NooB AAR(gh): Which way's north? a.k.a we'll buff that hole right out won't we chief?

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant

Couple things:
1. Can readers please tell me how I can improve the AAR to encourage more responses?

I use a different color font for my questions in my AAR and I make sure to change the subject symbol to the question mark if I have one in the group of text. (as in this response)

Rook749

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant
2. Doggie/BB: I think I hurt the Soryu but as it wasn't heavily damaged in the afternoon after the single hit ammo explosion in the morning i'm thinking fires/light/moderate damage like Enterprise has. Unfortunately three bombs on the Zuikaku did zero damage as they hit the side of the ship and bounced off. Another bomb or two hit tower/guns and didn't penetrate.

My CAP set-up was - I think - like this:
One Carrier's F4F-3A's: 20,000 feet. 60or70 CAP, 20 rest
Other Carrier's F4F-3's: 12,000 feet 30CAP/20 rest
The Marine Buffalos: also at 12K, but at 30CAP20rest so they would accompany attacks

I never set my carrier plans when at sea to any level of rest, if I get into a Fight I want them all to fly. If I am 100% sure I am in a safe area they might be set to 100% train and zero range.

Rook749

[uncivil_servant]

QUESTIONS below in BLUE
1. ROOK: My thought processes were, when sailing in hostile or potentially hostile waters to not have 100% CAP all the time as to keep fatigue of pilots down and keep planes flyable and down for wear n tear maintenance.

2. Pilot Training. I am missing something on the pilot training front. I have many squadrons on training duty. Some of the squadrons are hitting the 70 point mark in their respective skills.

My thinking was is that the advice is to "swap" the pilots. I.E. remove those with 70 skill and place into the squadron pilots from the "Replacement" pool - i.e. those just out of pilot school. The problem I have is that when starting this I didn't make it into the second full air group until the pilots coming out of "Replacement" started showing with sub-30 skills for the Army, etc. I thought in May I would have a decent backlog of new pilots so I could do a full swap.

I suspect I am missing something crucial but it eludes me at this time. Am I drawing from wrong pools - are there just not enough spare pilots yet..?

As of Yet, I have not moved my B-17 sqds forward as not many airfields can field them yet and I don't want them to get wasted sitting on the ground and get bombarded. I am thinking versus a human opponent I would have desperate need of these on the front line?

STRATEGY:
India and Points West:
Brit & Australian reinforces arriving in Aden: I am mixing it up, some staying in India manning the border with the Burma Jungle, others I am shipping to Australia.
I have reinforced Diego Garcia as twice IJ forces have attempted to land.
I am sending forces to occupy and defend Cocos Island as X-Mas Island IO is in IJ hands.
As I have ships with not much to do as I am landing at Cocos two BB led SCTFs will bombard X-Mas Island whereas the Carrier TF will await any targets of opportunity.

While I have the urge to send defenders to Rangoon and Java I will not as I suspect there are many more IJA forces that can land and turn them into traps.

China - Defense in Depth. Attempt to mop up IJA forces stuck between Wuchow and Canton.

East - PH and Pago Pago points of strength with which to launch counter attacks. Defenses of Suva, Luganville, and New Caledonia strengthening. An Australian CA/CL fleet is in Sydney with a USN short range BB fleet that will hide between Pago and Tahiti to catch and IJN bombardment or assault TFs.

Alaska - Amchika, Adak, Umnak, and Dutch Harbor each have Base Forces, Artillery, AA, and a 100AV (Sep) INF Unit. Extra engineers in place on Amchika and Adak to build rapidly. Adak is a 5/4 already. I am thinking of putting a sub tender on Adak and sortieing from Adak some short range subs to patrol up north and around Hokkaido.

BTW - I am currently at 1900 PPs.

[Yaab]

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant

Couple things:
1. Can readers please tell me how I can improve the AAR to encourage more responses?

2. Doggie/BB: I think I hurt the Soryu but as it wasn't heavily damaged in the afternoon after the single hit ammo explosion in the morning i'm thinking fires/light/moderate damage like Enterprise has. Unfortunately three bombs on the Zuikaku did zero damage as they hit the side of the ship and bounced off. Another bomb or two hit tower/guns and didn't penetrate.

My CAP set-up was - I think - like this:
One Carrier's F4F-3A's: 20,000 feet. 60or70 CAP, 20 rest
Other Carrier's F4F-3's: 12,000 feet 30CAP/20 rest
The Marine Buffalos: also at 12K, but at 30CAP20rest so they would accompany attacks

I loaded up the carrier with the extra marines to train them.. not realizing should carriers get damaged I'd lose even more planes as available space gets reduced.

I think you are doing pretty well with the AAR. You average 1000 hits per one page of AAR. There must be many lurkers we learn the game and read your AAR without commenting.

Adding some pics to the AAR would be nice. Rumor has it they speak a thousand words or something.

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant

QUESTIONS below in BLUE
1. ROOK: My thought processes were, when sailing in hostile or potentially hostile waters to not have 100% CAP all the time as to keep fatigue of pilots down and keep planes flyable and down for wear n tear maintenance.

You are far better off having your cap in hostile waters at 50-60% with and the escort mission. This will mean that 40-50% of your force will either (1) get some rest but not as much as the rest setting or (2) escort any bombers should you find any naval targets.

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant
I suspect I am missing something crucial but it eludes me at this time. Am I drawing from wrong pools - are there just not enough spare pilots yet..?

Pilot training is hard as most people have different ways to get the same result. A lot depends on how late in the game you get and if you are doing PBEM with leads to far more losses.

I train all my fighters that are restricted in the USA to 70 Air then send them to the pool to be replaced by replacements. I then set may Fighters in Peal and maybe a couple of other bases to 100% Cap Zero Range to work up the XP to 60 and then send the Pool and replace them with the 70 Air. These means these pilots have 60 XP and 70 Air when the go to the front line.

I train all my level bombers in the USA to 70 GND, send them to the pool and then replace with replacements. I train all my level bombers at Peal to NAV 70 to gain XP and then send them to the pool to be replaced by 70 GND Pilots.

Dive Bombers are trained with 70 NAV, 70 GDN and some with 70 Search/ASW. I used the Float plan squadrons in the USA to help with this.

Torpedo Plans are trained to 70 NAV, 70 Torpedo and 70 Ground. I use planes from the dive bomber pool and two of my precious Patrol squadrons to get this rolling.

Rook749

[uncivil_servant]

"I train all my fighters that are restricted in the USA to 70 Air then send them to the pool to be replaced by replacements. I then set may Fighters in Peal and maybe a couple of other bases to 100% Cap Zero Range to work up the XP to 60 and then send the Pool and replace them with the 70 Air. These means these pilots have 60 XP and 70 Air when the go to the front line."

But this is exactly what I am having an issue with - when using Army Pilots, the new pilots taking the place of those that have reached 70 and I am swapping out are coming in at sub 30 experience. i.e. feels like I am pulling them out of training school still. Now I have been able to do some swaps with Brit pilots, just not Army Air Corp.

Situation at hand:
N. Australia: Brome and Derby Base Forces went to Port Hedland. Other forces at Darwin. 653 AVS at Darwin, with the 2nd AUS Div with 286 AV enroute - at Daly Waters

Java and SE IO: Reinforcing Coccos Island - 120AV. WAS sending ships to land 120AV on XMas Island but IJN CVLs have appeared on the western side of Java.
Batavia Holds... see picture in next

[uncivil_servant]

JAVA

Except for Merak, other Dutch holdings still held by the Allies.

[uncivil_servant]

BURMA:

Rangoon still holds. Enemy at Pegu is just sitting there. Bassein was taken but abandoned and I took it back. IJ forces just took Ramree Island.
Defensive line forming at India/Burma Border.

[uncivil_servant]

India:
Calcutta: Lots of land forces. Unrestricted LFs: 18th British Div 445av Restricted: 20th Indian 326av, 23rd Indian 314av, FOUR ARM groups @132av, 123av, and 53av, 52av; 70th British 60av.
Colombo: Unrestricted LFs: 45th ARM 40av, 6th AUS Div 478av, 7th Armoured 145av, Restricted: 2 BDE's with 260av combined.

Air forces at Colombo and Calcutta and points east. Transport planes flying into China dropping supplies.


China (WEST)

Defense of Kwangchowan successful. Attackers annihilated.
Beating up Viet forces near Hanoi.
17.6K INF, 1074av, that defended Wuchow now pursuing IJA forces SE of Wuchow/NE of Canton
14.9K INF, 1002av, that successfully took Canton are crossing the river unopposed ESE of Canton to move West to engage former defenders of Canton.
GAMBLE in Process:
Headed for Wuchang: 20th Corp, 275av, SW of Wuchang; - 72nd and 78th Corp, 231av each, currently SE of Changsha; and just West of Wuchang, Eight Corps with 49.9K INF @ 3,294AV.

AVG 2nd and 3rd Squadrons taking a beating from better IJA planes flying escort for their bombers - Tojos

[uncivil_servant]

China - East

TROUBLE.
1st. Former guerrilla occupiers of Tientsin are retreating SW - one INF from the north that couldn't reach Tientsin before IJA forces overran them is retreating with them but lagged behind - and took Tsinan as Tsinan defenders tried to cut=off retreating units. Units headed for Light Manufacturing center of Kweiteh.

2nd. Sinyang defenders have been playing mop-up with former IJA assaulters of Sinyang. As I have troops and no purpose I sent Sinyang Defenders S and SW to attack Hanchow along with reinforcing units sent SE from Ichang.
Attackers in three groups:
Western Group: 20th Artillery, 59th Corp @491av
Central Group: Five (5) Corp, 22.7K INF @ 1501 AV
Eastern Group: Six (6) Corp, slightly worn from mop-up duties, 20K INF @ 991av

3rd. Sudden surprise IJA Assault on Chengchow. I had no arrows showing up, and no Intel reports on "planning assault on X".
Attacking forces: Twenty-Six units (26) coming in at 170,000 IJA bastards.
Defending forces: Fortifications of Three, down from 5.
32,000 INF @ 2085av. Other units en-route: From NW: 36th Corp with 5K INF @303 av, 38th Corp with 2.5K INF @ 161av.

last two attacks:

Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44) (Most Recent)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 86511 troops, 805 guns, 212 vehicles, Assault Value = 2703

Defending force 63700 troops, 274 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2297

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese adjusted assault: 1289

Allied adjusted defense: 3182

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
11210 casualties reported
Squads: 399 destroyed, 587 disabled
Non Combat: 32 destroyed, 99 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 31 disabled
Guns lost 100 (10 destroyed, 90 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
1333 casualties reported
Squads: 22 destroyed, 105 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Assaulting units:
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th Mongol Cavalry Division
5th Manchukuo Distr Division
2nd Manchukuo Cav Brigade
3rd Manchukuo Distr Division
1st Manchukuo Cav Brigade
110th Division
27th Division
1st Manchukuo Cavalry Division
8th Garrison Unit
7th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
36th Division
5th Mongol Cavalry Division
1st Manchukuo Division
6th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
9th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
41st Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
37th Division
3rd Ching An Tui Brigade
8th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
Manchukuo Guards Brigade
1st Manchukuo Distr Division
5th Manchukuo Cav Brigade
4th Army
1st Army
4th Manchukuo Distr Division

Defending units:
98th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
51st Chinese Corps
69th Chinese Corps
47th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
80th Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Corps
40th Chinese Corps
3rd Construction Regiment
24th Group Army
39th Group Army
1st War Area
Jingcha War Area
10th Chinese Base Force

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44) (First Assault)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 63514 troops, 527 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 3080

Defending force 35709 troops, 134 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1193

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese adjusted assault: 152

Allied adjusted defense: 2731

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 17 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
5880 casualties reported
Squads: 143 destroyed, 394 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 55 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 65 (7 destroyed, 58 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
357 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Assaulting units:
36th Division
4th Manchukuo Distr Division
8th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
6th Mongol Cavalry Division
41st Division
8th Garrison Unit
5th Manchukuo Distr Division
37th Division
27th Division
1st Manchukuo Division
3rd Ching An Tui Brigade
110th Division
2nd Manchukuo Cav Brigade
1st Manchukuo Distr Division
Manchukuo Guards Brigade
1st Manchukuo Cavalry Division
6th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
1st Manchukuo Cav Brigade
5th Mongol Cavalry Division
3rd Manchukuo Distr Division
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
7th Manchukuo Inf Brigade
5th Manchukuo Cav Brigade
1st Army
4th Army

Defending units:
69th Chinese Corps
51st Chinese Corps
80th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
98th Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Corps
3rd Construction Regiment
8th New Chinese Corps
1st War Area
39th Group Army
24th Group Army
Jingcha War Area
10th Chinese Base Force

[uncivil_servant]

ALASKA:
Sending forces to ATTU.

[uncivil_servant]

West-Coast and Hawaii. I have numerous forces I have not sent out. I am, frankly, not sure where to send them. All units listed are unrestricted: (some ground units are being rebuilt from near nothing)

San Francisco:
138th US Base Force, 148th FA BN ART, 192nd Tank Bn, 1st USMC AA Bn, 1st UMSC EAB, 220th USN Base Force, 32nd Infantry Division, 3rd USMC Parachute Bn, 3rd USN SeaBees, 632nd and 637th Tank Destroyer BNs, 803 EAB, HQn Asiatic Fleet, Clark Field USAAF Base Force, Provisional GMC Group, Wake (Det) Def Bn,
EN-ROUTE: 33rd Aviation Unit, 1st USMC Parachute Bn

LA:
176th USAAF Base force

SD: (Building up SD to max port/air)
2nd USMC EAB, 2nd USN SeaBees, 5th USN SeaBees,

Air-Squadrons:

Eastern US:
38th BG/69th BS: 12 B-26Bs - Training
58th FG/67th FS: 25 P-39Ds - Training
58th FG/68th FS: 25 P-40Es - Training

Seattle:
Four (4) B-26 squadrons - 13 each - Training
42nd BG/406th BS: 13 B-18A Bolos - Training

Tacoma:
28th OG/77th BS: 13 B-26s - Training
308th BG/373 BS: 2 B-18A Bolos - Training

San Francisco:
3rd BG/90th BS: 13 B26s - Training
12th FS: 25 P-39Ds - Training
28th OG/11th FS: 25 P-40Es - Training
3rd BG/13th BS - 13 B-25Cs - Training
VS1D12 - 18 OSOU Kingfishers - ASW Patrol

March Field:
3rd BG/89th BS: 13 A-20A Havoc - Training
3rd BG/8th BS: 13 A-24 Banshees - Training

Los Angeles: (CV Lexington is in DryDock)
VB2: 18 SBD-3s - Training
VB8: 18 SBC4s - Training
VF3: 27 F4Fs - Training
VMSB-131: 18 SB2U-3s - Training
VMSB-241: 18 SBD-3s - Training
VS-1D11: 18 OS2U Kingfishers - NavSearch
VS-1D13: 18 Kingfishers - Training
VS-1D14: 18 Kingfishers - Training
VS-2D14: 18 Kingfishers - ASW Patrol
VS3: 18 SBD-3 - Training
VT3: 15 TBFs - Training

San Diego: (Yorktown in Drydock)
VB-5: 18 SBD-3s - Training
VF-42: 27 F4Fs - Training
VMO-151: 18 SBC-4s - Training
VMSB-132: 10 SBD-2s - Training
VS-5: 18 SBD-3s - Training
VT-5: 15 TBF-1s - Training

Hawaii:
Lahaina: 1 Squad of FTRs and 1 of PBYs

Pearl Harbor:
See Screenshot

[uncivil_servant]

Anyone is free to chime in with advice................

Also,
Are there any "recommended readings" as far as some good AAR's to read to see the IJN player and their strategies.

In other news:
The BB Maryland, returning to Pearl after being repaired in Seattle.... gets torpedoed ONE square NE of PH. Do the ASW squadrons even FLY or do they instead circle the beach only looking for water bunnies?

China: Liberation and Forks in the road....
Wuchang:
The first attack on Wuchang liberated the City! The three IJA defenders, for some reason, made a deliberate attack on the mass of troops that arrives severely weakening their ability to defend. My deliberate attack drove them east. Units in hot pursuit..

In the north I still hold but tenuously. Fortifications at zero but enemies have been bled. Last attack was at 1 to 1 odds.

Hankow: Defenders being bloodied. I expect to be able to take the city son alternating between bombarding and deliberate attacks (to keep disruption down).

DECISION:
The ex-defenders of Wuchow attacked and again bloodied the IJA ex-attackers of Wuchow. Do I pursue them again NE for eradication or do I head them south and join the..
Chinese forces that liberated Canton, now have crossed the river and are proceeding west to engage the units that retreated from Canton. I think I can win that but after that only thing around is Honky Fidd. I don't know if these units alone can move to HK or if I need to pull down the units harassing the IJA forces just to the north.
IJA remnants from Wuchow are on the square 1 hex to the SW of Kukong. Ex-Canton defenders, plus one other unit are 1 square directly SE of Canton.

I would LOVE to liberate Hong Kong in July of 1942.

Naval landing at Canton crushed, attacker was eliminated.

Rangoon holds.
Batavia holds with Strength. IJ forces only bombard, do not have the strength to perform deliberate attack.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: uncivil_servant


It is early May and I am very conflicted on what to do:

First of all, I lost the Enterprise. It made it to Palmyra with 20+ fires and ended with 70 redsystem damage (not repairable)and 39 flooding and misc engine damage. I brought the flooding down to only major flooding which was <10. I disbanded her at Palmyra and brought in AR and AG ships to give port more repair "points". For some reason the RED system damage was not repairable. After putting out all fires, repairing all non major damage I tried to sail her to San Diego. She lasted two days. Got x5 "major flooding messages".
...

[font="Arial"] Just catching up again after being off-line for months when I saw this. System damage is always repairable - there is no major system damage.
The red you saw was because the damage was above 50 and therefore dangerous to the ship. With the ship disbanded the crew and the AR would be able to reduce the system damage and the non-major flood damage over
a period of months. When the system damage is below 10, you can usually move the ship at cruise speed in short hops without runaway flooding.[/font]

[BBfanboy]

[font="Verdana"] About the ASW aircraft at PH - in the early game the ASW experience is very low. Even once they are trained up on it
they can only do an ASW attack if they find the sub. Some players have suggested that you need NavSearch aircraft to
find the subs before air and sea ASW can go to the spot and sink them. I am not sure if cross-training ASW trained pilots
to also have high NavSearch skills would also work. (first they sight it, then they attack it)

Re: Japanese player AARs, much depends on the personality of the player. Some IJ players like to smash things without
regard to a grand strategic plan. Others have definite plans and timelines to guide their movements. The best of the
strategic games I have seen was Greyjoy's second game. Basically he was careful not to overextend in the first six
months when it is easy for Japan to do so. He identified a series of defence perimeters to prepare for the Allied
counterattack. On each perimeter line he identified clusters of mutually supporting bases to develop. Only then did
he start deploying ships troops and aircraft to take and hold the key points. All the other points were pretty much
ignored - Japan cannot cover everything on the perimeter. At key times when a perimeter line is in peril he had reserves
to extend the fight a while longer. When the line was hopelessly broken he withdrew what he could to the next line,
which already had a strong start at development and garrison.[/font]

[uncivil_servant]

We suck. I was having a BB group return from Sydney enroute to PH for upgrades (after some bombardment duties at the Canal) when I ran into a IJN SCTF and my side's spotters were Mr. Magoo and Clan whereas Hubble and his big ass scope was theirs.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 109,160, Range 26,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Shell hits 4
BB Ise, Shell hits 7, on fire
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 2
CL Tama, Shell hits 1
DD Kamikaze
DD Sawakaze, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
BB Nevada, Shell hits 2
BB Idaho, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB New Mexico, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Chicago, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Benham
DD Ellet, Shell hits 2
DD Cassin

Idaho sank immediately. New mexico and SL City were at 99 fires each and were scuttled. The fight was so lopsided the only hits on the ISE was to its superstructure - nothing penetrated into lower decks. Idaho was at 60 experience, NM 58, SL City 57. No excuse for such shitty work. Plus - why did their BBs get three times the shots as mine? Often mine wouldn't even take a shot during firing phase - theirs got in their shots every time.

I also received word that the CA Mikuma sank as a result of a mine (MK 10) hit near 44,92 Benkoelen but I do not believe it.

I moved the Enterprise from Palmyra as I thought it was no longer getting repaired - system damage - as it had gone eight days with no improvement at all.

I had sent a wounded dutch CL to get repaired.. somewhere.. all I know is wherever I sent him its returning to Perth because the default setting is "retirement allowed". DAMNATION - they are at 8, 147.... and also skosh on fuel.

Betty's caught ships at Xmas Island IO. Yippee. 3 out of every 4 scored hits.

IJ forces landing more troops at Batavia, Rangoon, and Canton.

Multiple enemy forces planning attacks on Mandalay, Kukong, Rangoon, Akyab, Hengyang, Hanoi, and Noumea.

I still hold Chengchow: latest battles:
>>>>>
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 65626 troops, 755 guns, 212 vehicles, Assault Value = 1188

Defending force 71721 troops, 380 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1689

Japanese adjusted assault: 659

Allied adjusted defense: 771

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2956 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 258 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 29 (1 destroyed, 28 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1858 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 190 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 44 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

>>>>>
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 55625 troops, 639 guns, 111 vehicles, Assault Value = 995

Defending force 70255 troops, 378 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1524

Japanese adjusted assault: 171

Allied adjusted defense: 1018

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1050 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 47 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 91 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 25 (16 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
289 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled

>>>>>

Hankow has been liberated. IJ forces retreated SE across the river - armies in pursuit.
Chinese forces moving to Hong Kong, Nanchang.
Former guerrillas of Tientin now taken and attempting to hold Kweiteh
Subs around Java continue to claim xAKs and xAKLs but at cost. Many damaged. And they are getting bombed when at port.

stardate - 06-07-1942

[BBfanboy]

Please remember to post the game date at the beginning of each post that has in-game action shown. It's necessary for anyone wanting
to offer advice since capabilities and forces available change over time.

About the BB TF, it was likely low on ammo and when that happens, BBs will usually not fire their main guns until the enemy is REALLY
close, say around 5000 yds. That said, crew experience is part of the battle equation but I find it mostly seems to determine how well
they deal with damage. In my experience the Naval Skills of the Captain and TF Commander have a much bigger effect on battle outcomes. Things like
maneuvering for the best advantage, dodging salvos and torpedoes, and accuracy in shooting all seem to improve greatly with every +10 points of
naval skill.

I spend most of my Political Points in the early part of the game getting good skippers, especially on subs and CVs. DDs are always in
the thick of it so they get captains with 60+ Naval and 65+ Aggression. Cruiser captains get 60+ Naval and less aggression because they are less expendable.
The captains remaining generally do not have both high Naval and acceptable aggression so the old BBs get moderate Naval (about 55) and moderate aggression (about 50).
When this is done the ships hold their own in most fair fights and manage to extract themselves from unfair ones.

And don't beat yourself up over the cruiser with the "Retirement Allowed" setting. We've all done it and even very experienced players still make the mistake once in
a while. [8|] There are just so many details in this game and so little time to attend to them all ...

[uncivil_servant]

JUNE 18, 1942
ALLIED FORCES LIBERATE HONG KONG
from the imperialistic IJA forces. China vows to keep Hong Kong under China control.

The combined Wuchow and Canton forces, minus heavy garrisons left behind moved onto Hong Kong after again bloodying for IJA Canton defenders again on the south side of the river. Instead of pursuing and destroying I went south to liberate Hong Kong and the important War Industries.

A reconstituted Flying Tigers unit, having absorbed the B and C squadrons was giving Air Cover to protect the troops from IJ bombing attacks.

Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47394 troops, 315 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1579

Defending force 13745 troops, 166 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 91

Allied adjusted assault: 1777

Japanese adjusted defense: 549

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Hong Kong !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:


> Rangoon Holds
> British Navy soon to lose some of its firepower (BOOOOOOOOOOOO)
> Christmas Island IO and Cocos Islands both are assaulted and both annihilate attacking units. Cocos - 121 AV, X-mas Isl. 159 AV

Three very wounded subs trapped at SeorB sunk in drydock.
Subs still sinking xAKs outside Batavia

Situation at Java still a stalemate.

[uncivil_servant]

In Eastern China:

Having taken Hankow and Wuchang the defenders retreated E and SE. Trying to perform mop-up duties at present.

Some forces moved to Nanchang to take it and stare down IJA forces across the river.

A little to the east I have liberated Luchow and Pengpu to attempt to cut off the land route of supply for IJA forces in SE China. I don't know if supply can travel across the tiny roads across rivers.

I still hold at Kweiteh.

Battle of Chengchow is a meat grinder.
IJA: 29 units, 290AFVs, 198,160 spotted troops, 1210 guns
China: 32,626 combat infantry, 366 guns, 1413 AV

last few battles:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 48431 troops, 597 guns, 143 vehicles, Assault Value = 1721

Defending force 72821 troops, 369 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1576

Japanese adjusted assault: 253

Allied adjusted defense: 639

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1779 casualties reported
Squads: 29 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 9 (5 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
483 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 83 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 43088 troops, 508 guns, 153 vehicles, Assault Value = 1703

Defending force 71676 troops, 368 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1505

Japanese adjusted assault: 57

Allied adjusted defense: 640

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 11 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1172 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
322 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Current Date - 7-21-1942

On the 14th, Naval Carrier force launched an air raid at Luganville from some point due east of Luganville. Having recently having my BBs lose against an encounter with IJN BBs I had ships entering the region. Since the 14th I have had no report of the Carrier Fleet.

The Carrier strike sank to AMs on ASW patrol at Luganville.
Afternoon Air attack on Luganville , at 120,150

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 118 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 44 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N2 Kate x 11
D3A1 Val x 48

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 14 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
AM Whippoorwill, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AM Lark, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 12
Port hits 1
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have two fleets in the area - TF 128 which has the West Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, and Pennsylvania I sent to Noumea to see if they could find the IJN BB fleet.

Task Force 22 - Saratoga and Hornet have just reached Savaii along with a Cruiser TF in close formation. I think I have missed out on my chance to surprise the IJN Carrier force being 7 days later.

Other carriers are still in port getting repairs.

Heavy amount of troops going to Noumea and Pago Pago for defense. The Americal Division is going to Noumea.

A mixture of Aircorbra, Mitchells, and Banshees have been transferred to Noumea.

[uncivil_servant]

Chengchow falls. IJA forces continued to arrive, keeping numbers at 190,000, whereas I did what I could to move out shattered units (<10 AV) and replace with real units at 150+ AV. They just kept attacking.

This puts everything in the north in Jeopardy.

Wuchow falls too. Enemy units that survived Wuchow and Canton had retreated east. As my armies went south to Liberate Hong Kong two of their divisions went North and took Wuchow back (as if they knew is was lightly defended).

Half of the Liberators of Hong Kong moving north. Other half keeping put guarding the city and its industry.

See Post in War Room: Allied Carriers attack many SCs, PBs, LBs in and around the Luganville area. except when real ships arrive everyone suddenly starts flying above dive bomb altitude and everyone misses.

Massacre at Java:
Before I lose one the the RN Carriers I took them on a tour to the SE to hide behind Java and see if they could pick off enemy carriers and there are two fleets:
One with one Carrier (Junyo?) and cruisers, another with three CVLS. Former is N or Batavis, latter is SE of SoerB.

RN Carriers arrive but Junyo is in Osthaven Base when attack commences so Carrier Fighters reinforced by land based CAP. The Martells flying escort get absolutely devastated by the Zeros. I mean 10:1 losses. After the Zeros (fight numbers were 2.5:1 in number of fighters) annihilated the Martels they started in on the biplane torpedo bombers. 27 torpedo bombers were in the attack. One torpedo bomber executed an attack. The other 26 were damaged/splashed. (mostly splashed).

UGH.

Rangoon holds.
Batavia Holds.
Submarines still doing Yoemans work in and around Java.