RE: The Empire Strikes Back

RE: The Empire Strikes Back (Full Version)

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CapAndGown -> RE: The Empire Strikes Back (5/28/2010 7:35:24 AM)
Jan. 20, 1943 I forgot to post a report about this, since it was a foregone occurrence, but Upolu was captured by the allies yesterday. Recon reports that both Savaii and Upolu are heavily stocked with fighters, bombers, base forces, and seabees. Indeed, Savaii looks to be over-stacked at the moment. I lost a sub today. They are not accomplishing much. The allied CVs appear to be heading back to Tahiti to restock. According to an email from witpqs, the allied CVs were never in Australia as I had thought. Rather, they were covering a convoy transiting my picket line and were spotted by my subs, but then immediately retreated to the east. They were not really head west. So much for my intelligence coup. [8\|]

CapAndGown -> RE: The Empire Strikes Back (5/28/2010 5:21:30 PM)
Jan. 21, 1943 Taue was invaded by 3 marine raider battalions and an army regiment. They are up against an SNLF unit with 60 assault value. I think witpqs may be disappointed by the results, although the soft attack value of US squads is twice that of japanese squads.

CapAndGown -> RE: The Empire Strikes Back (5/29/2010 4:13:15 PM)
Jan. 24, 1943 Taue fell today. The main reason it fell to the first attack, despite level three forts and jungle terrain was the SNLF unit was almost destroyed by B-17s. While the disruption caused by air attacks I can accept, and of course some casualties, this level of destruction is not very believable. Artillery could not do the job these B-17s did, not against dug-in troops (and probably not against troops moving over open ground when bombing from 13,000 feet.) Perhaps witpqs managed to get a shipment of JDAMs. [8\|]

bklooste -> RE: The Empire Strikes Back (5/29/2010 4:31:52 PM)
Small sub division sized units seem very vulnerable to bombing ..

CapAndGown -> Special Attack unit not so Special (5/30/2010 2:14:30 AM)
Jan. 26, 1943 I decided to try an experiment. I wanted to see if I could get some Bettys based at Suva to sneak in under allied radar for a naval attack on shipping in Savii. So I divided a Sentai of Betty's into 9 plane chutai's and set one of them to Naval Attack with a range of 17 and an altitude of 100 feet. (The others have been purposefully limited to 9 hexes so that they will only attack targets within range of their Zero escorts.) Didn't work. The attack was spotted at 80 miles distance and the allies had 28 minutes warning time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Savaii at 146,159 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 28 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 9 Allied aircraft P-39D Airacobra x 12 P-40E Warhawk x 2 P-40K Warhawk x 8 F4F-3 Wildcat x 7 F4F-4 Wildcat x 8 Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed Not going to try that again! I figured this would happen, that's why I only wasted 9 planes on the experiment. Over in China I captured Liuchow today. Next target is Nanning. After capturing Luichow I found out that not only did it have 40 light industry, but it also had an inherent 40 supply. So that is 80 less supply for the Chinese. Another allied TF is delivering stuff to Exmouth. I was thinking that witpqs might try to set up an ambush by having a SAG stand off with a reaction setting. Sure enough, today my Emily's at Port Hedland spotted some ships just north of Carnavon. I'll just bet they are part of a SAG. I may have a surprise of my own in store for them. [sm=00000622.gif] [image]local://upfiles/2633/AB09DD916777411EBCAD56A484DCC454.jpg[/image]

CapAndGown -> RE: Special Attack unit not so Special (5/30/2010 11:04:03 PM)
Jan. 29, 1943 We will launch a deliberate attack at Nanning tomorrow. Hopefully this won't take to long. I need to guard against a possible counter-offensive coming out of Kweilin. The allies have now reconned Baker and Canton Islands again after leaving them be for a good long time. So now witpqs knows that they are unoccupied. If he is smart, he will send in some fast transports to take these islands with minimal force. Recon showed up over Fiji for the first time today. Do you suppose he'll go for Fiji next? I am about to launch some merchant raiding operations in both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Pacific Operation: The Tone and Chikuma, plus my four Akitsuki class DDs (endurance 8300) have just refueled from some xAKs north of Midway. They will now head down into the shipping lanes off the US west coast. With 5 Jake's a piece, hopefully we will spot some juicy target. The xAKs will remain on station in order to refuel the raiders on their return trip. Indian Ocean Operation: This one is much more complicated. The following TFs are involved: Reinforcement Group: CV Kaga, Akagi; CVL Ryuho, Ryujo; BB Kongo, Haruna; CLAA Tenryu; 9xDD Cover Group: CV Zuikaku, Junyo, Hiyo; CVL Shoho; CS Nishin, 9xDD Strike Group: CVE Taiyo, Unyo, Chuyo; CS Mizuho; 3xDD; 5xAPD Search Groups: AV Sanuki, Sanyo Replenishment group: 6xE; 10xAO Picket: PB The AVs will head south searching for convoys, one to the west, one to the east. The CVE group will be in the middle. The Cover Group will hold station west of Perth. A picket ship will be stationed on my eastern flank. After considering the situation some more, became worried that the RN CVs might be based at Perth. I am not sure the cover group could take them on its own. So I decided to sortie another carrier TF from Oosthaven just in case. Too bad I didn't think of this a while ago. Hopefully the picket ship will give me some warning in case RN CVs show up before the reinforcement group arrives. I apologize for the muddy quality of the picture. My screen capture program doesn't take the best shots. [image]local://upfiles/2633/A83D8075D5AD48C29CF92EEF5D9275D8.jpg[/image]

CapAndGown -> RE: Special Attack unit not so Special (5/31/2010 12:38:36 AM)
Jan. 30, 1943 First attack at Nanning failed with 1-2 odds and twice as many Japanese casualties as Chinese. The forts came down to level 2. Disruption is not that high, so I will attack again tomorrow. I suspect I got a bad die roll this turn.

CapAndGown -> RE: Special Attack unit not so Special (6/1/2010 7:09:47 AM)
Feb. 2, 1943 Nanning was captured today. Kweilin has been reinforced quite a bit-about 45,000 men. Probably too tough a nut to crack, so I will simply set up a defensive screen and leave it alone. Witpqs notified me that this next turn will take a long time to issue orders. I guess another invasion is on the way. This time I have no clue as to where he might go. Baker and Canton can be picked up on the cheap; there is no reason to involve the CVs. OTOH, he hasn't reconned Fiji very much, just Savusavu. I don't think he will invade anywhere without first reconning the place. That would seem to indicate that northern Australia might be next, maybe Port Hedland, since he has thoroughly reconned all the bases everything from Darwin on over to Port Hedland. So far my merchant raids have not turned up anything. I'll give it a few days to see if someone wanders by. [image]local://upfiles/2633/787DBEB86235444C94DABBB3A15C3B1A.jpg[/image]

CapAndGown -> Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 4:55:48 PM)
Feb. 3, 1943 Our cruisers patrolling the San Fransisco-Hawaii convoy route found and demolished a troop convoy. The Chikuma TF used up its ammo and is returning to base. The Tone TF will attempt to finish off the estimated two cripples tomorrow and then retire. DD Teruzuki took a couple of hits and has 14 float damage. During the night the allies were pretty much able to escape, although DD Hobby took 4 hits. During the day phase, however, the troop convoy was demolished. First the Chikuma group hit the convoy. Then the Tone group took on the less damaged ships. The other ships, apparently, were split off after the first action. Those ships are the ones I am going to trying to finish off tomorrow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near San Francisco at 205,88, Range 15,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Chikuma DD Akizuki DD Teruzuki, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships DD Hobby, Shell hits 5, on fire xAK Iron Chieftan, Shell hits 8 xAK Iron King, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Iron Knight, Shell hits 3 xAK Suva, Shell hits 8, heavy fires xAK Aspasia Nomikos, Shell hits 3, on fire xAK Chios, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Evi Livanos, Shell hits 8, on fire xAK Mary Livanos, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied ground losses: 682 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 117 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near San Francisco at 203,89, Range 14,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Tone DD Susuzuki DD Hatsuzuki Allied Ships xAK Iron Chieftan, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAK Iron Knight, Shell hits 19, and is sunk xAK Aspasia Nomikos, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAK Evi Livanos, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 473 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 32 destroyed, 59 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk... Meanwhile, down in the southwest corner of the map my Indian Ocean raiders spotted an allied TF of unknown composition. My hope is that witpqs thinks that the plane that spotted them is flying off a sub. If he does not retreat that TF to Capetown it will be slaughtered tomorrow by my CVE based Vals. [image]local://upfiles/2633/DF3A2CEA6FC9407DBD31A18EDF4E4BD5.jpg[/image]

CarnageINC -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 5:04:22 PM)
Nice deep strike with your surface units [;)]

TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 5:08:31 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: CarnageINC Nice deep strike with your surface units�[;)] Agreed! The German Kriegsmarine would be proud! [:'(]

CapAndGown -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 5:14:56 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman quote: ORIGINAL: CarnageINC Nice deep strike with your surface units�[;)] Agreed! The German Kriegsmarine would be proud! [:'(] Thanks, but I am not one to count my chickens before they are hatched. The surface raiders still need to make good their escape!

Q-Ball -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 6:03:06 PM)
That was slick! Escape is the tough part; if I had CVs at Pearl, I would be looking for your replenishment TF (in this case AKs, but either way, you need a fuel source) Pretty cool though! What will he do now, change Convoy routes?

TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 6:13:09 PM)
If you manage to extricate them from the area, I wouldn't do a repeat run. Seems like such an action is a one trick pony and that any further attempts will be met with overwhelming force. If it were me, I'd increase sub patrols in the region following this to monitor the situation, perhaps you'll get lucky and bag some enemy warships seeking your raiders, or at the very least find out whether or not he has changed anything as a result of the raid.

CapAndGown -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 6:27:06 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Q-Ball That was slick! Escape is the tough part; if I had CVs at Pearl, I would be looking for your replenishment TF (in this case AKs, but either way, you need a fuel source) Pretty cool though! What will he do now, change Convoy routes? Well, the closest his CVs might be is half way between Tahiti and Pearl. I suspect, in fact, they are prepping to support another invasion, perhaps of Baker and Canton. They might be at Christmas. The only reason I launched this raid is because I knew his CVs were all way down in the south. As to fuel, I selected the highest endurance ships I have for this raid. Right now it looks like they could make it home without having to refuel. They tanked up on the way out and seem to have enough to get home without needed the xAKs. But I will leave them in place as a contingency.

CapAndGown -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/1/2010 6:30:14 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman If you manage to extricate them from the area, I wouldn't do a repeat run. Seems like such an action is a one trick pony and that any further attempts will be met with overwhelming force. If it were me, I'd increase sub patrols in the region following this to monitor the situation, perhaps you'll get lucky and bag some enemy warships seeking your raiders, or at the very least find out whether or not he has changed anything as a result of the raid. That is an interesting idea. I was not going to do a repeat. But I had not thought about putting some subs out there. I may do that.

CapAndGown -> The War on Gary Grisby (6/1/2010 9:10:50 PM)
Feb. 4, 1943 I guess witpqs thought the float plane that sighted his convoy in the southwest last turn was a Glen since his ships stayed on course to the west. Too bad for them. [sm=00000055.gif] Turned out be be tanker convoy. Apparently it was totally wiped out since there was no attack in the afternoon phase and there is no icon there now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Busselton at 15,177 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft D3A1 Val x 48 Allied Ships TK Salland, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires TK British Colonel, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk TK Solor, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage TK British Hope, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires TK British Commodore, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires TK Osthav, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires TK Belita, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires TK Seirstad, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires TK War Sirdar, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Busselton at 15,177 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft D3A1 Val x 24 Allied Ships TK Osthav, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires TK Seirstad, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage TK British Hope, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage TK Salland, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage TK British Commodore, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage TK War Sirdar, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage Now I need to get my CVEs out of Dodge and back to the relative safety of my fleet CVs which are due west of Perth. My Tone TF failed to intercept the surviving ships from the convoy they butchered yesterday. The Jakes did sight two TFs, one of them in the same hex as the Tone group. I initially thought about trying for another intercept tomorrow, but my Nagumo instincts took over-don't get greedy! So now it is retirement time for everyone. If we can successfully extract all our forces this will have been a successful operation with one troop convoy demolished and one tanker convoy obliterated. (For the below picture, notice how the Vals just missed bombing Gary Grisby.) [image]local://upfiles/2633/047DA3B7C6DE490AADE7C09D4D5E6884.jpg[/image]

TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum -> RE: The War on Gary Grisby (6/1/2010 9:17:32 PM)
Wow, 9 tankers down! That's really gotta hurt. I'm amazed at the results your ops have been making. [&o] Between lost fuel carrying capacity and lost troops, you may hinder his potential advances for weeks if not months. As well as shake him up enough that he might commit mistakes.

CapAndGown -> RE: The War on Gary Grisby (6/1/2010 9:38:26 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheLoneGunman Wow, 9 tankers down! That's really gotta hurt. I'm amazed at the results your ops have been making. [&o] Between lost fuel carrying capacity and lost troops, you may hinder his potential advances for weeks if not months. As well as shake him up enough that he might commit mistakes. Well, if you think this is good, you should go read PzB's AAR. He has been demolishing Andy's TFs left and right. I doubt any of this will slow down witpqs or cause him to make mistakes. He is a cautious and meticulous commander. The only mistake I could see here is if the RN CVs are at Perth and he sorties them to try an interception. I might lose a carrier or two, but I am pretty sure my 5 CVs, 3 CVLs and 3 CVEs are more than enough to handle the Royal Navy. This raid does raise one possibility: twice now when he has revealed the position of his CVs I have staged raids on his lines of communication. First in the south when I wiped out a xAK convoy, and today's and yesterday's operation. It is possible, though unlikely, that he could decide to hold a CV or two in reserve in order to deal with these raids and so not have all of his CVs present for his next invasion or two. Now that would be a mistake for not too far in the future I am planning to execute the decisive battle. (That is so top secret I cannot discuss it further without having to kill you afterwords. [:'(])

CapAndGown -> RE: The War on Gary Grisby (6/1/2010 11:40:04 PM)
Feb. 5, 1943 Witpqs let slip that my surface units missed a TK TF in the pacific. My jakes had spotted a TF with TK listed in the rollover. I tried yesterday to intercept thinking it was the cripples but I missed. I am not going back, however; everyone is heading home. An IJN SC was obliterated today by a torpedo launched by the Gurnard. It seems kinda silly to call these guys sub chasers since they are so slow they could never catch one. [;)] I wonder if our sigint has detected the next American invasion? [image]local://upfiles/2633/EBB92E6D9A2346408A323EEE487D278A.jpg[/image]

SqzMyLemon -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/2/2010 12:11:16 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown As to fuel, I selected the highest endurance ships I have for this raid. Right now it looks like they could make it home without having to refuel. They tanked up on the way out and seem to have enough to get home without needed the xAKs. But I will leave them in place as a contingency. Hi cag, Pardon my ignorance, but what Japanese xAK's can be used for replenishment? I thought only the AO's could be used for that purpose? I'm off to check the manual as well, I'm sure I'll find something along those lines, but can't remember seeing that. [:D]

CapAndGown -> RE: Troop Convoy Massacred (6/2/2010 12:47:34 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon quote: ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown As to fuel, I selected the highest endurance ships I have for this raid. Right now it looks like they could make it home without having to refuel. They tanked up on the way out and seem to have enough to get home without needed the xAKs. But I will leave them in place as a contingency. Hi cag, Pardon my ignorance, but what Japanese xAK's can be used for replenishment? I thought only the AO's could be used for that purpose? I'm off to check the manual as well, I'm sure I'll find something along those lines, but can't remember seeing that. [:D] Any ship can refuel from another. They don't carry the fuel as cargo, it is in their bunkers.

CapAndGown -> Production Note (6/2/2010 4:47:20 AM)
Feb. 7, 1943 This is just a note on my ship production. I have only lost one TK so far. Right now I actually have 24 TKs sitting idle (the little 1250 capacity ones) and other TK TFs often sit idle waiting for fuel or oil to accumulate before they can start loading. I also have an excess capacity of xAKs (and xAKLs which I don't really use). Therefore, in order to reduce the number of ships the allies can sink, I have decided to halt every TK and xAK when its delay reaches one day. That way, if I need reinforcements I can have them in one day. I am also halting all C, D, and E class xAKs the moment they start building. These can all be built quickly should I need them. The Es take 30 days to build, the Ds take 60, and Cs take 90. I am also not building any of the TKs with less that 14 durability. Now that E class ships are beginning to arrive in significant quantities I have also decided to halt the production of all SCs when they begin building. I am even starting to convert some the the bigger PBs back to xAKs. Right now I seem to have plenty of escorts and I really don't like PBs or SCs because they are so slow.

CapAndGown -> The Chase is On! (6/3/2010 3:11:50 AM)
Feb. 9, 1943 One of the PBs on my picket line east of the Home Islands was spotted multiple times by SBDs. No attack though. I am fortunate in that I decided to send my xAKs back to Japan instead of leaving them out there. The Cruisers have more than enough fuel at cruising speed to get home, but a little less than needed at full speed. Nevertheless, they will make a full speed run tomorrow towards the Aleutians. I have to hope that allies have not set up a seaplane base in the western Aleutians. Either way, I want to put some distance between the cruisers and those carriers. I split off the Teruzuki. It has 14 sys damage and 7 float damage. Not only does that slow the other ships down, I am afraid a full speed run could be as fatal as a carrier strike. Hopefully it will be more difficult to spot a single ship. Meanwhile, over in the Indian Ocean a US sub sank my picket PB guarding the eastern flank of my carriers. They are all about due west of Perth right now and heading for Oosthaven. [image]local://upfiles/2633/7FF10F7364554D4D9C12B39DFBF4583E.jpg[/image]

CarnageINC -> RE: The Chase is On! (6/3/2010 3:38:44 AM)
Good luck on your escape, hope he doesn't follow up with another carrier south of this one, sail north and pin your units in.

krupp_88mm -> RE: The Chase is On! (6/3/2010 11:08:32 AM)
send your picket subs out and try to mix it up with the carriers, if he decides to block your escape you can make him move with some subs

CapAndGown -> RE: The Chase is On! (6/3/2010 12:12:19 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: krupp_88mm send your picket subs out and try to mix it up with the carriers, if he decides to block your escape you can make him move with some subs Don't have any subs up there, just PBs. Looks like we made a successful extraction. Not quite to Paramashiro yet, but close. We are just south of the Kormandorski Islands.

Swenslim -> RE: Production Note (6/3/2010 1:32:49 PM)
What is tanker system ? I use all my small and slow TK 1250 and 7500 for auto convoys from Palembang, Medan and Miri to ship oil and fuel to Singapore and then use fast and large in big convoys with lots of DD and 1 CVE to ship to Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

CapAndGown -> RE: Production Note (6/3/2010 10:42:19 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Swenslim What is tanker system ? I use all my small and slow TK 1250 and 7500 for auto convoys from Palembang, Medan and Miri to ship oil and fuel to Singapore and then use fast and large in big convoys with lots of DD and 1 CVE to ship to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I have mostly discontinued the use of 1250 size TKs. I have enough larger ones that I use those instead since they are more efficient. There is no need to have convoys coming from both Medan and Palembang. The Medan oil and fuel will migrate to Palembang. E class escorts are better that DDs when they be become available. More and better depth charges generally, and it frees up your DDs to support the fleet. A number of the older type DDs, such as Kamikaze's and Wakatake's can be converted to E class. All your DMS can also be converted. I do not use CS convoys for oil and fuel. I handle this manually since they need to change what they are carrying based on what is more plentiful at the moment, oil or fuel. For instance, I have one TK convoy from Miri to Singapore. On one trip it will carry fuel, on the next trip it will carry oil while the fuel stock builds back up. If you haven't lost that many tankers and you manage your TFs properly you can have more tankers than you need by early 1943. This does, however, require extra work since you cannot use CS convoys to achieve this level of efficiency.

CapAndGown -> The Great Escape (6/5/2010 3:08:07 PM)
Feb. 14, 1943 The cruiser task force that raided the eastern Pacific has made good its escape. It is now passing by Etorofu on its way to Yokohama. The carriers that raided the southern Indian Ocean are currently passing by Cocos Island on their way to Oosthaven. Overall, this was a successful operation with numerous allied ships sunk and troops destroyed for minimal losses (2 PB picket ships were sunk). In production news, the Judy dive bomber was accelerated to March, 1943. This is a very significant development. The Judy carries a bomb that is twice as big as the one carried by the Val and, according to the device data, it is more accurate-significantly more accurate. So in 15 days we are going to start churning out Judy's in a big way. As an interesting side note, I had 5 factories doing R&D on the Judy. Once the production date was moved up, I decided to convert 4 of them to research the 3 model of the Judy (it is available 44/8, uses the Mitsubishi Ha-33 engine, and has a service rating of 1, and so is a much better plane). Lo and behold, when I did the conversion none of the factories were damaged! I don't know if this is working as intended, but it means I will be making 57 D4Y3's a month. That means that come January of 44 I will have accelerated the DY43 from 44/8 to 44/2. Not bad. Now if only my fighters could make such significant advances!

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