EA Damian(J) V Nemo(A) "Renaissance"

[n01487477]

As far as China goes the number of Chinese troops is, I think, quite accurate insofar as these things are possible to accurately gauge BUT the freedom with which the Chinese commander can employ them isn't. Many "Armies" really were forces commanded by warlords which simply weren't going to move from from this guy's base. They certainly weren't going to be able to operate in a co-ordinated manner with other forces from other regions as freely as is shown here.

Yeah, Big B and I talked about this sometime ago and it is something hard to replicated in Witp. I wonder of it wouldn't be better to just have a lot of them static until attacked like in BB1.4.(I don;t know how he achieved this but it was more realistic --- still what am I complaining about, I'm enjoying this mod!)

6/1~9/1/42 Balikpapan & Palembang
Launching and co-ord one large scale and one medium scale invasion to coincide roughly at the same time is a difficult undertaking..

On the 8th, my forces went ashore at Balikpapan, while out to sea 3-4 ASW patrols tried to play catchup with the Russian subs moving toward Java.I've been getting some hits, but these slippery eels are more resilient than can be imagined.

My other large armada is hanging off Palembang ready to unleash hell, only delayed by the numerous SS sightings and a hint by Michael of mines and other nasties. I sent in some A6M2's to strafe some sighted PT's, they did a good job, but unfortunately I lost some PT's which were also sent, to mines.

Meanwhile the last of my available Inf Div reached Nanchang on the 8th, I set a deliberate attack for the 9th against 100K+ troops and scored a 2-1, making his Divisions leave.[&o]

Ground combat at Nanchang [C China]

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 122224 troops, 1955 guns, 359 vehicles, Assault Value = 3183
Defending force 46564 troops, 657 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2391

Japanese max assault: 3359 - adjusted assault: 1494

Allied max defense: 2290 - adjusted defense: 518
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
7093 casualties reported
Guns lost 230
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
1604 casualties reported
Guns lost 50

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

So all in all a satisfying day, although the real test is about to come as I land on Palembang and encounter all the hell and fury the Allies can muster.

[ny59giants]

Mines are my friend....Mines are my friend...Mines are my friend!![:D]
Now, we start to see those contrails in the sky and realize that your fighters cannot reach that high. B-17s rule!!

600 Chinese Rifle squads per month. I'll just pause and reload.

[n01487477]

10/1/42
A day of general frustration as ASW patrols failed to find targets and commanders countermanded orders ...[:@]

SC off Palembang ...

PT KM # TM-5, Shell hits 61, and is sunk

High Level bombing did little damage, but what happens when he amasses 200+ LB to bomb the crap out of me...nothing I can do to reach his forces with until the Shinden ...

[Nemo121]

Well you actually quite a few planes which are able to reach the B-17s. I count 6 which would be suitable.
 
Ki-43 II - January 43.
Ki-219 Uhu September 43.
N1K1 George - January 44.
ki-93 Steve August 44
Ki-100 December 44.
J7W1 Shiden January 45
J9M1 Stan March 45.
 
So, basically, you can protect yourself a little from January 1943 but from January 44 the B-17s simply won't be able to survive anymore.
 
It should be noted that NOTHING the Japanese can put on carriers is capable of intercepting B-17s flying at maximum altitude so, theoretically, even with only a 2% hit rate per bomb dropped IF you can mass enough B-17s for naval attacks at 32,000 feet you should actually get enough hits to make it worthwhile on an attritional basis.

[n01487477]

Nemo, I stand corrected, I did a quick search on Tracker and was stupid enough not to look at the relevant data...somehow I've opened my mouth again without thinking ... must be the summer heat, frying my brain[8|]

B-17D alt is 33,300 ft the E & G are around 32,000+



Still waiting until '43 is a long time in the firing line... but thanks again for keeping me on the straight and level.

[Nemo121]

Aye, January 43 is a long way away but Japan can't get it all its own way . In EA Japan gets enough things in its favour that I put in a few little counterweights to help the Allies.

[n01487477]

11~12/1/42 Muntok Landing (1 hex East of Palembang)

Decidedly tired of mines and SS's and the unreliable effort of the 4ASW TF's sent to sink the 4-5 SS's I could see near Palembang, I decided to land at Muntok. Those ASW patrols with 6-8 DD's and APD's were not very effective, maybe I need to take more care with Leaders and crew experience before I think I can just barrel roll in and cause a lot of damage to my unseen nemesis.

Received a large group of new lcu's, they are all assigned to Home Defence, except for the 6th Hikodan going to Shanghai. I'm on the bare minimum of PP's, to bring most of them into the field, but thankfully they are all filled out and ready to rock-n-roll.


This cost me about 31K Manpower, 6K Arm & 1K Vehicles ...

Also made a run at Petropavlovsk, with a BB bombardment, thankfully it has caused a bit of damage ... will decide if the Northern forces will invade in the next week or so.

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Nomad: 4 destroyed
I-16 Type 24: 4 destroyed

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Toyota
DD Nenohi
DD Shiratsuyu
CL Yura
BB Yamashiro
BB Ise
BB Nagato


Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 46

[n01487477]

13~14/1/42 Muntok captured and marching troops to Palembang

Now I understand why I'm not sinking many subs, I-5 loitering off the West coast is hit 9 times by an ASW patrol ... her System damage and floatation are in the 30's, must take a hell of a lot to sink these bastards with depth charges. So all I've been doing is damaging a whole heap of Allied SS's with my ASW TF patrols. Although I have been pretty heavy on the LB search and ASW air component, maybe if I want to sink them, I need to rely more on this aspect ... a bomb or a torp must be better than Dcharges ... I'm going to test this assumption. FYI - 19 Allied subs now sunk.

[*]Muntok is captured and my troops are inching toward Palembang ... will get there in 3 Days.
[*]Michael captures Inchang (C China), but my troops hold on in that city, with nowhere to flee they are surrounded and without hope of relief. Couldn't airlift them to safety at anytime in the last 10 Days ... Is there a restriction in China ?
[*]Large scale construction of HI facilities continues ... I have already dotted HI repairing where there is available Oil and Res ... this turn I went back to Japan and all my small HI plants got a doubling. Construction crews and supplies are en route.
[*]Borneo Oil fields were taken mostly intact, but might take a while to fully repair ... I'm in no real rush to do this, my priority is HI construction
[*]Thinking about upgrading my APD's to DD's (no cargo capacity and ASW 2->4), Is this wise? I'm unsure, but will do it anyway.
[*]Ground crew are being loaded for Balikapapan,, with this Lvl 4 airfield the skies over Java will be mine.
[*]I have 50+ ships with Sys Dam above 15, 10 of which have float damage ... below a list of sunk

[n01487477]

15~17/1/42 Sydney Attacked & Petropavlovsk invaded

Talk about taking a walk on the wild side ... Michael is confused by my strategy, or most likely lack of strategy ...

I guess he was probably expecting me to use my BB's "down under" in combination with the CV attacks. Or maybe going after Alaska ...

Guess I have a lot to learn, and maybe a bit more time without programming Tracker but with the Sir Robin strategy firmly in play ... I'm not going to head for SF with KB, which has been pretty useless up until this point...

There will be time enough in upcoming battles when they can win their stripes.

Day Air attack on Sydney [Australia] , at 38,125

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 9
D3A2 Val x 49
B5N2 Kate x 63

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 6 destroyed, 14 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 6, on fire
DD Bulmer, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Perth, Bomb hits 3
CL Danae, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD John D. Edwards, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Stuart, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Paul Jones, Bomb hits 1, on fire
MSW Wollongong, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
ML Bungaree, Bomb hits 1
DD Edsall, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Port hits 7
Port supply hits 1

NB** no torpedo strikes ??

[bbbf]

CHina Expeditionary Forces are restricted - so not available to transport by any means.
 
Torpedos and Kates on port attack are a die roll - so you either didn't make the roll or you were at extended range.  Were they dropping the 800 kg monsters?

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: n01487477

15~17/1/42 Sydney Attacked & Petropavlovsk invaded

Talk about taking a walk on the wild side ... Michael is confused by my strategy, or most likely lack of strategy ...

Sometimes that's the best approach -- ensures you're not being predictable.

I guess he was probably expecting me to use my BB's "down under" in combination with the CV attacks. Or maybe going after Alaska ...

Guess I have a lot to learn, and maybe a bit more time without programming Tracker but with the Sir Robin strategy firmly in play ...

[:)]

I had a comment about your unpredictable approach to programming, but... well, I guess I just made it.
[;)]

[n01487477]

18~19/1/42 Lull before the Storm

China Expeditionary Forces are restricted - so not available to transport by any means.

Thanks for the confirmation bbbf, good to see a fellow Ozzie on the Forums.

Torpedos and Kates on port attack are a die roll - so you either didn't make the roll or you were at extended range. Were they dropping the 800 kg monsters?

Picture confirms said Monsters ...[:D]

I must admit, I hate taking out Australian shipping... but I resign myself with knowing it had to be done! All's fair in Love and War ... actually aren't they the same?

Otherwise the last two days, have just been troop movement days, with Air attacks on Singapore, and then Palembang ... Michael is moving around LB, I'm following but still his forces sank DE Hashidate,MSW RTN Chao Phya & a small AP, plus severely damaging a few more. He's probably wondering why I'm no longer protecting my shipping ... it's because I have no more incoming convoys / troops. Time to switch the axis of attacks pretty soon ?

Anyway, thanks Floyd, you know I'm a kid in a Candy Store sometimes!

[edit] Lastly, the numbered MSWs seem to respawn, but the MSW I lost 2 days ago hasn't ... Is this a mod design?

[n01487477]

20/1/42 - Do Over ...
Michael asked for a do over for the 19th, due to a/c replacement issues. I'm pretty much willing to do this anytime, as long as not too much is happening or if it is, then there is a pretty good reason and he will make the same moves.

This is a pretty friendly game and although we don;t share too much intel, we do talk fairly candidly about technical or strategic issues. And as you can see this AAR is still open to Michael ... Is is a good idea? I'm not sure, whether to close it and reveal more to readers or keep it light and breezy with events discussed on a surface level ...

What do you guys think ?

Anyway, I've finally landed at Port Moresby, from what I can tell Michael was caught completely unaware, he withdrew his Patrol planes some time ago. Actually I was hoping that he would see this TF earlier, and move a/c north, at about the same moment I was going to attack Sydney. But in the end it mattered little as Sydney was caught pretty much unaware too ... due to a few days of bad weather. Love or hate the Adv weather setting, it can work for you at times.

Troops finally ferried across to Palembang and paratroopers landed at Djambi [Sumatra], to halt one source of retreat ... I actually hate troops moving inland and staying there for the rest of the war. I'd rather like to take some time and surround this lot.

Attacking Russia is creating a lot of headaches. I have hardly enough troops to take Singapore, remain viable in China, or even think about moving through the Philippines. At this rate MacArthur might not have to leave on the last boat out... Although if I can capture enough of Russia in the next two months, then it won't matter too much.And the good news is that in the next 30 Days I will get significant troops to help in this and my other endeavours.

I hope Iman will fall in the next 5-10 days and then North to the HI rich cities.

My initial planning made me think I could cut off Singapore early and hence I used less troops than is now necessary. Maybe I was being a little cautious, waiting for CVE/CVL escorts to protect my conveys going to Mersing, now it's coming back to bit me. The loss of many AK/AP's now seem acceptable, considering I calculate I don;t have enough to take Singapore yet...

All for now ... I'll talk about the planned attacks later.

[n01487477]

You guys don't have this functionality yet ... but I'm testing it (as you can see it's rough and not working properly) and thought I'd discuss my HI expansion.

Early on it became very apparent that HI is and will continue to be a nasty, big problem in this game. Especially as I need about 16K HI per turn to operate at full capacity... So I decided to dot HI all over the place initially, especially at bases with Oil and Resource Centres. AT present I have 42 Bases expanding HI, and as you can see I've just expanded considerably particularly with small HI centres on the Home Islands.

So far I've repaired (320) & captured(80) HI Centres for a grand total of 500 ... this will slow now, as I've basically repaired all the small bases and will have to wait for more supplies to complete what I need in Japan.

[edit] Michael this is not an invitation to attack [:D]

[ny59giants]

The do over is a one time thing. I've learned my lesson and will keep at least 16 planes in the replacement pool for Hurricanes and any other plane that I have too. It seems kind of strange to have to do this, but this was the first (and hopefully last time) this game "mechanism" bites me in the a**.  [:D]

Port Moresby is indefensible and not worth the effort. If you decide to come and visit "family" that is another issue. [:-]

Malaya requires the Allies not to leave all 3 brigades at Kota Bhura and allow bombardment TF and a successful attack to make them combat ineffective. I start to retreat some of them back towards Singapore on day one. There is a mtn hex two hexes away and a good place for a defensive stand, but your landing required them to not stop there. I also moved the 2 brigades out of Singapore to hold your troops from blocking my line of retreat from the north. I've played the Allies once or twice before. [;)]

Note to Allied CNO (me) - send ALL 4e bombers to Russia to bomb the crap out of all his HI in the Home Islands.

[n01487477]

Thought I'd do a do over as well ... second bites are usually never so sweet! Now to turn tail and run! Although I think port attacks where there are Repair Facilities are usually useless, I'm making an exception this time ... I want to cripple some of his fleet in this region...at least for a little while.

Allied Ships
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Danae, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Whyalla, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
ML Bungaree, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Edsall, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Toowoomba, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

In other news at Iman ... (Soviet Union)...look at the losses[X(]

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 197077 troops, 2901 guns, 1467 vehicles, Assault Value = 4783
Defending force 35829 troops, 591 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1236

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese max assault: 4640 - adjusted assault: 2017

Allied max defense: 1271 - adjusted defense: 1617

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Japanese ground losses:
5124 casualties reported
Guns lost 168
Vehicles lost 17

Allied ground losses:
423 casualties reported
Guns lost 21

[Nemo121]

Bah, those are light losses. You have to pay the toll to walk the road. [8D]

My advice to you is to look at your adjusted AV. It is atrocious. I would go through your leaders and replace them with high land and aggression rating leaders ASAP. Also high inspiration will help your low morale units. I you replace your leaders I think you could easily double that AV and that'd make a huge difference.

If you assume that 1/2 of those losses occur to your actually infantry squads and each squad has about 10 men you are looking at about 250 disabled squads ( or the guts of a division ). But with 4800 AV present you have the guts of 16 divisions in that hex. So, 250 divided by 16 = 16 squads ( roughly ). So, each of your divisions is only losing about 5% of its combat ability from that attack and will recover a bit by tomorrow.

Sure, over time it builds up and one or two of your units will take most of those losses ( and become combat ineffective sooner ) but overall those losses aren't that bad.

[n01487477]

Honestly Nemo I've started to do that slowly, then due to my almost 0 PP's caused by an influx of new troops I stopped... they have almost all been shipped out now!

But next turn I will have enough to change my Leaders here and elsewhere.. maybe I should have made this more of a priority, but as always I'm looking to move troops from x to y quickly.

[Nemo121]

Aye, it's all about choices, there's never enough to do everything.

I offer the following for you to think about though - and with the acceptance that there's never a right or wrong, just different ways to try to reach a given end-point :

1. A division of 300 AV costs roughly 900 PP to buy out from the Home Defence Army.. That's 3 PP per AVs

2. If you have a CO with 50 Land Experience and swap him out for a 70 Land experience you can increase the adjusted AV of another division from 150 adjusted AV up to 210 adjusted AV. The MOST a CO will cost is 9 PP. So right there you get 60 AV ( adjusted - which is what counts in battle ) for just 9 PP. That's 7 AV per PP

3. The latter method is, theoretically, 20 times more cost-effective for highering your adjusted AV.

Obviously in reality with various other bits and pieces coming into play you won't get 20 times the efficiency from the choice I've outlined but even if it only works half as well in practice it is still 10 times as efficient in raw adjusted AV terms.

I'll point out four other major benefits:
1. You don't have to supply more troops at the front lines since you are just making the troops already there more effective ( this cuts down the strain on your logistics which is a key consideration when playing a Japan).

2. You don't have to tie up shipping to bring these fresh formations into battle thousands of miles from Japan.

3. the benefits of the changes to leaders are apparent the next day. By the time you ship formations from Japan whatever battlefield they are going to will have been in action for 1 to 2 further weeks.


Lastly, by maximising AV using leadership changes it allows you to commit those troops elsewhere along another axis, complicating the enemy's strategic problem and maintaining your freedom of movement for as long as possible. Once when I was discussing strategy with someone we were discussing how one could determine which side was going to win a battle based on a simplified account of the battle. My interlocutor felt that if one knew the strengths of the two sides, which side had the initiative, qualities of the general etc etc one could determine the winner most of the time. I felt that one could determine the winner with far less information than that. I thought back to Temujin and realised that every one of his battles had basically been determined by his committment of reserves AFTER his enemy had committed theirs. This pattern holds true throughout history more often than not. Tell me nothing about the battle except who committed his reserves last ( or did not commit them at all ) and I will show you the victory ( most of the time . Its strategy, not magic and fortune-telling ).

Anyways, by maximising the efficiency of each soldier at the schwerpunkt you can hasten the creation of such a reserve and be in position to commit these previously uncommitted forces in pursuit of a critical weakness after a less efficient enemy has been forced to commit his reserve against your schwerpunkt ( a critical temporality ).

E.g. In my game vs 2nd ACR I've got over 3 divisions in the Home Islands formed up with an Army HQ ready to be committed to action along a previously dormant strategic axis in order to force 2ndACR to rob his echelons facing my schwerpunkt of the combat power they need to succesfully resist it.


Apologies for hijacking the thread. Efficiency of force utilisation is just one of my bug bears [:D]

[n01487477]

Nemo, you can hijack the thread at any time when it is this kind of information ... lots of food for thought here. I've looked at my Leaders in the previous turn and determined a better mix ... still I was wondering if rank plays a significant role. eg. A General and a Col have the same rating, are their points of equal value? I could not find an appropriate response on the forums threads about this ...

23/1/42 Iman falls as Soviet forces withdraw ...
[*]Day air attacks on Heiho by the Soviets continue ... despite air cover, my planes never really respond. This is part of the bug ...
[*]Japanese airfield bombing of Makassar,Batavia,Singapore, Hengchow, Tjilitjap & Clark Fields keeps the Allies somewhat suppressed for now.
[*]Fighting continues at Ichang,Petropavlovsk,Port Moresby,Singyang & Palembang, where the fort was reduced to 2.

Picture update coming soon ...