Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I'll need it when I kick off the Sumatra thing. Along those lines, when that happens, I'll have two landing sites: Benkoelen, as mentioned and Oosthaven. Oosthaven will be landed on by commando-type troops -- USMC raiders and Australian commandos. They will be departing from Geraldton. Perth's stacking limit is 90,000, so I figure I'll have to do some splitting up. Both landings will have large support and supply convoys right behind them. CVEs will accompany everyone to deal with the Nettie threat.

So you are really planning on going forward with this plan? I really think you should reconsider. At the very least, you should check out the AARs of early Java/Sumatra invasions. Figure out whey some succeeded and why others failed. I will reiterate again that you should be looking at targets much closer to your own lines to build some momentum and tie down Japanese resources.

[Mundy]

I did say it's quite a ways out. I'm counting on two Essexs and 2-3 CVL being in the mix. On top of this, everyone will be carrying F6Fs, which should push the fighter situation over the top. Losing Palembang would put him in panic mode, I would think. I'll look at some AARs to see what's up there. I do plan a convincing invasion of Baker Island and/or the Gilberts before this gets in range. With luck KB would be able to do anything about it. Tons of supply will come right after the invasion, and if I grab my objectives, they'll hopefully be self-sufficient.

13 February 1943

I need to watch my upgrades...

The VP I just relocated to Adak just converted to PV-1s. I'll leave them as is, as I can harass Attu with them.

My retreating forces from Katherine haven't been bombed in about a week. I have two P-38G squadrons LRCAPping them at 50%, which is deterring them. Some of the armor has reached Normanton, and they're getting routed to Perth.

One of my USN subs bagged a tanker off Ceylon. Being 1943, I'm seeing almost 50-50 effectiveness with torps now. It'll only get better.

CF took a shot at Wuchang.

Ground combat at Wuchang (84,51)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 108056 troops, 943 guns, 550 vehicles, Assault Value = 4340

Defending force 121156 troops, 112 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2224

Japanese adjusted assault: 2712

Allied adjusted defense: 875

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
8952 casualties reported
Squads: 24 destroyed, 820 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 107 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 67 disabled
Guns lost 74 (1 destroyed, 73 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3745 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 191 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 53 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Division
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
39th/A Division
15th Tank Regiment
39th/B Division
56th Division
17th Division
40th/A Division
22nd Division
116th Division
58th Division
9th Tank Regiment
26th Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
37th Division
40th/B Division
39th/C Division
13th Army
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
12th Army
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
11th Army
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
China Expeditionary Army
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
99th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
44th Chinese Corps
66th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
4th Heavy Mortar Regiment

If this is 3-1 odds, I'd hate to see it if he didn't bring enough.

My two Corsair squadrons in Bombay are finally up to strength. Both are getting the last two repaired up.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I did say it's quite a ways out. I'm counting on two Essexs and 2-3 CVL being in the mix. On top of this, everyone will be carrying F6Fs, which should push the fighter situation over the top. Losing Palembang would put him in panic mode, I would think. I'll look at some AARs to see what's up there. I do plan a convincing invasion of Baker Island and/or the Gilberts before this gets in range. With luck KB would be able to do anything about it. Tons of supply will come right after the invasion, and if I grab my objectives, they'll hopefully be self-sufficient.

Losing Palembang would certainly be a huge blow to Japan. As for as other targets, I was talking more about NW OZ since you could use troops in Perth for that. I haven't heard anything at all about that. Don't forget it runs adjacent to your supply lines and if Japan has Exmouth, it has eyes on Perth. Before moving on Sumatra, whenever that happens, you should move the Japanese back here. If you can't take Darwin, you won't be able to take Sumatra. Think of it like a testing ground for your tactics and strategies.

[Mundy]

I'll have to look again, but I don't think CF holds Exmouth.
 
After thinking about it a bit, I may do an early assault on Port Hedland.  I wish I had some PB4Ys in the area.  I'll have to check my pools and who's in the area.  If I do it, I'll keep it at a commando-type level, so that it looks low key.  I wouldn't want to spook him with a major force too early.  Raiders and Commandos could probably do it, if he kept the garrison light.  Probably two fighter equipped CVEs to cover, also.  I'd also restrict fire support to cruisers and below.  I'd want it to look like a shoestring effort.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
After thinking about it a bit, I may do an early assault on Port Hedland.  I wish I had some PB4Ys in the area.  I'll have to check my pools and who's in the area.  If I do it, I'll keep it at a commando-type level, so that it looks low key.  I wouldn't want to spook him with a major force too early.  Raiders and Commandos could probably do it, if he kept the garrison light.  Probably two fighter equipped CVEs to cover, also.  I'd also restrict fire support to cruisers and below.  I'd want it to look like a shoestring effort.

Be careful about using raiders and commandos that way. In my current game I recently occupied a dot hex in the CentPac with raiders and commandos. Bad idea. I had no way of providing air cover to them and they were obliterated by Japanese aircraft and I lost the elite troops and the island. You may not need a lot to take the base, but at the same time keeping it "low key" at a time where you're not really attacking elsewhere in the Pacific may not be possible. And Port Hedland is a pretty decent base so bringing base forces in a real invasion package is probably the better option. That being said, if Exmouth is unocuppied that should be your first target so you can get an air base close to Port Hedland. You have a bad habit of ignoring the bases on the front line that could be used for LBA to support invasions; time to fix that.

[Mundy]

It would probably be a "smash and grab" with me pulling them out right away. The CVEs could cover them from the really long range bombers.

14 February 1943

Well, I know his battleships live at Colombo. Unfortunately, the bombers got strung out with everyone after the first being unescorted.

Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 17 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 36
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 36

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 13
B-26B Marauder x 11
P-38F Lightning x 25

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-26B Marauder: 4 damaged
P-38F Lightning: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1

Port hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Port Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
11 x B-26B Marauder bombing from 8000 feet *
Port Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
59th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (6 airborne, 12 on standby, 18 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
10 planes vectored on to bombers
66th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (4 airborne, 9 on standby, 23 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers

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

Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 28
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 33

Allied aircraft
B-18A Bolo x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-18A Bolo: 3 destroyed

CAP engaged:
59th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 14 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
10 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
66th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (8 airborne, 1 on standby, 19 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 14000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes

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

Morning Air attack on Colombo , at 29,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 27
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 32

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 31

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 2 destroyed, 6 damaged

Port hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Port Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
7 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
City Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
8 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Port Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
59th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 23 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
66th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (4 airborne, 4 on standby, 21 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 12000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes

Apart from that, just enduring the daily bombings at Wuchang and Ichang.

My carrier mob is at Sydney, repairing up before moving to Perth.

I've got tankers and oilers at Seattle ready to ship fuel to Attu. Once they get stocked, I'll start moving my sub base there. It'll be easier to keep subs on station around Japan proper. Right now, Dutch Harbor subs concentrate on Japan. Those at Midway deal with the DEI/Philippines/China area, and those at Suva and Brisbane deal more locally.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Well, I know his battleships live at Colombo. Unfortunately, the bombers got strung out with everyone after the first being unescorted.

Well honestly if you only have one fighter squadron on escort and you have multiple bomber squadrons attacking, this is bound to happen. To have this raid properly escorted, it would require every squadron to go in as a single strike. In my experience, that's quite a rare occurrence. Even when I have bombers in the same base, same HQ, with the same aircraft attacking the same target, they almost always have their strikes split. Either way, 500 lb bombs are just going to bounce off BBs. In my game I put 6 1000 lb bombs in the Yamashiro which caused some firs but it was operational again in less than a fortnight (though I just put another 8 1000 lb bombs and a torpedo in it when it tried to bombard me again [:D]). Last time the port strike worked for you because there were lots of merchant ships and APDs in Colombo but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Though your port strike inspired me to do something similar in my game and I ended up damaging around 66 ships in port sinking around half of them.

[Mundy]

I almost went to Trincomalee, which is a softer target, and CF seems to keep his transports there.. Kinda wish I had.

It was more of an random act of violence thing to mess with him a bit. I'm due to hit Cocanada soon, I think. I'm sweeping there next turn to see if it's defended.

A second squadron of 38s would have helped, but the pool was low at the time, and I flipped one to P-39 for CAS work. Within a month or so, I'll probably get another in. Maybe I should have swept instead. Either way, Colombo is a hard nut to crack.

I had a shot at a really big tanker this turn from a sub. Missed, of course. Some of my USN subs have issues hitting the target, which is an extra layer of frustration over the dud issue.

[Mundy]

No second turn yesterday.  That's okay, I could use the break.
 
WITP-AE is eating lots of my time lately.
 
I've got a 2nd war going on vs AW1Steve as the Japanese this time.  Dealing with the Japanese org chart makes me pull my hair out.  How one unit can have all its constituent units spread out over 2,000 miles baffles me.  I tend to be OCD about putting them back together again.  It's bad enough in this game with two USA regiments in Suva and one in India.
 
I've been tempted to start another AAR -- for the advice, if anything.  As it is, I feel more compelled to update this than to get the actual turns out.  We're at about 20 December 1941.  The northern half of Luzon is mine, as is Rabaul.  I'm also moving in on Manila from the SE.  I've also cut Steve off in Malaya via Mersing, at the cost of having Prince of Wales, Repulse and friends beat up the invasion convoy.  Little blind spots I have.  I mostly let stuff run on its initial autopilot, though I did make a few tweaks --  The Rabaul landings and Mersing, for instance.  Lots of stuff was moving about at sea at the start, lots of which I didn't notice right away.  I won't try too much at the start.  The Japanese didn't even go for Port Moresby until May, in real life.  Once Luzon and Singapore is mine, I'll get the OOB sorted out.  If he doesn't start an AAR, I probably won't either.  They need balance. 

[Mundy]

15 February 1943

Good day for subs.

Sub attack near Oosthaven at 46,97

Japanese Ships
xAK Tamon Maru, Torpedo hits 1
xAK Teiyo Maru
DD Hibiki

Allied Ships
SS Permit

SS Permit launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Tamon Maru
Permit diving deep ....
DD Hibiki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Hibiki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Hibiki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Hibiki attacking submerged sub ....
DD Hibiki fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

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

Sub attack near Satawal at 108,102

Japanese Ships
AO Kokuyo Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AO Kyokuto Maru
AO Ken'yo Maru
E Ishinui

Allied Ships
SS Pompano

SS Pompano launches 6 torpedoes at AO Kokuyo Maru
Pompano diving deep ....
E Ishinui fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Ishinui attacking submerged sub ....
E Ishinui fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Ishinui fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Ishinui attacking submerged sub ....
E Ishinui is out of ASW ammo
Escort abandons search for sub

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

ASW attack near Truk at 113,109

Japanese Ships
DD Amagiri, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Toba Maru
xAK Tatuno Maru
DD Mutsuki

Allied Ships
SS Wahoo

SS Wahoo launches 2 torpedoes at DD Amagiri
Wahoo diving deep ....
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

I'm also nailing Attu good on a daily basis.

Morning Air attack on 82nd Naval Guard Unit, at 153,49 (Attu Island)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 9

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Also attacking 50th JNAF Coy ...

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

Morning Air attack on 82nd Naval Guard Unit, at 153,49 (Attu Island)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 25 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

There may be nothing left when I finally invade.

Indiana's getting an upgrade at Sydney. Only a 20 day job.

[Mundy]

16 Feb 1943

After further checking, Exmouth is indeed Japanese held -- Level 4 airfield too, from the looks of it. I'll be taking care of them in the next 3-4 weeks. Commandos, USMC Paras and an MG battalion should do it. I'll probably set up a base of my own there, too, for harassment purposes.

Since my pool was loaded, I've converted two P-40K squadrons in India to P-38Es. Yeah, I know... the maintenance factor, but they do have a range edge. Most of my front line bases are too short on supply to allow external fuel, so don't argue that. 25 are now left in the pool, for attrition purposes.

A regiment of the IJA 41st division is making noise about invading Perth. Too bad they're sitting in Chungking. With the armed camp I'm setting up there right now, it would be entertaining to watch.

I've got at least a month's worth of prep before I can finish Attu.

[BBfanboy]

A lot have players have been surprised at the poor results with the P-38Es when they first used them because they thought they would be way better than they turned out to be in sweeps. The Lightning's big advantages are speed and altitude. Not sure if you have altitude limits HRs. Maneuverability - not so much. And numbers count in A-A combat, so once the P-38s use up their altitude bounce, the remaining IJA CAP can chew them up.

Not saying don't use them, but don't expect them to dominate either.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
After further checking, Exmouth is indeed Japanese held -- Level 4 airfield too, from the looks of it. I'll be taking care of them in the next 3-4 weeks. Commandos, USMC Paras and an MG battalion should do it. I'll probably set up a base of my own there, too, for harassment purposes.

Is Exmouth really so weakly defended? If there are any regimental sized LCUs or above then I think you will need a more substantial invasion force.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Since my pool was loaded, I've converted two P-40K squadrons in India to P-38Es. Yeah, I know... the maintenance factor, but they do have a range edge. Most of my front line bases are too short on supply to allow external fuel, so don't argue that. 25 are now left in the pool, for attrition purposes.

Your supply situation in India is curious to me. Do bases like Bombay have sufficient supply and that the issue is that the supply just won't reach the front? Or is all of India short? I'd think it would have to be the latter given the rail road network. If so then you really need to fix the supply situation ASAP.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

A lot have players have been surprised at the poor results with the P-38Es when they first used them because they thought they would be way better than they turned out to be in sweeps. The Lightning's big advantages are speed and altitude. Not sure if you have altitude limits HRs. Maneuverability - not so much. And numbers count in A-A combat, so once the P-38s use up their altitude bounce, the remaining IJA CAP can chew them up.

Not saying don't use them, but don't expect them to dominate either.

They dominate for me. But that's because I use them relatively infrequently and en masse (50-100 P-38s at a time). The biggest problem I faced with them was susceptibility to naval bombardment. Pools are limited and the service rating is high so often times I would launch successful sweeps with them only for the Japanese to respond with cruiser bombardments. At a place like Portland Roads or Cooktown this especially was a problem; even if I had warning of the bombardment I often have to leave a fair number of planes on the ground when I rebased south. With P-40Es I never sweat leaving a couple of planes for the Japanese to destroy on the ground but P-38s are a different story.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Since my pool was loaded, I've converted two P-40K squadrons in India to P-38Es. Yeah, I know... the maintenance factor, but they do have a range edge. Most of my front line bases are too short on supply to allow external fuel, so don't argue that. 25 are now left in the pool, for attrition purposes.

Your supply situation in India is curious to me. Do bases like Bombay have sufficient supply and that the issue is that the supply just won't reach the front? Or is all of India short? I'd think it would have to be the latter given the rail road network. If so then you really need to fix the supply situation ASAP.

I think this mod is one that cuts down the cargo capacity of all the xAK types, so hauling enough supply from Cape Town takes more ships and time. I am NOT doing a reduced capacity mod and I still use idle xAPs in a transport TF to haul supply from CT, and can't keep up with the amount there (but India is well supplied).

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

A lot have players have been surprised at the poor results with the P-38Es when they first used them because they thought they would be way better than they turned out to be in sweeps. The Lightning's big advantages are speed and altitude. Not sure if you have altitude limits HRs. Maneuverability - not so much. And numbers count in A-A combat, so once the P-38s use up their altitude bounce, the remaining IJA CAP can chew them up.

Not saying don't use them, but don't expect them to dominate either.

They dominate for me. But that's because I use them relatively infrequently and en masse (50-100 P-38s at a time). The biggest problem I faced with them was susceptibility to naval bombardment. Pools are limited and the service rating is high so often times I would launch successful sweeps with them only for the Japanese to respond with cruiser bombardments. At a place like Portland Roads or Cooktown this especially was a problem; even if I had warning of the bombardment I often have to leave a fair number of planes on the ground when I rebased south. With P-40Es I never sweat leaving a couple of planes for the Japanese to destroy on the ground but P-38s are a different story.

I always liked the idea of developing Coen as a bombardment-proof base, close enough to PM to be useful.

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
They dominate for me. But that's because I use them relatively infrequently and en masse (50-100 P-38s at a time). The biggest problem I faced with them was susceptibility to naval bombardment. Pools are limited and the service rating is high so often times I would launch successful sweeps with them only for the Japanese to respond with cruiser bombardments. At a place like Portland Roads or Cooktown this especially was a problem; even if I had warning of the bombardment I often have to leave a fair number of planes on the ground when I rebased south. With P-40Es I never sweat leaving a couple of planes for the Japanese to destroy on the ground but P-38s are a different story.

I won't have them on the coast, so they're relatively safe, in that sense. In previous games, they've tamed the Tojo threat quite a bit when in-theatre.

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
Your supply situation in India is curious to me. Do bases like Bombay have sufficient supply and that the issue is that the supply just won't reach the front? Or is all of India short? I'd think it would have to be the latter given the rail road network. If so then you really need to fix the supply situation ASAP.

The main bases like Karachi, Bombay and Madras are rolling in supply. Other's like Bhopal, Nagpur and Cocanada are at starvation levels. I've tried maxing out the demand of every base in between, to no avail. Supply convoys with extra dumped in help... a little. But not enough. I have a hard time believing that Calcutta is the lynchpin to sufficient supply in all of India.

Supplies to Cooktown weren't the challenge I had feared. I had shipped 20k there, but now that I have substantial base forces there, it's naturally climbed to over 70k. I'm hoping Portland Roads benefits similar to this.

17 February 1943

Nicks showed up at Attu out of the blue. I don't know if they were inactive there or parked somewhere else.

Morning Air attack on 82nd Naval Guard Unit, at 153,49 (Attu Island)

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 22

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged

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

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
92nd Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (10 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(10 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
10 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 13000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes

He'll be getting a 38G sweep next turn. My sub tender TF enroute to Attu got attacked by an RO sub, taking a shot at one of the escorting minesweepers. I gave him a good solid hit for his efforts. I moved some P-40s to Attu to cover the tender and repair ship when they arrive, just in case.

At Kukong, he attacked the stack of troops I forgot about there. For his 5-1 favor, he suffered nicely for it.

Ground combat at Kukong (79,57)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 58615 troops, 500 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 1832

Defending force 36637 troops, 171 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 953

Japanese adjusted assault: 2184

Allied adjusted defense: 399

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2146 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 260 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 28 (1 destroyed, 27 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
699 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 129 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Assaulting units:
110th Division
9th Armored Car Co
15th Division
104th Division
5th Guards Division
23rd Army

Defending units:
25th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
49th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
63rd Chinese Corps
7th War Area
12th Group Army

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
The main bases like Karachi, Bombay and Madras are rolling in supply. Other's like Bhopal, Nagpur and Cocanada are at starvation levels. I've tried maxing out the demand of every base in between, to no avail. Supply convoys with extra dumped in help... a little. But not enough. I have a hard time believing that Calcutta is the lynchpin to sufficient supply in all of India.

Are you stockpiling supply in those big bases? The issue almost certainly isn't throughput but rather relative demand. The AI must be thinking that it needs a ton of supply in those big bases at the expense of the smaller ones.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Supplies to Cooktown weren't the challenge I had feared. I had shipped 20k there, but now that I have substantial base forces there, it's naturally climbed to over 70k. I'm hoping Portland Roads benefits similar to this.

Perhaps my issue with Cooktown is that I also have Portland Roads. Supply get sucked overland into Portland Roads at the expense of Cooktown. I bet once you set up Portland Roads you have to maintain at least some amount of coastal shipping.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Nicks showed up at Attu out of the blue. I don't know if they were inactive there or parked somewhere else.

I'm sure they flew in for a CAP trap after you were continuously bombing the units for a while. Which raises the issue of why you are bombing the units before destroying the air base. I almost always attack the air base first to drain supply, prevent CAP traps, and stops forts from building up. The only reason I would just do ground attack is if I wanted to try a surprise landing and I needed to get disruption up on the defending units.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
He'll be getting a 38G sweep next turn. My sub tender TF enroute to Attu got attacked by an RO sub, taking a shot at one of the escorting minesweepers. I gave him a good solid hit for his efforts. I moved some P-40s to Attu to cover the tender and repair ship when they arrive, just in case.

Surely you mean Adak, correct?

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I always liked the idea of developing Coen as a bombardment-proof base, close enough to PM to be useful.

Yes, I regret not developing Coen in my game. Luckily NE Australia is a bit harder to bombard than other places in the world because of the Great Barrier Reef. It also provides good protection for coastal convoys.

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
Surely you mean Adak, correct?

Yes, I'm forever conflicting Attu and Adak.

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
Are you stockpiling supply in those big bases? The issue almost certainly isn't throughput but rather relative demand. The AI must be thinking that it needs a ton of supply in those big bases at the expense of the smaller ones.

I don't believe so. I almost never activate stockpiling.

We'll see how Portland Roads develops. It'll be at least a few weeks before the troops hoof it there on foot. Being as negligible as the base is, I'll probably have to use Amphib TFs to get stuff there.

I'm looking forward to a P-40 Sweep of PM. Last I encountered, it was just Nicks there.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
Are you stockpiling supply in those big bases? The issue almost certainly isn't throughput but rather relative demand. The AI must be thinking that it needs a ton of supply in those big bases at the expense of the smaller ones.

I don't believe so. I almost never activate stockpiling.

One thing I haven't heard you mention is the supply draw created by great numbers of troops. If Calcutta is where you have the greatest concentration, that is where the supply will want to go.

This is especially true if units are filling out their TOE and using a lot of supply. The same could be happening between your supply sources like Bombay and relatively isolated places like Bhopal. If the garrisons in between are stealing all the supply to fill out, not much will get there.

I think using the stockpile switch for a turn or two does help accumulate enough supply to allow base development to continue.