Here we go again! tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J) - No tc464

[Mike Solli]

Hi Seille. I'm hoping the 4 Fleet HQ does the trick. If not, I'm not sure what to do. Keeping fingers crossed. The HQ will land in a couple of days.

Resizing air units. There is no supply or planes in the pool requirement. I've done it about a dozen times now, maybe more. Taiyo will give you a 24 plane unit. Put the Taiyo in an air TF, fly the air unit onto the Taiyo, make sure it is set to "resize to fit ship", and disband the TF. Resizing should happen at that point. There will be no change to the number of planes or pilots in the unit. The only thing that changes is the max size of the air unit.

For your carrier units, just leave them on their carrier, set to "resize to fit ship", put the carrier in an air TF and disband the TF. I did it with the 6 CVs and they all resized.

Edit: Actually, I did it with the Ryujo and Hosho as well.

[Grotius]

Seille, this AAR is like a classroom for all of us who play Japan! With Q-Ball posting here, it's quite a good seminar.

Anyway, Seille, the new mouseover feature in the latest patch also tells me I need a bigger airfield to upgrade my Kwajalein Claudes -- but in my case, it only demands a level 5 airfield. I'm thinking about putting a base force on Ponape so that I can fly the Claudes over to Truk. (I hate moving planes by sea, especially given my opponent's aggressive use of submarines.) Actually, isn't it possible to move planes to an unsupported base (like Ponape), then move them again next turn? I know that risks damaging some of the Claudes, but I recall doing it as the Allies once in WITP, and I got away with it.

On resizing to fit ship, that will raise the maximum squadron size, indicated by the second number in parentheses. Once you've done that, you should be able to add pilots galore to train them. Resize in itself won't add aircraft; you have to have replacements on to do that, or use "draw one aircraft from pool." If you're short on Vals, and you have PDU on, and you just want to use the squadron for training purposes, then you could "upgrade" some carrier aircraft to earlier models (like Jeans), as Q-Ball mentioned earlier. Or just train without aircraft.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and let Mike get on with his excellent AAR.

[Mynok]

Why not just convert something to an AKV and transport that way? Or use a CVE.

Or if you must transport via xAK, use a number of them to reduce the risk of a torp. They're duds mostly this early anyway.

[Mike Solli]

Mynok, I've got the Akagi and Kaga at Kwajalein. I've offloaded the Zero daitai from them and loaded the Claudes, sailed them toward Truk and will fly them off when they get within range.

[Mike Solli]

3 Feb 42

Burma

The 33 Division is going to take Prome (3 hexes north of Rangoon), which is undefended, tomorrow. The 15 Army is slowly putting a noose around Rangoon and it's defenders.

Malaya

Below is the Allied OOB for Singapore (future POWs) [:'(]. The bombardment (air and ground) continues. Either the new patch has toned down bombardments or I just had an unlucky day. Not much damage was done today.

Java

Q-Ball, I owe you one. You gave me the idea to invade Java early. I landed at Kalidjati. Big surprise there. There was no one home. I've got LRCAP over the joint so I hope to shred his air power there. Once I take it, I'll station Zeros and Oscars there and hopefully make it an open sore for his air force. I'll take it tomorrow and then send some tanks one hex over to take that base and cut the island in two.

A few Bettys flying out of Singkawang put 2 torpedoes into an xAKL at Palembang and turned her into matchsticks.

Philippines

Just more bombing and bombardment. Pretty ineffective today....

Channel Islands

The I-25 caught an xAK off the west coast and put a torp into her.

SE Fleet

The 4 Division is loading at Pt. Moresby. Their ultimate destination is Java but I may hit Timor on the way. I'm reluctant to do that because there are Allied forces there and that may delay the division's arrival in Java. I still have time to make that decision so I'll ponder it some more.

4 Fleet

I'm still unable to upgrade the Claudes in the Marshalls. Depending on the unit, I need a level 5 or 7 airfield and 20k supply to upgrade them. (I have the supply there.) Strange. I'm going to move some of them onto the Akagi and Kaga (after I pull of the carrier's fighters) and sail toward Truk. When in range, I'll fly them to Truk and try again.

I'm thinking of sending the Akagi and Kaga to the SE to see if I can catch any Allied shipping. I'm sending more subs to that area to scout it out first.

Other Stuff

I'm building up my Ha-32 factory but still am short. The pool is gone. Recall that the Ha-32 is used for the Betty and Sally. Apparently the Betty uses the engines first because I haven't had a Sally built since the engine pool ran out. My Betty pool is currently at 47 and my Sally pool is at 7. I shut off the Bettys hoping to get a Sally every now and then. I also increased Sally production from 23 to 46 for the future. My supply is increasing so I'm good there. It's increasing on average 10k a day. I wish my fuel would do that......

The Tarakan invasion force (20 Division minus a regiment) is headed to Babeldaob to merry up with some support units. The invasion should happen in about a week or so. The third regiment will be about 4 days behind (due to a PP shortage). They'll arrive in time for the Balikpapan invasion. My goal is to take both before the end of the month. I'm going to stockpile ~50k supply for facility repair in case it's needed. Behind that will be another 50k supply coming, etc. Japan currently has a surplus of supply so I'm beginning to send convoys out to the SRA for facility repair. Those convoys will not unload it. They'll sit someplace secure (Babeldaob) waiting for the need to push it forward. As the SRA expands, I'll push the TFs farther into it, always staying in a secure port. They will be the right size for level 2, 3 or 4 ports. (Man do I like being able to title convoys!) The goal is to get supply to the damaged infrastructure as soon as possible to get the repairs going. I hope to have a hefty increase in oil and fuel production this month.

Babeldaob is becoming a hopping place. Lots of stuff is arriving (or will soon arrive) there. It's the hub for the invasions along southern Borneo toward Java.

[Mike Solli]

And here is Bataan:

[Q-Ball]

RE: Marshall Claudes.....just put a aviation company at Ponape. You should probably do that anyway and start work on fortifying Ponape.

No problem on Java, I advocate an early landing....

I posted a tip on the Kuriles in the War Room.

[USSAmerica]

Mike, what do you have the 4th Division prepping for?  I'm curious to see how much it affects combat if they have to fight somewhere.

[BrucePowers]

Hi Mike[:)]

[Mike Solli]

Hi Bruce!

Mike, the 4 Division is currently prepping for Batavia.  I don't expect to be able to take much of Java, other than possibly the northern part.  If I can clean out Batavia and the bases around it, I'll have airfields to the south and east of Palembang.  Ted has no planes in Singapore, but he does have some TBs and TR in Palembang.  I keep intercepting L-212s over Singapore and destroy the odd one on the ground in Palembang, along with Vildebeasts.  So far, I've destroyed 4 Vildebeasts, 2 L-212s and a Blenheim IV on the ground at Palembang.  It looks like Ted is thinking I'd move on Palembang and planned on taking out some fat transports.  It's not much, but if I can take Batavia, I'll have another airfield to use against Palembang.

[Mike Solli]

Hi Bruce!

Mike, the 4 Division is currently prepping for Batavia.  I don't expect to be able to take much of Java, other than possibly the northern part.  If I can clean out Batavia and the bases around it, I'll have airfields to the south and east of Palembang.  Ted has no planes in Singapore, but he does have some TBs and TR in Palembang.  I keep intercepting L-212s over Singapore and destroy the odd one on the ground in Palembang, along with Vildebeasts.  So far, I've destroyed 4 Vildebeasts, 2 L-212s and a Blenheim IV on the ground at Palembang.  It looks like Ted is thinking I'd move on Palembang and planned on taking out some fat transports.  It's not much, but if I can take Batavia, I'll have another airfield to use against Palembang.

[Cribtop]

So far, so good, Mike. I'd recommend careful recon before raiding SE with only Akagi and Kaga. The Allies lost Enterprise but could still theoretically achieve a 2 vs. 2 CV matchup at this point with Lex and Sara. Any idea where they are hiding?

This is very minor, but I notice you tend to double post a lot. Any reason why?

[Mike Solli]

I haven't seen the Lex or Sara at all in this game. They could be anywhere. I suspect they're at Pearl or the West coast training. I won't raid until I flood the area with subs with Glens. I have some out there and they haven't seen a thing.

The double posts happen at work, where I have no control over the computer. Pain in the you know what.

[Cribtop]

Not that anyone would ever post from work, of course. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

4 Feb 42

Reinforcement: 80 JAAF AF Bn at Tokyo for General Defense Army.

Java

Well, Kalidjati fell easily, considering there were no enemy troops there. My intel shows about 33k troops in Batavia, too many for my forces in Java. I'm sending a tank regiment and infantry brigade one hex over to cut Java in two. There are more forces headed there. I'll consolidate and then decide what to do. So far, there has been no reaction. Maybe Ted withdrew his air force. Not sure.

Malaya

More bombardment.

Philippines

More bombardment.

Burma

I took Prome, which was ungarrisoned. Now, Rangoon is truly isolated. I'm going to drop paratroopers on the base next to Rangoon to prevent the Allied troops from retreating in that direction.

Farther down the coast, the 55 Recon caught up with the British base force fleeing southward and pushed them out of Tavoy, taking that town. The resources there were captured at 9(1). The remnants of the base force (minus 27 casualties) continued fleeing south.

Not much else is new. Pretty much the same as yesterday.

[ny59giants]

Glens are a lot more fragile in AE vs WITP. Which is as it should be. I tend to put them on 100% training for Recon while on patrol and then go take a look at a base for a few turns. I would look at their experience levels if you want them to be used on Naval Search. If it is 30 or below, they may have trouble telling the difference between a whale and a transport ship. [:D]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

... I would look at their experience levels if you want them to be used on Naval Search. If it is 30 or below, they may have trouble telling the difference between a whale and a transport ship. [:D]

'
Actually, I think they confuse schools of tuna for CV TF's! I get so many 6-9 ship sighting right near the home isles! It only one sub with a few bow waves! [:D]

[seille]

OOB Question Malaya.

Where does the 5th Division come from ? I ´didn´t find it in my game....rebuild from regiments ?
You sent in the 21st Division from Shanghai. How did you replace the garrison requirement there which is VERY high.

You reminded me to send more supply to the front. The 40k i sent to Babaldaob aren´t enough.

[Mike Solli]

Seille, I believe the 5 Division does start broken down into 3 regiments, artillery, engineers and a recon. So far, that's the only division I've rebuilt.

[Mike Solli]

I kept the 17 Division in Shanghai and moved the 15 Division there to replace the 21 Division. I just moved the 15 & 17 Divisions out a few days ago when I got some infantry brigade reinforcements in Shanghai.