ORIGINAL: crsutton
You will get working torpedoes in late 43 and after 44 your night time experience on arriving warships will jump dramatically. This combined with the flood of Fletchers is a game changer. I don't recall really losing a surface engagement after 1944.
That should be right....I am posting losses to date, but DDs is one area I am ahead in, for sure.
I am still learning the surface combat facet of the game, and learning to build multiple smaller TFs, with only one capital ship type.
6-17-43:
Solomons:
Rekata Bay is already a lvl-4 airbase (I love Allied engineering!), and Vella Lavella already has 4 engineer units on it. It should be operational shortly, at which point we are ready to land on the Treasury Islands, and build that up.
At that point, the next stop will be contest, for sure. I have 2 Australian Divisions, plus tanks and engineers, prepping for Torokina, which is the next target. Shortlands is a little better, but it's more strongly defended.
Once Torokina falls, I'll move on dot bases around Rabaul. I will want to grab the Admiralties (Manus), as a major port for future movements.
We also plan a leap-frog advance up the New Guinea coast
All of this is isolating, or threatening to isolate, several IJA Garrisons, including:
20,000 troops at Munda, Lunga, Russel (these are isolated)
35,000 at Port Moresby
....plus more to follow. He can airlift stuff out of course, or march the PM garrison to Buna, but leaving heavy equipment behind isn't good.
Noise:
There is a bit of a lull right now, so we are creating some shipping noise in various quarters. I have a major move planned, and want to send confusing signals. Recon flights, ships at sea, forming lots of TFs in port to produce radio signals, that type of thing.
State of the Game:
Please chime in, but posting a state of the game at this point, mid-1943.
Territory:
Here I am in OK shape. The biggest black mark is that China is basically gone; we control about 6 hexes around Chungking, and he'll probably leave Chungking alone, but that's it other than the Mountain Redoubt around Kunming to Paoshan.
Greyjoy ran a great land campaign in China, really killing me there. He did a couple innovative things, like buying every tank unit on the map into one stack, and blitzkrieging me. It was well done.
Otherwise, though, his expansion was very conservative. He left Cocos Islands alone, which was a mistake, IMO, though I stacked it with CD guns and troops very early. He did take Northern Australia, but abandoned it quickly.
At this point, territory is almost exactly historical, which probably favors me in WITP-AE; most Japanese players are ahead of historical in terms of land at this point
Naval Losses:
Overall, I think Greyjoy has the slight upper hand here, though nothing is fatal. At this point, the Allies should have more surface losses, particularly in BBs (thanks to Pearl attack), and I do. Some of it is also my fault too.
LOSS SUMMARY:
ALLIES:
CV Enterprise
2 USN CVE
6 BBs (4 Old USN BBs, plus NORTH CAROLINA and PRINCEofWALES)
7 CAs (2 USN CAs, and 5 RN CAs)
8 CLs that are Modern (4 USN and 4 RN)
14 Old CLs (Dutch, Omahas, RN C and D classes)
11 Modern DDs
9 Old DDs (Dutch, Clemsons, or old RN)
JAPAN
2 CAs
7 CLs
20 Modern DDs (Fubuki and Later)
11 Older DDs (Mutsuki and Older)
My high surface losses are due to a few factors. First, I was aggressive early, to try to limit IJN usage, and make him be conservative. That worked for sure, though it cost me a bunch of cruisers, especially RN cruisers.
Second, IJN Subs have really been effective, sinking NEW MEXICO and MARYLAND cleanly, among other hits, plus several cruisers.
Finally, I have lost some to dumb air attacks, and Greyjoy traps, and general losses from being dumb or aggressive, like that trap a couple days ago at Lautem
Overall, my CRUISER losses are fairly bad, but not fatal; in DDs, however, I have had hardly any losses. It's almost impossible to get to mid-1943 with only 20 sunk DDs, given all the ways you can lose them. So I'm ahead there.
VPs:
Hard to tell where I am here......my air losses I think are a little higher than normal vs. the Japanese.
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