Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Smeulders (Allies)

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Smeulders (Allies)

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Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Smeuld... - 11/6/2009 6:08:00 PM

SqzMyLemon

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From: Alberta, Canada
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As stated by Smeulders in his "War across the Atlantic" AAR, I'm playing as his Japanese opponent. I am completely new to WITPAE and have never played WITP previously. I'm really looking forward to the matchup, I think my friendly Belgian across the pond will be a very intelligent/tough opponent.

I'm quite overwhelmed at the moment by the complexities of the Japanese side, but really looking forward to the challenge!

I hope those of you who will choose to follow this AAR will enjoy it, I hope it will be both an informative and entertaining AAR. On my end of things I'm guessing informative on what "not to do" as the Japanese, and entertaining in terms of "what was he thinking!"

This is my first ever attempt at an AAR, and have no particular style in mind. I'm sure it will be a work in progress until the very end. I'll have something on my end hopefully by the weekend. We are about to finish turn 2, so just getting started.

Any commentary, general advice, tips on running the Japanese economy and constructive critcism is welcome. I just ask the obvious that the integrity of the two threads is respected, and not compromised. Thanks to everyone in advance!

Banzai!

Post #: 1

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/6/2009 6:10:24 PM

Mike Solli

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Good luck!

_____________________________

Created by the amazing Dixie

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Post #: 2

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/6/2009 9:15:24 PM

Smeulders

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So now it's my time to pay my respects in the den of the lion. I'll use the chance to give you one last piece of advice, don't overestimate me, I've proven about as much as you have.

Best of luck

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Post #: 3

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/6/2009 10:14:09 PM

LoBaron

Posts: 4776
Joined: 1/26/2003
From: Vienna, Austria
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Watch your head.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/6/2009 10:21:58 PM

Q-Ball

Posts: 7336
Joined: 6/25/2002
From: Chicago, Illinois
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Wow, you have never played WITP or AE, and you are diving in to a PBEM as Japan?

Good luck Lemon-San

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/6/2009 11:03:18 PM

Canoerebel

Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002
From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
Status: offline

Zoiks!

"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

"Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred."

"We have not yet begun to fight!"

Good luck!

(in reply to Q-Ball)

Post #: 6

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/8/2009 9:08:46 AM

SqzMyLemon

Posts: 4239
Joined: 10/30/2009
From: Alberta, Canada
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Ok, here we go. I've just sent turn 3 off to Smeulders so I have a chance to start this AAR, and introduce you to what's happening on the Japanese side of things. It should be an interesting game though, we are both unknowns and neither has any idea of how aggressive/conservative/sneaky we may be

A brief synopsis of events to date:

1. Pearl Harbour raid was poor, only 4 ships reported sunk including 2 BB's, although Japanese aircraft losses were marginal.
2. KB heading West after raid and is intact with minimal losses to squadrons, although a bone head move on my part had 2 units of Zeros still on airfield and sweep missions, resulting in the loss/damage of 11 aircraft on Dec. 8th. KB is heading for Wake.
3. Force Z escaped and presumed still at large despite two air attacks, one of which was at night...sigh. Combat reports indicated both POW and Repulse were sunk. This was not the case with a later sighting and both are presumed still at large, the extent of any damage is unknown.
4. Preset invasion fleets are inbound as per historical first turn setup, with the exception of Guam being postponed.

Strategies:

Home Islands: Defensive readjustment of restricted assets to counter any sub incursions or possible carrier based raids endangering merchant shipping in home waters. Minefields playing a large role in the defenses.

East and South China Seas: Aggressive air and naval anti-submarine patrols to intercept any submarine contacts threatening merchant shipping routes. Hunter groups have been created to respond to any sightings. I plan on utilizing a lot of assets to prevent this so various islands and ports are being upgraded accordingly. Key bases will be built up to a combined 10 and greater to eliminate any spoilage of supply/fuel. I figure it will be hard enough as it is to get it there in the first place!

Central Pacific: Capture of Wake, Guam. Tinkering with the idea of an early invasion of Midway Island, depending on assets I can get in there quickly enough. Although I think supply and building up the base at Midway may be problematic.

Marshall Islands: Strengthen and consolidate, sub assets will be primary here to harass Allied shipping. Transfer of strong search/attack air units. to warn of and hinder any Allied advance or early raids.

Phillipines: Standard invasion, fight my way to Manilla and Clark, and up from the South.

Malaya, Sumatra, Java and Borneo: Here I have to be careful, I'm playing another PBEM game as the Japanese as well and my opponent is free to view this AAR. So I have two strategies here, one against Smeulders which everyone will see, and a completely different one for my other game. Some similarities will be obvious due to the nature of what needs to be taken, but I plan on mixing it up if I can.

China: I have no idea, don't ask.

So this is just the start. I'll start posting screen shots on Monday and flesh out the particulars. I'm not sure on the whole Japanese economy yet, so just some tweaking on aircraft and such so far, more next post.

Thanks for following, any advice or criticism is welcome...enjoy!

< Message edited by SqzMyLemon -- 11/8/2009 9:12:56 AM >

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Post #: 7

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/8/2009 4:20:48 PM

Frandoxxx

Posts: 61
Joined: 12/22/2007
From: Denver, Colorado
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As another newbie who also got stuck playing the Japanese against other newbies in two PBEM games, I feel your pain.

I thank you

for being willing to let others see your game. Good luck the Imperial Japanese newbies MUST stick together!

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Post #: 8

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/8/2009 4:39:28 PM

aztez

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From: Finland
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Good luck guys!

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/8/2009 10:17:18 PM

SqzMyLemon

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I'm trying to attach screenshots, right now I've created adobe pdf files so I could add text boxes and arrows. However if I save the pdf's as a jpg I lose the text boxes and arrows. Can anyone tell me how to convert the pdf files to the format required here and keep my edits?

Thanks.

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Post #: 10

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/8/2009 11:32:40 PM

bacchus

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From: South Carolina
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quote:

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Malaya, Sumatra, Java and Borneo: Here I have to be careful, I'm playing another PBEM game as the Japanese as well and my opponent is free to view this AAR. So I have two strategies here, one against Smeulders which everyone will see, and a completely different one for my other game. Some similarities will be obvious due to the nature of what needs to be taken, but I plan on mixing it up if I can.

Man, that is what I was reading the posts for. Well no magic intelligence here, guess I'll just have to wing it. Good luck guys, thanks for letting us read the posts.

_____________________________

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" -Animal House

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:11:27 AM

Arnhem44

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From: Singapore
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quote:

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon
~snip~
I'm playing as his Japanese opponent. I am completely new to WITPAE and have never played WITP previously.
~snip~

I salute you good sir for jumping into, not the deep end but the Marianas Trench feet first! Will be following this set of AARs as I'd like to get my feet wet as the Japanese one day.

(in reply to SqzMyLemon)

Post #: 12

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:09:02 PM

SqzMyLemon

Posts: 4239
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Japanese Intelligence Report

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:10:45 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Japanese Production Numbers.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:11:32 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Situation around Midway.

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< Message edited by SqzMyLemon -- 11/9/2009 4:16:14 PM >

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:18:43 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Situation around Wake.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/9/2009 4:19:32 PM

SqzMyLemon

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South China Sea.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/10/2009 11:30:15 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Dec. 10/41:

A much better turn for the Japanese today. 11 enemy ships reported sunk with the loss of no Japanese. I'm still not destroying (I mostly just seem to damage them) much of his airforce in A2A combat, maybe my fighters are at their maximum range and it's limiting their effectiveness. Even my CAP seems to be struggling downing Allied bombers in defence.

No luck finding his Carrier TF, but I figured that. So it's plan B.

I decided to change some previously mentioned TF's to new objectives. Once these predetermined assault TF's are used up I'm looking forward to creating my own that make more sense to me. I'm finding Japan is woefully short of escort craft, you have to decide to protect merchants, or invasion TF's, you really don't have adequate resources for both. I have many un-escorted merchant TF's at the moment. Throw in anti-submarine patrols and the escort pool gets even thinner. And getting those shorter range DD's in position will take some time. I'm starting to use Mike's idea of converting some of those small xAKL's to PB's. The endurance is only 1700, but will help for the shorter legs supplying the hubs.

A note on merchant convoys. I preset many TF's to leave the Home Islands and pick up resources at numerous bases. Well, after a few turns the majority have turned around mid journey (Empty I might add!) and headed back to their home ports in the Home Islands. Am I missing something? Endurance and fuel was fine. Do you have to set up the automatic convoy system using the resource base as the home port? It's been frustrating, I'm having to check every TF and re-route it if it's empty or not loading properly, it's wasted 3 turns! Anybody else have this issue, am I setting the convoys up wrong?

Screen shots and some combat reports to follow later tonight, as well as some production notes, mainly aircraft factory tweaks. Once again, any comments are welcome.

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Post #: 18

RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/11/2009 12:34:40 AM

Mike Solli

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quote:

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

A note on merchant convoys. I preset many TF's to leave the Home Islands and pick up resources at numerous bases. Well, after a few turns the majority have turned around mid journey (Empty I might add!) and headed back to their home ports in the Home Islands. Am I missing something? Endurance and fuel was fine. Do you have to set up the automatic convoy system using the resource base as the home port? It's been frustrating, I'm having to check every TF and re-route it if it's empty or not loading properly, it's wasted 3 turns! Anybody else have this issue, am I setting the convoys up wrong?

Hmm, interesting. I'd recommend setting the final destination as the port where the resources originate. When it arrives there, set to load resources, give the destination in the Home Islands and make it a CS convoy. That should do the trick. The home port needs to be where the resources start, not the Home Islands.

_____________________________

Created by the amazing Dixie

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/11/2009 12:48:36 AM

SqzMyLemon

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Situation at Midway, no sign of enemy Carrier TF.

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< Message edited by SqzMyLemon -- 11/11/2009 3:40:27 AM >

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/11/2009 12:49:23 AM

SqzMyLemon

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Situation in the Celebes.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/11/2009 12:50:13 AM

SqzMyLemon

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Situation in the South China Sea and Malaya.

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:37:07 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Updates

Malaya:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:37:58 PM

SqzMyLemon

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quote:

Luzon:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:38:47 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Celebes Sea:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:39:32 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Aircraft Production 1:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:40:02 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Aircraft Production 2:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:40:39 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Engine Pool:

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:51:53 PM

Mike Solli

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PDU off, eh? Very interesting.

Convert the Nakajima Kotobuti to something different (or at least shut them off). You have a bunch in the pool and they are used only for Claudes, Daves and Nates, and only the Nates are producing and you have a bunch in the pool.

For the Hitachi (early), I'd shut it off but keep it for later. The only plane that uses it now is the Ki-36, which is useless. I'd shut off the Ki-36.

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Created by the amazing Dixie

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RE: Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Sm... - 11/12/2009 8:56:26 PM

SqzMyLemon

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Home Islands:

Just to give an idea of how congested things are getting around Japan and the immediate area. The convoy routing has been a lot of work and I'll be tweaking it for the first few weeks. Shifting merchants where needed and where they are most efficient. I'm hoping to achieve a "just in time" mentality for my convoys. Try to empty out a resource port at first loading (for the smaller ones) and have the next load ready for when the merchants return. I don't want resources piling up, or return trips half empty. I think the time and effort here will pay off big time.

I also believe in draining the farthest resources away first if I can, and just tapping into the closer resource ports closer to the Home Islands. My reasoning is this, as my defense perimeter shrinks it will be harder to ship resources long distances, so I want a huge supply near the Home Islands to ensure I can keep the economy going with shorter trips as I'm being bombed back into the stone age. This all sounds great, but that's providing I supply the 100,000 resources a day that I understand the economy requires to run efficiently. Wow, that sounds daunting when you actually type it out yourself!

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