Islands of Destiny: RA 5.0 Japanese Side

[John 3rd]

Regional Report
CenPac (Marcus--Wake)

The lonely bases of Marcus and Wake work towards Sz-6 Forts and the MAX number of troops possible. These outposts serve for Air Search and air transfer stepping stones more then anything. Just got a new Garrison Unit that will deploy to Marcus raising its garrison to about 5,800 men.

MARCUS
Pt-1/05, AF-2/26, Ft-5/02
8th SNLF CD, 2 Base Force
12 Emily, 24 Jakes

WAKE
Pt-1, AF-3, Ft 3/36
2 Inf units, 2 Engineers, CD, BF (5,900 Troops)
36 Betty-Nell

[John 3rd]

Regional Reports
CenPac 2 (Marshalls Area)

The Marshalls is in a state of serious flux. After the recapture of the Gilberts, I initially redeployed troops into the Marshalls but now things are moving again in-and-out. Three Garrison forces have just arrived in the Home Islands. These units, plus a few from the Aleutians, shall round out the defense here. The goal with the Marshalls is to serve as a speed bump for the Allies and attrit their Fleet.

Bases (Clockwise Order):
WOTJE
Pt-1, AF-3, Ft: 4/11
Naval Fortress and Base Force

MALOELAP
Pt-1, AF-4, Ft-5/11
Naval Fortress, 2 BF

MAJURO
Pt-1, AF-0, Ft-3/06
Naval Fortress
6 Emily

MILI
P-0, AF-1, Ft-2/50
Naval Fortress

JALIUT
P-4, AF-0/23, Ft-4/62
6th Fleet HQ, Nvl Fortress, KF
27 FP

PONAPE
P-1, AF 4/68, Ft-4/11
6th Inf Div, Engineer, Nvl Fort, BF

KUSAIE
Pt-0/47, AF-2, Ft-3/98
Engineer, 2 BF

ENIWETOK
Pt-3, AF 3/49, Ft-4/23
SNLF Brigade, BF, Naval Guard
9 Emily

AILINGLAPLAP
Pt-0, AF-1/86, Ft-2/82
SNLF Brigade, Engineer, BF

KWAJALEIN
Pt-5, AF-2/20, Ft-5/03
SE Area Fleet HQ, Air Flotilla, AA, Naval Fortress, BF
36 Zero

ROI NAMUR
Pt-2, AF-4, Ft-5/56
Nvl Guard and 2 BF
36 Zero, 72 Betty-Nell

Air in Theatre: 72 Zero, 72 Betty-Nell, 18 Emily, 27 FP

Naval Forces: 4 DD and 5 I-Boats

The 6th ID is getting ready to move south for garrison duty. AP--AK are headed there presently. Plan to place this unit at Milne Bay.

One can see the KB moving SW just passing Ponape I believe.

[John 3rd]

Turn just got in and the house is waking up. Will try to get another regional report in in a while. Next: The Gilberts.

[John 3rd]

Regional Reports
SE Pacific

Since the recapture of the Gilberts the Japanese have moved their forces around to a point of semi-satisfaction. The Allies PROBABLY won't come this way again but steps have to be taken to ensure they DON'T.

Additionally, a ruse/diversion is now underway in this region to ascertain if there are any hidden Allied surprises coming out of this area. Recon demonstrates Canton to be empty of troops. Several small Fast TF are now moving about capturing dot bases as well as Canton in an effort to provoke some sort of response. We want to see if Dan is setting up to begin his counter-offensive from Pago Pago or Suva. Emily are flying recon and air search in an attempt to find this out.

Bases (Clockwise again):
BAKER
P-0, AF-1, Ft-2
Naval Guard and Base Force
12 Emily

FTF heading to take Canton

VAITUPU
Pt-1, AF-0, Ft-2/11
Naval Guard and BF
12 Emily

FTF heading to take Vaitupu

TABITEUEA
Pt-2, AF-4/19, Ft-3/72
Air Flot, Para SNLF Brig, Nvl Guard, CD, BF

Just took Nanumea and now headed to Gardner.

OCEAN
Pt-2

NAURU
Pt-2, AF 2/37, Ft-3/15
Naval Guard and Base Force

TARAWA
Pt-1, AF 2/67, Ft-3/16

Air Forces: 24 Emily

Naval Forces: 1 CL, 4 DD, 6 I-Boats

The only bases meant for any sort of defense here are Tarawa and Tabiteuea. Dan's single mistake in his early Gilberts move was to NOT take Tabit. Had he done so (with its large garrison ability) I doubt if I could have retaken it without an even more protracted campaign.

[John 3rd]

September 26, 1942

In a stunning development the Japanese capture Changteh in China. WOW! I've been pecking at it for 6-8 weeks and haven't really paid too much attention to it. Got a 1-1 the previous day without being disrupted and supplies were fine so I followed it up and got a 3-1. The Japanese take 2066 Casualties and the Chinese are crushed taking 14,623 (900+ Squads).

BANZAI!

[John 3rd]

Side Note:

An American sub gets Depth Charged outside of Rabaul but it has time to report Yamato and Musashi present in the TF...

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

September 26, 1942

In a stunning development the Japanese capture Changteh in China. WOW! I've been pecking at it for 6-8 weeks and haven't really paid too much attention to it. Got a 1-1 the previous day without being disrupted and supplies were fine so I followed it up and got a 3-1. The Japanese take 2066 Casualties and the Chinese are crushed taking 14,623 (900+ Squads).

BANZAI!

900 squads! Not too shabby for just pecking around!!

[zuluhour]

Another victory! Banzai!

Dan brushes off defeat quite easily. Perhaps an unexpected string of losses in unexpected areas may "unhinge" him a little.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Another victory! Banzai!

Dan brushes off defeat quite easily. Perhaps an unexpected string of losses in unexpected areas may "unhinge" him a little.

It is a nice thought but Dan is pretty unflappable. I sank over 300 of his ships in during his invasion of northern Japan in our first campaign and it didn't phase him whatsoever. Always described him as Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed. Keep punching the man BUT HE STILL KEEPS COMING!

[zuluhour]

I can "dig it". He is unflappable. (Is that a word?) But as the moral of a side, in this case the Allies, in directly proportional to Dan's own elan, you must seek victory at all levels. Destruction of assets, disruption of operations, and not least, the will to fight. He needs a Gettysburg in the Pacific. Most likely two. One pre Essex class and one post. I have decided that the war is won on the ground. The most vulnerable time for either side is while the formations are at sea. May the decisive battle occur with the loss of large ground formations as well as sea going assets find you.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

It is a nice thought but Dan is pretty unflappable.

Aye. But it's a fine line between unflappable and callous, isn't it? Any RL Allied admiral sustaining those sorts of losses would be relieved. Anyone doing so intentionally without pain on their loss would be someone I wouldn't want leading my fleet-real or imaginary.

[John 3rd]

September 27, 1942

The I-Boats deployed around NZ are getting lots of action. No less then three convoys attacked in the last turn. An AK gets nailed and we'll see if more are gotten tomorrow.

KB refuels at Rabaul. CarDiv5 gets bright shiny new A6M5 for their fighter Daitai. NICE! Nice little improvement to kill Wildkittens...

It is just about time to start sharpening the KNIVES. We're not going to BLUNT the knives (Hobbit Song), we're gonna sharpen them and USE THEM!

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

I can "dig it". He is unflappable. (Is that a word?) But as the moral of a side, in this case the Allies, in directly proportional to Dan's own elan, you must seek victory at all levels. Destruction of assets, disruption of operations, and not least, the will to fight. He needs a Gettysburg in the Pacific. Most likely two. One pre Essex class and one post. I have decided that the war is won on the ground. The most vulnerable time for either side is while the formations are at sea. May the decisive battle occur with the loss of large ground formations as well as sea going assets find you.

SuluSea: LOVE the new footer.

I agree. Kill the damned troops while at sea and not while landing...

(See the sharpen the Knives quote above!)

[John 3rd]

September 28, 1942

A rude surprise greets Japanese avaitors this day as the 'normal' milkrun over Ramree is rudely and BADLY interrupted by 35 Allied Fihgters on LTCAP from Akyab. The AF is about 90% Damage so they MIGHT have been based there but whatever, they slash into two Japanese bomber formations and drop nearly 35 Helen--Sally. OUCH!

On the other hand, the afternoon shipping strike goes through and sinks an AP unloading LOTS of vehicles at Ramree.

There is a massed Allied movement sliding down the west side of the Irrawaddy towards Prome. You can see it in the screenshot. Am redeploying to stop it from the south and cut in from the north. More details if I get the time to do a detailed Regional Update here.

Graduation day for IJA Pilots in China and Manchuria as I pull nearly 350 pilots with 70% or higher skills. The IJN contributes about 100 new pilots for the day. I generally pull pilots on the 1st of the month but forgot to do the IJA so had a bunch of extra ones available. IJN was low due to me bringing up all sorts of units to strength over the last two weeks.

[John 3rd]

Here is the overview of the Region. NW of Maqwe is the 6th Aust ID and 5th brit Brig. South of them are Five Brigades of Allied troops moving towards the red box. Waiting there is an ID, two TK Reg, and two RF Gun units. This blocking force will be augmented by another ID with a pair of days.

Troops are advancing down the coast as well and I prepare to deal with that.

Have a full strength ID arriving at Prome to move up the coast as well as another about to show in Magwe. The 2nd TK Division, a TK Reg, ID, and two Inf Reg are refitting in Rangoon presently...

[FatR]

Regarding pilot training - after experimenting with various combinations, I decided that the most optimal way of training fighter pilots is to train only Air skill, until a pilot gets Defense 60 and Air at least 70. I harvest qualified pilots from training units every two weeks, instead of graduating whole units at once. But this system takes a time to get going, so early in the war it might be hard to implement. Also, it might be unsuitable for very unexperienced pilots pulled from the training program.

[kjnoel]

ORIGINAL: FatR

Regarding pilot training - after experimenting with various combinations, I decided that the most optimal way of training fighter pilots is to train only Air skill, until a pilot gets Defense 60 and Air at least 70. I harvest qualified pilots from training units every two weeks, instead of graduating whole units at once. But this system takes a time to get going, so early in the war it might be hard to implement. Also, it might be unsuitable for very unexperienced pilots pulled from the training program.

Have you tried having 1 squadron training air until 70 and then switching them into a second on general training? I find this is a quicker method to get to 60 DEF, 70 AIR and 50 EXP; if I do it the way you describe I end up with low XP pilots with 70 AIR. Seems to work well for me but it does mean that it takes two squadrons to graduate a single pilot, but seeing as I have more squadrons (IJA at least) than I can deploy at the moment.....

[zuluhour]

I am at the other end of the spectrum and focus on defensive skills for fighter pilots from the gate. When they hit 68-70 they begin to get A2A and escort duty to round them out.

[John 3rd]

I train my fighter pilots to 70+ in Air and then switch to General Training to get their Defense up.

Michael does it a little differently. Can you cover that Mr. Air Minister?

With my bomber pilots I do the same thing of raising their primary and then switch over to General. Only exception to that are my dedicated ASW units. Train their ASW to 70, then their Naval Attack to 70, and finally get their Search skills up. These units are highly effective against SS.

Anyone else have a magic training plan?

[koniu]

There is dozen o methods to train pilots.

I personally train my fighters to Air skill 66-68 then i move them to another unit that is training sweep at 100 ft to train def skill.
When def skill is ~60+ they are moved back to pols
After that they have something ~40-45 XP. Then those pilots are moved to fly CAP in safe areas where combat is not expected. After max of 2-3 weeks of CAP missions they have XP 50 and air skill is 70+. That pilot is ready to front line duty.

I harvesting my pilots every 7 days

That requiring lots of clicking because pilot must train in three different units before will be ready, but i found that very efficient.