An Idiots Guide To Losing Your CV's Before 1942: WiTP:AE KyzBP vs UCG

Started by KyzBP, June 22, 2015, 04:02:39 PM

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jomni

Quote from: FarAway Sooner on March 16, 2016, 06:24:48 PM
A few random responses:

2) I have no idea if the game models this (directly or indirectly), but the American policy of rotating veteran pilots home quickly (adopted in part from British experiences in WW I) meant we had much better training than the Japanese by late 1942.  Not only did American pilots get more hours of training flight time (no shortage of aviation gasoline, which was a huge problem for Japan), but they got MUCH higher-quality instruction.  Why?


There was a bug in the old WITP that randomly purges pilots because of a limitation in the database.  The joke is that these Pilots were called home as poster boys for War Bonds. But it was fixed in Admiral Edition.

What you described above can be done by micro-managers both for the Japanese and Allied sides.

In fact many Japanese fanboys swear that doing the above will lead to victory, together with focused aircraft research and production. Something the Allied player can afford to ignore.

jomni

The legendary Japanese "Fighting Spirit".
If you look at Geek's strategy. He knows a long war is un winnable. He's clearly going for an auto victory disregarding security of his rear bases (AM) and utilising "stacks of doom" on land and at sea. A quick victory will remove the necessity for long term planning and pilot training.

JasonPratt

Which is the only reasonable way for Japan to play: go for the quick political victory, and annoy the opposition out of continuing the war. Because the opponents don't have enough fighting spirit.

(Although Geek has said that he'd only consider that a "moral victory" and would offer Kyz to continue.  O:-) )
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

FarAway Sooner

Yeah.  At a certain point, the Allied stacks of doom grow more numerous and capable than the Japanese, but that'll take until late 1943 if there are no further casualties inflicted.

As was the case in so much of WW II, a lot of it comes back to Land-Based Air.

KyzBP

April 6th, 1942

Since my BB's were in the area still we decided to bombard Moulmein again.

We only hit 1 Oscar.  I think Geek pulled the rest out right away.  That's what I was really hoping to hit here.  We did start
one heck of a bonfire though.  I'd eventually like to take this base back but with the India/Burma invasion looming I can't
take a chance of thinning my forces for temporary gains.

Geek came a' knockin again at Padang.

Although his bombers got through we did manage to take out an Oscar and damage a few of the bombers with losing anyone.
In this part of the world we refer to this as a "win".

He came back again.  This time the fighters were on the ground.

The conscripted natives manning the AA guns did their cadre proud.  Only one kill but nearly 40% of the bombers were damaged.
If the game models Geek's maintenance crews as being as bad as you guys say they were then damaged aircraft is almost as good
as a kill.  Given how many bombers Geek keeps throwing at me, I'd say it probably doesn't.   :(

An AK is sunk.

Damn Fuso again.  I won't be able to supply and reinforce Western Australia if these guys hang around.  I'm sure that's the whole point of it.
I need to either draw these guys away or sink them.  Unfortunately, I don't have the capacity to do either right now.

B-26's over Bihoro.

Some fighter escort would've been nice.  These Marauder crews don't like to wait for such things and attack when THEY want to attack.
We didn't do any real damage to the airfield either.

Surface combat at AM.

What??  I'm thinking he didn't expect any warship support covering the landings at Uruppa-jima.  All the islands have DD's doing double
duty as ASW and protecting the transport/supply ships.

SBD's catch fleeing DD's


His DD's tried to escape but the long arm of Naval law was able to hit a few of these before night fell.  Well pick up the pursuit in morning.

The other CV's get into the action.

While searching for the transports that are expected at Rockhampton, the Bomber CV's aircraft located a small surface group.  First, we put
a bomb in the CL Kiso.  Then we heavily damaged the DD that was assigned to escort her.  I'll try to finish these guys off but my priority is
the transports...if I can find them.

Marysbourough retaken!

Geek looks like he's trying to get out of this encirclement by bullying his way through Bundaberg.  It shouldn't take much given his huge
advantage in numbers.  The only thing that might work in my favor is all the disruption his troops should be accumulating.  Between the fleeing
of Mary and the daily bombings, he may be disrupted enough for my armor columns to catch up to him.  It would be nice to break this stack and
start retaking Australia.  There's still a convoy of transports out there somewhere though. :knuppel2:

Silent Disapproval Robot

Hey, you sunk the Tachikaze!  That's pretty cool.  I read/listened to a great book about the War in the Pacific through the eyes of a Japanese destroyer captain. 

Have a look if you aren't overloaded.  It gives you a good perspective on the Japanese navy, their shortcomings, motivations, mindset, and tactics.  Very aggressive, excellent torpedoes, and loved attacking at night.

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1591143845


KyzBP

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on March 18, 2016, 03:41:23 PM
Hey, you sunk the Tachikaze!  That's pretty cool.  I read/listened to a great book about the War in the Pacific through the eyes of a Japanese destroyer captain. 

Have a look if you aren't overloaded.  It gives you a good perspective on the Japanese navy, their shortcomings, motivations, mindset, and tactics.  Very aggressive, excellent torpedoes, and loved attacking at night.

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1591143845

Thanks SDR!  I'll add it to the list, and I will get to all these books.  I'm actually pretty..wait for it...Geeked :2funny: to start reading all of these recommendations.

FarAway Sooner

Looks like the initial shell hits and the fires left it limping, so the bombers could finish it off. 

The challenge with chasing DDs when you have a carrier task force is, if they reverse course and find you in the night, things could get ugly.  There's a lot more downside there for the Americans than the Japanese, and (as mentioned above) the Japanese were not shy about making torpedo attacks at night!

Might be more upside than downside in chasing those guys, but I'm not sure how this game really models day and night stuff.

KyzBP

Quote from: FarAway Sooner on March 18, 2016, 05:25:30 PM

The challenge with chasing DDs when you have a carrier task force is, if they reverse course and find you in the night, things could get ugly.  There's a lot more downside there for the Americans than the Japanese, and (as mentioned above) the Japanese were not shy about making torpedo attacks at night!

Might be more upside than downside in chasing those guys, but I'm not sure how this game really models day and night stuff.

I want you to keep what you said in mind.  I'm 4 days behind with the AAR... ???

Con

So do you play all your turns in the order they come and then write your AAR or do you write not knowing whats going to happen in those unopened turns?

Con

KyzBP

April 7th, 1942

It's been 4 months since Geek's unprovoked attack on the Land of Pineapple and Spam.  Nearly every country or continent in the Far East and the Pacific Rim has succumbed to The Geekanese Empire.  A few holdouts remain but surely they can't withstand or resist Geek's "Stacks of Doom".  Geek's Northern Islands seem solidly held by some very brave, and probably very cold, American and Canadian troops.  Geek has lost 3 carriers so far while the underdog (me) continues to play hide and seek with mine.  At least they're still intact.

So begins Act 2.

Fuso and Friends (Popular kid's show in Japan) find some AP's.

THIS WAS ALL MY FAULT!! I knew his ships were hunting my convoys and I somehow didn't redirect these guys.  Of all the
convoys not to redirect, this was one of the worst.  I had Engineers and Infantry aboard these two ships.  The
Fuso must die!  And I don't care how many Geekanese children cry when their favorite giant eyed battleship sock puppet slowly sinks
beneath the waves.

Sub attack off Japan.

Our subs are getting more aggressive around Japan.  We seem to be scoring more hits too. 
Case in point: The Searaven.

Except he had to use the deck gun to take this one out.

Raiders hit Padang.

That's exactly what this theater needed, more raiders.  They didn't do a lot of damage but they are preventing me from
landing any reinforcements or supplies.  With all the activity in this area, I'm beginning to wonder if Sumatra and Java aren't
back on Geek's list.  Maybe he's coming to clean these areas up.  I'll know soon.

The Bomber CV's continue hunting the CL Kiso.

They probably won't make a movie out of this but the Kiso has got to be hurting.  I noticed 2 things after this battle,
1. I have an escort of 2 fighters.  I don't think that's scaring Geek's Air Command much.  I'll have to be really careful
not to stray into range of his land based fighters and bombers.  The other thing is...I'm out of Torpedoes!  My TBD's will be using
bombs for awhile.  They don't seem as proficient with them as they are with the torps.  I may have to duck into Sydney to see if
they have any in stock.  Where's Amazon and their delivery drones when you need them.

WE FOUND THE TRANSPORTS!

I'm not sure if this is all of them that Intel said was headed to Rockhampton unless we haven't hit the main troop carrying ones yet. 
That was the good news.  The bad news is we have no torps (see above) and depending which way these guys run they may
end up under the CAP of Port Moresby or Oz.  I'll have to be really careful on how far I chase these guys.

WE FOUND THE TRANSPORTS!

No, that wasn't a mistake.  I'm try to get the TBD pilot's attention so they stop chasing DD's when there are big, juicy transports
nearby.  I don't know if there's a way to prioritize targets or target types but that'd come in really handy right now.

Here's the dilemma:

I'll chase him for one more day.  If I can't catch him tomorrow I'll have to break off.  I don't think I can fend off a well
escorted bomber attack on these carriers.   

The Cowboys of Kurile are at it again.

Pleeeease wait for escorts.  I'm surprised I didn't lose them all.  Only losing 3 when you're jumped by 50 fighters tells me these
guys Geek is throwing at me are pretty low in experience.  I may need to try a fighter sweep with my best pilots and see if his
come up to meet me.  That could clear the skies for the Maruaders.  It would leave me with weak CAP over AM though.  I'll think
on this one.

Bombing Bundaberg.

I have to keep that big stack under pressure.  My armor should be there in about 4 days, maybe 5 so if the troops here can
withstand a few attacks (doubtful) then maybe we can crush a large stack.  That would be awesome. O0

But Geek attacks.

And the defenders hold.  We can not go man for man here.  That battle took almost 20% of my manpower.  If he attacks
again, we're toast.

Geek's CV's are hanging out in the Java Sea.  He has all of his transports loaded and moving from Singapore..SOUTH from Singapore.

I don't know yet where exactly he's headed.  He could be going up to Ceylon but staying West of Sumatra to avoid Port Blair.
He could be moving everything to the West side of India.  That side is pretty lightly defended and would cut me off from my
supply line at Aden.
He could also be heading for Oz.  I have no intel of any city being prepared for other than Rockhampton.  That has me nervous.  If
he is doing something similar to the Midway feint, then where he isn't, is where he will be.  Tomorrow should tell the story.

KyzBP

Quote from: Con on March 18, 2016, 06:04:23 PM
So do you play all your turns in the order they come and then write your AAR or do you write not knowing whats going to happen in those unopened turns?

Con

I take notes and capture screenshots each turn.  I then return the turn to Geek and update the AAR before the next turn arrives...usually.  Sometimes I get too busy to do both the turn and the AAR at the same time so the turn gets priority and I write the AAR when I can.  Sometimes, like now, a few days stack up.  I write using only my notes so that way I don't give anything away.  I'm sure I mess up sometimes but while writing I try to pass on the same feelings of foreboding, doubt, and elation I feel during each turn.  I hope that makes sense.

JasonPratt

A lot harder to find transports and resuppliers in "the Slot" when "the Slot" = "everything west of the Slot". Good job!  O0
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

KyzBP

Quote from: JasonPratt on March 18, 2016, 10:00:22 PM
A lot harder to find transports and resuppliers in "the Slot" when "the Slot" = "everything west of the Slot". Good job!  O0

I've been fortunate in one aspect and that is my search ability.  I still have many PBY's and 4E bombers intact so I can usually keep tabs on Geek's movements.  Doing something about them is a different story.

KyzBP

April 8th, 1942

Bombarding Dili.

"Bombarding" may be a stretch.  I originally sent these guys out to chase down a transport but they never caught it so I had them
lob a few rounds at Dili.  I think I'm going to have them hang out in the area and see if anything shows up. 

AKL hit off Japan.

My subs continue to attack on the surface.  I'm guessing the sub commanders have all agreed on this tactic until we get better
torpedoes.  What I want to know is: are any of these AK's near Japan carrying anything?  The game only lets you know if they
are/were carrying troops.  I'd like to know if I hit a fully loaded supply ship or something of the sort. 

Padang bombed.


Nothing really new here.  He continues to soften up Padang without assaulting the base.  He clearly has me outnumbered.  It
keeps me guessing on the intent of Geek's invasion force.  He may be clearing the west side of the Java and Sumatra so he can
shut down my supply lines.  The number of transports he has ready though, would be overkill for this small of an operation.
Thanks to you guys I've been paying a lot more attention to Geek's damaged aircraft.  It seems that the AA at Padang has found
their mark but can't quite get the kills.  I'm now hoping damaged aircraft are almost as good as destroyed aircraft.

Allied bombers in China.

Barely worthy of a screenshot but you're looking at my functional offensive capability in China.  I have a bunch of very limited
range fighters and a few short range bombers left.  It's difficult to get them into the fighting because of their range, the lack of ground support,
and/or their general uselessness against Geek's planes.  I really should have made more of a effort here early on.  I am however, starting to notice
a possible opportunity for me here.  More on that in a day or 2.

Another AK lost off Java.

FUUUSOOO!!!  Yes, I imagine the Fuso being commanded by Ricardo Montalban.  It may be time to bring the Brit carriers back out.  If
it doesn't look like Geek is headed to India or Ceylon then we're going Fuso hunting.  Kenneth More may get another starring role. 

Bomber CV's start their busy day.

Geek's DD's are hard to hit but once you do they tend to damage easily.  I know his damage control isn't as good as mine so a single
bomb hit can potentially cause a lot of long term damage to his ships.  That being said, quit going after the DD's!!  We need to save every
sortie for the transports...if we find them.

More Destroyers.

Is April "Destroyer Incentive Month" in the Coral Sea?  Under most other circumstances I'd be elated that we were bombing, damaging, and
sinking ships but our prime targets are getting away.

Not a Destroyer!

THAT is why we hunt transports!!  That was only 1 ship.  He had about 10 of those.  If we can keep hitting these guys I think Oz may be
saved.  Sidenote: I only checked one of my CV's for torpedoes.  The other one has a few left.  I want to transfer all my TBD's to the carrier
with the torps but that will use up operation points and the bombers may only launch once that day.  We need as many sorties as we can
get.  It's very rare that you find an unguarded, fully loaded, transport convoy withing range of bomber laden carriers.

Destroyer. >:(

CUT IT OUT!!!  Is it wrong that I'm getting physically angry, i.e. pounding on my desk, when I see the target is a DD?  I'm going to look
back and go "Wow! We sunk a lot of Destroyer in early April".  Right now though, if it doesn't carry troops I don't want to waste a single
bit of ordinance on it.

Coral Sea.

The top most red target is the Transports.  The yellow outlined hexes is my intended course next turn.  I will be dangerously close to Cairns
this turn.  I imagine Geek has all of his aircraft forward deployed so he'll have to move them up here to get a crack at my carriers.  That will take
a turn to do.  I can only attack for one more turn and then I have to move back into open water.  That might also buy Bundaberg an extra day
or two if Geek's planes move North.  The other enemy targets are the DD's and one with a CL or 2.  I would think they'll be staying clear of my
carriers since my bombers obviously don't discriminate on who they attack.

Bombing Bundaberg.

It's only 55 KIA's but it's the disruption we're really aiming for.  I have to keep his forces in the highest state of disarray as possible.

Bundaberg holds!

I can't believe it hasn't fallen yet.  We've lost many bases with far less losses.  This attack knocked out about 20% of my troop strength.
Any attack after this will probably take Bundaberg down.  One thing I have going for me is the Engineers here.  Every time Geek has attacked
and knocked my fortification level down the Engineers build it right back up.  They are probably the difference here.

Buna resupplied.

I was keeping this quiet so as not to jinx it but we were able to slip a couple of supply ships into Buna and resupply the
forces holding out there.  With so many of Geek's DD's now limping or sinking, I'll start sending cargo ships there on a regular basis.  Maybe
even some of the newly arrived New Zealanders.  It might be time to start taking these little bases back.  They may add up and save the day.