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

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Are you planning on downgrading the 6 Ku S-1 to A5M4s and redistribute the better airframes elsewhere?

I think with PDU off you cannot downgrade a unit unless I'm mistaken. At least I haven't been able to in my game, the option is upgrade or status quo.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Are you planning on downgrading the 6 Ku S-1 to A5M4s and redistribute the better airframes elsewhere?

I think with PDU off you cannot downgrade a unit unless I'm mistaken. At least I haven't been able to in my game, the option is upgrade or status quo.

Ah...forgot that Mr. Solli had his PDU off. So ka!

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Are you planning on downgrading the 6 Ku S-1 to A5M4s and redistribute the better airframes elsewhere?

I can't. We're playing with PDU off. I can't downgrade anything. I can only upgrade along each particular air unit's path.

[Mike Solli]

Ok, here are some stats. First the Intel Report:

[Mike Solli]

Here are some stats I collect daily:

[Mike Solli]

A few comments:

Supply is not a concern at all. We'll see what it looks like in a couple of years....

Fuel is still plumetting. So far in Apr I've taken some signigicant locations (just finished the 9 Apr turn). Hopefully, things will turn around here.

Oil is dropping, as expected. That'll never go up.

Naval ship points are relatively stationary. I'm considering a modest increase in naval shipyards. Possibly 10-20 points. Gotta think about it a bit more.

Merchant points are increasing rapidly. They'll be needed later.

Armament points are increasing nicely. I'll probably shut some off (I'm thinking ~200) when the pool reaches 100k.

Vehicle points are relatively stationary. The end of the month happened to be a small drop. I'd like to get them up a bit more, but I'm ok with it right now.

The pilot pool is what it is. I currently keep pilots training until they reach the following:

IJN: 70+ exp and 70+ stat
IJA: 60+ exp and 70+ stat

I've read a thread discussing what other people do and I'm going to drop the experience requirement to 50+ (and leave the stat at 70+). I expect the reserve pilot pool to double to ~600. We'll see...

TRACOM hasn't done squat for me so far. I think those guys are drinking sake and playing the Japanese version of Pinochle.

I'm satisfied with the MIA/KIA numbers so far. Granted, Ted has only his riff raff to throw at me.

[Mike Solli]

Here are the ship losses for the month of April:

BB: 1 Allied (the Arizona foundered off the coast of Hawaii attempting to head back to the West Coast.)
xAK: 3 Japanese and 2 Allied
xAKL: 1 Japanese
SS: 5 Allied (3 US subs hit mines off the coast of Japan and 1 Dutch and 1 US died from depth charges. I didn't even notice the subs that hit mines until tonight.)
PT: 6 Allied

Losses since the beginning of the war:

Type: Allied/Japanese

CV: 1/0
BB: 5/0
BC:1/0
CA: 3/0
CL: 9/0
DD: 16/1
xAP: 11/0
xAK: 14/19
xAKL: 13/11
AO: 1/0
TK: 4/0
SS: 8/0
AVP: 2/0
AG: 2/0
CM: 3/0
AM: 5/0
DM: 1/0
DMS: 0/12 (Damn things moved into minefields and died. [:@])
HDML: 9/0
YP: 2/0
ML: 2/0
MTB/PT: 23/0
PC: 2/0
PG: 2/0
PB: 0/7
SC: 0/1
E: 0/1

Total: 129/66

Note that I haven't lost anything larger than a DD. I currently have 2 BBs (Mutsu and Yamashiro) still repairing damage from their encounter with the Repulse. No other warships have anything other than minor damage. I try to upgrade escorts as early as I can.

[CapAndGown]

Your vehicle point level is horrible. You are going to get slammed by the arrival of some armor regiments. You should increase the number of vehicle factories to 150-180. You can turn some of them off later once you have gotten the number of points up. Check the LCU Production charts in Tracker.

As to armaments, I ran my level up to about 80-85k and then shut down all but ~100. That has kept me fairly steady through the end of 43. That number will now start to drop as large numbers of reinforcements start to arrive, but that is OK. There is no point in having a huge surplus when the war ends. Ideally, one would have 0 armament, 0 vehicle, 0 merchant, and 0 shipyard points on May 1, 1946.

[Mike Solli]

Hmm, gotta check that tonight.  Thanks for the suggestion on vehicle points...

[Mike Solli]

Here is the current data on planes. A few notes:

A6M2-N - This just came on board this month. I'll most likely increase production to ~12.

D3A1 - I'm not comfortable with only 39 in the pool. There have been practically no losses since 7 Dec, but that pool will be sucked dry if there is a carrier battle. The D3A2 comes online in Aug 42. Ideally, I don't want any A1s in the pool by Aug. As the A2s replace the A1s, the pool will fill up.

L3Y2 - I started to produce some because there is a 27 plane daitai that uses them. It was (and still is) flying supply to Pt. Blair and taking op losses. It was down almost half. It'll be awhile before it can upgrade so this production will probably continue for awhile.

Ki-27b - I still have a lot of Nate units. Many will upgrade to types that are still in r&d (remember, PDU is off). I am upgrading everything I can with the exception of training units. (I may have already. Gotta check that tonight.) I may have to turn production back on. After reading some threads, people seem to think that a unit trains better if it's full of planes. Several of my training sentai have only the 2 planes they arrived with. If that's really the case, I will definitely need to turn production back on.

Ki-36 - What a piece of junk! The only units that use this scrap heap are training units. We don't want to waste anything, right? Anyway, this factory can be converted. The question is what to change it to. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. Keep in mind that I can't convert it to an r&d factory.

Ki-43-Ic - Production is good so far. Eventually, I'll have to increase it, but right now the only place the Oscar is fighting is in Burma, but soon fighting will take place in N Australia.

Ki-48-Ib/IIa - The IIa just appeared this month. Right now I've completed the 9 Apr 42 turn and the factory still hasn't converted. Grrrrr......

Ki-49-Ia - New plane this month. I'm not going to increase production. The Total Build Out (TBO) is only 74.

Ki-51 - I'm stuck with this plane, unfortunately. I like the Mary and Ann much better. Even though it's armored, the bomb is tiny. Anyway, the TBO is 296 so it's in my inventory for the duration. [8|]

Edit:

Oops, missed a couple.

G3M2 - I've shut this off, probably for awhile. TBO is only 45, but that's assuming I upgrade some to the Betty. I probably won't for awhile. Nell losses have been very low.

G4M1 - I need to turn this back on. TBO is 261, but that's if I convert the Nell over. At any rate, this Ronson needs more replacements for when they run into Allied fighters.

[CapAndGown]

Do not build the D3A2. Turn upgrade off for these factories. The A2 model has a shorter range than the A1.

For the Ki-48: You don't have to wait for auto-upgrade. You can manually do the upgrade and you won't suffer any damaged factories. This is something I found out only recently after waiting almost a month for one factory to upgrade.

Also, with your R&D, this same ability to upgrade to the next model in the upgrade tree without suffering damaged factories applies to R&D factories. This can allow you to achieve significant acceleration for late model airframes.

[Chickenboy]

I'd recommend you consider increasing your Ki-43c production for the time being. Until you start getting Tojos in quantity, you'll need the Oscar as a stopgap. I don't think production of 64 is sufficient, particularly if you're expecting more resistance in Australia soon.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Do not build the D3A2. Turn upgrade off for these factories. The A2 model has a shorter range than the A1.

For the Ki-48: You don't have to wait for auto-upgrade. You can manually do the upgrade and you won't suffer any damaged factories. This is something I found out only recently after waiting almost a month for one factory to upgrade.

Also, with your R&D, this same ability to upgrade to the next model in the upgrade tree without suffering damaged factories applies to R&D factories. This can allow you to achieve significant acceleration for late model airframes.

Unfortunately, I have to upgrade to the D3A2. PDU off requires that I do it because I get 15 air units that come with D3A2s (345 aircraft slots) and they can't downgrade.

I didn't know you could manually upgrade without damage to the factory. That's outstanding! On the list to do tonight.

[Mike Solli]

Chickenboy, I've been pondering that. I'm not sure what kind of air power Ted'll have in N Australia but the Oscars down there may take some damage. I don't get Tojos until Sep 42. Also, I'm not sure what the Oscars upgrade to. Again that darn PDU off thing. I need to make a list of all the air units and what they upgrade to. That's info I need that I don't have readily available.

[Mike Solli]

Engines

Note that all my engine factories are producing a surplus with the exception of the Ha-31. That's because in Feb I had the Sonia off. Only the Ki-46-II was producing. Since then, I got the Ki-57-II and turned the Sonia back on. I need to bump up that factory. I hate to, but it'll be needed. Also note that the Ha-35 is producing an excess, but only. I'll need more next month when the Nick starts production. Even though there's a nice surplus, that's the one engine you can never have too many of.

Finally, note that the Ha-60 is producing, even though it wasn't scheduled to begin until Oct 42. It is used for the Judy series beginning in Oct 42 and continuing through the end of the war. If I let it produce until Oct 42, I'll have ~750 engines, probably more than I need for the rest of the war. I'll let it produce for a couple of months and then probably stop it for a while.

[Mike Solli]

1 Apr 42

Reinforcement: 47 JNAF AF Unit

Java

Deliberate assault of Soerabaja. Got 3:1 odds and reduced the fort level from 3 to 2. Took 666 casualties and inflicted 1338. Will continue the attack tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Production began on the Ki-49Ia, Ki-48-IIa, H6K2-L and the A6M2-N as well as the Aichi Ha-60 engine.

[Mike Solli]

2 Apr 42
 
Singapore
 
The supply is starting to flow in so I tried another attack.  No dice yet.  3931 losses and inflicted 893.  Fort level remained at 2. 
 
Java
 
Another attack yielded 2:1 odds and reduced the fort level from 2 to 1.  I inflicted 1133 casualties while losing 721.  I destroyed an infantry battalion.

[Mike Solli]

Duplicate.

[crsutton]

Glad you are posting again.

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Engines

Note that all my engine factories are producing a surplus with the exception of the Ha-31. That's because in Feb I had the Sonia off. Only the Ki-46-II was producing. Since then, I got the Ki-57-II and turned the Sonia back on. I need to bump up that factory. I hate to, but it'll be needed. Also note that the Ha-35 is producing an excess, but only. I'll need more next month when the Nick starts production. Even though there's a nice surplus, that's the one engine you can never have too many of.

Finally, note that the Ha-60 is producing, even though it wasn't scheduled to begin until Oct 42. It is used for the Judy series beginning in Oct 42 and continuing through the end of the war. If I let it produce until Oct 42, I'll have ~750 engines, probably more than I need for the rest of the war. I'll let it produce for a couple of months and then probably stop it for a while.

The later Judy's (D4Y3) use the Ha-33 engine. The Ha-60 will become obsolete at that point except for a few recon Judys, and even they upgrade to another engine type I believe. Do not become over-committed to the Ha-60.