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

[Spidery]

March 30th 1944

Lost an AKV (I had forgotten about it) when Liberators bomb Cagayan port with no CAP. Not sure why I ever converted these ships as I haven't had any use from them. They cost 18 VP as a loss. I've started converting a number of ships back to save VP.

Put some fighters on LRCAP in Burma but it is a costly mess as they divert all over the place and tangle with superior Allied sweeps.

Allied forces have moved up to the hex West of Pagan. He could be invading there or pushing forward and heading for Iwo-Jima.

I am using some of the 1250 capacity tankers to extract fuel from North Borneo. Surprisingly, he hasn't tried to sink them.

Completely repaired the runway at Guam and started work on services - I wonder if he will let this continue?

Receive a NF unit, inconveniently at Kendari.

[Lowpe]

AKVs.

Once or twice I wished I had them, but I though they might be somewhat more important in the expansion phase of the war 41 & 42.

[FeurerKrieg]

AKV's, I made two.

I've used them a couple times and it is still early in my game. I had envisioned using them to haul some short legged kamikazes out to the Marianas or something like that in the late game.

[obvert]

I've never converted ships to AKV as Japan. I think they would be really useful if it wasn't so easy to transport by air. The Japanese used them a lot in the war, but of course, lost quite a few to subs as well. They probably would have been better off just taking the losses flying the groups there.

[Spidery]

March 31st 1944

Near Moulmein, a regiment by itself in the woods is attacked by two divisions and retreats.

Allied deliberate attack reduces Guam forts to 6 and the Allies suffer no significant loss.

Allied task forces around Marianas are unclear and the only indication of CV presence is where search planes have been shot down.

A large number of AM and AMc are completed as I think I may need them.

New plane models available:
- D4Y2 (already obsolete),
- D4Y2-C (marginal improvement on D4Y1-C),
- G4M1-L(I'll just use float transports),
- Q1W1(yuck!),
- J2M3(for an SR2 plane I think I prefer N1K2-J),
- E16A1(I'll convert a factory to produce some of these, just to see what can do with them),
- Ki-61-Id(no engines and there are better planes)

Lots of DD upgrades available:
- Asashio class get radar and more AA
- Hatsuharu class get an extra radar
- Mutsuki class swap some TT and main gun for more AA, radar and upgrade DC
- Kamikaze class lose a 12cm gun and add more AA, radar and upgrade DC
- Ansyu class PB get more AA but lose the option to convert back to xAK

Very odd this, 1 have only 1 IJA and 69 IJN TRACOM pilots but get this:

Accelerated training for 3 IJ Army pilots from month-cycle 10
IJ Army instructors accelerate training of 21 pilots from month-cycle 10
Accelerated training for 404 IJ Army pilots from month-cycle 9
Accelerated training for 446 IJ Navy pilots from month-cycle 7

[Spidery]

March Overview

Allies destroyed oil wells in Borneo.

They landed at Guam and made some progress at a cost.

They have infiltrated through Burma Jungles and will threaten Moulmein and Lashio this month.

Air just performs at better than 1::2, the massive loss on the ground at Guam was unexpected and didn't help. Army is doing well but there are a lot of troops at Guam that will eventually be lost. Navy did well sinking a CVE and with an air strike against a convoy in Bay of Bengal.

Losses: 1 TK, 1 AKV, 2 xAK, 1 SS, 1 SC, 1 PB. Apart from the AKV and SS, all lost to subs.
Losses inflicted: (confirmed) 1 CVE, 1 LSI(L), 2 xAP, 1 AM, 2 SS; (best guess) 2 xAK, 3 more SS

Code: Select all

         Japan   Allies
 Total:  +1,284  +2,059
 Bases:     +55    +583
 Air:      +677  +1,341 
 Land:     +347     +81
 Sea:      +205     +66
 

[Spidery]

March Industry

Lost 298 oil wells during month. Oil/fuel falling but in line with expectations. Supply didn't expand as much as expected because I mildly expanded Ki-84r, N1K1-J and N1K2-J production.

Total equivalent supply: -296,360

Code: Select all

 Oil:       -201,112
 Fuel:      -166,505
 Supply:     +51,143
 HI:         +76,110
 Vehicles:    -2,082
 Armaments:   +2,160
 

[Lowpe]

How many subs do you think you have killed?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How many subs do you think you have killed?

Tracker claims 41. However, numbers usually sort out after 2 or 3 months but I think over-estimating for those months so I would guess at about 30. Sinking about 5 a month. The better ASW available now is helping despite that it is nerfed relative to standard scenarios.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How many subs do you think you have killed?

Tracker claims 41. However, numbers usually sort out after 2 or 3 months but I think over-estimating for those months so I would guess at about 30. Sinking about 5 a month. The better ASW available now is helping despite that it is nerfed relative to standard scenarios.

Not that many then.[:(] If I remember, Mr. Kane was pretty careful with his subs early, not putting them into shallows, etc.

If you can double your kills roughly, 2 a month, that might start to put a dent in his forces.

[Spidery]

Not that many then. If I remember, Mr. Kane was pretty careful with his subs early, not putting them into shallows, etc.

If you can double your kills roughly, 2 a month, that might start to put a dent in his forces.

MrKane remains very careful about putting subs into shallows and avoiding areas of intense air activity. In fact, he has few subs actively hunting - I expect he has a lot posted West and North of the Marianas to keep an eye out for any interference there.

Ultimately, having chewed up my oil production, there isn't that much in the way of targets for his subs so it is mainly a question of picking up VP with minimal fuel expenditure.