The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[tanksone]

Hi, personally I wouldn't use any of those leaders for fighter squadrons. Admin is way to low especially for the P-38. I'm in 6-45 against Scout1 and have no issues like you are having as long as my leaders admins are in the 50s or higher. Love the AAR too!!

[&o]

[palioboy2]

Have you put any thought into running massive night bombing campaigns against airfields during the night with your heavies and then follow up during the day time with sweep and medium bomber airfield attacks?

I know Japan has very deep pools but I really think you need to break the back of his air force before you can expect to start earning points from bombing like you want.

I said a few months ago that your strategic airwar would be more like the airwar above Germany then the one over Japan. I just don't think you can expect efficient results without first putting his air force on its heels.

Considering the huge loses he took over Korea this is likely you best chance of seriously hurting his air force.

[Canoerebel]

3/26/45

China: John remains on the offensive in China. When he "unleashed" his Korea offensive a few weeks ago, I knew it was in trouble from the start. Indeed, he scrubbed it quickly. I feel similar about Asia. John is still on the offensive in North China but his army is rather week and scattered and susceptible to counterattack and air attack. North China doesn't have the priority of Korea, so things will drag out a bit. But I'm pretty sure this is going to be a very Bulge-like offensive. Korea never made it that far.

Korea: Good Allied sweeps over Fusan. Sweeps of Nagasaki find no fighter opposition in daytime, though B-24s encounter stiff opposition at night. I think John is having more trouble allocating sufficient fighter cover. Tomorrow, Allied fighters will sweep Nagasaki, Fukuoka and Shimonoseki in numbers, and Liberators will hit Fukuoka airfield by day. I'm hoping to deal with enemy CAP and/or begin to find windows to strike in the daytime.

On the ground, a good Allied army is on the march from Gunzan to Moppo, Korea, which is lightly held. More reinforcements are in bound and, overall, the Allies are about to switch to a general offensive in Korea. Allied bombardment TFs are still doing good work around the Yellow sea against no opposition. The Yellow Sea is pretty much off limits to John's navy, unless and until he triggers a banzai attack.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: palioboy2

Have you put any thought into running massive night bombing campaigns against airfields during the night with your heavies and then follow up during the day time with sweep and medium bomber airfield attacks?

I know Japan has very deep pools but I really think you need to break the back of his air force before you can expect to start earning points from bombing like you want.

I said a few months ago that your strategic airwar would be more like the airwar above Germany then the one over Japan. I just don't think you can expect efficient results without first putting his air force on its heels.

Considering the huge loses he took over Korea this is likely you best chance of seriously hurting his air force.

The bombing raids against enemy airfields are taking place - mainly Port Arthur yesterday and mainly Fukuoka tonight. I'm still working out exactly how I want to do it.

I'm really trying to engage his CAP right now, and have had some decent success. That, following his costly sweeps of a week ago, seem to have left him a bit stretched for fighters. So I'm trying to feel that out more.

[BillBrown]

The bases between East China Sea and Sea of Japan most likely have mines in them, be careful.
I would also expect some CD units at Tsushima and maybe Fusan and the other base.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

The bases between East China Sea and Sea of Japan most likely have mines in them, be careful.
I would also expect some CD units at Tsushima and maybe Fusan and the other base.

In stock, Fusan, Tsushima and Iki Shima all have nasty naval forts. The latter two start with no AV and I have taken Tsushima with just a Para Bn., but John has probably bolstered their defences.

[Canoerebel]

I suppose Bill saw my map and thought I was considering sending carriers into the Sea of Japan. I'm not and never have, for the reasons you guys are referring to (narrow channels and likely mines, not to mention his nest of big airfields). On the map, my reference to intercepting his TF heading to Kanko was with respect to sending CVE Death Star to the Keijo (Yellow Sea) vicinity. That's close enough to hit Kanko and vicinity by air.

I won't hazard capital ships in the Sea of Japan until I take Fusan, and even then extra precautions will be taken at first.

[Canoerebel]

3/27/45

Air War: It's tough going so far. I'm not scoring points the way I had expected. On the other hand, my fighters usually get the better of John's, especially my carrier Corsairs. I'm going to try an all-out attack on Nagasaki tomorrow with bombers plus sweeping and escorting fighters. John hasn't had daytime fighters here in days, so if this works the damage might be considerable. If he brings in stout CAP and if my bombers come in before the sweepers...well, I'll be trying to come up with a new approach.

Overall, I'm still optimistic. My carriers haven't committed more than about 10% of fighters on any turn and, overall, my fighters pools are good. John's losing alot of fighters and I'm hoping it's stretching him (but I've never seen a Japanese player run low on fighters).

Supply: Gunzan now has 1.5 million supply with another 50k coming ashore. That's going to be sufficient for a long, long time. Once it drops down to about 750k, I'll detach a part of Death Star to head to the DEI. Boela already has 1 million supply and may have 2 million by then. I'm gradually sending empties from Shanghai and Gunzan back to Formosa an then back to Luzon so that I'll have plenty of lift capacity.

Ground War: I think things are looking good in both China and Korea. Taking Moppo in about six days is key. ONce that's done, the entire Allied army in Korea can cooridinate for the Fusan campaign, part of the army freezing part of John's in place while the rest of my army moves on Fusan.

Malaya: Allied army begins arriving at Georgetown tomorrow. It should fall within the week. Then my guys should be able to move south in good order, perhaps as far as Kuala Lumpur.

Andamans: D-Day Great Nicobar today. The landing went well...until I noticed that my units ashore still have '41 squads! Arg! I have 300 AV ashore against a Naval Guard unit that's probably well entrenched. I doubt I can take it with '41 squads. I'll use air what air I have available plus a few CL/DD bombardment TFs in hopes of pulling an inside straight.

[BillBrown]

I hope you made sure your B-29Bs are flying night, not day.

[Canoerebel]

It's a daylight mission.

John's had a pretty decent night CAP over Nagasaki and no day CAP. This has gone on for awhile. All my fighters and bombers are part of a daylight raid, including escorts and sweeps. I figure the odds are favorable: there's a decent chance John won't have daylight CAP (in that event the raid may do very well); if he does switch to daylight CAP, there's a chance my sweeping fighters will come in before the bombers; and if neither happens, there will be escorting fighters. I feel like this is the right trigger to pull at the right time. Let's see if I'm right (but if weather socks in everything, we may never know).

[BillBrown]

Well, one thing is that the B model carries twice as many bombs, 40 500lb, so if they encounter little to no opposition, they should do a lot of damage.

[Canoerebel]

-B model isn't included due to it's lack of protection. I'll only be using it in nighttime raids, except when I forget. I should have clarified that.

[Canoerebel]

3/28/45

Malaya: The Allies continue to make progress down here. I've long thought that the game would end before this could become a key theater, but that might not be the case.

[Canoerebel]

3/28/45

Asia: A pretty good day...but it woulda been a lot better if weather hadn't halted the Nagasaki raids (the sync bug showed me an alternate day that was pretty powerful).

[JeffroK]

Cant you sort out this synch bug??

[Canoerebel]

No. It's been with me for a year. It only shows up about once a week, so I just bear with it.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Andamans: D-Day Great Nicobar today. The landing went well...until I noticed that my units ashore still have '41 squads! Arg! I have 300 AV ashore against a Naval Guard unit that's probably well entrenched. I doubt I can take it with '41 squads. I'll use air what air I have available plus a few CL/DD bombardment TFs in hopes of pulling an inside straight.

US Army infantry squads progress from 20 to 26 in anti-soft, but from 15 to 45 in anti-armor in 41-44 upgrade in stock. I bet it is the same in this mod. So against infantry you are not losing that much firepower using old squads. The picture is similar for other Allied infantry progressions with the notable exception of Soviets who get from 15 to 34 in anti-soft. Check it out in the in game database and do not sweat much about those forgotten upgrades. Unless you will be fighting tanks and heavlily fortified positions.
By the way, is anti-armor rating actually used against infantry inside forts of some level? I do not know.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Andamans: D-Day Great Nicobar today. The landing went well...until I noticed that my units ashore still have '41 squads! Arg! I have 300 AV ashore against a Naval Guard unit that's probably well entrenched. I doubt I can take it with '41 squads. I'll use air what air I have available plus a few CL/DD bombardment TFs in hopes of pulling an inside straight.

US Army infantry squads progress from 20 to 26 in anti-soft, but from 15 to 45 in anti-armor in 41-44 upgrade in stock. I bet it is the same in this mod. So against infantry you are not losing that much firepower using old squads. The picture is similar for other Allied infantry progressions with the notable exception of Soviets who get from 15 to 34 in anti-soft. Check it out in the in game database and do not sweat much about those forgotten upgrades. Unless you will be fighting tanks and heavlily fortified positions.
By the way, is anti-armor rating actually used against infantry inside forts of some level? I do not know.

I am sure I read that anti-tank weapons are useful against forts. I do not know if that is based on their armour penetration and effect values or just the anti-armour number (which is usually similar to the penetration number).

[BBfanboy]

John may have optimized the economy to replace fighters as fast as you can down them, but he cannot train new pilots to an adequate level that quickly. The trend in your air dominance suggests his pilot quality has been declining for at least six months.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
John may have optimized the economy to replace fighters as fast as you can down them, but he cannot train new pilots to an adequate level that quickly. The trend in your air dominance suggests his pilot quality has been declining for at least six months.

I hope that's true.

John is either playing a clever "possum" game right now or may be having some issues with his air force. In the past week, he's used Mabel's to bomb in Malaya (I had to look it up on Google, thinking it was a fourth-generation killer but learned that it's a first-generation liabality). On the turn I've just run and will soon post, John used Tonys only on CAP over Nagasaki. I think 25 Corsairs swept againt them, downing 20 while losing none.

I'm well aware that this may all mean little or nothing. John could be putting everything out there now and likely still has a very strong and sizeable core of good stuff and good pilots. But it is encouraging to begin to see some anomalies. I just hope it accurately hints at some desperation.