Fortress Java

[mc3744]

ORIGINAL: Bill Durrant

Not that I play the Japanese side but I've always tried to stop them getting the fuel, resources and oil from Java as I thought this was their primary issue in invading and the longer I stall this the more it hurts them. In that case I defend the bases and not hide in the hills ...... or am I missing a bigger picture?

You are totally right, but if you hold an air base nearby you make his life much more difficult in shipping oil and resources back and forth. Hence you still achieve the goal of hindering his value chain.
You force him to protect every convoy or to kick you out.

[traskott]

Best bet is move alll troops from Java and Singapore to Palembang. 

[mc3744]

ORIGINAL: traskott

Best bet is move alll troops from Java and Singapore to Palembang. 

If you could, it could be a very good move.
But you lack the PPs and by the time you have them any decent IJN player should be in a position to sink anything you move.
Also, several Dutch units cannot be reassigned anyway. Hence you have to keep them in Java regardless of the sea lines ownership.

[traskott]

You can airlifting all the dutch troops from Java/Borneo to Sumatra. It doesn't require PP, plus some aussie troops from I Aus Corps, and III Corps from Malay, with the indian bgdes (airlifted with the L-18 lodestars plus some cats and fast runs of xAKLs, ). I made this at a PBEM, and when the game ended (october 1942), I had 1100 AV at Palembang, fortress 6 and near 7...VERY difficult of assault. 

[mc3744]

ORIGINAL: traskott

You can airlifting all the dutch troops from Java/Borneo to Sumatra. It doesn't require PP, plus some aussie troops from I Aus Corps, and III Corps from Malay, with the indian bgdes (airlifted with the L-18 lodestars plus some cats and fast runs of xAKLs, ). I made this at a PBEM, and when the game ended (october 1942), I had 1100 AV at Palembang, fortress 6 and near 7...VERY difficult of assault. 

Cool! [8D]
I did not know that you could airlift Restricted LCUs within their territory.
Why didn't you tell me two weeks ago!?!?! [:@]
[:D][:D][:D]

I'll certainly remember this for the next game. Really innovative strategy (to me at least [;)])

Thanks for sharing.

[DavidTheGreat]

you can airtransport them, you have some decent assts as allied player, the chinese have a decent DC 2 unit, the dutch have a few transports, and you can use several recon units for transport duty.

[Numdydar]

The actual fact is that the Dutch would have never abandoneded Java, 'the jewel of the east'. The political conquences of this would have been too severe and never even considered. This is why restrictions are placed on the Dutch so that everything cannot be withdrawn to Oz or anywhere else. So imho if you want to play a 'game' set in a WWII PTO setting these strategies are just fine. If you want to play a reasonable approximation of the realities of the historical period then these tactics are very 'gamey'.
 
Please do not bring up all the other items that touch the political reality of the period that are not modeled that would have a major impact on the game. These have been discussed to death in other threads. Remember I did say reasonable approximation  [:)]

[traskott]

Well, Java is the jewel, but re-deploying troops at Sumatra is not politically un-thinkable...

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: traskott

You can airlifting all the dutch troops from Java/Borneo to Sumatra. It doesn't require PP, plus some aussie troops from I Aus Corps, and III Corps from Malay, with the indian bgdes (airlifted with the L-18 lodestars plus some cats and fast runs of xAKLs, ). I made this at a PBEM, and when the game ended (october 1942), I had 1100 AV at Palembang, fortress 6 and near 7...VERY difficult of assault. 

You wouldn't believe the things one can do with airlift. I was amazed at what was being done with Amphibious PBY squadrons.....moving units in, then evac'ing them out. Unreal.

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: mc3744

ORIGINAL: Bill Durrant

Not that I play the Japanese side but I've always tried to stop them getting the fuel, resources and oil from Java as I thought this was their primary issue in invading and the longer I stall this the more it hurts them. In that case I defend the bases and not hide in the hills ...... or am I missing a bigger picture?

You are totally right, but if you hold an air base nearby you make his life much more difficult in shipping oil and resources back and forth. Hence you still achieve the goal of hindering his value chain.
You force him to protect every convoy or to kick you out.

Problem here is that unless one lunges to the fringe first, by the time air superiority is established or made contestable around Java, an industrious Player two has already convoyed out a huge swatch of fuel along with a ton of merchant shipping. Different subject but yeah.....i think that its also 'gamey' and don't do it when i'm player two. AE actually works great logistically when the "Suck the SRA dry" strategy is not employed to the max. I found in past game as Player two that shipping fuel from the US to the SoPac area to build up a reserve followed along fairly historical time tables allowing a decent amount of warships to operate in the Coral Sea area. (with some brief BB sorties though not recommended due to the expenditure). By around May 42, this was achieved.

However beginning the great fuel evac on Dec 8 throws the logistical balance out the window. I knew i could have 'supercharged' my logistic efforts by draining the SRA dry but didn't. Just didn't feel realistic to me. Only way to "counter" it that i know of is to either rush KB back from Pearl or not have it go to Pearl at all. Ultimately, I had KB lurking around Java for much of early 42 supporting landings and trying to disrupt the "mass Exodus" of convoys from Java to Oz. I once, back in dev days advocating severely reducing the fuel stockpiles for the SRA at game start. Felt this would help reduce the effect of "Operation Exodus" in future GC's. There are something like over a million fuel points sitting there between Singapore, Palembang, Batavia, and the Dutch capital of Java. (+ Manila)