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

[FarAway Sooner]

Fascinating stuff!  Your mastery of the topic is clearly advanced far beyond my own.

[besilarius]

It's easy to get caught up in the technical aspects, but never forget the human operator.
Was in the Med during a NATO op.  My ship still had two 5" mounts, but no missiles, and I was in the after director, Sky Two.
Two A7 Corsairs came in low and slow, and weren't picked up on radar.  When they spotted us, they hit the gas, and a lookout saw the puff of smoke.
The operator in Sky One said, "I'll take the one on the right, you take the one on the left."
We both got locks, when the two planes flipped position.  The one on the right became the one on the left.
At their rate of closure, this tiny bit of confusion created a bit of hesitation.  The refs allowed us one kill, but the other got through and damaged the ship.
Things happen so fast that any little edge can be devastating, and the Mark I Mod 0 human is fallible.

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile the codebreakers have picked up high level chatter with Tojo acknowledging that whoever is organizing the Allied forces has become some kind of mystical samurai spirit warrior -- one obscure enough, a Je'dai, that our cultural advisors have never even heard of it before.  :o ???

[Sir Slash]

Obi Wan Nimitz.

[KyzBP]

I'm beginning to think the best parts of this thread happen when I don't have the time to do updates.  You guys do a great job of posting excellent and interesting content in my absence.

I've gotten wrangled into coaching not one but two kids soccer teams.  Tonight is an off night so I should be able to post an update or two when I get home.

If Geekamoto is somehow implying that the Allies have some great tactician on their side he will be very disappointed then when his Grand Strategy ultimately wins this war/game.   

[FarAway Sooner]

Kyz, coaching your kids' soccer teams is great and all.  I've avoided that very obligation for my son's team this afternoon by arranging a blizzard.

Of course, the stay-at-home day for the kids isn't exactly the "day of leisure" one hopes for...   ;D

[KyzBP]

Kyz, coaching your kids' soccer teams is great and all.  I've avoided that very obligation for my son's team this afternoon by arranging a blizzard.

Of course, the stay-at-home day for the kids isn't exactly the "day of leisure" one hopes for...   ;D

Haha.  I wish I could control the weather like that.  I have a couple of "days off" with the kids next week.  It'll be more work than being at work.

[KyzBP]

April 10th, 1942

First we check in on our favorite Geekanese kid's show.

Of course these guys sink yet another AK.  As soon as I can determine where Geek is going I may turn the Brit carriers loose
on the Fuso.  These guys continue to have free reign over the area.  Soon, Fuso.  Soon.

Geek tests the CAP at AM.

Allies 4 Geek 0

Again

Allies 14 Geek 1

and again..

Allies 15 Geek 3

...and again...

Allies 22 Geek 3

...and again.

Geek really went all out trying to take down my CAP.  He never sent bombers.  I imagine he sent the fighters to test the waters.
He may be trying to find a window through which to attack my transports.  His second tier pilots stand no better chance than mine do
against his best pilots.  By continuing to beat him here at AM, I'm hoping there's no pool to draw from when he has to start replacing his
losses.  Final score: Allies 24 Geek 3.

ASW at Palmyra.

I've been keeping an ASW presence here to prevent Geek from resupplying Palmyra.  I'll revisit trying to capture Palmyra
later.  Since Geek's carriers are all in the area of Java I may be able to grab an island or two that are better strategically.  Time
to send out the PBY's.  Find us an island!

Bombing Bundaberg.

This was just one of about 5 or 6 waves of bombers that hit his troops here.  We're keeping up the pressure.

Geek fights back though.

Soon I should have some Airacobras flying CAP.  Let's hope they can scare away some of these bombers.

Ground battle at Bundaberg.

I don't know how they're holding on.  My armor column should be here next turn, if they're not then Bunda falls.

Air over Rockhampton.

I'm surprised we got through AND only lost 1 bomber.  We did some damage to the airfield.  Maybe this will minimize
some of his bomber raids over Bunda.  I want to try again but his transports should be in the area so I kind of want to
set everyone to Naval Attack to see if we can knock a few more of those out before they off load.

Bombing Koepang.

Koewhat? Where?  The little base of Koepang on the island of Timor has a nice airfield from which Geek is launching CAP checks
over Darwin, or so I thought.  I didn't find any planes there.  I may have some DD's bombard it as well.  Just to make sure.

Geek going to Oz!!!

Damn it!  I was much better prepared in the India/Burma theater.  Most everything in Oz is on the East Coast.  And they're
desperately needed there!  If he goes for Darwin then I'll have time to get some stuff back towards Perth, on the West side.
If he goes straight for Perth then I'm screwed and this war is just about over.  The only good thing is Perth has a level 5 airfield
that is almost at level 6.  That means I can fly anything out of Perth and it's big enough to hold just about everything I have.  If
it looks like he's going for Perth, and not Darwin, then I'll start transferring my most capable Naval Attack planes to Perth and pray
that we can get through his CAP and hit some of his transports.  The way it looks like he's set up is his big carriers in front plus escorts,
his transports in the middle as well as minesweepers(?).  The caboose is some smaller, empty(?) carriers.  I have to figure a way to get
at the transports or this AAR will soon be over.

[KyzBP]

April 11th, 1942

We start the day with a little bombardment of Rockhampton

I was actually hoping to catch Geek's transports here.  We chewed up more of the runway, damaged a few planes and
killed a few troops but no transports.  If I make Rockhampton an inhospitable place for planes and ships then Geek may have
to land his troops further North.  That means more time for Bundaberg.

Speaking of Bundaberg, a little surface combat.


I'm not sure there was a winner here but we continue to knock his DD's out of commission.  My subs may be able to
breathe a little easier but it's his transports I really want.

And a little bombing.


We've managed to disrupt him enough to allow my tanks to arrive.  We will now begin bombarding his troops as well.
I have my to largest infantry units headed here to begin the counter attack.  If I don't have to ship half my aircraft to
Perth then I'll start pushing him back as soon as the infantry gets here.  I'm still hoping Geek is going to Darwin.

SBD's find some DD's

There's destroyers everywhere!  You can't swing a monkey and not hit one.  I flew off most of the carrier based dive bombers
so they could still stay in range just in case the transports showed up.  Shockingly, they found destroyers instead.

Flak at Padang.


Were damaging the heck out of his bombers but they keep coming back.  I'm beginning to think the poor Gekanese mechanics
are nothing more than a myth.  His bombers here seem almost Hydra-like.

Here's what the seas off Java look like.

Again, he's got his transports and I think minesweepers sandwiched between big CV's w/ lots of planes and smaller CV(E's and L's)
that don't appear to be carrying any aircraft.  It would've been awesome if I would have left the Brit CV's at Colombo.  I could have
tried to catch up the the trailing, empty CV's and taken them out.  Chaos would've ruled.  Sadly, those Brit CV's are still at Bombay
because I decided to put them in for repairs.  You know, it's not like I was going to need them.

Here's what is waiting for me at Aden.

If I only had some transports...

[Sir Slash]

Few people know that the English translation for "Fuso" is," Makes enemies cuss a lot". ;D  Otherwise 2 good turns KyzBP. You're really starting to do some serious damage to his aircraft numbers and maybe turning the tide in Australia. The big question is where's his task force headed?

[JasonPratt]

"Fusoff"?  >:D

[FarAway Sooner]

I guess it's too late to build the "Trans-Outback Railway" to move your troops west to Perth?  We'll see if that's the sight of his biggest victory yet, or if Perth turns into the Blooming Onion that the IJN Just Couldn't Bite...

It's my understanding that the game models aircrew experience separately from pilot experience.  I have no idea whether the Japanese had the same "good but not deep" sophistication among their aircrews.  It sounds like maybe he's got some good air crews supporting those bombers.

It's also possible that "damage" from AAs just means you hit him with a single .50 cal bullet?  Seriously, it doesn't get much credit, but AA did all sorts of damage in WW II.  If you believe everything you read on the Internet, 50% of US heavy bomber casualties in the 8th AF in Europe were due to AA.  Midway's flak also gets little credit, but shot down/rendered inoperable a lot more craft than fighters.   The attrition effect was especially telling on carrier-based air, where there were no ready replacement pools to draw on.

Post-war surveys by US bomber command also estimated that almost 60% of the reduction in radial bombing accuracy was due to AA.

Obviously, I have no idea if the game models any of this.

[KyzBP]

Few people know that the English translation for "Fuso" is," Makes enemies cuss a lot". ;D  Otherwise 2 good turns KyzBP. You're really starting to do some serious damage to his aircraft numbers and maybe turning the tide in Australia. The big question is where's his task force headed?

That's the big question.  I'm a few days behind again and I'm still not 100% sure but I now have a pretty good idea.

"I guess it's too late to build the "Trans-Outback Railway" to move your troops west to Perth?  We'll see if that's the sight of his biggest victory yet, or if Perth turns into the Blooming Onion that the IJN Just Couldn't Bite..."

I do have a rail line that run between Perth and Sydney with many points in between.  It just takes more time than I probably have to get units back to Perth.  AND by sending troops and planes back to Perth I weaken my resistance at Bundaberg.  I have a new strategy that I'll reveal in a few days.  This has been one crazy game.

[KyzBP]

April 12th, 1942

Sub attack at Rockhampton

I wonder what triggers the sub to want to attack on the surface.  The Triton pumped 11 shells into the small AKL.  The AKL
fires back 1 shot and we run away.  Be glad Stalin isn't in charge of the Allied sub forces.  I do like that the Captain was bold
enough to strike in port though.

B-25's hunting at Rockhampton.

Another destroyer that we won't have to worry about for awhile.  I think we've heavily damaged or sunk 11 or 12 of Geek's
DD's over the course of about a week.  He's going to have to step up production to start replacing the planes and destroyers
he's losing. 

B-25 goes after transports.

If you look in the bottom left window it says a Mitchell failed to link up with the other B-25's and is going at it alone.  Of course
it's the lost Mitchell that finds the transports.  A full squadron may have hit one of these transports.  The CAP protecting them
is very light.

B-17's find Oscars at Koepang.

Well, it was one...and it was on the ground.  That's still not giving me enough information as to Koepang's aircraft composition.
Right now none of his aircraft are bothering Darwin so I'll let Koepang slide for awhile.

DB-7's bomb Bundaberg.

They paid a bit of a price for that one.  I should have some escorts going into action next turn so maybe that'll deter some of
those Geekanese fighters.

Another AK hit off Hawaii

It looks like I'm going to have to send out some ASW.  A lot of the ships and planes I was using as ASW here are now
committed elsewhere so I'll be using the bottom of the barrel ASW assets around here for awhile.

Geek's invasion force.

It's looking strongly like the West side of Australia, probably Perth.  I'm rushing whatever I can spare in that direction.  I
can almost guarantee that whatever I send will be woefully inadequate.  It sure would have been nice if those B-25's could
have stayed together located those tranny's transports.

[JasonPratt]

Note: your screenshot for the attack near Hawaii got miscued to something else.