Balade of the Newbie: First Stop, Operation Buccaneer

[BlitzimX]

[center]Balade of the Newbie
Operation Buccaneer
[/center]

Good day everybody!

Today i start a very ambitious project to help me getting a better grip on the game. Due to its complexity, i can't understand all its mechanics by myself, and i don't feel ready to start a multiplayer game. As a result, i decided to play the different scenarios before jumping in the big blue with the Grand Campaign.

During this series of ARR, i intend to describe my actions and analysis of the game through my beginner and genuine vision. I hope that the community here will be willing to follow me and bring some light on my questions or bad actions, and perhaps these ARR will help some new players getting a good grasp of the game.

Without further waiting, let's get started with the smallest Scenario on the game, Operation Buccaneer.


Operation Buccaneer
Dates : 18 October 1943 - 30 November 1943
Troops Controled: British
Objective: Seize either Port Blaire and/or Sabang, and protect the foothold from the Japanese fleet.


First Analysis:

It seems that Port Blair is a better choice than Sabang. If it is withing range of Japanese Land based bomber, it also has a central position and will be a perfect base for our bombers once correctly improoved. Besides, most landing troops are already set with PB as main objective, and our Bombers are in range of the base. In a word, PB seems to have a large "Attack me" sign on it.

Next post, the detail of my first turn actions.

[Canoerebel]

Don't do it! Your opponent is expecting just such a move! Invade Attu Island instead!

[Canoerebel]

[:)]

P.S. Welcome to the vast, mesmerizing, entrancing, enthralling, captivating game of AE. Good luck!

[MateDow]

Do it! Because your opponent knows that you are being given advice to not do it... [:D]

Welcome

[BlitzimX]

[center]First Turn actions[/center]


Turn Preparation


My First action is to check the available forces at my disposal. This is quite an impressive naval force we have, with :

- 4 CVs
- 1 CVLs
- 3 CVE
- 4 BB
- 24 DD
- 4 CA
- 10 CL (+1 CLAA)
- 8 SS
- A whole bunch of Transport and Support Ships

For the Land Forces, the only real assault unit we will be using is the 11Th (East African) Division (Assault value of 399). The other units could be used as a second wave.


Now that I know what I can use to play with, let’s organize these little steel babies into groups.


Noobish time: That’s the first question I will ask, concerning Task Force compositions. I know there may have as many answers as you have players, but I would like a nice overview of a good basic rules to compose your groups. I guess some factors are the I come from Hearts of Iron 3 where the naval group composition is quite always the same, and I have the bad habit to stick with this point of view even if in WITP AE you can have a BB in a Career force without problem.


That being said, let’s see what I came with:

- 2 Carrier Surface Group (Task Forces 10.1.1 and 10.1.2 ) each composed of :
2CV,1CA,3CL,2DD
- 1 Surface Combat Group (Task Force 10.2)
3BB,1CL,5DD
- 1 Bombardment Group (Task Force 10.3.1) , composed of the fastest ships (because I saw these group have to be fast)
1BB,2CA,3DD
- 1 Amphibious Group (Task Force 10.3.2.1)
6xAP,6LSI(L),1CVE,2DD
- 1 Escort Group (Task Force 10.3.2.2)
2CVE,2CL,3DD
- 1 Supply Group (Task Force 10.3.3)
1CLAA,2DE,6xAK
- 1 ASW Group (Task Force 20)
3DD
- 5 SS Task Forces


Unused Ships: 2CL,4DD,6KM,5AM,3SS (Should i have used them?)


Orders


Air:



After deleting all defaults order given to the Bombers, I give my Liberator II and B-24D instructions to Bombard PB's Airfield and Port. I will not renew this attack on the next turns, it is just to test and have a check of the present defenses. We need to capture PB with the Airfield and Port at their best state so that we can repair and upgrade them quickly. Besides, they are operating way out of Range of CAP so I don’t want to loose too much of them in case of Fierce Resistance. They are given the following parameters:

- Primary Mission: Airfield Attack (B24), Port Strike (Liberator II)
- Altitude: 24 000


All land based Fighters (Hurricanes) are set to CAP with the following parameters:

- CAP 50%
- Altitude 13 000
- Max Range 4


Sea:

1)4 of the subs are set to "Patrol Around" the different points: Sabang, PB, Rangoon, Trinkat. The last one will Patrol around Ceylon island.

2)Task Force 10.3.2.1 asked to dock at Colombo and to load the 11th(East African)Div, whose objective has been changed to PB.

3)Task Force 10.3.2.2 set to follow the Amphibious Task Force.

4)Task Forces 10.1.1 and 10.1.2 will take position on the Eastern part of PB, for a preventive strike on PB.

5)All FTR in Carrier TF are set to CAP 50%, 13000 feet, Max Range 5.

6) Task Force 10.3.1 will leave with the AMphibious and Escort TF.

7)Task Force 10.3.3 will dock and load supply once the invading forces have left Colombo.

8) Task Force 20 will follow the Supply TF.

9) Task Force 10.2 will follow the Carriers and stay in the vicinity.


All ships are set to "Remain on Station".

That's all for the order Next post, summary of the first turn results and Second Turn.


I hope you have plenty of comments on what i have done bad :p

[Canoerebel]

Don't have time to read most of your post, but did have time to notice you have only two DDs in your carrier TFs. Never, ever do that! It's inviting trouble, both from enemy subs and from lack of flack when enemy strike aircraft arrive. Optimum CV TF composition mght consist of: 2 CV, 1 BB, 2 CA, 1 CL, 8 DD. There will be plenty of times you can't do the optimal amounts, but I'd give the highest priority to DDs.

[pws1225]

Along with Canoe's advice, it would be wise to add a BB to your invasion TFs too. They will attract the attention of any shore defense guns allowing your landing ships to disembark your troops in relative safety.

[pws1225]

Another good idea IMO is to set all your TFs to follow the ASW TF. This tends to force any subs in your path to submerge so they can't get to the TFs that follow. It's not fool proof, but it helps.

[BBfanboy]

Your ship list shows one CVE and 4 CVLs, while your TF list shows 3 CVE and no CVLs. Did you write CL where you meant to write CVL in some of those TFs? I would put one CVL with each CV TF and use two CVL with the escort group TF.
Don't ignore little ships like the AMs. They can be useful ASW escorts with the bonus of switching to minesweeping when they get to PB. Send them just ahead of your Amphib group.
Not sure what the unused 6 KM you list are? CM are "cruiser-minelayers" which you will want to use to mine PB concurrent with your landing, so his subs and bombardment/surface combat TFs have a hazard in their way.

Any extra CLs you have should either form a raiding TF or assigned to smaller [less than 10 ships] TFs to beef up the AA.

As for your HB targets, are you expecting to find some ships at PB port? If not, why bomb it?
Bombing the airport will help reduce its operations but it will take several days to shut it down completely. All this will do is move back his naval search and CAP a bit - he can easily reach PB from Burma and Thailand.
If you want to get an ID on the ground troops, you need to set for "ground bombing".
I am not sure of the effectiveness of bombing from 24,000 feet. I usually go much lower and trust in the ruggedness of the B-24 and B-17 to mostly survive the flak and fighter CAP. In fact, once in a while I send them in at 1000 feet because the enemy get little warning of the raid and the CAP is too high to intercept effectively.

One thing you have not mentioned is Naval Search. Setting up the best search network you can is essential. Your carriers and LBA cannot hit what they don't see coming!

On the plus side, you seem to have a clear idea of what you want to do and that is most important of all!
Good luck!

[BlitzimX]

After reading your answers, i made a few modifications to my Task Forces to follow your advices. IT also brings me more questions.

Your ship list shows one CVE and 4 CVLs, while your TF list shows 3 CVE and no CVLs.

It's actually 1CVL and 3 CVE, my Mistake.


The new Task forces are:

- 2 Carrier Surface Group (Task Forces 10.1.1 and 10.1.2 ) each composed of :
2CV,1BB,1CA,1CL,5DD
- 1 Bombardment Group (Task Force 10.3.1) , composed of the fastest ships (because I saw these group have to be fast)
1BB,2CA,2CL,4DD
- 1 Amphibious Group (Task Force 10.3.2.1)
2CL,6xAP,6LSI(L),1CVE,2DD
- 1 Escort Group (Task Force 10.3.2.2)
2CVE,1CL,3DD
- 1 Supply Group (Task Force 10.3.3)
1CLAA,2DE,6xAK
- 1 ASW Group (Task Force 20)
1AM,2DD
- 1 ASW Group (Task Force 20)
3AM
- 5 SS Task Forces


I also reduced the Altitude of the Bombardment to 20 000 feet, an changed the Mission to ground Attack.

Questions :
- If DD are here most for SS hunt and AA coverage, what are CL best used for?
- For Naval Search on Careers, is it better to set a 360 arch or leave the search random with a 000 arc?

Not sure what the unused 6 KM you list are?

It's not KM but KV, my mistake again.

[BBfanboy]

British CLs are excellent for surface combat, to raid or to intercept his raids. Their guns can really hurt his DDs while their torpedoes can hurt anything heavier. They are fast enough to do hit and run and their AA is pretty good. If you are short on DDs to escort them, you can usually go unescorted and trust in their speed and agility to dodge sub torpedoes. Putting some of their float planes on ASW patrol, range 0 will help during the daytime.

KVs [corvettes] are good ASW vessels. Their slow speed makes them suitable to escort the amphib and supply ships. That may free up some DDs for other things.

If your carriers are moving through an area that has good Naval Search from LBA, your carrier aircraft should search ahead in an arc of about 60º on either side of your TF course. Once you get into waters where you do not have good coverage of your flanks and butt, set carrier Nav Search to 360º.

Note, searching to the limits of aircraft range will result in many Operational Losses and high pilot fatigue. I usually cut back my search range by 20% of maximum. E.G., a carrier aircraft with Extended Range 5, I would set to range 4. A bomber with range 18 would be set to range 14.
For most squadrons, set 20-30% of the aircraft on search, 20-30% on rest. Keep some squadrons on ASW and some set to Naval Strike.

Isn't the learning curve in this game steep! [:)]

[BlitzimX]

Time for some reports

The First turn has run quite smoothly with barely anything to report but the raid on Port Blaire which went with quite impressive results.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 18, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on INA Detachment Battalion, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes


Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 28
B-24D Liberator x 32


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
17 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Aircraft Attacking:
16 x Liberator II bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
12 x Liberator II bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

As youy see, 60 Bombers made the impressive score of...17 Japanese! Horray \o/ Seriously, it's true that the altitude is importnat in this case.





[center]Second Turn actions[/center]


The Amphibious TF has finished loading the Troops (11Th Eastern African INF and an Ingineer Regiment). They are ordered to leave the port and meet with an ASW TF composed of 4 KZ coming from Tricomalee. The Escort TF and Bombardment TF are ordered to follow the Amphibious TF.

The Supplie TF is docked to Colombo and asked to load supplies.


I haven't set any orders for the Carrier planes, either for the Escort or for the Surface TF. I really don't know what to do, since i read a bit everything on that. And BBfanboy's Post just adds an other choice of action XD

The Bombers are left for Ground Attack at a lower Altitude (12 000), hopping to get more casualties here.

[pws1225]

So far, so good!

[BBfanboy]

What to do with your carriers?

The navy's job is to stop the enemy fleet from interfering with your operations. That means hitting his ships, intercepting his aircraft, and hitting airfields when you can.

Carriers are fragile so going in range of his LBA to attack an airfield is not recommended. Heavy bombers and bombardment by BBs/CAs can make far more craters than a few carrier planes.
Therefore, use your carriers to put fighter cover over your other ships and to strike at his ships - but only those important enough to warrant the strike. That means major warships [CA and up] or xAPs, xAKs carrying troops.
Your torpedo supply and number of sorties per carrier are limited, so don't waste them on small fry.

DDs are important targets, but they are agile and very hard to hit with torpedoes. Use dive bombers or medium bombers trained in low naval attack to hit DDs.

Hope that helps.

[BlitzimX]

Hi BBFanboy,

Thanks for the post, but in fact my question was more on the orders and repartition on missions for the Carrier planes.

I have seen for example ARRs and posts where players put for example their fighters only to fight, their TB onmy to Naval attack and their DB only to NA or GA. But what i understand from your previous post, you have to give them more than one mission (for example fighters at 20% Train, 20% Rest and 60% CAP. ).

DOes this mean that for example torpedoe bombers can assume TRain/Rest/Naval Attack/ASW ? Isn't it diluting their number into too much missions? And what about Naval Search, shall they proceed with it too?

Also i read that for Fighters, 13 000 feet was a good compromise but it seems to me it depends on the plane you are using and the mission.
Likewise, i tend to stick my Torpedoe bombers to Naval attack at 1000 feet and DB at 6000 feet.

[BBfanboy]

I don't know how closely your carrier TFs are sailing, so I am unsure how much help they can give each other.
That affects how many squadrons you can devote to one job or another, so you have to use some secondary assignments to cover all the bases.

Here's how it works:
First, set the squadron's primary mission. Fighters are assigned to Sweep[the enemy's hex] or Escort [CAP over your CVs and/or escorting strikes, and/or LRCAP over other TFs like your amphib TF.
Torpedo bombers are good for ASW at low level [1000 feet]. Don't set them to Naval Strike unless you have some intel that enemy ships are nearby.
DBs are good for Naval Search and Naval Strike. Keep in mind that they only dive-bomb from the band between 10,000 and 15,000 feet. Too low or too high and they will glide bomb or level bomb, neither of which is as accurate.
Fighter-bombers are poor fighters so use them as bombers unless you are in a pinch for air cover.

Second: After setting the primary mission, go to the buttons below to select secondary missions and the % of planes you assign to each. This is where your Nav Strike DBs can be set to do 20% or so search. You do not have to set a % to "rest" unless you see their fatigue getting high. After putting some on Nav Search, you will be able to select their arcs based on map bearings, not your TF heading. If you are not sure where the enemy IS NOT, leave the search arc setting blank and you will get random search all round. Remember to limit your aircraft range, unless you have reason to believe contact with the enemy is imminent and you want to search full range.
Your TBs can be set to ASW until such time as you are expecting to contact his ships. At that point you can change to Naval Strike with or without a % on ASW.

Assign a % of your fighters to CAP and select your carrier group as the CAP target, or another hex as your LRCAP. If you try to LRCAP at their maximum range, they will just get there and have to return, so no CAP loiter time will occur. Use a dedicated squadron or two for LRCAP and keep their range at least one lower than maximum.
I usually limit my CAP over my CVs to range 1, so they do not disperse all over the area.
You can use a high 40-50% CAP for your carriers, but fatigue will build fast and there will be few planes left to escort strikes. It is always a judgement call for you to decide whether to put more into your own defence or into helping your strikes connect.

It's a shield and sword situation. So, start out setting your aircraft on search and defensive missions [the shield], and when you get to the area where you can strike the enemy, assign as much as you can to the offensive missions. Often that means cancelling ASW missions and perhaps even the Nav Search, if you are reasonably sure no ambush is in the offing.
Keep in mind that during their raid on Pearl Harbour, the Japanese kept some bombers set to Naval Attack [as opposed to Port Attack] and also put out searches using cruiser/BB float planes. Which reminds me to make full use of your own float planes on your ships. Those squadrons often start with fewer pilots than maximum, so when in port go through and add all the pilots you can.

[Andy Mac]

Don't neglect both carrier and land basedsearchinthisscen you need your eyes outthere

[BlitzimX]

Thanks again for this Answer. My two Surface TF travel in the same Hexes so their Planes can act on both TF. But i suspect that since one has slower ships it will just be a few hexes behind. Here is all the planes in these 2 TFs:

- 7 Fighter Squadrons (4 Seafires and 3 Marlets)
- 3 Dive Bombers Squadrons (Barracudas)
- 2 Torpedoe Bombers Squadrons (Avengers)

They are spread on the 2 TF as following:
- Seafires + 2 DB +1 TB
- Marlets + 1 DB+ 1 TB

Following your advices i set their orders as follow:

- FTR: 11 000 feet, Max Range 1, Cap 30%, Train 20%
- DB: 11 000 feet, Max Range 3, Naval Search 30% with Random Arcs
- TB : 1000 feet, Max Range 3, ASW Mission with ASW search 30%, Random Arcs.

I also have a bunch of Patrol Planes i set to 40% ASW, 40%Naval Search on a 60% Degree arc ahead of the TFs Route. Altitude 6000.


To finish with the Aircrafts settings, i Set my Heavy Bombers to Port BLaire to an Altitude of 18 000 feet.

[Andy Mac]

Its been a long time since I played this one through but I would leave at least one B24 Sqn on 20 - 30% search the extra LR search may give you some advance warning

[Andy Mac]

ps Seafires are really hard to maintain watch your CAP settings if you keep them on 30 - 50% CAP for to long they start to break and need repair you can end up with 50% of your Seafires down just when you need them

Not the greatest carrier fighter