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RE: Christmas Update - 2/9/2019 5:51:39 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

I believe one of the British fleet carriers leaves soon, not sure which but that should help the Japanese odds a little.

Yeah, which is double the bonus as the RN have working torpedoes. Then less so, considering that the torpedoes are carried by Swordfish or Albacores...

(in reply to Bif1961)

Post #: 181

RE: Christmas Update - 4/4/2019 7:41:57 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
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May 16th to May 24th, 1942

Yikes, a rescue from page 2!

In bigger news, Lex and Sara are off the sunk list. Disappointing.

North Pacific

Not much to report here, other than sightings of Allied naval traffic in to Dutch Harbour. It's evident the Eastern Aleutians and Alaska are being built up, but I'm stalling for time here. If I keep the Western Aleutians in my possession for another few months with an absolute token garrison I'll be more than happy.

I've got some air power at Toyohara supplementing the floatplanes, and currently it's all engaged trying to sink a persistent USN sub off Hokkaido.

Moving forward, I'm hoping that the close proximity of Allied bases to the Hokkaido will tempt Loka to send his subs up here. I'll have the area well ringed with ASW assets and hopefully make it something of a VP farm.

Which reminds me that I need to get working on mine warfare in this region, with the Kuriles taking priority. I like to punish errant mis-routing of ships if at all possible.

Central Pacific

An Allied cruiser force jumped a Japanese amphibious force south of the Marshalls, sinking the ships with a aviation unit aboard. Otherwise unremarkable, other than the loss of a Japanese LSD, which hurts. The cruiser force went on to bombard Roi-Namur to little effect (missing a convoy at Kwajalein in the process!).

This theatre has been stripped bare by commitments elsewhere, so I've bumped it up in the priority list for the time being to try and at least provide some warning of future raids. I'm currently hampered by the lack of aviation support, which should be solved shortly with the arrival of a large number of xAK > AV conversions due to finish in a few weeks.

I sent the myriad air groups deployed here back to the Home Islands via transport TF for re-sizing, upgrading and re-deployment. Beyond Nav Search aircraft, I don't see much need here for any serious air commitment. Ditto on the naval front.

South-West Pacific

The KB manages to insert itself into a target rich environment east of Pago Pago...and miss most of the rich targets.

Over about ten days or so, it cruises from east of Pago Pago to south of Fiji, attacking a large number of task forces. Most are merchant ships, and most are empty.

About thirty ships are sunk, most being xAK/xAP types, with a smattering of DD, DM and PC craft in for good measure. More interesting is the sinking of three AKE vessels which confirms my suspicions of major Allied warships operating way east of Pago Pago.

Low on torps and sorties, the KB is returning to Luganville to meet with replenishment ships and then to re-cloak.

Based on intelligence gathered from this raid, I'll be re-shuffling sub patrol zones further eastwards of Pago Pago to hopefully get a swing at big Allied targets and generate intelligence for future raids.

On the ground at Fiji, the stalemate continues. I'm resting my troops up, closing hex-sides at Suva and bombing the airbase to interfere with fort construction and to burn supply. More IJA bombers are en-route, but supply shortages are keeping me back at present.

Kandavu Island (south of Suva) has been built to a level 1 airbase, and is currently hosting a floatplane search base to keep the Allies off Suva. The Allies are responding by building a base at Tongatapu in the Tonga islands.

Interesting times ahead for SWPAC.

DEI

The big convoy re-shuffle happened, and seems to be going well. Had a few positive encounters with Dutch subs off Java, so hopefully will get more of that in the future.

Dot base clean-up is progressing well.

Still shy on engineer and aviation support in this theatre, but there's not much to be done until more reinforcements arrive or get freed up from elsewhere.

Luzon

Allies are beat here, mopping up operations are continuing to get Bataan firmly in Japanese hands. Minesweepers and transports are sitting outside the bay waiting for the all clear to get these troops moved on to Suva.

China

We've cleared the last roadblock before Chungking at Kweiyang, and now moving to reduce the remaining Chinese pockets before investing the city. Besides the Chinese forces in the western mountains, there's a sizable force at Chihkiang in central China that now has no relevance to the struggle for China. I'll keep them as a live-fire bombing target and for a EXP pi�ata for low EXP reinforcements.

Burma

After months of worry on my part regarding the situation at Pegu, we at last displace the formidable force of Chinese defenders with massive casualties!

quote:

Ground combat at Pegu (55,53)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 80632 troops, 899 guns, 450 vehicles, Assault Value = 2295

Defending force 64091 troops, 505 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 1319

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 1155

Allied adjusted defense: 179

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Pegu !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2160 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 142 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 83 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
26264 casualties reported
Squads: 1023 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 1086 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 210 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 138 (134 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 16
Units destroyed 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
55th Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
14th Tank Regiment
56th Division
18th Division
38th Division
21st Division
143rd Infantry Regiment
2nd Division
32nd Field AA Battalion
31st Field AA Battalion
25th Army
35th Field AA Battalion
23rd AA Regiment
55th Mountain Gun Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
35th Fld AA Gun Co
5th Mortar Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
15th Army
1st RF Gun Battalion
21st Fld AA Gun Co
Southern Army
26th Fld AA Gun Co
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
81st Chinese Corps
71st Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
16th Indian Brigade
25th Chinese Corps
1st Chinese Corps
4th Chinese Corps
66th Chinese Corps
57th AT Gun Regiment
7th Artillery Regiment
30th Group Army
2nd Burma Brigade
3rd Heavy Mortar Regiment
221 Group RAF
7th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese Corps
4th Heavy Mortar Regiment

The Allied units flee into Rangoon, which I suspect will be a formidable Allied backstop to Pegu. My initial moves are to pursue and close off the hexsides to Rangoon and then clear the rest of Burma. The large number of IJA air assets in Burma are being re-dedicated to bombing Rangoon, and I'm looking at getting minesweepers to clear the approaches to Rangoon to permit me to send the IJN upriver to drop shells on the city. That will entail damage to the industry, but I'm not hugely fussed as Burmese industry is always on the frontlines one way or another.

Industry & Production

Trends are good.

Supply is up in Japan, as are resources. Fuel and oil is still falling, but that should start to swing as the convoy system gets underway.

Aircraft pools are good. I'm a bit tight on IJA 2E bomber airframes, but that's intentional. I want to minimize the number of IJA 2E bombers I build before the transition into Lily DB and Peggy (T).

The Nick is in production as well, and is nearly ramped up to 60/month. I've yet to convert any squadrons as I'm waiting to pull another cadre of trained fighter pilots from the squadrons before converting to Nicks.

The G3M3 Nell is also being produced for 30/mo. While this is on the low side, I'm keeping it there for now as there's 120 M2 Nells in the pool, along with 135 Betty's. The M3 is the best model, but I see no need to burn the supply just yet.

The Junyo and Yamato have arrived, and are parked up in Tokyo for the present.

Pilot Training & VP's

Pilot training seems to be going well. The quality over quantity approach seems to be working well. About 60% of my reserve pilots are above the 50 EXP threshold, and I plan to induct those below this point back into squadrons at some point for additional training.

I think this has been reflected in the overall air losses. While the Allies have the lead in overall air losses (1131 Japanese planes lost to 987 Allied), the Japanese have less than half the air-to-air losses of the Allies (204 Japanese planes shot down to 459 Allied). Predictably, Ops losses for Japan are much highter (723 Japanese crashes to 498 Allied), but I attribute that to a very passive Allied air force.

Recent victories in China, Burma and on Luzon have put the VP situation into sharp focus.

Currently, the numbers are 19164 Japanese VP to 8259 Allied VP, for a 2.32:1 ratio. Not autovictory level, but positive nonetheless. Nearly half of the IJ VP total comes from Allied army losses (~8k) - those points are never going away, so let's add to that!

So far, so good. I don't like getting complacent with Loka, he's always up to something nefarious...

< Message edited by mind_messing -- 4/4/2019 7:42:36 PM >

(in reply to Mike Solli)

Post #: 182

RE: Christmas Update - 4/6/2019 2:39:52 PM

mind_messing

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Joined: 10/28/2013
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May 25th, 1942

A fun little turn!

South-West Pacific

I-26 is trying to replicate her historical career here, putting a torp into the side of Prince of Wales, and then going back in for seconds!

quote:

Sub attack near Penrhyn Island at 170,158

Japanese Ships
SS I-26

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Torpedo hits 1
CA Astoria
CL Boise
CL Perth
DD Encounter
DD Isis
DD Express
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Penrhyn Island at 167,158

Japanese Ships
SS I-26, hits 1

Allied Ships
CA Astoria
CA Canberra
CL Boise
CL Perth
DD Encounter
DD Isis
DD Express
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Penrhyn Island at 166,158

Japanese Ships
SS I-26

Allied Ships
CA Canberra
BC Repulse
CA Astoria
CL Boise
CL Perth
DD Encounter
DD Scout
DD Isis
DD Express

While the damage to Prince of Wales is small, the I-26 is out of ammo (and undamaged) so it's heading for Luganville for repairs.

Penrhyn Island is proving a busy little corner of the map. With fuel moving in to Rabual and Luganville, I'll reshuffle the sub fleet in this area.

Current thoughts are as follows:
- The RO boats will work a close blockade on Pago Pago.
- Mid-range I-boats will work off New Zealand and Oz.
- Long-range I-boats with floatplanes will work eastwards of Pago Pago around Penrhyn.

I'll need to get some search into the region ASAP. It's obvious there's a big Allied commitment here, and interesting enough they've not got a large port to operate from without tenders...

Find the tenders, find the fleet...

Interesting food for thought.

Luzon

Mopping up is nearly done, the Allies are backed into Bataan now (for the second time).

I'll be keen to get everything out ASAP. I need the engineers in SWPAC as soon as possible. The ground troops will help as well.

Sumatra

At long last, engineers are en-route to Palembang to start getting the air defense network built up here. Oosthavens port is first priority so the fuel gets flowing out.

Other than that, pretty quiet turn!

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 183

RE: Christmas Update - 4/15/2019 4:14:43 PM

mind_messing

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Defending the Home Front

Loka is out for a couple days, and I've a few days free so I'm dedicated this time to looking at all the small stuff that I can sort now and leave it sitting for the rest of the game.

First up is the deployment of AA units within Japan.

I had to dig up my post from my other AAR over five years ago (!) to get a grasp on what my strategy was and what I'd change now.

Reflecting back on my previous game, I feel that keeping IJ flak focused around defending supply production is the correct way to go. This is for two reasons:
1) - Supply is absolutely critical in the late-game, more so than any other industrial resource.
2) - Manpower attacks seem the best risk/reward strategy for the Allies to both hurt Japan's economy and generate VP's.

To that end, I intend to copy my previous plan over.

The Plan

My AA defence is focused around the following cities, in order of importance:

- Tokyo
- Osaka/Kyoto
- Yokohama/Yokosuka (come Jan 44, the Naval Base Force can defend this city alone)
- Nagoya
- Kobe
- Hiroshima/Kure (come Jan 44, the Naval Base Force can defend this city with the help of a few IJA AA units)
- Nagasaki/Sasebo

The best AA units will remain within Japan, meaning the regiment sized formations and the smaller AA Gun Companies that use the 10cm AA guns.

Reinforcements

In general, I intend to keep all AA units that arrive as reinforcements on Honshu, instead of shipping them out.

I'm doing this as I feel that parcelling out AA units to smaller island garrisons around the Empire is counter-productive. Smaller contingents of AA units seem to send supply consumption through the roof without any real return in terms of downed planes. To that end, they'll stay in Japan for the duration of the war.

There are, however, exceptions to this. I will use flak in larger concentrations outside the Home Islands, but only on larger landmasses where there's a bigger supply network to support the increased supply consumption.

I will organize them in two layers: inner and outer layers. The outer layer bases are those that could be vulnerable to either Allied carrier raids or long-range 4E strikes. The inner layer bases are those that eventually will be vulnerable due to Allied advances or better airframes (read - B-29).

The current list of overseas flak concentrations will be roughly as follows:

Outer Layer Bases:
- Magwe: I'll plank a big AA stack on Magwe until the oil is all gone, then pull the AA back into Thailand to protect the northern Thai airbases.
- Medan, Djambi, Palembang: Oil & refinery centres exposed to carrier raids from the Indian Ocean. I won't bother about Bengkalis as 40 oil centres isn't really worth much.
- Soerabaja: Currently 20 working oil centres, with 170 damaged. I'm repairing the oil up to about 100. Possible target of carriers raids as well.

Inner Layer Bases:
- Manila: Lynchpin of a defence of the Philippines.
- Miri: Big oil/refinery centre.
- Balikpapan/Samarinda: Big oil/refinery centre.

I'm planning for between 5-6 IJA AA battalions for each location, giving between 90 to 108 flak guns in each hex. They'll be using the 8cm guns for the most part, which aren't great but they're better than nothing.

Key Points

Keen readers will note that all the above listed bases have at least some moderate level of supply production. This is intentional - I would like for IJ flak to become a passive drain on Allied bombers (and therefore VPs) without needing an external source of supply to keep them firing. That sort of arrangement is not really possible besides at a few select locations.

It's my hope that by concentrating flak there, I'll be able to get maximum effectiveness for minimum logistical impact. The downside is that everywhere else across the map will have to combat Allied bombers using CAP or AA assets organic to LCU's.

It's a bold move, let's see if it pays off.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 184

RE: Christmas Update - 4/15/2019 5:42:01 PM

mind_messing

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I've carried out my naval re-organisation as detailed in post #143. Should be about two weeks or so before everything is in position with transits and repairs and such.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 185

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 10:36:21 AM

mind_messing

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Air R&D

Things are going well here.

The first Ki-61 Tony factory completed repairs, and has now moved up to advance the Ki-100-I model. Getting that airframe moving forward is a nice bonus.

I realize I've made a minor mistake with the A5M line. The A6M2 upgrades to the Sen Baku, the otherwise useless Zero fighter-bomber model.

I have one factory advancing the A6M3a model for it's range, and three factories (two repaired, one still WIP) working on the A6M5 model. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, I'm going to skip the A6M3a - it's at best a marginal improvement over the A6M2 model. Instead, all the Zero research is going to be focused on the A6M8 model to try and get this airframe as early as possible. I've changed my mind - I'm no longer convinced that any of the other Zero models are worth researching, so currently going to put all 4 factories on rushing the A6M8 model.

This has a bit of risk involved as it may mean still using base model Zeros on CV's into 1943 (yuk!), but I think it's overall a better investment of supply.

Thoughts on this would be welcome!

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 186

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 1:23:03 PM

mind_messing

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May 26th to May 27th, 1942

A quiet couple of turns.

North Pacific

The floatplanes based out of Adak are getting a bit worn down with a spate of bad weather, so I'm considering opening a second naval search station on Amchitka Island using Jakes and a seaplane tender at some point in the near future. For now, the Mavis pilots are flying a slightly less rigorous schedule to cheer them up.

Central Pacific

In line with my "why bother defending these useless islands", I've pulled the last of the shipping out from the Marshall islands in response to the American cruiser bombardment of Roi-Namur earlier this month. In due course I'll get some moderate aviation support into the Marshalls to stiffen it up, but the overall strategy here will be to leave the Gilberts occupied but undeveloped to act as a tripwire for any Allied advance in the area.

I'm also sneaking a AV into Canton Island. I've 17 Mavis floatplanes here doing great work on spotting Allied convoys east of Pago Pago, but there's only 8 aviation support (provided by the very lost Jailut Base Force!). These planes provided the intel that led to the Prince of Wales eating a torp a few turns back, so the more planes working, the better for Japan!

South-West Pacific

The KB is primed and ready to go at Luganville. I'm tempted to pull the trigger again and get the KB in amongst the sea-lanes east of Pago Pago. The Allied task force that the Prince of Wales was a part of is still spotted, and there's other shipping reported nearby. I think I'll hold off a few days to see if the situation clarifies itself.

I'm gathering the four Type KRS minelaying submarines at Luganville as well - they're now on special minelaying duty for the rest of the war. Carrying 20 Type 88 mines each, together they can dump 80 mines in one go. With over 600 mines in the pool, we're covered for the next few months. Their first target, once they're refueled and rearmed, is to dump mines at Pukapuka and then Manihiki. Both these bases are suspected Allied fleet replenishment stations, and I'd love to throw some sand into the Allied gears.

More bombers are being move in to theatre to assist in suppressing Suva. Once Luganville has a respectable source of fuel and supply, I'll start shuttle bombardment runs using the Kongo BB's.

DEI

Not much to report here.

I've been considering plans for Northern Australia - very little is happening on this side of the map. Northern Oz has all of five Japanese LCU's in it, and only two of those are combat units (and one of those is a 1/3rd fragment of a Naval Guard!).

However, despite the barebones investment, those troops are nearing Daly Waters and Katherine. I'm unsure if they'll be able to take the base, but they've done an excellent job of taking territory.

As a result, I'm considering a potential stage two operation to take Darwin on an absolute shoe-string budget. Most of the IJA's reserves are at Luzon clearing up the Clark Field debacle, but I've the 40th Division from China refitting at Hong Kong intended for NorPac. The elements that form the 1st Tank Division are also due to arrive next month.

The tentative plan I have involves diverting the 40th to Java, where it will wait for the 1st Tank Division to form, then landing both these units (along with some smaller LCU's already in the DEI) at Japanese-held Wyndham and conducting an overland campaign against Darwin while the IJN hammers the base from the ocean.

I'm not hugely concerned about resistance on the ground - there's sizable US assets tied up at Suva, and the Ozzie TOE is pretty flimsy, and any Allied ground operations will need to be ran out of Alice Springs. Alice is built up to a 5(4) airbase, which I find interesting.

I'll chew it over, no need to commit just yet.

Burma

Rested my air force here for a few turns, now putting them back on offensive missions. There's at least one Chinese corps and two other units hiding in the jungle east of Pegu that I want eliminated. While I've a crack division and a regiment in the same hex, I want to expedite the process, so the IJA bombing force will be turned loose on them for a couple of turns. Hopefully this will diminish their combat ability enough to let us push them out in a few turns.

At long last there's a whiff of Allied air power in this theatre. 70 aircraft are reported at Magwe and another 25 at Mandalay. Oscars from Chang-Mai will sweep for a few turns to see if the Allies want to fight - previous sweeps have met no opposition. I'd consider bombing the airbase pre-emptively, but supply shortages in Thailand are keeping IJA fighters from using drop tanks.
I've tinkered with supply levels, and I'm moving 30k supply from Tokyo to Bangkok - might make the difference!

I've been getting some really nice upwards trends on IJA pilot skills over Burma these past few weeks. The unopposed milk-runs have really helped to push experience up to the 50 EXP mark for the rookie bomber pilots. The fighter squadrons are the big winners - flying escort without any combat has been good for pushing the 50 EXP graduates up towards 60 EXP, as well as pushing a bunch of high 70s EXP pilots over the threshold and into TRACOM status. I'm really happy with this. The IJA fighter corps in Burma has excellent stats - every squadron is averaging 70 points in EXP, Air and Defence. Here's hoping I can keep them around for better planes than the Oscar!

China

All is well here. Pushing to take out Chengtu before dealing with Chungking. The Chinese seem to be planning to hold out in the x3 terrain between Kunming and Paoshan. That's fine with me as I'm taking the long approach here.

Some Chinese aircraft are present at Kunming, so I'm sending the bombers out after them, simply for the VP's. After the Chinese Air Force is gutted, I'll shift them back to hitting Chinese units around Chungking.

I've set up a secondary airbase at Kienko to help support operations around Chungking. Currently, the aviation support is marching overland from Sian. Once they arrive, I'll probably move some of the IJN dive bomber squadrons that I have earmarked for training to active duty. They'll be used to help the rookie IJN dive bomber pilots build some EXP doing level bombing before they get sent off to sink Allied aircraft carriers.

Six Chinese units, refugees from the fall of Wenchow, have appeared south-east of Nanchang. I'm always keen for some live-fire exercises with my pilots, so I've relocated a couple of Betty training squadrons from Japan to Shanghai. Along with some smaller squadrons across China, they'll build EXP bombing the Chinese units in the open. Skills are easy to train, EXP is not.

That's about it for now...

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 187

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 2:03:37 PM

mind_messing

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A current overview of the Empire as it currently stands.

Points to note:

- the far eastern base is Washington Island, north of Christmas Island. I took that in Dec '41 so I can joke that I've occupied Washington.
- a bunch of dot hexes need cleaning up, with the exception of the islands south of Formosa. They'll stay Allied so that kamis trigger on 1/44.
- I don't hold anything on the east side of Darwin. That will soon change.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 188

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 2:18:12 PM

mind_messing

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This is what the typical frontline IJA fighter squadron looks like on the Burma front. There's another four more like it, plus another squadron of pilots fresh from training that only reach 50 average EXP.

There's about 200 pilots in the reserve pool with 50 average EXP behind them, as well as about 500 pilots in the on the on-map training programme.

The IJN fighter reserves aren't nearly as full, only 50 or so pilots in the pool, with a paltry 47 EXP average. However, I've about 300 pilots ready to graduate from the on-map training regime at Nagasaki/Sasebo with 50 EXP and 70 Air and Defence skills (as well as LowNav in the 60s for good measure).

Meanwhile, in Manchuria, the cream of the IJA bomber corps has been spending the past few weeks learning how to drop bombs on ships instead of land targets. Despite doing this at an inland base and beyond the range of the ocean, they've done a good job. They'll be more than ready to relocate to the SWPAC theatre in short order.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 189

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 2:22:16 PM

mind_messing

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Here's the situation in China.

The blocking unit west of Chengtu is a battered paratrooper fragment that tried to take Tsuyung a few months back. It's sitting there as a speedbump in case any Chinese units start moving west.

We're hitting the Chinese airbase at Kunming tomorrow, and then we'll go back to plastering Allied units in the open around Chungking.

39 units are reported inside Chungking, estimating around 234k men and 570 guns.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 190

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 2:30:14 PM

mind_messing

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This is what I'm seeing currently east of Pago Pago.

Subs in this area came in to contact with the warships over the past few turns, putting a torpedo into the Prince of Wales

The other Allied TF on-screen is reported as 4 ships (xAP, xAP, DD, DD) and heading east. I don't think it's important.

Nevertheless, you can see IJN subs vectoring in to engage. In a week or two, there will be many more. I've 20 en-route from Rabual to Luganville.

Using Luganville instead of Rabual has really changed the dynamic of the war in the South-West Pacific. With Noumea in Japanese hands and the Allies down to a single base on Fiji, Luganville is well protected by geography. It's out of B-17 range and difficult to approach undetected. The long supply line is a glaring issue, but I've been constructing bases in the Solomon Islands to ward off any Allied incursions.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 191

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 2:39:04 PM

mind_messing

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Here's a little cut-out from Tracker showing my search arcs across the Empire.

As you can see, it's still a bit spotty and weak, but overall it's shaping up well.

- The Hokkaido-Kuriles search gap will be filled in by an IJA recon squadron once they're trained up to 70 Recon skill.
- The Tokyo-Marshalls search line will be bulked out by additional floatplanes over 1942.
- SWPAC is alive with the sound of search aircraft, with engines that have droned for a hundred turns.
- The DEI is very sparse for search aircraft at present. That will be remedied going forward as both IJA and IJN recon squadrons take up Nav Search roles, supplemented by additional floatplane squadrons transfering from Japan.
- Jakes on seaplane submarines absolutely rocks.

Once the outer layer of naval search is at a density I find satsifactory, I'll start covering the inside of the Empire with search planes as well. As with everything else in AE, giving depth to naval search is a massive boost.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 192

RE: Christmas Update - 4/16/2019 6:50:08 PM

mind_messing

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Question for the peanut gallery: The B6N2 Kate has both a MAD and a radar set. Anyone noticed if it confers a notable advantage in ASW/NavS for having both those devices?

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 193

RE: Christmas Update - 4/17/2019 3:08:00 AM

PaxMondo

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I've never been able to see the effect of the MAD � doesn't mean is doesn't, but it must be kinda small.

The radar definitely works, at least in other planes.

_____________________________

Pax

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 194

Manchurian Candidate - 4/18/2019 12:19:56 PM

mind_messing

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Defending Manchuria

Decided to do a little brainstorming on defending Manchuria in a couple of years time, in part prompted by Miller's current experiences and reflecting on my game with Loka.

When looking at the reinforcement arrival locations for Soviet units, there's two main fronts. The Western Front, centred around Tamsag (purple) is the scary one, as that's where the big 750 AV Soviet Mechanized Corps deploy from. The Eastern Front (blue) is the other big concentration of units deploy.

In my experience, it's the Western Front that makes the most rapid gains, while the Eastern Front is slow to get started due to poor road links into Manchuria.

Rather than an all-in redoubt approach to defending Manchuria that I tried last game, I'm thinking of defending forward in a few, select positions.

- Northern Speedbump (yellow): I'm defending Heiho and Sunwu as both these bases start the game with level 6 forts, and with a moderate garrison should cause issues. The x3 terrain behind Hailar will be held to secure the flank. The yellow trails between the two I'll ignore, as it's too isolated from the rest of Manchuria to defend.

- Western Barrier (red): Designed to funnel the big Soviet Mech units into attacking defending positions in x2 or x3 terrain, while funneling them away from the big Manchurian VP centres. The Linhsi area is the weakest link, being only x2 terrain, so I'll need to bolster it with forts.

- Eastern Redoubt (brown): Static defense, using already existing forts and x3 terrian to delay a Soviet breakthrough in the east for as long as possible.

- The Green Zones (green): Areas devoid of units where IJA bombers will seek to inflict as much disruption onto Soviet units as possible.

- Fortress cities (black): big VP bases, so they'll get big fort levels. The gaps between them I'll fill with the late-war levies that arrive in Manchuria.

Thoughts are more than welcome!

(in reply to PaxMondo)

Post #: 195

RE: Manchurian Candidate - 5/6/2019 4:13:30 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

May 28th to June 3rd, 1942

North Pacific

The USN submarine Cachalot is reported sunk. Tracker reports it as scuttled off Etorofu, which matches what I've seen from the USN sub that was parked off Hokkaido for quite some time. This is a nice result, even if it is one sub. ASW air assets are being repositioned accordingly, and I'm spreading the floatplane search net wider to see what else is going on under the waves up here.

Otherwise, quiet. Aviation units have landed on Onnekotan-jima, and are starting work developing the airbase there.

Central Pacific

In line with my plans, the Marshalls have been turned in to a back-water. There's a floatplane squadron flying from Maleolap to keep an eye on things, but otherwise it's the backwater of the Empire.

I manage to sneak an AV in to Canton Island to help keep the Mavis squadron running, but there's still half the planes unable to fly. I've upped the rest percentage of the squadron to try and get more planes operational.

A troop convoy arrives in Truk, containing AA, avation units and a few SNLF/Naval Guard units. The AA will stay at Truk while the rest are redeployed to the Solomons/New Guinea.

South-West Pacific

Despite the KB being in prime fighting condition, I'm reluctant to pull the trigger on another raid, even with the reported torpedo hit on the Prince of Wales a few turns back.

Luganville is exceeding expectations as a forward fleet base. Most of the IJN submarine fleet calls the port home, alongside the KB. Tankers from the DEI are having an easy time keeping the base topped up, which I find promising.

Work is progressing well to backfill the bases between Luganville and Rabual. Japanese engineers are digging an airbase on Guadalcanal, and search/ASW bases are already operational at Ndeni and Shortlands.

The current priority is anchoring Japanese control of the Coral Sea and New Guinea. Japanese engineers have landed at Woodlark Island, east of Milne Bay, to build an airbase. Along with development of Buna, Milne Bay and a floatplane tender positioned at Tagula Island, I hope to keep my supply lines to Luganville secured. So far, so good.

The Suva stalemate continues, but with fuel flowing in to Luganville, bombardments can soon commence. Supply has been loaded at Tokyo for Suva, via Luganville.

DEI

The I/81st Naval Guard has entered Katherine, and is confronted by 4 Australian units. It will hold position until the 4th Ind. Mixed Regiment clears Daly Waters and marches north.

Still unsure about the possibility of a big move to take Darwin. Alice Springs has been built up to a 5(4) airbase, which indicates to me that Loka is prepared to fight up here. I'll need to see how things develop.

Some readjustment of air units takes place to make my search as efficent as possible. Mostly, this involves using Jakes for the close-in work, flying from the bases closest to Australia while the Mavis flying boats take care of the deep ocean stretches.

Mine warfare continues in the DEI. Extensive Japanese minefields exist at Medan, Palembang, Oosthaven, Merak and soon Denpasser and Banjoewangi. Combined, this should hopefully make the Allied sub operations that little bit more dangerous. There's still 500 Type 88 submarine mines in the pools, but the special operation squadron of minelaying subs should hopefully make a dent in these.

China

Not much to report here. Still pushing to take Chungking and Chengtu, but no major developments yet. The usual routine of bombings and bombardment attacks. There's a 1k stack (half tanks, half infantry) of IJA AV moving up to Chungking from the south-west, while the "city-breaker" stack of 3.6k AV (and a whole load of nasty artillery) is moving up from the south-east. The city should be invested by the end of the month.

I'm attempting a deliberate attack against Chengtu. With good odds, hopefully it should start to reduce this city and free up more troops for Chungking itself. If not, it's only a couple of weeks extra on a multi-month siege, so I'm not too worried.

The raid on Kunming is a bit disappointing, so I've shifted the bombers back to Chungking. The life-fire exercise at Nanchang continues, and gets valuable EXP points for the pilots on the cheap.

Burma

Japanese air operations are still hampered by supply problems, but some 30k supplies are about a week out from Bangkok. However, this is only limited their range, not their operations.

Rangoon is bombed daily, and shelled nightly by the light crusier Kinu and a DD. However, I'm pulling those ships off at present, and will be replacing them with the heavy cruisers of the DEI Fleet within a week or two.

The river is cleared of mines, and the RN Base Force CD guns haven't responded at all, but I want eyes deeper in to the Bay of Bengal before I put surface assets that far forward - it's asking for an ambush from the Royal Navy!

Attachment (1)

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 196

RE: Manchurian Candidate - 5/8/2019 1:36:04 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

Convoy Planning

Malaya and the DEI has been in Japanese hands for some time now, and the resoruces, fuel and oil are flowing back to Japan.

The numbers are rising, but it's inefficent. I've turn withdrawal, so I'll have a look at my merchant convoys to pass the time.

Most of my plans are outright ripped off from Mike Solli, but if it works, why change it?

Also, the Std-C (2850 capacity) tanker conversions are about two weeks out, so I need to figure it out anyways.

Singapore - Nagasaki/Sasebo Route

Thanks Mike,

Tankers

5x Tonan Whalers TK (15350 liquid capacity, 2170 cargo capacity ) - oil, resources
2x Type 1 TL TK (11600 liquid capacity) - oil
6x Type 1 TL TK (11600 liquid capacity) - fuel
8x Type N TL TK (12800 liquid capacity) - fuel

Cargo ships

39x Yusen-N AK (300 liquid capacity, 5795 cargo capacity) - fuel
32x Kyushu AK (4330 cargo capacity) - fuel
17x Yusen-N AK (300 liquid capacity , 5795 cargo capacity)- oil, resources

The current bottleneck here is that Nagasaki/Sasebo is only a size 7 port. Some 300 engineers are working on this.

Miri/Brunei

I've kept Miri drained with a gaggle of the 1250 capacity TK's, but there's a better way to do it.

There will be 4 convoys each composed of the following:

3x 2850 TK (converted Std-C)
2x 1250 TK (Type 1 TS)
~3-4 To'su PB

I'll likely send the fuel to Luzon and the oil to China - it should flow to Manchuria and keep the refineries there running.

Balikipanan/Tarakan

This is for fleet operations. I'll have the fleet oilers draw from these bases for use at Luganville, Rabual or Truk.

10 x Shiretoko AO (2 convoys of 5 each + escorts) will run from Tarakan to Luganville.
4 x Type N TL AO (2 convoys of 2 each + escorts) will run from Balikipapan to Rabual.
3 x Type 1 AO (1 convoy of 3 + escorts) will run from Balikipapan to Rabual.

Bolea & Babo

Once the Std-C tankers are online, I'll move 1250 capacity TK's here and run oil to Davao and I'll pick it up later in the war.

Current plan is:

4 x Type 1 TS TK (2 convoys of 2 each + escorts), one from Babo and one from Bolea.

Java

Due to damage, Java only produces a measly 300 oil and 216 fuel per day. To that end, I'll just leave it in location for fleet operations and trim it down later in the war.

Sumatra

I'm currently running:

10 x Manzyu TM TK (2 convoys of 5 each + escorts) from Palembang to Singapore.
1 x Manzyu TM TK (1 convoy + escorts) from Medan to Georgetown

This is working fine as fuel is moving, but oil and resources are climbing.

Once the 1250 TK's are freed from Miri, some will move to Palembang to load oil to Singapore.

Oosthaven is being expanded to a size 4 port. When that is complete, it will start shipping fuel to Singapore. Currently got xAKL's running fuel to Java, but that will stop and they'll start running resources once the TK's arrive and the port is expanded.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 197

RE: Manchurian Candidate - 5/8/2019 1:58:32 PM

Anachro

Posts: 2506
Joined: 11/23/2015
From: The Coastal Elite
Status: offline

Thanks for laying this all out. Will help me as I setup my own convoys in my Japan game.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 198

RE: Christmas Update - 5/9/2019 11:35:06 AM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

June 4th, 1942

A welcome quiet turn.

North Pacific

NSTR here.

Central Pacific

I get two SigInt hits of the Heavy Transmission at X variety for a hex North-East of Pearl. I've sent a couple of subs doing the "post-Dec 7th damaged ship waiting dance" to investigate. Maybe it's a convoy, maybe it's nothing.

The 3 Myoko CA and 2 Aoba CA and 7 DD's will transfer from CentPac Fleet to SWPAC to begin bombardment operations of Suva in a few days. They're waiting for the CA Haguro to knock a point of engine damage off before they head out.

South-West Pacific

100 Allied fighters reported at Tongatapu - work is underway to sweep them away with the cream of the IJN fighter corps.

Ground units at Suva have largely recovered from previous combat, and will make a deliberate attack in a few days when supply arrives and a few CA bombardments have went in.

DEI

NSTR here as well.

Burma

I-157 dined on a depth charge from a British ML off Akyab. I'm pulling my subs out of the Akyab region as it's evident there's nothing moving here now.

Other than that, usual bombings of Rangoon.

There's a lot of IJA pilots sitting here with 80 EXP, but they're struggling to reach over that mark due to Allied passivity. I might siphon them off to form an elite IJA squadron to be sent to SWPAC.

China

The southern push is ready to burst on to the Chungking plains, and I've ordered a deliberate attack to go in against Chengtu. IJA air power is diverting to support this attack, and hopefully I can clear it up before turning on Chungking.

There's 600 Chinese AV against 1.8k Japanese AV, but even if the attack fails, more troops are on the way!

Industry

I tinkered with engine production a little, and I'm aiming to under-produce aircraft in the next few months, but over-produce engines throughout the war. Reason being, pools can't be bombed, and it may make the difference in the late war...

Otherwise, quiet.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 199

RE: Christmas Update - 5/9/2019 11:25:42 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

June 5th to June 6th, 1942

North Pacific

NSTR

Central Pacific

NSTR

South-West Pacific

A couple big developments here.

First is we get a sighting of a supposed Allied carrier east of Penrhyn Island. Given the sighting reports of approx. 30 fighters and no other aircraft, I'm pretty sure it's the CVE Long Island. Despite the good intel, it's managed to dodge IJN subs so far, but the plucky Japanese submariners are chasing her southwards in the hope of landing a torpedo or two.

Concurrently, Allied search aircraft move into Suva for the first time in weeks, detecting the KB in it's anchorage of Luganville. The KB is moving southwards to explore the possibility of cutting the Long Island off from New Zealand.

An Air HQ lands on Kendavu Island, enabling offensive sweeps against Tongatapu - they'll be going in next turn, and I'm excited for the outcome.

I decide to go a recon-by-bombardment of Allied ground units at Suva, the result is exceptionally interesting.

quote:

Ground combat at Suva (132,160)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 41258 troops, 390 guns, 43 vehicles, Assault Value = 1462

Defending force 43850 troops, 839 guns, 879 vehicles, Assault Value = 1277

Japanese ground losses:
301 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
Maizuru 1st SNLF
16th Division
4th Division
54th Division
62nd Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
24th Infantry Div /1
27th Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division
Americal Infantry Division
8th NZ Brigade
8th Marine Rgt /1
8th Marine Defense Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
115th USAAF Base Force /1
131st Field Artillery Battalion
1st RNZAF Base Force
147th Field Artillery Regiment
9th Australian Brigade
114th USAAF Base Force /1

4 US Army divisions. This represents a sizable fraction of deployable US units - I want to keep these units pinned and destroy them. Additional artillery and a Corps HQ is a week out from Suva, and two more IJA divisions are clearing Luzon at present.

I'm unsure about the Allied supply situation, but I'll be doing my best to degrade that going forward with bombardments and bombings. With the situation as it stands, I think the Allies will find it difficult to resupply Suva by ocean without the use of carriers...

DEI

The Allies have abandoned Daly Waters and are concentrating their defence at Katherine. Still debating commiting a division to Oz at present.

Burma

Chinese units in the jungle east of Rangoon manage to escape eastwards, towards Thailand. Thai Army units are repositioning to stop them interfering, but they'll almost certainly turn guerilla in the jungle.

The sitzkreig in Burma will continue as the Allies build up their bases in Assam and Bengal. I'm reluctant to push into the Burmese plains without Rangoon, and Rangoon is not for falling any time soon. Burma will likely be a difficult theatre for Japan at this rate as what is normally a straightforward campaign is quickly becoming bogged down.

China

Good news here as IJA tank units burst on to the Chungking plains, sweeping a Chinese corps aside with absolutely no losses.

quote:

Ground combat at 75,45 (near Chungking)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5070 troops, 0 guns, 733 vehicles, Assault Value = 383

Defending force 18654 troops, 66 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 549

Japanese adjusted assault: 303

Allied adjusted defense: 157

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Allied ground losses:
1749 casualties reported
Squads: 41 destroyed, 233 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
9th Armored Car Co
12th Tank Regiment
23rd Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
5th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
51st Chinese Corps
27th Group Army

IJA bombing will continue and the tanks will attack again tomorrow and hopefully rout the Chinese. Then it's on to Chengtu.

Kienko is still the site of a few Chinese corps making a spoiling move, but they'll be cleaned out shortly.

The main siege army is about two weeks out from Chungking - I'm taking the safe route and moving them off-road to effect a river-crossing. This will take longer, but it's the right move as it will avoid a nasty river crossings into high forts.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 200

RE: Christmas Update - 5/10/2019 7:52:12 AM

obvert

Posts: 14050
Joined: 1/17/2011
From: PDX (and now) London, UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

4 US Army divisions. This represents a sizable fraction of deployable US units - I want to keep these units pinned and destroy them. Additional artillery and a Corps HQ is a week out from Suva, and two more IJA divisions are clearing Luzon at present.

I'm unsure about the Allied supply situation, but I'll be doing my best to degrade that going forward with bombardments and bombings. With the situation as it stands, I think the Allies will find it difficult to resupply Suva by ocean without the use of carriers...

That's a very forward and isolated placement of so much infantry at this stage. You have a good while to donate the skies and work on those troops. The naval bombardments will definitely help get to the guns, which in turn will make your ground bombardments better.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 201

RE: Christmas Update - 5/10/2019 10:25:39 AM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

4 US Army divisions. This represents a sizable fraction of deployable US units - I want to keep these units pinned and destroy them. Additional artillery and a Corps HQ is a week out from Suva, and two more IJA divisions are clearing Luzon at present.

I'm unsure about the Allied supply situation, but I'll be doing my best to degrade that going forward with bombardments and bombings. With the situation as it stands, I think the Allies will find it difficult to resupply Suva by ocean without the use of carriers...

That's a very forward and isolated placement of so much infantry at this stage. You have a good while to donate the skies and work on those troops. The naval bombardments will definitely help get to the guns, which in turn will make your ground bombardments better.

Digging a little deeper, it becomes more interesting.

Besides the American Division, all those US Army divisions need PP investments to move off the West Coast, and they're not cheap.

The 8th Marine Regiment is a component of a USMC division, which is nice.

Essentially, I've a non-trivial proportion of assets that Loka has bought out. 7 months into the war and a rough guess of 1 division bought out every two months means he's a lot invested on this.

Based on this, I'm considering opening another airbase off Suva to properly lock the base down. Gau Island, a 1(0) 0(4) base east of Suva, is the prime candidate.

(in reply to obvert)

Post #: 202

RE: Christmas Update - 5/10/2019 10:36:50 AM

obvert

Posts: 14050
Joined: 1/17/2011
From: PDX (and now) London, UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

4 US Army divisions. This represents a sizable fraction of deployable US units - I want to keep these units pinned and destroy them. Additional artillery and a Corps HQ is a week out from Suva, and two more IJA divisions are clearing Luzon at present.

I'm unsure about the Allied supply situation, but I'll be doing my best to degrade that going forward with bombardments and bombings. With the situation as it stands, I think the Allies will find it difficult to resupply Suva by ocean without the use of carriers...

That's a very forward and isolated placement of so much infantry at this stage. You have a good while to donate the skies and work on those troops. The naval bombardments will definitely help get to the guns, which in turn will make your ground bombardments better.

Digging a little deeper, it becomes more interesting.

Besides the American Division, all those US Army divisions need PP investments to move off the West Coast, and they're not cheap.

The 8th Marine Regiment is a component of a USMC division, which is nice.

Essentially, I've a non-trivial proportion of assets that Loka has bought out. 7 months into the war and a rough guess of 1 division bought out every two months means he's a lot invested on this.

Based on this, I'm considering opening another airbase off Suva to properly lock the base down. Gau Island, a 1(0) 0(4) base east of Suva, is the prime candidate.

Unless you've cropped it out, it looks like no AA either. That could be decisive.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 203

RE: Christmas Update - 5/10/2019 10:53:27 AM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

4 US Army divisions. This represents a sizable fraction of deployable US units - I want to keep these units pinned and destroy them. Additional artillery and a Corps HQ is a week out from Suva, and two more IJA divisions are clearing Luzon at present.

I'm unsure about the Allied supply situation, but I'll be doing my best to degrade that going forward with bombardments and bombings. With the situation as it stands, I think the Allies will find it difficult to resupply Suva by ocean without the use of carriers...

That's a very forward and isolated placement of so much infantry at this stage. You have a good while to donate the skies and work on those troops. The naval bombardments will definitely help get to the guns, which in turn will make your ground bombardments better.

Digging a little deeper, it becomes more interesting.

Besides the American Division, all those US Army divisions need PP investments to move off the West Coast, and they're not cheap.

The 8th Marine Regiment is a component of a USMC division, which is nice.

Essentially, I've a non-trivial proportion of assets that Loka has bought out. 7 months into the war and a rough guess of 1 division bought out every two months means he's a lot invested on this.

Based on this, I'm considering opening another airbase off Suva to properly lock the base down. Gau Island, a 1(0) 0(4) base east of Suva, is the prime candidate.

Unless you've cropped it out, it looks like no AA either. That could be decisive.

No AA, beyond what is organicto the Base Forces. The USMC Defence Battalion is the nasty one that arrives at Pago Pago with some 5 inch CD guns and tanks. There is some AA, but most of it is 40mm so I've been flying above the ceiling of that for a while. The RNZAF BF gets some of the Brit 3.9 inch AA guns, but they've not made much of an impact.

At any rate, bombing from about 11k has been very sustainable for me, and I hope that continues...

(in reply to obvert)

Post #: 204

RE: Christmas Update - 5/15/2019 7:44:00 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

June 7th, 1942

Getting turn withdrawal from Loka's game: RL has been interfering on his end while I'm in limbo before starting the new job.

North Pacific

Ominato's port hits level 7. Otherwise NSTR.

Central Pacific

The Mavis floatplanes on Canton are looking much healthier after I'd been running them too hard.

The Wake garrison has loaded up in Japan. Once they're ashore I'll pull the Wake CD unit off to use elsewhere.

The CA force from Truk meant for SWPAC departs to begin shuttle bombardments of Suva.

South-West Pacific

Still lots of Allied ships around Penrhyn Island. 6 IJN subs have the island staked out.

The TF assuming to contain CVE Long Island continues to head south-west, stalked by 5 IJN subs.

The KB has left Luganville and is moving south to cut off the Allied ships from New Zealand.

Sweeps go in at Tongatapu, with mixed results:

quote:

Morning Air attack on Tongatapu , at 138,168

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 38

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 33
P-40E Warhawk x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 6 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 15000 feet

CAP engaged:
18th FG/6th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 1000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 19000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
35th FG/41st FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 21000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes
18th FG/73rd FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tongatapu , at 138,168

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 16 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 10
P-40E Warhawk x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 15000 feet

CAP engaged:
18th FG/6th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 1000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 16000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
18th FG/73rd FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 17000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 23 minutes
35th FG/41st FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes

End result is:
Japan - 23 Zeros lost (19 Air-Air, 4 Ops), with 17 pilots lost (9 KIA, 8 MIA)

Allies - 13 Airacobra (9 Air-Air, 4 Ops) and 12 Warhawks (11 Air-Air, 1 Ops.

A Mavis and an Oscar crashing elsewhere on the map means 23 Allied aircraft lost to 25 Japanese aircraft this turn.

While not as overwhelmingly one-sided as I'd prefer, 4 (!) pilots made it to the magical 81 EXP threshold to go home to TRACOM heaven. This brings the total pilots here to 124 (33 IJA, 91 IJN), which is brilliant.

More Zero's are en-route, and we will redouble our efforts. It's good to get a peek at Loka's low-level CAP. I've knocked the sweeping altitude of the Zeros down from 15k to 12k, in the hope that this turns the fight into a furball favouring the Zero's higher maneuver at low altitude.

DEI

The 10th Division (from China) unloads on Sumatra. They were earmarked for the potential Darwin operation, but they're two-thirds disabled, so it's off to lounge on the beach and refit off Palembang's supplies.

Burma

The siege of Rangoon continues. Heavy bombing from IJA units in Thailand continues without opposition.

China

IJA units kick the Chinese out of Kienko with heavy losses:

quote:

Ground combat at Kienko (78,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 57430 troops, 493 guns, 74 vehicles, Assault Value = 1823

Defending force 18814 troops, 87 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 255

Japanese adjusted assault: 1118

Allied adjusted defense: 189

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
499 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 47 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3112 casualties reported
Squads: 313 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 183 destroyed, 56 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 24 (8 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Units retreated 4

The units involved in this battle will march towards Chengtu, where the IJA troops currently deployed have done a good job wearing down Chinese forts in the city:

quote:

Ground combat at Chengtu (75,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 66543 troops, 542 guns, 198 vehicles, Assault Value = 2150

Defending force 26828 troops, 173 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 658

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 1270

Allied adjusted defense: 1215

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2327 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 257 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1878 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 143 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Once Chengtu has been reduced, work can focus on eliminating Chungking.

< Message edited by mind_messing -- 5/15/2019 7:47:08 PM >

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 205

RE: Christmas Update - 5/16/2019 4:17:42 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

Naval Search Air Assets

Trawling through last turns intermediate save, it appears that I'm not getting the best out of my naval search assets.

There's a couple of problems, but mainly it's that the Mavis patrol plane squadrons as well as much of the ship-based seaplanes have pretty average pilots considering the key role they play in the Detection level game. IMO it's crtiical for Japan to maximize the benefits of these squadrons to make up for the woeful lack of naval and air radar as the war progresses.

To that end, when I get the turn back, I'm going to dump all the patrol plane and floatplane pilots currently in squadrons into the reserve pool and then re-assign them on the basis of EXP levels.

The priority, from top to bottom, is as follows:

1. IJN Patrol squadrons (Mavis and eventually Emily squadrons) - by far my most effective search assets, I want the best of the best here.
2. Submarine floatplane squadrons - these squadrons are small and pretty critical, and there's only around 16 or so subs so it shouldn't swallow too many good pilots.
3. Floatplane squadrons aboard capital ships - these guys need to be good as they need to make up for a lot of the late-war Allied advantages in radar, as well as spotting for bombardments ect.
4. Floatplane squadrons aboard IJN light crusiers - less pressing need, but having solid pilots aboard these squadrons is pretty key.
5. Land-based floatplane squadrons performing naval search on the Empire's perimiter.

The leftovers will get cycled back in to training squadrons to train NavS and ASW. I'll eventually start to consider adding LowNav into the floatplane training regime down the line, as I like the flexibility of LowNav trained Jakes running night naval attack missions going forward.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 206

RE: Christmas Update - 5/17/2019 5:11:03 AM

JoV

Posts: 99
Joined: 2/27/2016
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

June 4th, 1942

A welcome quiet turn.

Bet Japan wishes it could have said that irl

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 207

RE: Christmas Update - 5/17/2019 7:53:28 AM

obvert

Posts: 14050
Joined: 1/17/2011
From: PDX (and now) London, UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Naval Search Air Assets

Trawling through last turns intermediate save, it appears that I'm not getting the best out of my naval search assets.

There's a couple of problems, but mainly it's that the Mavis patrol plane squadrons as well as much of the ship-based seaplanes have pretty average pilots considering the key role they play in the Detection level game. IMO it's crtiical for Japan to maximize the benefits of these squadrons to make up for the woeful lack of naval and air radar as the war progresses.

To that end, when I get the turn back, I'm going to dump all the patrol plane and floatplane pilots currently in squadrons into the reserve pool and then re-assign them on the basis of EXP levels.

The priority, from top to bottom, is as follows:

1. IJN Patrol squadrons (Mavis and eventually Emily squadrons) - by far my most effective search assets, I want the best of the best here.
2. Submarine floatplane squadrons - these squadrons are small and pretty critical, and there's only around 16 or so subs so it shouldn't swallow too many good pilots.
3. Floatplane squadrons aboard capital ships - these guys need to be good as they need to make up for a lot of the late-war Allied advantages in radar, as well as spotting for bombardments ect.
4. Floatplane squadrons aboard IJN light crusiers - less pressing need, but having solid pilots aboard these squadrons is pretty key.
5. Land-based floatplane squadrons performing naval search on the Empire's perimiter.

The leftovers will get cycled back in to training squadrons to train NavS and ASW. I'll eventually start to consider adding LowNav into the floatplane training regime down the line, as I like the flexibility of LowNav trained Jakes running night naval attack missions going forward.

By about mid-42 I usually have a good pool of trained search pilots. I do train on the job consistently though. I'll usually set FP groups to 40 search 40 train and 20 rest and prioritise whichever skill they still need. After a while there are plentiful IJN pilots trained to 70 search, 70 ASW and 70 low naval bombing.

Even my ship and sub based groups will have a portion assigned to train as it's rare they're in action every day. I have a deep look before any surface action, bombardment mission or if subs are hunting or reconning specific targets. Cross training for recon on the ships and subs is very useful (and they don't need the low naval skill).

After the Emily the most successful search plane for the entire war is the G3M3 with it's 22/27 range. Also good for LR recon.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 208

RE: Christmas Update - 5/17/2019 11:21:11 AM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: JoV

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

June 4th, 1942

A welcome quiet turn.

Bet Japan wishes it could have said that irl

As with any protracted conflict, there will be lulls in it. Currently I suspect it's Loka going through the 4/42 upgrades on his key warships - he'll know well enough the importance of getting radars are better AA on his warships.

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert

quote:

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Naval Search Air Assets

Trawling through last turns intermediate save, it appears that I'm not getting the best out of my naval search assets.

There's a couple of problems, but mainly it's that the Mavis patrol plane squadrons as well as much of the ship-based seaplanes have pretty average pilots considering the key role they play in the Detection level game. IMO it's crtiical for Japan to maximize the benefits of these squadrons to make up for the woeful lack of naval and air radar as the war progresses.

To that end, when I get the turn back, I'm going to dump all the patrol plane and floatplane pilots currently in squadrons into the reserve pool and then re-assign them on the basis of EXP levels.

The priority, from top to bottom, is as follows:

1. IJN Patrol squadrons (Mavis and eventually Emily squadrons) - by far my most effective search assets, I want the best of the best here.
2. Submarine floatplane squadrons - these squadrons are small and pretty critical, and there's only around 16 or so subs so it shouldn't swallow too many good pilots.
3. Floatplane squadrons aboard capital ships - these guys need to be good as they need to make up for a lot of the late-war Allied advantages in radar, as well as spotting for bombardments ect.
4. Floatplane squadrons aboard IJN light crusiers - less pressing need, but having solid pilots aboard these squadrons is pretty key.
5. Land-based floatplane squadrons performing naval search on the Empire's perimiter.

The leftovers will get cycled back in to training squadrons to train NavS and ASW. I'll eventually start to consider adding LowNav into the floatplane training regime down the line, as I like the flexibility of LowNav trained Jakes running night naval attack missions going forward.

By about mid-42 I usually have a good pool of trained search pilots. I do train on the job consistently though. I'll usually set FP groups to 40 search 40 train and 20 rest and prioritise whichever skill they still need. After a while there are plentiful IJN pilots trained to 70 search, 70 ASW and 70 low naval bombing.

Even my ship and sub based groups will have a portion assigned to train as it's rare they're in action every day. I have a deep look before any surface action, bombardment mission or if subs are hunting or reconning specific targets. Cross training for recon on the ships and subs is very useful (and they don't need the low naval skill).

After the Emily the most successful search plane for the entire war is the G3M3 with it's 22/27 range. Also good for LR recon.

My demand for floatplane pilots due to Jake re-sizing has significantly over-ran my ability to train floatplane pilots, and we're only now just catching up. Even at that, there's a lot of half-baked squadrons doing some learning on the job in rear-areas.

Hopefully by the end of the year we should have enough pilots to go around.

I'm taking a different approach with the ship-based squadrons than you as well - I want them flying as well as weather permits, so I want to have the best pilots in them and flying as much as they can, so that the pilots increase the number of missions they fly and therefore their EXP levels.

I've not cross-trained floatplanes with recon yet, mainly as I've not felt it justified. As '42 progresses and the demand for pure NavS/ASW floatplane pilots drags off, I'll pull off some high EXP pilots to go back into training for recon.

I generally don't bother doing recon from non-recon planes as I find the formula for DL increase too harsh (a roll on pilot EXP/2, then only a DL increase of 2) compared to the check for regular recon planes (roll on pilot EXP, DL increase of 4). Plus I feel that floatplanes tend to get shot down a lot more anyways. However, I'll definitely get some high EXP pilots into do some recon training, as I don't run ASW efforts from my ship-based floatplanes beyond (occasionally) from the CS squadrons.

(in reply to JoV)

Post #: 209

RE: Christmas Update - 5/20/2019 2:01:54 PM

mind_messing

Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013
Status: offline

Japanese Aircraft Radars

A post here more for reference for me than anything else.

Japan gets 5 aircraft radars throughout the entire war, these are:

- MAD - 6/44
Range 1 - Effect 2 - Accuracy 10

- H-6 Radar - 6/44
Range 50 - Effect 4 - Accuracy 30

- N-6 Radar - 10/44
Range 30 - Effect 4 - Accuracy 30

- FM-3 Radar - 6/45
Range 30 - Effect 5 - Accuracy 40

- FD-2 Radar - 10/45
Range 15 - Effect 2 - Accuracy 20

Overall, the FM-3 radar has the best blend of stats, but the late arrival date means that Japan is unlikely to eek any advantages out from it.

This puts the H-6 and N-6 in a tie for "best" radar, with the H-6 having a slight edge due to greater range (50 vs 30).

Radar Carrying Aircraft

This is a list of all IJ aircraft that have a radar set, and their arrival date.

IJN

B5N2 Kate - Both MAD and N-6 Radar
B6N2a Jill - N-6 Radar
C6N1/N2/N1-S (Night Fighter) Myrt - N-6 Radar

E13A1 Jake - MAD
E13A1b Jake - N-6 Radar

G3M3 Nell - H-6 Radar
G4M2a/3a/3e Betty - H-6 Radar

H6K5 Mavis - H-6 Radar
H8K2 Emily - H-6 Radar

J1N1-Sa Irving - H-6 Radar

P1Y2 Frances - H-6 Radar
P1Y2-S Frances - H-6 Radar

Q1W1 Lorna - MAD & FM-3 Radar

S1A1 Denko - FD-2 Radar

IJA

Ki-49 Ia Helen - MAD

Ki-102c Randy - FD-2 Radar

Implications

There's a few interesting pointsthat emerge out of this.

First is that the IJA is extremely limited on radar options. Only the Helen even remotely counts as the FD-2 radar on the Randy won't activate till 10/45, effectively leaving the Helen as the lone IJA airframe that can get any benefit. However, even the MAD device doesn't activate till 6/44, so that makes producing Helens for the MAD device not worthwhile in my view.

Second is that the IJN has the overwhelming majority of radar-equipped airframes, and the radars are distributed distinctly. The single-engine planes take the slightly inferior N-6, while larger aicraft take the marginally superior H-6 Radar.

In practical terms for the late-war, this means:

- Emphasis on maintaining stockpiles of B5N2 Kate to expend as a rear-area ASW asset, having both MAD and N-6 Radar.

- Building a stockpile of G3M3 planes in the early war to bolster long-range naval search and night-time attack missions when radar device activates.

- Patrol squadrons to use radar-equipped version of Mavis or Emily and not versions with no radar.

- Use of B6N2a Jill on KB a priority to enhance naval search/ASW operations.

- Rapid transition of IJN recon squadrons from D4Y1-C recon plane to C6N1 recon plane to take advantage of increased range and radar.

- Radar-equipped night fighters are effectively only IJN planes.

- The E13A1b Jake with radar represents a significant improvement in search/ASW abilities comparied to the base model, and production must be in place to maximize advantages to frontline shipboard squadrons, as well as land-based NavSearch & ASW squadrons.

- Tactical night attacks are best left to IJN 2E units where possible to maximize radar advantages in the late-war.

This dovetails nicely in with the projected arrival of the Peggy T into the IJA arsenal. My intention is that once the Peggy T starts to arrive on the frontline, and sufficent numbers of IJA pilots are trained on NavT, that I'll start to transition the IJN squadrons to fight purely in the night-time role. The IJN, with planes and pilots better suited to the role, will concentrate on hitting Allied ships, planes and bases at night, while the IJA will transition into a strategy of massed air attacks. It is my hope that this round-the-clock resistance will generate positive outcomes for the Empire.

(in reply to mind_messing)

Post #: 210