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

[Spidery]

Been stream-lining the shipping from Fusan to Fukuoaka. The ships there had got a bit out of hand as different types arrived. I now plan to have 7 Type 1 TM shipping fuel and 2 Type 1 TM shipping oil plus 26 Adens shipping resources. That is about 185,000 tons of shipping. Fusan can handle 128,000 so with the turnaround at Fukuoka there should always be room on the docks.

Unless I messed up the calculations, that can provide enough resources to continue growing the stockpile and can handle all the fuel and oil from Sumatra, Sarawak, Malaysia, Burma, China, etc. that is being dropped at Hong Kong.

Tankers run in task forces of size 1 and xAK in task forces of size 2. They follow a coastal routing and all three hexes involved have ASW forces in place.

Balikpapan, Java, and Tarakan fuel is mostly sent to the Pacific and excess oil shipped directly home.

[Spidery]

June 15th 1943

Air Losses: 4 Japanese, 1 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

Useful bit of intelligence as get this:

ASW attack near Norfolk Island at 110,167

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
DE Paul Jones
DMS Trevor
DMS Hamilton
DMS Southard
DMS Elliot
DMS Chandler
DMS Long
DMS Boggs
APA Cambria
APA Callaway
APA Bolivar
APA Warren
APA Sumter
APA George Clymer
APA Arthur Middleton
APA Crescent City
APA President Hayes
APA President Adams
APA William P. Biddle
APA Fuller
APA Hunter Liggett
APA Wharton
LSI(L) Empire Star
LSI(L) Kanimlba
LSI(L) Manoora
LSI(M) Prince Henry
AKA Virgo
AKA Thuban
AP Henderson
xAP Dundula
xAP Dilga
xAP Idomeneus
xAP Waiotapu
xAP Forthbank
xAP Clan Macnair
xAP Clan Macindoe
xAP Clan Macgillivray
xAP Clan Macfadyen
xAP Sirsa
xAP Empire Tugela
xAP President Taylor
xAP Republic
xAK Mundra
DE Dent
DE Chew
DE Ward
DE Whipple

So that is a big chunk of assault shipping. Unfortunately, the sub doesn't report the heading so don't know if it is heading for Sydney, Noumea, or somewhere else. Coupled though with yesterday's sighting near Sydney

I reckon it is all heading into Sydney.

I don't have any subs that can get in the way but have a couple of Glen equipped subs that may be able to spot the task force tomorrow.

Solomons

Quiet, Rabaul is at 84/40 damage.

Burma

Night strike at Calcutta;

Night Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 76 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 11

Allied aircraft
B-339D x 11
75A-7 Hawk x 10
P-40E Warhawk x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 30000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Looks like he had the Dutch air force on night CAP.

Engineering

Quiet

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

SC CHa-32

[FeurerKrieg]

What size is Fusan port? I thought it maxed at size 8. There is a base one or two hexes east of Fukuoaka that is also size 8, so I run Fusan to there, so that anything else in the region can go to Fukuoaka.

ORIGINAL: Spidery

Been stream-lining the shipping from Fusan to Fukuoaka. The ships there had got a bit out of hand as different types arrived. I now plan to have 7 Type 1 TM shipping fuel and 2 Type 1 TM shipping oil plus 26 Adens shipping resources. That is about 185,000 tons of shipping. Fusan can handle 128,000 so with the turnaround at Fukuoka there should always be room on the docks.

Unless I messed up the calculations, that can provide enough resources to continue growing the stockpile and can handle all the fuel and oil from Sumatra, Sarawak, Malaysia, Burma, China, etc. that is being dropped at Hong Kong.

Tankers run in task forces of size 1 and xAK in task forces of size 2. They follow a coastal routing and all three hexes involved have ASW forces in place.

Balikpapan, Java, and Tarakan fuel is mostly sent to the Pacific and excess oil shipped directly home.

[Spidery]

What size is Fusan port? I thought it maxed at size 8. There is a base one or two hexes east of Fukuoaka that is also size 8, so I run Fusan to there, so that anything else in the region can go to Fukuoaka.

Fusan is 8, Fukuoaka is 10, Shimonseki is 9. In principle, it makes sense to run oil to Shimonseki (refineries present) and fuel and resources to Fukuoka (HI present).

Nothing else uses Fukuoaka. From the South Hiroshima/Kure is used and from the West Nagasaki/Sasebo (e.g. from Formosa) or Kagoshima (e.g. from Okinawa).

I have used Shimonseki a bit when he had subs in the deep water off Nagasaki.

[FeurerKrieg]

Oh yea, you are dropping at HK. I don't have China clear yet, so I still have a fair bit coming in to Nagasaki/Sasebo that you have going to Hong Kong, so I send overflow and return transports to Fukuoka. No deadheading allowed, so ever transport that goes out brings something back with it.

Yes - Shimonseki is the base I was referring to.

[Spidery]

June 16th 1943

Air Losses: 4 Japanese, 1 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Subs

Quiet

Solomons

Lightnings, Thunderbolts and Corsairs sweep Rabaul but no CAP flies. Rabaul is now at 84/17 damage.

Burma

Night strike on Calcutta fails to fly.

Akyab supply comes out of the red.

Engineering

Waingapoe airfield to 4. Allies expand Portland airfield to 8 (still finding bases to get a few more VP).

Production

J1N1-S factory is fully repaired, will be able to advance this a month to 43/9.

Reinforcements

Quiet

Other

Noticed that I am 249 VP short because of bases low in supply. Allies are 29 VP down.

[Spidery]

June 17th 1943

Air Losses: 71 Japanese, 38 Allied, 26 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP Shortfall: 247 (decided to track this to make it easier to tell what Allied ships sink)

Subs

Quiet

Solomons

Liberators hit Rabaul, this time he only has Corsairs and Lightnings protecting them, and a late arriving Thunderbolt sweep. Flak is ineffective; 7 planes lost on the ground (2 Ki-43-IIb, 2 N1K1-J, 3 B6N2) [my evacuation of damaged aircraft stalled after I discovered the APD couldn't load groups with more than a few planes left].

Air loss for the day: 24 Ki-43-IIb, 10 N1K1-J, 18 Ki-44-IIc, 7 Ki-84a, 1 A6M2-N, versus 10 F4U-1, 4 P-47D2, 3 P-38G, 19 B-24D1.

These air battles are expensive but the VP loss is keeping on the good side of 2::1 and his 4E force is being shredded. With luck, I am taking some of his good bomber pilots with them.

Rabaul is at 94/53. I have a transport task force trying to unload supply.

Burma

Night strike on Calcutta: waste of supply.

Engineering

Quiet

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

Quiet

Other

Decided to work out how many 4E he has, taking into account reinforcements. I make it he has about:
137 B-24D1, 114 PB4Y-1, 103 B-17E and about 150 other 4E (including 41 British). So that is about 500 4E bombers, ouch! He receives 71 a month.

The B-24D1 all seem to be in use against Rabaul. The B-17E I think may be on NE Australian bases and in India. However, the PB4Y-1 haven't shown much.

[Spidery]

Strange Aces. So this time we have a pilot in reserve shooting down enemy planes:

[Spidery]

MrKane rarely risks submarines under my ASW. Currently he has:

2 or 3 operating South of Japan (so I have changed from using Nagoya and Yokohama as my main ports).
1 or 2 near the Bonins, poor airfields mean I only have Jakes covering the area
3 or 4 operating between Marianas and Truk at the limit of air ASW
2 or 3 South of Mindanao
1 or 2 between Rabaul and Babeldoab

Intel claims 16 subs sunk but 7 of those were at Manila in the opening days.

Since early days, I have seen no subs in the South China Sea.

[Spidery]

June 18th 1943

Air Losses: 25 Japanese, 25 Allied, 7 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP Shortfall: 248

Subs

I-17 puts a torpedo into the APA Bolivar off Newcastle. "on fire, heavy damage" but she can probably make it to a repair yard in Australia. I-17 takes 19/31/0 damage and will head back to the yard. With Rabaul not useable, will head for Soerabaja direct.

This is the same large troop convoy spotted a few days back heading into Newcastle and now heading SE away from Newcastle, apparently without any troops on board. So it looks like he delivered troops into Australia but is not using these assault craft (12 APA, 2 AKA, 4 LSI(L)) for any planned invasion.

Solomons

Allies sweep Rabaul with Lightnings and Wildcats. A rag tag collection of demoralised fighters meet them and trade well. 9 A6M5c (first use), 7 Ki-44-IIc, 5 Ki-43-IIb, 2 Ki-84a, 1 N1K1-J for 12 F4F-4, 11 P-38G. Perfectly reasonable ratio.

Another pilot becomes an Ace, this time on a group grounded at Pagan.

6 Task forces spotted at Torokina, 3 appear to be cruiser SCTF. He could be planning on raiding Kavieng or Rabaul, do I keep ships around in case he attacks or just move everything away and hope for some good mines?

Rabaul is 94/31 damage and I unloaded 15,000 tons of supply. More usefully, I have 10 empty transports present so should be able to evacuate all damaged planes.

Burma

Quiet

I have been poking around with some PB to attract attention while keeping a CVE force back on the hope that he will send something after the PB. Unfortunately, the CVE has been spotted so now will head homeward.

Engineering

Magwe airfield to 9, this will be useful as I have had problems with basing limits.

Allies expand Torokina airfield to 7.

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

Quiet

Other

A couple of heavy radio traffic messages gives me 2/2 detection on Perth and a report of 62 ships including a CVE and 3 AKV present. I get a lot of radio traffic messages at Perth but the Glen equipped subs around rarely spot task forces. He may be deliberately generating radio chatter?

I still can't make up my mind whether Perth or the Solomons are distractions and where he plans to invade.

I also can't make up my mind how to respond to any attack if I don't know where his carriers are. If I get a chance to sink some SCTF and Amph forces would it be worth revealing the KB?

[MrBlizzard]

"Magwe airfield to 9, this will be useful as I have had problems with basing limits."
What advantages gives a 9 compared to a 8 level AF? It's just 50 planes more or there are also some other bonus?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard

"Magwe airfield to 9, this will be useful as I have had problems with basing limits."
What advantages gives a 9 compared to a 8 level AF? It's just 50 planes more or there are also some other bonus?

Unlimited planes, unlimited air groups. But still the same aviation support as for level 8.

[Spidery]

Although Rabaul is closed I still have level 4+ airfields with a good supply of Aviation support and supply at Buka, Buna, Kavieng, a bit less aviation support at Gasmata and a lack of supply at Milne Bay. Manuas and Aitape are being developed as the next line of defense.

If my groups weren't so shattered, I could fly fighters and D4Y4 into these bases to have a reasonable strike against any invasion. If he wants to close all these and Rabaul he is going to have to fly a lot of bombers or start using some naval bombardments.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

I still can't make up my mind whether Perth or the Solomons are distractions and where he plans to invade.

I also can't make up my mind how to respond to any attack if I don't know where his carriers are. If I get a chance to sink some SCTF and Amph forces would it be worth revealing the KB?

Those are very hard and deep questions. Mr. Kane has shown himself to be quite the strategist.

In truth, you are doing very well and you I think you need to ask yourself is it worth risking the KB so far from the important bases that will really need it later.

The kb gives you the ability to have one large coordinated strike. Those multiple small bases give you multiple fragmented attacks subject to defeat in detail.

You have to really weigh the risk of attriting your KB pilots and planes versus his land based fighters corsairs, thunderbolts, and others, while hitting his shipping. Strike hard at those amphip or sags and you really risk shattering your KB...freeing him up to strike hard somewhere for a week or more as your KB recovers.

Keep the KB dark and he eventually accelerates his advance.

No right answers unfortunately...

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Spidery

I still can't make up my mind whether Perth or the Solomons are distractions and where he plans to invade.

I also can't make up my mind how to respond to any attack if I don't know where his carriers are. If I get a chance to sink some SCTF and Amph forces would it be worth revealing the KB?

Those are very hard and deep questions. Mr. Kane has shown himself to be quite the strategist.

In truth, you are doing very well and you I think you need to ask yourself is it worth risking the KB so far from the important bases that will really need it later.

The kb gives you the ability to have one large coordinated strike. Those multiple small bases give you multiple fragmented attacks subject to defeat in detail.

You have to really weigh the risk of attriting your KB pilots and planes versus his land based fighters corsairs, thunderbolts, and others, while hitting his shipping. Strike hard at those amphip or sags and you really risk shattering your KB...freeing him up to strike hard somewhere for a week or more as your KB recovers.

Keep the KB dark and he eventually accelerates his advance.

No right answers unfortunately...

Given that one of Tom's great strengths seem to be in misinformation and deception I am inclined to keep the KB hidden. I certainly won't intervene to target something like an invasion of Eniwetok where he would have good LBA coverage. But if he runs something against Port Moresby, Cocos Islands, Andamans, or Java then I might intervene. I'ld probably be willing to go after CVE even if there are no CV/CVL in the area.

Also, there is the point that the KB can't be hidden for ever, eventually there will be an intelligence leak of some sort. He has already picked up a 1/1 DL on part of the KB once and I relocated in response.

Good point on keeping the pilots alive. Planes aren't quite such an issue. There are enough LBA groups that could transfer on to maintain reasonable numbers of planes while rebuilding integral groups.

There is also the aspect that the game has more lasting fun for both sides if I keep a carrier force viable[:)]

[Spidery]

June 19th 1943

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 33 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP Shortfall: 248

Subs

I-8 is in transit to the West Coast when she spots a target of opportunity and puts 3 torpedoes into CVE Santee NNE of Pearl Harbour; With 2 fuel storage and an ammo explosion reported the CVE sinks in minutes, taking with it 21 Hellcats and 12 Avengers[8D]. Probably a reinforcement rather than an indication of Allied forces.

Solomons

Allied cruisers bombard Gasmata.

Rabaul airfield is now 94/9.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Shimushiri-Jima forts to 5.

Production

P1Y2 to 7/44

Reinforcements

Quiet

[FeurerKrieg]

Wow! Give that sub captain a medal!! That is a helluva score for a sub.

[Lowpe]

CVE are good targets for subs for the rest of the game...only 100 more to go![:)]

Good job.

[Spidery]

June 20th 1943

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 2 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP Shortfall: 248

Subs

Quiet

Solomons

Allied 4E bomb Rabaul at night, damage is now 98/37.

6 PB4Y-1 attack at 3000 feet and damage an xAK, 50/25/5/10 damage.

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Quiet

Production

Ki-84r to 3/45

Reinforcements

Quiet

[Spidery]

June 21st 1943

Air Losses: 0 Japanese, 10 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:
Base VP Shortfall: 248

Subs

Quiet

Solomons

Made a bad mistake here. I sent some xAK in to drop supply at Rabaul but also moved 2 BB to cover them.

Allies have moved Dauntless and Avengers in place and I lost 6 xAK (not too important) but the Hyuga took 4 torpedoes and some bombs and is at 37/74/30/8 damage. Not sure I am going to be able to save her.

3 Heavy volume of traffic messages at Lunga - is he loading invasion forces?

Burma

Quiet

Engineering

Quiet

Production

Quiet

Reinforcements

Quiet