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Egan · 03-30-11, 02:57 PM

8th/9th December

I made a bad mistake. I set up several surface task forces to harass the KB and provide ASW support in the waters around Pearl. Mostly, this went ok - except, as luck would have it, to the one that had three cruisers in it.

I did one thing wrong. I set the darn task force to patrol an area, rather than simply sally forth to where the KB had been and then return home. What this meant was that the TF was in the wrong, wrong place when dawn arrived - about 100 miles from where I wanted her to be. She was well outside the air umbrella from Pearl, which had been pulled in fairly close to help fight incoming attacks.

Well, the KB, which is currently heading NW, found her and hit her with two powerful strikes. The one in the morning was bad enough but the one in the afternoon finished her off. I lost USS San Fransisco and two destroyers, and Both St Louis and Minneapolis are badly damaged. St Louis has 91 flotation damage and probably won't make it home. Minny is burning like a roman candle but may make it home if her crew get the fires under control. It was a stupid and costly mistake. The allied player certainly will never lack for cruisers but it's a long time until they start arriving in any numbers. I could have used all three of those ships.

I set the orders after setting up a bunch of ASW TFs on Area patrol. It was automatic and if I had spent even 10 seconds checking before I did something else I would have seen it was likely to go a bit wrong. Oh well, lesson learned.

In other news today:

Phillippines

He's coming heavy, that's for sure. I'm hopeful I'll get a couple of subs mixing it up and causing trouble. Maybe even I'll have some minefields in place for when the bad guys arrive.

Australia

I've begun to prep a couple of units for Noumea and pulling disparate units together to form their Divisions. For those of you new to the game, Preparation means what it sounds like: you order a land unit to start preparing for a new location or base. Preparation is out of 100 and can take a few months to get up to high enough levels. it especially important for landing at Atolls and islands - too low a prep level and they are likely to be cut apart by the enemy. I've never found it quite so important for land based warfare but a well prepped unit is still likely to have an edge over a lesser prepped one.

Once I have a couple of spare engineer units I'll send them north to Coen and Normanton. Coen can be built up to a size 9 airfield, which means an unlimited amount of aircraft can be based there. It's in a useful position as well and once I get enough B-17s in theater I'll hopefully do Japan some damage as the try to rampage down New Guinea.

Normanton, on the gulf of Carpentia, is important for another reason: it will become a major transport hub for keeping Darwin supplied. The dirt track that runs across continental Oz is simply incapable of keeping this isolated and important outpost in the beer and shrimps to which they are accustomed. It requires a major effort to do this and I doubt it will be much before mid or even late 42 that things really get going.

New Zealand

I've never done much with NZ before, but i plan to build up Aukland this time and use it as a major hub. I want to get various ships like aircraft and destroyer tenders down here and a plentiful supply of fuel - enough to support carrier ops. A full carrier TF can suck down a stunning amount of fuel when it comes into port and I don't want to let them down.

I also want to use Kiwi troops much more than my last time out. In my last game I kind of ignored them until the spring of 45 by which time it was too late to do much (the war ended on 18th June that summer.) this time I want to have them prepped and ready for action in the Solomons or New Guinea.

Elsewhere.

Many landings in northern and central Malaysia. I had a screenie but it kind of screwed up. I'm going to have to get FRAPS downloaded again I think. It makes life a bit easier. Force Z will arrive and refuel in Soerbaja tomorrow. There are a lot of ships there now so I'll await Boise and then build a pirate force. Shiver me timbers etc.

What's that? China did you say? China? You don't want to know about China: China is a mess.

Carriers

I've two carriers in the Pacific just now: The Enterprise and Lexington are steaming southeast towards Palmyra just now. From there they will either turn north to head home to Pearl, or head west and see whether they can cause trouble. I am hoping to launch a few raids here and there on isolated outposts over the next month or two, mainly to get my pilots some experience. There are a lot of threads about Allied carrier usage over at Matrix but I don't really want to hide them away. Maybe I can draw Juha into doing something rash. Saratoga is still at San Diego. I may keep her there until Yorktown arrives in about a months time.

Other News.

Juha took Makin. I imagine Tarawa is next.

There are many, many subs out there now. All coloured red. Smashing.

03-30-11, 02:57 PM	#14
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	8th/9th December I made a bad mistake. I set up several surface task forces to harass the KB and provide ASW support in the waters around Pearl. Mostly, this went ok - except, as luck would have it, to the one that had three cruisers in it. I did one thing wrong. I set the darn task force to patrol an area, rather than simply sally forth to where the KB had been and then return home. What this meant was that the TF was in the wrong, wrong place when dawn arrived - about 100 miles from where I wanted her to be. She was well outside the air umbrella from Pearl, which had been pulled in fairly close to help fight incoming attacks. Well, the KB, which is currently heading NW, found her and hit her with two powerful strikes. The one in the morning was bad enough but the one in the afternoon finished her off. I lost USS San Fransisco and two destroyers, and Both St Louis and Minneapolis are badly damaged. St Louis has 91 flotation damage and probably won't make it home. Minny is burning like a roman candle but may make it home if her crew get the fires under control. It was a stupid and costly mistake. The allied player certainly will never lack for cruisers but it's a long time until they start arriving in any numbers. I could have used all three of those ships. I set the orders after setting up a bunch of ASW TFs on Area patrol. It was automatic and if I had spent even 10 seconds checking before I did something else I would have seen it was likely to go a bit wrong. Oh well, lesson learned. In other news today: Phillippines He's coming heavy, that's for sure. I'm hopeful I'll get a couple of subs mixing it up and causing trouble. Maybe even I'll have some minefields in place for when the bad guys arrive. Australia I've begun to prep a couple of units for Noumea and pulling disparate units together to form their Divisions. For those of you new to the game, Preparation means what it sounds like: you order a land unit to start preparing for a new location or base. Preparation is out of 100 and can take a few months to get up to high enough levels. it especially important for landing at Atolls and islands - too low a prep level and they are likely to be cut apart by the enemy. I've never found it quite so important for land based warfare but a well prepped unit is still likely to have an edge over a lesser prepped one. Once I have a couple of spare engineer units I'll send them north to Coen and Normanton. Coen can be built up to a size 9 airfield, which means an unlimited amount of aircraft can be based there. It's in a useful position as well and once I get enough B-17s in theater I'll hopefully do Japan some damage as the try to rampage down New Guinea. Normanton, on the gulf of Carpentia, is important for another reason: it will become a major transport hub for keeping Darwin supplied. The dirt track that runs across continental Oz is simply incapable of keeping this isolated and important outpost in the beer and shrimps to which they are accustomed. It requires a major effort to do this and I doubt it will be much before mid or even late 42 that things really get going. New Zealand I've never done much with NZ before, but i plan to build up Aukland this time and use it as a major hub. I want to get various ships like aircraft and destroyer tenders down here and a plentiful supply of fuel - enough to support carrier ops. A full carrier TF can suck down a stunning amount of fuel when it comes into port and I don't want to let them down. I also want to use Kiwi troops much more than my last time out. In my last game I kind of ignored them until the spring of 45 by which time it was too late to do much (the war ended on 18th June that summer.) this time I want to have them prepped and ready for action in the Solomons or New Guinea. Elsewhere. Many landings in northern and central Malaysia. I had a screenie but it kind of screwed up. I'm going to have to get FRAPS downloaded again I think. It makes life a bit easier. Force Z will arrive and refuel in Soerbaja tomorrow. There are a lot of ships there now so I'll await Boise and then build a pirate force. Shiver me timbers etc. What's that? China did you say? China? You don't want to know about China: China is a mess. Carriers I've two carriers in the Pacific just now: The Enterprise and Lexington are steaming southeast towards Palmyra just now. From there they will either turn north to head home to Pearl, or head west and see whether they can cause trouble. I am hoping to launch a few raids here and there on isolated outposts over the next month or two, mainly to get my pilots some experience. There are a lot of threads about Allied carrier usage over at Matrix but I don't really want to hide them away. Maybe I can draw Juha into doing something rash. Saratoga is still at San Diego. I may keep her there until Yorktown arrives in about a months time. Other News. Juha took Makin. I imagine Tarawa is next. There are many, many subs out there now. All coloured red. Smashing.