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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KyzBP

Quote from: Martok on June 26, 2015, 02:01:39 PM
This is fascinating to watch, even at the beginning when you more or less know what the opening moves are likely to be.  Good stuff, KyzBP!

Thanks Martok!  This is only the second time I've played against a human player with this game (the first was WiTP back in 2005/06).  Even the first few turns are exciting because you never know what a human will do.  I know UCG is an experienced PBEM player with other games so I expect him to kick me around the Pacific for awhile. 

...and as I type I see the next turn has arrived.  Standby, this is about to get good. O0

KyzBP

December 8th, 1941

So you may notice two things in this screen shot:
1. Instead of going south like I thought he would, he went NE. :-\
2. It's apparently spawning season in the Hawaiian Koi Pond. 


I really thought he was setting up to hunt CVs.  Instead he pounded the heck out of Pearl.  This was the raid:


And here's the result:

His Vals took some damage but I think he got the better end of the deal.  We lost the Arizona and, if he attacks again,
I'll certainly be losing more.

The list from Pearl is beginning to grow:

As you can see Manila is getting pounded but more on that later.

If you look back at the first screen shot of Pearl you'll notice two surface task forces.  The southernmost one is his carriers.  Again, they headed in the opposite
direction that I anticipated.  That means the Enterprise is off the hook for now. It, however, poses a dilemma for the Lexington.  After swapping out air groups at Wake
she could sprint SE and catch up with the Enterprise around Christmas Island...or (future bad decision to follow) she could continue NE towards Alaska.
So which option did I choose:

That second surface task force is why I decided to continue north.  Sightings from my PBYs say it's a 9 ship task force containing at least 3 destroyers.  It appears to
be on a bearing to rendezvous with his carriers.  So I'm thinking it may be a resupply group for the carriers.  If it is then it means two things:
1. He's planing on sticking around the area for awhile, either hitting Pearl a few more times or going CV hunting.
2. If I can get lucky I can catch that resupply group as they head back to Japan and be in Alaskan waters before he knows what hit him.
My prediction is it will be a bad choice.

KyzBP

Speaking of PBYs, I tried something this game that I can't remember trying before.  I set half of every PBY squadron to Naval Attack.
It turned out better than I hoped:

That's just a sample of what took place all over the map.  The PBYs seemed to score more hits than the traditional bombers. :smitten:

UCG continued to pound the crap out of my subs in Manila.  That makes me sad.

We lost Cagayan in Mindanao.  I may not be able to get out all the planes I had hoped.  That also makes me sad.

It will continue to get uglier as I pull more fighters out of the Philippines.  Soon his bombers will attack uncontested. Still no landings though.
It looks like he wants Mindanao.  There's another group headed that way.  I have no way to interdict it.

KyzBP

Before I start losing the Dutch East Indies I've decided to send some of the subs on special missions along the coast of Asia.

I don't want to leave any mines behind. 

The Repulse is still afloat and very slowly working her way towards Colombo.  It's a long journey but there's nowhere else to send her.

Speaking of ships that are surprisingly afloat, The Penguin is cruising towards Pearl via Wake Island. 

She left Guam yesterday.  It's a long shot that she makes it.  She'll likely run smack into the Wake Is invasion force...if he sent one.

KyzBP

Nothing else is really happening.  I'm still trying to get everything I can away from Singapore and Manila.  He's landed in Borneo and captured Singkawang. I'm sure he's going to use the airstrip (level 3) there to try to interdict shipping around DEI.  India's quiet, China's quiet and Oz is quiet.

Here's how day 2 ended:


With any luck, Day 3 tomorrow. O0


Martok

Gah!  The suspension is almost unbearable at times waiting for you two to post.  I must learn to cultivate patience better.  :P 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

KyzBP

Quote from: Martok on June 28, 2015, 01:40:03 PM
Gah!  The suspension is almost unbearable at times waiting for you two to post.  I must learn to cultivate patience better.  :P

I'll reward your patience with another update shortly.  Thanks for following along! O0

KyzBP

December 9th, 1941

There were no more attacks on Pearl or Manila which gives me a much needed break in both those ports.
First to Pearl.

A lot of things can happen here:

His carriers and the other task force did meet up so I'm going to say it's a resupply task force.  Sadly that means he's probably sticking
around awhile.  The only thing that throws me is that both groups are reported to be headed west, possibly towards Midway.
If he does leave I'm going to flood the waters off Hawaii with ASW task forces.  It's nice knowing where his carriers and subs are.

There is a problem if he does disengage to the west or northwest, it's this:

The radius and movement path indicator on the far left of the screen is the Lexington.  If he does go back to Pearl or south to go hunting then we'll stick
to plan A (for Awesome! He did what I thought he would.) and hit that resupply group on their return trip then gtf out of there.  If he continues
north then we may have to go to plan B (Balls! Now what?).  That would force me back to the southwest, south, and then either back to Pearl or to
the West Coast.  I like Plan A much better.

KyzBP

In the Mindanao area:

The idea that I was better off putting the ships from the Philippines out to sea didn't really work out too well.
All of those little red surface fleet markers represents, well, surface combat fleets.  All of those little green markers?
They represent future historic dive sites for you SCUBA enthusiasts.  There's little chance any of them will make it
to Darwin.

Manado was taken.  Still no activity on the Philippines.  There's no doubt now that he plans to just cut it off and save
the manpower for something else, Australia perhaps.

Speaking of Australia, while playing WiTP:AE or following this AAR I highly recommend listening to the following album:

They're from Australia and this album includes such songs as Tojo, I Was a Kamikaze Pilot, Death Ship, and Leilani.  It really is a good album.

Anyways, one of those little red death blips up there contains an escort carrier (maybe).  It's the only carrier I've seen outside of Hawaiian waters. 
Why is that noteworthy? Because THIS is going on:

All of those red markers are invasion fleets or surface warfare groups.  And it just so happens I have all of the Dutch ships and
some of the Royal Navy ships in the area, not to mention land based bombers.  P.S. I didn't mention land based bombers because they can't hit a
damned thing.  I'm going to cash my chips in early and throw everything I have at these groups before any carriers show up. It may take an extra turn
while I round them all up but within the next two turns there will be some battles around the Palembang area.

UCG also took Mersing this turn.  More than likely he'll go directly after Singapore next and then work back north at his leisure.

Also in this area the naval equivalent of a Slap Fight took place:
It looks like the Allies might get a little payback, right?


Not so much

They were shooting shells at each other (I think ???) for a virtual eternity and THAT was the result.  Not impressed.
Hopefully they'll be dialed in when the big battles take place here soon.



KyzBP

The good news is the Repulse was able to safely put in at Medan:

The bad news is she's never leaving. :(

It's quiet everywhere else.  Neither of us seem to have any idea what to do in China so I'm just going to declare myself the winner there. :uglystupid2:
Oz is readying for a potential invasion although UCG has made no such indication that that's his intention.  I just think he's saving troops for something big.

On a side note:

After he takes DEI he should head straight for Diego Garcia

From what I've seen and read I get a crap load of stuff from Cape Town and I believe it all pops out right there next to Diego Garcia.  If he took
control of that it would greatly decrease the amount of support I can send to India and Oz.

Here's the ships UCG sunk last turn:

I'd show you all the ships I sunk last turn except there are none. >:(

Here's the score so far:


Good thing this game is almost over.  This is a lot of work. ;)




KyzBP

December 10th, 1941

Lets get right to it.

His carriers and the resupply fleet went their separate ways.  AND they went in the directions I thought they would...except for one little thing:

His carriers went north and the resupply went south.  I now have no choice but to head south.  With any luck
I'll still run into the resupply group and the carriers won't be chasing me.  I'm not sure he knows I'm here but all this running around is draining
my fuel tanks.

At Pearl I'm sending 3 small ASW groups out to test the waters (see what I did there). 

They will be trying to take out some of the southern most subs.  I chose those just in case his carriers do come back.

There seems to be significantly fewer green fleet markers this turn.  I wonder why...

I did find out that the CVL Ryujo is in the area.  One of my land based bombers had a go at it.  No luck. 
By not bombing the Philippines again UCG is giving my fighters a chance to repair and fly away.  Unfortunately,
he keeps taking the airfields I need to bunny hop to Australia.

The Battle of the Bangka Sea (not sure if that's a real sea) happened a turn before I expected.

For the first time we may have come out on top.  But I have a feeling this is but a mere skirmish compared to what's
about to happen.

Here's the situation:

If you look at his forces like the face of a clock, the group at the 12 position is a very large invasion force headed for Palembang.  That
group is priority 1.  If I can hit them before they land it could mess him up for awhile.  The problem, of course, is the group at the 2 o'clock
position is a mixed group of BBs, CAs, and DDs.  If they get me before I get the 12 group then that will be the end of the Dutch Navy and
they'll have nothing to show for all their trouble.  His groups at the 5 and 6 position are a small battle group (5 ships 1BB, 1CA, and DDs) and
the remainder of the fleet we've already had contact with.  My 3 fleets contain a CL + 7 DDs (Fast Attack Squadron), The P.o.W., 2CAs and some DDs
and then the damaged CLs and some DDs. 

The plan is for the FAS to zip up and intercept the invasion fleet.  The PoW and friends will run interference
on the small BB group so the FAS and the lame ships can break away.  The unknown is the 2 o'clock group.  I'm hoping if they head to Palembang they'll get
there as the Fat Lady is giving her encore.  It would be great if my land based bombers would help out.  Sadly, they can't be counted on.

More tomorrow.




KyzBP

While uploading my turn from the game's Save file I discovered that my Signal Intelligence Reports are in there.  Looking back I would've been
able to be ready at Palembang and a few other spots.  I did learn that the 4/144th Infantry is loading on ships and headed to Wake.
Just in time for my favorite little ship to make his presence known.

What you can't see is about a day and a half to the NE is the Lexington.  I already committed this turn to running her south.  I'm now
tempted to run her west next turn and interrupt  the invasion (if Intel has it right), then react to the resupply convoy, and then get the heck out of Dodge.
If I do that I'm pretty sure it'll run me dry.  Decisions, decisions...

KyzBP

I've been running crazy amounts of ASW patrols along the West Coast and I haven't seen a single sub yet so I decided to get while the gettin's good.

Over the next few turns I'll be loading up everything I can and getting it all prepositioned in the South Pacific somewhere.  I'm thinking New Zealand
because nobody expects New Zealand...nobody.  I'm also going to start dispersing all the PBY squadrons I have to anywhere that has aircraft support
and a nearby body of water.  If I can keep track of his carriers then I might be able to survive the initial onslaught relatively unscathed.


Here's the day's results:
My loses:


His loses:

At least there are some this time.

And the end of the day:


KyzBP

December 11th, 1941

Ah, the best laid plans...

Lets look at the situation involving the Lexington first.

This doesn't look so bad, right?

If I head SSW I should make contact with his resupply convoy and then either off to Wake, head to Pearl, or stroll leisurely
to the West Coast.  Not bad for Plan B...except (as always)

...this:

I have to believe he knows where I am, and now that he's resupplied, will be coming after me.  One thing that may
work in my favor is if/when he spotted me, the Lex was moving either SW or NE.  I've changed course, went to full speed and
am headed straight south.  I'll still probably end up hitting his resupply guys but it's no longer a priority.  Getting my floating
airport out of the area safely is.

I did a few of things to hopefully help me out.
1. I dispatched 12 of my fastest DDs on an intercept path should he begin chasing the Lex.  If I can catch him at night I may have a
    chance at running him off or even taking a few ships out.  His task force is probably 6CVs and 4 CAs, if I can get through the CAs
    then maybe we can deter him from wanting to follow Lex.  Again, that's if I can get him at night.  Reality is they're probably all headed
    to the bottom.

2. I also dispatched 4 ships (2CA, 2CL) to meet up with the Lexington group.  These 4 ships have my highest AA rating and will be attached
    to the Lex thereby increasing the group's AA rating by 50%.  It's not much but it may make a difference.

3.  I'm also sending my own resupply ships to meet up with the Lexington.  She'll then head to the West Coast.  Pearl will not be safe if UCG
     suspects there's a carrier in the harbor.

What I should've done but didn't think of until now is get some land based bombers and fighters to Johnson's Island to give Lex a hand.
They could have, at minimum, hit the resupply convoy.  :tickedoff:

Then again he could just be stopping by and saying "Hi" to Midway and I'm making more out of this than need be.

KyzBP

The other plan that I had in the works, and worked so hard on, went poof!

The Fast Attack Squadron (FAS), now known as the Fast Attack Group, got caught by his, almost equal in size, Surface Raiders.

We probably came out a little better but this group was supposed to fighting Troop Transports, Mine Sweepers, and defenseless
Old Ladies.  "If you get into a fair fight, your planning sucks."  Needless to say none of my ships made it up to Palembang so his
landings will continue unopposed.  I was thinking of trying to blockade the mouth of the river that leads to Palembang but he's
moved a lot of air cover into the area so that wouldn't end well.

In other news in the area:
UCG has just shy of 100k of troops in Mersing.  Those are to compliment his 1000 AFVs and 1000 Guns.  I'd say Singapore will fall before the end of the month.
I've been moving all the fighters to Sabang.  If they stay the Zeros just chew them up. 

Intel reports that he'll try to hit Tavoy soon.  That's kind of expected but the AI usually starts at Victoria Point.

I'm trying to get Point Blair up to speed but I don't seem to have enough aircraft.  Maybe when Singapore falls I'll move
everything up there.

Speaking of Intel, this little island keeps popping up in the reports.

Babeldoab(now known as Beetlejuice to Allied encryption specialists) seems to be a staging area.  Beetlejuice(now known as
BJ because it takes too long to type) will be getting some special attention as soon as I free up some subs.

These little guys just popped up:

They seem to be lost or just poking around.  Both are reported to be some kind of transport/supply ships.  I've sent a couple of cruisers that
way to see if they're lost or need some help.  I may or may not have moved some bombers to Port Morseby just in case.

And finally, the West Coast is beginning to resemble an ant hill at a kids birthday party.

More stuff will be flowing out of there as APs become available.

I'll post the end of turn screens tomorrow.