Bullwinkle58
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Joined: 2/24/2009 Status: offline
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ORIGINAL: obvert I think he's simply played a different kind of war here. He's moving to contain, separate then squeeze, like a python, rather than a quick viper's strike. (At least after the debacle in Sian in early 42). Which he targeted, so right away not what I'm talking about. In not building more big airfields he may be thinking of his supply constraints, and those might dictate some things, the PDU-off might dictate others. To be fair, hitting Chungking is not as easy as in a stock game. I've had CAP here intermittently throughout the game, often including very good airframes that he'd have to overwhelm with numbers. He's done that on occasions, and he probably should have hit the industry, but we do have HRs on strat bombing allowing onl manpower attacks and an increasing scale of bombers for night strikes, (50 for 42 and 100 in 43). I know you're not a fan of HRs but this one will help the Japanese more than me over the course of the game, I'd say. Not in China. You're still not getting it. First 2-3 months. You have no good airframes. The Chinese air force is wiped, or in your case runs away. The AVG in stock starts with crap planes, and there is no AF in Asia over level 4. None. You can't upgrade to P-40Es anywhere, you can't fly out and replace. But the P-40E pool starts at zero anyway. Goose egg. And you might want a few at Pearl. And even the mighty AVG starts at 55 EXP and 55 Morale. Did DBB make them magical somehow? And even if you get them in they're three small squadrons. Zeros can certainly give them a run and attrit them. After they're gone (and they withdraw on July 4th, 1942 I think) what have you got? Hurricanes? Big pools there. And a long, long trip in from India. You've got CAP in central China now because he let you. He had the tools to prevent it. He used them elsewhere. Even the comparatively poor Chinese AA will do some damage. He loses several planes a day from 15k when bombing Chungking with 100 2E, and gets decent hits on the fields but not as much on the manpower. (This still hurts me, as the AA takes a good bunch of supply). And he let you have open hexsides. This is the key. Strat bombing: manpower strikes allowed during daylight manpower strikes allowed during night with sliding scale: 25 planes/target in 41 50 planes/target in 42 100 planes/target in 43 200 planes/target in 44 400 planes/target in 45-46. quote:
In an SL game it is strategic malpractice to invade India. If Calcutta's industry was taken intact taking India would have been a good move in this game. Calcutta has 500 LI and 520 HI in stock. But only 60 Resources and no Fuel. An Allied player can isolate it industrially pretty easily. If all you want from India is Calcutta, do go. It's a huge waste of effort, shipping, fuel, various types of Japanese points, and time. Chungking has about 500 points of both industries, and more Resources. It's a lot closer too. Rader proved what that could do for the Japanese, using the extra supply to both spur second tier objectives and to push industry and RnD beyond normal levels. (Too bad he left his back door open!) Calcutta supply has to be moved out to be of any use. It doesn't natively help R&D except as a substitute perhaps. And a lot of what it makes is eaten defending itself. To use your list you'd have to have some different conditions than the DBB game we're playing. These are very good ideas, and other than the strat bombing, similar to how I took China in my two games as Japan. I'll tackle this out of order as some things require explanation first to get to the others. quote:
6. Take an AF in bombing range of Chungking. Proceed to burn down its industry. This should take at most six weeks. During this time the armored spearhead, whose function is hexside control, moves to Chungking. Probably generally west and then SE from Kienko. Alternatively NE from Kwieyang. Just get there. The Chinese have no AT weapons to speak of. Routing casualties will be massive. In DBB the Chinese have 37mm AT guns in most big Corps to start as well as two independent units with these guns. It makes a big difference. They won't kill as many tanks as I'd like, but they do damage them, and that ends up making him rotate units and rest others, taking time. Already addressed this. Stock has internal AT guns too. quote:
1. Form IJA armor into a spearhead. Aim it at Chungking. Follow with infantry. Leave the arty behind. The heavy siege arty the Japanese possess is their best weapon in China with SL. In a stuck spot he brings in 27-32 inch siege guns and blasts away for weeks until supply is gone, units are totally disrupted and have 100s of disabled squads, and then the tanks come to push through, once the AT guns are less effective. Again, heavy brush bad for tanks, good for Chinese. Don't play his game. Go around, or go through on road hexes. Follow up with infantry to mop up and keep supply corridor open. quote:
2. Form a combined-arms spearhead in the SE and move aggressively west, taking the RR. The target is a stopper at Tsuyung. The SL in the mountains is hex after hex of 20k and x3 terrain. You don't move through that quickly. Period. You can if you get there first. Period. That's one division or one tank division with some arty. That's all. The Chinese can put 500AV in each hex and build a few forts. It often takes a month to blast through each hex with concentrated air power and bombardments, plus rotating units in and out. Again, first 2-3 months. If they take the whole western starting establishment and put it in the mountains it starves. They must hold Kunming or it's over. It's only three hexes to Tsuyung from there. SL means "costs more supply." It doesn't mean the SL limit is absolute. The Japanese can overstack in the attack and pay the price for a short time. They'll have Kunming at their backs and the Chinese have nothing worthwhile until Mandalay. that's a lot of supply waste if Mandalay even can forward any. It has it's own problems. quote:
3. Destroy the Chinese air force. This takes a month, tops. They're flying biplanes. Nates can even work. The Chinese air force never fights in China. It moves to India immediately. There they train and take a rear CAP role. The bombers hunt subs. So no air force. Gottcha. The AVG moves into China as opportunity allows. Already covered. No AVG. Your mention of the P-40K again shows you're not getting the time frame. If the Japanese are flying anything other than A6M with expert pilots the AVG racks up kills each time it appears, taking out lightly defended bombing runs and forcing the Japanese to move in their best fighter groups. Then they fly out before facing them. Upgrade airframe. Repeat. With PDU-of the Tojo groups are limited and the P40K seems to do well against them in defense. quote:
4. Leave Sian and Changsha alone. They're for later. Chungking is the target. After the first battle of Sain, Nick did leave both of these alone until he could no longer leave Changsha. That base gets a ton of supply and can rebuild units, supply the areas around it and also support the air infusions of the AVG right in the middle of the country where they can strike any number of areas. In stock it starts with 22 points of productive industry, and 160/day organic. Whee! A party! It has about 200 points damaged. Gonna repair that? Did DBB make Changsha an industrial powerhouse? quote:
5. Run xAKL supplies up the river and establish a large supply node at Wuchang. The AI does this every game. Maybe Japan players do it, but I see few mention it. Not necessary, as supply moves well from Shanghai into central China. Wastes fuel. Also, if my opponent was doing this I would have sunk those xAKL if Changsha was left untaken. With what? Your air force ran away. In stock you get a handful of Hudsons, but they can't hit a mountain let alone a ship. If you don't like it fine, but the devs had the AI do it. Big supply closer is always better than big supply farther. quote:
7. Move non-AV LCUs out of the M. Garrison and into the SE sector. Proceed to mop up lone Chinese LCUs and set them into the resurrection queue. Begin this on 12/8/41 as well. There are few lone Chinese Corps if the Allied player is diligent in moving them back behind the lines. Weeks, not months. And moving they have no forts. Early I let 4-5 tiny ones die blocking the rails. After this anything small is in the rear. If Japan lets you. quote:
8. Close Chungking's hexsides with armor and air power. The city should be on stored supply plus 420/day organic by now. This is about two months in now. Chinese LCUs should still have terrible leaders, terrible morale, terrible training levels. This step cannot wait until June-Aug. February is the month. As I said, don't dink around at Sian, Lanchow, Changsha. Leave them alone. If Chengtu looks easy, take it. It's very valuable right away. Otherwise wait. For all of the above reasons you never will get there in two months. Or four months. Or six months. In SL it takes much longer with good play. If Japan is fighting whatever China offers it's not good play, no. Even with good play from both sides it should take a year, minimum, to get near Chungking. I strenuously disagree. SL didn't change the basic model. It didn't change device stats. It didn't change leadership or the woeful training and disablement rate of the initial Chinese army. It doesn't give China an air force. It doesn't give them one tank. It makes defending in rough terrain easier. That's it. If Japan insists on ramming itself into rough terrain then, yeah SL is harder. But if Japan doesn't go to India, does strip the M. Garrison of non-AV support units, and does invest in proper air power, it's not a year. Not even close. Then even it's difficult to close all hex sides. If you HR removing Chungking's industry it's harder. It's not impossible with the right mix, armor-heavy. Right now Nick is fighting with a maxed hex between Kweiyang and Chungking, and none of the four Corps there are full of supply (one has none). Only three of the four have forts built. Yet still in two attacks he's gotten negative results costing 300+ disabled infantry squads to about 50 for the Chinese. This is even with air strikes and very experienced Japanese units. One of my units is a zombie with no arty at all even, but I wanted to see how the Chinese 43 squads would do. Seems like they're good! If I had an air bridge it wouldn't even matter that he takes out the industry at Chungking. I just keep applying more transports as they arrive. You really need to look at arrival dates and locations and carrying capacity of the available transports in 1942. Replace 500 production points? Not gonna happen. (Not to mention that the monsoon can run Ledo supply to nothing on occasion.)
< Message edited by Bullwinkle58 -- 1/25/2015 12:29:27 AM >
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