Empire of the Sun - DesertWolf101 (J) vs Andy Mac (A)

[DesertWolf101]

In Russia the action continues. Andy has taken up night bombing to harass my airbases and aside from that his air force has been a lot less aggressive these past few days. In the Vladivostok/Sakhalin zone my forces have begun carefully advancing. Birobidzhan was taken with the help of the IJAAF a couple of days ago and the advance continues from there towards both Komsomolsk and Khabarovsk. A Japanese division is attempting to cross the river between Bikin and Khabaravosk to prevent the escape of Andy's rearguard that is still holding in the latter city. Meanwhile in Sakhalin, Tanto force, with the help of air raids, is attempting to catch up and defeat the former Soviet garrison of Alexandrovsk before it reaches Okha.

[DesertWolf101]

In the Mongolian and Lake Baikal Zones, Andy has brought in serious reinforcements and has effectively halted my advance in the Ulan Bator sector. I have therefore shifted the main focus of my advance in the Shilka/Chita direction. I am going to see if I can use the numerous roads in this area to bypass (and if possible) surround the Chita fortress. The Soviet troops from the Mogocha pocket are breaking out to the hills and woods to the northwest so some Japanese forces will attempt to cut them off through the secondary roads near Shilka before they make it out.

[DesertWolf101]

October 19, 1942

The devastating effect of Soviet Artillery - Andy concentrated 15 artillery brigades and regiments, including four Katyusha units, in the Ulan Bator sector. Yikes.

[DesertWolf101]

Having eliminated the Soviet surface navy, I am trying to deal with their sub threat. Combined tactics and arms is the method, with heavy reliance on ASW air, mines, and warship patrols. Thus far I have lost three merchant ships (one large and two medium) to Andy's soviet subs. I have in turn sunk six confirmed Soviet submarines and a few more suspected. Hopefully the results of this latest turn will add to the tally.

[DesertWolf101]

I-9s patience pays off when it spots and sinks a CVE off the coast of California where it has been lurking for about a month now. Almost 50 aircraft go down with the ship.

[DesertWolf101]

October 20-25, 1942

While seemingly the entire Soviet artillery park (now at 17 units!) continues to hammer Tachi Force in the Ulan Bator sector, the much enlarged Katana Force, having absorbed reinforcements from other fronts, is advancing towards Chita. Shilka should hopefully fall to the Empire in the next couple of turns.

[DesertWolf101]

Meanwhile closer to the Vladivostok area, Japanese troops are carefully advancing forwards. They have succeeded in taking Khabarovsk from the Soviet rearguards without a fight by forcing them to withdraw when Andy realized his troops were about to be outflanked and cut off. Detachments are marching to seize the factories at Komsomolsk and the coastal gun forts at Nikolaevsk and Sovetskaya Gavan.

[DesertWolf101]

In the far eastern end of Russia I have a fun little operation underway to take Magadan. After seizing bases with my paratroopers, I am airlifting a couple of infantry regiments to march down and take the Soviet port.

[DesertWolf101]

A couple of other events to mention, both good news:

1) CA Furutaka has thankfully made it back to Bombay where it is getting emergency repairs before likely withdrawing further away from the frontlines.
2) The first N1K1-J George factory has fully repaired itself! As a happy coincidence, this happened on the very same day that I accumulated more than 500 Ha-45 engines. Now research can go forward with the help of the engine bonus.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
October 20-25, 1942

While seemingly the entire Soviet artillery park (now at 17 units!) continues to hammer Tachi Force in the Ulan Bator sector, the much enlarged Katana Force, having absorbed reinforcements from other fronts, is advancing towards Chita. Shilka should hopefully fall to the Empire in the next couple of turns.

Why did not you cross the river to put your units on a RR between Shilka and Chita? It appears that you don't even intend to go there? It is (maybe already was) a race against time with the possible catching of Mogocha group in the northern forests

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
October 20-25, 1942

While seemingly the entire Soviet artillery park (now at 17 units!) continues to hammer Tachi Force in the Ulan Bator sector, the much enlarged Katana Force, having absorbed reinforcements from other fronts, is advancing towards Chita. Shilka should hopefully fall to the Empire in the next couple of turns.

Why did not you cross the river to put your units on a RR between Shilka and Chita? It appears that you don't even intend to go there? It is (maybe already was) a race against time with the possible catching of Mogocha group in the northern forests

Shilka will very likely already be mine and my troops should be pushing to the gates of Chita by the time the forces around Borzya get there. They are instead getting a head start on the secondary roads for some flanking maneuvers on the Chita position.

It is indeed a race against time with the Mogocha group. I think I have a strong chance of beating them through the secondary roads though, especially as I am busy slowing them down with airstrikes.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

And We Are Off! - September 24, 1942

What looked to be like a perfectly synchronized arrival of my forces in the USSR was suddenly torn asunder by the accidental unloading of a small paratrooper unit in the middle of nowhere on Kamchatka. Oh well, we live and die by our decisions and the invasion will now happen a full five days before I wanted it to.

Given my advanced preparations, this in itself is not necessarily catastrophic but it could be quite bad in some places. The greatest issue is that it provides Andy with enough days to transport his forces (of which I am sure a number of them where likely already packed up for rail movement) pretty much wherever he pleases along the frontline. So again not necessarily catastrophic, but potentially really dicey for me....

Catching up. OUCH!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

September 26, 1942

A Sentai of Tojos caught a gaggle of IL-2s heading towards advancing Japanese troops and knocked out about a dozen of them. The Sturmoviks are really tough though - took a really large number of gun hits to bring them down, so cannon is really quite needed when going up against them.

I have found Nicks to be particularly effective against SOV bombers of all kinds ... especially IL-2's.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

To A6M5 or to not A6M5?

The A6M5 is now available to me for production and given this is the first time I am playing Japan I am not really sure how much of an improvement it is over the A6M3a. I really like the A6M3a's excellent range and maneuverability, both of which are better than the A6M5. The A6M5 however does have better speed, climb, and durability. So what's the general perspective here, to A6M5 or not to A6M5? I am leaning towards upgrading some production to the new fighter but keeping half for the A6M3a.

I tend to keep the A6M3a in production for most of the war, although once the A7M2 and/or Ki-43-IV is in production it falls off pretty hard.

I definitely produce the A6M5c ... the other variants depends upon what my needs are. Sometimes I build some, other times not. I also build the A6M8 for sure until the A7M2 is available.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The first battle around Ulan Bator was also rather disappointing. Bad weather prevented any Japanese bombing strikes but some Soviet ones did slip through. It will likely have to be a grinding battle in this sector over the next few months at least.

102 VEH's destroyed ... all except MotSupport are essentially irreplacable.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Meanwhile closer to the Vladivostok area, Japanese troops are carefully advancing forwards. They have succeeded in taking Khabarovsk from the Soviet rearguards without a fight by forcing them to withdraw when Andy realized his troops were about to be outflanked and cut off. Detachments are marching to seize the factories at Komsomolsk and the coastal gun forts at Nikolaevsk and Sovetskaya Gavan.

These are a big deal. The air factories will convert to VEH for you ... a very nice bonus.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

A couple of other events to mention, both good news:

1) CA Furutaka has thankfully made it back to Bombay where it is getting emergency repairs before likely withdrawing further away from the frontlines.
2) The first N1K1-J George factory has fully repaired itself! As a happy coincidence, this happened on the very same day that I accumulated more than 500 Ha-45 engines. Now research can go forward with the help of the engine bonus.

OK, roughly Nov 1 you get your 1st George factory ... yeah, on track for early George and bad news for AndyMac. He's got a handful going here ....

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

To A6M5 or to not A6M5?

The A6M5 is now available to me for production and given this is the first time I am playing Japan I am not really sure how much of an improvement it is over the A6M3a. I really like the A6M3a's excellent range and maneuverability, both of which are better than the A6M5. The A6M5 however does have better speed, climb, and durability. So what's the general perspective here, to A6M5 or not to A6M5? I am leaning towards upgrading some production to the new fighter but keeping half for the A6M3a.

I tend to keep the A6M3a in production for most of the war, although once the A7M2 and/or Ki-43-IV is in production it falls off pretty hard.

I definitely produce the A6M5c ... the other variants depends upon what my needs are. Sometimes I build some, other times not. I also build the A6M8 for sure until the A7M2 is available.

I decided to keep half of the production on the A6M3a as the range on that aircraft is very useful.

I really screwed up with the A6M research line btw. Given my inexperience, I accidentally allowed three research factories to convert to production so now I am shorthanded in my research effort towards the A6M5c. Fortunately, I did put a lot of emphasis on the A7M2 so my hope is that arrives early enough to redress the mistake.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Meanwhile closer to the Vladivostok area, Japanese troops are carefully advancing forwards. They have succeeded in taking Khabarovsk from the Soviet rearguards without a fight by forcing them to withdraw when Andy realized his troops were about to be outflanked and cut off. Detachments are marching to seize the factories at Komsomolsk and the coastal gun forts at Nikolaevsk and Sovetskaya Gavan.

These are a big deal. The air factories will convert to VEH for you ... a very nice bonus.

Nice! I could always use more VEH factories.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

To A6M5 or to not A6M5?

The A6M5 is now available to me for production and given this is the first time I am playing Japan I am not really sure how much of an improvement it is over the A6M3a. I really like the A6M3a's excellent range and maneuverability, both of which are better than the A6M5. The A6M5 however does have better speed, climb, and durability. So what's the general perspective here, to A6M5 or not to A6M5? I am leaning towards upgrading some production to the new fighter but keeping half for the A6M3a.

I tend to keep the A6M3a in production for most of the war, although once the A7M2 and/or Ki-43-IV is in production it falls off pretty hard.

I definitely produce the A6M5c ... the other variants depends upon what my needs are. Sometimes I build some, other times not. I also build the A6M8 for sure until the A7M2 is available.

I decided to keep half of the production on the A6M3a as the range on that aircraft is very useful.

I really screwed up with the A6M research line btw. Given my inexperience, I accidentally allowed three research factories to convert to production so now I am shorthanded in my research effort towards the A6M5c. Fortunately, I did put a lot of emphasis on the A7M2 so my hope is that arrives early enough to redress the mistake.

I think you will find that this is less of an issue than you fear at the moment. Once George arrives, you will want a LOT of them. Together with Frank, these two aircraft can dominate 43/44. If you can get A7M early enough, 44 can be REALLY tough for the allies.