Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lowpe]

Tanaka stood on the beach watching the progress of the military transports offloading Type 95 tanks. They did it so fast, why did the Navy have to lose most of these ships early in the war? Instead he was saddled with converted merchant ships.

The tanks rumbled up off the beach past Tanaka, the men cheering for the Australian offensive actions had crumbled. In the skies, not a single Allied bomber or fighter dared show up to interfere. At sea, the battleships were preparing to leave, after giving the Australians some attention again during the night. Two new surface groups were heading in, and they were fully loaded with ammunition.

The IJAAF had been flying in low level attacks all day against the Australian 4th Division, flak was almost non-existent and the bombers were very effective. That wonder plane, the KAI Dinah escorted some of them in, and wherever that plane flew the Allies fled. It was amazing.

To the east Wyndham was developing nicely. Tojo IIas flew from the repaired airbase, being expanded, and troops were heading there for the push towards Katherine and Darwin.

Tanaka felt pleased. Plans were being made for another paratroop drop to cut off any chance of a mainland escape for the Australians, and even better news was received earlier today. The Australians at Broome were marching east to fight him!

It was a good day!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

HQs - Can you or did you start to prep a Corp/Army HQ for Derby?? I think a Command HQ at Koepang is close enough to get its bonus "IF" the Corp/Army HQ passes the die rolls. Even though I tend to play the Allies more than Japan, I was able to get more Command HQs into RA for Japan. They are vital for successful ground combat when used properly. That 90% adjusted AV is great.

The only two that Japan has are Southern and 5th fleet in most games.

I have 2nd Army, 2nd Area Army heading for Derby in the 20 to 30 range prep, while the Southern Army is at a whopping 35 heading for Koepang.

[Lowpe]

Burma:

I would send the commander responsible for this to the Russian Front if I could.[:D]

Interestingly, without having Rangoon and Magwe at almost full production, oil is pooling at Cam Ranh Bay. Sweet.

If supplies and fuel were no worries I would still love to do a deep end run into India. Unfortunately...not to be.

[Lowpe]

Jan 3, 1942

Kind of surprised he attacks Mili without destroying the coastal guns there...but most hit are off the belt or deck armor.

I had just run a Naval Guard unit in, about a week ago, but really what is the point when you bring this much to the party...other than perhaps catching him

The kb is at Ponape...do you think there is a chance for a strike? In addition to the KB, I can get lots of strike planes to Roi, but only about 40 zeroes for cover. The Mini KB is at truk.

Pity the attack didn't come in a month from now, when the area would have been crawling with A6M5c's.

[JocMeister]

Not too fond of your opponents TF composition. Using Clevelands to cover landings?! [X(] What a waste...

[mind_messing]

The kb is at Ponape...do you think there is a chance for a strike? In addition to the KB, I can get lots of strike planes to Roi, but only about 40 zeroes for cover. The Mini KB is at truk.

Go for it. The advantage is firmly yours:

- You've the Marshal Islands right next to the battleground for land-based air support and to serve as a refuge for battered ships and air groups.
- The Allies haven't landed any support troops, so Mili is a non-operational base (even assuming the Allies fixed the damage they caused), and the second-wave of support troops will be unloading next turn.
- The Allied bombardment/invasion force has likely spent all its ammo on suppressing the island and as a result there's plenty of battleships and crusiers without many rounds left for their big guns (and effectively useless in the event of a surface engagement).


My advice:

- Post the KB between as many active airbases as you can, in the hope of your CAP bleeding over to help oppose any Allied counterstrikes
- Send in as many big surface combatants (heavy crusiers and fast battleships) as you can spare, escorted by what LR-CAP you can fly from your Marshals bases. It's a fair risk, considering that the Allies will have covering SCTF's with full magazines, but you need to weigh that risk in relation to the likelyhood of you getting at the big Amphib TF lead by the Warspite and catching them without any main battery ammo.

[Lowpe]

Thing pretty quiet in Oz; no allied air force present which makes sense since the KAI Dinah is there...can't get that puppy into a scrap.

Bombed the 4th Aussie again, rested some Oscars, preparing for a para drop and more troops and ships on the way.

Things look good.

[Lowpe]

The Marshalls:

Pretty good strike going in today, better one tomorrow we will see what happens. The Lilly IIb might make an appearance, the KAI Dinah might get a chance to fight, the only thing missing is my plan to use the Oscar IIa against ships, but oh well. Both a and b Nick are present, but are going to protect against the highly expected 4e strike on Roi Namur being the largest air base present. Probably a few days before the A6M5c makes an appearance but they are repairing at Rabaul.

60 percent of the fighters will be escorting the strikes if any...

Tiemanj is so aggressive, I wonder what will happen. Will he send surface fleets forward? Are there enemy carriers around? Does he think he has several days before I can react?

Stay tuned for these and other answers!

[ny59giants]

I don't know for sure if your Bettys will carry torpedoes at 1000' as that is used by LowN skills. If set for 2000' it will be torpedoes.

[Lokasenna]

For the sub torpedoes, I believe they have to go to a port capable of rearming torpedoes first?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I don't know for sure if your Bettys will carry torpedoes at 1000' as that is used by LowN skills. If set for 2000' it will be torpedoes.

They can't strafe and the use torpedoes is still the right color.

Well, it could be good or bad. good: attacking small ships; bad: attacking Warspite. The flak will be murderous as even officers' Colts will open up on them...

[Lowpe]

Jan 4th, 1942

Wow! Tough day for the Empire as one tanker and two oilers are nailed by submarines until they sink. Ugly.

I have managed to build Fusan up now to size 7, going on 8 port, and I seem to have gotten some good pooling of resources there, and also a Cam Ranh Bay. The goods seem to be migrating by land...what I did was set Fusan to stockpile, and then used lots and lots of smallish task forces. I am even using Aden class cargo ships to haul fuel and oil the two hexes. Certainly that is better than hauling from Singers or Cam Ranh Bay. Anyhow, I am really pleased with the result of using lots of small task forces, unescorted. There is a heavy air presences plus SC hunting around but so far no losses and lots of materials moved. I need to create a ring of minefields to help there too.

I have done the same thing in Hakodate with great results.

I am now moving some tankers to be a little more efficient with the fuel/oil transfer. But I really like the multiple small tankers/oilers for this since it seems to really draw the stuff in.

I have reduced shipping from Port Arthur, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Cam Ranh Bay, Singers. I am going to bypass the PI as well, and simply move goods to the closest chinese port and see how much I can suck thru Fusan. Chinhae is then next.

I am a fan of multiple small cargo fleets.[:)] Heck with optimizing port load and unload capacity, just pick fuel efficient ships and spam them for these short runs.

The Main Event in the Marshalls: Allies beat feet and flee. Nothing left but small pt boats. My Zero sweep goes in and trades 9 Zeroes for 7 F4F or P40K. 5 units and 40 fighters at Mili now. No 4E strike at Roi...the planes must be recovering from the previous days efforts at Mili. The KB is spotted.[:(]

Northern Oz: 2 sweeps by 30 and then 33 F4F-4 come in high, 30K, and shoot down a fair dozen Tojos. I guess ultimately it wasn't too terrible for the plane losses for the day were 30 Japanese to 20 Allied which is better than I normally do when mixing it up with his fighters. No Lightning sweeps anywhere.

What a joyous thing it is to see all those F4Fs at Darwin, what with 2BB,1CA ready to bombard them. Do you think they will stick around? I was afraid, with the absence of Allied air power, that the Allies would simply retreat and cede me northern Oz without a fight.

At Derby an Engineer unit, 2 AA, more supplies land safely and the 38th Division will land tomorrow (they are not spotted). The 4th Australian bombed by air and sea again. The two tank regiments have recovered from their landing remarkably fast...won't be long until I start offensive operations here.

I just can't help but feel pretty good, despite the tanker losses, as the new planes take to the air, the resources flow, and I ponder future strategy. The air war should be markedly different in 30 days time. [:)]

One thing I have to decide is if I want to research further down the A6M5c line, and my inclination is to say no...go straight for the Sam and other late war fighters. Thoughts?

[Lowpe]

Another point on drawing oil to Fusan. First I did try a single 8000 capacity tanker, and it simply sat at dock day after day drawing about 200 fuel. Once I got rid of the tanker, and started using xak to yank oil, the oil started accumulating. It is not where I want it to be but it is at 5000 oil and growing despite daily draws.

The fuel is not set to stockpile, and it is being drawn down daily, but it continues to grow and is over 20,000 fuel currently. Port Arthur has not shut down yet from shortages, a fear I have.

Resources are over 350,000 daily.

I figure if I can keep drawing in the goods like this it will really save a lot of fuel from long shipments. Plus minimize ship losses.

[CaptBeefheart]

Yes, I am also stumped at the deployment of an OZ division that far north. I've never been able to get enough supply overland to Darwin and other bases up that way (somebody else may know how to do this), so without naval superiority it's tough to maintain anything up there.

Cheers,
CC

[Lowpe]

I have pulled back a little in the Marshalls...gathering ships and planes. I think I might send four or five destroyers forward with a massive LRCAP? Engaging his fighters while escorting is a great advantage for my fighters. I will probably hold off on this tactic until I get a few A6m5c units up and running as I would like to pull this off for maximum damage.

If successful, I could follow up with more aggressive use of ships.

I reset the Betty squadron to 2000 feet, added more zero escorts and we will see what happens.

Roi now has two Nick squadrons flying CAP plus some zeroes. Altitude is between 8K and 10K. He has to hit it with his 4e and lightning sweeps...doesn't he?

I disbanded to port a couple of tanker convoys surrounded by submarines. My airplanes are getting plenty of hits, sightings, etc, but no idea how effective it really is. Spent 70 points to upgrade a Mary group to Helens...

[Lowpe]

Here are the troops at Derby. More than strong enough to hold the beachhead. The 38th division lands tomorrow...I wonder how high he has built the forts up here? Maybe not much considering how tough it is to get supply here, and he was so busy building the air field up. It will be a week before the HQs get here.

I will probably try a deliberate attack in 4 or 5 days...it would be nice to have the airfield!

Koepang is turning into a real command post with Army, Navy and Air Force HQs. Lots of brass there.[:D] Dili and Lautem are up and running smaller airfields and recon forces have been substantially upgraded now that the cat is out of the bag.

The 21st Division really got lucky...they peaked at 61% disruption after the Australian deliberate attack.[X(]

Yes, I am also stumped at the deployment of an OZ division that far north. I've never been able to get enough supply overland to Darwin and other bases up that way (somebody else may know how to do this), so without naval superiority it's tough to maintain anything up there.

Cheers,
CC

I was totally surprised to find all these troops here! I had looked at the bases five or six times and never got over 2000 troops and 3 units. Maybe not even over 1000 troops. I thought I would run into simple base forces and engineers. I have had to juggle a little, and now the timing for taking Darwin is behind schedule, but it will work out in the end I hope.[:)]

My plan is still the same, take the bases, destroy what I can and then leave skeleton forces there...delaying any attack into the DEI significantly. Defending Darwin in clear terrain is just tough, plus supplying it...

[Lokasenna]

I'm curious what your strategic goal is in NW Australia at this date. Is it a spoiling action?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I'm curious what your strategic goal is in NW Australia at this date. Is it a spoiling action?

Yep, just a spoiling action that has grown a little bit to destroy the Australian troops there.

[Lokasenna]

My thoughts on the A6M5c "line", as there isn't really anything after it...just the A6M8.

The A6M8 is faster, but it loses its CL-mounted MG. It's also more maneuverable, and matches the final P-38's maneuverability at maximum altitude (17). It still has range 8 with drop tanks, so you can still escort torpedo strikes with it from KB, but... I think I'd keep the A6M5c for the KB until you get the Sam. Have you made any progress on the Sam yet?

For your LBA, you shouldn't be using the A6M at all - Georges/Jacks only. Even compared to the Sam, the George/Jack arrives earlier and is roughly comparable: similar speed on final George/Jack, but SR3 instead of SR2, and about 30 MPH slower on the SR2 model as compared to the Sam. If you can get the A7M3-J Sam, that thing is a real monster - SIX cannons! Talk about a bomber killer.

So basically, forget the A6M8.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Have you made any progress on the Sam yet?

For your LBA, you shouldn't be using the A6M at all - Georges/Jacks only. Even compared to the Sam, the George/Jack arrives earlier and is roughly comparable: similar speed on final George/Jack, but SR3 instead of SR2, and about 30 MPH slower on the SR2 model as compared to the Sam. If you can get the A7M3-J Sam, that thing is a real monster - SIX cannons! Talk about a bomber killer.

So basically, forget the A6M8.

3 points on the A7M3-7-J across 4 factories. I will grow factories by a significant margin by the end of the month. Gonna shelve the Ki83 and focus. I am going straight for the big boy! The -J performs so much better in Downfall...if I can rush this plane and get her in early 45 or late 44 lookout. According to Spidery's simulation I can!

I am r&ding the George, but not Jack. Tough luck Jack, I will get it when it comes normally. The A6M5c I have now! And by the end of the month that plane will be everywhere doing everything. Heck, I am 4 days into January and I have over 50 of them already.

End war fighters I am trying to get really early: Ki43 IV; Ki100 I, A7M3-7-J, Ki-84r, and the Ki-202 [X(]. The Ki43IV and the Ki100 will get easily since I have lots fixed researching them now and they will have to carry me unitl I get the Sam, Frank and Rocketship!

The Ki202 will ultimately be very disappointing I think, but the enjoyment factor will be off the charts![:D] If I get there of course.