10/5/42 and 10/6/42
Carrier Reinforcements: Yes, I think this works the same as in WitP. See chart below for upcoming carrier reinforcements. I've already re-named the two Essex-class replacements as Constitution and Constellation (they were originally listed in this table as Yorktown II and something else [Lexington or Saratogo?] II). If I don't lose any carriers in the meantime, by mid-summer of '43 the Americans will have Wasp, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Essex, Constitutuion, Constellation, at least three CVLs, and quite a few CVEs. That's a decent force.
NoPac: Invasion TFs continue to rendezvous at Kodiak Island. I have a two-week window to implement the invasion. The trigger would be the appearance of the KB (all or a substantial part of it) in some very distant locale soon enough that the Paramushiro troops could land before winter conditions go in effect. If the KB does't make an apperance, I'll stand down the invasion. Then it will be time to figure out where to use those troops, when, and how to stop myself from gnashing my teeth over the expenditure of 3,000 political points to change HQ designations from restricted West Coast to North Pac.
SWPac Air: Portland Roads airfield is about to reach level two and the base force can handle 90 aircraft. Coen is level six, has base force personnel to handle 32 aircraft with reinforcements on the way. Three P-38F squadrons with 50+ experience levels are available. I think the Allies will also have at least 200 4EB (Forts and Liberators). I think the bombings will commence within a week.
SWPac Ground: When, as here, the KB rules the seas, SWPac looks like the best place for the Allies to advance (as long as the Allies hold Darwin and the bases on the NE Oz coast). The Oz bases are very close to a number of islands that have good base potential, plus Merauke on the south-central New Guinea Coast. Thus the Allies can occupy and build these bases under the protection of LRCAP from Oz. Within a month I expect the Allies to occupy Merauke and one or more islands north of Darwin. The only down side to this is that it will alert Miller to the threat from this direction - but he'd be alert anyhow since it was through Timor that the Allies clobbered the Japanese in my WitP game with Miller.
Subwoes: I just love the sub situation. In broad daylight a Japanese sub enters Luganville, surfaces, and sinks an AKL that was docked and unloading...and the ASW TF there didn't do a thing. I-16 sank a TK near Tahiti (with one torpedo, naturally). O21 torpedoed a Japanese TK at Kendari. The submarine situation has gotten so bad that I've stood down nearly every transport and tanker on the map. It takes time for those at sea to reach port and a few of them have been sunk on the way. I'm clearing the ocean of transports and will devote every single ASW-capable ship to ASW duties until the Allies need combat ships again. In WitP I found using single-ship convoys to transport fuels and supplies was efficient - losses were acceptably low and this reduced the risk of a huge loss if a convoy stumbles across the KB. But not in AE. From now on I'll use big convoys with ASW embedded therein. Lesson learned (unless and until, that is, a patch changes things). But the ability of Japanese ships to operate in or adjacent to major ports with ASW and air patrols mystifies me (and when those subs surface in daylight and sink docked ships it ticks me off).
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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