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

[RangerJoe]

Yes, the "trop" stands for tropical.

[Mike Solli]

Just to let you know for your planning purposes, on the Discord channel it was mentioned that the Japanese Invasion Bonus lasts through April.

That recon unit that was lost will be rebuilt when the division reforms. A suggestion for combat though, take your beaten up units and smaller combat units and put them into Reserve mode. On defense if they are needed in the combat to prevent the enemy's victory, they will participate but in move mode. If the enemy attack wins without their participation, they apparently retreat without loosing their disabled squads and devices.

That's great info for both of those. It's really nice to hear that the invasion bonus lasts a month longer than before. The other part is also good to know. Always wondered what to do with those small units.

[Mike Solli]

Yes, the "trop" stands for tropical.

Figured. Thanks!

[RangerJoe]

Just to let you know for your planning purposes, on the Discord channel it was mentioned that the Japanese Invasion Bonus lasts through April.

That recon unit that was lost will be rebuilt when the division reforms. A suggestion for combat though, take your beaten up units and smaller combat units and put them into Reserve mode. On defense if they are needed in the combat to prevent the enemy's victory, they will participate but in move mode. If the enemy attack wins without their participation, they apparently retreat without loosing their disabled squads and devices.

That's great info for both of those. It's really nice to hear that the invasion bonus lasts a month longer than before. The other part is also good to know. Always wondered what to do with those small units.

You are most welcome!

Also, remember that paratroopers don't need preparation for the target when they air drop. That is important when facing a unit with lots of CD and DP guns. If they are supported by BBs and CAs doing shore bombardments, then it makes it easier. They will make a shock attack.

As far as naval invasions, I have seen Japanese ships sunk by 40 mm Bofors . . .

[Mike Solli]

Just to let you know for your planning purposes, on the Discord channel it was mentioned that the Japanese Invasion Bonus lasts through April.

That recon unit that was lost will be rebuilt when the division reforms. A suggestion for combat though, take your beaten up units and smaller combat units and put them into Reserve mode. On defense if they are needed in the combat to prevent the enemy's victory, they will participate but in move mode. If the enemy attack wins without their participation, they apparently retreat without loosing their disabled squads and devices.

That's great info for both of those. It's really nice to hear that the invasion bonus lasts a month longer than before. The other part is also good to know. Always wondered what to do with those small units.

You are most welcome!

Also, remember that paratroopers don't need preparation for the target when they air drop. That is important when facing a unit with lots of CD and DP guns. If they are supported by BBs and CAs doing shore bombardments, then it makes it easier. They will make a shock attack.

As far as naval invasions, I have seen Japanese ships sunk by 40 mm Bofors . . .

Interesting info about paratroopers.

Yeah, I think Japanese cargo ships are made of tin foil.

[Mike Solli]

13 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Pt. Moresby sweep was lackluster at best. I have 23 Air Flotilla there, which has 2x 31 plane and 4x 9 plane Zero units. I switch the two large units of Zeros to sweep and should have switched them out yesterday. Anyway, at a cost of 1 Zero (KIA), they shot down 2 P-40E and a P-39D.

Elements of 2 Raiding Regiment took Terapo, the base to the NW of Pt. Moresby.

SRA

If you don't recall, I sent a couple of bombardment TFs to visit Darwin and they made it to their launch point yesterday. One is 6 BB and the other is 4 CA. I had planned on sending the BB TF in first and then follow up with the CA TF the next day, but I saw an enemy TF of 2 ships in the hex so I sent in the CAs first to clear them out. I had seen bombardment TFs not bombard when they ran into enemy ships in the past and I didn't want that to happen to the BBs, so I sent in the CAs first. I was not to be disappointed. They ignored the small ships and bombarded the base directly while lobbing a few shells at the ships. The results were satisfying:

Night Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 4 damaged
L-18 Lodestar: 3 damaged

74 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Shell hits 6, on fire
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 1
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Mogami

Allied Ships
AMc Gunbar, Shell hits 1
AS Platypus, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
407 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 29 (10 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 17 (8 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 20
Port hits 2

Kumano took some damage and had a 20 cm rear turret destroyed, but she'll be repaired at Saigon.

Tomorrow, the BBs go in.

Malaya

Singapore - 1527(+10) - 734(-7) - The bombardment is starting to take its toll. Today, 14 infantry squads were destroyed in the bombardment itself. I'd attack now, but 2 of the 4 infantry divisions are still pretty beat up. They would take heavy losses if I attacked with them. I'm pondering attacking only with the 2 healthy divisions.

Philippines

Bataan - 1030(+30) - 588(-1) - Another deliberate attack is going in tomorrow. I figure this one will kill off a lot of the disabled squads from the previous attack.

Borneo

Drill baby drill!

Sumatra

Drill baby drill!

Java

Soerabaja was liberated today with no damage to the infrastructure!

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 30(0)
Oil: 190(0)!
HI: 10(1)
Refinery: 179(0)
LI: 40(0)

Nice! When I'm done repairing the other oil (only 5), I'll assess whether or not to upgrade the HI. I used to repair and build new refineries to match the oil but I think I'm not going to do that this time. Supply in this mod is too hard to come by. I probably won't build any new HI either.

Two units were destroyed and the remaining 11 retreated. Now, 16 Army is on mop up duty.

Burma

The AVG managed to put up 3 H81-A3s up over Taung Gyi this morning. I sent a chutai of Oscars to meet them tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

Over Magwe, 4 Hurricanes snuck in and shot down an Oscar (KIA) before they fled.

The tank regiment did another deliberate attack at Lashio getting 1:1 odds and reducing the fort from 1 to 0. A shock attack tomorrow should succeed.

China

Still herding cats.

Other Stuff

I like to make Java its own little ecosystem. I'll do the math once the last few resource centers are liberated to see what I'll get each month and if I need to import any resources to the island to maximize production.

[Mike Solli]

Ok, I forgot the last turn's reinforcements. No idea how, with so many:

DD Akizuki - First of the Akizuki class - KB escort
25 Air Flotilla HQ - Headed to Truk. There isn't enough AS there. Story of my life.
8 RF Gun Battalion - Southern Army - Guam
9 RF Gun Battalion - Southern Army - Rota
10 RF Gun Battalion - Southern Army - Tinian
11 RF Gun Battalion - Southern Army - Saipan
41 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
42 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
43 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
44 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
46 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
47 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
48 NG (4 Fleet) - Various small islands around the Pacific
29 Independent Engineer Regiment - Kwangtung Army
Hong Kong Special Base Force - Hong Kong
21 Special Base Force - Guam
85 JAAF AF Battalion - SE Fleet

[Mike Solli]

14 Mar 42

Sub War

The I-171 torpedoed DD Phelps south of Pt. Moresby. She was reported sunk but I heard no sinking sounds.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

A handful of Betties hit Pt. Moresby's airfield at night causing a little bit of damage. Surprisingly, there's still a point of airfield damage. There must not be a lot of engineers there.

KB returned to Truk and will repair the sys damage it incurred. That'll take no more than 5 days. They are topped off with planes and pilots.

SRA

The 6 BBs hit Darwin and were surprisingly ineffective. They blew apart a little AMc and killed some troops, but did just a little bit of airfield damage. They're headed to Soerabaja.

Malaya

Singapore - 1536(+9) - 729(-5)

Philippines

Bataan - 1047(+17) - 583(-5) - this is pre-attack. Let's see what it looks like tomorrow...

The deliberate assault did not succeed (not surprisingly). The result was 1:2 with fort level 3. Fortunately, my losses were just 2 infantry squads and some disablements. The Allies lost 12 infantry squads killed and 99 more disabled, along with a dozen others killed and 150 disabled. My infantry units have high disruption and fatigue, so I'll wait until that dissipates and then attack again. I did see "supply(-)", which is nice. The end is in sight.

Borneo

Drill baby drill!

Sumatra

The Medan invasion is about 3 days out. It looks like they can skirt around to the west of Singapore. I don't recall that being possible in vanilla.

Java

Minesweepers swept the 200 mines at Soerabaja. It's open for business with no damage at all!

Madioen was liberated. I caught on the ground all of the Hawks and Demons. Guess Ted got tired of me shooting down the Dutch Air Force. The infrastructure was intact:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 20(0)

Burma

Three AVG fighters swept Taung Gyi but my CAP there never materialized. Probably for the best. My Oscars suck, even with really good pilots.

Over Magwe, I had 8 Zeros and 32 Oscar Ic flying today. They pretty much sucked. At a cost of 2 Zeros (1 WIA fortunately) and 4 Oscars (1 KIA, 1 WIA), they managed to shoot down 3 Hurricanes out of 10 sorties. Intel says there are 10 fighters at Mandalay, 2 at Chittagong and 29 at Imphal.

The tank regiment shock attack against Lashio was successful, destroying one British BF and pushing out the other. The resource centers there were intact at 20(0). The 2 tank regiments in that area are going to split up. One will stay near Lashio, hunting down the BF remnants and the other is headed toward Paoshan, along the road in China.

China

Liuchow was liberated today with decent infrastructure:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 62(48)
LI: 23(17)

That's 40 less supply a day for China and 23 more supply a day for me!

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
AMc Wa-2 - convert to ACM
CMc Ma-1
TK Manei Maru - Type-1 TM (8150 capacity) - To Palembang
TK Amazon Maru - Type-1 TM (8150 capacity) - To Palembang
68 Sentai (Nate) - 2 Air Division - Manchuoko - Fighter training
92 Sentai (Lily) - 1 Air Division - Japan - ASW training

[RangerJoe]

If you convert the To'su class vessels to CMcs first, you get a free load of mines. They can lay them and then without reloading, convert to ACMs or another type so you end up with free mines.

[Mike Solli]

If you convert the To'su class vessels to CMcs first, you get a free load of mines. They can lay them and then without reloading, convert to ACMs or another type so you end up with free mines.

Sneaky. I like it.

[Mike Solli]

15 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The daily Zero sweep of Pt. Moresby was met by a combination of P-39D, P-40E and Kittyhawk IA. For a loss of 2 Zeros (1 KIA), a total of 10 enemy fighters were shot down.

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1540(+4) - 729(0)

Philippines

Bataan - 933(-114) - 479(-104) - Result of yesterday's attack. My disablements will repair quickly and his won't. Another attack in a few days.

Borneo

Still 4 bases to take. None are critical, but I'll leave this open until they are all mine.

Sumatra

Medan invasion force is 2 days out. I may land it at Tandjoengbalai (the base a couple hexes south of Medan) and march there so I don't have to invade by sea. I'll decide tomorrow.

Java

I see the remnants of 32 Dutch units scattered around south of the Soerabaja east-west hex row. Troops are headed there to eliminate them.

Burma

More sucky results over Magwe. I lost a Zero (no pilot loss) and 3 Oscars (1 KIA, 1 WIA) vs. 2 Hurricanes. I see 63 enemy fighters scattered around northern Burma and southern India. I really need some Tojos.

China

Herding cats.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[RangerJoe]

If you convert the To'su class vessels to CMcs first, you get a free load of mines. They can lay them and then without reloading, convert to ACMs or another type so you end up with free mines.

Sneaky. I like it.

You can keep popping them back and forth then only have them to lay minefields until you need them as ACMs, leaving those little mines in your stockpiles.

Edited: All mines laid in one day are one minefield. Mines laid on a different day are a different minefield. So even if one minefield is discovered, there can be a hidden one.

[Tanaka]

If you convert the To'su class vessels to CMcs first, you get a free load of mines. They can lay them and then without reloading, convert to ACMs or another type so you end up with free mines.

Sneaky. I like it.

You can keep popping them back and forth then only have them to lay minefields until you need them as ACMs, leaving those little mines in your stockpiles.

Edited: All mines laid in one day are one minefield. Mines laid on a different day are a different minefield. So even if one minefield is discovered, there can be a hidden one.

Great tips but seems a little gamey! Maybe these ships should not come with free mines!

[RangerJoe]

Sneaky. I like it.

You can keep popping them back and forth then only have them to lay minefields until you need them as ACMs, leaving those little mines in your stockpiles.

Edited: All mines laid in one day are one minefield. Mines laid on a different day are a different minefield. So even if one minefield is discovered, there can be a hidden one.

Great tips but seems a little gamey! Maybe these ships should not come with free mines!

Do you realize the numbers of sea mines that were produced, laid in minefields, yet are not in the game?

[Mike Solli]

16 Mar 42

Sub War

I dropped off a midget sub at Lahaina to be a nuisance, and she immediately hit a mine and sank.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Half a dozen Betties did a night nuisance raid of Pt. Moresby and struck gold today. They destroyed a P-39D and damaged 2 more along with a second raid of 5 Betties damaging 2 PBY-4s. They did a little bit of airfield damage too, which wasn't fully repaired. Yay!

Ted is keeping a mishmash of fighters at Pt. Moresby. Today saw 4 Kittyhawk IA, 8 P-39D and 5 P-40E rise up against 22 Zeros. Eight enemy planes were shot down at a cost of 2 Zeros (1 KIA, 1 MIA).

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1544(+4) - 726(-3)

Philippines

Bataan - 962(+29) - 481(+2) - I'll attack again in a few days.

Borneo

Samarinda's 100 oil has been fully repaired. Now only Miri has 131 left to repair and there are 3 bases in the SW part of the island and an inland base 2 hexes NW of Balikpapan still in enemy hands.

Sumatra

The Medan invasion force is landing 2 hexes south of Medan and will march there. There are CD guns at Medan. I'd rather not take damage to my ships and ground units landing there. The invasion force is composed of 144 IR and an SNLF. The 144 IR is the remainder of 55 division still in its components (obviously). The rest of the division is at Mandalay. After taking Medan, the 144 will re-embark and move to Rangoon.

Java

Maneuvering to surround the Dutch units to eliminate them.

Burma

Five Oscars performed an LRCAP mission over a tank regiment near Lashio and met two flights of Blenheim IVs totaling 21 sorties. They shot down 4 bombers for no loss. Banzai!

Over Magwe today, only 2 flights of enemy fighters flew totaling only 5 sorties. No planes were lost on either side, only damaged planes. Interesting. Is he resting them or is bad weather preventing their flight? Intel shows 69 enemy fighters scattered around Burma and southern India.

China

Trashing Chinese units to open the over land oil/resource route.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
AMc Hakko Maru #4

[Mike Solli]

17 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I see 2 ships and a small 800 man garrison at Milne Bay. I have an SNLF that's 3 days out from invading there. They are escorted by 4 Aobas. I detached the Aobas with a small DD escort to try and catch the ships, then bombard the base. I also set 54 Betties to naval attack focusing on a small slice including Milne Bay. Let's see what happens tomorrow...

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1563(+19) - 718(-8)

Philippines

Bataan - 982(+20) - 478(-3) The troops are still resting.

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Sumatra

The Medan assault force landed 2 hexes south of Medan and is marching toward that base. I'm using some of my bombers to soften up the garrison. They killed 3 squads today and disabled another 32. It's so nice to bomb open areas.

Java

I'm attacking 2 of the 3 stacks of Dutch remnants. I hope to kill some off.

Burma

Eleven Hurricanes swept Magwe today. I lost an Oscar with another crashing on landing (2 KIA) to 3 Hurricanes shot down.

I captured Magwe on 5 March. That's 12 days of pumping the black gold, 36,000 oil. Nice!

After yesterday's little ambush of the Blenheims, none flew today.

China

Nanyang was liberated today. My casualties were 4800, spread out among the divisions, with the 2 brigades taking most of the losses. They took a fair amount of disablements, but few actual losses. The Chinese took 25k casualties including 628 infantry squads destroyed. The army will now march on Sian.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

18 Mar 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Two separate daitai of Zeros hit Pt. Moresby today meeting 9 P-39D, 7 P-40E and 15 F4F-3 Wildcats. For a loss of 1 Zero (KIA), they shot down 3 P-39s, 2 P-40s and 4 Wildcats. Not bad.

SRA

Malaya

Singapore - 1569(+6) - 714(-4)

Philippines

Bataan - 998(+16) - 475(-3) - Next attack is coming soon.

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Sumatra

Moving toward Medan.

Java

Chewed on some Dutch remnants. Will continue to do so until they evaporate.

Burma

The RAF and AVG didn't do anything today. Another 3k oil...

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

45 JNAF AF Unit - Southern Army - Headed to the SE Fleet AO.

[PaxMondo]

17 Mar 42

China

Nanyang was liberated today. My casualties were 4800, spread out among the divisions, with the 2 brigades taking most of the losses. They took a fair amount of disablements, but few actual losses. The Chinese took 25k casualties including 628 infantry squads destroyed. The army will now march on Sian.

Nice!!!

So, is this your primary advance on CK or just secondary to going up through Kweiyang?


Sorry, been missing for a bit ...

[PaxMondo]

Edited: All mines laid in one day are one minefield. Mines laid on a different day are a different minefield. So even if one minefield is discovered, there can be a hidden one.

Or maybe better to just say a separate mine field. You can see this with your AM/DM's when they clear. Original game start minefields will clear in big chunks depending upon how many AM/DM's you have. I've seen +300 mines cleared in a single line item:

Code: Select all

TF 39 encounters mine field at Bataan (78,77)
 
Japanese Ships
      AM Narita Maru
      AM Bisaku Maru
      AM Yasushima Maru
      AM Toyokuni Maru
      AM America Maru
      AM Ryusei Maru #2
      AM Nikki Maru #2
      AM Ichiyo Maru
      AM Nichiro Maru
      AM Tatsumi Maru
      AM Lushan Maru
      AM Tokihime Maru
      AM Ogashima
      AM Menado Maru
      AM Nigitsu Maru
      AM Isshin Maru
      AM Ichiyu Maru
      AM Minowa Maru
      AM Muroran Maru #2
      AM Kaisho Maru
      AM Karimo Maru
      AM Chiyo Maru
 
269 mines cleared

In other cases there will be multiple line items representing multiple mine fields in the location (I don't have a handy example yet from my current game, I'm still playing against original minefields in my current game.)

EDIT: I should add that SOMETIMES the minesweepers don't pickup on the separate minefields ... and then you get BOOMS. No idea what variables are involved other than GG's random ...

[Tanaka]

You can keep popping them back and forth then only have them to lay minefields until you need them as ACMs, leaving those little mines in your stockpiles.

Edited: All mines laid in one day are one minefield. Mines laid on a different day are a different minefield. So even if one minefield is discovered, there can be a hidden one.

Great tips but seems a little gamey! Maybe these ships should not come with free mines!

Do you realize the numbers of sea mines that were produced, laid in minefields, yet are not in the game?

Right so why not increase the number of mines in the pools and eliminate the free mines that come on ships to prevent the gaminess of converting back and forth?