Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

Yep, that's the idea, but his carriers vanished. Guess I'll wait, but in a week or so I'll have Akagi and Soryu to add to KB. That will bring me to 537 carrier aircraft at Saipan.

[ny59giants]

How many of those very nasty Fletchers have you sunk to date?? I'm getting up from 8 to 13 in the mega-midmonth reinforcements now at end of Feb '44. Lots of 8 DD SC TFs out there to cause trouble. [:)]

[Bif1961]

Time to move the KB to Ponape and when you get your follow on carriers to reach 530ish aircraft have the KB fueled up and ready to flank speed rush in and attack his next foray.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants_MatrixForum

How many of those very nasty Fletchers have you sunk to date?? I'm getting up from 8 to 13 in the mega-midmonth reinforcements now at end of Feb '44. Lots of 8 DD SC TFs out there to cause trouble. [:)]

Only 8 confirmed. Maybe a few more. Not nearly enough. [:(]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Time to move the KB to Ponape and when you get your follow on carriers to reach 530ish aircraft have the KB fueled up and ready to flank speed rush in and attack his next foray.

I'm still debating where to station KB. Akagi and Soryu are leaving port today (15 Dec) and should reach Saipan in 5 days. I have a full Replenishment TF at their disposal so I'll station all of KB within striking range and fuel them up for the next US CV sortie that's bound to happen.

[Lowpe]

Be super careful with the KB, once it is gone, it is a whole different game that you won't like. Don't buy into the false theory that the KB loses value the longer the game goes. Even trading carriers now is a big loss for you.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Be super careful with the KB, once it is gone, it is a whole different game that you won't like. Don't buy into the false theory that the KB loses value the longer the game goes. Even trading carriers now is a big loss for you.

Don't worry. I'm very cautious with KB now. An attack is Jills escorted by Zeros at 10 hex range and it's a one shot deal. I carry Judies for 2 reasons: ASW and the off chance something wanders into their range.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Be super careful with the KB, once it is gone, it is a whole different game that you won't like. Don't buy into the false theory that the KB loses value the longer the game goes. Even trading carriers now is a big loss for you.

Agreed. Late war, the Sea of Japan is the perfect stomping ground for the KB - there's a whole landmass between it and any possible Allied fleet!

[Mike Solli]

14 Dec 43

Sub War

Things evened out today. The Muskallunge, still hanging out a hex south of Kobe, sank Ch-43. I look at it as 2 fewer torpedoes for something important. No retaliation on her though.

The RO-109 was sunk by a DD ASW TF between Kavieng and Truk.

5 Fleet

Still waiting for the BBs to return so I can attack. I'm coming up on almost 3x the Allied raw AV, 304:113.

4 Fleet

The US carriers disappeared, so nothing exciting happened here today.

SE Fleet

The US bombers hit Truk again, and this time there weren't any fighters to defend. 165 sorties and my flak got only 1x 2E bomber. [8|] Truk's airfield is trashed at 0-93-99. I don't expect Truk to recover from this. I'm pulling out important units by air and fast transport.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

We traded 4 Hurricanes for a Frank and light damage was done to Kalemyo's airfield.

China

Only about a third of the bombers flew today. They and the artillery killed 34 squads (26 infantry) and disabled another 152 squads. Total infantry squads killed this month are 930.

Army recovery:

Fatigue: 67.1%, down 8.2%
Disruption: 37.4% down 25.3%
Disablements: 5.9% down 1.2%

It looks like fatigue is going to be the determining factor. At what point do I attack? Fatigue below 20%? That would be about 6 days from now. What do you guys think?

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

74 Sentai - 27 bombers, 2 Air Division, will train Kamikazes
204 Training Sentai, 42 fighters, 3 Air Army, training even though it is not restricted.
AO Shioya, 3600 capacity, will refuel ASW TFs which have a habit of not returning to base when low on fuel.
SC Cha-72, ASW
6 South Seas Set, Manokwari garrison, north of Hollandia in PNG.

I got confirmation of the sinking of a Dutch sub by mine on 10/8/43.

Akagi is completely reapaired with Soryu completing repairs tomorrow.

[Mike Solli]

15 Dec 43

Sub War

Another day of the Allies making up for the increasingly rare Japanese success under the sea... [8|]

A Type-1 TM (8150 capacity) TK was torpedoed a few hexes east of Jesselton. She ain't gonna make it: 51-60(39)-47(15)-63. All those fires and she was not loaded (fortunately).

An xAKL was torpedoed by that damn Harder east of Tobali. She was used to haul resources to Java. She was not loaded either.

5 Fleet

The BBs are on their way back to Unmak from Ominato. 5 days to the deliberate assault.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The US bombers returned and hit the port this time, sinking 2 ACMs and 2 damaged subs that were attempting to make temporary repairs. [:@] Truk is really trashed now: 41-93-98.

133 sorties were sent with flak getting 3. [8|] I suspect another hit on the port tomorrow, but there's nothing to hit there.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

77 Helens hit Kalemyo's airfield adding to the damage there. No fighters are at Ledo any longer.

China

None of the bombers flew (weather) but the artillery killed 58 squads (57 infantry) and disabled another 35. Total infantry squads killed this month are 987.

Army recovery status:

Fatigue: 58.9% down 8.2%
Disruption: 20.3% down 17.1%
Disablements: 4.8% down 1.1%

The Chinese gained 3 units and are up to 151.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

SS RO-43
MTB G-163

[rustysi]

Disruption: 62.7% - down 25.0%!

Yeah, disruption lowers pretty quick when you do nothing.

[rustysi]

I feel the end is near, finally. Well, not really. There still are 4 other Chinese forces out there, all surrounded and starving. One has ~90-100k and is stuck in a town in clear terrain. The other 3 are in woods, one of ~40k and the other two individual units probably with just a few thousand each. I'll focus on the last three with my bombers practicing on the guys in the clear. But those last 4 forces are just clean up, really.

Once everything else is gone their effectiveness will be zilch, zip, nadda. Will make good punching bags for your air forces.

[rustysi]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Time to move the KB to Ponape and when you get your follow on carriers to reach 530ish aircraft have the KB fueled up and ready to flank speed rush in and attack his next foray.

I'm still debating where to station KB. Akagi and Soryu are leaving port today (15 Dec) and should reach Saipan in 5 days. I have a full Replenishment TF at their disposal so I'll station all of KB within striking range and fuel them up for the next US CV sortie that's bound to happen.

Remember to stay out of 4E bomber range, no matter where you put them. A port attack could put a damper on things PDQ.

[rustysi]

An attack is Jills escorted by Zeros at 10 hex range and it's a one shot deal.

A CV attack for Japan is supposed to be hardcoded to 8 hexes max. Seven for the Allies.

[rustysi]

5 Fleet

Still waiting for the BBs to return so I can attack.

IIRC you were talking about stationing some AKE's in the region. I usually keep some around that can then be deployed as far forward as possible when I have ops in the area. Saves time and fuel.

Edit: Some tankers wouldn't hurt either.

[rustysi]

Fatigue: 67.1%, down 8.2%

It looks like fatigue is going to be the determining factor. At what point do I attack? Fatigue below 20%? That would be about 6 days from now. What do you guys think?

Fatigue may have been why your last adjusted AV was so low. Have no idea what it was at time of attack.

So I'd say yes.

You should then be in position for another attack by the end of the month, if needed. Looks to me like moving back and forth to 'recover', at least at this point, is adding nothing.

[rustysi]

will refuel ASW TFs which have a habit of not returning to base when low on fuel.

Hmmm, not seeing this in my game.

I got confirmation of the sinking of a Dutch sub by mine on 10/8/43.

Yea, hey small victories.[:D]

[rustysi]

133 sorties were sent with flak getting 3.

How much AAA? What's his altitude?

[rustysi]

None of the bombers flew (weather) but the artillery killed 58 squads (57 infantry) and disabled another 35.

More kills than disablement's is a good sign, well to me at least. Usually indicates he's near the end.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Fatigue: 67.1%, down 8.2%

It looks like fatigue is going to be the determining factor. At what point do I attack? Fatigue below 20%? That would be about 6 days from now. What do you guys think?

Fatigue may have been why your last adjusted AV was so low. Have no idea what it was at time of attack.

So I'd say yes.

You should then be in position for another attack by the end of the month, if needed. Looks to me like moving back and forth to 'recover', at least at this point, is adding nothing.

Reduction in Fatigue/Disruption is not linear. I would expect it to take more than 6 days for disruption to get down under 20%.

Also, in an enemy base, you are going to struggle to keep fatigue below 20.


Your units will have plenty of time to rest once the city is taken. The primary factors in your attacks should be:

1) How many disablements are there in the unit? If the majority of the Infantry squads in your divisions are disabled (or close to it), you probably do not want to attack with that unit (although there might be good reasons to do so anyway). The reason for this is that, in most cases, units seem to suffer hits in such a way that "line items" of devices are "hit", and when taking a hit a device is first disabled and then destroyed. Devices can obviously be destroyed outright but that is unlikely to happen to your units in this context. Personally, my threshold for including a unit in an attack at Chungking that is unlikely to be the final attack (i.e., it is just a reducing attack) is <100 squads disabled (and 200+ ready).

2) How much better are your units than the enemy's units? It's not always about the odds - sometimes it is just about the damage you inflict on the enemy. As long as you are causing more damage to them, while suffering acceptable losses to your forces, it doesn't matter what the odds are (until it comes time to actually take the base). To that end (effective combat results), fatigue and disruption are much less important. You can recover them acceptably quickly later on. You should focus on grinding his units down first, which you've begun to do. Do not rest too long now just because of fatigue and disruption. I would rest 3 or 4 days at the very most.