Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[Mike Solli]

23 Dec 41

Sub War

I have a line of subs just south of Billiton. The I-157 put a torpedo into the Dutch sub KXII leaving her burning and heavily damaged. The Ops Report claims she sank but it's not showing up in the intel report. Either way, she's either out of the battle for a long time or forever.

5 Fleet

The Allied TF off Adak vanished. Maybe it's in port at Adak? We'll see.

4 Fleet

The last of the Baker/Christmas invasion forces will arrive in 3 days. Then the assaults will move on the islands. About a week or so behind are two construction companies to build forts, so the Allies will have to fight to take them back.

SE Fleet

The 79 Regiment/20 Division is still 6 days out from Truk. This is the Rabaul invasion force. I hope KB will be available to support this operation. The remainder of the 20 Division (minus 20 Artillery Regiment) has been released to SE Fleet AO and is awaiting transport at Fusan. 20 Artillery Regiment will be released in 8 days when there are enough PPs available.

SRA

Malaya

Yamada Det found 3 Buffalos on CAP over Singapore damaging them all but not killing any. Still no aces. The wounded pilot returned so all of Yamada is still active with 40 kills and no losses. Their only plane losses were 3 op losses.

Mersing flipped to Japanese control. Troops from 56 Division are headed to Kluong and Johore Bahru to cut the British rearguard from Singapore's supply. I now see 8 rearguard units and 3 more isolated in Georgetown.

Philippines

West of the Philippines, the DM Thracian found the Ryujo TF again! This time, DD Oyashio found her and put 3 shells into her leaving her heavily damaged and burning fiercely. Maybe this took her out, but there were no sinking sounds and she's not reported as having sunk. Something did sink worth 6 points, but I'm not sure if it was Thracian or KXII.

I see 6 fighters at Clark Field and 7 more at Bataan. I sweep both bases but they aren't flying. My 5 artillery units at Clark bombard every day usually killing about half a dozen squads and disabling a handful more. Six more artillery units (the victors of Hong Kong) have arrived at Lingayen and will begin unloading tomorrow, then will join 14 Army at Clark Field to expedite the elimination of the Allies there.

Clark Field's airfield is at 25% damage and Bataan's is 27% damage. No more forts are being built, but I'll continue with the airfield bombing until they're over 50% then I'll switch to ground bombing.

Mindanao

Two tank regiments liberated Malaybalay trashing the defenders and pushing them to Butuan. I see 5 defenders in Butuan and 2 in Davao. The tanks are headed to Butuan and the 144 Regiment will land at Digos tomorrow (already occupied by Japanese) and move north to Davao.

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Same ole thing.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[RangerJoe]

You could use those small surface combat TFs as fast transport TFs to land troops at those small ports. If you have them set to remain on station, they will do so as a surface combat TF. Then, if there is no combat so they don't have to rearm, they can then reembark the ground unit after it captures the port while the surface combat TF is set to patrol that area.

Of course, it would be a good use of a few paratroop squads to drop onto those small ports, capture the port, and then the next turn they are picked up by either a fast transport TF or by a float plane. This would also be a good tactic to use to flush any enemy ships trying to hide at dot ports while you have air units ready to strike and/or surface combat TFs ready to play.

[Mike Solli]

Joe, I use a few of those little company sized infantry units to clean up all the little bases in the SRA, and SE Fleet AO too.

[RangerJoe]

Joe, I use a few of those little company sized infantry units to clean up all the little bases in the SRA, and SE Fleet AO too.

I am sure that beats the smaller amphibious TFs getting beat up by small Allied surface combat TFs!

[Mike Solli]

24 Dec 41

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report

4 Fleet

Troops will land at Baker Island in 2 days and Canton Island in 4 days.

SE Fleet

Forces are still gathering and are some days out.

SRA

Malaya

Only 1 Buffalo flew CAP and it was damaged. Our bombers hitting the airfield are causing more damage than can be repaired.

Philippines

No enemy fighters are flying. Our bombers are causing more damage to Bataan and Clark Field's airfields than can be repaired.

Mindanao

Dadjangas was liberated.

144 Regiment will begin unloading at Digos tomorrow.

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Burma

More engineers are dismounting from their trains at Chiang Mai. The airfield is at 1.17. We're getting there.

China

Same ole thing.

Other Stuff

A lot of conversions are happening now. I'm finally getting a decent number of PBs. They're crappy, but better than nothing.

[Mike Solli]

25 Dec 41

Sub War

I-19 put a torpedo into DMS Trevor just off Pearl Harbor and got away. She was left burning and heavily damaged.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

The Baker Island invasion force goes in tomorrow, covered by a surface TF of 3 CL and 4 DD. Oh yeah, KB is hovering to take out any errant Allied surface ships in the area.

The Canton Island invasion force is 2 days out, covered by a surface TF of 4 CA and 4 DD. KB will be able to cover this force too.

I believe this little operation is going to totally surprise Ted. There is no sign that any of these forces have been spotted.

The idea behind this operation is to force back Ted's PBY search arc. I'll leave a NG at each location and build up some forts to slow down the inevitable counterattack to take them back.

SE Fleet

The 78 Regiment/20 Division is still 4 days sail from Truk. They are the primary assault force for Rabaul.

SRA

Malaya

The 14 Tank Regiment destroyed 1 Mysore Battalion and captured Kuala Lumpur (Manpower - 1(1)).

The 56 Division's recon regiment made it to Johore Bahru and will liberate that base tomorrow effectively cutting off the 7 remaining units scattered around Malaya.

Two infantry regiments, the engineers and recon of 5 Division along with an independent artillery regiment will assault Georgetown, hopefully taking it and destroying the 3 British units there.

Most of the bombers of 3 Air Division are bombing Singapore's airfield to prevent fort increase. The Yamada Det decided to sweep after all the bombers flew, resulting in 2 Sallies being shot down by the 2 Buffalos that flew CAP. Of course, they didn't fly against Yamada. Overall, losses to 3 Air Division were 3 Sallies and 1 Mary (3 KIA, 1 MIA). There is still damage to Singapore's airfield, which makes this a success.

Philippines

There were 165 bomber sorties on Bataan today. Overall, they were moderately effective, but there was airfield damage remaining, so that makes it a success. Two IJA light bomber pilots were KIA, but that's what the IJA bomber force is for. There are plenty more where they (pilot and plane) came from.

I didn't bomb Clark Field today because the damage there was pretty severe. There still is damage, but it's much lower. I'll have to start bombing both locations soon.

Intel says there are 14 fighters at Clark Field and 4 more at Bataan but none are flying anymore. I still sweep both locations each day. Bombing damaged about half a dozen fighters on the ground, all P-40Es.

Mindanao

The 144 Infantry Regiment landed at Digos and is marching the hex north to Davao, its goal.

Borneo

The NG finally arrived at Pontianak and will assault it tomorrow.

Other Places

The DD Vendetta is running around trying to cause havoc. Fortunately, she's not succeeding. Right now she's a few hexes north of Singkawang at a dot base. A few land based Mabels bracketed her with bombs, but no hits unfortunately. I'm sending a sub and a CA TF there to try and take her out tomorrow.

The Do-24s are still a pain in the ass. Another was shot down at Singkawang and intel says 11 have been lost so far. I have no idea how many Ted has, but they're still around. One put a couple of bombs into Haguro east of Kendari causing 22 sys damage but no major damage. She'll make it back to Babeldaob, but she'll be added to the growing list of ships that need to be repaired.

Burma

The airfield at Chiang Mai is up to 1.22, but a lot of engineers are debarking from their trains to accelerate the expansion of the airfield.

China

Nothing much to talk about here. One Chinese Corps was destroyed (boo) but the Chinese Army is slowly being pushed/retreating north and west.

Other Stuff

In this mod, there is a severe lack of engineers and AS. There isn't enough AS for the air units in Manchuoko. I'm tying to spread out where the air units are so each airbase is short only a few AS. Pretty frustrating.

[RangerJoe]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

[PaxMondo]

22 Dec 41

Sub War
One of my subs spotted an enemy TF 1 hex SE of Adak. There are (supposedly) 4 ships. ASW? My sub did not engage.

Weather?

ASW should show as a counter-strike. My best guess is speed ... a lot of IJ subs are S L O W. Surface speeds are lower than a lot of allied xAK's.

[PaxMondo]

24 Dec 41

Other Stuff
A lot of conversions are happening now. I'm finally getting a decent number of PBs. They're crappy,

Totally agree!!

...but better than nothing.

Just barely!!!

[PaxMondo]

25 Dec 41

Other Stuff
In this mod, there is a severe lack of engineers and AS. There isn't enough AS for the air units in Manchuoko. I'm tying to spread out where the air units are so each airbase is short only a few AS. Pretty frustrating.

This was one of the designers' key intents. You can run about 10% short of AS with little noticeable impact. At about 25% short, you'll notice repairs dragging out. Just empirical numbers from my games.

I'm also almost always short on AS because the pace in my game is so high. Allies start at ~4000 sorties/day and just ramp up from there. No way IJ can match that early game, even if you have the aircraft (which you don't, unless you fly everything you have including Theresa's - but why would you?) you can't afford the supply usage rate.

[PaxMondo]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

[Tanaka]

25 Dec 41

Other Stuff
In this mod, there is a severe lack of engineers and AS. There isn't enough AS for the air units in Manchuoko. I'm tying to spread out where the air units are so each airbase is short only a few AS. Pretty frustrating.

This was one of the designers' key intents. You can run about 10% short of AS with little noticeable impact. At about 25% short, you'll notice repairs dragging out. Just empirical numbers from my games.

I'm also almost always short on AS because the pace in my game is so high. Allies start at ~4000 sorties/day and just ramp up from there. No way IJ can match that early game, even if you have the aircraft (which you don't, unless you fly everything you have including Theresa's - but why would you?) you can't afford the supply usage rate.

Yep this and supply. You better be shipping supply fast and furious or you will run out fast. This mod is very difficult!

[RangerJoe]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

From what Alfred previously stated (I don't have the link) the training does not need to be flying an aircraft. Pilots do train when the air unit are transported on cargo ships, I don't think that they fly from those ships during their trip.

[PaxMondo]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

From what Alfred previously stated (I don't have the link) the training does not need to be flying an aircraft.

This is absolutely true. You can have training groups with ZERO aircraft in them, 64 pilots, and they will train using ZERO supply.

Pilots do train when the air unit are transported on cargo ships, I don't think that they fly from those ships during their trip.

This I did not know, but I am not surprised. Sadly, I so very infrequently use air transport TF's that I will rarely get to benefit from this.

However, when CV's are in port for repair, you can keep the groups on board and load them up for training at no supply cost.

Having said all of this, airgroups at a base require AS support based upon the number of aircraft. As I said, I have never tested to see if this requirement is reduced (or overlooked) if the group is training. It is reduced by the percent rest, that I know. It may also be ignored when in training. Something for a future test ....

[Tanaka]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

I would disagree that training runs up fatigue. Not in all situations anyway. See where I am getting 0 fatigue:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... &start=320

[RangerJoe]

Don't the training air units cost 1/3 of an air unit doing missions? Maybe it is the same for needing air support?

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

I would disagree that training runs up fatigue. Not in all situations anyway. See where I am getting 0 fatigue:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... &start=320

It can increase the gatigue but those pilots are so low in skill and experience it doesn't take much training for them to increase their numbers. Later on, they will need more training to increase the numbers so the fatigue will show up then. You can see who actually is training then as well.

[RangerJoe]

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

From what Alfred previously stated (I don't have the link) the training does not need to be flying an aircraft.

This is absolutely true. You can have training groups with ZERO aircraft in them, 64 pilots, and they will train using ZERO supply.

Pilots do train when the air unit are transported on cargo ships, I don't think that they fly from those ships during their trip.

This I did not know, but I am not surprised. Sadly, I so very infrequently use air transport TF's that I will rarely get to benefit from this.

However, when CV's are in port for repair, you can keep the groups on board and load them up for training at no supply cost.

Having said all of this, airgroups at a base require AS support based upon the number of aircraft. As I said, I have never tested to see if this requirement is reduced (or overlooked) if the group is training. It is reduced by the percent rest, that I know. It may also be ignored when in training. Something for a future test ....

The Japanese don't need to load their aircraft on cargo ships but the Allies do need to load them on cargo ships if they actually want the air units go to where they are needed.

Don't forget as well, the level 9 and higher airfields get an air support bonus, if I remember correctly the number is doubled.

[Tanaka]

The training cost is less, and this makes sense. In general, no ordnance, so that supply is saved. Still burn fuel though.

AS requirement is the same to the best of my knowledge. This would make sense as support should be predicated upon damage and fatigue (flight hours). Training still runs up the fatigue ... BUT, I can't find where I ever actually tested this, so I could be way off ....

I would disagree that training runs up fatigue. Not in all situations anyway. See where I am getting 0 fatigue:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... &start=320

It can increase the gatigue but those pilots are so low in skill and experience it doesn't take much training for them to increase their numbers. Later on, they will need more training to increase the numbers so the fatigue will show up then. You can see who actually is training then as well.

Interesting I did not realize better experience increased fatigue while training.

[RangerJoe]

I would disagree that training runs up fatigue. Not in all situations anyway. See where I am getting 0 fatigue:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... &start=320

It can increase the gatigue but those pilots are so low in skill and experience it doesn't take much training for them to increase their numbers. Later on, they will need more training to increase the numbers so the fatigue will show up then. You can see who actually is training then as well.

Interesting I did not realize better experience increased fatigue while training.

It takes longer the train the more experience that the pilots have.

[PaxMondo]

The Japanese don't need to load their aircraft on cargo ships but the Allies do need to load them on cargo ships if they actually want the air units go to where they are needed.

Not the Allied AI!

Since the AI cannot load aircraft onto ships (it doesn't know how), the AI gets a "free pass" and can move anywhere. Also, since the AI was never "taught" about PP's either, it ignores HQ limitations as well.

Don't forget as well, the level 9 and higher airfields get an air support bonus, if I remember correctly the number is doubled.

Size 8 AF's get double the limit on airgroups at a base before overcrowding penalty kicks in and Size 9 AF's have no limit.

I'm not aware that there is an AS bonus as well.