torps against a surprised enemy TF...however we did damage some of his ships and we got a DD lightly damaged.
All my TFs retired at Karaikira under the CAP Umbrella...
Then the fast trasport TF encountered my PTs...sunk many of them but we managed to put a torp and sink an APD....empty[&:]
Then his ships tried to bombard Tulagi....and got mauled by my CD guns...[:D]...many of his ships were left burning and i'm pretty sure at least 3 of the APDs sunk miserably...don't know why he sent his APDs to bombard....
However then he landed...and he landed nothing[&:]

Then arrived the air battles....Waves after waves of second/third generation of enemy fighters escorted Betties and Emilies[&:] in their attempt to attack the Richmond TF at Karaikira...my CAP did wonders again, losing not a single pilot (only 8 WIA) and killing nearly 70/80 enemy planes, losing 10 of my owns.
I watched the whole battles and have to say that i remain really disappointed by the Corsair's performances...

...more to follow...

.

.

.AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 13, 43
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 138 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 48 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 20
G4M1 Betty x 13
N1K1-J George x 23



Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 4
Kittyhawk III x 11
Spitfire Vc Trop x 12
Hurricane XIIb x 6
P-38G Lightning x 8
P-40K Warhawk x 10
F4U-1 Corsair x 8
F6F-3 Hellcat x 7


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Richmond
DD Cony




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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 154 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 54 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 26
A6M3a Zero x 31
A6M5 Zero x 11
G4M1 Betty x 13
N1K1-J George x 38
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 41



Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 4
Kittyhawk III x 9
Spitfire Vc Trop x 12
Hurricane XIIb x 5
P-38G Lightning x 6
P-40K Warhawk x 9
F4U-1 Corsair x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
Spitfire Vc Trop: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Fletcher
CL Richmond
DD Nicholas

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 14, 43

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Tulagi at 114,137, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1
CA Mogami
CL Katori
CL Kashima
CL Kashii, Shell hits 2
CL Jintsu
CL Abukuma
DD Isokaze
APD Uzuki
APD Satsuki
APD Fumizuki
APD Kikuzuki
APD Nagatsuki
APD Mikazuki
APD Kamikaze
APD Asakaze
APD Harukaze
APD Hatakaze, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Oite
APD Hayate
APD Asanagi
APD Yunagi
APD Fuyo
APD Karukaya

Allied Ships
DD Jarvis
DD Craven, Shell hits 1
DD Drayton
DD Cushing, Shell hits 1
DD Perkins
DD Preston, Shell hits 4, on fire




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Night Time Surface Combat, near Tulagi at 114,137, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Chikuma
CA Ashigara
CA Mogami
CL Katori
CL Kashima
CL Kashii, on fire
CL Jintsu
CL Abukuma
DD Isokaze
APD Uzuki
APD Satsuki
APD Fumizuki
APD Kikuzuki
APD Nagatsuki
APD Mikazuki
APD Kamikaze
APD Asakaze
APD Harukaze
APD Oite
APD Hayate
APD Asanagi
APD Yunagi, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
APD Fuyo
APD Karukaya

Allied Ships
PT-225, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT-226, Shell hits 2
PT-238, Shell hits 1, and is sunk


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TF 30 encounters mine field at Tulagi (114,137)

Japanese Ships
DD Isokaze
APD Fuyo
APD Asakaze
APD Nagatsuki
APD Fumizuki
CL Jintsu, Mine hits 1, on fire



9 mines cleared


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Pre-Invasion action off Tulagi (114,137) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

323 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1
CA Chikuma
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 4, on fire
CL Kashima, Shell hits 7, heavy fires
CL Katori, Shell hits 2
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 4, on fire
APD Uzuki, Shell hits 1, on fire
APD Karukaya
APD Kikuzuki
APD Asakaze
APD Satsuki



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amphibious Assault at Tulagi (114,137)

TF 30 troops unloading over beach at Tulagi, 114,137[&:][&:][&:][&:]





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Invasion Support action off Tulagi (114,137) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

116 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 4
CA Ashigara
CA Chikuma
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Katori
CL Kashima, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Uzuki, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Fumizuki, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Karukaya

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 133 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 46 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 26
A6M3a Zero x 29
G4M1 Betty x 13
N1K1-J George x 42
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 41



Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 4
Kittyhawk III x 9
Spitfire Vc Trop x 11
Hurricane XIIb x 6
P-38G Lightning x 8
P-40K Warhawk x 10
F4U-1 Corsair x 8
F6F-3 Hellcat x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
DD Nicholas
CL Richmond




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 22
A6M3a Zero x 24
A6M5 Zero x 13
H8K1 Emily x 16
N1K1-J George x 27
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 38



Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 4
Kittyhawk III x 8
Spitfire Vc Trop x 9
Hurricane XIIb x 6
P-38G Lightning x 7
P-40K Warhawk x 9
F4U-1 Corsair x 8
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
H8K1 Emily: 6 destroyed, 4 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Drayton

Seems like more than an oversight to land NOTHING while having your fleet and air shredded in the attempt. If this is a ruse, it's a strange one. Unless of course 12 divisions land at Cairns next turn out of nowhere. That would make it make more sense. But that doesn't seem very likely.

Is he just testing the defenses? APDs are a cheap item, but CAs and 100 fighters and bombers are not. Especially 12 Emilys.

My hunch is that this is a way of seeing how everything is performing in this area. Or, could he have been trying to PICK UP troops and remove them?

...i agree...i don't understand...if he wanted to pick them up i don't think we had seen the "unloading" process with the bombardment included...and he knew i had there lots of 155mm shore guns... deception? yes, for sure it's a possibility....but what gives?! i mean, he didn't need that expensive move...
 
makes me wonder...[&:]

I think he unloaded supplies. There you get such a message.

With those APDs he can bring only a very limited amount of supplies...doesn't seem to be worth the effort....

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
Fighting for surviving

Now that its you on the offensive and Rader is still losing 10 to 1 in the air, dont you think the title could be changed? [:'(][8D]

ORIGINAL: Rapunzel

I think he unloaded supplies. There you get such a message.

I believe this is true. The IJN CAs, CLs, and DDs can carry supply. His supply situation must be desperate.

ORIGINAL: Dan Nichols

ORIGINAL: Rapunzel

I think he unloaded supplies. There you get such a message.

I believe this is true. The IJN CAs, CLs, and DDs can carry supply. His supply situation must be desperate.

Sounds like the most likely scenario. It also means he still hopes to rescue those troops on Tulagi, if he is actually this desperate to get some supplies in to them.

ORIGINAL: USS America

ORIGINAL: Dan Nichols

ORIGINAL: Rapunzel

I think he unloaded supplies. There you get such a message.

I believe this is true. The IJN CAs, CLs, and DDs can carry supply. His supply situation must be desperate.

Sounds like the most likely scenario. It also means he still hopes to rescue those troops on Tulagi, if he is actually this desperate to get some supplies in to them.

If that's true amy attack has clearly been an idiocy (one of the lots i've done so far) cause now i have to regain those 500 AVs lost due to the disablement...
If he's sending supplies and not trying to reinmbark them it means that he still wants to invade...

However, need to keep the pressure up! CL Richmond SCTF will try to chase down the enemy fast trasport convoy till Thousand Ships Bay, passing through Tulagi, then will retire at Lunga where i've moved in my CAP Umbrella. Karaikira is left undefended cause i do think tomorrow he'll sweep that base after today air battles, but i don't think he foresees a strong CAP over Lunga which has been abbandoned by my air force for 2 long months. Hopefully my fast SCTF will manage to get to Thousands Ships bay by night in time to intercept the enemy TF...
More PTs are being sent to Tulagi to substitute the 6 i lost today..
Another USMC squadron has been updated to Hellcats...now i have 72 operative Hellcats in the theatre...[8D] and i'm slowly building up my P-40K pool...the idea is to use that pool in India by june 43...while the backbone of my air force in the Pacific will be Navy and Marines fighters

Japanese ships a a lot better at fast transport re-supply than your allied ships right now. The CAs can carry about as much supply as the APDs so putting them in the TF allows Rader to also protect the APDs and suppress the defenders at the landing beach. I don't think he counted on so much coastal artillery though. Without that kind of opposition it makes sense to drop about 2,000 supplies like this to continue his offensive. Against this kind of shelling though his choices are a lot harder. I can't see Japan leaving six divisions there to rot when they could be so difficult for the allies to dislodge from say, the Marianas a year from now. He has to choose whether to take the base or pull his boys out. I think the latter is most likely with a full scale Dunkirk operation so that he doesn't lose all the equipment. It puts a lot at risk but he probably isn't short of transports, and he probably won't need them for offensive operations much now anyway.

You might try the occasional bombardment, even by a single LCU as the equivalent of a recce mission to see if the troop numbers there are going up or down. Not to mention recon missions by air as well.

As the IJN player I would never risk anything bigger than a DD in a FT TF, the whole routine has never worked properly in the game as far as I am concerned. Time after time the TF is in the wrong place come the morning and is pounded by enemy a/c.

All he needs is 1 supply per unit to avoid the huge penalty for being out of supply during an attack. He could also be evacuating a piece of each unit so he can rebuild it somewhere safe in case you destory them - all he needs is 1 squad or device from the unit and it can rebuild back into the whole unit easier and faster then buying it back.

Also, don't forget Japan has a bunch of float transports - so he could be bringing in troops, supply or pulling troops out all the time without you knowing unless you keep CAP over the island. He is probably also using subs to transport supplies but thats not very efficient.

Xargun

ORIGINAL: Xargun

All he needs is 1 supply per unit to avoid the huge penalty for being out of supply during an attack. He could also be evacuating a piece of each unit so he can rebuild it somewhere safe in case you destory them - all he needs is 1 squad or device from the unit and it can rebuild back into the whole unit easier and faster then buying it back.

Also, don't forget Japan has a bunch of float transports - so he could be bringing in troops, supply or pulling troops out all the time without you knowing unless you keep CAP over the island. He is probably also using subs to transport supplies but thats not very efficient.

Xargun

No longer necessary under the current betas. You simply purchase the unit back for a few PPs and start rebuilding if you have devices in the pool. It is no more difficult than saving a fragment. Takes the same amount of time and uses the same pools. Even if GJ and Rader are not using the beta but the last official patch and can't as of yet rebuild units, the assumption is that we will all soon be patching up to the next official beta and anyone can then rebuild lost unts. So why waste valuable ships to withdraw out fragments. More likely is that he is evacuating valuable aviation and base forces that can't be used at Tulagi. Japan is always short of aviation support.

You are right about the transports. Greyjoy you should take one fighter unit. (P39s will work) and put it on %50 long range CAP over Tulagi. And keep it there. If he is flying transports you will then know and even a small CAP will turn some transports away. You will get a message in the OP report.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

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A clear indication of the inefficency and risk of using a 25 ship TF. The designers have made it clear that a force of this size going into a night surface action faces serious risks. Been that way since UV but players still are infatuated wth those massive surface TFs for some reason.

ORIGINAL: crsutton

No longer necessary under the current betas. You simply purchase the unit back for a few PPs and start rebuilding if you have devices in the pool. It is no more difficult than saving a fragment. Takes the same amount of time and uses the same pools.

That's true, but at the same time if you evacuate fragments you can rebuild them just behind the front, rather than having to ship them all the way back from SF/Aden/Tokyo/wherever, so it's still worth doing if you're just going to send'em back where they were.

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

.

A clear indication of the inefficency and risk of using a 25 ship TF. The designers have made it clear that a force of this size going into a night surface action faces serious risks. Been that way since UV but players still are infatuated wth those massive surface TFs for some reason.

Plus it had to be a Fast Transport TF, not as battle ready as a Surface Combat TF.