WiTP: AE...An AAR: Egan(A) versus Happy Times(J) - Page 5

Egan · 04-08-11, 03:48 PM

Having just stopped smoking once again I find myself with a bountiful supply of nervous energy, even though I haven't really been a heavy smoker for a few years now - except when I get a couple of drinks inside me in which case I go through a packet of tabs like the Conservatives going through the welfare state..

Anyways, in a bid to stop clicking the synch button on windows mail every few seconds and screaming 'SEND ME A TURN!' at the top of my voice I will try to do something constructive. Thus:

Convoys and supply

At it's heart, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, WiTP is a resource management game like many RTS I'm sure we have all played over the years. In WiTP world there are 4 sorts of resources we get to haul around:

Resources: This is the raw materials used to construct stuff like ships or aircraft or supplies. Mostly it's important to the Japanese player although there are a few occasions when it behooves the Allies to get involved. In my case, most of my resources are to be found off-map and I don't have to worry about them as they are converted into the end products elsewhere.

Oil: Again, more important for the Japanese. Most of my oil is automatically turned into fuel in places like Abadon or the west coast. it is also used in the creation of supply. There are proper figures of how much is needed to do what but I am not overly converse in it. Remember that scene in 'Kelly's Heroes' where Oddball's Sherman breaks down and, when asked by Kelly what's wrong with it, Oddball replies "I just drive it, baby, I don't know what makes it go." That's me that is. I also do a great barking dog impression.

Fuel: Makes ships go. Without it ships don't go. See? Channeling Oddball. Aircraft, tanks and such like have their fuel requirements abstracted into supply so I don't need to worry about that. A full Carrier task force can suck down something like 30,000 tonnes of fuel if it's nearly empty so it's important to keep ports stocked.

Supplies: Guns, boots, ammo, biscuits and rum. an army marches on it's stomach so supply is essential. If you wish to replace aircraft or torpedoes or battleship ammunition a base needs to be a certain size and have at least 10,000 tonnes of supply. It may not sound like much but when there are betties stalking the shipping lanes, anything is welcome.

Convoy Routes

On the West Coast my primary transport hub is San Fransisco. Most US troops and aircraft will embark from here and most supply convoys will leave from here. Fuel shipments will also mostly leave from here although some will leave from LA.

From Seattle, convoys will deal with outlying bases in the Canadian coast and head all the way to Alaska and the Aleutian islands.

From the west coast most convoys will travel to our main pacific hub in Pearl where they will mostly unload and head back again. Occasionally, as in the case of the convoy leaving SF tonight with aircraft, it will only stop in port long enough to refuel before heading off to Australia. It's a very long journey and one I do not like doing as the chances of something nasty happening, like ships plowing into each other, or subs attacking, tends to increase.

From Pearl, smaller convoys will head to places like Christmas Island, Johnstone, Baker and Wake (while I still hold them.) The big convoys will head off to Oz and New Zealand. It will take me another few weeks to get these ones up and running as I need ships with long legs and good speed and I simply don't have them just now. Many are on route from Oz but it will be at least a fortnight until they arrive.

From Oz I will supply Suva, the Solomons, New Guinea and so forth. From Suva and New Zealand I will endeavor to keep other islands in the region well fed. I won't name them all just now I cannot remember them all. Some players prefer to use some smaller islands as dumps so task forces can load up easily. I will be doing that too but would much rather concentrate on feeding the bigger bases for the time being.

On the other side, in the Indian ocean. Convoys will ply the lanes from Capetown to Perth and Colombo and Abadan and Aden to India proper, and Ceylon if it needs. it. Every so often a strange type of automatic convoy will arrive in these ports and break down into various gear that feeds my device inventory. This is stuff that allows my units to upgrade. I Just have to haul it onto the map.

Haulage

xAKL - the little tramp steamers, will mostly be used for short range convoys to close in bases such as those around the Australian coast. For big convoys I need the large XAK types. These are my work horses. For fuel I will be using tankers (TK,) and, ealry on, fleet oilers (AO.) the AOs are too useful and rare to be used permanently for convoy duty as they are mostly meant for refueling task forces at sea.

As I never get enough of either TK or AO, convoys containing these ships will be protected as much as possible. For Juha, his economy runs on oil he has thieved from the DEI and other locations So I will be wanting to sink as many of his tankers as I possibly can in a bid to close down his refineries.

Egan · 04-08-11, 04:39 PM

23rd Dec 41

Borneo

Landings at Kuching. The Vildebeasts along the coast fail to take off. Hopefully they'll get going next turn.

Singers

The convoy carrying the Australian units is attacked by Betties about 100 miles out to sea. A flight of Buffaloes on CAP catches them and shoot down 4 for no losses! The convoy is untouched. I take back all my negative thoughts about the Buffaloes.

CenPac

A cat hits a sub loitering near Pearl. Hopefully an ASW tf can finish her off.

PI

Landings at Jolo. I've dispatched Force Z to see what they can do. I had meant to send her last run when I first spotted the fleet but I, err, um, forgot. it'll take two days for her to arrive so, knowing Force Z's rotten sense of timing, she'll find nothing more than Japanese soldiers standing on the beach laughing at them again.

I have a strange feeling Force Z might see some action this time and that it might not be for the best....

Indian Ocean/Capetown

The convoy carrying the British 18th Infantry division is on the map and should make Bombay in about 4 days. Once they arrive they are on their merry way to Calcutta.

West Coast

Sub attack on an ASW TF in the Pacific northwest. Neither side achieves much more than scare a few fish and a Cadborosaurus.

Torplexed · 04-08-11, 08:43 PM

When I played the game, it was often with a pad of paper nearby. You'd form up a convoy in San Francisco or Aden and two weeks of game turns later you couldn't remember why you had dispatched it and what it was carrying, or sometimes where it was. If nothing crosses their path they just plod silently on over the vast Pacific. I had to jot down notes to refer to when the convoys finally reached their destination, as to what I wanted done with the contents when it got there. Air groups for instance. In many cases I had earmarked them for flying west the rest of the way to Australia on their own once reaching New Caledonia.

Egan · 04-09-11, 12:14 PM

Early in the game it's fairly easy because you only ever have a few convoys to worry about, but you're right: later on it can be a real hassle.

One of the nice things is the ability to rename task forces so my convoys carry simple names that helps me work out where things are going and what is on board. SF-P:S, denotes a San Fransisco to Pearl convoy carrying supply, P-S:T would be Pearl to Sydney carrying troops and so on. Of course, it doesn't help you remember what you want to do with the cargo but it is a start.

Egan · 04-09-11, 01:14 PM

24th Dec 41

Singers

A good day all in all. A bomber raid came over early in the day and did it's job but was ambushed by Buffaloes on their way home, losing 9 Sallies to none. Later on, Two separate Oscar sweeps led to more victories, 4 more losses for none. 13 shot down today without reply. Excellent tally and a nice early Christmas present.

PI

B-17s spot and bomb IJN crusiers Suzuya and Mogami north of Palawan but do no damage. I'm not sure where this task force is heading. It might have been at Jolo yesterday or it might be on it's way there. If it is it might get interesting as Force Z should arrive some time tomorrow.

CenPac

ASW TFs attack a sub north of Pearl but don't seem to cause any damage. The big troop convoy from SF should arrive during the night. It will refuel and then head onto Christmas island. Another smaller convoy carrying Engineers, Arty and a naval support detachment is loading right now and will probably leave on Boxing day, also for Christmas Island.

The travails of the seaplane tender at Baker continue. Apparently, a base needs some supplies present before they work so I'm trying to unload some of what the AV is carrying onto the beach so we'll see whether there is any improvement. In the meantime the seaplanes has been transferred to Canton Island where the aircraft can receive some maintenance and the flight crews can eat some canned turkey tomorrow.

Hong Kong.

Still deadlocked in the wonderfully nicknamed Honkers Fiddy. A Japanese shock attacked was repelled with losses. I lost less than Juha but he can replace them - I can't. They Japanese knock down the fortifications during the day and my troops build them again at night. I don't think HK will hold out for too much longer, though.

Oz

The Cavite base foce which arrived in Perth two days ago is now riding a train across the whole of southern Australia. They will head, at first, to Townsville and from there they will make their way to Normanton and start the laborious process of turning it into a proper base.

Other News

HMS Warspite has completed her repairs in Seattle. I will keep her here for the time being as I have no escorts for her just now. Her destination will be SWPac when she does eventually set sail.

The Convoy carrying the Aussie brigades is well out at sea now. I've been thinking about it all day and I keep having this strange thought: Juha hasn't gone for Rabaul yet. What if he arrived and found nearly a division of Australian troops plus an Indian brigade and artillery awaiting him behind several forts. I could easily keep it supplied for the time being, and consolidating New Britain would cut of hopeful invasion routes to Moresby and other points - perhaps even force him to rethink operations in the Solomons. I have about a week before I have to decide one way or the other......

Egan · 04-09-11, 01:51 PM

I forgot to say, Kuching on Borneo fell on the second day. The Vildebeasts based along the coast in Singkawen had once again failed to fly which was odd as the weather was only overcast. They have been withdrawn to Batavia for the time being.

Outside this, the operations against Borneo seems to be following the same slow and methodical pattern Juha has used for the Philippines and other targets. There has been little movement against Burma, nothing in the DEI so far and outlying CenPac islands also remain untouched. Is he husbanding his forces carefully or is he just trying to get to grips with the enormous amount of troop movements the Japanese have to do at the start of the war?

Also, Juha has strategically bombed both Singapore and Hong Kong on two different days. This is fine as it does not contravene our Strategic bombing house rules but is a strange one because he is targeting manpower, starting fires and harming industrial capacity in cities he is going to take sooner or later. once he does take them he is going to have to spend industrial points to make essential repairs. Strategic bombing within the game means to give bombers the 'city bombing' option. Choosing that opens a sub menu where you can choose what sort of industry you want to target and in which city. I'm wondering whether he is confusing the 'Manpower' bombing option,(in effect, bombing civilians I think,) for military manpower. EG: the combat units themselves.

Of course, it's probable that he isn't making any mistake here and it is deliberate. I know in my last game I bombed oil production across a number of cities I later retook, so I'm not ruling anything out.

Personally, I would be ground bombing the Hong Kong and Singapore garrisons every day in order to disrupt them as much as possible. At Hong Kong in particular he would seem to need more infantry to achieve critical mass. His attacks are piecemeal and although he is slowly grinding down my forces here, a stronger attacking force would be able to roll right over them.

Another consideration here is that as Hong Kong is an urban hex, it contains a nice x4 modifier to the defence - IIRC - which gives me a little bit of breathing space. It won't last too much longer, though. I imagine the city will be his by new year.

Egan · 04-09-11, 04:05 PM

25th Dec 41

Christmas day brings little in the way of Festive spirit. In the Soviet union, the German army is deep into that horrifying first winter and in the Pacific it's business as usual. The lads in Singers and Hong Kong get no Christmas truce or football in no-man's land.

Hong Kong

Another attack by the Japanese is repelled once again. We're doing better than in the real life, I suppose. His casualties are about double mine. I'm down to about 5000 bodies in HK and Juha has about 4 times that. I think we'll hold out a while longer but not too much.

PI

IJA attack Allied forces at San Fernando but they fail to dislodge the unit defending. B-17s are again switched to ground attack in a bid to disrupt the enemy as they move south.

DEI

An interesting situation is developing. Two task forces are moving towards Manado on the edge of the Celebes Sea. Force Z is currently clearing the straits of Makassar to the west and has been ordered to try and intercept any possible landing.

Aside from Force Z, I have several submarines in the area. During the night, S-38 attacked a cargo ship a little to the north but missed with both torpedoes. Several of these boats have been retasked to bring them into a picket like across the middle of the Celebes sea. Hopefully we'll hit a couple of transports any second wave, or from the first wave as they head north again.

The cruiser task force I mentioned in the last bulletin is heading south-east through the Sulu Sea. Unless Juha's going to try a little raiding, she has to be moving into a position to protect the landings. I don't know why she is moving so far behind, though. My hope is that Force Z can thump the landing fleet and then scarper before the SCTF makes it through.

PNG

Sorong in what is technically Dutch New Guinea has a task force appear beside it. I expect landings will begin tomorrow.

West Coast.

Several units are prepping for various locations in SWPac. Currently there are about 4 full divisions and several smaller formations that can be shipped out the moment the PP cost is payed. In Seattle, a mountain regiment is prepping for the Aleutians. As I've said before, I've never really bothered with NoPac. Due to the way the weather works, I won't be able to do much up here until winter ends in March. The good thing is neither will he.

Capetown

Several AA units and a squadron of Hurricanes are being loaded onto transports. They will head to Bombay and then onto the front. I also have a couple of units in Aden to move once I can scrounge up a few transports.

India

Build up is slow but ongoing. The units that got out of Singapore should make landfall in another 3-4 days. Supply probably won't be much of a problem except at the front, especially when the monsoon season starts.

Egan · 04-09-11, 05:06 PM

26th Dec 41

Juha sent the combat replay to me. Interesting turn.

Celebes sea

Force Z gets to flex it's muscles.

Quote:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Donggala at 70,96, Range 9,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
TB Otori
TB Kasasagi, Shell hits 1
TB Hiyodori, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
TB Hayabusa, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
TB Kari, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 1
BC Repulse, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CA Houston
CL Danae
CL Mauritius
CL Marblehead
CL Boise
DD Alden
DD Barker
DD Bulmer, Shell hits 1
DD Edsall
DD John D. Edwards
DD Paul Jones
DD Parrott
DD Whipple

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 53% moonlight: 11 000yards

In two following engagements Force Z sinks the last two Torpedo boats. I'm pleased but wish it had been something more than Tbs which are pretty much small corvettes, I think. Certainly smaller than destroyers so maybe destroyer escorts is a better fit.

I don't know how badly Repulse is damaged. She took three more shells after this battle so I may have to send her to Sydney a little earlier than I hoped. If she sinks I'll put this down as a tactical defeat as they weren't worth the cost.

Juha has used his screening forces well so far. They've stopped PT attacks from reaching invasion fleets on a couple of occasions, and a couple of sub attacks too. If they hadn't been there, Force Z might have been able to close and attack something more valuable - like troop ships. Still, a victory is a victory. I won't be able to see how bad or good things are until I get the turn back. Once I check how Force Z is for ammo I'll decide what I'm going to do. He knows I'm there though, and I wouldn't be surprised if he vectors that cruiser force onto my escape routes.

Borneo

Landings at Tarakan are partially disrupted by dutch aircraft sinking one xAK and damaging two more. The port is mined so I hope to get lucky.

PI

San Fernando falls.

HK

Another attack fails to achieve much other than to grind down my forces.

CenPac

Forts at Wake are up to 3. It's going to be pretty bad for him if he lands now. He's going to have to bring a lot of supply. I may move a Marine defence unit in.

An interesting snippet of information from an air patrol:

Quote:

PBY-5 Catalina sighting report: 7 Japanese ships at 150,136 near Baker Island, speed 16, Moving Southwest

Might be nothing. Then again.....

Sub Wars

I-123 sinks a fleeing tanker in the straits of Makassar. I don't like losing tankers...

Well, it looks like I came out ahead. we'll see what state Repulse is in when I get the turn back.

Egan · 04-10-11, 04:49 AM

When I left you last, Repulse had eaten a torpedo, and Force Z had beat up on a poor TB screen. I thought Juha might vector a SCTF onto my ships as they cleared the area. Well, I was half right; a powerful looking task forcs was bearing down on me when I got the turn back but I was relieved to see that Repulse, although damaged, wasn't crippled. System Damage at 22, Flotation damage at 38 and engine damage at 12. Bad but not life threatening. She had detached from the rest of the task force and had received orders to get back to Oz for repairs. Force Z would bring up the rear and it looked like there was going to be an almighty paga in the Straits of Makassar.

I moved a squadron of Vildebeast to Balikpapen just in case they felt like flying..(they didn't but that's another story,) and a few subs were told took keep an eye out too. And with that I sent the turn and went to bed. Awakening in the middle of the night - true unfortunately, and an indication of how the game gets under your skin - with the name Repulse on my lips and fearing Force Z were sailing into a trap. I also dreamt of giant spiders hiding in a car but I'm not sure that was connected. They were big spiders, though.

When the turn arrived this morning I opened up the email and was greeted with the words 'RIP Repulse.' I haven't even had my coffee yet. As it turned out, I think Juha let fog of war get the better of him as Lovely Old Repulse was steaming on just nice......

27th Dec 41

DEI

The big cruiser force I thought was bearing down on me contained a CV apparently. I think this might have been a float plane carrier as nothing nasty flew against Force Z. Even better, the SCTF pulled away to the east leaving Force Z to escape along the straits of Makassar without a single shot being fired.

Repulse, slightly further to the south, was attacked by a sub - the same one who sunk the tanker two days ago. Luckily she missed both shots and the big battle cruiser got away. If I was Juha I would be sending orders out to my subs and getting them onto her possible lines of escape.

Looks like this misadventure may be over for now. I got off far lighter than I could have. If Juha had pressed harder with the SCTF he would have found Force Z low on ammo and probably done me a lot of damage.

Borneo

Aircraft from Balipapen flew against the landings at Tarakan. The Vildebeasts did not fly, which is annoying. I know they have no access to torpedoes here, but they are capable of carrying bombs so I don't know what the problem is.

The coastal defence guns at Tarakan made up for it by sinking one, maybe two more ships. The base probably won't last more than a couple of days but if I can tear up his fleet a bit more I'll be happy.

I-157 of Soerabaja takes several hits from an ASW TF. She's probably not too badly damaged but will hopefully slink off somewhere else for the time being.

India

18 division arrives at Bombay. I've started moving troops up towards the front line in earnest now but what I really need are engineers to build up airstrips and forts.

Oberon · 04-10-11, 05:34 AM

Phew. Thank goodness HMS Repair is alright.

Torplexed · 04-10-11, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberon

Phew. Thank goodness HMS Repair is alright.

Yeah, if I'm keeping track properly, I'd have to say that Egan has been pretty blessed on his battleship luck so far.

Egan · 04-10-11, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Yeah, if I'm keeping track properly, I'd have to say that Egan has been pretty blessed on his battleship luck so far.

Yeah, no doubt about that. No BB lost at Pearl was a great start. Prince of Wales is in good shape, Repulse should be OK but will be in the yards for at least a month-6 weeks, and Warspite is at Seattle awaiting the USN BB there to finish her upgrade, (can't remember the name of her right now.)

So, once all are repaired that gives me 12 battleships available for operations.

The BB at Pearl are mostly still at pier side getting damage down before heading back to the big yards on the west coast. One or two of them are in the yard at Pearl but it's not a big place and there are several other ships there needing repairs. Smaller ships like Subs or destroyers are going to have to be dealt with by repair ships for the time being but there is a limit to what sort of repairs they can do. Only yards can repair major damage.

A break down of my capital ships just now shows me 3 BB (including Repulse,) 14 heavy cruiser, 27 light cruisers, 3 carriers and a RN light carrier. There will be plenty more on the way. By the end of May I will have a total of 6 USN carriers, 3 RN carriers, a RN CVL and CVE Long Island plus several more cruisers and battleships. From May until the end of 42 I will receive another 4-5 USN CVE as well but that's it until May 43 when Essex arrives. Yorktown arrives in two days.

More importantly for me just now are the arrival of Marine Dive bomber and torpedo squadrons. They remain something of a rarity for many months yet so I'm going to have to get as many 2 engine attack bombers into SWPac as I can. I have another convoy loading with aircraft at SF just now; it's mostly carrying bomber with some fighters as well.

Christmas Island will receive it's first major delivery of troops within the next 48 hours. After this I think she'll be safe from any attack. Suva in SWPac remains my biggest worry just now as there are only a couple of Kiwi battalions there at the moment to provide defence.

Rabaul continues to look enticing to me. There has been a lone sub haunting the waters near Buna in PNG for three days now so I'm assuming it's there to keep an eye on shipping in the region. I've been thinking that when he does move on New Britain he'll take his flat tops with him to start a Solomons campaign in earnest.

As for me, the beginning of the game is always a difficult time for the Allied player. I'm trying to come up with a couple of raids just so I can feel good about things. Somewhere in the Gilberts or the Marshals I think; Bomb an airfield, attack some shipping (if there is any,) and get back out again.

Saratoga and Yorktown will be moved forward as soon I can scrounge up some escorts from somewhere. A huge proportion of my plentiful cruiser force are scattered here and there in convoys and task forces. I've already started pulling them together so in a week or two some of them will head to the west coast and pick up the flat tops.

Actually, I'll need to think about moving some of them down to SWPac sooner rather than later. When he finally makes his move I want some dive bombers there to annoy him.

Egan · 04-10-11, 01:48 PM

China

I hate China. In the game that is. It's a huge mountain of pure suck where good players go to die.

On turn one I gave orders to virtually every unit to run as fast as they could to good, defensive terrain. Most of them managed this, a few are still getting there and a few more are virtually trapped behind Japanese lines.

The red line is what I am going to pretend is my Main Line of Resistance. Unlike the Main Line of resistance in India, the one in China will be manned by the rotten low grade Chinese forces and a concerted push by the Japanese will break it apart. The Chinese units are plentiful but poorly equipped with low moral and experience and fairly awful commanders. Placing them in hilly or forested terrain, such as sort that the proposed MLR runs through, should mitigate some of these disadvantages.

The four circles on the MLR are where the bulk of my troops have been told to get too. Sian and Chungsha are both well defended with good levels of forts. Both have getting towards 3000AV of troops in them. The other two locations are much less than that but, given a little time, won't be far off. other bases on the MLR will be built up once I've sorted out exactly who I want to go where.

Chungking in the rear is my big Chinese base. It it important above everything else for a single reason. When a Chinese unit is destroyed by the Japanese, the destroyed unit will reappear here 30 days later. It needs supplies and equipment and men to be built back up but it represents the nearly inexhaustible supply of man power available to the Chinese. Units that are destroyed by attrition do not get replaced. If ever I've heard a good incentive to suicidal attacks against superior numbers it's that.

A word on the term 'AV'. This doesn't represent an seaplane tender, just to confuse the issue, but means 'Assault Value' EG, the effective combat strength of a unit. Now I'm not sure exactly what figures are used to arrive at the AV of a unit but I do know that 3000 Chinese AV is not the same as 3000 Japanese AV. In real terms it's worth less. The Chinese forces, as I said, suffer from several problems that the Japanese and other do not. In my experience they do much better on the defensive than attack.

Thoughts

I don't know how seriously Juha is planning to take China. Might well be he has enough on his plate this time around and will make only a few moves. There are resources available, and fuel, which I don't want to lose so if he moves against them I'll react. Unless that happens I'm happy to sit behind my defenses and wait. Any units trapped behind the lines will essentially become partisans and will try to disrupt his supply lines until they are destroyed.

Later on, much later on, I will launch a couple of major operations. It would be nice, eventually, to have a couple of bases within B-29 range of the Home Islands. This is far away from now, though, so I'll sit and wait...

Oberon · 04-10-11, 01:56 PM

Quote:

before heading back to the big yards on the west coast.

Yards? Plural? I thought Bremerton was the only big yard for BBs on the West Coast?

Egan · 04-10-11, 02:18 PM

Big yard, for me, means anything over size 50 or so. Bremerton is the biggest on-map yard. It's rated at 200 which means it can handle 200,000 tonnes of shipping. SF is 140, Mare Island and LA are both 90 and Portland is 70. There several others on the west coast between 50 and 3.

Of the non west coast but on-map ship yards the three biggest are Pearl (100), Colombo (40), and Sydney (30). Major damage repair can only be carried out at bases of thirty or above.

The biggest base of all is the Eastern USA, which is rated at 300. The UK is 100 with Capetown close behind on 80.

I would prefer to keep all the battleships at Pearl for repair but the 8 of them would far exceed the 100,000 tonnes limit and slow down work considerably so I have no choice than to move them on once flotation damage is under control. Bremerton, SF and Mare Island will receive most of them, I expect. The most badly damaged will remain at Pearl for a long time yet but I would rather have her clear for the future.

To be honest I hadn't realized Pearl had as large a Yard as she does. I thought it was about 50 or so. Still, all that space is getting used up quick.

By the way, Repulse will go into the yard at Sydney, I think. Should be enough to handle her. Mind you, I think the smaller a base is the longer it takes, and I believe naval support squads are also a factor. But then, I have to factor in transit time to Pearl or Capetown and the extra risk involved plus expenditure of escorts, extra rum rations.....No, Sydney it is.

04-08-11, 08:43 PM	#63
Torplexed Let's Sink Sumptin' ! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,823 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	When I played the game, it was often with a pad of paper nearby. You'd form up a convoy in San Francisco or Aden and two weeks of game turns later you couldn't remember why you had dispatched it and what it was carrying, or sometimes where it was. If nothing crosses their path they just plod silently on over the vast Pacific. I had to jot down notes to refer to when the convoys finally reached their destination, as to what I wanted done with the contents when it got there. Air groups for instance. In many cases I had earmarked them for flying west the rest of the way to Australia on their own once reaching New Caledonia. __________________ --Mobilis in Mobili--

04-08-11, 03:48 PM	#61
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Having just stopped smoking once again I find myself with a bountiful supply of nervous energy, even though I haven't really been a heavy smoker for a few years now - except when I get a couple of drinks inside me in which case I go through a packet of tabs like the Conservatives going through the welfare state.. Anyways, in a bid to stop clicking the synch button on windows mail every few seconds and screaming 'SEND ME A TURN!' at the top of my voice I will try to do something constructive. Thus: Convoys and supply At it's heart, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, WiTP is a resource management game like many RTS I'm sure we have all played over the years. In WiTP world there are 4 sorts of resources we get to haul around: Resources: This is the raw materials used to construct stuff like ships or aircraft or supplies. Mostly it's important to the Japanese player although there are a few occasions when it behooves the Allies to get involved. In my case, most of my resources are to be found off-map and I don't have to worry about them as they are converted into the end products elsewhere. Oil: Again, more important for the Japanese. Most of my oil is automatically turned into fuel in places like Abadon or the west coast. it is also used in the creation of supply. There are proper figures of how much is needed to do what but I am not overly converse in it. Remember that scene in 'Kelly's Heroes' where Oddball's Sherman breaks down and, when asked by Kelly what's wrong with it, Oddball replies "I just drive it, baby, I don't know what makes it go." That's me that is. I also do a great barking dog impression. Fuel: Makes ships go. Without it ships don't go. See? Channeling Oddball. Aircraft, tanks and such like have their fuel requirements abstracted into supply so I don't need to worry about that. A full Carrier task force can suck down something like 30,000 tonnes of fuel if it's nearly empty so it's important to keep ports stocked. Supplies: Guns, boots, ammo, biscuits and rum. an army marches on it's stomach so supply is essential. If you wish to replace aircraft or torpedoes or battleship ammunition a base needs to be a certain size and have at least 10,000 tonnes of supply. It may not sound like much but when there are betties stalking the shipping lanes, anything is welcome. Convoy Routes On the West Coast my primary transport hub is San Fransisco. Most US troops and aircraft will embark from here and most supply convoys will leave from here. Fuel shipments will also mostly leave from here although some will leave from LA. From Seattle, convoys will deal with outlying bases in the Canadian coast and head all the way to Alaska and the Aleutian islands. From the west coast most convoys will travel to our main pacific hub in Pearl where they will mostly unload and head back again. Occasionally, as in the case of the convoy leaving SF tonight with aircraft, it will only stop in port long enough to refuel before heading off to Australia. It's a very long journey and one I do not like doing as the chances of something nasty happening, like ships plowing into each other, or subs attacking, tends to increase. From Pearl, smaller convoys will head to places like Christmas Island, Johnstone, Baker and Wake (while I still hold them.) The big convoys will head off to Oz and New Zealand. It will take me another few weeks to get these ones up and running as I need ships with long legs and good speed and I simply don't have them just now. Many are on route from Oz but it will be at least a fortnight until they arrive. From Oz I will supply Suva, the Solomons, New Guinea and so forth. From Suva and New Zealand I will endeavor to keep other islands in the region well fed. I won't name them all just now I cannot remember them all. Some players prefer to use some smaller islands as dumps so task forces can load up easily. I will be doing that too but would much rather concentrate on feeding the bigger bases for the time being. On the other side, in the Indian ocean. Convoys will ply the lanes from Capetown to Perth and Colombo and Abadan and Aden to India proper, and Ceylon if it needs. it. Every so often a strange type of automatic convoy will arrive in these ports and break down into various gear that feeds my device inventory. This is stuff that allows my units to upgrade. I Just have to haul it onto the map. Haulage xAKL - the little tramp steamers, will mostly be used for short range convoys to close in bases such as those around the Australian coast. For big convoys I need the large XAK types. These are my work horses. For fuel I will be using tankers (TK,) and, ealry on, fleet oilers (AO.) the AOs are too useful and rare to be used permanently for convoy duty as they are mostly meant for refueling task forces at sea. As I never get enough of either TK or AO, convoys containing these ships will be protected as much as possible. For Juha, his economy runs on oil he has thieved from the DEI and other locations So I will be wanting to sink as many of his tankers as I possibly can in a bid to close down his refineries.

04-08-11, 04:39 PM	#62
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	23rd Dec 41 Borneo Landings at Kuching. The Vildebeasts along the coast fail to take off. Hopefully they'll get going next turn. Singers The convoy carrying the Australian units is attacked by Betties about 100 miles out to sea. A flight of Buffaloes on CAP catches them and shoot down 4 for no losses! The convoy is untouched. I take back all my negative thoughts about the Buffaloes. CenPac A cat hits a sub loitering near Pearl. Hopefully an ASW tf can finish her off. PI Landings at Jolo. I've dispatched Force Z to see what they can do. I had meant to send her last run when I first spotted the fleet but I, err, um, forgot. it'll take two days for her to arrive so, knowing Force Z's rotten sense of timing, she'll find nothing more than Japanese soldiers standing on the beach laughing at them again. I have a strange feeling Force Z might see some action this time and that it might not be for the best.... Indian Ocean/Capetown The convoy carrying the British 18th Infantry division is on the map and should make Bombay in about 4 days. Once they arrive they are on their merry way to Calcutta. West Coast Sub attack on an ASW TF in the Pacific northwest. Neither side achieves much more than scare a few fish and a Cadborosaurus.

04-09-11, 12:14 PM	#64
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Early in the game it's fairly easy because you only ever have a few convoys to worry about, but you're right: later on it can be a real hassle. One of the nice things is the ability to rename task forces so my convoys carry simple names that helps me work out where things are going and what is on board. SF-P:S, denotes a San Fransisco to Pearl convoy carrying supply, P-S:T would be Pearl to Sydney carrying troops and so on. Of course, it doesn't help you remember what you want to do with the cargo but it is a start.

04-09-11, 01:14 PM	#65
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	24th Dec 41 Singers A good day all in all. A bomber raid came over early in the day and did it's job but was ambushed by Buffaloes on their way home, losing 9 Sallies to none. Later on, Two separate Oscar sweeps led to more victories, 4 more losses for none. 13 shot down today without reply. Excellent tally and a nice early Christmas present. PI B-17s spot and bomb IJN crusiers Suzuya and Mogami north of Palawan but do no damage. I'm not sure where this task force is heading. It might have been at Jolo yesterday or it might be on it's way there. If it is it might get interesting as Force Z should arrive some time tomorrow. CenPac ASW TFs attack a sub north of Pearl but don't seem to cause any damage. The big troop convoy from SF should arrive during the night. It will refuel and then head onto Christmas island. Another smaller convoy carrying Engineers, Arty and a naval support detachment is loading right now and will probably leave on Boxing day, also for Christmas Island. The travails of the seaplane tender at Baker continue. Apparently, a base needs some supplies present before they work so I'm trying to unload some of what the AV is carrying onto the beach so we'll see whether there is any improvement. In the meantime the seaplanes has been transferred to Canton Island where the aircraft can receive some maintenance and the flight crews can eat some canned turkey tomorrow. Hong Kong. Still deadlocked in the wonderfully nicknamed Honkers Fiddy. A Japanese shock attacked was repelled with losses. I lost less than Juha but he can replace them - I can't. They Japanese knock down the fortifications during the day and my troops build them again at night. I don't think HK will hold out for too much longer, though. Oz The Cavite base foce which arrived in Perth two days ago is now riding a train across the whole of southern Australia. They will head, at first, to Townsville and from there they will make their way to Normanton and start the laborious process of turning it into a proper base. Other News HMS Warspite has completed her repairs in Seattle. I will keep her here for the time being as I have no escorts for her just now. Her destination will be SWPac when she does eventually set sail. The Convoy carrying the Aussie brigades is well out at sea now. I've been thinking about it all day and I keep having this strange thought: Juha hasn't gone for Rabaul yet. What if he arrived and found nearly a division of Australian troops plus an Indian brigade and artillery awaiting him behind several forts. I could easily keep it supplied for the time being, and consolidating New Britain would cut of hopeful invasion routes to Moresby and other points - perhaps even force him to rethink operations in the Solomons. I have about a week before I have to decide one way or the other......

04-09-11, 01:51 PM	#66
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	I forgot to say, Kuching on Borneo fell on the second day. The Vildebeasts based along the coast in Singkawen had once again failed to fly which was odd as the weather was only overcast. They have been withdrawn to Batavia for the time being. Outside this, the operations against Borneo seems to be following the same slow and methodical pattern Juha has used for the Philippines and other targets. There has been little movement against Burma, nothing in the DEI so far and outlying CenPac islands also remain untouched. Is he husbanding his forces carefully or is he just trying to get to grips with the enormous amount of troop movements the Japanese have to do at the start of the war? Also, Juha has strategically bombed both Singapore and Hong Kong on two different days. This is fine as it does not contravene our Strategic bombing house rules but is a strange one because he is targeting manpower, starting fires and harming industrial capacity in cities he is going to take sooner or later. once he does take them he is going to have to spend industrial points to make essential repairs. Strategic bombing within the game means to give bombers the 'city bombing' option. Choosing that opens a sub menu where you can choose what sort of industry you want to target and in which city. I'm wondering whether he is confusing the 'Manpower' bombing option,(in effect, bombing civilians I think,) for military manpower. EG: the combat units themselves. Of course, it's probable that he isn't making any mistake here and it is deliberate. I know in my last game I bombed oil production across a number of cities I later retook, so I'm not ruling anything out. Personally, I would be ground bombing the Hong Kong and Singapore garrisons every day in order to disrupt them as much as possible. At Hong Kong in particular he would seem to need more infantry to achieve critical mass. His attacks are piecemeal and although he is slowly grinding down my forces here, a stronger attacking force would be able to roll right over them. Another consideration here is that as Hong Kong is an urban hex, it contains a nice x4 modifier to the defence - IIRC - which gives me a little bit of breathing space. It won't last too much longer, though. I imagine the city will be his by new year.

04-09-11, 04:05 PM	#67
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	25th Dec 41 Christmas day brings little in the way of Festive spirit. In the Soviet union, the German army is deep into that horrifying first winter and in the Pacific it's business as usual. The lads in Singers and Hong Kong get no Christmas truce or football in no-man's land. Hong Kong Another attack by the Japanese is repelled once again. We're doing better than in the real life, I suppose. His casualties are about double mine. I'm down to about 5000 bodies in HK and Juha has about 4 times that. I think we'll hold out a while longer but not too much. PI IJA attack Allied forces at San Fernando but they fail to dislodge the unit defending. B-17s are again switched to ground attack in a bid to disrupt the enemy as they move south. DEI An interesting situation is developing. Two task forces are moving towards Manado on the edge of the Celebes Sea. Force Z is currently clearing the straits of Makassar to the west and has been ordered to try and intercept any possible landing. Aside from Force Z, I have several submarines in the area. During the night, S-38 attacked a cargo ship a little to the north but missed with both torpedoes. Several of these boats have been retasked to bring them into a picket like across the middle of the Celebes sea. Hopefully we'll hit a couple of transports any second wave, or from the first wave as they head north again. The cruiser task force I mentioned in the last bulletin is heading south-east through the Sulu Sea. Unless Juha's going to try a little raiding, she has to be moving into a position to protect the landings. I don't know why she is moving so far behind, though. My hope is that Force Z can thump the landing fleet and then scarper before the SCTF makes it through. PNG Sorong in what is technically Dutch New Guinea has a task force appear beside it. I expect landings will begin tomorrow. West Coast. Several units are prepping for various locations in SWPac. Currently there are about 4 full divisions and several smaller formations that can be shipped out the moment the PP cost is payed. In Seattle, a mountain regiment is prepping for the Aleutians. As I've said before, I've never really bothered with NoPac. Due to the way the weather works, I won't be able to do much up here until winter ends in March. The good thing is neither will he. Capetown Several AA units and a squadron of Hurricanes are being loaded onto transports. They will head to Bombay and then onto the front. I also have a couple of units in Aden to move once I can scrounge up a few transports. India Build up is slow but ongoing. The units that got out of Singapore should make landfall in another 3-4 days. Supply probably won't be much of a problem except at the front, especially when the monsoon season starts.

04-10-11, 04:49 AM	#69
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	When I left you last, Repulse had eaten a torpedo, and Force Z had beat up on a poor TB screen. I thought Juha might vector a SCTF onto my ships as they cleared the area. Well, I was half right; a powerful looking task forcs was bearing down on me when I got the turn back but I was relieved to see that Repulse, although damaged, wasn't crippled. System Damage at 22, Flotation damage at 38 and engine damage at 12. Bad but not life threatening. She had detached from the rest of the task force and had received orders to get back to Oz for repairs. Force Z would bring up the rear and it looked like there was going to be an almighty paga in the Straits of Makassar. I moved a squadron of Vildebeast to Balikpapen just in case they felt like flying..(they didn't but that's another story,) and a few subs were told took keep an eye out too. And with that I sent the turn and went to bed. Awakening in the middle of the night - true unfortunately, and an indication of how the game gets under your skin - with the name Repulse on my lips and fearing Force Z were sailing into a trap. I also dreamt of giant spiders hiding in a car but I'm not sure that was connected. They were big spiders, though. When the turn arrived this morning I opened up the email and was greeted with the words 'RIP Repulse.' I haven't even had my coffee yet. As it turned out, I think Juha let fog of war get the better of him as Lovely Old Repulse was steaming on just nice...... 27th Dec 41 DEI The big cruiser force I thought was bearing down on me contained a CV apparently. I think this might have been a float plane carrier as nothing nasty flew against Force Z. Even better, the SCTF pulled away to the east leaving Force Z to escape along the straits of Makassar without a single shot being fired. Repulse, slightly further to the south, was attacked by a sub - the same one who sunk the tanker two days ago. Luckily she missed both shots and the big battle cruiser got away. If I was Juha I would be sending orders out to my subs and getting them onto her possible lines of escape. Looks like this misadventure may be over for now. I got off far lighter than I could have. If Juha had pressed harder with the SCTF he would have found Force Z low on ammo and probably done me a lot of damage. Borneo Aircraft from Balipapen flew against the landings at Tarakan. The Vildebeasts did not fly, which is annoying. I know they have no access to torpedoes here, but they are capable of carrying bombs so I don't know what the problem is. The coastal defence guns at Tarakan made up for it by sinking one, maybe two more ships. The base probably won't last more than a couple of days but if I can tear up his fleet a bit more I'll be happy. I-157 of Soerabaja takes several hits from an ASW TF. She's probably not too badly damaged but will hopefully slink off somewhere else for the time being. India 18 division arrives at Bombay. I've started moving troops up towards the front line in earnest now but what I really need are engineers to build up airstrips and forts.

04-10-11, 05:34 AM	#70
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	Phew. Thank goodness HMS Repair is alright.

04-10-11, 01:48 PM	#73
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	China I hate China. In the game that is. It's a huge mountain of pure suck where good players go to die. On turn one I gave orders to virtually every unit to run as fast as they could to good, defensive terrain. Most of them managed this, a few are still getting there and a few more are virtually trapped behind Japanese lines. The red line is what I am going to pretend is my Main Line of Resistance. Unlike the Main Line of resistance in India, the one in China will be manned by the rotten low grade Chinese forces and a concerted push by the Japanese will break it apart. The Chinese units are plentiful but poorly equipped with low moral and experience and fairly awful commanders. Placing them in hilly or forested terrain, such as sort that the proposed MLR runs through, should mitigate some of these disadvantages. The four circles on the MLR are where the bulk of my troops have been told to get too. Sian and Chungsha are both well defended with good levels of forts. Both have getting towards 3000AV of troops in them. The other two locations are much less than that but, given a little time, won't be far off. other bases on the MLR will be built up once I've sorted out exactly who I want to go where. Chungking in the rear is my big Chinese base. It it important above everything else for a single reason. When a Chinese unit is destroyed by the Japanese, the destroyed unit will reappear here 30 days later. It needs supplies and equipment and men to be built back up but it represents the nearly inexhaustible supply of man power available to the Chinese. Units that are destroyed by attrition do not get replaced. If ever I've heard a good incentive to suicidal attacks against superior numbers it's that. A word on the term 'AV'. This doesn't represent an seaplane tender, just to confuse the issue, but means 'Assault Value' EG, the effective combat strength of a unit. Now I'm not sure exactly what figures are used to arrive at the AV of a unit but I do know that 3000 Chinese AV is not the same as 3000 Japanese AV. In real terms it's worth less. The Chinese forces, as I said, suffer from several problems that the Japanese and other do not. In my experience they do much better on the defensive than attack. Thoughts I don't know how seriously Juha is planning to take China. Might well be he has enough on his plate this time around and will make only a few moves. There are resources available, and fuel, which I don't want to lose so if he moves against them I'll react. Unless that happens I'm happy to sit behind my defenses and wait. Any units trapped behind the lines will essentially become partisans and will try to disrupt his supply lines until they are destroyed. Later on, much later on, I will launch a couple of major operations. It would be nice, eventually, to have a couple of bases within B-29 range of the Home Islands. This is far away from now, though, so I'll sit and wait...

04-10-11, 02:18 PM	#75
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Big yard, for me, means anything over size 50 or so. Bremerton is the biggest on-map yard. It's rated at 200 which means it can handle 200,000 tonnes of shipping. SF is 140, Mare Island and LA are both 90 and Portland is 70. There several others on the west coast between 50 and 3. Of the non west coast but on-map ship yards the three biggest are Pearl (100), Colombo (40), and Sydney (30). Major damage repair can only be carried out at bases of thirty or above. The biggest base of all is the Eastern USA, which is rated at 300. The UK is 100 with Capetown close behind on 80. I would prefer to keep all the battleships at Pearl for repair but the 8 of them would far exceed the 100,000 tonnes limit and slow down work considerably so I have no choice than to move them on once flotation damage is under control. Bremerton, SF and Mare Island will receive most of them, I expect. The most badly damaged will remain at Pearl for a long time yet but I would rather have her clear for the future. To be honest I hadn't realized Pearl had as large a Yard as she does. I thought it was about 50 or so. Still, all that space is getting used up quick. By the way, Repulse will go into the yard at Sydney, I think. Should be enough to handle her. Mind you, I think the smaller a base is the longer it takes, and I believe naval support squads are also a factor. But then, I have to factor in transit time to Pearl or Capetown and the extra risk involved plus expenditure of escorts, extra rum rations.....No, Sydney it is.