Going down in flames - BlitzimX(A) vs. Hoplosternum (J) - Allied Side

[RangerJoe]

Nope, I mean the UK to Cape Town. The UK gets some free supplies as well.

The UK and the EC runs to Cape Town are a good place to put your APs and AKs early so you won't lose them. Bring them on the map before the invasions, maybe even wait until the upgrade to APAs and AKAs before any big invasions.

[BlitzimX]

Shame on me, i absolutly never thought of running Convoys from the UK. However what is the advantage of it? It seems as far as the EC, and i've never really ran out of dock space in the EC.

[BlitzimX]

December 20th

This day is marked with two very, very worrying reports:



If those sightings are accurate, despite absolutly no ship showing up in my map, that means that the Japanese managed to slip a fleet right under the dense patrol net i have in the area, away from my patroling fleets. If this is indeed the invasion of CI, i am in serious troubles given the troops on their way here are still far away. I could pull back my fleet full speed as a safety, but doing so opens up the gate for an invasion of Baker island and Canton. However given the weaker strategic value of those two, i think Christmas is more important. 4 ships still seems a little small, but given the weak force on the island it could be more than enough.

For the other report, it's easy, i got nothing nearby. However ,i very very hightly doubt he has a fleet so far south, given he hasn't even started making progress in the Area. The closest base he has is Ocean island, and i got patrols flying over it everyday. No sign of ship.


In the rest of the world:

An AVP has been sunk right when sailing out of San Diego despite the ASW patrols and the 2 DDs escorting it. As we'd say, very bad luck.

----
In the Indian Ocean i completly messed up my speeds and a convoy from CT ends up on the map with no fuel in the middle of nowhere. I send a transport to refuel it, hopefully it will be safe from subs.

----
As discussed from the last posts, i disabled the Industry repairs in Shangsha, but left them in the capital.

----
The last troop convoy from Singapore reached Calculta and unloaded a big chunk of the Indian IIIrd Corps. they'll stay here for now.
In the meantime, the 45th Indian brigade unloads on Port Blair as a rather potent garrison.
More convoys will also leave Indian ports for Rangoon.

[RangerJoe]

Sometimes your planes will report your fleets as enemy fleets.

No special advantage to taking the supplies from the UK but there are there so you might as well haul them out. Until you are on the offensive plus have lots of escorts, your ships are safe in off map convoys.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Sometimes your planes will report your fleets as enemy fleets.

No special advantage to taking the supplies from the UK but there are there so you might as well haul them out. Until you are on the offensive plus have lots of escorts, your ships are safe in off map convoys.

Not just your own ships - pods of dolphins become enemy fleets! This happened IRL too, so the game emulates it with any pilots having low NavS skill. In my first games I chased all those sightings until it became clear that most of them were bogus.

Same with SIGINT hits about radio traffic - often from friendly forces or completely mis-plotted coordinates (like the enemy TF in the middle of North America). So I look at both Ops report lines about sightings and radio detection, then do the same for SIGINT report and only go after or avoid the ones that have corroborating intel in the same area.

[RangerJoe]

I wonder how many whales were attacked by depth charges?

An Army bomber pilot attacked a Japanese cruiser and reported that it sank within seconds, definitely within half a minute. He was chewed out because he attacked a US submarine which crash dived - I think that it was the USS Grayling. The submarine sank but it came up again later - all on its own!

[CaptBeefheart]

I've come to the conclusion that if there's no IJN fleet on the map, then the sighting report is bogus. I also figure the coastwatchers are more often than not on psychedelic toad secretions or whatever hallucinogenics they have available in those climes. Anyway, I wouldn't sweat those two Catalina sightings.

Cheers,
CB

[BlitzimX]

If something happens, you will have to live with the death of those sailors and soldiers! :p

Also what i didn't state in my turn was that i started doing some small bombing run in China on unprotected units (especialy Naning, currently under attack) with my Medium bombers, from 11K. Not much result, but i can't blame it given the pilots' skills.

[RangerJoe]

There are results although you may not see it - yet! Supply consumption goes up 10%, fatigue and disruption is increased.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: BlitzimX

If something happens, you will have to live with the death of those sailors and soldiers! :p

Also what i didn't state in my turn was that i started doing some small bombing run in China on unprotected units (especialy Naning, currently under attack) with my Medium bombers, from 11K. Not much result, but i can't blame it given the pilots' skills.

IJA units usually have very weak AA at game start- most commonly 7.7mm AAMGs that have a ceiling of 2000 feet. If you still own Nanning, drop your bombing altitude to 3000 feet. If Japan controls it, use 7000 feet to avoid balloons.

[BlitzimX]

December 21st

Quite a lot of bases felt today : Kuantan,Kuching,Madan,Singkawang and Taiping. The Java/Singapore link, and basicaly most of the Java sea, is going to be hostile soon enough when those planes start bombing the area. Time to finish retreating valued ships in the area to brighter grounds.

Bombing runs on Singapore have also started. 40 Zero sweeping followed by about 30 bombers. Luckily, my Buffalos are on CAP duty at night, so they don't get slaughtered by the sweep. Only one destroyed by the bombing. I think it's time they also pull back to India. Troops in Mersing and Kluong are not seen moving to we still have a fews days to build up the forts. That is a good news as i'm a bit behind on Fort construction, only about to reach level 3.

Near Wake, the F4F squadron finally made its way to Big E, which will come back home with her sisters for a week or two. After that i think i will wait for the Yorktown to arrive, and then split them between 2 TFs to send one in SoPaC. A transport is also on its way to try and pick part of Wake's troops.

In Canton, i think I will pull back the Base unit here, since the base is almost guarantied to fall and can operate some PBYs with just an AVD. I will transfer the troops to Esperitu Santo to start building up the base, or Noumea as an additional boost. The issue with ES is that for now i don't have anything to garrison it with, so it may be just a net loss to build it up now, when the res of the islands are not even consolidated.

Near Sand Diego, i have a Sub problem; a pesky intruder has already sunk 2 TK in addition to the AVD, and i can't manage to locate it despite the sea and air ASW patrols. And it's right in the path of the convoys leaving the area, i can't get around.

Near Adak Island, i made a mistake by picking only big transports which can't dock to the level 1 port; as a result, quite a big traffic jam, with some units unable to finish unloading. I need to wait for the fuel and supply convoy to come so we can start upgrading the port. And of course i can't pull some of the transports back to Dutch Harbor to wait , since they're out of fuel. Quite a bad coordination effort on my part. I also think that's what we are going to witness near Christmas Island.

[RangerJoe]

Get some ships with fuel to Adak and have those refuel your transports so they can make it to Dutch Harbor to unload. Then use AKls to make the transfer.

[BlitzimX]

Yup, that's already underway. The supply and fuel convoy was just a few days behind and should reach the island in 2 or 3 days; i have an AO and a YO inside it to help refueling operations, since Adak is going to be a major base. I'm also not taking any chances and in addition to the INF division, i'm sending a CD unit to bolster the defenses.

[RangerJoe]

You don't need the oilers at the port, any tanker with fuel will do the job.

[BlitzimX]

December 22nd

Major point of the day, the KB has finally reappeared near Rabaul. The bad news is that it did reappear, but not on the correct side...



They clearly pulled out a sneaky on us, finding the only gap in my search areas to slip passed the Solomons. They already bombed the Cambera near Rabaul, but fortunatly the 5 bombs did barely anything. The situation is a bit tensed. I'm pretty sure i'll have some losses here, but luckily enough one of my TF has not been spoted. I intend on throwing the Western one (CA Lousville and CL Adelaide) against the invasion force incoming from the north. As for the other TF (CA CAmberra, CL Perth and DD Voyager), i'll book it to the East at full speed. I don't want to engage the CV Tfs, given the distance and they fact they will surely reverse away from the TF. I may try it catch it later.

The Australia will get away from the area and trie to rejoin the Camberra group later.

The worst part is that i did have some PBY on patrol in the area, but without AVD they quickly ran out of planes, leaving this giant gap in my defense.

I am however a bit sceptic with those CTF sizes. Eitheir the reports are clearly flawed, OR he has splited some of his CVs and sent them somewhere else to play. The aircraft count which attacked the Camberra was also very small, so i'm rather certain it's not the full KB down here.

----
In China, we had quite a nice bombing run against troops in Nanyang, though the altitude maaaay be a bit low. All the damaged Bombers have been repaired already anyway so it was nothing but minor scratches.

Morning Air attack on 1st Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 85,45 (Nanyang)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
DB-3M x 6

Allied aircraft losses
DB-3M: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
122 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x DB-3M bombing from 3000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 100 kg GP Bomb
3 x DB-3M bombing from 3000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 100 kg GP Bomb

----

Business as usual for the rest of the world, nothing major to report appart from the loss of Manado, Lucena and Beaufort. Air attacks against Bataan and Singapore are more and more intense.

We also saw the first action in Manilla, but the city should fall in a day or two.

Ground combat at Manila (79,77)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 18859 troops, 199 guns, 67 vehicles, Assault Value = 799

Defending force 12204 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 170

Allied ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

[Bif1961]

The KB uses it's Romulan cloaking device and magically appears out of the nothingness in the Coral sea.

[RangerJoe]

You could also fly in a few air support squads and some supplies from an air headquarters.

Also, do not forget night searches.

[BlitzimX]

December 23rd

Well, saying that my little operation in the Salomon is a desaster is an understatement.

Not only did we not caught the transport TF which was just ONE hex away, which managed to slip by our forces and land in Lae, but the CVs caught both our task forces and had a feast with them.

As a result, we lost the CA Louisville and CL the Adelaide, and the Camberra is suffering a 74 Float damage. To save her two other group mate i will leave her to her fate, while the two others book out of the area.

It also seems that part of the CVs are starting a little tour of Australia/SoPac, which is annoying given all the traffic i have in the area, including troops unloading near Noumea.




Most of the other ships sunk were already damaged and couldn't leave Manilla, since they kept getting bombed.


Suffise to say this day has been bloody also on the ground.

Ground combat at Manila (79,77)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24190 troops, 212 guns, 221 vehicles, Assault Value = 801

Defending force 12213 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 169

Japanese adjusted assault: 598

Allied adjusted defense: 111

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Manila !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
189 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
5473 casualties reported
Squads: 57 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 167 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 30 (20 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 7

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Nanyang (85,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 85364 troops, 765 guns, 114 vehicles, Assault Value = 2479

Defending force 37775 troops, 151 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 919

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 2129

Allied adjusted defense: 406

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Nanyang !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1423 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 66 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 35 disabled
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6872 casualties reported
Squads: 531 destroyed, 176 disabled
Non Combat: 595 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 76 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 61 (50 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Units retreated 6

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

I seriously thought Nanyang would hold longer, but i guess that as a Plain hex, i didn't hold much chance.


Overall i think i'm still way too much in a "vs AI" mode and too diligent with my assets. I think also some misunderstanding on some game mecanics, more so on how patrols and movement phases work. I put my ships on patrol with the second point away from the action to have them out of range, but they ended up sitting in the middle of the straight, not only half way there (or maybe they already did one back and forth, and stoped here). The fact my oponent also gave me some calmer days made me too confident, and at the first oportunity i got punished for it. Now it's a mater of saving my southern shipping. Hopefully he won't push too much down to Brisbane or Sydney, but i doubt it. The worst would be to carry on to Perth, where all my shipping from Java are clustered, waiting to unload in Pert/Albany before being despatched to CT or the rest of Australia (I managed to save all dutch ARDs).

The downside is that i'm now ultra carefull and even more reticent to engage forces. With that i'm afraid to fall for the trap of overly retreating and leaving him everything open for grab. Definetly a new experience from the AI. As a consolation prize, at least i know now where his full KB is, which means the rest of the Pacific is more or less safe for now.

-----------

For the rest of the world, all work in Adak are slowed down because my Tanker TF gets slowed down by a YO which slows it down to just 1 Hex per turn. I don't really understand why since all the other ships have plenty of fuel to carry her out. But it's getting urgent so i leave her with an escort ship, while the rest get to their destination. I'm not sure why it does that, since usualy TFs which refuel smaller ranged ships under way don't slow down that much.

I buy the first DIV of the 41st Infantry Rgt, which embarks in Easter US for India. Quite a whil ebefore the rest can follow, but it's a good start. They'll finish consolidating in India.

[BlitzimX]

December 24th

We kick out this Christmas Eve with a report from sailor James Curton, onboard the HMAS Perth.

Who would have thought my first taste of battle and death would have been on Christmas day, on a ship lost somewhere near the Solomons. There is a general saying going on around here : It's not the wits or military genius of your oponent that gets you killed, it's how much crap and nasty trick your commander can pull out of their ass to get you in trouble. And that's what happened.

The Camberra had no chance of survival. After we escaped the first assault from the Japs, with a few damages on the stern and a few compartments, it was clear the old girl with us wouldn't get back home. The Admiral was still willing to try, and after transfering most of the crew to our ship and the Voyager, only a handfull of men stayed on the Heavy cruiser to try and save her. We were getting pretty crowded in here, with the survivors we picked from the Louisville and the Adelaid a bit earlier, and we all knew those men would not see the lights of Brisbane again, or whatever bush lost town they happened to come from.

But they accepted their fate, and as we slipped away to the north, hoping to join Java before the fuel ran out, or the japs caught us, we could only see the silouette of the smoking, listing ship shrinking and desappearing behind the horizon. Like a promess of what awaited us all for the weeks to come, maybe only destined to end up down under.

The Camberra was finished ten hours later by 5 Japanese bombs, leaving no known survivors.

-----------------------------

So yeah, didn't have much hope for the Camberra, which was sunk on the very next day.



From what i can see, given the distance covered, the CVs are sailing at Full speed and don't intend to get around Australia, yet. They mostly clear the area for the invasion of Rabaul and other islands, which are already under way with troops deploying in Buna and Lae.

I wanted to pay the Marshalls a little visit with my CVs, but given the rather hectic path of the enemy CVs, i'm going to hold back until i know where he will commit. My subs located some juicy targets in the area, on weakly protected islands.

----

In China, i decide to retreat the big 26th Group army north of Ichang behind the river and closer to my lines. I won't attempt an invasion of Ichang, and better move them out now than wait later where they won't be of good use. It's quite a strong force to use on the defense.
Given the speed of the Japanese progress on the Northern flank, i won't take the risk of moving them there, given the distances to cover.

----

I managed to save all the P40Es from the PI, and they're on their way to Australia via ship transport. They will be unloaded at Darwin.

Other than this, it was a very short turn so nothing else important to report.

[BBfanboy]

That unit north-northwest of Port Moresby is marching toward swamp which will be very slow going too. If it does not have too many miles invested, consider marching it southeast along the ridge and then to PM. You have to beat the Japanese units that will be coming from Buna. If you have a Regiment or so from PM that you can spare, getting to that dot hex in the mountains would be a good defensive position to resist the Japanese. If the troops there get defeated the only place to retreat to would be PM anyway.

The Japanese will likely target Rabaul next, so put your sub in the hex NW of that base. If the defence there is very weak, consider flying out some of the units via Catalinas unless KB is LRCAPing the base. APDs and Transport Subs are also good for retrieving troops in danger using the "Pick Up Troops" mission (which only appears after you set the destination base for the TF).

None of these options may be available to you just now, but keep them in mind for other areas likely in the path of IJ conquest so that you can move troops that have no chance to resist a strong landing but could be valuable further back for air support, engineers or concentrated strength.