Hairy Asian Experiences - GreyJoy (J) vs. Q-Ball (A)

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Cracking move there.

I wonder if Q-Ball is running out of decent combat units which is why he left that gap?

I think his mistake was to focus ONLY on terrain with a +3 bonus, leaving the whole rough terrain uncovered. Even a couple of well dug in corps would have slowed down the advance of the tanks and he would have had time to recover and to guard that approach to the plains.
However now, with the main road from Kunming cut off and with the japanese tanks in the plains, i bet his whole supply situation will get worse and worse everyday. He already left several armies out of a direct suplly line...and those units are doomed. The northern Fortress near Kienko remains formidable, but now he has moved back to Kienko all the units that were being rotated in so i feel it will be a matter of time before those brave chinese units will be grinded down...and if in the meantime i managed to get to Kienko...well[:)]

I don't want to toot my own horn..(of course I do[:D]) But as I said earlier your para drop south of Kweiyang was the key move of your whole campaign. Kweiyang is the key to China. I only know this because I have fought and lost a long campaign in China to Viberpol. Once Kweiyang falls China is lost and the Allied player needs to start making plans to fall back to the West to hold the mountains between Kumming and Burma. It it hard to see it but at that point the only real achievable goal that the Allied player can hope for is to save his army.

But I also learned that China is the one theater where the Allies can totally lose and it really does not matter. Sure it helps Japan to free up all of those troops but not as much as most players think. As the war progresses it becomes a war dominated by air and sea power over land. If the Allies control the sea then any Japanese force in the Pacific can be isolated and defeated or neutralized.

Not that taking out China is a bad idea...

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Cracking move there.

I wonder if Q-Ball is running out of decent combat units which is why he left that gap?

I think his mistake was to focus ONLY on terrain with a +3 bonus, leaving the whole rough terrain uncovered. Even a couple of well dug in corps would have slowed down the advance of the tanks and he would have had time to recover and to guard that approach to the plains.
However now, with the main road from Kunming cut off and with the japanese tanks in the plains, i bet his whole supply situation will get worse and worse everyday. He already left several armies out of a direct suplly line...and those units are doomed. The northern Fortress near Kienko remains formidable, but now he has moved back to Kienko all the units that were being rotated in so i feel it will be a matter of time before those brave chinese units will be grinded down...and if in the meantime i managed to get to Kienko...well[:)]

I don't want to toot my own horn..(of course I do[:D]) But as I said earlier your para drop south of Kweiyang was the key move of your whole campaign. Kweiyang is the key to China. I only know this because I have fought and lost a long campaign in China to Viberpol. Once Kweiyang falls China is lost and the Allied player needs to start making plans to fall back to the West to hold the mountains between Kumming and Burma. It it hard to see it but at that point the only real achievable goal that the Allied player can hope for is to save his army.

But I also learned that China is the one theater where the Allies can totally lose and it really does not matter. Sure it helps Japan to free up all of those troops but not as much as most players think. As the war progresses it becomes a war dominated by air and sea power over land. If the Allies control the sea then any Japanese force in the Pacific can be isolated and defeated or neutralized.

Not that taking out China is a bad idea...

Yes, i agree. China won't win me the war, but surely it will reinforce the whole Burma front, thus buying me more time to defend somewhere else. Also it's good to have wiped out any risk of having B29s based in China in 1944...

This campaign has been decided first with the use of paras behind the enemy lines, conquering crucial places like Liuchow or Puchan, then with the tanks blitz early on that let me advance very early to Sian, and then by the fall of Chikkiang that opened the door to Kweyang

However it's far from being over guys.

Nov 21-22, 42

In the last two days Brad sent strange small raids against Mandalay, losing more than 30 bombers for no gain[&:]. My air defences there are pretty strong and i don't see why he's sending lone 4E squadrons to die en masse...[:-]

The BB South Dakota has been spotted near Sydney and today a CVE has been spotted near Townville... the enemy CVs are close, i smell it! While several BIG TFs are now moving into the Bay of Carpentaria... We moved more Netties to Timor and an Air HQ is moving to Ambon, while the KB will wait and linger in the shades...

In China our tank corp got first a 1-2 but then managed to dislodge the enemy stack west of Chungking, while a single tank regiment isn't able to beat a chinese base force that managed to enter to Neikiang [:@].
We got another bloody nose near kunming where the enemy is fighting very bravely! But i know that i will need time to grind them down. We will press on! More bombers are being moving to China along with 80 Tojos...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 75,45 (near Chungking)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 14487 troops, 226 guns, 988 vehicles, Assault Value = 641

Defending force 24410 troops, 101 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 641

Japanese adjusted assault: 554

Allied adjusted defense: 120

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
263 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Vehicles lost 98 (9 destroyed, 89 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
9035 casualties reported
Squads: 221 destroyed, 199 disabled
Non Combat: 246 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 20 (10 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 7

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
4th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
1st Tank Division
2nd Tank Division

Defending units:
7th Chinese Corps
17th Chinese Corps
57th Chinese Corps
63rd Chinese Corps
8th Construction Regiment
30th Chinese Corps
24th Group Army


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 71,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 38329 troops, 398 guns, 159 vehicles, Assault Value = 1083

Defending force 12520 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 262

Japanese adjusted assault: 250

Allied adjusted defense: 412

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
3176 casualties reported
Squads: 70 destroyed, 219 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 31 (7 destroyed, 24 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
825 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 41 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 11 (3 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Assaulting units:
3rd Division
22nd Division
60th Division
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th Army
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
1st Chinese Cavalry Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese/B Corps
4th War Area
9th Group Army
34th Separate Brigade
79th Chinese/C Corps


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Neikiang (75,44)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 378 troops, 0 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 39

Defending force 6608 troops, 35 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 34

Japanese adjusted assault: 64

Allied adjusted defense: 40

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Allied ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Regiment

Defending units:
1st Chinese Base Force




An empty Whyndam falls, in northern oz, to USMC Paras....

[GreyJoy]

I'm keeping both southern corners of Oz checked by Glenn-equipped subs. I wanna know if the the USN Fleet goes to western Oz well before they appear.
 
At the same time i'm keeping a decent numbers of subs in the Indian Ocean...just to be sure. The area North West of Timor is being garrisoned pretty well, while i still need time to move some smaller units around right south of Java (Dempassar, Bali etc) but we're getting there.
 
The Zuikaku fighter group (following the example of Akagi's and Shokaku's) has just been upgraded to the brand new A6M5, while already 100 A6M3as are operative in Burma and at Rabaul. The Judy is being produced in good numbers, but it will take a while before i can upgrade my KB. Jills should enter into production in mid december 42 if Gods are good.
 
George is already at 50% towards the first acceleration step [:D]

[BBfanboy]

Kunming - OUCH! I never shock attack in mountains if there are enemy infantry there! Even dislodging artillery or AA units I would do a DA. Your guys can use the boulders as a shield too!

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

my front line airfields in Burma are too small and too isolated to really be able to guest planes. Also i have very spare air support to live with in Burma and i'm more or less forced to concentrate it in a couple of main bases where, backed with the Air HQs, i can have enough air support to sustain prolonged fights (remember that in DBB japanese air support has been halved by 50%).
Also my main problem isn't my pools. The problem is supply and only supply: a damaged plane or a destroyed plane that needs to be replaced requires supply. At this moment, supply must be conserved for those very hungry LCUs that are holding the line against superior forces. Every day i need to check the supply levels and it's really driving me crazy.
So, to summerize, I cannot bear an aggressive air campaign because it would require a much higher supply consumption...which is a thing i cannot sustain.

Fighter plane uses like 1/3rd point for a mission. Your single Division will use in one turn fighting more supply, than all your fighters in Burma for a week. And Aviation Support is only to keep planes in good condition. You can easily fly your air unit, and fly for a day, or two, without any support at base.

Anyway, if you are short on supply get it from enemy. There should be lots of it stockpiled north of Burma. Just land around Calcutta, and conquer it. Not only there are lots of factories there, but you will also cut off whole eastern front. It is only 1942, and Allies did not even upgraded their squads once.
What is he going to do then? Move back all those division from northern Burma? It will take weeks to march back through jungle.

In China i've tried months ago (exactly that road)that and it doesn't work. With stacking limits you always need to be in good supply situation and with all the best possible fighting condition you can have (so plenty of support, air attacks, artillery, tanks etc). Going offroad can be done, but only in rough terrain. If you go in wood+rough it's over. Even a tiny enemy army, undersupplied and badly distrupted, can hold an equal number of enemies and the air attacks do nothing with a +3 terrain.
Anyway, we now see the plains....

Seriously, you are fighting on identical terrain south of the river. One forest hex is just worth 3 road hexes in supply lenght. No big deal. But you broke through already, so not issue anymore [:D]

[GreyJoy]

Nov 24 1942

The enemy placed again LRCAP over Kunming. Hurricanes and P-39s. This time my Tojos arrived from Liuchow and achieved a solid 6 to 20. A good day. Lost 3 pilots but these weren't crack, just half trained pilots sent to China when they hadn't yet finished their training course.

In Central China we haven't moved. We are a bit in a supply problem and my troops need some rest. The divisions are arriving and we're trying to airlift a base force to Nienkiang.

Lots of CAs approaching Exmouth...mmmm....this smell like preparation of landing in western DEI...

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: inqistor

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

my front line airfields in Burma are too small and too isolated to really be able to guest planes. Also i have very spare air support to live with in Burma and i'm more or less forced to concentrate it in a couple of main bases where, backed with the Air HQs, i can have enough air support to sustain prolonged fights (remember that in DBB japanese air support has been halved by 50%).
Also my main problem isn't my pools. The problem is supply and only supply: a damaged plane or a destroyed plane that needs to be replaced requires supply. At this moment, supply must be conserved for those very hungry LCUs that are holding the line against superior forces. Every day i need to check the supply levels and it's really driving me crazy.
So, to summerize, I cannot bear an aggressive air campaign because it would require a much higher supply consumption...which is a thing i cannot sustain.

Fighter plane uses like 1/3rd point for a mission. Your single Division will use in one turn fighting more supply, than all your fighters in Burma for a week. And Aviation Support is only to keep planes in good condition. You can easily fly your air unit, and fly for a day, or two, without any support at base.

Anyway, if you are short on supply get it from enemy. There should be lots of it stockpiled north of Burma. Just land around Calcutta, and conquer it. Not only there are lots of factories there, but you will also cut off whole eastern front. It is only 1942, and Allies did not even upgraded their squads once.
What is he going to do then? Move back all those division from northern Burma? It will take weeks to march back through jungle.

In China i've tried months ago (exactly that road)that and it doesn't work. With stacking limits you always need to be in good supply situation and with all the best possible fighting condition you can have (so plenty of support, air attacks, artillery, tanks etc). Going offroad can be done, but only in rough terrain. If you go in wood+rough it's over. Even a tiny enemy army, undersupplied and badly distrupted, can hold an equal number of enemies and the air attacks do nothing with a +3 terrain.
Anyway, we now see the plains....

Seriously, you are fighting on identical terrain south of the river. One forest hex is just worth 3 road hexes in supply lenght. No big deal. But you broke through already, so not issue anymore [:D]

Yup, got it. But in Burma i only have Mitikyna (Katha and Wazrup) which is a level 2 Af, completely trashed btw. So i really don't have the chance to move fighters up there. And, btw, planes eat supplies also when they need to be replaced or repaired...and this is a war of supplies...at least for us

A indian division (the 20th), supported by a carabineer regiment, approached the two regiments of the 18th Div who's guarding the northeastern flank of the akyab front... we're trying to reinforce the position...

But, overall, i think the Burma front is holding, despite the constant bombings...the lessons learnt in China are paying off

About China...yes, the problem, however, is that, without roads, you move so slow that the enemy is always able to to reinforce before you can bring more fresh troops.

[GreyJoy]

Nov 25, 42

The enemy finally, after weeks of constant bombing, attacked at Wazrup with a HUGE army...and got repulsed! BANZAIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Burma is holding tight! Yes. We have to hold untill the new monsoon season...it can be done i think!

In China pretty quiet today. We're securing our supply lines at the moment...


In Oz, ships are moving in the Gulf od Carpentaria towards Darwin, while a great TF has just arrived at Exmouth...mmmm.....[:-]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Warazup (63,41)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 43334 troops, 282 guns, 508 vehicles, Assault Value = 1714

Defending force 32795 troops, 272 guns, 302 vehicles, Assault Value = 976

Allied adjusted assault: 735

Japanese adjusted defense: 1339

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-)
Attacker: op mode(-)

Japanese ground losses:
732 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 72 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 21 (1 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3296 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 476 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Guns lost 19 (1 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (1 destroyed, 25 disabled)

Assaulting units:
88th Chinese Division
26th Indian Division
17th Indian Division
50th Tank Brigade
45th Indian Brigade
96th Chinese Division
75th Indian Brigade
2nd Reserve Division
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
5th Division
7th Ind.Tank Brigade
4th Ind Engineer Regiment
4th Guards Division
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
21st Army

[GreyJoy]

Nov 26, 1942
 
CHINA: he's threatening the flanks of my tank penetration, so we're not moving any further in the plains. We need to consolidate our flanks first. The Tank divisions are back to Neikiang in order to repair the airstrip so to allow the arrival of the base force from Liuchow by air transport. At the same time 2 tank regiments (now that the tiny base force that entered the hex has been pushed back) are getting back to cover the right flank, while 3 divisions are running to get there in time.
East of Kunming we're stuck again against another damned strongpoint. We will need more time than what we thought to achieve anything in the mountains...
 
BURMA: after yesterday victory at Wazarup, we're both licking our wounds, while more 17k supplies have been unloaded at Rangoon.
 
REST OF THE MAP: a ducth sub sinks a big xAK at Kendari...moving some ASW air assets there... we're running everywhere to consolidate our DEI perimeter, while the enemy keeps on moving like a schwarm of bees on both coasts of Oz. Enemy CVs are yet to be identified and located precisely.
 
 

[GreyJoy]

Here's the China situation. As you can see, the Tank Divisions cleared the clear hex west of Chungking and then moved back to Neikiang, while the infantry divisions are moving along the enemy's right flank in order to secure the LOCs. It won't be easy to open a direct path from where to conduct a deeper penetration into the plains.
Near Kunming two divisions are now trying to flank the enemy position...but i don't have many hopes for this movement. It seems to be almost impossible to dislodge a well dug in enemy in a +3 terrain. Bombers won't do much and neither the artillery. We'll keep on trying anyway!

[GreyJoy]

About the R&D:
 
I need some advices here guys.
 
The Jack. I like to have this model and to use it, backed up with George, in order to use it's superior climb rate (and also to give some variety to my online models).
The first version of the Jack, however, arrives in May/43 and it has a service rating of 3, just like the first George. I was thinking of skipping immediately the first model, in favour of the second one that comes in mid 44...so to concentrate for having it by late 43, while the second model of the George will arrive somewhere in early 44, thus having a service 2 Navy fighters a bit before the arrival of the second variant of the George.
But the second Jack is even slower than the second George and with less mvr and a little less powerfull weapon package... What should i do? Live with the first Jack and simply don't care about the second version, waiting for the second George, or concentrate in having ASAP a service rating-2 Navy fighter? (consider that i have only 3 factories researching the Jack line, so it's all or nothing)

[GreyJoy]

In Burma we're holding tight. The enemy is strong, but our positions are holding. We're trying to use at best the interior lines system in order to keep on moving forces where new threats become revealed...so far it has worked well

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

About the R&D:

I need some advices here guys.

The Jack. I like to have this model and to use it, backed up with George, in order to use it's superior climb rate (and also to give some variety to my online models).
The first version of the Jack, however, arrives in May/43 and it has a service rating of 3, just like the first George. I was thinking of skipping immediately the first model, in favour of the second one that comes in mid 44...so to concentrate for having it by late 43, while the second model of the George will arrive somewhere in early 44, thus having a service 2 Navy fighters a bit before the arrival of the second variant of the George.
But the second Jack is even slower than the second George and with less mvr and a little less powerfull weapon package... What should i do? Live with the first Jack and simply don't care about the second version, waiting for the second George, or concentrate in having ASAP a service rating-2 Navy fighter? (consider that i have only 3 factories researching the Jack line, so it's all or nothing)

I've found the J2M2 mediocre and hard to keep in the field due to the service level 3. If you're using it to back up other models and defend 4E strikes in large well supported bases it's much better. It's definitely an interceptor, not good for sweeps or escort.

My feeling would be that if you can get the service 2 J2M3 earlier than the service 2 second version of the George, then it would be really useful at that point. I had not planned to use this version but pressed it into service due to perceived need for a second generation fighter.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

About the R&D:

I need some advices here guys.

The Jack. I like to have this model and to use it, backed up with George, in order to use it's superior climb rate (and also to give some variety to my online models).
The first version of the Jack, however, arrives in May/43 and it has a service rating of 3, just like the first George. I was thinking of skipping immediately the first model, in favour of the second one that comes in mid 44...so to concentrate for having it by late 43, while the second model of the George will arrive somewhere in early 44, thus having a service 2 Navy fighters a bit before the arrival of the second variant of the George.
But the second Jack is even slower than the second George and with less mvr and a little less powerfull weapon package... What should i do? Live with the first Jack and simply don't care about the second version, waiting for the second George, or concentrate in having ASAP a service rating-2 Navy fighter? (consider that i have only 3 factories researching the Jack line, so it's all or nothing)

I've found the J2M2 mediocre and hard to keep in the field due to the service level 3. If you're using it to back up other models and defend 4E strikes in large well supported bases it's much better. It's definitely an interceptor, not good for sweeps or escort.

My feeling would be that if you can get the service 2 J2M3 earlier than the service 2 second version of the George, then it would be really useful at that point. I had not planned to use this version but pressed it into service due to perceived need for a second generation fighter.

Got it Erik, thanks!
Yup, i think i should be able to get the George around March 43, so i'll switch directly to the J2M3 so to have a secondo gen fighter with a decent serviceablity by late 43.
The front lines will be held, as always, by Tojos and Zeros. Even if outdated these guys will be able to remain in the air even after several days of fightings. Georges and Nicks will form, for 1943, the deep defences in Major Bases with high aviation support and with smaller threat from enemy sweeps. The lack of AS will force me to use the first version of the George mainly on the defensive, but i surely hope to have the second version online by the end of 1943/early 1944. With 4 factories devoting to R&D plus the Engine bonus... i should get there in time

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

About the R&D:

I need some advices here guys.

The Jack. I like to have this model and to use it, backed up with George, in order to use it's superior climb rate (and also to give some variety to my online models).
The first version of the Jack, however, arrives in May/43 and it has a service rating of 3, just like the first George. I was thinking of skipping immediately the first model, in favour of the second one that comes in mid 44...so to concentrate for having it by late 43, while the second model of the George will arrive somewhere in early 44, thus having a service 2 Navy fighters a bit before the arrival of the second variant of the George.
But the second Jack is even slower than the second George and with less mvr and a little less powerfull weapon package... What should i do? Live with the first Jack and simply don't care about the second version, waiting for the second George, or concentrate in having ASAP a service rating-2 Navy fighter? (consider that i have only 3 factories researching the Jack line, so it's all or nothing)

I've found the J2M2 mediocre and hard to keep in the field due to the service level 3. If you're using it to back up other models and defend 4E strikes in large well supported bases it's much better. It's definitely an interceptor, not good for sweeps or escort.

My feeling would be that if you can get the service 2 J2M3 earlier than the service 2 second version of the George, then it would be really useful at that point. I had not planned to use this version but pressed it into service due to perceived need for a second generation fighter.

Got it Erik, thanks!
Yup, i think i should be able to get the George around March 43, so i'll switch directly to the J2M3 so to have a secondo gen fighter with a decent serviceablity by late 43.
The front lines will be held, as always, by Tojos and Zeros. Even if outdated these guys will be able to remain in the air even after several days of fightings. Georges and Nicks will form, for 1943, the deep defences in Major Bases with high aviation support and with smaller threat from enemy sweeps. The lack of AS will force me to use the first version of the George mainly on the defensive, but i surely hope to have the second version online by the end of 1943/early 1944. With 4 factories devoting to R&D plus the Engine bonus... i should get there in time

For me biggest hopes are with second model of Jack and George. SR2 will make them good interceptors.
Biggest advantage of Jacks over Geeorge are two CL cannons. With double accuracy even with smaller firepower from George they deadly to bombers. An with good climb rate they should be much ealier on position than George

Making a sandwich of SR1 Tojo,Zero, and SR2,3 Geroge, Frank and Jack can spoil day for any allied player. Firs two will give You always something in air and last tree will make big holes.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: obvert




I've found the J2M2 mediocre and hard to keep in the field due to the service level 3. If you're using it to back up other models and defend 4E strikes in large well supported bases it's much better. It's definitely an interceptor, not good for sweeps or escort.

My feeling would be that if you can get the service 2 J2M3 earlier than the service 2 second version of the George, then it would be really useful at that point. I had not planned to use this version but pressed it into service due to perceived need for a second generation fighter.

Got it Erik, thanks!
Yup, i think i should be able to get the George around March 43, so i'll switch directly to the J2M3 so to have a secondo gen fighter with a decent serviceablity by late 43.
The front lines will be held, as always, by Tojos and Zeros. Even if outdated these guys will be able to remain in the air even after several days of fightings. Georges and Nicks will form, for 1943, the deep defences in Major Bases with high aviation support and with smaller threat from enemy sweeps. The lack of AS will force me to use the first version of the George mainly on the defensive, but i surely hope to have the second version online by the end of 1943/early 1944. With 4 factories devoting to R&D plus the Engine bonus... i should get there in time

For me biggest hopes are with second model of Jack and George. SR2 will make them good interceptors.
Biggest advantage of Jacks over Geeorge are two CL cannons. With double accuracy even with smaller firepower from George they deadly to bombers. An with good climb rate they should be much ealier on position than George

Making a sandwich of SR1 Tojo,Zero, and SR2,3 Geroge, Frank and Jack can spoil day for any allied player. Firs two will give You always something in air and last tree will make big holes.

As far as i know, the J2N3 has two different 20mm cannon models both on wings (F), while the first variant has only 2 7.7 MGs in the centerline (CF). Both variants of the George has the same 20mm cannons on the wings, just a little bit better than the J2N3, so what really changes is the climb rate and the available date.
But don't expect too much from them. I've faced them both during my game against Rader and i can tell you that none of them is a match for the P-47s. Against bombers i think the differences are so small that it really doesn't matter at all.
So, the guideline should be "the sooner, the better", that's why i'll stay with the N1K1 for the moment, while R&D the J2N3 and the N1K2 (also to use the Ha-32 engines a bit more and not overstress the Ha-45 production too much)

[inqistor]

No, seriously. Gather your fleet, and land 3-4 Divisions at Calcutta. You will hardly get any progress defending, as you need to destroy enemy squads, and this is hard, when they are attacking. IT IS ONLY 1942!

Service Rating is not that important, when you are flying CAP. With good results (lots of shot down bombers) it will be like 2-3 battles, and he will cease operations.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: inqistor

No, seriously. Gather your fleet, and land 3-4 Divisions at Calcutta. You will hardly get any progress defending, as you need to destroy enemy squads, and this is hard, when they are attacking. IT IS ONLY 1942!

Service Rating is not that important, when you are flying CAP. With good results (lots of shot down bombers) it will be like 2-3 battles, and he will cease operations.

Service rating is important when the Allies use 150-200 4E to hit some base. Even if you're flying LR CAP you'll have 10-15 planes unflyable the next turn and have to basically disband them as he'll just maul the place the next turn. Flying several groups of them from big fields with lots of support is the only way to make use of service 3 fighters for Japan, especially in the mod GJ is playing with reduced support and supply.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: inqistor

No, seriously. Gather your fleet, and land 3-4 Divisions at Calcutta. You will hardly get any progress defending, as you need to destroy enemy squads, and this is hard, when they are attacking. IT IS ONLY 1942!

Service Rating is not that important, when you are flying CAP. With good results (lots of shot down bombers) it will be like 2-3 battles, and he will cease operations.

Sorry mate, but i know i don't have the skills,nor the cojones, for such a move.
I'll have to gather 4divisions, thus weakening some key places and then risk all the combined fleet foe a move that won't lead me to anything else than losing, sooner or later, the landed army.
Imho, it's now time to dig in deep and to wait for him to expose himself and possibly attritt him and look for the " decisive battle".

I also agree with obvert. In this mod only major bases ( lvl 8 or 9) can have enough aviation support to be able to keep the serv rat 3 planes in fighting conditions, thus the necessity to keep a deep look at the service ratings of my planes

[GreyJoy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 27, 42

A strange day.

The enemy landed at Merauke with a tiny force. The base is defended by even a tiner force of mine, so i expected an easy conquest by the yanks... While, incredibly, the enemy got so distrupted during the landing that the enemy expeditionary corp was immediately re-imbarked[X(] and at the end of the day, not a single enemy was present in the hex...[X(][X(][&:][&:]

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Pre-Invasion action off Merauke (89,124)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
CL Adelaide
APD Hatfield

CL Adelaide firing at 4th Engineer Co


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Amphibious Assault at Merauke (89,124)

TF 73 troops unloading over beach at Merauke, 89,124

Allied ground losses:
91 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


And that's all....[&:]


We have finally repaired the strip at Neikiang in China and tomorrow the airbase should start arriving there, airlifted from Kweyiang.

In Burma i decided what to do. We need to hold at Wazrup at Akyab for 3 months with the units we have there now. Hopefully, by march 1943 we'll be able to transfer a couple of divisions there, in order to rotate and give some rest to the 6th Guards Div and to the 6th RTA divisions (the most worn out divisions i have in the theatre). Also, as soon as China stabilizes, i'm planning to transfer some more artillery and support troops in Burma.


It's also confirmed that the allies are building Normanton (Gulf of Carpentaria) - already port lvl 3 - and now want to invade Mareuake. it will be a matter of days before Darwin will be invested, so it's clear that southern DEI is one of their targets....1943 will be a tough year for the Empire, that's for sure.