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This game is cool as gently caress and I am glad to see another LP. I would love to play this game against another casual player and depending on the schedule I would be willing to post a LP as well.
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Apr 1, 2016 09:26
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Saros and I are stalled right now - evidently his hard drive fried. My current version of Focus Pacific isn't compatible with the save that we were using, so I'm currently trying to pull the necessary files from the separate install I have from our game to rebuild the version of Focus Pacific that we were using when we started. I can then get those files to Saros so that he can rebuild a compatible install. This would go faster, but currently dropbox is giving me fits, and it's not helped by my Alaskan internet speeds.
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Apr 5, 2016 07:10
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In other news, I've made a lot of progress on the mod, hopefully addressing some of the concerns that Saros has brought to my attention in our e-mails. I've done a few passes on the Japanese OOB to ensure that proper aviation support is present at the start of the game for all of the additional Japanese squadrons, I've tweaked resource generation quite a bit, and two battlecruisers as well as two late game carriers that were orphaned in the editor in stock have been added to the Japanese OOB. I'm going to get some more feedback on Saros on he feels about his shipping fleet, if necessary I'll also add some more shipping capacity. I've completely revamped the Japanese airplane upgrade tree with Saros's suggestions for an approach that will still allow Japan to accelerate airframes, but in a more linear way. I've also done a lot of revamping of the French OOB. France's most important fighter airframe - the Dewoitine D.520 - was an important part of the French Airforce, along with several variants. The SNCASE SE.100 also makes an appearance, but in limited numbers. French torpedo bombers and dive bombers also have been added. All of these air changes make the French a little more unique, as they are no longer using quite as many lend-lease airframes. I also tweaked upgrade dates, delaying the introduction of many models until later in the game. The French Navy has also received a significant upgrade that comes into play late-42 to mid-44. These ships arrive later because I really don't want to blunt Japan's early-game power. As painful as it is to play against (as you've seen), if I swing things back toward the allies too much early game, Japan won't have the ability to make its ahistorical gains that are part of Focus Pacific. Ships include La Fier class Torpedo boats, two Alsace class battleships, De Grasse light cruisers, St. Louis class heavy cruisers and two Lyon class fleet carriers. Joffre and Painleve also receive a couple of sister ships. Allied aircraft upgrades received a bit of an overhaul as well, with many Focus Pacific additions like the P-50 getting upgrade dates moved further back so that their performance numbers weren't quite as anomalous compared to contemporary aircraft. Saros has mentioned resource problems for Japan in his latest e-mail, but generally Hokkaido produces so many resources that it's not an issue. I'm not sure yet if he hasn't been shipping them over, or if I need to bump up the resource generation there. paradigmblue fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Jun 11, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 07:42
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Sorry for the lack of updates- turns have slowed to a crawl, and now it looks like the game may be over. Saros says that he has broken the Japanese economy, which would put an end to his Imperialist ambitions (and to the fun of our game). I wasn't sure how serious the issue was - if it was a temporary setback or something more serious. This was his reply in the e-mail, which I'm sharing here because I think it reflects the gravity of the situation: Saros's Email posted:Well there's a few issues. The big problem is resources, the starting stockpile was woefully inadequate and there isnt enough close by the HI to maintain it. Oil/fuel is actually fine although keeping all those ships fueled in the south pacific is quite the trick Well hell. I feel terrible that the Japanese economy wasn't set up to support the necessary expansion in Focus Pacific. I've offered to make concessions to Saros to keep the game going, but if the economy is untenable, I don't know if that will work. I've suggested a cease fire until he gets his economy back in shape (if it's possible), as well as ceding territory to him so he has more access to resources without having to spend planes and troops to capture them. Moving forward with the mod, there are a couple of batches of changes that I've made to make Japan's position stronger if Saros is willing to start again. In addition to the changes in the previous post, my newest version has the following changes: quote:Moving forward in the mod, here are the steps I've taken: The problem is, of course, that once a game is started, the mod can't be patched, which means that we can't apply any of these changes to our current game. I feel awful. Saros has been an amazing opponent, and I'm really disappointed in myself in that my unfamiliarity with the Japanese economy has created a situation where the game is no longer enjoyable for him. I really have felt that I've been on my back food the entire game, and that Saros was poised to make some absolutely incredible ahistorical gains in the expansion of his empire, and I'm crushed that we didn't get to see that happen. Even though my losses have been frustrating, it's been a blast to see just how deadly early-game Japan can be in the hands of a skilled player. We'll see what happens, but I think this may be it for our game.
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Jun 11, 2016 03:18
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It certainly was interesting to watch, especially seeing the SU in action as the only other LP's of this I've read are the two Grey Hunter did (is doing in one case) and the SU never got involved. I can totally understand not wanting to continue if the situation is hopeless, but I hope you guys can work out a way to start over with the mod updates in place.
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Jun 12, 2016 08:55
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I've really enjoyed watching this play out and hope you guys do another one with the revised/updated mod, I'm sure Saros has a ton of idea's on what could be changed. The head to head nature of the LP and the aggressiveness the mod made for a great read!
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Jun 12, 2016 08:59
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Could you putch ALL of your carriers in a pithed battle at an agreed place and time, before you stop this LP? Pretty pleqsde?
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Jun 12, 2016 12:15
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Yeah, I've been reading both AARs and its been clear for a while that the amount of pressure you can put on the Japanese air force was really high. Between the Skyhawks and foreign Skyhawk-equivalents stratosweeping and the Soviet air force there just weren't enough fighters to go around even with a huge buildup (which in addition to the early resource troubles probably would be bad in the long run for r&d). Meanwhile that crazy Soviet artillery and armor necessitates a huge air commitment to be competitive. Having Zero factories he had to defend in Manchuria was pretty grim too. I really like the idea of the mod and a more competitive game from the start, so here's hoping something good still comes from this playthrough.
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Jun 12, 2016 13:09
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Dawncloack posted:Could you putch ALL of your carriers in a pithed battle at an agreed place and time, before you stop this LP? Since you know you're stopping the whole thing (though well done for playing this far!) I think a battle royale is the only way to go out
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Jun 12, 2016 15:14
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Hold the phone, I just got this message from Saros:Saros posted:Well I can hopefully turn it around, spent a lot of time the last two turns re-organising and getting every ship available to resource hauling. Along with a turn! This may keep going. Well hell. Looks like my screenshot utility (GreenShot) is having trouble with Windows 10. Instead of capturing the screen, it instead captured what was behind WitP instead. No screenshots this turn, sorry 
paradigmblue fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jun 12, 2016 |
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Jun 12, 2016 20:13
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Dawncloack posted:Could you putch ALL of your carriers in a pithed battle at an agreed place and time, before you stop this LP? It would be a foregone conclusion, but I'll ask Saros if we can do that if it ever comes to that. Right now it looks like we're back on. Wildcats and Martletts are just no match for Zeroes.
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Jun 12, 2016 21:22
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just caught up - really glad you're still pushing on this, the detail in your posts is really good reading and the work you're doing on the mod is impressive, especially given how solicitous you've been to your opponent's concerns in the midst of the beating you're enduring
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Jun 12, 2016 22:35
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oystertoadfish posted:just caught up - really glad you're still pushing on this, the detail in your posts is really good reading and the work you're doing on the mod is impressive, especially given how solicitous you've been to your opponent's concerns in the midst of the beating you're enduring Thanks. He really has put me through the ringer. February 14th, 1942 I wish i could get my screenshots working again, but until I do, here's what's going on around the map. Soviet Union I think we have a bit of a stalemate here. Saros seems to pulling back from his assault from Rybolov in the South, and I've turned him back sharply in the North when he moved across the river into some good troops that I moved there in the nick of time - I think he lost something like 17,000 troops in that ill-fated shock attack. I've been selectively bombing clear hexes when I can. This turn Saros caught on to me and had LRCAP there to intercept my bombers, and I took some significant losses. However, I did manage to get a group of hulking TB-3 heavy bombers in, and they absolutely wreck one Saros's units blocking my rail line, incurring 500+ casualties. Saros has a second blocking force on my rail line a bit further north, but it's in good terrain and is much larger. I have it pinned down with some forces of my own, but I won't be able to dislodge it until the threat to Rybolov has passed and I can shift forces from their defensive positions outside of Vladivostok. Australia North Australia is a mess, with Japanese armor running over my troops retreating south from Darwin. Further west, Saros has made a series of amphibious landings, taking my small bases along the North Western coast of Australia. To counter these amphibious forces, I've moved my Royal Navy carriers to intercept. To do so, I had to first refuel at Perth, which is crawling with Japanese subs. I managed to route my carriers in a way that escaped the subs (luck helped here more than anything), dog-legged them out of search range, and then back in to intercept his amphibious TF at Exmouth. I finally get some good licks in, sinking the entire amphibious TF and sending 3,000 Japanese troops to a watery grave. I know that Saros has a carrier TF somewhere in the Indian Ocean or DEI, so I'm not going to push my luck here, and my carrier TF is making for open sea again. I'm moving some base forces to the interior of Australia to build up an air base within reach of central Australia. It will take some time, but once this base is online I'll be able to use by B-17s to put some hurt on Saros's forces that are chasing my troops through the outback. DEI The DEI is on its last legs. I've withdrawn all of my air assets from the theater, and am now just waiting out the inevitable. My troops are short on supply, outnumbered and outgunned, so it's only a matter of time before the rest of Sumatra and Java fall. The Pacific What looks to be the KB is lurking just north of Suva, and there is a surface TF approaching from the West. I think this might be it for Suva, as I have nothing here to contest a naval bombardment. I'm still massively off-balance here, and I'm very short of APs to move my forces to where they need to be. I've begun massive conversion efforts of xAKs to compensate. I've also begun to draw xAPs back to San Francisco and Pearl to try and consolidate them so I can get my troop logistics back in order. Saros catches one of my xAPs off the coast of NZ in that effort. I'm making progress in fortifying the Line Islands (which is where I should have started in the first place, instead of Noumea, Suva and Pago Pago). I'm getting nervous about Tahiti, so the next chance I get I want to move 200+ AV there to stiffen up the French defense. I really would like to start getting some defenses up in the Aleutians, but I don't have the troops for it at the moment. This area has been quiet so far, but Saros has landed some troops on a Soviet dot hex at the end of the Aleutian chain, so I don't anticipate that it will remain that way for long. China Still a mess. Like my efforts elsewhere, my defensive perimeter was hopelessly ambitious. Now my forces are caught out of position, and I'm struggling to move my troops into good defensive terrain to stall Saros's advance. Burma Rangoon still stands for now, but not for long. It looks like Saros is moving more troops into the hex to finish it off. I've had a little success in the air war, flying my two P-38 squadrons out of Akyab to make some fruitful sweeps here. I have precious few of these aircraft, so I'm biting my nails every time I send them into combat. The Air War The bottom line is that I've built my stocks back up quite a bit by decreasing my operational tempo over the last month and half, but I'm still very short on the airframes that I need. I only have two squadrons of P-50s currently operating (out of Suva right now, in the hopes of jumping some of Saros's carrier planes), and two squadrons of P-38s. The War at Sea The combination of my foolhardy forward defense and Saros's aggressive play has left me woefully short on precious DDs. I need to start consolidating my supply TFs to maximize my remaining escorts. This will make my TFs juicier targets, but it's either this or send out un-escorted TFs, which is suicide with Japanese subs lurking around every corner.
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Jun 12, 2016 23:47
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I managed to get my screenshot utility working again (I have to use a different keyboard shortcut with Win10 than what I was using with 7. Who knew.) so I went through the replay again to get some highlights of the turn for your bloodthirsty viewing pleasure. Over the Soviet Union I bomb a unit blocking my rail line to Vladivostok.  I lost a lot of planes throughout the day to achieve this result, but eventually my bombers win through. These are TB-3s, my heavy bombers. Ugly as sin and slow, but they can dish it out.  That's a huge amount of destroyed squads from an air bombardment. Off the coast of Australia....  The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm at work.  This was one of the best coordinated strikes I've seen out of my British carriers. 70 Torpedo bombers descend on the transport TF.  A nice batch of xAKs and what looks to be some sort of base force - lots of Non Combat troops - hit the bottom of the ocean. I think this is the first real naval victory I've had this game. It's a small victory, but it's incredibly satisfying. I consider pressing on with my carriers, but I don't have any naval search off the north coast of Australia, and I don't want to press my luck. My carriers will bomb the ground force that moved out of Carnavon this turn ( you can't see it in the picture because ground movement takes place after air attacks) in the hopes of mode-knocking it to give my fleeing base force a chance to escape, then my carriers will fade away.
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Jun 13, 2016 23:45
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February 15th, 1942 Sub Ops Lots of detections this turn, but my ASW patrols still aren't getting good hits on Saros's subs. I think this was the only encounter that yielded results.  Saros also gets hits on one of my fleet boats, I'll have to pull it back. Burma I'm doing what I can to be a little smarter about air ops - as alluded to in one of my previous posts, I'm really trying to not use my high-value planes, like my P-38s for CAP when I can help it, and instead using them only as sweepers. Lately, I've been doing just that with good success over Rangoon. Last turn they just hit air, which means that Saros has removed his CAP. Saros has been also bombing Rangoon regularly. Now that Saros has removed his CAP however, I take a chance and set my P-38 squadrons for LRCAP at extreme range over Rangoon. While they don't down any bombers, my P-38s do disrupt the attack enough that it doesn't do any damage, and also down a few fighters, with no losses of their own.   Saros sweeps my fighter base at Akyab heavily this turn, where my P-38s are stationed.   He downs a few of my fighters each time, though losses aren't terrible. By the end of the sweeps however, my fighters stop rising to meet the overwhelming number of Oscars and Zeroes sweeping at max altitude. I think he may be softening up Akyab for bombing, so I redouble my CAP here and move my P-38s to another base that I've been developing along the Imphal line. The fact that Rangoon hasn't fallen yet is a miracle, but the fact that Saros has been bottled up here has given me some precious time to start forming up a defense in good terrain here, and I've moved in lots of air assets to support my ground units. I am worried that I don't have enough AA guns in this theater. I buy out an AA unit this turn and load it up for transport, and I'm scouring other theaters for additional units. If Saros keeps sweeping with those Zeroes I'll need the AA to keep my ground forces safe, as fighters won't cut it vs those zero sweeps. Soviet Union I order my Mig-3s to sweep the hex that Saros just covered with LR CAP last turn. The results aren't stellar, but I'll take them.   Yuck  That's more like it. Up north, I'm trying to switch targets so that my bombers don't get caught in LRCAP, and it's paying off.  Just when I'm patting myself on the back on my air tactics, my bombers hit the Mutanking airbase in a series of raids. I had hoped to catch Saros's aircraft on the ground here, instead I wind up bombing empty airfields. Welp.   At least I'm burning some of his supplies I guess. Saros hits my force that I have tying down his blocking element in wooded terrain.    Ouch, I need to get some CAP up here to protect my valuable tanks. Australia Northern Australia continues to be a mess, and Saros manages to chase down a base force fragment that I had evacuated from the Philippines and destroy it with his ground forces.  I can't draw enough supply here to counter him, but I have moved a small B-17 squadron within striking range, which means that I should be able to start slowing down his chasing units by mode-knocking them in this open terrain. As I mentioned yesterday's AAR, I move my carrier force back along the coast of Australia to bomb Saros's ground unit that is chasing my retreating base force south of Carnavon.   Holy crap, that's good bombing for Torpedo bombers. Great strike coordination too - I think that was every strike craft in that TF. The bombing has the desired effect, and in the orders phase of my turn I notice that it looks like the ground unit I bombed is now turning tail back north, which means that my base force is safe for now as it makes the long trek south to Geraldton. I'm not quite sure what this carrier TF's next destination is going to be. I'm tempted to taking it raiding, but I have two USN CLVs that start their conversion to CVLs in March, and I want to ensure that they are in a safe shipyard to begin that process on the first of that month. The Pacific Things are going to get very nasty here over the next couple days. Saros has the KB, an invasion force and what looks to be a bombardment TF all in the area, and he lands at Savu Savu this turn.   I move what aircraft out of the hex that I can. Here's the position I find myself in:  I can't contest this landing - I have the planes to do so at Pago Pago, but it's too far away, and I wasn't able to build up my airfields at Suva and Nadi enough to the kind of air activity to fight through the KB's CAP. By taking Savu Savu instead of going right for Suva, Saros has smartly cut off the more heavily invested Suva from re-supply. Some P-40 pilots will try some suicidal strafing runs tomorrow, but they don't have any chance to succeed. It will hopefully force Saros to keep the KB at Savu Savu however, which may give my ASW TFs around Pago Pago enough time to make themselves scarce before Saros moves east. I have a lot of planes on these islands, and really nowhere to go. Because I developed my bases on the outside of my perimeter first, instead of the inside, I don't have bases built up that can function as an air-bridge from Suva and Pago Pago back to safe territory. My poor early-game strategic planning rears its head again. I don't mind though - I'm just glad that we're trading turns again, after it looked like we might have to end the game just a couple of days ago.
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Jun 14, 2016 07:27
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Thanks to both of you for making the effort to keep this going. It's really interesting.
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Jun 14, 2016 19:19
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pthighs posted:Thanks to both of you for making the effort to keep this going. It's really interesting. Thanks! It's really good to know that people are still reading the thread.
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Jun 15, 2016 00:11
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Reading and keeping up with both of them, and much respect to you guys who can manage all of the stuff required to keep the war efforts going! One question for the mod, though: It seems like the bonuses Japan gets were mostly focused around getting more Zeros into the air, and the allies were in turn tuned around the theoretical max production of the plane the Japanese could put out (I could be horrifically wrong about this, and I'm simplifying it considerably as well). Do you think some of the economic issues were just that Saros felt he needed to sell the farm to keep up the Zero production, or that the boosted Zero production was just too much of a drain with the existing economic numbers? It really has been interesting seeing the air war on both sides, especially since it really does seem like whoever wins the sweep/CAP war has a ridiculous advantage on attacking or defending.
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Jun 15, 2016 02:41
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Genaro posted:One question for the mod, though: It seems like the bonuses Japan gets were mostly focused around getting more Zeros into the air, and the allies were in turn tuned around the theoretical max production of the plane the Japanese could put out (I could be horrifically wrong about this, and I'm simplifying it considerably as well). Do you think some of the economic issues were just that Saros felt he needed to sell the farm to keep up the Zero production, or that the boosted Zero production was just too much of a drain with the existing economic numbers? In the most current version of the mod, all of these issues have been addressed - I really wish that they can be applied to a game in progress, but unfortunately that's not possible. In short - yes, allied air-power was balanced around the Japanese player producing many more Zeroes than you would find in a normal game. Saros wouldn't be having the economic problems he's having now if he didn't expand his production so much, but not expanding his aircraft production to those levels wasn't ever really an option for him if he was going to dominate the air. Originally, Japan's economy was actually much more robust than it is in the version Saros and I are playing - the current version of the mod is somewhere between the two - but Japanese players actually complained that resource & oil production and stockpiles on the Home Islands were just too high, taking away the impetus to expand. I backed off the Japanese economy quite a bit due to those concerns for the version Saros and I are playing, but it's clear that I went too far. quote:It really has been interesting seeing the air war on both sides, especially since it really does seem like whoever wins the sweep/CAP war has a ridiculous advantage on attacking or defending. The Sweep/CAP game is a key element in the stock version of WitP:AE as well, you just don't see it in GreyHunter's play-throughs because the AI simply does not sweep, so Grey never has to deal with it. In PBEM games, however, it's one of the most important aspects of the game.
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Jun 15, 2016 03:43
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February 17th, 1942 Saros seems to be everywhere this turn - rounding the Western edge of Australia, capturing bases across the DEI, invading Suva, and taking a base worryingly close to New Zealand. Sub Ops Little action here, though one of my French destroyers scores a hit near Tahiti. Soviet Union No action on the ground here, but quite a bit in the air. Saros and I trade blows over his force blocking my rail line, but neither one of us scores definitive blows. My CAP here downs some of his older fighters, but doesn't fight its way through to the bombers. I heavily raid Harbin's airfield, taking a lot of bomber losses in the process. However, I damage the field badly, which will hopefully open the way for more strikes against his Zero production.  Last turn I saw a lot of naval activity around Sakhalin, so I set recon planes and some bombers at wavetop level. I honestly didn't expect them to hit anything, but get a few licks in. Nothing sinks, but it should generate some yard time for these ships.   It looks to me like Saros may be moving in more troops here by sea. Alexandrovsk has been stubbornly hanging on, but if Saros moves more troops into the hex, it will only be a matter of time before it falls. Australia Northen Australia is ugly as always, with my forces still hounded my Saros's units. I move a heavy bomber squadron in range, but my B-17s don't hit anything. To the west, I have a little better luck with a B-17 group and some Banshees, which continue to harass Saros's force that landed at Carnavon.  My naval search picks up a task force rounding the NW corner of Australia. They identify two of the ships as "CS", but in WitP:AE, that usually actually means CVs (CVs are also sometime misidentified as AOs). The fact that Saros is moving these surface task forces here means that he's probably confident that he can take on my carrier TF, but I'll keep monitoring the situation. I need a better idea of the composition of the task force though before I make a decision of whether the Fleet Air Arm is up to the challenge.  I normally would assume that he's just coming after my carriers, but the fact that there is a second TF following makes me nervous. He could just be reinforcing Carnavon, but he could also be making a bid for Perth. I'm incredibly weak in Australia right now, as I foolishly moved most of my AV here to Noumea and Port Morseby, where it was crushed. If he's coming for Perth there won't be much I can do. Burma Rangoon Falls   It looks like Saros moved in some fresh troops here, and they are enough to force me out. Luckily, I only lose one unit, and the others wind up on a hex with a rail connection. I should be able to retreat them quickly enough so that Saros can't catch them. They'll head to Akyab, for now, and possibly be moved even further back depending on how roughed up they are. Saros sends sweep after sweep above Akyab, with deadly effect. I lose quite a few fighters, while only downing a couple of Zeroes. Hit especially hard are my MS.410s, which are one of my better fighters.      Ouch. Nothing much I can do about this for the time being. The Pacific Saros lands at Nadi with an enormous force.   Not sure what happened here, looks like he ran into a problem during the unloading. Saros has brought more than enough AV to take Suva - it looks like he has over 1200 here!  And continues to unload at Savusavu.  Things don't look good for me there either:  The KB has completely disappeared from this area, as well as all his other forces. That, or I had a really bad naval search day, which is entirely possible. China Not much of note happening here, I continue to be pushed back on all fronts. I have some troops blocking Saros's supply line in the NE, and he's been trying to dislodge me here for the past few turns, but so far has been unsuccessful. Air Losses  22 Morane losses - ouch. The bomber losses I anticipated, but still hurt. Ship Losses  I'm fairly certain that neither one of these sub kills actually happened.
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Jun 17, 2016 08:16
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February 18th, 1942 Short, text-only update this time guys, sorry. The Pacific Saros takes Savaii next to Suva, and my naval strikes here all get mowed down by CAP. It looks like two surface forces, the full KB (I count 8(!) carriers here), and about three invasion TFs. Nothing I can do about it. Further East at Pago Pago I begin withdrawing squadrons that won't have the range to fly out to other bases when things go sideways so that I can save the planes and pilots. Burma The sweeps over Akyab this turn were absolutely brutal. There just doesn't seem to be anything I can do vs those high attitude Oscar and Zero sweeps, and I'm not in position to counter-sweep Saros's airbases. I move what air assets I can out of Akyab, in the fear of bombing next turn. Soviet Union My heavy bombers pound Saros's Zero factories here. In response, Saros asks me not to attack his aircraft factories as part of the concessions I can make to keep the game going. I agree, and next turn I'll just go back to hitting airfields here. I just wish that Saros would get turns back a bit faster.
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Jun 18, 2016 19:06
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Just wanted to say that I'd never seen this game before, and the LP has been fun and informative. Glad you're able to keep it going!
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Jun 19, 2016 22:25
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February 19th, 1942 Sub Ops Saros nabs an Dutch AVP that I tried to sneak by Ceylon unescorted, while one of my Soviet boats puts a fish into an xAK off the coast of Japan.  Burma Saros repeatedly sweeps Akyab, but I've moved most of my fighters out. However, a few of my Hurricanes on LRCAP intercept, downing three zeroes for no losses of their own.   I honestly don't know where the Hurricane IIa group flew from, but I'm not complaining. Chances are Saros's bombers are coming next turn. Australia My B-17s bomb Saros's ground forces in the north, and his Sally's return the favor. My armored units are just getting torn apart in the open terrain.  In the west, my B-17 squadron based out of Perth runs into CAP - probably from the carrier force that rounded the NW tip of Australia last turn. I'm nervous, but my B-17s wind up shooting down a Zero with no losses of their own, and still inflict good damage.   I really want to get a better look at Saros's carrier group here... it looks really small which is strange because he must know that I have carriers close by after they sunk his amphib TF a few days back. Is he baiting me? Does he have a larger carrier force following that I just haven't seen yet? Until I know the answers to these questions my RN carrier force remains out of sight but within 2-days striking distance in case it turns out that this is all that he brought. Pacific Suva is bombarded, I lose planes and moderate damage is done to the base as well.   Landings continue through the day at Suva and Savaii.  Later in the day, Saros launches a ground attack on Savusavu. I'm sure I'm doomed, but my plucky Marine Defense Battalion manages to give the attackers a bloody nose in the jungle terrain.   Saros has now set up what looks to be 40+ fighters at Savaii, which means I have no way attacking his forces with my dive-bombers here. I begin evacuating the rest of my air assets from Suva to Pago Pago. This also means that Saros won't have to keep the KB here to provide CAP. The KB disappears from my searches this turn, which makes me nervous. Soviet Union Saros gets wise to my patrol-plane naval attacks, and sets significant CAP up to catch them. I lose a lot of aircraft.   I'll have to set my Patrols back to Naval Search for the time being. I sweep Harbin with MiG-3s to clear the way for airfield bombing.   Nice performance by my MiG-3s! Saros has retreated from Rybolov into an open hex. This gives me the opportunity to do some damage.   On the rail line, I make the mistake of bombarding. It does not go well for me. Now that I type this, I realize that I forgot to tell my forces to stop bombarding for this next turn. Crap.   I just received two large reinforcement squadrons for the Soviets - 60 MiGs and 38 DB-3 bombers. Instead of using them, I have withdrawn them to add those aircraft to the pools, which will help me fill out my existing squadrons, many of which are only 1/3 to 1/2 strength due to the constant fighting in this theater. DEI Saros invades Muntok. It seems to go well for him until he runs into some problems unloading. He must not have had good prep for the base.   Ship Losses  Just the sub kills that we traded today. Air Losses  Losses I incurred due to bombardment and ill-fated naval attacks swing the kills in Saros's favor. However all the fighter-to-fighter combat today went in my favor, which doesn't often happen. Long term, I'm still trying to regroup and get my feet underneath me. Logistics, lines of defense, ship basing - all are in a state of flux right now as I shift pieces around the map trying to consolidate my shipping to better support the war effort. Cape Town has simply not been able to keep up with my supply demands for the Eastern Theater, so I have some large xAK groups on their way to the East Coast now, where they'll begin to run a continuous supply loop from the East Coast to Cape Town.
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Jun 20, 2016 05:03
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paradigmblue posted:My heavy bombers pound Saros's Zero factories here. In response, Saros asks me not to attack his aircraft factories as part of the concessions I can make to keep the game going. I agree, and next turn I'll just go back to hitting airfields here. I know little about this game and less about your mod, but Saros landed an entire corps at Fiji a couple days ago. How many concessions does he really need?
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Jun 21, 2016 09:19
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dublish posted:I know little about this game and less about your mod, but Saros landed an entire corps at Fiji a couple days ago. How many concessions does he really need? I know it seems strange right now, when Saros is kicking my rear end across the map, but if Saros isn't able to maintain aircraft production due to the broken economy, then the long term health of the game will suffer.
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Jun 23, 2016 08:20
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February 20th, 1942 Sub Ops  Saros catches a valuable tanker near the map edge by Karachi. I didn't know that he was operating so far north, and my ASW assets here are thin. Once again my lack of escorts rears its ugly head. I don't have enough destroyers to escort everything and still keep my supplies and fuel moving.  Near the Southwest corner of Australia, I try to move an xAK out of Perth to safety, but it runs into a torpedo instead. I've been trying to redistribute all my troop-capable ships so that I can conduct meaningful sea-lift operations, but this group runs into another Japanese sub where I don't expect it - South of Melbourne, which is a new hunting ground for Saros. Luckily, the AMC limps into Melbourne harbor despite eating two torpedoes.  Of the Coast of Japan, one of my Soviet subs decides to surface and engage in a running gun battle with an xAKL. My sub takes a couple of hits, but the xAKL ends the battle on fire.  My ASW forces damage a Japanese sub near Ceylon.  Burma My recon planes here have uncovered one of Saros's airbases that he's been using to sweep Akyab. My P-38s go to work.    Soviet Union I've been bombing Saros's retreating troops just outside of Rybolov in clear terrain (in WitP:AE, clear terrain is where you can do the most damage by aerial attack, by a significant margin) A strike goes in....   An runs into a huge LRCAP trap set by Saros. Oh hell. Where's the escort? Where's my LRCAP on this hex? Neither fly, and my bombers are shot from the sky in droves by an absolutely murderous CAP. In one day, I lose 25% of my Soviet bomber force. It will take months to recover. Ugh. Later in the day, my bombers fly again. It's messy, but at least time the escort decides to show up.   MiG sweeps yield results in this theater. I should have been sweeping by bombing target instead, but my MiG pilots have been hardened by the crucible of three months of constant combat, and give Saros a wake-up call for who owns the skies above the Soviet Union.  Up north, I've slowed down one of Saros's retreating units by bombing, allowing one of my Soviet tank divisions to destroy it utterly. I only have two of these monster units, but along with artillery, they're the Soviet's ace in the hole.   Australia Saros's armor deals a nasty blow to my forces in northern Australia. My armor units here have been so savaged by Saros's bombing that they can't even mount a resistance.   Off the Western Coast of Australia Saros's carrier group looks like it's staying put for now near Geraldton. In addition to the carriers and what possibly looks like two troop TFs, there also seems to be a surface TF. My Catalina's claim there are at least two battleships and a battlecruiser, which means any hopes I had of running some light raiding forces in to try and disrupt whatever Saros has planned here probably won't work. DEI Muntok falls  Philippines Saros reaches Manilla. My troops auto-bombard, which reveals that he hasn't brought nearly enough to take the hex.  Pacific Saros strikes my field at Suva. Already damaged by naval bombardment, I only have fragments of my air squadrons in the hex, and none of my fighters take to the sky. Most of what I have left here now burns on the bombed out runway.   A shock attack goes in against my defenders at Savusavu. Amazingly, my plucky marine defense battalion repels the far superior force in the jungle.   Here's the current situation. The KB is the force directly West of Fiji, and according to my search, it's moving west. It makes me feel better that I have eyes on it again.  Air Losses  Well, at least the SB-2 is a lovely bomber. Despite the terrible bomber losses, however, I think Saros got the worst of today. This continued attrition of his Oscars and Zeroes has to be taking a toll, while most turns I'm keeping most of my air-frames out of combat. Ship Losses  Saro's sub force remains deadly effective.
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Jun 23, 2016 09:04
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I'm still alive, but I've taken on significant additional responsibilities at work, which means that I haven't had the time to maintain the AAR (as I'm sure all of you have realized). That being said, it sounds like Saros has been maintaining his AAR, so if you have any questions on how things are on my end, let me know and I'd be happy to share. In general, I'm still on my back foot across the map, and will continue to be until summer-fall of 42. Western Australia has fallen, and Northern New Zealand will follow shortly. Nothing can be done about it - to reinforce NZ I'd have to fight my way through the KB, which isn't an option for me right now, and my troops that could have been used to support Western Australia are committed in Burma at the moment. Saros's invasion triggered the automatic emergency reinforcement package, but it doesn't do much - it gives me a lot of aircraft, like Kittyhawk fighters, but NZ currently doesn't have any fighter squadrons to use them, so it doesn't do me much good. The Soviet Union is sticky right now, with significant blocking forces on my rail lines preventing supplies from flowing south. I've moved troops to dislodge these blockers, but it will take time for them to get into place. Meanwhile, Saros has been moving North in force, and I haven't yet been able to concentrate my forces sufficiently here to stop him. My evacuation from Eastern Burma is going roughly as planned - I'll lose a few small units that got cut off, but for the most part they are making it to the safety of the Akyab-Imphal line. I've been able to use my P-38s to great effect in this theater, which has prevented Saros's sweeps from getting completely out of hand. My air doctrine is working - while I suffer significant losses of my 2nd tier airframes due to Saros's Zero sweeps, my P-38s have suffered relatively few casualties. Lets hope I can keep that up. The Aleutians are getting interesting, with Saros raiding there with a small cruiser group. I don't have any assets there currently, so I'll begin to reinforce a bit when I can - I'd like to get some more naval search in place and maybe some dive-bombers to discourage surface raiders. My carriers are currently out of the picture, with most of my big carriers in the yards getting AA upgrades, and my US CLVs are currently being refitted to CVLs. In April my Commonwealth CAVs will do the same. All these small carriers won't be done until Spring/Summer, which is when the Joffre and Painleve will finish their conversions as well and be ready to host their fighter squadrons that are diligently training at Tahiti.
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Aug 20, 2016 03:57
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