[font="Times New Roman"]The Economy[/font]
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Industry Overview: Here is a shot of the industry at this point, almost 7 months into the war. I've turned off all but one 80 point factory for both the armaments and vehicles. They've stayed nearly the same for now and I have limits for the pools at which point they will be turned back on. More on this later.
As the surplus is over 5,000 a day now I did some calculations to see where things would be at the end of 42 and found good news, I think at least. If the economy continues as it is now it should bank about another 1,000,000 HI (5,000 x 200 days) during the rest of the year, the pilot training charges would be taken out after this of course (-120,000), but that would leave things well over a million HI total (365,000 + 1,000,000 -120,000 = 1,265,000). There will also be some expansion of HI but that should be offset by the increase in production of aircraft and the need to top the pools of armaments and vehicles at some point. That seems good, but i'd love to hear if it really is based on the experience of others. My general aim is to get to 3,000,000 banked by the end of 44.
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Air Production and Engines: Air production is humming along. A6M2 production has been shut down to 33 planes a month with the pool at 120 and the A6M3 coming online. If the pool goes below 60 they'll be put on full (110) again, but let's hope that doesn't happen anytime soon. Tinas are turned off for now with a pool of 30, but we'll be dipping into that as these fragile planes succumb to the australian desert flights they're making to Daly Waters daily. It's hard to train transport pilots for the IJN I've found as they die so often.
Jake production has been bumped up to 70 as I plan to use these in an attack role from AVs and CS ships if I can ever find a convoy to hit.
Ha-44 production is being raised from 84 to 144 to prepare for the Helen IIa in August and then the Tojo. In fact it'll have to go much higher, but this is the current expansion. The pool is at about 190 engines and only 30 Helen I are building now. Ha-32 is also increasing by 50 to deal with the needs of the Emily. Love the plane, hate the cost. At first 14 will be made when they come online in July. This might increase as pools grow and Mavis production is shut down. Is there any reason to keep the Mavis in production once this arrives?
Research: One Tojo R n D factory is nearing readiness. It's at 29 (1) right now. Another is at 26 (4) and a third is at 21 (9). Come on dice! Roll me a few here! Looks like the IJAAF will be getting this plane in 8/42 at the earliest. I would have started with 4 30 point R n D factories right in the beginning if I were to do this again. I waited to do this gradually over the first two months, starting with one 30 point factory on Dec 8, to make sure my economy could handle it.
As it is the Oscar numbers are so good and dense in Burma that they should hold fairly well except against 4E until the Tojo arrives. Two zero units and one Nick group (now preparing in Singapore) will handle the 4E battles hopefully during the next few months. I also have one factory researching the next Oscar model 6 (24) as I'd like to push this forward with each to try to get the last and best Oscar IV much earlier than it's actual date of 8/45. It will be used as an escort throughout the war and the final model with the 2 20mm canons and armor doesn't look too terrible, although it'll still be crap in comparison to everything else the Allies have at that point. but if this comes at the beginning of 45 or earlier it would be great.
As mentioned previously there are 2 complete 30 point factories researching the A6M5. Another 2 30 point and 1 40 point factory are researching the A6M3a, plus another that is now at 25 (5) and should be online soon. Aiming at 9/42 for this plane.
More on research will follow with some screenshots. I'm curious to know whether I'm either going overboard or not doing enough in this area.
Ship Production: The Taiho and 3 Unryus are being accelerated. 6 later RO subs are stopped as is the Shinano. No DDs or CLs are accelerated until I see how the pool builds following the Yamato launch. Both the Naval and Merchant pools are building now, which is good.
I'm thinking that if the numbers keep going up I might try to get the final Unryus accelerated as well, but I'm not sure if they'll arrive in time to be of much use in any case. Thoughts?
I had planned to convert some more ships to ARs but the 1 year completion seems a lot for these. Will I need more in late 43? Or will battles be so close to my shipyards then that this will not be as necessary?
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"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
