Dutch AVP Arend: Scenario 1 Exploits

[WEXF]

I have said many times that one of the reasons I decided to do this AAR was to gain a better understanding of how our game works. In my posting on October 19, 2024 in this AAR, I raised the question of how or if the Naval Support present at Carnarvon would effect the ability of activities at the port to happen. This posting is a summary of where Carnarvon is right now.

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It is clear that Carnarvon started as a 0(0) Port and is now 2(0). The AF is almost built up to L4. If there were Naval Support at the base it should be listed in the same location. According to this screen there is no Naval Support at Carnarvon.
This next screen shows the engineering units present at Carnarvon.

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Cavite USN Base Force has 100 Naval Support.

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Cebu USN Base Force has 51 Naval Support. The total comes to 151 Naval Support but the Base Screen shows Zero. Is this the infamous 0(0) Port bug? This AAR is being played under the 26a game version.
WEXF

[WEXF]

Adding to the data points on this and other subjects. TF185 is docked at Carnarvon and is carrying an assortment of cargo including supplies, fuel (in drums) and Troops (an airframe). Here are 2 screens showing what has unloaded in one day.

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Some things are clear.
The priority of unloading deals with the fuel (loaded in drums not bulk) first. The fuel went from 1176>776 a reduction of 400. As a Port L2 the amount of "cargo" a ship can unload is 200/12 hour phase or 400/day. The fuel in drums is "cargo".
The fact that each fuel point loaded as cargo counts 2x against the cargo capability of the ship is also seen in the numbers. The total load of the ship went from 2672>1872, a reduction of 800. It all makes sense.
If all of the supplies and fuel on the ship are deducted from the total load it tells us that the Walrus II airframe loaded as cargo is equal to 15 supply points. None of the screens show this directly but the calculation is straight forward.

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What is interesting is that the unloading was clearly not impacted by the presence of the 151 Naval Support at the base.
Is this because of the 0(0) Port question or is it as the rules say? Section 6.3.3.2.5 reads:

"Naval Support. Naval Support may increase troop and cargo load rates only. Naval Support increases the rate at which a given ship can be loaded but cannot improve the total cargo handling limitations of the port. Naval Support adds 10 points to the Troop and Cargo load ability, for each Naval Support squad present."

Does the rule mean that NS ONLY helps "load rates" and not "unload rates"?
WEXF

[BBfanboy]

Yes, if the SPS of the port is (0), NS will not help. Actual port size does not matter. This is a bug that may have been fixed in the new .1128B version.

You may have to unload at Geraldton and fly it to Carnarvon.

[WEXF]

Yes, if the SPS of the port is (0), NS will not help. Actual port size does not matter. This is a bug that may have been fixed in the new .1128B version.

You may have to unload at Geraldton and fly it to Carnarvon.

What is interesting to me is that the Walrus II is loaded as cargo and the ship has been able to unload other cargo at Carnarvon, so I would expect that the Walrus will be able to unload. The Walrus only is a small amount of cargo compared to what has already been unloaded. I find it interesting that the first item to be unloaded was the drums of fuel. Will the Walrus be next? Time will tell. Certainly, if nothing else works I can move to Geraldton like you say and unload and fly the Walrus after it is assembled to Carnarvon. Whether there is "operational" naval support at Carnarvon would only impact the "speed" of things happening.
WEXF

[WEXF]

21Sep found the AF at Carnarvon operational at L4. Engineering work will immediately be shifted to improve the Port to L3.
TF185 continues to unload drums of fuel. In one more day all of the fuel will have been unloaded and we will see what happens next. The 376 fuel remaining will require the use of 752 of the 800 capability of the TF for the turn. The remaining could be enough to unload the Walrus II or 48 supply might get priority. Time will tell.

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[WEXF]

The briefing on OR went very smoothly as there were no surprises in the data.

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CD and Kalgoorlie added the 2000 and 3400 daily production to their respective base supply.
Perth used 2000 of the RP at the base to cover the needs of the day.
At Geraldton, xAK Shooting Star completed the unloading of the remaining 950 RP she had on board.
At Exmouth TF 314 completed loading 200 RP and left port heading south fully loaded with 1000RP.

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At Port Hedland TF346 containing 3 xAKL cargo ships each added 800RP, the maximum possible at the L2 port.

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At Carnarvon, the starting 6731 RP at the base increased by 1000 to 7731 when TF9 completed unloading and set sail north. TF449 also completed unloading 312 RP bringing the total to 8043. TF219 loaded an additional 136 RP from the base reducing the supply to the 7907 remaining.

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Now that dock space has been freed up by the departure of TF9 and 449, TF219 will be able to dock and efficiently load additional RP. TF219 should be almost fully loaded in one more day.

[PaxMondo]

...
What is interesting to me is that the Walrus II is loaded as cargo and the ship has been able to unload other cargo at Carnarvon, so I would expect that the Walrus will be able to unload. The Walrus only is a small amount of cargo compared to what has already been unloaded. I find it interesting that the first item to be unloaded was the drums of fuel. Will the Walrus be next? Time will tell. Certainly, if nothing else works I can move to Geraldton like you say and unload and fly the Walrus after it is assembled to Carnarvon. Whether there is "operational" naval support at Carnarvon would only impact the "speed" of things happening.
WEXF

There is an unloading priority order in the manual, supply, units, fuel, oil, resources are all in that list. You will want to search to find it. It matters a GREAT deal when you loading ships for AMPHIB op's. Playing the IJ almost exclusively, where amphib op's are not all that used after the first few months, I don't have that list committed to memory ... but allied players tend to memorize that list ...

[WEXF]

There is an unloading priority order in the manual, supply, units, fuel, oil, resources are all in that list. You will want to search to find it. It matters a GREAT deal when you loading ships for AMPHIB op's. Playing the IJ almost exclusively, where amphib op's are not all that used after the first few months, I don't have that list committed to memory ... but allied players tend to memorize that list ...

I looked for the list in the manual but was not able to locate it. I have seen that in amphibious landings troops land first and then supply. In the case of what is happening in Carnarvon it is not an "invasion" but a simple unload in a friendly port. Carnarvon is a pretty small port at L2 so there can be some difficulty unloading large equipment quickly. The Walrus II is just a single airframe carried as cargo.
WEXF

[BBfanboy]

Not just "troops and supply". Fighting squads first, light equipment, heavy equipment and vehicles, supply. I am uncertain where pure support troops fit in but the ones that are assigned to a piece of equipment (like an artillery piece or vehicle) land with their equipment. Fuel is unnecessary until the hex is taken.

The trick is to put heavy equipment on fast-unloading vessels like LST and LCTs. Supply can be loaded in a separate TF for supply only and then merged with the main landing force so supply will land with the troops. If you have enough LSTs to load them with supply only, they will deliver all of it in a full day (3 amphib landing pulses -night, morning, afternoon). LSDs, APAs and LCI(L)s are best for troops because of the Higgins boats they carry.

[PaxMondo]

There is an unloading priority order in the manual, supply, units, fuel, oil, resources are all in that list. You will want to search to find it. It matters a GREAT deal when you loading ships for AMPHIB op's. Playing the IJ almost exclusively, where amphib op's are not all that used after the first few months, I don't have that list committed to memory ... but allied players tend to memorize that list ...

I looked for the list in the manual but was not able to locate it. I have seen that in amphibious landings troops land first and then supply. In the case of what is happening in Carnarvon it is not an "invasion" but a simple unload in a friendly port. Carnarvon is a pretty small port at L2 so there can be some difficulty unloading large equipment quickly. The Walrus II is just a single airframe carried as cargo.
WEXF

You are correct, not there. I have seen it though. Things like support lands after active troops. I need to find it again. Looking now ....

[PaxMondo]

Not just "troops and supply". Fighting squads first, light equipment, heavy equipment and vehicles, supply. I am uncertain where pure support troops fit in but the ones that are assigned to a piece of equipment (like an artillery piece or vehicle) land with their equipment. Fuel is unnecessary until the hex is taken. ...

OK, so the list exists somewhere ...

[WEXF]

Not just "troops and supply". Fighting squads first, light equipment, heavy equipment and vehicles, supply. I am uncertain where pure support troops fit in but the ones that are assigned to a piece of equipment (like an artillery piece or vehicle) land with their equipment. Fuel is unnecessary until the hex is taken. ...

OK, so the list exists somewhere ...

I get all of what is being said about the order of unloading in invasions. But that is NOT what is going on in Carnarvon. The TF clearly unloaded and continues to unload fuel (in drums) first. The supply and troops (airframe) remain unloaded so far.
WEXF

[PaxMondo]

Not just "troops and supply". Fighting squads first, light equipment, heavy equipment and vehicles, supply. I am uncertain where pure support troops fit in but the ones that are assigned to a piece of equipment (like an artillery piece or vehicle) land with their equipment. Fuel is unnecessary until the hex is taken. ...

OK, so the list exists somewhere ...

I get all of what is being said about the order of unloading in invasions. But that is NOT what is going on in Carnarvon. The TF clearly unloaded and continues to unload fuel (in drums) first. The supply and troops (airframe) remain unloaded so far.
WEXF

Understood. Somewhere there is a list that gives the order of unload at beach and at port. They aren't the same, although they are close, and there is a list somewhere. I just have to find it ....

[BBfanboy]

In a supply/fuel convoy in port I think the order goes fuel/oil, supply/resources. If troops including aircraft are aboard they would normally unload first (AKVs definitely unload aircraft before supply). Unencumbered fighting troops unload ahead of light equipment which unload ahead of heavy equipment. Fighting vehicles unload before Engineering vehicles which unload before Support vehicles. If there are not enough ops points at port or on the ship to unload equipment or vehicles, supply gets unloaded to use up the remaining points.

Troops landed from docked ships suffer little disruption or fatigue. Troops landed in a port from undocked transport ships have moderate disruption/fatigue (they don't have to carry all their gear!). Troops landed at a friendly port amphibiously have the most disruption/fatigue. At smaller ports can lose heavy equipment overboard during unloading in any mode. E.g. when I first started playing and tried to remove the unit at Addu Island (port level 1) I sent an xAK too large to dock and the first 6" gun they tried to load dropped in the water. When a second one dropped in the water I knew the ship had to be docked so I sent the xAK to Colombo and returned an xAKL that could dock. It docked and the next 6" gun was dropped in the water too. I realized the port was just too small and left the remaining gun there until I could afford the engineers to build the port.

[WEXF]

In a supply/fuel convoy in port I think the order goes fuel/oil, supply/resources. If troops including aircraft are aboard they would normally unload first (AKVs definitely unload aircraft before supply). Unencumbered fighting troops unload ahead of light equipment which unload ahead of heavy equipment. Fighting vehicles unload before Engineering vehicles which unload before Support vehicles. If there are not enough ops points at port or on the ship to unload equipment or vehicles, supply gets unloaded to use up the remaining points.

Troops landed from docked ships suffer little disruption or fatigue. Troops landed in a port from undocked transport ships have moderate disruption/fatigue (they don't have to carry all their gear!). Troops landed at a friendly amphibiously have the most disruption/fatigue. At smaller ports can lose heavy equipment overboard during unloading in any mode. E.g. when I first started playing and tried to remove the unit at Addu Island (port level 1) I sent an xAK too large to dock and the first 6" gun they tried to load dropped in the water. When a second one dropped in the water I knew the ship had to be docked so I sent the xAK to Colombo and returned an xAKL that could dock. It docked and the next 6" gun was dropped in the water too. I realized the port was just too small and left the remaining gun there until I could afford the engineers to build the port.

Thanks for this posting. The situation currently at Carnarvon is clear. The ship containing the single Walrus II airframe (loaded as cargo) is docked at a level 2 port. The ship is currently unloading the remaining fuel (loaded as cargo) and has some supply on board as well. The next turn will tell us more about the priority of unloading. So far there is no doubt that the fuel was unloaded before anything else.
WEXF

[WEXF]

22Sep found the port at Carnarvon 16%>L3. It had been at 13%. At the daily rate of 3% it will take about a month to complete the work. Slow to be sure but Carnarvon is about to reach the maximum port size possible and progress is expected to be very slow.
TF185 is still docked and unloading. The unloading sequence is now clear. Fuel in drums was unloaded first. The crated Walrus II airframe was next and supplies last.

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Yesterday the status on TF185 was:

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Unloaded this turn were 376 fuel in drums, the Walrus II and 9 supply. As a port L2, Carnarvon was able to unload 400 supply daily. 376+9=385. The numbers tell us that the crated Walrus II was equal to 15 supply.
As expected the Walrus II is in need of a minimum of 2 days repair before it will be ready to see action. The airframe has Damage: 3 and Fatigue: 8.

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[WEXF]

The briefing on OR did not have any surprises.

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CD added the 2000 RP daily production to the base supply.
Exmouth showed no changes.
At PH TF346 loaded an additional 800 RP on each of the 3 ships reducing the base total by 2400. The TF will be fully loaded and on the way south next turn.

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At Carnarvon TF219 loaded 1600RP, TF314 arrived at port and was able to unload only 12RP. TF243 loaded 800RP bringing the total at the base from 7907>5519.

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The number of RP at Geraldton went from 1025>11. No TF activity happened at the port. The 1014 RP likely left by RR to Perth. Additional RP flowed to Perth from Kalgoorlie.

[WEXF]

The 23Sep briefing on OR, once again, followed previous patterns.

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CD and Kalgoorlie added the daily production to the base supply and Perth used 2000 RP from the base. No change happened at Geraldton and all of the changes at PH, Carnarvon and Exmouth was easily explained by various TF that were loading and unloading at the ports. The plan going forward was to continue to have daily briefings until the end of September and a summary report of the results of the month's efforts early in October.
At Carnarvon the port was now 20%>L3. The most interesting event at Carnarvon was the formation of the Celebes Base Force.

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This unit is the combination of the rebuilt Kendari, Manado and Makassar Base Forces. Although some of the "devices" that are missing will never be able to be added, Dutch infantry for example, the unit has significant AA, engineering and support troops.
For the crew of Arend however, the biggest news was that AVP Valk, the sister ship of Arend had loaded a Walrus II float plane and was ready to join Arend in the mission of escorting cargo ships that were sailing in waters that had been reported as having enemy submarines on patrol. AVP Valk was at Carnarvon but would be moving to Exmouth.

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[PaxMondo]

AVP Valk should be able to repair that dang Walrus someday ...

[WEXF]

The Walrus should be in operating shape pretty soon. The estimate is only 1 day.

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