General Patton vs. larryfulkerson Focus Pacific #75

[larryfulkerson]

Minesweepers - In most games, Japan doesn't start with any minesweepers around Truk to Marshalls area. Double check to see if you have any close by. It can be annoying if the Allies mine a base and its weeks before you can do anything about it. Yes, DDs can be used, but if that's the case, one or two will be sunk doing this job.

You're right and I've looked into the possibility of converting some of the AK's to DMS's and there's no converson to that type possible
for the AK's. Some of the DD's can do that but I like them as DD's. In my previous game with Brian, our practice game, I sent several
DMS ships to Hong Kong to clear out the mine field and I didn't send the right escorts or they didn't do their job or something because
the CD guns at Hong Kong sunk every one of my DMS's. And there aren't all that many in the fleet. Something like two dozen
total.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Brian: I've captured Miri but the facilities there were severely damaged. The Oil center and the refinery both.
It's going to be expensive repairing all that. But there's TK's standing by ready to start shipping oil from Miri. The Allied air
threat is too high to send them in yet. I need to get some CAP to Miri before that can happen.

[larryfulkerson]

I've gone through about 600K RES in just 8 days at Tokyo. That's not a good sign. The RES are going to have to start flowing in
or Tokyo will have to shut down it's HI. In fact I think I'll turn it off now to allow the RES to last longer. I've got TF's bringing RES
to Tokyo, they just haven't arrived yet.

[BillBrown]

Why just let it produce as much as it can?

[larryfulkerson]

Why just let it produce as much as it can?

I think maybe you meant "Why not just let it produce as much as it can?" And I'm going to answer that by saying
something along the lines of I COULD do that. Just let the RES dwindle down lower and lower until there's none left.
But then the LI would stop and that stops the flow of supplies and I need those right now. I've got over a million HI in
the pool and it's not like the game is going to miss whatever Tokyo produces in HI for the short time it's going to be
off. I'm experimenting more or less. I'd like to see what impact the HI factories have on the Tokyo economy for one
thing. I can always turn it back on next turn. Humor me a little.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Victory Points ratio. I'm not doing all that well yet it seems. Or maybe the starting ratios weren't much like stock and
haven't changed all that much.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally captured Guam. It's been a thorn in my thumb for a while now. Now to build up a grand airfield there and a sizable port.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on at Hong Kong. I've run almost out of supplies and two of my INF units is low on supplies so I have only a
partial bombardment going on. It's going to be a turn or two before I can use the two INF units so I figured I'd just bombard for a
little while while I'm waiting for them. It's not going to lengthen the war by all that much to wait.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what Singapore looks like now. I've been toying with the idea of maybe targeting his industries. The LI especially is producing
lots of supplies and I need to stop that. I've been bombing at night since the beginning of the war to keep the building of forts to a
minimum and I'm thinking that LI damage will take presidence over forts. What a good idea.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Why just let it produce as much as it can?

I think maybe you meant "Why not just let it produce as much as it can?" And I'm going to answer that by saying
something along the lines of I COULD do that. Just let the RES dwindle down lower and lower until there's none left.
But then the LI would stop and that stops the flow of supplies and I need those right now. I've got over a million HI in
the pool and it's not like the game is going to miss whatever Tokyo produces in HI for the short time it's going to be
off. I'm experimenting more or less. I'd like to see what impact the HI factories have on the Tokyo economy for one
thing. I can always turn it back on next turn. Humor me a little.

You need to look at Honshu's overall resource state, not focus on a single base. The engine is moving stuff around to where it needs to be, so don't panic because you see Tokyo's stockpile dwindle. What's tracker say your overall resource loss rate is for all of Japan? That's what is important. Turning off any industry eight turns into the game makes no sense. Your issue is to get more fuel, oil and resources to Japan, that's it. There's no magic involved. Initially you may struggle getting what you need and yes, your stockpiles will dwindle. As time goes on and you improve your transport capacity and with port expansions at the bases I mentioned earlier, you'll be good to go. Turning off industry just hides the problem, it doesn't fix it. Until you get things set up, you just need to be patient and focus on getting fuel/oil/resources to Honshu. The closer you pick your sources, the slower your drain will be until you turn the corner and start seeing stockpiles rise due to your efforts.

There is absolutely no need to turn off Japanese industry at this stage, except maybe some of your merchant shipyards.

[larryfulkerson]

What's tracker say your overall resource loss rate is for all of Japan? That's what is important

Most of my RES transports are only just now reaching their pickup points. As some of them are far away.
I've got boats going to Port Arthur for crying out loud. Most of them are instructed to dump their loads at Tokyo
because it's THE hub from which everything flows. Supplies and fuel leaves from here headed south and RES
and oil are supposed to arrive from all over the map. Tankers are in route to Shukoka and Toyoama and I've
got tankers inbound to Miri to start the oil flowing from there. I hope to have in my hands on Palembang in about
a month game time. I've got to subdue Singapore's air power first. One of my next immediate goals is Singkawang.
I hope to be able to park a Betty squadron there with an HQ unit for the TT's and shut down the Allied naval traffic
through there. Plus it's an obvious place to go to set up for the Palembang assault.

But the sinking levels of the various goodies at Tokyo and the home islands generally isn't all that encouraging.
EDIT: The Tracker program calculates that there's two days worth of RES in Tokyo. I hope that's not correct.
I've shut off the HI so maybe that'll help.

[BillBrown]

I think you should quit looking at what Tokyo has and look in tracker at the entire region of Japan( the three islands ) The centers are
all connected by rail and everything should flow just fine. Your screen shot says you have almost 5,000,000 RES in Japan, this should be
enough for a while.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's where Tracker says all the RES and Oil are: I started to put all the non-home islands bases in red boxes but it started to make
the picture too busy so I quit.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown
I think you should quit looking at what Tokyo has and look in tracker at the entire region of Japan( the three islands ) The centers
are all connected by rail and everything should flow just fine. Your screen shot says you have almost 5,000,000 RES in
Japan, this should be enough for a while.

Sounds good to me. I'll make sure stockpiling isn't on in those home island bases that have RES centers to help the flow to flow.

[larryfulkerson]

There's three engine models that have over 200+ examples in the pools so I'm shutting down production of them to save on HI. When
the level gets down to say 100 or so I'll turn 'em back on.

[larryfulkerson]

I was browsing through the database just now and I noticed some duplicate names in the list. I don't know if it's an artifact of the mod of
the scenario or the stock base scenario is that way. It doesn't seem to hurt anything. I guess.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Most of my RES transports are only just now reaching their pickup points. As some of them are far away.
I've got boats going to Port Arthur for crying out loud. Most of them are instructed to dump their loads at Tokyo
because it's THE hub from which everything flows. Supplies and fuel leaves from here headed south and RES
and oil are supposed to arrive from all over the map. Tankers are in route to Shukoka and Toyoama and I've
got tankers inbound to Miri to start the oil flowing from there. I hope to have in my hands on Palembang in about
a month game time. I've got to subdue Singapore's air power first. One of my next immediate goals is Singkawang.
I hope to be able to park a Betty squadron there with an HQ unit for the TT's and shut down the Allied naval traffic
through there. Plus it's an obvious place to go to set up for the Palembang assault.

But the sinking levels of the various goodies at Tokyo and the home islands generally isn't all that encouraging.
EDIT: The Tracker program calculates that there's two days worth of RES in Tokyo. I hope that's not correct.
]b]I've shut off the HI so maybe that'll help.[/b]

Why ship to Tokyo? You need to shorten your routes Larry. Port Arthur to Fukuoka...done. Keijo to Fukuoka...done. Fusan to Fukuoka...done. Shikuka to Wakkanai...done. Hakodate to Ominato...done.

I hope you don't ship from Ocean Island, or planning to? No need and a waste of fuel. Look for bases really close to Japan initially to solve your resource issue, then if you still have trouble meeting demand then go a little farther. Like you said, your transports are just arriving at their bases to pick up resources, it's early so don't panic.

Turning off industry is panicking at this stage of the game.

You're too focused on turning off industry to save HI. Read some Japanese AAR's and see what others are doing. Look at how many aircraft use the Ha-31. Do you need four or five producing that engine? Most likely not. Look at what you will need and plan accordingly. It's a lot to digest, but you need to get a plan and see what you need, what you don't and where you need to tweak.

[larryfulkerson]

It's a lot to digest, but you need to get a plan and see what you need, what you don't and where you need to tweak.

You're right........I'm playing this game by the seat of my pants. I've got a general plan but I haven't filled in the details yet. Right
now I'm concentrating on getting the oil and RES producing bases that are available. While at the same time trying to conquer Manila
and Singapore.

I suspect he has mines at Balikpapan already so I may need some DMS ships in the mix for that assault. And I'm pretty sure he's got
some at Palembang already too. I've got some subs laying mines at the more important bases that I'd like to eventually assault just
to keep the Allies from traipsing through that hex. Plus, maybe sinking one or two. I've moved some Betty's and fighters to Miri for
the support and CAP they offer.

I've set up Pescadores, Cam Rahn Bay, Bubble Drop, and Trik as my main hubs and from there the RES will flow in and the supplies
and fuel will flow out from there. So far the only spoke is Miri which is feeding CRB and from there the Pescadores and thence to
the home islands.

It's all starting to come together slowly. I panic easily but I'm taking medicine for it so I'm optimistic.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon
Why ship to Tokyo? You need to shorten your routes Larry. Port Arthur to Fukuoka...done. Keijo to Fukuoka...done. Fusan to Fukuoka...done. Shikuka to Wakkanai...done. Hakodate to Ominato...done.

+1

Get the resources to any port in Honshu, your rail network will do the rest.

[paradigmblue]

Re: Hong Kong

You should have some more troops in Canton that you can move south if you're having trouble dislodging his defenders in Hong Kong.