ORIGINAL: boldrobot
7. Less of a question than an observation, but in my game, the AI has decided to park KB at Makassar for like...
the last two weeks (it is now January 17). I've put a few Dutch subs in the same hex and they put a single torpedo
into Kaga, but otherwise have been unable or unwilling to attack even though they have ammunition.
IMO it's far better to task your subs to a 2 or 3 hex Patrol Zone rather than to a specific 'Remain on Station'
destination hex, also set their Reaction Range to 1.
IMO the SubTF needs to be expending movement points in order to search for & find a target, & it needs to keep
moving in order to avoid becoming 'known' to the enemy.
So if you've got 3 subs homing in on a hex, set them up w/ a 3-hex Patrol Zone to keep them moving into & away from
the enemy TF's location, 'quartering the search area' along expected enemy movement routes. I give each Patrol Zone
hex a 1-day stay to increase their endurance. Note that TFs on Patrol will automatically return to their home port
when they run low on fuel or ammo. They'll refuel & rearm (if fuel & ammo are available), then return to their
defined Patrols.
The sub war is a big part of the game, subs require a lot of care & feeding!
ORIGINAL: boldrobot
3. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor didn't manage to sink any BBs, but of course it heavily damaged many of
them. I've read that the best move is to eventually send these guys to the West Coast to complete their repairs.
How do I know when enough damage has been repaired for them to make the trip without randomly sinking? Is there
some sort of rule of thumb? My guess is I should be primarily concerned with flotation damage here, but I'm not
sure what number is considered "safe."
First thing is to check the Pearl shipyard - it likely suffered some damage so be sure it's set to Repair.
Second thing is to review all your damaged ships & set some priorities - don't concentrate shipyard repair of BBs
to the detriment of lighter ships. All your munged BBs won't fit in the Pearl yards, but they can repair System
damage in pierside mode.
Third thing is to heave a sigh & accept that some several BBs will be out of action for 1 year or more!
At some point you'll want to send some damaged BBs to West Coast shipyards, IMO they should have float/engine
damage of 40 or less, w/ system damage of 10 or less. Consider replacing the BB captains w/ high Nav skill guys,
to aid underway damage control. Form an EscortTF w/ plenty of ASW escorts, set it to Cruise speed. Do your best to sanitize the destination.
Nothing's worse than getting your cripples close to Bremerton & getting torpedoed by undetected IJ subs.
What is CVL Hermes good for? It seems like it carries no fighters at the start. Without CAP, I can't see this ship being very useful in combat or even very good as a convoy escort.
ASW, if pilots are trained in that discipline.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
- When I'm satisfied with the experience level of pilots in a training squadron, where should I release them to? Group, active, or reserve?
Only releasing into reserve will free up spaces for new trainees. Note that it's good practice to have your training in stages. Traning skills in one squadron, then flying CAP in some backwater base to build up some xp, then frontline duty when xp is about 65+. The last part depends a lot on your losses, needs and training scale.
For fighter pilots I usually put them into front line units once they get to 50/70/70. These are the groups' 'nugs' and generally I have about 6-8 in each group. They'll either 'get up to speed' or get 'wasted', whichever. I find most of them 'get up to speed'.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Thanks again for all of the responses. If you'll believe it, I have another:
I want to put PT boats at some of my smaller island bases (especially Johnston/Canton/Christmas/Palmyra), but the PT boats of course don't have enough fuel to get there. I've read the section of the manual on creation of PT boats, but I don't really understand what the exact circumstances are when a task force can create boats (do I need certain types of ships? certain amount of supply loaded?). Could someone please spell this out for me?
Alternatively, I've got a dozen or so PT boats hanging out at Pearl. Any reason I couldn't put them in a TF with a longer-legged ship that they could refuel from? If that works, does it need to be any particular type of ship, or could it just be an xAK? Would rather not risk an oiler just to move a few PT boats around.
PTs will not combine in a TF with other types of ships, but your can set a PT boat TF to follow the larger ships at range 0, and they will take fuel from those ships as required (every 12 hexes or less). Bear in mind the constant refuelling uses ops points that would otherwise be spent on movement, so your gaggle will take longer to get to destination and be more exposed to enemy attack because of that.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
Escort TFs accept all types of ships, so put the PTs into an escort TF together with a "mother ship" that can provide fuel (never mind that PTs had gasoline engines). An AGP (PT boat tender) would be ideal but at start the USN has only one - Niagara - and she is deep in the South Pacific with the Pensacola convoy (at least in the DBB mod, haven't touched stock scenarios in years).
8) After Manila falls, where's the best place to base subs patrolling near Japan? Darwin? Dutch Harbor? Whenever you can disband an AS ship and AR for quick repairs, store some fuel and be safe from air raids. Adak is good if you build it up. If not then good old Pearl Harbor, with and advanced rearming/refuelling on Midway
This is actually a very good question - tactically sound - not Noob.
I have some experience and I am learning all the time.
GA has provided robust advise above.
Some random considerations:
1) Historical Sub bases were Pearl and Brisbane if memory serves me correctly.
2) Subs on patrol at Mission speed (important) will accumulate system and minor float damage. They may need a port with an inherent ship yard - where an AR may not be enough for multiple subs.
3) Many US subs update rather early in game 04/42 as I recall. Therefore again a shipyard is required to update.
4) Despite the updates and depending upon setting - USN subs may not be all that effective through 42 due to Torps.
--
I think the lesson I learned from the veterans on the board is the "time in patrol" is very important to your overall sub success.
So balancing creating forward bases - and concentrating subs on patrol around threat corridors / future objectives is the name of the game.
You forward bases will depend upon where the Opponent (AI / Human) tends to be sending task forces at you - from - so to speak.
Canton Island for example if a lot of activity in SoPac ?
Midway only if a lot of activity ? But set it up for down the road ?
A People that values its privileges above it's principles will soon loose both. Dwight D Eisenhower.
Alternately to that stated above you can create PT's right at your base. IIRC the base must have at least 10k of supply and you must have PT's available for deployment. By available I mean on the bottom right of your base screen (again IIRC) you should see a button, 'create PT's'. If its grayed out you have not met conditions.
Another way to move those PT's at Pearl is to 'move' them back to your pools. You can do this by right clicking on your PT boats and there should be an option to do so. Pretty sure they have to be disbanded at the base to do this. After some time they will re-appear in your pools and may then be 'created' at another base. The base will spend supplies to create these vessels.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
Alternately to that stated above you can create PT's right at your base. IIRC the base must have at least 10k of supply and you must have PT's available for deployment. By available I mean on the bottom right of your base screen (again IIRC) you should see a button, 'create PT's'. If its grayed out you have not met conditions.
Another way to move those PT's at Pearl is to 'move' them back to your pools. You can do this by right clicking on your PT boats and there should be an option to do so. Pretty sure they have to be disbanded at the base to do this. After some time they will re-appear in your pools and may then be 'created' at another base. The base will spend supplies to create these vessels.
There are also requirements for the port size or Naval/Command HQ presence. And the port must be of the correct nationality (except Australian ports that can make US PTs).
Then there is the option to create PTs from the supply in a TF, provided the supply was loaded in the US and there are PTs in the pools.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
IRL there were these main submarine bases in the Pacific IIRC: San Diego - usually a newly built subs on the West coast underwent part of their training there. (East coast built subs trained at New London, CT plus Key West, FL and Coco Solo, Panama before deployment to Pacific)
Pearl Harbor - Main naval base. Subs arriving to Pacific underwent up to 2 month training here.
- PH Advanced base at Midway - allowed refueling and with AS tender repairs en route to patrol area as well as emergency repairs on way home.
- PH Advanced base at Guam (late 1944-1945) - Forward submarine base for 5th Fleet subs - similar to Midway but with better facilities and allowing R&R for crews (thus no need to go back to PH)
Brisbane - Main submarine base for SouthWest Pacific forces - used mainly during Guadalcanal and Papua New Guinea Campaigns
- Advanced base at Milne Bay - refuel, tenders, limited R&R
- Advanced base at Admiralities - refuel, tenders
Freemantle, near Perth, Australia - Main submarine base for SouthWest Pacific submarines + some Dutch and later British - it allowed for shortest access to DEI - Java Sea, South China Sea, etc.
- Advanced base at Exmouth - refuel, AS tenders
- Advanced base at Darwin - refuel, AS tenders - used particularly for Philippine "special" missions (scouts, agents, passangers, evacuees, medicaments, ammunition, radios, etc...)
Trincomalee, Ceylon - Main submarine base for (especially short legged) British subs and in the 1942-1944 period - allowed a short passage to Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea
Later in the war several British subs and tenders moved to Fremantle-Exmouth
SOP (Standard operational procedure) called for departure from the main base, stopping at the advanced base for a 1-3 days to top of fuel and rations as well as to make repairs to any deficiences found out during the voyage (period with frequent drills, tests, etc). Then continue on patrol. When going back sub could be stopped at the advanced base for short turnaround back to area just after about two weeks of rest. Otherwise (and more common) it was back to main base for 3-4 weeks of rest, repairs, refit, etc. Most of the work IRL was done via tenders - this included main gun installations, radar installations, scope re-arrangements, various electronics, radio repairs, "sail" cropping, electro-motor rewiring etc. Docking at major ports were required only with serious hull damage or shafts/screws, planes and their mechanisms, etc.
To translate it into game terms, the AS stationed at Midway should be able to repair system dmg of sub up to 10, flotation up to 5, engine up to 5 as well as to handle most of the upgrades. Yet the usual in game turnaround of a subs in game is much quicker (due to how current repair system works and without crew fatigue) that a few trips back to proper "Repair shipyard" would only help to tone down the operational tempo of the subs ops (not enough anyway).
Alternately to that stated above you can create PT's right at your base. IIRC the base must have at least 10k of supply and you must have PT's available for deployment. By available I mean on the bottom right of your base screen (again IIRC) you should see a button, 'create PT's'. If its grayed out you have not met conditions.
Another way to move those PT's at Pearl is to 'move' them back to your pools. You can do this by right clicking on your PT boats and there should be an option to do so. Pretty sure they have to be disbanded at the base to do this. After some time they will re-appear in your pools and may then be 'created' at another base. The base will spend supplies to create these vessels.
There are also requirements for the port size or Naval/Command HQ presence. And the port must be of the correct nationality (except Australian ports that can make US PTs).
Then there is the option to create PTs from the supply in a TF, provided the supply was loaded in the US and there are PTs in the pools.
Ha... the level of detail in this game really is insane.
Thanks so much to everyone for the helpful responses.
First, is there a good way to tell whether an LCU can be fully unloaded from an Amphibious TF, assuming little or no port or naval support in the destination hex? I keep ending up with a handful of vehicles that won't unload. This is just when moving troops around to friendly bases without good ports, not assaults or anything. Do I just need to look at the TOE? If so, how do I know what elements won't unload all the way from an Amphibious TF other than just looking for vehicles?
Second, when can a port rearm torpedoes? I noticed that I couldn't rearm torpedoes on subs at Brisbane until I parked an AS there, and currently I'm unable to rearm DD torps at Darwin because I don't have an AD there. Is there a certain port level, level of naval support, or LCU I need present?
Third, I'm curious roughly how I'm doing with my attacks on Japanese shipping. I'm a couple days shy of 4 months into the campaign. Intelligence reports about 300 merchant and auxiliary ships sunk (i.e., xAKs, xAKLs, xAPs, etc.) between my sub ops and various surface/air actions. I assume this is an overestimate (potentially a large one). Does it seem like I am "on pace"? I don't have a good sense of how large the Japanese merchant marine is. Japan has had little success attacking my merchant shipping, other than a disaster in early January when Betties sank a large troop convoy headed to Rangoon carrying like 8 or 10 thousand guys.
First, is there a good way to tell whether an LCU can be fully unloaded from an Amphibious TF, assuming little or no port or naval support in the destination hex? I keep ending up with a handful of vehicles that won't unload. This is just when moving troops around to friendly bases without good ports, not assaults or anything. Do I just need to look at the TOE? If so, how do I know what elements won't unload all the way from an Amphibious TF other than just looking for vehicles?
Use Amphib type of Task Force when moving units to bases with low port values - that way it may take few days, but eventually everything can get unloaded (maybe some superhuge radar or coastal gun wont carry them to nearest port to unload, reload them in small transport to fit the port and send it to rejoin the unit. Motorized support usually is small enough to get unloaded eventually over the beach. It just may take few days (imagine derrick unloading of a 3 trucks a day to a coastal lighter or something similar).
Second, when can a port rearm torpedoes? I noticed that I couldn't rearm torpedoes on subs at Brisbane until I parked an AS there, and currently I'm unable to rearm DD torps at Darwin because I don't have an AD there. Is there a certain port level, level of naval support, or LCU I need present?
Look into Manual. There is a page dedicated to the "Rearming capability". Each Naval Gun/Torpedo has/AA gun has some reload cost value. To rearm, you have to had the Port or Tender capable of rearming it. Port capacity is calculated by its size plus Naval Support Squads present at the base. e.g. AE with 4900 load capacity is equivalent to Port size 5 plus 360 Naval Support or Port size 6 plus 120 Naval Support or Port Size 7.
Third, I'm curious roughly how I'm doing with my attacks on Japanese shipping. I'm a couple days shy of 4 months into the campaign. Intelligence reports about 300 merchant and auxiliary ships sunk (i.e., xAKs, xAKLs, xAPs, etc.) between my sub ops and various surface/air actions. I assume this is an overestimate (potentially a large one). Does it seem like I am "on pace"? I don't have a good sense of how large the Japanese merchant marine is. Japan has had little success attacking my merchant shipping, other than a disaster in early January when Betties sank a large troop convoy headed to Rangoon carrying like 8 or 10 thousand guys.
To have 300 Japanese merchant ships down in March 1942 is good. Japan has about 1300 merchants available at the start of war plus another 1000 or so in build queue. So yes, you have dug in deep. But apparently you are playing against AI. If it is on Very Hard it wont matter much. On the other hand you can seriously hamper the AI scripts to be run adequately.
1. Any tips on getting useful intelligence out of the SigInt reports? It's early May 42 in my game, and I just suffered my first major naval defeat when KB raided the east coast of Australia and sank Lexington and its escorts (a couple CAs, a CL, various DDs), which happened to be in the area. I know there are times when I am going to get surprised, but I also know that irl, the Allies sometimes knew roughly where KB was headed. Is it just luck of the draw on if you get a useful piece of SigInt about a carrier? Any techniques I should know about in terms of interpreting SigInt?
2. What is the best way to handle future objectives when an army is advancing and expects to fight at a few places in a relatively short period? I successfully defended Rangoon and forced the IJA to retreat at the start of April 42, then moved about 60,000 men to Pegu. After a few weeks of bombarding, I just pushed the IJA out of Pegu, and now they are retreating towards Moulmein. I know there is going to be a fight at Moulmein, but I don't expect the IJA to hold out for very long. I plan to pursue them to Bangkok, if I can. Should I be planning for Moulmein, even though the planning won't get very high by the time our forces meet? Or should I go ahead and plan for Bangkok, since that is where I expect to face the stiffest resistance?
3. What's the deal with all of the Japanese casualties when they bombard me? I have been reading AARs/LPs of this game for years and I know that it's common for the bombarding side to suffer more casualties than the defending side. For example, during the battles at Rangoon and Pegu in my game, the IJA consistently suffered way worse casualties when they bombarded me than when I bombarded them. Does this represent counterbattery fire by my men? Is it due to the fog of war? Is it just the inscrutable math that underlies ground combat in WitP? Really just curious on this one.
4. I've started planning for invasions of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in my game, intending to launch the operation around the same time as irl. I know at some point I will need to land engineers and not just infantry. Is the best practice to send engineers ashore with the first wave to facilitate unloading? Or should they follow up once the beachhead has been established? Does the answer depend on what type of engineer unit - for example, USMC combat engineers vs. SeaBees vs. [letter] Det Port Svc? [side note - my great grandpa was an officer in the 6th SeaBees so I am looking forward to them showing up in a month or so]
1. Any tips on getting useful intelligence out of the SigInt reports? It's early May 42 in my game, and I just suffered my first major naval defeat when KB raided the east coast of Australia and sank Lexington and its escorts (a couple CAs, a CL, various DDs), which happened to be in the area. I know there are times when I am going to get surprised, but I also know that irl, the Allies sometimes knew roughly where KB was headed. Is it just luck of the draw on if you get a useful piece of SigInt about a carrier? Any techniques I should know about in terms of interpreting SigInt?
Heavy Radio traffic in your sigint is a reliable indicator of large TFs entering or leaving a port. Oftentimes, this is all that you have to base your guess as to where KB is.
2. What is the best way to handle future objectives when an army is advancing and expects to fight at a few places in a relatively short period? I successfully defended Rangoon and forced the IJA to retreat at the start of April 42, then moved about 60,000 men to Pegu. After a few weeks of bombarding, I just pushed the IJA out of Pegu, and now they are retreating towards Moulmein. I know there is going to be a fight at Moulmein, but I don't expect the IJA to hold out for very long. I plan to pursue them to Bangkok, if I can. Should I be planning for Moulmein, even though the planning won't get very high by the time our forces meet? Or should I go ahead and plan for Bangkok, since that is where I expect to face the stiffest resistance?
There is no simple answer. If you do not expect a difficult fight at Moulmein, then it is probably best to prep for Rangoon.
3. What's the deal with all of the Japanese casualties when they bombard me? I have been reading AARs/LPs of this game for years and I know that it's common for the bombarding side to suffer more casualties than the defending side. For example, during the battles at Rangoon and Pegu in my game, the IJA consistently suffered way worse casualties when they bombarded me than when I bombarded them. Does this represent counterbattery fire by my men? Is it due to the fog of war? Is it just the inscrutable math that underlies ground combat in WitP? Really just curious on this one.
For bombardments, size and range are often more important than the number of guns. In general, Japan suffers from a lack of heavier artillery. Many of their divisions are light divisions with only 75mm guns for support, and the heavier divisions do not have as many large caliber howitzers as U.S., Australian, and British divisions. For siege battles, the standard complement of divisional artillery is not sufficient for the Japanese. Japan must bring in auxiliary heavy artillery support. Much of this must be removed from Manchuria, and the AI is often slow to bring its heavier artillery to the front. For example, first-time Japanese players are often shocked at the casualties that the coastal artillery at Bataan will inflict. Without all of the very heavy guns from Manchuria (especially the 24 and 30cm guns) bombarding Bataan is folly.
4. I've started planning for invasions of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in my game, intending to launch the operation around the same time as irl. I know at some point I will need to land engineers and not just infantry. Is the best practice to send engineers ashore with the first wave to facilitate unloading? Or should they follow up once the beachhead has been established? Does the answer depend on what type of engineer unit - for example, USMC combat engineers vs. SeaBees vs. [letter] Det Port Svc? [side note - my great grandpa was an officer in the 6th SeaBees so I am looking forward to them showing up in a month or so]
Landing combat engineers in the first wave is highly recommended against most targets, especially where there is armor or Japan has had time to fortify. Landing construction engineers or Seabees is not very helpful, and in general, these should constitute a second wave or even third. Engineers off-load at slightly slower rates than standard infantry, so it is best to have your engineers distributed among a number of ships with high amphibious ops points, such as APAs. This is especially true when invading atolls, where a shock-attack is automatic any turn in which troops offload.
What determines whether I can mount drop tanks on a plane, assuming the plane can accept drop tanks? I tried to fly some P39s from Sydney to Darwin via Horn Island, but they can't mount drop tanks at Horn Island. Horn Island has a size 1 (I think) airbase and happens to be super low on supply at the moment, though I have a TF there right now unloading about 3,000 supply. Is there a minimum amount of supplies to mount drop tanks? A minimum airbase size? Something else?
my magic number for drop tanks seems to be 10,000 supply.
keep in mind some aircraft do not have drop tanks availible until a future date.
rms/pa
I ended up being able to put drop tanks on once I got Horn Island to 1,000 supply or so, for what it's worth
A couple more questions:
1. CV Enterprise was heavily damaged during a major carrier battle in the Coral Sea and barely made it to Townsville - there was no chance it would make it anywhere further south. After putting out the fires, the ship has something like 83 systems damage, 18 flotation damage (all of it major), and 25 engine damage (all of it major). I don't think I can even get the ship down to Sydney with so much systems damage, since the temporary flooding repairs would probably fail on the way, but the systems damage is projected to take like 200 days to repair. Is there anything I can do to speed the repairs up, or do I just have to accept that Enterprise is going to be sitting at Townsville for months? I sent an AR over from Noumea but it didn't shave very much time off the repair estimate.
2. Is there any easy way to tell which squadrons are equipped with photo recon planes? It's July of 42 in my game and I'd love to get some photo recon over Guadalcanal before I kick off my planned invasion in hopefully a month or so. The only photo recon squadron that I'm aware of is a squadron of recon B-25s in Calcutta.
1. - Get Australia Command HQ or SWPac if it has arrived to Townsville.
- Get some ARs to Townsville. If no ship is assigned to them they donate their repair points to the port.
- Build Townsville port as rapidly as possible.
Don't move Enterprise until system damage is below 30. At that point you can move her in short hops to at least Brisbane (bigger port but the SY is still too small). Keep close to shore in case flooding starts to increase and you need to port and pump.
PS - if a lot of the flood damage is minor and can be pumped out at Townsville, I would consider moving Big E when Sys was below 40.
2. You get a lot of photo recon aircraft - check the Lysanders in India and the Buffalos in Malaya/Burma/India - but they won't help much around the Solomons!
Depending on game date you might have some F-4 Lightning photo recons. Half decent range on those. There are some Beaufort recons too but range may not be enough, even from Port Moresby.
The B-25s you have will be your longest-ranged PR aircraft until the Liberator photo recons arrive (F-5?).
Note that one of the carrier F4F-3 models has photo recon capability but it sucks as a fighter.
For my money, just train some Cats to over 30 in Recon skill and send multiple passes on the same turn (several squadrons or split a big one in four). IRL they had a hand-held large format camera which (if modeled) should help with getting recon numbers up.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
