::Felix, Ferdinand and FRUPAC:: obvert (A) v Greyjoy (J)

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

I thought that in addition to an airfield stacking limit by number of groups, there was a limit by number of engines vs airfield size? Something like 50 engines supported per level? That would make the 160 planes on a level 2 AF overstacked by 60, suffering coordination/fragmentation and maintenance penalties?

Absolutely! Not over stacked by number of groups, much over stacked by number of engines.

Still, one large 80 plane groups and another small one could go on a level 2 base and still be much more effective than 2-3 24 plane Allied groups.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

This is one thing that I think has to be HRed. For training, fine, but for any kind of combat it's not okay as there is an advantage to larger groups in almost any situation and it's not something the Allies can do, as you say. The only groups I can increase to this size are a few RN groups, and after I just enlarged the two training groups from 40 to 80 planes, which should keep the RAF fighters filled out nicely.

For the USN you have to use FP groups to train fighter pilots, or the replacement groups from CVEs. I haven't tried as it's currently logistically impossible, but maybe I can increase the size of these on the CVs. We'll see.

I have no problem with each side using larger groups fro training, but it should be somewhat equitable. In combat the Allies basically can't do this due to replacement rates, unless the groups are filled out with FM-1.

There are a handful of USMC squadrons (IIRC) that you can resize, but you can also resize the non-replacement CVE groups without waiting for later. You can resize any CV-capable group once all of their coded resizes have occurred, but this isn't until late 1944 or 1945 for almost all of them.

The VRF/VRB/VRT units, despite not having any resizes, are not able to resize.

You can resize some FAA units, but you won't have anywhere near enough CV-capable planes to fill them out. So, good for training.... or LBA, if you're facing mega-Zero units.

All that said, the mega units still suck up aviation support and supplies that much faster. And airfield space.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

This is one thing that I think has to be HRed. For training, fine, but for any kind of combat it's not okay as there is an advantage to larger groups in almost any situation and it's not something the Allies can do, as you say. The only groups I can increase to this size are a few RN groups, and after I just enlarged the two training groups from 40 to 80 planes, which should keep the RAF fighters filled out nicely.

For the USN you have to use FP groups to train fighter pilots, or the replacement groups from CVEs. I haven't tried as it's currently logistically impossible, but maybe I can increase the size of these on the CVs. We'll see.

I have no problem with each side using larger groups fro training, but it should be somewhat equitable. In combat the Allies basically can't do this due to replacement rates, unless the groups are filled out with FM-1.

There are a handful of USMC squadrons (IIRC) that you can resize, but you can also resize the non-replacement CVE groups without waiting for later. You can resize any CV-capable group once all of their coded resizes have occurred, but this isn't until late 1944 or 1945 for almost all of them.

The VRF/VRB/VRT units, despite not having any resizes, are not able to resize.

You can resize some FAA units, but you won't have anywhere near enough CV-capable planes to fill them out. So, good for training.... or LBA, if you're facing mega-Zero units.

All that said, the mega units still suck up aviation support and supplies that much faster. And airfield space.

Thanks. I'd suspected this about the replacement VRF/VRB/VRT groups, but I'll try with the other CVE groups when I can. Just for navy fighter and TB training it could be useful. I can certainly scare up enough FM-1 airframes eventually, and for the TB I have more than enough Avengers now and for the foreseeable future. For training these would all be really useful, and then I can enlarge a few more to fill out an entire CVE for CAP.

The issue with mega groups is that they coordinate better than smaller groups. If one shows up you have the effect of 2-3 other groups coordinating. The Japanese already have an advantage which is arbitrary (not historical) in groups sizes, and I was really conscious of how to use this playing Japan. The air support is not such a factor for large bases or for only periodic use in forward positions, such as CAP traps and surprise strikes.

The Allied 12, 16, 18 and even 24 airframe groups simply can't compete on equal terms with a 45 plane group due to the game mechanics. That's all fine, as the Allied quality will eventually (usually) win out, but not always, and not especially in a game with airframes brought forward years ahead of arrival dates. Groups of 80+ tip the scales too far, unless used simply for training, but even then they allow for many other groups to be freed to use in combat.

None of this is a complaint or an issue with Nick, to be clear. We're on the same page, and he wasn't trying to exploit this in combat. The groups just reacted in a non-standard way to the settings he used, and he's promised not to use the groups in combat again.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I had some Dutch subs sent into a nest of at least four Japanese TFs and they were detected and depth charged at least ten times each, usually in a Ping-Pong between two of the TFs. This was early game when the IJN DCs could not go deep, and the subs were in deep water so they survived. I think the DCs only stopped when all of the escorts and Atago CAs ran out!

The point is the Dutch subs came out with crew experience in the high 90s, and thereafter they became deadly at sneaking in on IJN TFs, and almost never miss with their torpedoes (although they still have duds 10% of the time). It seems the same would apply to IJN subs late war - they would get lots of experience from attacks they survived.

They really should not survive. The combination of Allied air superiority and deadly Naval ASW pretty much make Japanese sub attacks a one shot deal after by late 43. Training air units in ASW was useful and necessary for me but by the end of 43 I was no longer doing it. The combination of plenty of well trained searching aircraft and better and more skilled ASW surface craft just means death to Japanese subs. The Mk 9 DC for the Allies is actually less powerful but comes with a significant boost in accuracy and the late model British DC make a big boom. Funny but after 1944 with all of the DEs and PFs that I had the real killers were still the DDs. Every DD coming after 1/44 has excellent exp. My opponent Ark is being much more conservative with his subs this game and practically foregoing hunting merchants in favor of massing them in support of naval operations. I think this is a mistake as the real chance for Japanese subs to feast is in 1942. After that, it matters little how they are used. They are going to sink in droves.

Every games is a bit different, and of course I'll never really know how you, your opponent or my own opponent has set his forces in game, but I've found Japanese subs can be effective late. They do get radar later, and even in 43 if accompanied by good night and day search they can get through massive fleets and still hit some important targets. It's worth it to lose 15 subs to sink a CV, or even to knock 2-3 three of them out for 6-10 months.

In my game late against Jocke the IJN subs did pretty well, getting to several CVs, some CVEs and a few other major combat ships, with a ton of ASW TFs, search and dedicated ASW patrols all over the place. For this reason I'm really using the same kinds of anti-sub measures I did as Japan, and soon I'll have very good pilots for several different platforms of USN and Marine groups, and even more for Aussie and NZ groups, to combat IJN subs.

Nick seems to be saving them, and I suspect I'll see droves appear once I show my CVs somewhere.

[obvert]

[font="Times New Roman"]March 18 - 19, 1943[/font]

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[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]INDIA: [/font] The sweeps of the 18th didn't fly due to weather over Madras, apparently, but the night bombing runs went in and sure enough, there were fresh groups there, including our first sighting of the Tojo IIc! [X(] The night bombing hits about 7 airframes for the loss of 4 4E, but the intel is very useful.

So. It looks like I've gotten the information I was hoping to get through these strikes against Madras. Patna has dropped to 75 fighters (from 200+) according to recon. Calcutta is at around 200, similar to previously. Madras has risen in numbers to around 350. Trincomalee is at about 275.

Colombo has dropped to 160 (from 230-50) if recon is correct.

Tomorrow we strike Colombo with a full hit of 4Es and sweeps. The 2Es will wait for day two, but some will hit Dambulla to make sure that base remains closed. I'll also set DBs and TBs from Trivanandum to aim for the one 6 ships combat TF that has been hanging around Colombo for weeks. Fingers crossed.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SW PAC: [/font] All bases North of Milne Bay are in Allied hands and engineers/base forces are in most of them. No resistance. Interesting.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CHINA: [/font] Tanks slowly eating away at Chinese resistance near Kunming.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]OZ:[/font] Kalgoorlie is in Allied hands! A bunch of units will arrive in a few days from the South. The next steps will be to follow on toward Perth and Geraldton with no delay.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SIGINT:[/font] Some new signal activity in the DEI.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]38/Sasebo 7th SNLF is loaded on xAK Kansai Maru moving to Batavia.[/font]

[font="Trebuchet MS"]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 18, 43
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Night Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 3
B-24D1 Liberator x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x LB-30 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak

Runway hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 11 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 2, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 70,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 15782 troops, 317 guns, 923 vehicles, Assault Value = 640

Defending force 21568 troops, 117 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 603

Japanese adjusted assault: 400

Allied adjusted defense: 613

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
224 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
550 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 74 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Division
Guards Tank Division
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
56th Chinese Corps
32nd Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/font]

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[font="Trebuchet MS"]Starting to look good down here!![/font]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I had some Dutch subs sent into a nest of at least four Japanese TFs and they were detected and depth charged at least ten times each, usually in a Ping-Pong between two of the TFs. This was early game when the IJN DCs could not go deep, and the subs were in deep water so they survived. I think the DCs only stopped when all of the escorts and Atago CAs ran out!

The point is the Dutch subs came out with crew experience in the high 90s, and thereafter they became deadly at sneaking in on IJN TFs, and almost never miss with their torpedoes (although they still have duds 10% of the time). It seems the same would apply to IJN subs late war - they would get lots of experience from attacks they survived.

They really should not survive. The combination of Allied air superiority and deadly Naval ASW pretty much make Japanese sub attacks a one shot deal after by late 43. Training air units in ASW was useful and necessary for me but by the end of 43 I was no longer doing it. The combination of plenty of well trained searching aircraft and better and more skilled ASW surface craft just means death to Japanese subs. The Mk 9 DC for the Allies is actually less powerful but comes with a significant boost in accuracy and the late model British DC make a big boom. Funny but after 1944 with all of the DEs and PFs that I had the real killers were still the DDs. Every DD coming after 1/44 has excellent exp. My opponent Ark is being much more conservative with his subs this game and practically foregoing hunting merchants in favor of massing them in support of naval operations. I think this is a mistake as the real chance for Japanese subs to feast is in 1942. After that, it matters little how they are used. They are going to sink in droves.

Every games is a bit different, and of course I'll never really know how you, your opponent or my own opponent has set his forces in game, but I've found Japanese subs can be effective late. They do get radar later, and even in 43 if accompanied by good night and day search they can get through massive fleets and still hit some important targets. It's worth it to lose 15 subs to sink a CV, or even to knock 2-3 three of them out for 6-10 months.

In my game late against Jocke the IJN subs did pretty well, getting to several CVs, some CVEs and a few other major combat ships, with a ton of ASW TFs, search and dedicated ASW patrols all over the place. For this reason I'm really using the same kinds of anti-sub measures I did as Japan, and soon I'll have very good pilots for several different platforms of USN and Marine groups, and even more for Aussie and NZ groups, to combat IJN subs.

Nick seems to be saving them, and I suspect I'll see droves appear once I show my CVs somewhere.

Plus, plinking away at the Allied SLOC doesn't matter so much after about July, 1942. So what if you sink an xAK or xAP? Even if it's got stuff on it? At that point, it doesn't hurt that much.

And you have to find them first, anyway.

Better to use them for intel, or for later, IMO.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

This is one thing that I think has to be HRed. For training, fine, but for any kind of combat it's not okay as there is an advantage to larger groups in almost any situation and it's not something the Allies can do, as you say. The only groups I can increase to this size are a few RN groups, and after I just enlarged the two training groups from 40 to 80 planes, which should keep the RAF fighters filled out nicely.

For the USN you have to use FP groups to train fighter pilots, or the replacement groups from CVEs. I haven't tried as it's currently logistically impossible, but maybe I can increase the size of these on the CVs. We'll see.

I have no problem with each side using larger groups fro training, but it should be somewhat equitable. In combat the Allies basically can't do this due to replacement rates, unless the groups are filled out with FM-1.

There are a handful of USMC squadrons (IIRC) that you can resize, but you can also resize the non-replacement CVE groups without waiting for later. You can resize any CV-capable group once all of their coded resizes have occurred, but this isn't until late 1944 or 1945 for almost all of them.

The VRF/VRB/VRT units, despite not having any resizes, are not able to resize.

You can resize some FAA units, but you won't have anywhere near enough CV-capable planes to fill them out. So, good for training.... or LBA, if you're facing mega-Zero units.

All that said, the mega units still suck up aviation support and supplies that much faster. And airfield space.

Yeah, any marine or naval fighter group that has carrier capable planes can expand to 36 and then 42 later in the war. I do this with about a half dozen so that I can rotate the groups. (Although replenishment CVEs lessen the need for this) I actually find the 24 plane US army and Marine groups to be about right. They offer a lot of flexibility and the Allies can build up air bases fast enough. The smaller Commonwealth squadrons are a bit of a handicap though.

One caution. When you hit 1/44, all American heavy and medium bomber groups expand. You need to have a crap load of reserve pilots for this event. I got caught short handed.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: obvert




This is one thing that I think has to be HRed. For training, fine, but for any kind of combat it's not okay as there is an advantage to larger groups in almost any situation and it's not something the Allies can do, as you say. The only groups I can increase to this size are a few RN groups, and after I just enlarged the two training groups from 40 to 80 planes, which should keep the RAF fighters filled out nicely.

For the USN you have to use FP groups to train fighter pilots, or the replacement groups from CVEs. I haven't tried as it's currently logistically impossible, but maybe I can increase the size of these on the CVs. We'll see.

I have no problem with each side using larger groups fro training, but it should be somewhat equitable. In combat the Allies basically can't do this due to replacement rates, unless the groups are filled out with FM-1.

There are a handful of USMC squadrons (IIRC) that you can resize, but you can also resize the non-replacement CVE groups without waiting for later. You can resize any CV-capable group once all of their coded resizes have occurred, but this isn't until late 1944 or 1945 for almost all of them.

The VRF/VRB/VRT units, despite not having any resizes, are not able to resize.

You can resize some FAA units, but you won't have anywhere near enough CV-capable planes to fill them out. So, good for training.... or LBA, if you're facing mega-Zero units.

All that said, the mega units still suck up aviation support and supplies that much faster. And airfield space.

Yeah, any marine or naval fighter group that has carrier capable planes can expand to 36 and then 42 later in the war. I do this with about a half dozen so that I can rotate the groups. (Although replenishment CVEs lessen the need for this) I actually find the 24 plane US army and Marine groups to be about right. They offer a lot of flexibility and the Allies can build up air bases fast enough. The smaller Commonwealth squadrons are a bit of a handicap though.

One caution. When you hit 1/44, all American heavy and medium bomber groups expand. You need to have a crap load of reserve pilots for this event. I got caught short handed.

I've been training like mad for the duration thanks to all of the warnings about these the bomber pilots shortage that seems to happen to everyone later in the war. I've also limited operations (until now) to those that are critical and tried to deny my constant surge to 'do something' even if it's not strategically necessary or useful. So the pools are good now, although I'm dipping into them for necessary reasons now hitting Ceylon. (Curently about to watch the next replay where Nick sends me a note saying; "Bloody Hell!! These battles are glorious!" Gives me the shivers to open the game right now after that! [;)]

I've not thought too much about expanding groups because of a distinct lack of navy/marine fighters, but soon I should be able to do this with the Hellcat and FM-1 coming online.

[JocMeister]

Keep in mind also that once the 2nd gen planes kick in and you start upgrading you will end up with huge pools of older AC. With PDU OFF be careful with what you upgrade so you don´t lose the ability to use older AC in backwaters and/or training!

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Keep in mind also that once the 2nd gen planes kick in and you start upgrading you will end up with huge pools of older AC. With PDU OFF be careful with what you upgrade so you don´t lose the ability to use older AC in backwaters and/or training!

I've been trying to keep up on this, and upgrade options are off until I actually decide to get the next model.

I've literally been trying to use everything as long as possible. I still have Buffs flying CAP at rear bases in India, (shhhhhh), Mohawks on the front lines in a few places, and I'm using P-40Es even though all groups can upgrade to the P-40K with about 90 in the pool (before the recent turn, anyway).

All bomber types are still flying, including Hudson I in OZ and Bolos in So Pac. Very few airframes have been retired, and usually it's only when I can no longer fill a group that i put them to pasture. The Devastators of course are the exception. [:)]

It's actually kind of fun to throw this motley crew into battle. I feel much more like the commanders at the time must have felt trying to balance obsolescence vs necessity.

[JocMeister]

Yeah, using the same planes over and over again gets pretty tiresome!

Btw, bought WitW yet? [:)]

[obvert]

[font="Times New Roman"]March 20 - 21, 1943[/font]

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[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SUBS: [/font] The Guardfish gets in the sea lanes between Truk and Rabaul and drops a TK. Nice.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]INDIA: [/font] We only found four groups defending Colombo, and the Corsairs arrived first. Gotta like it when that happens. [:)]

The base is closed as our sweepers dominate the skies and lots of bombers and patrol planes are hit on the ground. The base is effectively closed, and on day two there is no resistance, but some bombers and damaged planes are left int eh base. Odd since there is rail here. Also an ACM is left to be sacrificed as we add a few points of damage to the port as well.

Dambulla takes a few extra top-up damage points, and now it's all about Trincomalee. Although it may be expensive to do it, I have to try to close it too. It's only a level 6 base, so should be easier to close, but also easier to fix. I have a feeling Tojos will be waiting. Our sweepers got a break last turn, so it's all-in for the next few until it looks like we can't go anymore.

This is exactly the scenario I was looking to create with the first strikes on Madras, now I just have to hope weather continues to hold so it can be taken advantage of. Reving up the engines and crossing fingers. [:)]

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SO PAC: [/font] Supply lands at Shortlands and an engineer unit.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CHINA: [/font] The Kunming area defenders are being worn down. Not long now. If they get to Kunming I'll be forced to think of moving the Burma division to the South of Paoshan up the road to try to make an escape somehow. It still has supply, amazingly.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]OZ:[/font] Kalgoorlie is full of troops! Too many now. I'll be moving forward once it's all out of strat mode. Feels good to get back here with no real losses in the return operation.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SIGINT:[/font] Subs on the way!

I think the Trincomalee move must be leaving the base. A good sign that the air campaign is working.

If 13 men are based at Hirosaki/Aomori, should I get some Marines together and make some trouble? [:D]

[font="Trebuchet MS"]a Tonan Whaler class TK is moving to Soerabaja (56,104).
9/52nd Division is loaded on a Japanese xAK moving to Rabaul.
13/52nd Division is loaded on a Std-D Cargo class xAK moving to Rabaul.

4/10th Garrison Unit is loaded on a Kyushu Cargo class xAK moving to Trincomalee.

13 men are based at Hirosaki/Aomori (118,54).[/font]

[font="Trebuchet MS"]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 20, 43
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Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 36
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 83
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 42

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 44
F4U-1 Corsair x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x F4U-1 Corsair sweeping at 25000 feet

CAP engaged:
11th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 29 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 21000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
25th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 29 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 23000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-43-IIIa Oscar (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 29 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 22000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
286 Ku S-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 18 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes

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Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 45 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 30
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 64
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 32

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

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Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 12
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 14
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 8

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 32
B-17E Fortress x 18
B-17F Fortress x 6
B-24D Liberator x 21
P-39D Airacobra x 25
P-40E Warhawk x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed on ground
H8K1 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 1 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 26
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 46

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Dambulla , at 30,47

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 8
B-25C Mitchell x 18
B-25D1 Mitchell x 3
B-26 Marauder x 30
B-26B Marauder x 15
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 31

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 21, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sub attack near Emirau Island at 108,116

Japanese Ships
TK Shoun Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
PB Menado Maru

Allied Ships
SS Guardfish

SS Guardfish launches 2 torpedoes at TK Shoun Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 3
Wellington Ic x 18
Kittyhawk I x 30
B-17E Fortress x 12
B-17F Fortress x 11
B-24D Liberator x 48
B-24D1 Liberator x 25
P-38G Lightning x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 24
P-40K Warhawk x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K1 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed on ground
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
ACM Kaiyo Maru #1, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Japanese ground losses:
72 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 45
Port hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Wellington Ic bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Also attacking 3rd Air Army ...
Also attacking 48th Field Const Co /1 ...
Also attacking 18th JAAF Base Force ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 70,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 15614 troops, 317 guns, 922 vehicles, Assault Value = 617

Defending force 20892 troops, 111 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 542

Japanese adjusted assault: 271

Allied adjusted defense: 184

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Allied ground losses:
566 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 54 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Division
Guards Tank Division
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
32nd Chinese Corps
56th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/font]

---

---

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Here is the situation. I'll pump a few more missions over Colombo to make sure it stays closed and begin heavy sweeps over Trincomalee with some bombing, but not the whole enchilada the first day. Madras is beefed up to 450+ fighters but Trincomalee can't hold much more than it is now without serious overstacking, and it'll be limited to 1E planes most likely, so it shouldn't be too long before we break through, but it could be very bloody. [/font]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Yeah, using the same planes over and over again gets pretty tiresome!

Btw, bought WitW yet? [:)]

Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

It's a lot better when my P-40E are facing Zeros and Oscars (even late war Oscar III) rather than a wall of Tojos and Georges. Although the george and jack arrive soon, one of the reasons I want Ceylon shut down now!

[MrKane]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Yeah, using the same planes over and over again gets pretty tiresome!

Btw, bought WitW yet? [:)]

Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

It's a lot better when my P-40E are facing Zeros and Oscars (even late war Oscar III) rather than a wall of Tojos and Georges. Although the george and jack arrive soon, one of the reasons I want Ceylon shut down now!

Well, not exactly true, he will be able to produce Jacks and Gorges soon true.However he does not have units to fly it.

Here is list of units:

210 Ku S-2 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Dec 44
301 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
302 Ku S-2 36 J2M2 arriving date: Mar 44.
341 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
341 Ku S-2 27 N1K2-J arriving date: Feb 44
345 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
345 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
S-407 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Mar 44
S-701 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Jul 44

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: obvert
Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

Well worth it I think. I fear I can´t make myself get back to the horrible AE UI again. [:(] Whoever designed the WitW air war should get a medal. I can manage the entire Allied air force in 10-15 minutes per turn once I set things up (about 1-2 hours of work for me). Thats 396 Air Units with 8737 planes. And it takes a couple of minutes to manage. [X(]

The ground war is still pretty much the best system there is. Air war is getting there and with the next game or two it will be just as good as the ground side. Can´t wait to see what they do to the naval side. [:)]

I´ve pretty much played nothing else since I got hooked before Christmas. There are certainly balancing issues, bugs and quirks to be sorted but its a VERY solid game on release.

I´ll write you a more complete review during the week. "Daddyleave" starting tomorrow... [;)]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: MrKane

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Yeah, using the same planes over and over again gets pretty tiresome!

Btw, bought WitW yet? [:)]

Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

It's a lot better when my P-40E are facing Zeros and Oscars (even late war Oscar III) rather than a wall of Tojos and Georges. Although the george and jack arrive soon, one of the reasons I want Ceylon shut down now!

Well, not exactly true, he will be able to produce Jacks and Gorges soon true.However he does not have units to fly it.

Here is list of units:

210 Ku S-2 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Dec 44
301 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
302 Ku S-2 36 J2M2 arriving date: Mar 44.
341 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
341 Ku S-2 27 N1K2-J arriving date: Feb 44
345 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
345 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
S-407 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Mar 44
S-701 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Jul 44

Interesting. Are there no units already on board with an upgrade path to either plane? I thought there were 2-3 out there. Maybe I'm wrong.

If the same is true for the Frank mid 43 could be a hard time for the Japanese air forces. He does have the Tojo IIc in game and in a group already, but it might only be one group as he's still using the Tojo IIb as well. The Frank is scheduled to arrive in 12/43 last I checked and the Tony Ic should come slightly before that one.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: obvert
Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

Well worth it I think. I fear I can´t make myself get back to the horrible AE UI again. [:(] Whoever designed the WitW air war should get a medal. I can manage the entire Allied air force in 10-15 minutes per turn once I set things up (about 1-2 hours of work for me). Thats 396 Air Units with 8737 planes. And it takes a couple of minutes to manage. [X(]

The ground war is still pretty much the best system there is. Air war is getting there and with the next game or two it will be just as good as the ground side. Can´t wait to see what they do to the naval side. [:)]

I´ve pretty much played nothing else since I got hooked before Christmas. There are certainly balancing issues, bugs and quirks to be sorted but its a VERY solid game on release.

I´ll write you a more complete review during the week. "Daddyleave" starting tomorrow... [;)]

That's good to hear. Although I'm committed here for quite a while yet, with not a lot of extra game time, maybe there can be a trial period sometime soon.

"Daddyleave" again huh? Nice! [8D]

[obvert]

[font="Times New Roman"]SO PAC/SW PAC[/font]

---

Here's the other side of the world I haven't talked about much lately. It's going well, and the progress is careful but steady.

[obvert]

[font="Times New Roman"]CHINA[/font]

---

China is a mess now, but it's still taking some time for the Japanese to clean up the remains.

[MrKane]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: MrKane

ORIGINAL: obvert




Not yet. Are you playing? Is it worth taking time away from AE?

It's a lot better when my P-40E are facing Zeros and Oscars (even late war Oscar III) rather than a wall of Tojos and Georges. Although the george and jack arrive soon, one of the reasons I want Ceylon shut down now!

Well, not exactly true, he will be able to produce Jacks and Gorges soon true.However he does not have units to fly it.

Here is list of units:

210 Ku S-2 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Dec 44
301 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
302 Ku S-2 36 J2M2 arriving date: Mar 44.
341 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Nov 43
341 Ku S-2 27 N1K2-J arriving date: Feb 44
345 Ku S-1 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
345 Ku S-2 27 N1K1-J arriving date: Jan 44
S-407 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Mar 44
S-701 Hikotai 36 N1K1-J arriving date: Jul 44

Interesting. Are there no units already on board with an upgrade path to either plane? I thought there were 2-3 out there. Maybe I'm wrong.

If the same is true for the Frank mid 43 could be a hard time for the Japanese air forces. He does have the Tojo IIc in game and in a group already, but it might only be one group as he's still using the Tojo IIb as well. The Frank is scheduled to arrive in 12/43 last I checked and the Tony Ic should come slightly before that one.

He can upgrade only one active unit "3rd Ku S-1" but it require N1K2-J.
Other IJN grups need follow Zero path till Reppu.

Frank is different story, he has a lot of Sentai with ability to fly it. He just need R&D a few planes before he will be able upgrade to Ki-84a .