Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

[apbarog]

27 Sep 42 - Indian Ocean

Destroyer Ariake, moving just 4 hexes a day, is tracked down and sunk by the British.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Addu at 20,52, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Ariake, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Exeter
CA Hawkins
DD Inconstant
DD Isis

[apbarog]

27 Sep 42 - China

Yenan is captured with a huge Chinese army surrendering.

Ground combat at Yenan (88,37)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 32441 troops, 256 guns, 207 vehicles, Assault Value = 946

Defending force 34735 troops, 74 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 418

Japanese adjusted assault: 1010

Allied adjusted defense: 125

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Yenan !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: HQ(+)

Japanese ground losses:
833 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 99 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
37166 casualties reported
Squads: 866 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2401 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 98 (98 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 15

Assaulting units:
4th Cavalry Brigade
26th Division
23rd Tank Regiment
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Ind.Mixed Brigade
138th Infantry Regiment
Mongol Garrison Army
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment

Defending units:
19th Chinese Corps
120th Red Chinese Division
22nd Chinese Corps
3rd Prov Chinese Corps
42nd Chinese Corps
83rd Chinese Corps
35th Chinese Corps
115th Red Chinese Division
129th Red Chinese Division
4th Chinese Cavalry Corps
18th Group Army
13th Group Army
2nd War Area
6th Group Army
12th Chinese Base Force

[apbarog]

28 Sep 42

The snooping enemy ships in the Gilberts turned out to be French destroyer Le Triomphant. The destroyer is an excellent ship and makes an excellent raider. Having spotted the ship, it disappeared today. KB was not spotted and remains in place.

Sonias bombed light industry at Lanchow and damaged about 16 refineries.

In the Aleutians, CM Tsugaru dropped mines at Adak Island, and was spotted by Silversides. 2 torpedoes hit but both were duds. OPilot can be pretty sure that I have mines at Adak now. Many more mines were dropped yesterday by a large group of tiny minelaying ships. Those small minelayers and Japanese destroyers were targeted at Ulak Island by a US carrier force that appeared to the southwest, at a range of 6 hexes.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ulak Island at 160,53

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 36
TBF-1 Avenger x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 6 destroyed, 5 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
CMc Enoshima, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Hasu
DD Tsuta
DMS W-2, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Asagao
CMc Ma 2, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Susuki
CMc Ma 3, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CMc Toshima

An afternoon strike of 17 SBD-3s with 16 Wildcats missed hitting destroyers. Weather was severe storms in the afternoon. More SBDs were shot down.

The Zeros performed very well, considering that the pilots are only average quality. CMc Enoshima was scuttled, so 3 tiny minelaying ships were sunk and the destroyers were missed. I can't complain about that for a surprise raid. Total air losses were 29 SBD-3s, 8 TBF-1s and 6 F4F-4s, for the loss of 3 Zeros. I've noted that an "S" sub was at Ulak also. OPilot seems to use subs at enemy bases where he orders air strikes, possibly to help rescue downed pilots. If the sub is there ahead of time, it could tip me off to a raid coming. Difficult to notice though, as he puts US subs on lots of Japanese bases.

Japanese attack at Sian goes ok but with infantry division losses. Forts come down. Chinese reinforcements are still racing to Sian. One of the Chinese corps there today was fresh. I may or may not take the city. The 2nd Tank Division is taking few losses in the fighting so far, so that's a good sign. The 2 infantry divisions, however, are over 50% disabled now. We have supply and will attack again immediately. Bombers continue to support and also slow the Chinese approaching the city.

Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31927 troops, 350 guns, 420 vehicles, Assault Value = 838

Defending force 30713 troops, 115 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 568

Japanese adjusted assault: 1440

Allied adjusted defense: 739

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1042 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 143 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled

Allied ground losses:
793 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 100 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Assaulting units:
11th Division
63rd Division
2nd Tank Division
23rd Army
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
15th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
55th Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
77th Chinese Corps
31st Group Army
15th Group Army
37th Group Army
2nd Group Army
38th Group Army

[apbarog]

29 Sep 42

Big British [EDIT: American, obviously] air effort over Myitkyina. 2 squadrons of P-40Es and a squadron of P-40Ks (first appearance of the "K") sweep Myitkyina. B-24s and B-25s then bombed the airfield, doing moderate damage. Myitkyina is not important to me, other than that it is in Japanese hands. I don't plan on basing air units there. It's a free bombing target for the British. It would take 100+ Japanese fighters to protect it, and still take high losses.

Victory at Sian!

Ground combat at Sian (83,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30963 troops, 350 guns, 420 vehicles, Assault Value = 734

Defending force 31700 troops, 114 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 504

Japanese adjusted assault: 1154

Allied adjusted defense: 213

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Sian !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
1417 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 101 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
12213 casualties reported
Squads: 299 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 382 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 30 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 18 (18 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 11

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

The 2 Japanese divisions are about 60% disabled and will remain at Sian. The tank division will stay also, for now. I don't have planes to advance out of Sian. Japanese units will clear the road from Yenan to Sian, coming from the Yenan area.

2 Japanese units attacked southeast of Sian also, taking 630 casualties and inflicting 183, with a 1 to 1 attack against unsupplied Chinese. The Chinese are showing movement to the north, wanting to move to the east of Sian. We'll attack again after resupply.

The US carrier TF in the Aleutians disappeared.

[apbarog]

30 Sep 42

A quiet turn. I did the usual bombing, near Sian, at Kunming, at Bandoeng (yes, the Dutch are still there and still have supply). Bombed Ankang, west of Sian, to show some interest after taking Sian. I may show ground movement towards Ankang, off road, but it would be with small units.

Once I clean up around Sian, I think that the bulk of those forces will move back to the Kunming-Tuyun area, for the final push there. It would be a long war of attrition, off road, but for those restricted Japanese troops, it would be worth it. The goal remains to isolate China from Burma to restrict supply (done), and hold all bases in the mountains in western China to keep that isolation going even after I lose Burma (working on it).

[apbarog]

1 Oct 42

Chinese cleared out from south of the river, southeast of Sian, and pushed to the north side of the river, just east of Sian.

Ground combat at 85,42 (near Sian)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 28718 troops, 230 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 891

Defending force 10254 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 331

Japanese adjusted assault: 761

Allied adjusted defense: 133

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
608 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 71 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3063 casualties reported
Squads: 98 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 78 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
32nd Division
35th Division
41st/A Division

Defending units:
40th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
24th Group Army

[apbarog]

2 Oct 42

Transport Kongo Maru is traveling with another fast xAP from Port Arthur to Hong Kong, destined for Java. The 2 ships are carrying 2 engineer units bought out from Manchuria. They have a speed of 21 knots, so they are fast, and I didn't assign escort to them. Near Wenchow. Albacore spotted Kongo Maru and fired 4 torpedoes. All missed. Albacore attacked again, firing 4 more torpedoes, and all missed. Near Foochow, Kongo Maru was spotted by Flying Fish, which fired 4 torpedoes. One hit, but was a dud. A lucky day for Kongo Maru. Speed helps against torpedoes, but only somewhat.

Nothing else notable. Some units are leaving Sian, including the tank division, and heading to Tuyun. Other units northeast of Sian will do a river crossing against a Chinese corps as they move towards Sian to clear the trail.

[apbarog]

3 Oct 42

British sub Trusty sank small tanker Juko Maru southwest of Rangoon, in deep water. My early-war convoys to Rangoon were coastal, and OPilot got wise to that and started moving subs to the shallow waters. I adjusted and moved my convoy route out into the deep water, and it took a couple of months until that was discovered. I'm going to move it further out towards Port Blair now and see how long that works. I put a lot of effort into my convoy routings, and avoid losing ships by using slightly unexpected routes. And I don't talk much about this work, as I've done such work in all of my games. The effort is worth it. Just move a little bit beyond what an expected route would be, and the route may never be discovered.

We went back to Cocos Island and invaded it, taking it back.

Ground combat at Cocos Islands (33,101)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3720 troops, 40 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 132

Defending force 649 troops, 16 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 17

Japanese adjusted assault: 60

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 60 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Cocos Islands !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Martlet II: 3 destroyed
Swordfish I: 4 destroyed
Sea Hurricane Ib: 1 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender:
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
383 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
629 casualties reported
Squads: 43 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 66 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 22 (22 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (9 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
3rd Ind Engr Rgt /2
19th Tank Regiment
21st Ind.Mixed Bde /4

Defending units:
1st Somerset LI Battalion

The engineer unit will stay. The tank regiment begins loading up immediately. The infantry will be removed in the next couple of weeks.

[apbarog]

4 Oct 42

Little to report. I did the usual bombing in China. Troops from the Sian area continue to pull out to the south, to be redeployed in the Kunming/Tuyun area. Troops from Yenan will cross the river towards Sian in 2 days. Looks like the single Chinese corps that was on the other side of the river is gone now. Small Japanese carriers are covering supply and fuel delivery to Attu in the Aleutians. Big Japanese DD force to patrol to Adak during the night, but return to the west during the day. Some kind of enemy combat force spotted to the east yesterday. I do have mines at Adak now but OPilot had spotted the minelayers, so it is not a surprise.

In the big picture, I'm just waiting for the US hammer to fall. I've seen a USMC regiment months ago when the US retook Midway, but I haven't seen a USMC division at all in the war. I'm sure that they are prepping somewhere. When OPilot does go on the offensive, it will be with overwhelming force.

Remember, a couple of months ago, I had spotted a large armada moving to the northwest, arriving at a spot east of Luganville. A Japanese sub hit a US carrier, and the whole armada turned around and went back to Pago Pago. That could have been the first attempt at starting the US offensive.

KB has stayed in the same hex for weeks now, west of Tarawa. Not spotted. Still, probably not wise to stay there. You never know what SigInt that the US is getting.

[apbarog]

5 Oct 42

Hit the airfield at Kunming very hard. Kunming still has supply, no matter what I do. I've been hitting the light industry occasionally. It has a lot of heavy industry, but I'm assuming that fuel is almost non-existent in China. I've destroyed most of the refineries. So I don't bomb HI.

Approximately 41 B-17s bombed Daly Waters in Australia. Not worried about it. It's my most southern base in Australia and I have no plans to base aircraft there.

Small cargo ships are now in the Aleutians. They will move to the 4 Japanese bases and unload. A carrier task force, with small carriers, will support the move to Adak.

[apbarog]

6 Oct 42

I'd noticed a US sub moving through Toboali and a nearby base island. Both have resources. The sub is looking for cargo ships, so now I'm looking for it. A sub chaser spotted Perch at Toboali but didn't hit it.

I did more LI bombing in China, wiping out most of the 20 LI at Changteh. More refineries damaged at Lanchow, and I'm hitting LI there now too. Just a couple LI hit at Kweiyang. I'm going all out to make the supply situation in China as rough as I can. And keep it that way for as long as possible.

B-17s hit Gove for the first time. It's an easy target and recently built the airfield to size 1. I'm using it as a search plane base, and I plan on defending it on the ground.

[apbarog]

7 Oct 42

I-156 spotted a combat force north of Wellington. Light cruiser Leander and destroyers Parrott and Humphreys are spotted, and 4 torpedoes missed Parrott. Seeing Leander, I'm figuring that this is not a big US task force. There was another task force spotted in the hex during the night though. I decide that KB will remain in the Marshalls.

xAP Kongo Maru has led a charmed week. It was attacked by US subs several times near Taiwan, as it headed from Port Arthur to Batavia. All but one torpedo missed, and the one was a dud. Next to Batavia, now it was attacked by Permit, but 4 torpedoes missed. The speed of Kongo Maru and its sister ship is 23, not 20, as I had stated last week. 2 construction units will unload at Batavia.

Bombed refineries and light industry at Lanchow again. Only 6 refineries remain operational, and unless I'm mistaken, they are the only refineries operational and in Chinese control. Sonias will continue to target Lanchow.

B-26s and B-17s bombed Port Moresby. I had fighters at Buna covering a big troop reinforcement convoy, and fighters at Lae resting. Heavy damage to the airfield but 2 B-26s were shot down by flak. Hard to guess the right day to fly LRCAP when the bombers arrive so infrequently.

My carriers and destroyers and cargo ships are spotted at and near Adak Island in the Aleutians. Yamato and Mutsu will split off from the carriers and bombard the nearby US base (the one 2 hexes due east of Adak, forgot the name). The enemy base has 2 units on it, and is a size 1 port and size 0 airfield. I'd like to slow the building. Sallys from a western airfield will hit the troops there too.

[apbarog]

8 Oct 42

Yamato makes its first appearance in the war, bombarding Atka Island along with battleship Mutsu. It's a very poor showing. Just 97 casualties from the 87th Mountain Regiment, and 4 port hits and 2 supply hits. The battleships and carriers will now retire to Attu Island. Supply is unloading at all 4 Japanese islands in the Aleutians.

Blens attacked the 1st RTA Division just east of Akyab. Lots of Hurricanes swept above, coming from Chittagong. Very minor losses in the jungle. B-25s and B-24s bombed the airfield at Myitkyina, doing moderate damage. Lots of Flying Tiger P-40s swept from India.

B-17s from Australia bombed the airbase and port at Milne Bay. OPilot had spotted my big reinforcement convoy there. Minor damage to the base. The B-17s can generally go wherever they want. If they run into strong fighter defense, a few may be lost and many will be damaged, but that is just a delay. Not like catching the Blens and shooting most of them down. It's a sign of things to come, and it isn't good for the Japanese.

[apbarog]

9 Oct 42

3 Japanese subs were on the move yesterday, trying to catch a big cargo convoy westbound from Ceylon towards the western map edge. The ships had been spotted 2 days in a row, and were moving 6 hexes a day, due west. The subs moved to intercept, but OPilot wisely jogged 2 rows to the south, still headed west. KB Fressia showed up in the exact hex predicted with a 6 hex move due west, and it got a depth charge hit on I-32, doing moderate SYS damage. All 3 subs will continue the hunt for one more day, picking different hexes 6 hexes towards the map edge. It's less than 50-50 for an intercept.

The Australian B-17s went back to hitting Daly Waters, doing heavy damage. The rotation has included Daly Waters, Gove, Port Moresby, and Katherine. I'm guessing that Katherine is next. Nicks from Lae and Zeros from Darwin are moved to Katherine.

Ansi in far, far northern China is captured. I had been chasing one of the weakened Chinese units into Ansi from the south with an armored unit, slowly wearing down the enemy that continued to take losses to a much smaller, but armored, unit. For the move into Ansi, I sent the armor back south to cover the base there, and moved a bigger infantry unit into Ansi. That worked.

Ground combat at Ansi (80,23)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6733 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 210

Defending force 9209 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 232

Japanese adjusted assault: 165

Allied adjusted defense: 75

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Ansi !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), leaders(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
274 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2702 casualties reported
Squads: 121 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 35 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
38th Chinese Corps
303rd Brigade
9th Separate Brigade

The 2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade will now chase the enemy to the northeast. I didn't expect to be able to pull supply anywhere near this far north in China, but I'm doing it. I'm contemplating going after that big oil producing base 2 more cities to the north. I think other Japanese players have had issues pulling oil out of there, so it may not be worth the trouble.

Northwest of Tuyun, Chinese units moved into the woods and attacked a small Japanese unit holding the flank. I had a division and armor here previously, but pulled them back into Tuyun. I wonder if OPilot will reinforce this fight. I won't order reinforcements.

Action in the South Pacific?

[apbarog]

10 Oct 42

Nothing showed up east of Luganville, but my armada with KB didn't move an inch. I had planned for them to move 8 hexes to the SW, moving within range of Luganville, but that did not occur. No idea why. Fuel was not an issue. I did have 4 task forces, with 3 following the first one, and I have seen this happen rarely in the past, when multiple TFs are following.

I've ordered the ships to move back to the NE towards Tarawa.

My convoy intercept west of Ceylon didn't occur. My 3 subs guesses different hexes on the west map edge, and the convoy moved between 2 of them. Just missed. All subs will head to the Rangoon area for repair, refuel and more torpedoes.

I will probably lose the battle in the woods NW of Tuyun.

Ground combat at 73,50 (near Kweiyang)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11870 troops, 70 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 399

Defending force 1812 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 59

Allied adjusted assault: 55

Japanese adjusted defense: 91

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
113 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
123 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
9th Prov Chinese Corps
69th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps

Defending units:
88th Naval Guard Unit

The Chinese have many more men and will wear my troops down, even with the Chinese being out of supply. I've ordered some bombers to hit the Chinese.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

10 Oct 42

Nothing showed up east of Luganville, but my armada with KB didn't move an inch. I had planned for them to move 8 hexes to the SW, moving within range of Luganville, but that did not occur. No idea why. Fuel was not an issue. I did have 4 task forces, with 3 following the first one, and I have seen this happen rarely in the past, when multiple TFs are following.

I've ordered the ships to move back to the NE towards Tarawa.

My convoy intercept west of Ceylon didn't occur. My 3 subs guesses different hexes on the west map edge, and the convoy moved between 2 of them. Just missed. All subs will head to the Rangoon area for repair, refuel and more torpedoes.

I will probably lose the battle in the woods NW of Tuyun.

Ground combat at 73,50 (near Kweiyang)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11870 troops, 70 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 399

Defending force 1812 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 59

Allied adjusted assault: 55

Japanese adjusted defense: 91

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
113 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
123 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
9th Prov Chinese Corps
69th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps

Defending units:
88th Naval Guard Unit

The Chinese have many more men and will wear my troops down, even with the Chinese being out of supply. I've ordered some bombers to hit the Chinese.

The AI moves TFs in order of their TF #. It can handle a single follow order if the other TFs are set to follow one leader, but if you daisy-chain follow orders without regard to TF#, you can set up a logic loop that the AI cannot parse, so it does nothing. Never daisy-chain the follow order!

[apbarog]

[/quote]
The AI moves TFs in order of their TF #. It can handle a single follow order if the other TFs are set to follow one leader, but if you daisy-chain follow orders without regard to TF#, you can set up a logic loop that the AI cannot parse, so it does nothing. Never daisy-chain the follow order!
[/quote]

In this case, I had one carrier task force which is TF#1. The other 3 task forces had orders to follow TF#1. You are right about the daisy-chain issue, but in this case, they were all following the same task force, which was TF#1. All could have moved 8 hexes, and weren't close to needing fuel. The task forces didn't move at all.

As it turned out, it didn't matter. I don't think there are any any ships in the area after all. But if there had been, not moving would have affected a big battle, and I wouldn't have been happy.

I ordered them all in a different direction for the next turn, with the same following orders. We'll see if they move.

[BBfanboy]

Interesting. Now I wonder what the explanation for lack of movement could be ... Thanksgiving Dinner? [:'(]

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Interesting. Now I wonder what the explanation for lack of movement could be ... Thanksgiving Dinner? [:'(]

Don't know. The ships all moved as planned today.

[apbarog]

11 Oct 42

Huge Allied air effort over Magwe, but just with fighters, no bombers. 2 elite Japanese fighter units couldn't withstand so many sweeps. Initially, I had 34 Tojos and 40 Nicks on CAP, with the Tojos at 32000 feet and the Nicks at 11000.

Sweeps included:
16 Hurricane IIb
16 Hurricane IIb
16 Hurricane IIb
16 Hurricane IIb
24 P-40K
25 P-40E
16 Hurricane IIb

The Hurricanes came in above all of the Japanese fighters, and got the bounce on the Nicks every time. The Nicks and Tojos held their own with the first couple of Hurri sweeps, but then they started to tire and the losses mounted. The P-40s came in just below the Tojos, but by this point, there weren't as many Japanese fighters still in the air, and the ones that weren't were no longer effective.

Total air losses were 29 Nicks and 14 Tojos while downing 14 Hurricanes, 5 P-40Ks and 3 P-40Es. I'll try to defend Magwe off and on, but being so close to so many bases in India, I can't fight the entire Allied air force over one base.

OPilot was cautious and didn't send any bombers to Magwe. After today, I think he will. I moved 3 fresh fighter squadrons to Magwe, and stacked them from 11k, 20k and 30k.

Surprisingly, OPilot did not attack again NW of Tuyun, and even shows movement out of the hex to the NW. I did bomb the Chinese there today and caused some casualties, with at least one of the enemy units probably in movement mode.

The Australian B-17s split up and hit Buna and Gove, doing moderate damage to both. For now I'm keeping 2 fighter squadrons at Katherine. They are not spotted and I still hope to catch some B-17s there.