Rise of the Sheep! JocMeister(A) vs. Obvert(J)

[Lokasenna]

Correct, with Supply Transport as the mission but no target set, the group won't fly at all.

[aztez]

I think you are in excellent position in this game. Now build up those airfields and prepare to unleash full allied bomber might upon Japan.

Obvert don't have the firepower to stop that onslaught now that you bring in 2E and 4E bombers! [:)]

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: aztez

I think you are in excellent position in this game. Now build up those airfields and prepare to unleash full allied bomber might upon Japan.

Obvert don't have the firepower to stop that onslaught now that you bring in 2E and 4E bombers! [:)]

Airfields are building at full speed. 2 or 3 are already maxed out. Its crowded but it will do. [:)]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]25th April -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Pace have dropped the last couple of days. Its the third or fourth day in a row now that we only get one turn done. I either get the turn too late in the evening or the morning turn never show up. No turn this morning. I know Erik has been busy with stuff but I hope we can pick the pace up again. In early March I´m back at work and that means 1 turn per day at best. And in early April the second baby arrives. That might mean the end of this game weather we are done or not.

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Okinawa
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Another "E" TF show up. I smell a trap and keep the CLs back and send in two DD TFs for tomorrow night. I shift the CVs to the North of Nago in case something big gets stranded in "no mans land".

The CVs are still repairing airplanes from the failed strike a week ago. Another 2-3 days should see everyone at full strength. Its the second time none of the CVEs send any strike planes. Its a bit worrying. I have no clue why only the CVs launch strikes but not one of the CVEs. Anyone have any ideas?

Okinoblablabla hits level 4 AF.

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China
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Oddly enough Erik never attacks my wrecked Paras. [&:] The 4Es did hit his troops but we only knocked out 30-40 squads. Still he would have wiped out my troops and their 7 AVs. FAT and DIS have now dropped to more manageable levels and we are now up to 17 AV. But they should be safe now as 150 light tanks enter the hex this turn. They will be a bit vulnerable in move mode but at least they will have opened the hex side.

All of the sudden it looks like a full retreat in Western China. I see movement east from all the bases.

Erik moved in more fighters to Hengyang. Not sure for what purpose but we have some battles over the base.

Morning Air attack on Hengyang , at 80,53

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 45
J2M5 Jack x 36

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x P-51D Mustang sweeping at 32000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Hengyang , at 80,53

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 37,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 39
J2M5 Jack x 35

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 4 destroyed
J2M5 Jack: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 1 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Hengyang , at 80,53

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 27
J2M5 Jack x 24

Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 3 destroyed
J2M5 Jack: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 2 destroyed

During the day 34 Japanese fighters are shot down for 18 own losses.

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Strat bombing
------------------------
Another small wave of B24 strike the HI. We have yet to hit anything with them but they do shoot down NFs which is nice. Here is an example.

Night Air attack on Kagoshima , at 102,60

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 69 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 23
P1Y2-S Frances x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-Sa Irving: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 3 damaged

Erik lose 10 NFs for 7 B24. Not sure if I should be happy or not.

The B29s strike targets in China wiping out the last LI at Shanghai and Wuchang.

[Crackaces]

I think it is like 30 supply for each aircraft replacement .. like a $5 starbucks coffee over time this adds up. I am not sure how long the IJ can take replacements.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

I think it is like 30 supply for each aircraft replacement .. like a $5 starbucks coffee over time this adds up. I am not sure how long the IJ can take replacements.

Heh, well he has lost 38.000 AC so far. Times 30 that is almost 1,2 million supply. Not insignificant! [:)]

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

I think it is like 30 supply for each aircraft replacement .. like a $5 starbucks coffee over time this adds up. I am not sure how long the IJ can take replacements.

Heh, well he has lost 38.000 AC so far. Times 30 that is almost 1,2 million supply. Not insignificant! [:)]

I test it i my game few second ago
I only test it on few group so not sure if this have something to do with class or durability or something like that
F, FB 12 supply
DB 15 supply
2E bomber 30 supply

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

I think it is like 30 supply for each aircraft replacement .. like a $5 starbucks coffee over time this adds up. I am not sure how long the IJ can take replacements.

Heh, well he has lost 38.000 AC so far. Times 30 that is almost 1,2 million supply. Not insignificant! [:)]

I test it i my game few second ago
I only test it on few group so not sure if this have something to do with class or durability or something like that
F, FB 12 supply
DB 15 supply
2E bomber 30 supply

Ah, so rather half that then. Still, 600.000 supply is still a big number.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]25th April -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Quite unexpectedly Erik sent a late morning turn. Pleasant surprise!

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Okinawa
------------------------
Not much happening. I´m still having loads of trouble getting my fleet to move more then 3-4 hexes even with full OPS and topped off tanks. Not sure what is causing this.

I´m also a bit worried the CVEs will continue to refuse to fly any offensive missions. The lack of feedback from the game is beyond annoying at times. I know the CVEs participate in CAP but I have still to see them fly and strikes since the Battle of Celebes Sea 6 months ago.

I started to move ships disbanded at Naha into TFs instead. This so I can reduce the "uber CAP" I have there. This meant creating some 50 Sub TFs...I hate the interface sometimes...almost a full hour of "fun"...

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China
------------------------
The armor safely arrives to cover the mauled paratroops. Rest of the Armor from the CMA arrives tomorrow. I´m pretty certain we can secure the base. Oddly enough it looks like Erik is moving WEST towards Kukong. No idea why he would do that.

We also hit the troops at Nanning which turns out to be just two BDEs. I don´t think they will make it back to Liuchow before they are cut off. Liuchow itself only seems to be guarded by a lone BDE.

Erik is also about to have a REALLY nasty surprise in Northern China as the 12k AV stack now have full supply. [X(] I turned them straight around and sent them towards Kweiyang which will most likely fall pretty fast.

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DEI
------------------------
FAT/DIS are now down enough at Palembang to order another attack. In Malaya we are now only a couple of days from Kuala Lumpur.

EDIT: Ops, forgot the screen!

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: JocMeister




Heh, well he has lost 38.000 AC so far. Times 30 that is almost 1,2 million supply. Not insignificant! [:)]

I test it i my game few second ago
I only test it on few group so not sure if this have something to do with class or durability or something like that
F, FB 12 supply
DB 15 supply
2E bomber 30 supply

Ah, so rather half that then. Still, 600.000 supply is still a big number.

Ok .. I am measuring my 2E bomber losses .... Anyway that is on top of filling out LCU's etc ...
I really am thinking that it is not HI as the weak point but looking at games that last until 1945 . its supply choices.
Eventually if the game lasts .. at least until a home rule somehow corrects things [8D] the IJ are mathematically in trouble ..

and exactly my calculations .. yes the Allies have taken some losses but 600,000 supply just for aircraft replacement means vulnerabilities elsewhere ..

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]28th-29th April -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Things fall in place nicely in China

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Okinawa
------------------------
While trying out movement issues with the CV fleet I accidently stumbled too close to Shanghai. After refusing to fly against the numerous "E" TFs the AI decides that a couple of PBs are a worthy target... [8|]

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Shanghai at 92,55

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 62 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 11
J2M3 Jack x 8
J2M5 Jack x 26
N1K2-J George x 13
Ki-84r Frank x 1
Ki-102b Randy x 1

Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 142
SB2C-4 Helldiver x 26
TBM-3 Avenger x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M5 Jack: 1 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5 Hellcat: 14 destroyed
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
TBM-3 Avenger: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
PB Rikusen Maru, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
PB Hinode Maru #17, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-44
SC CHa-32, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-17, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Luckily Erik only have a small CAP in place and I lose only 40 planes. But loads of Hellcats are damaged. Again only the big groups on the CVs take part in the strike. Do the AI favor the groups on the CVs when "picking" squadrons for some reason? Size?

I also sent in some Corsairs to see if we can catch some more "leaky CAP". I only find a couple of Oscars and shoot down all 8 of them.

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China
------------------------
In China things are going well. It looks like Erik has finally decided to do something with the 200.000 men at Canton/HK. I see movement from both bases. Its too late though and I doubt he can force his way up to Kukong. The 2000 "armored AV" of the CMA in defensive terrain will be too big of a obstacle.

We also liberate Kanshien!

Ground combat at Kanhsien (81,57)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13012 troops, 49 guns, 1517 vehicles, Assault Value = 1063

Defending force 12319 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 415

Allied adjusted assault: 758

Japanese adjusted defense: 137

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied forces CAPTURE Kanhsien !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
5498 casualties reported
Squads: 264 destroyed, 144 disabled
Non Combat: 135 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 64 (42 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
142 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 22 (2 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
11th PAVO Regiment
Gardner's Horse Regiment
3rd Cavalry Regiment
Guides Cavalry Regiment
50th Tank Brigade
255th Indian Tank Brigade
18th Cavalry Regiment
Provisionl Tank Brigade
254th Armoured Brigade
44th Parachute Division

Defending units:
69th Infantry Brigade
67th Ind.Infantry Battalion
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
14th RGC Temp./A Division

This I think is the final nail in the coffin and Eriks position is now hopeless. His only hope is if he can hold on to Kukong but that is not going to happen. With Kanshien secure the 5th Chinese Corp will be flown in (1000AV 62 EXP). I also have two Chindit BDEs waiting to be flown in. They will take over security in the area and be ready to block the HK/Canton forces if needed. There is a Wooden/rough hex where they should be able to hold. See map for position.

Erik also evacuated Nanning. I´m not sure his troops will be able to reach Liuchow in time to bolster the defense. My 3 IDs cross tomorrow. I´m going to set some 2Es on the Nanning troops to slow them down.

Very happy with the situation in China right now. Lets see if Erik tries to do something with the 200.000 men at Canton/HK.

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DEI
------------------------
We continue to pummel Palembang. Forts are now down to 1 and the base should fall shortly.

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13509 troops, 132 guns, 447 vehicles, Assault Value = 614

Defending force 4013 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5

Allied adjusted assault: 227

Japanese adjusted defense: 85

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
353 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 62 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Victory Points[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Sadly I lost the older data in the disc crash just before Christmas but these are the last 22 turns. I need about 15.000 more VPs for my goal of AV (2:1 ratio).

My ratio per turn have dropped as expected and is now down to around 135 VP/turn. But I´m still roughly on track for an Aug/Sep AV. Losses can of course change this drastically. The KB and BB fleet is probably worth around 5000-7000 VPs. Shanghai/HK is another 4500 VPs. Many of the Japanese held bases in China have a 10x Japanese multiplier and that is going to add up. They are actually worth twice as much for me as 100 LOST Japanese VPs means 200 VPs I don´t need to gain.

Here is a screen from tracker. The days I´m in red is probably due to some Japanese bases getting in supply. As can be seen I just passed 1,7 ratio.

[Bullwinkle58]

And there are never, ever enough PPs, are there? [:)]

[JocMeister]

Never are. I splurged almost 2000 buying out every USMC/USN 2E/4E squadron in the states. And changed some sub captains! *Poff* [:D]

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]30th April -45[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

Weird but good turn.

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Okinawa
------------------------
Erik sends in a 3(?) DD TF to Amami Oshima. They duke it out with the PTs for no losses to either side. KB disappears while my CV fleet shifts slightly to the North after having replenished planes.

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China
------------------------
A good day. The river crossing goes well and we suffer lighter losses then expected.

Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 40761 troops, 583 guns, 162 vehicles, Assault Value = 1599

Defending force 12867 troops, 191 guns, 51 vehicles, Assault Value = 330

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Allied adjusted assault: 671

Japanese adjusted defense: 108

Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied forces CAPTURE Liuchow !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
5722 casualties reported
Squads: 133 destroyed, 65 disabled
Non Combat: 178 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 40 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 74 (52 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Vehicles lost 36 (36 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 10

Allied ground losses:
1035 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 134 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 21 (3 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
11th (East African) Division
81st (West African) Division
6th New Chinese Corps

Defending units:
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
6th Ind.Infantry Brigade
35th Ind.Mixed Brigade
19th JNAF AF Unit
5th NCPC Infantry Brigade
21st Air Defense AA Battalion
14th Naval Construction Battalion
7th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Ind. Field Artillery Regiment
53rd Field AA Battalion
17th Army /1

I´ll let the troops recover the DIS before sending them on. They will give chase towards Kweilin.

What looks like a single ID has left HK and is now exposed in a clear hex between Canton and HK. The 4Es will pay a visit tomorrow. The transports managed to lift 600 AV to in the first day to Kanhsien so I released the armor. They will head north hopefully catching up on the evicted defenders.

China is much more fun when you have air superiority, unlimited supply and ridiculously better LCUs. [:'(] I think Erik will have a bit more sympathy the next time he rolls over the Chinese in 42. [:D]


------------------------
DEI
------------------------
Finally secured Palembang.

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13523 troops, 132 guns, 447 vehicles, Assault Value = 615

Defending force 3764 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5

Allied adjusted assault: 257

Japanese adjusted defense: 70

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Palembang !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1302 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 166 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Troops continue North right away and BFs rail into PB.

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Strat bombing
------------------------
Now for the weird part. The bombing results are mediocre at best (as usual) and I manage to knock out only 42 points of LI using 600 bombers. Whats weird is the losses. I lose only 4 B24s and 7 B29s for 28 NFs. I guess I have to be happy with that!?

My B24 have still to hit a single point of industry but the do shoot down NFs. I´ll take that too. Erik can´t have an unlimited number of them. Or can he?

[ny59giants]

Any efforts to get the supply line to Chungking open and get all those Chinese LCUs back into the war??

[Bullwinkle58]

Any oil damage at PBang?

[JeffroK]

Re your problem with CVE & CVL refusing to fly.

I also found it hard to get them to help in a high in an environment where the japanese contested in the air. I felt that they struggled to get the morale levels high enough, loss of a single aircraft was an 11% hit, replaced by a less experienced pilot.

So I dropped the TBF's and resized F4U squadrons and made them CAP ships, plus the F4U was quite capable in shipping/ground attacks. I also would allocate 1 CVL per Fleet(hex) as night CAP just in case night torpedo attacks decided to work.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Any efforts to get the supply line to Chungking open and get all those Chinese LCUs back into the war??

For now I have left that to the Chinese to sort out themselves. With the (ridiculously) easy way supply flows I now have 12.000 AV in full supply going for Kweiyang. That should be enough although some Corps are pretty low EXP (45 EXP). But the 4Es can help out and if needed I have 2 Indian IDs in reserve ready to swing North.

In all honesty I don´t really need the Chinese at this point and I don´t want to divert too much attention on something I don´t need. But if Erik hangs around in the North it might prove a very nice opportunity to destroy more Japanese IDs. I know he has at least 2 IDs up there. One was wrecked moving from Liuchow though.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
Any oil damage at PBang?

Yeah, but not too bad. 727 oil is still operational. The bottleneck for me now is refineries. I have about 300 more oil then I have refineries in the DEI. Didn´t help that the refineries was knocked down to 662 at PB. But I guess PB in allied hands means I can stop sending fuel from the WC all together. [:)]

For example I have 200.000 oil at Balikpapan and another 70.000 oil in Soerabaja.

I have 1,5 million fuel at Manila. Another million moving towards Luzon and about 500k onboard Fleet oilers maintaining the fleet. I´ll probably keep 3 of the bigger tankers TFs running WC-Luzon just to make sure but the rest will start hauling locally.

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Re your problem with CVE & CVL refusing to fly.

I also found it hard to get them to help in a high in an environment where the japanese contested in the air. I felt that they struggled to get the morale levels high enough, loss of a single aircraft was an 11% hit, replaced by a less experienced pilot.

So I dropped the TBF's and resized F4U squadrons and made them CAP ships, plus the F4U was quite capable in shipping/ground attacks. I also would allocate 1 CVL per Fleet(hex) as night CAP just in case night torpedo attacks decided to work.

I havn´t checked the MRL on the CVE squadrons. I´ll do it as soon as the turn gets here. They are flying search and take some losses from CAP. So that could explain it. Thanks! [:)]

I´m not too keen on moving strike planes off the CVEs since I´m already very "CAP heavy" with the CV resizing done I now only have 15DBs and 15TBs aboard each CVs. So I wanted some extra punch by equipping some 20 CVEs with TB/DBs. But if they don´t fly I might as well unload them. But losing 500 strike planes would suck so I hope I can get it sorted.

[JocMeister]

[font="Verdana"]Month of May 1945[/font]
______________________________________________________________________________

No turn from Erik so I thought I´ll do a bit of an overview. Aircraft wise May is a very good month. Most notably I´ll get the Spitfire F.XIV. Its a seriously good plane. Looking at the stats its probably one of the best planes in the game. Its definitely the best defensive fighter. The only drawback is that its British and the Brits are still hamstrung by their useless 16 plane squadrons. But I have one 32 plane squadron currently flying the Corsair II. As soon as I have enough Spits I´m going to switch it over and use it as a sweeper. Fun! [:)]

I also get a complete GEM in the A-26B invader. First look shows its a 2E able to drop 8x500LBS bombs which is almost as much as a B24 which is nice. But then you start to look closer and this plane turns out to be probably the best bomber in the game...and I get 55(!) of them per month!!! [&o] There are two things that make this plane absolutely superb besides the bomb load. Speed is a whopping 355MPH which is 77MPH faster then the B24 and almost as fast as the B29B.

And then there is the gun value...

It has 16(!)50 Cals and a gun value of 48. Thats 18 more then the B24. [X(] Erik is going to hate this plane with a passion. I don´t think I have to tell you what this plane is going to do for the rest of the game... [:D]