Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[obvert]

You're doing really well here. Looks like you could slow your armaments a bit and pick up on the vehicles if you've turned any off. I'd keep vehicles running the entire game.

As for the fuel/oil that looks good. Your HI is a bit low, but you can make that up in 43 as some accelerated ships come through complete and you taper off on armaments. I'd plan for at least 3 million by 1/45.

Nice job in China.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

More 4E hit Rabaul at night from 25000 feet and down planes. Not sure how to respond to this threat[:(].

The Endo detachement! Put two really good pilots in it and only fly them when well rested (pilot and plane).[:D]

Actually, that he is resorting to night bomber sweeps is a sign you have him worried.[:)]

Wonderful sub action. Transfer that skipper to my game. [&o]

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: obvert

You're doing really well here. Looks like you could slow your armaments a bit and pick up on the vehicles if you've turned any off. I'd keep vehicles running the entire game.

As for the fuel/oil that looks good. Your HI is a bit low, but you can make that up in 43 as some accelerated ships come through complete and you taper off on armaments. I'd plan for at least 3 million by 1/45.

Nice job in China.

Thanks lowpe.

I could slow armaments but don't seem the point for at least 6 months as will need them eventually. All vehicles are producing all the time, I converted some armament to vehicles in mid'42 but I think would have been better having about 200 from the go. Now I understand I get the points back for obsolete devices I think I may have enough to last. Tracker shows the point where I have enough to cover all future production as about October 1943.

Not worried by the HI, I look at it from the point of view of how much armaments have already been produced (about 1 million HI points worth) and how much fuel will be available to keep running HI in 1945. Also, I have about 5000 useful engines stockpiled.

[Spidery]

January 2nd 1943

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 3 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

Quiet

Pacific

The damaged xAP at Ponape survives most of the day and manages to offload most troops. Some support squads have to be rescued onto a PB. 3 Catalinas make an attampt but are driven off by some zeroes.

Burma area

Quiet

China

Liberators hit Chungking during the day (I had guessed and put night CAP up) and destroy 8 HI. If he wants to bomb HI that is of no great concern (I expect to run out of fuel before HI factories).

Australia

Quiet. I have managed to deliver 10000 supply to Horn Island without being attacked which will be useful.

Engineering

Allies have a level 1 airfield at Nauru Island.

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

January 3rd 1943

Air Losses: 33 Japanese, 9 Allied, 5 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Expensive turn.

Subs

A Sanyo class AV is lost to SS Haddock near Pagan, taking with it 11 Jakes[:(].

Pacific

4E bomb Rabaul airfields at night from 20000 feet and destroy 6 aircraft on the ground[:(].

Lightnings sweep during the day, trading 5 P-38E for 13 planes lost[:(].

Burma area

Quiet

China

Liberators attack Lanchow at night for no effect but losing 1 plane for 5 Tojo IIa[:(].

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Uruppu-Jima expands to 1, allowing airlift in.

Allies expand Cairns to 7.

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

January 4th 1943

Air Losses: 13 Japanese, 3 Allied, 3 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

I-153 hits a mine near Munda and will have a long trip back to Truk.

I-33 is worked over and has 11 system damage so will head back for repairs.

Pacific

4E bomb Rabaul airfields at night from 20000 feet, Nicks and Zeros intercept and lose 5 Nicks and 5 Zeros for no 4E shot down[:@]. There are 44 Heavy AA, 5 Type 2 and 4 Ta-chi 7 radar sets, 18 searchlights here so I don't see much more I can do to protect the airfields. I could look see for more AA to ship in.

If I fly night CAP then I lose planes. If I don't then he hits the airfield and I lose planes. I can't afford to evacuate. I suppose it is better to fly CAP using 1E fighters with the best defensive pilots as 1E fighters are cheaper than 2E bombers and 4E patrols[:(].

Lots of task forces spotted at Munda, a sweep goes in and finds no CAP, but the naval strikes from Buka and Rabaul fail to occur[:@].

Burma area

Quiet

China

Quiet

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Rabaul forts to 5. I think I will stop there as getting supply in is becoming difficult.

R&D

Quiet

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

4E bomb Rabaul airfields at night from 20000 feet, Nicks and Zeros intercept and lose 5 Nicks and 5 Zeros for no 4E shot down[:@]. There are 44 Heavy AA, 5 Type 2 and 4 Ta-chi 7 radar sets, 18 searchlights here so I don't see much more I can do to protect the airfields. I could look see for more AA to ship in.

If I fly night CAP then I lose planes. If I don't then he hits the airfield and I lose planes. I can't afford to evacuate. I suppose it is better to fly CAP using 1E fighters with the best defensive pilots as 1E fighters are cheaper than 2E bombers and 4E patrols[:(].

I am not sure it is worth risking good pilots. A better strategy is fly a very light cap with a splinter. Use Oscars, or whatever single engine fighter you have lots of, very low 5K to 10K, and a dozen at a time. Set 30% CAP, so only a few get up into the air for each raid with perhaps 30% rest. They will disrupt the attack, and you won't lose as many. (I think).

Really, this is an exploit at this stage of the game. I have no problem with night time bombing raids designed to really hit the base/airfield/port etc. Which means flying low, with good moonlight. But high altitude bombing runs designed to act as sweeps...ugh.

But, like I said before you have Mr. Kane worried.[:)]

I wonder if your opinion of night time bombing is starting to change a little?

How many waves of bombers is hitting you with?

Put three Tracom pilots into the Endo detachment and send them there. Let them fly with 70 percent rest and see what happens.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Spidery

4E bomb Rabaul airfields at night from 20000 feet, Nicks and Zeros intercept and lose 5 Nicks and 5 Zeros for no 4E shot down[:@]. There are 44 Heavy AA, 5 Type 2 and 4 Ta-chi 7 radar sets, 18 searchlights here so I don't see much more I can do to protect the airfields. I could look see for more AA to ship in.

If I fly night CAP then I lose planes. If I don't then he hits the airfield and I lose planes. I can't afford to evacuate. I suppose it is better to fly CAP using 1E fighters with the best defensive pilots as 1E fighters are cheaper than 2E bombers and 4E patrols[:(].

I am not sure it is worth risking good pilots. A better strategy is fly a very light cap with a splinter. Use Oscars, or whatever single engine fighter you have lots of, very low 5K to 10K, and a dozen at a time. Set 30% CAP, so only a few get up into the air for each raid with perhaps 30% rest. They will disrupt the attack, and you won't lose as many. (I think).

Really, this is an exploit at this stage of the game. I have no problem with night time bombing raids designed to really hit the base/airfield/port etc. Which means flying low, with good moonlight. But high altitude bombing runs designed to act as sweeps...ugh.

But, like I said before you have Mr. Kane worried.[:)]

I wonder if your opinion of night time bombing is starting to change a little?

How many waves of bombers is hitting you with?

Put three Tracom pilots into the Endo detachment and send them there. Let them fly with 70 percent rest and see what happens.

I don't think MrKane is running it as an exploit. He mixes it up and varies the altitude etc. Also he hasn't been flying above the flak ceiling.

Last night it was 12, 6, 6 and 4 so that probably means he sent about 50 bombers.

Part of the problem is I don't have any Ki-44-IIc over there and I think they perform better. Tonight I'm trying out just with Ki-43-IIb. I will get the N1K1-J next month and I hope that will perform better.

I have quite a few pilots with good defense but only average experience and I'm going to try using them. Defensive over my base I don't lose many and they should gain experience.

May try that idea of using a lower CAP percentage.

The Endo detachment arrives in a day or two and I'm looking for the best three pilots for it. However, it will take a while to transfer out to Rabaul and fix plane damage. I'll not be flying it without well rested crew and well maintained planes.

Still content with the way the game handles nighttime attacks. It seems to fit in with everything else.

[Spidery]

I'll see how it develops but I am looking at the possibility of an offensive in North Burma.

There is a potential to trap his army attacking Warazup and then push on towards Dhimapur and Ledo. Also, could send the tanks along the coast road to threaten Chittagong. A lot of his forces are in jungle positions and he may not be able to react. Objectives would be:

1. Eliminate the force at Warazup (2 British Divisions and 2 Armoured Brigades plus artillery etc.)
2. Capture Ledo to deny him a base to target Chinese industry.
3. Force an air engagement under conditions I can maintain parity.

Taking about a month to get forces in place and Katha developed that would give me three months before the monsoon.

[Lowpe]

How does the IIc match up against his lightning sweeps? 3 to 1 loss ratio? Or better?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How does the IIc match up against his lightning sweeps? 3 to 1 loss ratio? Or better?

What lightning sweeps? MrKane has mostly stopped doing them. I think there has only been one clash between the IIc and lightnings and, from memory, the ratio was about 1::1 (with the numbers present to overwhelm his sweep).

Currently, I have Ki-44-IIc at Magwe, Katha, Lanchow, Sian and Bangkok all protecting industry.

Roughly, at the moment I have:
236 Ki-44-IIc
84 Ki-44-IIa

238 Ki-43-IIb
178 older, unarmoured, Ki-43 models, mostly used for training
180 Nates on training

150 Nicks

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How does the IIc match up against his lightning sweeps? 3 to 1 loss ratio? Or better?

What lightning sweeps?

January 3rd 1943

Air Losses: 33 Japanese, 9 Allied, 5 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Expensive turn.

Subs

A Sanyo class AV is lost to SS Haddock near Pagan, taking with it 11 Jakes.

Pacific

4E bomb Rabaul airfields at night from 20000 feet and destroy 6 aircraft on the ground.

Lightnings sweep during the day, trading 5 P-38E for 13 planes lost.


That one? [:)]

[Spidery]

That one?

Nope, not that one. No Ki-44-IIc at Rabaul. I though it was in December but I can't see it so maybe they have never clashed.

[Spidery]

January 5th 1943

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 3 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

A manzyu (7950 capacity) tanker is lost to SS Tarpon.

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Allies launch a deliberate attack at Warazup, the defense isn't too good. My disablements are worse than it suggests, in particular over half the AT guns have been disabled.

Ground combat at Warazup (63,41)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 36929 troops, 712 guns, 1000 vehicles, Assault Value = 1316

Defending force 16913 troops, 171 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 573

Allied adjusted assault: 987

Japanese adjusted defense: 397

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
937 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 65 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Allied ground losses:
568 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 108 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 36 (2 destroyed, 34 disabled)

Assaulting units:
18th British Division
7th Armoured Brigade
70th British Division
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
267th Armoured Brigade
3rd Cavalry Regiment
77th Heavy AA Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
23rd AA Bde
IV Indian Corps
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
13th Indian Light AA Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
68th Division
7th RTA Division
4th RF Gun Battalion
55th Mountain Gun Regiment

It is 7 days before the 1st Tank will arrive. I have split a division at Myitkyna and am sending 2/3 but need to keep enough back to avoid an air assault.

Allies are taking C-47 ops losses. I wonder if he is air dropping supply. May give a try at using LRCAP.

China

First deliberate attack to reduce cut off forces takes a lot of disruptions so will be a long wait before try again

Ground combat at 79,45 (near Patung)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31885 troops, 244 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 989

Defending force 37267 troops, 196 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 813

Japanese adjusted assault: 619

Allied adjusted defense: 317

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), morale(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: leaders(+), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
925 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 148 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1070 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 133 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
110th Division
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
41st Division

Defending units:
90th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
33rd Chinese Corps
98th Chinese Corps

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Sabang to 2.

R&D

B6N2a to 10/44. A6M5c to 11/43. D4Y4 to 12/43.

Reinforcements

Endo Det. of 2 J1N1-S night fighters.

Three excellent pilots are assigned (exp/air/defense):
Hamano, U. (83/80/89)
Kawakami, T. (82/89/79)
Minobe, I. (82/87/80)

It is transferred to Pagan, and will then move to Truk to recover plane fatigue before being used at Rabaul.

[Spidery]

January 6th 1943

Air Losses: 15 Japanese, 1 Allied, 13 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

Quiet

Pacific

Nells out of Rabaul and Milne Bay find some ships near Munda. They can't hit big targets, such as cruisers, but against small targets they do well. 4 LCM and an LCVP are sunk, apparently carrying engineers and non-combat squads[:)]. The LCM and LCVP do not appear on the sunk ship list, are they worth VP?

RO-60 locates a transport convoy, possibly an invasion, near Munda but fails to get a good shot and is damaged.

Burma area

My Helens are sent to help at Warazup. As a compromise they are sent at 12000 feet; bad decision, 12 planes are lost to flak and 2 to ops for only a few hits on the troops[:(]. The Allies attack again and the situation looks bad for the defenders[:(]:

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 36250 troops, 712 guns, 998 vehicles, Assault Value = 1216

Defending force 16073 troops, 171 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 485

Allied adjusted assault: 805

Japanese adjusted defense: 397

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:
960 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 172 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 28 (1 destroyed, 27 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
768 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 23 (2 destroyed, 21 disabled)
Vehicles lost 32 (4 destroyed, 28 disabled)

China

Quiet

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

January 7th 1943

Air Losses: 35 Japanese, 10 Allied, 30 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy: Warazup
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

A Miserable day.

Subs

Quiet

Pacific

An xAP delivering troops to Kusaie Island is sunk by 3 PBY-5. The PBY now have torpedoes and manage to sink the ship so quickly that the men on board are not rescued[:@]. 2000 men lost at sea. Zeroes on CAP retaliate by shooting all 3 PBY-5 down in post attack air-air combat.

At Munda some Kates and Vals attack with 35 Zeroes in escort. They meet massive CAP and all bombers are lost and half the zeroes[:@]. No bombers penetrate CAP.

Burma area

Warazup falls with heavy losses[:@].

China

Quiet

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Quiet

[setloz]

Burma area

Warazup falls with heavy losses.

Ouch! [8|]
What about Myitkyina? Are you evacuating? Or is it to fortified enough to be next point in your line of defence?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: setloz

Burma area

Warazup falls with heavy losses.

Ouch! [8|]
What about Myitkyina? Are you evacuating? Or is it to fortified enough to be next point in your line of defence?

Reinforcing. By the time he can attack there it should have two Tank Divisions present.

[Spidery]

January 8th 1943

Air Losses: 9 Japanese, 2 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

SS Trusty takes 6 near misses from Type 2 DC at Ponape. So close!

Pacific

A cruiser force provides overkill sinking DE Humphreys (Clemson class) near Munda.

Some Nells and Mavis launch ineffective night attacks (for some reason they have bombs, not sure why)

Burma area

Quiet

China

Allies bomb Sian at night from 15000 feet and score no hits.

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Allies have expanded Rennell Island to 8.

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

January 9th 1943

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 6 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy: Choiseul Bay (auto)
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Allies have 4 F4F-4 lost to ops, I wonder what he was doing?

All carriers are now repaired. I could do something with them but it seems better to remain hidden and conserve fuel. I have a CVE acting as an ASW platform in one of the areas with poor land coverage.

Subs

Lots of claimed hits by Helens on subs near Rabaul, no reason to believe any of them.

SS Spearfish scores hits on two xAK near Wakkanai, both are duds[:D].

I am seeing subs around Truk and Rabaul and at least one near Sakhalin but the mass that were spotted South of Formosa have vanished.

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Quiet

China

Quiet

Australia

Quiet.

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Ki-43-IIIa to 12/43