Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please)

Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (Full Version)

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fcharton -> Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/25/2011 11:17:49 AM)
Incipit How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main, On the firm cliff, and mark the seaman's toil! Not that another's danger soothes the soul, But from such toil how sweet to feel secure! How sweet, at distance from the strife, to view Contending hosts, and hear the clash of war! (Lucretius, tr. John Mason Good) Good morning, gaijins and welcome to our war. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable, and watch us toil, strife, suffer, and eventually be administered a shameful defeat (yeah, wait long long, as they say in Singapore…) A month ago, after six months of war (nine in real life), SoliInvictus202 (Roland) and I realized that, given the difference in our interests and playing styles, we would make better teammates than opponents. We put our current game on hold (it is not officially dead, please restrain from commenting about it here), began discussing how we would play Japan as a team, got carried over at some point, and ended up issuing a challenge that was promptly met by Undercovergeek and Swift (who should stop reading now if they chance upon this) So, here we go again, I'm afraid. We will be playing Reluctant Admiral 3.4, which is like scenario 1 with a reinforced Japanese Navy, beefed up production, and much less supplies at start. We intend to play with PDU on (but realistic R&D). So far, home rules are minimal (only existing Allied TF on turn one, no four engine bombers on naval attack below 10 000 feet), but our opponents have still to react about the home rules they want. We are in the planning phase, and expect the war to begin in the second half of October. We have agreed on the following split of duties. SoliInvictus202 will be in charge of all frontline operations in the Pacific and the East Indies. I will take care of China, the economy and all rear area operations (ie convoys). Strategy will be decided jointly. I will also be the main contributor to this logbook, which means, incidentally, that frontline operations will be seen from afar. Before the game begins, I intend to use this AAR to ramble about the economy and how difficult it is to be a quartermaster. Our war will naturally be featured here, as it develops, but since there will be times when little is happening, and this AAR gets less fun to read (and even less fun to write), I am considering having a “side story” which I can use when the war gets dull. I don’t have Cuttlefish’s writing talent, nor Cap Mandrake’s humor, so I will probably try discussing another longstanding personal project: a translation from an ancient Chinese treatise on diplomacy/psyops, known as the Guiguzi, which relates to my function in this game as head of the Chinese theater, and would probably have been known to some of the more educated Japanese officers of the time. More about that later…

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/25/2011 6:47:03 PM)
November 1941, the reluctant quartermaster As promised, I am using this AAR to think aloud about the economy. I am a big fan of kitchen table maths, ie incorrect methods that provide half-decent results. Expect a lot of those here. I’m very interested in comments and criticism about those calculations. I’d rather be corrected by readers than by our opponents. General, and bleak, economic outlook Economic situation is pretty much the same as in Scenario one, just a little worse. In Reluctant Admiral, Japan begins the war with about 10% less fuel and supplies than in scenario 1, but with a slightly larger industry. Overall, the economy starts at a deficit. Without ship fuel usage, the economy eats up 16.5k resources, 7.2k oil and 5.6k fuel reserves every day. Resources and oil stocks can sustain this during 14 months. This is more than we need to expand. With fuel, it gets a bit tricky: if we assume a ship fuel usage around 20k / day (intensive, but not lavish, this is what you need if you want to use many of your naval toys), fuel will last for about five months. This is enough to capture the oil, but it means convoys to bring it back have to be planned in advance. (Note: when the scenario begins, Tracker does not count “bunker fuel”, and it seems all ships get a free bunker of fuel on the first days of the game, so the situation is not as dire as it seems. Doesn’t make it nice, though…) In the long run, oil is, of course, the limiting factor on our expansion. If we capture all the oilfields in the DEI and China, and have them all repaired, we will produce about 33k oil, or 30k fuel, per day. Now, the economy uses 15k fuel per day, and only saves about a thousand HI points. This means that even under the best conditions, our ship usage will be very constrained. (It also means that we need to devise two plans: one if the DEI capture goes fine, and another one if it gets terribly wrong). In the short term, Japan begins with good stocks in forward areas. As in scenario 1, the only early logistical problem is bringing enough resources to the Home Islands (which need to import 83k resource point per day). Slide rule ship fuel Since fuel is our limiting factor, we have to closely monitor its use. Industrial usage is easy for follow and predict, thanks to Tracker, but ship fuel is more complex. For what it is worth, here is my kitchen table math. In the game, ships use endurance. Moving one hex at cruise speed costs 40 endurance (at max speed, it would be about 3.5 times more). Surface combat costs the equivalent of 5 hexes. Finally a task force remaining in port, undocked, will use the equivalent of a cruise speed move (per turn, says the manual, so I suppose this is half the cost of movement, but better avoid those anyway). The fuel efficiency of a ship class can be calculated by dividing its fuel capacity by its endurance/40. This is its fuel usage per hex move. The lower, the better. Alternatively, we could use the inverse (endurance/fuel = miles per ton of fuel). For surface ships, these values vary greatly by class and speed. The key is to get an estimate of daily use at sea. Here are my current rules of thumb: DD: 50 fuel / day (x7 if full speed, +50% if combat) CL: 90 /day (except Kitakami 160/day, and Katori 30/day) CA: 100 / day CV: 150 / day (except Akagi and Kaga, 250) BB: 200 / day (except Yamato, 300) Using this rule, you can estimate KB uses about 2.5k fuel every day it is at sea, more if it fights. Transport ships use a different metric: for them, fuel efficiency has to be related to cargo, basically, you need to multiply the above value by the ship cargo size. This translates into a measure of shipping tons transported over an hex per fuel point. This is very important when planning conversions into auxiliaries. Just to give an example : Kyushus and Husimi convert into the same classes, but Kyushus move 1700 tons.hex / FP, and Husimis 900 tons hex / FP. Guess who I’m converting. Too many merchies All Japanese players agree that we start the game with an oversized merchant marine. But just how oversized? Here’s my approach, for what it is worth. For solid cargoes (resources and supplies), I first observed that the Japanese economy produces, every day 275k resources and about 25k supplies. Note also that resources and supplies tend to follow opposite paths, which means supplies tend to move from Japan to the periphery, while resources go the other way. This suggests that some of the supply transports can be handled by resource convoys on their way back. In any case, tonnage needed for supply transport represent a very small fraction (a few percents) of convoy tonnage. Therefore, the estimation can be limited to resources. I want a maximum tonnage needed. For this, I considered all the resources produced in China, the DEI and Burma, removed all those that could be locally processed by industry, and considered the rest had to be sent to Japan, from the nearest port (discounting optimizations, such as a land move from Singapore to Port Arthur) For each region, I get a daily production to be shipped, and a number of days for a convoy round trip (I based my calculation on a 6 hex/day speed, which is what 12 knotters seem to achieve, always rounding up). The product of the daily production by the round trip duration is the convoy tonnage I need there… Note that this is probably quite inflated, since I consider ALL resources in China and the SRA will be captured, repaired, and used. In reality, the Japanese economy always has a surplus of resources. Also, many improvements (such as industry building in China, or land moves) are not taken into account. Again, I want a cap, not an average. Here’s a series of estimates per region (I can go into more details if someone is interested). The figures after each region are the number of resource centres, daily production, number of days for a roundtrip, and total needed tonnage. Hokkaido : 1750, 35k, 3, 105k Sakhalin : 500, 10k, 7, 70k Formosa 200, 4k, 7, 28k China Manchuria Korea : 1300, 26k, 6, 156k Indochina: 250, 5k, 20, 100k Philippines, 200, 4k, 12, 48k Gilberts 175, 3.5k, 30, 105k Java 200, 4k, 30, 120k Sumatra 300, 6k, 24, 144k Malaysia 150, 3k, 24, 72k Borneo 80, 1.6k, 24, 37k Burma 80, 1.6k, 20, 32k Celebes 60, 1.2k, 30, 36k New Guinea 20, 0.4k, 30, 12k Overall, this suggests I need about a million tons shipping to handle this large perimeter. And this is most certainly a maximum. Now, Japan begins the game with 3.5 million tons cargo load. Guess what I’m not building? I did a similar calculation on oil/fuel, which proved the tanker (and AO) fleet at start (about half a million tons) to be just sufficient to move all the oil/fuel we could possibly grab. This is good news, since we actually need less (a lot of fuel moves in bunkers, not aboard tankers), and it suggests that, with a few conversions and building, we can probably keep up. Again, the limiting factor is most certainly oilfields, not tankers. All this suggests merchant shipyards can probably be much reduced. Whether I should stop them to save HI, or convert them into Naval Yards is (still) an open question… That’s all for today, gaijins, comments and criticisms are more than welcome.

DivePac88 -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/25/2011 7:32:52 PM)
[sm=00000613.gif]Definitely subscribed to this one... and good luck there boys, give those AFB's hell.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/28/2011 10:48:30 PM)
November 1941, the merchant admiral Evening, gaijins, Now that I know I only need about a third of my merchant marine, I can afford to be selective about the ships I use. This is also the right time to discuss conversions. The previous discussion shows that the number of cargoes I need depend (linearly) on two factors: their tonnage (the larger the ships, the less you need) and their speed (the faster the ships, the shorter the roundtrips, the less you need). In the context of AE, another important factor is their fuel effectiveness (which I express in tons hexes per fuel point). These factors are all the more important as the shipping lane is long. You don’t need fast, or efficient, ships, to cross the Hokkaido straits. A second important aspect is that whereas some of the cargoes I will not use will become a reserve, many of them will be converted to utility ships. Those two aspects are linked, since not every class can convert. Now, what kind of cargoes do we want? Fast ones, and large enough to be fuel effective. At 5000 tons per cargo, this means I need about 200 hulls. xAKL are out. I’ll keep a few for forward duties, but most of them are slow, and not efficient in term of fuel. Most of them will be converted (see below). I don’t want Gozan class either, even as a reserve. 10 knots, not really fuel-efficient. There are 58 of them, those are my AG, and AGP… My best ships, in terms of fuel use are the Kyushu (32 hulls), Lima (46), Yusen A and Yusen N (64). That’s 140 ships, all 14 knots or more. Then I have the Aden (189 hulls), which are only 12 knots, but would be fine for short distances (2-4 hexes). The Yusen N convert to AK in June 1942. So I might want other 14 knotters to replace them. The Husimi are out (I need to convert them), so the less efficient Toho and Ansyu C might be used as replacements. So, my cargo classes will be Kyushu, Lima and Yusen A, for long distances (plus Toho and Ansyu C, if needed) and Aden for short hops. This means most of the PB (all except Ansyu class) cannot serve as escorts. We begin the game with 50 Ansyu PB. We also have about 30 faster TB and E. This would be enough for all the cargoes, but might be tight if we consider the tankers as well. Ansyu C cargoes might need to be converted at some point (which means I will use Toho as my reserve 14 knot class). What with other PB? They will serve ASW or picket duties. Now that we have picked our cargo classes, we can discuss conversions. After reading Mike Solli’s thread on the matter, I have come to realize that all conversions are useful to some extent. Here are my ideas so far. AR are nice to have in forward position. We begin the game with four. Kyushus and Husimi can convert, but the process takes a year (!!!) and is only available in April (Kyushu) or May 1942 (Husimi), which means there is not chance we can have more than four AR before April 1943. I am planning to convert a few Husimis (probably four), to replace my losses, and keep the AR we start with in second line bases (eg Truk and Kwajalein). AS and AV are important classes, as they allow us to have forward sub and seaplane bases. Rader seems to have used AV with some success as raiders. We start with eight of each (plus one more AV in march 42). Conversion takes 6 months, Husimi and Kyushus are the only eligible classes. Since the Kyushus will be my fast cargoes, I will use the Husimis for those three converts. I have 25, and plan to convert four or five into AR, and the rest into AS and AV, probably a bit more AV than AS. Right now, I would go for 4 AR, 8 AS and 13 AV… 18 Husimis begin the game in port, 7 in task forces, I might lose some of them before I can convert them. AK This is straightforward. We begin with 10 Yusen S. Three classes can convert : Kyushus, Husimi and Yusen N, in June 42. I will use Yusen N, and convert all of them (almost 60) in June. These become important after May, when the invasion bonus disappears. AG/AGP: needed to reload DC on ASW task forces, and patrol boats. This one is easy too : Gozan and Miyati convert to those (only). We have 120 of them, more than we need, probably. AD: Ehime and Akasi convert to AD, we have 115 of them, again more than we need (the advantage of AD over AG is that they can tend destroyers, but we don’t have so many destroyers to warrant a lot of them). AKE : Ehime, Akasi and Aden convert to AKE. Again, we have lots of those. Ansyu and Toho can convert as well, if we needed fast AKE (14 knots). AKV: this is the only conversion I find a bit useless. Most of my planes have long enough legs to transfer. The real short legged (Claudes notably) still can hop, or be transported damaged. Adens, my largest cargo class, can do those, so we might go for a few. What about xAKL? The main conversions for them are to ACM and PB. Most of the PB are needed for ASW and picket duties (too slow for escorts now that we only kept fast cargoes). ACM, we start with about 10 000 mines, which needs about 70 ACM to tend, and produce about 200 more per month, which would mean 15 ACM/year. Altogether, something like 120-150 ACM will be needed. Two classes convert to ACM : Tosu (120 hulls) and Kiso (115). We begin the game with 18 Tosu ACM. 37 Tosu cargoes and 10 AMc will be converted, for a total of 65 Tosu ACM. The rest will be kept as AMc (18) and 12 knot PB (34). I will convert half of the Kisos (60) to ACM, the rest becoming PB and CMc. Kasu-D and Daigen are left unused. They might serve as forwards base transports, or become AG, but they will start as reserve. This completes my plans for xAK(L) use and conversion. Here’s the summary. Kyushu, Lima, Yusen A are my fast cargos (14+ knots). Yusen S start as xAK, but will be converted to AK in June 42. Toho are my fast cargo replacements. Aden will be my slow cargos (12 knots). I have plenty of those. Ansyu-C will be converted to PB, they are my preferred escorts, except for the Kyushu, which will get TB and E. Slow cargos, operating on short shipping lanes, will usually have SC for escorts (low endurance). Husimi will be converted to AR (4), AS (8) and AV (12). All Gozan and some Miyati will be converted to AG. Some Ehime will convert to AD Akasi, Ehime (and Aden if need be) to AKE Half of the Tosu and Kiso will be converted to ACM, the rest mostly being PB. When will the conversion happen? As soon as possible, at least for the ships that begin the game in invasion task forces. Should we build more merchants? I don’t think so, except for Tankers, and classes that convert into them. This will be discussed in a later installment.

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/29/2011 12:59:14 AM)
AKE - watch the size ... matters a GREAT deal as it directly correlates to the devices that they can re-arm. Otherwise, I am with you. I like AS/AG/AV for all the reasons you mention. I also use Husimi for these.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/29/2011 1:37:44 AM)
Hi Pax, Thanks for the tip. I checked AKE tonnage. Apparently, the only difference between various xAK conversions is the BB guns (which is not a detail, of course). You need capacity over 2970 to reload 36cm guns. This means Ehime is a bad idea, but Akasi and Aden are fine. Over 36cm, the 40cm that equip Nagato-class BB (Nagato and Mutsu) need 4500 capacity, ie Yusen N or Lima, and no one can reload the Yamato. I think I'll spare a couple Limas, just for the sake of the Nagato class... Francois

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/29/2011 7:07:27 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton Hi Pax, Thanks for the tip. I checked AKE tonnage. Apparently, the only difference between various xAK conversions is the BB guns (which is not a detail, of course). You need capacity over 2970 to reload 36cm guns. This means Ehime is a bad idea, but Akasi and Aden are fine. Over 36cm, the 40cm that equip Nagato-class BB (Nagato and Mutsu) need 4500 capacity, ie Yusen N or Lima, and no one can reload the Yamato. I think I'll spare a couple Limas, just for the sake of the Nagato class... Francois My same conclusion, so I convert Lima's. Have lot's of them, and AKE's are just so important and NOT being able to reload BB's can interfere a lot with tactics. As for the Yamato's; only that specific AKE can do it. So I typically marry that up with the Yamato support TF.

John 3rd -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/29/2011 9:44:08 PM)
Signed up and will contribute as you guys play out our baby!

John 3rd -> RE: Suave mari magno – RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/30/2011 5:50:51 AM)
That is a concise and excellent overview of the Japanese Merchant classes and conversion options. NICE work. What are your plans with Tankers, AOs, and then the Standards?

fcharton -> Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (9/30/2011 9:56:42 PM)
November 441 BC, meet the Master As explained previously, I intend to post, when little is happening or I just don't feel like talking about the war, translations of ancient Chinese texts, mostly from the Guiguzi, an old treatise on persuasion and psychology, which gives, I believe, a good insight on asian strategic thought. This is the first installment. Guiguzi (Kweiku Tzu), the Master of Ghost Valley, is said to have lived in China in the fourth century BC. Like Sun Wu, the fifth century general associated with the Sun Tzu, he is not mentioned in texts of his time, but he is remembered from a book bearing his name. The oldest texts mentioning him are the Records of the Grand Historian and the Stratagems of the Warring States, both from the second century. They portray him as the teacher of four famous persons: generals Sun Bin and Pang Juan, and diplomats Su Qin and Zhang Yi. Around the second or third century AD, he became a minor figure in the Taoist pantheon. A characteristic of Chinese religions was their habit of divinizing various real or legendary characters, not unlike the Catholic saints. A Taoist from the seventh century wrote a biography of him (which can be found, presented as hard facts, on serious internet resources like Wikipedia). Later, historical romances (a very developed genre in China) expanded his story into a multitude of anecdotes, all apocryphal. However little known his biography, the era when he lived is important when trying to understand his book (and other texts associated with that period). At the beginning of the Warring States, the old feudal system, where China was ruled by a small aristocracy of clans under one Heavenly King, is crumbling. In the central state of Jin (the area of Chengchow, and Taiyuan) a few powerful clans have deposed the old ruling family, fought each other, and split the state into three smaller ones, which the Heavenly King (who belonged to the same clan as the former rulers of Jin) had no choice but accept. In Qi (Tsinan-Tsingtao), the larger families rule the state by proxy. In Chu (Changsha) the king has stopped paying tribute to the Heavenly King. Small states get conquered by larger ones, until only seven are left, which will fight each other until 221 BC, when the king of the westernmost state of Qin (Sian), having conquered all others, finally claims the imperial throne. As the old aristocratic clans fade away, replaced by some of their former vassals, a new social class, the landed gentry, begins filling the positions of generals or governors that used to be devoted to younger sons of noble clans. To train those new administrations, schools and academies are created, and books, summarizing their teaching, get written. The Guiguzi, the main subject of this series of posts, is one of those books. Its authenticity is a longstanding problem. No mention of it is to be found in the inventories of imperial libraries before the Tang dynasty (7th century AD). Its style is also very peculiar. For this reason, many historians have considered it a late forgery, while others maintained it was an old classic that had been censored out of the Imperial library because of its sensitive content. It cannot have been written later than the fifth century AD (there is a commentary of it from that period). There are three main theories about its origin: - It is an early Warring States text, written by Guiguzi or one of his students, that was kept hidden or censored away from the imperial library due to its politically sensitive content. - Like many other classics, it is a late Warring States or Western Han compilation, based on texts from the students of Guiguzi - It is a forgery from the third century AD, written at a time when Guiguzi began to be worshipped by the Taoists, and based upon a romanced story of him and his disciples Its classification is another difficulty. Some commentators have considered it a military treatise, about strategy and deception. Others describe it as a book about persuasion and rhetoric. Taoists used to see it as a hermetic religious text. In any case, it tells of psychology, discourse, and mind games (this is the reason why I believe it has its place here). In recent times, it has been studied and commented by military authors (in China, but also in the West). Its language is very difficult, and the text is quite obscure. I don't pretend to understand all of it, but I do believe there is a good chance it will "speak" to some members of this forum (I'm doing this because I'm interested in your comments, gaijins). I will try to provide a translation, but also vocabulary and notes so that those interested can have a try at interpreting it. It was translated into English by Thomas Cleary, under the name "Thunder from the sky". A number of academic translations (PhD dissertations mostly) can also be found in universities. The Master speaks The Guiguzi is written in Ancient Chinese. Since I love this language, I can't resist talking about it (just skip if you're not interested, gaijin). Ancient Chinese (also known as Classical Chinese) is a very compact written language, with a very terse grammar. You can probably think of it as telegraphic style gone mad. As in modern Chinese, all words are invariable, there are no tense, no genre, no singular and plural. Even the distinction between nouns, verbs and adjectives is often unclear. The same character can mean "good", "a good person", "like" (consider as good), "prefer", and so on. As an example of how it works, here is a famous sentence from Sun Tzu (note the nice parallelism between the two quotes, this is one of the nice features of this language, the garbled characters just below are an attempt at typing chinese in the text, the forum software seems to have lots of difficulties with this...). Ÿ•ºæŸŽ§Œã‹D ”s•ºæDŽ§Œã‹Ÿ 勝兵先勝而後求戰敗兵先戰而後求勝 Word by word victory / soldier / first / victory / and / then / seek / battle defeat / soldier / first / battle / and / then / seek / victory which gives (I really like that saying): victors first prevail then seek conflict, losers first fight then seek victory. The nice aspect of this language is that, with just the vocabulary and a little practice, anyone can play (because there is no grammar). Back to Guiguzi and in case anyone is still reading at this point, here's a rough translation the beginning. It is pretty obscure, I'll provide details later (and most certainly will correct a couple of mistakes). So, for what it is worth... Open and Close See how the sages of old stood between Heavens and Earth! Before all living things Watching the cycle of Yin and Yang, they passed judgments Knowing the paths between life and death, they foresaw the beginning and the end of ideas Understanding the ways of the human heart, they could discern the germ of change While keeping watch, at the door Thus were the sages, in the world. Since old times, these principles remain Change never ceases Everything comes back Then Yin, then Yang, then soft, then hard, then open, then close, then relaxed, then tense. Therefore, the sage always keeps watch at their door. He ponders origin and outcome, length and weight, capacity and ability. He looks at talents, weaknesses and strengths And since wise and unwise, bright and silly, brave and coward, all differ in virtue and righteousness The sage sometimes opens and sometimes closes, sometimes advances and sometimes retreats, sometimes despises and sometimes praises. He remains detached, and therefore herds them He decides what they are, judging them from facts By following their penchants and desires, he understands their desires and their ideas He cares not about what they say, and will turn their words upside down, to check their reality He tries to catch what they want to close, and open it, to discover their goals

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/1/2011 8:52:21 PM)
November 1941, the refueling corporal A couple of ideas on tankers and oilers, and, more generally on fuel and oil management in the game. Local production and needs Oil production at start is 3760 points per day (once the oilfield in Anshan is repaired).Total oil production (all repaired) in the DEI, Burma and China is 29 750, for a grand total of 33.5k oil points per day, or about 30k fuel points per day. This is my “peak oil”, I can’t have more. Japan begins the game with a refining capacity of 11k oil points per day. Total refining capacity in the DEI, Burma and China amounts to 25.7k oil points per day, for a total of 36.7 k. I have a little extra capacity, so I can afford to not repair Miri and a few other bases that might be damaged on capture, but I need pretty much all my refineries in the DEI. In the DEI, oil output exceeds refining capacity by 45 in New Guinea, 30 in Java, 130 in Borneo (280 is Miri is not repaired), 180 in Sumatra, between 400 and 550 centres, or 4k to5.5k oil points per day. On the Continent (and Formosa), production is 50 centres over capacity. In Japan (once the oil from Hokkaido and Sakhalin have been brought back), I have about 750 extra refineries. To summarize, about 5.5k tons of oil should be brought back to Japan every day from the DEI, 500 from China, and 450 from Hokkaido and Sakhalin. That’s all there is to oil movement. Fuel movement is a bit more complicated, since it needs to take into account industry and ship demand. Heavy industry uses 15k fuel points per day. This will probably remain stable in the first year of the game. My merchant marine was estimated at about 200 hulls. Assuming an average fuel usage of 5 points per hex (this is what I calculated from Tracker) and six hexes per day, I need 30 fuel point per day and per ship, or 6k fuel / day for the merchant marine. This is probably a high estimate (it assumes every ship sails every day), but I also have tankers and utility ships, above those 200 hulls. This leaves 9k fuel/day at most, probably 5k in reality, for the navy. If we look at fuel production per region, we see that Japan produces about 8k/day, China about 2.7k (maximum) and Burma/Thailand around 3.3k. Local Chinese and Burmese production is more than sufficient for local industry. Japan needs 12.6k, 4.6k more than its production. Add to this a few merchants refueling in Japan (as a rule, my merchants will refuel in the DEI), and I need to ship 6k fuel every day to the Home Island (on top of the 6k oil). Other fuel usage, say 6k for merchant ships and 6k for the navy will mostly come from the DEI. I intend not to use tankers (or very few) to refuel merchant convoys. The idea is to let the cargoes come and refuel on their way to the DEI, or, at worst, to send other merchants (with large bunkers) to serve as ‘gas stations’. For the navy, shipments will have to be made to the refueling hubs (Truk, Rabaul, …) Assuming a 24 days roundtrip from the DEI, I need 144k tons of tankers for this. Finally, the 12k oil and fuel shipment to Japan would represent a tonnage of about 288k (24 days x 12k), but I am hoping to reduce this significantly by trying to let oil and fuel flow overland, from Singapore to Port Arthur (and perhaps even Fusan). If this worked, I could probably divide the tonnage in half. Depending on whether I can move fuel and oil overland, my tanker tonnage therefore stands between 300 and 400k. The total liquid capacity of my tankers (without the oilers) at game start is 414k. Tankers and oilers The above calculation shows that I probably have enough tankers at start. 17 oilers add 150k tons to my transport capacity. 17 more cargoes (Std-C) can convert in June 1942, for about 50k tons more, and 7 tankers are scheduled for production in 1942 (57k tons). This means I probably don’t need to produce the Std cargoes. I don’t need them as cargoes, so the only reason would be that I can convert them into tankers. But then, I probably will have enough tankers anyway. The case of oilers is more interesting. I begin the game with 17 of them, but only 8 are fast enough to be of use. Two fast tanker classes (Type 1 TL and Type N TL) can convert into efficient oilers. Since I will not need tankers before the DEI is captured, I intend to convert a number of TK into AO. They are almost as efficient, and can serve different roles. The use of various classes is straightforward. The faster, larger and more fuel effective tankers (Type 1 TL, Tonan Whalers) will only fit in very large ports. At the other end, I have a flotilla of small, and slower, models that can be used to extract oil from the small ports where they are produced. That’s all for the fuel and oil, gaijins. A lot of details remain to be discussed, but I will take care of this once the DEI falls.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/15/2011 9:33:12 AM)
November 1941 – Convoy madness My teammate has given his orders. I have performed the China Shuffle (all those crazy little orders to fill garrison duties with collaborator units and therefore free the good IJA boys…). The first turn is almost ready. No, gaijins, I won’t tell you what we’re up to. I won’t even blame it on OPSEC and loose lips. I only do this to keep you reading. I am now planning the convoys, and this is proving slightly more complicated than I thought at first. The problem at hand is relatively simple: I want to bring resource produced in Sakhalin (10k/day), Hokkaido (35k/day) and China/Manchuria/Korea (15k/day) back to Honshu. This does not cover all my industrial needs (Japan needs 82k resources per day, nor does it repatriate all resource production (there are surpluses in Indochina and Formosa), but they are a good start. To do this efficiently, I need to make convoy rotations as fast as possible. This means three things: - Short roundtrips - Fast loading/unloading - Fast ships wherever I can Loading/unloading speed is, in my opinion, the most important factor. Over short roundtrips, loading times are the real bottlenecks. For resources, load rates and maximum load per day heavily depend upon local resource production. Also, to keep the management simple, I will try to use different ship classes on different lanes. In the North, to keep the trips short, I intend to move resources from Tohoyara, in Sakhalin, to Wakkanai, in northern Hokkaido. Resources will then move south by road or train, and to Northern Northern Honshu from Hakodate. For the Sakhalin lane, the port of Wakkanai is the bottleneck. It can handle 12k resources per day, which is more than Sakhalin produces, but is limited to 2k per ship and per day. This means those convoys must use small vessels. Kasu-D are my best option, here. They cruise at 10 knots, which means they will cover the 6 hexes between Tohoyara and Wakkanai in just a day. Add a day to load (probably less in fact) and one to unload: total rotation time, four days. This means four task forces (plus reserves), each with about 10k capacity. Kasu-D have a cargo load of 1750, and as resources use up to 92% of the load, or 1600, I need seven per task force, and 28 on that shipping lane (plus reserves and escorts). I have 46 Kasu-D, this is more than I need. Ansyu PB will be used for escorts (all Ansyu-C cargoes are being converted to PB now). In South Hokkaido, I need to transfer 45k resources per day (35k from Hokkaido and 10k from Sakhalin). The port of Hakodate can do this with ease, but neither Ominato nor Hirozaki can unload 45k/per day. I therefore need two shipping lanes from Hakodate to each of them. Both have a daily handling limit around 30k. Individual ship limit is 3200 tons for Ominato and 3600 for Hirozaki. Hirozaki will be my main shipping destination. I will transfer 30k resources per day, using Ehime cargoes (the largest the port can accommodate). This means 9 or 10 ships per TF, and three TF, or 30 ships plus reserves. I have 58 Ehime at start. In Ominato I will use Std-C and Gozan (I would prefer the former, but I don’t think I have enough). I want to ship 15k/day, which means three TF of 6 Std-C or 7 Gozan, or 20 ships plus reserves. Since these task forces are limited to the straits, I will use six SC to patrol the area, and will mine both ends of the straits. The convoys need no escort. The last important convoy lane is Korea. At start, I have 15k per day to bring back to Honshu. Fusan can handle all this, since it can unload 19k/day. It is limited to 2k per ship, though, so I will use Miyati or Daigen xAKL for the task (3 task forces, 10 Miyati or 14 Daigen per TF, plus reserves, unloading in Fukuoka). As with Hakodate, there is no need for escorts, mines and SC patrols in the straits should suffice. In the long run, Fusan will not be enough. More resources will be captured in China, and resources will flow north from Indochina. Small ports around Fusan (Chinhae, mostly) can cope with small additional amounts, but as soon as production grows, I will need to use Keijo, the only port in the area that can accommodate large cargos. As it is 12 hexes away from Honshu, this will probably be my longest shipping lane. I will try to use 18 knot xAK (Kyushus). At 14 knot cruise speed, round trips should take 5 days (one or two more if supplies are brought back). In the long run, this will be my main shipping lane, as all resources from the DEI will flow be brought to China, and made to flow to Keijo. There are a few interesting lessons to be learnt from this analysis. First, whereas speed and distance plays a role in convoy calculation, loading rate is the heart of the matter. You need to load and unload in a day, and this constrains the choice of ports and ships used. Because of this, medium or large cargoes (ie Aden and above) are not very useful for convoy duties, since few ports can load them in a day. I will convert some of them, use others to ship supplies or fuel between large ports, but small xAK (Gozan, Std-C) and large xAKL (Miyati, Daigen, Kasu D) are my real convoy ships. Finally, it confirms the number of hulls I need for convoy duties is relatively low. At present, I need 30 for Sakhalin, 50 for Hokkaido and 30 for Korea, for a total of 110 hulls plus reserves, say 150. Once Keijo opens fur business, this number will grow, but not hugely (since I will use larger ships there).

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/15/2011 2:38:54 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton [Finally, the 12k oil and fuel shipment to Japan would represent a tonnage of about 288k (24 days x 12k), but I am hoping to reduce this significantly by trying to let oil and fuel flow overland, from Singapore to Port Arthur (and perhaps even Fusan). If this worked, I could probably divide the tonnage in half. Even getting the oil/fuel to flow to PA will reduce your tanker demand drastically ... 70% or more. If you can get it to Fusan, you'll need only about 10% or the tankers you have planned ... HUGE difference.

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/15/2011 2:44:19 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton In the long run, Fusan will not be enough. Fusan can be built to lvl 8 port .... correct? That's 108,800 resouces load/day capability if I did my math correctly.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/15/2011 3:12:38 PM)
Hi Pax, quote: ORIGINAL: PaxMondo Fusan can be built to lvl 8 port .... correct? That's 108,800 resouces load/day capability if I did my math correctly. This is true, and I will try to build Fusan, but the ship load per day bottleneck would remain: 3600 tons per ship at level 8, I believe. This said, if I don't develop my industry in Japan (but instead choose to grow indsutry in Korea and Manchukuo), I only need to ship 20k more resources per day. A level 5 Fusan, would come very close to this... More would be needed as fuel would come on top, but you are most certainly right, developping Fusan, and perhaps Moppo as well, seems like the way to go. This would mean very little need for cargoes and tankers... Hmm, let me see, where are those engineers? Francois

SqzMyLemon -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/15/2011 5:44:02 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: PaxMondo quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton In the long run, Fusan will not be enough. Fusan can be built to lvl 8 port .... correct? That's 108,800 resouces load/day capability if I did my math correctly. I built fusan to level 8. The problem I find is with the base lacking industry, the resources still tend to stockpile at Keijo. Fuel also tends to dibble in and if Port Arthur is low then it will take a little time to keep Fusan flush. Of course at least being a level 8 port you'll almost always be able to suck out 8k fuel almost everyday and if you dock excess transports they also increase the fuel draw to Fusan. I expand Wakkanai, Sakhalin, Hakodate and Ominato to as high as they will go. I have problems with too efficient resource flow to Honshu from these bases. The bottleneck for me is resource production as opposed to load/unloading. I'm always waiting for resources to become available it seems. I'm in the process of creating other resources hubs. I'd like to get as high a resource stockpile in the Home Islands as possible. If for nothing else just to see how efficient I can get at it and see just how much I can accumulate.

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/16/2011 2:10:51 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton Hi Pax, quote: ORIGINAL: PaxMondo Fusan can be built to lvl 8 port .... correct? That's 108,800 resouces load/day capability if I did my math correctly. This is true, and I will try to build Fusan, but the ship load per day bottleneck would remain: 3600 tons per ship at level 8, I believe. This said, if I don't develop my industry in Japan (but instead choose to grow indsutry in Korea and Manchukuo), I only need to ship 20k more resources per day. A level 5 Fusan, would come very close to this... More would be needed as fuel would come on top, but you are most certainly right, developping Fusan, and perhaps Moppo as well, seems like the way to go. This would mean very little need for cargoes and tankers... Hmm, let me see, where are those engineers? Francois Yep, whichis why I do not use Aden's there. I use smaller xAK that will fill in one turn.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (10/20/2011 7:40:34 PM)
'Jeeves', I recollect saying, 'who was the fellow who on looking at something felt like somebody looking at something? I learned the passage in school, but it has escaped me.' 'I fancy the individual you have in mind, sir, is the poet Keats, who compared his emotions on first reading Chapman's Homer to those of stout Cortez when with eagles eyes he stared at the Pacific.' 'The Pacific, eh?' 'Yes, sir. And all his men looked at each other with a wild surmise, silent upon a peak in Darien.' 'Of course, it all comes back to me. Well that's how I felt this afternoon (PG Wodehouse) December 7th 1941, Perfidious Albion In the early hours of December 7th, 300 miles west of the Philippine coast, an unarmed convoy of four Japanese tankers and three transports, on their way to Cam Ranh Bay for refit, were attacked by three destroyers flying the pennants of the British Navy. All tankers and two transport ships were sunk. Only the Buenos Aires Maru made it to Cam Ranh in a damaged state. All ship captains were posthumously awarded the Sailor Moon Cross, with Ramen palms. In the face of such a blatant act of state-sponsored piracy, two carrier task forces, on their way to Saigon, were allowed to launch retaliatory strikes against the pirate port of origin (Hong Kong) and their reported destination (Manila). Several submarines, poised to attack more merchant ships, were sunk. To further protect the sea lanes, expeditionary forces landed in Batan Island, Mauban and Kota Baru. As a result, Great Britain and the United States of America, hypocritically labeling such security measures as “overt acts of war”, declared war upon the Empire of Japan. Japan desires peace and harmony in South East Asia, but those lofty goals run contrary to the dark motives of colonial oppressors. Their constant provocations, their unending support for terrorist groups in China, and today’s attack on merchant ships must be opposed. Yeah, whatever, gaijin! The game is on, and the first turn was full of surprises, like all good first turns should… Pirates of the South China Seas Our opening strategy for this game revolved around one idea: we need to capture the DEI, the sooner and the less damaged the better. With this in mind, a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, though historically correct, and oh so nice because you get to kill several BB in one fell swoop, seemed like a waste of time and resources. In this first week of the war, KB belongs to the South China Sea, and Nagumo has no business listening to ukulele music on the flagship radio as he closes to his objectives. Manila it was then, and since we were in the area, we could pay Hong Kong a little visit, and take advantage of KB’s presence to land troops closer to Manila. The Guards Mixed Brigade (freshly bought) and the 21st Division were therefore sent on a surprise attack on Mauban. The attack on Manila went fine. Three waves of bombers attacked the port, nine submarines and two patrol ships are reported sunk, but the final toll will probably be much higher. Allied Ships SS Sculpin, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage SS Sealion, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 2 DD Pope, Bomb hits 1, on fire PG Isabel, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Corregidor, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires SS Salmon, Bomb hits 4, heavy damage SS Seawolf, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage SS Pickerel, Bomb hits 1 xAK Si Kiang, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Permit, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk SS Seal, Bomb hits 4, heavy damage PT Q-111, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk AM Finch, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAK Tantalus, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Peary, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage AVD Childs, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAKL Compagnia Filipinas, Bomb hits 1 SS Sailfish, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk SS S-38, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage SS Pike, Bomb hits 1 SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 2 SS Tarpon, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage PG Asheville, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Snapper, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk SS Porpoise, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage PT Q-113, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk AM Bittern, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires SS Sargo, Bomb hits 1 AM Quail, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage AV Langley, Bomb hits 1, on fire TK Gertrude Kellogg, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Perch, Bomb hits 1 DD Pillsbury, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 1 Allied Ships DD John D. Ford, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk SS Seadragon, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage SS Shark, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk AM Quail, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage SS Swordfish, Bomb hits 1 AV Langley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAP Rochambeau, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires PG Asheville, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Yu Sang, Bomb hits 1 DD Pillsbury, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires SS Sturgeon, Bomb hits 1 SS S-40, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage AS Otus, Bomb hits 1 SS Skipjack, Bomb hits 1 AO Trinity, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Sealion, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk xAK Tantalus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAP Neptuna, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires SS Stingray, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage SS Tarpon, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk SS S-37, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage TK Mindanao, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage xAKL Sagoland, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage SS Sculpin, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk SS Sargo, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage SS Perch, Bomb hits 1 Allied Ships AV Langley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage AVD Childs, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage TK Gertrude Kellogg, Bomb hits 1, on fire SS Porpoise, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk SS Pike, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk Smaller raids damaged five cargoes in Hong Kong and five in Georgetown. Airfields in northern Malaya have been badly damaged, even though bad weather grounded a number of bombers, including our missions over Rangoon, unfortunately. Overall, we lost 4 planes for 17 enemies. In terms of damage done, this first turn is much less spectacular than your typical raid on Hawaii. We believe the better strategic disposition that results from it is worth the difference. Warp drive’s broken, Mr Sulu Not everything went right today, of course. In fact, quite a few things went terribly wrong. The Reluctant Admiral mod, that we are playing, provide Japan with three more “warp TF” in the Home Islands. My understanding was that this allowed us to slightly alter the disposition of forces at start, by simulating ships that would have sailed before the 7th of December. Here is the use we had decided for those three Merchant Warp TF. Merchant 1, starting in Tokyo, would transport the Mixed Guard Brigade (bought using the PP we have at start) to Mauban, to reinforce the 21st ID Merchant 2, starting in Nagasaki would drop the 33rd ID in Bangkok, ready to move to Rangoon Merchant 3, starting in Osaka, would just convoy a few tankers and transports to Cam Ranh, ready to be used in the East Indies. All this seemed fine during the tests. In reality, though… Merchant 1 did land in Mauban, but Merchant 2, with the same orders, stayed in port. As for Merchant 3, it managed to be intercepted by the three DD from Hong Kong. The battle was one sided and the results ugly. Japanese Ships TK Akatsuki Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires TK Itukusima Maru, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage TK Nisshin Maru, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage TK Nisshin Maru #2, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Asama Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Buenos Aires Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire xAP Huzi Maru, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships DD Scout DD Thanet DD Thracian, Shell hits 1 I have to say I don’t quite understand the rationale of this interception. Since the TF was supposed to arrive in Cam Ranh on that day, it should have been much closer to Indochina and therefore out of reach of the Hong Kong DD. Such a naval battle, off the coast of Luzon, should have happened several days before the seventh… This attack is also difficult to interpret in a historical way: it sort of looks like the Royal Navy provoked the war by attacking a merchant convoy. There’s a silver lining, of course. This provides us with a theme. In this game, the Japanese will be a peace loving and Francophile people, and all violence and nastiness will henceforth be blamed on the British (and their colonial puppets) I apologize in advance to any citizen the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or any of their former minions, that might chance upon this AAR. This anti-British stance is but a literary artifact, meant to provide some flavor to this altogether dull AAR. It has no historical basis whatsoever, nor does it represent the opinions and views of its author…

John 3rd -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/4/2011 5:54:02 AM)
How are things going here?

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/4/2011 12:19:02 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton I apologize in advance to any citizen the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or any of their former minions, that might chance upon this AAR. This anti-British stance is but a literary artifact, meant to provide some flavor to this altogether dull AAR. It has no historical basis whatsoever, nor does it represent the opinions and views of its author… Oh, I really want to make some sort of funny quip about the french and the british and their respective attitudes here. [:D] But alas, I lack the skill to do so.[:(] Oh well, maybe someone else with more skill can attempt. Just too good of an opening to completely miss! [:D][:D][:D]

SoliInvictus202 -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/4/2011 12:37:10 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: John 3rd How are things going here? well - we are on turn 5 at the moment - and we have made considerable progress at the cost of ships and men.... but details will be posted once Francois has time to write the AAR - he's rather busy ATM.... and I myself have decided to only post results and thoughts with considerable delay to avoid an OPSEC issues - I hope this is understandable....

herwin -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/4/2011 1:44:00 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton I apologize in advance to any citizen the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or any of their former minions, that might chance upon this AAR. This anti-British stance is but a literary artifact, meant to provide some flavor to this altogether dull AAR. It has no historical basis whatsoever, nor does it represent the opinions and views of its author… Since my material grandmother belonged to a family that had to sneak out of Ireland to avoid being hung for being leaders of the Society of United Irishmen, I can forgive you.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/5/2011 5:47:03 PM)
As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. (Edward Gibbon) December 8th, 1941, the morning after the day that will live in infamy Most of our invasion fleets are still at sea, so there was little significant action today but lots of raiding. Mine of ours The minefield laid in Bataan paid off today. TF 280 encounters mine field at Bataan (78,77) Allied Ships SS S-41, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage SS Searaven, Mine hits 1, on fire SS Spearfish, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Twenty enemy submarines are now reported sunk. Beach Boys On Luzon, Mauban fell, undefended. B17 from Cagayan bombed the beachhead, and a submarine sank one of our unloading cargoes (all the large transport have retired north, but a number of small cargoes are unloading supplies, quite a dangerous mission). In the airs, Zeroes from Formosa ate Warhawks for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 16 P-35 A, 12 P-40 B and 10 P-40 E were downed, for four Zeroes. I was expecting to see torpedo armed Catalinas, but none seem to have flown. Our invasion forces should hit the northern beaches tomorrow. So far, the Luzon campaign is proceeding according to plan. In Malaya, Kota Baru fell. Enemy casualties were pretty heavy. Allied ground losses: 2382 casualties reported Squads: 97 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 81 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 22 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 28 (27 destroyed, 1 disabled) Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 3 Finally, three infantry battalions landed in Kuching, against light opposition. In a very interesting side action, the cover force sank(Fuso, Yamashiro, Takao, Akago and assorted DD) sank an enemy cargo (Shinai) that was apparently evacuating troops. Night Time Surface Combat, near Kuching at 58,88, Range 10,000 Yards Allied Ships xAKL Shinai, Shell hits 17, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 43 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled) Vehicles lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled) Such an early evacuation suggests a Palembang defense, which we intend to complicate by having KB in the South China Sea. Remember the Nisshin Maru, meet the silent service, and a few other illustrious Japanese One nice aspect of this scenario is that Japan begins the war with quite a few good submarines, in forward positions. (We didn’t plan to use them, mind you, we’re a peace loving people, who like to tend cherry trees, do paper folding, cross-dress as pre-teenage schoolgirls, and eat garlic noodles for breakfast. But since it is merchant hunting season… Off the coast of Burma, I-162 and I-164 put four torpedoes into three Commonwealth cargoes (Ardent, Chaksang and Indira). Two are reported sunk. Near San Francisco, xAK Alaska was torpedoes twice and is reported sunk as well. Near Singapore, a troop transport (Kota Pinang), was torpedoed. South of Palembang, I-166 missed the Prince of Wales (and got damaged by its escorts). We know where half of Force Z is. The most interesting naval action happened close to Singkawang. Four Japanese destroyers intercepted two British light cruisers (Durban and Dragon), probably on their way to Kuching. Outgunned, the Imperial Navy performed pretty well. Day Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,88, Range 15,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Fubuki, Shell hits 1 DD Usugumo, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Shirayuki, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Hatsuyuki, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships CL Dragon, Shell hits 3, on fire CL Durban, Shell hits 9 Usugummo and Shirayuki will probably make it. Dragon and Durban might have survived as well, had Kido Butai not been moving in. Both were sunk (the former to a magazine explosion). In the afternoon, another raid by KB planes sank CL Danae, in the same area. This should calm the raiders for a while.

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/7/2011 10:02:27 PM)
December 9th, 1941 And today’s autocaptured base is… You may have noticed a strange feature of the game engine. Every day, around midnight, an enemy base may fall, if it is left unguarded and not too far from enemy troops. Why this happens at the beginning of the day (and not at the end, after movement and combat), I do not know. Even more curious is the fact that only one base can fall on a specific day. So, today’s magic base was Langkawi. Where’s Langkawi, you might wonder (I, for one, wondered, when I saw the message)? Langkawi is the small island between Phuket and Georgetown, off the western coast of Malaya. Its capture, today, is all the more mysterious as the enemy still holds Alor Star (one hex away), and my closest forces are in Singora, 90 miles of jungle and sea away. But Langkawi and the Langkawians are welcome to the co-prosperity sphere, which will certainly feel like a bed of roses after years of inhuman yoke under British rule. Not just Langkawi… Hong Kong fell today as well (yay! as we say here in Japan). Our two divisions (38th and 104th) and an assortment of artillery and engineers took the place on their first deliberate attack. Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 28723 troops, 381 guns, 244 vehicles, Assault Value = 911 Defending force 7451 troops, 131 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 234 Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2 Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2) Japanese forces CAPTURE Hong Kong !!! Allied aircraft losses Walrus II: 5 destroyed Vildebeest III: 2 destroyed Japanese ground losses: 550 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 40 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled Guns lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled) Allied ground losses: 7865 casualties reported Squads: 279 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 496 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 42 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 162 (162 destroyed, 0 disabled) Vehicles lost 76 (76 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units destroyed 6 The 38th division will now move to Luzon, where the 33rd (the division from Nagasaki that failed to warp to Bangkok on the fateful seventh of December) has been sent as well. Those two additional divisions should help us achieve an early capture of the island. The dragon awakens Short term Japanese plans for China are pretty simple. We want to open, and secure, a supply line between Indochina and Manchuria. To achieve this, we need to clear the northern railroads and the central plains of enemy presence, capture Zhejiang and the Fujian hinterland (Chuhsien, Wenchow, Pucheng, Kanhsien), and clear the Guangdong coast (Kwangchowan, Pakhoi). This will probably take two months. The next objective is still undecided. Since we have no “PP for border” home rule, we can muster a fairly large army, and our short term goal give us time to shuffle units around. I am now considering three options: - Your typical north-western thrust, capturing Sian and Ankang, and then Lanchow, thus cutting fuel supplies and threatening a northern invasion of Sichuan - An early Hunan campaign, targeting the Changsha area, probably from three directions (Ichang, Hankow, Nanchang) - An early southwest expedition, going for Kunming and linking with Burma. The goal of this second phase is to damage as many Chinese units as possible, and take industrial bases, to worsen their supply situation. It would take about six months, until summer 1942. The last phase would be an all out assault on Sichuan, striving at taking China out of the war by the end of 1942. In my previous game, I had abandoned Ichang at game start. The base is just too exposed to be worth holding. In this game, I thought I would try and defend it, and try to damage several of the good Chinese corps that begin the game in this area. Ichang begins the game with about 550 AV (one IJA division an a collaborator unit), behind level three forts. It can be reinforced with tanks in three days (this makes quite a difference since it is in clear terrain, and the Chinese have very little anti-armor capability). I can bring artillery and a second division (or 1100 AV) in about five days, and perhaps two or three more (depending on whether the enemy also attacks Sinyang) in ten days. The first attack happened today. Seven corps and a headquarter unit attacked over the river. I have an IJA division, a RGC division, and a tank regiment still in move mode. It was very bloody… Ground combat at Ichang (83,48) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 6274 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1563 Defending force 14211 troops, 116 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 529 Allied adjusted assault: 0 Japanese adjusted defense: 971 Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 3) Japanese ground losses: Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled) Allied ground losses: 4236 casualties reported Squads: 243 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 174 disabled Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 27 (27 destroyed, 0 disabled) I have not enough troops to launch a counter attack. We will bombard tomorrow to assess enemy strength. But it seems the plan is working. The Butai (evil) twins During the long preparations for this game, the Evil Imperial HQ decided to attack Manila instead of Hawaii, so that KB could support the East Indies invasions at once. But this was not our only unconventional move. After choosing to focus on Manila, we realized that a full strength KB, with no enemy carriers in the vicinity, and for a small port like Manila, was probably overkill. As a result, we decided to split the KB, in two 3 CV plus escort task forces. Butai-1 would attack Manila, while Butai-2 would raid the Coral sea and the Australian ports, before moving north to support invasions in the Dutch Indies. Well, KB-2 showed up today, and sank most of the Port Moresby convoy… Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Cooktown at 96,138 Weather in hex: Clear sky Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 49 B5N2 Kate x 72 D3A1 Val x 72 Japanese aircraft losses B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak D3A1 Val: 1 damaged D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak Allied Ships CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Achilles, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk xAK Cycle, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk AO Bishopdale, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Mildura, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk xAP Sarpedonia xAK Chios, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Corinda, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Murada, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 1583 casualties reported Squads: 87 destroyed, 31 disabled Non Combat: 93 destroyed, 40 disabled Engineers: 5 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 95 (43 destroyed, 52 disabled) Meanwhile, near Singapore, KB-1 sank a number of ships, some of them troop loaded (it seems more and more obvious that the enemy is trying to evacuate Malaya) Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 50,85 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 6 D3A1 Val x 13 Allied Ships TK Pleiodon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires DD Vendetta, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Stronghold Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 50,84 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 13 B5N2 Kate x 13 Allied Ships CM Willem v d Zaan, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkep at 49,87 Japanese aircraft B5N2 Kate x 12 D3A1 Val x 13 Allied Ships xAP Kedah, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk xAP Kelantan, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 1178 casualties reported Squads: 23 destroyed, 17 disabled Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 34 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Vehicles lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled) Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Malacca at 49,81 Japanese aircraft B5N2 Kate x 10 D3A1 Val x 10 Allied Ships xAK Wulin, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk xAK Zannis Cambanis, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied ground losses: 676 casualties reported Squads: 12 destroyed, 22 disabled Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 30 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled Guns lost 20 (13 destroyed, 7 disabled) Finally, in the Celebes, Mini-KB found a small cargo task force… Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Manado at 75,99 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 7 B5N2 Kate x 42 Allied Ships xAKL Montanes, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAKL Lepus, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk AVD William B. Preston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAKL Legazpi, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 144 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled) When we planned the game, we thought of this KB split as a big gamble, but it seems to be paying off… In other news We’re in the early days of the war, so Japan is landing, landing and landing again. Today, our troops hit the beach in Mersin, Appari, and Vigan. Kwangchowan and Kuching were captured as well. Djambi was taken by paratroops of the first Raiding regiment. The base was not garrisoned, yet fifty of the 250 oil facilities were damaged. Facility damage seems to have gone up over the recent versions. It does not seem easy to avoid them. In Mauban, CL Boise sank our remaining cargoes Night Time Surface Combat, near Mauban at 80,78, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships xAK Chojun Maru, Shell hits 17, and is sunk xAKL Koyu Maru, Shell hits 11, and is sunk xAK Yamura Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk xAK Yamakuni Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk xAKL Bokuyo Maru, Shell hits 4, and is sunk xAKL Buyo Maru, Shell hits 9, and is sunk xAKL Kamishima Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk Allied Ships CL Boise All those were deemed expendable, but still… They shall be avenged.

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/8/2011 2:04:20 PM)
Boise ... always a pain ... argh ....

SoliInvictus202 -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/8/2011 3:35:04 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: PaxMondo Boise ... always a pain ... argh .... to be honest I expected to see these ships being sunk by Catalinas with Torps a turn earlier - they were able to offload almost all the supplies which lead to a successful defense of the beachhead at Mauban in the coming days! so I'd rather have Boise attack such unimportant ships than somewhere else where it hurts ;) all in all these first few days went well I'd say....

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/9/2011 1:57:22 AM)
(Advertising) Happiness is a cruiser called Boise, the light cruiser from Asiatic Fleet (and yes, you can whistle that famous tune as you read this, gaijin) Night Time Surface Combat, near Catanduanes at 82,81, Range 9,000 Yards Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses SOC-1 Seagull: 3 destroyed Japanese Ships CA Chokai DD Sagiri Allied Ships CL Boise, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 57% moonlight: 11,000 yards CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 9,000 yards Japanese open fire on surprised Allied ships at 9,000 yards CA Chokai launches Long Lance Torpedoes at CL Boise at 9,000 yards Moran, E. orders Allied TF to disengage Range closes to 7,000 yards CL Boise sunk by CA Chokai at 7,000 yards Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk... December 10th 1941 So yay! We got Boise with her knickers down, err, I mean, out of ammo, back from Mauban… Later today, CA Houston tried the same stunt… “Même punition, même motif” as we say in Japan… Day Time Surface Combat, near Naga at 81,81, Range 22,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Chokai DD Sagiri Allied Ships CA Houston, Shell hits 8, on fire Houston sank on the eleventh, after another fateful encounter with CA Chokai. Hell has three gates : lust, anger and greed, as they say… Remember the Nisshin maru, and sink those darn DD, dammit... Scout, Thanet and Thracian (may they burn in Hell!), the three Royal Navy destroyers that started WWII in the Pacific by attacking a harmless Japanese convoy, were back today and wrought more mischief Night Time Surface Combat, near Laoag at 81,72, Range 9,000 Yards Japanese Ships DMS W-9, Shell hits 3, heavy fires DMS W-10 DMS W-11, Shell hits 3, on fire DMS W-12, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage DMS W-17, Shell hits 1, on fire DMS W-18, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships DD Scout DD Thanet DD Thracian Four of those mine sweepers sank at once, the fifth one might make it to Pescadores, perhaps. But evil deeds never go unpunished, and fate loomed near, in the shape of CL Naka. Day Time Surface Combat, near Laoag at 81,71, Range 19,000 Yards Japanese Ships CL Naka DD Natsugumo DD Minegumo, Shell hits 1 DD Asagumo, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Murasame DD Harusame DD Yudachi DD Samidare Allied Ships DD Scout, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Thanet, Shell hits 1 DD Thracian, Shell hits 2, on fire Allied Ships DD Scout, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Thanet, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Thracian, Shell hits 18, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Scout, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Thanet, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships DD Scout, Shell hits 3, and is sunk DD Thanet, Shell hits 16, and is sunk Yay, again! Reversals of fortune Not everything went right today, quite the contrary in fact… In Kavieng, our invasion task force was sunk by CA Canberra… Night Time Surface Combat, near Kavieng at 106,122, Range 11,000 Yards Japanese Ships xAKL Katsuragisan Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk xAKL Amakasu Maru, Shell hits 5, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Canberra Japanese ground losses: 1044 casualties reported Squads: 28 destroyed, 17 disabled Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 34 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled) South of Singapore, a flight of stringbags damaged Kaga. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 53,86 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 20 Allied aircraft Swordfish I x 7 Vildebeest III x 26 Allied aircraft losses Swordfish I: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged Swordfish I: 1 destroyed by flak Vildebeest III: 13 destroyed, 4 damaged Vildebeest III: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships BB Kongo CV Soryu CV Kaga, Bomb hits 3, on fire Fortunately, damage to Kaga is light (3 sys), and KB is still functional. But this proves we need more CAP, and more bombing of Allied airfields (Singapore, notably). Reversals of reversals Not everything went wrong today, quite the contrary in fact… We captured Mersing and Vigan, and landed in Miri. Singkawang, Manado, Kendari and Manus. We sank a couple ships in Manila AV Langley, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Rochambeau, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage AS Canopus, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage PG Tulsa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage AVD Childs, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage TK Gertrude Kellogg, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage And more in Palembang xAP Kepong, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk AM Toowoomba xAP Sin Kheng Seng, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk AM Ballarat, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage AMC Kanimbla, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires CM Krakatau, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage AM Pieter de Bitter, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CM Gouden Leeuw, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk And transports off Singapore xAK Demodocus, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Neleus, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 1526 casualties reported Squads: 19 destroyed, 57 disabled Non Combat: 41 destroyed, 80 disabled Engineers: 5 destroyed, 1 disabled Post Scriptum : one of a long series of ads, which inspired the beginning of this installment. You can say lots of things about the Brits, like how they caused this war, but you have to admit (even sparingly) that some of them do have talent… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHhmASZDLw

PaxMondo -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/10/2011 11:52:47 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton Allied Ships CL Boise, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Sweet!

SoliInvictus202 -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/10/2011 12:09:10 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: PaxMondo quote: ORIGINAL: fcharton Allied Ships CL Boise, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Sweet! gotta love those long lances - I was very pleased when I saw the replay ;)

fcharton -> RE: Suave mari magno - RA as Japan, Soliinvictus202 and fcharton (no swift and undercovergeek, please) (11/20/2011 10:59:57 AM)
December 11th, 1941 Whacking Matilda Elated by the sinking of our invasion force, off Kavieng, CA Canberra tried her luck against the Rabaul convoy, near New Hannover Island. Unfortunately, with her main armament ordnance depleted by the previous battle, she was no match for CL Abukuma. Lust anger and greed, as they say. Day Time Surface Combat, near New Hanover Island at 104,123, Range 20,000 Yards Japanese Ships CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2 (and friends) Allied Ships CA Canberra, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk CL Perth is now alone in this area. If I were her, I’d run. Manus fell today. Tulagi and all the bases on the eastern coast of New Guinea were invaded. Tomorrow, we should land in Rabaul and the Solomons. Enemy carriers are a few days away. We will probably make it, but it will be a close call. Autocapture in Chumphon Yesterday, the RAF base force from Victoria Point arrived in Chumphon, intending to cut the railroad. We had troops one hex away, arriving today, so it did not seem to bad: by the time the RAF attacked, the city would be garrisoned again, and the rail line would not be cut… Yeah, you bet, gaijin! Today at midnight, Chumphon was autocaptured, the railroad was cut, and our reinforcements will not arrive before another week. This is not too bad. With the landings in Mersing, and Singora and Kota having already been reinforced by sea, we have enough troops (and supplies) to play in Malaya for a while. I hate autocapture! Blunder in Palembang It is now very clear that the enemy is trying to reinforce Palembang. With KB and lots of ships in the area, sinking transports, I very much doubt this will succeed, but enemy intent is clear. We had planned a early invasion. Djambi is ours, Singkawang fell today, and the amphibious task forces and their escorts are assembling, north of Kuching. D-Day was scheduled for the 14th. And then, we noticed that something terribly wrong had happened when the troops embarked in Samah. Our transports just loaded one support device and sailed away!!! The cause of the problem is unknown, investigation is underway, and we have already run out of ceremonial swords and wicker baskets. As you can imagine, this blunder left our Evil Imperial Planners flabbergasted and a bit demoralized, but it is not as bad as it seems. We have enough troops and ships in the area to reorganize everything, and D-Day will probably not be delayed by more than three days. Somehow, the flexibility provided by the game system compensates for the fact such crazy mistakes can go unchecked.

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