tiemanj-
I can't comment much because I am also reading Lowpe's companion AAR.
Just wanted to let you know I am having fun reading and watching your war progress.
Thanx for the AAR!
Regards,
-Terry
Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
"No one throws me my own guns and tells me to run. No one."
-Bret (James Coburn); The Magnificent Seven
-Bret (James Coburn); The Magnificent Seven
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Operation Bayou
Over the past week Muroran is invested by the full force of 6 infantry divisions (each with a tank Bn attached). He attempts to retreat, but for some reason his troops won't (or can't). I believe a few units escaped, but in the end he loses 10-15 thousand troops including the 7th division over 3 days of shock attacks. Allied ground casualties are negligible. The bulk of the allied land army is now marching toward the neck for a final push on Hakodate.
Chesty and his 2nd Marines arrived on the neck a week ago and performed a reconnaissance in force. He appears to be building a defensive line in the rough terrain here. He currently has 14 units, 17k troops but only about 100 guns and 150 AFVs. The backbone of the defense is the 43rd Division, supported by the 33rd Mixed Bde and what remains of the 22nd and 23rd tank regiments. A good deal of the rest are refugee base forces and HQ units. He is slowly moving stuff up from Hakodate, but with all heavy shipping around the Tsugaru Straight now nothing more than hazards to navigation, I don't think he can be moving too much combat power over.
In the air, most of my tactical aviation assets were tied up bombing his units attempt to escape Muroran. He has taken this opportunity to move a few fighters back up near the strait. Now that Muroran is finished, I'll switch over to sweeps around the strait with tactical bombers hitting airfields and what little industry is in northern Honshu.
The B24 rain of destruction has been mostly disappointing over the past week. To keep him from ganging up on the Tokyo raids, I started to spread out to other targets. But for some reason, pilots do not like hitting most of these. 3 night raids on Nagoya only manage to fly a few planes 1 night - and they get exactly 3 hits. Useless. A night airfield raid on Yokosuka hits a bit of pay dirt, but this is just to give him something new to think about. A Tokyo raid where I moved the altitude up manages to get no hits for the loss of 14 A/C (air & ops combined). I was only losing 3-4 / night when I was at 7k ft. I guess I'll just keep coming in low. The only real success was one daylight raid, where he left Gifu largely uncovered - hitting Frank factories and knocking his Ha-45 production down about 30%.
At sea, I attempt to move some DDs into the northern Philippine Sea, but get driven out by bombers in the Bonins. The good news is that Musashi runs headlong trying to finish off DD Capps. She succeeds, but runs headlong into TBFs flying from the Marianas. They score 4 hits in the morning and can't find her in the afternoon. Combat report says she sunk - I'm skeptical, but 4 fish should put her out of the war for a considerable amount of time.
My CVs have moved off the coast of Kyushu and uncover the mother load of tankers running between Pusan and Fukuoka. I really want to get at these guys. I hesitate though because, now that he is discovered, I'm sure he'll move plenty of CAP to the area. To start, B24s dropped mines at Pusan. My CVs will cautiously move into the East China Sea keeping up a heavy CAP. Meanwhile, land based recon planes will continue to scout the area to gauge his response. Curiously, both Pusan and Tsushima fail to show a minefield. Perhaps a destroyer change is in order!
Infrastructure on Hokkaido continues to build up. Kushiro reaches level 9 AF - Sapporo will get there in 2-3 days with Bihoro shortly after that. Asahikawa is up to a level 7, approaching level 8. Allied engineers perform miracles.
Thailand
Over in Thailand, we are in a race to get to the clear around Bangkok. He has moved up the 21st Infantry Division to try to get into the rough and block the way for the Indians attempting to turn his flank. Problem is they have to walk through the clear space to get there. B24s and B25s pound him repeatedly. Hopefully, by the time they get into the good defensive terrain they will be so beat up with crap morale that I can push them out quickly.
Repeated attempts to blast my way through Three Pagoda Pass do nothing but grind both sides down. We have both lost a bit over 300 AV - but this favors me as I gain in ratio. The core infantry units here are still doing good - most of the casualties are suffered by the Chinese and comparatively inexperienced East Africans and 17th Indian. On his side, only the 55th Division remains strong. The 1st, 2nd Guards, and 1st Tank are now down to about 339 AV between them (with 1st Tank below 100).
An attempt to penetrate the Strait of Malacca with some DDs ends poorly. They did mix it up with some CLs and DDs (plus Tone). 4 of his DDs were left in poor condition - perhaps with a few sinking. But after that success he comes in with Vals and wrecks a few of my DDs. The good news is I managed to CAP trap them (after a few success) and shot them all down. I had hoped to cause some havoc with his merchant shipping but it was not to be.
A long range air raid on Singapore with British B24 variants gets through without a problem, but my arch nemesis Fuso is in port and absorbs all the bombs. Dang. Good news is that it spreads out his already limited fighters- he only has about 150 left in this part of the world.
Over the past week Muroran is invested by the full force of 6 infantry divisions (each with a tank Bn attached). He attempts to retreat, but for some reason his troops won't (or can't). I believe a few units escaped, but in the end he loses 10-15 thousand troops including the 7th division over 3 days of shock attacks. Allied ground casualties are negligible. The bulk of the allied land army is now marching toward the neck for a final push on Hakodate.
Chesty and his 2nd Marines arrived on the neck a week ago and performed a reconnaissance in force. He appears to be building a defensive line in the rough terrain here. He currently has 14 units, 17k troops but only about 100 guns and 150 AFVs. The backbone of the defense is the 43rd Division, supported by the 33rd Mixed Bde and what remains of the 22nd and 23rd tank regiments. A good deal of the rest are refugee base forces and HQ units. He is slowly moving stuff up from Hakodate, but with all heavy shipping around the Tsugaru Straight now nothing more than hazards to navigation, I don't think he can be moving too much combat power over.
In the air, most of my tactical aviation assets were tied up bombing his units attempt to escape Muroran. He has taken this opportunity to move a few fighters back up near the strait. Now that Muroran is finished, I'll switch over to sweeps around the strait with tactical bombers hitting airfields and what little industry is in northern Honshu.
The B24 rain of destruction has been mostly disappointing over the past week. To keep him from ganging up on the Tokyo raids, I started to spread out to other targets. But for some reason, pilots do not like hitting most of these. 3 night raids on Nagoya only manage to fly a few planes 1 night - and they get exactly 3 hits. Useless. A night airfield raid on Yokosuka hits a bit of pay dirt, but this is just to give him something new to think about. A Tokyo raid where I moved the altitude up manages to get no hits for the loss of 14 A/C (air & ops combined). I was only losing 3-4 / night when I was at 7k ft. I guess I'll just keep coming in low. The only real success was one daylight raid, where he left Gifu largely uncovered - hitting Frank factories and knocking his Ha-45 production down about 30%.
At sea, I attempt to move some DDs into the northern Philippine Sea, but get driven out by bombers in the Bonins. The good news is that Musashi runs headlong trying to finish off DD Capps. She succeeds, but runs headlong into TBFs flying from the Marianas. They score 4 hits in the morning and can't find her in the afternoon. Combat report says she sunk - I'm skeptical, but 4 fish should put her out of the war for a considerable amount of time.
My CVs have moved off the coast of Kyushu and uncover the mother load of tankers running between Pusan and Fukuoka. I really want to get at these guys. I hesitate though because, now that he is discovered, I'm sure he'll move plenty of CAP to the area. To start, B24s dropped mines at Pusan. My CVs will cautiously move into the East China Sea keeping up a heavy CAP. Meanwhile, land based recon planes will continue to scout the area to gauge his response. Curiously, both Pusan and Tsushima fail to show a minefield. Perhaps a destroyer change is in order!
Infrastructure on Hokkaido continues to build up. Kushiro reaches level 9 AF - Sapporo will get there in 2-3 days with Bihoro shortly after that. Asahikawa is up to a level 7, approaching level 8. Allied engineers perform miracles.
Thailand
Over in Thailand, we are in a race to get to the clear around Bangkok. He has moved up the 21st Infantry Division to try to get into the rough and block the way for the Indians attempting to turn his flank. Problem is they have to walk through the clear space to get there. B24s and B25s pound him repeatedly. Hopefully, by the time they get into the good defensive terrain they will be so beat up with crap morale that I can push them out quickly.
Repeated attempts to blast my way through Three Pagoda Pass do nothing but grind both sides down. We have both lost a bit over 300 AV - but this favors me as I gain in ratio. The core infantry units here are still doing good - most of the casualties are suffered by the Chinese and comparatively inexperienced East Africans and 17th Indian. On his side, only the 55th Division remains strong. The 1st, 2nd Guards, and 1st Tank are now down to about 339 AV between them (with 1st Tank below 100).
An attempt to penetrate the Strait of Malacca with some DDs ends poorly. They did mix it up with some CLs and DDs (plus Tone). 4 of his DDs were left in poor condition - perhaps with a few sinking. But after that success he comes in with Vals and wrecks a few of my DDs. The good news is I managed to CAP trap them (after a few success) and shot them all down. I had hoped to cause some havoc with his merchant shipping but it was not to be.
A long range air raid on Singapore with British B24 variants gets through without a problem, but my arch nemesis Fuso is in port and absorbs all the bombs. Dang. Good news is that it spreads out his already limited fighters- he only has about 150 left in this part of the world.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: Crackaces
I'll do a full post later, but right now I have a question about Kamikaze's - specifically, intercepting
them
I am not sure the tactical approach is the solution to this problem. The IJ have aircraft that exceed the Allies
in altitude. The IJ can fly stratospheric attack formations and penetrate a CAP. In real life the Allies floated
DD's miles in front I am not sure that has any effect on interceptions ... but heck all the IJN air intercepted worthless torpedo bombers at Midway [8D] .
One solution is at a operational level -- damage airbases within strike range. Destroy planes on the ground. Set up CAP traps.
Another solution is strategic .. destroy the IJ aircraft industry along with supply sources.
One issue to resolve with your attack axis is the lack of airbases in respect to the IJ bases. It is sort of the
problem with the Calais landing. Great approach ...spectacular splash .. but a lack of bases and ports makes the
"after landing" difficult.
Your approach axis is somewhat akin in my opinion to Grant vs. Lee in the American Civil war. Take a lot more stuff
and out attrite the IJ while smashing the economy ... But the like Lee that gained small tactical advantages and inflicted losses
the IJ are going to get licks in given this attack axis.
The tactical approach is only part of the solution. All good solutions attack the problem from multiple angles.
I have floated DDs out in front in the past with success. I need to start doing that again. They seem successful when you have several there, presenting a "larger" target. Of course LRCAP from the CVs can be very effective when combined with this.
Striking the airfields is not really a viable option. It works just fine when there are only a few large bases, but this is the home islands. He always has more bases.
As for strategic - yes, working down that road, but it is slow.
None of this should be taken as griping... I'm attacking the home islands, I expect a huge response from well developed infrastructure. I'm just fishing for tactics. I have found a few things that seem to help, as well as some that I'm now trying out.
First off, nothing in the game is free. You can use LRCAP to cover raids, but it takes a huge toll on pilot fatigue. This can be taken advantage of. It is also difficult to "coordinate" the strike at long range, so staying at a bit more standoff range helps.
Also, since you can't set a "target" for naval strikes, sweeping bases in between where he launches from and my CV location forces many of those A/C to "defend" rather than "escort".
I disagree with you though about the lack of airbases / post attack infrastructure. Hokkaido has 7 bases, all of which can be built to level 9. I've brought plenty of engineers, and already have 1 size 9, with 2 more bases going to size 9 within a week. A 4th base is already a 7, approaching 8. Ports on the east coast can be built to sizes 5 and 4, and Sapporo can go up to a 9. And 720 Naval Support Squads go a long way to making up any port short falls. Hakodate includes a small shipyard that can repair anything but BBs and CVs.
By contrast, the IJ has lost Hokkaido, and only has 4 bases in northern Honshu that can be used to provide air cover over the island. The rest of the bases are in central Honshu - they can launch night bomber strikes and provide fighter cover for his industry, but little else.
BTW) The most effective tactic I found for moving the IJ in jungle hexes is dive bombers .. level bombers help too .
Now one can say "I only killed 3 squads and disrupted 6 more" after losing 3 - 4 aircraft .. but and it is a BIG BUT
Dive Bombers are effective I have found at producing disruption .. that result is not in the combat results and quickly is resolved
Thus I attack by air and shock ...disruption is a percentage thing effecting both firepower and AV.
hmm... I've been operating under the assumption that the number of casualties correlates to the amount of disruption inflicted. I do have some DBs (and lots of air power in general) hitting him consistently - but I figured it is mostly sucking supply and preventing his fatigue levels from recovering.
If you want to see it in action in reverse I suspect the allied / IJ bombardment attacks are causing marked disruption to the Allied units ..
heh... with what?
(the rest of the CAs listed below the scroll are all sunk)
- Attachments
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- IJNShips.jpg (465.09 KiB) Viewed 341 times
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
I hadn't realized it was that bad for the IJN....there isn't much left floating out there.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Tactical Nuclear Weapon...
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
If you want to see it in action in reverse I suspect the allied / IJ bombardment attacks are causing marked
disruption to the Allied units ..
Check your units in Thailand ... that will give you an estimation of the disruption of IJ units ..then add some DB's
to take your firepower ratios up (by disrupting IJA units) Bombardments from artillery exchanges causes some disruption ..
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: Crackaces
If you want to see it in action in reverse I suspect the allied / IJ bombardment attacks are causing marked
disruption to the Allied units ..
Check your units in Thailand ... that will give you an estimation of the disruption of IJ units ..then add some DB's
to take your firepower ratios up (by disrupting IJA units) Bombardments from artillery exchanges causes some disruption ..
yes, I use disruption as my primary indicator of when to attack again. I use DBs (and level bombers) at the point of attack - and lately, every day over Three Pagoda Pass, to maximize the negative effects on his forces. He, however, has more tubes than me here (most of mine are in Hokkaido). So maybe it balances out? Of course, I bomb every day, and only attack ever 2-3. I've gotten the supply(-) modifier (for him) on and off, and now I'm getting the fatigue(-) consistently.
At any rate, I typically see disruption go up to between 30-50 after an attack, then ease back to about 10-20 in 1-2 days. Rinse, repeat.
I'd like to add more A/C to increase the disruption ratio in my favor, but I'm already bombing with everything I can. I do have to be careful though, as he has plenty of AA here, so I'm stuck to medium altitude.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
2/11/44
Operation Bayou
Tomorrow we strike the Straits of Tsushima. CVs in the East China Sea are in position to sweep the skies and strike shipping in and around Pusan and Fukuoka. Intel indicates he is transferring AA units (among others) from Korea to Honshu, and I'd like to see it stopped.
The plan is to have CVs sweep and attack shipping while 3 DESRONs sweep in from the west. A 4th DESRON will attack from the east. All SAGs will then retire through the Sea of Japan to Sapporo. A pair of CVEs will attempt to trap those damn Lily's at Rashin. CVs will then retire south to the Philippine Sea, detach Wasp and get Enterprise and Bunker Hill back.
Yesterday a large convoy out of Shanghai was attacked by CV aircraft and obliterated - along with about 20,000 troops it was carrying. Today, a trio of destroyers was attacked off Moppo with 1 being hit and sunk. He returns the favor off Kushiro though, and Betties sink one of my DDs.
On the ground, troops get into position on the neck and shock attack. This first attack fails to break him, but despite the combat report suggesting high casualty numbers, all my troops appear in good order. Only 1st Marines was beat up a bit, but it was all disablements. The combat report also suggested I lost a lot of vehicles, but I don't see it... perhaps motorized support squads spread throughout? My tanks are still in good order, and that is what's important. Tomorrow we push in the reserves and go again.
Thailand
Another attack at Three Pagoda Pass continues to grind him down. Tomorrow we'll make it 2 days in a row. He is moving up a division to reinforce, but they are about 3 days out, so if this attack doesn't break him, I'll have to slow down until some of the about to arrive reinforcements can be brought up - or my flanking maneuver near Bangkok reaps fruit.
Speaking of the flanking maneuver, it is now a race. He is trying to move a division supported by a few Thai divisions into the rough jungle we are about to enter. Right now, he is in the clear and taking a beating by my airpower - but he keeps dumping more Thais into the hex to spread the lovin'. I should be in the rough hex in one or 2 days, but I probably won't be able to leave it unless it is through him. Hopefully the airpower does its job between now and then, and only broken units enter the hex piecemeal.
Operation Bayou
Tomorrow we strike the Straits of Tsushima. CVs in the East China Sea are in position to sweep the skies and strike shipping in and around Pusan and Fukuoka. Intel indicates he is transferring AA units (among others) from Korea to Honshu, and I'd like to see it stopped.
The plan is to have CVs sweep and attack shipping while 3 DESRONs sweep in from the west. A 4th DESRON will attack from the east. All SAGs will then retire through the Sea of Japan to Sapporo. A pair of CVEs will attempt to trap those damn Lily's at Rashin. CVs will then retire south to the Philippine Sea, detach Wasp and get Enterprise and Bunker Hill back.
Yesterday a large convoy out of Shanghai was attacked by CV aircraft and obliterated - along with about 20,000 troops it was carrying. Today, a trio of destroyers was attacked off Moppo with 1 being hit and sunk. He returns the favor off Kushiro though, and Betties sink one of my DDs.
On the ground, troops get into position on the neck and shock attack. This first attack fails to break him, but despite the combat report suggesting high casualty numbers, all my troops appear in good order. Only 1st Marines was beat up a bit, but it was all disablements. The combat report also suggested I lost a lot of vehicles, but I don't see it... perhaps motorized support squads spread throughout? My tanks are still in good order, and that is what's important. Tomorrow we push in the reserves and go again.
Thailand
Another attack at Three Pagoda Pass continues to grind him down. Tomorrow we'll make it 2 days in a row. He is moving up a division to reinforce, but they are about 3 days out, so if this attack doesn't break him, I'll have to slow down until some of the about to arrive reinforcements can be brought up - or my flanking maneuver near Bangkok reaps fruit.
Speaking of the flanking maneuver, it is now a race. He is trying to move a division supported by a few Thai divisions into the rough jungle we are about to enter. Right now, he is in the clear and taking a beating by my airpower - but he keeps dumping more Thais into the hex to spread the lovin'. I should be in the rough hex in one or 2 days, but I probably won't be able to leave it unless it is through him. Hopefully the airpower does its job between now and then, and only broken units enter the hex piecemeal.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
2/15/44
Rampage through the East China Sea
The last 4 days have been a total rampage through his commerce fleet. The Tsushima dash was considerably more successful than I would have imagined. The night started off with Conway, Johnston, and Stephen Potter engaging and sinking a small tanker and an E boat at Pusan. Afterwards Conwell, Daly, Lewis Hancock and LaVallette burst through and get a more than a dozen transports and other assorted small fry. Once the sun comes up, CL St Louis and Phoenix along with a pair of DDs then open up an all-day shooting gallery. Late in the afternoon, 6 more DDs arrive from the east and put several more merchants to bed.
All day long CV aircraft provide air cover to the surface fleet, fighting off several attacks while attack planes put steal on several more tankers and transports. On the day, 46 ships are listed as either sunk outright or "heavy fires, heavy damage". 5 more show either heavy fires or heavy damage.
Everyone got out of Tsushima ok, but 2 DDs were lost to air attack the next day in the Sea of Japan (a few more were damaged). DE Sanderstrom was also hit by a few kamikazes while screening the CV fleet and had to be scuttled in the East China Sea.
The next day, the CVs head west, toward the coast of China. A convoy of transports is spotted near Wenchow and is hit hard. Another dozen or so ships sunk, along with about 6000 troops and a lot of guns. An xAP off Shanghai is not ignored, and she is sunk as well. Sadly though, A/C reserved for a port strike on Shanghai fail to fly, and an excellent opportunity is missed. He had over 200 ships in port, and no fighter cover on this day.
On the 13th, 2 CLs are spotted in the Formosa Straits (is that what it is called at this time?). Both are set a fire and with heavy damage after multiple attacks by CV aircraft. Takao is bombed and 8 ships are set on fire. Afterwards, heavy radio traffic suggests several ships attempt to take shelter at Swatow. Mitscher moves his CVs into the South China sea and strikes what turns out to be half a dozen xAPs plus escorts, all bombed at anchor on the 14th. 4 more xAKs are hit off Hong Kong.
And that is where it stands today. With DDs running low on gas, I stop for gas and order Takao hit again. I suspect he will try to cover Hong Kong (and the 80 ships spotted in port) with those fighters that have been a step behind along the Chinese coast. After Takao, I'll move to either Hong Kong or Manila, where heavy radio traffic suggests I'll find targets. One thing I have to consider is that those fighters have made a few long hops and have to be exhausted. It may present a good opportunity to kill some more pilots and front line fighters.
Back on Hokkaido, his 43rd Division puts up a heck of a fight in the rough terrain on the neck. It took 4 days to beat him down, but finally, he breaks and pursuit is on. Tanks are now 1 hex outside Hakodate. A DA tomorrow will determine how much fight he has left in him.
Over Honshu, I notice he moved about 1500 A/C to Ominato, largely depleting fighters from his industrial centers. So I circle the wagons on Hokkaido, and put nearly all of my fighters on CAP at Sapporo and Kushiro. I order my bombers to execute day light raids on Frank factories at Maebashi and the huge Ha-45 plant at Hamamatsu as well as the ports at Pusan and Fukuoka. The port raids fail to fly, as do the P38 sweeps over the industrial centers. The first group over of marines in B25s over Maebashi pays the price, but it does all the B24s to come in nearly untouched and cause about 50-70 points of damage. At Hamamatsu, BDA suggests his Ha-45 plant is degraded about 150 engines/month (about 3/4 of total plant capacity).
As for his attack, it fizzles as his initial sweeps run into a wall of fighters over Kushiro. A few Kamikazes get through and dive on a couple of DDs. On the day I lose a few A/C, but only 1 pilot.
Rampage through the East China Sea
The last 4 days have been a total rampage through his commerce fleet. The Tsushima dash was considerably more successful than I would have imagined. The night started off with Conway, Johnston, and Stephen Potter engaging and sinking a small tanker and an E boat at Pusan. Afterwards Conwell, Daly, Lewis Hancock and LaVallette burst through and get a more than a dozen transports and other assorted small fry. Once the sun comes up, CL St Louis and Phoenix along with a pair of DDs then open up an all-day shooting gallery. Late in the afternoon, 6 more DDs arrive from the east and put several more merchants to bed.
All day long CV aircraft provide air cover to the surface fleet, fighting off several attacks while attack planes put steal on several more tankers and transports. On the day, 46 ships are listed as either sunk outright or "heavy fires, heavy damage". 5 more show either heavy fires or heavy damage.
Everyone got out of Tsushima ok, but 2 DDs were lost to air attack the next day in the Sea of Japan (a few more were damaged). DE Sanderstrom was also hit by a few kamikazes while screening the CV fleet and had to be scuttled in the East China Sea.
The next day, the CVs head west, toward the coast of China. A convoy of transports is spotted near Wenchow and is hit hard. Another dozen or so ships sunk, along with about 6000 troops and a lot of guns. An xAP off Shanghai is not ignored, and she is sunk as well. Sadly though, A/C reserved for a port strike on Shanghai fail to fly, and an excellent opportunity is missed. He had over 200 ships in port, and no fighter cover on this day.
On the 13th, 2 CLs are spotted in the Formosa Straits (is that what it is called at this time?). Both are set a fire and with heavy damage after multiple attacks by CV aircraft. Takao is bombed and 8 ships are set on fire. Afterwards, heavy radio traffic suggests several ships attempt to take shelter at Swatow. Mitscher moves his CVs into the South China sea and strikes what turns out to be half a dozen xAPs plus escorts, all bombed at anchor on the 14th. 4 more xAKs are hit off Hong Kong.
And that is where it stands today. With DDs running low on gas, I stop for gas and order Takao hit again. I suspect he will try to cover Hong Kong (and the 80 ships spotted in port) with those fighters that have been a step behind along the Chinese coast. After Takao, I'll move to either Hong Kong or Manila, where heavy radio traffic suggests I'll find targets. One thing I have to consider is that those fighters have made a few long hops and have to be exhausted. It may present a good opportunity to kill some more pilots and front line fighters.
Back on Hokkaido, his 43rd Division puts up a heck of a fight in the rough terrain on the neck. It took 4 days to beat him down, but finally, he breaks and pursuit is on. Tanks are now 1 hex outside Hakodate. A DA tomorrow will determine how much fight he has left in him.
Over Honshu, I notice he moved about 1500 A/C to Ominato, largely depleting fighters from his industrial centers. So I circle the wagons on Hokkaido, and put nearly all of my fighters on CAP at Sapporo and Kushiro. I order my bombers to execute day light raids on Frank factories at Maebashi and the huge Ha-45 plant at Hamamatsu as well as the ports at Pusan and Fukuoka. The port raids fail to fly, as do the P38 sweeps over the industrial centers. The first group over of marines in B25s over Maebashi pays the price, but it does all the B24s to come in nearly untouched and cause about 50-70 points of damage. At Hamamatsu, BDA suggests his Ha-45 plant is degraded about 150 engines/month (about 3/4 of total plant capacity).
As for his attack, it fizzles as his initial sweeps run into a wall of fighters over Kushiro. A few Kamikazes get through and dive on a couple of DDs. On the day I lose a few A/C, but only 1 pilot.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Just a note about attacking the Ha-45 plants. After the brief discussion a page ago about hitting aircraft plants instead of engines, I was sold. But looking at his industry in more detail, I see he has about 25 Frank plants, all between size 25-35, and 10 George plants, all but 2 about size 30. The engine these A/C use though, the Ha-45 only has 4 total plants. A size 30 in Tokyo has been half damaged by fires I was going to start anyway. 2 others, one at Gifu and the other at Hamamatsu are near size 200 each. The 4th is a second size 30 one at Gifu. Since these are not distributed very well, I figured 2 large strikes - one at Gifu and one at Hamamatsu could put a massive hurting on his production.
I don't know what his pools look like, but future production is in trouble. He now has only 138 of 455 plants functional. He has (at last count) 164 Ki-84a, and 237 N1K1 factories operational (probably a bit more Ki-84 now as his massive change over to them repairs), requiring 401 engines / month. Assuming no other A/C using this engine are produced, that is a shortfall of 263 engines / month. If he builds Peggy's or Graces, the shortfall is even more.
Is it reasonable to assume this is, or will shortly be, hurting the production of his top of the line fighters? It seems to me to be a massive gap between production and demand.
I don't know what his pools look like, but future production is in trouble. He now has only 138 of 455 plants functional. He has (at last count) 164 Ki-84a, and 237 N1K1 factories operational (probably a bit more Ki-84 now as his massive change over to them repairs), requiring 401 engines / month. Assuming no other A/C using this engine are produced, that is a shortfall of 263 engines / month. If he builds Peggy's or Graces, the shortfall is even more.
Is it reasonable to assume this is, or will shortly be, hurting the production of his top of the line fighters? It seems to me to be a massive gap between production and demand.
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SqzMyLemon
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RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: tiemanj
Just a note about attacking the Ha-45 plants. After the brief discussion a page ago about hitting aircraft plants instead of engines, I was sold. But looking at his industry in more detail, I see he has about 25 Frank plants, all between size 25-35, and 10 George plants, all but 2 about size 30. The engine these A/C use though, the Ha-45 only has 4 total plants. A size 30 in Tokyo has been half damaged by fires I was going to start anyway. 2 others, one at Gifu and the other at Hamamatsu are near size 200 each. The 4th is a second size 30 one at Gifu. Since these are not distributed very well, I figured 2 large strikes - one at Gifu and one at Hamamatsu could put a massive hurting on his production.
In hindsight, you are probably right based on your game situation and looking at your opponent's production. Perhaps it just comes down to personal preference, but hitting either engine or airframe production will yield results however you look at it. In either case, Lowpe will lose his ability to keep his numbers up. [8D]
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Trashing Japanese industry should be your first, last and middle priority - everything else is tertiary at best.....if his surface forces are as beat up as they appear, then they aren't a real threat & can be handled by your carriers. Industry should be targeted with everything you have that is land-based - it'll shorten the war considerably.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Tactical Nuclear Weapon...
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: paullus99
Trashing Japanese industry should be your first, last and middle priority - everything else is tertiary at best.....if his surface forces are as beat up as they appear, then they aren't a real threat & can be handled by your carriers. Industry should be targeted with everything you have that is land-based - it'll shorten the war considerably.
This is the plan... though I want to finish up on Hokkaido as Hakodate will provide a base for P47s to sweep some of the industrial centers - so single engine bombers are hitting the retreating troops to speed that up.
I do worry that he will send his CVs on a raid of my supply lines - they are still a threat if they can find some soft targets, but there is nothing LBA can do about them, so they will keep striking industry.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
2/17/44
Rampage through the South China Sea
Manila is hit hard. Corsairs brush aside a squadron of Tonys before strike A/C hit another 27 ships in port - sinking or inflicting "heavy fires, heavy damage" to 26 of them. Most were transports or tenders. A few more transports are sunk trying to get underway in Manila Bay. Tomorrow, Hong Kong - then it is back to Guam or Marcus to replenish. Sorties are running low, with a couple of boats nearly empty.
Radio chatter indicates a large something is moving through the southern Philippine Sea on a direct vector toward Tacloban. Whatever it is, its moving slow at 4-5 hex/day. I detached a DESRON to scoot down the eastern side of the islands to see if they can catch it.
On Hokkaido, US Army forces break through the last defense line before Hakodate. Marines in reserve exploit the breach and begin to pour into the city's outskirts. Tanks are setting up positions now with the infantry arriving tomorrow.
Rampage through the South China Sea
Manila is hit hard. Corsairs brush aside a squadron of Tonys before strike A/C hit another 27 ships in port - sinking or inflicting "heavy fires, heavy damage" to 26 of them. Most were transports or tenders. A few more transports are sunk trying to get underway in Manila Bay. Tomorrow, Hong Kong - then it is back to Guam or Marcus to replenish. Sorties are running low, with a couple of boats nearly empty.
Radio chatter indicates a large something is moving through the southern Philippine Sea on a direct vector toward Tacloban. Whatever it is, its moving slow at 4-5 hex/day. I detached a DESRON to scoot down the eastern side of the islands to see if they can catch it.
On Hokkaido, US Army forces break through the last defense line before Hakodate. Marines in reserve exploit the breach and begin to pour into the city's outskirts. Tanks are setting up positions now with the infantry arriving tomorrow.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: tiemanj
How do i get this ae staff assistant tool?[&o]
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: MAARTENR
How do i get this ae staff assistant tool?[&o]
I could upload it or send it to you... but it isn't very user friendly (which is why I haven't done it before). I'm a terrible programmer (if you can go so far as to call me one), so I just use LabVIEW - which is nasty on your computing resources. There is a runtime you would have to get (free) in order to run it. Currently, I can only say it works for the allies on a stock map.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ok never mind it and all the best with your fight!
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
2/20/44
Rampage through the South China Sea
After hitting Manila, Mitscher moves off Hong Kong, though weather prevents strikes from flying. It is just as good though, as the target I've been looking for (all game long), shows up in Tonkin Gulf - his tankers. They appear to be trying to hide near the coast line by Haiphong. Mitscher moves off the east coast of Hainan Island to be in range the next day. B24s are tasked to bomb and mine Haiphong. However, this is when Murphy decides to visit, and the day turns into a mess of errors and could have beens. First, a small group of his DDs attempts a charge at one of my CV groups. Wasp and Lexington are both hit with a 5" shell each, but I can't even tell looking at the damage levels. The CVs get away, but end up one hex short of the intended launch point. In addition, during the night, the tankers make for Vinh, instead of staying put (or disbanding into Haiphong Harbor). We are able to get a pair of small tankers that scurry off to the eastern Tonkin Gulf - plus put a hurting on a trio of DDs in the South China Sea. That pair of DDs we ran into during the night though, heads back to Hong Kong and acts as bait to a naval strike into heavy CAP.
Running low on sorties (Yorktown is actually empty), and expecting some kind of "trap" near the Luzon Strait, I start to head home - south toward the Sulu Sea. A farewell gift of 3 Fletchers is sent to sweep the Tonkin Gulf through the Qiongzhou Strait before rejoining the CVs. Just in case he tries, the CVs will move at slow speed, and stay in range to sweep Hue - just in case his tankers go there. B24s and P38s will shift to Vinh in case he tries to stay put.
The plan pays off. The DD sweep hits a xAKL in the eastern Tonkin Gulf alerting all to their presence. I'm not sure if he ordered his tankers to run, or if the fled from the onrushing DDs, but at sun up, they are caught with their pants down off Da Nang. Mitscher launches all he has, a single Zero is swatted out of the way by a Corsair, and at the end of the day 4 large AOs, 8 TKs, 2 Es, 2 PBs and a CL are hit and sunk or on fire. The B24 strike on Vinh scores another 3 tankers hit - though with 1 bomb each.
It is now time to beat feet and get out. Mitscher will head south, slowing down just enough to allow the DDs to catch up and to remain in range for a max range Corsair sweep of Da Nang. B24s will strike Da Nang to try to finish off anyone proficient in damage control.
On Hokkaido, Japanese resistances collapses and Hakodate falls as Marine and Army troops surge into the city. There are still 37,000 survivors collected in a pocket with their backs to the sea. Hopefully, these can be destroyed before he can pick up too many of them.
Rampage through the South China Sea
After hitting Manila, Mitscher moves off Hong Kong, though weather prevents strikes from flying. It is just as good though, as the target I've been looking for (all game long), shows up in Tonkin Gulf - his tankers. They appear to be trying to hide near the coast line by Haiphong. Mitscher moves off the east coast of Hainan Island to be in range the next day. B24s are tasked to bomb and mine Haiphong. However, this is when Murphy decides to visit, and the day turns into a mess of errors and could have beens. First, a small group of his DDs attempts a charge at one of my CV groups. Wasp and Lexington are both hit with a 5" shell each, but I can't even tell looking at the damage levels. The CVs get away, but end up one hex short of the intended launch point. In addition, during the night, the tankers make for Vinh, instead of staying put (or disbanding into Haiphong Harbor). We are able to get a pair of small tankers that scurry off to the eastern Tonkin Gulf - plus put a hurting on a trio of DDs in the South China Sea. That pair of DDs we ran into during the night though, heads back to Hong Kong and acts as bait to a naval strike into heavy CAP.
Running low on sorties (Yorktown is actually empty), and expecting some kind of "trap" near the Luzon Strait, I start to head home - south toward the Sulu Sea. A farewell gift of 3 Fletchers is sent to sweep the Tonkin Gulf through the Qiongzhou Strait before rejoining the CVs. Just in case he tries, the CVs will move at slow speed, and stay in range to sweep Hue - just in case his tankers go there. B24s and P38s will shift to Vinh in case he tries to stay put.
The plan pays off. The DD sweep hits a xAKL in the eastern Tonkin Gulf alerting all to their presence. I'm not sure if he ordered his tankers to run, or if the fled from the onrushing DDs, but at sun up, they are caught with their pants down off Da Nang. Mitscher launches all he has, a single Zero is swatted out of the way by a Corsair, and at the end of the day 4 large AOs, 8 TKs, 2 Es, 2 PBs and a CL are hit and sunk or on fire. The B24 strike on Vinh scores another 3 tankers hit - though with 1 bomb each.
It is now time to beat feet and get out. Mitscher will head south, slowing down just enough to allow the DDs to catch up and to remain in range for a max range Corsair sweep of Da Nang. B24s will strike Da Nang to try to finish off anyone proficient in damage control.
On Hokkaido, Japanese resistances collapses and Hakodate falls as Marine and Army troops surge into the city. There are still 37,000 survivors collected in a pocket with their backs to the sea. Hopefully, these can be destroyed before he can pick up too many of them.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Maartenr's request above got me to get around to making my intel utility more user friendly such that others can use it. I touched it up, and now I think I got it is to a point that should be usable by others. Before I try to make it publicly available though I need a guinea pig to make sure it can actually work on other computers. I don't think I used any libraries that are not free, but I can't actually check that, as my computers all have the non-free stuff on it.
The biggest catch is that you would need to download and install the National Instruments LabVIEW runtime engine. It is free, but it is one more thing on your computer. If I was a competent programmer, I'd make it free of such restrictions, but alas, I'm not any good.
The utility takes the Ops, Sigint, combat reports, and combat events files, and displays the results in a more human readable manner (at least I think so). In most cases, it plots that data on a map so idiots like me can actually see where the relevant event occurred. A history feature allows you to look into the past for trends (requires your game to "save" all those files into txt in your save game directory for this to work). It will also allow you to search past files by location, or search for "hits" on enemy units - allowing you to build your opponents OOB prior to an operation. For those so inclined, it can also read some exported tracker data as well to provide a little more "color" to your war. This is optional though - the utility works just fine without tracker.
The updated version should work fine for both allied or Japanese sides (though my understanding is the Japanese get far less raw intel to process). I haven't played Japan, so I'd be curious if it works.
If you try to use it with an extended map, it will probably get a bit screwy, however it should be straight forward for me to modify the utility to work with it as well if I can get ahold of a large scale map and a list of base locations.
Any takers?
The biggest catch is that you would need to download and install the National Instruments LabVIEW runtime engine. It is free, but it is one more thing on your computer. If I was a competent programmer, I'd make it free of such restrictions, but alas, I'm not any good.
The utility takes the Ops, Sigint, combat reports, and combat events files, and displays the results in a more human readable manner (at least I think so). In most cases, it plots that data on a map so idiots like me can actually see where the relevant event occurred. A history feature allows you to look into the past for trends (requires your game to "save" all those files into txt in your save game directory for this to work). It will also allow you to search past files by location, or search for "hits" on enemy units - allowing you to build your opponents OOB prior to an operation. For those so inclined, it can also read some exported tracker data as well to provide a little more "color" to your war. This is optional though - the utility works just fine without tracker.
The updated version should work fine for both allied or Japanese sides (though my understanding is the Japanese get far less raw intel to process). I haven't played Japan, so I'd be curious if it works.
If you try to use it with an extended map, it will probably get a bit screwy, however it should be straight forward for me to modify the utility to work with it as well if I can get ahold of a large scale map and a list of base locations.
Any takers?
-
CaptBeefheart
- Posts: 2623
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:42 am
- Location: Seoul, Korea
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
Well done on the programming. I've never used it, but doesn't Intel Monkey do a lot of what you've created?
Cheers,
CC
Cheers,
CC
Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.
RE: Better late than never (Lowpe (J) vs tiemanj (A))
ORIGINAL: Commander Cody
Well done on the programming. I've never used it, but doesn't Intel Monkey do a lot of what you've created?
Cheers,
CC
Probably, but I started this before I knew it existed. When I found out about it, I tried briefly to use it, but for some reason or another I couldn't get it to work (I didn't try hard). Since I already had this, I just kept using it. A good part of the reason I haven't bothered to "release" it was because I assumed intel monkey already did this, and thus there was no "market" for it. But an off hand request and boredom are usually a dangerous combination - so I polished up what I had.