Empire of the Rising Lemon? SqzMyLemon (Japan) v Smeulders (Allies)

[SqzMyLemon]

The Celebes Sea:

[SqzMyLemon]

Malaya & Boreo:

[SqzMyLemon]

Northern China:

[SqzMyLemon]

Southern China:

[Reg]

From quite a while ago but no-one seems to answered this question.

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

7. I know this seems like a long drawn out process, but I don't have software that can convert a pdf to a jpeg so I do it this way. I don't know of any other way to be honest.

Try GSView which a graphical interface for GhostScript. Its a bit clunky around the edges but it's freeware and you can use it to convert back and forth between pdf and the various bitmap graphics formats (bmp, jpeg, gif, png etc).

Available from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/

The only bad thing about this process is it causes blurring of my screenshots, so they are not as sharp as they could be.

Try reducing the number of colours to 256 in a graphics editor such as Infanview and saving in GIF format. (Infanview crops as well). The loss of colours isn't that noticeable and there is no blurring (particularly of the reds you get in jpeg).

Hope you find this useful,

[SqzMyLemon]

Thanks Reg. When I get a chance I'll look into things more, so far I'll muddle through how I'm doing it now. I'm leary of any freeware sites as of late, I've had to reformat my laptop post virus recently and I'm not willing to risk that again. Thanks for the info though.

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 23/42 Update:

Wow, things have been fast and furious these days and before you know it there are 4 days of gameplay to get caught up on. There has been much more action of late in our game, new invasions are being mounted, things are coming to a climatic conclusion at Bataan and Singapore is close to being beseiged finally. Here's goes.

Sub Ops:

The TK Sanraku Maru is torpedoed S.E. of Toyohara by SS Cachalot and sinks with a full load of 1250 units of oil on board from Shikuka.
SS S-40 is spotted by ASW at Ternate and attacked, but no hits are recorded.

Malaya:

Low and behold a rare appearance by Buffalo's over Singapore. 13 Zero's sweeping caught 8 Buffalo's and downed 3 of them to the loss of one Zero.
Singapore's airfield is bombed by 2 separate raids of Sally's escorted by Oscar's. 20 sally's + 15 Oscars in the first raid, 11 Sally's + 9 Oscar's in the second raid. Damage was 1 Catalina destoyed on the ground and 1 Air Base hit & 1 Buffalo destroyed on the ground and 2 AB hits respectively. Japanese losses were 1 Sally destroyed by Flak and 2 damaged.

The Philippines:

Bataan is bombed again. 80 bombers hitting the target (22 Sally's + 58 Lilys) with 1 Sally damaged and 1 Lily destoyed with a further 10 damaged.

Cebu's airfield is bombed twice today. I started bombing to reduce the effectiveness of Allied air recon in the region, it will be invaded soon to completely eliminate this problem. The first raid of 25 Betty's escorted by 6 Zero's scored 1 AB and 13 Runway hits. The second raid faired better, 22 Betty's escorted by 13 Zero's scored 1 patrol craft destroyed on the ground, 5 casualties reported and damage to the base as follows: 5 AB hits, 2 AB Supply hits, and 26 Runway hits. 2 Betty's were damaged in the raids.

China:

The 38th Chinese Corp. in the north was bombed by 61 bombers (42 Sally's + 19 Lily's) causing 67 casualties.
Troops continue to manuever for the siege of Loyang as shown in the screenshot of Jan. 22.

Bismarck Sea:

Invasion TF's are en route and will hit Rabaul tomorrow.

I have to say I'm much happier being able to provide some better updates, things were awfully slow. They still are to some extent, but every turn I get a little better (I think) and realizing that Smeulders is just pulling back conserving his forces, I had better take advantage of that by grabbing bases. I'm starting to be more aggressive with my air power and am determined to start causing my opponent grief on a regular basis now.

Thanks again Mynok, mine eyes have seen the error of my ways!

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 24/42 Update:

Sub Ops:

SS KXV is spotted by the Escort Tsuta and attacked, 2 DC hits are recorded.
SS Sculpin launches a 4 torp salvo at the DD Urakaze and misses around Morotai, no ASW attack is launched.
SS Stingray launches a 4 torp salvo at the xAK Giyu Maru, but luckily they are duds. no ASW from escorts is launched.

Malaya:

Singapore's airbase is bombed again causing 3 AB and 7 runway hits with 6 Sally's damaged. No sign of Buffalo's.

The Philippines:

Daily bombing of Bataan continues, I have no idea on the effectiveness, as the combat reports often indicate no Allied losses. 79 Bombers attacked, 2 Sally's and 10 Lily's were damaged.

Cebu is bombed again recording 1 AB and 2 Runway hits. 2 Betty's are damaged.

On Luzon, Japanese forces finally reach Surigao and lauch a Shock attack defeating the remaining Allied troops of the 102 PA Inf. Rgt., 3rd PA Constabulary Rgt., Cagayan USAAF BF, and the III Philippine Corp. 1153 Allied troops are lost.

Bismarck Sea:

Beru is captured.

Rabaul is shore bombarded by the BB Yamashiro and CA Chikuma prior to the assault waves landing. Rabaul's coastal guns put up a hail of fire damaging the following ships, PB's Yahada Maru, Takuna Maru, Okiyu Maru, Fumi Maru and Aso Maru. The xAK Yosyu was also hit.

China:

Not a good day in the skies over China. Bomber groups were to be escorted, but no fighters provided cover for whatever reason. Near Changsha the AVG had a field day. 9 Sonia's and 2 Lily's were shot down with a further 4 planes damaged. One H81-A3 was damaged. These crews are raw, but still a shame to lose them. I'm trying to raise combat experience of green flyers in the relatively benign skies over China, today was not a good day.

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

ORIGINAL: Reg

From quite a while ago but no-one seems to answered this question.

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

7. I know this seems like a long drawn out process, but I don't have software that can convert a pdf to a jpeg so I do it this way. I don't know of any other way to be honest.

Try GSView which a graphical interface for GhostScript. Its a bit clunky around the edges but it's freeware and you can use it to convert back and forth between pdf and the various bitmap graphics formats (bmp, jpeg, gif, png etc).

Available from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/

The only bad thing about this process is it causes blurring of my screenshots, so they are not as sharp as they could be.

Try reducing the number of colours to 256 in a graphics editor such as Infanview and saving in GIF format. (Infanview crops as well). The loss of colours isn't that noticeable and there is no blurring (particularly of the reds you get in jpeg).

Thanks Reg. When I get a chance I'll look into things more, so far I'll muddle through how I'm doing it now. I'm leary of any freeware sites as of late, I've had to reformat my laptop post virus recently and I'm not willing to risk that again. Thanks for the info though.

That is indeed a sensible approach to the management of your PC. I only wish my kids had the same attitude....

However for your information the download site is the Computer Science dept of the University of Wisconsin and Ghostscript is very big utility in the Unix world so I don't believe this is a high risk source. Windows ports of Unix utilities generally tend to be powerful but clunky but can give you access to otherwise unavailable capabilities.

I'm with you as I much prefer these educational sources to some of those gimmicky commercial shareware sites.

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 25/42 Update:

Sub Ops:

SS KXVI is spotted by the escort Tsuga, but no DC hits are recorded.
SS Sculpin again launches a 4 salvo attack and is rewarded by hitting the xAK Shink Maru by Ternate. 44 troops being carried to Manado are lost from an AF Base unit, but the transport does not sink.
SS 023 near Tawau attaks and misses the xAK Ume Maru, PB Heiei Maru comes looking, but no DC hits reported.
SS Stingray once again attacks the same TF heading towards Cagayan, but once again comes up empty, duds once again...unlucky for Smeulders. The DD Arashio of Midway fame counters with one DC hit.

Malaya:

Daily raids on Singapore yields 1 AB, 1 AB Supply and 1 Runway hits. 13 Sally's are damaged. No sign of CAP again.

The Philippines:

Bataan bombed again. 2 Sally's and 9 Lily's damaged.

Bismarck Sea:

Rabaul falls to Imperial forces. The Australian Lark BN and Rabaul BF retreat. Casualties are light as the Allies just left a token defence, 9 Japanese to 119 Allied casualties. However the coastal guns damaged the following ships, PB's Okiyu Maru, Yahada Maru, Takuna Maru, Chiyo Maru and the xAK Yasukawa Maru.

I included a small force of ACM's in the invasion fleet to drop a few presents in anticipation of Allied subs trying to pick off a few transports. So far that has been Smeulder's modus operandi, using subs to react to any movements or invasions by my ships so I'm learning to try and counter this. I almost always include a BB or two when assaulting as well and Smeulders has indicated that's enough to keep him from trying any counter invasion attacks with surface ships.

China:

35th Chinese Corp. bombed in the north again causing 87 troops losses. 1 Sally was damaged by Flak.
That small force of guns continues to exist, this time it's Shock attacked and I destroyed 2 guns, yet received 24 casualties for my trouble. Guns retreat, rinse and repeat...sigh.

Another botched air attack on Changsha resulted in the loss of another 4 Sonia's and 3 Lily's destoyed, with a further 2 Sonia's damaged.

Troops continue to manuever around Loyang, Chinese forces to the southwest look to be reacting.

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 26/42 Update:

Sub Ops:

SS Grayling launches an attack and misses unescorted transports S.E. of Toyohara.
SS Gar misses with an attack S.E. of Ominata.
SS Stingray launches a salvo at an escorted convoy N.W. of Puerto Princesa, hits an xAK but...dud!
SS Gar again attacks and misses a transport S.E. of Ominata.
SS Sailfish launches and hits with a torpedo salvo the same TF as the Stingray, but you guessed it...dud!

This turn I have to eat my words, as far as complaining about how effective I've thought the Allied subs have been overall. I had an extremely lucky day! [&o]

Malaya:

Johore Bahru will be attacked next turn as my ground forces are starting to arrive.
Singapore's port is attacked this time as recon last turn indicated 2 subs at home, but I fear they refuelled, rearmed and are on their way, as no hits were recorded.

Singapore's port is attacked again, no hits to the shooting down of 1 Sally and the damaging of 6 others from Flak.

The Philippines:

Bataan was bombed again (2 Sally's and 13 Lily's damaged) and treated to it's first bombardment attack by Japanese forces, 86 Japanese casualties were reported to those of 246 for the Allies. Level 3 forts were reported. the 38th division will arrive tomorrow to add it's weight, I'm glad I sent it. Right now the AV comparision is 1505 to 1187 in favour of the...Allies! I'm hoping supply will be low already, Smeulders did not bombard back I think conserving supply, since under the new patch artillery gobbles it up. I have 170k+ of supply at Clark Field...compliments of the U.S. Thanks Hershey!

Cebu bombed again causing 1 AB, 1 AB Supply and 11 Runway hits, a Betty was damaged.

China:

The jig is up, Smeulders realizing he's about to be encircled at Loyang is...you guessed it, pulling out! He's got a massive army of 28 units at Loyang so I think he's decided to hit my strong army S.W. of Loyang on his way out. We'll see what happens, I'm sure I'll get a bloody nose from that force, but see if I can nip away at it.

My 12th Army S.W. of Loyang bombarded the Chinese forces engaged at 87,44 and caused 875 losses to the Chinese while incurring only 7 myself. The comparison here is 1886 AV to 1112 AV in favour of Imperial forces, a Shock attack is scheduled for next turn and then advance away from the horde moving out of Loyang.

35th Chinese Corps. was again bombed at 91,38 and another 150 casualties inflicted, 1 Sally was damaged by Flak.

Changsha's airbase was bombed again today and this time I had escorts, no AVG though. 4 AB and 4 Runway hits were recorded with one Sonia being damaged.

In the south, 13th Army troops are causing panic among the Chinese units, I think Smeulders knows he's in potential trouble here as well and the retreat will start next turn. It all depends what he does with his large armies sitting in Changsha, and Ichang. There should be 2-3 land battles in China next turn.

The big push is finally on!

Production:

Production changes are kicking in and I'm starting to see my aircraft pools grow a little and supply is increasing with the halting of some repairs to factories. I'll be in a position to start sending fuel and oil to the Home Islands soon, so will address my tanker dispositions another time. Oh, and the Shoho arrived last turn and is already upraded with Zero's, I'm not upgrading the B5N1 Kate's at this time.

I will post screenshots of the major theatres next time and show what's happening as of now.

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 27/42 Update:

Sub Ops:

SS Searaven hits and sinks the DD Fubuki in the East China Sea.
SS KXII misses the DD Tsuga in the Celebes Sea, no ASW was launched.

The Philippines:

Daily air bombing of Bataan continues. Another Japanese bombardment attack causes 376 Allied to 38 Japanese casualties.

Malaya:

Johore Bahru captured, remaining Allied units pull out in time to avoid a Shock attack.

China:

12th Army Shock attacks a Chinese force S.W. of Loyang inflicting a punishing defeat on the enemy. Japanese losses were 2624 compared to 13900 for the Chinese. The only bad thing was the Chinese forces retreated into Loyang, further swelling numbers there.

Pingsiang was bombarded by Japanese troops causing a paltry 21 casualties for the loss of 27 Japanese troops.

A small Chinese force attacks rear area units at Kweiteh and captures the base, a minor setback inflicting 1231 Japanese dead to only 23 for the Chinese. I need to eliminate this force quickly, they are blocking my rail line.

[SqzMyLemon]

Jan. 28/42 Update:

Sub Ops:

Nothing other than Japanese subs spotting a small Allied surface force of at least 2 CA's at Townsville, I'll attack tomorrow.

The Philippines:

Bataan air and ground bombarded again. 352 Allied troops lost to 11 Japanese. The 38th Div. is almost at Bataan the the Shock attacks will begin.

Burma:

I forgot to mention Pegu and Mandalay have started to be bombed as Japanese forces move north towards Pegu. Losses of Japanese aircraft after two days of air attack have been 2 Nate's and 3 Lily's destroyed to no Allied losses. Hurricane IIb Trop's and H81-A3's have been the opposition.

China:

Daily targets of opportunity are bombed, whatever is moving essentially. At 83,52 S.E. of Changsha the 99th Chinese Corp. is Shock attacked pushing them back, losses were 846 for Japan to 4626 Chinese. Pingsiang is captured, but Chinese forces just evacuate the base prior to the Japanese assault.

Bismark Sea:

Gasmata is invaded, the base is empty and will be captured next turn. I used a small force hoping it would atract some kind of attack...no response from the Allies air or naval forces.

As promised, screenshots follow.

[SqzMyLemon]

Bismarck Sea, morning of Jan. 29/42.

[bklooste]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Bismarck Sea, morning of Jan. 29/42.

Dont think an East coast raid is worthwhile unless you do Sydney and Brisbane.

Maybe show mini KB with some cruisers use some kates somewhere else and he may think its KB and commit some carriers. Some mini subs in Aukland , Brisbane and SYdney may show his Cvs,,

[SqzMyLemon]

More screenshots

The Celebes:

[SqzMyLemon]

The Philippines:

[SqzMyLemon]

Malaya & Borneo:

[SqzMyLemon]

Northern China:

[SqzMyLemon]

Southern China: