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Nice Cap trap sir. Having that lvl 9 AF at PM is going to make life hell for him in that entire area.

Three times the losses would be very nasty, and might be worth waiting. However, that is your call. Just observing.

Hey jeffk! Welcome [:)]

Yeah, I´m certainly leaning towards waiting for spring. After Baker is wrapped up it going to be mid January anyway. Might as well wait 6 weeks... [:)]

Winter weather opps wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the 3x causalties potential..

BB Shortage

For the first time in this game I´m really starting to feel it. I really, really need BBs to soften up target but they are very few and precious. I am starting to see some light in the tunnel though!

Currently I have only 5(!) operational BBs. 4 Fast BBs in SOPAC (Alabama, PoW, Massachusetts and Indiana) and Mississippi in CENTPAC. A lot of BBs are coming back from repairs in the coming months and I get some really great additions! [:)]

-Idaho, Nevada and California will be ready in about 30 days.
-Maryland and South Dakota will be 3 months more in the yards.
-Queen Elisabeth, Renown and Valiant are steaming for the Panama Canal. ETA about 12 days.
-Iowa and New Jersey are 8 and 13 days away! Sweet! [:D]

So in only 30 days I will have 8 operational BBs in CENTPAC instead of the current one. Good news! [:)]

Nice CAP trap.

25th-28th of December -43

Some scary, scary moment when on the 27th I get a dreaded message during the replay!

Temporary flotation repairs failing aboard CV Valhalla

She doesn´t sink but is very, very close to. Flood damage bumped up to 92. I have her moving at cruise speed and have been from the start. Sys damage also went up from 0 to 6. I redirected her to the closest island. She has an AR following in the same hex. Perhaps I can still save her but I´m feeling pessimistic. With 88 major FLT damage I can´t do much more then repair her SYS damage and fix the non major FLT damage and let her continue her journey?

Other then that it has been three quiet days. I´ve done some sweeps in Burma but no opposition. I also caught Erik trying to fly in or out some troops from Buna. I did order an assault on Milne. Very good results! [:)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Milne Bay (101,133)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 23074 troops, 427 guns, 596 vehicles, Assault Value = 995

Defending force 15033 troops, 177 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 440

Allied adjusted assault: 767

Japanese adjusted defense: 291

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 4

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1958 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 156 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 87 (16 destroyed, 71 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
1118 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 139 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 26 disabled


Assaulting units:
32nd Infantry Division
24th Infantry Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
110th Combat Engineer Battalion
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
2nd USMC Tank Bn /2

Defending units:
8th Garrison Unit
18th Garrison Unit
Det. 3rd Special Base Force
25th Field AA Machinecannon Company
28th Field AA Machinecannon Company
29th Field AA Machinecannon Company
37th Const Co
23rd Field AA Machinecannon Company
22nd Field AA Machinecannon Company
20th Fld AA Machinecannon Company
26th Air Defense AA Regiment
3rd Base Force

Very happy about that about that obviously! [:)] Milne won´t be the long haul as PM was. BFs started loading this turn. I will attack again in about 5 turns. I don´t want to get impatient here. Fatigue is in the 20-30s so better to let it drop a bit. It will also give me time to send in another naval bombardment.

APA/AKAs will be repaired in a 2-3 turns and will start loading for the next invasion.

No screen this time. Not much to show!

How close is CV Valhalla to the nearest safe port?

Joc, even if Erik wasn't that upset about that CAP trap, you may want to discuss that matter a little bit deeper with him.
I do believe that the extensive use of CAP traps in enemy waters is somehow not 100% Kosher.
It's difficult to house rule it, i know, cause it may be limiting a lot, but maybe a little self constraint is desirable in these situations.
 
I remember me and Rader discussed this thing a lot and we reached a good conclusion, saying that CAP trap in enemy waters were allowed only if you could actually risk something valuable and "hittable"...so DDs, even if valuable, weren't allowed if alone. CAs or CLs (not crappy ones) were needed in the bait TFs.
 
Even if without any specific HR about it, playing with Brad we're not doing it in any extensive way. We both, sometimes, place some traps here and there, but never during an invasion (where it becomes clearly a game changer).
 
Also, given the air superiority you have now in NG, that kind of massive CaP Trap over a base which was clearly on the "invasion list" seems really like pushing a little bit too far.
 
Obviously others' opinions may differ... these were just my humble 0.0002 cents [:)]

Saving a CV:
The larger the port, the better...duh!! [:D]
AR or two
Naval Support (use a PBY or Coronado to fly it in if necessary)
Leader on ship (I would say the priority would be Leadership, Inspiration, and a third quality may possibly be Admin)
Is there anything else that will influence damage control??

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

How close is CV Valhalla to the nearest safe port?

9 loooong hexes! And its only a dot base. I have mentally already written her off. Even if she does make it I guess she will be in the yard for a very long time! A year? 18 months?

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Saving a CV:
The larger the port, the better...duh!! [:D]
AR or two
Naval Support (use a PBY or Coronado to fly it in if necessary)
Leader on ship (I would say the priority would be Leadership, Inspiration, and a third quality may possibly be Admin)
Is there anything else that will influence damage control??

I will have to make do with a dot hex this time! [:D] I´ll switch the leader as soon as I can! I will try to get some naval support in place. Fingers crossed...

But I can´t really repair any major FLT damage short of a repair yard? Or can I? So even if she survives this she has a long way to go with 88 FLT damage! [:(]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Joc, even if Erik wasn't that upset about that CAP trap, you may want to discuss that matter a little bit deeper with him.
I do believe that the extensive use of CAP traps in enemy waters is somehow not 100% Kosher.
It's difficult to house rule it, i know, cause it may be limiting a lot, but maybe a little self constraint is desirable in these situations.

I remember me and Rader discussed this thing a lot and we reached a good conclusion, saying that CAP trap in enemy waters were allowed only if you could actually risk something valuable and "hittable"...so DDs, even if valuable, weren't allowed if alone. CAs or CLs (not crappy ones) were needed in the bait TFs.

Even if without any specific HR about it, playing with Brad we're not doing it in any extensive way. We both, sometimes, place some traps here and there, but never during an invasion (where it becomes clearly a game changer).

Also, given the air superiority you have now in NG, that kind of massive CaP Trap over a base which was clearly on the "invasion list" seems really like pushing a little bit too far.

Obviously others' opinions may differ... these were just my humble 0.0002 cents [:)]

Hey! Thanks for dropping by! [:)]

You are of course right. I did speak to Erik shortly right after and said he was okay with it. But it has been gnawing at me and I have been meaning to speak to him. Its a poor excuse of course but I have been so swamped with the baby, work and moving. But I actually manage to send him a long e-mail today and I don´t think there is any bad feelings. [:)]

I did send in a 2 CL TF (Clevelands) with 8 Fletchers. I don´t know if you have been following my AAR but Erik has sunk most of my navy so these ships are pretty much invaluable to me. For some reason however they withdrew during the night together with another 8 Fletcher TF despite being set to "remain on station". The only TF remaining was the 4 DD ASW TF set to protect the SCTFs from subs. It had a patrol setting though so that might be why it remained? I have no clue why the others withdrew.

I know it sound silly to make a CAP trap like that so close to PM. But I have never done this kind of thing before. All my two(!) previous amphibious landings have been hit and run affairs. One of them just over night. Just felt really stupid to send in the transports first when I had absolutely no clue what would happen. Eriks strikes has had a habit of just slithering through massive CAP before without even being engaged. Had I known or strongly believed what would happen I would of course have sent in the transports right away! After all only 5 planes got through and they would most likely have gone after the BBs.

Next time I will know a lot more what to expect from these kind of things. I certainly wont do it like this again. It just felt like it would have been really, really stupid to risk the transports. It felt more prudent to send in combat ships into danger first to see what would happen then unarmored transports with troops on board.

Right or wrong? As you say there many different opinions. I won´t do it like this again. And I would have felt a lot better about myself if the SCTFs has remained at Milne...

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Saving a CV:
Is there anything else that will influence damage control??

Evading falling bombs and running torpedoes? [:)]

I would start making preparations to get some construction engineers to the dot base 'if' she doesn't sink in a couple of days in addition to those steps I spoke of. When and where are your large ARDs that should be able to hold a CV?

Take off her air groups now, please.

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Saving a CV:
The larger the port, the better...duh!! [:D]
AR or two
Naval Support (use a PBY or Coronado to fly it in if necessary)
Leader on ship (I would say the priority would be Leadership, Inspiration, and a third quality may possibly be Admin)
Is there anything else that will influence damage control??

I will have to make do with a dot hex this time! [:D] I´ll switch the leader as soon as I can! I will try to get some naval support in place. Fingers crossed...

But I can´t really repair any major FLT damage short of a repair yard? Or can I? So even if she survives this she has a long way to go with 88 FLT damage! [:(]

What? No Naval skill in the leader qualities? I take Naval skill as meaning the skipper knows his ship very well and how to handle damage to it [repair priorities and methods, counterflooding, etc.].

Anyhow, I would not despair on the high flood level just yet. I have often seen allied ships experience an increase in flooding followed in later turns by reduction as DC pumps the water and fixes the leak. It may have been severe storms that caused the flooding to extend and once you get clear of them DC can manage it again. Any port, even a dot base, will enable you to fix minor damage when stood down. All the other assistance just speeds up the minor repair.

You do need a drydock for the major damage. One of the mods has a very large ARD that might be able to take a CV. Check your ship list to see if you have such a beast, or check the Intel Ship Reinforcement list to see if one is coming soon. I believe it arrived in mid 1943 in the AAR I was reading.

Another turn done and she hasn´t sunk yet! Actually repaired 2 SYS damage and is down to 3. Flooding is unchanged this turn.

Michael,
Pilots are off but I havn´t been able to unload the air groups as I havn´t made a port with AF yet. I´m dot island hopping! [:D] One of the big ARDs is at Noumuea taking care of South Dakota. Second one is closing OZ and third one has left the WC some 10? turns ago. Might be an option moving one of them! Will check up on that and start loading engineers next turn!

BB,

I certainly hope you are right. Encouraging to see the SYS and FLT drop ever so slightly. Won´t start hoping yet though!

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Another turn done and she hasn´t sunk yet! Actually repaired 2 SYS damage and is down to 3. Flooding is unchanged this turn.

Michael,
Pilots are off but I havn´t been able to unload the air groups as I havn´t made a port with AF yet. I´m dot island hopping! [:D] One of the big ARDs is at Noumuea taking care of South Dakota. Second one is closing OZ and third one has left the WC some 10? turns ago. Might be an option moving one of them! Will check up on that and start loading engineers next turn!

BB,

I certainly hope you are right. Encouraging to see the SYS and FLT drop ever so slightly. Won´t start hoping yet though!

Well good! You are on that fine line between hope and despair, called tension ... kinda like waiting for the evil monster to strike the pitiful human heros. Keeps the game interesting!

Where is she at?? Your staff needs to know! [;)]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Where is she at?? Your staff needs to know! [;)]

CV Valhalla? Must be near Narvik somewhere! [;)]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Well good! You are on that fine line between hope and despair, called tension ... kinda like waiting for the evil monster to strike the pitiful human heros. Keeps the game interesting!

That sums it up pretty well! Its the first thing I do when I open up the turn...I´m going to continue to think of her as a loss. That way the blow won´t be as big if she sinks! If she really does make it. What kind of yard time are we looking at? Anyone knows? 12-18 months? More?

Michael,
She is currently 9 hexes SW of Jarvis Island! If I disband her there I can have the ARD moving from WC there in about 1,5-2 months. Might be worth it instead of risking the voyage to PH?