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

[DesertWolf101]

January 2, 1943

The first bombardment of Vladivostok took place this turn. Not bad, but ideally I would get more supply hits in the future. Once the Soviet AA gun units are sufficiently disrupted I will activate the floatplanes for better gunnery adjustments. The disruption at the base should hopefully also give my bombers an easier time against enemy flak.

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The Economy

Supply has just recently passed the 5 million mark and is climbing. Fuel is at 5.8 million and is steady. Oil is finally climbing after I closed down some refineries in the SRA. The newly captured oil wells in Sakhalin are now half repaired and that should help with the oil flow too.

Nice R&D and Engine increase, but I see the Armaments are still at 620, which is the starting level, as far as I remember. Don’t you fear running out with the soon to happen IJA squad upgrade, and all the new LCU’s you’ll get in ‘43 and ‘44 ?

I note you have increased the Refineries quite a lot, but have shut down a third of it. Any reason why ? I see your Oil stocks are high, production too, you’d have enough Oil to run those extra Refineries for quite some time.[&:]

I am navigating a bit blind here since this is the first time I am doing all this, so I appreciate the feedback.

I didn't know that armaments would be an issue, I thought that the base starting level would be generally sufficient for the length of the game. It hasn't been an issue so far at least. Think I should increase it now? Is the IJA squad upgrade worth doing or can I skip that to save on armament points?

I haven't increased refineries at all, rather the increase has come entirely from captured facilities. I recently shut down a third because oil was decreasing and I prefer to use the refineries in the home islands so as to generate supply back there. It's likely just a temporary move though as it is nice to have the extra supply generation from the refineries closer to the front.

I’m not a specialist on IJ industry, I don’t like it so I don’t often play it, but not even 20k in the pool doesn’t look like a lot. To upgrade or replace a device, you need 1 Arm point per squad, and Arm points equal to the load cost for guns. Around 1200-1500 Arm points for a typical Infantry division. From the top of my head, in Scen 1, you need, for productions alone, 200k Arm and 120k Veh points, plus enough to compensate the losses, and the upgrades.

The ‘43 upgrade for IJA squad is not bad. It’s not US- or USSR-levels of good, but you do get a nice increase in Anti-Armor value (from 5 to 25), but a slight decrease of Anti-Soft (22 to 20). Not all of your squads upgrade to it, but I’d guess at least 10.000 of them will do, so as many Arm points go there.

I would keep the refineries working, as long as they’re not being bypassed by the Allies. You need supplies in those areas too. If you need to haul all the Oil to the HI, then haul supplies to the far reaches of your empire, you consume a lof of fuel. As you said, you haven’t lost many TK and you already feel short, so better limit their overextension. But, again, I’m not a regular IJ player (as such, I had miscalculated your total number of Refineries, checking again shows the numbers are ok - you did conquer a lot of it).
Your Fleet also needs a lot of Fuel to function. It doesn’t look like your opponent tried that option, but with your ground forces concentrated in Siberia and India at the moment, KB is probably your main line of defense for the soft belly of your empire. Knowing that, I would have tested your reactivity, with threats all around, to force KB to steam around. One KB replenishment is worth 2-3 days of industry input.

[DesertWolf101]

My Arm pool is approaching 200K not 20K. Where you perhaps basing your response on the lower number?

I was curious so I took a look at the IJA 1943 squads in the database (one of my infantry divisions just updated to them). Apparently the anti-armor does not change and remains low at 5 but the anti-soft decreases from 22 to 20. On the whole it looks like a general downgrade so I am going to try to avoid the upgrade.

[DesertWolf101]

January 3, 1943

It turns out Andy's Soviet army in the north is not retreating back a hex. Either he changed his mind or I mistook the withdrawal of a few battered units for the retreat of the entire force. Now the question remains whether I try further attacks or assume defensive positions in the mountain positions that I have already taken.

My submarine screen has picked up some ship movements near Socotra. Combined with the hefty SIGINT I have been receiving I think it's time for the KB to dash in at flank and see if I can get something good. I am annoyed that the weather looks to be atrocious again, as well as the fact that the KB seems to have picked up a good deal of system/engineering damage points in the last few days since it sailed out of Colombo at mission speed.

[DesertWolf101]

Excellent news btw, my first Ki-84a Frank research factory is complete and will start churning out points with the help of the engine bonus. That's pretty early no?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
The first bombardment of Vladivostok took place this turn. Not bad, but ideally I would get more supply hits in the future. Once the Soviet AA gun units are sufficiently disrupted I will activate the floatplanes for better gunnery adjustments. The disruption at the base should hopefully also give my bombers an easier time against enemy flak.

My experience with hundreds of bombardments of strong places like PH, Sydney, SF etc (the best strategy of reducing AI strongpoints) tells me that float planes on bombardment recon at night do not suffer much from AA. And they really help with the accuracy! Fly them once during the day though and it is a completely different story...

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
My Arm pool is approaching 200K not 20K. Where you perhaps basing your response on the lower number?

I was curious so I took a look at the IJA 1943 squads in the database (one of my infantry divisions just updated to them). Apparently the anti-armor does not change and remains low at 5 but the anti-soft decreases from 22 to 20. On the whole it looks like a general downgrade so I am going to try to avoid the upgrade.

200k Arm is perfectly ok, especially given the fact that you had a relative easy land campaign in terms of losses. Usually there is no need to expand starting armament factories for Japan, only vehicle ones.

[Evoken]

You are naming your turns 1942 still , made me panic for a second i was like how does he have fully repaired Ki-84 factory in Jan 42 [:D]

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

My Arm pool is approaching 200K not 20K. Where you perhaps basing your response on the lower number?

I was curious so I took a look at the IJA 1943 squads in the database (one of my infantry divisions just updated to them). Apparently the anti-armor does not change and remains low at 5 but the anti-soft decreases from 22 to 20. On the whole it looks like a general downgrade so I am going to try to avoid the upgrade.

Hmmm, no, I checked the first line. I just missed a number (the 2). 200k should be more than enough, I think you may shut down a part of the factories. And I think I’ll check my eyesight - even now, I had to zoom to see the 2.

When I last checked the Scen 1 database, there were two Infantry squads line, and one had that upgrade. I’ll check later, but maybe it’s a different version (I use Andy Mac’s last update).

[Ambassador]

I just launched the Editor. I see #707 IJA Infantry Squad, with Anti-Armor/Anti-Soft/Load Cost 5/20/17, without any upgrades, but also #709 IJA Infantry Squad with 5/22/19, which upgrades to #710 Infantry Squad, with values 25/20/17.
I started the game and loaded a first-turn save in Tracker, and it tells me there are 18684 #707 squads, and 8130 #709 squads.

However, when checking with the Editor the Scen 007 (Quiet China), which I know I haven’t updated, I indeed see that #710 has an unmodified Anti-Armor value of 5.

Therefore, the difference comes from AndyMac’s update to Scen 1 & 2. I guess you play an unmodified Scen 1.

[29000Kevin]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

January 3, 1942

My submarine screen has picked up some ship movements near Socotra. Combined with the hefty SIGINT I have been receiving I think it's time for the KB to dash in at flank and see if I can get something good. I am annoyed that the weather looks to be atrocious again, as well as the fact that the KB seems to have picked up a good deal of system/engineering damage points in the last few days since it sailed out of Colombo at mission speed.

Bad weather dam not again! Andy might have purposely timed his ships to leave port at that time to achieve maximum protection from KB or maybe its a coincidence through luck.

Even So, you might get a lucky break with the ships passing into a zone that has light Rain or better.

The Allies have yet to still learn that Loose Lips do indeed sink ships.
But then again how can you keep your lips sealed when the Allied pixelmen can't keep quiet when the convoy is going to be a really big big one if your Intelligence guys are correct on their assessment.

Lets just hope that KB's initial onslaught damages most of the ships in the Convoy evenly instead of outright sinking a small handful to allow the Surface Combat Task Forces to sink the wounded ships and get 100% confirmed kills.

Oh speaking of reports can you show us a list of the most valuable Merchant ships you have so far sunk in the war since we get a picture of your exploits for the entire year of 1942, and maybe the Warships list too if you want to.

Japan has also so far accomplished the feat of sinking the biggest ship in the world that I certainly know.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Evoken

You are naming your turns 1942 still , made me panic for a second i was like how does he have fully repaired Ki-84 factory in Jan 42 [:D]

Ha yes, old habits die hard. Will edit the dates, thanks!

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

I just launched the Editor. I see #707 IJA Infantry Squad, with Anti-Armor/Anti-Soft/Load Cost 5/20/17, without any upgrades, but also #709 IJA Infantry Squad with 5/22/19, which upgrades to #710 Infantry Squad, with values 25/20/17.
I started the game and loaded a first-turn save in Tracker, and it tells me there are 18684 #707 squads, and 8130 #709 squads.

However, when checking with the Editor the Scen 007 (Quiet China), which I know I haven’t updated, I indeed see that #710 has an unmodified Anti-Armor value of 5.

Therefore, the difference comes from AndyMac’s update to Scen 1 & 2. I guess you play an unmodified Scen 1.

Good to know, I wish I had that modification in our game.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: 29000Kevin

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

January 3, 1942

My submarine screen has picked up some ship movements near Socotra. Combined with the hefty SIGINT I have been receiving I think it's time for the KB to dash in at flank and see if I can get something good. I am annoyed that the weather looks to be atrocious again, as well as the fact that the KB seems to have picked up a good deal of system/engineering damage points in the last few days since it sailed out of Colombo at mission speed.

Bad weather dam not again! Andy might have purposely timed his ships to leave port at that time to achieve maximum protection from KB or maybe its a coincidence through luck.

Even So, you might get a lucky break with the ships passing into a zone that has light Rain or better.

The Allies have yet to still learn that Loose Lips do indeed sink ships.
But then again how can you keep your lips sealed when the Allied pixelmen can't keep quiet when the convoy is going to be a really big big one if your Intelligence guys are correct on their assessment.

Lets just hope that KB's initial onslaught damages most of the ships in the Convoy evenly instead of outright sinking a small handful to allow the Surface Combat Task Forces to sink the wounded ships and get 100% confirmed kills.

Oh speaking of reports can you show us a list of the most valuable Merchant ships you have so far sunk in the war since we get a picture of your exploits for the entire year of 1942, and maybe the Warships list too if you want to.

Japan has also so far accomplished the feat of sinking the biggest ship in the world that I certainly know.

Sure thing mate, I will update with the Allied losses later today.

[DesertWolf101]

January 4, 1943

It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride with the Kido Butai today. As the KB dashed in, it encountered an Allied AM on picket which I thought might cause it to turn back but the KB continued on nonetheless and sure enough its naval search began picking up Allied ships. Unfortunately, the weather was just too bad so no air strikes were flown... Judging by the SIGINT it would also seem that Andy may have turned around the big convoy/s before they arrived on map? Maybe his own SIGINT picked up my KB!

Meanwhile, Andy responded to my battleship bombardments of Valdivostok (where 7 out of 9 defending subs have been sunk thus far) by bringing back the Soviet DB-T torpedo bombers from India. Recon tells me there are a lot of them at Voroshilov but only a dozen came at my Yamato task force today to no effect. Probably the Soviet squadrons were quite fatigued from their long trip back to the motherland.

[DesertWolf101]

A quick overview of Allied ship losses thus far. This is the list of aircraft carriers and battleships lost. CV Wasp is missing from this list. I am 99% sure it is destroyed.

[DesertWolf101]

The Allies have lost a confirmed 10 heavy cruisers and 19 light cruisers. I have also counted 45 Allied destroyers and about 65 submarines destroyed.

[DesertWolf101]

I've lost count of how many TK and AOs I have sunk. These are the biggest ones.

[DesertWolf101]

And the biggest AP/AK types.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

And the biggest AP/AK and other auxiliary types.

[Ambassador]

Nice losses.

Did your first opponent tell you what he was doing with his fleet near Tahiti in March, before he quit ?