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I am quite pleased to come back to Warplan Pacific since patch 1.00.06. I have learned lots of thing and mistakes to avoid. But YueJin is a very strong player. One of the top player of this game with eskuche and sveint.

I was badly defeated by these three guys while continuing to seek out new bugs and .. . Patch 1.00.07 is very good in terms of fixes. And there is a big change with planes. Can't wait to test this:

FIXED Air units don't expend operation points on failed searches for ships

No more of I am sending a DD group to spend the operation points of the enemy planes with a failed interception.

But, I am just super worried about China. I did not find yet how to defend there. Quest for balance perhaps.
I don't know, thus I just hope for luck.

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And I was quite lucky in Pearl Harbor. I just lost one BB and one CA. My best personal score is 4 BB and 1 CA.

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In Malaya, Japanese 25th army is advancing toward Singapore. In the OOB, Australian 8th Division is also supposed to be in the Malayan Peninsula at this stage but not in this game.

Repulse battlecruiser has been sunk but the Prince of Wales battleship is safe.

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In the Philippines, Japanese are doing port blockade except in Davao. My opponent has chosen not to perform a naval invasion north of Davao to cut my supply line. As such, this turn I will have the possibility to move the Mindanao small corps elsewhere. Maybe the DEI, I don't know yet.

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Rabaul is taken. But, incredible, the USMC garrison of Wake island has survived two assaults from the Japanese 51th division.

Heroes.

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In the DEI, Surabaya and Bandar Lampung have been taken. Time to fallback to reinforce Batavia.

In China, no luck at all. I have lost my best general the first battle of the first turn. It does not start well with an army overrun as well in one combat.

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In the news, Japan is doing a port blockade of Noumea on turn one. True that on the Allies side, there are no ships around. And the Japanese army is moving toward Rangoon.

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All right, let's start. First, we need to assess our convoy situation. There are no naval trades between UK and USA nor India, Australia or New Zealand.

UK have 20 MM available and USA have 43 MM available.

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Given these low numbers, I cannot afford to lose any merchant marine. As such, I am shutting down all convoy roads except South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Very important to understand that when USA is sending PP or Oil to UK, the UK MM stockpile will be used. I am pretty sure that with the loss of Malaya Iron Ore (20 points) at hex 38, 44, few MM will be available next turn in addition to the 20 MM available for UK.

As such, I am sending 40 PP from USA to UK using 40 MM (from UK stockpile). And, I am using 43 MM (from USA stockpile) to send 13 PP to Australia and 30 PP to New Zealand. My priority is to repair the 4th/5Th Tactical Grp in Suva.

We will see next turn how it goes.

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Another thing to do right away is to buy more MM for USA. I am buying 20 MM with the available PP.

Also in the USA, you have every land unit in place to retrieve every AAA guns available there. In one turn, you can have up to 8 AAA guns ready for next turn. I will deploy them in South Pacific.

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First priorities for the Allies, defend Ceylon from a Japanese invasion. The goal here is clear, put small corps in the two ports to avoid a naval landing i.e. Jaffna and Colombo.

Also, I must break the port blockade around Noumea but I am worried. My opponent knows that the only ship group in range is the Canberra CA group. I am quite sure the three Japanese ships there are in Fleet mode.

But, in fact, no interception was done. So, there were perhaps in Raider mode finally. Port blockade is, I hope, cancelled next turn for Noumea.

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I am sending reinforcements in Port Moresby. And since I can't afford to have a port blockade here, I am sending the De Ruter CL Grp in Raider mode to block any attempt of the Japanese next turn.

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Instead of DEI, I decide to send the Mindanao small corps to Guadalcanal to block its invasion by Japan.

Also, in the news, DEI forces are merging in Batavia to try to survive as long as possible. In the Malayan Peninsula, the last Indian division is cutting the supply line of the 25th Japanese army to try to slow it next turn.

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In Wake Island, I am sending a sub to avoid a port blockade next turn even if there is a pretty good chance that I will lose both. In China, I have no other solution than to fallback.

Let's see how it goes next turn...

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December 21, 1941:

Noumea is saved from the port blockade but the situation is not stabilized. Plenty of Japanese ships are coming around, performing a supply interdiction, and a naval invasion is performed.

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Reconnaissance is identifying 1 ship, 3 ships and 5 ships including 4 BB near the island. The Japanese 61st SNLF is the first to land near Noumea. The situation is bad.

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Reconnaissance near Tarawa, since it was not invaded, is showing moves of the Kido Butai coming back for supplies. No doubt they will heading south near Noumea next turn...

I have no way to reinforce the New Caledonia island now since the hex near Noumea is taken and I have no landing ships to try anything like merging a division with the one existing in Noumea.

Near Guadalcanal, a Japanese fleet is starting a port blockade. And Wake island is finally taken.

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So, let's check first the convoys. As planned, all the 43 MM of USA stockpile are used. But, in the UK stockpile, there are 35 MM that are available.

So I decide to use 5 more MM from UK stockpile to send 45 PP from USA to UK. And I am using the remaining 30 MM of UK stockpile to send 28 PP from UK to India. Remains 2 MM available that I will keep in reserve for now. I have not enough oil to send it to India.

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I continue with my objective to reinforce Ceylon. Everything is in place to have two small corps there in two turns.

I am forming small corps in Burma to create ZOC to slow down the Japanese army that is coming at light speed.

Meanwhile, the Skipjack SS Sqd is arriving in Melbourne for repairs after escaping Manila last turn.

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In Port Moresby, I merge the two Australian infantry division to create a small corps. I am deploying 4 AAA guns coming directly from the USA last turn.

With its mission accomplished, I decide to move the De Ruter CL Flot near Noumea to help the defenders.

Bad idea, the Japanese fleet of 5 ships is performing a Surface Interdiction and the light cruiser is sunk.

Only thing remaining to help Noumea is to deploy the 4 last AAA guns inside the city.

I just realize that I have done two mistakes:
1. First, knowing that the port blockade would be cancelled next turn, I should have prioritized reinforcements for the infantry division in Noumea.
2. Second, since Noumea is a port level 6, I could have perfectly move an Australian infantry division at a strength of 10/10 end of turn one. No naval attack would have been possible even if the Australian land unit will still be on board the transport ships and there are no Japanese planes around...

Next time perhaps...

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