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Any thing that looks like a draw at this point in the game is an Allied victory as Japan cannot win the 'war of attrition' at sea.

Your SC TF with 3 BBs, 6 CAs, & 9 DDs is too big IMO. I would have formed two TFs with the BBs in one and the CAS in another. Your steady losses in DDs may have come back to bite you here as you may have been forced go go this large.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Any thing that looks like a draw at this point in the game is an Allied victory as Japan cannot win the 'war of attrition' at sea.

Your SC TF with 3 BBs, 6 CAs, & 9 DDs is too big IMO. I would have formed two TFs with the BBs in one and the CAS in another. Your steady losses in DDs may have come back to bite you here as you may have been forced go go this large.

That is exactly my problem. I cannot efford many small TFs cause I'm way too short of DDs... Brad did a great work in attriting my DDs pool and now i'm really suffering.
However my TF perfomed quite well imho. Brad really had the best of his surface force there.

I know it's an allied victory and I know I was risking. However, at this point of the game, the more I wait to fight, the more Brad becomes stronger...so, sooner or later, I had to take my chances.

Now the door is really open. My navy is shattered. My air army is shattered. My KB is halved in terms of strength (and performed so badly, lately, that I really don't know if it's worth the investment).

Mindanao is much closer now....[:(]

How much of KB's (and indeed your LBA) performance could be due to using the beta? I don't use it and hope it doesn't go gold in its current form because it models stragglers and un-coordinated strikes well but it doesn't balance it against an "out of position CAP", as far as I can see from the peanut gallery anyway.

ORIGINAL: kjnoel

How much of KB's (and indeed your LBA) performance could be due to using the beta? I don't use it and hope it doesn't go gold in its current form because it models stragglers and un-coordinated strikes well but it doesn't balance it against an "out of position CAP", as far as I can see from the peanut gallery anyway.

Don't know to be honest. I'd probably need to run this turn under the official patch... but I really do not have the time in this particular moment.
However I still think it works well. Surely CAP becomes much more important than before..you simply have to change your way of playing and adapt to this new system. Overall, air battles are imho much better rapresented

At least you will save a lot of fuel now.
About the KB pilots... I hope you will unleash the real bad boyz now.

Agree with NY59Giants and also agree with your assessment. It goes back to the old UV days but one of the devs clearly stated then that the optimum size for a surface force in a night battle is around 6-8 ships. Any more and some of them just do not shoot so you are basically risking ships for no return. And it only makes sense that the larger TFs are going to have an easier time getting spotted. I also never use old BBs in night actions and only like to use modern BBs when the moonlight is very strong. At 3,000 yards range the old BBs frequently do not even shoot and in 1/43 the Americans now have working torpedoes that seem to hunt down slow BBs fairly well. Plus your TF is traveling at the speed of the slowest ship in it, making old BBs more of a liability.

But your lack of DD escort is a problem so I understand your reasoning. Plus, I agree that now is the time to stop the Allies. Your fleet just grows redundant as he grows stronger. To make matters worse, his crew exp for arriving warships jumps dramatically next month. As the Allies, I have not lost many surface fights in the later half of the war.

Oddly, Though I found your TFs were too large but some of Brads were too small. I don't think I would have sent to modern BBs in with only four DDs as escort. But his use of multiple TFs really messed you up. Except for the fact that he really needs to stop losing BBs he seems to be in a very strong position.

I think this leave you in pretty good shape. The one thing you can trade 1-1 right now is BB's Particularly if you are losing an old one and he is losing a new one. Right now you probably have more BB's & CA's than he does and your CA's are very good. His CL's are very good but it doesn't look like he can reload with more BB's and come back this way again. It will take a long time to fix them and he doesn't have the proper dry-dock anywhere close. BTW, don't count on bomb hits on new BB's doing much damage. They tend to do system damage but they rarely pierce armor.

I agree with John. I think there's too much of a tendency for good players to focus on their own ills and problems and perhaps not to see the good they've done and the problems endured by their opponent.

I don't read many AARs. What I do read is nearly all Allied-side stuff. But I've played the game long enough to have developed a feeling that GJ has handled Japan about as well as possible. He started slow. He didn't put himself in a position to shoot for auto vic or to achieve sexy and pleasurable conquests of major land masses. As a consequence, intended or not, he had the time and ability and resources to develop strong defenses. He has since effectively stymied and bloodied and frustrated Q-Ball exceptionally well, IMO.

Okay, Japan is beginning to run low on resources. Big whoop! Would it be better if GJ had all his DDs and CAs and aircraft but only to see Brad right now at Morotai and Davao? Of course not. Brad has to be pulling out his hair and the reason for that is GreyJoy.

Seriously. This isn't GJ's first game as Japan (and second overall), is it? GJ is really a ghost name for one of our most experienced players, right? I mean, isn't it possible that I am actually GJ? Or Poultry Lad? Or perhaps Q-Ball, playing himself in a weird and twisted way?

GreyJoy has to be commended for his resilience. He's a brilliant player, a handsome man, an incredible attorney and, I'm sure, a wonderful dancer*.

*Disclaimer in case his client was really Berlusconi. I could use an annual WiTP:AE retainer.

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

I think this leave you in pretty good shape. The one thing you can trade 1-1 right now is BB's Particularly if you are losing an old one and he is losing a new one. Right now you probably have more BB's & CA's than he does and your CA's are very good. His CL's are very good but it doesn't look like he can reload with more BB's and come back this way again. It will take a long time to fix them and he doesn't have the proper dry-dock anywhere close. BTW, don't count on bomb hits on new BB's doing much damage. They tend to do system damage but they rarely pierce armor.

His loss of BBs is serious but don't over rate the value to the Allies of these ships. For two reasons.

The Allies actually get a lot more of them. More than they will need So although severe, Brad's losses won't impact him that much.

Second, the flood of high quality DDs and CAs and CLs that the Allies start to get in 44 make BBs redundant. Frankly after 44, I rarely sent Allied BBs into combat anyway. No need to. Modern Fletchers with advanced radar and working torpedoes are all you need to deal with Japanese surface forces. My Allied BBs are there to support landings and soak up air attacks meant for carriers. Those Allied players who make it well into 1944 know how deadly the Allied surface fleet becomes.

Brad has made some tactical mistakes that has cost him in surface ships but he has kept his carrier force intact while killing off a substantial portion of GJs crack pilots. Greyjoy has himself pointed this out. Those carriers are what will matter in 1944.

As for the recent action, in my opinion the loss of BBs on both sides does not matter one bit. However, the loss of four CAs and another ten DDs for GJ is brutal as he has pointed out.

Thanks for your comments guys, and for your constant support.
Unfortunately I agree with Mr Sutton here... my losses in terms of CAs and DDs are becoming a real problem.
However I do think that there wasn't much more I could do at this stage. His forces are simply growing too strong and, with the latest betas, the Japanese ability to produce large numbers of planes is becoming less and less significant. You simply can't hope to sink his ships at the rate we were used to in the stock. Also consider that, in DBB, allied flak really works, so even when his CAP is caught off guard (thing that happens very rarely) you're gonna have hard times in hitting something.

Anyway, war goes on. My perimeter is defenetly breached and more than 150,000 men are now left behind the enemy lines (30,000 at Rabaul, 45,000 at Vanimo, 30,000 at a bypassed Saumlaki, 33,000 between Taberfane and Dobo...not to talk about Timor....

Brad has chosen the best route: he never attacked a single atoll and avoided the pacific, going strong right where I was weaker (not because I didn't invest there, but because there are simply too many bases in southern DEI and you cannot defend them all).

Also the quality of my air army is now inferior to his. The zeros are really dead meat, even with crack pilots. Jills and Judy simply die like flies and the Frances seem to be almost impossible to coordinate.

The Frank remains a great plane but the IJA is too involved in Burma to give any real hand in the pacific.

Nothing unexpected, mind you. We all know how it was going to end... the only thing that frustrates me is the awfull performances of my KB so far

Ouch - after that, what does your surface fleet look like? I believe you lost more than what the Japanese lost at Leyte Gulf (minus the sacrificial carriers).

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Ouch - after that, what does your surface fleet look like? I believe you lost more than what the Japanese lost at Leyte Gulf (minus the sacrificial carriers).

Yup, basically I have to detatch the Kongos from the KB in order to form a new SAG, but to be used only to protect the carriers. I still have the Yamato with Tanaka, but he's now in danger, being very exposed.

My surface fleet suffers, especially, from the lack of decent escort. My modern DDs are mainly gone and I have to create 2 overstacked CVTF (from 3 that were) in order to free some surface forces.

Really bad indeed.

However I do not complain. Japan has to lose his ships fighting. No point in keeping them at bay now that we're entering in 1944... by mid 1944 the allies will be so strong that any surface action will be a kamikaze one... so why not now, when I still had a chance?

Well...if I caught those APA/AKAs now i'd be really really happy with the result... without that prize, my operation can be called a failure.

Agreed - best to lose them fighting....it will be hard now, with those losses (combined with your losses in the air) to build up a critical mass of carrier air & LBA to seriously challenge his next invasion.

Though, I will say, he should be running out of easy targets (hopefully).

GreyJoy,
 
You still downplaying the role of Kamikazes here?  Any reconsideration in forcing an activation?  Your surface fleet can use all the airborne anti-naval help it can get.  After all, how else (other than the Peggy-Ts) do you intend your IJAAF to weigh in against his surface fleet?
 
Seems to me marshalling your strength by retraining carrier air, readying IJAAF and thinking about kamikaze activation as a positive is the way for you to go for your next major battle.  You may have a couple months to sort it out too.

If I was Brad I would be pretty happy with that exchange. As crsutton says once the Fletchers arrive you don´t really need much else. BBs help but they are mostly useful in a bombardment role.

You do deserve to be in better position. I have not see so many well planned KB missions end up so poorly. It is a Japanese nightmare. You are like the Confederate general Harry Heth (Canoerebel will know of him)Sometimes a good general is just unlucky.

This game just goes to reinforce my mantra. As long as the Allied player does not panic and lose his carriers, he can't really lose the game.

Hey, it aint about who wins the war and whether the Allies are in Tokyo Bay in 1945 or the Japanese in Sydney in 1942. I say that any IJ player that still holds a solid MLR like GJ's and who has fought hard and bloodied and vexed his opponent to distraction deserves major plaudits. I say GJ has done unusually well. I also suspect that he'll still be fighting gamely as the game nears the end of 1944, thus costing Q-Ball additional hair and more anxious moments.

That was a serious shootin' match.

To my mind it confirms the value of layered SCTF's to guard amphibious forces.

Hi GJ, I'm starting to believe that here there isn't only a problem of luck but also a problem of air assets: KB planes and pilots can't compete with Navy ones. A6M5 is too much inferior than Hellcat and Corsair, they can't match at all. USN pilots were very experienced after the last slaughters, if you add than KB pilots had many losses I'm guessing that also for pilots there was no match. If you add that CAP is always superior to escorts I come to believe that you probably couldn't win this battle.
Your tactics could have surely worked before the last patch, when a mass of planes could pass anyway the CAP. Now it seems impossible, all attacks are made in few numbers so are easily overwelmed by strong CAP.
I really don't know if Japan can still use KB as an effective attack weapon (not only as a deterrent) under these conditions.