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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:19:30 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Here is the situation in the Fiji/Somoa area. The two "regiments" on the Tonga Islands are garrison units due to be withdraw in about a year. On the Tonga Islands I only have very small (size 8) aviation units. These bases host Emily Chutais searching down to the southern map edge. The rest of the bases that show units present have size four airfields and at least 24 aviation support.




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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:23:30 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		I have only recently begun developing the Gilberts in a major way. A number of garrison forces arrive in about 30 days. I will probably send a number of them here. I judge this area to be the most likely site of the first allied offensive (after Canton and Baker are captured). I will base my Carriers and a CA force at Nauru. Nauru is centrally located to the Marshals/Gilberts/Somoa/Fiji/New Caledonia/Solomons.






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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:25:24 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Marshals are still being developed. Since I will not have an Air HQ here (at least for a while) these islands will get the bulk of my land based Vals. Sallies/Helens may also be based here.





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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:31:01 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		I judge that the Solomons are secure for a while. I do not believe an offensive will be coming out of Australia any time soon. I believe the fuel situation there is quite poor. Nevertheless, this area is being extensively developed. The forces at Rabaul can also serve as a reserve for the Marshals/Gilberts.





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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:35:43 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Engineers have also been busily at work around the Bismark Sea. Most of northern New Guinea is built up to spec. The area around Cape Glouster/Finschhafen is still being developed. and the dot base south of Manus need to be built up. But progress in this sector is fairly advanced and some of these engineers can soon be either moved back to develop the Marianas or to build the forts in the Solomons to higher levels.




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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:40:12 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Banda Sea is fairly well developed. I still need to buy a reserve division out of Manchuria to base at Kendari. I also need one of the garrison regiments that come available in 30 days to garrison Taberfane. I do not expect anything to happen in this sector for quite a while since I still control Darwin and the rest of northern Australia.






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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:45:13 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Java has 2 infantry divisions, 5 tank regiments, and 3 SNFL/Nav Guard units garrisoning the southern shore. A regiment will soon land at Denpasar as well.





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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:48:40 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Western Sumatra is scary since there are a lot of bases right near Palembang and Singapore. I believe I have taken adequate precautions.





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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 2:52:54 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		For northern Sumatra and Malaya, I am not sure that my defenses are yet up to snuff. But other areas have a higher priority right now.




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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 3:01:51 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The final area in this survey is Burma. This area has been difficult to think about. The open plain in northern Burma is not very inviting for defense. Yet giving the allies those air bases would not be good either. Up until now I have not been developing those bases except to build forts. I have now decided that I will develop the air fields there and build the forts some more. I will try to make a stand in the Magwe region. The biggest problem here is lack of aviation support. At both Bessien and Pegu I had stacked two 24 AV units, giving me 48 aviation support at both bases. I am now moving two of the units north. This will only give me 24 aviation support at most of my bases in Burma. I can probably pull a couple more 24 AV units out of Singapore. There are probably also some around the Celebes that I do not need to have there quite yet.




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RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/17/2010 9:25:25 PM   
CarnageINC


Posts: 2208
Joined: 2/28/2005
From: Rapid City SD
Status: offline 		I was wondering how your defensive alignments were laid out, thanks for posting these.  It will be interesting to see how they will be penetrated by the Allies.  How are your Manchurian garrison points looking, can you still bring in more troops over time?

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Post #: 251
RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/18/2010 5:35:02 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept. 1, 1942

An interesting, and accidental battle over Chitagong happened today. I just moved in some Nicks and accidentally set them to Sweep instead of Escort (the buttons are right next to each other and this is not the first time I have done this). It is rather odd that they knew right where to go since I did not know that any planes were based at Chitagong. That base had not been reconned in a while.

26 Nicks faced off against 21 Hurricane IIc Trop's. Although the Nick's were able to dive on some of the opponents because of their starting height advantage, this did not hold up very long. As more defenders scrambled they were able to turn the tables and get the height advantage on the Nicks. I thought the Nicks would do better since they have armor and a 20mm cannon. But they didn't seem to have any advantage. A 2-1 loss ratio is not very indicative of a better plane. Altogether 6 Nick's were lost to 3 Hurri's.

quote:

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

I was wondering how your defensive alignments were laid out, thanks for posting these.  It will be interesting to see how they will be penetrated by the Allies.  How are your Manchurian garrison points looking, can you still bring in more troops over time?


Right now my garrison is at 11800, so I have a lot of troops left that I can pull out.

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Post #: 252
RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/18/2010 5:52:39 AM   
SqzMyLemon


Posts: 4239
Joined: 10/30/2009
From: Alberta, Canada
Status: offline 		Great posts on your defensive dispositions to date. Very informative and well thought out. Good luck defending the Empire.

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Post #: 253
RE: Battle at the Bottom of the World, Day 2 - 4/18/2010 6:36:10 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In looking over the specs on the Hurricane IIc Trop I see that they have 4x20mm cannon versus the one cannon for the Nick. I am now thinking about running some tests against these guys to see how various airframe will do. I expect that Zero's will do best since they have 2x20mm cannons and are much more maneuverable and a little faster. The Tojo's might perform well too since they are much faster and somewhat more maneuverable. I just wish I had more AV support in Burma right now! (2 more 24 AV support units will load up shortly in the Home Islands to be shipped to Burma.)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Great posts on your defensive dispositions to date. Very informative and well thought out. Good luck defending the Empire.


Thank you.

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Post #: 254
B-17s over New Guinea! - 4/19/2010 5:23:52 AM   
CapAndGown


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Status: offline 		Sept. 6, 1942

B-17Es staged a raid on Milne Bay today. This is the first opposed raid by B-17s since the initial conquest of the DEI about 7 or 8 months ago. (These same B-17s had been bombing a tank regiment I had at Daly Waters, but those raids were unopposed.) The Forts were met by Oscars and Flak. Over all, the results were, what I consider, fairly positive. Five B-17s were lost (1-A2A, 1-AAA, 3-Op) to four Oscars (2-A2A, 2-Ops). One pilot went MIA, while another was WIA. This was a relatively fresh formation with exp in the 50s, air skill around 70, and defense around 50. So this was their baptism by fire. The one disappointment was that none of the raids were detected by radar. This resulted in most of the A2A combat taking place after the bombers had already dropped their load. (The airfield is moderately damaged.)

The first raid had 45 B-17Es opposed by 36 Oscars, though I don't think many of these actually engaged. The second raid saw 6 Forts against 26 Oscars. Again, a number of these probably did not engage, and most of the action took place after the bombs were dropped. The final raid was composed of 6 B-17Es and was opposed by 12 Oscars.

Considering the number of damaging hits my pilots made on the bombers, I doubt they will be back for a few turns, more than enough time to patch up both the runway and the numerous damaged fighters.

I need to look into the radar situation. Maybe I need to bring some more radar equipped units to my outlying bases.

Meanwhile, B-17Fs showed up in northern Australia to harass my beat up tank regiment. That regiment had been at Daly Waters guarding the road to Darwin, but has been subjected to numerous attack by B-17s. With no forts and clear terrain, it has been murder for the tankers. So I am pulling the tanks back to Darwin where they will be evaced to Java to recuperate.

I am holding Northern Australia very lightly. At Port Hedland I have one SNLF and a small aviation unit (8 AV). This base hosts a group of Emily's doing naval search down towards Perth. At Broome I have an SNLF. And there is one SNLF at Katherine. Finally, at Darwin I have an SNLF and a JAAF company (24 AV). A Sentai of Nicks is stationed at Darwin, as is a Chutai of Babs doing recon of Tenant Creek.

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Post #: 255
RE: B-17s over New Guinea! - 4/19/2010 5:59:23 AM   
Q-Ball


Posts: 7336
Joined: 6/25/2002
From: Chicago, Illinois
Status: offline 		Great maps! Looking at them I can't help but wonder: How did you build all those airbases? I don't let the grass grow under any of my engineer units, yet you seem to have made more progress than me (well, I'm a month behind you, Aug 1942). How did you do it?

It takes a long time for the Empire to build a base, since our only engineering tool is the Type 89 Shovel


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Post #: 256
RE: B-17s over New Guinea! - 4/19/2010 6:29:49 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Great maps! Looking at them I can't help but wonder: How did you build all those airbases? I don't let the grass grow under any of my engineer units, yet you seem to have made more progress than me (well, I'm a month behind you, Aug 1942). How did you do it?

It takes a long time for the Empire to build a base, since our only engineering tool is the Type 89 Shovel



Strictly speaking, not every base is yet built up, though I expect many of them to be built to spec soon. For instance, Jailut is 97% of the way to a level 1. Taubiteuei is at level 4, but the bases around it are still level 3, about 50% towards level 4.

One way to get the bases built faster is to get all your engineers out of Manchuko and most of the ones in China. Another thing is to concentrate on the high SPS bases first. Then, if time permits, go develop the lower SPS bases. As supply convoys restock bases I always set them to not retire so that they can stick around to pick up units as soon as the base is built to spec. My specs generally are: size 4 airfield; size 3 forts. In some spots I have built the ports. On the whole, though, I am skipping port building and using AKs in amphib TFs to deliver supply/troops, and pick up the engineers. Using AK to deliver goods over the beach is generally faster than unloading at a size 1 or 2 port. I am also using combat engineers in a straight engineering role. I am not invading anything or attacking anywhere right now, so their usefulness against fortifications is not needed.

My general plan is to not lose any any engineers to an allied invasion. I want them all gone except for the aviation support units by the time the allies invade. There are a few exceptions where I judge that some extra engineers will be needed to keep runways repaired. But I am going to need those engineers later to help develop the Mariana's and Philippines.

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Post #: 257
Lightnings! - 4/21/2010 3:39:53 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept. 11, 1942

Lightnings made their first appearance today. Two formations swept Milne Bay at 30,000 feet. The first sweep consisted of 22 Lightnings. The second sweep consisted of just 3. Our CAP was at 15,000 feet so for a number of rounds our boys were getting bounced. That did not last and we were able to get the bounce on some occasions as well. Nevertheless, the Lightnings were the clear winners this time around with an 11-4 score in A2A. The overall score, including op loses, was 13 Oscars to 5 Lightnings. Despite this poor showing, however, we did not actually lose any pilots. Four of my pilots were WIA. They will be coming back at some point, though their experience level took a hit.

B-17s also bombed the airfield. After the first raid where he lost 5 bombers, witpqs had increased the altitude of the Forts to 21,000 feet to avoid the Flak. From that altitude they are not scoring many hits. OTOH, they are not suffering much damage either. No Forts were lost today to A2A, Flak, or Ops. The first raid consisted of 26 Forts, the second raid had only 6.

I am wondering if he will continue to target Milne Bay. Why stick with this one target? Why not vary it up a little to keep me guessing? While that may yet happen, for now I have decided to move in a Sentai of Zero's. There is also a Sentai Tojo's that just upgraded at Rabaul. As soon as they are ready, I will pull out the Oscars and Zero's and fly in the Tojo's to see how they do. (BTW, Tojo production is now at 190 a month, so I am rapidly replacing my Oscars with a much better airframe.) Another step I have taken is to increase the patrol altitude to 31,000 feet for my fighters at Buna and Milne Bay. I also need to install some fighters at Woodlark which I will do next turn.

In other developments, I have decided that my next priority for political points is aviation support groups. I am going to buy out every non-static aviation support unit in the Home Islands. These will be distributed around to various areas where aviation support is either lacking altogether, or where it could definitely stand to be beefed up from its dismally low level of just 24 at the majority of my bases.

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Post #: 258
RE: Lightnings! - 4/21/2010 5:52:26 AM   
bklooste

 

Posts: 1104
Joined: 4/10/2006
Status: offline 		Why keep you guessing , maybe he just wants to use his P38 and B17s to grind down your oscars  Multiple altitudes seem to work well for P38s eg put a Chutai at max Cap.

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Post #: 259
RE: Lightnings! - 4/22/2010 7:20:24 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept. 15, 1942

The Lightnings were back today over Milne bay. The first raid of 22 decimated the Tojo's based at Milne Bay. Some Oscars based at Kiriwina intervened as well, yet they did much better. In looking over the two formations, one thing that stood out about the Tojo's was their very low defense rating. I have found that just training for escort duty does not seem to raise this defense rating much. So I am trying an experiment: I am taking fighter squadrons that have gotten their Air skill up into the 60 and setting them to train for airfield attack. We will see if that is able to get their defense value up. Another factor may have been the low experience rating of the Tojo's. Their average experience is only about 52 or 53. In contrast, the Oscars from Kiriwina have a defense rating in the 60's and an average experience of about 70. Looks like I converted the wrong group to Tojo's! A second raid of 3 Lightnings also appeared.

_____________engaged(first/second raid)_____lost A2A_____op losses___kills claimed_____KIA___WIA
Lightnings____________22/3__________________9__________5
Tojos________________36/2__________________15_________1___________2__________5_____4
Oscars_______________13/6__________________2__________1___________1__________1_____2

I was rather disappointed by the Tojo performance. Not simply because so many of them were shot down. That is to be expected with less than elite pilots. Rather, their suite of 4 mgs (2x7.7mm, 2x12.7mm) were not really able to outright kill the Lightnings. Rather, there were numerous damage results, some of which, obviously, turned into ops losses. But outright kills were rare. I may go ahead an bring in Zero's. Their 20mm cannons should work well here. But I really was hoping that the Army could bear a lot of the A2A load since IJN fighter pilots are a precious commodity. I was hoping to preserve the Zero's as escorts for anti-shipping strikes while using Army fighters to provide CAP.

A large raid of 62 B-17E's also made an appearance over Milne Bay. None were lost, although a few were damaged. The B-17s appear to be flying out of Townsville. I am interested in bombarding the place but I am concerned about mines. So I am sending a low value sub to investigate whether mines are present. If there are no mines at Palm Island, I am going to send in some BBs. My planes may not be able to kill B-17s, but the battlewagons might. If the path into Townsville is clear of mines, I will recon the place for a few turns and then send in the heavy hitters. Of course, the B-17s may be at Charter Towers. Hopefully recon will be able to give some indication.

On the production front I have upped the number of Merchant Shipyards somewhat and have decided that I will halt all Std-D and -E cargo ships when they start to build. The -E class only take 30 days to build while the -D class only take 60 days. So if I should need such little ships for some reason I can restart them and have them available relatively quickly. I plan on using the points saved to accelerate TKs.

Large numbers of Aviation support units have now been bought out of the Home Islands and are now on their way to the front. This is a big problem I have in trying to mass my planes: lack of aviation support. I will still be short, but hopefully the situation will be somewhat improved by this influx of new support units. A much larger influx of reinforcements is due in January.

A large number of allied subs are surging into the South China Sea. I am diverting TK convoys through the Surigao and San Bernadino straits. So far I have lost only one TK to a sub and that was a long time ago. I find the best way to not have my ships sunk is to simply avoid the b*st*rds.

< Message edited by cap_and_gown -- 4/22/2010 7:24:29 AM >

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Post #: 260
The Great Java Snipe Hunt - 4/24/2010 1:13:14 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
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Status: offline 		Sept. 21, 1942

On the 20th witpqs bombed Port Moresby with B-17's. Some Tojos at Buna intercepted but did not accomplish anything. Indeed, 3 planes were lost to accidents and 2 pilots were KIA.

Several days ago there was a surge of subs into the South China Sea. Then another surge of subs went by Nauru Island a few days later. And now another surge is about to enter the Java Sea. In this case I have set up a warm reception for them. I have 4 ASW TFs set to patrol along their likely path. I also have numerous Sallies, Helens, and Jakes set on ASW patrol. The Sallies and Helens are flying at 2000 feet. I am hoping this will increase their odds of making an actual hit on one of these guys, and not just the stupid FOW hit that really means nothing.





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Post #: 261
Notes on Enemy Activity - 4/24/2010 2:17:34 AM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		I have not really been able to determine enemy intentions for his counter offensive. Generally, I do not think it is a good idea to plan around what you think you opponent's intentions are, but to concentrate on his capabilities. Nevertheless, it could help in planning on where the best places to station my reserves would be if I could divine the allied intentions.

Right now the allies are building up the Line, Austral, Cook and Society Islands in earnest. Tahiti is now maxed out, as is Christmas Island. Other Islands are being built up as well. Perhaps this is being done with the idea of increasing the storage capacity of these bases so that fuel and supplies can be built up there for transhipment to Australia. What is odd is that I have not seen anything moving between the Cook Islands and New Zealand. I would think that I would see something since my picket line of subs is 3 deep and the Emily's in the Tonga Islands are concentrating their search arcs very narrowly directly south towards the map edge. New Zealand is also starting to be developed, though rather slowly. I would like to make another sweep down here to check things out but I cannot do that without knowing where the allied CVs are. I have a feeling that after the last raid, witpqs will have moved his carriers down here in anticipation of another raid. So surface raiders are out. And though a carrier battle might be good for me right now, if I am wrong and his carriers are not down there, then as soon as he spots my CVs down there, that will free him to make his own raid.

India and Ceylon are also being built in a major way. Again, however, I have not been able to detect anything moving between Diego Garcia and Perth, even though I have a picket line of subs two deep over on the western map edge and Emily's at Coco's Island searching out almost to the map edge. There is no noticeable troop build up on the Burma/India border, though the airbases there are starting to build up. Certainly, I would expect and air offensive coming out of India to commence in the not to distant future. As to an overland offensive, I am not sure. I am actually more concerned about an amphibious offensive somewhere along the Kra Isthmus. I will need to do more to reinforce this area.

The Northern Pacific is being built up somewhat, but not to the extent that the southern Pacific is. So I don't think he will be trying for the Kuriles any time soon. Hopefully, the forces I have there are sufficient for now and can hold on long enough for reinforcements to arrive should he come that way.



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Post #: 262
Do Snipes Bite? - 4/24/2010 4:33:53 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
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Status: offline 		Sept. 22, 1941

The snipe hunt is not yielding much in the way of results yet. Indeed, if it weren't for faulty U.S. torpedoes, I would be short 2 DDs right now. Why is that every time a U.S. sub takes a shot at a Jap DD it always hits? My torpedoes generally miss DDs. In fact, I am not sure I have hit any. Yet every time a U.S. sub takes a shot it hits, but then I am saved because their is not explosion. When the game rolls around to 43 if things continue as they are now, I am going to lose every ship in the IJN to allied subs. The US will not even need any CVs, except to sink all the ships I have hiding in ports trying to hide from his subs.

Well, at least we scored two DC hits on the Seawolf. Not a lot of damage, but maybe it will go home now. My planes reported some hits as well, but that is just BS. On the other hand, I did get a message that one of the Sallies was damaged by flak from a sub. Now that I believe. The idea that subs are more dangerous to aircraft in AE than the other way around is something I would expect.

Despite my low expectations, I am setting up another line of ASW patrols between Borneo and Sumatra. In this case, I am using SCTFs rather than ASW TFs. Maybe the subs will find it harder to hit those than to hit ships that are supposed to be looking for them. I have set up about 7 - 8 TFs of between 3 and 4 ships a piece, mostly composed of DDs, but also with some Escort ships as well. Maybe I can at least damage one more sub. (Sinking a sub, of course, is out of the question.)


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Post #: 263
Finally, we catch a Snipe! - 4/25/2010 5:04:20 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept. 25, 1942

The Great Java Snipe hunt reached its climax today. It looks like a total of 6 allied subs sortied together out of Perth and into the Java Sea on their way to the hunting grounds in the South China Sea. (The Java Sea seems to be some sort of sub super-highway for the allies.) From the behavior of the subs, it looks as though we winged two of them while Snapper was caught, stuffed, and put up on the mantle as a trophy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Singkawang at 54,89
Japanese Ships
DD Yugao
DD Karukaya

Allied Ships
SS Sailfish, hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Singkawang at 54,89
Japanese Ships
DD Tanikaze
DD Hagikaze

Allied Ships
SS Snapper, hits 3

SS Snapper launches 4 torpedoes at DD Tanikaze (Hit, but no explosion )


In other news, I have decided to abandon Canton and Baker Islands. I don't have much there, just a naval guard and an aviation company on each island. Yet there is no reason to lose these troops when I have need of them elsewhere. These islands are basically indefensible and can't be built up very much anyway. I could certainly use the naval guards up in the Marshals, and the aviation companies, even though they only have 8 aviation support points, can add just a little more support to islands I do think I can make a stand at.

Allied recon is now making an appearance over my southern possessions. Niue, Taue, and Pago-Pago are all being paid visits. The Cook Islands continue to be developed. It is looking more and more like he may decide to come that way. Canton was reconned a while back, but those planes have not shown up there in a while. Maybe I should move a para regiment down here along with some transports. Sallies are already staging southwards just in case.

Over in Burma, two new JAAF base forces arrived at Magwe and Meiktila. I now have a very respectable fighter presence in central Burma. It may be time to conduct a sweep of Chitagong. I would like to find out just how "uber" Tojo's are against Hurricanes.
The Zero's might do a decent job as well.





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Post #: 264
Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/25/2010 3:21:02 PM   
CapAndGown


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Status: offline 		Sept. 26, 1942

B-17s bombed Port Moresby today. My bleed-over CAP from Buna did not accomplish anything, though one B-17 was lost operationally. Lightnings also swept Port Moresby. They showed up after the bombers, so I don't know that they accomplished much. They did shoot down 1 Zero. The Lightnings are now coming in at 39,000 feet. This is obviously ridiculous. Rather than trying to compete in altitude, which I can't, I have decided to lower the patrol altitude of most of my fighters down to their optimal maneuverability altitude. The Tojo's at Kiriwina are still set to 35,000 feet with the expectation that if witpqs sweeps Milne Bay, I will have a layered CAP from the bleed-over from Kiriwina.

I have decided to repay the favor by doing my own stratosphere sweep of Chitagong. Witpqs has some Hurricane IIc Trops there So I am sending a mass of Tojo's on a sweep mission at 36,000 feet. I also am going to send Zero's and Nick's there as well, though in that case, they are going to fly at only 15,000 feet. I do not expect these sweeps to be coordinated. Indeed, I would expect the Tojo's to arrive later than the Zero's and Nick's. But I think it might be nice to eat into the replacement pool of Hurricanes through a mass attack.

The Sailfish is limping home. It looks like it may try to transit into the Indian Ocean via Merak. I am hoping it hits a mine there! An ASW TF is also shadowing the sub.

The detection level on a number of my subs down in the south has suddenly jumped. I didn't see anything during the replay about search planes spotting my subs. But it looks like somebody is transiting between Tahiti and New Zealand. Possibly the US Carriers, though it could be some capital ships with float planes. Not sure what to make of this. Nothing I can do about it at the moment. My CVs are up at Nauru. Maybe I should have sortied them south with the goal of making a sweep between New Zealand and Australia.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 265
RE: Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/26/2010 5:08:32 AM   
bklooste

 

Posts: 1104
Joined: 4/10/2006
Status: offline 		Best way to fight the strat sweep is multiple units at dif altitudes + radar

eg put a chutai on top with 30% cap  prob 1 plane in the air but the P-38s will dive on them , your chutai will dive away taking the P38s with them , if you have a daitai  or 2 a bit lower they then get a bounce on the P-38s. At leasts it becomes a lot more random.

_____________________________

Underdog Fanboy

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 266
RE: Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/26/2010 8:18:48 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept 28-29, 1942

More action in the last few turns than we have seen in a while.

On the 28 I sent a large contingent of fighter to sweep Chitagong.

First in were the Zero's which did not do a very good job, losing 2-1. Then again, these guys were relative newbies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 19
P-40E Warhawk x 25

Next up were a group of Tojo's flying an orbital reentry trajectory (36,000 feet). These guys are quite good and ended up claiming 8 kills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 37

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 13
P-40E Warhawk x 15

Then it was the Nick's turn. By this time the allied CAP had been worn down quite a bit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 37

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 1
P-40E Warhawk x 1

A few more raids went in, mostly stragglers, but also including a group of 32 Tojo's, but by that time the Allies had run out of planes to put up on CAP.

Overall score for the 28th:
Hurricane IIc Trop 8 A2A 3 Op
A6M2 Zero .........6 A2A 1 Op
P40E Warhawk ......5 A2A 1 Op
Ki-44-IIa Tojo ....4 A2A

On the 29, I just sent in the Nicks since they had low fatigue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 37

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 13

2 Nick's were lost A2A, while 2 more were ops loses. The allies lost 3 P40E Warhawks.

Next turn, weather permitting, I am sending in Tojo's again. They seem to be a superior sweeper.

My supposition that the allies were running some convoys down south turned out to be correct. At least two convoys crossed my sub picket line today. Both of these convoys were stocked with xAPs. So a large contingent of troops are moving either to Australia or New Zealand. The I-26 was pounded hard by the escorts and will probably sink. It has float damage of 80.

It is evident that the allies have some carrier presence down there. The detection level on many subs is greater than zero which would only be possible if carrier patrol AC are present. This supposition is reinforced by the fact that 4 SBD were the victims of ops loses today. Also, after the slaughter of last convoy to run this gauntlet, it is hard to imagine that witpqs would not have CVs here to defend his convoys.

So if I wanted to carrier battle, I know right where to go! Thing is, I have no intention of fighting his carriers unless I have favorable circumstances. My ideal scenario for a carrier engagement would be as a follow up to multiple LBA air attacks on his carriers during which time his CAP would be worn down. (I know, this was the Japanese plan for defending the Marianas and it didn't work out too well for them. But it was still a decent plan, even if the assets weren't up to snuff.)

During the replay I heard the sound of a sinking sub. I thought it was the I-26, but he is still around. So obviously, it was an allied sub. My guess is the Snapper since that sub came off the sunk ships list today and I know that sub was hit hard.

Sub recon of Townsville and Cairns indicates there are no mines at either of those bases. Air recon indicates that Cairns is where the P-38 Lightnings are based. After I deal with some allied subs patrolling the Solomon Sea, I am going to send a CA TF to bombard Cairns to see if I can't take out some of those Lightnings.

In production news, I ordered a substantial expansion of Merchant Shipyards. (40 new yards were ordered built.) I now have over 900,000 HI points in the bank, with over 4,000 being added every day. It is about time I started to spend some of them. I want to start being able to accelerate multiple TKs.

(in reply to bklooste)
Post #: 267
RE: Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/27/2010 1:32:37 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Oct. 1, 1942

Another day, another sweep. This time 7 Tojo's were lost A2A. Figuring out the allied loses is a little more difficult since there is a discrepancy between the A2A casualties listed on the front page of the intelligence screen, and the casualties listed in the detailed break down. According the front page, the allies lost 7 planes A2A. But the detail page shows 5 Hurricanes lost A2A (2 op) and 4 P-40's lost A2A, for a total of 9 planes A2A, not 7.

Another group of Tojo's will sweep again tomorrow. I am trying to eat into the Hurricane replacement rate somewhat since my own replacement rate is much higher. OTOH, I don't like losing pilots. On the third hand, my pilots do need some seasoning and there is no better way to get it than battle.

Looks like the allied convoys made it through my picket line without any casualties. My stupid subs targeted the damn DDs rather than the fat, juicy xAPs.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 268
RE: Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/28/2010 7:04:50 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Oct. 2-4, 1942

On the 2nd Tojo's swept Chitagong again. 10 Tojo's were lost A2A compared to 5 Hurricane IIc (+3 lost to ops) and 4 P-40E.

B-17s bombed Port Moresby. 1 B-17 was shot down by Zero's flying out of Buna while another was an op loss. 1 Zero was an op loss.

On the 3rd Nick's swept Chitagong. 2 Nicks were lost A2A versus 2 Hurricane IIc and 1 Hurricane IIb (plus one to ops).

P-38's swept Port Moresby. Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent bleed over CAP from Buna so 3 Zero's were lost A2A and only 1 P-38 was the victim of an ops loss.

On the 4th I responded by bombarding Cairns. 5 P-38's, 5 P-40E's, and 1 B-25 were destroyed on the ground while the runway sustained considerable (86) damage. I was hoping for more. It is possible that he moved his planes out when he spotted my bombardment TF south of Milne Bay.

The evacuation of Canton Island is now complete. I hope that the troops on Baker Island will be completely loaded next turn so that I can get the ships out of there before he notices.

I have decided to call off the attacks on Chitagong. I am going to let the allies come to me instead since this will increase their ops loses and cut down on the number of pilots I lose since I will be fighting over my own bases. I do not have near the number of trained fighter pilots in the General Reserve pool that I would like.

I am now in the process of upgrading Ta-Chi 2 radars to the new Ta-Chi 3. I hope this will increase my fighters efficiency. Come January the Ta-Chi 4 and Ta-Chi 7 radar sets become available. The 4 model has a range of 75 miles (the 2 and 3 models have a range of 48 miles) while the 7 model has a range of 145 miles. Their accuracy is also better. These kind of ranges would give my fighters lots of time to get into position to meet an incoming raid.

Six regiment size garrison units have arrived in the Home Islands over the past several days. This is a significant reinforcement and I am preparing to send five of them to garrison the Gilberts while moving the SNLFs/Nav Guard there up to the Marshals. (The stacking limits in the Gilberts are generally 30,000 while in the Marshals, the stacking limits are generally in the 6,000.)

I have decided that I will convert the Chitose and Chiyoda to CVL's come November. My understanding is that this can only be done at Tokyo, so I have expanded the repair shipyard there to 50. This conversion takes 300 days. I will not convert the other two CS's when they are available since I like having their search capability. Also, the Mizuho is too slow and thus too vulnerable IMO.





< Message edited by cap_and_gown -- 4/28/2010 7:08:12 AM >

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 269
RE: Star Wars in the Pacific - 4/28/2010 10:22:20 AM   
Swenslim

 

Posts: 437
Joined: 4/15/2005
From: Odessa, Ukraine
Status: offline 		Stupid question.... where did you get such huge number of air support units for so many airbases ? As Japan player in mid July I have a serious shortage of air support units for much less number of base. If have for example base with 2 air units with 90 planes (for example Zero 45 planes and 36 Nell's) I need 4 air support units with 24*4= 96 air support points. If I have less, than majority of planes will spend a lt of time under repairs and not will be able to effectivly attack. Especially that applys Mavis and Emily units.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 270
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