Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

We're about 5 days into September and, as you can see, Scott has landed at Amoy. Not much I could do about that and the only saving grace is that it's far from there to the interior. Of course, Scott is going to have total air superiority and I'm not sure if the brown rough hexes provide any cover like jungle and forest do. I do know that I need to say out of clear hexes. I have my blocking divisions set up and more reinforcements are on the way. From the initial look of things Scott has landed a bunch of armor units. No doubt hoping to fan out.

[John B.]

On the bright side, he did lose a number of fighters to AAA over Amoy so that will take some of the sting out of the losses there.

[John B.]

Scott has landed and taken Amoy and the town next to it with very light losses, but that was to be expected. The real fight is inland. But, it's a few turns later and I'm giving it the old college try. Here, I have a very large kamikaze strike set up coming from the circled bases. I have sweeps set for over the landbases as I suspect Scott is providing fighter coverage from the carriers so that will be a way to wear down the CV CAP. Unfortunately, I can only set one Kamikaze group with a range where it will only hit the transport hex so I suspect a lot of them will go after the CVs. I have a few groups set on escort but let's hope the sweeps help to clear the way.

[John B.]

With Scott's carriers on the wrong side of Taiwan I'm trying to get a CV TF in range to hit the TF that is on the island near Okinawa. Search reports say CAs and CLs but we'll have to see about that. I also have sweeps and a kamikaze group coming in from Okinawa because I'm not sure if the CVs will move the hexes they need to go. Stay tuned.

[RangerJoe]

If you LRCAP his bases it will increase his OP losses for air units based there as well as help out on sweeps.

[John B.]

I think that the air losses tell the story this turn. My fighters made heroic efforts to clear away allied CAP and did so. By the end of the morning all of the allied CAP had been exhausted and . . . . . no kamikazes launched. But, in the afternoon, while my remaining fighter jockies rested the kamikazes flew. Right into the teeth of allied CAP that had the chance to rest, have a light lunch, and launch again for an afternoon shoot em up fest.

This has happened before. Do other people have this experience with Kamikazes only flying in the afternoon? It really helps Scott maximize my plane losses when his fighters get to shoot down my fighters and then get a crack at unescorted bombers

[John B.]

The Kamikazes at Okinawa flew in the afternoon but here there was no CAP. They got some hits but it does not look like anything serious on the CAs.

[Gridley380]

ORIGINAL: John B.

I think that the air losses tell the story this turn. My fighters made heroic efforts to clear away allied CAP and did so. By the end of the morning all of the allied CAP had been exhausted and . . . . . no kamikazes launched. But, in the afternoon, while my remaining fighter jockies rested the kamikazes flew. Right into the teeth of allied CAP that had the chance to rest, have a light lunch, and launch again for an afternoon shoot em up fest.

This has happened before. Do other people have this experience with Kamikazes only flying in the afternoon? It really helps Scott maximize my plane losses when his fighters get to shoot down my fighters and then get a crack at unescorted bombers

I have been told that there is nothing in the game code that tries to coordinate sweeps with other strikes. I've also been told this isn't a bug.

[8|]

[John B.]

Hi Gridley,

I hear what you're saying! In my experience, if fighters from a base fly in the morning then bombers from teh same base also fly in the morning. In general terms that is how is almost always seems to work. But, in the case of my Kamikazes, they are at the same base as the sweeping fighters but they don't fly until the afternoon thus negating all of the benefits of a fighter sweep. Heavy sigh.

[John B.]

Another bad turn in the air. This time it's carrier planes that took it as my carriers finally decided to get close enough for combat. And, of course, a Kamikaze unit that decided to fly in the afternoon. [8|]

[John B.]

Oh, 14 of the Kamikazes made it thought the CAP but could not hit a single transport or AK or any ship at all. Even ships at anchor. Are Kamiakaze's even worth it. Lots of planes die but for near real reason.

[John B.]

The Carrier planes, however, managed to get through. With a very small strike I got two hits on a CV (which includes an ammo storage explosion) and and a single hit on two other CVs (the one on fire had a fuel storage explosion). The one that took two torpedo hits and an ammo storage explosion would be nice to get as it may have planes on it. If it sinks, it makes the day's total a minor win for Japan since the total points would be less than 2-1 in Scott's favor.

My carriers were not attacked and are heading back to Tokyo.

[Gridley380]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Oh, 14 of the Kamikazes made it thought the CAP but could not hit a single transport or AK or any ship at all. Even ships at anchor. Are Kamiakaze's even worth it. Lots of planes die but for near real reason.

The first time I played to '45, I let the fast carrier force get too close to Japan without upping the CAP. I lost three or four fleet carriers in a single day. To the AI.

No idea what the proper settings are, but they certainly can work. [:@]

[John B.]

Well there is better news today. As you can see, heavy Kamkaize losses, but, on the allied side, the lost one the field numbers indicate that one of his CVEs went down. And, Scott is coming in low over Manila and taking some heavy flak losses as a result. These 17 are all medium bombers. Manila is down to 92K supply but it's nice that he's concentrating his effort there with such a large part of his airforce.

[John B.]

Further, Kamikazes flying out of Manila made the mark. Here you can see that two US DD's, that each got one hit in the a.m. were badly damaged and on fire in the p.m.. There were sinking sounds.

[John B.]

Also flying out of Manila was this strike that got an AP and an AM. A sub put a torpedo in the AP later on to it's really gone but this was a nice days work by the pixels. VP wise, if I lost 40 VP to dead planes but took out two DDs (22 VP) a 3 point AM and a large AP then it's pretty much an even trade which works fine for me.

[RangerJoe]

Just keep raising the denominator by sinking the small vessels.

[John B.]

The DD's aren't too bad as they're worth 10-11 VP each.

[RangerJoe]

Every little bit helps. Some people like to send those on raids deep into your supply routes. I find torpedo bombers with bombs at 1000 feet are pretty effective.

[John B.]

I basically have no supply routes anymore. I send supplies to china and that's it. I have supply at Guam and Saipan and they get more supplies now and again but I can't get anything to Manila except what I fly in so most of my ships are in port.