A Clueless Emperor Makes It Up As He Goes Along (No WIG, No US)

[dukewacoan]

I'm hoping to use this as a location to get some ongoing help. Rather than post direct to the War Room, I hope to get some War Council going for the Emperor.

My opponent and I are long time gamers, both used to play WIP, but new to AE. We just started up, which we are prone to do, just diving in. We are trying to use the "Historical Home Rules" from Fletcher's game.

First two technical questions (already posted in War Room) -

1. When your Kates run out of torpedoes, but you have sorties left, what altitude should they be set for bombs? I have them at 6000 for torpedoes. I have my Vals divebombing from 15000.

2. Should I keep KB out as long as I have sufficient sorties, or go back to Truk for more torpedoes? It's fairly long way back.

SITUATION CURRENTLY - It's March. Everything is progressing well in Burma, DEI and Malaysia. All of New Guinea and Solomons are mine. Finishing up at Bataan is taking a little long.

3. I just sunk several CAs and BBs and mauled some other Allied capitol ships (BBs, CAs, and Yorktown) off Australia. They made it back to Rockhampton and will be docking/disbanding this turn. So what now? Should I bomb the port or leave them alone? How do I finish off Yorktown? I hate to let him off the ropes.

KB is fairly fully operational (Hiryu sunk sometime ago, and 1CV back for repairs), so now I have free reign with KB for likely a few months. I sunk x3 US CV in late December, so I'm guessing he can't confront me anywhere until Essex CVs start showing in numbers. His land based air is having zero impact so far attacking from Australia.

4. So am I correct in assuming I now have free reign for while, and if so what would you do?

Noumea? Current Target
Espirito Santo? 12,000 US troops according to Recon
Fiji? Other Current Target
Ceylon?
Dutch Harbor?
Midway?
Canton Island? (I have Baker Is)

I'm sort of lacking sufficient hard Infantry in the SE Pacific area. Currently I have the following in progress in SE Pacific:

A. 1st & 2nd Raiding Regiments headed to Fiji with supporting troops, thinking of diverting them to Noumea, as I have no recon regarding Fiji.

B. I have the Guards Mixed Brigade headed for Noumea with supporting troops, including a Art Regt. Not sure whether to land at the north point, or south point. Thoughts.

I was going to land all of the above at Espirito Santo, but Recon reveals about 12,000 US troops there.

C. 4th Division is a Port Moresby. I have another full Regiment on New Guinea trying to get to Port Moresby, as I messed up landing it and don't want to lose equipment pulling it off without a port. It will be several weeks getting to Port Moresby. The Allied forces in New Guinea are marching around without any port just north of Moresby. He likely is Out of Supply and trying to decide what to do with them. I think the big mauling I gave him was a fleet being sent to try and evacuate them.

D. I have a lot of assorted SNLF and NavGd troops available, but really no other hard hitting forces.

With Sumatra and Borneo under control, I'm still struggling with the best way to get resources/fuel/oil out of there and to where. Western Borneo is running CS:Fuel to Saipan/Singapore. Eastern Borneo is running CS:Fuel to Babelbaob as Fuel hub for SE Pacific. I am also running Tanker CS:Fuel from Tokyo to Truk.

5. So where do I move the Resources/Fuel from Palembang?

Port Arthur is confusing. I started by running Fuel/Oil to the Home Islands from Port Arthur, but it quickly was depleted. I stopped those convoys and moved them down to DEI. But Port Arthur is lacking Oil and Fuel still. For several turns now I have had Warnings that Fuel is insufficient to create HI in Sapporo, Heijo, Anshan, Changchun, Harbin, Mukden, Port Arthur, Peiping, Shanghai, Wenchow.

6. How do I know what the issue is causing this and then how do I fix it?

I initially ramped up Aircraft/Engine production too high. I have been monitoring and cutting off production as needed. Things seem to be more under control.

7. Is there a good How To on putting Print Screens onto this Forum? I see people do it, and as soon as I figure that out, I want to start doing it to show my progress.

Thanks all. Couldn't play this game without this Forum.

[topeverest]

Duke,

Never stop attacking. The allied major navies are the best targets of the KB and BB's imho. if you outstretch your LBA, you obiously must bring more CV support

for economic issues Tracker is a must.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: dukewacoan

I'm hoping to use this as a location to get some ongoing help. Rather than post direct to the War Room, I hope to get some War Council going for the Emperor.

My opponent and I are long time gamers, both used to play WIP, but new to AE. We just started up, which we are prone to do, just diving in. We are trying to use the "Historical Home Rules" from Fletcher's game.

First two technical questions (already posted in War Room) -

1. When your Kates run out of torpedoes, but you have sorties left, what altitude should they be set for bombs? I have them at 6000 for torpedoes. I have my Vals divebombing from 15000.

2. Should I keep KB out as long as I have sufficient sorties, or go back to Truk for more torpedoes? It's fairly long way back.

SITUATION CURRENTLY - It's March. Everything is progressing well in Burma, DEI and Malaysia. All of New Guinea and Solomons are mine. Finishing up at Bataan is taking a little long.

3. I just sunk several CAs and BBs and mauled some other Allied capitol ships (BBs, CAs, and Yorktown) off Australia. They made it back to Rockhampton and will be docking/disbanding this turn. So what now? Should I bomb the port or leave them alone? How do I finish off Yorktown? I hate to let him off the ropes.

KB is fairly fully operational (Hiryu sunk sometime ago, and 1CV back for repairs), so now I have free reign with KB for likely a few months. I sunk x3 US CV in late December, so I'm guessing he can't confront me anywhere until Essex CVs start showing in numbers. His land based air is having zero impact so far attacking from Australia.

4. So am I correct in assuming I now have free reign for while, and if so what would you do?

Noumea? Current Target
Espirito Santo? 12,000 US troops according to Recon
Fiji? Other Current Target
Ceylon?
Dutch Harbor?
Midway?
Canton Island? (I have Baker Is)

I'm sort of lacking sufficient hard Infantry in the SE Pacific area. Currently I have the following in progress in SE Pacific:

A. 1st & 2nd Raiding Regiments headed to Fiji with supporting troops, thinking of diverting them to Noumea, as I have no recon regarding Fiji.

B. I have the Guards Mixed Brigade headed for Noumea with supporting troops, including a Art Regt. Not sure whether to land at the north point, or south point. Thoughts.

I was going to land all of the above at Espirito Santo, but Recon reveals about 12,000 US troops there.

C. 4th Division is a Port Moresby. I have another full Regiment on New Guinea trying to get to Port Moresby, as I messed up landing it and don't want to lose equipment pulling it off without a port. It will be several weeks getting to Port Moresby. The Allied forces in New Guinea are marching around without any port just north of Moresby. He likely is Out of Supply and trying to decide what to do with them. I think the big mauling I gave him was a fleet being sent to try and evacuate them.

D. I have a lot of assorted SNLF and NavGd troops available, but really no other hard hitting forces.

With Sumatra and Borneo under control, I'm still struggling with the best way to get resources/fuel/oil out of there and to where. Western Borneo is running CS:Fuel to Saipan/Singapore. Eastern Borneo is running CS:Fuel to Babelbaob as Fuel hub for SE Pacific. I am also running Tanker CS:Fuel from Tokyo to Truk.

5. So where do I move the Resources/Fuel from Palembang?

Port Arthur is confusing. I started by running Fuel/Oil to the Home Islands from Port Arthur, but it quickly was depleted. I stopped those convoys and moved them down to DEI. But Port Arthur is lacking Oil and Fuel still. For several turns now I have had Warnings that Fuel is insufficient to create HI in Sapporo, Heijo, Anshan, Changchun, Harbin, Mukden, Port Arthur, Peiping, Shanghai, Wenchow.

6. How do I know what the issue is causing this and then how do I fix it?

I initially ramped up Aircraft/Engine production too high. I have been monitoring and cutting off production as needed. Things seem to be more under control.

7. Is there a good How To on putting Print Screens onto this Forum? I see people do it, and as soon as I figure that out, I want to start doing it to show my progress.

Thanks all. Couldn't play this game without this Forum.

Wow! Welcome to the Dark Side! Lots of questions. I'll give my best guess....

1. I set my Kates and Vals at 13k feet all the time regardless of whether the Kates are carrying bombs or torps. Zeros to 15k. I like high altitudes for the Kates so they survive a bit better against flak. Remember, when Kates launch torps, they drop to 200 ft.

2. It depends on the situation. If you're expecting Allied capital ships, don't bother with just bombs. They'll just bounce off the armor. Merchant shipping is another story. Bomb them as long as you have sorties. I pick and choose when my Kates use torps. I always keep at least one daitai in reserve with torps. You never know what's over the horizon. Remeber to always have sorties. If you run out, that's when the enemy carriers show up.

3. If the Yorktown is damaged and in port, bomb the hell out of that port until you sink her. You won't do much damage to BBs in port with 250kg bombs, but go for that carrier.

4. Much of your power is not letting your opponent know where KB is. If you attack with it often, you cause two problems:

a. He knows where your carriers are , and more importantly, where they aren't.
b. You lose precious pilots. Don't engage with KB unless it's worth the loss in pilots.

I'm rather conservative. I don't attack for the sake of attacking. Just remember a and b above.

Keep an elite ground reserve in each region with fast transport to move them where they are needed. You're right, SE Fleet area doesn't have much in the way of large ground forces. Next month you'll get a bunch more Naval Guard units. Check your ground units closely. Some of them are elite.

5. Move it to Singapore. From there, you can form large, well escorted convoys to move the stuff to Formosa and on to Japan or directly to Japan.

Pt. Arthur - Try to keep about 100k of oil there. Since you emptied it out, ship some from the SRA there. You can send it to Hong Kong or Shanghai and it'll migrate to Pt. Arthur.

6. I think it's just the way things work with the engine. When you're short a comodity in China, the AI tends to spread it around doing no bases any good instead of concentrating it in one area. Just make sure you have excess and it'll work itself out.

7. When you have a shot you want, hit the print screen button. Then hit ALT and TAB and you'll minimize AE. Open up paint and paste in there. You can manipulate it there then save as a jpeg file. Voila!

[Q-Ball]

I agree on Rockhampton; bomb that port every day, all day, until YORKTOWN sinks. Don't let up. There is nothing the Allies can do about it, other than something that will likely get even more Allied ships sunk.

[topeverest]

Mike,

I love how you flip flop between calling the Allies and the Empire as the Dark Side. Is it a coffee thing?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: topeverest

Mike,

I love how you flip flop between calling the Allies and the Empire as the Dark Side. Is it a coffee thing?

Lack of coffee. Too late at night to have some more. [:D]