WiTP:AE - Guadalcanal. Egan(J) v CCIP(A). BANZAI!

[Fincuan]

Egan has no doubt played this scenario as Allies when learning the game, so he has at least a general idea on what CCIP had at the start and what he gets and when. I think they're running with "Fixed reinforcements" switched on, so even the dates don't change. Nevertheless it'd be nice to see the FOW aspect preserved while we jump between threads. Afterall the scouts might have easily misidentified SoDak, or identified a DD as a BB or something similar. You'll rarely know for sure in this game

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Fincuan

Egan has no doubt played this scenario as Allies when learning the game, so he has at least a general idea on what CCIP had at the start and what he gets and when. I think they're running with "Fixed reinforcements" switched on, so even the dates don't change. Nevertheless it'd be nice to see the FOW aspect preserved while we jump between threads. Afterall the scouts might have easily misidentified SoDak, or identified a DD as a BB or something similar. You'll rarely know for sure in this game

Yes, please leave CCIP's shipping in the other thread. My scout saw a battleship called South Dakota. That doesn't mean they saw a battleship called South Dakota. Misidentification is a fairly major part of the FOW in this game, as is lack of confirmation.

To put bluntly, I have no confirmation at all that any carriers have sunk. Until I do, I will play as if they are still out there. Actually, I had confirmation that Enterprise was still afloat only a few days ago, and a Glen had a sighting of a CV around that time as well.

As Fincuan points out, I have played this scenario before but it was a while ago, so I don't really know what arrives and when except in a fairly general sense. I can't remember whether or not CCIP gets any more carriers or BBs but it's only sensible to plan for the possibility that he does.

I won't go chasing after any BB based on the word of a scout pilot mostly occupied in avoiding 30 odd F-4s because, aside from everything else, sinking it doesn't end anything. BBs might rule the waves, but in WiTP air cover waives that rule and they own the skies. To chase down a retreating task force - and it does appear to be retreating - into an area where he has almost certainly piled Marine dive bombers and torpedo bombers is not sensible unless I'm going to gain something more than sinking a few ships. An invasion, yes, but not this. I don't particularly fear his surface ships, but his dirt carriers can sure be nasty.

But, hey, KB1 isn't far away. You never know what's going to happen next. Let me have my breakfast and we'll find out!

[Egan]

4th Oct

OK. It's all academic anyway. It seems that in my rage the other night I ordered the carriers to pull back a bit and wait for further orders, except I forgot to add the 'wait' bit so they have basically bugged out. They're still at sea and have been ordered to head back towards the Slot with Yamato in tow. It's one of those stupid little oversights that rear their head in the game occasionally. Ah well, war wouldn't be war without screw ups.

I-9 got well and truly plastered by ASW escorts south of Guadal. I'm noticing a big increase in CCIP's ASW effectiveness. I think I've had about half a dozen boats either badly damaged or destroyed now without landing even a single hit on his. I've said it before, I think, but the modeling of the Japanese failure to programme their depth charge patterns to a deep enough depth seems new to me. I don't recall seeing it before. I might be wrong now and only commenting on it now I'm playing as the Japanese.

Oh yes, CCIP almost got an late Christmas present. USS Sailfish popped up on the track of the Zuiho and hit her with a torpedo, Luckily, the US Department of Damp Exploding Things were up to their usual standard and it was a dud. Phew.

Again, Glens report a stout force at Luganville consisting of cruisers, a BB and a CV. This is likely the same group I saw at Guadal.

Elsewhere it's the old story of shuffling troops around and getting supply to those that need it.

Right, I'm off to bring justice to Gotham for a while. Kapow!

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by Egan

OK. It's all academic anyway. It seems that in my rage the other night I ordered the carriers to pull back a bit and wait for further orders, except I forgot to add the 'wait' bit so they have basically bugged out. They're still at sea and have been ordered to head back towards the Slot with Yamato in tow. It's one of those stupid little oversights that rear their head in the game occasionally. Ah well, war wouldn't be war without screw ups.

That's a classic and happens to me all the time. Another one is trying to do a quick supply run to a precarious island and leaving the transports on "Do not retreat". Combine that with having their cover force on "Allow retreat" and you're good to go

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Fincuan

That's a classic and happens to me all the time. Another one is trying to do a quick supply run to a precarious island and leaving the transports on "Do not retreat". Combine that with having their cover force on "Allow retreat" and you're good to go

And 'Do not unload'. I had an entire Amphipious force set to that in an AI game once. I was trying to invade Tarawa....They changed it at some point so that you couldn't load a ship unless you either had either that switched on or a desitination set, otherwise they would just unload everything you ordered them to pick up on the next turn. It makes trying to get an invasion fleet ready just that little bit harder.

[Egan]

5th Oct

I-169 is the latest sub to suffer from CCIP's invigorated destroyers, taking 11 bad hits. She managed to escape, only to succumb to flooding later on. that's 5 subs sunk, now, with about three returned to Osaka. It's beginning to worry me a little bit now, but i don't want to pull them back because, due to the lack of patrol aircraft that can see beyond Guadalcanal, they're the only means of intelligence gathering I have parts of the map, especially the boats with Glens.

CV Junyo has arrived at Truk and has now joined with several escorts for her move to Truk. She has a noticably smaller capacity than the two older carriers but is still better - and faster - than either of the jeep carriers I have.

KB1 is still heading back to where she was supposed to be, probably just in time as there are several TFs operating near Lunga again.

Elsewhere I've managed to scrounge up a few more transports that I can convert to APs. These are recent arrivals, mostly, and will take about three weeks to convert at Truk. I should have enough for Operation Bluenose, though. All the troops are now at Rabaul, and various fighter groups are unpacking new aircraft.

I have to check my Bomber crews next turn, I think. Another reason for the terrible displays recently are probably due to the experience and skill levels being a lot lower than at the start of the game. I'm going to load up at least two groups and just set them to training for a couple of months. They aren't going to be a force to be reckoned with for quite a while anyway.

[Krauter]

Would it be possible for you to set your submarines to a "Do not engage" setting where they only observe and report?

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Krauter

Would it be possible for you to set your submarines to a "Do not engage" setting where they only observe and report?

I can set their threat tolerance to 'Low' but that doesn't stop them from engaging and I'd like them to remain a threat anyway. I've sunk a number of destroyers with my subs so far - and of course some hits on carriers.

6th Oct

A couple of sinking sounds as the turn ran, but I don't know what they were. it's always disconcerting....

KB1 reached out and hit a small convoy that looked like it was going to Tulagi. It contained a couple of minesweepers and float plane tenders:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 116,137

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 51
B5N1 Kate x 25
D3A2 Val x 26



Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 17


Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
AM Direct
DD Aylwin, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AVD Mackinac, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AVD Ballard, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AM Constant, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

The DD and the Mackinac are both sunk, I think, and I might get the others tomorrow as they try to clear. A small gang of Dive bombers plus escort tried to get back at me but came of much worse with 5 wildcats and two Dauntless destroyed for no loss.

Yamato has been let off her leash. This quite a strong force, with 4 battleships and several cruisers. She'll pound Lunga and hopefully hurt the air strip.

There are a number of formations moving around so he might have bigger assets ready to go. I assume he's been waiting to see where my carriers reappear anyway. With a bit of luck the Zeroes from the carriers will help out with CAP. I don't think he'd cause too many problems with what he has there, but you never know.

All in all it's satisfying to beat up on any ship with carriers, but if I hadn't screwed up I might have had bigger fish to fry.

[USS Drum]

Why don't you try to blockade the shipping routes to Guadalcanal so the marines can't get there supplies?

[Egan]

Originally Posted by USS Drum

Why don't you try to blockade the shipping routes to Guadalcanal so the marines can't get there supplies?

It's been done here and there so far, through subs, carriers and anti shipping aircraft. It's hardly been a concerted effort, of course, because the main focus has been on Moresby, which has been hit shipping wise on several occasions.

Subs can't operate in too large a zone, and, as we have seen, they're not always reliable. Anti-air shipping is not possible just now, for the reason we saw a few days ago, and combat vessels have had to curtail too many activities due to A: The presence of his carriers, and latterly, B: the risk of land based Aircraft in the form of dive and torpedo bombers operating, in this case, from Tulagi, and Lunga. The amount of time they can spend on station is limited to the endurance of the smallest escort. Originally, the capital ships had destroyers that seriously lacked any long range. Even now, with them all swapped out, I can't keep them at sea for too long. I still have a low rate of fuel coming into my side of the game (CCIP gets his plentiful reserves from two sources, remember,) and the big formations drink Rabaul dry every time they arrive back.

There is another thing to bear in mind. we are only 8 weeks into a scenario that runs for another 7 months. My primary objective was to attrit his capital ships as a prelude to moving on various targets. The primary objective has (probably) been completed and it allows me lattitude to carry out the rest of my plans.

Lunga is not, and has never been, the main objective. Moresby is, with Milne just behind it and Lunga third.

Anyway, Yamato is calling...Next turn has arrived.

[Egan]

7th Oct

CCIP must think I'm coming to Lunga full bore.

Although there were no aircraft flying from the carriers today due to weather, CCIP got lots up without having much effect.

He tried his luck against the fast transport flotilla that's going to Tassaforonga, which must look like an advance guard. After that he came at Yamato and - horror of horrors - landed a bomb from a Dauntless on her: It was horrible, the captain spilled his tea and everything!

Seriously, she's built like a primordial. In my last AI game, I saw her take about 12 torpedoes and countless bombs over a period of three days before I was finally sure I'd got her. She remains the most entertaining ship I have.

Yamato should go in tonight. She had no CAP over her when the US aircraft arrived. I assume this was because of the weather over KB1. Forecast is better for tomorrow.

Question: Does anyone know how I get a sub to carry a Midget sub? Are there specific classes that allow it? It's not something I've ever had to worry about before, but now I've got a decent supply stockpile I'd thought I'd invest in some for testing purposes.

[USS Drum]

Why don't you just send a scout over the ports because if his carriers did survive they will definitively be in dry dock.

[Egan]

8th Oct

Yamato and her cronies arrive off the shore of Lunga and wrecked hell on the poor, sleeping marines. We do about 270 casualties, which is pretty good going, but it is to the aircraft we do the most damage. Immediate battle reports claim that nearly 50 Wildcats and nearly the same amount of Dauntless are damaged, with a few of each destroyed outright. But checking the daily 'Aircraft destroyed' table tells me 25 Wildcats and 15 Dive bombers were destroyed on the ground. If he has 100 aircraft on Lunga for me to damage, he must be overstacked as the air strip there isn't huge. Yamato is on her way home to rearm.

KB1 flew a strike against ships way to the south, but it was a bit of a washout. She continues to sail through fairly strong seas with overcast, rainy conditions set to continue. Once she's done with this mission in a few days she'll return to Rabaul and I'll reconfigure the carriers ahead of the invasion. I have a solid date in mind for Operation Bluenose now, with the as-yet unnamed invasion of Moresby to follow. I'm still putting together a list of ships and task forces I'll need but that shouldn't take too long.

@Drum: Well, the only scouts I really have available for that sort of thing are Glen equiped subs because his only dry dock is at Sydney and, even if the carriers are at drydock, it's going to be too small for them all. He'd have to send them back to Pearl, which is off map. I have no patrol aircraft with the range to reach Sydney and, for obvious reasons, I'm not going to risk surface ships for a task they are not suited.

The Glens are useful, and I've got good intel from them before, but they are single aircraft with a single pilot, are very short range and limited in what they can tell me.

Besides, I don't need to know, not entirely. I can be reasonably confident that three of his flat tops are not operational, and the one that might still be sailing is only going to have CVEs for company. He might get another fleet carrier in late Nov/Dec (I can't remember what he gets later, It's been a couple of years since I played this from the Allide side,) but by that point, as long as nothing drastic happens, I'll have even more in play.

[USS Drum]

What do you want to do with midget subs? attack Sydney harbor? Well if you want to use the you probably need a C1 type sub.

[Egan]

Originally Posted by USS Drum

What do you want to do with midget subs? attack Sydney harbor? Well if you want to use the you probably need a C1 type sub.

Cheers, I knew it was a specific class. I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with them yet, it's really only an experiment. I'm still unfamiliar with the japanese gear. I'm still wowed by subs carrying aircraft. I mean, how cool is that?