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

[PaxMondo]

I consider the attack successful. The odds were 1.57:1 and the forts were reduced from 5 to 4. That's a step in the right direction. I am now going to attack every 7 days.

Very SUCCESSFUL!!


BANZAI!!!

[PaxMondo]

The Lily is one of those love/hate things. You either love them or hate them. I'm in the latter group.

Curious what you use for land based aircraft for ASW then (early on)? Surely not those other useless bombers as the range is so small?

I don't know that anyone loves Japanese bombers, esp. the starting ones. Excluding naval attacks with torpedoes, we all like that.

I use the Mary and Ann for 1E ASW and naval search. They carry a 250 kg bomb. When I start to get my 2E bomber numbers increasing, I use the Sally (both models) and the Helen. Eventually, when I abdicate the air to the Allies, the IJA bomber force becomes primarily an ASW/naval search force. Losses are low and they become great Kamikazes later.

I use them for training. Once I get my bomber pilots trained to +50 skill ground, then I move them to any of those lousy 1E bomber groups and have them bomb CHI positions. That does 2 things: trains up the pilot exp (much faster than training) and keeps the CHI troops low on supply and morale. Essentially pins them in position. Yes, it uses more supply than straight training, but the EXP gain is faster and keeping the CHI units pinned until I can get around to killing them is worth it. I need a LOT of high exp LBA pilots in the late war for night bombing ...

[sfatula]

If bombing the Chinese, it makes sense to use 1E for that as it will use less supply than a 2E Lily bombing. Also needs a smaller airfield. Makes sense.

[Mike Solli]

If bombing the Chinese, it makes sense to use 1E for that as it will use less supply than a 2E Lily bombing. Also needs a smaller airfield. Makes sense.

My problem is that I'm no longer building any IJAAF 1E bombers. They're slowly being attrited away. I'm (very) slowly converting the 1E units to 2E, when I have the PPs and planes in the pool.

[PaxMondo]

If bombing the Chinese, it makes sense to use 1E for that as it will use less supply than a 2E Lily bombing. Also needs a smaller airfield. Makes sense.

The big advantage for me is number of planes for the AF size and that I can use AF=2 bases of which there are a lot, so I can lower the range => lower ops losses. In 42 and into 43 before I take all of CHI I can "harvest" 100's of pilots with ground bomb skill/exp > 70 ... and they all become my potential night bombing pilots in '44/45. Oh, not to mention all of those permanent VP's too.

[Mike Solli]

28 Feb 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Still moving ground forces around. It's pretty difficult with Adak's port at 100% damage. I have 148 engineers at Adak and the repairs are still really slow. The runway is at 49% and the service is at 100%. It'll be awhile before they get to the port, the slackers.

4 Fleet

Ted has (finally) taken an interest in Johnston Island. He sent 9 PB4Y-1s there and hit the port, sinking the SCM there. Now the mines will start to degrade. My defenses there are a NG battalion, an AS company with a company of Marines and an engineer company with a platoon of combat engineers, all behind level 4 forts. A battalion of infantry won't do it. I don't think a single regiment will do it either, at least not without a lot of additional effort. We'll see.

SE Fleet

Thirty-three heavy bombers hit Tulagi's troops and 15 B-25s hit Lunga's troops.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The usual supply shortage at the front. The supply seems to arrive in pulses and the army eats it as fast as it arrives.

China

There's been a chronic slight shortage of supply at Chungking since the last attack, and it shows in the artillery barrage. Today's bombing/barrage destroyed only 8 squads. That ain't gonna cut it. In addition to the two TFs that haul resources from and bring supply to Shanghai, I'm sending an additional 50k supply there in a "special" TF. I won't attack until the supply arrives and there's ample in Chungking.

Raw AV:
Japan: 4755 (+143)
China: 1322 (+35) - That's going the wrong way!
Enemy strength: 258k (no change)
Enemy units: 70 units (no change) - 16 Construction Regiment was destroyed yesterday. Yay!
Guns: 306 (+7)

While the Chinese AV is pretty much static, mine is increasing nicely, with an additional 840 AV in 2 full strength divisions (one is 81 experience!) enroute. They won't make it for the next attack though.

Other Stuff

The A6M5c R&D advanced to 8/44 and is expected to become operational 7/43.

[Mike Solli]

If bombing the Chinese, it makes sense to use 1E for that as it will use less supply than a 2E Lily bombing. Also needs a smaller airfield. Makes sense.

The big advantage for me is number of planes for the AF size and that I can use AF=2 bases of which there are a lot, so I can lower the range => lower ops losses. In 42 and into 43 before I take all of CHI I can "harvest" 100's of pilots with ground bomb skill/exp > 70 ... and they all become my potential night bombing pilots in '44/45. Oh, not to mention all of those permanent VP's too.

I have a LOT of IJAAF bomber pilots in the pool. Their ground bombing skills are >70 but the experience isn't that high.....yet.

Edit: I have a lot more than I thought. There are a BUNCH sitting in the units bombing Chungking. I need to swap them out.

[Mike Solli]

Japanese Economy as of 1 Mar 43

Oil

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This is looking good. Note the large positive change in oil in the Home Islands. I began hauling oil from Pt. Arthur to Japan. Now, 10% of all oil is in Japan. Also, the oil in Pt. Arthur is being replaced as it is pulled out. That means the Chinese Highway is working. Nice!

Finally, note the change in the total amount of oil. The change is almost exactly the same. The only fluctuation I see is because of the different number of days in the month. Each row is for the 1st of the month so it really reflects the previous month. A 34 day reserve is much better than the 12 day reserve of the previous month.

Supply

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There's not much to say here other than it's increasing nicely and that over half of it is in the Home Islands!

Fuel

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There was a decrease here, which I anticipated. The Aleutians campaign finally concluded. There were a LOT of combat ships moving around constantly including most of the BBs and CAs, along with KB 1. That used a lot of fuel. This month will probably be rough as well because the two replenishment fleets will need to replenish their stocks. I'm getting the fuel from outside the Home Islands, so the Home Island % should increase next month.

Resources

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Not much to say here. There's a 7.5 month reserve in the Home Islands.

[PaxMondo]

I have a LOT of IJAAF bomber pilots in the pool. Their ground bombing skills are >70 but the experience isn't that high.....yet.

Edit: I have a lot more than I thought. There are a BUNCH sitting in the units bombing Chungking. I need to swap them out.

My experience, for whatever it is worth ...

Training moves skill quite nicely, but exp is slow.
Missions improve exp nicely, but skill is slow.

So, for bombers (all including DB/TB) I train the skill up in training groups, but once I have my skills pretty close (>60), I put them into my CHI bombing groups and drive up the exp. DB/TB pilots get EXP this way, no Nav skill, but they do pick some ground bombing skill up ...

Ditto for fighters, I put them into rear area bases on CAP to finish their exp growth. I get use out of them, prevent sneak attacks (AI is really quite good at those), and grow their EXP ....