This is my first “real” PBEM game also. That one I had against that other guy, well he gave up and never responded. Probably because I, as the US, caught all his Betty’s and Nells at Lae with a 100 plane strike of P39’s, and shut down lae, and pretty much wiped them out over a weeks worth of action.
I’m pretty sure the Fog of War gives ‘inaccurate’ combat reports. I did some checking in my “refresher” game against the AI, and would see the Japs apparently do “100 Runway Damage”, and then load up from the US side and see little to no damage. And vice versa. I’ve been running pretty steady recon, however, and * think * I have a pretty clear idea of what’s there.
Hey, I’m doing this for fun, the South Pacific WW2 is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, history subjects, and I don’t really care who wins or loses. So if you have any questions, or note something funny in what I say (I.e “pounding PM” hehe), and want it clarified to “see how the game is doing it”, or just curious as to why I did something, please ask. I’ll answer as best I can, and if I can’t because “what I’m doing” is part of a larger strategy, I’ll say so but still try and answer as best I can.
I really liked that move towards Buna. It’s stuff like that that the AI would never do. You were able to take 4 undamaged destroyers, and run their SYS damage up with all those high speed runs between Rabaul and Buna. For the three weeks those guys were on the march towards Buna, I continually had to “guess” what their intention was, and plan for each eventually. Unlike the AI, which would never do something like that, and if they did, after a couple games you’d know that “on 6/10/42, there will be a regiment of troops showing up at Buna”. Then again, doing something like that means I get to write glorious stories about the combat effectiveness of the IJN and IJA and the skill – or dare I say lack of skill - of the weak-spined, cowardly, Aussies hehehe. Now, those guys up at Wau… not sure what to make of them yet. Are you trying for a quick strike against Lae, if of course you suspect that Lae is lightly defended, or are you just trying to delay a potential invasion down from lae, or perhaps feinting towards Lae, and heading up to Madang? Maybe it’s an ENG regiment trying to build up a base all sneaky like. Either way, they have to be using twice as much supplies as they normally would, due to distance, unless you’re keeping them in supply via C47’s.
PS – I haven’t forgotten about Nevea, Gami-Gami, Lungaville, Wunpuko,
Note to other readers: “Lunga” is not an abbreviation for “Lungaville”. “Lunga” is the main base on Guadacanal (Think: Henderson Field). Lungaville is a large base down by Nomeua, in Espiritu Santo
As much as some things in this game are frustrating, those are the things I like. Like how airplanes will not really strike a tf with lots of CAP, if they don’t have escorting fighters. Yeah, that’s how it should be. But then to see a flock of Bettys fly from Rabaul to Townsville to strike 2 whole SubChasers because a 5 ship TF was defended by 3 P39’s… well that’s frustrating! Just like Supplies, there’s never enough to do everything you want to do. And in my opinion, the US supply situation (like you described above) is the key to a Japanese victory. Sinking transports brings more joy to me than sinking CL’s as a Theater Commander
(but I’d rather take out those nasty Jap killing CLAA’s). But sinking CL’s makes great headlines hehehe for the media boys, and sinking lowly cargo haulers don't.