The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[witpqs]

Regarding a comment you made in an earlier post: As you are bombing his cities at night, what good would it do for him to deploy day fighters to those cities? Maybe they are on Kyushu to oppose an invasion.

[Canoerebel]

If you switch day bombers to night, will they help at all? Even a tiny bit? I ask because I don't know but if I was him I'd have half my fighters on night duty just to try.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

If you switch day bombers to night, will they help at all? Even a tiny bit? I ask because I don't know but if I was him I'd have half my fighters on night duty just to try.

Maybe a little.

[JohnDillworth]

If you switch day bombers to night, will they help at all? Even a tiny bit? I ask because I don't know but if I was him I'd have half my fighters on night duty just to try.

Day fighters deployed as night fighters might not shoot down much but they will disrupt bombing runs to some extent. Never know, they might get lucky and sometimes they will ram a bomber. If I were John I would have a lot more fighters doing this

[CaptBeefheart]

Boy, Shanghai sure is a fat shore bombardment target. I hope you're bringing a few AKEs/ADs/Nav Support/etc. to the party at Ningpo.

Regarding strategic bombing, usually you see players concentrating on one target at a time, with a mass raid getting a few hundred thousand fires going. That said, you seem to be doing pretty well hitting multiple targets with smaller packages. What's your thinking behind that?

Cheers,
CC

[Canoerebel]

Weather often prevents raids from leaving the airfield or targeting a base. So, most turns, I have bombers from three airfields targeting roughly three to six bases:
1. Foochow is mainly handling PBY Liberators (range 17) targeting Kyushu bases.
2. Taihoku, Formosa, has three B-29 squadrons mainly targeting Tokyo.
3. Taichu, Formosa, has possibly 15 B-29 squadrons that swap around, but Osaka, Kobe and Hiroshima are the primary targets.

So far it seems to be working.

Regarding Shanghai, lots of naval support and auxiliary ships at Taichu. I probably have five bombardment TFs, 10 good combat TFs, and five or six PT boat TFs. I think I'll try my first sallies against Ningpo and Shanghai day after tomorrow. PB boats and maybe small DDs to probe and see what the defenses might be.

[BBfanboy]

Looks like John hugely over-expanded his Ha-45 production at Tokyo (360). It would take a year to repair all that, and 360K supply.

[Canoerebel]

Readers are not required to educate the Thread Writer. Writing can take a lot of time. But the significance of BBfanboy's comment is largely lost on the Thread Writer, due to his ignorance of all things Japanese production. I assume the HA-45 is an engine? What aircraft is it used in? Why would John over expand? What is the likely or possible impact of the over expansion? What is the likely or possible impact of the damage to this factory?

The answer might be as simple as this: Too many unknowns to answer your question, Ignoramous.

[Andav]

HA-45 is indeed an engine.

Supply if very often an issue for Japan in the end game. It is one of the main reasons why Japan fails to thrive in the late war. Hoarding supply for as long as possible is one of the major concerns for Japan. One of the fastest ways to run out of supplies is to over expand production (Engines, airplanes, etc.) which uses supplies to repair the facility. This has to be balanced between the fact that aircraft/engine pools can't be bombed but supplies and factories can. So the balancing act is building enough planes/engines and hiding them in the pools where they are safe verses having supplies to actually be able to use those planes as either replacements or even to fly. How large the engine factory needs to be is determined by demand for those engines in aircraft being produce. John must think he needs a LOT of these engines.

Wa

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Looks like John hugely over-expanded his Ha-45 production at Tokyo (360). It would take a year to repair all that, and 360K supply.

Depends on how many Ha-45 factories he has elsewhere, and you don't need the Ha-45 until later on, so the time to repair all of it is a non-issue.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Andav

HA-45 is indeed an engine.

Supply if very often an issue for Japan in the end game. It is one of the main reasons why Japan fails to thrive in the late war. Hoarding supply for as long as possible is one of the major concerns for Japan. One of the fastest ways to run out of supplies is to over expand production (Engines, airplanes, etc.) which uses supplies to repair the facility. This has to be balanced between the fact that aircraft/engine pools can't be bombed but supplies and factories can. So the balancing act is building enough planes/engines and hiding them in the pools where they are safe verses having supplies to actually be able to use those planes as either replacements or even to fly. How large the engine factory needs to be is determined by demand for those engines in aircraft being produce. John must think he needs a LOT of these engines.

Wa

It's used in Frank, George, and IIRC Frances.

All very important planes.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Looks like John hugely over-expanded his Ha-45 production at Tokyo (360). It would take a year to repair all that, and 360K supply.

Depends on how many Ha-45 factories he has elsewhere, and you don't need the Ha-45 until later on, so the time to repair all of it is a non-issue.

I disagree. He does not have a year to work with and the supply should be used for other things, like China garrison stocks or tank production.

[Canoerebel]

Thanks for the information, gents.

I have the next turn. I'll post the usual report later today (it was a good turn, in keeping with the general trend of things).

But the next turn is going to be a click-fest, assuming I decide to invade Ningpo tomorrow rather than the day after. (The ships are in position, but I'm weighing whether to first send in some PT boats and DDs to scout Ningpo and Shanghai). Also, configuring my carrier air is going to be really tedious. I'm probably going to pull off enough strike aircraft to make room for any LBA Corsair and Hellcat squadrons that might fit. And I think I'll probably set everything to range zero. Defense is paramount now, and any strikes that did venture forth are likely to target the 3,000 riff-raff ships protected by 300+ fighters at Shanghai.

The next two or three turns should be fun. But the click-fests, oh my!

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Looks like John hugely over-expanded his Ha-45 production at Tokyo (360). It would take a year to repair all that, and 360K supply.

Depends on how many Ha-45 factories he has elsewhere, and you don't need the Ha-45 until later on, so the time to repair all of it is a non-issue.

I disagree. He does not have a year to work with and the supply should be used for other things, like China garrison stocks or tank production.

They could very possibly have been damaged by the bombing/fires.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna




Depends on how many Ha-45 factories he has elsewhere, and you don't need the Ha-45 until later on, so the time to repair all of it is a non-issue.

I disagree. He does not have a year to work with and the supply should be used for other things, like China garrison stocks or tank production.

They could very possibly have been damaged by the bombing/fires.

I discounted that because it was CRs first raid on Tokyo and he said it was a small one. Fires only reached around 62,000 peak and residual fires were not huge. The intel was from the day immediately following the strike, before additional from residual fires would be added in during the turn.

Edit: This stuff is only important insofar as it may indicate John is panicking and making mistakes in supply allocation, industrial planning. The 20,000 supply it cost to expand that factory from 200 K to 400 K may not matter in the big picture.

[HansBolter]

Make that a range of 1 instead of zero as you want your carrier CAP to cover the invasion hex without having to enter it.

Only your CVEs can operate in the invasion hex with full air ops capabilities.

The fleet carrier air ops will be reduced 50% in a port hex.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Make that a range of 1 instead of zero as you want your carrier CAP to cover the invasion hex without having to enter it.

Only your CVEs can operate in the invasion hex with full air ops capabilities.

The fleet carrier air ops will be reduced 50% in a port hex.

Nein!

Make that a range of 0, and set dedicated LRCAP squadrons with range 0 to cover the invasion hex! Ideally, a mix of range 0 CAP on the CVs(layered), range 0 LRCAP on the invasion hex (layered), and only a couple at range 1 based on the CVs (not so layered). If you have enough squadrons for that.

CVEs obviate the need for the LRCAP groups, which is why they're just so damn valuable to have.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy



I disagree. He does not have a year to work with and the supply should be used for other things, like China garrison stocks or tank production.

They could very possibly have been damaged by the bombing/fires.

I discounted that because it was CRs first raid on Tokyo and he said it was a small one. Fires only reached around 62,000 peak and residual fires were not huge. The intel was from the day immediately following the strike, before additional from residual fires would be added in during the turn.

Edit: This stuff is only important insofar as it may indicate John is panicking and making mistakes in supply allocation, industrial planning. The 20,000 supply it cost to expand that factory from 200 K to 400 K may not matter in the big picture.

This is from observation only, so I'm not sure if documentation backs it up, but in my experience bases with bigger/more industry take damage from fires more easily.

360 points of damage to that factory, on top of damage to the other industry, may be beyond the burning capability of FOW-62K fires. Maybe. Maybe not.

I think it's probably a little more likely that John was feeling an engine crunch, so expanded... and it got damaged by the fire (by perhaps as many as a few hundred points). Given the engine type, I think it highly implausible that that factory was only size 40 and he expanded it 360 times.

[Canoerebel]

You guys may have some helpful input here because some of my carrier aircraft orders are a bit different than you're recommending:

1. I replaced most of the bigger strike aircraft squadrons with carrier-capable fighters squadrons that had been based at Manila or Taichu. The result is considerably increased defense at the expense of offense.
2. All strike aircraft remaining on carriers set to range zero.
3. I still have a lot of CVE eight-aircraft TBM squadrons. Those too set to range zero with fairly high ASW assignments.
4. Here's where I'm uncertain: In deciding between detaching CVEs to cover the invasion hex or to keep all my carriers together, I chose the latter. All carriers will be stationed a hex offshore. Perhaps 60% of fighters were set to range 1 so that they'll cover shipping in the invasion hex. I don't expect these settings to be necessary many turns, so I don't anticipate huge fatigue numbers. I think John will shoot his wad in turn one or turn two or not at all. Too, I'll probably bombard Shanghai day after tomorrow if the airfield remains full (after first sending scout ships into the hex tomorrow to gauge defenses - mines, ships, shore guns).

Is there a flaw with my orders? Is setting 60% of my fighters to range one to, in effect, provide LRCAP the wrong way to best accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

You guys may have some helpful input here because some of my carrier aircraft orders are a bit different than you're recommending:

1. I replaced most of the bigger strike aircraft squadrons with carrier-capable fighters squadrons that had been based at Manila or Taichu. The result is considerably increased defense at the expense of offense.
2. All strike aircraft remaining on carriers set to range zero.
3. I still have a lot of CVE eight-aircraft TBM squadrons. Those too set to range zero with fairly high ASW assignments.
4. Here's where I'm uncertain: In deciding between detaching CVEs to cover the invasion hex or to keep all my carriers together, I chose the latter. All carriers will be stationed a hex offshore. Perhaps 60% of fighters were set to range 1 so that they'll cover shipping in the invasion hex. I don't expect these settings to be necessary many turns, so I don't anticipate huge fatigue numbers. I think John will shoot his wad in turn one or turn two or not at all. Too, I'll probably bombard Shanghai day after tomorrow if the airfield remains full (after first sending scout ships into the hex tomorrow to gauge defenses - mines, ships, shore guns).

Is there a flaw with my orders? Is setting 60% of my fighters to range one to, in effect, provide LRCAP the wrong way to best accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish?

If your CVEs are in a separate TF from your Amphibs, but in the same hex, I doubt there is any danger from mines or shore guns. The hex is 40NM wide and the CVEs would be standing far offshore, not going through minefields to get to shore.
Operating from one hex away is not a mistake either, but aircraft will have less loiter time because of the need to fly one hex to and fro, and if damaged the one hex distance could mean the difference between being in the drink or landing on the CVE in time.