Gensui jdsrae (J) vs SolInvictus (A). IJ War Council room

[rustysi]

I had a Dutch sub hit Kaga with 1 torpedo in my last game vs AI and it barely scratched the paint.

Don't get cocky. Even though the Dutch torps are less effective, secondary sources of damage could be devastating. Can you say floating gas station?[:D]

Oh wait. Is that petrol with you guys too?[:D]

[rustysi]

146th Infantry Regt from 16th Army so I can reform 55th Division is high on the list.

There's no real urgency with doing this one early in the game. The devs have said that if all elements of a division are operating from the same hex the results should be almost identical to a recombined division. IIRC he said within 2%.

but 90th Infantry Regt is an elite unit that would be wasted sitting in Korea for too long

My second choice after the Guards brigade.[;)]

[rustysi]

Oh, and while I'm here, there're two other regiments about whose third is somewhere off in the SRA, and whose additional components don't arrive for some time (30th ID[?]). I usually use these to aid my eastern forces as well. Just make sure you 'buy' them out to the cheapest way to recombine the division when all components are present. That is of course if you wish to recombine. IIRC these too are located somewhere in Korea.

[RangerJoe]

I disagree about destroying the Chinese units right away. Render them incapable of action, surround them, but don't kill them until you have captured Chungking and the other replacement city. You don't want them coming back even at 1/3 infantry strength and then have to try and kill them in heavy urban with its 4 times defensive bonus.

[jdsrae]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Oh, and while I'm here, there're two other regiments about whose third is somewhere off in the SRA, and whose additional components don't arrive for some time (30th ID[?]). I usually use these to aid my eastern forces as well. Just make sure you 'buy' them out to the cheapest way to recombine the division when all components are present. That is of course if you wish to recombine. IIRC these too are located somewhere in Korea.

These 2 regts are in central China but are lower down my list to buy out as the other components arrive about mid 43.
They will help clear rear areas for about a year and form as a Division before moving out.
I use an excel spreadsheet with every unit in it to organise myself before issuing orders in game.
First turn is a beast, but in a month or so of game time I should be able to enter orders within an hour.

I can’t buy out 52,53,54 Divisions for a while so I might prep them for a deception target somewhere believable like Colombo, Perth or Alaska in the hope that allied sigint spots that too.

[rustysi]

and the other replacement city.

Is there one? If so, anyone know which one?

[RangerJoe]

Chengtu, the other built up city in the central plains in China. Right next to the mountains.

This thread explains the fun of attacking a built up city:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... 2&#4686945

[jdsrae]

I finished IJN land unit orders last night and about half the reshuffle of starting task forces.
I will continue tonight and try to finish creation of all the day 2+ follow up invasion task forces to start them loading.
Current plan is for three prong assaults on Malaya and Luzon, supported by a few day 1 landings Sarawak / NW Borneo.

I’m undecided on Mersing, do I go all in on day 1 at the risk of losing a few ships or hold back a few days until land based air cover can fly from Kota Bahru and Kuantan, and I can better organised surface forces? The problem is if I wait the allies could concentrate too.

Current setup is a day 1 Mersing assault, with plenty of surface cover to counter Force Z. LRCap still to be set but it could be low level KB Zeros or I will see if land based Zeros have the legs, main threat I see are the low and slow UK torpedo bombers.

Looking at the Admirals and Captains again, quite a few are on my list to replace but I cant afford to do them all now.
Some CV Captains in particular have awful naval skills, so I assume they are a danger to themselves and other ships around them...

[jdsrae]

7 Dec 41 Orders
Minister of War
• Manpower – turned off repairs. A large chunk of the 30k that starts will be spent on industry expansion, with more on day 2.
• Heavy Industry – turned off repairs. The HI start pool will cover my planned industry expansion
• Light industry – turned off repairs.
• Refineries – turned off repairs
• Oil wells – turned off repairs
• Resources production – turned off repairs
• Armament factories – turned off repairs. Swapped 180 to vehicle factories to leave 440. I haven’t tested this vs the AI beyond 1942 so I will need to watch this pool.
• Vehicle factories – expand all that start to size 40, plus 180 from armaments for 420 total vehicle factories. This is based on me running short of vehicles in mid-1942 in my last game vs the AI when the IJA Armoured Divisions arrived. I still want to upgrade tanks as new models arrive but I will try to use less Motorised Support squad replacements.
• Engines – setup as many factories as Supply allows. Finish next turn.
• Aircraft – setup as many factories as Supply allows. I have slightly reduced my production of Zeros and Oscars from my most recent game vs the AI, but I will be happy for a bit of over-production of these models early to try and relegate Claudes and Nates to training duty asap. With the US Pacific Fleet likely to remain intact by 8 Dec, I might need decent numbers of these planes to counter possible aggressive allied moves in the opening months.
• Aircraft Research – setup as many factories as Supply at each base allows.
• Naval Shipyards – increased by 16 to 1400. Still to do: adjust shipbuilding
• Merchant Shipyards – mothball 27 to leave 780 operating. Still to do: adjust shipbuilding
• Repair Shipyards – Tokyo expanded to 50 for future CS to CVL conversions before I forget to do it.
• Industry supply availability – set to 7k+ in each city that needs it so about 20k pools at each one until industry is repaired, being double the 10k required. Set Maebashi & Gifu to 10k+ as they have more factories to expand on turn 2. Once industry expansion has finished at each city I will remove the toggle. To find the bases quickly, in the industry screen I filtered on Arms/Vehs/Eng/Air/RDAir/SYs and sorted by base. Clicking on the base name brings up the industry screen to make the supply toggle, and closing it takes you back to the industry summary page to go to the next base.
• Oil stockpiles – Capture more sources and get it home. Convoy task force organisation will be summarised under IJN Logistics Fleet operations later.
• Resources stockpiles – Start moving the large starting stockpiles in Hokkaido, China, Manchukuo and Korea. More sources will be captured in time.
• Fuel stockpiles – Capture more sources and get it home for industry, leaving some in Area Fleet locations for local use. After about April 1942 the priority for fuel usage will be #1 Industry, #2 Convoy ops to supply Industry, #3 ASW and local patrol operations to protect convoy routes, #4 Submarine Force to target major allied shipping lanes away from allied ASW assets, #5 1st Fleet operations to seek and destroy allied capital ships.
• Supplies – The main islands of Japan generate about 20k supply per day. I plan to use way more than that for the first few months on industry expansion. This is one thing I did test in my last AI game and I didn’t run out of supply, but to achieve it I will minimise export from Japan for the first few months until the industry expansion use starts to stabilise. Then in about March 1942 I will start to send a few manual supply out/resource back task forces. Operations in Luzon, Malaya and China have decent starting supply stockpiles but I will monitor this closely.

The attached image is what the war is all about for Japan. Keep the import rates above the deficits per month to keep the factories pumping out aircraft and ships, while also trying to build a Fuel and Supply stockpile for operations around the map.

IJA and IJN General Staff Orders summaries to follow before I send the turn in a few days time.

[RangerJoe]

I would reconsider shutting off repairs to HI, LI, and oil if they need repairs. In fact, you might want to expand some LI in Fusan to increase the resource demand so more would be available for shipment to the Home Islands. You might want to expand more HI and LI in Manchuria, Korea, and China since there are no VPs to be lost if they are bombed.

Do refineries produce supplies in this game? That might make a difference.
edit: I just saw that it is Scenario 1 so they do produce supplies.

You might want to include Hokkaido and even Sakhalin in the resource and oil considerations for the Japan Economic Region even though they do need to be shipped in.

[jdsrae]

Thanks joe, I’ll check but I think the only oil/HI/LI that starts damaged is on the front line in China so it will stay no repairs until the front line moves forward.
I’ve never invested supply into HI or LI expansion before. I’ll ponder that today at work. As HI has a 500 day payback it might get some, but LI I don’t think so. GEN Hata will be needing a lot of supply for China ops now, not in 1000 days time. And if I haven’t won before day 1000 I don’t think a little bit more supply will save me...

For my “economic regions”, they are defined by the coastlines so Hokkaido and Sakhalin are separate to Japan proper and each other.
I have one of those models for each region which I used to figure out the export rates required to move the starting stockpiles plus the daily production.

I didn’t quite finish all ship orders last night but made a big dent in it. All combat task forces are set.
Tonight I will clear the last few bases of merchants to move to their reorg ports and set the few starting auxiliaries, then it will be submarine orders.
I still haven’t touched an air group yet!

[rustysi]

and then have to try and kill them in heavy urban with its 4 times defensive bonus.

OK, but both replacement cities are light urban, not heavy.

[rustysi]

The problem is if I wait the allies could concentrate too.

Yup, given the opportunity I'd jump on day one and take the losses. KB LRCAP does sound like a sound tactic.

[rustysi]

Armament factories – turned off repairs. Swapped 180 to vehicle factories to leave 440.

Oh, that doesn't sound like a good idea. I'd leave the armaments factories alone. I might shut some off later for various reasons, but you're gonna need all 620, and possibly then some, for the 'end game'. Losses will be high, and you'll need all the devices you can get. Remember swapping these sites out, they start 'damaged' and need to repair. That's 180k supply. Better spent elsewhere.

Vehicle factories – expand all that start to size 40, plus 180 from armaments for 420 total vehicle factories.

I think this is faulty as well. Yes, gradually expand all Veh sites to 40, but that's it. The 420 total seems way too high. Don't know what you did to think you need this much, but... At 250 (I'll stop at 240 in my next game) I have 52K+ plus Veh points in Jun '43, and I've upgraded all to the best current tank, except for a few regiments in China where they don't need to be the 'best'.

BTW I've got that 52k Veh points and now have 125 points in Veh turned off for quite some time. Again I believe I'll need the rest for the 'end game'.

If you don't believe me go the the general section and post a thread as to what others think. I say this because not all may be reading this AAR.

[rustysi]

Repair Shipyards – Tokyo expanded to 50 for future CS to CVL conversions before I forget to do it.

[rustysi]

Set Maebashi & Gifu to 10k+ as they have more factories to expand on turn 2.

Careful, I think one of these cities will experience 'spoilage' as its base is too small to have that much supply. I like to build up the base before hand. Its not much loss, but as Japan I don't like to 'waste' supply. Of course its your call. I just wanted you to be aware in case you weren't.

[rustysi]

China have decent starting supply stockpiles

Heavy ops, and modest industry expansion will quickly exhaust these in China. You may need to bring in modest resup convoys from day one. I do, as I've found in my games that I've run low on supplies in the region. For me its generally 2 or 3 convoys of about 10-15k. Of course those convoys return with resources, which help alleviate the deficit in the HI until the big guys get running.

[rustysi]

You might want to expand more HI and LI in Manchuria, Korea, and China

Don't forget Formosa. She has way more resources than LI, and as I've always said its cheaper to transport supplies than resources.

You might want to include Hokkaido and even Sakhalin in the resource and oil considerations for the Japan Economic Region

If you don't already know, these are a must. Also a region that may expand industry somewhat. Just not too much HI as they have no source of fuel. OTOH, ship out their oil and ship in a bit of fuel for their HI. One of the few areas where tankers are loaded both ways.

[rustysi]

but I think the only oil/HI/LI that starts damaged is on the front line in China so it will stay no repairs until the front line moves forward.

No, the only site that starts damaged in a campaign game is Miri. So plan on getting lots of supply there to repair the oil. About 150k is needed over time. Forget the refinery.

[rustysi]

I’ve never invested supply into HI or LI expansion before. I’ll ponder that today at work. As HI has a 500 day payback it might get some, but LI I don’t think so. GEN Hata will be needing a lot of supply for China ops now, not in 1000 days time. And if I haven’t won before day 1000 I don’t think a little bit more supply will save me...

Ah, very short sighted, Jimsan.[:D]

Big picture...

Each 'local' (NRA, Korea, Manchukuo, China, Formosa) region has a surplus of resources, and the HI has a deficit. There're are enough resources in the local area to offset the home deficit, and then some. Find the needs and expand the industries in the local areas to absorb the remaining surplus resources. I've done it roughly, and made some notes, which I've no idea of where they are now. Need to find them before my next game.

This will produce some more supply in these local regions for local consumption, and possibly some for export. Cheaper to transport supply. Saving fuel your main need.

Tah dah.[:D]