Rookie AAR

[Leandros]

BBF wrote: Re: finding the enemy TFs, Naval Search is absolutely essential to pinpoint the enemy TF location and composition so that a successful attack can
be made. Unless you have the enemy pinpointed during the night the morning air phase is usually taken up by search looking for them and, if found, the attacks
tend to be in the afternoon.

I understand that but how is the “morning” and “afternoon” differentiated?

BBF wrote: I usually set my DB on Naval Attack but use the section below that to set 20% Search. Sometimes the search aircraft will return in time to take
part in the strike. Sometimes the search aircraft will attack by themselves after they radio their contact report - this happens a lot with submarine sightings.
It is good to also have PBYs doing search to assist your TFs. Many players have noted that search beyond 12 hex range tends to be ineffective, and will increase
the chance of ops losses to your patrol aircraft. Its all part of the huge learning curve for this game! ..

I’m not sure I understand this completely. If one part of the squadron is set to 20% search, what happens to the rest of it? How are they tasked – and when?

BBF wrote: For the Malta operations the RN had to assemble several carriers - one or two to bring the fly-in aircraft and one or two to provide CAP on the
way in. With Enterprise gone and Yorktown damaged, Lexington cannot carry significant land based fighter numbers plus have her own air group. Add to that the
consideration that the Japanese have very long range naval torpedo bombers in the Betty and Nell which can put the Lexington in danger long before it can launch the ferried aircraft. Then there are the very strong surface combat forces, especially those with the big, fast heavy cruisers. My take is that the situation between DEI and Philippines is much more risky that the Med where at least the RN still commanded the seas.

Well, this is a subject in itself so I won’t go into it.

BBF wrote: There are some game nods to aircraft assembly times. Putting them on a simple "Transport" TF means they are disassembled and crated, and take
about three days to reassemble. Putting them on an xAK in an "Air Transport" TF means they are not disassembled, but are tied on deck and covered, probably
drained of fuel. These take one or two days to put into operation.
Putting them on an AKV in an "Air Transport" TF means they are stored intact below deck, some of them slung from the overhead beams to use the space. These are
ready to go the turn after they unload.

Good info – I understand it better now.

Fred

[Leandros]

wdolson wrote: Not only do TFs need to be found with air search, but whether an attack is launched or not depends on the local commanders. If the commanders
are poor and timid, they will be more reluctant to go after well defended targets. Aggressive commanders will go after well defended targets, but losses will
likely be very high and results will probably be poor. In the early going IJN 1st line fighters and their pilots are better than any Allied pilots except possibly
the AVG and all Allied fighters.

Your divination seems to come true – it’s just that I don’t know it yet….[;)]

Fred

[Leandros]

jmalter wrote: Dunno where exactly 'Donggela Bay' is, but CV/CVL airgroups are hampered by 50% if they're flying from a TF located in a base hex.

OK, that was not the case, though…
Dongguela Bay is the name I gave (!) to the bay east of Dongguela – on the narrowest part of Celebes…just to pinpoint the TF. It may be wrong.

jmalter wrote: When a ship is heavily damaged, you must immediately change its TF to 'cruise speed', & change its destination to a nearby port. Even if the
damaged ship has been auto-transferred to an EscortTF, you must manually change the TF speed to 'cruise', otherwise the TF will accrue add'l damage as it attempts
to escape.

That is good advice. I’ll remember that!

jmalter wrote: wrt Attack settings from CV TF airgroups, Recon is useless against naval targets. In early-war, a USN CV has 2 dive-bomber groups. When the
TF is moving in for a strike operation, each DB group should be set to Naval Attack, altitude 10-15k', w/ 20-30% set to Search. Leave the search-angles alone,
unless you've got a very specific target in view, & have nearby patrol-plane search to assure that your flanks are covered.

OK, I shall try to implement all the various info received here. Thank you!

Fred

[Leandros]

January 16th.

1. Another three heavy days! The Japanese continue to lose carrier planes but at what cost to us! During their rampage around the south-east coast of Celebes
they have sent USN DD’s Benham and Stewart and several freighters in Ambon harbor to the bottom of the sea.

2. I have flown off Lexington’s fighters, VB and VT planes to Ambon and sent her south to Brisbane to pick up P-40’s.

3. I’m transferring the 139-bombers from Bandjermasin to Kendari to get a better shot at the enemy carrier force.

4. The C-47 flight has started transferring the two Aussie Commando companies from Menado to Mindanao. It’s going quite well.

5. Supplies and fuel in the Visayas and Mindanao are negligible.

6. The enemy has landed regiment-sized forces in Cotabato and Oroqueta, west of Cagayan. The last supported by a CL. CA Houston and DD Pillsbury, both quite
damaged, are in Cagayan. Jolo has been heavily reinforced, too. Only viable naval forces left in the PI are the submarines which are achieving little, and a PT and
DD force in Zamboanga.

7. The British defenders of Mersing have been cut off by a Japanese force landing south of them, next to Singapore. Not long now.

8. Airfields in Menado, Ambon and Namlea are quite crowded and planes fly less and less. Need to pull some back. Planning for Koepang and Kendari.

Fred

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

For the Malta operations the RN had to assemble several carriers - one or two to bring the fly-in aircraft and one or two to provide CAP on the way in.

warspite1

Hey BBfanboy, I think you over-estimate the number of carriers we had available for such operations!! [;)] Typically Argus and/or Furious would ferry aircraft from the UK to Gibraltar.

There was often just the one carrier (Ark Royal) and sometimes a second carrier (Furious) that made the transfers and provided their own CAP at the same time!

There may have been one or two exceptions - indeed USS Wasp provided the ferry service on a couple of occasions [&o] after Ark Royal was torpedoed (I think once on her own and another time with Eagle(?).

As you rightly say though, in terms of the Pacific situation, flying off well to the west of Malta was not the same as trying to reinforce the P.I with all the Japanese air and surface forces around!

[warspite1]

Leandros - I am enjoying this AAR by the way. Keep up the good work [:)]

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Leandros
I understand that but how is the “morning” and “afternoon” differentiated?

The turn has three phases: night, morning, and afternoon. An air unit can fly morning and afternoon, though if they are tasked with a longer range or high fatigue mission, they will only fly once. Whether or not they fly both phases is determined by a whole bunch of randoms.

Naval strikes often happen in the afternoon because the search planes usually find the targets in the morning.

I’m not sure I understand this completely. If one part of the squadron is set to 20% search, what happens to the rest of it? How are they tasked – and when?

They fly whatever other missions they are assigned, unless that is also search. So a unit set to naval attack with 20% search will use 20% of its aircraft for searching and reserve the other 80% to attack any ships found by the searching planes, or other searching planes. There is a bit of a higher likelihood planes will fly a naval attack if the target is found by their own search aircraft.

Bill

[Leandros]

ORIGINAL: wdolson
They fly whatever other missions they are assigned, unless that is also search. So a unit set to naval attack with 20% search will use 20% of its aircraft for
searching and reserve the other 80% to attack any ships found by the searching planes, or other searching planes. There is a bit of a higher likelihood planes will fly a naval attack if the target is found by their own search aircraft.

Bill

OK, I think I've got it now. I've probably searched in a too narrow area as the day after they've usually been in a very different place.

Fred

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Leandros

ORIGINAL: wdolson
They fly whatever other missions they are assigned, unless that is also search. So a unit set to naval attack with 20% search will use 20% of its aircraft for
searching and reserve the other 80% to attack any ships found by the searching planes, or other searching planes. There is a bit of a higher likelihood planes will fly a naval attack if the target is found by their own search aircraft.

Bill

OK, I think I've got it now. I've probably searched in a too narrow area as the day after they've usually been in a very different place.

Fred

Some players think the code for setting specific search arcs is borked, even though it was supposedly fixed in the last few updates of the game. The fact seems to be that if you do NOT set an arc for the search, the aircraft seem to find enemy TFs more reliably than if you set the arc. The bonus is that you have some comfort knowing they have checked your back too! Caveat - search is not perfect and any TF can be hidden by weather. And the accuracy of search reports is greatly affected by the Nav Search skills of the pilots ... e.g. a pilot with poor skills might report a group of your own ships as enemy, or see a tanker and call it a CV!

[Mike McCreery]

When you set a search arc you will notice that part is blue and part is green. You can set searches clockwise and counter clockwise. An arc that is small enough will show up as black.

It is my understanding that blue means morning, green means afternoon and black means the planes will attempt to fly both phases.

By manipulating the arcs you can determine what phase your planes search a particular area.

[Leandros]

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

When you set a search arc you will notice that part is blue and part is green. You can set searches clockwise and counter clockwise. An arc that is small enough will show up as black.

It is my understanding that blue means morning, green means afternoon and black means the planes will attempt to fly both phases.

By manipulating the arcs you can determine what phase your planes search a particular area.

Thank you, guys. It's possible I create a lot of extra work for you because I do not have the latest version or update....[&:]

Fred

[Leandros]

January 17th

1. An eventful day! The Japanese landing at Oroquiete, west of Cagayan, was interrupted by a nightly bombardment by PT’s and 2 DD’s from Zamboanga and a very
much reduced CA Houston and DD from Cagayan. As soon as the USN force withdrew the enemy landings were renewed. Oroquite is now in Japanese hands. Houston is
withdrawing to Butuan.

2. The 102nd PA inf.reg. is advancing on Davao from north-east (Butuan). II/102nd is defending Malaybalay on Route 1 to Cagayan.

3. The Japanese have landed at Calapan, Mindoro.

4. The Japanese have landed outside Menado. Presently their invasion force seems too weak but there is another transport TF in the Celebes Sea, heading west.
I need to consider withdrawing the air forces south. Sending them to the PI shall cut them off if Menado falls.

5. The IJN carrier force is still lingering in Donggela Bay, 3 CV’s with 5 BB’s…(!). The extensive air operations planned against it yesterday seem to have
missed it completely. Trying again tomorrow. Their planes created havoc in and outside Menado harbor sinking DD’s Alden, Edsall and John D. Edwards and damaging
CA Chester. No confirmed Japanese sinkings.

6. Damaged CL Perth sank outside Rockhampton on her way to Sydney.

7. 2 AP’s with the 2nd Marine Brigade onboard have now entered The Arafura Sea – destination Ambon. Two days behind is the 161st Infantry. Arranging for strong
escort, it’s a gamble to take them to Ambon as long as that enemy CV force is in the vicinity. If it doesn’t go away I shall probably have to reroute them
somewhere else.

Fred

[BBfanboy]

It's a shame about CL Perth - useful ship with a good commander.
Seems to me you may have been able to save her if you knew a bit more about managing damage. She should not have been headed for Sydney if she had potentially fatal damage. Here are the rules of thumb that I use:

- the 75 rule: if floatation damage plus system damage equals 75, the ship should get to the nearest safe port to have the crew reduce the damage as much as they can. Even if the port is only safe for a couple of turns they can reduce some of the minor floatation or system damage before moving on.

- the speed rule: if floatation damage is above 40, set her at cruise speed to reduce the chances of it increasing (pressure on bulkheads/patches and all that)

-the assistance at sea rule: if there are less damaged ships available to put in the Escort TF they can help with damage control, especially fires. It is also good to have an undamaged DD to watch for subs. And if they can be spared good AA ships are a bonus in the Escort TF

- the disbandment rule - the ship's complement cannot all do damage control (DC) and the port cannot help much unless the ship is stood down. Standing down to pierside repair gives a better chance of dealing with floatation damage, but if a fire is raging the port will not let the ship dock and it may be better to have it stay in a TF with other ships. Keep in mind that trying to return to readiness status (available to put in a TF) when repairs are not complete will require 3 days. Keep this in mind if the port could come under enemy attack soon.

- the safe-to-move rule: when floatation damage + system damage < 40 it is usually safe to move them at mission speed to a shipyard port.

There is an excellent primer by Alfred on damage control and repairs in the War Room Forum, but you need to play for a while to understand all the things it talks about. For now, it is advisable to ask your AAR readers for advice about critical ship damage when it happens.

[Leandros]

Thank you, BBF - excellent info as always. Actually, I had put it on cruise speed but it's a long way to Sydney.....

Fred

[jmalter]

hi Fred,

This game is all about Supply & Fuel, distributed to where it's needed. Oil & Resources are also v. important to an IJ player, less so to the Allies - though I'll note that Oz needs Oil, & Pearl needs Resources, to keep their industry producing Supply.

Industry can get damaged by attacks, so look at Pearl to see if its Shipyard suffered damage on 7Dec41. Set its Repair to ON. Other bases under Allied control might start the game w/ damaged Industry, & areas under attack might suffer damage. The game wants to repair damage, so it's important to look at the Industry screen (hotkey J) from time to time. A base can repair 1 point of each damaged industry per day, provided it has at least 10k Supply points on hand, + 1k Supply points for each repair.

Look at your China Industry, & turn Repair OFF for all damaged Industry, do the same for all Dutch & Phillipine Industries. 1000 Supply points are more useful for defense. A repaired Heavy Industry point will produce 2 Supply points per day, so it takes 500 days to break even on the cost of repair. A Light Industry point needs 1000 days to justify its repair cost.

Likewise, look at your base construction. Each Engr point (an Engr Vehicle = 5 Engr points) spends 1 Supply point per day/night phase to repair or build base facilities. Only Engrs in a Combat-mode LCU can repair or build. Engrs will always attempt to repair base facilities (in order of Runway, then Airfield facilities, then Port facilities) before they will attend to new construction of Forts or Air/Port expansion. Damage-repair takes priority over new construction.

If a base's defenses aren't strong enough to prevent add'l damage, & it doesn't have enough supplied Engrs to make the needed repairs each day, that's a sure sign that the base is circling the drain. If a base is under attack, it should try to build Forts.

Spending effort & supply to build Port & Airbase capacity at a threatened base is unwise - if the base falls to the enemy, you've made a gift.

[Leandros]

Thank you, JM!

Fred

[Leandros]

January 19th 1942.

1. Heavy air attacks on Ambon again today - Vals and Kates! 7 Aussie, Dutch and British
transports sunk in and around the harbor. DD’s Maury and Gridley and 2 transports are on fire in
Ambon harbor. DD Jarvis is south of Ambon struggling to make Darwin (on “cruise speed”…).

2. 3 Marus sunk by USN subs in Gulf of Davao and Jolo. There are 6 of our subs in and outsid
e the Gulf of Davao. Had expected better results from this. No own naval losses.

3. The KB was moving toward SE, just south of Loewok, Celebes, yesterday. Closing Ambon? Not
many targets left there, though.

4. I have transferred part of 17th and 20th FS back to Bataan (4 P-40E’s and 4 P-40B’s).
They’re putting their airfields in great shape there and establishing an air-warning system. Plenty
of fuel and munitions, too.

5. 29 Kendari-based 139-bombers and 28 SBD’s are planned to look for the KB today, together
with 12 SBD’s from Ambon and 6 from Menado.

6. I’m assembling all auxiliaries and damaged ships in the area north of Mindanao, Surigao
Strait, to try to have them escape south.

7. A Japanese transport convoy has been moving slowly eastward towards Palau the last couple
of days. Reduced speed due to damage? Sending out 4 PBY’s from Sorong to investigate and attack.

8. Trying to get the British and Dutch to venture out east of Singapore to draw the KB
westwards. Maybe bombarding the enemy transport TF’s in Kuching. They’re surely waiting there
for Singapore to fall to get at Sumatra.

9. The Japanese have landed in Lae, New Guinea. There’s a fight on. Kavieng is still in
Australian hands.

10. Many units are ready on the West Coast to be shipped off but a lack of transports now.
A couple of dozen are on their way up from Panama and there’s a constant stream of returning ones
from west.

11. The Japanese bomber formations attacking targets in Malaya and Luzon seem to have a
diminishing numbers of planes. If our claims are anything near real they must have lost hundreds of
Bettys, Sallys and Nells.

Fred

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: jmalter

hi Fred,

This game is all about Supply & Fuel, distributed to where it's needed. Oil & Resources are also v. important to an IJ player, less so to the Allies - though I'll note that Oz needs Oil, & Pearl needs Resources, to keep their industry producing Supply.

Industry can get damaged by attacks, so look at Pearl to see if its Shipyard suffered damage on 7Dec41. Set its Repair to ON. Other bases under Allied control might start the game w/ damaged Industry, & areas under attack might suffer damage. The game wants to repair damage, so it's important to look at the Industry screen (hotkey J) from time to time. A base can repair 1 point of each damaged industry per day, provided it has at least 10k Supply points on hand, + 1k Supply points for each repair.

Look at your China Industry, & turn Repair OFF for all damaged Industry, do the same for all Dutch & Phillipine Industries. 1000 Supply points are more useful for defense. A repaired Heavy Industry point will produce 2 Supply points per day, so it takes 500 days to break even on the cost of repair. A Light Industry point needs 1000 days to justify its repair cost.

Likewise, look at your base construction. Each Engr point (an Engr Vehicle = 5 Engr points) spends 1 Supply point per day/night phase to repair or build base facilities. Only Engrs in a Combat-mode LCU can repair or build. Engrs will always attempt to repair base facilities (in order of Runway, then Airfield facilities, then Port facilities) before they will attend to new construction of Forts or Air/Port expansion. Damage-repair takes priority over new construction.

If a base's defenses aren't strong enough to prevent add'l damage, & it doesn't have enough supplied Engrs to make the needed repairs each day, that's a sure sign that the base is circling the drain. If a base is under attack, it should try to build Forts.

Spending effort & supply to build Port & Airbase capacity at a threatened base is unwise - if the base falls to the enemy, you've made a gift.

Great advice jmalter - the relationship between supply and repair is important to know and manage.
A couple of things to add:

1. There is an exception to the requirement for engineers to do repairs - airfield runways can be repaired by ANY troops, albeit slower than engineers can do it. I have had HQ troops slowly repair runways that were damaged by partisans or my own bombardments before I took the base. Just put them in Combat mode and they will grab a shovel.

2. I thought I read that in the last update of the game that supply is NOT used up by doing repairs, but the base must have supply to be able to repair. New construction still does use supply. If my recollection is wrong someone please jump in.
Leandros, since you are playing of game disks they could have been sitting on the shelf for years or they could have been burned with the latest game version before they were sent to you. You can find the version they gave you in the "Preferences" window - second button from the left at the top of the screen. Since this affects some of the advice offered, please report it here.

[BBfanboy]

Re: sub attacks: several factors will combine to make sub results disappointing early on:

- the newer USN subs using the Mark 14 torpedo will have a 90% average dud rate. This improves a bit in early 1943 and again mid-1943.

- some of the sub skippers at game start have horrible Naval Skill and Aggression stats. It costs some PP but if you want your subs to close with the enemy and get hits, you need Naval Skill 65+ and Aggression 60+. It should be over 70 on both counts but there are not enough skippers with those stats early on.

- subs do not have radar so their field of detection of enemy TFs is small, and affected by weather. They can be in the same hex and not detect the enemy

- Japanese combat TFs with cruisers or carriers have ASW or Nav Search patrols that force the sub to submerge and make interception unlikely. Same goes for troop transport convoys which are often covered by aircraft.

- Japanese advances push your sub bases back from the shipping lanes

You can bring AS ships (sub tenders) up closer to the front to arm and repair minor damage on subs at smaller bases. Don't put them at bases the enemy can reach with LBA - they are sitting ducks when disbanded in port.

Consider using the USN fleet subs for minelaying missions (refits will remove this capability for many of them in 1942) or for hauling supply to beleaguered garrisons.

If you use the US fleet boats on Sub Patrol missions too, take solace that every missed/dud attack is building crew experience toward the time when they get working torps.

[BBfanboy]

About the slow transport convoy you spotted - it might have damaged ships or it could have some very short range ships like AMcs in it that have to draw fuel from the bigger ones every couple of turns. This uses operations points which reduces the amount of movement the convoy can do.

Re: the lack of transports in the USA - take a look at Aden for transports. Don't strip them all out, there are quite a few British and Australian units arriving in Aden in early 1942, including air units. You should be able to send about 1/3 of the ships at Aden elsewhere.