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Geoff,
I'm in agreement with you about the pitfalls of investing Australia. It takes a significant amount of men and materials to take/hold bases on the Aussie continent. That favors the Allied player over time.

Remembering my Noob status here, as the Japanese player I almost never take Australia, but set up a curtain of Island AF bases that can be built up to handle the Nells & Betty's to intercept shipping between the West Coast and Sydney. Keeping a few SCTF there to keep him honest and you have used maybe 1/3rd of what you would need to take Darwin or Brisbane etc.

I know experienced players have brought Australia to its knees, and I commend the skills being able to do that, I just think its a huge supply drain and harder to keep the bases once the Japanese Happy Time is over. I usually (against the AI) start concentrating on Ceylon and India to deny him the Western Approaches (Africa, Club Med etc.) after pulling the curtain shut on Eastern Australia.

Just my $.02 [:)]

Thanks, Moo
Here's some data for you:

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The important thing here is to note that I thought I had another day before I needed to evacuate Rockhampton. I wanted one more crack at his carriers. I was wrong, and I will be paying the price for my gamble for some time.

3/28/42 The KB is retiring to the NE. It managed to slip through my sub screen without any attacks. The Japanese made bombing attacks on Port Moresby and Darwin, the results follow. Apparently the question about fighters on training missions may be moot, as none of mine were.
Vontiger's girl is all better now, by the way. It was the flu.

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Here's a screen shot of the current situation. Some editing has been done to protect the guilty.

Vontiger,
Being sick sucks! Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery!

Geoff,
A wise American Indian notes " You in heap big trouble down South... You need circle wagons... You need many big smokesticks..."

We'll take care of it right after this drink.

3/30/42 Big air battle over Pt. Moresby. As you can see we each lost quite a few fighters. Since the battle was over PM I don't think I lost near as many pilots as he did. The airbase and port at Rockhampton is being beat up pretty well, still don't know how he's going to supply this rather rude incursion.

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3/31/42 A small force has landed at Wyndham, which was undefended. Another TF of about 10 ships including troop ships has moved into the area, but I can't tell if it's to drop more troops at Wyndham or if they're going to invade at Darwin. One of his carrier TFs is clearly headed to Truk and the other is not far behind. They haven't attacked anything, just their fighters have engaged, so they probably don't need sorty replenishment but they must be short of fuel and may want to repair superficial incidental damage to the ships.
There were no air attacks at PM today, must be rethinking how to handle it, or to paraphrase SW, he is redoubling his efforts.

3/31/42 The delay in getting a new turn is due to vontiger's desktop's operating system needing to be reinstalled. He has the turn on his laptop, but he's been busy fixing his main computer, which he greatly prefers to play the game on. He has sent me the battle replay and I'll get to that but will begin with the situation on the 29th.
As you can see, his CVTFs have separated. You can also see my CV fleet west of Fiji. Wanting to try and catch one of them I ordered the course you can see towards the center of the Coral Sea. On the 29th and again on the 30th my fleet moved much too slowly and I was calling Halsey every name in the book. It turns out it wasn't his fault but mine. I had four DDs in an ASW TF attached to the lead CV TF. I don't normally do that and didn't know that that would slow the whole operation down. Now I know. A good lesson for any of you who didn't know that either. It turns out that mistake may have been quite fortuitous, but I will explain that later.

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