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This format is fine, but maybe go to the older format when we get carrier showdowns or other pivotal events. These zoom outs lack a bit of a drama.
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Jan 13, 2023 05:23
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look if there's anything we learned from Leyte Gulf, carrier deck guns can fend off battleships just fine. It's fine
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Jan 13, 2023 06:04
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habeasdorkus posted:Is Zuiho likely to make it to a port? It looked real banged up with heavy damage, heavy fire. Whilst she was at sea to be attacked, she was in the same hex as Ponape at the time, so she's doubtless in "port" there. Since we didn't get her with any torpedoes her flooding damage is probably minimal, but all the same it's likely to take such small facilities a month or more of patching before she's in a condition to transfer to Truk. SerthVarnee posted:You did notice that sub he's got parked on Johnston Island right? RIGHT? Ehh, yes, and there's probably half a dozen between here and there. It's not the sub you can see you need to worry about. gradenko_2000 posted:look if there's anything we learned from Leyte Gulf, carrier deck guns can fend off battleships just fine. It's fine Exactly. Lexington's still got 6 8" barrels and 10 or 15 rounds per, nothing to worry about !
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Jan 13, 2023 08:24
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  Tone is interesting, to me she means carriers. The timing is probably about right for this to be Hiryu and Soryu returning to the fight.  KXII spots another TF.  Her second attempt fails.  Houston’s luck runs out as she is intercepted by four destroyers, and gets her rear end kicked. Day phase though, so not only have our carriers got away with it, so has United States   And we’re into the airphase.  Sweeping Rangoon, as predicted. But will he bomb?  Maybe if he keeps this up long enough an xAK will manage to shoot a Betty down. That’d be pretty funny.  We hit Kwajalein and do some decent damage, although the only ships on the list I’m really excited about are Yasakuni Maru and Suzemebachi. God, it feels good to be the one blowing effortlessly through the CAP though   Something went a bit wrong and Australia didn’t hide as she was supposed to. She dodges all but one of the torpedoes though, and a lot of the bomb bits will be 60kgs.  United States comes under attack three times across the day, but they are small and the storms are fierce. Slightly annoyed the bombers went for her when they should really have suicided into the carriers, but maybe they were based at Ponape rather than Roi Namur.  And we launch a PM strike on some freighters at sea near Kwajalein, badly damaging one.   OK so I’m feeling pretty good about this one. We gambled, and on the whole the gambles paid off.  And we shot up a bunch of Claudes, I guess.  Houston is probably not going to make it, but at least she took some with her. SigInt posted:21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion is planning for an attack on Tavoy.  The USN has its first Ace, and our new overall top scorer.  Oh yes she’s hosed. Quite how she got so ripped up by destroyers I’m not sure, although the Northampton’s armour: lol, probably didn’t help.  Speaking of lol, Australia’s top sides are a mess but the torpedo was successfully contained by her protection system.  United Sates has survived the night without either getting sunk in a surface fight or taking on water due to charging around at full speed with a giant hole in her bottom.  The KB is a comfortable 23 hexes away from our girls now, and I’m almost tempted to stay for a second day of strikes, just to really rub it in.  Evacuations from Georgetown are going smoothly, currently without any interference.  700 AV safely ashore at Rangoon now, and one more convoy to come. Overall a 10/10 turn    Yes, we are staying for a second day. This will enable us to: Cover United Sates’ retreat. Sink some more poo poo, hopefully Thoroughly crush his morale by being just out of range if he does dash back again.  Fuel is going to be tight, but we all know how much I love running tight fuel budgets.  Australia is retreating at full speed. She’s in no danger at all, but is going to need several months at Sydney to be fighting fit again.  The rest are going to hide at Namatanami tomorrow, since he now knows where they are.  The 1st Australian arrives at Alice Springs, and prepares to march into the bush. Hey, it’s only 800 miles to the next pub!  A large convoy assembles at San Francisco, carrying the first wave of the USMC for Australia.  I start stripping the Indian Army of supporting armour and artillery, sending them to Chittagong. I won’t cross the border with them until I can afford to transfer their command, but they’ll be ready to start the march into Burma.  What I really want is engineers for building fortifications and runways, and this India apparently cannot provide me with. I do find a nice unlocked heavy AA unit at Karachi though.  Actually, rather than pushing our luck too far at Rangoon, I think I’m going to divert this last convoy to Port Blair. A full brigade is more than I had really intended to commit, but at the least it’s guaranteed to catch him by surprise I’d think.  And I’ll evacuate the Victoria Point base force to Port Blair.  The Second Gordons Battalion have their number called at Georgetown, and will start being evacuated when the ships arrive tomorrow.  I feel he’s being entirely too complacent at Miri, so the Marbledutchead force is going to setup for a raid, today ostensibly heading into the Sulu Sea to counter the cruisers reported there a day or two ago. Of course, they might turn out to still be there and we get bushwhacked by 8” guns, let’s see.  I’m also anticipating the arrival of surface forces in the Makassar Strait any day now, so the evacuated torpedo bombers from Malaya are stood up at Soerabaja. With drop tanks on the Vildebeest actually has a pretty respectable range, a function of its ridiculous wingspan (49ft, 9ft more than a Thunderbolt) and small engine.
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Jan 13, 2023 21:58
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Pharnakes posted:
Any ingame rules reason for waiting until the command transfer? I'm looking at it from the perspective of having to pay to be able to put them on a boat, but if you're walking them across the border, that doesn't matter. Lack of command HQ bonus due to leaving the Indian HQ behind?
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Jan 13, 2023 23:06
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Seems overall very good start to the war! You're inflicting some hurt on him!
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Jan 14, 2023 00:49
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Question what are the changes again?
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Jan 14, 2023 01:42
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SerthVarnee posted:Any ingame rules reason for waiting until the command transfer? It's a generally agreed houserule in multiplayer games to not have units in restricted commands cross national borders without having been bought out to an unrestricted command first. While there's nothing in game stopping you from doing so it's usually considered essentially exploiting a limitation of the game's restriction system. Both sides can do some really silly things with Chinese units in India where they can be fully supplied and provided with supporting units or huge chunks of the Kwantung Army rolling through Burma. Similarly, you can purchase units to a new command within the same nested tier of HQs for 25% price which can be used to e.g. buy out US land units in the states to one of the unrestricted air HQs for cheap which is also generally prohibited by houserule. Rogue0071 fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Jan 14, 2023 |
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Jan 14, 2023 14:23
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the USS Craven making a full speed retreat 
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Jan 14, 2023 16:24
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Rogue0071 posted:It's a generally agreed houserule in multiplayer games to not have units in restricted commands cross national borders without having been bought out to an unrestricted command first. While there's nothing in game stopping you from doing so it's usually considered essentially exploiting a limitation of the game's restriction system. Both sides can do some really silly things with Chinese units in India where they can be fully supplied and provided with supporting units or huge chunks of the Kwantung Army rolling through Burma. Fair enough, makes sense in a multiplayer setting. I've only played against the AI so it felt a bit baffling to not just curbstomp with all available tools.
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Jan 14, 2023 18:18
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  Having carriers in reach of longlances is never comfortable, but at least we see the expected screening behaviour rather than our carriers trying to ram.  Welp, that’s United States doomed I think.  Definitely doomed.  O20 has a minor fling with Nowaki.  Mutsuki is back for more at daybreak.  Then some more destroyers.  He’s shifted the Liz over to tactical bombing. I’m quite happy for some pigs to get bombed instead of B-17s.  Why did I even bother   Some sweeps at Georgetown, where we won???  By the time the strike arrives the CAP is largely depleted, but we get a couple of kills.  Moulmein sees a sweep. Seems like a strange target to me.  Palembang continues.  Rangoon likewise is more expected.  A Lilly is downed over Singapore.  Houston takes a couple of torpedoes. That’s the end I should think.  The Marys are back, and with Oscars escorting there’s nothing to be done.  And that’s the end of United States.  Craven displays a shameful lack of torpedo dodging skills, and pays the price.  Somehow Houston is still afloat for the afternoon phase. Not for long though.  So. Many. Zeroes.  We launch a strike on a convoy at Kwajalein atoll, but the weather is bad and only a few hits are scored.  The Imperial Guards are unpacked at Singora, and on the move.   OK well that was a very heart stopping and confused turn.   The Zero is just absurdly good, even when we get every possible advantage it still just cuts us to bits. But that’s hardly news, and we did get some kills in.  Well, we sunk some destroyers! SigInt posted:2/16th Infantry Regiment is planning for an attack on Singapore.  A brief and rather inglorious career as a torpedo magnet. Honestly, I’m not that upset about losing her, it’s like the USN looked at Jutland and said, yes I know we’re already building ships far better designed and armoured than that, but let's do what the British did but more so. Yes, she can ~keep up with the carriers~ but what good is that if she can be penetrated by 250kg bombs, and she has no more 5” guns than a heavy cruiser.  Houston is effectively cut from the same cloth, being a true treaty cruiser from the first generation before everyone started blatantly cheating, consequently having thoughts and prayers for armour.  We might have lost United Sates, but Australia is well clear now, and honestly despite being older, smaller, slower and with much weaker guns she’s probably overall more useful if only due to her twice as thick deck armour.  Annihilated in a single day, welp.  Well, umm, maybe we won’t go and raid Miri afterall. If we just had some heavy cruises in the mix I’d be sorely tempted, but I don’t see the point of suiciding our CLs just to plink some 6” shells off their belts.   We’re one hex short today, but we’ll send them to setup for a bombardment of Manado instead.  This hopefully also gives us time to get some recon in, improving the results.  The carriers head for home. Yesterday we definitely had enough fuel in the bank, and now we don’t. I think perhaps as a result of the surface actions, or maybe some confused happenings with the United Sates TF trying to merge.Neosho is on the way, and we should be OK.  Fanning can no longer cruise at 15kts, so she is detached to make her own way.  An army pursuit group and some navy Catalinas are loaded at San Diego for Australia, eventually to make their way to Rabaul.  AA & AT is loaded at Cape Town for Colombo. Most of it will probably go on to Burma as we find the opportunities.
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Jan 14, 2023 18:46
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United States probably would have been a decent fast bombardment TF candidate with that armament and speed. Not the end of the world, though.
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Jan 14, 2023 21:53
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Think he has anything which might be in the area to go after your carriers? Or LBA isn't going to do anything even if they're still in range?
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Jan 15, 2023 01:37
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  A little accident while minesweeping at Hong Kong.  Fanning is missed by I-8.  The Liz continue bombing the defenders of Manila.  And they start on Malacca.  And sweeps too. Very low altitude sweeps, but even with dive bonuses there’s no way our Buffaloes can fight them.  Some bombing of Manila airfield still.  More than just sweep of Palembang today.  Lilys bomb Singapore and destroy an AA gun.  Anything of significance has left Palembang.  He’s really chasing with everything he has.  Those all critical troop convoys are busy unloading at Rangoon, but without torpedoes the Betties are not very worrying.  His carriers catch an xAKL in the Sulu Sea.  Zeros!  Thankfully not enough Nells to take advantage.  He’s being remarkably cautious on the ground.   Ok, that’s the excitement over for the moment I think.  More or less equal in the air.  Nothing of importance. SigInt posted:5/24th Infantry Regiment is planning for an attack on Singapore.  Damnit, if he could have just taken Singapore by now these guys would have turned up in India instead (with a delay). Now I need to try and evacuate them somehow  The fuel situation is going to be absolutely critical tomorrow, we can only pray that we’ve bluffed hard enough and he turns his forces back tomorrow. If he has sent the carriers this way, and they have managed to refuel again at Kwajalein and sprint east, we are truely hosed. Well, Enterprise probably is Lexington *should* have the fuel to run clear.  Saratoga is getting on fine, enjoying her deployment so far sans the abuse I typically subject my carriers to, but Henley has rammed Patterson in the night.  The focus of the war is shifting rapidly to Rabaul. If we could have just managed two or three more days, or if I could just be confident where the carriers are  On our side we still have Australia and Louisville, which I’m desperately hoping he thinks have ran away, plus also Adelaide. New Zealand and Leander are still two days away if they leave the convoy behind, his invasion forces are potentially going to make the first phase of their landings at the very end of the coming turn, but even if they do won’t get anything significant ashore until the turn after. There is scope here for us to really score a significant tactical, and even strategic, victory, but absolutely zero room for missteps.  It’s an incredibly tense juggling act now, between defending Rabaul until we can get ashore, not drawing the carriers back in, but also maybe it would be good if they didn’t chase off after Lexington and Enterprise. At the end of the day I’m prepared to sacrifice Adelaide if necessary to delay the landings by a day, and sacrifice it most certainly will be if the reports aren’t accurate. If they are though, this patrol zone should ensure a daylight engagement where she should have a very good chance of making a mess of some APDs, and I hope Adelaide would be perceived as a likely sacrifice to leave behind, leading him to think the modern cruisers retreated to safety alongside Australia.  Patterson is not turning back for Pearl but continuing to the South West Pacific theatre, but will do so independently as she can no longer keep pace with the rest.  This is a long shot, but we’ll try it.  We find 13 Buffaloes from somewhere to throw up over Singapore tomorrow.  His carriers are definitely chasing our cruisers, but if we go for this bombardment our ships will move at maximum speed and hopefully get out the way for tomorrow, and thanks to our lone recon Beaufort we can see there’s a decently target rich environment in front of us.  Orders are given to start evacuation of the 22nd Australian Brigade, one of the units I am most keen to get out of Malaya.
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Jan 15, 2023 21:33
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  Targets have really dried up for the Dutch now.  Argonaut lucks into a functional Mk. 14, against, of course, an xAKL.  S-36 has plenty of targets, but that’s not enough for her.  This is exactly what we don’t want.  Fanning is caught by the cruisers, and acquits herself heroically.  How are you so blind???  The Aussies catch it again at Malacca.  And the Liz really go to town.  Softening the 6th Indian, although I don’t suppose much softening is really needed.  Tactical bombing starts at Clarkfield, although the DB ID rule will prevent him from achieving much like this. Anyway, all bombs that aren’t falling on our B-17s under repair.  Continuing sweeps at Georgetown.  And Malacca.  No sweep at Palembang today, but some bombing.  Rangoon gets both.  The Betties are around too, and get lucky with our bait.  And Tarakan.  The cruisers have chased too far, and too greedily.  Huh, apparently softening was required, and indeed was inadequate.  Manila is another matter, although we do take one squad with us!   We’ve turned them back from Rabaul, we haven’t lost a carrier yet, we’re doing pretty good.  Dead Betties are never bad, and it looks like we’ve sunk one, maybe even two cruisers.  We are now, I would judge, ahead as a result of the last few days. So far. It’s not over until it’s over. SigInt posted:15th AA Regiment is located at Peiping(95,39).  Enterprise is now entirely without fuel, and that’s a lot of submarines in the area.  Lexington meanwhile is completely without the ability to launch planes.  Now I’m regretting only sending out Adelaide   The carriers have apparently turned back for Miri, but now we have battleships coming into the Celebes Sea.   There’s nothing for it, Lexington must push on while she still has fuel, and with no capacity for sorties (or ammo for her guns) it’s not as if she could do much anyway.  The rest must lame duck on towards Johnston Island. All of the surface ships bar a few destroyers will remain, both to guard against any action by his cruisers and to try and provided alternative targets for this giant loving horde of submarines. I’m not very optimistic  Needless to say, everything is running maximum ASW.  And I tighten the search arc from Johnston Island to cover only the route we will take as we return. A spotted submarine is far less dangerous than an unspotted one, but a carrier dead in the water is not exactly a hard target.  Neosho continues west, it will take her two days to reach Enterprise’s assumed position. Assumed, as in, assuming she’s still afloat  A third convoy sets out for Midway, the other two having been too hastily loaded for much supplies to be embarked.  Damnit Adelaide, with those 6” guns you could have caused so much damage today. Still we’ll try again tonight.  It is my considered judgement that he has massively under committed escorts to these convoys, and that therefore he is going to run them back towards Truk. I think it’s worth the risk of trying to catch them, I strongly suspect they are carrying the better part of a division. Removing them from the board should completely screw his plans for this theatre. The only possible fly in the ointment is the KB, currently suspected to be these “cruisers”, but really could be just about anywhere.  Despite the bombing, Palembang remains an entirely functional airfield. It’s maybe a little premature on the basis of one day to say he won’t sweep here anymore, but gently caress it, let’s try. I want dead Betties.
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Jan 16, 2023 21:15
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Fingers crossed for Enterprise, as well as catching some fish off Rabaul.
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Jan 16, 2023 23:59
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Nice job on those CAs. Holy cow the tension with your carriers is insane.
pthighs fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jan 17, 2023 |
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Jan 17, 2023 01:09
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And congratulations on managing to take another tradition of fuel calculations to this thread!
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Jan 17, 2023 01:53
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quote:We’ve turned them back from Rabaul, we haven’t lost a carrier yet, we’re doing pretty good. Insult to injury for the Ark Royal. Also, man, that's talking a big game considering that Big E is adrift something like 600 miles from Johnston Atoll.
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Jan 17, 2023 03:21
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is there anything that can be done to make Vindicators more effective as an attacker, up to and including gamey tactics? Not saying you should, but I'm just wondering if it can be helped at all within the scope of what the player can control
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Jan 17, 2023 03:45
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gradenko_2000 posted:is there anything that can be done to make Vindicators more effective as an attacker, up to and including gamey tactics? Not saying you should, but I'm just wondering if it can be helped at all within the scope of what the player can control set dive bombers to altitude 10k ft naval attack for highest accuracy (any lower and they try to glide bomb instead) and accept the slaughter.
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Jan 17, 2023 07:02
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SerthVarnee posted:Any ingame rules reason for waiting until the command transfer? As said, that's a pretty required rule of land combat in the CBI to not just be silly. Rogue0071 posted:United States probably would have been a decent fast bombardment TF candidate with that armament and speed. Not the end of the world, though. Yeah, that's about it really. All of our fast battleships can do 8 hex sprints though, so 9 is nicer of course but no big deal at all. wedgekree posted:Think he has anything which might be in the area to go after your carriers? Or LBA isn't going to do anything even if they're still in range? I'm really missing the range of the Mavis & Emily coming to allied for the first time in 5 years or something, so I loving hope not!! habeasdorkus posted:Insult to injury for the Ark Royal. Haha, I mean as a result of this particular running battle. Also, I said we are doing pretty good, not that we are going to do pretty good. Subtle difference gradenko_2000 posted:is there anything that can be done to make Vindicators more effective as an attacker, up to and including gamey tactics? Not saying you should, but I'm just wondering if it can be helped at all within the scope of what the player can control Vindicators? Do you mean Devastators? Vindicators are perfectly serviceable dive bombers, if not quite as good as the Dauntless they're still massively better than the Val. Devastators suck poo poo though, their torpedo isn't great and the plane has no range, which is death for most carrier battles. At close range they're no worse dropping bombs than any other carrier based torpedo bomber, but their full load range is an absolutely pathetic 4, and with no droptank capability no there's nothing to be done but wait for Avengers. Triggerhappypilot posted:set dive bombers to altitude 10k ft naval attack for highest accuracy (any lower and they try to glide bomb instead) and accept the slaughter. Actually glide bombing as an attack profile was removed many years ago, all there is now is diving bombing between 10&15k, anything else is level bombing, at 1k feet it's low bombing using a half load unless it's an attack or fighter bomber, and 100ft is strafing with half load unless attack or fighter bomber.
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Jan 17, 2023 14:13
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Pharnakes posted:Vindicators? Do you mean Devastators? Vindicators are perfectly serviceable dive bombers, if not quite as good as the Dauntless they're still massively better than the Val. Devastators suck poo poo though, their torpedo isn't great and the plane has no range, which is death for most carrier battles. At close range they're no worse dropping bombs than any other carrier based torpedo bomber, but their full load range is an absolutely pathetic 4, and with no droptank capability yeah I meant Devastators Pharnakes posted:there's nothing to be done but wait for Avengers. sad
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Jan 17, 2023 14:20
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Devastator is one of the coolest names in the history of American warplane nomenclature. It's too bad it was so ineffective.
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Jan 17, 2023 17:06
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  I-165 for some reason takes a swipe at Whipple, and not the near stationary floating drydocks she is escorting.  These things are always worth a laugh.  Kedah passes a Japanese patrol as she returns from Singapore, but in the rain neither realises it.  gently caress me, does no one eat carrots on Adelaide??  Radar! That’s how to do it.  This should nicely complicate his plans for Rabaul.  gently caress me, I’m sending the entire crew of Adelaide for mandatory eye checks.  They land at Brunei.  And Medang, for some reason using paratroopers for this. I suppose even the Mavis might not have the range to do a drop from Truk.  New day, more bombing the 6th Indian.  Unexpected, but welcome.  The CAP trap works. If there’s still a sweep to come it’ll have been worth it.  The thing Rangoon is really short of now is heavy AA.  I was hoping for something juicer than Lilys, but we’ll take it.  Welp, gently caress. The KB was coming  And they have the range for Lexington too   What the hell is this? What carriers does he have left? The CVLs carry Kates, maybe this is a CVE??  Today the 6th Indian is forced back.  And the remnants from Kota Bharu are destroyed.  I’m at least amused to see that the Dutch units refusing to surrender curse is going to haunt him as it did me.  And they take Malacca, sadly before we could get the Australian brigade out.   I um, well, gently caress. I mean, by rights he should have sunk us several days ago, so anything we got after that is a bonus!  That’s Enterprise gone then.  Welp. SigInt posted:4/24th Infantry Regiment is planning for an attack on Singapore. Reports posted:TF 103 does not have enough fuel to complete mission  Lexington has a chance, albeit a pretty slender chance.  I thought about having Lexington’s airgroups fly to Johnston Island, which I might have been able to do yesterday. Today however her damage is too great for that to be possible.  Enterprise and Chester took the vast majority of the punishment, if the rest just had fuel they would be fine. If I’d just got around to my usual doctrine of leaving oilers filled at ports everyone would be fine   This very much looks like the invasion of Palembang on its way, with Hiryu & Soryu in the back.   Lexington is in for a chance if she can just dodge his expectations of her position tomorrow. He must at this point realise we ran out of fuel, and think we have no option but to limp towards Johnston.  He hasn’t seen Neosho, so if she can get some fuel into Lexington there’s a chance, just a chance that she can run free.  Tennessee is turning south from Midway, we can be pretty confident he doesn’t have anything up here now. How much use she will be is pretty debatable, but he might send a surface force, and at the very least her bunkers are mostly full.  We must be pragmatic about the rest, and split them according to speed and remaining fuel. If I’d just ditched United Sates at any point in this operation none of this would have happened. Welp.  Fanning is going to be fine anyway!  We’re going to stand our ground at Rabaul. If we can get those troops ashore, securing Midway and Rabaul makes this shambles into a strategic victory, albeit a very Pyrrhic one.  Other than holding Rabaul, this retreating troop convoy is the real prize, and gently caress it, we’re going for it. I know no way to respond to setbacks other than constant escalation. Maybe I need therapy.  Hermes leaves for the Banda Sea.  We’re taking advantage of the railway in South Sumatra to evacuate even the damaged planes from the inevitable retaliation on Palembang.
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Jan 21, 2023 16:31
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Mega RIP to those carriers.
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Jan 21, 2023 16:51
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Right up until the carriers had a minor problem, this turn looked like it might be demoralizing enough for the Japanese player to be severely depressed about his future chances. Good job making him think he still has a chance to salvage this Pharnakes
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Jan 21, 2023 17:04
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With the ceremonial sinking of the Enterprise, the true war may begin.
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Jan 21, 2023 17:13
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Extremely big oof.
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Jan 21, 2023 20:48
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Oof. Think Lady Lex can make it?
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Jan 21, 2023 23:45
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Ouch.
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Jan 21, 2023 23:50
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wedgekree posted:Oof. It would require the Japanese player to make a serious mistake.
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Jan 22, 2023 10:26
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I very audibly exclaimed "what the gently caress NOOOOOOOOO" at the Enterprise combat screenshot and then a more high-pitched "nooooo!!!" at the Lexington my god
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Jan 22, 2023 14:00
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How much time do you need to get the troops ashore in Rabaul?
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Jan 22, 2023 14:54
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SerthVarnee posted:Right up until the carriers had a minor problem, this turn looked like it might be demoralizing enough for the Japanese player to be severely depressed about his future chances. Truly, I am the most giving of WitP players. Terrifying Effigies posted:How much time do you need to get the troops ashore in Rabaul? Two to three days. wedgekree posted:Oof. She has fuel, she can still make 8 hexes in a day, there's a chance. Not a very big chance, but I'm not giving up on her just yet.
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Jan 22, 2023 16:13
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How good the IJN's search going to be if they try and track where all your ships are going? Think that if you spread them out far enough that the KB might get distracted and spread thin and let some of them get out of range?
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Jan 22, 2023 23:09
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  They start landing at Kuching.  Their cruisers are still active in the Sulu Sea.  This is the first time I’ve played a DBB scenario, and I keep underestimating the increased cargo handling times. Oh well, I’m pretty sure they’ve dumped most of their supplies ashore anyway.  KXVI claims a victim.  Skipjack tries to jump the claim, but is denied by a bonk.  Noooo, gently caress  RO-61 takes a swipe at Leander as the troop convoy approaches Rabaul.  This was actually two hits, but of course we got a bonk. A real shame, one hit probably didn’t do much but two would likely have put her out for 6 months or more.  Adelaide’s blindness finally proves fatal. I really, really didn’t want there to be battleships here!!!!!!  As day breaks Nagato and Mutsu engage our cruisers, but their gunnery proves less than stellar and we get off pretty lightly, probably claiming a destroyer in the process.  We then catch another convoy, but don’t engage, probably due to low ammo.  A relatively good day for our subs.  The day opens with the usual.  Tactical bombing around Clarkfield.  They come for Bataan again, but there’s nothing here except for a handful of almost impossible to hit Catalinas.  Sweeps over Batavia now.  No damage done at Rangoon today.  Where the hell have these guys came from????  The carriers go after a HDML at Palembang.  And then sink Orion.  I don’t think we’re going to hold here tomorrow.  Brunei falls.  And Singapore. Well, we could see that one coming from a mile off, and there was nothing left here that could be evacuated.   Well, I don’t know quite what’s going on but Lexington doesn’t seem to have sunk?!?!  But we have lost a cruiser it looks like, and also somehow that Buffalo at Singapore counts as an air kill?   Welp. SigInt posted:146th Infantry Regiment is planning for an attack on Davao.  Kalidjati is as stereotypical a spot to launch an invasion of Java as it gets, being an undefended level four airfield in open terrain. Normally my Java strategy is to run for the hills and tie up as a big a doomstack as possible for as long as possible, but if he’s going to do this so early when he has so much other stuff engaged elsewhere, I think we’ll contest.  Astoria was last seen yesterday with 99 fires. Probably should have scuttled her really but oh well.  Losing Neosho would never be good, and under these circumstances is probably disastrous.  Adelaide was an ancient piece of poo poo, and quite frankly this is by far the most significant to the war I’ve ever seen her be.  Easy come, easy go. KIttyhawk and her sister Hammondsport arrive at Balboa. AKVs are very useful since they can transport planes without requiring them to be crated and thus reassembled at the destination.  Oh my god, Lexington is not only alive but fueled!!!! Neosho lived long enough to do her duty then.  Without Neosho these guys are a bit more difficult, but Tennessee probably has enough fuel for a limp to Midway.  Benham has fought hard enough, we’re going to have to let her go.  Midway is now up to level two forts and 124AV. I’d say that’s functionally impossible for him to take now short of a month long siege by the entire IJN, although the first troop convoy has yet to unload most of the heavy equipment while the second is about to arrive, which might create some issues.  A huge amount hinges on exactly how he has identified these ships and how he responds. It’s a pretty poor sighting so he could have reports of anything from a couple destroyers up to battleships.  He’s being very ballsy with his two carriers here. This is how you find yourself in difficulties, ask me how I know   Enough of the airHQ has been evacuated that at least we won’t have to spend the PP to buy the unit itself back, and mostly what surrendered would have been support rather than the much more precious aviation support squads.  We’re up to 300 AV of the Malaya army evacuated to Sumatra now, and still no interference. It’s not all bad news.   The problem is that Lexington is still spotted, although we can maybe use that to our advantage. He knew where we were yesterday and he can see us now, clearly heading for Midway, so maybe if we zag again, we can slip away?  Tennessee will rescue Constellation and the other surface ships.  Let’s get these guys out of the way, they haven’t finished unloading but they’ve done enough for now.  He really does seem to be retreating from the area, I can hardly believe it. There’s still the Nagatos unaccounted for of course, all we can see here are the CV(E?L?)s and some transports. The cruisers will go and hide at various islands again, and then hopefully we can get them out in a day or two.  We’re going to back these guys off, the last thing we would want to do is clog the port at Rabaul more and allow him to bring something in to destroy our troop ships before they can unload.  Every available Dutch submarine is heading for the area.  Torpedo bombers are being activated.  We don’t really have anything worth protecting at Batavia, so into the meatgrinder with the fighters.  Level bombers will fly from Bandoeng. It all helps grind the CAP down, and in the unlikely event they do land a hit, those 300kg SAPs hurt. The 139 also has the interesting distinction of carrying ⅔ rather than ½ a bomb load at low altitude, making low naval bombing a little more attractive with them.  The best the Dutch have will be assembled at Bandoeng for a counter attack.
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Jan 22, 2023 23:30
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RIP Neosho Just incredible if the near misses with Adelaide forced them to pull back their whole Rabaul operation. I'm guessing KB will be swinging back shortly to support a second go.
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Jan 22, 2023 23:59
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Good luck! Lex may get away! Lost track, what's the status of your other CV's now? Saratoga, Yorktown, etc?
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Jan 23, 2023 00:06
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Lex getting away feels like it would be a huge morale boost. Pity the Grey Ghost is actually dead in this timeline. The surviving flag staff would all be keelhauled still, ofc.
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Jan 23, 2023 15:30
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