What to do with Allied ships in the first few days

[Raverdave]

52nd Lowland
What to do as Allied Player on first turn with all that shipping on the full war campaign...My head was spinning after five minutes going round the map
Not complaining though.





Send your transport ships that are located in the PI to the DEI, Australia and the South Pacific, but try and send them in SINGLE ship TFs. Really try hard to vary where you are sending them so as to have different headings as this will really give the IJN a headache trying to track all of the targets rather than one fat convoy heading to a known destination. I know that this will take you a long time to do, but it will mean the difference between loosing 60 ships or maybe only 8.
Keep at least 5 or 6 AKs at Manlia and use these ships to suck supplies from the far flung PI Islands where it will do you no good. You really really need to try and stock Manila/Bataan with supplies so as to give them a chance of holding out. (once again try and keep the TFs to single ship TFs as they are much harder to spot.
Also consider this.....you don't have to send all of your transports ships off at the first turn, vary when they leave from the first turn onwards. In my games against Luskan I have had AKs leave Manila in late Jan'42 and get away intact simply because his fleet operations have moved on.
Another point to consider is this.......when sending your AK's and AP's out of harms way to say Australia or where ever why not send them there with supplies loaded from their home port or bases? Those supplies, if NOT need for the defence of that local base, would be better used at a place such as Darwin.....if you leave the supplies you are only leaving them for the Jap. Better in your hands than his.

With the warships things are somewhat different. The IJN will eat you alive in most games so you have to think about force preservation with an eye on the future. Always be on the look out for targets of opportunity as sometimes the Human player will, as the IJN, get so excited by his string of victories that he will make a silly move. Hit and run raids against bases that have already fallen can sometimes work well but use your long range search aircraft to make sure that there are no surprises waiting for you....the Dutch have a lot of these. But the upper most thought in your mind must be force preservation.

Subs are a different matter, use them. But try and find deep water choke points as the IJN ASW is good if he finds you in shallow water. The Yank boats have the problem of faulty torps, but the Dutch and Pommie boats can do a good job. Of course if you have becomed overwhelmed by this point then simply let the computer control the subs.
Hope this helps.

[Ron Saueracker]

Pretty good summary, Raver. Exception is auto subs. I never do this. One reason is I like the ASW aspect of the game (almost a game within a game). The other is that I find the AI sends all subs to the same spot (IJN subs under AI control smother the South Pacific along NE coast of OZ and Solomons/New Caledonia/Fiji area. Have not seen them operate in very many other areas and only simplifies the already easy ASW task. Run them youself, spread them out and change zones periodically, and the Allied player will have to heavily escort all convoys for fear of a sub attack.

[Raverdave]

Yeah I personnally operate all of my ships, subs as well as transports, but then I am a control freak.......

[Gilligan]

Nice Post sir...one question comes to mind:


Running the subs yourself, do you find it hard to keep track of them all in terms of fuel? Often times in UV I found myself forgetting about one or two subs until their fuel hit zero, then watched them crawl home. I'd love to run my own subs, but with so much more to do, I can easily see myself with many subs all over the map screaming at me for running them dry.

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Gilligan

Nice Post sir...one question comes to mind:


Running the subs yourself, do you find it hard to keep track of them all in terms of fuel? Often times in UV I found myself forgetting about one or two subs until their fuel hit zero, then watched them crawl home. I'd love to run my own subs, but with so much more to do, I can easily see myself with many subs all over the map screaming at me for running them dry.

A hint for subs. Always go to the individual ships screen toggled from the top menu bar and filter the ships according to type. Check the status of your subs quickly from here. Not only do you see their fuel states at a glance, but their sys/flt as well. Sometimes you will not be informed of a hit on your subs so it's good to check every couple of turns.

[nico71]

I must admit that I'm totally lost in the woods because I'm rather new to wargames! I have started with scen #2 as Allies. I had absolutely no idea of what to do! The problem is the "what" rather than the "how" LOL! But this should help a lot now! Thanks! I'd really like to see some more strategy debates around here! I can only learn from this! [:)]

[Zorfwaddle]

Look at the big picture... you have two things going on at the start: Invasion of the PI and Malaya. Evac ships, especially combatants, to ports in the DEI so they can react for effectively against the invasion against Borneo and surrounding islands. Also, try to get air squadrons backed out, but keep them in range where you can do damage to inbound Japanese TF's. Just some suggestions....

Regards,

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: nico71

I must admit that I'm totally lost in the woods because I'm rather new to wargames! I have started with scen #2 as Allies. I had absolutely no idea of what to do! The problem is the "what" rather than the "how" LOL! But this should help a lot now! Thanks! I'd really like to see some more strategy debates around here! I can only learn from this! [:)]

New to wargames as this is one of your first games??? Aim high, do ya?[;)]

[nico71]

LOL! It's not THAT bad. I play sims for some 20 years now, but compared to this I am fairly new to wargames. I have played Art of War a bit (booooring!) and I play BTR PBEMs regularly (better!). But all of this for not more than some 6 months. I have also played UV a bit, so I know some basics. [;)] Many of the oh-so-realistic games that I have seen so far have bored me. But to be honest, it's possible that I might choke on this most recent bite! [;)] Well, I've got some books about the PacWar now. I hope that this will help a bit! But I have never had a game before that had forced me to buy books and study the topic before I can start playing! LOL! Thus, I'm keen to see more strategy hints and tips! [:)]

[hithere]

Sink more of theirs than they do of yours!!!!! [:'(]

[nico71]

ORIGINAL: hithere

Sink more of theirs than they do of yours!!!!! [:'(]

"More" in absolute numbers or relative to each sides production rates?
[:D][;)]

[hithere]

hey
sorry about that...i could not resist.....[:)]
basically what i do in these game's..esp at the allies...is destroy the enemys ability to wage war....not the actual weapons themselves...ie a crusier without gas is almost worthless....you may already know this but alot of people get carried away with, "i want to sink the Yamato " The allies have material on their side but not time.

ofcourse playing as the Japanese, it is much harder. def do not do Japan's normal sub ops...do that your self. You almost certainly will not be able to stop the Allies, but if you slow down the supplies long enough to build up def, then it will be that much harder to take back...also you can concentrate more on china.

like i said, you prob already know this...just a disclaimer, i was not a beta tester and have had this game all of 4 days. but this is a good strategy for any game. also i would look at you reenforcements and units and lay out a plan and stick to it. don't go haphazard. I am not using auto-convoy.....i am using a hub a spoke type.......

well..i hope some of this helps

[hithere]

also...DO NOT forget that the land units need to have prep time before a attack....i have not been playing that long but it seems to have a HUGE effect

[Burkowski]

Ron.

Thanks for the tip re: looking at the subs' fuel via filter on the top toolbar button... it's one of those DUH-HUH deals.... staring at me, but got so wrapped up in the little detail, I forgot about the forest.... part of the fun is that there will be many discoveries in this beast! [:'(]

regards,

Burkowski