Matrix Games Forums

I understand the need to keep the pressure up with your LBA. You seem to be doing well in Burma and forcing him to keep feeding that "meat grinder." [:D][:D]
I imagine that he will fight hard for Nothern Australia as that is the soft under belly to the resources of the SRA that he needs to protect.

I have the upper hand in the air over Burma since he attempted to fight it out over Akyab a week or so ago. He lost a ton of planes in one turn and since then I just have overwhelming numbers. Plus my first P47D's just went into action making things even worse there.

On the ground I know that he has at least 7 divisions and probably 8 commited to Burma. If he has to keep 4 divisions in Austrailia thats a lot of ground force commited away from the Pacific.

The China air war will start heating up shortly as I've converted my first I-16 squadren to the P40N's. Several of the SB units are already fighting with B25J's. So soon I will be attriting him here.

There is some air fighting in Alaska as well.

But once I take Lunga he will have to fight and I have unbelievable amounts of aircraft waiting for a base from which to fly.

24 April: Adak Island falls in Alaska. The extra RCT did the trick along with a big bombardment by 4 BB's. On the downside 3 BB's took minot to moderate damage from torpedoes. But Adak Island was the key. Soon it will be a level 5 airbase and I will dominate the Alutians.

30 April:

I'm launching a little faint toward Lunga. Jwilkerson thinks it's the real thing. I do have a bunch of transtports 2 hexes offshore and 200 carrier airctaft bombed Lunga so I see why. It was nice when 17 Betties appeared with light escort to be shot down by my 100 FM-2's. But this is just a test.

It's taking longer then I had hoped to build up the Santa Cruse Islands. I can remember people posting that airfields could be built up too easily by the allied player. I can put that myth to rest. I have over 600 engineer squads and 320 engineer vehicles at Nindi right now. It started out as a zero level airbase and is now at level one plus 38%. With all those engineers it is only going up by 3% per two day turn. I sneding even more engineers but I'm now considering not waiting for completion before landing at Lunga. But I wait and see how he reacts to my current faint.

Burma: I'm going to launch my second big deliberate attack tommorow. The last one was disappointing but my troops have recovered and I've been bombing him for another 3 weeks. His strength has dropped by 5000 troops in that time so I'll see how they do. I have rare partly cloudy weather so I hope to get a good bombing run in before the attack.

ORIGINAL: moses

It's taking longer then I had hoped to build up the Santa Cruse Islands. I can remember people posting that airfields could be built up too easily by the allied player. I can put that myth to rest. I have over 600 engineer squads and 320 engineer vehicles at Nindi right now. It started out as a zero level airbase and is now at level one plus 38%. With all those engineers it is only going up by 3% per two day turn. I sneding even more engineers but I'm now considering not waiting for completion before landing at Lunga. But I wait and see how he reacts to my current faint.

Apollo11 did some tests with engineer units and found out that there's a maximum number of useful engineer (vehicle) squads for every base:

#7
When constructing Airbase and/or Port object (and if their intended build values are above SPSs) I can't calculate the cost in time.

It is because there appear to be "diminishing returns"!!!

In other words you can put as many ENG squads you wish but construction speed can't be accelerated further after some number of MAX ENG squads (this is 100% different that it was when you build below SPS limitations)!

For the time being I can't determine/calculate/estimate those modifiers but it appears that MAX ENG squads allowed number is determined by overall size of SPS value!

For example if you have beach (i.e. "dot") HEX with SPS (0 - 0) and attempt to construct base there all ENG squads above 200 don't count at all (i.e. equivalent of 200 ENG squads will build that place at same speed as equivalent of 1000 ENG squads)!!!

Perhaps developers can help here - I am kindly asking for their help in this matter!

tm.asp?m=710121

Hmmm interesting tread. I knew I had remembered such a discussion about construction being too fast but I did not remember anything about engineer caps.

I guess it makes sence in a way. My little dot bases may not have realistically been able to even hold 600 engineer squads and 320 buldozers.

I really didn't want to invade Lunga until I could fly LRC from the Santa Cruise Islands. I plan to invade with 3 full divisions and it would be a disaster if his carriers showed up and sank the whole lot. I have a significant carrier force ( 3 CV and 5 CVL/CVE) but it cannot stand up if he concentrates KB.

But I hate to wait another 50 days.

Hmmm interesting tread. I knew I had remembered such a discussion about construction being too fast but I did not remember anything about engineer caps.

I guess it makes sence in a way. My little dot bases may not have realistically been able to even hold 600 engineer squads and 320 buldozers.

I really didn't want to invade Lunga until I could fly LRC from the Santa Cruise Islands. I plan to invade with 3 full divisions and it would be a disaster if his carriers showed up and sank the whole lot. I have a significant carrier force ( 3 CV and 5 CVL/CVE) but it cannot stand up if he concentrates KB.

But I hate to wait another 50 days.

you should be able to fly CAP missions. It was my understanding that no offensive missions can be flown from Level 1 AF. So while Sweeps are out...LRCAP should be allowed.

Crap!!! How long have I been playing this game?????? I guess I should read the manual!

I thought LRC required a level two. Can anyone else confirm this???

Ground combat at Akyab
Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 115956 troops, 976 guns, 1455 vehicles, Assault Value = 2817
Defending force 91821 troops, 605 guns, 21 vehicles, Assault Value = 1729

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 6
Allied max assault: 2822 - adjusted assault: 2951
Japanese max defense: 1229 - adjusted defense: 5145

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese ground losses--------------------Allied ground losses
554 casualties reported--------------------2841 casualties reported
Guns lost 8---------------------------------Guns lost 105, Vehicles lost 6

I'm making some progress I guess. His adjusted defence has come down quite a bit since the last attack. In fact it looks like a shock attack might just make 1-1 odds. But it would be a big risk.

So another two weeks of bombarding are in store.

ORIGINAL: moses

Crap!!! How long have I been playing this game?????? I guess I should read the manual!

Read the 'Must Read List' instead! [;)] tm.asp?m=1196495
In this case, it's the first thread in section II.D

I thought LRC required a level two. Can anyone else confirm this???

Confirmed: LRCAP needs only a level 1 air base.

Well what am I waiting for then!! Time to launch the invasion!!!!!!!!!!

6 May:

The great invasion force leaves Numea today for Lunga. 3 full divisions and an HQ. All fully prepped and ready. So actually I lost nothing by my confusion over the LRCAP. My last unit is actually at 92 no but will be at 100 by the landing.

5 BB's are in support bombarding plus my main carrier force and lots of ASW. From Santa Cruise Islands I will bring in 20-30 PT's via AK's to help out against surface forces. Also three little dot bases south of Lunga will be occupied by engineers to create seaplane bases.

I have subs ranging far and wide and there are no sign of carriers. There does not appear to be all that much force at Lunga. A naval guard unit and another small unit plus a base force. There are no mines. Should be easy right???

ORIGINAL: moses

6 May:

Should be easy right???

Right! And "the check is in the mail...."

8 May:

The invasion force moves to its staging position. Then on the 10th and 11th I move into position one hex off Lunga. Then surely he sees me and the die is cast.

At risk are 3 full divisions of infantry that I can ill afford to lose. Plus my carrier force.

I haven't a sniff of his carriers. Subs are everywhere but no hint. When I scroll over Rabaul/ Truk/Entewetauk it shows only a couple ships there. There are no anchors on any other local bases.

Maybe the carriers are all on R&R in Japan.

Good luck and may the Jap CVs remain far away. 
 
Remember the gloomy aftermath of your catastrophic carrier battles when all seemed lost?  Looks like you've turned the corner and are encroaching on JWilkerson's domain. 

I remember very well and I live in fear!!!!!! I don't know that I could stand another such defeat.

The game does a very good job of simulating the despair that goes with catastrophic defeat.

I worry constantly. What if I lose my carriers again!! I just couldn't stand it.

It's worse I think for Japanese players. Many just quit because losses just cannot be pshyclogically survived. It's to hard too deal with.

It's too hard sometimes. You just really need to be insane to play this stupid game!!!????

Moses,
 
If you want to use the 3 dot bases only as seaplane bases, wouldn't it be better to park AV/AVD there rather than engineers?  That way you reduce demands on resupplying those beaches, which IIRC have very limited potential for base facility expansion anyway.  Then you could deploy the engineers on Lunga to speed construction up.
 
Alfred

I could but I have so much supply and so many engineer units at this point that I might as well use them. Plus in those locations they are close at hand when I need them for other bases in the Solomons.

The utility of these bases depends on how much of a fight he puts up. It's possible I could get in a situation where using bombers from shortlands and Rabaul combined with surface bombardment and the occasional visit by KB, he is able to keep Lunga closed. Even worse is if the base does not fall quickly and I get in a protracted fight there a long way from air cover.

In that case I will want those bases built up to level one so that I can base fighters there and eventually tiurn the tide. Russell islands can be built up to level one quickly and eventually to level four. The others will take longer to get to level one so I want to start work immediately.

It looks to me as if Jwilkerson is not going to try and prevent a landing as no significant surface forces have been seen for months in the area. KB is probably sitting in Japan or somewhere equally safe like Saipan, Palau, Singapore just upgrading, repairing, and training. Once I land he will set sail and arrive in a couple weeks to stop any progress I might be having.

In the meantime how many Betty's/Nell's do you think he can send out of Rabaul??? I wouldn't be surprised if 4 or 5 hundred bombers started hitting Lunga daily. How many bombers are in his pool?? thousands??? So if he just keeps pounding Lunga and I can never get an airbase operating how can I ultimately gain control.

I think I need those tinsey airbases. Anyway those are my thoughts.

In the meantime how many Betty's/Nell's do you think he can send out of Rabaul??? I wouldn't be surprised if 4 or 5 hundred bombers started hitting Lunga daily. How many bombers are in his pool?? thousands??? So if he just keeps pounding Lunga and I can never get an airbase operating how can I ultimately gain control.

Betty's are pathetic when it comes to closing down AF's. They only carry 2x250kg bombs (at all ranges) when attacking airfields. In my PBEM, my oppenant had to move every single Betty to Rabual inorder to close down PM. Even then with, a decent number of engineers it only took one day to repair the damage from the Betty strikes, when the Bettys spent a turn going after shipping instead of the PM airfield.

Maybe but how are they at chasing away my surface force?? If I cannot maintain a surface force at Lunga, how do I prevent naval bombardments which very definately can close the airfield.

I'm just trying to plan for what he will be trying to do to me. Maybe I will take the island and establish air superiority without difficulty. But I don't think it's a given.