Wow I have no clue - Xargun (A) vs ASUBROB (J) [No ASUROBs]

[Xargun]

My old adversary and I are going at it again - this time with another Mod. "Scraps of Paper - In a World on Fire" by I believe Admiral Dadman.

The only real interesting setting is 2day turns and playing the latest patch (11.26B).

We are in mid December 41 and the Japanese juggernaut is rolling along normally. His Pearl Harbor strike was crazy strong, severely damaging 7 of my BBs (sinking 1 the next turn) and hammering a ton of other ships. I can't remember ever giving such a devastating attack in all my games.

I don't intend to post every turn in here, but use this mostly as a help post for myself. I have never played the Allies before and looking at all the different planes I am confused and a bit scared. I am trying to do things in small doses - like Burma, Oz, etc... I have units arriving every turn and no idea what to do with them.

Right now I am concentrating on moving ships out of the conflict area and trying to coordinate my warships and merchies in large ports. I am beginning the movement of fuel / supplies to India/Burma and Oz and trying to figure out my supply route to Oz to begin the long haul there.

Is it worth it to buy any LCUs out of the area to save them, or simply buy them back after they are destroyed ? Also, in this Mod I have literally like 25000 PPs and no idea what to spend them on. Does anyone know ? I believe some mods let you buy 'extra' air units or aircraft but where / how would I do that?

Anyone have any suggestions or comments it would be appreciated...

Xargun

[Bif1961]

Good luck and enjoy, hope to follow along on your journey.

[Zorch]

'Wow I have no clue' - Finally truth in advertising!

[Mike Solli]

Xargun! Man, it's really great to see you posting an AAR, even if it is Allied! [:D] I'm really curious to see how you manage a totally different game.

[PaxMondo]

Xargun, Great to see you back!!!

[RangerJoe]

A suggestion for buying the units, if nothing else fly a fragment to another location and buy it out when the main unit is destroyed since it will be a lot cheaper. Even if you end up with just support units in the entire unit since they will help other units at a base.

You can also break down divisions and disband two parts, then combine the division. You can keep doing this until the division is really cheap. Then buy it out, send it to a place where it can take lots of replacements. the break it down into segments so it gets replacements faster. If you are going to buy out a unit later, don't let it take replacements since that will just make it more expensive. A lot of your Indian units need lots of training, use them for garrison purposes.

Garrison the bases that you really need and build lots of fortifications. Put in defensive minefields with lots of CD guns. Make it difficult for the enemy to take them on the cheap, then build up necessary airbases. Train your fighter pilots. Your planes are adequate but your pilots are not. Once they get to a higher A2A skill, then put on a high defensive CAP with range 0. Depend on your AAA units to defend your bases until you can get quality fighter pilots so you won't waste your airframes and pilots.

Hide some fast fleet units in small bases in the DEI. If the bases aren't reconned, they will stay hidden. When the enemy has taken a base nearby, then make a SCTF and use it to raid the port to destroy the APs and AKs to slow the advance.

Most important, have FUN!

[bradfordkay]

Good to see you back, Steve. You might find it not so easy to sink Rob's carriers in the early months this time.[;)]


BTW: the units whose rescue I always try to prioritize are the US and British base units. You are always short on aircraft mechanics...

[Xargun]

I am back but not back to the game.. MrKane is still kicking my butt in my other game (I'm Japan and he is Allies) but I decided to add another game to my fold and Rob was nice enough to play as Japan and let me try as the Allies... I look at the list of aircraft and think this isn't bad... then I see there's like 10 pages of aircraft... As Japan you have like 1 page... big difference. I do like the idea of the off-map movement and can see many benefits to that, but I think the first 6 months of the war will be me retreating and building up my SLOCs and getting fuel and supply to India/Burma and Oz.

Rob is ripping through the DEI way faster than I ever do - so he must have been practicing. The mod gives him more CVs and BBs I think - but I don't know how many. Part of me wants to look at his capital ship OOB so I know what I'm up against, but part of me thinks that is kind of cheating too... so who knows if I'll do it.

So nice to see you guys posting in here and I hope you can help guide my naive Allied ways... I need to remember I'm not playing Japan and if I lose 20 DDs it doesn't matter in the long game. As Japan I scrape and scrounge and try to save everything I can - I need to do more of a swapping mode as the allies... even if its not an even exchange.

I am putting 90% of my Air Groups into training but is it really needed as the Allies ? I know they get highly skilled pilots in 42 and beyond, so is a training program needed ?

I am trying to decide where my line will be, but not sure I can decide that yet until I see how far Rob will expand. I expect Rob to try something new - like either go for China, India, or Oz this game - especially with all the new toys the mod gives him. Maybe even North Pacific ?

Xargun

[Bif1961]

Yes you need to train what made the biggest difference in the air the mid and late war was the American training program and the Japanese opponent will be training his far beyond what the real Japanese did, so you have to attempt to keep up.

[Xargun]

While my ships are finally escaping Rob's relentless attacks in the DEI a DD TF struck back.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Manado at 75,99, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Bisan Maru #3, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Choun Maru #7, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
PB Choun Maru #18, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Sydney Maru, Shell hits 11, heavy fires
xAK Anyo Maru
xAK Kumagawa Maru, Shell hits 10
xAK Tatukami Maru
xAK Okiyu Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kosei Maru, Shell hits 19, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kotoku Maru, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Keisho Maru
xAK Hokuan Maru
xAK Maya Maru, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Takaoka Maru
xAK Atlas Maru
xAK Kamoi Maru, Shell hits 5
xAK Shinyubari Maru, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Shirogane Maru, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Tenzan Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Yamadori Maru, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Karachi Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
xAK Pacific Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Kuwayama Maru, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Siraha Maru, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Chuko Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Piet Hein
DD Kortenaer
DD Evertsen
DD Witte de With
DD Van Nes
DD Banckert
DD Van Ghent

Japanese ground losses:
2726 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 195 destroyed, 76 disabled
Engineers: 58 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 196 (162 destroyed, 34 disabled)
Vehicles lost 183 (161 destroyed, 22 disabled)

Looks like I caught Rob reloading a couple Rgts he used to take Manado and put them in the drink. Three more of the damaged ships sunk during the turn as well and my DDs escaped untouched. The DDs arrived at Balikpapin and refueled / rearmed. This turn they are trying to catch the invasion fleet at Koepang.

Xargun

[BBfanboy]

Nice ambush! You may have to change your AAR title.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Nice ambush! You may have to change your AAR title.

Naah.. I know how to play the game - just from the Japanese side. Ambushes and such are easy... its the whole what do I do as the Allies part that I have no clue about.

[anarchyintheuk]

You won't have to spend much time on where to add your fighter replacements for a while. There aren't many.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Nice ambush! You may have to change your AAR title.

Naah.. I know how to play the game - just from the Japanese side. Ambushes and such are easy... its the whole what do I do as the Allies part that I have no clue about.

How about, "I have no clue - but my opponent has no ships"?

[Nomad]

Rob is well known for losing a lot of CVs and early in the game at that.

[Xargun]

Well my little DD TF tried to go to Koepang but never made it there. On the first turn some Kates came by to say hi, but they all missed.. Then during the evening of turn 2 my DDs ran into the source of the Kates - a large IJN TF with 5 baby CVs in it. The two TFs clashed over and over throughout the night and day until the survivors were picked off by Kates from the offending IJN TF. But the DDs got some hits in on the baby CVs.. here is the first encounter...

Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,107, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo
CVL Shojo
CVL Zuiho, Shell hits 2
CVE Hosho
CVL Taiyo
CS Chiyoda
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro
BB Ise
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 2
CA Chokai
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
CA Kako
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima
DD Wakaba
DD Sagiri
DD Mikazuki

Allied Ships
DD Piet Hein
DD Kortenaer
DD Evertsen, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Witte de With
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 1
DD Banckert
DD Van Ghent, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

In total the DDs reportedly hit the CVs as below:

CVL Ryujo 1 hit
CVL Shojo
CVL Zuiho 2 hits (was on fire briefly)
CVE Hosho
CVL Taiyo 4 hits

Doesn't look like any major damage was caused, but will add more yard time to his eventual repair bill. He may also be a bit more cautious letting his CV TFs lead the way into hostile waters - in fact that TF disappeared the next next turn, so he obviously pulled it back.

Got to take the little wins as I can right now.

Xargun

[Bif1961]

Looking at what squads were lost at Manado ambush it doesn't look like Infantry Rgts more like engineers, armor and base forces, maybe a Major Naval Air HQ, 196 non-combat lost, 58 Engineers lost, 196 gun lost and 186 vehicles lost. I would say the Dutch have done themselves proud wooden shoes all around.

[BBfanboy]

For some reason the Nederlanders named those wooden shoes "klompen". Not good for sneaking up on the enemy ...

[Bif1961]

True but they float. [:D]

[Xargun]

The war continues with Japanese invasions all over including some forays into the South Pacific. A small CA-led TF is sent to say hi...

Day Time Surface Combat, near Efate at 117,153, Range 24,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Kashima, Shell hits 21, and is sunk
xAK Hokkai Maru, Shell hits 19, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Kunitu Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
xAKL Konsan Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Tuscaloosa, Shell hits 1
CA Wichita
DD Benham
DD Fanning
DD Le Triomphant


One thing was a bit strange, one of the xAKs was carrying fuel so not sure what was going on with that.

The TF also reacted into a lone IJN xAK and sunk it as well.

I am starting my 12/41 and 1/42 upgrades and put in a few CVL conversions.

Manila has fallen leaving only Clark and Bataan left on Luzon under allied control. Hong Kong just fell as well. I have not seen any foray into Burma yet and I am trying to build some forts to slow it down when it does happen. Also working on air fields in India to support the eventual RAF build up.

The IJN heavies have all disappeared - wondering if they finally had to head back for fuel and ammo for the next surge of invasions. Rob knows I have TBs at Singapore so he won't head for Palembang without CV support or the RAF may put a torp into a BB.

I am starting supply / fuel runs from the West Coast as well as the offmap locations.

Once I finish consolidating my naval assets I have enough ships to make a foray against the Japanese, but not sure what good that would do unless I hit the Home Islands and do some bombardments or take CVs along to hit factories / resources.

I know I need to be laying low while Rob runs amok, but I have a problem with that strategy. Maybe simply more small ambushes of lightly defended invasion fleets. Don't think I can sit back for 6 months without doing something.

Xargun