Return of the Sheep! - JocMeister(A) vs. MrKane(J)

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Ah, the problem is not PLANES! Its the RIGHT planes! [:D] I have 4 Vindicator squadrons at Pago Pago. Problem is they are all 2 plane squadrons. I don´t have any Vindicators to fill them out with. And I can´t upgrade them because I don´t have any SBD-3 in the pool...bloody PDU OFF. I though it was supposed to make things easier? [:D]

I think it's worth reminding everyone who is going to play PDU Off that there is this insanely frustrating drawback, right here. Units that get shot up or just don't start with very many planes are stuck with those 2 planes forever while you wait for your pools to build up. At least as the Allies.



I've had Hobgoblin. I think I prefer it to Newcastle and some of the other pub beers you can get in the states at those places that only go halfway towards making a good English/Irish/Scottish pub/tavern type place. My home city has a really good one, though. They're all the way in Iowa and they have Fullers on tap, along with the standards and other more obscure ones.

In Alexandra, VA, there's a really awesome Irish pub. Complete with live folk music. I wish they'd get better beer - I always end up ordering a Guinness because they've got that, Newcastle, a house ale (OK I order that one too), and then standard American fare: piss beer and IPAs. Boring.

There is another great one in Hyde Park Tampa. For 12 years I worked a block away and went there for lunch at least once a week.

Owned and operated by Irish folk with an authentic thatched roof (not something you see in urban environments very often):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/four-green-fields-tampa

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Some squadrons of WHAT? [:D]

Hudsons, Bolos, Blenheim Is, Wiraways and Kingfishers.

MY setting is close to Lowpe's.

Not my find. Credit goes to Obvert, who I think showed how effective it can be against the author of this AAR.[:D]

Short range planes set to naval search, low altitude. They can and will attack Subs eventually when their skill gets high, but the trick is to max detection levels and attack vectors. ASW+NavSearch plus night search plus a hunter killer group.

Even a 2 plane squadron can search 2 hexes, the origination hex and one other with very little chance of crashing -- might want to hand pick the pilots for those to get high exp ones initially.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister
Ah, the problem is not PLANES! Its the RIGHT planes! [:D] I have 4 Vindicator squadrons at Pago Pago. Problem is they are all 2 plane squadrons. I don´t have any Vindicators to fill them out with. And I can´t upgrade them because I don´t have any SBD-3 in the pool...bloody PDU OFF. I though it was supposed to make things easier? [:D]

It might be worth withdrawing/disbanding some of those squadrons if you don't have enough planes in the pool. Good way to consolidate your aircraft into actually useful sized squadrons. Just be sure to select the option for them to return automatically so you don't have to pay PP to get them back.

ORIGINAL: JocMeister
I do have a squadrons of Bolos at PH though...that would work! [:)] Wirraways have to short range to be useful. Remember that the range is halved when flying ASW. Right?

I use Wirraways all the time in OZ for ASW work. Great way to get some mission experience for the OZ bombers. But why would range be half? That doesn't make sense to me.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
I use Wirraways all the time in OZ for ASW work. Great way to get some mission experience for the OZ bombers. But why would range be half? That doesn't make sense to me.

Set a squadron on ASW work and you will notice the search arcs are only 50 percent as long, because the search for submarines is much more intensive. You can search at half extended range too.

[JeffroK]

Re your comment about no USN VF's equipping with the F4U, thats what the Marines are for....

Other thought, If you withdraw a squadron early, do you get PP's or VP's, cant remember.

I also see 27 P40E available for the Dutch, too late to rescue a squadron?

[JocMeister]

Thanks for the advice on the ASW guys. I´ll try to sort something out. Can´t continue like this! [X(]

JeffK, no dutch pilots! The ones I have are flying dutch CATs.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Wellington Naval battle![/font]
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[X(]

Did NOT see this coming. Pretty annoyed with "Ching" and his CAs right now...[:@] Although some of it is mt fault. I had detached 4 DDs from his force to hunt (make the sub shoot all its TTs) 2 subs sitting outside Wellington. Perfect timing on Toms part. 0% moonlight and apparently every allied radar set failed this night. So the battle started at 1000 yards...[:(]

Could have ended much, much worse for me so I should be happy really.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Wellington at 112,191, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Sendai, Shell hits 1
CL Naka
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Akigumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Indianapolis
CA Northampton
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 1
CA Vincennes, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 1
DD Fanning
DD Case, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
DD Conyngham, Shell hits 2

Luckily for me the Perth/Achilles TF saved the day or this would have been an embarrassing defeat...

Night Time Surface Combat, near Wellington at 112,191, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Sendai, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Naka, Shell hits 3
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 21, and is sunk
DD Akigumo, Shell hits 1
DD Kagero, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 1
DD Oyashio
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CL Achilles, Shell hits 3
CL Perth, Shell hits 3
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 3
DD Jarvis, Shell hits 2
DD McCall, Shell hits 2
DD Benham, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tucker, Shell hits 4
DD Litchfield, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage

The AI sadly cost me a bunch of DDs as it creates those lovely escort TFs... [:(]

Night Time Surface Combat, near Wellington at 112,191, Range 8,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu
CL Kinu
CL Abukuma
CL Kiso, Shell hits 1
DD Hayashio
DD Maikaze, Shell hits 1
DD Isokaze
DD Shiranui
DD Amatsukaze
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Urakaze
DD Hamakaze

Allied Ships
CA Vincennes, Shell hits 47, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Case, Shell hits 21, and is sunk
DD Conyngham, Shell hits 4, on fire

Night Time Surface Combat, near Wellington at 112,191, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu
CL Kinu
CL Abukuma
CL Kiso
DD Hayashio
DD Maikaze
DD Isokaze
DD Shiranui
DD Amatsukaze
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Urakaze
DD Hamakaze

Allied Ships
DD McCall, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Litchfield, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

Weather is really bad with thunderstorms and heavy rain. Only the B25s fly and fail to score any hits. Losses are about even which in reality is an allied victory. Besides the listed losses I´m pretty sure Sendai will sink and DD Kagero too. No allied ships are at risk of sinking.

Now I just need to get the hell out before those CAs crash the party. Then again the air threat might scare Tom away.

[Jellicoe]

Agree completely on the ASW . I get a satisfying number of reports of attacks and hits on subs with Wirraways of all things with the 40/40/20 split at 1000 feet.

As for beer for witpae there can be only one. I had a nice pint of Spitfire last night 'downed all over Kent, just like the Luftwaffe'. A proper hoppy bitter. Harvey's Sussex Bes is my favourite though

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Air war[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Tom is piling on pressure. I´m barely making 1:1 and some day not even that. Normally I would pull back and let him sweep empty skies. But I desperately need the VPs.

Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 58
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 31

Allied aircraft
Hurricane I Trop x 3
Hurricane IIb Trop x 56
Hurricane IIc Trop x 37

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 7 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed

Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 84 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 14
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 8

Allied aircraft
Hurricane I Trop x 3
Hurricane IIb Trop x 26
Hurricane IIc Trop x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 6 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 4 destroyed

The Nicks are particularity nasty. P40s simply don´t cut it against them. I need P38s. Preferably a couple of hundreds of them! [X(]

Obviously the RAF can´t keep this up for long. I just lost a month worth of replacements in a single day. USAAF is almost ready here though.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Jellicoe

Agree completely on the ASW . I get a satisfying number of reports of attacks and hits on subs with Wirraways of all things with the 40/40/20 split at 1000 feet.

As for beer for witpae there can be only one. I had a nice pint of Spitfire last night 'downed all over Kent, just like the Luftwaffe'. A proper hoppy bitter. Harvey's Sussex Bes is my favourite though

I like Spitfire a lot. Its even available on taps here in Sweden in some places. Very easy to drink! Perfect during summer instead of some watery lager! [&o]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Foxes in the hen coop![/font]
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Finally. Took 6 months before I managed to sneak them in undetected. Been trying all over the map. Sadly, no troops on board but hopefully much needed supply.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Rennell Island at 109,147, Range 22,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Ginyo Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
SC Ch 24, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
SC Ch 27, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAK Kansai Maru, Shell hits 22, and is sunk
xAK Kashii Maru, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Akagane Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
xAK Ehime Maru, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Achou Maru, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Kashu Maru, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Koyo Maru, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
PB Nikki Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
PB America Maru, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Toyokuni Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
SC Ch 33, Shell hits 6, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Concord
CL Raleigh
CL Detroit
CL Trenton
DD Morris
DD Ellet
DD Reid
DD Phelps
DD Balch

The damaged ones will sink no doubt. Now I need to get the foxes out of danger though...

[Lowpe]

Well done! Every drop in the bucket counts and Japan is really extended...Can you sneak some really long legged CLs between Truk and HI? That would shock him....

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Well done! Every drop in the bucket counts and Japan is really extended...Can you sneak some really long legged CLs between Truk and HI? That would shock him....

Tried that earlier. Found no way through the search. Must have tried 15 different approaches. Managed to get within 20 hexes of the HI and stayed there for 2 turns before being spotted. But that was the best I could do.

[JohnDillworth]

a 2 DD fletcher task force can often go undetected. They can do a lot of damage. Keep doing it. Even if detected he will have to start using ships to escort supply & troops. no free lunch

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

a 2 DD fletcher task force can often go undetected. They can do a lot of damage. Keep doing it. Even if detected he will have to start using ships to escort supply & troops. no free lunch

Thats a great idea. Sadly I´m lacking Fletchers as the first one is still 30 days away. [:D]

[JocMeister]

Oh, just got a note from Tom he will be out of town until tomorrow.

Gives me some time to catch up on Walking dead. Only season 4 left now.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister
Tried that earlier. Found no way through the search. Must have tried 15 different approaches. Managed to get within 20 hexes of the HI and stayed there for 2 turns before being spotted. But that was the best I could do.

Between Marcus and Truk then? So an early raid on the HI would most likely have been spotted...

[topeverest]

WOW! Not often you pull off one of these counterpulses. Well done![&o] [&o]

Undoubtedly will have a morale impact on your opponent.

[JohnDillworth]

The Fletchers are a bit precious when you first get them but after you have enough this is a great tactic throughout the war. No more than 2. With improving radar they pick up lots of stuff and they are pretty hard to hit from the air. Start to set up some AD's with supply at your forward bases

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

The Fletchers are a bit precious when you first get them but after you have enough this is a great tactic throughout the war. No more than 2. With improving radar they pick up lots of stuff and they are pretty hard to hit from the air. Start to set up some AD's with supply at your forward bases

Good advice. Never tried that. Will certainly do this time! [:)]