Quote:
Originally Posted by Ostfriese
Does going after the Indian Ocean targets mean that he is going for softer targets? I don‘t really see the point why he operates so far west. His carrier forces are superior to yours, but this isn‘t going to last with the Essexes on the horizon.
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I think he's being methodical. Like he did with Hawaii, he's going to establish air/supply bases in the vicinity of my major base to cut it off and give his fleet someplace close to refuel/rearm to maintain a high OpTempo. I still think Sri Lanka--really, the naval base at Columbo--is the real target.
Strategically speaking, as for why he wants to take Sri Lanka down? I'm not sure. It's mostly a midway point for keeping Australia full of middle eastern fuel and a base for the British fleet, which is a shadow of its former self anyway. Let me check the point values of those bases and the auto-victory conditions...conquering Sri Lanka would increase his VP 1136 points over mine. The score right now is 34,831 to 31,231, he'd need 4 to 1 for an autovictory in 1943, so this is nearly worthless if that was his goal. Taking India, on the other hand, would move that needle significantly. Calcutta alone is over a 1,000 point swing. Sri Lanka can't really do much to defend a land invasion of eastern India though. You'd still want to do it, but at the expense of leaving most of the Pacific short on carriers?
I'm really nervous that his carriers haven't "checked in" with me by bombing Addu, but at least for now it doesn't look like he's defending Java all that well, especially with the Kaga--his apparent insurance policy--laid up with nasty torpedo damage. I have a couple subs moving into position off Sumatra to try to give me some warning if he really did detach a few to send south, also I have 4 minelayer-destroyers acting as scouts before they jam up a channel. Let's see how soft this underbelly really is.