fulkerson v Rob.......no Rob please

[larryfulkerson]

The bombing of the Kuantan airfield is going on still. There's not much to do though until I get closer to Singapore since Rob has moved everybody, well, almost everybody, to Singapore. I have invasion forces headed to Kuantan and Mersing that will arrive within a week and I need to dispell some of the Allied air power or I'll lose some forces.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm thinking that I need to bombard Darwin with my CA TF and lessen the Allied air power there or risk loosing some ships from my CV TF. It's either that or move the CV TF somewhere else. I'm toying with the idea of invading Horn Island and using that to stop up the flow of Allied resources and assets through that narrow passageway.

[larryfulkerson]

I moved some Oscar's to the location code named Piss-ant and the daily Allied bombing has taken on a new character. Rob is probably going to move the AVG in there to regain control of the skies.

[Q-Ball]

Larry: Few pieces of advice from Imperial HQ for a fellow JFB

--PALEMBANG: You need to get to Palembang ASAP. How many ground units are there? If you don't know, fly a plane over it ASAP and find out. This is critical. It's late December, if you were playing me I would have 500 AV there by now, at least, and you would have a serious problem.......if you don't have an Air HQ at Singkawang, get one there ASAP, so you can interdict any shipping in/out of Palembang. Looking at that, he has something there......

--MANILA: Move ground units into Manila right away. This will stop resource production, and supply production will stop once the resources run out. You need to get that done.

In general in the PI, it's very difficult to take it by force; the Phillipine/US Army forces are strong. It's easy, though, once they run out of supplies. I would settle in for a long siege, and bomb Clark/Manila every day for 2 months. By then, they should be at 0 on supplies, and easy pickings.

--NATES/OSCARS: I noticed you have alot of Nates at the front. You really shouldn't be using them, or have to use them, at this point except in China. The Oscar, besides being a better plane, has the range tto escort your bombers. The Nate doesn't. Convert as many units as you can to Oscars, and boost Oscar production to at least 70 or 80. Even after you get the Tojo, which is a better fighter, Oscars are still useful due to range for escorts (and I'm told they make excellent Kamikazes, so those airframes will get used eventually....)

--AIR HQS: The problem with your bombers against those HDMLs isnt' their altitude....it's the fact they aren't carrying torpedos. You have to deploy your AIR HQs to bases to make them torp-capable. Once a base is torp capable, the Allies cannot sail within 14 hexes of it without serious risk of losing whatever ship tries. 2 Betty units with Zero escort at a Torp-Capable base will contol sea lanes within 14 hexes (max Zero range) of their base. This is the key to taking the DEI.

Once you have torp capable bases at places like Koepang, Kendari, Kalidjati, Palembang....it's over for the Allies. They have to evacuate shipping at that point, and wait for the inevitable.

Hope that helps, sorry to be alarmist on Palembang, but you need to address that immediately. That important.

[larryfulkerson]

Rob is still trying to pick off my shipping around Singkawang but this time I've got some Zero's there to help out the ships.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Larry: Few pieces of advice from Imperial HQ for a fellow JFB

For which I am grateful. Keep that good advice flowing, please.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--PALEMBANG: You need to get to Palembang ASAP. How many ground units are there? If you don't know, fly a plane over it ASAP and find out. This is critical. It's late December, if you were playing me I would have 500 AV there by now, at least, and you would have a serious problem.......if you don't have an Air HQ at Singkawang, get one there ASAP, so you can interdict any shipping in/out of Palembang. Looking at that, he has something there......

Palembang.....yes, I have intentions to clear the path already. My ships are investigating the situation and I have some CVE / CVL types headed that way. The invasion forces are already steaming west from Hong Kong with the 38th Division slated to land at Palembang in about a week.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--MANILA: Move ground units into Manila right away. This will stop resource production, and supply production will stop once the resources run out. You need to get that done.

The 102nd Regiment and the 2nd Tank Regiment have already been given orders to move to Manila and I'm assuming they will be sufficient to clear the hex of Allies.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
In general in the PI, it's very difficult to take it by force; the Phillipine/US Army forces are strong. It's easy, though, once they run out of supplies. I would settle in for a long siege, and bomb Clark/Manila every day for 2 months. By then, they should be at 0 on supplies, and easy pickings.

I have plans to bomb them from the air and I've already moved the arty from Hong Kong to Clark Field and the bombardment has been ordered to begin next turn. I'll start bombing them from the air when the Allied fighters are lessened somewhat.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--NATES/OSCARS: I noticed you have alot of Nates at the front. You really shouldn't be using them, or have to use them, at this point except in China. The Oscar, besides being a better plane, has the range tto escort your bombers. The Nate doesn't. Convert as many units as you can to Oscars, and boost Oscar production to at least 70 or 80. Even after you get the Tojo, which is a better fighter, Oscars are still useful due to range for escorts (and I'm told they make excellent Kamikazes, so those airframes will get used eventually....)

Yeah, I've noticed that the Nate is a P.O.S. as an airplane and the Oscar is much better. Bump up the production of Oscars, roger that. I think maybe I'll move the Nates to China and use them as trainers of pilots or something.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--AIR HQS: The problem with your bombers against those HDMLs isnt' their altitude....it's the fact they aren't carrying torpedos. You have to deploy your AIR HQs to bases to make them torp-capable. Once a base is torp capable, the Allies cannot sail within 14 hexes of it without serious risk of losing whatever ship tries. 2 Betty units with Zero escort at a Torp-Capable base will contol sea lanes within 14 hexes (max Zero range) of their base. This is the key to taking the DEI.

I've moved the 21st Air Flotilla to Singkawang where I hope to be able to shut down the Allied shipping around that part of the world. And there's the 25th Army HQ at Singora. I'm hoping that can dispense torps. The 3rd Air Division HQ is at Kampone Trach and I can move it to the east coast of the peninsula to somewhere to help out with the torps, I guess.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Once you have torp capable bases at places like Koepang, Kendari, Kalidjati, Palembang....it's over for the Allies. They have to evacuate shipping at that point, and wait for the inevitable.

Sounds really good to me.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Hope that helps, sorry to be alarmist on Palembang, but you need to address that immediately. It's That important.

Sometimes I need a boot in the butt to get moving on the important stuff. Sometimes I'm not sure what to do. Either way, your advice is welcome and appreciated.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me changing the production of Nate's to Oscar's and bumping up the Oscar plant to 32(8) and changing repair to yes.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm starting to run into some resistance north of Singapore. More forces are making their way south slowly so the fighting will pick up and Singapore will be under seige in about a month or less I figure.

[larryfulkerson]

Manado can use some reinforcements. More Allied troops there than I figured on and therefore more resistance than I had planned.

[larryfulkerson]

I have some airplanes headed toward Rabaul and the area, and the ground odds are finally in my favor and things there will probably work out okay but I'm in a hurry so I'm thinking of sending more reinforcements yet to Rabaul.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--PALEMBANG: You need to get to Palembang ASAP. How many ground units are there? If you don't know, fly a plane over it ASAP and find out. This is critical. It's late December, if you were playing me I would have 500 AV there by now, at least, and you would have a serious problem.......if you don't have an Air HQ at Singkawang, get one there ASAP, so you can interdict any shipping in/out of Palembang. Looking at that, he has something there......

Palembang.....yes, I have intentions to clear the path already. My ships are investigating the situation and I have some CVE / CVL types headed that way. The invasion forces are already steaming west from Hong Kong with the 38th Division slated to land at Palembang in about a week.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--MANILA: Move ground units into Manila right away. This will stop resource production, and supply production will stop once the resources run out. You need to get that done.

The 102nd Regiment and the 2nd Tank Regiment have already been given orders to move to Manila and I'm assuming they will be sufficient to clear the hex of Allies.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Once you have torp capable bases at places like Koepang, Kendari, Kalidjati, Palembang....it's over for the Allies. They have to evacuate shipping at that point, and wait for the inevitable.

Sounds really good to me.

Thanks Larry

RE: PALEMBANG: 38th Division won't be enough if he has reinforced Palembang significantly. Get a plane over it immediately and count the units.

RE: Manila: You don't have to clear the hex, in fact you probably can't with a single Regt. You just need to sit in it for now. I think you need a little more than Regt to keep from getting kicked out, but 1 more Regt should do it

RE: TORPS: 25th Army will NOT dispense torps. Only 2 types of units: AIR HQs, and COMMAND HQs. Southern Area Army is a command HQ, so is 4th Fleet. They dispense torps. You need AIR HQS. Note that AIR HQS have range, though, so can supply more than one base at a time if it's in range.

[larryfulkerson]

I've got the BB Kongo parked at Cam Ranh Bay but he's almost out of bullets for his big guns. I'm going to have to sail him
either to Hong Kong or find an AKE somewhere for bullets.

[larryfulkerson]

RE: PALEMBANG: 38th Division won't be enough if he has reinforced Palembang significantly. Get a plane over it immediately and count the units.

I have 6 Bab's planes at Kuching that I have given Palembang as their target. We should have some recon by tomorrow I'm guessing.

RE: Manila: You don't have to clear the hex, in fact you probably can't with a single Regt. You just need to sit in it for now. I think you need a little more than Regt to keep from getting kicked out, but 1 more Regt should do it

I can send some more people to Manila yet. That's not out of the question. Lemme look around to see what I can do.

RE: TORPS: 25th Army will NOT dispense torps. Only 2 types of units: AIR HQs, and COMMAND HQs. Southern Area Army is a command HQ, so is 4th Fleet. They dispense torps. You need AIR HQS. Note that AIR HQS have range, though, so can supply more than one base at a time if it's in range.

D'oh. Okay, I'll do some rearranging of HQ's to fix it. Thanks.

[sj80]

Hey Larry,
I think you have forgotten some troops on your home islands (e.g. 33rd div in Nagasaki) because it seems you have not enough troops in Malaya. In my opinion are 60 Oscar planes not be enough to replace losses and upgrade the old Nate units. I'm producing at least 120 Oscars. You are playing with PDU on, right? What are your research settings?
Your city Maebashi has only 8.4k of supplies and that is not enough for repairing a plant. You need at least 10k of supplies at the city. Repairing one point in one factory costs 1k of supply. You can request more supplies in the base window.
You really should hit the air field of Singapore every day hard to prevent your opponent from building a strong fortress.
To get better recon on enemy bases you can set the mission of your recon planes to recon and assign 50%-60% to naval search. With that setting they do both.

Sebastian

[Q-Ball]

As Japan, you have to find all the non-restricted Land Units and get them moving. These include:

-2nd Division elements around Sendai
-4th Division at Osaka
-33rd Division at Nagasaki
-21st Division at Shanghai

This is in addition to the elements already around the DEI:

-16th Division (minus Regt) at Anami Shima headed for PI
-48th Division Takao
-38th in Hong Kong
-5th, 18th, 56th around Malaya
-Imperial Guards

All of these should be ticketed for the DEI (maybe 1 division for Port Moresby). I would prioritize Palembang first, then Singers.

ALSO: If you havent' already, convert several AKs to AKEs. They are invaluable. Takes a month though, too late to help for Palembang. Hong Kong will reload the BBs, so will Takao.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: sj80
Hey Larry,
I think you have forgotten some troops on your home islands (e.g. 33rd div in Nagasaki) because it seems you have not enough troops in Malaya.

I have divided the 33rd Div into three pieces and have moved it to the Clark Field area. I'm pretty sure I don't have enough troops in Malaya too. Agreed. There's a division, I forget the label right now, at Osaka that I can buy with PP's and move it to Kuanan and Mersing by invading. I've got 480 PP's left so it'll be a turn or two before I can afford it.

ORIGINAL: sj80
In my opinion are 60 Oscar planes not be enough to replace losses and upgrade the old Nate units. I'm producing at least 120 Oscars.

Oh. Okay, I'll bump up the output by changing all the Nate plants to Oscar plants right away. I can't imagine why I would need any more Nates anyway.

ORIGINAL: sj80
You are playing with PDU on, right? What are your research settings?

Yes, PDU is on. I'll have to post a picture of the research settings for you guys. Stay tuned.

ORIGINAL: sj80
Your city Maebashi has only 8.4k of supplies and that is not enough for repairing a plant. You need at least 10k of supplies at the city. Repairing one point in one factory costs 1k of supply. You can request more supplies in the base window.

D'oh. I'll turn on stockpiling so it gets to 10K.

ORIGINAL: sj80
You really should hit the air field of Singapore every day hard to prevent your opponent from building a strong fortress.

Bombing Singers to prevent Forts, roger that.

ORIGINAL: sj80
To get better recon on enemy bases you can set the mission of your recon planes to recon and assign 50%-60% to naval search. With that setting they do both.
Sebastian

Wow, I didn't know you could do that. Cool. Thanks.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
As Japan, you have to find all the non-restricted Land Units and get them moving. These include:

-2nd Division elements around Sendai
-4th Division at Osaka
-33rd Division at Nagasaki
-21st Division at Shanghai

This is in addition to the elements already around the DEI:
-16th Division (minus Regt) at Anami Shima headed for PI
-48th Division Takao
-38th in Hong Kong
-5th, 18th, 56th around Malaya
-Imperial Guards

Thank you very much for this list ....... I had no idea what was available.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
All of these should be ticketed for the DEI (maybe 1 division for Port Moresby). I would prioritize Palembang first, then Singers.

Sounds good to me.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
ALSO: If you havent' already, convert several AKs to AKEs. They are invaluable. Takes a month though, too late to help for Palembang. Hong Kong will reload the BBs, so will Takao.

I've got about 8 of them ( AKE's ) already cooking at repair yards. The first should be ready in about a week or so. I'll send the BB to HK and send some of the brand new AKE's to the front lines.

Thanks to both of you for your inputs.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the R&D for aircraft settings: Comments are invited.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's aircraft production so far:

[Q-Ball]

STOP BUILDING: Ida, Sonia, Pete, Nell

BUILD MORE FACTORIES: Jake, Zero, Oscar, Sally

I don't love the Sally, but it's the best you have until the early Helen, which is better. Bigger bombload than Lilly.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
STOP BUILDING: Ida, Sonia, Pete, Nell

BUILD MORE FACTORIES: Jake, Zero, Oscar, Sally
I don't love the Sally, but it's the best you have until the early Helen, which is better. Bigger bombload than Lilly.

How about I turn the Ida factory into Jakes, Sonia to Zero's, etc. Roger that.