Speedy vs Fabertong - time to smack back the Penguin

[Speedysteve]

I stagger them. Faber normally sweeps between 18-25K. However this bombing raid came in at 16K. My fighters are staggered from 15-30K.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Speedy


An Row Boat braved the cold waters and tried sneaking into Dutch Harbour. A Yacht and Minesweeper chased her off. We have 11 submarines up here now, fuel unloading, Port Detachment ashore and 30K Fuel and 30K supply en route with an AS. Then we'll begin a Sub campaign out of Dutch.

is Dutch Harbour big enough to replenish torps? I´m still used to have subs somewhere, put an AS there and replenish torps but that seems not true in AE anymore. Got Darwin at level 3 port with three AS but can´t replenish any torps and have to send the subs back to Brisbane for example.

But overall AE must be a wet dream for WITP´s master of submarine warfare, isn´t it? [;)] Patrol zones, subs reacting on their own on spotted targets, ASW TFs limited and not nearly as dangerous as in WITP, air ASW not a real danger either...

one more thing, my subs set to patrol don´t return to harbour when they run out of torps, which is more than just annoying, so keep an eye on that. Don´t know if they even retire if they run low on fuel, guess there´s something bugged.

[ny59giants]

BB Prince of Wales is refueled and damage is stable. I'm risking moving her from Batavia straight to Cape Town.......

[:-][:-]

You are asking for trouble "if" you try to do so with the system damage still at 51. Your original plan to send her to Sydney or Melbourne to get the system down to zero is still the safest bet. If she gets out in the middle of the IO and she springs a leak, you will be SOL! [:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

NY - Shall we place bets? [:'(][:D]

Hi Castor - damn good question. I still can't fathom some of the things in this game. Can anyone tell me what port level is needed to re-arm torps? I think it might be 7 without Naval Support? If so no sub campaign from Dutch[;)]

LOL. AE is certainly providing a more realistic reality of sub warfare IMO. It may be a little 'too' much the other way but time will tell. I will tally up at ther end of December what I've sunk with my subs - this will be much harder now with the FOW. My gut feel is that I've sunk a couple of ships a day on average so far!

If that's the case then it far exceeds real December 1941 figures......

I do feel the new Sub model 'dumbs' down skilled use of them (compared to WiTP) in terms of the AI will do a lot of work for you - reacting and moving etc. I am liking it so far though I must say [:)]

[vlcz]

Can anyone tell me what port level is needed to re-arm torps? I think it might be 7 without Naval Support? If so no sub campaign from Dutch

YOu are right 7 w/o any need for support replenishes all torpedoes, there is a table in pg 287 for smaller ports needs, anyway be aware of tender ships, Dutch can use a AS ship to replenish his subs regardless of the port/support.

[Smeulders]

Speedy, everything seems to have been going fine for the POW so far, but don't risk too much with high syst damage. I think (but am not sure) that bad weather affects the damage ships take. I've moved POW through the Indian Ocean in my game after she got damaged on the first day, but only after all system damage and minor flooding was removed. Even then I had a couple of days that damage rose (44 -> 50). After that I started checking for the weather and it stayed good and damage went back down again. If POW was in the state that your POW is in, I don't think she'd have survived.

(If you're reading this Lemon, it's free intel, but you had probably already figured out that POW was damaged)

[ny59giants]

NY - Shall we place bets? [:'(][:D]

Hi Castor - damn good question. I still can't fathom some of the things in this game. Can anyone tell me what port level is needed to re-arm torps? I think it might be 7 without Naval Support? If so no sub campaign from Dutch [;)]

Since I haven't been to England for almost 20 years, I cannot pick up my bottle of Scotch.

If you base an AS with enough supplies and fuel, you should be able to run some subs out of Dutch Harbor.

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

NY - Shall we place bets? [:'(][:D]

Hi Castor - damn good question. I still can't fathom some of the things in this game. Can anyone tell me what port level is needed to re-arm torps? I think it might be 7 without Naval Support? If so no sub campaign from Dutch [;)]

Since I haven't been to England for almost 20 years, I cannot pick up my bottle of Scotch.

If you base an AS with enough supplies and fuel, you should be able to run some subs out of Dutch Harbor.

That's kinda the point of HAVING the tender in the first place, no? Just keep it full of supplies.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

(If you're reading this Lemon, it's free intel, but you had probably already figured out that POW was damaged)

I'll just sink it later than expected [:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A 3 day update...........

Hi NY/Smeulders - you'll be pleased to know that Allied High Command has instructed me to move POW to Australia for emergency repairs. She's currently on her way to Perth[8D]

A question for you all - what's the benefit of having troops in reserve in a contested hex?

A quiet 3 days in general. At least compared to the frenetic first 2 weeks.

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

PI -

Little to note here other than the Allies buildup at Clark continues. The Japanese are nearing Manila.

A B17 raid on Takao achieved decent results destroying 10ish enemy planes on the ground.

Also my 4 PT's achieved something, at last, sinking the large AV Sanuki Maru with 2 torpedo hits at Laoag [:)]

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

Malaya -

Japanese units are entering Taiping and moving SW of Kota Bharu.

I'vwe been mulling over the situation here and may just end up moving back to Singapore. The rerason being is that I have just over 200 AV at Malacca at the mo (with a further 120 there within a week), 2 Aussie Bde's defenidng Mersing and over 120 AV at Singapore. As you can see this is dispersed defending which will destroy my forces piecemeal. Now I have to keep force at Mersing and Singapore at the mo to prevent direct attacks here which in turn gives me a thin defence. As such I may just withdraw everything into Singapore since I can concentrate my force and my little AK's are bringing in 4.5K of supply every 4 days or so from Palembang [:)]

Little action in the air except a few Buffalo/Zero dogfights costing me 10 x Buffalos for 3 x Zeroes.

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

Other areas -

Fairly quiet elsewhere in the SRA and after Rabaul and Shortlands fell also in SoPac.

The Japanese are making an offensive in China heading NW towards Nanchang with a large and powerful Division. If this is all they'll bring I doubt they'll take it since there's a large corps there with 2 forts and 2 more large corps on the way.


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Submarine warfare -

The usual large amount of dud and missed sub attacks.

SS Sealion was heavily damaged off Laoag on the 21st by DD Tachikaze's DC's.

SS Tambor reportedly sank DD Hayate off Wake Island.

The Japanese, for their part, had a good few days sinking 3 ships - AK Rona off Noumea by I-169, AK Jacob Luckenbach near Dutch Harbour by I-5 and the heavily damaged CL Java limping back to Soerabaya by I-165.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Is anyone reading this?[;)]

If so any thoughts on what's the benefit of having troops in reserve mode in a contested hex?

Any thoughts on how things are going? Things you'd like to see/hear about? Remember this AAR is for you guys not me[;)]

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

PI -

Manila was declared an open city and was reportedly occupied by Japanese forces. Let's see if my Submarine Tender can make Darwin.

The siege of Clark will begin soon I guess.

My B17's will raid Manila tomorrow targetting the repair shipyards.

Some Lillies tried bombing Clark and a reported 9 were shot down by my patrolling CAP. Thanks for the experience boys[:)]

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Malaya -
A quiet day overall. Japanese are still mulling about SW of Kota Bharu and at Taiping. Another 4500 supply was delivered to Singapore today[8D]

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Other areas -

Reinforcements are starting to get into place in India. I'll list the specifics tomorrow but the 18th UK Division was re-directed from Singapore to Madras.......

Looks as though Faber is heading for PM already! Search planes identified a Japanese TF heading SW towards Milne Bay. This is a pity since I was at least hoping to get 1st Aus Bde there. This is unlikely now with the men embarking at Cairns.

My shipping came under attack at PM for the first time by Nells based at Rabaul! All attacks missed my Cruiser force though which was good. They'll head west, my supply convoy south and await developments.

I have 143 AV at PM, 2 forts and 25K supply. Won't hold if Faber's brought a big stick.

I have moved in a Wirraway Squadron for Naval interdiction (what good it will do).

The good news is that A-24 Banshee squadrons arrive at Brisbane within 2 days........

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

Submarine warfare -

SS S-40 had a field day near Samarinda. During the day she attacked (and probably sunk) CM Ikutsushima over 2 attacks and heavily damaged CM Yaeyama. Medals all round[8D]

SS Snapper heavily damaged the freighter Koryu Maru off the coast of Indo China.

SS Swordfish broke in to the PB Tokotsu Maru outisde of Miri harbour.

On the Japanese side SS I-165 reportedly hit a mine trying to sneak into Batavia Harbour[8D]

[Alfred]

Speedy,

Yep, I'm reading this AAR.

Putting excess units in a contested hex into reserve mode is good as it will reduce them to casualty exposure. The point to note is if the enemy's deliberate/shock is going to achieve a >2:1 ratio, some of your reserve units will be activated to redress the odds. Thus what you want to do is ensure you have sufficient troops ready for combat to maintain a 1:1 ratio in response to an enemy attack, thereby allowing the units you deliberately chose to "rest" in reserve mode, to so rest.

Alfred

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Hi all,

Is anyone reading this?[;)]

If so any thoughts on what's the benefit of having troops in reserve mode in a contested hex?

Any thoughts on how things are going? Things you'd like to see/hear about? Remember this AAR is for you guys not me[;)]

you sure have many readers already Sir. Putting troops in reserve means they are not exposed to artillery fire which was very important pre patch (better say pre hotfix) and not so important anymore. But troops in reserve also recover faster from disruption and I guess they also should recover disabled squads faster but I´m saying this just from what I´ve read and not from my own experience (yet). If a unit is on reserve then there´s a die roll if it would take part in combat if your position is assaulted and being in reserve is also the only possibility to pursue your enemy if he´s forced to retreat.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

The good news is that A-24 Banshee squadrons arrive at Brisbane within 2 days........

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

Submarine warfare -

SS S-40 had a field day near Samarinda. During the day she attacked (and probably sunk) CM Ikutsushima over 2 attacks and heavily damaged CM Yaeyama. Medals all round[8D]

SS Snapper heavily damaged the freighter Koryu Maru off the coast of Indo China.

SS Swordfish broke in to the PB Tokotsu Maru outisde of Miri harbour.

On the Japanese side SS I-165 reportedly hit a mine trying to sneak into Batavia Harbour[8D]

in my AI test game I used two Banshee squadrons out of PM and even though they had only nav bomb exp in the 20s they sunk dozens of merchants with 1000lb SAP bombs which was quite impressing and amazing to me as I´ve always read so far that divebombers seem not to hit anything in AE if they aren´t above 50 exp. What was even more impressing was the fact that my two squadrons of Vildebeests that start the war in Malaya were also ship killers (with 500lb bombs). Moved them into the bases next of Kuching and the AI lost 4 or 5 dozen merchants to the 20 biplanes over the course of a month. Granted, this was against the AI who wasn´t smart enough to take out those airfields or to Cap the merchants at Kuching, but what was really interesting was the fact that those bombers (both the Banshees and Vildebeest) actually achieved really good hit rates, even though the pilots´ exp wasn´t that good.

Like I´ve said before, isn´t AE a wonderland for submarine warfare? While the Japanese could effectively take out the Allied´s submarine force at every stage of the war (or at least make it very hard - except your game against Faber of course, sorry Faber [;)]), in AE I think by the end of 43 the Japanese will have run out of merchants. At the moment I expect subs to be the numero uno weapon in AE to win against the Japanese. In WITP it were the 4E bombers.

[Mynok]

The other use of reserve is for troops you wish to use to pursue the enemy. If you're planning to shock attack and take a hex, set some armor to reserve and pursue. They will massacre the fleeing enemy.

[ckammp]

Units in Reserve mode DO NOT recover from disruption faster, that is a benefit of Rest mode.
 Putting a unit in Reserve mode has the following effects:
 
For attacking units-
1) Does not fire in combat
2) Does not take casualties in combat
3) Not used to determine odds
4) Can pursue retreating units
 
For defending units-
1) Does not fire in combat
2) Not affected by bombardment attacks
3) Not used to determine odds
4) Does not take casualties in combat unless initial odds are greater than 2-1; if the unit's leader passes a land check, the unit is placed in Move  mode and added to the combat resolution
 

[castor troy]

I stand corrected, I mixed up reserve and rest, better say, I thought units in reserve would be set to rest by default if not set to pursue.

[scott64]

I have 143 AV at PM, 2 forts and 25K supply. Won't hold if Faber's brought a big stick.

I have moved in a Wirraway Squadron for Naval interdiction (what good it will do).

The good news is that A-24 Banshee squadrons arrive at Brisbane within 2 days........

PM will not hold and A-24 are worthless. [8|]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Firstly, if anyone has any thoughts/comments/questions please don't be shy[8D]

Ah...so some people did read it then[;)] Thanks for the comments guys.. Interesting. It will take some time for me to get used to using the reserve feature I can see. Ckammp you summed it up nicely. Thanks. My gut feel then is that it's only really useful when you have force to spare - whether it be on attack or defence. As such I can only see this being viable over time in India, Australia and when the US gets going?

I also can't see the point of having a defensive unit in reserve mode? It won't contribute to artillery fire and only IF it passesa check will it be placed in MOVE mode. Hardly the best for contributing to a fight.

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

PI -

Recon reports the Japanese are massing to close in on Clark Field.

B17's bombed Manila's industry on 25th (40% LI damaged) but met 20 Zeroes on 26th who downed 4 of them!

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

Malaya/rest of SRA -

Fairly quiet. Slowly moving back to Malacca. The Japanese bomb there daily but I have refused to fight so far. I am sending CAP there for the first time tomorrow....we'll see.

No further Japanese invasion since Samarinda in southern SRA/I suspect Balikpapan or Kendari will be next.

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

Other areas -

The Japanese are about a day out from PM now. Masses of TF's have been reported and the Wirraways from PM tried bombing them yesterday to no reported effect.

Japanese CV's are lurking somewhere well to the NE of Townsville and on the 26th they surprised my shipping in the area devastating the former PM supply convoy. 9 x AK, 1 x large TK, 1 x small TK and 2 x AM's were sent to the bottom. The irony of all of the this is that the only ship in the area to survive is the Minsweeper Penguin which has survived all the way from Guam [:)]

All other TF's in the vicinity are either fleeing south to Sydney or NW back upto Darwin. I only suspect 2 x CV's are in the area based on the number of attacking planes. Hiryu amongst them according to intel. Don't know where the rest of KB is......

The A-24's are now in Townsville and Cairns. If anything ventures too near they'll have a go hopefully.......

AV in PM upto 161 now.......

Just so you know POW is still doing fine. She's inbetween Java and Australia at the mo heading for Perth[8D]

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

Submarine warfare -

A frustrating couple of days with several missed/failed attacks. In fact the only success was the damaging of AK Arima Maru by SS KXI south of Saigon.

In return SS Swordfish and SS O-19 are returning to Singapore for repair after enemy DC's damaged them.

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

Reinforcements -

I thought I'd detail some of the movements of key forces I have in the offing.

Firstly, India:

Chittagong - 45th Ind Bde
Calcutta - 44, 46th Ind Bde
Trincomalee - 48th Gurkha Bde
Madras - 18th UK Divison - to be spread around southern India.
Port Blair - B Sqn 3rd Hussars - just so it's not a walk in the park there....


SoPac (currently around PH region):

24th USA Division
8th USMC Rgt
2nd USMC ARM
Const Rgt
EAB Bn
AA Rgt
2 x BF's
2nd USMC Def. Bn
B26 BG - 3 x Squadrons
P39 FG - 3 x Squadrons

[Smeulders]

Be careful estimating enemy strength based on strike strength. Low value targets are never attacked with full strength, may just be that the TF commander didn't think your convoy worth planes from more than 2 CV.

I also think, but am not sure, that a defending unit will be put in combat mode when taken out of reserve. With a good commander reserve is a feasible option, it will prevent casualties and disruption from bombardment keeping your units in good shape longer.