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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 3:04 pm
by larryfulkerson
I've got a hodge podge of units at Darwin, AUS. with British ground troops and a Dutch HQ unit, Chinese aircraft, British aircraft, an allied DD, and Dutch CL at hand and ready to be employed somewhere except that the British troops are in reserve and waiting for T10 when they activate, which is the turn after the next. Darwin hasn't been attacked by the Japs yet so we're good to go so far.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 3:40 pm
by larryfulkerson
Here's a hybrid image of a zoomed out view of the south pacific and a zoomed-in inlayed image of New Caledonia annotated with it's units. I have a rather large collection of P-40(Late) aircraft in the 18th Fighter Group in that it has 78/48 aircraft and 10 P-26's for training. I need to get this unit moved up to Port Moresby for CAP. Also present is the British CL Leander.

At Ouegoa ( northernmost port ) I have also 2 fresh Marine garrison units. I'm going to move one of them to Pouebo ( middle port on the north side of the island ) to allow the arty unit to be moved to Port Moresby to pound that Jap engineer unit trying to cross the mountain range and get into the north side of the port. I

'm thinking that I can split that Marine engineer unit into 3 parts and move one of them to Kaala Gomen and another one to Moindou to beef up their port defenses a bit.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 4:38 pm
by larryfulkerson
Here's what it looks like near Rangoon and we're down to our last group of fresh Indian troops to defend the city. Although, I have lots of ships present to help out and lots of aircraft to CAP overall so I'm optimistic that I'll able to hold out for several turns at least.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 4:43 pm
by larryfulkerson
Here's what it looks like in southern China where we're holding in some places and having to fall back in other places.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 6:52 pm
by larryfulkerson
I've tried to stuff as much info into this image as I thought it could hold without seeming too busy. How did I do? Anyway there's 24 biplanes of some generic kind, probably Gladiators, and 17/24 Hurricane IIC's at the airfield in Calcutta itself as well as the British Hermes Carrier Air Group made up of Fulmar's and Stringbag's and maybe an Albacore or two. I should get the HMS Hermes out of Rangoon and park it here with it's Air Group.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 7:24 pm
by larryfulkerson
I'm still holding Saigon and Bangkok and Singapore and the units attacking me are running low on supplies. The Japs are guarding Singapore so I hesitate to try sailing out of there with anybody. I would move the aircraft there but they are in reorg and can't move. There's some of my Dutch troops on Borneo but his port is blockaded. I'll see how many of the Allied troops on Mindanao I can salvage before they all get destroyed.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:21 pm
by larryfulkerson
I'm still holding Saigon and Bangkok and Singapore and the units attacking me are running low on supplies. I have a couple of ships that have a range more than one that I've decided to take the moxie out of a stack of Jap troops attacking me. I've managed to move the 2nd Indian Infantry Division into the AO and I'm attacking the Japs from the north side of the pocket. I think I have a chance to clear out the Jap infestation entirely to eventually make my way down to Bangkok.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:30 pm
by larryfulkerson
I've decided to try to wipe out the Coastal Artillery at Haiphong with my Viet Minh forces. They are in relatively good shape and I don't know what constitutes a Jap Coastal Artillery unit but I'm hopeful that the irregular troops I have is enough to take out the Japs there. If my unit is killed I hope it reconstitutes soon, but it's not much of a loss if it get's killed.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:39 pm
by larryfulkerson
I've got some task forces operating in the south pacific. I'm attacking some Jap aircraft, some Jap bases, and some specific Jap units on Guadalcanal. There's some troops on Tulagi also, that smaller island to the east of Guadalcanal, although it's got an airfield that's only good enough for sea-based planes. That's better than nothing I suppose but I have no use for that island at all. I've captured the northern base on Santa Isabel island but the southern port must have troops present or something. I've already done a port attack but I'm prevented from entering which indicates the possibility of invisible units present.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:50 pm
by larryfulkerson
I suffered no losses but caused none either. But at least I got a readout on the units stationed there. There's more than I was expecting I must say. But I'm a stable genius, that I will tell you, so I should be able to defeat the defenders there.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:55 pm
by larryfulkerson
I suffered no losses but caused a handful of various Jap equipment losses. But my dudes are so tired they aren't up to another attack this turn. And some of my ships are showing yellow and need to be replenished and rested. So I'll call it quits in this area.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 10:03 pm
by larryfulkerson
I suffered no losses but caused a handful of various Jap equipment losses in this hex too. But my dudes are too tired to do it again. I've moved some of my units down to the bottom-most port since it has the most supply on the island ( 7 ).
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 10:09 pm
by larryfulkerson
My British BB Revenge, and CA Cornwall fired two salvos at the Jap stack and didn't cause any damage but did get a readout of the enemy units there. Maybe it caused a loss of supply for them at the very least.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 10:13 pm
by larryfulkerson
Evidently I didn't have enough irregular troops to take down the coastal artillery unit. Well, soon I'll be able to try again.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 10:16 pm
by larryfulkerson
My Subchaser didn't move the Jap unit but it did gain the use of a port near Madang. I expect the Jap infantry unit to move into the port hex next.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 12:32 am
by larryfulkerson
There's a naval unit named New Mexico that has three copies of a New Mexico Class BB in it. They aren't individually named but the unit as a whole is called the BB New Mexico. Which is a little bit confusing, so I went to Wikipedia and found the names of the other two ships, the Mississippi and the Idaho. There is an attack symbol on the lower left of the ship unit since I'm going to go for 7 more Nells.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 12:38 am
by larryfulkerson
The Japs attacked my stack of ships and lost some planes and several damaged but the Allied side suffered no losses at all. That tells me that I can use those ships as bait for the Jap air force.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2025 4:01 pm
by dtashji
Hi Larry, Well . . . very Interesting gameplay and looking forward to a big showdown with the Kido Butai and seeing the USMC Sea Basing concept play out with an amphibious assault on the Kuril Island hex & Northern Japan later in the game!

Here are some additional observations and community questions:

The Indo-Pacific theater of WWII was arguably the most technologically transformative front of the entire war. Unlike the largely continental battles in Europe, the Pacific demanded innovations in naval, air, and amphibious warfare. There were numerous game changers such as . . .

A. Radar and Radar-Controlled Gunnery (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Radio Detection and Ranging (Radar) systems, such as the U.S. Navy’s SG surface-search radar and fire-control radar like the Mk 37.
Impact: Allowed fleets to detect enemy ships and aircraft at night or in poor weather, giving the U.S. an enormous advantage in night battles and carrier defense. Radar-directed gunnery increased accuracy dramatically against aircraft and surface vessels.

B. Proximity (VT) Fuze (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Miniaturized radar in a shell that detonated when within lethal range of a target.
Impact: Revolutionized anti-aircraft defense, especially against kamikaze attacks and Japanese bombers. Boosted the effectiveness of naval flak by a factor of five or more.

C. Long-Range Submarines with Advanced Torpedoes (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: U.S. fleet submarines (like the Gato and Balao classes) with extended range, equipped by 1943 with reliable Mark 18 and improved Mark 14 torpedoes.
Impact: Cut Japan’s merchant marine to pieces, strangling its industrial and military supply lines. Submarines became the most effective U.S. naval weapon against Japan.

D. Codebreaking and Signals Intelligence (MAGIC, ULTRA, JN-25) (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Cryptanalysis of Japanese naval codes, notably JN-25.
Impact: Allowed the U.S. to anticipate Japanese operations (e.g., Midway, Leyte Gulf). Signals intelligence turned battles before they began and shortened the war.

8. Advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Tools (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Sonar (ASDIC), improved depth charges, “hedgehog” spigot mortars, and escort carriers with aircraft patrols.
Impact: Neutralized the Japanese submarine threat and secured the vital trans-Pacific supply lines to Australia and the Philippines.

More on wars game changers at https://pwkinternational.com/2024/08/15 ... mpetition/

Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:43 pm
by larryfulkerson
I see one Nationalist Chinese in this image ( the yellow one ), the rest of them are the Communist Chinese ( the red ones ), and they have done pretty good in getting on the east side of their lines. The Japs are running out of supply so I seem to be winning this one.
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Re: WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 12:59 pm
by larryfulkerson
dtashji wrote: Wed Sep 17, 2025 4:01 pm Hi Larry, Well . . . very Interesting gameplay and looking forward to a big showdown with the Kido Butai and seeing the USMC Sea Basing concept play out with an amphibious assault on the Kuril Island hex & Northern Japan later in the game!
Glad you are entertained. I'm doing my best to make this realistic.

Here are some additional observations and community questions:

The Indo-Pacific theater of WWII was arguably the most technologically transformative front of the entire war. Unlike the largely continental battles in Europe, the Pacific demanded innovations in naval, air, and amphibious warfare. There were numerous game changers such as . . .

A. Radar and Radar-Controlled Gunnery (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Radio Detection and Ranging (Radar) systems, such as the U.S. Navy’s TF surface-search radar and fire-control radar like the Mk 37.
Impact: Allowed fleets to detect enemy ships and aircraft at night or in poor weather, giving the U.S. an enormous advantage in night battles and carrier defense. Radar-directed gunnery increased accuracy dramatically against aircraft and surface vessels.

B. Proximity (VT) Fuze (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Miniaturized radar in a shell that detonated when within lethal range of a target.
Impact: Revolutionized anti-aircraft defense, especially against kamikaze attacks and Japanese bombers. Boosted the effectiveness of naval flak by a factor of five or more.

C. Long-Range Submarines with Advanced Torpedoes (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: U.S. fleet submarines (like the Gato and Balao classes) with extended range, equipped by 1943 with reliable Mark 18 and improved Mark 14 torpedoes.
Impact: Cut Japan’s merchant marine to pieces, strangling its industrial and military supply lines. Submarines became the most effective U.S. naval weapon against Japan.

D. Codebreaking and Signals Intelligence (MAGIC, ULTRA, JN-25) (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Cryptanalysis of Japanese naval codes, notably JN-25.
Impact: Allowed the U.S. to anticipate Japanese operations (e.g., Midway, Leyte Gulf). Signals intelligence turned battles before they began and shortened the war.

8. Advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Tools (Is this modeled in the scenario?)

What it was: Sonar (ASDIC), improved depth charges, “hedgehog” spigot mortars, and escort carriers with aircraft patrols.
Impact: Neutralized the Japanese submarine threat and secured the vital trans-Pacific supply lines to Australia and the Philippines.

More on wars game changers at https://pwkinternational.com/2024/08/15 ... mpetition/
Thank you so much for this analysis and providing references and links and so on. Um...I rather doubt that any of this is modeled in the game. That would require replacement ships for the different time periods and the evidence I found in the list of ships in the game for only one ship name at a time so it's countraindicated in the data. I would LOVE to see ALL these suggestions implemented in the game. There are other scenario designers who would be able to give us a good start on how to do these changes to model each of the topics. I believe it has to do with at least two different copies of each unit that experiences a change of some kind. Multiple copies are possible. Let's get a conversation started as to what kind(s) of changes would be needed, for ground units as well as naval units and air units.

I'm grateful for this excellent question.
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