Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
Scott did managed to blast more of the oil fields at Balikpapan. This time my fighters only shot down 4 of his planes and Balikpapan is now down to 98 functioning oil wells. I'll keep rebuilding them with indigenous supply but this does not bode well for the future. It's almost 1944 and the game ends then, right?

I'm not sure if rebuilding there is justified at that point. He can bomb oil again, tankers will be a risky business in a couple months, and excess supply better be shipped to the places where you intend to fight soon. It is supply that becomes the scarce resource for Japan in late 44

[John B.]

Good point, but I've just been using the supply that Balikpappan generate through its refinery actions, but, it's not enough to really rebuild much. Tankers are already a risky business if the KB is not around. Scott, can run a DD TF in at high speed to try to get a tanker convoy. There are about 40,000 fuel points there now that I should be able to get out, but I have to expect that Tarakan and Soerebaja will be down soon. Even when he loses a alot of bombers their accuracy is pretty high.

[John B.]

The Reconquista has been successful! There were no combat forces on Talaud only base forces and AA units so my two infantry units were able to sweep them aside and make them surrender at one blow. Not only does this garner me a nice 200 VP point haul but it helps to shut Scott out of the Celebes Sea for awhile and slows down his building of air bases to threaten the Philippines with. My basic plan is to pull my units out of here ASAP. I can't hold it and they'll just be bombed into submission. They do better fighting it out in the Manila Clark Field complex so I'm fast transporting as many of these guys out as possible.

[John B.]

As a nice little bonus Scott sent in a 4 DD TF with Arliegh Burke in charge. Even though he crossed my T all four of his boats went down for no loss to the IJN. Not sure how I pulled that off (thanks Long Lance torpedoes). But it does add 37 VP to my total for the Reconquista. I wonder if Arliegh died in that little dust up.

[John B.]

A question for all you JFBs. I had thought that once a plane type was highlighted in the R&D section you could switch it to the next available plane on the research path and not lose any of the factories. For example, if the Oscar 2 (made up plane for my example) becomes highlighted to start production in the next month I could switch it to researching the Oscar 3 at no loss of research factories. This happens sometimes and sometimes it does not. What do I need to look for?

[John B.]

And, no real drama this turn. I pulled out most of my invasion forces from Talaud and sank a US sub with a Japanese sub. Scott did start terror bombing Chungking and put a hit at night on the heavy industry there. I already have 2.7 million heavy industry points stockpiled so I figure Scott is really just saving me fuel points.

[awaw]

I think you get to upgrade to the next plane in the r&d line without damage all the time. But you have to upgrade insequence, meaning ki-61 a to 61b to 61c then 100 i then 100 ii. You cannot go straight from 61a to 100 I fir example. Also sometimes the plane name suggest that they are in the same line, but really they are not. Eg, in scen 1, A6m3 is NOT the next plane after A6m2


Note: the example of tony is quoted without me checking game database, so the exact sequence may differ. It should be interpreted more as a “illustration”

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
A question for all you JFBs. I had thought that once a plane type was highlighted in the R&D section you could switch it to the next available plane on the research path and not lose any of the factories. For example, if the Oscar 2 (made up plane for my example) becomes highlighted to start production in the next month I could switch it to researching the Oscar 3 at no loss of research factories. This happens sometimes and sometimes it does not. What do I need to look for?

If you switch R&D factories to the next model in the chain it always works w/o damage no matter when you do it. Production date does not matter. Moreover, with production coming near you bear a risk of forgetting to switch in time and have your R&D factories switch to production automatically, at which point you won't be able to get them back to R&D if Realistic R&D is ON

You did not provide enough info about the cases when you think it did not work for you

[John B.]

Well, I paid for being lazy. Two of the CLs who loaded troops from Talaud were caught by the USN carriers and now rest at the bottom of the ocean. I should have sent them up the west side of Mindanao but I didn't. Wah Wah. The DD did get away and I've managed to fly some of the troops out on Emilys. I'll be more careful in the future. I promise.

[John B.]

Scott continues his attacks on my oil. His latest raid on Balikpapan did not do as much damage and cost him a number of Corsairs. He also lost 6-7 heavies. I've been riding the IJN very hard just to keep him down and that has also been sucking up lots and lots of fuel. The KB is taking a few days break at Soerebaja and then we'll probably head back to Kendari. Scott has also continued his terror bombing of China knocking out some of the oil wells there. I can't defend everywhere so I'll let him blow up what he can since they are not a major contributor to the fight.

[John B.]

Awaw and GetAssista, thanks for the input. Here's the more exact case. As you can see, I have factories researching the Ki-84a. Focus on the factories in Maebashi. They are highlighted and about to start production in January 1944.

[John B.]

When I convert them to research Ki-84bs however, I lose 17 factories and none of them are active. What gives???

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
When I convert them to research Ki-84bs however, I lose 17 factories and none of them are active. What gives???

Ki-84b is not the upgrade to Ki-84a. Check how Frank paths really work. Ki-84a -> Ki-84r

Edit: you can always check current paths in any scenario/mod by going to the intelligence screen and then to the Aircraft replacement pool. Last column shows the next upgrade in the chain.

[John B.]

Oh! I wish there was an emjoi smacking itself in the forehead. That's very easy!! Thanks GetAssista!!

In other news, Scott continued his terror raids over China having figured out that I don't have any fighters there (and I have no plans to add any) since it's not the front lines he can bash away at Chinese industry.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Oh! I wish there was an emjoi smacking itself in the forehead. That's very easy!! Thanks GetAssista!!

In other news, Scott continued his terror raids over China having figured out that I don't have any fighters there (and I have no plans to add any) since it's not the front lines he can bash away at Chinese industry.

It's a bit large for an emoji, but here you go ...

[John B.]

LOL! There you go!

In other news, it looks like Scott is making a push for the Philippines. I'm not sure where he'll land but it makes life even more interesting. The KB is rounding the corner of Borneo and may actually wind up in a position to fight him on this one with Manila stocked up with fuel and supplies.

There was a night surface action near Balikpapan. The early results are the loss of an IJN DD for a US CL (sinking sounds and loss of 5 seagull aircraft in ground losses). More terror bombing of China which will be remembered in the post war criminal trials!

[Bif1961]

Fight! Fight! Fight!

[John B.]

Bif, you may get your wish sooner rather than later! Here is the US fleet. He's going somewhere in the Phillipines, the question is where?

And minor bad turn for the IJN. Scott sank a damaged CA from the recent surface action. He also caught me on a shift change at Balikpapan and got 24 aircraft on the ground. I've pretty much given up on that base and had started to shift aircraft out of there but not quickly enough.

[John B.]

Meanwhile, the KB is rounding the corner at Borneo. For the first time in a long time Scott does not know exactly where my carriers are. I"d like to keep it that way and see what develops. Any landing fleet will be vulnerable to a hit and run from my surface forces in Manila. If I can exchange them now it's better VP wise than letting him hunt them down in 45 when they're cowering in port!

[John B.]

Busy turn. Scott raided Moulmein (my main base defending the gateway out of Burma) but my planes were all in the air and he also attacked Hong Kong. Fortunately he did not hit the port since the Kaga and two BBs are in dry dock there. I've moved fighters to try to protect them.

His subs were active and put a torpedo into the Hiryu. The sub went down and the Hiryu can still operate, barely, but it's a fight deck!

And, as you can see, he has come ashore in the southern Philippines. I have two Surface TFs slated to hit the northern invasion tonight from Manila. The Razor is in charge of one and another good aggressive one is in charge of the other. Let's see if his ships are still there!