Aztez,
1. Far too many of those Zero units are on ESCORT and not training. Sure you might need a few to be providing ESCORT over Truk and one or two other crucial bases but, really, if you are mounting CAP over more than a few bases you are just delaying the time when you can actually mount an effective CAP map-wide. Remember half-measures are the enemy of effectiveness and if the last few days have shown anything it is that there's a risk of you reinforcing your CAP when it is attacked --- with the end result that losses increase as training decreases ( a lethal combination ).
Here's some rules I suggest you limit yourself to:
a) Don't send any fighters to the front/CAP until such time as their experience is over 80. Obviously when the time comes to tackle the Soviet Union you can drop this Exp requirement to 70 or so in order to get a temporary boost in numbers.
b) DOWNGRADE ALL FIGHTER SQUADRONS to Nates, Claudes and Oscar Is until such time as they hit 80 Exp. I've said it before but it just never seems to be implemented. If you have 500 Nates in reserve and lose 50 a month to training accidents you have lost NO front-line combat capability. On the other hand if you make 200 Tonys and Tojos and lose 50 per month to training accidents ( which can easily happen ) you have just lost ONE QUARTER of your monthly front-line combat capable planes to no gain. In addition this sort of rule makes it easy to keep track of which squadrons are available for committment. PLUS ( and this isn't an inconsiderable consideration ) it will help protect you from yourself since when you look at a 72 Exp squadron and think "I could commit that" you will have to upgrade it and let it repair its plane numbers --- which will take many days --- and this should rescue you from impulsively committing it.
c) You really shouldn't aim to have more than 1/3rd of your fighter squadrons operating at the front-lines. Two thirds should be training at any one time. This way you are goin to have a steady flow of 80 Exp pilots and I guarantee you that if you have 80+ Exp pilots in the best airframes available fighting defensive battles over their own airbases 90% of the time you are going to achieve a LOT more than having twice as many 60 to 70 Exp pilots being frittered away in mixed offensive/defensive missions.
In addition when the enemy really DOES make a maximum effort you can commit the better half of the training cadre ( 60 to 70 Exp ) to the battle and achieve the sort of numerical superiority which will negate his carrier air. Obviously this is only helpful if you can prevent his land-based air from becoming a major threat --- and right now it is... But that's why Sun Bin invented the concept of the limited offensive [:D]. First Kendari, then the other islands around the Celebes, Amboina and, lastly, the island containing Dili. Once that's done your first counter-offensive will be over. You'll hae to be quick though if you don't want him sailing his 4 CVs in to get into strike range.
d) IMO you only have two combat-capable squadrons in that entire list ( Chitose and 50th Fighter Sentai ) . All of the rest should be training in Nates and Claudes. Obviously in one month's time I can see that you would have about 200 IJA and IJN pilots in the 80+ Exp range. That won't be enough to knock the Soviet Union out of the war but, probably, by 1st November you will have the 500 to 600 x 80 Exp pilots and front-line planes you will need to deliver a couple of quick, cheap knock-out blows to the Soviet Union.
A word on the Soviet Air Force:
If CHS is anything like reality and stock/most mods it is going to give the Soviets replacement pilots with 40 to 50 Exp. Obviously the Soviet probably have several thousand pilots in reserve BUT what does that matter if those pilots are 40 to 50 Exp? Answer: It avails them little.
Because of the happy hunting ground you previously gave them the current crop of Soviet fighter pilots are going to be very experienced ( and their planes are excellent ) BUT once you cut the heart out of their current front-line squadrons you will be facing 40 to 50 Exp pilots and should be able to achieve massively favourable exchange ratios. So, shoot down the current Soviet fighter pilots and you will easily shoot down their replacements flying the vast numbers of reserve planes ( while the planes are good 40 Exp pilots will simply be easy kills ).
So, REALLY when you examine the Soviet front it comes down to your ability to destroy 600 or so experienced Soviet pilots who got experienced in shooting down all your Nates and Claudes. Once that's done ( and it'll be difficult ) you should be relatively easily able to maintain aerial superiority.
So, don't get mesmerised by numbers and airframes. Kill the current front-line pilots and don't let the Soviets train their replacements up with cheap and easy strikes and you will do very well. Prior to committment remind me to go over the tactical/technical realities and opportunities of the Soviet fighter planes with you.
In terms of KB:
So, about 590 plane slots on the CVs... Now imagine what a couple of mutually supporting KB TFs carrying 590 fighters could do to US strikes? Think you could destroy a month's USN pilot production in a day at little cost to your CVs in terms of succesful attacks? Yes, I'm sure you could. Even if you want to leaven your hangars with a small number of dive-bombers you can do so without risking too much. If you hadn't suffered the losses you just have it'd be much easier since you could maintain 600 fighters and 200 dive-bombers relatively easily and that'd be sufficient to really take on the American fleet face to face even into early 1944.
re: Bettys at Rabaul... Yes, precisely. Plane losses don't matter. Pilot losses matter ( and then only if they are experienced... 30 Exp pilots are simply not worth noticing when they die and 60 Exp pilots are only worth noticing as they COULD have become 80 Exp pilots. ).
Naval shipyards: I'd delay Musashi entirely and see if that helps build your naval shipyard points a bit. Right now you need DDs etc a bit more than Musashi [8D]
Overall though it is looking a lot better than it was a month ago. This is a major turn-around, only that unnecessary CV battle lessens the extent of the turn-around but its all a learning curve [;)]
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Hi Nemo,
Learning curve indeed...!!! ...That was a good one! [:D][:D][:D]
1. True. I already did decrease the number of fighters on escort missions. Just those that are on danger zones are still providing escorts. Basically I need to play it cool.
a) Agreed. There are just 2 squadrons of fighters with +80 exp. points.
b) Hmmm. I did misunderstand something. I did downgrade a lot of aircraft around the map. It did increase the pools quite nicely. I think you are correct in an sense that it is waste of aircraft.
If lets say 30 fighters are lost than that make 180 ac's in just 6 months.
c) True. I need to train my pilots way outside of frontlines. I intend to make Balikpapan one major training ground once Celebes is secured.
As for the rotation well cannot argue againts that logic either.
LBA is threat is the main concern. I cannot let Chuck to start using them effectively. The main concern area is Solomons... than comes Burma ...and maybe even DEI.
If we keep him outside the escort range of his fighters than we should be "ok". That is the way I feel anyway.
The operations at Celebes area are ongoing. I think Chuck is moving his US fleet towards North. IJN submarines was attacked by the an SBD Dauntless bombers north of New Caledonia! [:-]
d) Done. Quite a few Zero squadrons downgraded to Claudes.. same done for Nates.
Definately. I think early November might come too soon BUT maybe...!!!
Soviet Airforce
I cannot confirm about those replacement rates but I would think so.
Hmmm. Hopefully not more than 600 experienced pilots. I would it could high as 800-900!! Due to this "happy hunting" season in Russia.
I think we need anywhere between 500-800 fighters and 300-400 bombers to knock them out. This should be possible within Novermber/December time.
I think we start an flanking movement around Vladivostok. Personally I don't see why not??? I know Nemo is basically correct about the invasion of Suchan BUT I don't see any real possibilities to pull it off with the current situation. So, this would be the second best thing to do.
KB
Hmmm. Intresting, so basically you feel we should pull out those bombers from CV's and put just experienced fighters into them... hmmm... I like it and it makes sense since we should now operate under our LBA force. Thus making this an mobile striking force an very nice Idea! [;)]
I would love accelerate some carriers but it is not real possibility at the moment.
[:D] ...I want the monster Musashi... it just +50 days off so I really would líke to finish it. How about turning 1 Naval yard into gear again... most of them are stopped at the moment. DD's are need cannot argue againts it!
...definately looking much brighter now. I don't think Chuck has any ideas how strong we are steadily getting! [:)] ...and that is the way I like it. As much as this is game engine war it is also psychological warfare.
Game date is 15th of September 1942
DEI
IJN/IJA Operations around Celebes Day Air attack on Makassar , at 30,70
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
A6M3a Zero x 5
Ki-49 Helen x 130
Ki-48-II Lily x 21
Allied aircraft
no flights
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 2 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
93 casualties reported
Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 127
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 32,71
Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 3
B-24D Liberator x 13
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AP Fuso Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Harada Maru
AP Higashiyama Maru
AP Joban Maru
AP Yawata Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
62 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 34,72
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
G4M1 Betty x 10
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Tromp, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TF 19 encounters mine field at Kendari (33,71)
Japanese Ships
DD Hasu
DD Yudachi
DD Makigumo
DD Kazegumo
AK Kirikawa Maru, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TF 19 encounters mine field at Kendari (33,71)
TF 19 troops unloading over beach at Kendari, 33,71
Japanese Ships
DD Kuri
DD Hibiki
DD Yudachi
DD Makigumo
DD Kazegumo
AK Kirikawa Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ikushima Maru, Mine hits 1
DD Hasu
AK Keiyo Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
AK Taisho Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Manko Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kikukawa Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
DD Tsuga
AK Kehi Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
AK Kinjosan Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Cirebon Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
246 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Japanese ground losses:
1442 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TF 19 encounters mine field at Kendari (33,71)
TF 19 troops unloading over beach at Kendari, 33,71
Japanese Ships
DD Kuri
DD Yudachi
DD Makigumo
DD Kazegumo
AK Kirikawa Maru, Mine hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tsuga
AK Hino Maru #3, Mine hits 1, on fire
DD Hasu
AK Kirisima Maru, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Keiyo Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
DD Hibiki
AK Manko Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
194 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Japanese ground losses:
603 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TF 100 encounters mine field at Kendari (33,71)
TF 100 troops unloading over beach at Kendari, 33,71
Japanese Ships
MSW Yoshino Maru
MSW Toshi Maru #8
MSW Tamaura Maru
MSW W.14
MSW W.13
MSW W.12
MSW W.11
PG Shinko Maru #2
AK Hawaii Maru, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Izumo Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
PG Shosei Maru
AP Brazil Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
AP Hokuriku Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
AP Ayatosan Maru, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
AP Midori Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Kansan Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire
AP Awa Maru, Mine hits 1
Japanese ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Japanese ground losses:
5066 casualties reported
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Makassar , at 30,70
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 41
A6M3a Zero x 6
Ki-49 Helen x 136
Ki-48-II Lily x 21
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 2 damaged
Ki-48-II Lily: 1 damaged
Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 110
[8|] ...an good example how an effective minelaying can cause a lot of damage basically for free! Those Dutch minelaying units do become an asset later on as you can see. Also motivates me too to start putting up effective minefields around the map.
The good news is that a lot of the troops did land at Kendari. I didn't order an ground assault next turn so that the soldiers can "rest".
Also CL Tromp is definately now sunk. Not much but an cruiser is always an cruiser! [:)]
Other NEWS IJN Submarine was attacked by SBDDauntless North of New Caledonia. Chuck might be moving his US Carriers towards Celebes.
My intel also would indicate that he is moving more troops into Burma too.
Ok, two main topics for this post:
1. Production.
2. An example of an ideal fighter training/replacement system which you can choose to implement ( I strongly advise you to print this out as it is the most efficient way to actually accomplish replacements ( highest number of replacements in the lowest time possible ).
1. Production.
I've done some back of the envelope calculations as re: your production. You have 13,200 HI per turn.
Your airframe and aero-engine factories require some 1,920 HI per day ( 3200 x 18 HI = HI usage per month.... and then divide by 30 to get the HI usage per day ). Obviously its a bit lower as you aren't producing the 800 Mitsubishis per month = 15,000 per month = 500 per day. So, call it 1500 HI per day to allow for a bit of expansion of production in other engines and plane types.
Your armament and vehicle factories require 4,020 HI per day... So, in essence your ENTIRE ARMY requires only 4,020 HI per day in order to build replacement vehicles, AAA, infantry squads etc etc.
Your merchant and naval shipyards consume 13,164 HI per day. Compare that with your total HI of 13,200. Yes, essentially you have enough HI to afford a navy but nothing left over for planes or army.
Now, let's look at this in terms of efficiency. Musashi requires 185 naval points per turn to continue building. 185 x 6 = 1,110 HI PER DAY ( or ONE TWELFTH of your economy). However you were accelerating it so you have to TRIPLE that cost. So Musashi was costing you 3,330 HI PER DAY or ONE QUARTER OF YOUR ENTIRE WAR ECONOMY [X(][X(][X(][X(] .
Let's put it another way... Your war economy was so inefficient that Musashi was consuming DOUBLE the HI per day that your ENTIRE aerial building/replacement programme was consuming. Ask yourself this... Would you rather have Musashi or double the monthly production of Tonys, Tojos and Zeroes? Do you think Musashi, on its own, is worth as much as 600 front-line fighters PER MONTH????
Now, I'm sure that now you're going, "Hell no, I never realised it was that expensive." and that's ok since I think most people never actually figure out Japanese production but once you figure it out it makes all the strategic choices you have very plain and easily figured out. As it is IF you want Musashi then you can have it. Here's what you should do.
a) Your total HI usage with everything turned on is about 19,200 HI per day... or 6,000 more than you actually have per day. In a stroke of good fortune if you turn off your Merchant Shipyards you will save 6,030 HI PER DAY and will pretty much balance your HI production and expenditure and can have Musashi if you want. You have enough merchant shipyard surplus to cover you for at least 2 months of merchant production and Musashi should come along in 50 days so you can rebalance things once Musashi is produced and avoid a collapse of your merchant building programme.
b) In terms of prioritisation you need to prioritise CVEs and CVLs. Accelerate the ones which can be ready for combat within 90 days ( so any of them which are less than 200 days out )and halt production of Musashi and other ships ( I would recommend halting the subs at the moment as they are relatively expensive and you shouldn't miss them too much over the next few months ) until you can build the CVEs and CVLs. Once they are building if you can create a surplus of over 185 naval shipyard points per turn then begin building Musashi and have your vanity project.
So, basically, turn off your MERCHANT shipyards and leave everything else on. You should see a SMALL HI increase per day. At the moment prioritise CVEs and CVLs and continue cutting production until your naval shipyard points are going up by over 185 PER DAY. When they are you can restart Musashi. If you find that you have to stop too much in order to have Musashi then maybe you shouldn't produce it?
Your economy is no longer a basket case and you are actually building enough of the right stuff now to be competitive - a MASSIVE change from one month ago. The next area for us to focus on in your thinking is on using that production as efficiently as possible.
So, let's look at how you can set up a training programme which works well and maximises your fighter power....
Firstly we need to examine underlying assumptions...
1. Training units should only ever have the oldest planes possible.
2. It takes approximately 3 months to train pilots to 80 Exp using ground attack missions.
3. Withdraw and Disband are inefficient as they mean that a squadron using these orders to push its pilots into a front-line unit will have either 60 or 90 days in which it can do NO training. In essence it can train one class of new pilots only every 6 months.
4. It is HIGHLY unlikely that pilots will be killed on the ground by Allied bombing. Sure, bombing will kill a few but not many in the greater scheme of things.
So, how would I suggest you organise things?
We are going to assume you only need one first line squadron and have two squadrons around for training purposes. Lets label then 1st Fighter Sentai and Training A and Training B to keep things simple. We are also going to assume that over time Training A gets into a situation where it has been training for about 6 weeks by the time Training B receives a new draft of pilots so Training A is full of 55 Exp pilots ( half-way between 30 Exp--- what they start with--- and 80 Exp ---- which is our goal ) when Training B has a new batch of 30 Exp pilots.
As Training B and A train up they will lose planes to OPS losses. Always replace these planes so that all pilots always have a machine available to them. What do you do about the lost pilots? Well, I would argue that adding a new pilot to a unit of 26 pilots who have 70 Exp will simply mean that when they hit 80 Exp you will have 26 x 80 Exp pilots and 1 x 40 Exp pilot. That 40 Exp pilot is just a casualty waiting to happen. Personally I would suggest that you not add any new pilots once the average experience has increased past 50. That way your worst case scenario will be that an average Exp of 80 will mean only a couple of 60 Exp pilots ( who may even survive and do well against the Allies ). It isn't all about numbers, its about numbers of quality pilots.
Ok so on Week 1 of our example we have 1st Fighter Sentai on the front lines in a quiet area with little enemy activity. Training A is 55 Exp and Training B has just taken a new draft of pilots and is 30 Exp.
On Week 6, 1st Fighter Sentai has taken 2 Ops losses and is down to 34 pilots and 34 Tonys with an average experience of 80 but otherwise nothing much happened in its area. Training A has 30 pilots flying 30 Nates ( out of an ideal max of 36 pilots... ops losses were pretty heavy obviously and exceeded the 10% figure you should see if you have 0 range or 1 range ground targets for your ground attack missions ) with an average experience of 80 while Training B has 36 pilots flying 36 Nates with an average Exp of 55 ( and has now passed the limit where we no longer add new pilots to the squadron to replace ops losses).
So, on Week 6 Training A is combat-capable and can be used to reinforce 1st Fighter Sentai. So, what do we do? Simple, we move Training A into a base just behind the front lines where American bombers are unlikely to strike, make sure we have 36 Tonys in our replacement pool and UPGRADE the squadron to Tonys ( which will result in 36 damaged Tonys sitting on the runway ). On Week 6 + 1 Day 1 or 2 of those Tonys will be repaired. Simply Fly that fragment away to another base ( that fragment defaults to be the Squadron Leader ). This will leave you with two fragments of Training A. The HQ fragment will comprise 1 or 2 Tonys in a base distant from the training base while the non-HQ fragment will comprise the rest of the squadron ( 28 Exp 80 Pilots and 28 Tonys ). Now pull 1st Fighter Sentai back to the base the 28 newly trained pilots in the NON-HQ fragment of Training A or based at and DISBAND Training As fragment into 1st Fighter Sentai.
This will leave 1st Fighter Sentai with 34+28 pilots = 62 pilots with an average Exp of 80 and 34 Ready Tonys and 28 Damaged Tonys. On this same day downgrade the 1st Fighter Sentai to Nates ( it will lose the 62 Tonys and gain 36 Nates) and then upgrade it immediately ( within the same day ) back to Tonys. Hey presto you will end up with a 1st Fighter Sentai comprising 36 Tony fighters ( all damaged but quickly repaired ) and 62 x 80 Exp pilots. Once the Tonys are repaired you can fly 1st Fighter Sentai back to the front lines where it will only have 36 fighters in the air BUT it will have a lot of reserve pilots on the ground and thus will be FAR better able to withstand Allied attritional tactics without having to be rotated out of the front line.
What happens to the HQ fragment of Training A? Well, once the non-HQ fragment merges into 1st Fighter Sentai Training A's HQ segment will become the parent unit ( it might take a day or so sometimes ) and can accomodate up to 36 pilots and planes. So, downgrade it to Nates again, fill it with 36 Nates and then draft in another crop of 36 x 30 Exp pilots and begin training them.
On Week 12 you can do the exact same thing with Training B. and assuming no losses ( there will be some to both Training B and 1st Fighter Sentai but for ease of the maths and the general point let's do it this way ) 1st Fighter Sentai will end up with 98 x 80 Exp pilots while Training A will have 36 x 55 Exp pilots and Training B will be filled with 36 x 30 Exp pilots the next day.
So, if you actually get a 3 month quiet period in the war you can triple your number of front-line 80 Exp pilots without requiring any additional squadrons or front-line planes ( since 2/3rd of your air force is flying crappy 1939 fighters since it is the training wing ). Obviously this sort of force I'm outlining ( heavy on pilots but with a small number of actual planes on the front lines ) is designed to defeat an Allied player who uses attritional strategies to grind down your fighter force ( a small number of heavy raids separated by many days) and is not as well suited to an Allied player who masses hundreds and thousands of planes to concentratedly and methodically attack a single base day after day. However there are two points to be made to that observation:
1. Most Allied players are as bad at concentration of force at the critical point for sufficient time to achieve decisive results as are most Japanese players.
2. If the enemy can devote 300 fighters to attack a base defended by a single Sentai then your entire deployment is so suspect that your problems are far deeper than what type of Allied attack strategy your training cadre is designed to be most effective against.
Also ctangus is an attritionist. I've read many of his posts and this AAR ( although not his ) and if you read it it is clear he has attrited you over time. He hasn't actually brought about any major massacres ( except the ones you gifted him by blundering into the Soviet Union [;)] ... He didn't create that though and that's important.).
So how would it work in practice? Well, at the strategic level war is almost all about numbers so let's look at it that way and assume that at all times squadrons on the front are given the best fighter possible etc etc.
The instant you have a quiet 3 months on the front ( and there will be many times a sector on the front goes quiet for 3 months ) you should be able to triple the pilot numbers of your front-line squadrons from 36 to 108 ( or from 27 to 81 if its IJN ). Then let's say that action resumes there over the next three months and every week a raid is launched which shoots down 12 of your planes and kills or wounds 6 of your pilots ( remember we are on the defensive so these pilots will be over your own base and thus have a good chance of being rescued ). In return since the enemy is fighting over our turf and against highly experienced pilots in front-line fighters who aren't fatigued + are backed up by FlAK we should be killing more of his planes than we are losing. Let's assume that we lose 1:1 for fighters and kill half as many bombers as we lose fighters ( 6 bombers ) - so 18 Allied pilots killed per raid.
Over the course of 3 months this front-line Sentai will lose 144 planes and 72 pilots. In essence it will have been wiped out 4 times in terms of plane losses and twice in terms of pilot losses. Those are VERY heavy losses. If Japan has 20 front-line fighter squadrons in key areas of the map (720 fighters ) ( with 40 squadrons training ) we are seeing the Allies shoot down 2,880 front-line Japanese fighters EVERY THREE MONTHS --- far heavier losses than you have currently suffered if you average your losses out since December 1941 ---- and killing 1,440 pilots EVERY THREE MONTHS. In return for this the Allies are losing about 4,300 planes and pilots ( that's almost 1,500 planes and pilots a month, a rate the Allies simply cannot afford in 1943 when given the number of replacement top-line fighters they have ). What have they gained for these losses?
Well at the end of 3 months the 1st Fighter Sentai will have lost 72 pilots but will have gained 72 pilots assuming no OPs losses. Obviously there will be OPs losses, let's assume 20% which is, IMO, about right. So, over the 3 months the 108 pilots in 1st Fighter Sentai will have lost 72 pilots but gained 58 pilots. So, for the loss of 4,300 / 20 ( divided by 20 because we are assuming 20 front-line fighter squadrons for Japan ) the Allies will have lost 215 planes and pilots over 3 months vs 1st Fighter Sentai in order to cut our PILOT RESERVE within that squadron from 108 pilots to 94 pilots. How much will this have reduced your combat potential? Well, it will have reduced it by 0% as you will still be able to put up 36 planes ( assuming you can build them ) and, in fact, your pilots will likely have more than 80 Exp as many will have become Aces over the previous 3 months.
Right now over the course of 3 months with the way you are organised the Allies would shoot down more of your planes, prevent you building any reserve and well before the end of the three months they would have aerial supremacy over most of the battlefield. BUT that's the past, above you see how a little bit of logistical thinking and planning to implement the right counter to the current Allied strategy can change things fairly easily.
Your main problem is that the Allies will just engage you all over the front and create losses you just can't sustain. So long as you only try to defend what is essential this setup above ( with a few modifications which will be required because of local conditions ) will allow you to withstand an Allied attritional strategy more effectively than any of the other rotational options. Obviously at various times the Allies may simply commit to point battles at a critical time and place and try to overwhelm you with numbers --- a strategy for which this replacement strategy is not the answer as no strategy is ever the answer to all possible enemy strategemes --- and when they do that that's when you bring the sledgehammer ( KB ) out and soak up all the pressure with a massive 600 fighter CAP of 80 Exp pilots which can pull the teeth out of any enemy strikes and take the pressure off your base long enough for you to organise an effective IJA fighter reinforcement of the base in question.
Obviously its all a bit more complicated than that and true operational art comes in judging the time for reinforcement and abandonment etc.
One last thing:
The ONLY important criterion for your training squadron leaders is Inspiration. The higher that is the more quickly the pilots learn. I, personally, think it is also nice to have high AIR SKILL but go for inspiration above all else. Why is this important to state? Well, if you look at which leaders have high INSPIRATION you'll find a lot of transport pilots among them. Fine, use these inspirational transport leaders to train your pilots and free up those rare but important high AIR SKILL and high AGGRESSION leaders for your front-line fighter squadrons.
Another benefit of having 1/3rd of your squadrons on the front-line and the rest training is that by heading up 2/3rd of your fighter squadrons with high INSPIRATION leaders ( mostly air transport, patrol and bomber ) you can free up the BEST ONE-THIRD of your high Inspiration, Air Skill and Aggression leaders for your fighter squadrons ( thus getting even better results from your pilots ).
Again this is another example of the efficiency I'm always banging on about. Get your best pilots into a small number of squadrons, concentrate the best planes into those squadrons and appoint the best leaders and those squadrons are going to perform well above their weight --- especially when you give them the easiest mission possible ( 90% CAP over their own base ). If you implement this properly your losses will plummet, your pilot reserve at the squadron level will rise and rise ( and when it hits 200 or so after 2 or 3 training cycles you might want to shift over to having a 50/50 split between training and front-line ) and Allied losses will skyrocket.
In terms of bomber training the same things apply although since bombers usually suffer lower losses you might want to go for a 1:1 mix between training and front-line.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
LOL! Its not that bad really. All it means is that every six weeks you move two squadrons, upgrade and downgrade a couple of times and do a disband. Once you are used to it it is second nature and given that it is only twice as complex as disbanding the full training squadron into the front-line squadron but gives you double the pilot training capability it is something WELL worth doing.
Counting all the bomber and fighter squadrons you might be doing this a max of once or twice a day in the game and compared to a lot of the micro-management going on that's not too bad at all given the benefit you receive.
In any case this is why it is much more difficult to play as Japan than the Americans - but also, potentially, more rewarding.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Nemo: [X(][:D] ...talk about an training program! Well, I will start implementing this once the next turn comes to inbox. Also I will go through fighter squadron leaders too and check that the training squadrons have an commander who has high inspiration rating!
As for Musashi.. [8|] ...well you cannot argue with the facts. Yes, I would definately have those top notch fighters, etc than 1 BB for the fleet which propably cannot alter much in the future battles. Than again those aircraft would benefit a lot!!!
Never actually fully understand how complicated the HI industry actually is and it seems very delicate balance to achieve full benefits. [:)]
I will definately accelerate those CVL's and CVE's within 200 days range. There ain't going to be many. Thankfully we can upgrade those 2 CS ships to CVL's soon.
Submarines have been somewhat useless. Playing with Japanese sub doctrine on isn't exactly an good idea.
Very good and detailed points you made. I can only imagine how helpful this kind of information is to any rookie Japanese players. I already can say that once I get the next IJN/IJA game going it will look a lot diffrent.
This is great fun though... due to the learning curve we have actually made this an epic struggle againts the evil allies! [:D]
Nemo: [X(][:D] ...talk about an training program! Well, I will start implementing this once the next turn comes to inbox. Also I will go through fighter squadron leaders too and check that the training squadrons have an commander who has high inspiration rating!
Uhh, you might want to check with Ctangus for his view on dot-bombing.
Japanese ground losses:
924 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Allied ground losses:
754 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
Good. Now I need to clean those other bases in this region.
We should hit beaches at Manado next turn and I don't think the base can hold on. (See screenshot)
Other NEWS
Russians seems to be reinforcing the Vladivostok fortress. Now some 170 000 men there. Good... Exactly how we want it. The flanking movement orders have been given and unless Chuck withdraws than there will be some 200 000 Russians trapped for good.
I did change all my squadron leaders for fighters... well.. a turn already showed results. It really seems that inspirational rating is VERY important when training pilots.
Also Musashi was halted plus quite a few of the oncoming submarines. This should help our economy even further.
Nemo:
Very good and detailed points you made. I can only imagine how helpful this kind of information is to any rookie Japanese players. I already can say that once I get the next IJN/IJA game going it will look a lot diffrent.
[font="Arial"]This is definitely me. aztez may get whipped, but I'm learning a LOT about this game just from reading this[/font] [;)]
timtom: Hi! What "DOT" training??? Nothing wrong here. Just regular air assaults againts enemy bases + ground units.
What are you implying?
The training program has been ongoing for weeks. It is just going intensify and become much more effective.
Dot-bombing = The deliberate, en masse, bombing of dot-bases [or other ill- or non-defended base] to fast-forward unit XP levels.
Some players might take exception to this practise, as, goes the arguement, gangbombing some Chinese outhouse does not Saburo Sakai make.
As the cliche goes, communication is the key to a succesful relationship - including that of ones WitP partner, I would think
Oh, basically you say I'am "cheating"... well well *how do I put this kindly*...this is the exact reason why Pauk stopped his AAR updating. (Which is very sad)
There are many monday night quartebacks around that no wonder a lot of the AAR's stop etc etc.
Haven't seen any of your "writings" floating around this sub forum?
Basically meaning that you do not have an clue how much time it actually takes to keep updating stuff like this only to see such an smart ass comment like the above.
...I'am fed up with these kind of remarks and implying comments... if you have something to say than say it.. if not than ##¤##¤....
As for the base bombing. Well, you don't exactly need to be rocket scientist to notice that on the combat replay, don't you think?
If he feels there is something wrong here than we discuss it --->
"As the cliche goes, communication is the key to a succesful relationship - including that of ones WitP partner, I would think "
No, really aztez...tell us how you really feel [:D]
Don't you dare quit this AAR! [:-] Pinheads such as myself learn SO much from threads like this[&o]
Oh, basically you say I'am "cheating"... well well *how do I put this kindly*...this is the exact reason why Pauk stopped his AAR updating. (Which is very sad)
Well, I certainly didn't mean to imply that. My apologies if I left you that impression. As an oldtimer you must be aware that that old warhorse "dot-bombing" isn't without controverse, though.
ORIGINAL: aztez
There are many monday night quartebacks around that no wonder a lot of the AAR's stop etc etc.
That's me alright - got me pecked. Never lifted a finger for this game or community.
ORIGINAL: aztez
Haven't seen any of your "writings" floating around this sub forum? Basically meaning that you do not have an clue how much time it actually takes to keep updating stuff like this only to see such an smart ass comment like the above.
LOL, I guess. Let's just say I'm busy. FWIW, I did write a couple of AAR's for UV, back in the day.
...I'am fed up with these kind of remarks and implying comments... if you have something to say than say it.. if not than ##¤##¤....
I actually couched the posts in cautionary language in order to avoid appearing to pass judgement. There was nothing underhand implied in my posts. Again, my apologies if ithey came across that way. It's obviously your prerogative to play the game whichever way you choose. I have neither the power nor the will to change that.
ORIGINAL: aztez
As for the base bombing. Well, you don't exactly need to be rocket scientist to notice that on the combat replay, don't you think?
[&:]
ORIGINAL: aztez
If he feels there is something wrong here than we discuss it --->
Lecivius: No, I don't quit. Just vented off some steam. I don't especially like false acquisations. [;)]
Oh, I haven't lost the war just yet! [:D][:D][:D]
...the one idea behind this whole AAR is to give out information regarding the important things when playing Japan. Plus ofcourse I have the war to fight too.
..and yeah Nemo has been very kind to offer this kind of assistance, guidance and insight views. I have already learned a lot! [:)] ...This would have gone into total disaster without him and I'am not ashamed to admit this.
timtom: Ok. I guess it an misunderstanding than. Just, not too fond of "monday morning quartebacks" telling what is No no and what is not. That is why we have houserules plus it ain't like this is the first PBEM I have played.
Game date is 21st of September 1942
Not much happening in terms of warfare at the moment. We are consolidating our positions at Celebes and Allies continue to hammer around the map with their LBA force. Not much to stop those 4E bombers at the moment.
Looking at the bright side though. Here is an screenshot from aircraft pools. NOTE: The increasing numbers of Zero's, Tony's and Tojo's available. Also our bomber force is upgrading and the production is moving along very smoothly now.
As for the training. There are a lot fighter squadrons getting in 65-70 exp. Nice, Nice...! [:)]
KB will sail into home islands for refit and upgrades soon. We will start implementing the idea Nemo shared with us. A bulk of the Carrier aircraft will soon be fighters. Without this the whole fleet is just another disaster waiting to happen! [8|][;)]
I will do an regular AAR update when the next turn arrives.
Aztez definitely isn't a quitter (see the AAR vs erstat appalling allied position, and not a thought of throwing in the towel ).
Aztez did you read Timtons comments before taking your morning coffee/tea ? [:D]. I'm grumpy as hell till the day hits 2 figures [;)].
Gotta say that those pools are looking a LOT better , Nemo really knows his stuff (not that i ever doubted that ). and much like Lecivius I too am learning a ton about japanese production and deployment , although i doubt i'll remember much of it when the time comes [;)] (expect some PM's ).
Vladivostok could be a large soviet POW camp that runs itself , how much intrinsic supply (if any) does it have in CHS ? 200,000 men eat a lot of borscht <sp> and they'll get awfully grumpy with no vodka supplies [:D]
sorry for the spelling . English is my main language , I just can't type . and i'm too lazy to edit
Rob: Hi! How are things back in Britain? ...and yes Erstad is one mean opponent! [:D] ...Allthough I will have some good news to report. I will update once I get results from the next turn.
[:D][X(] ...oh I'am not grumpy! Well, I'am getting old so that comes with terrotory and I have always had an temper! [;)] ...and I'am definately coffee person. Just was an hectic day yesterday with the kids. The older one is grinding down nerves.
As for the pools. Well they do look A LOT better. Look at the HI stockpiled... well it was almost 0 before Nemo helped out a lot. Not to mention about aircraft production figures etc. I'am actually getting hang of it.. or at least do understand quite a few things now.
No clue about Soviet supply situation in CHS... Never looked at it but I would assume it is pretty much the same as in Stock.
Game date is 23rd of September 1942
DEI
Timor area
Day Air attack on TF at 28,71
Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 3
B-24D Liberator x 7
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Siberia, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Momokawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Yuki Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 28,71
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 20
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Koto Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Batavia Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Cirebon Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kyokko Maru, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
GrrRrr! Annoying as hell but need to take these hits. This is priority area at the moment and as Nemo said Soviet doctrine is what is needed here and few other areas.
More troops are loading up and we will seize some more bases here swiftly.
I'am forces to move some fighters into Kendari. I cannot allow it to be shutdown nor damage those resource centers. I just wonder whether fighters can shoot down Allied bombers in CHS.
Russia
Vladivostok Ground combat at Vladivostok
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 230290 troops, 1355 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 6254
Defending force 186987 troops, 1970 guns, 164 vehicles, Assault Value = 3545
Allied ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Hmmm. Chuck is moving in even more troops!!! That is an suprise. Well, an offensive is in motion here allthough you cannot see it just yet. (See the screenshot)
Other NEWS Nemo pointed out that there are lack of Nakajima engines currently available. I will adjust this production once the new turn arrives. We will cut down Kate and Val production plus some other aircraft which is using Nakajimas.
My Betty's spotted 15 ships sailing in Southern Pacific near Suva. Unfortunately my bombers did not taka off and sunk them.
The pilot training program is coming along very smoothly. The influence ratings are really paying off!
As of 23rd September 1942 you have the following on-map:
350 A6M series fighters in non-carrier squadrons, 180 Tony fighters, 36 Tojo fighters.
In terms of the replacement pool you have 320 Zeroes in the pool,28 Tonys in the pool and 101 Tojos in the pool.
You are producing at the rate of 400 Zero series per month, 230 Tonys per month, 110 Tojos per month.
So, at the end of October ( the target date I would suggest for attacking the Soviet Union's aerial forces ) you should have the following airframe availability:
1,070 Zeroes, 440 Tonys, 250 Tojos = 1,760 front-line fighters in land-based squadrons. You should also have approximately 250 fighters available from your carrier squadrons.
Taking a look at the squadrons you have available with Exp of 59 to 60 at the moment ( which should be around 80 Exp in a bit over a month's time ) and above it looks like you can actually mass 40 fighter squadrons ( with an average of 31 planes per squadron ) = 1200 fighters.
So, production is now sorted and you will, in a month's time be able to use your air force for your first great strategic aerial offensive since setting things back on track.
The PROBLEM is that training is still not being done properly.
E.g. If you look at Soerabaja you have a Sentai and a Chutai there. The Chutai is on LRCAP ( with no target for the LRCAP so it won't fly ) but LRCAP is WORTHLESS for training. The Sentai has Airfield Attack orders but no target for the airfield attack. it should, obviously, have Bali as its target.
Banjermasin has a Level 3 airfield ( and could be level 6 ). It has trapped Allied troops just 1 hex east of it ( perfect for ground attack training ) but there are no air support troops or airfield building going on and no training at all. This is one of the few bases you have which allows Range 1 ground attack missions for training and it isn't being used.
Singapore: You could have 300 planes there bombing Singkep ( 2 hexes away ) as it is a Level 6 airfield. Fair enough 63 planes are training by bombing Singkep but where's the base expansion to Level 9 ??? Allowing 450 planes a day to train there. And where are the other 237 planes which you could be training at Singapore?
Talking about efficiency again... When you took Kendari on the way back to Soerabaja with those AV you had on board ship you could have invaded Makassar ---- getting 1 invasion on the outbound leg of the journey and one on the inbound leg of the journey. This would have been more efficient.
If you don't bolster the defences around Hanoi you are going to regret it. Its a month or so since I first pointed it out and those same two regiments are still sitting there in terrible defensive positions which will be easily overrun if the Chinese make a move.
Vladivostok: Good move. You are making the move with 1500 AV and thus are making the move with sufficient force. You DO need to research the supply generation situation in Vladivostok. It simply isn't good enough to have to guess as to whether Vladivostok generates its own supplies or not. This is going to be one of the pivotal areas of your war and it deserves you spending ten minutes opening up a CHS game from the Allied side to see if supplies are generated in Vladivostok even if it is surrounded.
I was looking at your forces and your CVs should actually be combat-ready again in a month's time... So with a little luck you just might be able to provide 400 fighters for CAP of an invasion of Midway if you can get organised in the nexth month.
Another word on efficiency:
I suggest you take 4 or 5 days for your next turn and go through everything with a fine toothcomb. Here are some of the things you need to think of... I think its ok to list the general issues and give an example or two but leave the actual details to you... So, here goes...
1. Identify training bases and with pen and paper assign engineers and aviation support to these bases such that you can expand the airfields to maximum size and support the maximum number of airplanes at each base.
What IDs a training base? A base which has an enemy base or enemy troop concentration within 1, or at most 2, hexes and which can't be regularly swept or bombed by the enemy.
2. I've looked at your convoys etc and they are incredibly inefficient and confusing. You have hordes of little convoys which don't make sense running around in a way which actually makes my head hurt its so difficult to figure out what each convoy should do. Most of the time when you look at one of my game's you can tell just what ships are intended for by looking at the convoy make-up and where they are going but looking at your map it is difficult for an outsider to figure out what the goals are for all of these convoys. Should an outsider be able to tell at a glance what the missions are by just looking at the TFs you have and their destinations? Yes, I think that if your convoy system and strategic planning is good anyone who looks at your game should be able to tell where your focus is and where you are currently reinforcing etc without ever having to talk to you. In this game it simply isn't possible to do that and I think that illustrates how inefficiently the convoys run right now. So, what can we do?
TF 127 is making for Palembang: It comprises 3 Tankers and 6 PCs. Looks good so far, right? Wrong.
1. Two of the tankers are 10,680 tons capacity. One is 6,000 capacity. So, the 6,000 ton tanker is going to be full days before the 10,680 ton tankers. As the Allies this doesn't matter BUT as Japan if you just took a little care and organised your convoys by capacity and speed you could ensure that the 6,000 ton tankers sailed together, filled up at the same speed and were all full at the same time and thus not sitting around waiting for other ships to be filled.
2. You have 6 PCs accompanying your tankers. Leaving aside the fact that you are much better off assigning a single escort to each TF if you look at the endurance of those PCs you will see they have an endurance of 600. This means that during their trip to Tokyo or Kageshima they are going to need to REFUEL every 10 hexes. It is 50 hexes to Kageshima SO they are going to need to refuel 5 times. This will take 5 x 12 hour sections = 2.5 days.
So, simply by not taking the care to put a PC with an endurance of greater than the journey distance ( 50 hexes ) with this TF you are turning what would be a 25 day journey into a 27.5 day journey ( taking 10% longer ). So, over the course of the war if you imported 5 million tons of oil from Palembang just adding a long-range PC to the TF could boost that level of imports to 5.5million. Japan is all about doing the basics right so that in the long run you do more with less.
3. I prefer to have my convoys use FULL SPEED. That cuts the journey to just 12.5 days instead of 25 and allows me to build up a reserve of tankers which I use to swap into convoys where ships are accumulating a lot of system damage. The damaged tanker then sits in Kagoshima, repairs and gets swapped into another convoy when a tanker in that convoy has too much system damage. It works very well and doubles your speed of importing oil, resources etc.
Look at TF 54:
2 TKs with a top speed of 13 knots and a capacity of 6,000 tons PLUS 4 BARGES with an endurance of about 26 hexes and a capacity of 150 tons. Also their top speed is only 8 knots.
So, the Barges will slow the convoy down to just 1 hex per 12 hours instead of a possible 2 hexes per 12 hours. It is horribly inefficient. Why not just gather all the AGs near the front to supply places like Kendari from Soerabaja? They can dodge bombs fairly well and are more replaceable than the AKs and APs you will otherwise have to use.
TF 66:
Tankers and a PG capable of more than 10 knots but MSWs capable of only 9. End result - convoy's speed is reduced by 50% and thus its efficiency is halved. Over the course of a year assuming 1 trip per month at the current speed this would make the difference between this convoy importing 252,000 tons of oil vs a POTENTIAL to import 504,000. Big difference for such a small error isn't it?
TF 81 - An unescorted convoy with 4 Tankers. 2 are the 10,680 model, 2 are the 6000 ton model. So, inefficient in terms of loading and also unescorted because you aren't using escorts efficiently. I say again, 1 escort per convoy and the rest in hunter killer groups at nodal points ( e.g. 1 at Formosa, 1 at the Phillipines, 1 around Palembang, 1 around northern Borneo, 1 in Southern Borneo ). That's 5 TFs and a quick look shows at least 60 PCs which could be assigned to these 5 TFs. I guarantee you you'll kill a lot more subs with 12 PCs in a hunter-killer group than parcelling them out to 3 or 4 different TFs.
Now look at TF 45... I'm sure you sometimes find you don't have enough ships to do everything you want. TF 45 explains why. It has 10 APs and a DD with a total capacity of 19,260. It is carrying 2 engineer units with a total need for 5,144 capacity. This the convoy is only at 255 ( roughly ) capacity. That's incredibly wasteful. The convoy also mixes 2 x 17 knot APs with 4 x 9knot APs. So, instead of moving at 6 hexes per day the convoy moves at 2 hexes per day.
Now, if you just loaded those two units on the two fast APs ( with a capacity of 6,600 between them ( the 2 units comprise 5,144 ) you could free up EIGHT APs for other duties AND accomplish the current mission THREE TIMES FASTER.
Let's just put it bluntly in order to make the point --- You could accomplish this mission THREE times more quickly with ONE-QUARTER of the ships. This equates to 91.66% inefficiency in just this convoy. Look how much better your economy is working within 1 month of instituting a few simple changes... and your economy wasn't 91.66% inefficient. Your convoy system needs to be torn down and completely re-assembled IMO
I will give you an example of how I would set up your Palembang convoy to bring OIL back from Palembang in the most efficient manner possible and I will leave you to decide if that would work better than your current system.
A. Palembang creates 36,000 tons of oil per month. It is 49 hexes to Kagoshima ( a Level 10 port ) and Palembang is a Level 4 port ( smallish ). How can we move this efficiently?
1. Change your convoy route from Palembang/Kagoshima ( 49 hexes ) to Palembang/Osaka ( 45 hexes ). At your current convoy speeds that turns a 25 day journey into a 23 day journey. Increases efficiency by a bit under 10% and is an incredibly simple change.
2. Don't send any 10,680 ton tankers to Palembang. Send only 6,000 tonners there. They will load up almost twice as quickly and this equates to less "lost time" in which they are sitting around doing nothing in port but loading.
3. Have just 1 ASW ship ( which has an endurance of greater than the distance between Palembang and Osaka ) per convoy and use the rest to create hunter-killer groups in bases along the convoy route.
4. So to travel 90 hexes ( the return trip ) at 4 hexes per day ( tankers at full speed ) takes 22.5 days. Due to increased loading efficiency at Palembang ( 6000 tonners instead of 10,680 tonners ) and the fact that Osaka is a Level 10 port the return time journey should be 1 month ( you can figure it out to the day obviously if you look at the loading and unloading sheet). So, 36,000 tons of oil produced per month equals 6 x 6000 ton tankers. I always think that since your oil ports almost certainly have loads of oil sitting around you might as well overshoot on the size of the convoy so stick in 8 x 6000 ton tankers and transfer that excess oil while your oil ports are still outside of bomber range.
So, 8 x 6000 ton tankers and 1 long-range PC is ALL you need to do to have oil importation from Palembang run on rails is create that one convoy.
Do the same for your 4 other oil ports and in just 4 convoys you have sorted out your entire oil importation problem. Do pretty much the same for resources and you will have created a MUCH more efficient and MUCH easier to manage oil and resource importation system. In addition you will free up dozens of ships for other tasks.
So what should you do with your 10,000 ton tankers? Well, what you can do instead of running your convoys FROM Palembang, Brunei, Balikpapan and Tarakan to Osaka you could just decide to run the convoy from Palembang and Soerabaja to Singapore while the convoys from the other oil ports make for Manilla. Manilla is a Level 9 port and you can just run a couple of large convoys with 10,000 ton tanker between Manilla and Osaka per month + 1 huge convoy from Osaka to Singapore.
How would this work?
Palembang: It takes 2 days to go from Palembang to Singapore. FIGURE 5 days for loading and unloading and that means you could make four trips per month. So, 2 x 6000 ton tankers would carry 48,000 tons of oil to Singapore per month.
Assume 1 month round trip from Osaka to Singapore for your 10,000 tonners. Put 5 of them into a convoy with a PC and have them load up at Singapore and run to Osaka.
Brunei, Tarakan and Balikpapan together will ship about 33,000 tons of oil per month to Manilla. Run a convoy comprising 2 x 10,000 ton tankers to Manilla from Osaka twice per month and that takes care of that. Brunei to Manilla can be done by a 6,000 ton tanker three times a month. Brunei produces about 15,000 tons a month. So, run a 6,000 ton tanker with a single PC between Brunei and Manilla three times a month and you have that sorted.
Run 1 tanker between Manilla and Tarakan once a month and 2 tankers between Balikpapan twice a month and you have them taken care of.
So, what committment is this?
Well, it requires 7 x 10,000 ton tankers, 6 x 6,000 ton tankers. That's 13 out of 80 tankers and your entire oil importation problem is sorted with a total of 6 convoys and 6 PCs. Much more efficient and easier to keep track of than what you currently have set up. In addition since you are running your convoys through the Sulu Sea and shallow waters and close to major ports and airbases you can get a lot of sub kills with your bombers on low-level naval search.
I have explained ship loading for troops to you earlier in the thread but I suggest you read it again as I see you making the same loading errors I cautioned you about at Soerabaja this turn and setting your troops up for a disaster really.
Escorts:
You have loads of PCs with some convoys and then other convoys unescorted and also a LOT of DDs on escort duty. You even have MLs operating as escorts. Mines are some of your best anti-BB weapons and you are wasting MLs on this?????
IN other news you have about 84 tankers available. 15 of them are sitting in ports doing nothing ( 1 other is being repaired ). So, right there you are adding another 20% inefficiency to your oil importation setup. And as I've already said actually you only need 13 tankers to manage your oil importation programme. Even if you are 50% inefficient thats 26 out of 84 and frees up all those other tankers for other jobs. Right now you are using about 50 tankers in oil importation PLUS lots of massively inefficient AKs.
3. Remove ALL DDs from ANY convoy escort duties. It is a complete waste of fighting ability and shouldn't be tolerated.
4. Go through your fighter squadrons and downgrade all of the training ones to Nates and Claudes. You have 560 front-line planes on the map when there should be precisely 72 ( groups with experience greater than 80 ). So that's 488 planes which you are risking losing to operational causes when there is no such need.
5. All APs should be either sitting in port or carrying troops. If they are doing anything else you are doing it wrong. As for AKs they should only be moving supplies or resources, not fuel or troops. Obviously things are never so simple but if you that sort of rule it'll stop you experiencing mission creep and slowly ending up using APs and AKs for the wrong missions.
One another note:
I was looking at the losses since I came on board. It looks to me like the Japanese have lost 180 planes while the Allies have lost over 300. Good, that's what we're looking to see.
Obviously though I am trying to be constructive here by listing areas of inefficiency and showing how to improve them. It isn't actually that what you are doing is "bad" or "poor play" or anything. Its just that it is inefficient ( going for 1 invasion instead of 1 invasion on the way out and 1 or 2 on the way back ), mixing ships with different speeds and capacities in the same convoy, using short-legged escorts to escort long-legged ships etc etc. You can easily get away with all that stuff as the Allies as you always have 4 or 5 times more ships than you need but as Japan your margin is much thinner and the less efficient you are the sooner you don't have enough ships to go around.
The same goes with troops and planes. It is ALL about efficieny when you are the Japanese player. Getting 30 planes to do the same job it takes another player 90 planes to do helps keep 60 pilots alive and helps save your economy hundreds of HI per day which helps you keep your economy running for longer and helps you stay competitive for longer. So if it seems like I'm being harsh it is just because with the plane situation sorted the next two situations which need to be sorted are pilots ( half-way there ) and ships ( not even 1/10th of the way there ). After that we'll move onto land units and choosing defensive lines/ spoiling attacks. Once that is all done I think it'll be time for me to bow out of your game at this level of detail and stick very much to the strategic level of "what are we doing in this region or that region" as with the basics covered you can keep them running fairly efficiently well into the future. Anyways, just wanted to be clear that I'm pointing out the errors to be helpful. In my job pointing out errors I and my colleagues make keeps people alive so we do it dispassionately and impersonally whenever we make mistakes but I understand that most areas of society don't have that same attitude to errors and so can take it personally.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
