Walking the Fine Line Between Bravery and Stupidity (Japan only)

[vettim89]

So having lost my senses I am doing the following

1. Starting a 3-day turn GC (Dec 8 start)
2. Playing Japan for the first time EVER (not even an AI game)
3. Taking on one of the most experienced AFB's on the Forums - Adm Spruance

So I am plotting the first turn. Mistakenly clicked PDU off and didn't realize it until I was three hours into plotting. Checked with my opponent and we decided to stick with it. Spent a good 45 minutes just staring at the map. It is a bit overwhelming. Finally decided that I would start with the easy stuff. Formed up a CVTF at Hiroshima/Kure and sent it to the Palaus. Broke up the subs around PH and sent them towards various points.


Will be hoping that all you JFB will take pity on this AFB and give me some help on the Economy. Tracker downloaded and installed

Grab your popcorn boys, this should be either real fun or really funny. Perhaps both[:D]

[Canoerebel]

Good luck, Tim.

I assume this is Scenario One?

I have never considered playing as Japan due to the economy - I think I would hate the micromanagement. Do you enjoy micromanagement? If not, please comment at times during your match about whether you find it more onerous to play Japan from that standpoint.

[ny59giants]

I have never considered playing as Japan due to the economy

If I can teach John how to run his economy over the phone and though emails, I can do so for you and even meet you in Chattanooga if needed. [:D]

[Nomad]

OK Tim, I'll be watching to see what happens. Ask questions and you will get answers, just don't expect them to be perfect or unanimous. [:)]

And to Canoe, this would be scenario 6, Dec 8 start.

[ny59giants]

The carriers at Hiroshima you might want to upgrade them to Zeros if you have them and also re-size the air groups before you send them off. Do these two things and form a CV TF there and then disband. You should be able to pull up each carrier and see that the re-sizing is done.

I start with Malaya and work myself east. Save the game in a separate slot and after you do an area, run the turn against yourself. Take notes and make corrections where you can. Rinse and Repeat.[;)]

Save China for last as I have had to go through each base to see what the garrison requirements are and which units need to move where to get it met so you can free up the most combat power.

Decide now what you wish to capture by mid-42 and start to work in that direction. Many of us AFB have played as Japan and with Tracker, it can be done (hear than Dan....).

[vettim89]

It is a scenario 6 December 8 start. Our thinking that with 3 day turns, the Allies could be in for a slaughter if I didn't give them a chance to alter the opening dispositions. Only thing I decided to do for sure is send KB back to Japan.

As a dedicated AFB, I do have the advantage of knowing some of "holes" in the Allied defense.

[Canoerebel]

Is Scenario Six similar, then, to Scenario One (in terms of balance of power) but begining on 12/8/41? Or is it similar to some other Scenario?

With the help of all the gracious tutors out there, I think I could learn the Japanese economy....I just don't think I want to. If I don't like pilot traning, I can't imagine I would enjoy production. But I'm not positive, so I'm hoping Tim will chime in as he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.

[Cribtop]

Welcome to the dark side and give 'em he'll. Think about extending the LBA umbrella quickly in the DEI, and definitely get Zeros on the Hiroshima CVs. I also choose to upgrade Saigon, Rabaul and Hankow to lvl 7 airfields quickly to allow for upgrades of air groups in the field, but this may be less important with PDU off. PDU off will reduce the combat power of your air force, but will make production easier. Read Mike Solli's AAR for some pointers on the economy.

[ckammp]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Is Scenario Six similar, then, to Scenario One (in terms of balance of power) but begining on 12/8/41? Or is it similar to some other Scenario?

With the help of all the gracious tutors out there, I think I could learn the Japanese economy....I just don't think I want to. If I don't like pilot traning, I can't imagine I would enjoy production. But I'm not positive, so I'm hoping Tim will chime in as he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.

Scenario 06 OOBs for Japan and Allies are the same as Scenario 01.
The only difference is the RL Dec 7 damage is reflected in the Allied side. (ie - Arizona and Oklahoma have all 99 damage, planes/ships damaged at PH, planes damaged at Clark Field)

[SqzMyLemon]

Hi vettim89,

I too started my first game as Japan without any prior experience to the entire game in fact. I can always let you know pitfalls I've run across on my steep learning curve. I am also playing with PDU off and I have to admit I'm not keen on it. I think the game is hard enough for Japan as it is without being handicapped by having to rely on inferior aircraft for far longer into the game. One piece of advice is make sure you look at what Nate units you PP out of Kwantung. Many only upgrade to later versions of Oscar's so if you want Tojo's and Tony's early make sure you PP out the Sentai's that actually can upgrade to them. Some Nate units can't even upgrade until the Oscar IIb comes online so they are trainers for a good period of time.

Production wise go slow and steady and watch the research. Take full advantage of R&D'ing your aircraft along the development line to save on having to keep repairing factories. I always try to have at least two factories minimum researching and then have only one convert to production while the other is switched to researching the next generation aircraft BEFORE the current one comes online. Just make sure your factories are fully repaired first.

Be aggressive early, I was not and the Allies are pretty much intact. Good luck and all us JFB's will be rooting for you against a very good opponent.

[Captain Cruft]

Wow 3 day turns. That will be hard ...

PDU Off makes Japanese production much easier, however there are some tedious things you need to get going with ASAP.

One of these is getting a system going for shipping Resources from Hokkaido to Honshu. The rest of the Home Islands are inter-linked by rail or road so you don't need to do anything there but Hokkaido is not.

Depending on port size, most of the stuff builds up in Hakodate, so this is the primary shipping point. I would steal an engineer unit from Kwantung and get it built up to size 7 as soon as you can. On the other hand, I would deliberately leave the port at Sapporo at size 5, otherwise it will start to "steal" the Resources from Hakodate, and it's a much longer journey.

On the other side of the "straits" you have Hirosaki/Amori and Ominato, which start at size 5. Build these two to size 6 (at least). I also like to build up Akita from 1 to size 3, as it makes a great complementary port for xAKLs to work with alongside the xAKs at the two larger ports. You can use these smaller ships at Sapporo and Muroran which by default will maintain smaller stockpiles of Resources.

I don't use CS convoys since they have a tendency to fail to Dock, which greatly slows the loading/unloading process down. Therefore, each and every turn I have to go all the above mentioned ports and sort out the TFs there by issuing Dock or Undock and/or Load Resources orders.

As I said, tedious, but it needs doing unfortunately.

In order to protect all this shipping and also to be able to contest a Kuriles landing I allocate some CLs, DDs and perhaps a couple of the old clunker BBs to 5th Fleet at Ominato. If you use BBs these may need AKE support until Ominato can get to size 7.

To further the same goals I keep the IJN airgroups at Ominato as "operational" units rather than training ones, and I keep the high experience initial pilots in place instead of sending them to the pool. I also divert some IJA bomber groups from Kwantung for ASW duty. This is a great use for otherwise useless Idas. You will need to ship some aviation support over to Hokkaido to do this though. There are a bunch of "JAAF Bns" or "JNAF Bns" at places like Toyama assigned to the un-restricted 11th Air Flotilla which you may want to use for this.

Alongside these measures, although I have yet to really succeed at it, I have a plan to close the entrance to the Sea of Japan at Wakkanai to subs. It is quite easy to do this at the other end at Tsushima et al using mines, but there is an empty sea hex to the east of Wakkanai where that won't work. However, if you can do this then all convoys from Hokkaido should be free from fear of sub attack.

Make sure you convert some ACMs to maintain the minefields at Ominato and Hakodate to help with this. I use the 4,000 endurance 330 capacity PBs for this, or the equivalent xAKL.

Just some thoughts on one small but important area of operations [:)]

[vettim89]

Thanks for all the good advice guys.

I find myself suddenly having a higher level appreciation for the hard core JFB among you. Turn 1 is daunting. I got about six hours in and am basically doing just the simple stuff.

One question: the CVE that starts near Palau, where do you get some air units for it's air group?

[Cuttlefish]

Welcome to the dark side! Playing Japan in this game will break your heart in the end but it's an interesting ride in the meantime.

As for Taiyo, there are some Val units that come along fairly early and one can be placed aboard and resized. I sometimes do that. I always struggle to find a role for that carrier, though. At speed 21 it's too slow to accompany even the slower Japanese CVs and CVLs. When '43 rolls around you can probably find a Zero daitai that needs a little training and place it aboard for some extra fighter cover over convoys.

[Cribtop]

I use it to ferry the Claudes in the Marshalls and at Truk home for upgrade to Zeros. Again, with PDU off this may not be an option. It's just too slow to do much.

[Canoerebel]

Shouldn't the title of this AAR be "Walking the Fine Line between Bravery and Knavery"?

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Shouldn't the title of this AAR be "Walking the Fine Line between Bravery and Knavery"?

Time will tell

[FatR]

In my opinion, even 2-day turns hamper Japan alot initially. 3-day turns probably will be extremely punitive. Allies will suffer less later in the war, because they have less need to move at lightning speed. In combination with PDU OFF I would advise sticking to historical period + Port Moresby - Aleutians + (only if you're still doing well) Darwin area. Don't commit heavily to Luzon, unless your opponent really exposes his forces to destruction. Concentrate on getting Singapore and southern Sumatra ASAP. Move early, rapidly and forcefully in China, this is probably one of the few theatres where lack of day-to-day control might benefit Japanese early. In fact, if your opponent fails to make any early counterattacks, I'd advise concentrating on knocking out China, or at least reducing it to a state that will preclude Allied comeback there.

Shut down about half of the armament factories right away. You're still likely to have a surplus, and there are enough points in the pool to make adjustments safely. Expand vehicles to about 150. Expand naval shipyards as needed to build all the ships you can, except maybe some or all of the subs, as these cost a lot, and as you should know, grow increasingly worthless late in the war. Not like there is much point in overconcentrating on air production with PDU OFF. Research Oscars and A6M3 line of Zeros heavily, as you're stuck with them. Franks as well, at least you'll have some good fighters. Devote every air unit you can without immediately harming your air operations to training (100% training mission, units overfilled to the limit, range doesn't really matter much, but let it be 0). Particularly those stuck with junk planes. Stockpile pilots, and use them later in the war to ensure, that at least units with good airframes will never be short on trained replacements.

[GreasyLake]

Wow Tim, Wow! Stumbled upon this early today. Always thought you could be really good at playing Japan with your level of knowledge and dedication to detail/planning. Do not know about 3 day turns though. I think AE is a lot easier than old WITP to play Japan. Even I have not been able to crash the economy so far.
The more turns you run and get everything rolling the way you want the better you will enjoy it, especially at first. Maybe not so much by 44-45!!!

Anyway congrats on taking the plunge, playing a skilled opponent I will surely enjoy reading of your JFB frustrations.

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: GreasyLake

Wow Tim, Wow! Stumbled upon this early today. Always thought you could be really good at playing Japan with your level of knowledge and dedication to detail/planning. Do not know about 3 day turns though. I think AE is a lot easier than old WITP to play Japan. Even I have not been able to crash the economy so far.
The more turns you run and get everything rolling the way you want the better you will enjoy it, especially at first. Maybe not so much by 44-45!!!

Anyway congrats on taking the plunge, playing a skilled opponent I will surely enjoy reading of your JFB frustrations.

Larry!!!!! Good to here from you. Well we shall see here

Newb JFB question: how do I convert AK to AP?

[vettim89]

8-10 December 1941

Interesting beginning. Both the Vigan bound TF and Iba bound TF ran afoul of the AK's running from Hong Kong. Because I did not set direct/absolute on the routeing, they turned back towards Formosa. Only a small force landed at Iba consisting of artillery and engineers - oops. Hopefully the rest of the troops will offload before the Allies counterattack.

On Malaya only minimal Allied response. I did not alter the landings at all so it is basically straight forward here. Going to try to bypass Georgetown and Alor Star and shoot down the middle. Doubt if that will work but wanted to do something a little different here to keep my opponent on his toes.

KB has refueled and will now take a circuitous route back to the HI. First swinging west of Midway and then south past wake. All the A/C are set on Naval Attack/airfield. My thinking is if I hit Midway's AB hard enough I might take out some PBY's which are in very short supply for the Allies right now. Also there are ships at Wake which puzzles me unless he broke off some cruisers from the CVTF and sent them there. Of note, an I-Boat put a TT into CV Enterprise west of Oahu. SHe is on the sunk ships list but there are no naval a/c on the list as destroyed. I know when that lieing FOW is up to no good. Build your hopes up and then zing, "reports of sinking of CV Enterprise were in error"

I took Makin and kept the TF heading for Kavieng and Shortlands. Going to move some additional support forces into place before I hit Rabaul. I would not be surprised to see a welcoming commmitte there when I arrive.

The 33rd ID is loading at Nagasaki to be moved to Indochina and then points south. I have a plan for KB once it gets back from PH.