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

[Mike Solli]

19 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Twenty-seven Zeros caught 3 Kittyhawks over Buna and shot down 2 of them for no loss.

The Allied bomber focus was on Lae today. P-40Ds strafed Salamaua. P-38Fs swept Tulagi, but nobody was home. The Nicks were pulled out yesterday. I was concerned that Ted would put all his heavy bombers on Tulagi and wreck the Nick sentai. Interestingly, no bombers flew against Tulagi today.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The BB Royal Sovereign, along with 2 CA, 2 CL, 5 DD and a DE, steamed into Cox's Bazaar harbor. They ran into an Ansyu PB completing a fast transport mission and sank her. Then they bombarded causing 13 points of port damage. That could have been much worse.

Then, MTBs G-1 and G-2, who were patrolling in the vicinity, caught up with the Brits and launched an attack. The launched 3 of their 4 torpedo loads, but failed to connect. The got away only to be caught at long range during the day. G-2 was blown apart, unfortunately.

China

Lanchow, Kweiyang, Chungking and Kunming's airfields took significant damage again today.

Other Stuff

The Ki44-IIb R&D advanced to 10/42 and will become operational on 9/1/43. (The Ki-44-IIc, the model I want, will become operational in 12/42.) I won't build any more Tojos until I get the IIc model, which should happen in mid-December 42.

[RangerJoe]

This is just a reminder.

You can sweep your own bases if the enemy has land units there . . .

[PaxMondo]

5 August 42 - Really quiet turn today.

The bombers hit Salamaua today. A total of 80x 4E and 45x 2E bomber sorties escorted by 43 fighters. It was over many different attacks, but I can't really compete with that. I have to find little side attacks that I can ambush. The absolute maximum I can ambush with is 62 Zeros and 42 Nicks. That never happens because I'm using LRCAP. The Zeros get chewed up by the 4E bombers and many crash on the way home or landing. I lose too many pilots that way. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with the reinforcements and replacements.

Yeah, 160 AC I would want about 300 fighters for my ambush and if that is at LRCAP that would translate to +900 fighters available; a number that is totally unlikely to be found ...

Agreed, he has already amassed too many 4E's to be able to trap with LRCAP. Don't waste pilots trying ...

Even to trap that many at a target base I would want at least 400 fighters and at least 3 radar devices active at the site ... ouch

[PaxMondo]

7 Aug 42
... I also have 70 Tojo IIa in the pool. They're no better either. I can't wait until I receive the Tojo IIc, which will be my mainstay for the IJAAF fighter force until I receive the Frank. I anticipate receiving the Tojo IIc on 12/13/42.

Compared to any Oscar model until the IV, the Tojo IIa is a better defensive aircraft; better firepower, Climb, and DUR. I use Oscar for escort, Tojo for defense ... I also use Oscar for my lowest layer of layered CAP ....

[sfatula]

Yeah, sadly if that is the package size of the attack (all those 4e, 2e, fighters) you'd need more CAP than is feasible for sure and LRCAP is impossible. Fortunately you trimmed some in his split attack a few turns back, and some ops losses. Is night battleship bombardment feasible though at this phase in the game for you? I think you did that once with some success.

[Mike Solli]

I bombarded Darwin a couple of times and then Ted mined the port. I have a CA that's been in dry dock for a month or more because of a mine. I believe she still has a couple of weeks left before she's fully repaired.

I'm still planning on invading the Aleutians through Dutch Harbor but am waiting for the invasion forces to have higher objective %. KB, MKB and the surface fleet will all participate.

I'm all caught up here. I got the next turn and will run it soon. We're visiting my mother-in-law. She and my wife are about to head out to do something or other. Then I'll run the turn.

[PaxMondo]

... We're visiting my mother-in-law. She and my wife are about to head out to do something or other.

One of these days, I hope to solve this great mystery that has dumb founded men for eons. Exactly what is "head out to do something or other"? My wife also does this frequently with my in law as well, but what that is has never been clarified. I do know that it entails several (many) charges on the CC, the amounts vary greatly, and the results range from big smiley face to "they are still arguing over something undisclosed".

The good news is that it gives us several hours undisturbed that we may enjoy the simple things of life ....

[PaxMondo]

9 Aug 42
China

Kweiyang's airfield was trashed by the Marys again today. Weather prevented the attacks on Chungking and Kunming.

Sorry here, my memory still isn't all that great; what's the plan in China. Getting a bit late for taking CK, is that on your list?

[PaxMondo]

10 Aug 42

China

Hami was liberated killing 171 squads but destroying none of the 4 enemy units. I've decided to destroy the Chinese even though the infantry will return at 1/3 strength. I don't want these guys wandering around up there causing problems. So, the tank regiment will follow them and keep pounding on them until they die. Also, the handful of I-15s and I-16s were destroyed on the ground.

Some of these units come back HUGE, my tactic here is a bit different. once they are trashed, I pin them in place with a smallish INF unit. Size depends upon what's there, but something like this I would use one of my smaller BN's. Then, use air to pound it every day. This is strictly pilot training. Use Ida/Sonia to hit them, keep them disorganized, no supplies, kill a few, but mainly just pin them in place. After CK and Chengtu fall, then I create 1 or 2 LCU teams that go around and mop all these up. These teams are ALWAYS minimum 6 units, many of which are AA units; the idea is that they surround the mob, cut-off retreat by hex entry from all 6 sides and then eliminate the mob.

Very methodical, boring, tiresome, but it works. Takes MONTHS to finish. But I end up with getting LCU exp and pilot EXP. (Yes, I rotate units through the teams to get them up to +70 exp min, +80 if I can. As you well know, high EXP InfDivs are VERY powerful in the game.)

Use as you see fit ...

[PaxMondo]

11 Aug 42

Sub War

Six hexes north of Auckland, the I-9 put a torpedo into a nice sized empty French xAP. Later in the day, she caught her again and put 2 more torpedoes into her, sinking her.

give the I-9 a BROOM!!


Whoo-Hoo!!

[PaxMondo]

12 Aug 42
I got complacent and it cost me today. For the past 2 days, I had 2 sentai (54) Sallies bombing the front line enemy troops. I forgot to stop it and Ted sent 14 enemy fighters to counter it. They shot down 12 Sallies for no loss. Stupid mistake. Fortunately, I have bomber replacement aircraft and a LOT of bomber pilots trained for ground bombing.

Ouch, but we all have done it.

I personally have at least a dozen of THAT T-Shirt in my closet ....

Fourteen Hurricanes caught 18 Oscars over Akyab today and shot down 4 Oscars (2 KIA, 1 WIA) for no Allied loss. I hate the Oscar.

Yeah. Me too. If they are on CAP, change them out for Tojo ASAP. The climb, guns, and DUR will hold up much better against the Hurri's ...

[PaxMondo]

13 Aug 42

Burma

Eight Hurricanes swept Akyab, meeting 34 Tojos and losing 3 shot down for no Japanese loss. I'm at a loss here. Ted swept Cox's Bazaar with 2 squadrons. If he put all 3 on Akyab, he's cause me more losses. He has a lot of fighters in theater. I typically see >100 enemy fighters scattered over several air bases with most of them at Chittagong.

Take the win and be happy ... you only have another year or so of good news!!!!

[PaxMondo]

14 Aug 42
China

The Chinese brigade was attacked by my tank regiment again today causing a couple more squads killed. I'll attack again tomorrow. Really?

See this a lot, here's my rationale when it happens:

Hexes are pretty big. Tank regiment, even with 100 AFV's don't occupy that much space and in 24 can't really cover more than a small percentage of the hex. If Inf has put out LP/OP's as they should, and they do their job, they should be able to avoid the Tanks pretty much. Sure, they lose a few squads as the LP's get overrun, but the main force avoids contact ....

No idea how accurate this is, but I have to have these rationales to explain GG's randomness or I go nuts.

[PaxMondo]

15 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-165 spotted an enemy TF including the BB Royal Sovereign 5 hexes west of Calcutta. The largest port in this area is at Madras with a port level of 5(6). I need to drop some mines there, just in case. The sub unsuccessfully fired 2 torpedoes at a DE. That TF is heading east and will move through the patrol area of I-166. Maybe she'll get a shot at the BB. By the way, I-165 took a few near misses and has 11 sys damage but will remain on station.

If you put the sub on cruise speed for a few turns, it may repair most of the damage. Downside, you risk that it won't be able to attack. Just a tactic I use to keep my subs out max time ....

On the Cox front, the Commonwealth attacked! Yay! Even though they outnumber us 50k to 42k, we prevailed:

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 49992 troops, 928 guns, 664 vehicles, Assault Value = 1487

Defending force 42192 troops, 409 guns, 348 vehicles, Assault Value = 1171

Allied adjusted assault: 604

Japanese adjusted defense: 2825

Allied assault odds: 1 to 4

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
690 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Vehicles lost 34 (4 destroyed, 30 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2651 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 271 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 70 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 38 disabled
Guns lost 80 (3 destroyed, 77 disabled)
Vehicles lost 22 (1 destroyed, 21 disabled)

Assaulting units:
18th British Division
70th British Division
44th Indian Brigade
19th Indian Division
2nd British Division
3rd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
1st Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
III Indian Corps
2nd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
6th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
18th Division
7th Tank Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
48th Division
6th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Army
1st RF Gun Battalion

I hope they keep attacking, but I doubt it.

Sheesh, did he get a lucky roll there. 1:4, he should (could) have trashed his units a lot worse.

[PaxMondo]

16 Aug 42

SE Fleet

Twenty-nine Nicks met 5 B-17Es shooting down 1. They did minor damage to the airfield. A second wave of 7 B-17Es were unable to cause any additional damage to the airfield, but no planes were lost on either side. A third wave of 14 B-17Es were only able to cause a couple of points of airfield damage. Again, no planes were lost on either side.

About half a dozen B-17Es were reported to be op losses.

The Nicks will remain another day.

Burma

Five Hurricanes swept Akyab and were countered by 39 Tojos. At a cost of 2 Tojos (1 WIA), all 5 Hurricanes were shot down.

Whoo-Hooo!! Great day in the air!!!!!

[PaxMondo]

17 Aug 42


The Ha-45 engine just became operational! There are 6 factories of the following size (and their increases):

80(40)
40(50)
30(60)
30(60)
30(60)
30(60)

That brings their total from 240 to 570 in 60 days. Currently, there is 2.914M supply in the empire. In the next 2 days (already run), that number remains constant, within a couple hundred. Two months of that....

The following airframes will use this engine. Also included is the current repaired status of their R&D factories (all max size 30):

Ki-84a/r Frank: 15, 4x14, 3x13, 3x12, 11, 2x10, 9, 2x8, 6
N1K1/2 George: 25, 23, 2x22, 21, 19, 4x17, 15, 4x14 13, 12, 8
B7A2 Grace: 16, 2x10, 9, 8, 6

Note that the H1K5 George switches to the Ha-43 engine. My intent is that the first models of the Frank and George will leave 3x30 factories as operational and the remaining 15 will continue with the R&D. When the final model becomes operational, 9x30 more of each type of factory (totaling 12 of each model) will become operational and the remaining 6 of each will switch to another R&D model.

For the Grace, when it becomes operational, 2x30 will become operational and the remaining 4 factories will switch to another R&D model.

The 16 factories that remain R&D will most likely begin work on the two Kamikaze models, the Ki-115a Tsurugi and the Toka. That will be determined when they become operational.

The 570 production per month (19 per day) is not enough to cover all of the R&D need, which could possibly be 42 per day for R&D. That would mean increasing the factory sizes to 1260. That ain't happening.

For operational concerns, the max needed would be 12/day for Frank, 3/day for George 1 & 2 and 2/day for Grace for a total of 17 needed per day. My hope is that there will be a huge number of engines in the pool by the time a significant number of R&D factories complete their growth so that there will be enough engines to support R&D and production. We'll see.

HUGE!!! N1K will move forward really fast soon. I don't think the issue with engines will arise as the N1K will be operational before the Ki-84 starts to really use them for RnD and the B7A is after the Ki-84 ...

[PaxMondo]

19 Aug 42

The Ki44-IIb R&D advanced to 10/42 and will become operational on 9/1/43. (The Ki-44-IIc, the model I want, will become operational in 12/42.) I won't build any more Tojos until I get the IIc model, which should happen in mid-December 42.

I would not be afraid to build more Ki-44 IIa's ... sure the c is better, but the a is better than Oscar for CAP .... and the cost is the same ... unless you have already converted all of your factories to RnD for the c model ....

[PaxMondo]

I'm all caught up!!!

[Mike Solli]

5 August 42 - Really quiet turn today.

The bombers hit Salamaua today. A total of 80x 4E and 45x 2E bomber sorties escorted by 43 fighters. It was over many different attacks, but I can't really compete with that. I have to find little side attacks that I can ambush. The absolute maximum I can ambush with is 62 Zeros and 42 Nicks. That never happens because I'm using LRCAP. The Zeros get chewed up by the 4E bombers and many crash on the way home or landing. I lose too many pilots that way. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with the reinforcements and replacements.

Yeah, 160 AC I would want about 300 fighters for my ambush and if that is at LRCAP that would translate to +900 fighters available; a number that is totally unlikely to be found ...

Agreed, he has already amassed too many 4E's to be able to trap with LRCAP. Don't waste pilots trying ...

Even to trap that many at a target base I would want at least 400 fighters and at least 3 radar devices active at the site ... ouch

Yeah, head on is definitely out of the question here. I always think of the old WitP and what Mogami used to say. If you're not going to fight, pull the air out. No reason to lose it. I still think I can compete over Gasmata (my fighter base) or Rabaul (the major air base in the AO). But, if he puts all his bombers on either base, it won't be pretty for me. So far, he's happy to pound on partial NG units which he can easily kill with a brigade or two. I can live with that. I'm also still looking for places to ambush bombers. I just sent a turn and I see another opportunity. More when I post the turn.

[Mike Solli]

9 Aug 42
China

Kweiyang's airfield was trashed by the Marys again today. Weather prevented the attacks on Chungking and Kunming.

Sorry here, my memory still isn't all that great; what's the plan in China. Getting a bit late for taking CK, is that on your list?

Initially, my plan was to just keep the Chinese contained. Then, a few game months ago, I decided to go for Chungking. I'm doing it poorly though. My army in China isn't as concentrated as it should be. I have surrounded a few concentrations of Chinese. Unfortunately, I'm using too many divisions to contain them. I'm going to try and replace some of them with IMBs to concentrate my army more.