cap_and_gown(j) v witpqs(a) - no witpqs

[veji1]

Bummer. Subs are very dangerous. I really think that you should put almost all your DBs and TBs on ASW while you slowly retreat. Bombing Midway serves no purpose. Don't get greedy. You should also now have quite a bit of ASW trained LBA, train more ! For the next 6 months his subs will be his main naval weapon.

While you retreat your CVs, jus ASW search like hell. Even if you don't hit anything, you raise the DL level of the subs enough that they have a hard time attacking your CVs. Plus ASW as well from Wake. You also could train your Nells and Betties. By now they are flying matches anyway, against a CV TF their only purpose is to raise fatigue of CAP, not score hits. So not being great at NavB or T isn't a big deal, but by flooding an area with ASW search they can make a massive impact.

Hopefully you will be able to save the CV, but anyway this shows that unless you have a specific objective in mind, that is achievable and based on intelligence, dangling your KB in a no man's zone is of no use...

Best of luck and get those subs.

[mike scholl 1]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Nov. 22, 1943

To quote another player, "Bollocks!" Three torpedoes. Three! [:@] Plus a fuel storage explosion. I was shocked when I found she was not sunk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's so shocking? After two years of war, American torpedoes are finally becoming effective, and one of your CV's got hit. Several were sunk by subs during the real war (Taiho, Shinano, Shokaku, to name a few), so why shouldn't it happen in the game?

[veji1]

Calm down mate. He was shocked that she was still afloat after 3 torpedoes, not that she had been hit.. Relax, it wasn't a criticism of the game's realism...

[Yakface]

ORIGINAL: mike scholl 1

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Nov. 22, 1943

To quote another player, "Bollocks!" Three torpedoes. Three! [:@] Plus a fuel storage explosion. I was shocked when I found she was not sunk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's so shocking? After two years of war, American torpedoes are finally becoming effective, and one of your CV's got hit. Several were sunk by subs during the real war (Taiho, Shinano, Shokaku, to name a few), so why shouldn't it happen in the game?

Hmmm. Monday morning and somebody needs more coffee.....or less coffee...I can't tell, but certainly coffee levels aren't right.

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 23, 1943

What I learned today: expressing annoyance at having one of my carriers torpedoed is verboten. I am supposed to embrace the suffering, apparently. Or something like that. Plus, some people are on such high alert for JFBism that they manage to misread what I felt was a very clearly worded sentence.

At any rate, Kasagi is still alive and limping for home. Float damage came down by 2, the fires are out, and that TF is still not spotted. A TF with a 0 detection level should be able to slip by the subs easier.

I am not sure how many subs are actually out there. I wonder if they went south? I have all my Judy's on 30% ASW and they only spotted 1 sub in the area. That could be because they are not very good. Or maybe the allies guessed wrong about my intentions and zigged when they should have zagged. Right now it looks like I am north of the subs and if they want to come after me it will be a stern chase which, except for the Kasagi, I can win.

The attack on Midway went well. We shot down 9 Corsairs while only losing 11 Zeros and 5 Jills A2A. Flak was not bad. Some damage, but no loses. Meanwhile we got some good hits on allied support ships at Midway.

Bomber Raid #1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Midway Island , at 158,91
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 49
B6N2 Jill x 126

Bomber Raid #2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Midway Island , at 158,91
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 13
B6N2 Jill x 14

AKE Charles McCormick, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AKE Admiral Williams, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AS Griffin, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AD Sierra, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
ACM Bastion, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

At least one of these ships sank judging by the sound cue. Now we head for home. But this attack on Midway may serve a useful purpose if it causes witpqs to divert some of his fighters to guarding rear area bases from possible port attacks. Indeed, I am now thinking it might be useful to take some of these carrier borne recon planes and load them up on a small CVE (like Hosho) and sail them around taking pictures of rear area bases. With their long range - 23 hexes - they can stand off a long way from a base to take a picture. And with a small TF of just, say, 1 CVE and 2 DD, we can probably escape detection by allied patrol planes. Hmmm. Maybe team up the Hosho with a super long range AMC and start taking pictures of Melborne and Sydney. Now wouldn't that make the allies nervous! Well, at least the first couple of times.

Another thing to mention is that this show of force should help further convince witpqs that I am more than ready for another carrier duel.

Meanwhile, the allies have begun an air campaign over Rangoon. Unfortunately, land based radar does not work and so I cannot get my CAP into the air. I really don't want to stop the game, but how am I supposed to fight if I spend all this time trying to get radar set up only to find none of it works, not even a little bit?

First a night attack:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53
Weather in hex: Light cloud

Japanese aircraft
no flights [obviously, that will change!]

Allied aircraft
Wellington Ic x 12
Wellington B.X x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 5 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground
Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 34

Now a series of daylight sweeps. Turns out the Tony's did not do very well. This may be because of lower experienced pilots. Another possibility could be they are slower than Tojo's. Not that much slower, though. Definitely, the Tojo's did better. I can't wait till I have more IIc's available! (240 a month production) Another factor in favor of the Tojo is that it has a service rating of 1. Right now I have a pile of Tony's sitting at Rangoon in a damaged state. [:(] I think the Tony's are going to be relegated to my rear area installations for bomber interception. Once the B-29 arrives I am going to have to have squadrons at many rear area bases, such as Balikpapan, Palembang and Miri. (Radar better be working by that time or I definitely will put a stop to the game until it is fixed.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 7
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 29
Ki-61-Ic Tony x 23

Allied aircraft
P-51A Mustang x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ic Tony: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51A Mustang: 3 destroyed [not a very impressive debut for the Mustang.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes [8|]

Japanese aircraft
[these numbers are ridiculous. there are 150 fighters at Rangoon and over 100 in the adjacent bases]
A6M3a Zero x 5
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 16
Ki-61-Ic Tony x 14

Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61-Ic Tony: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40K Warhawk: 3 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes [8|]

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 11
Ki-61-Ic Tony x 3

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 46
P-40K Warhawk x 72
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 25
P-51A Mustang x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed
Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed

The pisser is that this radar used to work, but something they did for the last patch broke it. Forward guys! Not backwards.

November has seen a ridiculous number of hits on allied subs down in the Banda/Timor Seas. The allies have, apparently, been trying to guard against bombardment runs on Darwin. Unfortunately for them, I have a lot of interlocking air bases their so I am able to blanket the area with multiple ASW squadrons. These are all Helen's trained on both ASW and LowN and flying at 1000 feet. I don't think many of these reports are actual sinkings. For instance, I am fairly certain neither the S-42 nor the Sealion have sunk. What these reports do seem to indicate is we are getting quite a few hits. And a hit from a 250kg bomb will send a sub home for a while (mostly transit time, since they repair so quickly).

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

What I learned today: expressing annoyance at having one of my carriers torpedoed is verboten. I am supposed to embrace the suffering, apparently. Or something like that. Plus, some people are on such high alert for JFBism that they manage to misread what I felt was a very clearly worded sentence.

Have to admit, I was a bit surprised at some reactions. I missed the problem in your comments completely. Oh well. Guess I'm just too slow. Prolly why my CV's get hit by my opponents subs like bubbles in my son's bath. SMACK! [:D]

[Djordje]

ORIGINAL: mike scholl 1

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Nov. 22, 1943

To quote another player, "Bollocks!" Three torpedoes. Three! [:@] Plus a fuel storage explosion. I was shocked when I found she was not sunk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's so shocking? After two years of war, American torpedoes are finally becoming effective, and one of your CV's got hit. Several were sunk by subs during the real war (Taiho, Shinano, Shokaku, to name a few), so why shouldn't it happen in the game?

If you read it again with more attention you will see that he was shocked that his CV was still afloat, not that it was hit by USN sub.
Don't you ever get tired of your crusade against fictional JFBs?

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown


Meanwhile, the allies have begun an air campaign over Rangoon. Unfortunately, land based radar does not work and so I cannot get my CAP into the air. I really don't want to stop the game, but how am I supposed to fight if I spend all this time trying to get radar set up only to find none of it works, not even a little bit?

same as the Allied did for the first two years game time. [:D] You´re going to be lucky as you can expect radar to work when the next patch comes out, so for the rest of the war you should be safe. [;)]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown


Meanwhile, the allies have begun an air campaign over Rangoon. Unfortunately, land based radar does not work and so I cannot get my CAP into the air. I really don't want to stop the game, but how am I supposed to fight if I spend all this time trying to get radar set up only to find none of it works, not even a little bit?

same as the Allied did for the first two years game time. [:D] You´re going to be lucky as you can expect radar to work when the next patch comes out, so for the rest of the war you should be safe. [;)]

C&G,

I have to admist as annoying as the LB radar is, I feel it affects both sides fairly equally, so it isn't stopping me. You can't see them, they can't see you. Draw.

The Naval Search issue though is really killing me and this one I don't feel is equal. Where it gets IJ is with the Nettie's early in the game (through mid-43). If you can't put blinders on them, you really can't use them as effectively as you want. Like securing DEI, but avoiding the Singapore air space. Or from Rebaul, but avoiding PM air space. Allies don't really have anything like the Nettie (range +20 Naval Bomber), so there isn't an equal loss. Sure, they have the B-17 with that range and mission possibility, but its armor and durability are such that a lot of people (ok, me at least) don't really bother to worry about avoiding Rebaul airspace if on Naval Attack from PM. The Netties really are Ronson's and most players are pretty careful about avoiding CAP.

Anyway, sorry for the digression. I just got clobbered (again) last night and feeling the pain this morning. [:(] The only good news is that my opponent will be buying beverages Friday night for our weekly re-hash meeting (again). Think it is his 4th week in a row .... [:'(]

[CapAndGown]

The radar was working up until the last patch. During some intense fighting over Magwe I was getting spots as far as 120 NM away. So for the first part of the game, the expansion part, allied radar, when they had it, was working. (I am not sure that they have much in the beginning when it would help them more.)

In this part of the game the Japanese are on the defensive and not making lots of attacks on allied air bases. At least I am not since it strikes me as pointless with allied engineering being what it is. Therefore, the radar issue seem to impact the Japanese side more for this part of the game.

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 24, 1943

Even though there was almost no action this turn, it proved to be quite eventful.

First, the D4Y3 Judy was advanced to February. In just two months then, I can dramatically increase my Judy production. Right now production is limited to 90/month because of the Aichi engine. When the new model comes on line it will be using the Mitsubishi Ha-33 engine which I am producing a lot of. Also, the service rating of the D4Y2 model is 1 instead of the 3 for the D4Y1 model. Now I have to decide what to do with those factories. Do I upgrade them to the D4Y4 model, which has a 800kg bomb, or the Grace which can carry act as either a torpedo bomber or a dive bomber. Or I could switch them over to the Sam. Lord knows the IJNAF needs a decent fighter and there are simply not that many squadrons that will upgrade to the George.

Float damage on the Kasagi came down again. It is now 49. The only subs spotted in the region are fairly far south of the Kasagi and the KB. The KB and the Kasagi are now heading for Yokohama. I may divert the KB to over to the Mariana's to get ready for another operation.

The interesting news this turn was the appearance of an allied invasion force heading for Nauru. There are a bunch of LCT's 2 hexes away from Nauru. There is also a group of what appear to be destroyers 12 hexes southeast of Nauru. I suspect that the destroyers are meant to race into Nauru during the night phase in order to run interference for the LCT's.

If the allies capture Nauru that will probably end my plans to evac the Gilberts. So to prevent the immediate capture, I am taking several steps to interfere with the allied plans. First, 2 CAs and 4 DDs which are in the Solomons will rebase to Nauru at top speed. There exactly 18 hexes from Nauru and so can reach there during the morning phase. Nauru also has some fuel available, so they can refuel there. I am not sure if the allies will start to unload before the cruisers arrive. They will not start to unload during the night phase, but there is another unloading phase before the morning naval movement phase during which time they could unload. So the cruisers may not make in time to stop the invasion. OTOH, we may still catch some troops on board the transports.

I am also going to fly in elements of the Maizuru 3rd SNLF from the Gilberts. Maybe the allied invasion force is not very big and can be stopped with a small commitment of troops. I don't know. But I am going to at least try to hold on Nauru for now.

Actually, the situation at Nauru is rather ironic. I placed a garrison unit there that was slated to be withdrawn in late 1943 thinking to myself "well, if I still have Nauru by that time, it will be gravy. I don't expect them to survive that long anyway." Now that it is late 1943, I do want to hold onto Nauru, at least for a little while. [:)]

The biggest danger from this operation is a naval air attack from Kusaie. The rollover indicates the allies have 18 bombers there. I am pretty sure they have more than that. But I don't think it is that many. And the real question is: how many of them are SBDs or TBDs? If they are 4E bombers then that is no problem. Otherwise, my ships will be rather exposed and the one thing working in their favor will be the small number of bombers. (Note: I cannot station fighters at Nauru to provide CAP - the runway is completely trashed, 100%.)

[PaxMondo]

You got any Rufe's handy? ... trick is getting the AV in and then later out intact .... [;)]
 

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

You got any Rufe's handy? ... trick is getting the AV in and then later out intact .... [;)]

Are float planes unaffected by runway damage? I have not been willing to find out in the game and haven't run any tests.

I only have one group of Rufe's. They are in the Home Islands being used as a training group.

[bbbf]

Float planes work on port damage.
 
If you have AV support there, either in the garrison or in an AV, they'll work fine.
 
It's fun to base float planes at these bases and attack uncapped Allied shipping.

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 25, 1943

"Where was the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering Kaboom."

Well, I guessed wrong, the allies were not invading Nauru. They were apparently shuttling in either supplies or troops to Ocean Island. So my cruiser force did not accomplish anything. Also, my transports did not fly any troops into Nauru. I am not sure why. Maybe because the runway is damaged. At least there was no air attack on my cruiser force. For next turn I am giving the cruisers a react range of 6 and a patrol zone 2 hexes southwest of Nauru. The idea here is to react into the barges during the night phase, hopefully wipe them out, and then retreat out of SBD range during the morning movement phase. That, anyway, is the plan.

In addition to misreading what those barges were up to, I misread what the "destroyer" group was up to. Maybe they did a sprint into Ocean Island during the night. Or maybe they are not destroyers, but some other type of ship moving slowly to the west for some reason.

The Kasagi is still alive and limping for home. Float damage is down to 49.

The allies are advancing on Rangoon. We are getting ready to bug out for Moulmein.

The allies have a lot of subs in port at Port Hedland. My guess would be that they are repairing damage from my ASW AC planes there. I am think about a long range Judy strike. The only problem is there appear to be both a goodly number of guns there and a fair number of fighters as well. I will consider this. I would like to get those subs, but I am not sure how many of my precious carrier pilots they are worth, especially as we may not be able to actually sink that many.

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 26-27, 1943

You win some, you lose some.

My cruiser force performed just as I had hoped. (OK, I could have hoped for a total wipe out of the allied TF.) They reacted into the allied landing craft during the night phase, then retreated south of Nauru in the morning so that they were out of LBA range during the day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Nauru Island at 128,127, Range 7,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Suzuya
DD Uzuki
DD Kikuzuki
E Yanagi

Allied Ships
LCI-221
LCI-222
LCI-223
LCI-327
LCI-330
LCI-331
LCI-332, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
LCI-333
LCI-334, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
LCI-335
LCI-336, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
LCI-400, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
LCI-402, Shell hits 5, and is sunk

Things did not turn out so well for the Matsukaze. She had refueled at Nauru, causing her to expend 1000 ops points. Therefore, I cut her loose to return to Rabaul on her own rather than slow down the cruisers. Unfortunately, she ran into an allied sub.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Nauru Island at 126,128

Japanese Ships
DD Matsukaze, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Trout

Incredibly, she is still alive, but with 84 float damage I doubt she will make it very long. I would scuttle her if I had the option, but the button for scuttling does not show up.

Float damage on Iokoma comes down to 44. Still 5 days sailing from Yokohama.

Our ASW AC sank another allied sub in the Banda Sea this turn, apparently a Dutch sub. We are not keeping pace with allied replacements, but at least we are keeping the growth curve from going exponential.

I decided that I would upgrade the D4Y3 Judy factories to the D4Y4 model. That 800kg bomb looks awfully nice and by converting the existing R&D factories, I can advance the arrival of that plane by about 7 months. I still need to convert more factories to the Sam. I am now planning on converting Jack factories to that plane once they have brought the next model of the Jack forward to February. (It is currently due in March.)

This game is rapidly approaching the second anniversary of Pearl Harbor, so I need to start working on providing an overview of where we are versus where we were and some of my thinking about where we are going.

[veji1]

How is your defense of the SRA looking. With Burma about to be lost, He will have very soon that massive cluster of AFs in central Burma from which his Bombers can lay waste to Malaysia and Indochina. He might start pouring forces in China as well, and you might be staring at defeat even with your successes CV wise, reminds me a bit of an AAR in WITP between Warspite and Kaleun I think...

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 28, 1943

I am not sure much noteworthy happened today in terms of action. I did have some interesting developments in the realm of intelligence.

First off, the Yorktown showed up in the ops report as being reported sunk on 10/26/43. Does showing up in the ops report this way make it official? Seems odd: Yorktown was not hit that hard. Tracker is also reporting Saratoga as sunk now, with a sunk date of 10/26/43. Saratoga would be less surprising since she was hit by 4 bombs and 4 torpedoes.

Additional intel to mull over: Saratoga and Yorktown were attacked in hex 119, 114, on 10/25/43 yet Saratoga is listed as having sunk in hex 119, 115 on 10/26 and Yorktown is listed as having sunk in hex 121, 116 on 10/26. Wasp and Lexington were in hex 120,117 when they were attacked on 10/26/43.

A turn just came in. I want to go check that out. I will get back to veji1's question in a later post.

[janh]

Hmmh, interesting.  Did your opponent admit any losses truthfully?  To bad he isn't posting, I would be too curious as to how many CV you really sank, and in what state the rest escaped.

[CapAndGown]

Nov. 30, 1943

Not much happened this turn. Our TRACOM people advanced a lot of pilots this turn. That should help keep the HI costs down some. Kasagi is now just 2 days from Yokohama. Float damage is down to 43. It looks like she is going to make it after all.

ORIGINAL: veji1

How is your defense of the SRA looking. With Burma about to be lost, He will have very soon that massive cluster of AFs in central Burma from which his Bombers can lay waste to Malaysia and Indochina. He might start pouring forces in China as well, and you might be staring at defeat even with your successes CV wise, reminds me a bit of an AAR in WITP between Warspite and Kaleun I think...

First, I don't know what there is in Indochina to "lay waste to." There is a little HI in Rangoon and Saigon. Not much else. Until the B-29 arrives, his 4E cannot reach down to Malaysia. Once they arrive, he will be able to hit anything he likes from just about anywhere anyway.

The main thing I don't like about giving up Rangoon is that it will reopen the Burma road, giving the Chinese another 500 supply a day. If they can funnel more supply than that down that road, then there is something wrong with the game system. The Japanese will be receiving about 1000 more AV in reinforcements in the next couple of weeks. I am going to use these troops, plus many others, to launch an offensive against Changsa. The purpose of the offensive will be to force the Chinese to use supply and hopefully draw off his troops from other sectors.

As to the SRA, I am anticipating that an offensive will be launched out of the Arufura Sea into the eastern DEI. I am getting ready for this. Right now my defenses are undergoing a major reorganization/reorientation. The general idea here will be to cede the outlying islands to the allies but then use naval and air forces to prevent the allies from building up any bases they should capture. I have a good set of interlocking airfields at places like Amobon, Boela, Sorgon, etc. as well as on Timor. These bases can be used to launch air attacks and provide CAP for surface forces making an invasion here expensive. To limit the number of bases the allies can take in one go, I need to move in some more SNLF/Nav Guard units to garrison a number of the dot bases. Meanwhile, I am building up my reserve forces which will be based either at Sorebaja, or on the Celebes. Ideally, I would like to have a regiment garrison each base hex and have a division in tactical reserve for every 3 garrison regiments and a division in strategic reserve for every three divisions in tactical reserve. I doubt I have sufficient troops for all that, but the concept at least reflects my thinking that reserves are the most important aspect of the Japanese defenses since it is impossible to know for sure just where the next allied offensive might develop and having reserve divisions allow one to quickly shift forces to strengthen a threatened sector.