Lowpe
Posts: 22133
Joined: 2/25/2013 Status: offline
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Jan 4th, 1942 Wow! Tough day for the Empire as one tanker and two oilers are nailed by submarines until they sink. Ugly. I have managed to build Fusan up now to size 7, going on 8 port, and I seem to have gotten some good pooling of resources there, and also a Cam Ranh Bay. The goods seem to be migrating by land...what I did was set Fusan to stockpile, and then used lots and lots of smallish task forces. I am even using Aden class cargo ships to haul fuel and oil the two hexes. Certainly that is better than hauling from Singers or Cam Ranh Bay. Anyhow, I am really pleased with the result of using lots of small task forces, unescorted. There is a heavy air presences plus SC hunting around but so far no losses and lots of materials moved. I need to create a ring of minefields to help there too. I have done the same thing in Hakodate with great results. I am now moving some tankers to be a little more efficient with the fuel/oil transfer. But I really like the multiple small tankers/oilers for this since it seems to really draw the stuff in. I have reduced shipping from Port Arthur, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Cam Ranh Bay, Singers. I am going to bypass the PI as well, and simply move goods to the closest chinese port and see how much I can suck thru Fusan. Chinhae is then next. I am a fan of multiple small cargo fleets. Heck with optimizing port load and unload capacity, just pick fuel efficient ships and spam them for these short runs. The Main Event in the Marshalls: Allies beat feet and flee. Nothing left but small pt boats. My Zero sweep goes in and trades 9 Zeroes for 7 F4F or P40K. 5 units and 40 fighters at Mili now. No 4E strike at Roi...the planes must be recovering from the previous days efforts at Mili. The KB is spotted. Northern Oz: 2 sweeps by 30 and then 33 F4F-4 come in high, 30K, and shoot down a fair dozen Tojos. I guess ultimately it wasn't too terrible for the plane losses for the day were 30 Japanese to 20 Allied which is better than I normally do when mixing it up with his fighters. No Lightning sweeps anywhere. What a joyous thing it is to see all those F4Fs at Darwin, what with 2BB,1CA ready to bombard them. Do you think they will stick around? I was afraid, with the absence of Allied air power, that the Allies would simply retreat and cede me northern Oz without a fight. At Derby an Engineer unit, 2 AA, more supplies land safely and the 38th Division will land tomorrow (they are not spotted). The 4th Australian bombed by air and sea again. The two tank regiments have recovered from their landing remarkably fast...won't be long until I start offensive operations here. I just can't help but feel pretty good, despite the tanker losses, as the new planes take to the air, the resources flow, and I ponder future strategy. The air war should be markedly different in 30 days time. One thing I have to decide is if I want to research further down the A6M5c line, and my inclination is to say no...go straight for the Sam and other late war fighters. Thoughts?
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