The Accidental War Obvert vs Lowpe

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Starting moves...expand vehicle production...currently at 213. I am thinking of going to 300. Perhaps 400 even.[X(]
I will start small, and increased only 1 point across all factories today and there are only 6 of them.

You have the chance to capture several AC factories which convert to ARM factories. I would not expand too fast until you have those ...

That is looking pretty far into the future... I doubt I get the chance till past July, and probably won't be able to repair them or hold them into 45. Quite frankly, without the surprise attack on the Soviets, I wonder if I will see Jan 1, 1945?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Today is the day I will make wholesale changes to my plane r&d...

out the window is every plane that comes later than the Sam.

I am still going to short the Oscar...which would be a useful plane.

Probably a good idea ... Shinden is maybe the only one I would salvage ... otherwise agreed.

Other thoughts, use as you see fit:
You need Frank and George really fast.
Given you are fighting mostly in CHI and SOV, Tojo can actually work as there are a lot of bases. 6/8 hex range works.
You will need FAR more Helen than normal. you have a long grinder of a war is asia. you will need to build both Sallys also a lot more until Helen shows up.
Pilot training is going to be replaced by "on the job" ... particularly for your bomber pilots. cherry pick places from your 35 exp/50 skill pilots can work and not die too fast.

This means a lot more Ha-34, Ha-32 than normal. I would prolly forgo RnD on Jill/Judy (build when they appear of course) get a lot of RnD on Frank/George. 15x30 each? Something like that.
don't know about IJN group sizes, but I would also consider beaching a lot of groups ... A6M is the best fighter on the map for at least the next 6 months. You want them in heavy use ....

I have to be honest here, and I have had the turn 3 days and I am still working out the plane changes. It is somewhat byzantine.

Petes for example. Who builds Petes in a PDU off game, but the sad fact is they are the best night time CAP plane Japan has until Irving and Nick D shows up. But Petes use an off engine and really, how many splinter squadrons of Petes do I need to deter night bombing with something in the air...quite a few actually.

I cringe everytime I have to change a factory...but I am beefing up George, Frank, the Zero line, Sally.

Your thinking of allocating 15 factories to George, got me thinking...probably bad thoguhts...but thinking. Thanks.

[Aurorus]

I have no idea how you train a sufficient number of IJN fighter pilots while using Petes as "night-fighters," unless you are making some pretty gamey air-group resizes. Would it not be better to break down a group of Nates and use the Nates as "night-fighters) with some exp. 30 pilots?

As Pax stated, the Zero is The plane for the next 6 months. You want to keep the pipe-line of pilots flowing into Zeros as much as possible.

[Lowpe]

No gamey air group sizing for me.

It is either protect the economy or die...so I chose to protect the economy.

My revamped r&d program features only one bomber being researched; everything else is fighters, fighter bombers, or night fighters.

No r&d into Oscar, Tojo, Tony at all.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe


Your thinking of allocating 15 factories to George, got me thinking...probably bad thoguhts...but thinking. Thanks.

I wrote that because I am proposing a long ground war that will need IJN fighter groups heavily involved. To support that, you need a good ground based fighter for the IJN. George is better offensive than Jack, but you could go Jack just as easily. You know I hate to build both. 15x30 on George means when you get it, 10x30 stay production, the other 5x30 continue to RnD George.

300/month production is enough to support 6 - 10 fighter groups in heavy combat ... and you are going to be in heavy combat.

Ditto for IJA groups and Frank ...

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I cringe everytime I have to change a factory...

Truthfully, this is the part I haven't been able to finish thinking through .... how long can you fight the combined CHI/SOV before you simply crash the economy ... the problem up front is that you will be consuming a lot of supply during the time that IJ normally is banking supply.

This line of thought would certainly mean that you need to be very careful with factory expansion, but there is no way around the fact that you need to expand factories or you simply will not have numbers to meet the opposition.

I've sandboxed taking on the Bear quite a bit, but I have always had the surpise AND not until much later in '42 when I have things in the DEI and CHI in better hand ...

[Lowpe]

Pax you are right, this is a surprise Soviet attack![:)] And not the other way around.

Sallys will make up the core of the bomber strength till very late.

I am in the planning phase, and awaiting good moonlight, to launch a massive night bombing raid on Chungking and Vladivostock.

I went with Jack...they come earlier, finish earlier, and will suffice. I am still going after George but with the initial commitment. I like the Jack for the Ha32 engine which will be easier on my economy.

My economy, with Obvert going great guns to destroy it, protecting it is very difficult. Very difficult. Plus with China playing a much larger role than anticipated, I suspect things will be very interesting.

[Lowpe]

Finished the turn! What a beast...I already know I have missed things to do, hopefully nothing too serious.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I went with Jack...they come earlier, finish earlier, and will suffice. I am still going after George but with the initial commitment. I like the Jack for the Ha32 engine which will be easier on my economy.

I suspected you might for just those reasons.

[Lowpe]

I figure by the time the Jack shows up, which should be really early, the A6M3 and Nicks will have balanced the air game a lot. Army will have to wait till first quarter 43 for the Frank A, and then it should be a happy time in the air all the way to 44. What probably will hurt is going from A6M3a to Sam. Could be tough at sea...I guess I might make a few Tojo, but at this point nothing is planned.

[Lowpe]

Jan 24, 1942

Another day in the accidental war. A dozen night strikes by the Allied/Soviet war machines and I come thru unscathed.

During the day massive sweeps of Shikuka and then heavy bombing devastates the few Zeroes in the area. Runway is at 45%. I tried a bombing run on the isolated paratroopers there but nobody flew.

[Lowpe]

Troops are heading to the front line positions, or what will be my front line positions.[;)]

[Lowpe]

Plane losses I cannot afford, but then there are no Soviet replacements for these losses also.

[Lowpe]

Boise, Prince of Wales, and company make good their escape. Sigh.[:(]

[Lowpe]

Sakhalin

[PaxMondo]

Sov has a lot of short range patrols ... so yes, might very well be able to shift quite a few ....

[Lowpe]

Finished the turn, and I am in the process of getting the troops where they need to be...many will arrive by rail today...but will the Soviet storm into them?

Will the Soviets try for Toyohara? Flying in some emergency ground troops....but will it be enough?

Moonlight is 50%...I will wait for 90% and unleash the Japanese bombers against the Chinese and Soviet industry.

Spent even more supply getting the Frank and Jack r&d facilities to 30 each. In a wild burst of enthusiasm, I am building two factories of each up to 200. Perhaps 300. This will give me one solid factory while the other groups can keep on r&d the Frank R and advanced Jack (the J2M3 is quad cannon, SR2 and a big improvement over the J2M2).

Lots of damaged ships and a big troop transport near Jolo. The troop transport has 9/10 dl, and there are 30 Allied bombers at Ternate. So I am diverting everything to Jolo and have 30 Zereoes flying CAP and six ASW task forces. The subs here are as thick as thieves.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Sov has a lot of short range patrols ... so yes, might very well be able to shift quite a few ....

Hmm., perhaps Toyohara is safe for now. I can't find any regular transports till June of 42 or so. Soviet air assaults at coastal/island only and most likely very, very short range.

[Lowpe]

using Women pilots![X(]

An urgent flash message from Sakhalin's recent air clashes with the Soviets....no one has the nerve to inform the Emperor.[:D] And they have parachutes too!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Sov has a lot of short range patrols ... so yes, might very well be able to shift quite a few ....

Hmm., perhaps Toyohara is safe for now. I can't find any regular transports till June of 42 or so. Soviet air assaults at coastal/island only and most likely very, very short range.

Yes, they atart with quite a few groups. Most are MBR-2, but he gets some Do J.