December 25th 1942, a strange turn
No Allied transports unloaded in Taberfane today. Our attacks yesterday apparently cause some disruption. However, the 330 AV that managed to land yesterday achieved 2:1 odds on their first attempt, and reduce the forts to level one.
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 8253 troops, 136 guns, 134 vehicles, Assault Value = 327
Defending force 4852 troops, 61 guns, 128 vehicles, Assault Value = 196
Allied adjusted assault: 231
Japanese adjusted defense: 82
Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 2)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1
Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 28 (2 destroyed, 26 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
385 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Assaulting units:
6th Australian Division
2/7th Armoured Regiment
Defending units:
1st Tank Regiment
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th RF Gun Battalion
I would have thought the terrain would help… until I checked: the map says jungle, but the editor (or “1”) says “clear”. By the look of it, it seems Taberfane will fall tomorrow, and that a brigade, a tank regiment and some AT guns (all with experience over 60, the tank regiment at 78 exp), behind forts cannot resist half a reinforced division. I'm a bit puzzled by the efficiency of all this. There was no prior bombardment, the landings didn't go well, I have more than a token force, raw AV are balanced, yet...
Yesterday, the contested landings cost the Australians two squads and one gun (destroyed). Today, they lost one squad and one vehicle. Am I the only one finding this curious? I want to have a look at previous landings, but it seems that apart from coastal guns, all landings are unopposed so long the troops are prepared.
I thought enemy carriers weren’t around, I was wrong. Three carriers, in three task forces were detected today one hex east of Taberfane. My “mini KB” was four hexes away, and with only two fleet carriers and one light carrier, things might have turned very bad… except neither of us launched, despite detection and good weather. A strange turn, as I said…
As a result, there was very little action around Taberfane. KB is two days away, undetected. If the Allied carriers try to chase my guys, or just remain around, they might be in for a bad surprise.
In Burma, Cox Bazaar fell, Rangoon was resupplied, and Imphal was invaded by two divisions (two more will arrive in two days). Tomorrow, I am attacking Kalemyo and bombarding Imphal to see what I’m facing.
Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J), no spence, please
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
I am not having enough time for the game. Last week, we exchanged only three turns, and this week will probably not be better. As I mentioned before, programming user interface at work (and trying to make it "oh so simple", which means abominable code that ends up looking intuitive to the end users because you the coder made all the ugly choices for them, and rewrote the damn things again and again) makes one very impatient with AE. Gary Grigsby and the AE team wrote an impressive game, no doubt about it, but I'd be very happy to recommend their UI guy to my competitors...
Today was the first day of school, here. As an old, and divorced, and remarried, guy, I am blessed this year with one in grade one, anxious to learn her letters so that she can read Tinker Bell all by herself, another one (grade six) done with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and ready to jump into Jane Austen and the Bronte girls, yet another one who spent her summer learning latin and greek, and reading Howard Zinn's popular history, and Walden, because the history theme, this year, is "American society from Lincoln to Truman", studying for an exam she'll most probably flunk, and the oldest one who just discovered russian novelists and modern french writers (Perec). Fighting pixel wars is fun, but having kids is enlightening.
I realize I haven't posted music links in a while. Here is some Schubert, by one of the best cellists ever (Boccherini, Casals, Shafran, that's pretty much it, I'm afraid)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38QwLRYK8X0
This piece was written for a weird instrument that no longer exists (the arpegione, a strange mix between a cello and a guitar), and it has been transcripted for many modern instruments. So far, I played it with a flutist and an altist, here's a cellist...
December 26th 1942
Taberfane
Enemy task forces have retired. Carriers are between Taberfane and Darwin, surface ships and transports have retired to Eastern Australia. On the ground, the clear terrain is proving very costly. Liberators took a heavy toll today
Morning Air attack on 21st Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 82,117 (Taberfane)
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 23
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
250 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)
But the troops held against today’s deliberate attack, and caused quite a few losses.
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 8032 troops, 136 guns, 134 vehicles, Assault Value = 285
Defending force 4611 troops, 61 guns, 124 vehicles, Assault Value = 154
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Japanese ground losses:
75 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Allied ground losses:
224 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
I have no idea where my opponent stands, in term of supplies and fatigue. If he needs to rest tomorrow, we should shake disruption off, and might hold a few more days. I he doesn’t, well…
I am a bit lost as to what to do. I don’t think I can defend against such an attack, even after having surprised their ships unloading.
Burma
This is the bright side of the war. Rangoon, and lower Burma, are now supplied, and a convoy should reach Akyab (and Cox Bazaar) soon. Along the coast, the British are in full retreat towards Chittagong. I don’t know where they intend to make a stand: all the area between Chittagong and Calcutta is clear terrain, and I now have a level six airfield in Akyab, and a level four in Cox.
In Central Burma, an artillery probe against Imphal revealed a mixed lot, about 400 AV, probably between forts. I will have four divisions surrounding the city tomorrow. Fort levels are probably high, but Imphal is in trouble, and the main supply path to Kalemyo is now cut. I am resting tomorrow, and will attack again the day after.
In Kalemyo, a deliberate attack reduced forts to zero, and destroyed a dozen squads. Losses are high, but we are getting there.
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 68618 troops, 616 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 2110
Defending force 18752 troops, 282 guns, 632 vehicles, Assault Value = 514
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese ground losses:
2227 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 184 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
462 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (3 destroyed, 26 disabled)
I have good hopes of taking Kalemyo and Imphal relatively soon. Once this is done, we will march to cut the Ledo valley, which I think my opponent will evacuate. Capturing Ledo is important, as it helps securing my industrial bases in China.
Waxing strategic
Even though the game is moving slowly at the moment, the situation is becoming very interesting, as the consequences of Japan’s “China First” strategy are beginning to unfold.
By taking China out of the war in 1942, Japan can reinforce Burma, and threaten India in 1943. At this point, I don’t think India can provide auto-victory. Right now, VP are 43k vs 15k. Auto-victory in 43 means at least 20k more points, too much for India. But I don’t think the Allies can defend India with the troops they have there, and I doubt they can shrug it away.
And there you have my Burmese gambit: by threatening India, I want the US to commit there, and fight a land war over India, Burma, and China, which buys me the time to make a fighting retreat in the Pacific, and build a strong inner perimeter. Ideally, the war in India would absorb a large part of the US war effort in 1943, and delay operations in the Pacific and East Indies.
Can this happen? Right now, I suspect US reinforcements are on their way. This would explain why there were no moves against the Solomons or the Gilberts, and why the Brits are evacuating the Burmese border. Now, if I can conquer Bangladesh and use those large airfields, we’re in for a long a protracted campaign in India, and this part of the plan would be fine.
What about the Pacific? Allied carriers are there, obviously. I am not too afraid about Taberfane. moving from there into Ambon, and Kendari and Manado should be slow and costly. This is no good carrier country, and I have built quite a few bases. I don’t see the Allies going for Java or Sumatra either, and they can have the Solomons whenever they want (I’m about done with the evacuation anyway).
This leaves the Central Pacific (Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas) but so far nothing ever seemed to happen there, and the Kuriles, which I am now building.
Industry
I forgot to mention I hit the two million HI mark at the beginning of December 42. This isn’t as costly as it seems: we’re producing 1 250 aircrafts per month, about 2 000 engines, have 50k armament and 30k vehicle points in store. In other words, it is all paid for by the merchant marine, where we hardly build anything (we have 70 yards, and 1500 points in the bank). I need to check my late war naval programs too, probably can save there as well: I had kept all the subs, I’m having misgivings, now that I’ve seen what 1942 DE can do. On the other hand, I might keep some of the late war fleet carriers, just in case.
Aircraft production can certainly be increased. I am getting pretty good fighters now. I have the Tojo IIb, and the A6M5, and the Nick 1c in January. Looking at the figures posted in other AAR, I noticed that most successful Japanese players spent a lot of planes (sometimes achieving rates like 1:2). On the contrary, players prudent with their aircrafts tend to die young. I believe this is because aircrafts are by far the cheapest weapons in this game. LCU cost a lot to build, and use, and fight. Ships dig holes in your HI budget (and they’re very constrained anyway). Aircrafts cost a couple dozens of HI each, use little supplies, and are very advantaged when used in large numbers (knowing that Allied production is limited). So my recommendation to fellow JFB would be more planes. There is probably a limit with pilots, but then, if you have enough planes, you can waste a few pilots, ad those who survive train fast…
Resource-wise, my fuel and oil convoys from Fusan seem to be succeeding. Home Island stocks are on the rise, and Malaysia oil seems to be flowing north. This is not the case with fuel, but I have huge stocks in China, and getting them to the Home Island is my first order of business.
As of today, I have 5.6 million tons of supplies, 8 million tons of fuel, 4 million tons of oil, and 16.7 million tons of resources. Japan has 1 million tons of supplies, 2.4 of fuel, 5.2 of resources and 1.8 of oil. This is not good, but it is improving.
I am happy with the current state of the economy. PDU off and a “no ship acceleration” rule help a lot, and I should have decent stocks by the time things get though. Of course, all this might be offset by the efficiency of strategic bombing. You can have as many HI as you want, if you don’t have factories… and what I’ve seen so far suggests that strategic bombing is extremely efficient in the game (just look at the point totals of end games…) But then, if the game hard codes “4E in range = game over”, so be it, I will have had my fun anyway.
Today was the first day of school, here. As an old, and divorced, and remarried, guy, I am blessed this year with one in grade one, anxious to learn her letters so that she can read Tinker Bell all by herself, another one (grade six) done with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and ready to jump into Jane Austen and the Bronte girls, yet another one who spent her summer learning latin and greek, and reading Howard Zinn's popular history, and Walden, because the history theme, this year, is "American society from Lincoln to Truman", studying for an exam she'll most probably flunk, and the oldest one who just discovered russian novelists and modern french writers (Perec). Fighting pixel wars is fun, but having kids is enlightening.
I realize I haven't posted music links in a while. Here is some Schubert, by one of the best cellists ever (Boccherini, Casals, Shafran, that's pretty much it, I'm afraid)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38QwLRYK8X0
This piece was written for a weird instrument that no longer exists (the arpegione, a strange mix between a cello and a guitar), and it has been transcripted for many modern instruments. So far, I played it with a flutist and an altist, here's a cellist...
December 26th 1942
Taberfane
Enemy task forces have retired. Carriers are between Taberfane and Darwin, surface ships and transports have retired to Eastern Australia. On the ground, the clear terrain is proving very costly. Liberators took a heavy toll today
Morning Air attack on 21st Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 82,117 (Taberfane)
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 23
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
250 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)
But the troops held against today’s deliberate attack, and caused quite a few losses.
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 8032 troops, 136 guns, 134 vehicles, Assault Value = 285
Defending force 4611 troops, 61 guns, 124 vehicles, Assault Value = 154
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Japanese ground losses:
75 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Allied ground losses:
224 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
I have no idea where my opponent stands, in term of supplies and fatigue. If he needs to rest tomorrow, we should shake disruption off, and might hold a few more days. I he doesn’t, well…
I am a bit lost as to what to do. I don’t think I can defend against such an attack, even after having surprised their ships unloading.
Burma
This is the bright side of the war. Rangoon, and lower Burma, are now supplied, and a convoy should reach Akyab (and Cox Bazaar) soon. Along the coast, the British are in full retreat towards Chittagong. I don’t know where they intend to make a stand: all the area between Chittagong and Calcutta is clear terrain, and I now have a level six airfield in Akyab, and a level four in Cox.
In Central Burma, an artillery probe against Imphal revealed a mixed lot, about 400 AV, probably between forts. I will have four divisions surrounding the city tomorrow. Fort levels are probably high, but Imphal is in trouble, and the main supply path to Kalemyo is now cut. I am resting tomorrow, and will attack again the day after.
In Kalemyo, a deliberate attack reduced forts to zero, and destroyed a dozen squads. Losses are high, but we are getting there.
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 68618 troops, 616 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 2110
Defending force 18752 troops, 282 guns, 632 vehicles, Assault Value = 514
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese ground losses:
2227 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 184 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
462 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (3 destroyed, 26 disabled)
I have good hopes of taking Kalemyo and Imphal relatively soon. Once this is done, we will march to cut the Ledo valley, which I think my opponent will evacuate. Capturing Ledo is important, as it helps securing my industrial bases in China.
Waxing strategic
Even though the game is moving slowly at the moment, the situation is becoming very interesting, as the consequences of Japan’s “China First” strategy are beginning to unfold.
By taking China out of the war in 1942, Japan can reinforce Burma, and threaten India in 1943. At this point, I don’t think India can provide auto-victory. Right now, VP are 43k vs 15k. Auto-victory in 43 means at least 20k more points, too much for India. But I don’t think the Allies can defend India with the troops they have there, and I doubt they can shrug it away.
And there you have my Burmese gambit: by threatening India, I want the US to commit there, and fight a land war over India, Burma, and China, which buys me the time to make a fighting retreat in the Pacific, and build a strong inner perimeter. Ideally, the war in India would absorb a large part of the US war effort in 1943, and delay operations in the Pacific and East Indies.
Can this happen? Right now, I suspect US reinforcements are on their way. This would explain why there were no moves against the Solomons or the Gilberts, and why the Brits are evacuating the Burmese border. Now, if I can conquer Bangladesh and use those large airfields, we’re in for a long a protracted campaign in India, and this part of the plan would be fine.
What about the Pacific? Allied carriers are there, obviously. I am not too afraid about Taberfane. moving from there into Ambon, and Kendari and Manado should be slow and costly. This is no good carrier country, and I have built quite a few bases. I don’t see the Allies going for Java or Sumatra either, and they can have the Solomons whenever they want (I’m about done with the evacuation anyway).
This leaves the Central Pacific (Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas) but so far nothing ever seemed to happen there, and the Kuriles, which I am now building.
Industry
I forgot to mention I hit the two million HI mark at the beginning of December 42. This isn’t as costly as it seems: we’re producing 1 250 aircrafts per month, about 2 000 engines, have 50k armament and 30k vehicle points in store. In other words, it is all paid for by the merchant marine, where we hardly build anything (we have 70 yards, and 1500 points in the bank). I need to check my late war naval programs too, probably can save there as well: I had kept all the subs, I’m having misgivings, now that I’ve seen what 1942 DE can do. On the other hand, I might keep some of the late war fleet carriers, just in case.
Aircraft production can certainly be increased. I am getting pretty good fighters now. I have the Tojo IIb, and the A6M5, and the Nick 1c in January. Looking at the figures posted in other AAR, I noticed that most successful Japanese players spent a lot of planes (sometimes achieving rates like 1:2). On the contrary, players prudent with their aircrafts tend to die young. I believe this is because aircrafts are by far the cheapest weapons in this game. LCU cost a lot to build, and use, and fight. Ships dig holes in your HI budget (and they’re very constrained anyway). Aircrafts cost a couple dozens of HI each, use little supplies, and are very advantaged when used in large numbers (knowing that Allied production is limited). So my recommendation to fellow JFB would be more planes. There is probably a limit with pilots, but then, if you have enough planes, you can waste a few pilots, ad those who survive train fast…
Resource-wise, my fuel and oil convoys from Fusan seem to be succeeding. Home Island stocks are on the rise, and Malaysia oil seems to be flowing north. This is not the case with fuel, but I have huge stocks in China, and getting them to the Home Island is my first order of business.
As of today, I have 5.6 million tons of supplies, 8 million tons of fuel, 4 million tons of oil, and 16.7 million tons of resources. Japan has 1 million tons of supplies, 2.4 of fuel, 5.2 of resources and 1.8 of oil. This is not good, but it is improving.
I am happy with the current state of the economy. PDU off and a “no ship acceleration” rule help a lot, and I should have decent stocks by the time things get though. Of course, all this might be offset by the efficiency of strategic bombing. You can have as many HI as you want, if you don’t have factories… and what I’ve seen so far suggests that strategic bombing is extremely efficient in the game (just look at the point totals of end games…) But then, if the game hard codes “4E in range = game over”, so be it, I will have had my fun anyway.
-
SqzMyLemon
- Posts: 4239
- Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18 pm
- Location: Alberta, Canada
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
ORIGINAL: fcharton
Resource-wise, my fuel and oil convoys from Fusan seem to be succeeding. Home Island stocks are on the rise, and Malaysia oil seems to be flowing north. This is not the case with fuel, but I have huge stocks in China, and getting them to the Home Island is my first order of business.
Nice job with the economy Francois! I think I could have reached 1.5 million HI by the end of 42 in Scenario 1, but I decided to turn all armament and vehicle factories to full to get the stockpiles up. I am just banking under 3k HI daily now from my usual 5-6k.
One thing I wanted to mention. I began disbanding ships in port at Hong Kong and loading fuel from the port. Last turn there was 30k worth of fuel. In two turns my tankers are almost full at 30k and there is still 30k+ of fuel at Hong Kong. Fusan and Port Arthur levels remained roughly the same as last turn so the fuel is coming from somewhere other than these too bases. I didn't really look at the CRB, Saigon, Bangkok or Singapore totals yet, but this fuel has to be coming from Burma or Malaya. Saigon is now at 420k so it is definitely drawing more. I'm going to track things for awhile to see if I can figure out where it is coming from. I know there's spoilage with fuel moving overland, but maybe it's not as much as used to ship it in the first place. Just think of the fuel savings if it does draw overland. [8D]
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Still very little time left for the game, it is probably a good thing, as I’m in one of those phases where I have lots of difficulty taking it seriously.
December 27th 1942
Taberfane falls
After difficult landings, and two consecutive days of attack, the half strength Australian Division in Taberfane attacked, and took the base. A preliminary bombing by B24-D from Darwin had kept my troop disruption high, clear terrain helps.
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 7987 troops, 136 guns, 133 vehicles, Assault Value = 266
Defending force 4282 troops, 61 guns, 117 vehicles, Assault Value = 125
Allied adjusted assault: 52
Japanese adjusted defense: 7
Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)
Allied forces CAPTURE Taberfane !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
1157 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 38 (38 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 98 (98 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3
Allied ground losses:
598 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
6th Australian Division
2/7th Armoured Regiment
Defending units:
1st Tank Regiment
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th RF Gun Battalion
Since yesterday, my good leaders (+) became bad leaders (-), and experience is now a negative (all units are over 60 (the tank regiment is 79). KB, five hexes away, managed not to launch (I suspect it is because it is in a coastal hex, I’ll move it one hex away tomorrow and see).
I have to say I am a bit underwhelmed by the Taberfane affair. My opponent attacks a base defended by a brigade, and tank regiment and a RF gun unit, behind light forts, but forts. My troops have good morale (in the 90s) experience over 60 (80 for the tanks) decent leaders, and supplies (over 10k as the invasion began). I intercept the landings, sink part of the transports, get a carrier division in position, and have KB a few days away. And in fact, only half an infantry division and a tank regiment land, probably with a good level of disruption and disablement. Can things go any better for the Japanese?
Yet, three days is all it takes to conquer the place. I wonder what happens if the Allies commit a bit more somewhere, and I don’t get to attack on the first day, and I can’t wait until 44, when they have better squads and devices.
Little else happened today : four B17-E visited Rabaul at night, and were met by five Zeroes, and 10 Nicks, we lost three Zero and a Nick, and were fortunate that the flak shot one Buff down. 4E night combat at work, I’m afraid…
In Burma, I’m again waiting for the supplies in Imphal and Kalemyo. I can’t quite figure how supplies flow to combat areas. A few days ago, everything seemed very smooth, now, I have more supplies in the valley, but they don’t seem to move. Also, it seems easier to get supplies to flow to Kalemyo over the jungle, than in Akyab over the road. A convoy has reached Akyab, which should be supplied tomorrow (unless they flow back to Rangoon… at this point I am ready for anything).
What now? I have to say I don’t really care. The next turn was played in three minutes: rest a pair of squadron, dock a task force, and hit done… I probably have forgotten a lot of things, but does it really matter?
I mean, we’re in this game where you can besiege Chungking in May 1942, because your opponent forgot to lock the door in Changteh (thousands of miles away), where the same opponent can lose 80 Dauntlesses in one day, because they decided to fly unescorted into enemy carriers, morning AND afternoon. But it evens out, because the next day, you can have enemy carriers find themselves both detected, three hexes from each other, yet none launch a single attack (this happened to me twice already, out of five carrier encounters), and then you might get lucky detecting an invasion, sinking part of it, but it wouldn't change anything to the outcome (in fact, it proved more difficult for my opponent to capture Terapo, defended by a lone para unit, than to get Taberfane, where I had a brigade, and tanks, and guns).
I have to say all this gives a very strong sense of futility. In fact, I often feel that I spend a lot of time focusing on the economy and areas of the game where my decisions matter, to compensate for the fact that in other parts (combat notably), my actions are much less relevant.
And the more I play, the more the statistician in me is convinced that something is fundamentally flawed with the way the game model is implemented. More precisely, I believe that the way the game was made realistic, by adding layer upon layer of complexity, translates into some form of deterministic rigidity, and end up favoring extreme results governed by a few die rolls. In other words, adding more mechanisms to improve realism results in the opposite.
Let me try to explain (and if you’re not into stats, applied maths and that kind of things, you might as well just quit reading here).
Picture actions in a game as series of steps. Those steps are the basic blocks the game routines are made of. Think of them as lines of codes, or sub-phases in the sequence of play, or successive calculations in the model. The more complex the game, the more steps it involves. For instance, a very basic combat model would include one ratio calculation, a die roll, and a check against a result table. A complex model, like AE, might split this into several fire phases (barrage, counterbattery, offensive, defensive, exploitation, assault), introduce a variety of tests (morale, leadership) to control the sequence, add bonuses and modifiers, and repeat the process (or parts of it) over many units participating in the combat.
We tend to believe that the more steps a model has, the closer to reality it becomes (provided those steps describe reality, which I don’t dispute), and the more realistic its outcomes are. This is not true. In reality, complex system tend to include a lot of feedback, randomness and weak interactions, which cause many of the steps to “average out”, and effectively disappear. In practice, the net result of that “averaging process” is the bell curve, which we observe everywhere, and which tends to limit the effect of complex models (in short, all models, simple or complex, end in gaussian distributions, because randomness "kills" complexity, (in the real world, it is even worse, because stability kills outliers, but that's another story)).
Now, our calculations, and programs, and man-made models, tend to be much more deterministic. We do have die rolls, but less than in reality, and often with “flat” (ie uniform) distributions, whereas nature tends to be Gaussian. And as those deterministic models average less, they tend to vary more, and favor extremes more than random models. You can picture this as a “walk” the possible destinations after a number of steps. In a deterministic walk, distance between possible destinations vary as the number of steps, in a random walk, it varies as the square root : the more steps you have, the worse the difference.
I believe this is the problem with many complex models. As all man made tools, they are much more deterministic than reality, and therefore end up varying more than they should. An interesting side effect is that such deterministic but complex models tend to appear as more “random” to us, players. Since in a deterministic model, every step is strongly correlated to the previous one (this is pretty much the definition of determinism), the first steps you make (in a game the first die rolls and a number of parameters that are taken into account at the beginning of the routine) get an inordinate importance, because the model is complex (and the more complex it becomes, the more importance they get).
In AE, you see this a lot in after action discussions: one single fact explains a catastrophic defeat. You had no radar, and so 2:1 odds turned into 1:10 losses. You lack AT guns, and therefore a tank regiment can rout an infantry corps, and so on.
Right, just me rambling, I’m interested in feedback about this (on such days, I really miss Herwin).
December 27th 1942
Taberfane falls
After difficult landings, and two consecutive days of attack, the half strength Australian Division in Taberfane attacked, and took the base. A preliminary bombing by B24-D from Darwin had kept my troop disruption high, clear terrain helps.
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 7987 troops, 136 guns, 133 vehicles, Assault Value = 266
Defending force 4282 troops, 61 guns, 117 vehicles, Assault Value = 125
Allied adjusted assault: 52
Japanese adjusted defense: 7
Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)
Allied forces CAPTURE Taberfane !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
1157 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 38 (38 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 98 (98 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3
Allied ground losses:
598 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
6th Australian Division
2/7th Armoured Regiment
Defending units:
1st Tank Regiment
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th RF Gun Battalion
Since yesterday, my good leaders (+) became bad leaders (-), and experience is now a negative (all units are over 60 (the tank regiment is 79). KB, five hexes away, managed not to launch (I suspect it is because it is in a coastal hex, I’ll move it one hex away tomorrow and see).
I have to say I am a bit underwhelmed by the Taberfane affair. My opponent attacks a base defended by a brigade, and tank regiment and a RF gun unit, behind light forts, but forts. My troops have good morale (in the 90s) experience over 60 (80 for the tanks) decent leaders, and supplies (over 10k as the invasion began). I intercept the landings, sink part of the transports, get a carrier division in position, and have KB a few days away. And in fact, only half an infantry division and a tank regiment land, probably with a good level of disruption and disablement. Can things go any better for the Japanese?
Yet, three days is all it takes to conquer the place. I wonder what happens if the Allies commit a bit more somewhere, and I don’t get to attack on the first day, and I can’t wait until 44, when they have better squads and devices.
Little else happened today : four B17-E visited Rabaul at night, and were met by five Zeroes, and 10 Nicks, we lost three Zero and a Nick, and were fortunate that the flak shot one Buff down. 4E night combat at work, I’m afraid…
In Burma, I’m again waiting for the supplies in Imphal and Kalemyo. I can’t quite figure how supplies flow to combat areas. A few days ago, everything seemed very smooth, now, I have more supplies in the valley, but they don’t seem to move. Also, it seems easier to get supplies to flow to Kalemyo over the jungle, than in Akyab over the road. A convoy has reached Akyab, which should be supplied tomorrow (unless they flow back to Rangoon… at this point I am ready for anything).
What now? I have to say I don’t really care. The next turn was played in three minutes: rest a pair of squadron, dock a task force, and hit done… I probably have forgotten a lot of things, but does it really matter?
I mean, we’re in this game where you can besiege Chungking in May 1942, because your opponent forgot to lock the door in Changteh (thousands of miles away), where the same opponent can lose 80 Dauntlesses in one day, because they decided to fly unescorted into enemy carriers, morning AND afternoon. But it evens out, because the next day, you can have enemy carriers find themselves both detected, three hexes from each other, yet none launch a single attack (this happened to me twice already, out of five carrier encounters), and then you might get lucky detecting an invasion, sinking part of it, but it wouldn't change anything to the outcome (in fact, it proved more difficult for my opponent to capture Terapo, defended by a lone para unit, than to get Taberfane, where I had a brigade, and tanks, and guns).
I have to say all this gives a very strong sense of futility. In fact, I often feel that I spend a lot of time focusing on the economy and areas of the game where my decisions matter, to compensate for the fact that in other parts (combat notably), my actions are much less relevant.
And the more I play, the more the statistician in me is convinced that something is fundamentally flawed with the way the game model is implemented. More precisely, I believe that the way the game was made realistic, by adding layer upon layer of complexity, translates into some form of deterministic rigidity, and end up favoring extreme results governed by a few die rolls. In other words, adding more mechanisms to improve realism results in the opposite.
Let me try to explain (and if you’re not into stats, applied maths and that kind of things, you might as well just quit reading here).
Picture actions in a game as series of steps. Those steps are the basic blocks the game routines are made of. Think of them as lines of codes, or sub-phases in the sequence of play, or successive calculations in the model. The more complex the game, the more steps it involves. For instance, a very basic combat model would include one ratio calculation, a die roll, and a check against a result table. A complex model, like AE, might split this into several fire phases (barrage, counterbattery, offensive, defensive, exploitation, assault), introduce a variety of tests (morale, leadership) to control the sequence, add bonuses and modifiers, and repeat the process (or parts of it) over many units participating in the combat.
We tend to believe that the more steps a model has, the closer to reality it becomes (provided those steps describe reality, which I don’t dispute), and the more realistic its outcomes are. This is not true. In reality, complex system tend to include a lot of feedback, randomness and weak interactions, which cause many of the steps to “average out”, and effectively disappear. In practice, the net result of that “averaging process” is the bell curve, which we observe everywhere, and which tends to limit the effect of complex models (in short, all models, simple or complex, end in gaussian distributions, because randomness "kills" complexity, (in the real world, it is even worse, because stability kills outliers, but that's another story)).
Now, our calculations, and programs, and man-made models, tend to be much more deterministic. We do have die rolls, but less than in reality, and often with “flat” (ie uniform) distributions, whereas nature tends to be Gaussian. And as those deterministic models average less, they tend to vary more, and favor extremes more than random models. You can picture this as a “walk” the possible destinations after a number of steps. In a deterministic walk, distance between possible destinations vary as the number of steps, in a random walk, it varies as the square root : the more steps you have, the worse the difference.
I believe this is the problem with many complex models. As all man made tools, they are much more deterministic than reality, and therefore end up varying more than they should. An interesting side effect is that such deterministic but complex models tend to appear as more “random” to us, players. Since in a deterministic model, every step is strongly correlated to the previous one (this is pretty much the definition of determinism), the first steps you make (in a game the first die rolls and a number of parameters that are taken into account at the beginning of the routine) get an inordinate importance, because the model is complex (and the more complex it becomes, the more importance they get).
In AE, you see this a lot in after action discussions: one single fact explains a catastrophic defeat. You had no radar, and so 2:1 odds turned into 1:10 losses. You lack AT guns, and therefore a tank regiment can rout an infantry corps, and so on.
Right, just me rambling, I’m interested in feedback about this (on such days, I really miss Herwin).
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
I understand what you mean Francois, but, to be honest, i don't feel quite the same.
It's true that there are many die&rolls in the game, that can change the military outcome of an engagement.
But, at the very same time, this game (and that's why i really like it) it's not just a sum of battles. The gran scheme is where the player really has the chance to change the final outcome of the war.
It's not the tactical environement but the strategical one that really matters.
I Always try to imagine i'm the commander in chief. I give orders every day, but knowing that my subordinates won't Always do what i want them to do. Then there are the indipendent variables... an unlucky storm over your CVs...a mine... a bad day of your infantry unit... things that happens in war and that can change the course of battles.
These variables, to me, rapresent not just simple die&rolls but those things that can never be rapresented by cold numbers.
You may have a unit with 90 morale...an elite unit.... but can't it have a bad day? Cannot the commander gets diarreah just when the smart enemy decides to attack. Cannnot a very good leader, one day, simply give the wrong order? Defend the hill 322....while the enemy decides to invest hill 399....and so you get a 1-2 instead of a 3-1....happens
It's true that there are many die&rolls in the game, that can change the military outcome of an engagement.
But, at the very same time, this game (and that's why i really like it) it's not just a sum of battles. The gran scheme is where the player really has the chance to change the final outcome of the war.
It's not the tactical environement but the strategical one that really matters.
I Always try to imagine i'm the commander in chief. I give orders every day, but knowing that my subordinates won't Always do what i want them to do. Then there are the indipendent variables... an unlucky storm over your CVs...a mine... a bad day of your infantry unit... things that happens in war and that can change the course of battles.
These variables, to me, rapresent not just simple die&rolls but those things that can never be rapresented by cold numbers.
You may have a unit with 90 morale...an elite unit.... but can't it have a bad day? Cannot the commander gets diarreah just when the smart enemy decides to attack. Cannnot a very good leader, one day, simply give the wrong order? Defend the hill 322....while the enemy decides to invest hill 399....and so you get a 1-2 instead of a 3-1....happens
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
+1ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
I understand what you mean Francois, but, to be honest, i don't feel quite the same.
It's true that there are many die&rolls in the game, that can change the military outcome of an engagement.
But, at the very same time, this game (and that's why i really like it) it's not just a sum of battles. The gran scheme is where the player really has the chance to change the final outcome of the war.
It's not the tactical environement but the strategical one that really matters.
I Always try to imagine i'm the commander in chief. I give orders every day, but knowing that my subordinates won't Always do what i want them to do. Then there are the indipendent variables... an unlucky storm over your CVs...a mine... a bad day of your infantry unit... things that happens in war and that can change the course of battles.
These variables, to me, rapresent not just simple die&rolls but those things that can never be rapresented by cold numbers.
You may have a unit with 90 morale...an elite unit.... but can't it have a bad day? Cannot the commander gets diarreah just when the smart enemy decides to attack. Cannnot a very good leader, one day, simply give the wrong order? Defend the hill 322....while the enemy decides to invest hill 399....and so you get a 1-2 instead of a 3-1....happens
Pax
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Hi Greyjoy,
I agree that there are lots of random factors and unintended consequences that the game should (and does) model through die rolls. This is fair and realistic. However, I believe the global effect of such randomness should be to average everything away. That's what we call Murphy's law (which is in fact the law of large numbers). In other words, unintended consequences should result in everything taking longer than one expects, and no victory being as easy as it looks on the paper.
And this is where I think the game system doesn't work: we should get a lot of average/indecisive results, but in fact, the game seems to favor extreme outcomes. Hence those air battles where 70 or 80 bombers are shot down, and just one or two fighters are lost, despite the ugly weather, and the difficulty to coordinate long range patrols. Hence those night raids which take out every ship in a harbor, moonlight or not, despite the CAP. Hence those tank regiments that not only holds a pair of chinese corps, but causes them huge damage, in just one day.
To be fair, I have the impression this happens less in naval combat, and not at all in the economy/logistics game (which seems to lack any random effects), but the land and air models seem a bit extreme to me (and I think that deep down, the problem is not the presence of die rolls, but the lack of them. or, rather, the fact that they don't work as die rolls should).
And the net result are those crazy paces that players sometimes wonder about, and those big successes and losses we have been accustomed to. Just for the sake of comparison, have a look at amphibious landings in 42 and 43. In late 1943, in Vella Lavella, it took almost two month for a division to stamp out a battalion sized unit (a nav guard, in game terms), without coast guns, tanks or all the stuff that might help in AE. In Treasury Island, it took two weeks for a reinforced brigade to eliminate a pair of companies. How long do you think it would take, in game? A day, perhaps a week if everything went incredibly wrong?
Munda, New Georgia, seems to be comparable, in size to Taberfane. The Allies had a 3:1 superiority there, yet it took two months in 1943, with better troops and equipment, and a Japanese empire which was already crumbling. At the very end of the war, Iwo Jima took 6 weeks to capture, with four of very heavy fighting. Do you think this could happen in AE?
And finally, if the game follows a somewhat historical path, ending in 45 with the Allies on the doorstep of Japan, do you think you would have Japanese units still fighting in the south pacific islands in late 44 and 45.
Of course, this cuts both ways. The same mechanism allowed me to besiege Chungking in May 42, and have a dozen crack division ready to march into India in January 43. It turns counter invasion as the only viable response to an amphibious landings (since your defenders will be eliminated in a few days). And it does cater to our player and AAR writer need, to have something to say about the war everyday. As such, it is not quite a game breaker, even though I suspect it partly explains the faster collapse of Japan you observe in many games.
But still, those extreme outcomes seem much too common in the game.
Francois
I agree that there are lots of random factors and unintended consequences that the game should (and does) model through die rolls. This is fair and realistic. However, I believe the global effect of such randomness should be to average everything away. That's what we call Murphy's law (which is in fact the law of large numbers). In other words, unintended consequences should result in everything taking longer than one expects, and no victory being as easy as it looks on the paper.
And this is where I think the game system doesn't work: we should get a lot of average/indecisive results, but in fact, the game seems to favor extreme outcomes. Hence those air battles where 70 or 80 bombers are shot down, and just one or two fighters are lost, despite the ugly weather, and the difficulty to coordinate long range patrols. Hence those night raids which take out every ship in a harbor, moonlight or not, despite the CAP. Hence those tank regiments that not only holds a pair of chinese corps, but causes them huge damage, in just one day.
To be fair, I have the impression this happens less in naval combat, and not at all in the economy/logistics game (which seems to lack any random effects), but the land and air models seem a bit extreme to me (and I think that deep down, the problem is not the presence of die rolls, but the lack of them. or, rather, the fact that they don't work as die rolls should).
And the net result are those crazy paces that players sometimes wonder about, and those big successes and losses we have been accustomed to. Just for the sake of comparison, have a look at amphibious landings in 42 and 43. In late 1943, in Vella Lavella, it took almost two month for a division to stamp out a battalion sized unit (a nav guard, in game terms), without coast guns, tanks or all the stuff that might help in AE. In Treasury Island, it took two weeks for a reinforced brigade to eliminate a pair of companies. How long do you think it would take, in game? A day, perhaps a week if everything went incredibly wrong?
Munda, New Georgia, seems to be comparable, in size to Taberfane. The Allies had a 3:1 superiority there, yet it took two months in 1943, with better troops and equipment, and a Japanese empire which was already crumbling. At the very end of the war, Iwo Jima took 6 weeks to capture, with four of very heavy fighting. Do you think this could happen in AE?
And finally, if the game follows a somewhat historical path, ending in 45 with the Allies on the doorstep of Japan, do you think you would have Japanese units still fighting in the south pacific islands in late 44 and 45.
Of course, this cuts both ways. The same mechanism allowed me to besiege Chungking in May 42, and have a dozen crack division ready to march into India in January 43. It turns counter invasion as the only viable response to an amphibious landings (since your defenders will be eliminated in a few days). And it does cater to our player and AAR writer need, to have something to say about the war everyday. As such, it is not quite a game breaker, even though I suspect it partly explains the faster collapse of Japan you observe in many games.
But still, those extreme outcomes seem much too common in the game.
Francois
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Somewhere there is a post about this ... need Alfred to find it though. Anyway, until then, my memory will have to suffice.ORIGINAL: fcharton
Since yesterday, my good leaders (+) became bad leaders (-), and experience is now a negative (all units are over 60 (the tank regiment is 79). KB, five hexes away, managed not to launch (I suspect it is because it is in a coastal hex, I’ll move it one hex away tomorrow and see).
The indicators above are NOT aggregate indicators. It means that ONE leader (at least) failed his leadership roll. It could have been a base force or an engineering ... you don't know which leader. Same for exp ... one unit failed an experience roll. However, it could have been your main ID that failed. You can only tell that based upon the actual results. Here, it does look like your Armored unit failed at least one of those rolls. It can happen, EXP<>100, so there is a chance to fail that roll. Ditto for the leadership.
How? Hey, an OP gets taken out before it can give warning. An arty strike hits the command tent with the first salvo. There are any number of really real things that can and do happen. As GJ says, you have to know these things can go either way and not get too caught up in it. The reason why the 'rules' of thumb for attack (3:1, 4:1 if you can) are around is because of these issues. Sure, you can win 1:1. But why attack if you know you only have a 10% chance of success? 3:1 means you have a very high chance of success. The allies were in Taberfane in sufficient strength to take the position on average. The first day results should not change that opinion. Unless you can reinforce the posiiton, Taberfane was likely to fall. It did. That's all.
Francois, I know that you know all this. It is hard to remember it though, especially through a war that will last +3 years. Me, I have a 'sticky' on the top of my monitor: "Grigsby is against you!"
Pax
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
December 28th 1942
Today was a night and naval day. I had managed to sneak a task force into Akyab, to resupply the base. Tonight, a British cruiser squadron managed to intercept it in port.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 2,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
DD Shirakumo, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Kyushu Maru, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AK Tosan Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire, Shell hits 24, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Hobart
CL Mauritius
DD Arunta
DD Isaac Sweers
I am calling this a draw : I lost my four ships (scuttled the last one this morning), but I am pretty sure I got the Dorsetshire. Akyab now has some supplies, but the flow from Rangoon is really slow.
In Taberfane, a cruiser squadron sank the last transport unloading troops, and a good number of squads (by the VP count, about 65 squads and devices were destroyed today).
Night Time Surface Combat, near Taberfane at 82,117, Range 9,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CL Natori
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
DD Asakaze
DD Matsukaze
Allied Ships
xAP Harpoon, Shell hits 43, and is sunk
Allied ground losses:
555 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 47 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 30 (3 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Over Rabaul, a night raid didn’t do much damage, but shot down three Nicks and a pair of Zeroes. I am reducing night CAP over my bases, and limiting it to A6M2, which I have in quantity. Having some CAP seems to make a difference, but having more planes in the air just means losing more to defensive fire.
I spent a little more time on the turn than yesterday, maybe twenty minutes, but I have to say I find it more and more difficult to get involved in the details and the bureaucratic fun. Somehow, I think I know enough of the system to manage, but that playing really well would mean an investment I am not ready to make (because I don’t see the benefits anymore). I am probably going to play fast, more regularly, to see what happens. If I learn a few things on the way, it will be all the better, if I don’t, that’s fine too.
Somehow, this reminds me of learning Chinese characters. Like AE, it takes a lot of patience, for very frustrating results, and you often get told by those who’ve been there before that it is because you don’t work hard enough, and that you need to suffer, but that you won’t succeed anyway because you’re a foreigner (in the case of AE, because you didn't read the good books, or because you didn't serve).
At the beginning, it is fun anyway. Because you learn a lot of common words (tactics in AE), that you can use very often. And so you can see the results. And you can compare with the total beginners that can't even write their name. But soon comes a time (after a couple hundred characters in chinese, a couple months of play in AE) when you’re supposed to memorize the character for Argon, or the axle hub of a chariot (yes there is a one for that), or the name of a tree you don’t even know in English, or one of those four character expressions you have no chance ever using (and should avoid anyway, because they sound so pedantic, and most of the time, you use them in the wrong context), and it all seems useless, and futile, and boring, and the teachers insistence on all the useless details begin to sound strange. So you drop the class, burn the books, bury the scholars, and decide that you won’t rote learn anymore, that you'll just use what you know, and see where it leads you, and that no, you don't need to be an expert to have fun. And then Chinese becomes fun, and, surprisingly, you actually learn a lot more this way…
Music, I think, works the other way around. It is tough at first, but it gets easier as you progress, because you realize technique is just a means, and not an end. Maybe the problem with AE is that it is only technique… (or perhaps it is just me who fails to realize the beautiful end behind it).
Today was a night and naval day. I had managed to sneak a task force into Akyab, to resupply the base. Tonight, a British cruiser squadron managed to intercept it in port.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 2,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
DD Shirakumo, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Kyushu Maru, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AK Tosan Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire, Shell hits 24, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Hobart
CL Mauritius
DD Arunta
DD Isaac Sweers
I am calling this a draw : I lost my four ships (scuttled the last one this morning), but I am pretty sure I got the Dorsetshire. Akyab now has some supplies, but the flow from Rangoon is really slow.
In Taberfane, a cruiser squadron sank the last transport unloading troops, and a good number of squads (by the VP count, about 65 squads and devices were destroyed today).
Night Time Surface Combat, near Taberfane at 82,117, Range 9,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CL Natori
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
DD Asakaze
DD Matsukaze
Allied Ships
xAP Harpoon, Shell hits 43, and is sunk
Allied ground losses:
555 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 47 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 30 (3 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Over Rabaul, a night raid didn’t do much damage, but shot down three Nicks and a pair of Zeroes. I am reducing night CAP over my bases, and limiting it to A6M2, which I have in quantity. Having some CAP seems to make a difference, but having more planes in the air just means losing more to defensive fire.
I spent a little more time on the turn than yesterday, maybe twenty minutes, but I have to say I find it more and more difficult to get involved in the details and the bureaucratic fun. Somehow, I think I know enough of the system to manage, but that playing really well would mean an investment I am not ready to make (because I don’t see the benefits anymore). I am probably going to play fast, more regularly, to see what happens. If I learn a few things on the way, it will be all the better, if I don’t, that’s fine too.
Somehow, this reminds me of learning Chinese characters. Like AE, it takes a lot of patience, for very frustrating results, and you often get told by those who’ve been there before that it is because you don’t work hard enough, and that you need to suffer, but that you won’t succeed anyway because you’re a foreigner (in the case of AE, because you didn't read the good books, or because you didn't serve).
At the beginning, it is fun anyway. Because you learn a lot of common words (tactics in AE), that you can use very often. And so you can see the results. And you can compare with the total beginners that can't even write their name. But soon comes a time (after a couple hundred characters in chinese, a couple months of play in AE) when you’re supposed to memorize the character for Argon, or the axle hub of a chariot (yes there is a one for that), or the name of a tree you don’t even know in English, or one of those four character expressions you have no chance ever using (and should avoid anyway, because they sound so pedantic, and most of the time, you use them in the wrong context), and it all seems useless, and futile, and boring, and the teachers insistence on all the useless details begin to sound strange. So you drop the class, burn the books, bury the scholars, and decide that you won’t rote learn anymore, that you'll just use what you know, and see where it leads you, and that no, you don't need to be an expert to have fun. And then Chinese becomes fun, and, surprisingly, you actually learn a lot more this way…
Music, I think, works the other way around. It is tough at first, but it gets easier as you progress, because you realize technique is just a means, and not an end. Maybe the problem with AE is that it is only technique… (or perhaps it is just me who fails to realize the beautiful end behind it).
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
December 29th 1942
Taberfane
There is little to report. A squadron of fighters was based here today. The airfield is level one, so they won’t do much, but it suggest the transport I sank yesterday was unloading an engineer unit.
B24-D from Darwin raided the neighbouring hexes. Dobo is better terrain than Taberfane, and so the Liberators only disabled a few squads, but disruption and fatigue went up very fast. I am a bit helpless against such raids, as my closest base for LRCAP are too far away to provide meaningful support.
I’m afraid I am witnessing the beginning of the allied strategy… Build a base (Darwin) and base 4E there. Then bomb the nearest base where 4E can be based (Taberfane). Once it is reduced to dust, move troops in, and build the base, and so on (gee! sounds like fun!)
4E bombers seem to be the main weapon of the Allies. B25-C hardly to any damage in protective terrain, and are relatively easy to shoot down. 4E do a lot of damage regardless of terrain, are very precise at night, and do a very good shooting down fighters.
What can I do about it? In Taberfane, not much, I will try to build a few airfields to base a couple of Nicks, and shoot a few B24 down, but it won’t be very efficient. I can try to get ready for the next step, once B24 are based in Taberfane. With Japan, getting the airfield from level one to seven would take a lot of time, but I somehow suspect the Allies can do this in a few weeks.
Can I try to have him run out of 4E? In the long run, I can’t, by the end of 1944, hundreds of those are produced every month, and thousands arrive as reinforcements. But 1943 is another matter, especially as my opponent commits his 4E bombers a lot.
So far, here are the models the allies produced, and their fate:
LB-30: production has now ended, 24 planes were built, 17 are reported shot down (in Tracker)
B-17D: production ended, 54 built, 37 lost
B-17E: production ended, 207 built, 97 lost
B-17F: production ended, 48 built, 34 lost
B-24D: production ending in January 43, 161 built (or to be built), 45 shot down so far
Liberator II (British): production ending in July 43, 29 built so far, 50 total, 6 shot down
PB4Y-1 Liberator : production began this month, until June 44, about 30 produced so far, 335 to be built, none shot down so far.
So, out of about 540 4E bombers built so far, 240 were shot down, and my opponent has 300 (some of them restricted). He is using them a lot : today, I counted 90 4E bombers flying, over New Guinea, Taberfane and Cox Bazaar.
Right now, he is producing 34 planes per month, and will produce 52 in February, 56 from March to July, 61 in August, and 78 in September. This means 740 planes produced this year, but including those which arrive as reinforcements, the total is about 760, plus 300 in store now, call it a thousand.
So the maths are pretty simple: I need to shoot two 4E every day to prevent his pools from growing. At three I am depleting them by the end of the year, and any larger number will limit his capability to use 4E as he does now. We shot two B17-E down today.
Burma
In Kalemyo, another deliberate attack reduced the forts and achieved 1:1 odds. I am getting a good number of destroyed squads and devices, but we’re not there yet.
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 67675 troops, 614 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 2016
Defending force 18428 troops, 282 guns, 633 vehicles, Assault Value = 465
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese adjusted assault: 1309
Allied adjusted defense: 706
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1426 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 110 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Allied ground losses:
250 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 37 (16 destroyed, 21 disabled)
I was hoping the supplies to arrive in Imphal today, so that I could attack, but it went the other way around, and I need to wait again. The British are reinforcing Imphal.
Near Cox Bazaar, a bombardement probe revealed 650 AV, a mixture of defeated units and fresh reinforcements. They tried to attack today, and got 1:2 odds, which means disruption, fatigue and all that.
I am having a lot of difficulty keeping Burma supplied. More convoys will come from Singapore, but Manchukuo and Korea seem to be hoarding all the Continent supply. I will try to draw more from Rangoon, see if it works.
Taberfane
There is little to report. A squadron of fighters was based here today. The airfield is level one, so they won’t do much, but it suggest the transport I sank yesterday was unloading an engineer unit.
B24-D from Darwin raided the neighbouring hexes. Dobo is better terrain than Taberfane, and so the Liberators only disabled a few squads, but disruption and fatigue went up very fast. I am a bit helpless against such raids, as my closest base for LRCAP are too far away to provide meaningful support.
I’m afraid I am witnessing the beginning of the allied strategy… Build a base (Darwin) and base 4E there. Then bomb the nearest base where 4E can be based (Taberfane). Once it is reduced to dust, move troops in, and build the base, and so on (gee! sounds like fun!)
4E bombers seem to be the main weapon of the Allies. B25-C hardly to any damage in protective terrain, and are relatively easy to shoot down. 4E do a lot of damage regardless of terrain, are very precise at night, and do a very good shooting down fighters.
What can I do about it? In Taberfane, not much, I will try to build a few airfields to base a couple of Nicks, and shoot a few B24 down, but it won’t be very efficient. I can try to get ready for the next step, once B24 are based in Taberfane. With Japan, getting the airfield from level one to seven would take a lot of time, but I somehow suspect the Allies can do this in a few weeks.
Can I try to have him run out of 4E? In the long run, I can’t, by the end of 1944, hundreds of those are produced every month, and thousands arrive as reinforcements. But 1943 is another matter, especially as my opponent commits his 4E bombers a lot.
So far, here are the models the allies produced, and their fate:
LB-30: production has now ended, 24 planes were built, 17 are reported shot down (in Tracker)
B-17D: production ended, 54 built, 37 lost
B-17E: production ended, 207 built, 97 lost
B-17F: production ended, 48 built, 34 lost
B-24D: production ending in January 43, 161 built (or to be built), 45 shot down so far
Liberator II (British): production ending in July 43, 29 built so far, 50 total, 6 shot down
PB4Y-1 Liberator : production began this month, until June 44, about 30 produced so far, 335 to be built, none shot down so far.
So, out of about 540 4E bombers built so far, 240 were shot down, and my opponent has 300 (some of them restricted). He is using them a lot : today, I counted 90 4E bombers flying, over New Guinea, Taberfane and Cox Bazaar.
Right now, he is producing 34 planes per month, and will produce 52 in February, 56 from March to July, 61 in August, and 78 in September. This means 740 planes produced this year, but including those which arrive as reinforcements, the total is about 760, plus 300 in store now, call it a thousand.
So the maths are pretty simple: I need to shoot two 4E every day to prevent his pools from growing. At three I am depleting them by the end of the year, and any larger number will limit his capability to use 4E as he does now. We shot two B17-E down today.
Burma
In Kalemyo, another deliberate attack reduced the forts and achieved 1:1 odds. I am getting a good number of destroyed squads and devices, but we’re not there yet.
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 67675 troops, 614 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 2016
Defending force 18428 troops, 282 guns, 633 vehicles, Assault Value = 465
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese adjusted assault: 1309
Allied adjusted defense: 706
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1426 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 110 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Allied ground losses:
250 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 37 (16 destroyed, 21 disabled)
I was hoping the supplies to arrive in Imphal today, so that I could attack, but it went the other way around, and I need to wait again. The British are reinforcing Imphal.
Near Cox Bazaar, a bombardement probe revealed 650 AV, a mixture of defeated units and fresh reinforcements. They tried to attack today, and got 1:2 odds, which means disruption, fatigue and all that.
I am having a lot of difficulty keeping Burma supplied. More convoys will come from Singapore, but Manchukuo and Korea seem to be hoarding all the Continent supply. I will try to draw more from Rangoon, see if it works.
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Second turn today, a near record for me.
December 30th 1942
Gutting the hydra
Yeah, well, not a hydra, and maybe not gutting, but we shot down eight (8! VIII!) B17-E today. My opponent is using them on all fronts, I counted 43 over Cox Bazaar (Liberator II et B24-D), 35 over Dobo (B24-D), and 44 B17-E over Madang.
The raids over Dobo were unopposed, like yesterday, they hardly did any damage, but disruption jumped from zero to fifty in two days. There is nothing I can do about it at the moment.
Over Burma, the Liberators (British and US) were met by a strong CAP, no damage was done to my ground units, a few hits were reported on the bombers, but they apparently made it back home.
Over Madang, I was bracing for sweeps, but my opponent sent a squadron of B17-E at night, which destroyed a Tojo on the ground, but failed to close the airfield. And in the morning, 33 unescorted B17-E were met by 27 Tojos, 4 Nicks and 1 KAI Dinah. We lost five planes, and shot down eight B17-E. Compared to what we usually achieve over Rabaul, this is a pretty good result. I believe the Allies are overusing their B17-E (having moved their B24-D to Darwin), and that pilot and frame fatigue partly explain this good result.
I am expecting fighters over Madang tomorrow, and want to try and fight them. His P-38 seems to have moved to Darwin, and he is now using Kittyhawks, Warhawks and Airacobras over New Guinea. I rotated a few squadrons, added some Nicks just in case the bombers come back, let us see what we can achieve tomorrow.
But anyway, that’s ten 4E in two days.
Burma again
Supplies seemed to flow again today: all my front line units are in the green. I am attacking in Kalemyo and Imphal tomorrow. My opponent is definitely reinforcing India. There are eight units in the dot base North of Imphal, moving across the jungle to reinforce, I intercepted transports resupplying Kalemyo today, and a very large stack seems to be forming in Chittagong, which was US-green in color yesterday.
Near Cox Bazaar, my units are now supplied, but I am waiting before I counterattack, as my opponent seems to be evacuating the hex. My artillery from China is arriving in Akyab, once they move forward (and if I can keep them supplied) I believe the enemy is in for a very bad surprise.
Finally, we had detected a task force near Akyab yesterday. As I was concerned about bombardments that might further reduce the supplies I have there, Sallies from Magwe were sent to investigate, … and found CA Dorsetshire, almost dead in the water. She ate another bomb, but more bombers will visit her tomorrow. I am air transporting the Air HQ I had in Bangkok to Magwe. I want to base Betties there, and make raiding my convoys to Akyab a dangerous proposition.
December 30th 1942
Gutting the hydra
Yeah, well, not a hydra, and maybe not gutting, but we shot down eight (8! VIII!) B17-E today. My opponent is using them on all fronts, I counted 43 over Cox Bazaar (Liberator II et B24-D), 35 over Dobo (B24-D), and 44 B17-E over Madang.
The raids over Dobo were unopposed, like yesterday, they hardly did any damage, but disruption jumped from zero to fifty in two days. There is nothing I can do about it at the moment.
Over Burma, the Liberators (British and US) were met by a strong CAP, no damage was done to my ground units, a few hits were reported on the bombers, but they apparently made it back home.
Over Madang, I was bracing for sweeps, but my opponent sent a squadron of B17-E at night, which destroyed a Tojo on the ground, but failed to close the airfield. And in the morning, 33 unescorted B17-E were met by 27 Tojos, 4 Nicks and 1 KAI Dinah. We lost five planes, and shot down eight B17-E. Compared to what we usually achieve over Rabaul, this is a pretty good result. I believe the Allies are overusing their B17-E (having moved their B24-D to Darwin), and that pilot and frame fatigue partly explain this good result.
I am expecting fighters over Madang tomorrow, and want to try and fight them. His P-38 seems to have moved to Darwin, and he is now using Kittyhawks, Warhawks and Airacobras over New Guinea. I rotated a few squadrons, added some Nicks just in case the bombers come back, let us see what we can achieve tomorrow.
But anyway, that’s ten 4E in two days.
Burma again
Supplies seemed to flow again today: all my front line units are in the green. I am attacking in Kalemyo and Imphal tomorrow. My opponent is definitely reinforcing India. There are eight units in the dot base North of Imphal, moving across the jungle to reinforce, I intercepted transports resupplying Kalemyo today, and a very large stack seems to be forming in Chittagong, which was US-green in color yesterday.
Near Cox Bazaar, my units are now supplied, but I am waiting before I counterattack, as my opponent seems to be evacuating the hex. My artillery from China is arriving in Akyab, once they move forward (and if I can keep them supplied) I believe the enemy is in for a very bad surprise.
Finally, we had detected a task force near Akyab yesterday. As I was concerned about bombardments that might further reduce the supplies I have there, Sallies from Magwe were sent to investigate, … and found CA Dorsetshire, almost dead in the water. She ate another bomb, but more bombers will visit her tomorrow. I am air transporting the Air HQ I had in Bangkok to Magwe. I want to base Betties there, and make raiding my convoys to Akyab a dangerous proposition.
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
December 31st 1942
Gone for good
A last series of raids over CA Dorsetshire sank her at last. I’m always amazed at those reports, where a ship can be sunk without any hit reported.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,44
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
G4M1 Betty x 7
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 26
Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire, and is sunk
The air HQ from Rangoon is now all in Magwe, which is a level seven airfield, with a lot of flak, radars, Betties and fighters. I am moving more fighters in.
Mighty Imphal
We attacked Imphal for the first time today, and found level six forts there, yuck! It wasn’t as bad as I thought, though, as the first attack achieved 1:2 odds (but failed to reduce the forts), and destroyed a dozen enemy squads.
Ground combat at Imphal (60,40)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 47826 troops, 390 guns, 180 vehicles, Assault Value = 1764
Defending force 15423 troops, 202 guns, 651 vehicles, Assault Value = 549
Japanese adjusted assault: 668
Allied adjusted defense: 1597
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 6)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
2071 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 93 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
402 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 13 (4 destroyed, 9 disabled)
And then the Allies decided to attack…
Ground combat at Imphal (60,40)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 4080 troops, 46 guns, 419 vehicles, Assault Value = 501
Defending force 46032 troops, 390 guns, 179 vehicles, Assault Value = 1584
Allied adjusted assault: 118
Allied assault odds: 1 to 26
Japanese ground losses:
542 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Allied ground losses:
85 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
British reinforcements are moving into Imphal, I am leaving two infantry divisions defending the hexsides to Kalemyo and Burma, and sending the rest (two crack divisions) to Kalemyo.
In Kalemyo, another attack destroyed a good number of enemy squads and vehicles. We’re getting there
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 67008 troops, 614 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 1963
Defending force 18100 troops, 280 guns, 628 vehicles, Assault Value = 419
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese adjusted assault: 1031
Allied adjusted defense: 652
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese ground losses:
1308 casualties reported
Squads: 38 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
946 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 75 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 29 disabled
Guns lost 15 (1 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 42 (16 destroyed, 26 disabled)
Near Cox Bazaar, the enemy is bombing my troops with little effect. Artillery is arriving in Akyab.
4E watch
I counted 80 4E over my bases today. Over Madang, 19 B17-E flew night missions that failed to destroy any aircraft of do significant damage. One B17-E was shot down. There were 39 bombers (21 Liberator II and 18 B24-D) over Cox Bazaar, and 22 B24-D over Dobo. I did damage a few, but none are reported lost.
Overall, we downed one 4E, that it eleven over the last three days, still a good rate.
I am trying again tomorrow. In Madang, I have some A6M5 on night CAP, and Nicks and Tojos in the day. I am sending Oscar IIb on very long range CAP to Dobo, to try to take advantage of mounting fatigue among his pilots. And over Cox, about 100 fighters will try to intercept the bombing raids.
Gone for good
A last series of raids over CA Dorsetshire sank her at last. I’m always amazed at those reports, where a ship can be sunk without any hit reported.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,44
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
G4M1 Betty x 7
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 26
Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire, and is sunk
The air HQ from Rangoon is now all in Magwe, which is a level seven airfield, with a lot of flak, radars, Betties and fighters. I am moving more fighters in.
Mighty Imphal
We attacked Imphal for the first time today, and found level six forts there, yuck! It wasn’t as bad as I thought, though, as the first attack achieved 1:2 odds (but failed to reduce the forts), and destroyed a dozen enemy squads.
Ground combat at Imphal (60,40)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 47826 troops, 390 guns, 180 vehicles, Assault Value = 1764
Defending force 15423 troops, 202 guns, 651 vehicles, Assault Value = 549
Japanese adjusted assault: 668
Allied adjusted defense: 1597
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 6)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
2071 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 93 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
402 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 13 (4 destroyed, 9 disabled)
And then the Allies decided to attack…
Ground combat at Imphal (60,40)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 4080 troops, 46 guns, 419 vehicles, Assault Value = 501
Defending force 46032 troops, 390 guns, 179 vehicles, Assault Value = 1584
Allied adjusted assault: 118
Allied assault odds: 1 to 26
Japanese ground losses:
542 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Allied ground losses:
85 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
British reinforcements are moving into Imphal, I am leaving two infantry divisions defending the hexsides to Kalemyo and Burma, and sending the rest (two crack divisions) to Kalemyo.
In Kalemyo, another attack destroyed a good number of enemy squads and vehicles. We’re getting there
Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 67008 troops, 614 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 1963
Defending force 18100 troops, 280 guns, 628 vehicles, Assault Value = 419
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1
Japanese adjusted assault: 1031
Allied adjusted defense: 652
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese ground losses:
1308 casualties reported
Squads: 38 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
946 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 75 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 29 disabled
Guns lost 15 (1 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 42 (16 destroyed, 26 disabled)
Near Cox Bazaar, the enemy is bombing my troops with little effect. Artillery is arriving in Akyab.
4E watch
I counted 80 4E over my bases today. Over Madang, 19 B17-E flew night missions that failed to destroy any aircraft of do significant damage. One B17-E was shot down. There were 39 bombers (21 Liberator II and 18 B24-D) over Cox Bazaar, and 22 B24-D over Dobo. I did damage a few, but none are reported lost.
Overall, we downed one 4E, that it eleven over the last three days, still a good rate.
I am trying again tomorrow. In Madang, I have some A6M5 on night CAP, and Nicks and Tojos in the day. I am sending Oscar IIb on very long range CAP to Dobo, to try to take advantage of mounting fatigue among his pilots. And over Cox, about 100 fighters will try to intercept the bombing raids.
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Sinking condition that she finally succumbed to. Think of all of the ships that were abandoned, and then stayed afloat for hours ... many accts on both sides. Good news for you is that you had ac overhead to observe and confirm, rather than having to wait for months for confirmation.ORIGINAL: fcharton
A last series of raids over CA Dorsetshire sank her at last. I’m always amazed at those reports, where a ship can be sunk without any hit reported.
Pax
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
I am currently reading a book which feels like AE… Name’s Red Mars, author Kim Stanley Robinson. It is the first in a trilogy which tells of the conquest of Mars by men, beginning in the near future and going on for two centuries. It is very curious, because the author is obviously obsessed with all the small practical details, scientific, technical, but also psychological, of such a large endeavor. His science also sounds pretty good for an SF book. And so, it sounds a bit like this game, where the big picture emerges from a lot of small details.
January 1st 1943
Happy new year, dear readers, many happy returns and all that. War knows no holidays, though (it is hell, you know), so here is the account for today.
We had a pretty good day in the air.
Near Cox Bazaar, I had a dozen Tojos and two dozen Oscars on CAP. A first sweep by 16 Hurricanes killed a good number of Oscars (12 were shot down over the day), but enough were left when Beaufighters came in, and six Beaufighters were downed. Then came the 4E, I damaged a handful of Liberators (British and US), but apparently didn’t destroy any. Yet the CAP prevented the bombers from doing any damage (one squad was disabled). In the afternoon, B25-C came in, and two were shot down. It was a pretty good day overall, even if we lost more planes than the Allies. We’re both tired, I think and combat will probably be less intense for a while.
In New Guinea, my opponent left Madang alone, and focused on Gasmata instead. The place is empty, the airfield was trashed and the port is damaged. This is close to Rabaul. I will have LRCAP in place tomorrow, just in case.
But Dili, was the place to be today. A sentai of Tonies arrived there a few days ago, and had their baptism of fire today. Seven B24-D and four P38-G were shot down, for one Tony. I reinforced the place with a sentai A6M5, in case my opponent wants to strike again tomorrow.
Finally, KB, on its way to Biak, attacked at long range (8 hexes) a reinforcement task force to Taberfane. CL Sumatra was lightly damaged, and KB is now detected. I will refuel tomorrow, and be back the day after, trying to make the landings a bit costly…
Overall, we lost 25 planes, and shot down as many, but seven 4E were downed, or 18 in four days. That’s about half his January production. Way to go, Johnny Jap!
In other news, on the continent, I am getting lots of trouble getting supplies to the front. Everything seems to stay in Fusan and Port Arthur, where I have 1 and 1.7 million tons respectively. I am putting them to maximal draw to see what happens, but this seems to be the unintended consequence of building Fusan: a little fuel, and oil, get in, and a lot of supplies. For the record, I stockpile fuel and oil, but not supplies. Singapore is now at an absolute low.
Did anyone experience the same (supplies stuck in Korea and Manchuria)?
January 1st 1943
Happy new year, dear readers, many happy returns and all that. War knows no holidays, though (it is hell, you know), so here is the account for today.
We had a pretty good day in the air.
Near Cox Bazaar, I had a dozen Tojos and two dozen Oscars on CAP. A first sweep by 16 Hurricanes killed a good number of Oscars (12 were shot down over the day), but enough were left when Beaufighters came in, and six Beaufighters were downed. Then came the 4E, I damaged a handful of Liberators (British and US), but apparently didn’t destroy any. Yet the CAP prevented the bombers from doing any damage (one squad was disabled). In the afternoon, B25-C came in, and two were shot down. It was a pretty good day overall, even if we lost more planes than the Allies. We’re both tired, I think and combat will probably be less intense for a while.
In New Guinea, my opponent left Madang alone, and focused on Gasmata instead. The place is empty, the airfield was trashed and the port is damaged. This is close to Rabaul. I will have LRCAP in place tomorrow, just in case.
But Dili, was the place to be today. A sentai of Tonies arrived there a few days ago, and had their baptism of fire today. Seven B24-D and four P38-G were shot down, for one Tony. I reinforced the place with a sentai A6M5, in case my opponent wants to strike again tomorrow.
Finally, KB, on its way to Biak, attacked at long range (8 hexes) a reinforcement task force to Taberfane. CL Sumatra was lightly damaged, and KB is now detected. I will refuel tomorrow, and be back the day after, trying to make the landings a bit costly…
Overall, we lost 25 planes, and shot down as many, but seven 4E were downed, or 18 in four days. That’s about half his January production. Way to go, Johnny Jap!
In other news, on the continent, I am getting lots of trouble getting supplies to the front. Everything seems to stay in Fusan and Port Arthur, where I have 1 and 1.7 million tons respectively. I am putting them to maximal draw to see what happens, but this seems to be the unintended consequence of building Fusan: a little fuel, and oil, get in, and a lot of supplies. For the record, I stockpile fuel and oil, but not supplies. Singapore is now at an absolute low.
Did anyone experience the same (supplies stuck in Korea and Manchuria)?
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
I would never expect supplies to shift across large land masses, and I think the waste would be cost prohibitive.
I've seen a good amount of supplies in Manchuria but I use Fusan and ship them out occasionally. Singers has only gotten low after the HI/LI was bombed out in mine. The millions of tons you're talking about seems crazy!
Good day in the air!
Which Tony model are you using that's doing well for you?
I've seen a good amount of supplies in Manchuria but I use Fusan and ship them out occasionally. Singers has only gotten low after the HI/LI was bombed out in mine. The millions of tons you're talking about seems crazy!
Good day in the air!
Which Tony model are you using that's doing well for you?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
ORIGINAL: obvert
I would never expect supplies to shift across large land masses, and I think the waste would be cost prohibitive.
I believe it does, but movement is not made over large distances, but by having bases drawing from near bases. On a regional basis, the changes can be huge. Just to give an idea, on the 17th of November, Fusan went from 1.2 million tons of supplies to 300 000 in a day, and Port Arthur went up by a million. There were no new port or airfield level build, it just moved.
Supply movement is a bit weird, really.
ORIGINAL: obvert
I've seen a good amount of supplies in Manchuria but I use Fusan and ship them out occasionally. Singers has only gotten low after the HI/LI was bombed out in mine. The millions of tons you're talking about seems crazy!
Singers is now at 5000 tons, without any enemy interference, Fusan is at a million, going up. I have checked my supply draw and stockpile parameters. There really is something I don't get.
ORIGINAL: obvert
Which Tony model are you using that's doing well for you?
61a... I was told they were is not worth the bother but I did equip them with good pilots (Air ratings around 70). Might be beginners luck, though...
Francois
-
SqzMyLemon
- Posts: 4239
- Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18 pm
- Location: Alberta, Canada
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
ORIGINAL: fcharton
Fusan went from 1.2 million tons of supplies to 300 000 in a day, and Port Arthur went up by a million. There were no new port or airfield level build, it just moved.
Supply movement is a bit weird, really.
Francois
I've experienced this behavior too, especially with resources. Supply not so much, but it drives me crazy when a base not set to stockpile has hundreds of thousands available, while a base along a connecting railway is constantly in the red. Supply movement is weird!
I also think having to have 3x supply on hand at a base before any excess will be distributed causes a lot of problems. I've never liked this feature...ever. I believe this plays a huge role into why China can't be defended by the Allies. Supply is stuck in rear bases and never gets to the frontline units.
I'm a little bit miffed today, don't mind me. [:D]
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon
I'm a little bit miffed today, don't mind me. [:D]
Oh I do mind... Getting frustrated over ridiculous details, and being told by the peanut gallery that it is historical, and you're just a whiner and a sore loser, is what playing Japan is all about, no? I am very curious about supply movement, because it seems to work in very erratic ways.
As for bases holding supplies, this is not what is happening to me in Burma now. For some reasons, Akyab and Cox never seem to draw anything, but units in the front lines do get supplied. I'm not looking at it too closely, lest it disappears...
Francois
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SqzMyLemon
- Posts: 4239
- Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18 pm
- Location: Alberta, Canada
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
ORIGINAL: fcharton
Oh I do mind... Getting frustrated over ridiculous details, and being told by the peanut gallery that it is historical, and you're just a whiner and a sore loser, is what playing Japan is all about, no? I am very curious about supply movement, because it seems to work in very erratic ways.
I make an effort to reduce my complaining all the time. I have to say when I'm able to just roll with the game and not put much thought into why something weird happened my mental health improves. [:D]
Once I hit end turn my control ends and I'm at the mercy of the virtual dice rolls that determine the fate of my units. Is that historical? Once you accept you have no control it gets easier.
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J)
Well, if we replaying supreme commander of all forces, then yes, unfortunately the dice rolls are the lower level 'decisions' we have to live with after our orders are sent out. I get miffed about the fluidity of some of these choices for the most important aspects in game, like CVs. If they react and you can't have much control over that, then it may ruin the game. But I do see that commanders 'reacting' did ruin the war for the Japanese. One word; Midway.
This side can build an incredible amount of fortitude if we let it. You have to care and not care. Very zen, very Japanese!
This side can build an incredible amount of fortitude if we let it. You have to care and not care. Very zen, very Japanese!
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill