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

[Mike Solli]

Edit: Those factories will all increase from 30 to 90, so the cost will be 6k supply a day for 60 days. It doesn't sound so bad that way.

Way to sugarcoat it!!!

I'm going to have to rethink this about the Ha-43 engine. At some point, I'll be producing the H1K5 George (30x18 factories) and the A7M2 Sam will be in R&D with all 18 factories at 30(0). They both use the Ha-43 engine. I'll need more than 540 factories. A lot more. Ouch.

So, when the Sam becomes operational, what do I do with the George? Do I continue some research on the A7M3 Sam? This is all going to cost a lot of extra engines, meaning a lot of extra supply. At least I don't have to decide now. I will have to decide when I get the Ha-43 (in June 43) and then increase the engines to 90x6. At that point (August 43) I'll have to figure this all out.

Before crunching the numbers, I'm thinking I'll probably reduce the number of operational George factories and reallocate some of them back to research for something else. So, I'll need 90x6 Ha-43 for the Sam plus an increase to cover the George needs. I may be able to reduce this based on the number of Ha-43 in the pool, but I think that'll remain around 500. *sigh*

[Mike Solli]

9 Jan 43

Sub War

The DE Sands, part of an enemy ASW TF caught I-172 two hexes east of Tulagi and hit her with a DC. Her damage wasn't bad: 16-19(4)-2-0. She'll still going to head to Truk for repairs.

Later in the day, I-171 got some retribution. She spotted DE Sands, and torpedoed and sank her. Banzai!

5 Fleet

Two TFs totaling 6 BB, 6 CA and 3 CL bombarded Adak killing 24 squads and doing a number on the already battered airfield. My forces are still short of supply (about 2k), but 5k will begin unloading tomorrow in a fast transport TF.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The only 4E bombers I saw today were 17 B-17s, which hit the battered airfield at Tulagi.

Nine P-39Ds attempted to bomb the troops at Gasmata but ran into 39 Tojo (IIc) and 6 Zero (A5). For no loss, they shot down 6 P-39Ds. I pulled out the Zeros to Truk to upgrade to George. This is the last unit in this AO to upgrade to the George.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Five 12 plane Hurricane squadrons swept Cox's Bazaar again today. I'll have 84 Tojo IIcs ready to go there in a few days. then, there will be fewer Hurricane IIcs in the Allied inventory. Every day they sweep at 15k feet and every day they arrive separately. I hope it's a massacre.

China

Today's bombing/bombardment destroyed 50 squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3197 (+63)
China: 3303 (-20)
Enemy strength: 282k (+2k)
Enemy units: 89 units (no change)
Guns: 455 (+7)

Other Stuff

The B6N2 Jill R&D advanced to 5/43 and is expected to become operational 3/43.
The A6M5b Zero R&D advanced to 6/43 and is expected to become operational 2/43.

[Mike Solli]

10 Jan 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The fast transport TF dropped almost half of its 5k supply at Adak. Adak is still short 550 supply. They should be in the green tomorrow and will attack the day after.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted is attempting to wrest air superiority from me over Rabaul (and hence the AO). There were two flights of fighters:

Sweep 1: 22 P-40K vs. 38 George, 36 Tojo and 84 Nick. This was a massacre with 12 P-40s shot down vs. 1 Nick.

Sweep 2: 47 P-38G and 75 P-40K vs. 37 George, 36 Tojo and 83 Nick. It started with all the Allied fighters against about a dozen or so Japanese fighters. Most of the Japanese losses were early in the encounter. As Allied fighters withdrew and more Japanese fighters entered the fray, things turned to the Japanese advantage. Losses were as follows:

Tojo: 0
George: 3 (2 WIA)
Nick: 4 (4 KIA, 2 WIA total between both encounters)

P-40K: 6
P-38G: 2

So, in total there were 20 Allied vs. 8 Japanese shot down.

Tomorrow, I'll have, at minimum, the following (I reinforced with the Tojo sentai at Gasmata):

Tojo: 78
George: 31
Nick: 80

Should be interesting if he returns. Interesting that no Tojos were lost. The Allied fighters had 1000 feet over the Japanese. That won't happen tomorrow.

Eleven B-17s hit Tulagi today. Overall, it't pretty quiet down here.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The Hurricanes swept Cox's Bazaar again.

China

Bombing/bombardment killed 38 squads today.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3257 (+60)
China: 3226 (-77)
Enemy strength: 286k (+4k)
Enemy units: 89 units (no change)
Guns: 427 (-28)

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[PaxMondo]

I'm going to have to rethink this about the Ha-43 engine. At some point, I'll be producing the H1K5 George (30x18 factories) and the A7M2 Sam will be in R&D with all 18 factories at 30(0). They both use the Ha-43 engine. I'll need more than 540 factories. A lot more. Ouch.

So, when the Sam becomes operational, what do I do with the George? Do I continue some research on the A7M3 Sam? This is all going to cost a lot of extra engines, meaning a lot of extra supply. At least I don't have to decide now. I will have to decide when I get the Ha-43 (in June 43) and then increase the engines to 90x6. At that point (August 43) I'll have to figure this all out.

Before crunching the numbers, I'm thinking I'll probably reduce the number of operational George factories and reallocate some of them back to research for something else. So, I'll need 90x6 Ha-43 for the Sam plus an increase to cover the George needs. I may be able to reduce this based on the number of Ha-43 in the pool, but I think that'll remain around 500. *sigh*

Here's where some hard truths hit ... A7M is a bit better aircraft than the N1K ... pretty much all around. Not much, but the SR 2 vs 3 and the A7M is carrier capable. I don't like building more airframe types than I have to ... easier to manage fewer. So, when I get the A7M, my production on the N1K stops. My next (and last) IJN fighter is the J7W. Also Ha-43. When I get it, I split my production between the A7M and J7W 50/50. The J7W has the speed and armament, the A7M the climb, with the Ki84 the 3 make for some deadly layered CAP.

As for the A7M3 in stock, its hard for me to build. Its a night fighter (upward guns) that the devs did NOT class as NF. Why? Not sure. As it is in the database, its a weird duck and doesn't really perform that well for me, so I don't build it. (4x30mm cannon have lousy accuracy due to low rate of fire, then the lousy man and the SR goes to 3).

For '45, my build target is at least 40 fighters/day. Given the breakdown of airgroups, that means roughly 60/40 Army/Naval so 24 Ki84's and 16 A7M's each day; monthly 720/480. So your 540 factories should be plenty .... your Ha-45 factories?

[Mike Solli]

your Ha-45 factories?

That info on the Sam, George, Frank is invaluable.

I currently have 1678 Ha-45s in the pool. My production is 570 a month or 19 a day. I use 18 a day for the 5 operational and 13 R&D George factories so I'm increasing 1-2 a day, depending on the random die roll. With 18 factories it actually happens pretty frequently. (It just happened today.) There's a 3.33% chance of getting a 30 on the random roll giving you an extra engine. With 18 engines, there's a 60% chance to get another engine. That happens with all factories.

Anyway, the 18 Frank R&D factories are getting close with one stubborn factory that has been at 29(1) for a couple weeks now. Here's the status of the Frank factories:

29, 27, 3x26, 25, 3x24, 3x22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 2x16

The George K2 R&D will complete in Mar 43 and will advance to the K5, using the Ha-43 engine. Unfortunately, the Ha-43 doesn't become operational until Jun 43 and won't hit 500 in the pool until mid to late Jul 43.

Right now, I'm only planning on using the Ha-45 for the George K1 and K2 then the Frank, and the Grace when it arrives. Figure 18 engines per day. I also will build 90 Graces per month. That'll reduce the pool by 2 a day. The pool should last (famous last words ).

The Grace R&D is lagging. The six factories are at 20, 2x16, 15, 14, 11.

[PaxMondo]

Based upon everything you've posted here I think you look ok. In the back of your mind, I would always be considering expanding your Ha-45 a bit more. Why?

Well, my 1200/mo number is kind of a baseline, you may need/want to adjust up depending upon what your economy can support. There is no such thing as too many good fighters in '45, right?

Losses to the Ki84 tend to be higher for me ... partly because there are more of them, partly because of where they are used in the tiered CAP, and partly because in some ways they are "weakest" of the 3 key fighters. Their weakness is their armament; compared to the A7M and J7W, its a bit lower. What I see is that sometimes a hit is NOT a kill ... and then the "hittee" kills them.

So, just some food for thought. I know you plans are designed to be fluid, and this is the most likely area in your fighter plan that will need watching.

[RangerJoe]

Based upon everything you've posted here I think you look ok. In the back of your mind, I would always be considering expanding your Ha-45 a bit more. Why?

Well, my 1200/mo number is kind of a baseline, you may need/want to adjust up depending upon what your economy can support. There is no such thing as too many good fighters in '45, right?

Losses to the Ki84 tend to be higher for me ... partly because there are more of them, partly because of where they are used in the tiered CAP, and partly because in some ways they are "weakest" of the 3 key fighters. Their weakness is their armament; compared to the A7M and J7W, its a bit lower. What I see is that sometimes a hit is NOT a kill ... and then the "hittee" kills them.

So, just some food for thought. I know you plans are designed to be fluid, and this is the most likely area in your fighter plan that will need watching.

Are you stating that the returned "female canid"* slap can be worse than the initial hit?

*Used for the family forum nature of this site.

Please note that I have never gone past 1 January 1943 against either side once I learned how to handle the AI. I might make some modifications for both sides to see how much fun that I can have again.

[Mike Solli]

You guys kill me. You both are SO knowledgeable about this game yet neither of you will PBEM. You gotta try it. You'll never go back! Yeah, yeah, you don't have regular time to play. I KNOW there's someone who will play you guys.