I'll be honest, I have no great hopes for the one midget sub I can field at a time :D It's more an experiment than anything else becauase I've never used them before. I'm not even sure I'm loading them right...

Yep, Noumea was one of the bases I'd thought I'd try it out at, Luganville as well.

10th Oct

One of my Vals spotted and got a lucky hit on a PT boat in the Slot. This is the first time I've seen CCIP use PT boats in the game. I'll have to be careful, they're deadly if used right.

CCIp tried to slip a convoy into Moresby, carrying troops and equipment. For the first time, and for reason known only to them, the Vals I has stationed at Lae took off to deal some damage.

They did pretty well, losing only one aircraft during two sorties - and that one went down to flak rather than the CAP.

A good days work for those guys. Bovril all round!

KB1 is pulling back to Rabaul. Goodness knows why - there's no fuel there.

I-16 has taken the Mini sub and gone to sea. I've told her to head to Lugganville first because this is the last place I got a sniff of some of CCIP's bigger ships and I think he was using it as a staging post. Whether he still is I don't know.

The Vals at Lae will hopefully fly again tomorrow. I don't think I nailed all those ships, but they are all seriously damaged. He's moving more troops in. That's fine. All the more to build the prison camp when my guys arrive.

Using xAPs to Moresby at the current situation was pretty much asking for it. It takes ages to unload with that small a port.

I think he maybe got cute and, knowing where my carriers have been for the last week, and knowing that the remains of my level bombers are currently used by the PNG natives to provide, bonfire fuel, decking and roofing he decided to risk it. I guess the Vals bombing his ships surprised him - they certainly surprised me! How big is Moresby anyway? Size 3? 4? I think he maybe reckoned that a small troop convoy, backed up by CAP would be safe enough given that it looked like other factors were in his favour.

Or he might be saving the handful of decent amphibious shipping he has for a half-chance at getting troops onto the beach somewhere quick....Where would be possible, if he has the means and desire to do it?

Tassaforonga? Doesn't yeild much in the way of VP for the Allied player, but he might fancy a quick invasion to consolidate his gains. The fact that he doesn't seem to have moved troops across the island to where my men are kind of suggets he's content to let it lie, at least for the time being. Still, it's far easier to carry out the attack by sea than by land. Wouldn't help him, though, my forts there are level six and I've got a good sized force in place who are well supplied (sometimes...:))

Shortlands? If I was CCIP, and I had enough aircover, I would think long and hard about trying to land on Buganviile. It has a decent harbour that can be built up, and the airfield can also be made useful. Most importantly, it puts him that much closer to Rabaul - I think Wildcats with drop tanks could get there, couldn't they? I know if I was playing the Allies, Shortlands would be next on my target list once Guadalcanal and Moresby were secure. Another thing in it's favour is that the distance from Lunga and Tulagi tends to reduce the need for carriers.

Buna? No, too risky by far. Rabaul? That would be fun, but no....

So, if I was CCIP what would I do? Simple, I would have a force at Luganville with plenty of supply and I would have been training them for a good month now so that they are getting prepped for Shortlands. Then, as soon as I know that the Japanese player has commited to PNG, I would move them out and up and head for Shortlands. It's a very high risk gambit that relies on knowing what the opponent is going to be doing - and knowing where his carriers are - but it's doable, even without the shipping he's lost. If he was successful, it changes the balance by a margin.

Darn it, I've scared myself, I think I'd better get more troops onto Buganville as soon as I can. And more engineers. Building an airstrip takes a geological age if you are starting from size 0.

IIRC the port at Moresby starts at 2 and is already at or over its SPS, which naturally means it takes ages to expand. It can dock a whopping 12000 tons of shipping at the start and cargo handling isn't much to brag about either :D

What I've learned even against the AI is that if you want to resupply PM, Lunga or Milne(all size 1 or 2 ports) early in the campaign you've got no other choice but to send amphibious capable ships with heavy air cover, or tiny TFs that can dock there. It's not optimal, but the huge xAP and xAK task forces take weeks to unload at worst, which means they will get blasted sooner or later. It's not fun having your CVs hang around the same spot all that time either. Tulagi has a size 3 port with the ability to dock 24000 tons, so the situation there is much better.

Fyi I'll be moving on Rabaul in my own AI campaign once everything is sorted out at Moresby, Milne and Lunga. Should be interesting. Preparations will include raiding Truk and Rabaul with CV based airpower :arrgh!:

Remember that the Allied player doesn't exactly have free land units and political points to throw around, which really limits his ability to conduct offensive ops past Guadalcanal.

I think Rabaul is probably a bridge too far for CCIP in this game. He would need every available land unit and most of his carriers to make it even 50-50.

Does the Allied player get any of those little coastal tranports in this scenario - like those xAKL than can be converted over in the main campaign?

I clean forgot about PPs because I've only had to use them to change a couple of commanders. I wonder how low he is?

11th Oct

Dusk comes with various subs reporting the distant sounds of hulls breaking up. I guess that at least 4 of the ships I hit yesterday are going down. The remainder apparently get to port safely for there are no more strikes by the Vals.

I finally solved my sub minelayer problems. Turns out that the reason they wouldn't load is that, on the industry stockpiles list, i had set those mines to stockpile. This is a new feature introduced by one of the patches and I don't remember doing it but it's done now. 4 Subs are loaded up and heading out: 2 for Moresby, one for Townsville and one for Noumea. I-16 should be in position to launch her minsub towards Lugaville in approx two days, which is good because intel shows a task force there. I don't know what the composition is so I have ordered a Glen carrying sub to get closer and run a recon job.

I've set up two groups of Zeroes to sweep over Moresby: A large wing of 27 from Rabaul running on drops, and a smaller 16 bus squadron from Buna. I'll let them fly for about three days before standing them down and we'll see how many Wildcats we can thin out. Intel claims there are 69 fighters there, but I remain skeptical.

Rabaul is now totally dry of fuel. Any ship that wants to load is going to have to bring a hose and suck it out of the tanks of other vessels. The tanker convoy at Truk should be finished loading tomorrow or the day after so I could be looking towards the far side of a week before it arrives.

And lastly. :oops:

I accidentally opened CCIPs thread last night...it's an easy mistake to make when they both have similar titles, I think. I didn't see anything at all, except to confirm that some guy called CCIP is posting there!

12 Oct

I-16 arrives at Luganville a day early but the minsub gets lost on it's way into the harbour and returns. I'll try again tomorrow.

The Glen carrying sub has reported some interesting information about Luganville, though. There are a pile of ships here at the moment, including what the pilot claims are battleships, a number of cruisers and a CVE. There are also several troop transports. It's tempting to send KB1 one a long range hit but, alas, there probably isn't enough fuel now. I'll see what I can scrounge up. I'm going to reconfigure her this turn anyway, to take into account the new flat top.

I've also taken the time to rework my ASW units this turn. I've noticed a bit of a build up of US subs over the last few days around Rabaul. I've created two ASW TFs and confined them to the specific area the subs keep appearing in, and ordered some patrol aircraft and float plane to conduct heavy ASW patrols of the area too.

There were no flights today by either side, according to my combat report. This is the first time in the game, I think. There were a brace of half-hearted attacks on Destroyers by Jananese subs but nothing came to pass.

I'm in two minds about how to rebuild to KB TF. Should I lower the amount of Carriers in it or increase? Junyo's top speed is about 7 knots lower than the other two fleet carriers, and slower than either of the light carriers. Rubbishy Japanese ship builders....Still, it could be worse, we could be playing War in the East and have Hitler demanding I put two extra turrets on a Tiger tank to 'make it more shooty', completely oblivious to the fact it is now so slow and heavy it goes backwards.

Oh, and for those interested, my one source of fuel and supplies, Truk, produces these daily: Supply points, 1500, Fuel, 2000. And that's it. When you see that a carrier task force can use about 15000+ fuel points when returning after a medium length patrol, you can see where my problems are coming from.

:har:


How are you coping with limited fuel supplies? Do your TFs just get stuck waiting in Truk for another few days until you have enough fuel? Or do you send the next patrol out with 2/3 gas tanks and pull 'em back that much sooner?

At the moment I have ASW tfs to think about so that sort of thing, and fast transports, are actually going to get priority for the time being. I'm basically removing fuel from ships are that idle just now. There are a fair few cruisers at Rabaul that aren't going to be doing very much for the next couple of weeks. I tried refueling the KB last night but ran out of ops points, meaning the carriers won't be able to refuel until today - if there's any left anyway.

In actual fact, A tanker covoy is should be leaving Truk today carrying about 12500 points of fuel. This is a drop in the ocean, though. I'm, fortunate that I don't need to be out challenging everything in sight with my carriers or battleships, which might have been the case if not for the battle of the Coral Sea. That is all going to change, thoough. Once I start on the invasion, I'm going to need every drop at my disposal.

How well defended is that precious fuel?
Is it a couple of half empty tankers/oilers or did you fill to the gills?

I'm fairly paranoid about escorting fuel and troop convoys so it's quite well defended with some PBs and E boats. The convoy coming behind has 4 destroyers which should be enough. The inbound convoy is fully loaded.

One the task force selection screen I notice there is a text box at the side that tells you how much fuel you need to refuel all the ships at anchor, and how much is needed for the task forces docked at that specific base. I have either missed this in the past, or it is a new feature from one of the beta patches. Either way, it's most useful. It seems I need about 12000 points for both, so 24000 altogether, to top up every tank in Rabaul.

13th Oct

Zeroes sweep Moresby, shooting down half a dozen P-39s and a couple of Wildcats. Over the two sorties they fly I lose 5 Zeroes altogether, but the second mission was three Zeroes against a 50 bus CAP. 7 for 5 is just about OK.

I-16 returns from Luganville after the Minisub sea tests were a total washout. She got lost twice and I-16 has picked up damage from somewhere - probably a Cat dropping an opportunistic bomb on her as she dives, although I can't seem to find any record of it happening.

I received a flash message claiming that a 'Japanese CL reported HIT.' but all my ships seem fine - the highest damage any of them has is 4 sys. Thats about par for the course for a few weeks patrolling and reflects normal wear and tear.

I also received intel that the USS Carolina is still afloat. She had been reported to have taken 4 or 5 torpedoes so I'd be quite surprised if she's still in fully operational service. It's possible CCIP took her in somewhere to allow flotation and fire damage to stabilize and one of my coast watchers has picked her up as she gets underway for dry dock somewhere. That's the best scenario. The worst, of course, is that she materializes on top of my invasion ships with a slight dent in her bow and guns filled with righteous anger.

I've doubled the ASW TFs at Rabaul again. I'm getting jumpy about subs suddenly. He's probably due a hit one of these days...

14th/15th Oct

Not much happened on the 14th so I hope you'll excuse me running them both together.

Mining operations via submarine have been completed at Moresby, Lunga and Townsville. The subs are all returning to base now.

3 of the C1 class subs arrive at Truk. These are the ones that carry the mini subs and will go to Shortlands to pick up some of the little boats that magically appeared there two turns ago. From there I aim to send them on to Sydney and Noumea.

The Fog of War parted a little bit as well. I finally got confirmation that USS Saratoga sank, and as well as showing up in both the operations report and in the ships sunk list, I got the points for her as well which is as good as proof as far as I'm concerned. I'm a little happier knowing that 1 out of 4 are gone.

Confusingly, the USS North Carolina, which I was told was still in service only yesterday, has reappeared in the ships sunk list, where, it is claimed, she went under yesterday. Hmmmm.

On the 15th my ASW efforts began to have an effect. First of all, having had my mind put in motion by Tribesman's question about convoy escorts, and looking at the pile of US subs that I've started finding around Rabual, I sent a flotilla of destroyers to merge with and escort the tanker convoy through what is beginning to look like dangerous waters. I'm glad I did. The convoy was attacked on three occasions and on two of them my escorts did the unthinkable and actually got a depth charge on target. Damage will be at the 'made me spill my tea' end of the scale, but it feels like an achievement all the same.

The convoy is now at port and unloading a few hours after a troop convoy began their return journey to Truk. I now have about 1000 AV at Rabaul, with more to come.

Does anyone have any data on how effective ASW aircraft were at actually sinking subs (either side) during the Pacific war? It's kind of abstracted in the game but for an occasional message telling you a sub has been hit.

I've had mixed results aswell. Well into September I've only sunk two proper subs confirmed and several midgets. A few more have probably been lost to mines around the Slot(I've mined it heavily, which has turned out to be costly to the Japs), and air attacks by ASW patrol aircraft. The numerous surface ASW patrols around Oz and Noumea are only responsible for one of these sinkings. That's four ASW task forces of three Sub chasers each around Noumea alone! What's more important though is that I've only lost one already damaged CL to enemy subs, so in that sense the escorts have done their job.

edit:
Here's a list of jap submarine losses in WW2. Seems that quite a few have indeed fallen to various surface escort and patrol ships.
I especially like this:
That'd be five subs and one partial in two weeks, thanks!