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ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: cavalry

ORIGINAL: Historiker

Keep your carriers and avoid a decicve battle.
He need to be always afraid of your carriers, while you still have the ability to punch hard. You may run raids into his supply lines or make surprise attacks on ports as long as you have your carriers.

in a pbem, I lost a Carrier to an enemy KB-raid into the area between new caledonia and NZ as it appeared suddenly and met a rebasing CV...

Actually y KB has carred out several port style attacks , one against Columbo and one against Darwin ( which lost me 2BB ) BUT in all I sank about thirty allied ships including a BB , CA couple of CL. I am think about another raid betwen PH and the US or what about a second attack onPH ?

Unless you have particular intel that PH is weak I would definitely not try that. As you know allied fighter capabilities are much better than at the time of the original attack. Remember you'll be facing P-47s, P-38s and possibly Corsairs and Hellcats, not to mention B-24s and PBYs should detect you long before you get in range.

A raid east of PH is too risky as well, as you are much to far away from your own bases and even slightly damaged carriers may sink. Moreover, he can chase your ships for several days if you meet him there...

Most important are 2 questions: What can I lose, and what can I win.

You can lose the entire KB, and what can you win? Nothing substantial. A raid will probably sink several transports with supplies or empty, some escorts, and with luck you sink a cruiser or so. Nice for the propaganda, that's it. The Allies have so many ships, those losses won't hurt them.  Only if you are extremely lucky you might stomp over something important like a big troop convoy. I would not count on extreme luck.

It is much better to hold the KB back and wait for a weakly suported invasion or an opportunity to fight in an environment with heavy LBA support.

Question for you AFBs out there.  How many AKs sunk will inhibit the Allied return?  APs?  TKs?

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Question for you AFBs out there. How many AKs sunk will inhibit the Allied return? APs? TKs?

2000? 5000?

@Bogo

Initiatuve is the key to victory. If he keeps his CVs away fron the front, tha allies have it...

Keep KB intact as the great threat, late 43 -thats the best thing for it in my opinion

Its the only thing that kept tabpub from running riot on me, when KB was finally lost in late 44 -well -now the dogs of war are well and truly off the leash............

ORIGINAL: Historiker
@Bogo

Initiatuve is the key to victory. If he keeps his CVs away fron the front, tha allies have it...

Exactly. There are several places "away from the front" - east of Hawaii is one of them. 3000m below the waves is another one.

The best place for the KB is just behind the most important front lines. It should be far enough away to remain unspotted most of the time, but close enough to exploit enemy mistake. This compels him to support every move heavily, thus he can do fewer moves simultanously.

ORIGINAL: Bogo Mil

ORIGINAL: Historiker
@Bogo

Initiatuve is the key to victory. If he keeps his CVs away fron the front, tha allies have it...

Exactly. There are several places "away from the front" - east of Hawaii is one of them. 3000m below the waves is another one.

The best place for the KB is just behind the most important front lines. It should be far enough away to remain unspotted most of the time, but close enough to exploit enemy mistake. This compels him to support every move heavily, thus he can do fewer moves simultanously.

Indeed [:)]
Taking the initiative doesn't mean to make totally foolish things and forcing the enemy to sink the KB.
Small surprising attacks into enemy territory at different places are more the right thing.
Japan always has a huge advantege: It is in the middle and can concentrate its forces easily. Moreover, it has the shortest way from one front to the other. This allows Japan to gain local superiority.

Look at the Siege of Neuss 1474/75 by Charles the Bold. The burgundian forces were totally superior. They had the world's most modern artillery, were decicivly bigger and were experienced. They also had enough supplies and very competent mineurs
Neuss istead was defend very weakly. Their walls weren't constructed to withstand artillery and were damaged that strong, that they were still repairing them 20 years after the siege.

Still, Neuss won. Why?
The Count of Hessen used the short ways inside the walls. Whereever the Burgundians attacked, he concentrated his forces.
Moreover, he made breakouts. This gave him the initiative. He let his forces attack and then flee. The Burgundian troops followed his troops and so came into the range of the Neuss artillery. When they retreated, the Neuss garrison attacked them with other forces from the sides.
This is risky, but it is worth it.

A small attack with 2-3 CVLs will force most allied player to hunt them. This can lure the enemy CVs into the range of strong G4M and Zero forces (with shortend ranges that the Bettys don't attack without cover). After they attacked and weakend the enemy CAP, the KB can attack them...

Risky, but worth it!

Keeping KB as a Threat force is your best bet, like the earlier posts state