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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 11:37:14 AM

Lowpe

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F6F-3 Hellcat: 130 a month starting 4/43! I have fought them already several times. So I think he is good to go. He has lost Lex, Saratoga, and Big E plus the Long Island...not counting British losses.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 11:39:25 AM

PaxMondo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

His playing style is ruthlessly aggressive!

A couple of questions for you to answer:

1. Yes, but how imaginative? Aggressive can play into your hands if you can predict where he will come.
2. How much faith do you have in your LBA against Naval Targets?

The answers here, I find, will dictate your probable response.

If he isn't too imaginative, then he is coming to either the Marshall's or Tavoy next. That means at worst you have a 50/50 chance of meeting him with force. If you have faith in your LBA against Naval Targets, then you can actually defend against both in strength ...

Me? I rarely have enough faith in my LBA at this point. I just don't have enough 1E bombers with enough range (aka GRACE) and enough IJN air groups. On hte IJA side, only the Tsurugi works for me, but that's short legged and a kami. 2E's for me have never performed well enough to roll the dice on them for high stakes. That's me. I know other players (obvert comes to mind immediately) have had much better success.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 12:05:24 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

2. How much faith do you have in your LBA against Naval Targets?

I am struggling with this right now. Highly dependent upon where...but for the most part I don't like my answer.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 1:17:41 PM

PaxMondo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

2. How much faith do you have in your LBA against Naval Targets?

I am struggling with this right now. Highly dependent upon where...but for the most part I don't like my answer.

OK, so you sound more like me on this.

I can't count on 2E (IJN or IJA) to press attacks against CAP'd Naval Targets ... ie CV's. 1E though generally will. So, if I want to use my LBA against naval targets it means I have to pull my training groups back into service, which is what I do. I generally have +6 each DB/TB groups training. I swap out pilots to from training to trained, and send them out. In this case I would put them as an ambush for a Tavoy landing. I would have the KB ready for a Marshall's attack. + 12 groups of ~36 planes each is a ~400 plane attack (plus fighters, so total +600) ... roughly equivalent to the KB. You should get through to do some damage. The catch with LBA is that you rarely get the follow up attack, for that you have to count on your SS and/or SCTF's

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 3:29:17 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

I can't count on 2E (IJN or IJA) to press attacks against CAP'd Naval Targets

Lilly IIb dive bombers will attack, and I have 5 full Sentai (143 planes). Good against transports. Also thinking about Nicks to augment the strike, as they seem to fly into anything too.

Your calculation for a lba strike package are exactly mine, although I figure I need to add 25 more escorts every couple of months or so to keep up with expected Allied CAP.

My inclination is to throw the kitchen sink filling the airfields to capacity with fighters to escort first; 1e strike planes second; lilly IIb third; Betties 4th, Nicks 5th, Helens last.

I will use Saigon, Singers, Bangkok, Cam Ranh Bay to stockpile the bomber squadrons and pray I get one days notice for the invasion and I will try to protect my two central air complexes... probably only can protect one or the other.

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< Message edited by Lowpe -- 10/1/2014 5:10:43 PM >

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 4:14:51 PM

PaxMondo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

I can't count on 2E (IJN or IJA) to press attacks against CAP'd Naval Targets

Lilly IIb dive bombers will attack, and I have 5 full Sentai (143 planes). Good against transports.

Be interesting to see if they will launch/attack against CV's ... they won't for me.

Or at least less than 50% ... so I can't count on them.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 4:23:19 PM

Lowpe

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North Burma:

One worrisome task force -- what all is in it? My planes didn't attack it last turn.

My subs lining the coast now all have 10/10 DL.

I will be sub laying some mines at Akyab this next day.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 4:25:42 PM

ny59giants

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If your opponent puts those 2nd gen of Corsairs that are CV capable on his CVs, you will have trouble getting through them (high CAP) and Hellcats (low CAP) together. Even my numerous CVEs have Hellcats and this combo has served me well to date (6/44). Then again, I'm kind of attached to the whole floating "Death Star" thing.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 4:37:58 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

If your opponent puts those 2nd gen of Corsairs that are CV capable on his CVs, you will have trouble getting through them (high CAP) and Hellcats (low CAP) together. Even my numerous CVEs have Hellcats and this combo has served me well to date (6/44). Then again, I'm kind of attached to the whole floating "Death Star" thing.

Those beasties don't come for a couple of months yet, unless he gets some reinforcement squadrons.

The KB is dark again, and will so remain for a while I hope. Dark and safe and training.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 9:29:28 PM

Lowpe

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I have moved 300 fighters into the Raheng triangle of bases, but only one squadron of Dinah KAI on night protection, so they are somewhat vulnerable, but if the Allies continue to try and reduce those three bases they might be in for a surprise. We shall see what the Allies are up to in the area!

I tried focusing my ASW plane patrols narrowly, so we will see how that works.

Troops in Changsha resting today, will deliberate attack again on the following day. Trying to sweep the Chinese air force that is there with Zeroes.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/1/2014 9:39:25 PM

Lowpe

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I want to try and hit some Allied shipping with long range torpedo attacks using Emily.

My thought:

Turn off all search in the Marshalls. Use one squadron of Emilies to search in an arc that avoids Allied fighter bases and set the other squadrons to naval attack: torpedoes.

Throw some subs into the target area too.

Is this too dangerous or worth doing?

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/2/2014 11:01:37 AM

Lowpe

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May 18, 1943

Night bombing by Allied planes near Magwe, during the day all the Allied bombers hit Magwe closing the base. Again. 1 week to repair.

The US AM Skylark clears 3 mines at Nauru before being hit 5 times and getting heavy fires from the coastal guns there....lots of interest in Nauru.

No DL on my fighters at Raheng complex in Indochina. Monsoons cause nice fatigue bump with the fighters there.

An RO is lost at Akyab to a trio of Allied destroyers. An Iboat is damaged at Akyab but plants her mines.

China: It seems some Chinese units are fleeing Changsha to the northeast and southwest. Attacking there again today...IJNAF fighter sweeps to no opposition. Chinese fighters are now at Chungking.

The last troops are fast transported out of Darwin. Darwin is size 3 AF; so it will be a while for the Allies to build it up.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/2/2014 11:22:58 AM

Lowpe

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Burma:

I am starting to pull some units out of northern Burma...especially ENG units. I need construction units to rebuild the air fields and some aviation support but not tons of it. If I strike from Magwe after the strike I simply fly out the surviving planes and rail the remainder to Lashio for repair.

The Magwe push troops are moving off the Jungle Ridge and returning to defend Magwe across the river. They are the most exposed troops I have in theater (other than the whole Army, lols).

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/2/2014 7:49:14 PM

Lowpe

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After mulling it over for almost a month, I decided to allocate one factory to R&D the Ki-102a fighter. Although it comes relatively late (3/45) and is slow (370+), it can fly very high (44K).

George will advance a month...yippee! I should get this plane in July sometime which is a jump up from the A6M5c although the high SR will make it somewhat painful to use with my air doctrine. We will see.

Rough guess I will be getting Oscar IV in late June early July and the Irving NF in July making that time frame kind of interesting.

I experimented with moving light bombers into the fighter bomber upgrade path � this costs PP � I was trying to see if this would unlock the Nick NF but no joy. But it is a way to get more FB up over the HI in the end game if that is important. I did this on a separate save file so nothing actually spent.

Spent a fair amount of time rejiggering my bombers. I am moving more IJA bombers to ASW/NavSearch work and transferring TB into a strike platform. Right now I am collecting bombers for anti-invasion work at Saigon, Manila and Singers. I have about 200 Betties; 120 Vals; 60 Kates; 150 Lilly Iib. The Vals are worrisome because they have such short legs. I think I will collect some larger fighter Sentai for the longer legged escort fighters to give me a fast reaction bombing force.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/2/2014 11:15:06 PM

Lowpe

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I am fleshing out my defensive strategies more right now:

1. Withdrawing all bus skeleton forces from the Solomons. I have some nice air bases clusters and could hit the Americans pretty hard here; but they aren't cooperating. I fear the area simply being bypassed, so falling back to an NG to Rabaul line and then working on back filling from there so I could hit potential invasion fleets.

2. Withdrawing support units from Burma; moving support units into Indochina (which is a tough area to defend. Pulling at least one full division out of Burma now, and perhaps a second. Establishing bomber bases which can feed front line strike bases against invasions.

3. Establishing aerial highway bases that can easily handle transiting bombers from Indochina to Sumatra to New Guinea/Solomons. I need bases that can handle the shorter range Vals.

4. I need more fighter squadrons -- there are some units (one transport, one bomber) that can upgrade to fighters. I will take advantage of that. I am also pondering converting more squadrons to FB.

5. I am looking at bases to build max airfields on. Pretty key.

6. I am going to move the super heavy BB to Singers/Sumatra. I have some strong bases, a fair amount of troops and air fields built up there in the Kuriles...

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 12:35:47 AM

mind_messing

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My only suggestion for Burma would to be to try to keep Pegu's airbase open to mount anti-shipping strikes incase Tiemanj tries to run ships into Rangoon.

I'd also withdraw everything north of Shwebo to Magwe - that area seems a backwater, and the only thing of value in Burma other than Rangoon is Magwe.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 10:36:36 AM

Lowpe

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May 19th, 1943

No night aerial attacks.

During the day the full might of the Allies bomber forces hits Pegu. There are 4 10cm equipped AA Independent Gun Companies there and they do pretty well destroying bombers.

No losses to submarines and Destroyers near Singers punish two American submarines until their ammo is exhausted. One of the submarine has its forward torpedo tubes damaged.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 10:38:15 AM

Lowpe

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In a surprising move, Changsha surrenders to the inevitable about two attacks early. Forts were reduced from 2 to 1 and a 3-1 attack breaks the back of the defenders who break and run to the northeast across the river leaving all their heavy guns. This fight marked my first battle with a fully built up Chinese Corp.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 10:42:52 AM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

My only suggestion for Burma would to be to try to keep Pegu's airbase open to mount anti-shipping strikes incase Tiemanj tries to run ships into Rangoon.

Too late! Pegu closed today. The Raheng air complex triangle is my main strike base for Rangoon/Moulmein. Three level 6 air bases...

I'd also withdraw everything north of Shwebo to Magwe - that area seems a backwater, and the only thing of value in Burma other than Rangoon is Magwe.

I have been mulling this over.

Thanks!

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 11:13:22 AM

Lowpe

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Economic notes:

Oil:

Cam Ranh Bay: 140K
Hong Kong: 110K
Shanghai: 6K
Port Arthur: 208K
Fusan: 45K
Swatow, Amoy and Foochow no stockpiles (get oil from Manila and Formosa)

Pretty pleased with oil shipments lately. Just takes persistence.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 12:10:47 PM

Lowpe

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Night Fighter update:

I invested early in the Irving NF, and a third size 30 factory repaired today.

With the engine bonus helping I should now have Irvings in late June early July. If I recall correctly there are only two Squadrons that can upgraded to the Irving this early, plus the Endo Det. A third full squadron comes as a reinforcement sometime in September.

They will join my IJAAF KAI Dinah squadrons (2 squadrons broken into thirds; 6 units).

Although they won't shoot down a lot of night bombers, they will be able to cover a fair number of bases and provide the ever important disruption. Combined with flak, I am hoping to minimize night bombing damage done to the Empire.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 12:14:21 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I'd also withdraw everything north of Shwebo to Magwe - that area seems a backwater, and the only thing of value in Burma other than Rangoon is Magwe.

I have been thinking more on this, and I would like to replace the troops I have forward with light trip wire forces that can load on to trains in 1 day rather than 3. Right now they are watched over by junky RTA 1/3rds.

I am hesitant to just give the British these bases as they do provide a screen for Lashio which severs the Burma road.

I am making solid progress in China and look to sever the Burma road from that side too...but I need time.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 12:35:48 PM

Spidery

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quote:

I have been thinking more on this, and I would like to replace the troops I have forward with light trip wire forces that can load on to trains in 1 day rather than 3

I think Admin skill effects how long it takes to pack. I had a number of identical nav guard units arrive at the same time and noticed some took 1 day to pack and others 2. The faster packing ones correlated with higher admin skill.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 1:03:49 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Spidery
I think Admin skill effects how long it takes to pack. I had a number of identical nav guard units arrive at the same time and noticed some took 1 day to pack and others 2. The faster packing ones correlated with higher admin skill.

That sure seems to be the case! Many thanks.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 1:04:41 PM

mind_messing

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I'd also withdraw everything north of Shwebo to Magwe - that area seems a backwater, and the only thing of value in Burma other than Rangoon is Magwe.

I have been thinking more on this, and I would like to replace the troops I have forward with light trip wire forces that can load on to trains in 1 day rather than 3. Right now they are watched over by junky RTA 1/3rds.

I am hesitant to just give the British these bases as they do provide a screen for Lashio which severs the Burma road.

I am making solid progress in China and look to sever the Burma road from that side too...but I need time.

The Thai units are as good as any for tripwire forces. It's that or garrison duty for them. Plus, they're going to quit the war next year anyways, so you may get some use out of them now.

The Burma Road is severed provided you keep your lodgement around Rangoon that blocks the road/rail link between Rangoon and Tsuyung. There are two bottlenecks - Rangoon (with the road/rail leading NE and the road/rail to Pegu) and the hex directly east of Lashio.

See Alfred's post, #18: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3415396&mpage=1&key=�

That only accounts for auto-generated supply. If the Allies clear out Burma supply may flow in the normal manner from Burma to China, so you're right in your efforts to keep the region screened.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 8:57:32 PM

Lowpe

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I didn't do much at all this turn, most units at Changsha are heading north to nail the retreating Chinese Corps some more so that they retreat again, and then will move south to capture the two remaining bases in the Changsha Industrial triangle.

Estimate about 10 days to get it all done; then off to Kweiyang with other groups and then into the mountains. China should begin to look very different in about a month or so.

Absolutely no supply at Changsha; however not once did the Chinese suffer from a supply malus...organic supply of 160 I think.

The Allies are very fond of using one ship task forces, and I want to nail some of them without risking normal strike planes, and I also have noticed a reluctance of bombers to fly against the smallish ships. Not so for fighters strafing however, and I flew some Oscars into Wake in an attempt to hit this one scout ship. Unfortunately, I left the drop tanks on (which replace the bombs

) so if they do engage it will only be with 12.7 mgs. I should have sent some Nicks...which can use drop tanks and bombs.

Speaking of fighter bombers, I am pretty sure I will be converting over more squadrons to the fighter bomber role out of the medium bomber role. I seem to have an insatiable thirst for fighters...

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 9:03:53 PM

Lowpe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
The Thai units are as good as any for tripwire forces. It's that or garrison duty for them. Plus, they're going to quit the war next year anyways, so you may get some use out of them now.

The Burma Road is severed provided you keep your lodgement around Rangoon that blocks the road/rail link between Rangoon and Tsuyung. There are two bottlenecks - Rangoon (with the road/rail leading NE and the road/rail to Pegu) and the hex directly east of Lashio.

See Alfred's post, #18: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3415396&mpage=1&key=�

That only accounts for auto-generated supply. If the Allies clear out Burma supply may flow in the normal manner from Burma to China, so you're right in your efforts to keep the region screened.

Thanks....I am worried about regular supply flowing thru the Burma road. Read elsewhere that once the road opens up from Lashio to China that in 90 days the Chinese forces can start to be worrisome. Want to delay that day for as long as possible.

I flew some Sonias up north to see if there are any sneaking troops up there, and I noticed that Ledo is very lightly held...I have three paratroop units in the area and it would be fun to capture the base and the empty base to the west. Don't think I could grab the Ledo, but the base to west is empty...

< Message edited by Lowpe -- 10/3/2014 10:04:57 PM >

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 9:10:56 PM

Lowpe

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Hmm., undetected. Excellent.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 9:31:34 PM

Lowpe

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And finally, enemy submarines have all but vanished.

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RE: Burma Bungle! - 10/3/2014 10:22:10 PM

Lokasenna

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

And finally, enemy submarines have all but vanished.

Time to start putting lots of float planes in your convoys...if he's going for "deep" attacks, between coverage areas, you'll need them.

I'd also look out during any fleet engagements. He could just have decided to give up on hitting your bases, and instead decided that he wants to swarm your fleet during battles. Don't forget to set some planes to night search to help spoil attacks on naval assets.

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