WITP AE AAR Feb 09 Cathartes-JRCAR (Jap)

[Grotius]

AVG/1st Sqn with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 17000 and 28000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes

OK, I love this. I take it the 12 aircraft on standby were the aircraft on CAP? Do aircraft not assigned to CAP sometimes scramble? Just curious how this works.

[Dili]

I would say that 12 planes were in standby and are intercepting now while 6 of them are already engaged, but then the 26min seems out of order since 12 planes seems to be the total number.

[Monter_Trismegistos]

Hi. If you are really bored, could you search in database for some things for me?

What names AE devs assigned to minisubs type D - from memory out of more than 100 - only one name is known: Ha-74.
Second thing. With a lot of conversions added - has old small destroyers and torpedoboats have EARLY conversions to escort ships? Adding DCs. In WitP they had, but you had to wait long for such possibility.

[Cathartes]

OK, I love this. I take it the 12 aircraft on standby were the aircraft on CAP? Do aircraft not assigned to CAP sometimes scramble? Just curious how this works.

Generally, if you set your aircraft to a % CAP some are airborne and immediately available to intercept while others will rise to the occasion and try to join the fight, while others may not be immediately in the vicinity, so if you're watching the combat animations, you will see perhaps 4 fighters begin to fight, but more get added to the number display as the fight evolves. Radar will help you be more prepared.

What names AE devs assigned to minisubs type D - from memory out of more than 100 - only one name is known: Ha-74.
Second thing. With a lot of conversions added - has old small destroyers and torpedoboats have EARLY conversions to escort ships? Adding DCs. In WitP they had, but you had to wait long for such possibility.

Gonna let a Japanese player/naval design crew comment on this one, have my Allied hands full at the moment. [8D]

[Cathartes]

A new dimension to AE is that it's no longer possible to play a full-on Brave Sir Robin as the Allies. A lot of units can't be pulled back to fight another day, even if you wanted to pay political points. There are restricted commands and then there are restricted commands-- ones in white text that you can't change, and can't buy at any political price. Some Dutch units and PI units are among them. Also, if you want to save your P-40Es from Clark and Manila and have them fight another day somewhere else, forget it. Their fate is sealed. Conserve them, squander them, do what you will, but they ain't leaving the PI!

[Sardaukar]

You have nothing to fear, they are commanded by LTC Hammer.... Is that Sledge Hammer or MC Hammer? [:D]

[Nomad]

Can you at least move your Dutch units to other Dutch bases?

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Nomad

Can you at least move your Dutch units to other Dutch bases?

Overland and by air transfer, yes.

The team has had many discussions about how to make it possible to move restricted units by ship to other bases of the restricted command . . . coding and other practical concerns got in the way. An issue for a possible patch, down the road, perhaps.

[Nomad]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

ORIGINAL: Nomad

Can you at least move your Dutch units to other Dutch bases?

Overland and by air transfer, yes.

The team has had many discussions about how to make it possible to move restricted units by ship to other bases of the restricted command . . . coding and other practical concerns got in the way. An issue for a possible patch, down the road, perhaps.

The air transfer will help quite a bit. I remember some discussion about problems with sea transport that would be hard to code around.

[jrcar]

23-24 Dec 41

Lots of ASW action. Cathartes has formed a large number of ASW TF to clear out my subs... this is working

In the last 4 days he has sunk 1 sub, severely damaged 2 more and damaged another couple, but he has had a KV (Corvette) and a DD torpedoed in the process... for example this sub goes down fighting!

Submarine under attack near Pearl Harbor at 178,109

Japanese Ships
SS I-19, hits 7, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Ward
DD Schley, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Chew
DD Litchfield



DD Ward fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Schley attacking submerged sub ....
DD Chew fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Litchfield fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Schley fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Chew fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Litchfield attacking submerged sub ....
DD Litchfield attacking submerged sub ....
SS I-19 forced to surface!
DD Schley firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Chew firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Schley firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Chew firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Schley firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Chew firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Chew firing on surfaced sub ....
Contact with submarine is lost

Hits by aircraft are now rare, although both sides are still picking up subs from the air (I have a number of units on ASW patrol around the place). Detections are way down overall, which is good. Subs are attacking a bit more, and the use of ASW huntergroups is now more important (even if ahistorical for this time period). The air detections lower the chance of a sub attacking. So so far the recent changes have significantly improved ASW from stock.

In Mayala I take Georgetown, am advancing south as fast as our bicycles can take us!

In Malaya Sinkawang falls and aircraft move in.

Airfield attacks on Singapore are fairly effective, but are being disrupted by the weather. Attacks will increase soon.

In the Phillipines I'm still sweeping to clear the way for the bombers, and support the ground troops as they advance. Airfields on Luson are almost ready to support the offensive.

In the DEI Kendari is invaded and should fall next turn, follow-on forces are following on!

Two large invasions should happen in the next turn or so, both supported by carriers.

The CentPac is quiet, waiting before ops elsewhere are over so that carriers can support further actions.

China I'm advancing in the north, consolidating in the centre, and still bombarding Hong Kong. Hong Kong can be a pain, it is a knife edge, and bad roll sees it fall fairly quickly, or stay for a while. Really need to bombard from ground and wait for a few days before attacking. In this game I basically attacked right away to see if I could... I couldn't!

Cheers

Rob

[jrcar]

Here is Malaya.

[cantona2]

I was wondering if the directional arrows on enemy spotted units are subject to FOW or recon? For example will spotted enemy units always show the driection they are moving in or will this only become apparent after a recon mission on that hex?
 
Thanks

[foliveti]

How can you tell which direction the units are moving in?

[Grotius]

Frank, in another thread, someone showed a screenshot of land combat units in China with little dots on various sides of the "square" that indicates the presence of land units. A dot to the right meant the unit was last seen heading east, a dot to the bottom meant south, etc.

Airfield attacks on Singapore are fairly effective, but are being disrupted by the weather. Attacks will increase soon.

Where are you attacking from? Khota Baru? Using Army bombers or Nells/Betties too?

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: foliveti

How can you tell which direction the units are moving in?

For your own units - and enemy units with high enough DL - you will see a little arrow pointing in one of six directions - the direction tells you which of the six adjacent hexes the unit is heading towards.

[Terminus]

The arrow is not so much an arrow as a little tab, sticking out of one of the sides or corners of the stack.

[jwilkerson]

The spec called for an arrow - so It's an arrow I tell you!
[:D]

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: fremen
Yes, i agree in some specific cases (small ships, small xAKs), but not in general. Reading jrcar comment seems as sinking ships with only small number of shells will be the norm in AE. I'm in panic thinking about...

No, it's not the norm. Battleships are as durable as ever - but on the lower end merchant ships, barges, PT boats and tiny coastal ships are more vulnerable than they used to be.

Would have been cool to finally have done away with the amoured paint [font="Courier New"]TM[/font] damage model for ships and actually have belt armour for example only protecting the area the belt armour actually exists, not every square millimeter of the hull. Same with deck armour. Combining all deck armours into one field has made wooden deck and armoured deck CVs identical, despite the armour on many wooden deck ships being many decks down over the magazines and machinery spaces.

Oh, and crew factors would have been cool too. [;)] Man, I can be annoying, can't I?[:D]

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: jrcar

When you click "Set Boundary" you then drop to the main map screen and select the hex on the map, which then takes you make to this screen so you can set the three boundaries interactively with the map.

You can have a TF linger at the specified hexes (which is a great tactical option) and refuel IF there is a source in that hex (such as a port).

The "Meet TF" toggle! Does this mean a TF can be plotted to join up to another after executing a mission? EG, can a Bombardment TF be ordered to meet up with a CV TF instead of having to pick a friendly base to assign as a home port to get it going in the right direction during withdrawl. Managing naval units has always been a second thought in the old design.

This would be really welcome.

[jwilkerson]

Yes Ron, you get your "meet TF" you've always wanted. [:)] I have to say the new "waypoint, follow, meet, patrol zone" combo feature is extremely useful. More so than I would've thought. Don really did an excellent job on this system. [&o][&o][&o]