Aboard the Red Castle - Erkki(J) vs. Smeulders(A) - no lookin'!

[Erkki]

April 18th


Another decent day to be Japanese...

Indian Ocean: CVL Ryujo doesnt find a trace of the yesterday's convoy(the last intact ship probably escaped to limbo across the map edge) but CV Kaga, already turning back north, runs just 3 hex short a THIRD big convoy heading West - 7 ships are attacked, 6 hit, and these are in fuel load too and burn up nicely! Naval search thinks there are now 4 ships left(only one was actually seen sunk, but the ones burning must have gone under or are about to). If this convoy was 8-ship strong as the previous ones it should have 2. Its 2 hex from map edge, so CV Kaga TF dispatches 3 DDs and battleship Kongo in a try to catch them next night.

xAK Empire Rani, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Autolycus, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK City of Exeter, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Adrastus
xAK Clan Macwhirter, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK City of Canterbury, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Empire Niger, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires

The single torpedo hit was Kaga's last torpedo. Ryujo was way out of range, again...

This raid is becoming very successful, 20 big Dominion L and Euro K class xAKs down already, 1 hit possible kill and some still left for tomorrow... The far-away picket ships and floatplane cruisers do not sight enemy naval activity nor have they sighted search aircraft so looks like we're going to get out unscathed. [:D]


Home Islands: CLs Tenryu and Tatsuta begin their 180 day conversions to CLAAs. Once they are ready they have AA armament equal to Kongo class BBs.

[Richard III]

Following this nice AAR in lurk mode....like the good detail in reports, ( for you so far [;)]) Looks like your attempting to follow the historic expansion timeline & geography, which I like in a PBEM.

Have you given thought to Grand Strategy yet ? Given equal players, I always thought the Japanese had only one of 3 "winning" options to use before the full US warmachine came online.

( from my experiences with PacWar & WitP PBEM )

R.[:)]

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: Richard III

Following this nice AAR in lurk mode....like the good detail in reports, ( for you so far [;)]) Looks like your attempting to follow the historic expansion timeline & geography, which I like in a PBEM.

Have you given thought to Grand Strategy yet ? Given equal players, I always thought the Japanese had only one of 3 "winning" options to use before the full US warmachine came online.

( from my experiences with PacWar & WitP PBEM )

R.[:)]

Hey Richard

My Grand Strategy is pretty much the one the Japanese used in the real war - attack, get beaten, wonder what to do next, notice its too late and commit seppuku. [:D]

I'm not going to go conquer places much further. As you know, my opponent is very thorough and careful player who hates losing ships, planes or any other units for nothing, not a risk taker at all. I am enticing him to early action where I can attrit him now when I can still win a battle or two.

I have given him opportunities to strike back: I did not raid Java Sea early and did not land Moluccas or Celebes, so he reinforced Java(costing him at least a BB and a CL. I didnt give direct CV cover to Palembang invasion and he attacked again, losing a CL. I did not raid ahead Makassar invasion, and he intervened, losing 2 CL and 4 DDs.

I have consciously let both Wake and Midway in Allied hands. That might prove to be a costly mistake in the future, but it allowed me to secure Solomons and New Guinea very rapidly. Also, I have consciously ran KB divided down to single ships where ever I have known I can do that safely, and also let my opponent know that. Shoho's raid to Pago Pago, Java Sea, Palembang, Makassar, Timor and now this Indian Ocean raid.

My idea that might not be working at all is to stack Japanese "mistakes" and give the Allies opportunities to hit back(or at least to fight toe-to-toe at several places, which has already happened) to make the Allies try an early operation(early as in 1942) against Tabiteuea, Marshalls, Solomons, New Guinea, Kuriles, Iwo Jima, Marshalls or Timor/those islands to the East. To allow us to use the hammer while we still have CV superiority(I have no intetion of keeping KB sitting at Truk or Rabaul, either, but I'm going to make everything I can to make my opponent think its sitting at Truk while CVE/CVLs raid elsewhere).

The Allies have already lost CV Yorktown so I do not expect a counter attack other than surface raids before mid or late summer when the CV Wasp becomes available.

The counterattack could also come in Burma, where the Allies have a massive number of fighters sitting at Calcutta and fields around it... But I have no idea why Smeulders is letting me have Magwe's oil wells not bombers to dust: I dont have Ki-44 or Ki-45 to defend them with yet and he should know that. Next combat LCU reinforcements I get(plus Manchuko Div when I have the PPs) will go to Burma. Just in case. Luckily, though, we play a late beta so supply movement is limited through multiple jungle and rough jungle hexes...

[Erkki]

April 19th


Indian Ocean: No enemy contact. Kaga and Ryuju will form up tomorrow, gather their escorts, and start heading home after a job well done.

East Indies: Bandoeng should be finally cut off tomorrow. Bombing and ground shock attack results are very promising(2:1 already today but for whatever reason they didnt retreat)...

South Pacific: Aerial recon sights new enemy bombers at Townsville, Australia. They'll get visited by Port Moresby's bomber force tomorrow...

Home Islands: Ki-44-IIa advanced a month due to the massive R&D program. First examples roll out of the factory in 12 days.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Home Islands: Ki-44-IIa advanced a month due to the massive R&D program. First examples roll out of the factory in 12 days.

How much did you have invested in the IIa? I'm still trying to figure out what is appropriate and tenable for research in Scen 1. But I imagine if you did this in DBB then it shouldn't be too difficult in Scen 1.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Home Islands: Ki-44-IIa advanced a month due to the massive R&D program. First examples roll out of the factory in 12 days.

How much did you have invested in the IIa? I'm still trying to figure out what is appropriate and tenable for research in Scen 1. But I imagine if you did this in DBB then it shouldn't be too difficult in Scen 1.

Quite a lot... However all but one R&D factory(the last one that isnt repaired yet) will carry on to IIb and then IIc(I'll pinch production factories from Ki-43). I did some calculations and I should be able to accelerate the IIb and then IIc so much that its(the IIc) worth the R&D and mass producing for 8-9 months(by late May or early June 1943 depending on dice rolls). I'll have the similarly armed and armored Ki-61-Ib by then but Ki-44-IIc is service rating 1, faster and climbs better, and Ki-84 will still be far away. My plan is to NOT do Raders and try accelerate Ki-100 over a year for Army's mid/late war Service rate 1 fighter but to instead use Ki-44 series and later Ki-61-Id (latter is service rating 2 and will be used 100% defensively). Besides we have a HR against skipping planes in R&D. [;)]

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Home Islands: Ki-44-IIa advanced a month due to the massive R&D program. First examples roll out of the factory in 12 days.

How much did you have invested in the IIa? I'm still trying to figure out what is appropriate and tenable for research in Scen 1. But I imagine if you did this in DBB then it shouldn't be too difficult in Scen 1.

Quite a lot... However all but one R&D factory(the last one that isnt repaired yet) will carry on to IIb and then IIc(I'll pinch production factories from Ki-43). I did some calculations and I should be able to accelerate the IIb and then IIc so much that its(the IIc) worth the R&D and mass producing for 8-9 months(by late May or early June 1943 depending on dice rolls). I'll have the similarly armed and armored Ki-61-Ib by then but Ki-44-IIc is service rating 1, faster and climbs better, and Ki-84 will still be far away. My plan is to NOT do Raders and try accelerate Ki-100 over a year for Army's mid/late war Service rate 1 fighter but to instead use Ki-44 series and later Ki-61-Id (latter is service rating 2 and will be used 100% defensively). Besides we have a HR against skipping planes in R&D. [;)]

With what beta patch are you playing. There was bug in few "q" versions of beta patch that make R&D happens even if factory was not full repaired

When i read about it i told this to Docup and we upgrade to next beta when bug was fixed.

PS. do scenario you playing have different R&D rules? I am in middle February and only few small factories is repair and only for 42` planes

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: obvert




How much did you have invested in the IIa? I'm still trying to figure out what is appropriate and tenable for research in Scen 1. But I imagine if you did this in DBB then it shouldn't be too difficult in Scen 1.

Quite a lot... However all but one R&D factory(the last one that isnt repaired yet) will carry on to IIb and then IIc(I'll pinch production factories from Ki-43). I did some calculations and I should be able to accelerate the IIb and then IIc so much that its(the IIc) worth the R&D and mass producing for 8-9 months(by late May or early June 1943 depending on dice rolls). I'll have the similarly armed and armored Ki-61-Ib by then but Ki-44-IIc is service rating 1, faster and climbs better, and Ki-84 will still be far away. My plan is to NOT do Raders and try accelerate Ki-100 over a year for Army's mid/late war Service rate 1 fighter but to instead use Ki-44 series and later Ki-61-Id (latter is service rating 2 and will be used 100% defensively). Besides we have a HR against skipping planes in R&D. [;)]

With what beta patch are you playing. There was bug in few "q" versions of beta patch that make R&D happens even if factory was not full repaired

When i read about it i told this to Docup and we upgrade to next beta when bug was fixed.

No, the R&D factories most definitely do not do anything before they are 100% repaired - I would have accelerated Ki-84, Ki-49, B6N, Ki-61 and N1K already if they would research even when only partially repaired.

But... with 11 size-30 R&D facilities you can accelerate quickly even if they are repaired only month or 2 before the plane arrives... [;)]


EDIT:

PS. do scenario you playing have different R&D rules? I am in middle February and only few small factories is repair and only for 42` planes

This scenario has some planes arriving earlier than they do in Scenario 1 - they include Ki-44, Ki-61 Ia, Ib and Ic, D4Y1 and B6N1 at least... I think Ki-84 arrives a month earlier too.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

The counterattack could also come in Burma, where the Allies have a massive number of fighters sitting at Calcutta and fields around it... But I have no idea why Smeulders is letting me have Magwe's oil wells not bombers to dust: I dont have Ki-44 or Ki-45 to defend them with yet and he should know that. Next combat LCU reinforcements I get(plus Manchuko Div when I have the PPs) will go to Burma. Just in case. Luckily, though, we play a late beta so supply movement is limited through multiple jungle and rough jungle hexes...

I think he likes to first build up a nice reserve of aircraft before mounting offensive operations, which explains why you are not seeing it used yet. He'll strike when it matters to him to do so, but at times he'll just patiently sit. I don't think he bombs for the heck of it, or always see the opportunities lying before him. He waited a long time to bomb Magwe on me, but when he did he trashed the oil production down to 6 before diminishing returns kicked in and he stopped. That being said, he didn't trash the refinery at all, so oil travelling from Singapore allows full production of fuel at Magwe which is then transported back throughout the continent. So Magwe is open for business despite limited oil production.

You'll rarely encounter Allied air interdicting your troops movements or base expansions either, at least in my case I haven't yet. I've often been able to react quickly enough to a situation simply because my troops movements were never interdicted. You may encounter the same situation and I'd take full advantage of it.

I agree, Burma will see a lot of Allied movement for you once Allied bases are expanded to allow better supply flow and massed air power assembled. Another reason you'll see the Allies develop Burma is the simple fact it's safe, it requires little to no risk and more importantly Smeulders can achieve everything there without having to commit a single ship into harms way. Karachi will be a busy hub as troops, aircraft and supplies are unloaded to be railed to wherever. As you've learned, even the loss of a single 1VP ship causes concern to you opponent and he avoids losses like that as much as he can.

I like your strategy, teasing him out to then bloody his nose. He'll always move if he senses weakness so you should be able to set up a number of ambushes. He'll simply take what you give him on the cheap if he can.

[Erkki]

Thanks! Though to be honest I took a risk with the strategy and especially certain details in it that I chose. In many things I'll simply have to stick to my decisions and see how they work out. I think especially with central and south pacific - but the DEI "gambit" worked quite well, just a couple of mistakes less on my behalf and we might have got up to half a dozen cruisers more. But it goes both ways, 1 or 2 escort DDs more and Yorktown might be floating. [;)]

I'm now seriously considering about invading Northern Australia. I'll have a supporting air HQ at Koepang within 2 weeks and the troops are in position(although not prepped). CVs are ready, and the whole DEI and Timor Sea are under Netty Umbrella. Horn Island is mine, and Port Moresby area has 100 torpedo enabled Netties more. If the situation doesnt change in 2 weeks... why not? Also, we're playing a semi-late beta version so as in Burma the supply flow across the desert and long dirt roads should be very slow, making Allied operations in the area difficult.

[Erkki]

April 20th


East Indies: 3rd day now the attack achieves 6:1 odds but the Dutch wont retreat... They have retreat path open to 3 hexes, one of them being a base(Bandoeng). Why dont they retreat?

South Pacific: 70 Netties hit Townville's airfield - they score 7 runway hits and damage an SBD... lol.

[Erkki]

Bad news. It looks that due to time issues my opponent Smeulders will have to concede. He felt he can no longer play turn/day and cannot put enough thought and attention into the game. We are looking for a solution... Personally I would not care to start a 3rd game from scratch and play the early war yet again but its looking bad.

Stay tuned on...

[Erkki]

Game on. We have agreed to a lower rate of turns of 4-5, or more, a week. This will allow us both to have some non-WITPAE free time. [;)]


April 21st


A very silent day.

East Indies: That small Dutch airfield support battalion just wont retreat... I'm giving up and ordering attack at Bandoeng tomorrow. I hope them to not retreat but to hold until the next, shock, attack, in hopes of mounting as many casualties as possible.

South Pacific: Tulagi hits AF size 4. 36 G4Ms of Kanoya Ku K-1 are flown in. We now have the whole area under torpedo-Netty deterrent...

Tomorrow we'll test the Allied air defenses in Burma with a raid of 150+ Hayabusas and 60 bombers to Dacca.

[koniu]

Game on. We have agreed to a lower rate of turns of 4-5, or more, a week. This will allow us both to have some non-WITPAE free time.

Very good news.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Game on. We have agreed to a lower rate of turns of 4-5, or more, a week. This will allow us both to have some non-WITPAE free time. [;)]

Yes, good news, but I well understand this. My personal life doesn't allow for the time committment of a PBEM game ....

[Erkki]

And the war continues

April 22nd


Burma: Weather grounds Japanese bombers.

East Indies: Bandoeng falls! 38,500 Allied troops die or surrender. Dili on Timor is also invaded, no garrison so will fall tomorrow.

South Pacific: I-123 attacks, hits and sinks an Allied APD near Sydney. This must have been the same convoy of converted Clemson DDs that already lost one of its number near Los Angeles.

Home Islands:

R&D advanced A6M3, 4 factories move on to A6M3a(5 ready ones now) while the last one will become a production plant early May.

Also, I decided to move more troops to Kuriles. Paramushiro-Jima now has 225 AV, a Fortress, an aviation support unit and some ships(including 2 battleships). Onnekotan Jima is the next one to Hokkaido, and has now 2 Marine units worth 75 raw AW - we're moving 75 more and an aviation support unit to build fortifications and the field. Paramushiro is forts level 2,95 and I think we will soon be able to withstand almost any sneaky Allied attack that might come up there.

[Erkki]

April 23rd

A fine day.


Burma: IJAAF and IJNAF bombers hit Dacca's AF hard. No planes reported hit on the ground. We will now move the bombers back and increase number of fighters... We have 30 Zeros and 120 Ki-43s protecting Magwe's oil wells and another 50 Ki-43s protecting Rangoon's port.

East Indies: Dili falls and Dutchmen retreated on Java. There cant be more than 50 AV's worth of Allied troops on the whole island any more vs. 3,000 Japanese. I'll have to find our troops better things to do, but first they'll rest.

Submarines:

I-153 reports floatation repairs failing... But it wasnt damaged or hit before today? Its near Timor now and while the damage isnt heavy, its heading home.

Near Hawaii, the submarine screen finally achieves something when I-169 finds a convoy with a single escort destroyer, a huge tanker and lots of probably fuel-carrying xAKs. The TK is hit, its fuel cargo burns and the ship sinks. They're heading towards Pearl and will have to pass the second line of submarines next night phase - I hope the very good detection level will help and we get at least one more hit in.

[obvert]

Also, I decided to move more troops to Kuriles. Paramushiro-Jima now has 225 AV, a Fortress, an aviation support unit and some ships(including 2 battleships). Onnekotan Jima is the next one to Hokkaido, and has now 2 Marine units worth 75 raw AW - we're moving 75 more and an aviation support unit to build fortifications and the field. Paramushiro is forts level 2,95 and I think we will soon be able to withstand almost any sneaky Allied attack that might come up there.

I think every Japan player on this forum is currently looking to see what troops can be bought out and rushed to the Kuriles!

Good search from bases like Wake and Marcus as well as some carefully placed PBs and subs as pickets could help as well.

Near Hawaii, the submarine screen finally achieves something when I-169 finds a convoy with a single escort destroyer, a huge tanker and lots of probably fuel-carrying xAKs. The TK is hit, its fuel cargo burns and the ship sinks. They're heading towards Pearl and will have to pass the second line of submarines next night phase - I hope the very good detection level will help and we get at least one more hit in.

Do you set the subs to then chase these big convoys once you sight them? Seems the only way to get more than one hit on them, and most IJN subs are faster than Allied merchants, so you could get a lot into their path I'm sure.

[Erkki]

I dont think the Allies will be able to pose a serious threat to the Kuriles for a while... Half a year at least. The most likely targets are still Paramushiro and Onnekotan so they'll get reinforced first. However in Scen 1/DBB Japan has no extra troops to spare so I dont think I will have more than 300 AV on any single island. I know my whole South + General Defense + Manchuko armies together arent as big as the one GreyJoy landed at Kuriles, so to make any difference I'd need so many troops it'd be significant force just sitting away from where its more likely to be needed, which will most likely be Burma or South Pacific.

I usually dont set the subs to chase or intercept... Might be worth of it against a single convoy but I rather keep the screen intact. I could have moved 5-6 subs to this one's most likely path but I've had bad luck with that method. Keeping the line intact I seem to at least at times get a hit in when the convoys sail past the sub lines. So far the Hawaii sub screen's subs have had a lot of different subs engaging so the Allies are not using just the shortest route from Pearl to LA.

[Richard III]

Still following this one closely[8D]

Are you using your subs as a stationary picket line or computer controled or manually moving them ?

When I started setting then on "patrol zones linger 2-3 days" the attack rate doubled.
The allies are very short of escorts until `43.