Requiem for Tomorrow Wirraway (J) v DesertWolf (A)

[ITAKLinus]

Forget about everything. There are two important upgrades, one in like JUN-42 and the other (the most important) in JUN-44.

You can be stingy and I suggest you to be and avoid costly upgrades but remember to turn off replacements to the units using old tanks.

If I haven't lived on Mars for the last years, Japan produces tank-stuff when needed and it's not like the Allied side where you have a fixed monthly production and random pool injections from convoys.


VEH production is quite bad at the beginning and I always increase it, btw. In a mad game I reached 300 VEH per-month and I had pool always to 0, but my suggestion is for 120-150 VEH per-month. It's already a lot if you don't go wild out of the historical perimeter.


Basically, Japanese tanks are rubbish and we all know that. The general idea is to keep your LCUs with 100% TOEs and upgrade those which are super-depleted just like you'd do with the allies, but always remembering that Japanese have this funky system in which they produce as they need.
Also, never forget: A) you'll need about 10,000VEH points to fill up the arriving units; B) if you are the kind of guy who buys Manchiurian ARM, you need more VEH earlier in the game than otherwise: C) you have 2 (TWO!) relatively useful Tank Divisions coming in '42 and they need an insane amount of VEH points to be kept in fighting conditions; D) I'm fairly drunk with haitian rum; E) you can face allied tanks in '42 but '43 already becomes very intense and you'll need more VEH points; F) Omar is a pain in the butt since he's a very good player and your mobile reserves will be called into fight earlier and in higher numbers than in other games; G) never forget that artillery is a decent AT and saves you MANY VEH points over the course of a game; H) tankettes have always performed very well on atoll defense for me, those disgusting 17AV units have done a very good job almost always and using them saves limited ARM LCUs for more important tasks; I) you can and should split 80AV ARM LCUs in smaller pieces when you assume a more defensive posture; L) replacing a tankette costs precisely as much as replacing a king tiger, just like Nates cost as much as F16s; M) the magic group of Grant/Lee-Valentine-Matilda-Sherman is your problem but never forget that massed AVs can win the fight if they don't have supporting infantry and make them retreat, just like Chinese can do a random shock attack and push back IJA tanks

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

D) I'm fairly drunk with haitian rum; . . .

This is the best part.

It also helps the Haitian economy which needs help.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

Forget about everything. There are two important upgrades, one in like JUN-42 and the other (the most important) in JUN-44.

You can be stingy and I suggest you to be and avoid costly upgrades but remember to turn off replacements to the units using old tanks.

If I haven't lived on Mars for the last years, Japan produces tank-stuff when needed and it's not like the Allied side where you have a fixed monthly production and random pool injections from convoys.


VEH production is quite bad at the beginning and I always increase it, btw. In a mad game I reached 300 VEH per-month and I had pool always to 0, but my suggestion is for 120-150 VEH per-month. It's already a lot if you don't go wild out of the historical perimeter.


Basically, Japanese tanks are rubbish and we all know that. The general idea is to keep your LCUs with 100% TOEs and upgrade those which are super-depleted just like you'd do with the allies, but always remembering that Japanese have this funky system in which they produce as they need.
Also, never forget: A) you'll need about 10,000VEH points to fill up the arriving units; B) if you are the kind of guy who buys Manchiurian ARM, you need more VEH earlier in the game than otherwise: C) you have 2 (TWO!) relatively useful Tank Divisions coming in '42 and they need an insane amount of VEH points to be kept in fighting conditions; D) I'm fairly drunk with haitian rum; E) you can face allied tanks in '42 but '43 already becomes very intense and you'll need more VEH points; F) Omar is a pain in the butt since he's a very good player and your mobile reserves will be called into fight earlier and in higher numbers than in other games; G) never forget that artillery is a decent AT and saves you MANY VEH points over the course of a game; H) tankettes have always performed very well on atoll defense for me, those disgusting 17AV units have done a very good job almost always and using them saves limited ARM LCUs for more important tasks; I) you can and should split 80AV ARM LCUs in smaller pieces when you assume a more defensive posture; L) replacing a tankette costs precisely as much as replacing a king tiger, just like Nates cost as much as F16s; M) the magic group of Grant/Lee-Valentine-Matilda-Sherman is your problem but never forget that massed AVs can win the fight if they don't have supporting infantry and make them retreat, just like Chinese can do a random shock attack and push back IJA tanks

Thanks, Francesco! Great stuff.

I am currently producing 120 vehicles a month and plan to expand a bit further. I have bought out all the Manchukuo armor, but will wait to the Jun 42 upgrades to get the Type 1 medium tanks then grit my teeth until the Type 3s are available.

I don't recall the 17 AV tankette units in the OOB, but will keep my eye out for them.

All my friends who were artillery officers won't let me forget a 15cm artillery piece is a darn good tank killer.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

D) I'm fairly drunk with haitian rum; . . .

This is the best part.

It also helps the Haitian economy which needs help.

Does the rum help or hurt game play?

[Wirraway_Ace]

19 Jan 42

Manila falls to a 3:1 shock attack. 27,000 Philippine Army, USAAF, and USMC troops surrender. The IJA loses 38 squads (and 44 disabled), nearly all from the 56th engineer regiment which apparently led the entire attack. Gen Homma also captures a considerable amount of supply and fuel. The enemy did fly in some P40Es to CAP Manila from Bataan. Our Tojos on LRCAP arrived to the dog fight late, so we lost a handful of Lilys and Sonias before the Tojos shot down the remaining CAP. This minor air engagement above the city appeared to have no effect on the outcome of the fight. On Luzon, the enemy is now confined to Clark-Bataan as we control all the hex-sides. We will leave one division, the 56th, along with two brigades to sit on the 40,000 enemy at Clark (with another 26,000 on Bataan) and redeploy the 48th and 16th divisions that suffered almost no casualties. The 56th is still broken down into regiments, one of which is assigned to the 16th Army. In the stock map, Clark is a costal hex, so naval bombardment over the coming days, weeks and months is an option to supplement IJAAF bombers.

The situation is similar on Mindanao, where the enemy retreated early to mountains, though we do not control all the hex-sides there yet. Small enemy forces remain on Panay and Cebu.

On Java, our second wave units arrive and begin offloading unmolested.

In the Celebes, the last major airfield at Makassar is invaded with SNLFs.

On New Guinea, IJA engineers complete the expansion of the Lae airstrip to Level 4 and move on Nadzab. The 4th Division is moving slowly on Kokoda Trail toward Port Moresby while 20th Division departs Japan to reinforce the attack as needed.

At Noumea on New Caledonia, we find a full USAAF Base Force along with the New Caledonia Detachment behind level 2 forts.

In China, we continue to grind away to decent effect, another couple hundred squads disabled and 100 destroyed for no losses other than a few trucks. The enemy has moved all his fighters from base to base the last three days, Kunming-Chungking-Sian, presumably trying to catch our bombers in a CAP trap. This is a goofy aspect of the game, making for very unrealistic play, but the game engine allows it with little penalty (a few ops loses, but many players just save and redo the move until there are none, and some fatigue that does not affect fighter squadrons much). The 5th Air Div is generally ignoring these antics, focusing on ground support. Nells from Chiang Mai will hit Kunming this turn, weather permitting, to see if he goes back to where he started.

On the production front, we are now producing 150 Oscars a month, By the end of January, all the units that can upgrade to the Ic will have converted from Nates or the older Oscar 1a model with only two 7.7mm machine guns. We still have a sentai flying the 1b model. It will be the last to convert. The other sentai flying Nates have to wait for Tojos in a PDU off game.

An enemy submarine is sighted off the Home Islands for the first time of the war. The enemy had a couple submarines in the East China Sea until yesterday, but one is now transiting just off the coast of Shikoku.

[RangerJoe]

Just to let you know, I do believe that in order to bombard Clark that you have to go through the Bataan hex . . . [X(]

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Just to let you know, I do believe that in order to bombard Clark that you have to go through the Bataan hex . . . [X(]

I have that memory from ten years or so ago. I will test it first...

[Wirraway_Ace]

Looks like a bombardment TF can go straight in at Clark from the west, based on some test routing. I will try it with something very expendable.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

Looks like a bombardment TF can go straight in at Clark from the west, based on some test routing. I will try it with something very expendable.

If you are using the extended map, it puts new base Subic Bay west of Clark, but going into Subic Bay does not let you bombard Clark AFAIK.

[RangerJoe]

I seriously suggest that you test it first before you do that in a PBEM, even if you just start the first turn and move a TF from Pescadores or Formosa to Bataan.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

Looks like a bombardment TF can go straight in at Clark from the west, based on some test routing. I will try it with something very expendable.

If you are using the extended map, it puts new base Subic Bay west of Clark, but going into Subic Bay does not let you bombard Clark AFAIK.

Thanks. I am uneasy as it is the stock map, which I have not played in a decade. I will test it as RangerJoe suggests using a first turn sandbox.

[Wirraway_Ace]

20-21 Jan 42

In the mountain battles south and east of Sian, our attacks continue to decimate the enemy--literally. He loses about 100 AV each turn to disablements and twice that number destroyed in each stack. His fighters have not contested the airspace above the battles in weeks. It is harder now, since all the strikes are proceeded by sweeps and the bombers are escorted by Oscars instead of Nates. It is, none the less, a slow grind as the enemy has picked the best terrain he can to defend and bypassing is difficult and time consuming.

In Burma, he has largely evacuated the southern part of the country. We will invade by the end of the month.

On Java, his main defense is in the mountains at Bandoeng with about 40,000 troops there. He has one fighter squadron of B-339Ds at the base (his only fighters on Java at the moment), but they are flying training missions in the hope of catching unescorted bombers. This is another gamer only tactic: your air force at your primary airfield will not fly CAP in defense of the troops or the he airfield because of risk of being shot down. That squadron commander would be gone in a day. The tactic does not work anyway, as Nates on LRCAP shoot down one of the "trainees" who are unsuccessful engaging the bombers. If karma had a say, it was the squadron commander who was shot down.

The 38th Div enters Batavia and finds it moderately defended.
Ground combat at Batavia (49,98)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 13742 troops, 124 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 530

Defending force 6228 troops, 27 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 146

Assaulting units:
38th Division
6th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
Batavia Coastal Gun Battalion
1st KNIL Landstorm Battalion
4th KNIL Landstorm Battalion
1 ML-KNIL Aviation
Batavia Base Force

1st SNLF Paratroopers take Madioen while a recon battalion reaches Semarang. We are still couple of days away from cutting any potential support by his scattered forces, but we don't think that is his intent. Intel estimates believe his units will now die in place. Makassar in the Celebes was taken, so he is down to the following level II+ airfields in the PI and DEI:
Clark and Bandoeng which are heavily defended and will have to be suppressed for months; Tjilatjap, Soerabaja, Loemadjang, Denpasar, Bandjermasin, Balkpapan and Tarakan which we aim to take within the next two weeks.

Here is the situation in Java.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I seriously suggest that you test it first before you do that in a PBEM, even if you just start the first turn and move a TF from Pescadores or Formosa to Bataan.

So, in the stock map, you can go straight into the Clark hex from the sea. It is, however, defended by the Subic Bay batteries, with include two 10" and eight 6" coastal guns.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I seriously suggest that you test it first before you do that in a PBEM, even if you just start the first turn and move a TF from Pescadores or Formosa to Bataan.

So, in the stock map, you can go straight into the Clark hex from the sea. It is, however, defended by the Subic Bay batteries, with include two 10" and eight 6" coastal guns.

Where did I say you can go straight to Clark field on the stock map? On the stock map, you must go through the Bataan hex but you can get to Clark for bombardment on that route. On the extended map (which is NOT stock), you can go into Subic Bay or you can go into the Bataan hex, but I don't think either one lets you bombard Clark from the sea.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I seriously suggest that you test it first before you do that in a PBEM, even if you just start the first turn and move a TF from Pescadores or Formosa to Bataan.

So, in the stock map, you can go straight into the Clark hex from the sea. It is, however, defended by the Subic Bay batteries, with include two 10" and eight 6" coastal guns.

Where did I say you can go straight to Clark field on the stock map? On the stock map, you must go through the Bataan hex but you can get to Clark for bombardment on that route. On the extended map (which is NOT stock), you can go into Subic Bay or you can go into the Bataan hex, but I don't think either one lets you bombard Clark from the sea.

I don't know, but in the map I am using, which to my knowledge is the stock map, Clark is a costal hex, defended by Subic Bay batteries, and I was able to invade the hex in a test turn without going through the Bataan hex.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace



So, in the stock map, you can go straight into the Clark hex from the sea. It is, however, defended by the Subic Bay batteries, with include two 10" and eight 6" coastal guns.

Where did I say you can go straight to Clark field on the stock map? On the stock map, you must go through the Bataan hex but you can get to Clark for bombardment on that route. On the extended map (which is NOT stock), you can go into Subic Bay or you can go into the Bataan hex, but I don't think either one lets you bombard Clark from the sea.

I don't know, but in the map I am using, which to my knowledge is the stock map, Clark is a costal hex, defended by Subic Bay batteries, and I was able to invade the hex without going through the Bataan hex.

Here is the F6 view without the invasion route.

[Wirraway_Ace]

Bottom line, however, is if I want to bombard Clark on this map, my ships will face the Subic Bay batteries. These are not terribly powerful, and not much of a threat to battleships, but anything smaller will be at risk. It looks like it will continue to be a job for the IJAAF.

[BBfanboy]

Something strange is going on. Are you using the new maps that Andrew Brown has been working on?
Here is my stock Scenario One map of the area with hexside details turned on. The red line on the west side of Clark field means no passage for ships or LCUs. But there is clearly a navigable approach on the left NE side of the Bataan hex.

[BBfanboy]

deleted: duplicate post

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Something strange is going on. Are you using the new maps that Andrew Brown has been working on?
Here is my stock Scenario One map of the area with hexside details turned on. The red line on the west side of Clark field means no passage for ships or LCUs. But there is clearly a navigable approach on the left NE side of the Bataan hex.

Definitely different. I did not download any different maps for this game. I had been playing DBB with the extended maps for years, but did a fresh download and install for this new game. Omar provided the stacking limits map data files. Perhaps those data are the source of the difference?