Thinking of sending 3-4 CVs against Pearl to land another crippling strike. What do you guys think ? I think he'll have minimal air defense - concentrating mostly on ASW efforts and won't think I'd bring the KB back this late in the game.. As long as I can get there without being spotted I think I can sink a few ships, hopefully his damaged CVs and BBs.
The question is whether his PBY's can simultaneously hunt for subs and surface TF's. By now, he knows your submarines are hunting his CV's, and it's a good bet there are ASW countermeasures in place. If his search planes have to concentrate on subs, then your chances of approaching Pearl Harbor undetected are good. But if he can also spot surface TF's, then I would think he'll likely pick you up.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
Did you think of sending KB to the Indian ocean trying to catch fomr B17s on the ground? It depends on the amount of fighters and recce, of coursing, this won't work if he spots you too early. On the other side this would relieve pressure in the Pacific, but his CVs are damaged anyway.
Did you think of sending KB to the Indian ocean trying to catch fomr B17s on the ground? It depends on the amount of fighters and recce, of coursing, this won't work if he spots you too early. On the other side this would relieve pressure in the Pacific, but his CVs are damaged anyway.
The KB has a date with the Idian Ocean as it is - or at least part of the KB. The problem there is that I do not yet control Java and he would easily spot any CVs trying to make it through the straights. Right now I can sneak 1-2 ship TFs through to Rangoon but thats about it - and sometimes he spots those as well.. I will be taking Banhka, Medan (and the other base) within a month then will land on Andaman Island in force and secure the nice base Rob has built for me - then I have a multi-divisional invasion of Ceylon planned.
The turn started with a night time air raid on Dacca by a measly 9 Nells and 11 Betties. Several planes came back damaged and no hits were scored on the Dacca AF - a waste of gas basically.
Rob then surprised me with the re-emergence of the RAF in china. 13 P-40Es escortedf 36 SB-2C chinese bombers against Kungchang AF where apparently I had no CAP flying [:@] Luckily the chinese are horrible and I only lost 1 Nate along with 9 runway hits.
Rangoon then took another beating - how the hell is he keeping these heavies in the air ? A total of 5 Demons escorted 7 Blenheim IVs, 51 B-17s, 32 LB-30s and 3 chinese bombers against Rangoon AF. My CAP was once more crappy - only 6 Zeros and 13 Oscars. The bombers claimed 180 men, 5 airbase, 3 supply and 57 runway hits. They destroyed 4 zeros, 5 Oscars, 4 Betties, 2 Nells, 3 Sallies and 1 Babs. My CAP and flak claimed only 1 Demon and 1 B-17. At this rate Rob will destroy all my planes on the ground at Rangoon and I won't have any left to fight the next 3 years of the war with.
My fighters swept in from Rahaeng and plucked 10 Hurricans out of the sky over Pagan, while losing 3 of their own.
I sent some Nells on a raid on Koepang AF - 49 in total. They ran into a few Brewster fighters and plowed through to deliver 2 airbase, 2 supply and 4 runway hits. 2 Nells failed to return.
Rob continues to bomb my AF at Lae. Its kinda funny as I am not even attempting to build anything there. All I have there are combat units, no engineers yet..
Rob's Hudsons from PM found more fleeing APs in the area of the Bismark Arch and hit one with 3 bombs.
I finally committed to a land attack at Lanchow. 286000 IJA troops attacked 162000 chinese troops. My men were pushed back with heavy losses, but we managed to lower the forts by 1. I lost 8200 men and Rob lost 740.. Not a great attack, but I expect to lose that kind of numbers to crack Lanchow.
I am moving men from Singapore towards Rangoon to bolster the defenses there - mostly arty and some small ground units. They have been moving by rail from Singapore up to Georgetown where I loaded the first arty unit on some ships last turn. Unfortunately the TF ran into an allied sub and one of the APs was struck by a torpedo blowing a huge hole in its side. The damaged AP has been ordered to the nearest port to offload the men before it sinks and the rest are ordered to continue on to Rangoon.
Rob landed some men via sub at Gasmata. I am trying to react, but I don't think I can react fast enough to prevent him from capturing the base - I will take it back for sure, but its still a pain.
One of my subs lying in wait for Rob's CVs encountered an ASW hunter-killer group... The sub took 2 depth charges and luckily escaped. It has 70+ flooding and will probably not make port.
And now back to the current sore spot... Rangoon. Rob came in again. 2 Buffalo pilots escorted in 20 RAF bombers - kinda surprised they would fly with only 2 escorts against my CAP ?? Hmm... Well they ran into 9 zeros and 10 Oscars. My CAP shot down 1 RAF bomber... They bombed the AF again, causing 1 airbase and 17 runway hits, as well as claimed 26 men. They caught 1 zero, 2 oscar and 1 betty on the ground... This is getting sickening....
The second Rangoon raid met with worse results for Rob. 7 Blenheim IVs came in unescorted and my CAP mauled them. They shot down 4 of the bombers. The rest claimed 7 men and 1 runway hit. No Japanese other losses were reported.
The third raid was another victory for Rob. 9 Blenheim IVs, 27 B-17 and 33 LB-30s pounded Rangoon AF yet again... They claimed 20 men, 1 airbase and 13 runway hits. They destroyed 1 zero, 2 Oscar, 1 Sally and 1 Nell. My CAP and flak claimed 1 Blenheim and 1 LB-30.... This is ridiculus.. He has bombed 4 days straight with the heavies and they are still landing constant hits.. I damaged 10+ B-17s each turn and they just come back for more.. You can't kill them. Were they this hard to kill historically ??
Rob sent in some dutch Demons on a raid at Palembang. 4 Demons came flying in at 2000 feet and were met by 12 zeros and 4 Nates. All 4 Demons were shot down.
Rob is stepping up his bombing of the Lae AF, including some B-25C Mitchell bombers. He landed 2 airbase and 4 runway hits on an airfield I'm not doing anything with [:D]
The turn started - as several have lately - with the bombing of Rangoon's AF. This time the raid was small enough - 4 Buffalo and 4 Blenheim IFs - that my CAP could handle it. The newly reinforced CAP pounded the raid, shooting down all 8 planes. I have reinforced the CAP with another sentai of zeros flying LR CAP from the nearby base of Rahaeng.
Raid #2 on Rangoon met a similiar fate. 6 Blenheim IVs came in, 2 left after scoring no hits. I like this so much, I need to strengthen the CAP every turn I think.
My raid on Port Moresby's AF inflicted very little damage. 27 Zeros escorted 48 Betties from Rabaul against the enemy AF. I lost 1 Betty in the battle and claimed 3 Kittyhawks, 2 P-40Es, 1 B-25 and 1 C-47. I also claimed 10 men and 3 runway hits.
Rob must have noticed my airfield at Rahaeng finally - been raiding Pagan from it every few turns. He sent in a small raid against the AF. 3 Buffalos escorted 9 Wellington and 6 Hudson bombers. Due to the LR CAP over Rangoon, I only had 5 zeros on CAP here, but they did a decent job downing 2 RAF bombers and 1 Buffalo. These bombers are unskilled as they only landed 1 supply hit in all.
A TF landing an IJN NLF at my base on Timor (Dili) were spotted and hit by some dutch bombers. Most missed, but a lucky dutch pilot put a torpedo into a DD. The ship is heavily damaged and will be retreated back to Kendari for field repairs.
The arty raid on Lanchow claimed over 200 men.
My baby CVs and 2 CV TF will reach Kwajelein next turn where I expect them to drain the last drops of fuel from the base. I have more fuel coming south, but it will not arrive in time. I still have a small stockpile at Tarawa - like 14000 units, but am saving that for emergencies. Luckily I have 2 replenishment TFs in the area as well, carrying around 30k fuel between them. Once at Kwajelein, the CVs will draw new planes and pilots - Tarawa was too small to provide them and wait... I am n ot sure the 1 division of troops I have in the area will be enough to take Canton now that Rob has reinforced it. I may wait for a second division to be shipped in from the Philippine Islands.
My heavily damaged CV is slowly making her way NW away from any danger. She has 53 sys damage and no flt or fire. Unfortunately she cannot conduct any air ops on her own. She is low on fuel and meeting with a replenishment TF tomorrow to replenish - then I need to decide where to send her... Straight home or not... With the increased sub activity I have spotted 3-400 miles south of Japan, I'm not sure I can get her safely through. Perhaps she will move to Guam or Palau and sit there for a while - closer to Japan but out of harm's warm.
I have gone over my notes and I have not hit an allied ship since the 13th of April. Since then he has hit 7 of mine, including 1 DD, 2 subs and 4 APs - one of which has sunk. I need to change this soon, but he is not giving me any targets...
My manpower continues to hover around 200 as units continue to draw replacements and flesh out. My HI stockpile is over 40k now and continues to slowly rise, as I have halted several aircraft factories making older planes while I decide what to change them to. My Armaments is hovering around 3k and my vehicles are about 300...So right now it seems I am barely making enough raw manpower to fully use all my armaments - I need to find out why my manpower is slumping and get it in gear.
I am thinking of using a few I-class subs to do a few sub invasions in Indian to force Rob to react to them. I believe several of the bases near Ceylon are unguarded - at least start the game unguarded and 1 or 2 of them have Industry / Resources in them.. A quick invasion would force Rob to react to them and capture industry and possible Oil from him. Not sure if I should, as this may cause him to reinforce all the bases which will make my fall offensive into India / Ceylon much harder. What do you guys think ?
Send Tony's if you want to kill off the 4 engine bombers at Rangoon.
Also there is no rule against counter bombing, and you have multiple airbases in the area, you need to use them.
I have the shoe on the other foot in Java, I keep moving my planes from one airbase to another to avoid Blackwatch's vastly superior airforce. He has more, better planes, but I have 7 airbases to hide in and he can only bomb 3 effectively each turn.
Send Tony's if you want to kill off the 4 engine bombers at Rangoon.
Also there is no rule against counter bombing, and you have multiple airbases in the area, you need to use them.
I have the shoe on the other foot in Java, I keep moving my planes from one airbase to another to avoid Blackwatch's vastly superior airforce. He has more, better planes, but I have 7 airbases to hide in and he can only bomb 3 effectively each turn.
Tonys are a while off yet... I only have 1 AF in the area capable of supporting bombers - Rahaeng is only size 2 right now.. I am rapidly expanding Rahaeng but it will be a couple weeks before its size 4+... Other than those two, that is really all that I have within realistic range of Dacca / Diamond Harbor / Calcutta where he is basing his heavies. I think I can reach from Bangkok, but its a looooong flight and I'll lose a lot of planes to ops flying from there.
I am letting Rob build up Adaman Island for me and will use that once I take it...
I got the latest turn last night and only had time to run it - not enter any orders, but I wanted to post the highlight of the turn...
During the execution of the turn I got the "Enterprise Sinks" message as the valiant USS Enterprise slips beneath the waves enroute to PH [:D] [:D]
I was very happy to see this - even though I am positive he has salvage most of its airwings. My sub lying in wait for the Enterprise located the CL Hobert and put 2 torps into her AND evaded ASW efforts as well... So overall a good turn just with those two events...
I will post more when I get home from work...
Tonys are a while off yet... I only have 1 AF in the area capable of supporting bombers
The answer to your first question is yes -- the B-17's were historically that hard to kill. The lighter Japanese machine guns were almost completely ineffective against them, and most of the Japanese fighter cannons fired slowly and with a lower muzzle velocity than German or allied guns. The fact that the Forts have escorts is a major problem, because your heavier fighters don't do as well against Allied fighters. Perhaps you could use a squadron of Zeroes to engage the escorts, and then send Nicks or Irvings in against the bombers?
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
The answer to your first question is yes -- the B-17's were historically that hard to kill. The lighter Japanese machine guns were almost completely ineffective against them, and most of the Japanese fighter cannons fired slowly and with a lower muzzle velocity than German or allied guns. The fact that the Forts have escorts is a major problem, because your heavier fighters don't do as well against Allied fighters. Perhaps you could use a squadron of Zeroes to engage the escorts, and then send Nicks or Irvings in against the bombers?
Ok.. I've only ever seen footage over Europe where the German fighters ripped into the heavies there.. Don't know a lot about the heavies being used in the Pacific - thanks for the info..
I will try a combined CAP once I get some heavy fighters... So what type of weapons do my fighters need ? 20mm ? Or What ? I believe some of the late war Japanese fighters have 20mm cannons.
I landed troops (an NLF) at Babo in PNG and they took the undefended base in a Shock Assault. I now have the complete 'upper' portion of PNG under my control and I am thinking of leaving that NLF there and bringing in some engineers to make a level 2 AF to control the sea lanes with Kates and Vals. What do you guys think ? Or is it too close to Oz-land ?
My airmen in China got a workout this turn as well... I ordered them against the AF at Sining - it has sat out most of the battle for Lanchow and Rob is basing bombers out of it, so I decided it was time to say hi. Over 70 DBs visited the AF and hit it pretty good. I lost 3 Nates and 2 Anns for the trouble, but goit 3 SB-2Cs and 1 RAF Beaufort. I also scored 5 airbase, 1 supply and 46 runway hits.. This should hamper Rob's air activity a little.
Guess what ???? Rangoon got bombed again... Imagine that [;)] 6 zeros and 10 Oscars met 3 Demons, 4 Buffalos and 3 Blenheim IFs. I lost nothing in the air or ground and claimed 2 Fighters and 1 Blenheim shot down.
My next action was a raid on Taung Gyi to keep Rob on his toes in Burma. 6 zeros escorted in 26 Ann DBs on the raid. They met 10 Buffalos on CAP. I lost 1 Ann and destroyed 1 Buffalo and 1 Vildebeest aircraft. The Af took 3 airbase, 1 supply and 11 runway hits.
My air raid on the port of Broome was a failure. 59 Nells converged on the port and made at least 1 run on it, claiming 1 port hit. No planes were lost, but nothing was really hit.. so it was just a waste of supplies.
Rob beat me to Gasmata and took the base this turn with his sub commandos that he landed last turn. My AP full of the 4th Regiment troops did not arrive in time to unload at all and he took the base freely. Now my men have to unload on a hostile beach, but I have no doubt they will easily wipe out the few commandos left behind and recapture the base.
Rob paid another visit to Rahaeng AF with his Wellington and Hudson bombers, but they did not hit anything again... Unfortunately my CAP did nothing either and all aircraft involved we undamaged.
IJN I-19 located an allied TF of 2 CA, 1 CL and 2 DDs and put 2 torps into the CL Hobart, leaving the ship aflame and listing. The sub then skillfully (or luckfully) escaped counterattack by the TF DDs.
I also landed troops at Green Island in the Solomons and secured the undefended island with no fighting. I have a base force enroute to begin enlarging that base.
So one is sunk, and at least one is out of service for quite some time, right?
Thanks
Nope.. 2 sunk -> Big E sunk on her own and the Yorktown was sunk by a IJN sub as it attempted to make port in Canton Island. So I have two of his 5 CVs sunk. The Saratoga and Lexington both should have some damage but obviously not much and the Hornet is 100%.. So he does still have 3 CVs capable of flying ops (assuming both Sara & Lex can) and a CVE. I doubt if he will risk his damaged CVs in battle anytime soon, so he only has 1 US CV available for extended ops and the RN CVs - which as far as I can tell are still hiding in Karachi... They could be at Ceylon, but I doubt he would leave them in range of Nells / Betties from Rangoon...
My CV, Junyo has 53 sys damage and will make port at Tarawa this turn, where she will spend a turn or two in port repairing all flooding damage before moving off elsewhere for repairs - just not sure where to send her since Rob is flooding the waters south of Japan with Subs - at least 4 spotted now.
So what type of weapons do my fighters need ? 20mm ? Or What ? I believe some of the late war Japanese fighters have 20mm cannons.
Actually, even 13mm machine guns should do damage as long as the fighter has at least four of them. My advice is to consider both the fighter's firepower and its durability. The Zero had 20mm cannons from the beginning, but only two of them. Its excellent manuverability didn't mean anything against the B-17 or B-24, because it was easy for any fighter to fly rings around the lumbering beasts. BUT -- it was impossible to find an attack angle where the bombers couldn't shoot back, and the American .50 cals were deadlier to the unarmored Zero than the Zero's guns were to the bomber. (The Germans solved the problem for a time by attacking the B-17's head-on where their firepower was least, and the ME-109 and FW-190 could survive a couple of hits better than the Zero. But then those unfair Americans introduced the B-17G with its "chin" turret.)
Again, I think you'll find that the Ki-45 "Nick" is the earliest good bomber-killer you get, followed in a few months by the J1N "Irving".
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
The Army cannon are much better than the navy 20mm. The army guns were comparable to what the Germans used and rightly so as they all came from the same design.
The Ki44 is a good bomber killer as is the Ki61. I tend to use the Ki61 in my mod as an anti fighter weapon though, while the Ki44 is anti bomber.
Playing the default scenario you get really odd times for aircraft entry, odd armaments and odd maneuver values.
<best Darth Vader voice> You must come to the dark side and try the CHS! Plus, with the CHS i am sure rroberson can find new ways to lose carriers. [:'(]
At work, so I'm only posting the highlights that I can remember.
Several things occurred that was a surprise to me. The first was a move by the RN to bombard Rangoon. Doesn't sound to outrageous after the pounding the airfield took - but Rob only committed 3 PGs to the task. They managed to sneak up on Rangoon undetected, but ran into an IJN TF 1 hex south of Rangoon and a night time surface battle ensured. My TF transporting an arty unit from singapore to Rangoon unleased on the PGs. MY PGs and APDs sunk 1 RN PG outright and mauled a second one. Rob only got one hit back, but it inflicted over 35 sys damage on the APD it hit. The RN TF continued fled the fight and a moment later a 2nd PG sunk. Then the lone PG proceeded to bombard Rangoon - no damage - but no guns returned fire ??? I could have sworn I had some CD guns there... but apparently not - or they were damaged in the massive air raids. The lone PG fled northward along the coast only to be located and sunk by my aircraft from Rangoon. The PG took like 10 100kg bombs and sunk rapidly.
Not sure why Rob would Bombard Rangoon with such a useless force ? Only two viable reasons... 1) He did not want to risk his real ships to do the deed - but why do it at all then ? No sense doing something half-assed... 2) The RN Capital ships are not home - they could be in Oz or at the West coast for all I know. Hmmm... makes one think...
The second surprise move was a raid on Balikpapin by 4 allied PTs... I thought I had them all chased off or sunk.. Rob ran 4 PTs into the port, where they engaged the cargo TF busily loading oil and resources. Luckily I have been keeping warships with the cargo TFs for added Flak coverage and his PTs ran into the escorts. They exchanged shots, with me sinking 2 PTs and all of his shots missing - even the dreaded torps. Unfortunately my TF moved away from the port due to the Victory (?) and his PTs are at the port. The TF was ordered back to port, and a surface TF was created to clear out the PTs... Some fighters were also put on Naval Attack at 100 feet to strafe these suckers...
My bombers at Rangoon also detected an allied TF heading south towards Amboina Island, and attacked.. Of the 3 spotted ships, I sunk 2 with torpedos - the third escaped unharmed. I sunk an AK and an escorting MSW.
Not a whole lot happened this turn.. My bombers from Rangoon put 2 torps into a lone AK at Andaman Island - the one that escape damage yesterday. I expect that sucker to sink quickly - or at least with the new damage rules he won't get much supplies/fuel unloaded.
He surprised me in china, bombing one of my AFs where there has been little to no air activity. I had fighters there, but they did nothing to stop the incoming raid. Rob caught half a dozen planes on the ground.
My repairs and DD upgrades are going great back home. So good that I now have 20+ DDs sitting in Japan with nothing to do with their new weapons... SO...... I am moving a 5 CV TF out of Tokyo heading East. They are escorted by all the BBs and CAs in Tokyo and about 15 DDs. The flak power on this TF is like nothing the IJN has previous had... and it better work.. The final destination is Pearl Harbor... I have 3 CVs (Zuikaku, Shokaku and Hiyu) along with 2 CVLs (Ryujo and Shoho). I have swapped out air units, equipping the carriers with my most experienced fighters and swapping out some Vals for more Kates.. The TF is moving North to refuel at Paramushio (spelling ?) Island.. and then it will head for Pearl.
I am also pulling back AOs to form into a replenishment TF to follow behind the TF so it can get there and back - the operation may have to be delayed a bit while waiting for the AOs to catch up. By my records Rob has 5+ BBs and at least 2 CVs in PH... Whether or not they will still be there when I arrive, I do not know, but I doubt if he will move his crippled BBs out of Pearl after I sunk the last one he tried to move - so I should have some BBs to beat up at least.
I am also sending numerous subs back into the area between Pearl and the West Coast incase he decides to move the damaged CVs...
I have a base force finally landing at Shortland Island (Solomons) to begin expanding that base so I can contest the air over the area with my zeros.
I have also moved more zeros north into the Burma area (6 sentais + now). I plan on making Rob's next heavy bomber raid cost him a lot in damaged if not destroyed aircraft. I will keep them spread out among different bases until I think he is ready... Then hopefully my 150+ zeros can do some damage to his heavies for once... If this doesn't work, I have no idea what to try - other than bunker down and wait for better aircraft...
I have landed a SNLF at Jambi in Sumatra - where it is joined by an NLF which moved overland. These 2 units combined should easily capture the base, giving me the East coast.
I am also preparing a Brigade (or is it a Division - can't remember) for the invasion of Batavia. Rob seems to have some air power there and I want to capture the oil fields as intact as possible. Would love to grab the AF intact as well so I can base my Lillies there to dominate the sea lanes in the area - especially for the upcoming invasion of Soerbaja - Batavia is the stepping stone to Soerbaja.
I landed some sub commandos on one of the islands 'East' of the Port Moresby pennisula and should capture it this turn. These islands hold no real importance, although they may be a base for some fighters in the future if I ever decide to hammer or take Port Moresby.
Hi, So you are sending around 270 carrier aircraft to PH? There are like as not 500+ ac there with ranges greater then your CV groups (except A6M2)
Did your sailors get a chance to say goodbye to their families? Better collect the hair and nail clippings before you sail.
I think you will need your CV around Java.
I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a different direction!
Hi, So you are sending around 270 carrier aircraft to PH? There are like as not 500+ ac there with ranges greater then your CV groups (except A6M2)
Did your sailors get a chance to say goodbye to their families? Better collect the hair and nail clippings before you sail.
I think you will need your CV around Java.
I can't agree more Xargun; I think you are suffering from victory fatigue. Cent Pac has about 6-8 patrol groups with ranges in excess of 10 hexes (he'll see you coming) and enough fighter power to swat your planes out of the sky. I simply can't see the limited possible gains (2-3 old BB’s sunk) as being anywhere near worth the cost. Even if your carriers survive, you'll have precious few good pilots left.
Save your carriers for the SRA or a strike at India/Australia/Port Moresby. At least then if you lose them there is some tangible value gained for their sacrifice.
