Red Storm rising.. Aztez (J) vs Ctangus (A) CHS 155

[Mistmatz]

I dont see how you want to surprise ctangus in Vladivostok.

Do make a POW camp of it you need to take the RR hex to the right of the city. As I see it, besides paradropping, you can get there only by crossing the hex in the upper right which a) wont go unnoticed and b) will take quite some time as there is not even a path in or out of that hex in the direction you need it. Did I miss somesthing? [&:]

[Nemo121]

Mistmatz,
 
You are correct. However when Aztez moves into the hex north-east of Vladivostok he can Shock Attack the fortress unit there. It will be destroyed and then ctangus will realise that the Japanese are attempting to encircle Vladivostok. He has 3,500 AV there but since Aztez will issue movement orders EAST out of that hex to cut the railroad running out of vladivostok before ctangus can move forces into the hex aztez is currently in Aztez will move onto the railroad before ctangus can block his movement. Once Aztez moves onto the railroad the supply line from Siberia to Vladivostok will be cut and ONLY the presence of innate supply in Vladivostok can keep the troops there supplied ( thus my asking aztez to check this ).
 
So, ctangus will have a choice once Aztez moves into the hex north-east of Vladivostok.
a) he can abandon Vladivostok and withdraw to a defensible line north-east of it or
b) he can abandon those 10 divisions in Vladivostok. Sure it'll take 4 divisions of Japanese troops to hold them there but at least it'll free up 3,500 AV of Japanese troops for operations elsewhere.
 
This whole innate supply creating untakeable bastions problem is one reason I removed all but 2 or 3 such places from my mod --- and all but 1 of those places is clearly off-limits for invasion.

[Yakface]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
One last thing:
The ONLY important criterion for your training squadron leaders is Inspiration. The higher that is the more quickly the pilots learn.

Hi Nemo - I think you mean leadership, rather than inspiration. Leadership is the one that affects pilot experience gain. Inspiration only affects the morale recovery of air units

THe vast majority of advice is spot on. However I wouldn't remove all DD's from escort duty. The experience/aggresssion/naval skill of the TF command ship affects the performance of the rest of the ships in ASW combat. I always include 1DD in a convoy TF along with the PC's/PG's to give them this boost.

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Mistmatz,

You are correct. However when Aztez moves into the hex north-east of Vladivostok he can Shock Attack the fortress unit there. It will be destroyed and then ctangus will realise that the Japanese are attempting to encircle Vladivostok. He has 3,500 AV there but since Aztez will issue movement orders EAST out of that hex to cut the railroad running out of vladivostok before ctangus can move forces into the hex aztez is currently in Aztez will move onto the railroad before ctangus can block his movement. Once Aztez moves onto the railroad the supply line from Siberia to Vladivostok will be cut and ONLY the presence of innate supply in Vladivostok can keep the troops there supplied ( thus my asking aztez to check this ).

So, ctangus will have a choice once Aztez moves into the hex north-east of Vladivostok.
a) he can abandon Vladivostok and withdraw to a defensible line north-east of it or
b) he can abandon those 10 divisions in Vladivostok. Sure it'll take 4 divisions of Japanese troops to hold them there but at least it'll free up 3,500 AV of Japanese troops for operations elsewhere.

This whole innate supply creating untakeable bastions problem is one reason I removed all but 2 or 3 such places from my mod --- and all but 1 of those places is clearly off-limits for invasion.

So you're saying the encircling troops go east (from Voroshilov), destroy the russians there and then threaten both RR hexes between Vladivostok an Iman?
So far so good. But those troops wouldn't have any good supply line (no supply through Vladivostok as it is contested - right?) which leaves supplying them by air which would take a lot of assets away from the primary goal to destroy the russian aviation. Furthermore the two RR hexes could be relatively easy held against a worn out, badly supplied encircling force due to terrain advantage. And if the encircling force isn't going into the hex in the east of Vladivostok, russian troops could even leave the city and reinforce a battle over the railroad next to Iman at will.
Another thing with ctangus heavily reinforcing Vladivostok it might be that these are already the troops that might be used for defending the RR to Iman.

[Nemo121]

Yakface, no I think Inspiration matters also. For safety's sake I always try to choose training leaders who have high Inspiration, Leadership but if I have to make a choice I value inspiration over leadership values.  It isn't usually an issue though since high leadership, high inspiration, high air skill, high aggression leaders are VERY rare ( and you'll do well to find enough to lead the 1/3rd of your fighter units which are front-line ) so since air skill and aggression don't matter for training purposes you have LOTS of transport leaders who have both high leadership and inspiration and usually have more than enough to lead all the training units...

I'd be interested if anyone knows differently though since if I have two leaders to choose from for training and one has sky-high leadership but low inspiration and the other has low leadership but sky-high inspiration I'll go for the inspirational leader.


Yakface,
As far as your advice re: convoys... I think its a change in emphasis. You want your convoy escorts ( within the convoy TF ) to do the killing. I prefer to simply create 5 or 6 hunter-killer groups and give them "Follow TF" orders and make sure they are commanded by my most aggressive and high naval skill naval leaders ( obviously not the absolutely best of the best... who are reserved for my major surface combat TFs). Over time my hunter-killer TFs will make contact with far more subs than a couple of ships which are assigned the way you suggest and so after 6 months time my hunter-killer ships will have more experience and be far more effective sub-killers than would otherwise be possible because they are generating more contacts and are more likely to succesfully sink the sub since the prosecute it more aggressively under the command of really suitable officers.

E.g. I have Doorman commanding my ASW TF around Trincomalee in my game vs Jagdfluger. In the 2 weeks since being formed this TF has sunk 3 IJN submarines and seriously damaged 2 more. That's a pretty good testament to its effectiveness AND the experience rating of those ships in the TF is up by between 5 and 15 Exp already [:D] meaning they'll be even more lethal over the next few months.


In the past I've had ASW hunter-killer groups with 90+ Exp PCs & APDs by mid-42 and believe me when I tell you that the areas around the ports these HK groups inhabited were sub free zones [:D]. Still, I think you can get good results with very heavily escorted convoys, I just think you always get better results by aggressively going out there and hunting the SOBs down as opposed to waiting for them to stumble into one of your convoys and hoping you sink them AFTER they've attack.


Obviously though the best way to kill subs is to blitz them with hundreds of bombers on naval search at 2000 feet. Once as an experiment I flew 400 Sallys into a base and set them on naval search at 2000 feet. The next day they sank 3 subs. I then flew them to Singapore, let them rest for a day and then repeated the mission. I sank 5 subs that day. So that's 8 subs sunk in just 4 days [:D] Be aggressive and mass your forces at chokepoints and you'll kill a lot of subs. Wait for them to find and attack you and, at best, you'll get a small measure of revenge but you won't really achieve anything decisive IMO ( that's a philosophical viewpoint though but I think reality --- in the game, in war, in life and in medicine ---- bears it out.


Mistmatz,
Ah but once his troops are in the rail hex east of vladivostok the STUPID movement rules in the game prevent any Soviet troops from leaving Vladivostok along that rail line. Its stupid but its the game.

As to supplying the Japanese troops. Well they can be supplied across two non-rail, non-road, non-trail hexes. Only 50% of the supply will make it through those two hexes but that'll be enough. Its expensive in terms of supply but Shock Attacking Vladivostok for months on end will be a lot more expensive. Air supply won't be needed at all.

[Yakface]

You're right that high inspiration often goes hand in hand with high leadership.  However it is only leadership that affects how much experience the pilots gain from a mission (there's a sticky link in the main forum detailing what features of a leader affect what) nothing else has any effect, so to answer your question, it's the leader with high leadership, low inspiration that is the best choice out of the two.  Morale is hardly ever an issue for the sort of short range trip a fighter group is going to make for training purposes, more important for bomber groups. 

Re the destroyers - agreed - it's important to operate humter groups, however the IJN has enough destroyers to operate these groups and have a single DD in each convoy (unless they have lost a lot).  It's certainly worth it for the increased effectiveness of the other escorts for those times the sub makes it past the ASW TF.

[Nemo121]

Yakface,
Interesting. So, leadership more important than inspiration --- although I have seen inspiration incontestably make a difference vs low inspiration. Perhaps it was just due to them flying more often though.
 
 
As to the DDs. Oh I think that once, as Japan, you adopt the thinking that you have enough of a thing to do ancillary missions you quickly find yourself with mission creep where a couple of DDs turns into a dozen and sometime, somewhere I think that's going to result in you not having that surface combat TF which could win you a given battle and actually achieve something decisive. As Japan I'm happiest when the combat-capable portion of my force is sitting around in port doing nothing except resting up and repairing for the next battle. I'm 2nd-happiest when they are engaged in operations aimed at significantly hurting the enemy or aiding my own forces. If they're doing anything else I'm pretty unhappy as I think it just incurs damage and loss doing something my ancillary forces could be doing ( e.g. PCs, MSWs etc ).
 
Hell, I don't even like "wasting" PCs and APDs on convoy escorts. I assign a single MSW to the close-in escort and gather all those PCs, APDs and high-ASW capability MSWs to my hunter-killer groups. Still, "different strokes for different folks" and all that.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Not sure that move you've shown with a bold arrow will work. I ran into a problem near Kalgan in northern China where the road net (press r to see it) caused the units to try and enter an enemy occupied base along the road network since it was a shorter path in movement cost, even though it was just one hex away. When my units all reached 60 miles, they simply reset to zero miles the next turn. Changing the order to a base hex further away made no difference, the problem persisted.

Check the road net, if there is no link from your units to the hex with the fort unit, you may run into the same problem (only instead of resetting your units will probably march into Vladivostok). Check my AAR for a screenshot showing the problem. Of course I may be wrong and it isn't the road network that caused the problem for my units.

Jim

Edit: Also my units were moving from a contested hex to a non-contested hex. Yours are doing the opposite, so it may be case specific regarding contested zocs and you'd be able to move in, but you'd be unable to move back the way you came.

[Mistmatz]

I just fired up the scenario 155 (CHS 2.08). Vladivostok starts with over a million supplies but generates only 10. I'm not sure if this is the one you started with and if not if the levels/production are the same.

The infrastructure network around Vladivostok is like a star on AB's extended map. All hexes around Vladivostok are connected with the city, but not connected to each other. So moving directly from Voroshilov to the hex NE of Vladivostok (66,32) would be through wilderness. The same is through for the movement from 66,32 to either the hex E of Vladivostok (66,33) or the rail hex SW of Iman (67,32).

So if you don't happen to see the problem Jim D Burns mentioned, it#s still quite some time for your opponent to react and protect the railroad and/or move out of Vladivostok, as your LCU movement will be somewhat slow.

Hope this helps.

[Nemo121]

Mistmatz,

That's very useful. So, Vladivostok CAN be starved out, that's great news.
 
 
BTW, in my game vs jagdfluger I was gathering some forces for ASW TFs but following this discussions I speeded up the creation of these TFs so as to provide some evidence to back up effectiveness etc. 3 ASW TFs comprising 32 ships between them killed 4 IJN subs in 3 days and attacked and badly damaged 2 more, at least one of which may sink over the next few days. See February 25th to February 28th in my AAR vs Jagdfluger.

[aztez]

Ok. First thanks to everyone for their comments! I really appreciate it a lot. [&o]
 
Very busy day RL and dead beat from work plus the young one have been a bit too lively but here we go! [:)]
 
I just emailed Chuck that the next turn might take an while. I really need to go through a lot of stuff and get them sorted at least to decent level. As said I have been hard pressed to anykind of "freetime"... well I do have some but it is kind of hard to concentrate sometimes when 2 year old daughters want the to press ENTER button repeatedly! [8|][:D][:D]
 
Lets start the with feedback and comments...
 
 
Nemo: You are absolutely correct. I need to reorganize my supply routes and TF's. They are not effective enough.
 
I will gather my transports etc to couple of main harbours at Home Islands and Philippines. From there on I will start complete overhaul of these TF's. At least there is no shortage of transports of anykind.
 
Also will stop some bomber production at Home Islands so that Nakajima engines will be given to fighter production.
 
Good points about ASW combat. Those allied submarines are really annoying and my ASW efforts have been in total waste. [:(] ...I will reform these operations too.
 
Hmmm... intresting debate about Russia! It seems that the opinions are split and it is down to me to deciede! [:D] ...Those troops moving around Vladivostok are now almost through to the fortress! Currently 52 miles traveled so they should reach the target next turn... despite good views I think I will go through with this! At least it will give Chuck something to think since in Russia everything is going his way.
 
There needs to be complete check on aviation units. We need them in following places...
 
* Training camps (Balikpapan, Shanghai, etc etc)
* Solomons (This are really is becoming an problem)
* Celebes (Annoying LBA bases at Timor)
 
Mistmatz: As always appreciate the feedback. I hear you about the Russian adventure. He might be ready but than again he cannot not commit all of his forces down South. I still do have 3 sizeable armies in North and Central Russia. If he brings too much of his forces down than I will cut his supply lines further up.
 
Very intresting info regarding the Russian supply situation! Basically we can starve the Russians to death IF everything goes well! [;)][:D]
 
Jim.D.Burns: Welcome! Hmmm. Checked your thread. (Very good read btw due to all the graphics.. Wish I had the time to do them too)
 
Basically you warning me about the movement of LCU's in Witp. It somewhat odd at times I must admit. Anyway, I hear you... things might go awfully wrong here but still might be worth the risk since the gain is even bigger. If we can cut off Vladivostok or force him to abandon the dam place than I will call this a tactical victory. [:)]
 
Yakface:  Ok. So, the leadership rating is just as important as  Inspirational rating. [:)] 
 
I think you are correct. Allthough I have those commanders with high ratings on both categories so it is hard to say which affects more than other. The good thing however is that everything is coming along very smoothly.
 
Intresting debate regarding the Japanese escort routines. I will propably end up with mixed bag of your thoughts and Nemo's advice.
 
 
...now the turn update to follow. Some thoughts required on couple of issues.

[aztez]

Game date is 25th of September 1942
 
 
DEI
 
 
Kendari
 
 
Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
A6M3a Zero x 2
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 18

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 11
B-25C Mitchell x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged
A6M3a Zero: 1 damaged
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 4 destroyed, 8 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 13

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 3
B-24D Liberator x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 12 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Runway hits 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
A6M3a Zero x 1
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 10

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 10
B-25C Mitchell x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71
 
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 4

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 2
B-24D Liberator x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 damaged
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
62 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 17


Definately not good enough odds. How the hell do we stop these 4E bombers? (See screenhot to get an better view)
 
I had moved 1 Betty squadron into Kendari since I though Chuck might have some surface forces lurking in the area. Apparently not since these guys didn't even bother to take off!
 
Anyway, we do have an problem here. I think we should take out Koepang next instead off Makassar! I wonder whether some 20 000 men are enough to destroy the enemy there.
 
The BIG QUESTION however is... How do we stop allied 4E bombers? This will become essential task in all theatres sooner or later. I did fly those fighters at 16 000 feet CAP. They however seem invincible as ever in CHS!

[aztez]

The current situation in the Solomons. It is not looking too good for sure...

[aztez]

The idea for next defensive perimeter... call this the maginot line of Pacific if you wish! [:D]

[Mistmatz]

The DEI is your soft underbelly... very soft in this case as there are too many Lv4 airfields left for him to go on raids. I assume Lautern is still Lv1 and Makassar Lv.3. This leaves Koepang, Amboina and of course Darwin (plus the other 3 norhtern Oz cities) as 4E bases.

Your main problem seems to be that a single japanese base in Kendari has to bear all 4E flights in that area. I believe they can even hit on extended range from Darwin, meaning a 3-1 advantage for the allies in bases, not even talking about plane quality...

Assuming you dont plan to go into Northern Oz as well ([;)]) this leaves two bases to take care of... soon! Amboina and Koepang. You talked about going for Koepan instead of Makassar first. How on earth would you want to cover such an operation? This means going right into the hornets nest without significant aircover as Kendari might be closed by the time such an operation begins. Even if you bring a pure fighter KB the losses will be terrible, maybe even for KB itself as the 4E bombers have some decent exp already and score even from 10k (dunno if this is your HR limit, but I guess there is one).

I strongly advise against such an operation. In my opinion you need to take these bases out covered by your own LB umbrella, ideally without the assistance of KB. You have basically two options to do that:
a) take Makassar first with support from Soerabaja, Balikpapan and Kendari, then go for Lautern.
b) take Amboina first with support from Manado and Kendari, maybe even KB as you can stay out of the Darwin/Koepang LBA, then continue with a)

Btw. did you notice those 3 small bases around Amboina containing airgroups? This is most likely his scouting force ranging into the Celebes and maybe even into Palau if he uses Catalinas there. Taking Amboina has the nice effect that you can get rid of those AV(D)'s supporting this spying in your waters and possibly directing subs.

Of course this all depends on how well your LBA is trained to cover these operations, but to be honest I'd taken care of this theater before continueing in Russia. First of all if Russia fails you will never have the ability again to take those bases and your game will be over very soon. If you succeed in DEI which is a significantly smaller and shorter operation which you will succeed almost 100%, you wont have lost much time & assets before you turn back to Russia. Plus you'll have ctangus teached a lesson which is psychologically also important - for him and for you. [:D]

Bottomline is, your window of opportunity and expansion is not closed yet. Dont rush, dont go deep, take your time and go one step after the other. Good luck! [:)]

[aztez]

Mistmatz: True. Way too many solid allied airbases in this region!
 
As for the plans for Northern Oz. Well I have no intension to land there. At least not yet. I might change my mind if things change though.

The most accute problem is rising in the Solomons area. Basically these two theatres are linked with faith. I need to seize Celebes/Timor area in order to save the Solomons situation.
 
Hmmm.. I think you are correct. We will land at Makassar first but will start immediate preparations towards Timor. When I take Makassar I do have 2 airfields from which to conduct operations. He cannot supress nor bomb both of them. At least I don't think so.
 
I haven't decieded whether to withdraw my airforce from Kendari or strenghten them. Either way but this is crucial decision....and again how the hell do we deal with allied 4E bombers. Those are immune monster! [:(]
 
Yeah. Those 3 airbases definately have airgroups on it and you are correct. There are recon planes in them. However there might be some bombers/fighters too.
 
As for KB. It needs rest/repair so I doubt I will commit them here. Too little to gain by it and the risk are far greater than profits. I can live with some transport ship losses so we can go about with the Soviet Doctrine here... that is no problem.
 
Oh, Russia wohn't fail... or at least it wohn't game breaking thing. I have just Chinese and Manchuko armies there. More than enough to contain them. Yeah, I should have rushed towards Kendari earlier... but that is life... mistakes cost lives but we do have definate fighting chance still.... and we do have strong armies in Manchuko prepared to fight. I still doubt that the Russians are able to hold our forces.
 
I do agree the window is not closed but it is not wide open anymore... Intresting days ahead. [;)]
 
 

[okami]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Mistmatz: True. Way too many solid allied airbases in this region!

I haven't decieded whether to withdraw my airforce from Kendari or strenghten them. Either way but this is crucial decision....and again how the hell do we deal with allied 4E bombers. Those are immune monster! [:(]

To defeat the 4E bomber threat at Kendari is not easy but can be done. Increase your engineers by bringing in three construction engineer units. Increase your fighter squadrons to 5 groups of 36 Army fighters. Ki61 or Ki44, no Zero's. Although they all have the same gun rating, the Zero has no armour and so will not press the attack like the Tony and Tojo. Set them to 90% cap and remove all other bomber type planes from the base. As the number of damaged 4E bombers goes up, you will notice a decrease in attacks. As this happens you can then switch to offensive operations. You can also put a fleet of 12 destroyers in the hex to deter bombardment and the fighters will defend these from naval strike. Just set them on patrol with another base assigned as homebase. Place two AO's for refueling.

[Nemo121]

okami's entirely correct except that I wouldn't waste a dozen DDs defending it. Just take your airframe losses from bombardment and keep Bettys at Soerabaja and Balikpapan ready to attack enemy shipping which bombards Kendari and, most importantly, take Makassar and Menado in 1 phase of ops, Amboina in a 2nd phase and then, as the final phase, take Timor.
 
Unfortunately it looks like the enemy CVs are in the area so that could throw a spanner in the works. Still, I think that it is definitely worth gathering your first fighter Army at Soerabaja and preparing them to fly into Kendari via Makassar once you take that base.
 
However there's no need to rush things and go in in penny-packets ( which is what you are currently doing ). If you can't get enough fighters in with sufficient base forces now then just gather the 200 fighters in Soerabaja or another nearby base and wait a week--- or two ---- or three and fly them in when you have the 200 AV support in Kendari and supplies necessary.
 
 
You have time, trying to rush into everything just generates silly losses. Look at how much of a disaster you thought having no fighters at the front would be and that there were places you would HAVE to fight no matter what. Now, a bit over a month later look at the situation. Has your economy been crippled? No. Have you lost anything you couldn't afford to lose? No. Are you, in fact, in a better situation? Yes.
 
 
So, my advice, set up 200 fighters at Soerabaja and concentrate on putting a plan together to take Makassar and Menado whilst staying as far away from enemy bases as possible --- since I expect the enemy CVs to be in the area and just wait ctangus out. Menado is farthest from the enemy bases so probably the easiest one of his bases to pinch out. When you have enough Aviation support available I'd go for Makassar but not before.
 

With a little luck ctangus will get bored in the meantime and try to strike Soerabaja and run into 200+ experienced fighters. Losses will be heavy but since you will be fighting a defensive battle you will lose less. If you've got enough Betties and 200 Zeroes nearby ( say Balikpapan ) you may be able to get some measure of revenge... plus having Zeroes and Bettys at Balikpapan will,
a) allow you to cover your fleet with LRCAP if it makes for Makassar or Menado and
b) defend Balikpapan against Allied strikes.
 
 
But basically, why this rush to rush in and defend Kendari? He's hitting the airbase and runway. This can be easily repaired once you bring enough engineers and aviation support to bear. It isn't irreparable so view it in perspectiveand stop being lured into throwing your forces away. Focus on getting your logistics right, freeing up several thousand AV of infantry and armour in order to create a new striking force and PLAN to take out Menado and Makassar while never losing sight of the fact that your primary goal is to stabilise things in the Soviet Union and China.
 
Also, sort out your shipping convoys, reserve the APs ONLY for troops etc etc etc... Focus on these things, these are the things which are killing your chances, not whether a few dozen bombers hit Kendari or not today. You need to look at the strategic issues and not get caught up in the fate of a single base . When you get too caught up in one base or another you end up spending far too much to defend it. Look at my game vs Jagdfluger, entire island chains and masses of China and the Soviet Union have been abandoned in order to serve my greater plan. Now, right now you need to hold and retake rather than abandon but you still need to focus on the larger picture more IMO, FWIW.

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: okami

...
You can also put a fleet of 12 destroyers in the hex to deter bombardment and the fighters will defend these from naval strike. Just set them on patrol with another base assigned as homebase. Place two AO's for refueling.

Okami, whats the reason for placing 12 DD's? Just wondering why this particular number.

Generally I wouldn't recommend such a strategy as it's quite likely that the primary mission of the bombers is naval attack with airfield attack as secondary mission. This means once the DDs are depleted, you are in the same situation, except that you filled up your repair yards with valuable ASW assets for maybe a few gained days.

[okami]

ORIGINAL: Mistmatz

ORIGINAL: okami

...
You can also put a fleet of 12 destroyers in the hex to deter bombardment and the fighters will defend these from naval strike. Just set them on patrol with another base assigned as homebase. Place two AO's for refueling.

Okami, whats the reason for placing 12 DD's? Just wondering why this particular number.

Generally I wouldn't recommend such a strategy as it's quite likely that the primary mission of the bombers is naval attack with airfield attack as secondary mission. This means once the DDs are depleted, you are in the same situation, except that you filled up your repair yards with valuable ASW assets for maybe a few gained days.

Japan starts with many destroyers with an endurance of 3000. As strike force units they lack the distance needed for hit and run raids. However each one carries 8 to 12 torpedoes and thus will overwhelm most raiding forces. It has been my experience that in 1942 vs allied raiders Japanese destroyers have a field day. Most enemy raiding forces will consist of less than 10 ships and this put some 9 to 15 torpedoes on each target. I have sank BB's in the past without them getting off a shot. I believe in overkill and leaving nothing to chance and so 12 destroyers. As for the bombers set on naval primary and airfield secondary, that is what the 200 fighters on 90% cap are for. It is also hard to hit destroyers with bombs although not imposible. Get the airfield functional and then remove the destroyers and leave any defence against surface raiders to your Betties and Nells.