TOS - Land of the Blind

[eric_A]

Far to the Northwest of Wake Island......
The commander of the USS Bluefin swung his periscope around, then
came to an abrupt halt. His cigar fell from his mouth onto the steel deck.
He exclaimed:
HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD!
THERE'S FIVE. MAYBE SIX CARRIERS, BATTLESHIPS, CRUISERS,
IT'S THE WHOLE STINKING JAP NAVY!!!
BATTLE STATIONS, TARGET BEARING 147, I WANT A FULL SPREAD.....

The Bluefins' torpedos hit the battleship Krishima, a ship so badly
damaged she was barely afloat. She burned for nearly and hour then
slipped beneath the waves. Reading the Bluefins' report, Admiral Halsey
wonders why the Japanese did not send the ship the short distanace
back to Tokyo for repair. Are they short on fuel or is it another instance
of the "victory disease" he has been hearing about?

Elsewhere:
B-17 bombers hit the destroyer Okinami east of Kwajelein causing
moderate damage.

 

[El_Tigre]

Chunking finally fell! Besieged since months, the Chinese capital was reduced to fraction of its former size during the bloody street fights. The Chinese had armed every man between 16 and 70... Eager to reduce losses to a minimum, the Japanese Army decided to bring in all the artillery on the mainland before the (often delayed) final assault. Still, a communist guerilla killed two infantry battalions, a third died lateron.

(What actually delayed the attack was the lack of units with high attack values, like Combat Engineers, Tanks, or.. well, a Nipponese Infantry Army, for example).

Bandjermasin conquered.

This sub... USS Bluefin...

...it killed a CA and a BB before another CA could kill it.

 

[eric_A]

Our Submarine, the USS Trout sank the carrier Hiryu 8 tiles
NW of Wake Island. B-17 bombers then damaged the CA Kuma
at the same location

 

[eric_A]

El_Tigre:
Have my AI allies done any damage with their subs in this game?

 

[El_Tigre]

No news from the Pacific. Lots of regrouping and rebuilding.

Chengdu taken. One green Infantry lost, one Great Leader produced.

Boela conquered by an airborne brigade. Paratroopers really are worth building in this version of TOS...

El_Tigre:
Have my AI allies done any damage with their subs in this game?

Well, lets see: the Tenate area is a death zone, one carrier sunk (empty), 4-5 destroyer and the same amount of transport killed + one BB and at least one CA...

...yes, I would say that Allied subs have done some damage. I'm always surprised when one of my transports outside of an Indonesian port is still alive at the end of the turn. I try to end my turns within a city, but sometimes it's just not possible. Of course, the AI always knows were my subs are, and hunts them down with his own.

Don't get me wrong, invisible subs are excellent, and I don't think I will play this scenario without them again, but in combination with the AI knowing every position of every ship on the map, they are rather deadly: If one of my ships is within striking range the AI attacks, if not the AI retreats the sub. I never stumbled upon a CW/Dutch sub (as it frequently happens with our subs in the Pacific), unless it had just sunk one of my ships.

 

[eric_A]

Don't get me wrong, invisible subs are excellent, and I don't think I will play this scenario without them again, but in combination with the AI knowing every position of every ship on the map, they are rather deadly: If one of my ships is within striking range the AI attacks, if not the AI retreats the sub. I never stumbled upon a CW/Dutch sub (as it frequently happens with our subs in the Pacific), unless it had just sunk one of my ships.

Still, playing against three good human players would likely be worse.
The AI will ALLWAYS attack an easy target if it comes along while
a human player might decide to just sit quietly in a coastly square
and wait to see what what else comes along, or try to sneak in
behind you.

I am thinking of moving the attack transport from naval tactics to
amphibious warfare. They have much better defence than the basic
transports, that might help to balance things off a bit.

 

[El_Tigre]

Still, playing against three good human players would likely be worse.
The AI will ALLWAYS attack an easy target if it comes along while
a human player might decide to just sit quietly in a coastly square
and wait to see what what else comes along, or try to sneak in
behind you.

Agreed, with one exception: the two subs I sent south never really had a
chance. The AI knew where to find them, and now they are badly
needed somewhere else.

Actually, the situation in Indonesia is not as bad as I described it. I still
have momentum, and with decreasing warfare in China, my offensive in the
South will pick up again.

I am thinking of moving the attack transport from naval tactics to
amphibious warfare. They have much better defence than the basic
transports, that might help to balance things off a bit.

Sounds good. I was thinking about either decreasing the defensive value or
the hitpoints of the regular sub. The attack value seems to be balanced, but
I lost too many units attacking subs. My favorite solution was decreasing the
range of sight to 1 tile, until I checked the editor and saw that this is not
possible.

 

[El_Tigre]

1. Japan has lost naval supremacy in the northern Pacific. The failure to
conquer Wake and the loss of several I-Boats in one month near Pearl Harbor
deprives the IJN of the necessary intelligence about US carriers and convoys.
US subs could be anywhere between San Franscisco and Tokyo, and as a
result, the use of carrier groups for surveillance and naval supremacy is
hazardous. The IJN failed to sink any US BB or CV after Pearl Harbor and has
lost the initiative.

2. China's resistance is broken. Despite being situated on a hill, Chengdu fell
two weeks ahead of schedule. The last remaining Chinese cities are small and
weakly defended, and the appearance of a second Japanese Army will quicken
the fall of China. A considerable amount of Infantry will be available for
deployment within a couple of turns.

3. Indonesia: Having secured Malay and Sumatra, Borneo is now in the focus
of the Japanese forces. All victory locations are secured, and
reinforcements have arrived this turn. So our surprise, and despite merciless
submarine warfare, western Guinea and the islands east of Borneo have been
conquered ahead of schedule, with a minimum of forces. The Dutch defense
rests on Allied submarines; after Japanese troops have disembarked,
resistance has been ineffective. No CW surface fleet so far.

4. Southern Pacific: Rabaul, Port Moresby and Guadalcanal are in British
hands. Our defensive perimeter rests entirely on Kwajalein and Tawara, which
are almost impossible to reinforce with troops. It would be euphemistic to call
our presence in this theater firm or even stable, but we are... well, present.

5. The Home Front: Japan has mobilized only several weeks ago, after a
massive industrialization programm has been completed. All major cities under
Japanese control have factories and coal plants. After issuing the mobilization
order, our production is superior to the American, although not as
concentrated. Until now, Japanese losses could not be replenished, but the
output of the last weeks has exceeded our hopes. By improving the terrain,
production will continue to increase. The Japanese Navy and Army have
survived their lowpoint.
Science has been neglected in favor of the industrialization program, but we
will discover Submarine Warfare soon. Our shipyards are ready...

 

[eric_A]

Our dive bombers sank the DD Okinami somewhere south of Midway.

Screen shot: Newly declassified photo of what the USS Bluefin saw, see
post #21 for text:

 

[El_Tigre]

Not one naval battle this turn. The suspicious silence in the Pacific persists...

No cities conquered, but a brave regular Infantry Battallion defended itself against a Chinese Combat Engineer, the last hope of the Chinese army.

 

[eric_A]

Played and sent.

The suspicious silence won't last much longer.

B-17 bombers attacked the CA Chokai near Kwajelien.
One bomber was shot down, the Chokai was slightly damaged.

The population of the US mainlained is holding steady at 71.
There was an outbreak of disease at Hilo.

 

[El_Tigre]

The suspicious silence won't last much longer.

Indeed.

What started like another boring patrol flight for one of our Zeros in Kwajalein ended in the sighting of the largest fleet that ever sailed the Pacific: several carriers, lots of transports and a decent sized escort of BBs, CAs and DDs is heading towards our outer perimeter!! The crews of our Torpedo Bombers in Kwajalein and Tawara, the best of the Japanese Empire, scrambled for their planes, trying to hit the US fleet as hard and early as possible. They managed so sing the CA Chicago in this target-rich environment.

The Battle for the Marshall Islands begins.

In other news:

Lanchow and Sining taken, two green infantry lost.
Ketapang fell to our Marine Army.

------

eric_A, when I was about to end my turn and had the "save&exit or continue" screen on my monitor, I saw one more unit I wanted to move. I clicked on the X in the lower right corner, but the next thing I saw was the "enter the US password screen"! I had to quit the game.

I replayed my turn, and because I made several screenshots, I moved my units to the EXACT same positions and scouted the EXACT same areas. The first time, my first bombing run on the Chicago failed, and she was sunk by TB two and three. The second time, the first two TB sank her, so I hit space for the third TB. Unfortunately, what my screenshots didn't tell me were the movement paths of my ships. When replaying the turn, I hit three of your subs! A sub north of Truk and one south of Kwajalein were sunk (CA, DD) so I disbanded my two nearest subs. Another I-Boat ran into a sub northwest of Wake and was killed.

Please accept my sincerest apologies for what happened. I'm really sorry that it happened during such a crucial turn, but I did everything I could to replay my turn in the same order and with the same result as the first time.

 

[eric_A]

It's only a test game, anyway. I saw a Japanese dive bomber just
floating over the ocean like a zepplin a few turns ago, very strange!

You were very lucky not to lose any planes to CAP patrols!

Now aren't you glad I did not also play Commonwealth? If I had
you would have seen two large invasion fleets instead of one.

 

[El_Tigre]

It's only a test game, anyway. I saw a Japanese dive bomber
just floating over the ocean like a zepplin a few turns ago, very strange!

Yes, I know: when I transferred planes to those carriers, I wanted to assign
each plane to a specific carrier. I had that Dive Bomber active (rebase) and
clicked on the carrier stack. The selective list popped up, but I had forgotten
the carrier name, so I cancelled (I don't remember if I clicked on the X or
right-clicked somewhere). The list disappeared, but the DB was transferred
anyway. When I moved the carriers, the DB remained on the ocean spare. It
wasn't "inside" a carrier, because I never selected one. Next turn, the DB was
still there and I could rebase it. My advice: always close that pop-up by
selecting a carrier.

You were very lucky not to lose any planes to CAP patrols!

It surprised me, too. However, two TB are elite, the third veteran, so the
experience level might play a role. IIRC, someone on CFC found out that the
AI pairs every attacking plane with only one fighter on air superiority, so it
doesn't matter how many fighter you have (as long as you can match the
next attacking plane with another fighter on air superiority).

Now aren't you glad I did not also play Commonwealth? If I had
you would have seen two large invasion fleets instead of one.

Remember, my cities just started churning out units like mad...

 

[eric_A]

Kwajalein:
The cruiser Chokai and the destroyer Hatsuyuki met thier fate under
waves of dive and torpedo bombers. A US artillery battery landed on the
small island east Kwajalein and set up thier guns.
B-17 bombers began the bombardment of the island redlining a MG and
a para unit.

Elsewhere, not a lot happened.

 

[El_Tigre]

GPS

The last two Chinese cities have been captured. No losses.

Your Combat Air Patrol just needed a turn to warm up: one TB, Bomber and Zero lost to CAP, one TB destroyed by AA.

However, an I-Boat used the diversion to sneak into the US fleet and to attack the Queen of the flattops, the USS Lexington. She was hit by a full spread and slipped beneath the waves.

The next turn will tell how many Marines you have in those six transports.

Screenshot: My sub killed the CV Lexington, under the BB northeast of the main stack. More paratroopers arrived at Kwajalein during the turn and the tile left of the airbase was occupied, too.

 

[eric_A]

GPS
The next turn will tell how many Marines you have in those six transports.

The answer is not very many, I doubt I will be able to get ashore,
unless you a silly enough to leave an empty tile for me to land on.

I will probably have to wait for a followup convoy before I attack,
but I can still reinforce Wake Island and I also brought along one
of my famous Seabee units for airfield construction.

 

[eric_A]

We completed submarine warfare, two subs in Pearl for repair
have been upgraded, the hunter-killers have arrived!


Far to the northwest of Wake, one of our ordinary subs spotted the
battleship Negato and an escorting DD. They were out of range
of dive bombers, but in range for B-17s and torpedo bombers.
The BB was sunk by bombers, DD was redlined and finished off by the
sub. One of our bombers was shot down.

Battleships and artillery pounded Kawjalein.

 

[El_Tigre]

The US fleet cancelled the attack on Kwajalein, which has been reinforced by
several paratrooper regiments. Instead, the US Navy turned north and retreated
towards Wake Island, where all ground forces disembarked. The fleeing ships
were harassed by TB and DB from Kwajalein. A bold Dive Bomber squadron
attacked the mighty fleet, but was shot down by the fighter screen. However,
two Torpedo Bomber squadrons could make perfect runs on the American
carriers, sinking one and severely damaging the other. [I guess the two carriers
without escort were empty, but anyway...]

Our agents in the US managed to transmit important information about the new
Submarine Warfare technology, accelerating our own research in this field. In an
amazing effort, Japanese scientist immediately made prototypes of the
Advanced Sub available, two months ahead of schedule.

 

[eric_A]

Our dive and torpedo bombers sank 1 BB NE of Truk.
WE lost 1 sub south of Truk attacking another BB, the
BB was damaged.

Screen Shot: The hunter becomes the hunted, The Hornet can now
"see" subs because it is carrying an ASW aircraft, one I-boat sunk by
torpedo bombers.