November 30, 1942 - There was more minesweeping at Palembang during the night turn, and more mines showed up elsewhere. Lots of Allied subs also showed up almost everywhere. One sub sank a PC that was on ASW duty off of Okinawa and another sub torpedoed a freighter in a convoy off of Kiska. I've got ships on ASW duty everywhere, and also lots of Air ASW, but not much is helping. The weather is also generally bad over most of the areas under my control, so that doesn't help my forces to find the subs.
The weather did clear up enough for both sides to get bombers into the air. My forces in China got the first opportunities. I threw the best I had at Wuchow, and the results were less than overwhelming. First 142 Sonias, escorted by Oscars, hit the air fields. Next came a Sentai of Helens. This was followed by a Sentai of Sallys. Despite the lack of any Allied CAP and relatively light flak, only 13 SB-2cs were caught on the ground.
Kweiyang received the next series of attacks. First came a Sentai of Sallys, followed Bettys, and then followed by a mix of Nells and Sallys. Once again the results were underwhelming as only one IL-4c was caught on the ground. BTW - in both attacks I had multiple Recon planes flying and all of my bombers came in at 8000 feet.
To "add insult to injury", 38 SB-2cs from Wuchow still flew a Ground Attack against my HQ unit outside of Canton, and 9 IL-4cs from Kweiyang hit the HQ unit outside of Nanning.
The came the "real" show as 214 B-17s and 95 B-24s all flew from the same base in Northern Australia and hammered the air base at Dili. Fortunately I didn't have any planes at the base.
In other news, my first unit of Nicks is sitting in "organizing limbo" because I don't have any Nicks built yet. The Nick factory will start up next turn. I wonder if the Nick unit will wait until all of the required planes are built, or if it will come into existence with the first Nick, and slowly fill in with the garbage pilots from the "open pool"?
In the Aleutians, my Patrol planes spotted an Allied ship at Adak, so I'm sending off a Fast Combat TF to see if the spotting is real and if so, can they catch anything. More than likely this was just another erroneous spotting and it was really only a sub; probably laying fresh mines.
Hunting the AuTiger - an AAR (no Tigers please)
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
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Dive Bomber1
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Ambushing AKs at Adak
December 1, 1942 – The Night Phase this turn was busy thanks to mines, subs, and a well timed Surface Combat TF. My MSWs continued to sweep mines from Palembang while my ASW ships fruitlessly chased subs, particularly in the area between Palembang and Singapore, but pretty much everywhere else too. But the main action of the Night was at Adak, where my Fast Combat TF caught an Allied Transport TF despite CA Maya hitting a mine (probably one of mine 
) on the way in.
There were five AKs in the Allied TF and they were escorted by 5 MSWs and 2 SCs. My Surface Combat TF, which consisted of 1 CA, 1 CL and 4 DDs, got off their torpedoes and a fair amount of gun fire without any answering fire from the Allies. In the end 1 AK was badly damaged, 1 MSW was sunk, 2 SCs were sunk, and the Allied TF fled the scene. Maya was fairly heavily damaged by the mine but it will reach Kiska safely and undergo emergency repairs there. I sent the rest of the TF back to Paramushiro Jima for replenishing of their torpedoes, and simultaneously sent another Combat TF out of Paramushiro Jima and on its way to Kiska.
Since I still have a BB and 4 DDs at Kiska, I sent them off towards Adak, just in case AuTiger is stubborn and sends his TF back to try to unload more supplies. The weather in the region is still "Blizzard" everywhere, so I ought to get away with this. I also still have a number of ships patrolling between Paramushiro Jima and Kiska since AuTiger continues to have success with his subs there. This turn an Allied sub put a torpedo into an empty AK in a retiring Transport TF, so that AK is now headed towards Paramushiro Jima.
Things were relatively quiet during the Day Phase other than Recon flights. AuTiger pulled back all of his bombers in China and now has an immense air presence in Chungking. There are something like 800 or more aircraft of various types sitting there.
Interestingly, AuTiger sent out a large scouting force of Chinese troops from Wuchow and they have once again occupied the crossroads north of Canton. I presume that this is in response to all of the troop movements that I have been making. I still had a couple of Combat Engineering units on the road from Nanning to Canton, but now that the Chinese have shown up I've ordered the Engineers back to Nanning.
In any event, I can't pass up this sort of opportunity, so I set my Army Dive Bombers and some other Army Level Bombers in the area to try to hit those Chinese troops. However, I have observed in the past in this and in other pbems that it is very hard to get bombers to hit troops at those particular crossroads. It is as if there were a "permanent storm" over that hex.
In other news, Allied Air Patrols spotted four ships arriving at Rangoon. The Operational Report didn't say what sort of ships, only that they were going in at 14 knots, which is indicative of Combat Ships. So for the moment I am going to assume (hope
) that AuTiger will presume that those are replacement Surface Combat ships for the ones that slugged it out with his RN ships at Akyab. I replenished the TF and ordered it off to the Andaman Islands.
For a second turn in a row I sent out lots and lots of Long Range Air Patrols and Recon flights over the Allied bases in the Bay of Bengal. To my astonishment, it does not appear that the RN combat ships are anywhere around. I am trying to guess what this means. My current guesses are:
1 – The ships in the RN TF were damaged worse than I thought and AuTiger has pulled them back for serious repairs.
2 – Allied Intel informed AuTiger that I was bringing the KB into the Bay of Bengal and so he pulled his ships out of Harm's Way.
3 – AuTiger is trying to send his combat ships along the "map edge" route to Northern Australia so that he can stop my Naval Bombardments of Lautem.
4 – AuTiger is planning a major attack on the Andaman Islands and has his ships coming in from the northwest.
I'm considering the last possibility seriously because AuTiger once again sent F-5As over the Andamans. Usually when AuTiger sends F-5As over a base he means to either hit the base with 4Es or to send in some ships. In addition, a number of Allied subs have taken positions between the Andamans and the Straights of Malacca that are very suggestive of "picket positions". (Fortunately for me, the KB "snuck" around those Pickets.)
It would be so nice if the RN ships would suddenly "appear" off of the Andamans just as the KB sails into range… ah, dream on.
In the Timor area AuTiger continues to send F-5As over Dili. They are currently being escorted by P-40s that are on LR CAP so I guess that AuTiger is trying to intercept any attempts by me to fly in supplies. Thus AuTiger has fighters, as well as patrol planes, back at Lautem. This is "great timing" from my perspective because I now have a Serious Bombardment TF on its way to Lautem. Can I catch more planes on the ground?
Finally, the "worst case scenario" occurred with the Nick reinforcement air unit. The unit "appeared" this turn with one pilot and one plane, because that plane was built in the Nick factory. Now the air unit will continue to receive planes one-by-one, but without any reinforcement-grade pilots, and thus I will have to fill it up with "jokes". Here is yet another "little irritation" in the current Game Design that I hope is fixed in AE.
) on the way in. There were five AKs in the Allied TF and they were escorted by 5 MSWs and 2 SCs. My Surface Combat TF, which consisted of 1 CA, 1 CL and 4 DDs, got off their torpedoes and a fair amount of gun fire without any answering fire from the Allies. In the end 1 AK was badly damaged, 1 MSW was sunk, 2 SCs were sunk, and the Allied TF fled the scene. Maya was fairly heavily damaged by the mine but it will reach Kiska safely and undergo emergency repairs there. I sent the rest of the TF back to Paramushiro Jima for replenishing of their torpedoes, and simultaneously sent another Combat TF out of Paramushiro Jima and on its way to Kiska.
Since I still have a BB and 4 DDs at Kiska, I sent them off towards Adak, just in case AuTiger is stubborn and sends his TF back to try to unload more supplies. The weather in the region is still "Blizzard" everywhere, so I ought to get away with this. I also still have a number of ships patrolling between Paramushiro Jima and Kiska since AuTiger continues to have success with his subs there. This turn an Allied sub put a torpedo into an empty AK in a retiring Transport TF, so that AK is now headed towards Paramushiro Jima.
Things were relatively quiet during the Day Phase other than Recon flights. AuTiger pulled back all of his bombers in China and now has an immense air presence in Chungking. There are something like 800 or more aircraft of various types sitting there.
Interestingly, AuTiger sent out a large scouting force of Chinese troops from Wuchow and they have once again occupied the crossroads north of Canton. I presume that this is in response to all of the troop movements that I have been making. I still had a couple of Combat Engineering units on the road from Nanning to Canton, but now that the Chinese have shown up I've ordered the Engineers back to Nanning.
In any event, I can't pass up this sort of opportunity, so I set my Army Dive Bombers and some other Army Level Bombers in the area to try to hit those Chinese troops. However, I have observed in the past in this and in other pbems that it is very hard to get bombers to hit troops at those particular crossroads. It is as if there were a "permanent storm" over that hex.
In other news, Allied Air Patrols spotted four ships arriving at Rangoon. The Operational Report didn't say what sort of ships, only that they were going in at 14 knots, which is indicative of Combat Ships. So for the moment I am going to assume (hope
) that AuTiger will presume that those are replacement Surface Combat ships for the ones that slugged it out with his RN ships at Akyab. I replenished the TF and ordered it off to the Andaman Islands. For a second turn in a row I sent out lots and lots of Long Range Air Patrols and Recon flights over the Allied bases in the Bay of Bengal. To my astonishment, it does not appear that the RN combat ships are anywhere around. I am trying to guess what this means. My current guesses are:
1 – The ships in the RN TF were damaged worse than I thought and AuTiger has pulled them back for serious repairs.
2 – Allied Intel informed AuTiger that I was bringing the KB into the Bay of Bengal and so he pulled his ships out of Harm's Way.
3 – AuTiger is trying to send his combat ships along the "map edge" route to Northern Australia so that he can stop my Naval Bombardments of Lautem.
4 – AuTiger is planning a major attack on the Andaman Islands and has his ships coming in from the northwest.
I'm considering the last possibility seriously because AuTiger once again sent F-5As over the Andamans. Usually when AuTiger sends F-5As over a base he means to either hit the base with 4Es or to send in some ships. In addition, a number of Allied subs have taken positions between the Andamans and the Straights of Malacca that are very suggestive of "picket positions". (Fortunately for me, the KB "snuck" around those Pickets.)
It would be so nice if the RN ships would suddenly "appear" off of the Andamans just as the KB sails into range… ah, dream on.
In the Timor area AuTiger continues to send F-5As over Dili. They are currently being escorted by P-40s that are on LR CAP so I guess that AuTiger is trying to intercept any attempts by me to fly in supplies. Thus AuTiger has fighters, as well as patrol planes, back at Lautem. This is "great timing" from my perspective because I now have a Serious Bombardment TF on its way to Lautem. Can I catch more planes on the ground?
Finally, the "worst case scenario" occurred with the Nick reinforcement air unit. The unit "appeared" this turn with one pilot and one plane, because that plane was built in the Nick factory. Now the air unit will continue to receive planes one-by-one, but without any reinforcement-grade pilots, and thus I will have to fill it up with "jokes". Here is yet another "little irritation" in the current Game Design that I hope is fixed in AE.
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Dive Bomber1
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Minesweeping, Subhunting and Recon
December 2, 1942 - This was a MSR turn - Minesweeping, Sub hunting and Recon - for both sides. My forces had the edge in the turn, tiny as it was, as an Allied AK hit a couple of mines at Dutch Harbor despite intensive Allied minesweeping, and one of my ASW ships actually scored a couple of hits on an Allied sub.
The Recon and Patrol flights told some interesting tales. An F-5A flew over Kendari for the first time in a long time and it didn't find any CAP in place. But that was fixed "easily" as I simple set my Zeros and Tonys at Macassar back to LR CAP over Kendari again, just in case AuTiger decides to send in some 4Es next turn. And an F-5A flew over the Andaman Islands again. This is now three or four times in a row.
In addition to the Recon flights over the Andamans another sub turned up in a picket position. Some of my DDs did chase one of the Allied subs in the region, but they didn't get any hits. Never-the-less, AuTiger's increasing interest in the region deserves watching. So in addition to the KB which is sailing towards the Andamans, I also assembled a fresh, large Surface Combat TF at Singapore and ordered it up the Straights of Malacca, just in case it can be of use.
In other news, AuTiger continued to pull back his ships from Adak, so there was no reason to continue on with the Surface Combat raid. And since the weather "cleared" a bit (in a very relative sense) I ordered my TF back to Kiska until the next time conditions are in my favor.
BTW - AuTiger lost a surprisingly large number of planes to Operational Losses this turn, despite not sending out any combat air missions. The mix of losses makes me suspect that most of those planes were on Long Range Anti-Ship duty, such as in the Aleutians.
Speaking of Air Attacks, some of my bombers actually attacked the Chinese troops that are sitting on the crossroads to the north of Canton. AuTiger still has a sizable percentage of the total Allied Air Force at Chungking, so it will be interesting to see if he sends some of them to chase my planes.
And in a set-up that has wonderful potential for mayhem, my large and strong Bombardment TF reached the final staging point before hitting Lautem, and it still wasn't spotted thanks to the bad weather in the region. AuTiger has a number of fighters and patrol planes at Lautem, so with a little luck my ships ought to "harvest" a number of those planes next turn.
The Recon and Patrol flights told some interesting tales. An F-5A flew over Kendari for the first time in a long time and it didn't find any CAP in place. But that was fixed "easily" as I simple set my Zeros and Tonys at Macassar back to LR CAP over Kendari again, just in case AuTiger decides to send in some 4Es next turn. And an F-5A flew over the Andaman Islands again. This is now three or four times in a row.
In addition to the Recon flights over the Andamans another sub turned up in a picket position. Some of my DDs did chase one of the Allied subs in the region, but they didn't get any hits. Never-the-less, AuTiger's increasing interest in the region deserves watching. So in addition to the KB which is sailing towards the Andamans, I also assembled a fresh, large Surface Combat TF at Singapore and ordered it up the Straights of Malacca, just in case it can be of use.
In other news, AuTiger continued to pull back his ships from Adak, so there was no reason to continue on with the Surface Combat raid. And since the weather "cleared" a bit (in a very relative sense) I ordered my TF back to Kiska until the next time conditions are in my favor.
BTW - AuTiger lost a surprisingly large number of planes to Operational Losses this turn, despite not sending out any combat air missions. The mix of losses makes me suspect that most of those planes were on Long Range Anti-Ship duty, such as in the Aleutians.
Speaking of Air Attacks, some of my bombers actually attacked the Chinese troops that are sitting on the crossroads to the north of Canton. AuTiger still has a sizable percentage of the total Allied Air Force at Chungking, so it will be interesting to see if he sends some of them to chase my planes.
And in a set-up that has wonderful potential for mayhem, my large and strong Bombardment TF reached the final staging point before hitting Lautem, and it still wasn't spotted thanks to the bad weather in the region. AuTiger has a number of fighters and patrol planes at Lautem, so with a little luck my ships ought to "harvest" a number of those planes next turn.
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Dive Bomber1
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Tit-for-Tat Turn
December 3, 1942 – This was a bit of a "tit for tat" sort of turn. Things started out according to plan during the Night Phase, as after the usual Minesweeping at Palembang and Balikpapan, and some sub chasing in the same area, my Bombardment TF hit Lautem nice and hard. There was plenty of damage and a lot of casualties, and as well 10 P-40Es and 6 Catalina Is were destroyed on the ground. My TF sailed off undisturbed, and AuTiger now has to consider what he has gotten himself into.
Also during the night phase, the Allied AK that hit two mines last turn sank in Dutch Harbor, and then one of my AKs that was torpedoed last turn sank at Paramushiro Jima, and as well another Allied AK, likely the one that was hit hard at Akyab, also sank in the Eastern Aleutians.
AuTiger's "answer" to my Bombardment TFs came to Canton next, courtesy of 47 B-17s and 47 B-24s from Chungking that hit the airfields from 9000 feet. I had a good Daitai of Zeros on 50% CAP, and they did their best to interfere with the attack, but only one B-17 was shot down and a dozen Zeros were destroyed on the ground. Fortunately, none of my Zero pilots were "sleeping in their cockpits" so I simply moved the Daitai to Shanghai and "re-loaded" it with fresh Zeros. Since I am upgrading A6M2s to A6M3as I have plenty of older Zeros to put into airframe-depleted air units.
What was of particular interest to me was that neither of my Sonia Sentais lost any planes to this 4E attack and they all flew off to hit the Chinese troops at the crossroads to the north. Sure, the overall damage to the air fields at Canton wasn't that great, but this is still one of the only times that I remember seeing my bombers getting off the ground under these circumstances.
BTW – I noticed again an "oddity" that I have noticed repeatedly in the past. Both Sonia Sentais were set to hit the crossroads hex last turn, and so they did. But when I looked at the units this turn their Ground Attack Objective had changed to Wuchow! Huh? I wonder if they "followed" a Chinese LCU that moved to Wuchow, or is the AI just goofing around with targets? In any event, this is just another little irritating thing that I have to watch out for each turn.
In other news, the British troops along the coast in Burma are still at that hex that is just north of Akyab. I wonder if AuTiger has stopped them there, or if they are caught by the "mile-a-day" rule?
BTW II – The 116th/A is just about to enter Rahaeng, so it won't be long now before it reaches Bangkok. The Transport TF that will take the unit to China should reach Bangkok in a few days too.
In other odd news, the Yamato has been sitting alone in port at Sapporo since December 1 with a Sys Damage level of only 3, but it won't upgrade. I guess that it has to reach Sys Dam 2 in order for it to upgrade, likely due to its Durability. Wouldn't it be nice if this idiotic little bit of mis-programming were removed from AE? [8|]
Finally, F-5As flew Recon over Kendari again today and were greeted by Tonys and Zeros in the air. That ought to cause AuTiger to think a little about sending his 4Es there. Of course, it will also be interesting to see if AuTiger outguesses me, because I set my fighters back to local CAP for next turn in order to rest them after the LR CAP.
And F-5As also flew over the Andamans again this turn. I wonder if AuTiger is hoping to spot any of my TFs there by doing this? I still can't see the RN ships anywhere. In any event I'll have the KB take a "leisurely sail" around the Andamans, just in case there is any serious movement by the RN. The Allied subs continue to hang around the region, so they must be there for some reason. [&:]
Also during the night phase, the Allied AK that hit two mines last turn sank in Dutch Harbor, and then one of my AKs that was torpedoed last turn sank at Paramushiro Jima, and as well another Allied AK, likely the one that was hit hard at Akyab, also sank in the Eastern Aleutians.
AuTiger's "answer" to my Bombardment TFs came to Canton next, courtesy of 47 B-17s and 47 B-24s from Chungking that hit the airfields from 9000 feet. I had a good Daitai of Zeros on 50% CAP, and they did their best to interfere with the attack, but only one B-17 was shot down and a dozen Zeros were destroyed on the ground. Fortunately, none of my Zero pilots were "sleeping in their cockpits" so I simply moved the Daitai to Shanghai and "re-loaded" it with fresh Zeros. Since I am upgrading A6M2s to A6M3as I have plenty of older Zeros to put into airframe-depleted air units.
What was of particular interest to me was that neither of my Sonia Sentais lost any planes to this 4E attack and they all flew off to hit the Chinese troops at the crossroads to the north. Sure, the overall damage to the air fields at Canton wasn't that great, but this is still one of the only times that I remember seeing my bombers getting off the ground under these circumstances.
BTW – I noticed again an "oddity" that I have noticed repeatedly in the past. Both Sonia Sentais were set to hit the crossroads hex last turn, and so they did. But when I looked at the units this turn their Ground Attack Objective had changed to Wuchow! Huh? I wonder if they "followed" a Chinese LCU that moved to Wuchow, or is the AI just goofing around with targets? In any event, this is just another little irritating thing that I have to watch out for each turn.
In other news, the British troops along the coast in Burma are still at that hex that is just north of Akyab. I wonder if AuTiger has stopped them there, or if they are caught by the "mile-a-day" rule?
BTW II – The 116th/A is just about to enter Rahaeng, so it won't be long now before it reaches Bangkok. The Transport TF that will take the unit to China should reach Bangkok in a few days too.
In other odd news, the Yamato has been sitting alone in port at Sapporo since December 1 with a Sys Damage level of only 3, but it won't upgrade. I guess that it has to reach Sys Dam 2 in order for it to upgrade, likely due to its Durability. Wouldn't it be nice if this idiotic little bit of mis-programming were removed from AE? [8|]
Finally, F-5As flew Recon over Kendari again today and were greeted by Tonys and Zeros in the air. That ought to cause AuTiger to think a little about sending his 4Es there. Of course, it will also be interesting to see if AuTiger outguesses me, because I set my fighters back to local CAP for next turn in order to rest them after the LR CAP.
And F-5As also flew over the Andamans again this turn. I wonder if AuTiger is hoping to spot any of my TFs there by doing this? I still can't see the RN ships anywhere. In any event I'll have the KB take a "leisurely sail" around the Andamans, just in case there is any serious movement by the RN. The Allied subs continue to hang around the region, so they must be there for some reason. [&:]
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Dive Bomber1
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DMS time at Lautem
December 4, 1942 – Minesweeping was the main activity during the night phase as not only my usual Sweeping went on at Palembang, but AuTiger sent out two sizable DMS minesweeping TFs to try to clean up Lautem a bit. This is actually quite useful from my point-of-view, because it reduces the risk for my incoming TFs and also means that AuTiger intends to send re-supply TFs in fairly soon.
So what I'll do the next time that I send ships to Lautem is that I'll form a Bombardment TF out of my BBs and CAs and also form a Surface Combat TF out of my CLs and DDs. I hope to keep AuTiger "occupied" at Lautem for a long time, just as I have at Adak. Speaking of Adak, the weather as cleared up North so my ships are remaining safely at Kiska. I can afford to bide my time; after all, Bad Weather is bound to return soon.
The big news this turn was that AuTiger moved a bunch of good P-40Es to Wuchow and set them on LR CAP over his troops at the crossroads. I should have expected that, but as usual I was too focussed upon my own plans to consider AuTiger's likely response. Fortunately, the Weather came to my "rescue" and only one Sally Sentai flew in for the attack. As is typical of 2E bombers in this version of the Game, they actually held their own quite well and weren't wiped out, as would have happened to dive bombers or fighters. So my losses were tolerable and AuTiger took damage to a fair number of his fighters.
So, since my dive bombers were "saved" by the weather I set them to Naval Attack and moved them around. I also moved another reasonably good Zero Daitai into the region, although I didn't set any of my fighters to "challenge" the Warhawks. I am getting too close to receiving Oscar IIs to want to spend more of my best current fighters against AuTiger's Best because the Allied pilots have so much higher experience levels than most of my fighter pilots. But a number of my Nate units that have been sitting in back-water bases for the past five or six months have reasonably good experience levels for their pilots and therefore they may make a difference once I get Oscar IIs. And my Oscar II factories are seriously over-built and so should produce planes at a good clip. (It's just too bad that all those points spent on Oscar II R&D never paid off with an earlier build-date.)
BTW – I had some Helens fly an Airfield Attack Mission against Yenen this turn, and they got in and out safely and did some nuisance damage. Then I promptly forgot about that attack and moved the Helens in closer for another attack. Fortunately, while I was reviewing the Combat Report prior to writing this note I saw that attack, so I restarted the Game, pulled up my last Interim Save, and reassigned those Helens to attack Sian this coming turn instead of Yenen again. I've got to get out of this habit of trying "successful" ploys twice in a row – that gets me into more trouble than anything that my opponents do.
In other news, some Chinese 2E bombers flew out of Myitkyina and hit the 116th/A just outside of Rahaeng. One has to wonder how my troops were spotted for this attack, when you consider that there hasn't been any Air Recon in that area, there are no Allied troops within 500 miles, and the Weather has been non-stop Thunderstorms in the region for weeks. But I have no doubt that there is some totally inexcusable "fantasy" explanation for this somewhere in the Code.
In any event, the 116th/A reached the relative safety of Rahaeng anyway and are continuing on their way towards Bangkok. In the meanwhile, I moved a couple of 2E bombers Sentais into the region to see if I can catch any of those Chinese 2Es on the ground at Myitkyina. Also, I moved some Sonias in close enough to hit those British troops that are still sitting one hex from Akyab. My Recon indicates that AuTiger isn't flying any P-38s over those troops at this time.
The waters off of the Burmese coast continue to be clogged with Allied subs. My forces spotted eight subs this turn. I've sent move ASW into the region just to keep the subs "honest". Some of the ASW TFs consist of DDs, so that will help to confuse the situation when AuTiger tries to consider what countermeasures I have in place in the region.
F-5As flew over the Andamans again this turn, but this time they were greeted by a swarm of Zeros. Now, will AuTiger assume that I've just moved some Zeros into Andaman, or will he guess that I've got CVs refuelling at the base? In any event, I've ordered the KB to head West a ways, just in case there are some Allied Naval forces out in the open waters of the Indian Ocean. This will also leave the KB in a position to return quickly to the Coastal waters while staying out of the reach of AuTiger's "armada" of subs and his Air Patrols.
I'm still not spotting any ships in the region, and that has me very curious as to AuTiger's intentions. Could he be attempting an "end around" against Sumatra or Java, or is he just planning a Mass Attack on Akyab and/or Rangoon?
So what I'll do the next time that I send ships to Lautem is that I'll form a Bombardment TF out of my BBs and CAs and also form a Surface Combat TF out of my CLs and DDs. I hope to keep AuTiger "occupied" at Lautem for a long time, just as I have at Adak. Speaking of Adak, the weather as cleared up North so my ships are remaining safely at Kiska. I can afford to bide my time; after all, Bad Weather is bound to return soon.
The big news this turn was that AuTiger moved a bunch of good P-40Es to Wuchow and set them on LR CAP over his troops at the crossroads. I should have expected that, but as usual I was too focussed upon my own plans to consider AuTiger's likely response. Fortunately, the Weather came to my "rescue" and only one Sally Sentai flew in for the attack. As is typical of 2E bombers in this version of the Game, they actually held their own quite well and weren't wiped out, as would have happened to dive bombers or fighters. So my losses were tolerable and AuTiger took damage to a fair number of his fighters.
So, since my dive bombers were "saved" by the weather I set them to Naval Attack and moved them around. I also moved another reasonably good Zero Daitai into the region, although I didn't set any of my fighters to "challenge" the Warhawks. I am getting too close to receiving Oscar IIs to want to spend more of my best current fighters against AuTiger's Best because the Allied pilots have so much higher experience levels than most of my fighter pilots. But a number of my Nate units that have been sitting in back-water bases for the past five or six months have reasonably good experience levels for their pilots and therefore they may make a difference once I get Oscar IIs. And my Oscar II factories are seriously over-built and so should produce planes at a good clip. (It's just too bad that all those points spent on Oscar II R&D never paid off with an earlier build-date.)
BTW – I had some Helens fly an Airfield Attack Mission against Yenen this turn, and they got in and out safely and did some nuisance damage. Then I promptly forgot about that attack and moved the Helens in closer for another attack. Fortunately, while I was reviewing the Combat Report prior to writing this note I saw that attack, so I restarted the Game, pulled up my last Interim Save, and reassigned those Helens to attack Sian this coming turn instead of Yenen again. I've got to get out of this habit of trying "successful" ploys twice in a row – that gets me into more trouble than anything that my opponents do.
In other news, some Chinese 2E bombers flew out of Myitkyina and hit the 116th/A just outside of Rahaeng. One has to wonder how my troops were spotted for this attack, when you consider that there hasn't been any Air Recon in that area, there are no Allied troops within 500 miles, and the Weather has been non-stop Thunderstorms in the region for weeks. But I have no doubt that there is some totally inexcusable "fantasy" explanation for this somewhere in the Code.
In any event, the 116th/A reached the relative safety of Rahaeng anyway and are continuing on their way towards Bangkok. In the meanwhile, I moved a couple of 2E bombers Sentais into the region to see if I can catch any of those Chinese 2Es on the ground at Myitkyina. Also, I moved some Sonias in close enough to hit those British troops that are still sitting one hex from Akyab. My Recon indicates that AuTiger isn't flying any P-38s over those troops at this time.
The waters off of the Burmese coast continue to be clogged with Allied subs. My forces spotted eight subs this turn. I've sent move ASW into the region just to keep the subs "honest". Some of the ASW TFs consist of DDs, so that will help to confuse the situation when AuTiger tries to consider what countermeasures I have in place in the region.
F-5As flew over the Andamans again this turn, but this time they were greeted by a swarm of Zeros. Now, will AuTiger assume that I've just moved some Zeros into Andaman, or will he guess that I've got CVs refuelling at the base? In any event, I've ordered the KB to head West a ways, just in case there are some Allied Naval forces out in the open waters of the Indian Ocean. This will also leave the KB in a position to return quickly to the Coastal waters while staying out of the reach of AuTiger's "armada" of subs and his Air Patrols.
I'm still not spotting any ships in the region, and that has me very curious as to AuTiger's intentions. Could he be attempting an "end around" against Sumatra or Java, or is he just planning a Mass Attack on Akyab and/or Rangoon?
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Dive Bomber1
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Mines & Subs, Subs & Mines
December 5, 1942 - This was a fairly uninspiring turn. The night phase consisted of my ships minesweeping various ports and unsuccessfully chasing Allied subs in various locations, and the day phase consisted mainly of my ships unsuccessfully chasing Allied subs in various places and minesweeping various ports.
There were two air attacks, surprisingly by my air units rather than Allied air units. Some Helens hit Sian in a reasonably successful nuisance raid, although there weren't any planes there to catch on the ground, and then some Bettys hit Myitkyina in a reasonably unsuccessful raid that missed the Chinese bombers that were on the ground there.
AuTiger moved his ace fighters back into Changsha, along with a bunch of auxiliary planes. I suspect that he is flying in supplies to support his troops in the field near Canton and also in preparation of some future bomber attacks out of Changsha. I keep on playing "shell game" with my planes in case I can take advantage of any mistake from AuTiger.
Many of the Allied subs in the area between the Andaman Islands and Burma ended up at the Andaman Islands this turn. So I continued to steer the KB on a heading to the west and away from the subs, and ordered my surface combat TF in the area off along the same direction. I also moved more Bettys to the western coastal bases of Sumatra and Java in order to improve my long range air patrol capability in the region. I can't believe that AuTiger isn't planning some sort of move in the area, so I want to be prepared.
There were two air attacks, surprisingly by my air units rather than Allied air units. Some Helens hit Sian in a reasonably successful nuisance raid, although there weren't any planes there to catch on the ground, and then some Bettys hit Myitkyina in a reasonably unsuccessful raid that missed the Chinese bombers that were on the ground there.
AuTiger moved his ace fighters back into Changsha, along with a bunch of auxiliary planes. I suspect that he is flying in supplies to support his troops in the field near Canton and also in preparation of some future bomber attacks out of Changsha. I keep on playing "shell game" with my planes in case I can take advantage of any mistake from AuTiger.
Many of the Allied subs in the area between the Andaman Islands and Burma ended up at the Andaman Islands this turn. So I continued to steer the KB on a heading to the west and away from the subs, and ordered my surface combat TF in the area off along the same direction. I also moved more Bettys to the western coastal bases of Sumatra and Java in order to improve my long range air patrol capability in the region. I can't believe that AuTiger isn't planning some sort of move in the area, so I want to be prepared.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
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Naval Combat Fog of War
December 6, 1942 - This turn I saw something for the first time; Naval Combat Fog of War. During the night phase the Combat Replay showed a TK in a small TF to the west of Tori Shima get hit by a torpedo. But when I checked out the TF after the turn there was no damage to the ship at all. But during the day phase things went back to "normal" as an AK in another transport TF off of Taiwan was hit by two torpedoes, and sure enough, it was in bad shape when I checked it out after the turn.
Rain appeared all over the map again this turn. Most of the Allied subs off of the Burmese coast disappeared in the bad weather, but a large number of Allied ships turned up in the northern Philippine Sea instead. There was also a blizzard in the Aleutians, so it looks as if my MSW will be able to get into and out of Adak okay next turn.
I was finally able to upgrade the A6M2s on the Junyo to A6M3as this turn thanks to a supply-replenishment TF that reached Truk last turn. The malaria-weakened troops that I've been sending back to Truk from the Front Line bases drained the supply levels in Truk. Fortunately, I now have a small but comfortable surplus of supplies in many places and can continue to re-supply my mid-line and front line bases.
However, I'm not sure how much longer that will continue because the air fields at Lautem were improved to Level 2 today, despite my recent naval bombardments. If AuTiger brings in his 2E bombers and puts them on Naval Attack I won't be able to go in and hit the base at will any longer. All along I've had the feeling that AuTiger would wage a "War of Resources" instead of risking his forces in "strength against strength" attacks, and things are looking more and more like my original concerns were correct.
In other news, AuTiger pulled back his planes from Changsha this turn, so I moved more bombers around and will attempt to hit those Chinese troops outside of Canton. Of course, AuTiger could send his fighters back during his part of the turn and I wouldn't know it, but I can't let myself become frozen by indecision over "what ifs".
And in another case of Futile Nuisance Raids, I send my small battleship-lead bombardment TF out from Wake towards Midway. There are thunderstorms around, and the Air Balance at Midway is only +4, so I'll see if I get away with this.
Rain appeared all over the map again this turn. Most of the Allied subs off of the Burmese coast disappeared in the bad weather, but a large number of Allied ships turned up in the northern Philippine Sea instead. There was also a blizzard in the Aleutians, so it looks as if my MSW will be able to get into and out of Adak okay next turn.
I was finally able to upgrade the A6M2s on the Junyo to A6M3as this turn thanks to a supply-replenishment TF that reached Truk last turn. The malaria-weakened troops that I've been sending back to Truk from the Front Line bases drained the supply levels in Truk. Fortunately, I now have a small but comfortable surplus of supplies in many places and can continue to re-supply my mid-line and front line bases.
However, I'm not sure how much longer that will continue because the air fields at Lautem were improved to Level 2 today, despite my recent naval bombardments. If AuTiger brings in his 2E bombers and puts them on Naval Attack I won't be able to go in and hit the base at will any longer. All along I've had the feeling that AuTiger would wage a "War of Resources" instead of risking his forces in "strength against strength" attacks, and things are looking more and more like my original concerns were correct.
In other news, AuTiger pulled back his planes from Changsha this turn, so I moved more bombers around and will attempt to hit those Chinese troops outside of Canton. Of course, AuTiger could send his fighters back during his part of the turn and I wouldn't know it, but I can't let myself become frozen by indecision over "what ifs".
And in another case of Futile Nuisance Raids, I send my small battleship-lead bombardment TF out from Wake towards Midway. There are thunderstorms around, and the Air Balance at Midway is only +4, so I'll see if I get away with this.
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Dive Bomber1
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Starting the 2nd Year of War
December 7, 1942 - The second year of the War started pretty much like most recent turns; there was minesweeping from both sides and my ASW forces failed miserably in their attempts to attack Allied submarines.
The day phase brought more significant news. First off, in addition to the DMS minesweeping TF at Lautem, a number of other Allied TFs showed up, including at least one Combat TF that has the cruiser Concord in it. More importantly, nearly a hundred various Allied fighters showed up at the now level 2 Lautem air base, along with almost 150 auxiliary planes.
This is one thing that has always puzzled me about AuTiger's style of play. Whenever he brings his fighters forward large numbers of auxiliary planes also show up. It seems strange that he would bother bringing forward 150 or so patrol and recon planes, so what is he doing? If many of them are transport planes, the question is why bring them forward? Is he using them to "pick up" troops to carry to the base instead of flying in the troops? I guess that would be safer against LR CAP, but it is still very strange. Also, as far as I know, transport planes don't "pick up" supply, but maybe I'm wrong.
In any event, I've now changed my plan and am sending in a large, multi-cruiser TF on Combat Patrol to challenge AuTiger's ships at Lautem. I pulled the BB out of the TF so that my TF can get to Lautem in one turn. I also brought in four good Zero Daitais and set them to LR CAP over my TF. Next turn ought to be interesting, but as usual, I will need some luck to fall upon my side.
One thing that struck me after I sent the turn back to AuTiger is that AuTiger could be considering some Paratroop drops in the DEI. He hasn't used Paras so far, but this could be a great place to start. So next turn I will move some of my Nates into my back-water air bases in the region to give some level of protection, just in case those auxiliary planes in Lautem are there to fly some Paras into my Rear.
The Weather was generally lousy again over much of the map, so none of my planned air attacks on AuTiger's ground units flew. AuTiger did get off a low altitude Mitchell attack against the airfields at Kuikang this turn. This is the first time that I've seen Mitchells in China. I only had recon planes at the base so the effect was minimal. Hopefully, the 1000 foot attack caused AuTiger plenty of flak damage and a good loss in Morale for his pilots.
Elsewhere, despite the Bad Weather, the Allied Patrol planes in the Bay of Bengal spotted the KB this turn at extreme range. Since there don't appear to be any useful targets in the region I ordered my TF to start to sail down towards Java, but on the Indian Ocean side. I guess that I'll eventually have to throw the KB into the fray around Timor.
In the Eastern Pacific, the weather started to clear up, so I ordered my small nuisance bombardment TF back to Wake. Since there is an older BB in the TF it is too slow to get in, hit Midway, and get out unless the weather is totally abysmal.
Speaking of abysmal weather, blizzard conditions continued in the Aleutians. My MSW sailed into Adak and out again without finding any mines, despite the presence of a green "mine dot" in the hex. "Ghost symbols" for subs and mines are a real pain in this game. In any event, I've ordered my TF to sail from Kiska again and bombard Adak, just in case I can catch something there.
Below is the INTEL table for this turn. I'll post a large-scale map in a follow-up post. Overall, after a year at war I've done slightly better than in History, but nowhere near what I need to have a chance to defeat or even seriously slow down AuTiger.
The day phase brought more significant news. First off, in addition to the DMS minesweeping TF at Lautem, a number of other Allied TFs showed up, including at least one Combat TF that has the cruiser Concord in it. More importantly, nearly a hundred various Allied fighters showed up at the now level 2 Lautem air base, along with almost 150 auxiliary planes.
This is one thing that has always puzzled me about AuTiger's style of play. Whenever he brings his fighters forward large numbers of auxiliary planes also show up. It seems strange that he would bother bringing forward 150 or so patrol and recon planes, so what is he doing? If many of them are transport planes, the question is why bring them forward? Is he using them to "pick up" troops to carry to the base instead of flying in the troops? I guess that would be safer against LR CAP, but it is still very strange. Also, as far as I know, transport planes don't "pick up" supply, but maybe I'm wrong.
In any event, I've now changed my plan and am sending in a large, multi-cruiser TF on Combat Patrol to challenge AuTiger's ships at Lautem. I pulled the BB out of the TF so that my TF can get to Lautem in one turn. I also brought in four good Zero Daitais and set them to LR CAP over my TF. Next turn ought to be interesting, but as usual, I will need some luck to fall upon my side.
One thing that struck me after I sent the turn back to AuTiger is that AuTiger could be considering some Paratroop drops in the DEI. He hasn't used Paras so far, but this could be a great place to start. So next turn I will move some of my Nates into my back-water air bases in the region to give some level of protection, just in case those auxiliary planes in Lautem are there to fly some Paras into my Rear.
The Weather was generally lousy again over much of the map, so none of my planned air attacks on AuTiger's ground units flew. AuTiger did get off a low altitude Mitchell attack against the airfields at Kuikang this turn. This is the first time that I've seen Mitchells in China. I only had recon planes at the base so the effect was minimal. Hopefully, the 1000 foot attack caused AuTiger plenty of flak damage and a good loss in Morale for his pilots.
Elsewhere, despite the Bad Weather, the Allied Patrol planes in the Bay of Bengal spotted the KB this turn at extreme range. Since there don't appear to be any useful targets in the region I ordered my TF to start to sail down towards Java, but on the Indian Ocean side. I guess that I'll eventually have to throw the KB into the fray around Timor.
In the Eastern Pacific, the weather started to clear up, so I ordered my small nuisance bombardment TF back to Wake. Since there is an older BB in the TF it is too slow to get in, hit Midway, and get out unless the weather is totally abysmal.
Speaking of abysmal weather, blizzard conditions continued in the Aleutians. My MSW sailed into Adak and out again without finding any mines, despite the presence of a green "mine dot" in the hex. "Ghost symbols" for subs and mines are a real pain in this game. In any event, I've ordered my TF to sail from Kiska again and bombard Adak, just in case I can catch something there.
Below is the INTEL table for this turn. I'll post a large-scale map in a follow-up post. Overall, after a year at war I've done slightly better than in History, but nowhere near what I need to have a chance to defeat or even seriously slow down AuTiger.
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Dive Bomber1
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RE: Starting the 2nd Year of War
Here is the entire map for the pbem:
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Dive Bomber1
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Subs, mines and surface attacks
December 8, 1942 - This was an odd turn from many perspectives. The turn started off encouraging, as one of AuTiger's subs hit one of my defensive mines at Truk, which was very satisfying to see. Then an Allied minesweeping TF cleaned out the sub-laid mines at Umnak, but an Allied PC hit the "last" mine and sank.
Next there was a very odd occurrence as an Allied PC on the surface opened fire at one of my subs off between Adak and Umnak. The sub apparently submerged because the MSWs in the Allied TF then fired depth charges instead of their surface guns. Fortunately, the only hit on the sub was from the surface fire from the PC and the damage was minimal.
But this told me that the TF was heading towards Adak to try to sweep out some of my mines. Coincidentally, my Kiska combat TF was already on its way to hit Adak with a bombardment, so I changed its orders to Surface Combat and also sent the BB in the TF back so that the TF ought to reach Adak next turn.
This is a very "touchy" subject with me right now, because during the rest of the Night Phase I watched and watched for any notice of a surface engagement at Lautem, but I saw nothing. Did AuTiger pull out his ships before my TF arrived? Nope, they were still at Lautem when I checked. But my fast cruiser TF was just sitting one hex away from Kendari!
Huh?!!! I checked my TF and all of the ships were 30 knots plus, all had plenty of fuel and ammo, and there was a good Combat TF leader in place. When I set up the TF during the previous turn the "green circle" showed that the TF should get to Lautem in one turn. And this turn the "green circle" still showed that the TF should get to Lautem and beyond in one turn. But for some totally incomprehensible reason, the AI decided that the TF "couldn't make it" and set it up to go this turn, as if the TF were a Bombardment TF instead of being a Surface Combat TF with a "react" radius set to "6".
These are the sorts of times where I "hate with a passion" the design decisions behind this Game. Time and time and time again situations come up where things don't happen and there is no explanation from the Game as to why. I assume that the "green circle" wasn't correct for the local situation and conditions, but why couldn't the Designers of this Game have put in some - any - information that explained why things didn't happen?
So, if I am lucky, and if the Game doesn't "invent" some other totally imbecilic reason for my TF not to sail to Lautem, and if AuTiger's TFs don't leave Lautem before my TF gets there, I may still have an opportunity to interfere with the Allied re-supply mission. But a single day makes such a big difference in this Game that losing one day for an unknown reason due to the Game Design is always totally unacceptable.
In other news, none of my planned air attacks flew again. In the absence of any interference from my forces, the British troops along the Burmese coast finally made it to Akyab. So now I've set even more air units from different bases to try to hit the Brits at Akyab, and I've even set fighters on LR CAP over the base in an attempt to "help" the situation.
In addition, another Allied unit has shown up on the trail that goes north from Pagan. The unit is now due west of Mandalay. I presume that AuTiger is hoping to try to cut off some of my forces, but the Movement Rules and Terrain ought to cause the unit to bog down somewhere. Of course, if any of my Bombers would ever fly to attack these land units, that would help the situation even more, but I have to go under the assumption that in this "fantasy world" my planes will never fly, either because they don't have some "magic" experience level, or because there is some other fudge factor that I can't influence in a manner that helps me.
In other news, the 116th/A finally reached Bangkok. But when I attempted to load it onto a troop transport TF, it didn't show up. I then remembered that the unit was still under the China Command, and thus it can't be moved by boat unless I change its command. So I changed it to a non-restricted command and loaded it on board the TF. Now I wonder if the three pieces will still recombine once I get them together, or will I need to change the "A" fragment back to China Command to get them to recombine?
Next there was a very odd occurrence as an Allied PC on the surface opened fire at one of my subs off between Adak and Umnak. The sub apparently submerged because the MSWs in the Allied TF then fired depth charges instead of their surface guns. Fortunately, the only hit on the sub was from the surface fire from the PC and the damage was minimal.
But this told me that the TF was heading towards Adak to try to sweep out some of my mines. Coincidentally, my Kiska combat TF was already on its way to hit Adak with a bombardment, so I changed its orders to Surface Combat and also sent the BB in the TF back so that the TF ought to reach Adak next turn.
This is a very "touchy" subject with me right now, because during the rest of the Night Phase I watched and watched for any notice of a surface engagement at Lautem, but I saw nothing. Did AuTiger pull out his ships before my TF arrived? Nope, they were still at Lautem when I checked. But my fast cruiser TF was just sitting one hex away from Kendari!
Huh?!!! I checked my TF and all of the ships were 30 knots plus, all had plenty of fuel and ammo, and there was a good Combat TF leader in place. When I set up the TF during the previous turn the "green circle" showed that the TF should get to Lautem in one turn. And this turn the "green circle" still showed that the TF should get to Lautem and beyond in one turn. But for some totally incomprehensible reason, the AI decided that the TF "couldn't make it" and set it up to go this turn, as if the TF were a Bombardment TF instead of being a Surface Combat TF with a "react" radius set to "6".
These are the sorts of times where I "hate with a passion" the design decisions behind this Game. Time and time and time again situations come up where things don't happen and there is no explanation from the Game as to why. I assume that the "green circle" wasn't correct for the local situation and conditions, but why couldn't the Designers of this Game have put in some - any - information that explained why things didn't happen?
So, if I am lucky, and if the Game doesn't "invent" some other totally imbecilic reason for my TF not to sail to Lautem, and if AuTiger's TFs don't leave Lautem before my TF gets there, I may still have an opportunity to interfere with the Allied re-supply mission. But a single day makes such a big difference in this Game that losing one day for an unknown reason due to the Game Design is always totally unacceptable.
In other news, none of my planned air attacks flew again. In the absence of any interference from my forces, the British troops along the Burmese coast finally made it to Akyab. So now I've set even more air units from different bases to try to hit the Brits at Akyab, and I've even set fighters on LR CAP over the base in an attempt to "help" the situation.
In addition, another Allied unit has shown up on the trail that goes north from Pagan. The unit is now due west of Mandalay. I presume that AuTiger is hoping to try to cut off some of my forces, but the Movement Rules and Terrain ought to cause the unit to bog down somewhere. Of course, if any of my Bombers would ever fly to attack these land units, that would help the situation even more, but I have to go under the assumption that in this "fantasy world" my planes will never fly, either because they don't have some "magic" experience level, or because there is some other fudge factor that I can't influence in a manner that helps me.
In other news, the 116th/A finally reached Bangkok. But when I attempted to load it onto a troop transport TF, it didn't show up. I then remembered that the unit was still under the China Command, and thus it can't be moved by boat unless I change its command. So I changed it to a non-restricted command and loaded it on board the TF. Now I wonder if the three pieces will still recombine once I get them together, or will I need to change the "A" fragment back to China Command to get them to recombine?
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
Just caught up with the AAR.
Thanks for testing the CV loading - I now know just to undock rather than leave port.
As for 150 Auxillary aircraft at airbases- I have a feeling that the game is reporting 10 x the actual figure.
Did you get your Nick squadron? Did it have only the 1 or 2 trained pilots? That has been my experience - I am very careful, whenever possible to ensure that the pool has at least one squadron's worth of planes, otherwise your trained pilots all never arrive - obviously that wasn't possible for you here.
Thanks for testing the CV loading - I now know just to undock rather than leave port.
As for 150 Auxillary aircraft at airbases- I have a feeling that the game is reporting 10 x the actual figure.
Did you get your Nick squadron? Did it have only the 1 or 2 trained pilots? That has been my experience - I am very careful, whenever possible to ensure that the pool has at least one squadron's worth of planes, otherwise your trained pilots all never arrive - obviously that wasn't possible for you here.
Robert Lee
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
ORIGINAL: bbbf
Just caught up with the AAR.
Thanks for testing the CV loading - I now know just to undock rather than leave port.
As for 150 Auxillary aircraft at airbases- I have a feeling that the game is reporting 10 x the actual figure.
I only wish that the game was reporting 10x the fighters and bombers...
Did you get your Nick squadron? Did it have only the 1 or 2 trained pilots? That has been my experience - I am very careful, whenever possible to ensure that the pool has at least one squadron's worth of planes, otherwise your trained pilots all never arrive - obviously that wasn't possible for you here.
The Nick Daitai showed up with only 1 plane and only 1 trained pilot, once the first Nick left the factory. I've got all of my air units on "no replacements" and "no upgrades", so the Daitai is sitting in Osaka with that one plane and one pilot.
I get my next Nick Daitai in something like 35 days, and I already have around 6 or 7 Nicks in the replacement pool. I'm not going to use any of the Nicks and I will just let them pile up until the next Nick Daitai arrives. This way the second Nick Daitai will use up the pool of Nicks and get trained pilots. I will then "disband" the lone Nick from the first Daitai and have the plane and pilot join the new Daitai. Then when the first Daitai comes back in 90 days time I should have enough planes in the pool to have it arrive full strength and with trained pilots.
It's a pain, but fortunately AuTiger isn't doing Night Bombing, so I don't need the Nicks at this time anyway.
Thanks for the comments -
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
Nicks are fairly useless anyway, so crap pilots in them isn't a real blow.
In a game I took over, there were no pools of any aircraft left. Until I sorted out production, I was receiving fighter squadrons with one or two decent pilots and all the rest were heading to purgatory.
I must have had 10 or more short changed higher experience fighter daitais gutted like this. I'm now waiting for the great 10000 lost pilot mark, where whole groups of pilots disappear from your active squadrons. That will be fun.
In a game I took over, there were no pools of any aircraft left. Until I sorted out production, I was receiving fighter squadrons with one or two decent pilots and all the rest were heading to purgatory.
I must have had 10 or more short changed higher experience fighter daitais gutted like this. I'm now waiting for the great 10000 lost pilot mark, where whole groups of pilots disappear from your active squadrons. That will be fun.
Robert Lee
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
ORIGINAL: bbbf
Nicks are fairly useless anyway, so crap pilots in them isn't a real blow.
In a game I took over, there were no pools of any aircraft left. Until I sorted out production, I was receiving fighter squadrons with one or two decent pilots and all the rest were heading to purgatory.
I must have had 10 or more short changed higher experience fighter daitais gutted like this. I'm now waiting for the great 10000 lost pilot mark, where whole groups of pilots disappear from your active squadrons. That will be fun.
Huh??? What is that about the 10,000 lost pilot mark? I haven't heard about that.
How do I find out how many pilots I've lost?
Thanks in advance -
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
Have a look at HerbieH vTabpub AAR
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=799417&mpage=34
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=799417&mpage=34
Robert Lee
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Subs, mines and surface attacks
ORIGINAL: bbbf
Have a look at HerbieH vTabpub AAR
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=799417&mpage=34
I certainly hope that this is a "one off" bug that is due to whatever version of the Game that is being used. If it isn't, and if it has been known for some time without it being fixed, then I am at a loss for words.
Has anyone else reported this?
Thanks -
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Long Lances vs BBs - the 2nd Naval Battle of Lautem
December 9, 1942 – After the usual minesweeping and sub chasing during the night phase we finally got a serious Naval Confrontation at Lautem. AuTiger brought up most of the Pacific Fleet and had it waiting for my incoming ships. Surprisingly enough, my Cruiser Surface Combat TF did reasonably well, considering the odds against it. I needed a little bit of luck, and I didn't get it, but the results could have been much worse.
The first encounter went as follows:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78
Japanese Ships
CA Atago, Shell hits 2
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano, Shell hits 5
CL Kuma, Shell hits 2
CL Kiso, Shell hits 7, on fire
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
DD Naganami, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Shiranuhi, Shell hits 2
DD Oshio
DD Michishio, Shell hits 2
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Yudachi, Shell hits 1
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Uranami, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Asakaze, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 4
BB Colorado, Shell hits 3
BB Nevada, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Arizona, Shell hits 5
BB California, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 1
BB Idaho, Shell hits 8
BB New Mexico, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 2
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 3
CL Detroit
CL Concord, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Walke
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Henley, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 1
DD Vampire, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Van Ghent
DD Thracian
DD Crosby
My ships got the jump and were able to launch and score with a number of Long Lances before the US ships got to fire back. But that is where I needed some luck and didn't get it. During the first unanswered phase of torpedo launches two Battleships and one DD were hit. If that
US DD had sunk due to the torpedo hit that might have caused the entire US TF to disengage. Unfortunately, the DD shook off the hit and so the battle continued with the US ships getting to use their big guns.
The two TFs temporarily disengaged but then the resumed the battle:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78
Japanese Ships
CA Atago
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CL Kuma, Shell hits 1
CL Kiso, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Naganami, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Shiranuhi
DD Oshio, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Michishio
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Yudachi
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma, on fire
DD Hatsuyuki, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Uranami, on fire
DD Asakaze, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1
BB Colorado, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Nevada, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 2, on fire
BB Arizona, Shell hits 1
BB California, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Tennessee
BB Idaho
BB New Mexico
BB Mississippi
CL Raleigh
CL Detroit
CL Concord, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Walke
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Henley, on fire
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1
DD John D. Edwards
DD Vampire, on fire
DD Van Ghent
DD Thracian
DD Crosby
Surprisingly, my ships got off more torpedoes and scored more hits against the US BBs. (Assuming, of course, that I'm not seeing Naval Combat Fog of War again like I did with that submarine attack a couple of turns ago.) So if the Combat Replay and Combat Report have any truth to them, my ships put torpedoes into six of the US BBs, including 4 torpedoes into Nevada.
Of course, what we are seeing here is the end result of poor luck right from at the very start of this pbem. This was a "Historic Start" and the KB's attack didn't sink or damage significantly any of the BBs at Pearl. In fact, only a PT boat was sunk during the attack. Thus, AuTiger has the entire suite of old BBs available to him right now, as well as the newer "fast" BBs, which I assume are off elsewhere.
In any event, although none of my ships were sunk during the battle, many of my DDs and CLs are badly damaged and won't likely make it to safety. And "to add insult to injury", CA Suzuya, which had escaped damage during the battle, was hit by a submarine torpedo while retiring.
So my hopes of slowing down the Allied advance into the DEI are pretty much finished now. I had the KB off in the "wrong place at the wrong time", and anyway, AuTiger has a huge air presence at Lautem right now. He even now has his first bombers in place; likely some dive bombers. It will be some time before I can bring in replacement ships, and by the time that they arrive I suspect that AuTiger will have so many planes in place that any attempts at attacking Lautem will be totally hopeless.
So while the night sky a Lautem was lit by searchlights, gunfire and explosions, things were quiet at Adak as AuTiger apparently sent his minesweeping TF back to base after its location was detected by one of my subs last turn. In any event, my TF got back to Kiska without any contact with the enemy. I reassembled a new TF out of the ships that were in the best shape and sent the more heavily damaged ships back to Paramushiro Jima. In any event, the battle at Lautem now convinces me that AuTiger has few if any heavy ships in the Aleutians at this time, so as long as my ships can avoid mines and subs and the weather stays bad, I ought to be able to continue to harass Adak.
In other, and reasonably unhappy, news, Allied troops captured Akyab on the first try this turn. I was very surprised at this because I expected the Allied troops to be fatigued and disrupted by their march. Of course, it didn't help that none of my attack bombers ever actually flew against the on-coming Allied troops over the past couple of game-weeks of trying. So score this victory as another one "for the AI".
BTW, in a really frustrating and totally unjustifiable manner, the AI sent my defeated Brigade onto a mountain to the East of Akyab instead of along the roadway to the South. My guess is that the AI "calculated" Mandalay as being closer so it sent the unit that direction instead of south to Rangoon. But with the @#$%^ "mile-a-day" rule the Brigade will never leave that spot before it is cut off. So that will likely be yet another unit that will remained trapped and provide target practice for AuTiger ad infinitum. I am totally sick and tired of this sort of thing happening in this pbem. It makes the entire game pointless – I can't compete against both the AI and a good opponent at the same time.
BTW II – AuTiger continues to use Chinese troops everywhere as his main attacking forces in order to wear down my defenses without risking his more valuable units. Two Chinese divisions participated in the assault on Akyab, and the unit that is trying to cut off Mandalay is also a Chinese unit.
BTW III – after I joked again in an email about "invading San Diego" last turn AuTiger sent me a screen capture of the San Diego base, and interestingly enough, the only troops there are a small base force and a CD unit. I wonder if AuTiger moved all of his West Coast combat troops forward? I suppose that if I had moved out my Home Defense troops as well as some of my other Restricted Command units earlier in this pbem I might have advanced a little more, but that's all theoretical now, because that's not how I wanted to play the game.
So, to a good extent, it's now "game over" with Akyab and Lautem firmly under Allied control. AuTiger will soon be able to totally destroy all of the DEI and SEA from the air, and I won't be able to do anything about it. I've made too many bad decisions, and I've also had too much poor luck, particularly with the AI, to be able to do anything further. Essentially, if a Japanese player doesn't win the Game during the first six months, he has lost it, and I have clearly lost this pbem badly.
The first encounter went as follows:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78
Japanese Ships
CA Atago, Shell hits 2
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano, Shell hits 5
CL Kuma, Shell hits 2
CL Kiso, Shell hits 7, on fire
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
DD Naganami, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Shiranuhi, Shell hits 2
DD Oshio
DD Michishio, Shell hits 2
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Yudachi, Shell hits 1
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Uranami, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Asakaze, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 4
BB Colorado, Shell hits 3
BB Nevada, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Arizona, Shell hits 5
BB California, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 1
BB Idaho, Shell hits 8
BB New Mexico, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 2
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 3
CL Detroit
CL Concord, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Walke
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Henley, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 1
DD Vampire, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Van Ghent
DD Thracian
DD Crosby
My ships got the jump and were able to launch and score with a number of Long Lances before the US ships got to fire back. But that is where I needed some luck and didn't get it. During the first unanswered phase of torpedo launches two Battleships and one DD were hit. If that
US DD had sunk due to the torpedo hit that might have caused the entire US TF to disengage. Unfortunately, the DD shook off the hit and so the battle continued with the US ships getting to use their big guns.
The two TFs temporarily disengaged but then the resumed the battle:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78
Japanese Ships
CA Atago
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CL Kuma, Shell hits 1
CL Kiso, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Naganami, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Shiranuhi
DD Oshio, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Michishio
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Yudachi
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma, on fire
DD Hatsuyuki, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Uranami, on fire
DD Asakaze, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1
BB Colorado, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Nevada, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 2, on fire
BB Arizona, Shell hits 1
BB California, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Tennessee
BB Idaho
BB New Mexico
BB Mississippi
CL Raleigh
CL Detroit
CL Concord, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Walke
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Henley, on fire
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1
DD John D. Edwards
DD Vampire, on fire
DD Van Ghent
DD Thracian
DD Crosby
Surprisingly, my ships got off more torpedoes and scored more hits against the US BBs. (Assuming, of course, that I'm not seeing Naval Combat Fog of War again like I did with that submarine attack a couple of turns ago.) So if the Combat Replay and Combat Report have any truth to them, my ships put torpedoes into six of the US BBs, including 4 torpedoes into Nevada.
Of course, what we are seeing here is the end result of poor luck right from at the very start of this pbem. This was a "Historic Start" and the KB's attack didn't sink or damage significantly any of the BBs at Pearl. In fact, only a PT boat was sunk during the attack. Thus, AuTiger has the entire suite of old BBs available to him right now, as well as the newer "fast" BBs, which I assume are off elsewhere.
In any event, although none of my ships were sunk during the battle, many of my DDs and CLs are badly damaged and won't likely make it to safety. And "to add insult to injury", CA Suzuya, which had escaped damage during the battle, was hit by a submarine torpedo while retiring.
So my hopes of slowing down the Allied advance into the DEI are pretty much finished now. I had the KB off in the "wrong place at the wrong time", and anyway, AuTiger has a huge air presence at Lautem right now. He even now has his first bombers in place; likely some dive bombers. It will be some time before I can bring in replacement ships, and by the time that they arrive I suspect that AuTiger will have so many planes in place that any attempts at attacking Lautem will be totally hopeless.
So while the night sky a Lautem was lit by searchlights, gunfire and explosions, things were quiet at Adak as AuTiger apparently sent his minesweeping TF back to base after its location was detected by one of my subs last turn. In any event, my TF got back to Kiska without any contact with the enemy. I reassembled a new TF out of the ships that were in the best shape and sent the more heavily damaged ships back to Paramushiro Jima. In any event, the battle at Lautem now convinces me that AuTiger has few if any heavy ships in the Aleutians at this time, so as long as my ships can avoid mines and subs and the weather stays bad, I ought to be able to continue to harass Adak.
In other, and reasonably unhappy, news, Allied troops captured Akyab on the first try this turn. I was very surprised at this because I expected the Allied troops to be fatigued and disrupted by their march. Of course, it didn't help that none of my attack bombers ever actually flew against the on-coming Allied troops over the past couple of game-weeks of trying. So score this victory as another one "for the AI".
BTW, in a really frustrating and totally unjustifiable manner, the AI sent my defeated Brigade onto a mountain to the East of Akyab instead of along the roadway to the South. My guess is that the AI "calculated" Mandalay as being closer so it sent the unit that direction instead of south to Rangoon. But with the @#$%^ "mile-a-day" rule the Brigade will never leave that spot before it is cut off. So that will likely be yet another unit that will remained trapped and provide target practice for AuTiger ad infinitum. I am totally sick and tired of this sort of thing happening in this pbem. It makes the entire game pointless – I can't compete against both the AI and a good opponent at the same time.
BTW II – AuTiger continues to use Chinese troops everywhere as his main attacking forces in order to wear down my defenses without risking his more valuable units. Two Chinese divisions participated in the assault on Akyab, and the unit that is trying to cut off Mandalay is also a Chinese unit.
BTW III – after I joked again in an email about "invading San Diego" last turn AuTiger sent me a screen capture of the San Diego base, and interestingly enough, the only troops there are a small base force and a CD unit. I wonder if AuTiger moved all of his West Coast combat troops forward? I suppose that if I had moved out my Home Defense troops as well as some of my other Restricted Command units earlier in this pbem I might have advanced a little more, but that's all theoretical now, because that's not how I wanted to play the game.
So, to a good extent, it's now "game over" with Akyab and Lautem firmly under Allied control. AuTiger will soon be able to totally destroy all of the DEI and SEA from the air, and I won't be able to do anything about it. I've made too many bad decisions, and I've also had too much poor luck, particularly with the AI, to be able to do anything further. Essentially, if a Japanese player doesn't win the Game during the first six months, he has lost it, and I have clearly lost this pbem badly.
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Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
Aftermath
December 10, 1942 – This was a much less momentous turn than the last one. There was a little bit of half-hearted sub chasing by one of my ASW TFs and one of the US DDs that was badly damaged during the Second Battle of Lautem sank on its way back to Australia.
AuTiger had moved some Beauforts into Lautem, so this turn they attacked and finished off one of my badly crippled CLs that was attempting to crawl back to Kendari. Afterwards I also scuttled the very badly damaged DD that had been escorting that CL.
AuTiger had his 4Es in Australia on Naval Patrol and so they were spotting all of my TFs in the region. I'm sending "everything that floats" off beyond the "Magic" 13-hex mark and I've now got good fighters on CAP over all of my key bases in the region. The CAP won't stop a 300-plane 4E strike, but they will cause damage, and "damage" is the only weapon that I have against the 4Es.
The only action on my part was a nuisance raid by some Sallys on the Chinese LCU that is outside of Mandalay. AuTiger hasn't yet put any planes into Akyab, but he had a Base Force along with his Combat troops when he captured the base, so it won't be long before AuTiger fills up Akyab with planes. AuTiger's planes fly even when his bases are overloaded with planes, maybe because the high experience levels of his pilots override the base-size factor. (As is happening at Lautem where he has around 250 planes at a Level 2 airfield, yet most of his fighters and all of his bombers flew against my ships.)
BTW – I received a "re-formed" Zero Daitai today, and since I had sufficient air frames in the pool, I received "replacement" pilots. Unfortunately, the average experience of these "replacements" is in the low 40s, so I'm not doing much better than I would have if I just re-filled the unit with raw recruits. It's pretty sad to see such a situation when the Daitai has over 100 kills to its credit, or should I say, to the credit of its former and now deceased pilots.
AuTiger had moved some Beauforts into Lautem, so this turn they attacked and finished off one of my badly crippled CLs that was attempting to crawl back to Kendari. Afterwards I also scuttled the very badly damaged DD that had been escorting that CL.
AuTiger had his 4Es in Australia on Naval Patrol and so they were spotting all of my TFs in the region. I'm sending "everything that floats" off beyond the "Magic" 13-hex mark and I've now got good fighters on CAP over all of my key bases in the region. The CAP won't stop a 300-plane 4E strike, but they will cause damage, and "damage" is the only weapon that I have against the 4Es.
The only action on my part was a nuisance raid by some Sallys on the Chinese LCU that is outside of Mandalay. AuTiger hasn't yet put any planes into Akyab, but he had a Base Force along with his Combat troops when he captured the base, so it won't be long before AuTiger fills up Akyab with planes. AuTiger's planes fly even when his bases are overloaded with planes, maybe because the high experience levels of his pilots override the base-size factor. (As is happening at Lautem where he has around 250 planes at a Level 2 airfield, yet most of his fighters and all of his bombers flew against my ships.)
BTW – I received a "re-formed" Zero Daitai today, and since I had sufficient air frames in the pool, I received "replacement" pilots. Unfortunately, the average experience of these "replacements" is in the low 40s, so I'm not doing much better than I would have if I just re-filled the unit with raw recruits. It's pretty sad to see such a situation when the Daitai has over 100 kills to its credit, or should I say, to the credit of its former and now deceased pilots.
RE: Aftermath
Reformed units draw on the pilot pools - so no decent pilots in the pool, you get raw pilots.
New units draw pilots that are either specified in the database or, if unspecified, from the table of experience for type and year - which get pretty crappy for Japan as the years tick over. The new units are the ones that don't turn up at Osaka.
New units draw pilots that are either specified in the database or, if unspecified, from the table of experience for type and year - which get pretty crappy for Japan as the years tick over. The new units are the ones that don't turn up at Osaka.
Robert Lee
-
Dive Bomber1
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:59 pm
RE: Aftermath
ORIGINAL: bbbf
Reformed units draw on the pilot pools - so no decent pilots in the pool, you get raw pilots.
New units draw pilots that are either specified in the database or, if unspecified, from the table of experience for type and year - which get pretty crappy for Japan as the years tick over. The new units are the ones that don't turn up at Osaka.
Ah, I didn't realize that "re-formed" units are treated differently from "new" units. There's another reason not to disband air units... Thanks for the info!