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

[n01487477]

Busy with the last Tracker push before release...

The engine planner is very useful IMO... hope you will like it too.

Don't have enough time to really make the graph I want for ShipProduction, (a graph that shows TOTAL HI use over time) but here is a simplistic one. Note the Optimum naval and merchant is an average of HI use from current time till end of game...

Nemo is waiting patiently for a turn, so I'll have to see if I can do that now!

[n01487477]

One more for the road ...

[n01487477]

19 Jan '42 Come on you big Jessie!

Air losses for the day(J ver A): 154 V 196

Despite making a complete hash up of my landings on Jolo to try to recapture the base, I really should have looked to see it was an atoll, I'm on the offensive to quieten Jesselton whilst I move my troops from Cagayan to the Pacific and Philippines.

Jolo, now will never be brought back under the fold I fear, cause as soon as I started landing, Nemo sent in the transport with troops from all over the map. I got quite a few transport hits as I had LRCAP there, but atolls are just amazingly secure.

Onto the real story of Jesselton:
Mustering as much as I could, sweeps from CV;s North and South of Borneo as well as Tarakan, I sent in the heavies.

1st Strike was from my CV's North of Borneo - set to hit the port (I never usually use my CV planes for this task), and it was repulsed fairly heavily (90 destroyed). But the Allies took a licking too.
2nd Strike was a combination of sweeps and it did little, but weakened the enemy further.
3rd brought the heavies from Clark, and they did the business, but only scored 95 hits on the airfield. Only 3 Angels were destroyed, furthering their heroic standing amongst the flight crews.

Other hits to Taytay, Jolo, Bandjermasin, Uruppu Jima & Roxas go cleanly.

In the Soviet Union things have been happening which I haven't talked about, but at one stage I was cut off at Skovorodino, but I brought up some replacements and cleared the rail line. I can see more of the Russkies coming, so maybe it is time to rethink the North.

Very quiet in the Pacific, but the storm is brewing, and I'm making haste with preparations. Most of my DD's have been upgraded, new troops on their way and saving a bit of air production each turn to gain some leverage. I doubt I have enough planes and ships and men to cover everything, but it'll be one hell of a showdown.

Will speak about this planning shortly, when all the information is garnered...

[n01487477]

20 Jan '42

Air losses for the day(J ver A): 111 V 156

De je vu - day number 2 of Jessie watch... hammer and anvil stuff!

Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 16
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 8

Allied aircraft
P-51B Mustang XP x 5
P-38G Lightning x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 26
P-40E Warhawk x 23
Hurricane IIc x 21
Kittyhawk I x 21
Spitfire VB x 21
La-5FN x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 13 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 7 destroyed
Hurricane IIc: 3 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 1 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 9

Allied aircraft
P-51B Mustang XP x 2
P-38G Lightning x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 8
Hurricane IIc x 7
Kittyhawk I x 11
Spitfire VB x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses -- good results here
P-51B Mustang XP: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 4 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
Hurricane IIc: 3 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 4 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 2 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
P-51B Mustang XP x 3
P-38G Lightning x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 7
Hurricane IIc x 10
Kittyhawk I x 9
Spitfire VB x 13
La-5FN x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 damaged


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-II Sally x 78 -- where's the escort ?

Allied aircraft
P-51B Mustang XP x 4
P-38G Lightning x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 11
P-40E Warhawk x 9
Hurricane IIc x 14
Kittyhawk I x 14
Spitfire VB x 19
La-5FN x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-II Sally: 17 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 3 damaged
Hurricane IIc: 2 damaged
Spitfire VB: 1 damaged

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 21
G4M1 Betty x 15
J1N1-C Irving x 1
Ki-49 -I Helen x 83
Ki-264 Angel x 121

Allied aircraft
P-51B Mustang XP x 1
P-38G Lightning x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 6
Hurricane IIc x 6
Kittyhawk I x 7
Spitfire VB x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 8 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed
Ki-49 -I Helen: 19 destroyed, 11 damaged
Ki-264 Angel: 18 destroyed, 13 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-51B Mustang XP: 2 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 9 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed
Hurricane IIc: 13 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 7 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 7 destroyed
La-5FN: 1 destroyed
C-47 Skytrain: 1 destroyed
Pe-2: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 97

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-264 Angel bombing at 6000 feet
...

[n01487477]

After 6 months wait the new release is out:
Check it out here: http://witptracker.googlepages.com/

[*]Jesselton finally is undefended and I've pushed Nemo out of the air superiority fight for Nth Borneo...
Hit the airfield and port, getting some good hits.

AK Acadia, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Carnatic, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Ortolan, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Dona Nati, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS SHCH117, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
AK Empire Niger, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK George Davidson, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Bengal, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Burnie, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Bisayas, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-65, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

[*]Swatow becomes Chinese, now Taiwan can be targeted easily, hope that he hasn't brought much AS, and I can keep it in check for a bit.
[*]Taiwan, now have 10+ AA units there, more to arrive soon.
[*]Nemo gives me some free intelligence that he is ready to start the Pacific campaign...Time to make sure I've dotted the "i"'s. Was hoping for a few more days.[8|]
[*]Maps and notes to follow after I've taken care of a few Tracker screen shots and tutorials.

--Damian--

[n01487477]

22/1/42

As I was watching the combat animations, clicking exit as each came up (all the usual place were being bombed etc), Suddenly to my horror the Allies turned up 180 miles off of Rabaul and made mince-meat of a juicy AP/AK troop transport.

Tomorrow, storms predicted, CV to CV show down maybe still on the cards - tough going predicted for the next few months...

--Damian--

[Capt. Harlock]

Suddenly to my horror the Allies turned up 180 miles off of Rabaul and made mince-meat of a juicy AP/AK troop transport.

Nemo posted the combat results in his AAR -- it looked nasty, all right. Any plans to engage?

[n01487477]

Capt. I'm not rushing in yet, just bidding my time...

I was going to send all my CV based planes to Rabaul - maybe this would have been the smart move, but this ACTF looks like it has some legs.
There are no AO's I can see and I wonder how long before he will need fuel. However I see an invasion force coming around the tip of PNG, so that will have to be dealt with... Nemo once again gets pretty lucky, cause if I had another 2 days, those troops would have been safe...

Another concern is the thrust to Truk while my CV's are chasing the Allied CV's... I've taken steps to ensure this hopefully doesn't occur.

There will have to be a clash sometime, I have another CV and 3 CVL's (fresh from good upgrades) about 2-3 days away. Last time he sent out the CV's I rushed in, this time I'm taking a more cautious, but still potentially aggressive approach.

On the homefront Nemo creamed some 60 HI all in one go ... I can't cap it all, and he has absolute knowledge without recon!

--Damian--

[SierraJuliet]

Ouch.  I feel your pain. 

One thing I do like about this game is that even in the midst of the destruction being inflicted there is always a possibility of creating a victory on the next day.   Go you red carriers!

[n01487477]

Last few days have been busy ... here is a map of what has been happening.

[*]Got out-thought again, when Nemo doubled back on my CV's hitting my AO's (which unfortunately were shadowing the CV's)

[SierraJuliet]

That has to have hurt.  No joy with a carrier on carrier engagement?

[n01487477]

Yeah it did ... here are my losses in the last few days...

And there are 3 more AO's, a DE and 2 AK's about to go glug-glugg ...

All these sunk by the Speedy Gonzales CVTF ...

[SierraJuliet]

I agree that CV group was smokin.  Dive bombers.... hard to know whether to hate them for how effective they were or to admire them for how effective they were.  [8|]

[n01487477]

27 Jan '43

Nemo continues to hit HI on Japan, exploiting (in a good way) the fact that he can see where my fighters are. More fighters are slowly being filtered back there, but damn it, the Strategic bombing model is broken! Well and truely - I'd live with it if it weren't for the supply requirements to fix.

[*]Allied SS's laid more mines at Truk, hitting a DD.
[*]De Sanae is hit by a Torp from the same SS's.
[*]With the American CV's refueling at Eniwetok, I'm one day behind, as my CV's need to get into Truk to replenish and then head Nth East. Tomorrow will be a bit of nail biting.
[*]Normal strikes everywhere, Borneo is suppressed.
[*] CV Musashi arrives at Guam and CV Yamato (long been in Dry-dock - both are 180 Durability 96 capacity CV's) will get there in a few days.
[*]The lull in TojoIII and Oscar II use, has allowed me to stockpile a bit, but Musashi needs her 42 Zero group upgraded in a day.
[*]HI is being ridden down as the HI bombing continues, and I've turned off a little more Arm production. Naval ships are going well, Merchants are at bare minimum.

--Damian--

[n01487477]

28 Jan '43

[*]AO Iro sinks at Truk, she was badly beaten up, so another flag on some American flyboys DB.
[*]CLAA Grigsby-San (Nemo has named most of the new ships with forum members etc - wonder if I'll have a Damian-san in any future iterations of the mod[;)])gets hit by a mine at Truk harbour, no worries though, she comes through the turmoil ok.
[*]SS Scorpion is confirmed sunk near Palau
[*]Nemo had moved onto hitting Amoy's airfield.
[*]Toyama HI strike amounts to nothing as there is no HI left!
[*]My usual strikes on various bases around the Philippines and Borneo go off as usual. But I'm getting ready for phase 2 operations in a few days.

--Damian--

[BJStone]

Hi Damian,

Can you share your current air production? I see you have the Ki-44III Tojo. Are you ramping up production on the Ki-43-II Oscar so you can go afterthe B-17s and the P2?

Are you ramping up production on the Behemoth? I'm curious to see how the Anti-shipping munition rounds will work. A penitration of 160 ought to sink a few ships - lol.

[n01487477]

Yep you can have a look at this ...

Not planning on building too many Behemoth, but I too will be interested to see if they make a mess of any ships that get in their way. One hit, One Kill - I'm hoping, cause they are expensive planes and hard to keep supplied. For example if I have 100 Angels at Saipan, each raid costs about 2K supplies, each 6 engine plane costs iirc 216 HI to build. I have 24 Behemoth on map right now.

Tojo III's are being horded a bit, but I have CV Musashi's zero's about to be upgraded. 35 other reinforcements needed. But I build about 15/day.

OscarII's are not a wonder weapon, they can hit the Pe's and B's but they have so far been killed at about a 1:1 ratio, and they are no good against escorted raids, other fighters just gobble them up, cause unfortunately unlike LB, the Oscars dive to hit the fighters first, instead of targetting what I want them to.

Engines are a mixed bag, but I'm just keeping ahead of the game -- just, except for Mansyu, which I'm hitting hard now to get the Behemoths out before the Allied rush.

Cheers

--Damian--

[n01487477]

It's big, it's bold and it's all going to get blown away!

[n01487477]

29 Jan '43

Not much to impart from the turn, looks like Nemo had to get out the door quickly for work, so he made no great moves today.

[*]B-24D Liberator x 95 attack Toyama
[*]AO Irako, and is sunk at Truk
[*]IL-2 Shturmovik x 22 hit Tabun-Nur
[*]IL-2M Shturmovik x 9 hit Okha
[*]About 150+ aircraft hit Amoy.
[*]100 of my LB hit Swatow, 100 hit Jesselton, 150 hit Bandjermasin, 100 Roxas, 100 Taytay & 150 to Jolo.
[*]150 also hit Uruppu Jima in the Marshalls.

Just some of the action for today ... Nemo is keeping something back, I can feel it and maybe it was because I hurt him with the Jesselton assault, but where are the fighters and LB I saw before ? [&:]
I know they are being prepped for a big push ...

And finally something I haven't shown for a while, my Naval shipbuild ... many are halted, so I'm just showing those I'm actually building and will use.
--Damian--

[BJStone]

I have two other questions - does anything convert to the Ki-219? And can the Uhu switch from night fighting to day fighting? I'm just hoping there is a path to convert some of your AC to this frame - maybe your FB?