Stopping the AI at Gili-Gili

[ADavidB]

There have been a number of posts here on the difficulties involved in trying to stop the AI from landing troops at Gili-Gili in the early turns of scenarios 16 & 17, as well as stopping the "bombardment express" that can make things miserable at Port Moresby. Well, through dilligent repetition, I've finally discovered a strategy that takes care of both problems.

First off, this works well for scenario 16, but I haven't worked out all the bugs for scenario 17 yet. So, for scenario 16, some things to remember :

1 - As the Allies, you do have three potential surface task forces available. Your first move is to set up all three and send them towards Gili-Gili

2 - All three TFs ought to be fairly close by the third turn, at which point the AI will be getting set to move in

3 - Send all three surface TFs to the same hex, around 2 or 3 hexes from Gili-Gili and put them on "patrol" and "react"

4 - Once all three TFs are in the same hex, redistribute the cruisers so you have 1 or 2 cruisers and a handful of destroyers in each TF - then wait.

5 - In the meanwhile, set your Australian Catalinas to 100% search. As well, put the Hudsons in Port Moresby on partial search too.

6 - Transfer all of your shorter range tactical bomber you can to Port Moresby, along with your better fighters. Sure, you will have more aircraft than aircraft support points, but that doesn't matter for a couple of turns.

7 - Transfer your B-25s to Cooktown - they can reach Gili-Gili from there

8 - Transfer your B-17s to Cairns - they can also reach Gili-Gili from there.

9 - Of course, put all your tac bombers on "naval attack" and "rest"

10 - Oh yes, right from the start, send all of your Australian subs to Gili-Gili and vicinity - they will get there "just in time"

11 - Now, for the key - transfer one of your DC-3s groups to each of the 4 northern most Australian bases and set them to transport the air support base forces to Port Moresby. You have more than enough air base force strength in each base, and a single squadren of DC-3s will only take half of the force.

12 - Wait, and enjoy!

13 - Remember to turn off your DC-3s afterwards - you will have more air base forces in Port Moresby than you need.

The AI in the game I'm currently playing threw everything at Gili-Gili and ignored Buna. As the AI's remaining forces limped home through my subs, I realized that I had a golden opportunity, and started to fly engineers into Gili-Gili via Catalina, and moved a couple of DC-3s to Port Moresby to move some excess air base forces to Wau and Buna, as well as foot solders to Buna. Suddenly, I had four quite strong bases building up, and the AI sitting there with most of its transports on the bottom or burning. And this without bringing a single one of my transports into "harms way" - instead I was using them to ferry up more troops from Brisbane to Cairns.

Later, I realized that Wau is the ideal place to put a forward recon squadren, so I moved one Catalina group there. Then I moved the F-5s to Buna to remove some of the draw on Port Moresby and get them close enough to recon Shortland. At this point I moved some of my tac bombers back to Australia to let them rest and wait to see what the AI did next. Soon enough, the AI tried to bring a cruiser squadren within "midnight dash" range of Buna or Gili-Gili, but my tac bombers flamed most of them. Recently, the AI tried to put a battleship squadren in position to bombard Port Moresby, but I could easily spot it there, and once again moved a ton of subs, and 4 cruiser/destroyer squadrens in the pathway, as well as moving my tac bombers back into Port Moresby. Surprisingly, the AI decided that "discretion is the better part of valor" and pulled its battleship squadren back.

In the meanwhile, as I've received reinforcements in Noumea, I've regularly sent bombardment TFs into Lunga and regularly caught lots of transports there. I've also created a nice Northern base from which my Catalinas can easily watch everything the AI tries in the Solomons.

So far, I haven't seen hide-nor-hair of any carriers, ( It's July 2 ) and there is no sign that the AI has either. And if it has, there aren't many destroyers left that can escort them. None-the-less, I would love to see the carriers wander near New Guinea right now.

BTW - the AI has been sending larger and larger fighter escorts with its few remaining bombers - the last forey into Port Moreby had 78 Zeros along with 7 Bettys. But I had around 50 experienced and rested fighters, so although I didn't shoot down any of the Bettys, they were all damaged and there were no hits on the ground. It now looks as if the AI is tired of losing planes and morale over Port Moresby, and has taken to try to bomb Gili-Gili - but it isn't being very lucky, so I'll eventually move some fighters in there once I get some air support in place.

So all-in-all, it has been an interesting outing so far - the AI hasn't played "stupid", but I have been able to stop its main tricks.

Dave Baranyi

[denisonh]

Good stuff Dave.

I had the bomber piece figured, but the surface TFs on patrol/react is a great idea!

But do you have the AI still pounding Gili-Gili at night with BB bombardment groups out of Shortlands?

I am playing against the AI (SC17), it's 1 AUG 42 and Gili-Gili is being pounded regularly. LBA doesnt catch him, submarine laid mines don't stop him, and I am not going to put USN CAs vs IJN BBs.

Just curious.

[ADavidB]

Originally posted by denisonh
Good stuff Dave.

I had the bomber piece figured, but the surface TFs on patrol/react is a great idea!

But do you have the AI still pounding Gili-Gili at night with BB bombardment groups out of Shortlands?

I am playing against the AI (SC17), it's 1 AUG 42 and Gili-Gili is being pounded regularly. LBA doesnt catch him, submarine laid mines don't stop him, and I am not going to put USN CAs vs IJN BBs.

Just curious.

The AI tried a bombarment, but it has to stop half way between Shortland and Gili-Gili, and I get to spot it with my various AC ( I now have the Dauntless's in Gili-Gili ). Since the AI is using the two "thin-skinned" battlecruisers right now, I'm more than happy to exchange fire with my cruiser/destroyer squadrens. So I whacked the BB squadren with two of my squadrens and hit both battleships with lots of shells. Sure enough, several of my ships get hit hard, but no losses, and I'm sending my "wounded" into port in Gili-Gili until they can limp to Port Moresby.

Right now I'm using PM as my main Western sub base. The AI has essentially given up bombing it, so I'm happy to rest up the damaged ships there before sending them south. I'm also reloading my subs there - I don't get to keep the subs on station long - they shoot at everything going by. But the AI's destroyers are starting to catch up with some of my subs.

I did get an unpleasant surprise at Lunga the last time in - the AI now has some shore artillery in place and I lost a couple of destroyers and got some other ships damaged too. I'll have to be a bit more careful about going in there now.

But the Marines have finally started to land, so I'm going to be tempted to start some offensive actions soon.

Good luck -

Dave B

[Raverdave]

Originally posted by ADavidB
There have been a number of posts here on the difficulties involved in trying to stop the AI from landing troops at Gili-Gili.......
So all-in-all, it has been an interesting outing so far - the AI hasn't played "stupid", but I have been able to stop its main tricks.

Dave Baranyi

Great post ! Now all you have to do is to try it against a human player!

[ADavidB]

Originally posted by Raverdave


Great post ! Now all you have to do is to try it against a human player!

I'm still developing strategies and learning the "right" things to do ( such as resting air groups as much as possible ) and the "wrong" things to do ( such as marching troops anywhere ). But sooner or later I'll start to let the rest of you "teach me some lessons".

Dave B