Speedy's Japanese war discussion

[Speedysteve]

Hi All,

It's a narcissistic title I know but I'm about to start my first Japanese PBEM in AE and my first Japanese play for at least 5 years.

I'm very experienced as Allies but not as Japanese. As such I've read Damian's first turn advice, deliberated over the map (after the first historical turn), sought solace from my skilful Japanese opponent in my other game (thank you Apbarog) but I thought rather than bug him constantly I thought I'd open up to the forum and also to allow other players to ask specific questions to gain answers on gameplay and strategy.

It's a whole new ball game looking at the industry and working out what is needed and what's not for example.

I'm currently in the process of creating a spreadsheet of streamlined air production.

They'll be a bunch of questions I may have beyond this.

Firstly, Army FB's. Looking at the reinforcement queue you only receive a few groups but the light level bombers can upgrade to the likes of Nick and Randy FB's. What's the experience of Japanese players? Is it worth producing more FB's to convert these groups or are these FB's not useful in any viable role?

For others. Please feel free to chime in with other questions you may have.

[Speedysteve]

Second question for the night. In scenario 1 have there been many/any examples of a successful conquest of either India or Australia?

[PaxMondo]

I'm not a big fan of the IJ FB's. They are too slow to take on any 2nd line allied fighter. Some people like to use them against unescorted bombers, but I just don't see unescorted bombers that often to warrant the group. Fighters are much more in need ... always short of fighter groups the entire war.

OZ is doable, but why? Really easy to get trapped there and lose a LOT of ID's.

India has been attempted several times, but not successfully yet. To be successful you need to take Bombay and Karachi early somehow with deep strikes. Again, you have to ask why, and then you also have to ask where you will find all of the garrison troops needed. Something like 3000 AV worth for India. However, taking Calcutta has been very profitable for me. I generally get +500,000 fuel/oil from that. It also allows me to repair and run the Magwe oil for 6-12 months which you otherwise can't do. Between the two, I net about 1M fuel which is huge boost for the IJ economy. Another bonus is that I usually am able to trash the Brit ID's, and with their low replacement rates effectively put them out of the war for 2 years.

[Crazypantoufle]

Welcome to the dark side, buddy![;)]

I heard Calcutta could be reached if well planned from the beginning (and thus delaying the allied counter offensive on Burma for 1,5 year).

About Oz: Darwin is a must if you want to play safe and keeping your oil safe, Townsville is the cherry on the cake if you REALLY got lucky (or play against IA) and have troops to spare.[:-]

[SqzMyLemon]

Scenario 1 with PDU off I'm assuming?

I've found FB's to be of little value within the game. Losses to FLAK and ops make these types of missions less than ideal anywhere other than China, but then that's true for most Japanese air assets.

I don't think Scenario 1 is conducive to flar flung Japanese conquests in Australia or India, but I'm a conservative player with Japan when playing Scenario 1. You're pretty limited in the availablity of extra LCU's, unlike Scenario 2, so a competent Allied player may be able to make considerable gains earlier than anticipated in some areas where you are weak. With my experience playing Japan in Scenario 1, if I was an Allied player facing invasions of Australia or India I'd be licking my chops. A lot will depend on your opponent's style and skill though.

[Miller]

Accelerate all the Unyru class CVs from the off, they are relatively cheap to do so. You can have them all in play by Sep/Oct 43, and if you have already won a decisive CV battle before then, they will give you parity in numbers till late 44. Don't be too concerned about the flood of CVEs the Allies get, they are very, very brittle in the face of massed attacks. Ask Faber......

[Speedysteve]

Hi All,

Thank for your thoughts. Pax - really interesting idea on taking Calcutta I may look into that!

Crazy - yes. I think taking northern Aus is a must to stave off the Allies into southern SRA (I know from my Allied games)!

Hi Lemon - It's scenario 1 with PDU on. I'm playing against my Dad who has only played against the AI. As such I should have an edge on tactical play and I'm hoping an overall 'shock' effect for the capabilities of a human control Japanese effort for the first 6 months.

I'm thinking of ditching all of the Army FB's then! Time for me to go through the rest of the Air models and to create my shortlist. More Q's shortly.

[Speedysteve]

ORIGINAL: Miller

Accelerate all the Unyru class CVs from the off, they are relatively cheap to do so. You can have them all in play by Sep/Oct 43, and if you have already won a decisive CV battle before then, they will give you parity in numbers till late 44. Don't be too concerned about the flood of CVEs the Allies get, they are very, very brittle in the face of massed attacks. Ask Faber......

Thanks. I'm thinking I'll turn off Shinano and the late war CVE's. Do you think it's worth accelerating Yam/Mush and/or Junyo/Hiyo to get them early and out of the way to free up the points for later ships?

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

ORIGINAL: Miller

Accelerate all the Unyru class CVs from the off, they are relatively cheap to do so. You can have them all in play by Sep/Oct 43, and if you have already won a decisive CV battle before then, they will give you parity in numbers till late 44. Don't be too concerned about the flood of CVEs the Allies get, they are very, very brittle in the face of massed attacks. Ask Faber......

Thanks. I'm thinking I'll turn off Shinano and the late war CVE's. Do you think it's worth accelerating Yam/Mush and/or Junyo/Hiyo to get them early and out of the way to free up the points for later ships?

You may have to turn off Musashi for a while, I would just leave Yamato as normal as she arrives soon enough anyway, likewise Junyo/Hiyo. Accelerate all your DDs.

And treat all your warships with kid gloves, they are the one thing you can never replace. Every CA/CL/DD lost is a mini disaster.

[Speedysteve]

It's amazing looking at how few Military Ships the Japanese actually have and receive. They get 10 x DD for the whole of 1942 for example! It's shocking to see this after the plethora of Allied reinforcements.

[pharmy]

you also get very few tankers - I would keep most of the STD-C xAKs in the harbor till you can convert them to TKs on 6/42 - their 2000 capacity is perfect for most of your future oil ports since they can't expand beyond size 4

[Speedysteve]

Good idea icepharmy. I hadn't added to the list/thought of conversions as yet.

I assume everyone converts the CS into CVLs?

Does everyone convert all the AK's you can into TK's?

Any other conversions people always do?

[pharmy]

Have you read Mike Solli's AAR? tm.asp?m=2959613 I have the information in it saved in doc file called bible

CS to CVL - I always keep Mizuho to resize FP groups, the rest for me depends on advanced weather on or off- in advanced on - the CS's hardly ever launch their FP for me

[Speedysteve]

Ok. I've created my IJ Army plane shortlist. My current thought is to convert/stop the other plane types as I want to streamline my planes. We're playing with realistic R&D. Is it wise to streamline so much and to convert/stop everything else?

Here's my plans:

Fighters
----------
Ki-43-IC
Ki-44-IIa
Ki-43-IIb
Ki-44-IIc
Ki-84a
Ki-84r
Ki-83

Fighter-Bombers
----------------

Really limited numbers of:

Ki-45 KAIa
Ki-102b

Night Fighters
-----------------

Ki-45 KAId
Ki-102c

Level Bombers
--------------

Ki-21-IIa
Ki-49-IIa
Ki-67-Ia (T)
Ki-74-I

Recon
----------

Ki-46-II
Ki-46-III

Transport
-------------

Ki-57-I
Ki-57-II
Ki-49-II KAI

Thoughts?

[Speedysteve]

ORIGINAL: icepharmy

Have you read Mike Solli's AAR? tm.asp?m=2959613 I have the information in it saved in doc file called bible

CS to CVL - I always keep Mizuho to resize FP groups, the rest for me depends on advanced weather on or off- in advanced on - the CS's hardly ever launch their FP for me

I haven't but will do. Thanks.

We're playing with Advanced Weather on

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Miller

ORIGINAL: Speedy

ORIGINAL: Miller

Accelerate all the Unyru class CVs from the off, they are relatively cheap to do so. You can have them all in play by Sep/Oct 43, and if you have already won a decisive CV battle before then, they will give you parity in numbers till late 44. Don't be too concerned about the flood of CVEs the Allies get, they are very, very brittle in the face of massed attacks. Ask Faber......

Thanks. I'm thinking I'll turn off Shinano and the late war CVE's. Do you think it's worth accelerating Yam/Mush and/or Junyo/Hiyo to get them early and out of the way to free up the points for later ships?

You may have to turn off Musashi for a while, I would just leave Yamato as normal as she arrives soon enough anyway, likewise Junyo/Hiyo. Accelerate all your DDs.

And treat all your warships with kid gloves, they are the one thing you can never replace. Every CA/CL/DD lost is a mini disaster.

+1

In my latest game I simply stopped Musashi altogether. Uses too much fuel and although the Yamatos soak a lot of bombs in combat they also take a year to repair after.

[Spidery]

Re: IJA Aircraft

Some thoughts.

The Ki-94-II has an altitude advantage over all Allied aircraft. It also more durable than the Ki-83 and 1E rather than 2E but with, effectively, half the guns. It may be worth having some of these alongside the Ki-83.

The Ki-45 KAId is slower than the B-29 so I'm not sure how useful it is as a night fighter.

The Ki-49-Ia may be a better ASW platform than the Ki-49-IIa as it, eventually, gets a MAD and always uses less supply.

The Ki-32 uses up obsolete engines and is fine for early use in China and the Philippines.

The Ki-115b may be a good late war 1E bomber both for Kamikaze use and against the Soviets.

Re: CS Conversion

I think you you need to expand Tokyo repair yards to size 50 which costs 44,000 supply.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Ok. I've created my IJ Army plane shortlist. My current thought is to convert/stop the other plane types as I want to streamline my planes. We're playing with realistic R&D. Is it wise to streamline so much and to convert/stop everything else?

Here's my plans:

Fighters
----------
Ki-43-IC
Ki-44-IIa - Just research this and leave some factories researching the next version after it's actively producing. No need to begin researching the IIc since it's an upgrade and those factories repair quicker researching the closer model.
Ki-43-IIb
Ki-44-IIc
Ki-84a
Ki-84r - This is an upgrade from the Ki-84a, so just R n D that and go through the sequence. You should research the 'b' model though, as it's not an upgrade from the 'a.'
Ki-83

Fighter-Bombers
----------------

Really limited numbers of:

Ki-45 KAIa - 30/month will get you through with ~4 groups working mostly bases out of sweep range. I do like FB for their guns and durability against 4E, especially early when nothing else is around yet with centerline canons.
Ki-102b

Night Fighters - Don't stop here! Build as many as you can! [:D] Some groups only upgrade to a certain model to 'become' NF groups. The first for the Army are upgraded FB groups, to the Nick 'd.' The Dinah III KAI is also worth a look as it's much faster than the Nick and well before the Randy, and several recon groups upgrade to it only. Make sure you R n D the Irving NF for the IJN groups. You'll need a lot of those, and the radar equipped version is actually okay.
-----------------

Ki-45 KAId
Ki-102c

Level Bombers
--------------

Ki-21-IIa
Ki-49-IIa
Ki-67-Ia (T)
Ki-74-I

Recon - The Judy recon is worth some R n D as it get to 21 hexes and will arrive before the Dinah III if you have a 30 sized factory going. Can be worth it in late 42 as so much can happen around that time.
----------

Ki-46-II
Ki-46-III

Transport
-------------

Ki-57-I
Ki-57-II
Ki-49-II KAI - yes.

Thoughts?

I realize I am making comment on your Army list about IJN planes but it's hard for me to think of the two completely independently.

Which IJN fighter are you thinking about, the George or the Jack?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

Re: IJA Aircraft

Some thoughts.

The Ki-94-II has an altitude advantage over all Allied aircraft. It also more durable than the Ki-83 and 1E rather than 2E but with, effectively, half the guns. It may be worth having some of these alongside the Ki-83.

Hard to get it before mid-45 as it's arrival is 2/46. Mine are still only a month advanced in 4/45 with 2 x 30 researching.

The Ki-45 KAId is slower than the B-29 so I'm not sure how useful it is as a night fighter.

The Irving is even slower but they still disrupt the bombers and do shoot some down.

The Ki-49-Ia may be a better ASW platform than the Ki-49-IIa as it, eventually, gets a MAD and always uses less supply.

The Ki-32 uses up obsolete engines and is fine for early use in China and the Philippines.

The Ki-115b may be a good late war 1E bomber both for Kamikaze use and against the Soviets.

Yes, but plan to make a lot make a lot. It might be a good idea to invest in more factories both to get them sooner and to not have to build more factories when the going is rough in 45.

Re: CS Conversion

I think you you need to expand Tokyo repair yards to size 50 which costs 44,000 supply.

[Encircled]

Good reading this, especially for us AFBs!