War in the Pacific Elessar (A) vs. OldCrowBalthazor (J) [*NO* OCB]

[Elessar2]

Welcome to my first Human vs. Human playtest of the current beta (.804).

This will have a 3 turn delay, note.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pearl Harbor went swimmingly for my opponent, as he got 5 of my battlewagons. This is more than during my own playtests, mainly due to a last-minute change in Japanese Naval Weapons from L1 to L2.

His Philippines invasion also went off very well:



Meanhoo my opponent had a bit of a brain fart and forgot to take Guam (the following turn, just sailed the SF off for I guess a pleasure cruise):



Note the mod starts with NO tech for anyone, so players can invest it any which way they want. The starting Allied amounts are visible in the 1st screenie. Priorities for the US would include Infantry Weapons, Naval Weapons, Radar L2, Advanced Fighters, Advanced Subs, Command & Control, and certainly the 2 economic ones. [I just won't tell which ones have an extra chit! Unlike vanilla techs can have a max of 2 chits for the important techs, 3 for the rest]

I also gave surface ships extra punch when bombarding (40% base chance of also hitting any units on a Resource, +10% per level of Naval Weapons), battleships also de-entrench. Balthazor managed to take some garrisons down by this means.

For now just will hunker down and wait for the US economy to make its presence felt.

Since it was visible during my turn looks like Balthazor canceled the Yamatos in favor of 4 more Shokaku-class fleet carriers. [He can correct me if I am mistaken]

~~~~~~~

One major necessary change which has become obvious is that the UK will need more income. Or the same income once I make Australia a major. I'll just go with allied tech help keeping tech levels between the UK and her Empire allies reasonably close. In return the Aussies can get a Lend-Lease convoy line from the US.

Another I am mulling over is to delete the Alaska pseudo-battlecruisers (which were basically white elephants and not worth their disproportionate cost), and use that slot for the post-treaty BB's, making regular BB's the WWI tubs, which were too slow to sail with the carriers. Fast battleships basically were battlecruisers, with better armor. I want to let the US keep the Montanas as an option (if say there ends up being 3 Yamato BB's).

Canada somehow ended up not being able to upgrade anything (an easy change in the editor).

Stay tuned...

[OldCrowBalthazor]

That was no 'brain fart'...that was a signals error.[:D]

[Elessar2]

[:'(]

[Elessar2]

Balthazor and I restarted with the latest version yesterday (after my big revamp). He has agreed to not come to this thread (at least not right away) so I can go into more detail about my decisions.

LOL Moment at Pearl, tho I only got a pic of the aftermath:



There was a battleship in the circled port. His carriers had bombed it down to one. Then one of his subs sailed up and took it out. [Recall the IJN had minisubs that day, at least one managed to get in the harbor] In dozens of playtests now I have yet to sink 5 BB's; at best I manage to get 4, then have one more attack left to soften a 5th one up.

Philippines went according to schedule, he took out the bomber unit, the garrison in Aparri, and the light cruiser in the SE port. My fighter, HQ, and sub managed to escape tho.



China was pretty quiet, other than him taking out the division near Hangchow. China in this mod can be a pretty big money pit, and as he himself has noted all of the partisans means you'll need lots of garrisons--but he needs them for all of the partisans in his new conquests to the south.



Malaya had him repeat history and nail the Prince of Wales and Repulse (and their attendant destroyer): poor PoW tried to sail N into the Indian Ocean but got sunk the next turn in port.



Now decision time. I know I have to at least try to equal the historical US ship build rate, so trying to get an Essex in the queue every two months. With my recent change "demoting" prewar battleships I'll also need the Iowas (thankfully 5 of the 6 South Dakotas & North Carolinas will come in over the next year or so as reinforcements). Start with plenty of subs, and plan to sail them all into his convoy lanes en masse once the convoys go blue. Not sure what I'll do when all 3 of the Atlantic fleet carriers manage to make it over here; try to pick and choose my opportunities, see if S&I can give me some heads-up on where Kido Butai is at.



I'll be cranking Lend Lease up next turn to help the Aussies upgrade all of their ships, then do the same for the UK (who have 5 ships hanging out in their home waters unupgraded).


Research priorities are as follows:



Future investments to come in C&C, Radar, ASW, Production, Ground Attack, and S&I (to maintain my lead there).

What sucks is in the last (abortive) game I got TWO successive hits on American Advanced Fighters. This turn I got one...in Russian Infantry Weapons. Did also get one in UK Naval Weapons-if I decide to contest the Japanese over say an invasion of Ceylon I'll need that.

[Elessar2]

Turn Two

China was quiet this turn. Winter brings fog and rain galore, so his planes haven't been able to fly there so far this game.

Philippines down to the Manila garrison, it survives a couple of attacks.

Got the Indian army vanguards into Burma and protecting Rangoon.



Convoy Map, had to get a lot of MPPs shipped to the Aussies to upgrade their navy. Also want to get them another level in Infantry Weapons, C&C, and an Engineer (one for India too).



USN upgrading its ships, getting an HQ onto Hawaii and 2 garrisons to Midway and Johnston Island.



Put a chit into Advanced Subs, since I want to test if they can be as successful as they were in the actual war.

[Elessar2]

Turn Three

In China, he took Hangchow, had to tidy up my lines, leaving Ningpo to its own devices. But from the American perspective an active China is a good thing, since it can turn into a real money pit-not only in terms of partisans, but repairing damaged units, at a time when he really cannot afford the losses. Means fewer ships to deal with.

But meanwhile I am preparing a little surprise for him timed to go off 3 turns from now...



Rabaul held out at 1 point, after about a dozen bombardments. [Recall I made shore bombardment more effective than in vanilla] We both had independently dubbed them the "Rabaul Rats"...



Attacked a sub to good effect near Pearl. Kido Butai is long gone somewhere to the west.



India, beat him to Moulmein. His bombers have been hitting my cities in this area, [the Indian fighter had to retreat out of range to the N) but Indian supply remains high because Rangoon itself has been left untouched (it of course being the capital has a higher default supply level). I may reduce the number of towns in this area tho...



My subs get into a nice wolfpack in preparation for a massive sortie into Japanese-occupied waters. Plan to arrive when his 1st 3 conquests get their convoy lines operational. Have to skirt his bomber units to the south-no islands between Midway and Tokyo of course...



Economics. Decided to devote a large proportion of convoy MPPs to the UK to help upgrade their home fleet.



Next turn I'll be putting together a 4 ground unit convoy bound for Australia. I figure he can pawn-grab all of the islands he wants, but I have to keep Australia & India viable no matter what. [And the Burma Road open]

India needs an engineer, as does Australia, will try to get them as soon as I can.

[Elessar2]

Turns Four-Six, January-March '42

He took Ningpo but had to spend a lot of MPPs to repair his dinged up infantry. [Which is why they're all still 1 hex off of the front]



As documented in the scenario thread, he has had a lot of trouble with supply in Burma. One infantry corps was actually at supply 0 in the jungle, I did 5 points of damage to it.



My troop convoy remains on course to reach Australia in 3 more turns. I put a strat bomber in New Caledonia to spot any possible interdictors that might decide to sail down there, did a mid course correction to the S to minimize said contingency.



Decided to favor India with the convoys, given the IJA push into Burma. Want to get an engineer on board. I am worried about either an invasion of Ceylon or an Anzio along the Burmese coast, want to garrison every city port from Rangoon to the tip of India itself.



US put some more chits into the pool, 2nd level of Advanced Fighters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T5/T6

My convoy continues to Australia undisturbed.

As does my wolfpack to Japanese waters. Alas I lost the Sturgeon near Indochina, but when I lost the Philippines he and his buddy (Sargo, which also got dinged up) had nowhere to hide while they waited for their relief.



Burma, killed a division as his supply continued to be an issue.

China remained quiet as he got readied for his next attack (presumably on Chuhsie).

Research, Production Tech, S&I, then Logistics the following turn. Next up C&C, the next level of Radar, and either Ground Attack or ASW. Will hold off on tanks for awhile longer, have bigger priorities.



Income and purchases: this year it's going to be nothing but subs, fleet carriers, some air units, and fast battleships. Got the 1st one of the latter in the queue in the imposing presence of the Iowa; typically big fleet battles in SC often also involve the surface ships mixing it up after the carriers have launched their strikes, and they're also good (staggered) to defend the flattops. By August '43 I plan to have 12 Fleet CV's and 6 Fast BB's.



Meanhoo I've readied my China Surprise (more details next turn not to worry). [8D]

[Elessar2]

We are doing our 3rd attempt at a playthrough, with the sincere hope that there are no more issues or gamestopping bugs or issues, because we want, and need, to play this one a long way, hopefully to the end.

Pearl Harbor, he got 4.3 of my battlewagons, then the entire fleet did a Sir Robin, tho I got a spy hit on 2 of his ships in Kido Butai. [He's not sticking around for a 2nd set of strikes. I had a chance to hit the CV that I had spotted, but I'd get one of his maybe while losing all 4 of my ships when he retaliated, not a wise trade]

Hilarious occurence in the Philippines:



The garrison got kicked out of Aparri, but he had his HQ in the port (because of Scorched Earth he has to wait a turn to unload it). Saw a chance to hit it, and I did, 2 points of damage that he will NOT be able to repair unless he moves it to Japan. [:'(]

He did NOT sink the Prince of Wales and its attendant DD, tho the Repulse bit the dust, but they were only at 2 & 1 respectively. I sortied the RN Far Eastern fleet to try to get them home, got my sub in front of the port that the PoW managed to limp into. Not sure if I will try to hit something with my carrier if it will invite surface ships to retaliate (he has no CVL down there, yet, his land based air in Indochina is too far away).

China, no surprises, took out a ID in the south. When I reshuffled the Chinese Army I put the Engineer and AA unit down there, have the engineer building a fort on the coast road.

Indians now have to deal with both routes into Burma, force marching all the way...

Convoys. Decided to max out both Australia & India for reasons (UK can wait for now I mainly need to upgrade their ships).



Research. No surprises on in the main: all Asian/Pacific majors went for Infantry Weapons, India & China C&C, UK & Aussies Naval Weapons, India & China Advanced Fighters (I am counting on the Flying Tigers to hold off the Japanese air force in China). I plan to get some engineers for the Aussies & India next turn, but the sooner I can start getting tech hits the better. The Canadians will be going to India ASAP.

Builds: Decided to try a Chinese Tank Corps. It may be ahistorical and unbalancing (may in the next update just give them one Tank Division build), but wanted to try to see if I could soften up any of his infantry which advanced and would thus be at low entrenchment. The more he spends on repairing his infantry the fewer ships he will buy. It's a gamble but I want to try being proactive for once.

Otherwise nothing to exciting, Russian Engineer (it's hard to balance the Russians when they have no European theatre to worry about), rebuilt the Chinese division, Indian garrison to guard the coast. [Note I redid some of their militia scripts to only fire if India proper is being invaded]

US research:



Decided on butter before guns so sprung for all of the industrial techs; I'll need Ship Production to get a hit before the year is out so I can keep building Iowas and Essexes. Plan to have at least 1 of the former (plus the 5 NC's/SD's) and 4 of the latter by mid '43. The new NM penalty scripts for not retaking key locations means I can't sitzkrieg for too long. I may also get a couple of Independence CVLs to come online by then as well, and thus have 2 12 CV task forces at my disposal, 3 fast battleship escorts each + cruisers and DD's.

The only other areas of immediate concern are C&C, Advanced Bombers (US already starts at level 2, but level 5 + long range will make them deadly if operating for the Marianas), and Anti-Sub Warfare. Since I reduced US AA by one level had to get a chit in there right off the bat. Tanks & Ground Attack Weapons can wait a bit (US now can build 3 each of both tank units).

Income:

[Elessar2]

T2, Jan 3 1942

A couple of screwups, one involving a default issue with the interface, the 2nd due to something I changed on the map (combined with some hard coded nonsense)...

I couldn't save the Prince of Wales, because he moved his Medium Bomber into range and put it out of its misery. He had a sub there (rest of the fleet was down S sieging Singapore), and as said so did I. I wanted to bomb it once with my carrier, and get out of Dodge and out of range of his bombers.

Did 1 point of damage, clicked on the map using the CTRL click method to choose my own waypoints to move W...in this case I often do that because the interface will automatically choose your own path for you, but that path might move you through unscouted areas where an enemy may be lurking.

But the carrier never moved, but somehow it lost like 8 movement points! After a WTF moment, I realized that the interface thought I wanted to BOMB that empty hex. Made worse by the fact that it was a scouted hex. Note someone recently asked in another post this week why they couldn't bomb an empty hex, but that was with fog of war turned off. Apparently you CAN bomb an empty scouted hex.

Or my finger slipped or something, since I just tested this, and you CAN move like that, even if the CTRL hex you click on is unscouted.

Anyway, I requested mercy of my opponent, but I told him he is under no obligation.


He went quiet in China, but may simply be reloading his Artillery unit there. I moved my Mountain unit west in case he tries to push north from Indochina.

I did more damage in the Philippines-my defiant garrison bit the dust, but he moved a zero supply tank next to my Manila corps, and I did 2 points of damage to it (-1 to mine). Again with his HQ also dinged up none of those units will be able to reinforce past 8...

I screwed up in Burma too, but that was entirely on me. The original mapmaker kept in the rail gaps from the original WitP he was using as a model. I decided to connect several of them because we are doing 14 day turns, not the 1 (or 2) day turns in WitP AE, and a railed unit would basically have to spend 2 extra SC W@W turns to cross the gap and then operate again.

So he took advantage of that and operated his HQ and several ground units to Chiang Mai. I decided to try to make my corps there reach Moulmein because in past playtests I could easily beat him there.

Instead it blundered into a Thai division-which ended up doing 3 points of damage to it:



Note I ran the surprise bonus down to zero in the editor because I thought the notion that the DEFENDER would get the advantage in this situation was silly. Apparently the game engine still gives a substantial bonus to the defender anyway. If it were up to me, any unit not in contact with the enemy (when it is not their turn) would suffer a small readiness loss upon first contact by a moving enemy, making it MORE vulnerable to the attacker.

Kind of like a horror movie, where Jason or Michael Myers or some other creep invades some old lady's home, but THEY are the ones surprised, not the old lady. "Yeah okay whatever, yet another spook thought coming into my house was a good idea, yawn. Say hello to my boomstick, creep." **BLAM**

Australia got their engineer unit. China bought another Inf Corps. India is in trouble since I deleted the Special Forces they originally had, and wanted to get Australia squared away this turn (which I did). ALL Lend-Lease to the Indians now, I need to get a 2nd corps while hoping this one holds out.

OCB just agreed to a truce w/ my RN task force just this once (he'll probably bomb the Indian corps instead anyway), but he also indicated that in MP it should be considered part of the game, and I agreed. Vs. the AI I'd just hit the Undo button (if I can), or just reload the game. LOL since he indicated in a recent AAR which had him discussing just this-and then he himself screwed up his own CV's move!

Good news on the tech front (at the end of my incomes):



I often like to put 2 chits on a tech when that happens and get it even quicker (recall in the mod the 1 chit techs from Vanilla now have 2, 2 chit ones now have 3), so I'll try to do that next turn (but I need to pop another Fleet CV into the queue 1st).

Naval Weapons already got an 11% hit on T1, so it now has 2. Otherwise moving a tank corps/inf div/Marine to Australia, a British & Canadian inf corps going to India post haste. My subs will now wait until I hit the next level before they infiltrate his convoy lanes.

The US got some garrisons en route to Midway and Canton Islands.

[Elessar2]

Welp that turn went as well as I could hope for:

* I managed to save the Indian corps, and it now occupies the key town in the area:



You may note the green fighter N of the Indian HQ. Operated a US one; I am grooming a UK fighter but it will take 2 more turns to get there, and I don't have the luxury of waiting given his strong air presence in the area. Hope the HQ auto-attaches during his turn... I also had EXACTLY enough MPPs left over to get a paratrooper, whose defense is almost as good as a corps (my 1st choice but had to beef up my existing one). His units are currently in crap supply and he hasn't taken the other road that I can tell (I have 2 units there as you can see, 1 my TD, to block that route). I haven't had enough time to upgrade their AA tho (another change for next version).

* Malaya and the DEI held for one more turn. Found a bug; Singapore can't reinforce above 5, due to the "completely surrounded" feature. I have the Coastal Gun on an island, but I'll change it to a peninsula for the next update.

* China remains quiet--he simply can't afford more than 1 major offensive at a time.

* My 2 convoys are untouched and undetected, as are my 2 subs over near Borneo (I need to get them to a friendly port so they can be upgraded when the advance takes place).

US: Thus added a 2nd level of Advanced Subs, bought another Essex, the Shangri-La. And got a logistics hit:



China: got a chit into AA. If he leaves them alone for awhile I'll be able to get a 2nd chit into Infantry Weapons. I also dinged up one of his corps to 5 strength (mine 7).

UK: both the Canadian and native UK inf corps are on their way to India.

Also was perusing some old vanilla update notes, and figured out that Free Unit scripts provide a chance for a surrendered country's units to stay on the map in service of an ally. The DEI has a 100% chance (default vanilla scripts copied over) IF their CLs don't need to be on British soil per se when the DEI surrenders. Australia is where they are now (I couldn't save the fighter thanks to storms). Can only wait and see...

[Elessar2]

T4...early Feb '42...

I did a sort of gambit with an American fighter-and it actually worked out pretty well-for the Indians.

I operated the starting fighter over to India, trying to give help to the Indian one. I was going to move the UK one there but only this turn could upgrade it, will have to wait until next turn to operate it over, but given the situation down there decided I didn't have that luxury.

But the Japanese spotted it when it intercepted the first raid-and the promptly decided to bomb it to oblivion.

Without bombing any other units, only damaging one of my divisions (which as the screenie shows I managed to save by the Curly Shuffle mechanic, it's the strength 10 one reinforced):



They completely ignored the Indian fighter, which then I moved N out of the firing line until its UK buddy can get down there and join it, will try to move within maximum HQ attachment range and covering all of my front line units, hopefully they can be mutually supporting. Oh my HQ finally got into position to give my guys 7+ supply, while his units are mired in the 2's & 4's.

I'll simply rebuild the fighter in the US at my leisure; they can afford the hit, the Indians cannot. Now the Indians will have 200 MPP next turn to get stuff, most crucially another Infantry Corps (if not a 2nd chit on IW).

China, he took Hangchow, but did ding up his units a bit, and my Engineer will finish the coastal fort next turn.



May have found a bug. I have been moving my US Maritime Buff around, got it down to the Phoenix Islands-and spotted 2 subs on a convoy line (the Solomons one, which is only 3 MPP beeg deal-3rd one was a S&I spot). It showed storms, and I couldn't bomb them with my bomber, but I could still scout them out.



Yes, that is my Australian-bound convoy at the bottom, a TC, ID, and SF, to join the 2 HQs and IC already there. And the 2 DEI CLs did stick around after the surrender, yay. The Lend-Lease line is right below them, and all of the DDs in the area will subsequently go on patrol to guard it.

US tech, again going for butter early on, 2nd chit on Industrial:



Next gotta get at least one on buffs and a 2nd on Ship Production (I'll hit my CV & FB build limits by the end of the summer if I don't).

Income, didn't get a tech hit this turn:



Issue to fix in my Lend Lease scripts: they deduct 25% during the winter. But it's currently summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so I'll have to change those to get a "summer" reduction...

Again the only issues are small potatoes one like that, and we can live with it.

[CrackingShow]

What does the 'radar' tech do?

[Elessar2]

Got another turn in. Now neither the Chinese nor the Indians have any front line Infantry Corps where the enemy is attacking. Air ground strikes likely will need to be turned down somehow, likely by giving everybody at least a 0.5 defense bonus, at least get that attrition cycle thing going.

I had to put the TD in the city, where I know it will suck and/or retreat, but I had no more units left and had to reinforce the adjacent division... I am readding that Indian SF in for the next build, btw.



That US convoy going to Australia may simply have to be redirected to India. I got the UK fighter over, at max range to intercept raids over my front lines, with the Indian one (hopefully) backing it up if they try to strike it.

Kido Butai showed up beseigning Rabaul. When I get the Wasp in June and 6 carriers I am going to have to do SOMETHING, just not sure what.

China as indicated lost another IC, now has 3 in the queue with only divisions (plus a Tank Div) to try to stem the tide:



US queue:



Plan is to order 2 more of each kind of carrier by the end of May, plus at least the Iowa.

Tech:



Ship Production, Buffs, and S&I. I have no choice but to start springing for units, now that almost all of the key areas have at least 1 chit (C&C if I can next turn, ASW likely too at some point). No hits this turn; I'll really need to start getting some and that right soon.



Income:

[Elessar2]

Well, that went MUCH better than I had feared...

Burmese front up 1st:



I managed to not only avoid any more losses (while reinforcing to max), but my fighters managed to do a major number on his planes, all of which took at least 2 maybe 4 hits (hint to newbies: do NOT turn on "quick combat" or you won't see the losses on your end, little negative numbers which float upward above the damaged unit), ANNND I got another Infantry Corps into the theatre. Repairing planes isn't cheap, and he'll be doing it in bad supply.

The UK IC arrived and will take up station on Calcutta, unless I really need it. Canadian one due next turn.

China:



Also good news-a division held out with 1 point, and I got an IC into the front lines, all while dinging his armies up pretty bad; doubt any will be able to keep their +1 Experience. The Flying Tigers also swapped places with the other fighter. I'm not sure if my engineer will finish his fort in time (end date in 2 months).

But he is on the move in the Central Pacific:



I simply don't have enough garrisons to go around, despite my feverish efforts to reinforce as many islands as I could. He actually tried to invade where my bomber was (moved E). I'm keeping a small task force in Samoa which will strike out if anything gets too south. He continues to ignore my Lend Lease lines.

Managed to save a Philippine ID to go with the 2 DEI CLs, garrisoning W Australia.



I have all 4 of my carriers in Hawaii now + escorts. I plan to raid Wake Island and kill the Maritime Bomber that is on it...

...because...



I'll put every non-sub on a port and upgrade the following turn.

I was fearing a disaster on both active land fronts, but have managed to hold my own, so far. Stay tuned...

[Elessar2]

T7. Now have a major point of worry, didn't anticipate him moving this quickly:



He's basically going all-in to the central Pacific, while ignoring New Guinea. Good news, I have most of the key islands garrisoned (except for the Phoenix Islands, which I foolishly tried to scout a path for a garrison with my DD there-he'll get creamed by his huge fleet there. Bad news also includes the loss of my Maritime Bomber (gone in two carrier strikes). I can afford to buy them back (am a bit ahead of my naval builds schedule)...

But some very good news:



3-5 turns to get Advanced Fighters now. I also just got the hit on Naval Weapons as reported last turn, AND on Advanced Subs. I'll upgrade my 5 carriers + escorts (+ the Wasp who will hopefully show up right as I get the AF hit) as soon as I get Fighters Level 2, then upgrade my subs. I'll send the subs into his convoy lanes (decided lone subs simply get chewed to pieces) at the same time that I get my carriers down to Samoa, where they will wait for him to overextend himself. His ships keep taking attritional hits, and it will cost him a pretty penny to repair them all back to 10, which he can only do in Japan. Meanhoo he can't buy any heavy naval units, of that I am sure...

Also got a boost in Indian IW as you can see, 1 turn after I put a 2nd chit in. Weirdly, both they and the Chinese have been averaging just a bit over 1 percentage gain per turn (should be 2 + any catchup or S&I bonuses]

Burma was quiet, other than him trying to bomb my fighters again (moved N out of range). He has THREE fighters there now, 1 each strat/tac/medium too. He took more hits on his planes, but now he has his HQs in position to draw better supply. Have a corps there in reserve once he kills a division or two, and 3 Chinese infantry to guard my flank. The RN will soon get busy, since he apparently has no ships anywhere near Burma; everything that was in Uk waters is either already there or on their way.

China itself didn't go so well:



He took out TWO more corps, one up next to Chengchow where he had been quiet so far, tho once again I managed to get another in there for more slaughter. I also tried to get Mao into the game, but his corps did 3 damage to mine received 2 (prediction was the other way). Once I get my tank I hope I can start dinging his spearheads up even more than they already are. with his air in Burma now he can do so then retreat without worry of being bombed to oblivion... I'll likely move the Flying Tigers down to Burma too.

The fact is he simply cannot handle this endless cycle of attrition without completely wearing out his entire army AND navy.



Some changes in store for the scenario:

* All land units will get a +0.5 defense boost, against both land AND air. Air will also get the same bonus against other planes. The 1st issue is because infantry at least should be stronger on defense vs. attack; I'm seeing far too many easy kills on his part.

* The 2nd issue is I gave all land-based air 2 actions to make them more effective against enemy carriers, but it just made them overpowered against land units (and enemy air when bombing them). That will hopefully increase the attrition rate and make people save their double strikes for when they really need them. Note he is doing this w/ level ZERO in ground attack...

* OCB suggested getting some anti-Allies partisan activity going in Burma, but that can't be done for an allied country, but default Supply scripts exist [based off of a 1939 DE] which will pork installations just the same as a partisan supply event will, so I'll activate them for the next version.

* Lend Lease routes have a "winter" deduction of 25%, but that should be switched to "summer" to match the Southern Hemisphere winter.

* I've been keeping track of the various changes to carrier naval defense against surface ships. They can either get substantial Evasion %'s (which I dislike), or have enemy ships have zero Carrier Attacks. Right now if the screen is removed they are pretty vulnerable, and Hairog's arguments have started to persuade me. But I don't want lone carriers getting substantial immunity either. One reason I am spoiling for a fight down there is to test such battles.

* Rivers need to be more of an obstacle, both defensively and when moving into an enemy hex across one.

[Elessar2]

T8.

Tried another gambit. I assumed that the only things he had in or near the Indian Ocean were some DDs & subs, given all of the stuff I've been seeing running around in the central Pacific (all of his BBs are there note).

I was wrong.



My sub sent out to scout a bit ran into one of his destroyers.

So with the RN in fairly decent shape I figured the odds would be pretty good I could at least ding the destroyer with my carrier there, give my subs a break (the US will be sending theirs in en masse in another turn). At worst he'd have a CVL, which I could handle.

Nope, he had a full CV. Which means Kido Butai still has, at the most, the original 6 (plus some CVLs I've seen near the Gilberts). Annnd, since this happened:



I'll be able to sortie my carriers a few turns earlier than planned, once everything has been upgraded. Plan to camp out near Samoa (welp sailing around quasi randomly along the edges so he can't pin me down) and wait for him to come in a bit too close... The Wasp will have to join them when it can. [duhh moment something I just noticed recently: any tech bonuses are ON TOP OF what the tech ALREADY gained that turn (they were at 77% recall]. So it really was a 23% jump, two straight bonuses, 50% to 100% in 2 turns. He won't expect me to give it a go without Fighters 2.

What may save me: his IO ships all have about 2 hits on them. I tried to arrange my ships to hide the carrier (pic was before I did that), using ZoC locks, so he'll have to have his carrier scout out where it is first (bad news good news: I did the strike in full Naval mode, which is bad if he finds it, but is good since it won't intercept any blind scouting strikes and give itself away). The 1 point lead destroyer sacrificial lamb there was the refugee from Singapore where I lost the PoW & Repulse.

Maybe I should have waited until the rest of the RN arrived (in 2 turns, plus 2 more to move to port and upgrade), but ehh can't be passive the entire game...

Burma: no pic but he did reinforce his 3 corps, so I'll be feeling the full brunt next turn. The monsoon will start hitting next turn (50% chance of rain/mud, going to 70/80% as of the summer solstice).

China:



He killed another IC of mine, but notice how damaged 4 of his units are. Checked his MPP graph, and I'm basically inflicting 50% more damage each turn on average than he is taking in (the DEI hasn't gone online for him yet).



Basically if he wants to keep chewing through all of those Pacific Islands, while being active in both China AND CBI he can (tho I'll fight more strenuously for the NM locations), I'll try to get him him when his carriers are either way down in effectiveness or are back in Japan refitting. I'll get my 2 bombers down there too.

While I still wish oil was kept track of as a separate resource, this is simulating the resource intense nature of trying to fight in 3 theatres simultaneously.

[Elessar2]

Welp, that didn't work out so well...

All that is left of the RN Far East fleet are 2 DD's. Which will be sunk next turn.

Looks like Kido Butai or most of it is in the Indian Ocean.

I made the mistake of imagining what I would do in his place. #1, I would NEVER split up my fleet flattops. Due to the geometry of hexes the optimal arrangement is 7 CVs surrounded by their escorts, tho some CVLs can be mixed in there of course. But dividing your force is what led to Midway, and we all know what happened there. #2, I wouldn't sail my carriers into a zone which is about to be hit by monsoons. #3, with the US fleet in being at Pearl, I would also not leave the rest of my fleet swinging in the breeze a quarter of the world away.

No screenies (I lost the one shot of his ships near Ceylon): he was quiet in Burma, amazingly, allowing me to bring up some more reinforcements in the form of 2 Inf Corps. Fighters reinforced and back on the job. China he got another ID but now his armies are seriously hurting, one down to 3; both India & China outproduce him combined, note, and he's still on the negative part of the MPP curve. I'll get my tank and 2 IC in a month. Moved some income to the UK, may simply rebuild my fleet, tho it will take awhile-maybe just build some subs and overwhelm his convoy lines, maybe make KB waste more time chasing the little essobees.

So the silver lining is if I get my butt in gear I can jump his Central Pacific fleet with my 5 CVs, and they all just upgraded and can sail next turn, tho the Hornet may take a couple of turns to catch up.

My subs are likewise about to head off towards his supply lines. A single sub or even a wolfpack can kind of melt away (then and now); in the game lone subs are sitting ducks-even silent/submerged they are easily refound--all he needs to do is hit them 10 times, supply of 0, and they're done for. So they have to go in en masse, then I'll try to get a rotation going long term. A couple I'll need for scouts for my upcoming sortie tho.

I'll also have to seriously think about upgrading my 7 old battlewagons, 45 a pop, but he has all 6 of his in the Gilberts. I need another Essex in the production line before June tho.

I'll give you a screenie of the 7 CV arrangement + escorts:

[Elessar2]

I'll just say that he said it was indeed a gambit, but that he is also a bit worried now. He should be. I'll count on him not anticipating me getting those 3 hits on AF/NW so quickly. Only question is whether I can avoid his 6 battlewagons-I know at least 2 of his battlecruisers were seriously dinged up.

[Elessar2]

T 10 (T 8 from yesterday should have been labeled T 9)...

2 more lost RN DD's near Ceylon. I'll likely give the UK a recurring DE to transfer more ships, at a fairly hefty MPP AND morale penalty, with the morale hits declining with time (as the European conflict becomes less uncertain).

He is also concerned with his air's inability to do much damage in Burma. Japan will thus likely get L1 Ground Attack tech and/or some 1 experience land based air. I remain concerned about the double strikes tho, may trade some damage potential away for increased unit morale hits.

One more turn before my CV task force sails. I'll likely just do a raid on Wake and kill the Maritime Bomber there (until the Wasp-and North Carolina-joins in a month), but am bringing my old BB's to Pearl to be refitted. He has at least 2 undamaged battlecruisers down there with his 6 old tubs, and I can't allow my carriers or cruisers to get involved in a slugging match with them even if I do outnumber him in terms of flight decks.



Here is his MPP graph:



We discussed and agreed that there should be more oil wells in the DEI (vanilla had 5, I have 6, will likely make it 9). He refitted in China before his next assault, but I got my 2 tanks down there to take retribution.

Got another Essex, due Nov '43, which will give me 14 by that point. 2 CVLs next turn, the Iowa after that...

[Elessar2]

T 11 June 14 1942

Welp, some fun to be had in China at long last! Tho now very worried about India...

Burma, he nailed both of my fighters there, but again they did a lot of damage to his air. He didn't attempt any ground attacks, but now his ships are swarming all of my ports there, and his carriers finished off one of my fighters, which means I don't have to worry about them in the Pacific (see below). Did I mention that it is monsoon season now? Hurriedly bought 3 garrisons for my ports along the E coast; the militia spawns didn't take place so he doesn't have any transports in range. If he wants to open up yet another attritional front he's welcome to it.

China, FINALLY got some retribution. He forgot to reinforce a Inf Corps up north that Mao's boys had dinged up, so I hit it twice more and took it out. My brand spanking new tank corps hit his tank division and made it retreat (to Nanjing) with 2 strength left. [If it hadn't my own TD would have finished it off] He took out one of my ID's but I did 2 points against each of his 3 attacking corps. He is deep in the red now, and those corps have likely lost their experience bonuses for good.



So I decided to make my move in the Pacific, hit Wake while my subs run interference; the NC and the Wasp came onboard but will need a turn to refit then they can join the party. Old school BBs now in Pearl to also refit. I'm hoping I'll catch his Pacific carriers (3 CVs and 3 CVLs at the most) in the home islands reinforcing.

Forgot to mention that last turn I saw a DD up near the Aleutians. By my reckoning he doesn't have sufficient units to do much more than the historical conquests up there, so again he's welcome to it; several SFs are now assaulting Port Moresby.

Got the two Independence CVLs in the queue as promised:



Also got Naval Weapons 1 for the Aussies.