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

[Mike Solli]

...The Independent Engineer Regiments are nerfed in this mod. In the basic game, I believe they have 48 combat engineers. In this mod, they have only 9. I used them at Singapore and they got slaughtered. Now they only are used for building.

I remember thinking when that came up originally here in your AAR that it was a BIG nerf, and this only confirms my original thought. All I can say is "OUCH!". Sorry .....

All of the engineer units have been nerfed. The construction "battalions" have only 12 engineers. They all have a lot of labor squads, who do nothing but eat. Early on, I took Joe's advice and set them to stockpile so they don't get replacements when they die. That has served me well.

[Mike Solli]

30 Jan 43

Sub War

The I-162 caught a probably empty cargo TF a couple hexes south of Pago Pago and put a torpedo into an xAK. I heard sinking sounds later in the day. I suspect she sank but I'm not sure. I'll find out sometime in the next year.

The I-169 got hit by a Catalina today south of Norfolk Island. I suspect Ted based some of them at Norfolk Island. That area is becoming too dangerous for my subs. I'm abandoning that area and will station a sub further to the east, out of reach of Cats. Her damage is pretty bad at 90-56(28)-18(7)-0. She'll limp back to Rabaul.

5 Fleet

I'm resting my troops and plan on attacking again in 4 days coinciding with a surface bombardment.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nine Georges caught 9 Kittyhawk IIIs over Gasmata and downed 4 of them for no loss.

By the way, I shut off George production yesterday. I have 68 in the pool right now. I will get the K2 around 3/2/43 and would like to not have a large pool of aircraft that I don't anticipate using ever again. I can always turn it back on if I need some before the K2 enters production. One nice effect of that is the Ha-45 pool is increasing again. It's up to 1692 and increasing about 4 a day.

Thirty-three 4E bombers hit Lunga today. Their fort is up to 2.70. Maybe it will reach level 3 after all. Still no sign of an invasion fleet.

SRA

MKB 1 and 2 are heading toward the NW corner of Australia and a hopeful ambush. They're a few days out.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today's bombing/bombardment destroyed 27 squads today.

Raw AV:
Japan: 2466 (-1618)
China: 2201 (-396)
Enemy strength: 282k (-7k)
Enemy units: 87 units (no change)
Guns: 446 (-2)

The following Chinese units were destroyed in yesterday's attack:

12 Construction Regiment
259 Brigade
51 Chinese Corps

The Chinese raw AV is decreasing an average of 80 per day (not including attacks). If I attack again in 10 days, their raw AV should be around 1400. Mine increases an average of 70 per day. So, in 10 days my raw AV should be around 3200 + a division added for another 400 to make the raw AV ~3600. It might be higher because I'm moving 9 of the 14 divisions out to try and rest and recover faster. There are 4 more divisions enroute that probably won't make it in 10 days but will make it for the next attack.

Other Stuff

The N1K2-J George R&D advanced to 11/43 and is expected to become operational 3/2/43.

[PaxMondo]

30 Jan 43
By the way, I shut off George production yesterday. I have 68 in the pool right now. I will get the K2 around 3/2/43 and would like to not have a large pool of aircraft that I don't anticipate using ever again. I can always turn it back on if I need some before the K2 enters production.

Yeah, I'm looking at Scen stats, assuming that this mod is similar, I totally agree. The SR drop on K2 is a big deal.

Screenshot 2026-09-19 074649.png (65.82 KiB) Viewed 174 times

One nice effect of that is the Ha-45 pool is increasing again. It's up to 1692 and increasing about 4 a day.

SWEET!!!!

[Mike Solli]

Pax, the stats are similar, but there are some differences. Here are the different stats:

Stat: K1 - K2

Max Speed: 363 to 393 - 369 to 397

Max Altitude: 41,010 to 33,800 - 35,300 to 31,276

Climb: 2510 to 3104 - 2670 to 3152

Maneuver: 27-27-27-22-17 to 29-29-25-18-9 - 30-30-30-25-20 to 29-29-24-17-9

The max speed and climb rate are eye openers.

[Mike Solli]

31 Jan 43 - Pretty quiet day.

Sub War

The I-169 succumbed to her wounds from a Catalina yesterday. I'm going to have to be more careful about placing my subs too close to major bases in the future.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Thirty-eight 4Es hit Lunga today. I am shuttling some 20mm AAA guns to Lunga to try and catch some of the Dauntlesses that didn't attack today. They're still a few days out.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today's bombing/bombardment destroyed 48 squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 2589 (+123) - I'm now including 59 Division which took a beating a couple of attacks ago but will participate in the next attack.
China: 2152 (-49)
Enemy strength: 276k (+3k)
Enemy units: 87 units (no change) - the 3 units that were destroyed are listed below.
Guns: 454 (+8)

Chinese units destroyed in the previous attack:
12 Construction Regiment
249 Brigade
51 Chinese Corps

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

1 Feb 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The BB bombardment TF hit Adak today apparently doing nice work. It seems like nothing at all is happening to the US troops there. I can't figure it out. Maybe he's somehow getting supply there? I LRCAP the hex with KB1 on occasion and it doesn't seem to do anything. It's pretty frustrating.

I'm going to attack next time the bombardment TF returns, in a few days.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Six Kittyhawk IIIs were met by 8 Georges over Gasmata shooting down 2 Kittyhawks for no loss. More cheap experience.

Thirty-seven 4Es hit Lunga again.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today's bombing/bombardment destroyed 33 squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 2902 (+313) - Lots of disabled squads were repaired today.
China: 2105 (-47)
Enemy strength: 273k (-3k)
Enemy units: 89 units (+2) - 1 Construction Regiment, 3 Construction Regiment - Nice, no infantry!
Guns: 423 (-31)

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

2 Feb 43

Sub War

At Adak, A PB dropping off supply found Grouper and got a few near misses. There was a report of her tubes being damaged. Don't you love that amazing intel?

5 Fleet

Tomorrow, another BB bombardment followed by a deliberate assault goes in. Fingers crossed that this one does something...

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I sent a little present to Rennell Island. It's only a couple hexes from Lunga. Fighters and those irritating Dauntlesses fly from there. Here's what happened:

Night Naval bombardment of Rennell Island at 113,140

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 16 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed on ground
Kittyhawk IA: 15 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 44 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed on ground
F4U-1 Corsair: 8 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba

Allied ground losses:
776 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 87 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (2 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 14
Runway hits 71

That should slow things down for a little bit. The CAs got away and are headed back to Truk for replenishment.

I have 2 minelaying subs just north of this. I'm still debating where to drop the 80 mines. Rennell or maybe Lunga? Even possibly Tulagi. The issue with Lunga is that there is no port there, so the mines would affect me too. I'm still debating what to do with them.

In the morning, 5 remaining Kittyhawks swept Gasmata and met the 8 Georges. Three Kittyhawks were shot down and the 2 survivors fled. I suspect their morale is rock bottom. I don't expect to see them tomorrow.

Thirty-seven 4Es hit Lunga again. There were no fighters sweeps over Lunga today. Wonder why?

SRA

MKB 1 and MKB 2 are about 10 hexes north of the NW corner of Australia. Between them, they have 137 Zeros, 112 Vals and 63 Kates. They are going to cruise down the west coast of Australia to see what they can find. They are currently unspotted.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today, the bombers didn't fly. The bombardment destroyed 53 squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3533 (+631) - another infantry division joined the Army.
China: 2102 (-3)
Enemy strength: 274k (+1k)
Enemy units: 90 units (+1) - I'll figure out the new one tomorrow.
Guns: 431 (+8)

Other Stuff

The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 11/43 and is expected to become operational 6/43.

The last Glen was produced using the last of the Hitachi Amakaze engines. I have 115 in the pool which should last the rest of the war. I now have an extra airframe factory. What to do with it? I'll figure it out in the next few days. It'll most likely become an R&D factory.

Reinforcement
xAK Otoriyama Maru, 3rd of 12 Std-B that will convert to a TK.

[Mike Solli]

Update on the status of the Empire. These number are as of the 1st of each month. I began tracking this info in earnest on 1 Jan 43.

Oil:

Jan - 2,540,319
Feb - 2,527,045 (-13,274)
In Home Islands - 90,237 (-4129 from last month), 3.57% of total, 12.21 day supply (down 0.56 days)
In Pt. Arthur - 967,551 (38.29%)

I began hauling oil from Pt. Arthur in late January when I discovered that there was only a 12 day supply of oil in the Home Islands. I'd really like to get 1 million oil into the Home Islands. Hong Kong is hogging the oil as well with almost 650k there. I have 8x 8150 capacity TKs hauling oil from Pt. Arthur and have just begun using the 5 Tonan Whalers to haul oil from Hong Kong. I'm really curious to see what the numbers look like next month.

Singapore has ~300k and Palembang has 50k. That leaves ~1.1 million scattered around and on ships. Borneo and North Sumatra are pretty well drained.

Edit: Just so you know, 1 million extra oil in Japan is only a 5 month supply.

The only refineries I have shut off are the 90 at Tarakan. I haul oil from there to Babeldaob and then to Japan. I want the refineries in Japan to pump out at maximum capacity as long as possible, mainly to get extra supply in Japan for the end game. It is an extra 27k oil to Japan a month. It'll add up over the next couple of years. The oil need is 222k per month to keep the refineries working at full capacity.

Fuel:

Jan - 4,930,995
Feb - 4,914,245 (-16,750)
In Home Islands - 2,178,984 (+21,305 from last month), 46.65% of total

I'm pretty pleased with what's in the Home Islands. I'd like to see that number at 4 million, which is doubtful. 3 million is probably a more reasonable number.

Supply:

Jan - 3,166,584
Feb - 3,344,816 (+178,232)
In Home Islands - 1,872,803 (+88,594 from last month), 55.99% of total

I was VERY pleasantly surprised when I saw that number. I have 2 TFs totaling 44k capacity that constantly haul supply to Shanghai and resources back to Nagasaki. That's a lot of supply a month to China and the stockpile is Japan is still increasing. I suspect the stockpile will jump quite a bit after Chungking is liberated.

Resources:

Jan - 18,205,228
Feb - 18,892,963 (+687,735)
In Home Islands - 7,480,970 (+225,615), 39.60% of total, 215 days reserve (up 6 from January), 1.041 million resources is needed a month is needed above what is produced in the Home Islands

Just so you know, half of the Home Island resources is in Hokkaido. I'm working on ports to haul more quickly. I also have 4 TFs totaling 77k capacity constantly hauling resources from Fusan to Fukuoka, a distance of only 2 hexes.

Many people say that hauling resources from the SRA is not worth the fuel cost. I disagree. My resource reserves in the Home Islands are very nice, but I'll keep hauling until the reserve just about equals the end of the game. Since my fuel reserves are pretty stable, I'm not concerned.

There are a LOT of resources on the map, but there are a lot of places I don't gather them, so that 19 million number is not really accurate.

Just a little insight into how my mind works. I hope it all works come late 1944...

[PaxMondo]

Pax, the stats are similar, but there are some differences. Here are the different stats:

Stat: K1 - K2

Max Speed: 363 to 393 - 369 to 397

Max Altitude: 41,010 to 33,800 - 35,300 to 31,276

Climb: 2510 to 3104 - 2670 to 3152

Maneuver: 27-27-27-22-17 to 29-29-25-18-9 - 30-30-30-25-20 to 29-29-24-17-9

The max speed and climb rate are eye openers.

I might be referencing an old S01 ... but if the SR change still holds, then the K2 is still better ....

[PaxMondo]

31 Jan 43 - Pretty quiet day.

Sub War

The I-169 succumbed to her wounds from a Catalina yesterday.

Have I mentioned that I HATE Cats!!!

I build Rufe's just to take those things out ...

[PaxMondo]

1 Feb 43

Japan: 2902 (+313) - Lots of disabled squads were repaired today.

You ain't just woofing!!!



BANZAI!!!!!!!!!

[PaxMondo]

Update on the status of the Empire. These number are as of the 1st of each month. I began tracking this info in earnest on 1 Jan 43.

Supply:

Jan - 3,166,584
Feb - 3,344,816 (+178,232)
In Home Islands - 1,872,803 (+88,594 from last month), 55.99% of total

I was VERY pleasantly surprised when I saw that number. I have 2 TFs totaling 44k capacity that constantly haul supply to Shanghai and resources back to Nagasaki. That's a lot of supply a month to China and the stockpile is Japan is still increasing. I suspect the stockpile will jump quite a bit after Chungking is liberated.

Mike, you're a genius. How you are managing to accumulate this much supply, given the supply production limits in this scenario ... wow, just WOW.

[Mike Solli]

Pax, the stats are similar, but there are some differences. Here are the different stats:

Stat: K1 - K2

Max Speed: 363 to 393 - 369 to 397

Max Altitude: 41,010 to 33,800 - 35,300 to 31,276

Climb: 2510 to 3104 - 2670 to 3152

Maneuver: 27-27-27-22-17 to 29-29-25-18-9 - 30-30-30-25-20 to 29-29-24-17-9

The max speed and climb rate are eye openers.

I might be referencing an old S01 ... but if the SR change still holds, then the K2 is still better ....

Yep, the SR is 3 for the K1, 2 for the K2 and back up to 3 for the K5.

[Mike Solli]

31 Jan 43 - Pretty quiet day.

Sub War

The I-169 succumbed to her wounds from a Catalina yesterday.

Have I mentioned that I HATE Cats!!!

I build Rufe's just to take those things out ...

I have only 1 Rufe chutai in SE Fleet AO along with one in Formosa and one in the Home Islands, both training def for really good pilots. I get another one soon which will probably go to SE Fleet AO too. It'll draw pilot from the 2 training units, which will start over.

[Mike Solli]

1 Feb 43

Japan: 2902 (+313) - Lots of disabled squads were repaired today.

You ain't just woofing!!!



BANZAI!!!!!!!!!

I pulled over half of the divisions out of Chungking to Neikiang for R&R. That, I suspect, is the reason for the large gain.

[Mike Solli]

Update on the status of the Empire. These number are as of the 1st of each month. I began tracking this info in earnest on 1 Jan 43.

Supply:

Jan - 3,166,584
Feb - 3,344,816 (+178,232)
In Home Islands - 1,872,803 (+88,594 from last month), 55.99% of total

I was VERY pleasantly surprised when I saw that number. I have 2 TFs totaling 44k capacity that constantly haul supply to Shanghai and resources back to Nagasaki. That's a lot of supply a month to China and the stockpile is Japan is still increasing. I suspect the stockpile will jump quite a bit after Chungking is liberated.

Mike, you're a genius. How you are managing to accumulate this much supply in this scenario, given the supply production limits in this scenario ... wow, just WOW.

I honestly have no idea. I'm just really, really cautious with increasing ANYTHING. I am toying with increasing Dinah III and Thalia production. They're both at 15 and it ain't cutting it. I'm probably going to double them and adjust engine production to match it. I'm also considering increasing the Randy engine (Ha-33) production a little bit now. It's currently at 150 and I use 140, so it's slowly increasing with 105 in the pool. It'll increase when I increase the Dinah production, but I want to build up the pool for the end game.

My supply increase is about 5900 a day. All the production increases will hurt that, but I need it. My goal is an increase of 100k supply a month, or 3333 a day.

I think part of the reason why I have so much supply in Japan is because I'm focusing on hauling oil there. The SRA produces plenty of supply for that part of the war, with a little bit to spare. At some point I may shut off some other refineries to haul more oil back to Japan. I'll give the Tonans hauling from Hong Kong and the other TKs hauling from Pt. Arthur a couple months to see how everything changes.