Pacific at War 1941-1945 v.3.63 Don is Allies

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the entire inventory of aircraft and what shape they are in and what their mission is for this turn. I haven't started moving the aircraft to better spots yet so their location is subject to change. I want to put all the wimpy aircraft in China and leave the varsity squad for offensive operations in the south pacific.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what northern China looks like right now. I'm attacking every turn but I'm not making any headway at all. The front here is stalled. I'm not real sure what it would take to get things moving again. I'm not sure more units is the answer. And besides, unemployed units are getting rare. Almost everyone is employed somewhere doing something. I'm thinking of bringing in some of the garrison units to just hold what I've got here and move the LCU's defending here to south China.

[Zovs]

We found the spies in Midway, they are being dealt with for their treachery.

[larryfulkerson]

It's now T10 and the operation to clear Java of enemy troops is ongoing and the next group of targets is on the east end of the island. As I recall there's some CD guns on that little island just off the coast. I'll need to reduce those in order to bring some ships in here to support. Sumatra is getting a similar treatment and I've grabbed the majority of the ports on that island. Timor is mine, so I'm running out of easy targets.

[larryfulkerson]

Our R&D department has been busy looking into a super food that we can utilize to give our troops a tiny edge over the Allied troops and we are now looking into cockroach milk.

Although most cockroaches don't actually produce milk, Diploptera punctate, which is the only known cockroach to give birth to live young, has been shown to pump out a type of 'milk' containing protein crystals to feed its babies.

The fact that an insect produces milk is pretty fascinating – but what fascinates our researchers is the fact that a single one of these protein crystals contains more than three times the amount of energy found in an equivalent amount of buffalo milk (which is also higher in calories than regular cow's milk). We have gathered a small army of these insects and we're looking into ways of harvesting these crystals without harming the cockroaches in the process. We're calling this project Operation Tiny Cow and the work is ongoing.

[larryfulkerson]

"The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of 14 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more."*

What isn't well known is that the Japanese home islands includes a tribe of people on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, the Houmg, that are the functional equivalent of the American indian, the original inhabitants who have lived there for thousands of years, and they use sleds with dogs as well and they hold annual races similar to the Iditarod. Our R&D people are working with this tribe to see how hard it would be to put wheels on the sleds and use these "vehicles" to move supplies. The work is ongoing.
---------------------
notes:
* Wikipedia

[Zovs]

I still have to do my turn and this is giving away intel but I think Larry and I are cool like that lol

Losses at sea so far...


USA

Yorktown

BB Arizona
BB Pennsylvania
BB California
BB Oklahoma

7 Subchaser grp

CLAA Atlanta

CW
CW DD Sqd 2

BB Resolution

CL Dauntless
CL Durban
CL Dragon
CL Emerald
CL Leander

CA Cornwall
CA Canberra
CA Columbo

CVE Herms

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Don and I've got a broken bridge near Saigon that I need to repair so I railed some engineers there but it seems that I didn't bring enough of them. I just now went through six engineer units to try to repair the bridge and none of them were up to the task. The units have 50 engineer squads in them and obviously that's not enough yet. You would think that out of six engineer units that one of them would repair the bridge but noooooooooo. There's nothing to do about it except bring in some more engineers yet.

[larryfulkerson]

During the playback I saw some Allied units, probably Indian, marching south from Rangoon and some of them have surrounded one of my prized engineer units near the river. I've dispatched a division from Bangkok to move out to defend but they won't get there in time to prevent the destruction of the engineers. I should have attached a security detail to the engineers when they went to break the bridge over the river several turns ago now. I'm learning how this wargaming thing works still.

I've almost cleared Sumatra and there's just the east end of Java to clear yet and I'm making probing attacks at Manila supported by two BB's and assorted smaller ships. Borneo is still problematic but progress is being made. Same story on Mandano in the Celebes. Timor is fully garrisoned and the carriers are out near Midway looking for opportunities and the stream of reinforcements has dried up as the numbers have dropped off a cliff. There will be more reinforcements to be had toward the later part of the war. They will be welcomed because by then the Allies will be floating in ships and planes and LCU's and the war will be defensive for the Japs until the final end.

EDIT: background for this set of moves:
AC/DC - Thunderstruck (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41d ... rw&index=2

[Hellen_slith]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

New moves from Don and I've got a broken bridge near Saigon that I need to repair so I railed some engineers there but it seems that I didn't bring enough of them. I just now went through six engineer units to try to repair the bridge and none of them were up to the task. The units have 50 engineer squads in them and obviously that's not enough yet. You would think that out of six engineer units that one of them would repair the bridge but noooooooooo. There's nothing to do about it except bring in some more engineers yet.

What's the % chance for them to repair? I thought that if you move an engineer, that its % chance to repair goes down as it moves ... so by the end of a move, if it only has 1 move point left, it might only have 1% chance to repair. Not sure, maybe I am thinking of another game.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Hellen_slith

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
New moves from Don and I've got a broken bridge near Saigon that I need to repair so I railed some engineers there but it seems that I didn't bring enough of them. I just now went through six engineer units to try to repair the bridge and none of them were up to the task. The units have 50 engineer squads in them and obviously that's not enough yet. You would think that out of six engineer units that one of them would repair the bridge but noooooooooo. There's nothing to do about it except bring in some more engineers yet.

What's the % chance for them to repair? I thought that if you move an engineer, that its % chance to repair goes down as it moves ... so by the end of a move, if it only has 1 move point left, it might only have 1% chance to repair. Not sure, maybe I am thinking of another game.

You are correct in your analysis and that might be a factor in the failure rate except that I just disembarked them from the train, moved them one hex to the broken bridge hex and then did the attempt to repair the bridge and none of them worked. There was no way to park an embarked engineer unit on the broken bridge so the good news is that next turn I have six engineer units that don't have to move at all to attempt a repair and I'm expecting at least one of them to work. But that's what I said about this particular event. I don't suppose there's a hurry really. I've got a boat-load of broken rails to fix between Bangkok and Singapore yet. Those guys in the south of Malaya are really hurting for supply.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd take a regiment down to Espirit Santo and see if I couldn't push over the defenders and gain the island. I don't expect too much. Maybe I should send some ships down there to support the effort. I'll look around to see what's available.

[Zovs]

I did not take any screen shots.

China is basically on defensive as both sides are digging in, the combat values for the Chinese and Communist are not that great for offensive actions, but for containment.

India is the one 'bright' spot for the Allies, we just killed off a Japanese Engineer unit and are moving to block the Japanese from expanding.

Else where its sit and wait, I sort of screwed up the Royal Navy a bit and lost more than I should have due to sea interdiction I think (you don't see it coming they just disappear after a while of getting caught in the open seas. And man there is a lot of ocean...

I took back the Attu Islands and am just trying to build up and get a hang on all my naval forces and hold Larry off as long as possible.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Don and I'm checking out the battles that occured during Don's turn and I see a battle where some of my Nells and Bettys intercepted one of his TF's and it happened to have a CV in it and I sank it. Lots of Wildcats went into the drink. My long range patrol aircraft are alert and on the job 24 hours a day 7 days a week. And as Don found out they are dangerous.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm still trying to take down Manila. Don has moved 9 units into the Manila hex to turn it into a fortress but I have 2 BB's there to help soften them up before the final assault. Bataan is still a pain in the neck and not much is happening there. My boys got so tired they finally went into reorg so there's no attacks this turn in the PI.

[Lobster]

Sooo...how is the roach milking research going? [:D]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
Sooo...how is the roach milking research going?

Funny you should ask. I just got an email from the R&D department chief this morning and here's what he said:

The data from all our tests confirms that it's cost prohibitive to try to separate the milk crystal from the producers manually by shaking them, whacking them, or otherwise manipulating them physically. It was decided that the entire producers bodies will be liquified in a blender and that the product will be centrifuged to bring all the lighter liquids to the top whereupon the top layer will be withdrawn into a large kettle and warmed to approx. 100 degrees F and then a small amount of distilled water innoculated with Thermus aquaticus bacteria will eat all the organics turning them into sugars. This takes overnight. The sugars are siphoned off and pasturized to kill the bacteria, then poured into large shallow pans and heated slightly to evaporate most of the water off, leaving a white cake-like eatable solid. It's 99.9% sugar. So far our calculations show that it takes about 1.32 tons of cockroaches to produce 1 pound of sugar. There's an internal debate going on about whether or not the process is cost effective. A lot of the cost is raising the cockroaches in laboratory conditions so that they won't be carriers of disease. It doesn't cost much to feed them because they will eat just about anything. We've discovered that we needed to tint the walls of the initial containment vessels because the sheer number of so many roaches together in one place was freaking out the lab techs. I'm putting together some of the numbers and I'll have a better report for you in about two hours.

[larryfulkerson]

The main problem happening on Mindanao is that the partisans have the supply point(s). My guys are too weak to gain it back. I'm going to have to bring in some fresh troops for that task. Maybe some ship support too. Most of the Celebes is clear of enemy troops...it's just these partisans hiding out in the middle of nowhere.

[Zovs]

Darn it I lost another CV!

Down to only one US carrier, and they were protected by a crap ton of air craft in Perl!

Don't think the war will last long now, 2 sunk US carriers and 1 sunk Brit carrier. I only have 3 US BB left too...

I'll have to check to see if I get any other carriers, if not than maybe no island hopping for Don, lol...

[Edwire]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

New moves from Don and I'm checking out the battles that occured during Don's turn and I see a battle where some of my Nells and Bettys intercepted one of his TF's and it happened to have a CV in it and I sank it. Lots of Wildcats went into the drink. My long range patrol aircraft are alert and on the job 24 hours a day 7 days a week. And as Don found out they are dangerous.

How many Bells and Bettys? Looks like the US has plenty of fighters but nevertheless got a CV sunk. Or did fighters are not on "A" mode?