Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: DanSez

Speaking of trainers --
Concerning the need to have 1 and 2 engine training units (so you don't lose the experience switching between the two)

What do you use for your trainers at this point of the war?

The Lilly/Topsy for IJA twins?
IJN 2 engine trainers -- what?

Nates (are they still around?) for IJA singles
What for IJN singles?

I have read that Mary (single engine bomber) are useful for training.

Nates, Claude primary trainers for fighter pilots....

Idas train bomber pilots. Pretty much most of the bombers are either ASW work, bomb in China, or waiting for opportunities to fly in and do a one off raid on the Allies.

Lillies, Sallies work just fine in an ASW role...

I am trying to get all 2e bombers trained up for land, low naval or naval, asw making them very flexible. Even training some on strafe...I want to try strafing naval night attacks.

[Lowpe]

Here is a tally of victory points. Allied base building can really add up...

Overall, I am pleased I haven't lost more plane losses. Maybe with the Tojo IIc I will get better results.

High water mark for the Empire I suspect.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

The purpose of the Lorna is to use 2 engines instead of 1. I can't think of another "use" for it. Drop it.

You remind me of oldest son, no disrespect intended since he is an outstanding Lt in the Army and a ringknocker to boot, but he always was what is called a min/maxer always choosing the best.

There is such a thing as flavor! [:D]

Well, but it's also got worse stats!

There is something of a point for the loss of experience between what type you trained a pilot in, and what type you put them into eventually, but I would rather just account for that in my training regime as there's no way to keep them separate in your reserve pools. I'll just suffer that couple points of experience loss.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

The purpose of the Lorna is to use 2 engines instead of 1. I can't think of another "use" for it. Drop it.

You remind me of oldest son, no disrespect intended since he is an outstanding Lt in the Army and a ringknocker to boot, but he always was what is called a min/maxer always choosing the best.

There is such a thing as flavor! [:D]

Well, but it's also got worse stats!

that is the min part of min/max. But it has character!

There is something of a point for the loss of experience between what type you trained a pilot in, and what type you put them into eventually, but I would rather just account for that in my training regime as there's no way to keep them separate in your reserve pools. I'll just suffer that couple points of experience loss.

Agree

[Lowpe]

China

80 units -- could that be 12,000 assault value with ART, ENG, AA?

Assuming Chinese limited supply, what would I need AV wise to move into the hex and not get attacked? Or is there no way he can attack me?

[Lowpe]

Burma

Continue threatening Allied dirt road line of supply.

45 days until Monsoon.

Moved Lilly IIb and Nells up to strike on ships...still defending Raheng with fighters.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
45 days until Monsoon.

After you mentioned this I looked in the manual for info on this rule. Couldn't find anything. What are the rules and effects of the Monsoon?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
45 days until Monsoon.

After you mentioned this I looked in the manual for info on this rule. Couldn't find anything. What are the rules and effects of the Monsoon?

Not really sure. I searched the forum for the dates, and ran across an old thread where the Monsoon was put in May thru Sept, but at least for Spidery it starts May 15, which means it probably ends Sept 15.

Akyab was mentioned as being particularly hard hit, and in general northern Burma bases. So, I suspect that the weather gets even worse, supply is very difficult in Northern Burma, and there maybe disruption or fatigue gains there.

For Spidery supply draw at Akyab was cut in half.

[Lokasenna]

There are those helpful numbers in the interface, though - the base screen will tell you how much supply can flow. The bigger the base, the bigger the flow. Forts count. If Akyab is built up, it's actually not that bad, but you will also need Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar to be built up as well or else it'll "choke" there. Same goes for all the bases in this area, really. The size of the road or railroad going into the base seems to affect the "multiplier" on the base size that determines maximum draw, as well.

[Lowpe]

A few Downfall observations with my game with mm:

Allied surface raiders, especially Fletchers, can range full speed quite far (12+ hexes) fight 2-4 engagments at night and flee outside of air attacks. They are devastating. They can even take a mine hit and still get away.

There is no night Kamikaze attacks. Perahaps some bombers set to night attack at strafing levels might do something.

Lots of Japanese night air attacks on Allied shipping but not a single hit. Very ineffective, but they are at normal altitudes with medium experienced pilots. Not many planes shot down, despite night fighters with radar. A way to get pilot experince?

Allied attack bombers, set to strafe, destroy Japanese ships with alarming frequency, even at night.

Japanese submarines die fast to Allied ships.

Allies did one major night time raid on Osaka targeting manpower into the teeth of the Japanese night fighters. Started 30-40K fires. Lost 24 B29s. Lots of straying, pilots aren’t that experienced. Garned about 1000 strategic victory points...burning fires seemed to do lots of damage on day 2, but shrank to 3K. Fog of war is in effect.

Irving doesn’t have the speed to catch up to the B29 reducing their effectiveness.

[Lowpe]

April 1, 1943

No night bombing raids. Rangoon bombarded by IJN CAs.

During the day, the intrepid Lilly IIb flies into harsh weather to disrupt Allied shipping at Akyab....really like these guys![:D]

[Lowpe]

Allies bomb Prome, the Magwe push, for light losses, and sweep and bomb the airfield at Raheng.

A decent day in the Air.

Although a full Sentai of Nells were on naval attack, none did because of the weather? But those plucky Lilly IIb did, and even when their escorts stayed at home.

[Lowpe]

April 2nd, 1943

No night air attacks. Moonlight very low, but that never has stopped the Allies before.

This is the first day, in a long, long time Japan loses no airplanes.[:)]

It probably won't last, but my troops are threading their way thru the jungle ridge in an attempt to cut the main supply road to Prome. Can't believe there aren't troops hiding there in the the jungle...

The Allies just have thrown everything forward...I would love to do an end run and land behind him in India, but the time for that is gone... To do it, I would need to strip the lower DEI, Solomons, and CentPac, Kuriles of Infantry Divisions. That would give me 5 full divisions, plus the KB to shepherd the invasion fleet so I would probably trade that operation off versus losing the Marshalls or worse. Plus, Allies would spot the prep and fleet with plenty of time to move about.

Prome's airfield is even larger.

KB sleeping at Kavieng. MiniKB at Marianas. Super BBs at Etorufu in Kuriles.

[Lowpe]

I was re-reading Obvert vs Joc's excellent AAR...Oct 44; Marianas just invaded, Tavoy landed on which grows into a great foot race the Allies win and cut off 20+ divisions in Burma/Indochina/China. Obvert correctly identifies the Tavoy landing as a crisis, but while he is talking about that he is also considering rebuilding the oil production at Palembang!

Allies also have Mindanao which puts bombers in range of Hong Kong, all the DEI, etc. Allies also have Rangoon, and Tavoy is very close to Bangkok's large airfield.

Hindsight is 20-20, but Obvert definitely had victory disease. He had kicked Jocke's buct all over the place, but by June/July 45 Japan is out of supplies, Korea invaded, and Allies win. The Allies are just so staggeringly strong, their pace of advance can be stunningly quick, but the biggest enemy is Japan's mindset.

I need to be super careful here in Burma and not get destroyed. That I don't have Rangoon, puts a lot of resources/industry/oil/fuel at major risk. At some point the Allies will cotton on to this and start hitting me at my weakest point in a scen1 game: oil and fuel. Especially given my exceptionally weak fighter forces.

So, here I am in April 43 thinking of sweeping offensives in Burma, what am I thinking? Somebody slap me. I guess I can dream a little, but I really need to focus on the offensive defense and economy.

[Lowpe]

I am looking at places to send construction units to with the goal of creating stumbling blocks, strongpoints, etc.

With Rangoon and Port Blair in Allied hands, and probably there for the rest of the game, the entire north DEI and western China are vulnerable to heavy bomber attacks eventually.

Magwe is worth defending as long as it pumps on 280 oil per day. The refineries there are scrap metal. Once the oil is destroyed, a retreat to the jungle will be called for.

In China I will push west into the mountains...but definitely running out of time there.

The lower DEI are safe for now, Allies don't seem interested here at all.

So that leaves the Solomons, Marshalls, Kurile defensive line. Behind them the Marinas, Bonins, Mindanao line -- but how does this line anchor at Babeldoab or Sorong?

Sorong makes for a nice heavy bomber base threatening all the lower to mid DEI -- especially those targets not threatened by Rangoon. Sorong needs to be built up to anchor the Babeldoab to Marianas line.

With two adjacent dot bases, it may present another stumbling block.

[JocMeister]

I don´t think you need a slap. [:)]

The allied Achilles heel will always be the air force. I was hurting so badly for planes throughout the war it was silly. Open up an allied game and check how many fighters the USAAF gets. A good example is between July and November (going by memory) the USAAF gets 80(!) planes per month. You can blow through that in just a day of heavy fighting.

Its the only thing the allies are short of and they will be throughout the game. If there is one place where you should be fighting its the air. [:)]

Besides, allied LCUs are just as susceptible to lack of supply as Japanese. If you can cut him off from supply he will be in serious problems. [:)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I don´t think you need a slap. [:)]

The allied Achilles heel will always be the air force. I was hurting so badly for planes throughout the war it was silly. Open up an allied game and check how many fighters the USAAF gets. A good example is between July and November (going by memory) the USAAF gets 80(!) planes per month. You can blow through that in just a day of heavy fighting.

Its the only thing the allies are short of and they will be throughout the game. If there is one place where you should be fighting its the air. [:)]

Besides, allied LCUs are just as susceptible to lack of supply as Japanese. If you can cut him off from supply he will be in serious problems. [:)]

Japan air losses are 10K, but Allies are 7K. I have done better than my predecessor, but not by all that much...at least my fighters can down 4es now, which I was so worried about earlier, and I have been able to minimize night bombing of airfield somewhat, but you were quite correct that Allied bombers are a paper tiger force...maul them and they go away for a while. In addition, their effectiveness is really tied to experience level of pilots.

This day the IJN is attacking Port Calcutta. He has 3 units there, 54 guns. I am going after the ships in Port with Betties and Nells. Those planes drop so many bombs it is always fun watching the replay. Helens are bombing Prome and its concentration of 300 planes at night from 30K. Not expecting much.

The Wake CD guns are unloading at Umboi, well half of them (the rest are in Kendari). Even with AKs and naval support those big guns take a while to unload. Umboi, Rabaul, Ponape are all going to be nasty.

I am struggling with naval search in the Gilberts....I lose planes left and right flying over his bases, and or I lose them on the ground when the 4es come. I have resorted to using floats for night naval search, and will break down and set search arcs to avoid his big bases.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I don´t think you need a slap. [:)]

The allied Achilles heel will always be the air force.

I believe Koniu released a text document with all the planes the Allies get. I have it, and the formatting makes it somewhat tough to read, but the Allies do get lots of planes. Just not lots of the highly desirable ones...at least to satisfy AFB.[:)]

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
I need to be super careful here in Burma and not get destroyed. That I don't have Rangoon, puts a lot of resources/industry/oil/fuel at major risk. At some point the Allies will cotton on to this and start hitting me at my weakest point in a scen1 game: oil and fuel. Especially given my exceptionally weak fighter forces.

Burma is certainly a difficult challenge to hold Burma without getting destroyed when you've already lost Rangoon. But if you prepare a retreat east towards Lashio/Taung Gyi I think you can avoid getting your units in the north destroyed. It's pretty isolated but with 3x terrain and that backdoor road to Taung Gyia from Thailand it's definitely defendable. I think it may force the Allies into actually having to push you from Northern Burma as the Allies are feeling a lot of pressure I'm sure to aid in China. Otherwise if he bypasses you then you could eventually knock out China and launch offensives from northern Burma with those units...not a good situation for the Allies.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
Burma is certainly a difficult challenge to hold Burma without getting destroyed when you've already lost Rangoon. But if you prepare a retreat east towards Lashio/Taung Gyi I think you can avoid getting your units in the north destroyed. It's pretty isolated but with 3x terrain and that backdoor road to Taung Gyia from Thailand it's definitely defendable. I think it may force the Allies into actually having to push you from Northern Burma as the Allies are feeling a lot of pressure I'm sure to aid in China. Otherwise if he bypasses you then you could eventually knock out China and launch offensives from northern Burma with those units...not a good situation for the Allies.

I never lost Rangoon, for the simple reason it was never conquered.[:)]

I like your advice, thanks.

I don't have the reserves I would like, and am hard pressed as to where to find them. Quite a few unrestricted units in China tied up in reducing Changsha and pushing west into the mtns...new purchases are going to Burma but it isn't enough.


Most every base is now paratroop proof, a depleted Chindit units is at Prome, another Brit paratroop in the jungles...

Everything in Burma changes overnight IF I can actually cut of all those units south of Akyab. I am not holding my breadth, but it is the first area of the map I look at each turn.[:D]