RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A)

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari, please.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 2/27/2011 9:01:29 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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I mean, hits in skipbombing attacks against surface targets. See the numerous bomb hits during the last few days at Hawaii.

For ASW purposes, I believe, you need to have ASW skill around 70 and decent NavB/LowN (the difference for this purpose seem to be marginal). Lower ratings will produce a lot of sightings but only accidental hits, even with considerable area saturation.

I also train my divebomber pilots on ASW. So on carriers torpedo bomber squadrons will have the ability to fly naval search missions (although seaplanes are primarily tasked with that), and divebomber squadrons - ASW missions. Besides, I find that training a second skill gives better Defence than concentrating on just one, even after its growth becomes marginal.

EDIT: Bigred should have started airlifting troops to help the defenders earlier. In turn, I should have pulled my aviation from China and bombed his bases on the mainland, because, as far as I can tell, Skytrains wouldn't have been able to reach Andamans from Ceilon. But what's done is done, and everything worked out for the best. Indian troops lack both experience and heavy weapons to go against crack Japanese divisions at this stage.

Jahn, at the moment I feel safe splitting the KB, because there is only one Allied CV on the map. And while Allied LBA should be a threat, if used properly, at Hawaii I will have Japanese land-based fighter squadrons to help. Besides, bigred expended a lot of his 4Es trying to support his troops on the ground, so I'm not expecting them to suddenly become the major naval threat they can be in the space of weeks.

If the fuel situation stops deteriorating, I'll try to follow earlier advice in this thread, and, after reblockading Pearl, dump veterans into reserve, fill airgroups with well-trained newbies and go to hit one of the major Allied bases, maybe even San Francisco.

< Message edited by FatR -- 2/27/2011 9:13:38 PM >

(in reply to BigBadWolf)

Post #: 481

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/3/2011 2:53:29 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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October 5-7, 1942

A few relatively quiet turns. Bigred was gracious enough to let me deploy A6M5, which is now available, thanks to RA air changes. Unfortunately, converting size 100 A6M2 factory will take a lot of time (and HI). However, Rufe plant unexpectedly (for me) converted to A6M5... So I'll be able to equip at least one kokutai with them in October.
Speaking of HI, stopping the Nagoya plant just about put oil/fuel level at balance, but current HI point proficit seems to be just sufficient to pay for training (considering expenditures related to expanding production). If the situation persists, I might shut down some merchant shipyards.

Japanese fleet has gathered at Johnston faster than I expected... I would have liked to wait for KB-2 and Yamatos now moving from DEI, but supply situation at Hawaii does not allow for such long wait. I intend to contest the surface again with 4 older CAs and 12 large DDs (not counting CL Yubari and old DDs serving as escorts for my supply convoy). This time I'll try deploying all 4 CAs in one TF with 8 DDs in another, to test how a pure-DD TF might perform. Allies don't seem to have anything bigger than a CA remaining in the area... CL Concord is the biggest ship actually engaged by Japanese aircraft.

Bad news are, Pearl's airfied is open now. So intense air attacks are quite possible. Particularly as aviation on both sides was very reluctant to fly over last few turns, resulting only in small air clashes, that so far ended in Japanese favor. But Liberators from Pearl struck Japanese ships docked at Johnston, damaging one transport and few of the beat-up warships. Nothing sank, thankfully.

However, it seems only USAAF/USN planes are deployed at Pearl. Warhawks and Wildcats are not doing well against Tojos...

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/3/2011 2:54:21 PM >

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 482

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/3/2011 2:53:44 PM

FatR

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Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Double post, nevermind.

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/3/2011 2:54:08 PM >

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Post #: 483

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/3/2011 4:05:06 PM

Xxzard

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From: Arizona
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By "proficit" do you happen to mean "surplus"?

_____________________________

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Post #: 484

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/3/2011 9:39:09 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Surplus. I guess I forgot that the meaning in English is a bit different...

Anyway...

October 8, 1942

Lucky Strike: I knew from sub sightings that Force Z wanders not far from Ceilon for some time now, but I only halfheartedly tried to intercept it. Yet lack of air ASW patrols bit bigred hard when on the morning of October 8 I-35 spotted British ships and launched a spread of torpedoes at Repulse. Only one hit, but tremendous magazine explosion lit up the night and sounds of the hull breaking up several minutes later confirmed the kill without doubt to the elated crew. I-35 escaped without being detected.

Air Exchanges: After several days of fruitless night attacks, Sallies from Lahaina flew in the day, sank a xAK and missed alot of Allied DDs, as well as Concord. In return, Vengeance divebombers from Little Andaman caught a convoy loading troops at Port Blair just before I flew in a strong fighter force, and sank one of my short-legged xAPs, loaded with troops from Southern Army HQ. A costly oversight on my part...

Counteroffensive in Burma: 2nd Tank Division, supported by heavy air attacks, crossed the river to the west of Schwebo and routed 7th Indian Division with surprising ease:

Ground combat at 58,45
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 9112 troops, 131 guns, 740 vehicles, Assault Value = 429
Defending force 8883 troops, 128 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 374
Japanese adjusted assault: 268
Allied adjusted defense: 69
Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2564 casualties reported
Squads: 49 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 87 destroyed, 67 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 28 (16 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (10 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Division

Defending units:
7th Indian Division

I guess punishing bigred for sticking a small force too far will be simpler than I thought (in his place I would have tried to send every good major LCU I can find to Burma immediately after taking over the game, even leaving most of the positions in the Pacific undefended, if necessary). And I already have an evil plan for divisions from Port Blair, that might exploit my fast success. You can probably guess it by looking at the map below and noticing which Allied-owned resource centers are easiest to grab, logistically speaking.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Xxzard)

Post #: 485

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/4/2011 7:03:53 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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On Night Air Combat

I've recently reformed 13th Sentai to protect Magwe from massed night bomber attacks. For a long time its elements did all of the job of protecting my airfields in Andamans/Burma area from nightbombing, and I found they have accumulated about 38 kills during this time. However planes and pilots losses on the ground are disconcerting - 40 planes and maybe about 10 pilots. Other units on the same airfields weren't hit nearly as hard.

Overall, I find Allied night air offensive quite manageable so far. My defences weren't put to a real test (that would be massed 4E attacks at night) yet, though.

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/4/2011 7:08:34 PM >

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 486

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/10/2011 5:52:41 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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October 9-18, 1942

A brief report for now

Hawaii: Allied fleet did not accept the battle. Neither did aviation, so Oahu airfield is well back on the way to shutdown, despite new flak losses. A few air attacks were mounted, but the only successful one was the above-mentioned Liberator raid on Johnston. Also, it looks like all three damaged old CLs are going to survive, as now they are safely undergoing field repairs in ports. The first supply convoy and the troop convoy that carried back divisions from Umnak have reached Lahaina successfully, with more supply convoys right behind them.

Meanwhile, Japanese surface forces and aviation cleared Allied stragglers too slow in fleeing the area, sinking or most likely sinking 2 modern DD, 2 xAKs, 1 SS, 1 SC and a half-dozen of PT boats. Overall, I must say, the whole decision to invade Hawaii just paid off entirely, even if I fail to take Pearl.

Aleutians: Evacuation is mostly completed. Only Amchitka's garrizon is still in place. Allies are not in haste to take empties islands.

Overall, this campaign was too costly. Allied CD guns sub attacks caused loss of multiple valuable ships - 1 AMC, 1 xAP, 2 fast AOs, 1 CM and 1 xAK. KB-2 was caught out of position at the critical moment as well. We sank some ships as well, but Allies can accept losses better. At least a bunch of Allied units got destroyed on Umnak.

Burma: Japanese tanks and bombers are driving weak Allied forces before them.

Naval Raiding: Bigred got cocky and raided as far as Balikpapan with old DDs, just as my patrol Emilies were busy with troop relocation around Timor. This cost me 2 smaller xAKs. Japanese air and naval forces tried to punish the raiders (accidentally I got one of my battle squadrons in Kendari, thinking whether to transfer it to Hawaii, so the region wasn't entirely without naval cover like it was for months before), with Betties from Loemadjang sinking one four-stack DD. I must say, Bigred caught me with my pants down there, but I got lucky that no tanker convoys got caught.

Meanwhile, Japanese raider Gokoku Maru wantered too close to Diego Garcia and was sunk by divebombers. That was short and inglorious career.

China: After much deliberation, I decided to try cracking open the Chinese MRL with brute force right now. You can see what sort of brute force I gathered on the screenshot below. All but 120 of these AV are now marching on Hengyang, where, I believe, Chinese can't have more than about 12 000 AV. It's an open terrain hex, and while meeting significant forts is probable, I think this sort of force can just overwhelm the Chinese rabble with overwhelming numbers of heavy guns and armor.

On the contrary, if it fails, then I'll be right back to a very dangerous position... But I feel that with other fronts stabilized, I can take the risk.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/10/2011 5:53:12 PM >

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/16/2011 8:01:21 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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October 19-24, 1942

China: Long story short, the most epic and enormous battle of the war so far took place around Hengyang. I greatly overestimated the number of Chinese in the hex, it was below 6000 AV, but I greatly underestimated dangers of river crossing in and against large stacks. Almost 3000 Japanese AV was gone after the first day:

Ground combat at Hengyang (80,53)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 257219 troops, 2553 guns, 2096 vehicles, Assault Value = 9288
Defending force 168066 troops, 1100 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5784
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 4087
Allied adjusted defense: 1641
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
44105 casualties reported
Squads: 51 destroyed, 3065 disabled
Non Combat: 85 destroyed, 1474 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 402 disabled
Vehicles lost 480 (113 destroyed, 367 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
14712 casualties reported
Squads: 77 destroyed, 1091 disabled
Non Combat: 79 destroyed, 1134 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 51 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Division
10th Division
41st Division
12th Tank Regiment
18th Tank Regiment
8th Recon Regiment
68th Division
35th Division
15th Tank Regiment
60th Division
36th Division
22nd Division
3rd Tank Regiment
110th Division
14th Division
26th Division
3rd Division
51st Recon Regiment
19th Tank Regiment
6th Division
23rd Tank Regiment
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
34th Division
39th Division
40th Division
9th Tank Regiment
9th Division
32nd Division
63rd Division
51st Engineer Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
11th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
10th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
6th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Army
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
6th Army
12th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
7th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mobile AA Battalion
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
China Expeditionary Army
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mobile Field Artillery Regiment
13th Army
North China Area Army
2nd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Botanko Hvy Gun Regiment
10th Mortar Battalion
9th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
RGC Army
5th Army
Mongol Garrison Army
22nd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Kwantung Army
4th Army
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
5th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
NCPC Army
4th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
12th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
32nd Chinese Corps
63rd Chinese Corps
88th Chinese Corps
4th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
8th Chinese Corps
52nd Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
68th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
60th Chinese/A Corps
10th Group Army
19th Group Army
20th Group Army
49th AA Regiment

On the next day bigred counterattacked, inflicting massive damage on my heavily disrupted troops, but at great cost. After a day of rest and artillery bombardment, the Japanese army attacked, pushing enemy out of the hex, its take force pursued and smashed the Chinese stack again, forcing it to retreat not in the woods, but towards Changsha.

Cost of this victory was great. But now the Chinese MRL along the Changsha railroad is breached and overrun. The Changsha area will fall in no time. I'm also considering whether it is worth attempting to push towards Chinese heartlands around Chungking right away, but heavy disablements among my force make the idea dubious.

Also, I lucked out to take Hengyang's large resource center undamaged.

I have no time to tell about relatively minor events in other theaters or to comment on my plans in detail right now... Take a look at the map right after fall of Hengyang, though. As you can see, Chinese forces are scattered and in no position to resist. With Southern Army about to blindside Chiang's rabble from Burma, through Lashio and across the mountains, even the total conquest of China no longer seems a pipe dream.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 488

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/17/2011 7:40:30 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Major Allied LCUs Demolished So Far

I'm not including usual doomed forces in Malaya/DEI/Philippines or Chinese units. In all likelyhood, my opponents have saved fragments from all or nearly all of these units, but as rebuilding a division might well take over a year, for now most of them should be of the picture.

Divisions:
American Division (destroyed at Lahaina)
7th Indian Division (routed three times in Burma, should be in very bad shape)
17th Indian Division (destroyed at Port Blair)
39th Indian Division (destroyed at Port Blair)

Smaller Infantry Formations:
2nd Marine Regiment(destroyed at Hilo)
58th (Sep) Infantry Regiment (destroyed at Umnak)
298th(Sep) Infantry Regiment (destroyed at Hilo/Lahaina)

Armor:
7th Armoured Brigade (destroyed at Port Blair)
16th Light Cavalry Regiment (destroyed at Port Blair)
2nd USMC Tank Battalion (destroyed at Lahaina)
754th Tank Battalion (destroyed at Hilo)

Artillery:
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion (destroyed at Lahaina)
154th FA Bn Field Artillery Battalion (destroyed at Umnak)
205th Field Artillery Battalion (destroyed at Hilo)
223rd Field Artillery Battalion (destroyed at Lahaina)

Taking into account that my carriers torched two large troop convoys in Southern Pacific during the game, and at least two divisions still blockaded at Andamans, I now understand better why bigred was willing to sacrifice so much to resupply Pearl. Allies are down about two corps worth of unrestricted troops (even if the heaviest losses were taken by inferior Indian troops). Losing the huge stack at Pearl might actually cripple their ground force for 1943, something which I did not believe was possible.

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 489

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/17/2011 10:27:33 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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On Naval Bombardment, Again

Upon observing results from bigred's multiple nightly naval bombardments at Hawaii, I came to conclusion that all my attempts to find some algorithm in the resuls were seeing what I wanted to see. In reality, effect seems to be determined purely by a random roll.

It also seems, that these 8cm DP cannons used by Japanese base forces are not entirely useless, as the effects of bombardments consistently were lowest at Lahaina, which boasts these guns. I still would have preffered them to actually shoot at Allied warships, though...

Speaking of Hawaii...

I'm having a bout of doubt, regarding the possible assault on Pearl, again. As far as I can tell, bigred managed to unload a couple of dozens of xAKs there. (Judging by undecisive air resistance, he most likely intended to suppress Japanese airfields with naval bombardments, but thankfully all of the Allied battleships got sunk or crippled before they were able to seriously hit the airfields). This might mean up to 100k of supplies... who knows when the garrizon will actually start starving again. Meanwhile, Southern Army can be used to a significant strategic effect by helping to finish off China in the first half of 1943, which now seems quite possible... and just continuing to keep PH blockaded might prompt bigred to try another relief operation, probably once he scrounges a few carriers or another hald-dozen of battleships to cover it, maybe giving my LBA a shot at the Allied carrier fleet while it's still weak.

On the other hand, as I noted above, taking Pearl might seriously cripple Allied ground force in the long term... Decisions, decisions. I have a few months to wait and observe yet, while Allied aviation still doesn't have strength to directly contest Japanese LBA from a single airfield against many, and their carrier force remains extremely weak.

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/26/2011 10:03:29 PM >

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 490

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/17/2011 11:47:19 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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October 25-28, 1942

Hawaii: Allied raiders let by CA Portland hit Johnston... for pretty much no damage. Air attacks with skipbombing Betties and Emilies were ineffective.

Both the Big Island and Lahaina now are amply supplied, with over 100k tons each.

Burma-Andamans: Bigred tried to sneak his aviation to Little Andaman on 28th and strike at Japanese shipping lifting troops from Andamans... Unfortunately for him, at this day my bombers decided, for a change, fly, and all Allied fighters apparently were on escort, so Allied squadrons got plastered on airfield first and then a small resulting Dauntless raid ran into massive CAP over Port Blair. Escorting Hurries got butchered, and not a single bomber out of a dozen got away, but they put two bombs at CA Mogami, doing moderate damage.

Also, British skipbombers hit my massive troop convoy, thankfully on its inbound leg to Port Blair (to lift remaining divisions destined for the mainland - due to signfificant damage to my shipping it was impossible to carry everyone in one go) and moderately damaged three transports.

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 491

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/18/2011 1:46:04 AM

ADB123

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quote:

Upon observing results from bigred's multiple nightly naval bombardments at Hawaii, I came to conclusion that all my attempts to find some algorithm in the resuls were seeing what I wanted to see. In reality, effect seems to be determined purely by a random roll.

I've got a pbem as the Japanese going in which I have used the exact same TF to bombard the exact same base time after time after time and the results come out different each time. My opponent has commented that he sees the same thing when he looks at his version of the Combat Replay.

Sometimes only the enemy troops are hit, sometimes only the base is hit, sometimes huge fires will start, sometimes little happens at all. And that is with the exact same ships, same floatplanes, same captains, same admiral, same floatplane pilots, same bombardment distance and same base for replenishing. And the results don't show improvement or more consistency with time. I've now got the same TF bombarding a different base on a daily or near daily basis and I see the same variable results again.

So from around 6 dozen bombardments by the same TF on the same two bases my conclusion is that random factors play a very big role in the results that you get from Naval Bombardments when you hold the player-controllable variables constant.

(in reply to FatR)

Post #: 492

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/18/2011 11:50:56 AM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Chinese Front By 29th of October

As you can see, Changsha is being invested from three sides, with my garrizon forces from Wuchang and Nanchang now advancing to tighten the pocket, but meeting considerable (yet, I think, beatable, with air support) Chinese resistance in forested terrain.

Remnants of the main Chinese army have retreated to Changsha. I want to cut them off, encircle from all sides and leave to stew there, rather than destroy. At least until Chungking is taken.

Meanwhile, the main Japanese force will march to northwest and take Chingkiang. I'm probably not going to push further immediately, but I want to take it as a bridgehead, to avoid another river-crossing attack against a massive Chinese force in the future.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/22/2011 1:43:00 AM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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The game is not terribly eventful lately, and is not going to be, unless bigred will do something reckless. Most of the Combined Fleet is bound to ports as another big operation is likely to deplete Japanese fuel reserves past critical level. Also, remaining Allied warships are likely spread around or hidden off-map at the moment. Major turnarounds in land campaigns are unlikely at the moment... so I will be updating less often.

Meanwhile:

Strategic Overview for November 1, 1942

October saw decrease in air and naval combat compared to any of the previous months since May, as neither side was in position to really bring the fight to the enemy. Events on the ground were pretty momentous, though, with Chinese MRL being broken to the west of Changsha, and, of course, fall of Port Blair (although the latter was decided in September).

Notably, points for destroyed Allied aicraft finally exceeded points for Japanese.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/22/2011 1:45:11 AM >

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Post #: 494

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/22/2011 12:53:21 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Burma

Burma, I feel, is pretty secure for now. Offensive by 2nd Tank Division and Imperial Guards pushed Allied forces back to the jungle, inflicting considerable losses. After that they retreated back to the east of Irrawaddy again. Chinese are still holding at Lashio against 12th Division and Thai troops, reinforced by artillery from Port Blair and some tanks. However, as they take heavier casualties in each battle, their rout is only a matter of time... Unfortunately, a few exhausted Chinese units were completely destroyed in this battle, so they will regenerate at 1/3rd strength in a month.

Unfortunately, sealight of troops for Port Blair ran into unexpected troubles. My third convoy departed after loading only 1/3rd of its capacity... so I was forced to send it there again, to lift remaining divisions, and on the way it was hit by Wellingtons, when in the danger zone between CAP coverages from Rangoon and Port Blair. Some transports might be lost...

At least I've successfully lifted some of the troops, primarily flak units, from Trinkat. Burma, particularly Magwe, needs more flak tubes. I believe bigred will try to deny me the oil of Magwe in foreseeable future, so I need to prepare a warm welcome.

Meanwhile, there ongoing medium-intensity air war continues over Burma. Allies are trying to hit my airfields every night, and these attempts are opposed by my Ki-45 Toryu squadrons. Generally, I believe, my nightfighters are having upper hand in these engagements. Also, Allied regularly tried to bomb and strafe Japanese troops around Lashio, but the biggest result of these attacks was causing losses to leaking CAP from airbases at the Irrawaddy valley.

Japanese air effort, save for a few intermittent day and night attacks on Allied airfields, just to keep bigred on his toes and his airframe numbers from growing too fast, are concentrated on defense and ground support. While my aviation was busy supporting critical operations at Andamans and China, Allies just entrenched too well around Burma. Imphal and the former dot base NW of it, Chittagong and Cox's Basar all boast large airfields now. My Tojos will face limitatios due to their range, if I try to sweep them. Allied fighter numbers as seen by recon remain strong. A sustained offensive air campaign will mean fighting on enemy's terms, and launching it when there are no ground operations to benefit from possible temporary successes I might achieve in the air will be a folly.

On the map you can see current levels of airfields and forts across the theatre. Combined garrizons, not counting troops that will be used in the upcoming invasion of China across the mountains, exceed 1500 AV.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/22/2011 1:35:16 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Eastern DEI

No major Allied buildup of forward bases in Northern Australia is detected so far, but I'm making some efforts to fortify the region in advance. The plan is to contstruct the main defensive line from Timor to Soerabaja, with the islands east of Timor given secondary importance, as they are practically impossible for Allies to assault without telegraphing their moves well in advance. Koepang and Malang-Soerabaja already have Air HQs, and I'm thinking of placing the next one I'll get on Soemba. Over the last month six garrizon units were placed around the region and Ichiki Detachment had relocated from Trinkat to Waingapoe. Also, some paratroopers were placed at Kendari as the general reserve. AA bunch of construction units are on the way.

Air force in the region is relatively limited... However, with most of my float fighter units now upgrading to A6M5, I'll soon be able to provide over 80 IJNAF fighters here. One Betty airgroup is permanently stated on Java, one more and a DB airgroup are training at Soerabaja.

Of course, the region is also protected by close proximity of the Combined Fleet's main body at Singapore.

Here on the map you can see forming of my intended defensive line. Of course, there is still a large hole in the supposed middle.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/22/2011 8:29:44 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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First thing first, I still suck at drawing maps... if there is a tool that allows one to add text and simple shapes to screenshots, without being completely counterintuitive and unwieldy to use, or failing to produce images of normal quality in formats accepted by these forums, I would have liked to see it... Meanwhile, I'll continue to post screenshots as they are.

Central Pacific

I've decided to shift my main bases at Marshalls-Gilberts from Kwajalein to Mili. Kwajalein is too small to house both necessary support troops and garrizon, has pitiful airfield potential and less powerful CD unit. Mili's maximum port size is one less, but this doesn't really, when fully developed it will still be able to rearm cruisers with help of a Fleet HQ, and battleships are equally impossible to rearm normally at either size...

I'm also slowly fortifying Wake, Markus and Chichijima, just in case. Each of these islands now has a third of Army recon Sentai, trained at naval search, and once Ki-46-III enters production on 1/1943, this will ensure nearly unbroken search coverage of the Empire's perimeter. Ponape also got a construction units placed there and other sites in the current rear areas, like the dot base next to Rabaul, soon will.

Between Solomons, and Marshalls-Gilberts, I currently have five Betty units, which can be quickly shifted around these regions (and three of them to Hawaii) in reaction to Allied activities. Only two Zero and one float fighter Sentais, though.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/22/2011 8:34:10 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Hawaii

Allies have sneakily landed on French Frigate Shoal, and looks like they fly naval search from there. I've been dropping intelligence bombs on Pearl from time to time, but bombers refuse to pinpoint anything but CD units with their ground so far... There are several of those in Pearl, in fact. I want to invade it less and less.

Otherwise, nothing major for weeks, only routine airfields pounding. Armor on Ki-49-IIa doesn't seem to improve survivability that much...

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 1:08:40 AM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Northern Pacific

Evacuation of Aleutians was completed without enemy interference (Americans just have moved to retake Umnak with a token force). My troops left a sound detector as a souvenir for Allied troops on Adak, otherwise all elements have reached Kuriles already. Paramushiro is garrizoned most strongly now, with a full regiment and two heavy mortar units. Other islands have 1-2 battalions/naval guard units. Forts on Paramushiro are level 6 already, with 5 on Shimushiri and 3 or close on other garrizoned islands.

With northern winter in full force, Allied fleet thoroughly crushed, and Hawaii still dominated by Japanese, at the moment there is no need for immediate further reinforcement of the region. By summer of 1944, though, I plan to turn the entire chain into the mighty fortress, with level 9 forts everywhere. Kuriles is one of the few directions where Allies can achieve a quick turnabout after being beaten badly in the early game, so their defense is of paramount importance, particularly as bigred is clearly not afraid of sacrificing lots of ships to reach his goals, so he might take the risk of invading here.

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< Message edited by FatR -- 3/23/2011 1:09:19 AM >

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 2:56:35 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Detailed Air Losses

580 Allied planes for 482 Japanese... That's what passes for a quiet month in our game. I'm still slowly catching up with my opponent in this area. Hopefully this trend will continue at least until the Thunderbolt age.

In terms of weight of these losses, I'm not struggling at all, except with phasing out of older bombers in favor of Ki-49-IIa. In fact, I can even upgrade some rear area figher units, dedicated to training, with more modern airframes.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 3:04:44 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Pilot Situation

Almost 160 more pilots lost... Well, at least this is a significant decrease compared to the last month.

Amusingly, Saburo Sakai, who went missing in December over Luzon, was found this month and rejoined 251th Kokutai (I hate this redesignation of units by the way... new numbers are hard to remember) at Lahaina. Not inconceivable, considering that Allies still own a few unoccupied islands in Philippines... His experience was greatly reduced, though.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 3:18:44 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Air Production

I have expanded Oscar production from 70 to 100, in anticipation of IIa model coming into service. When the armored IIb model is available, I'll expand it to consume all or most of the Nakajima Ha-35 engine surplus, which, with the land-based Zero line switching to Mitsubishi Ha-33, will be significant, even despite large-scale production of A6M5. Not that I place much hope in Oscars, as explained before, I want to stockpile them as fighter-bombers and future kamikaze planes. 2x250kg bombs is better payload than that of any IJAAF's single-engined bombers.

There are lots of Rufes in the pool, because several floatplane units have upgraded to A6M5. Once N1K1 is available, I'll conver a couple back to float fighers role. While the need to fly planes from dot hexes is mostly in the past, it is useful, because air support for floatplanes can come from AVs.

Irving recon plane has entered production. Too bad that I have few and small naval recon units at the moment. With long-range recon planes becoming available, I want to use recon squadrons for naval search as much as possible - this will likely become a necessity late in the war, when IJNAF level bomber training will probably be reduced to raising just their torpedo skill and they will be forced to use planes with shorter range, so it's better to start now. Thankfully, Army has plenty of recon, and with Ki-46-III about to enter production, they will be able to shoulder much of naval search burden.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 3:29:15 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Engine Production

I finally have enough Nakajima Ha-34s to start expanding Helen production...

Mitsubishi Ha-32 is in great surplus. However, it will turn into shortage once B6N2 (planned 100/month) and H8K2-L (planned 32/month, i.e., 128 engines/month) enter production, so I'm stockpiling them.

I've overproduced Aichi Ha-60 engines, taking into account planned massive (by 8-9 months) acceleration of D4Y3, existing factory size and the fact that I don't plan to produce more than 90-100 Judies per month. This will allow me to conver the factory earlier to some other engine. I prefer not to convert any engine factories, but D4Y is the only major type to use Aichi Ha-60...

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 3:33:24 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Aircraft Research

Both Ki-44-IIc and Ki-43-IIb have advanced by a month. Jill and Judy will soon start accelerating steadily, and about time, as I want to go past their initial models, which suffer from higher service rating and use rather exotic engines, as soon as possible.

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< Message edited by FatR -- 3/23/2011 3:34:50 PM >

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 3:55:40 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Warship Situation

Both Tone-Kai cruisers have entered the service. In the light of disappoiting performance by older Japanese battleships at Hawaii, I'm relegating Yamashiro and Ise to escorting KB-2, with its slower carriers.

Meanwhile, the heavy units of surface combat forces are going to be reorganized into the Main Body, consisting of both Yamatos and both Nagatos, escorted by 4-6 DDs, and meant to be able to crush any Allied SCTF by sheer weight; and two Battle Squadrons, of one Kongo-class BB and two of the better CAs, escorted by five DDs, each. My older cruiser squadrons of 2 CAs + 6 DDs performed well against older British combatants, but they lacked staying power and their DD complement rarely did any damage to enemy capital ships. With most of the Allied old battlewagons on the bottom, I think the risk of trading fast BBs for enemy's slow ones no longer outweights the benefits.

Two more Kongos are needed to escort KB-1 at the moment, but will be detached to form more Battle Squadrons once new Scen 70 CBs will be available.

Ship production at the moment can be seen below. With more standard projects xAKs laid down by the day, I'm facing a deficit of merchant SY points. Thankfully, I've stockpiled a lot. I want those StD ships, particularly tankers, and large -A and -B xAKs, as my tonnage losses and overstretched communications are starting to tell.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/23/2011 4:00:47 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Heroes of the Empire

I-35 should be mentioned for sending another Allied battlewagon under, all by herself.

And skilled actions of 2nd Tank Division in Burma, that resulted in chasing Allied forces all the way to the jungle, before reinforcements from Port Blair even arrived, cannot be forgotten as well.

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Post #: 506

RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 3/26/2011 10:00:00 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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November 2-11, 1942

The biggest event of these days was rather quiet. Resupply convoys from Hawaii have returned to Home Islands. Their incomplete refueling consumed so much fuel, that Tokyo HI shut itself down sending me into deep HI deficit for the last turn.

This might be the last straw for me. Even with HI at Nagoya shut down, my oil/fuel levels continue to drop across the empire. Japan has fuel for measly 23 days (oil for 125, thankfully). Massive fuel requirements (and resulting tanker requirements) for Pacific operations play a big role in this, I feel. Needless to say, in such situation I can ill afford massive fuel expenditures necessary for bringing the fleet and troops, required for storming Oahu, to Hawaii. There are areas where I can cut my expenditures, of course... armaments and merchant shipyards, above all. But in combination with the perspective of taking enormous casualties, this really discourages me from trying to take Pearl. I don't want to either launch an amphibious assault without being sure of success, and, from previous experience, Pearl will be a huge gamble to say the least, unless I bring at least 4, and preferably 6 more divisions to Hawaii, in addition to 6 already there; or to have half of the Southern Army doing nothing but stretching my logistics, while sitting in the location from which they can't even react to any surprise developments... I will think about this some more, but most likely I'll officially cancel the Oahu attack and will start lifting major combat formations from Hawaii in the nearest future.

Meanwhile, bigred had tried to sting me in different areas. His destroyers tried to raid and bombard Kona, and while aviation failed to sortie against them, they were intercepted by my SCTFs, sinking 3 older DDs and a DMS. His aviation jumped into action in China (I wonder from where Allies are getting supply there at the moment), staging the first successful ambush on Japanese bombers in quite a long time. Also, some of my damaged ships enacting temporary repairs in the port of Rangoon were bombed by night-flying heavies. A modern DD and two AKs are in very bad condition, but must leave port to escape - hopefully they'll at least be able to limp to Moulmein. Finally his subs are showing better-directed activity now, sinking three of my xAKs in this month and damaging a fourth. I'm preparing a massive air ASW force for 1943, but most of it is not ready yet, so ASW coverage remains rather limited... All this keep reminding me how stretched the Japanese forces are...

< Message edited by FatR -- 3/26/2011 10:04:30 PM >

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 4/3/2011 4:32:19 PM

FatR

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From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Notes for Logistics in the Pacific

I've recently turned my attention to fuel/naval mile/cargo ton calculations for different xAK types and results were rather interesting.

First, standard-classes xAK are generally worth building and using over pre-war classes, in terms of fuel consumption. Generally speaking, Std-B and Std-C are not worse that your old workhorses in terms of fuel economy. Std-A and Std-D are significantly better. Std-A xAKs in fact are the best of them all, with Std-D being a less fuel-economical solution to small ports. If your merchant building capability cannot catch up with the queue, it is best to build Std-A and Std-D only.

Standard-classes xAKLs, though, are fuel hogs. At least compared to their scanty loads and range. I think I'm not going to build them.

ASW Preparations

Well, now that Type 95 ~~derp~~ depth charges are mostly replaced with Type 95 mod 2 and Type 2, Japanese ASW finally got teeth. Some of my ships even started scoring hits in deep water, although rarely more than one or two per attack. Thankfully, all of my old escorts survived to be rearmed. Unfortunately, torpedo boats and minesweepers, many of which are converted to escorts, took considerable losses. But they lack range for direct convoys from SRA to Home Islands anyway. I'm contemplating pulling some Hatsuharu-class DDs for fast convoy (fast tankers, primarily) duty. They have good range, decent ASW armament, much lesser fuel consumption compared to Akizukis, are are comparatively weak as surface combatants.

One thing I've failed to do, though, is to exploit Japanese seaplane potential fully. Pulling second squadrons from their CAs could have produced a lot of units, resizeable to 9 on big AVs, and converting 15-20 or so of Husimi xAKs to AV could have provided seaplane support for operating from many of the island bases alongside my main convoy routes, vastly improving Japanese air ASW coverage. It was even possible to place some of said AVs in convoys, even though this restricts the size of their seaplane units to 4. Unfortunately, as all Husimi conversions are one-way, and I made, IIRC, only 5 into AVs, this option is mostly lost now. Well, live and learn.

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 4/3/2011 8:14:34 PM

John 3rd

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From: La Salle, Colorado
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Stanislav: I thought you might like to see my RA Game as of 10-31-42. Since we are in the same exact area of the Mod it might be interesting to compare:

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Member: Treaty, Reluctant Admiral and Between the Storms Mod Team.

Reluctant Admiral Mod:
https://sites.google.com/site/reluctantadmiral/

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RE: Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. yubari (A) - no yubari... - 4/3/2011 8:57:11 PM

FatR

Posts: 2522
Joined: 10/23/2009
From: St.Petersburg, Russia
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Did you turn off some merchant building or expanded the shipyards? I'm running into significant deficit in October. Even turned off several less valuable merchants already.

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