Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[Anachro]

I forgot to mention that this also happened last turn. I shocked a hex given that last turn showed only a tank unit in the hex. Nonetheless, it seems a Japanese division moved into it as well over the course of the last turn, so I ended up shocking a much stronger Japanese force. Somehow, I managed to force them to retreat. It seems his division was in op mode.

Ground combat at Loyang (87,43)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 15665 troops, 54 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 385

Defending force 13470 troops, 102 guns, 107 vehicles, Assault Value = 463

Allied adjusted assault: 508

Japanese adjusted defense: 178

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
4252 casualties reported
Squads: 77 destroyed, 46 disabled
Non Combat: 122 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 17 (8 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 31 (10 destroyed, 21 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
1946 casualties reported
Squads: 87 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
15th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
80th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
15th Tank Regiment
67th Division

[Bif1961]

He bested you in combat losses but you obviously hit his soft under belly with non-combat squads.

[Anachro]

it might be time to setup pickets in the eastern pacific in gaps between Hawaii and Aleutians that PA cant cover

[Anachro]

Jan 6-11, 1942

I think it's safe to say that the first phase of the war is largely over, with my forces having been expelled from the DEI - routed is the correct word. The ability of multiple KBs to operate has made the situation untenable and Allied forces have largely been extracting themselves from the area, with the last cruisers/DDs leaving Darwin for safer waters in the South. Singapore fell on January 7th and I have been slowly getting shipping out. Unfortunately, the forces I flew out to Malaya are in Sabang with no supply and unless I can get supply there, I can get planes in condition to transport them further. His air cover makes transporting them out impossible. Currently, 2 Japanese carrier task forces are south of Singers.

The good news: a CS took a torpedo from a Dutch sub and a BC hit a Dutch mine, but based on the combat reports I don't think they did much damage. Bad news, the BC Repulse finally burned up today, despite having a 2 AGs and an AR in port. I probably should have tried to move her to Sorabaja regardless of the potentially for air torps to get her. She burned all the way up from "4" in fires and 0 in systems damage to 97/98 in both before I finally scuttled her. Sad.



In Hawaii, and the Palmya/Suva route to Australia, I am setting up a number of PA navsearch points to cover my routes to Australia so I can spot his raids before they hit me. Between the Aleutians and Hawaii, I am setting up a number of xAKL pickets which I view as warranted given his propensity for deep raids, the havoc they've caused, and the inability of land-based patrol craft to adequately cover the area. I am doing this because I am worried about my fuel/supply situation in Australia and I need to be sure I don't get surprises. John's subs and carrier raids have seriously slowed down my ability to setup convoys and transport troops. This will change over the next two months as I carefully put things in place. ASW slowly improves.

Elsewhere, I am worried about his aggression in China. Does Japan get more divisions in this mod? He is aggressively pushing through Yenan to Xian where he quickly surrounded and cutoff the Yenan garrison. I am considering a full blown retreat by all troops to the more protected mountain areas without bothering to delay. He also has some divisions pushing in the soft, Southern underbelly west of Changsha.




In other news, can anyone enlighten me what the "add instructor" button does in the Training Squadron window and how I can get instructors to make it work? All I get is "there are no instructors available" messages for now.

[BBfanboy]

Just guessing, but you might need am 80+ Veteran in TRACOM to respond to that button.

[durnedwolf]

I was thinking about the Repulse... I wonder if swapping out the skipper for one with high Naval or high Admin would have made a difference? Or maybe it's all about crew experience?

[HansBolter]

Don't forget that transport planes can pick up as well as deliver. The planes don't have to be at the same base as the troops to get them out.

[AcePylut]

Sabang is a ocean base, so seaplanes (i.e. those cats that start in the PI) can also pick up troops.


Something that might be worth while is pulling fragments of a Dutch KNIL rgt out... it can be built up to about 150AV iirc, and gives you a unit to use your Dutch squads. They upgrade in '43 I think.

[Anachro]

@AcePylut & Hans Hmm, the dutch squads thing is interesting. Might do that to help reinforce somewhere. I of course knew that transport planes could pick up as well as transport to, but for some reason it had slipped my mind in this very case. Planes and some base units are heading down to Medan where there is supply now to be fixed up and then I'll try to transit some through Port Blair and some using PBYs to farther places.

Jan 12, 1942

Not much to report today. Transports and cargo ships are slowly moving to their home ports for convoys to be setup. A number of Clemson DDs have been converted to APDs, all Omaha-class light cruisers are being converted to CLAAs. All cruiser-carrier hybrids are now off map. Warspite has been fully repaired on the west coast and is awaiting escorts. The fuel situation in Australia is precarious, but until I can get my convoys setup from the west coast, I'll be relying on transiting fuel from Africa to Perth to Sydney. Several convoys are already on their way, but it will be more than a week before they show up.

I have placed AVs and AVDs along the route from Palmyra to Suva/Noumea and PBY's are being placed to provide nav search. The biggest hurdle currently is all the subs along the west coast and my poor ASW capabilities. There are a lot of ASW TF's at the moment paroling throughout the Los Angeles/San Diego area.

In other news, my lone xAKL picket north of Hawaii ran into one of his roving carrier task forces, perhaps the one coming back from the west coast raid, or perhaps another one moving there; I cannot tell.

Day Time Surface Combat, near French Frigate Shoal at 183,83, Range 21,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku
CV Zuikaku
CVL Karasu
CA Nachi
CA Ashigara
CB Fuji
CB Kita
DD Yugumo
DD Isokaze
DD Shiranui
DD Arare
DD Kasumi
DD Baraharu
DD Odonami

Allied Ships
xAKL Manini

[AcePylut]

Japan might complain about using single ship "pickets"... but imho, I always thought that this is exactly what a "spy" ship is... simply a low value ship with a radio. That it used to be a cargo ship? So what.

They make perfect sense to me.

[Anachro]

The 1/42 Omaha conversion to CLAA. Sadly, I lost 2 of these ships. The one lost in Aleutians on its way back to the West Coast hurts the most of all. However, the 3 remaining are being converted.



The Omaha CLAA class when fully upgraded in 11/43. Not too shabby.

[Mahrgell]

To be fair, I think the main benefit of those upgrades (beyond turning it into a CLAA) is the radar. And unlike the IJN you aren't that starved for radars, even though every bit helps.

Those Bofors and Oerlikons look pretty and inflate the ingame AA rating of the ship, their practical use is really limited though, as they won't fire unless the ship itself is attacked. In the usual fleet composition where a CLAA will be present, bombers will most likely not aim for the CLAA but the more juicy targets. So what really matters are the radar and the DP guns (they fire defensively for regardless which ship of the fleet is attacked).

But generally, when you are having the decision between "adding some more pewpews on the CLAA now" and "escort a relevant fleet" I would also side with the escort mission and leave the upgrade to some down time.

[adarbrauner]

ORIGINAL: Mahrgell

To be fair, I think the main benefit of those upgrades (beyond turning it into a CLAA) is the radar. And unlike the IJN you aren't that starved for radars, even though every bit helps.

Those Bofors and Oerlikons look pretty and inflate the ingame AA rating of the ship, their practical use is really limited though, as they won't fire unless the ship itself is attacked. In the usual fleet composition where a CLAA will be present, bombers will most likely not aim for the CLAA but the more juicy targets. So what really matters are the radar and the DP guns (they fire defensively for regardless which ship of the fleet is attacked).

But generally, when you are having the decision between "adding some more pewpews on the CLAA now" and "escort a relevant fleet" I would also side with the escort mission and leave the upgrade to some down time.

how do you know that 40 mm Bofors do not contribute to defense to other ships as well?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Mahrgell
Those Bofors and Oerlikons look pretty and inflate the ingame AA rating of the ship, their practical use is really limited though, as they won't fire unless the ship itself is attacked. In the usual fleet composition where a CLAA will be present, bombers will most likely not aim for the CLAA but the more juicy targets. So what really matters are the radar and the DP guns (they fire defensively for regardless which ship of the fleet is attacked).

What makes you think only DP guns project to other ships in the TF? In my knowledge all AA devices in the TF fire on bombers. There is a diminishing return as # of ships in the TF grows though

[Anachro]

Found this post from LoBaron on the subject.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron
In game terms shipborne AAA works the following way:

There are 3 phases of AA fire: Inbound, attack run, outbound.

On the inbound and outbound leg the AA weapons fire against the set strike alt. So if the raid is incoming at 12k, only weapons 12k+ ceiling can fire at the a/c. BUT, in these phases all AA weapons of a TF may contribute to the defense (with certain penalties tied to TF size).

On attack run the planes drop to weapon release alt (200ft for TB, 1-4k for DB, level bombers obviously stay at the set alt) and in case the alt is lower than the weapons´ max ceiling can also be engaged by the shorter range point defense weapons. But in this phase only the AA weapons of the ship under direct attack fire at the planes.


The above is the main reason why DP high caliber guns expend more ammo. They a) usually fire in three phases instead of one, and b) also fire against a/c attacking other ships in a TF.

[Anachro]

No turn tonight as John seems to be quite busy making the meatball po boys due to some huge short-notice catering order that came in today. He just let me know. Let us pray for him in this time of tribulation and hope he can reward himself with a meatball hoagie of his own. [:)]

[adarbrauner]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Found this post from LoBaron on the subject.

ORIGINAL: LoBaron
In game terms shipborne AAA works the following way:

There are 3 phases of AA fire: Inbound, attack run, outbound.

On the inbound and outbound leg the AA weapons fire against the set strike alt. So if the raid is incoming at 12k, only weapons 12k+ ceiling can fire at the a/c. BUT, in these phases all AA weapons of a TF may contribute to the defense (with certain penalties tied to TF size).

On attack run the planes drop to weapon release alt (200ft for TB, 1-4k for DB, level bombers obviously stay at the set alt) and in case the alt is lower than the weapons´ max ceiling can also be engaged by the shorter range point defense weapons. But in this phase only the AA weapons of the ship under direct attack fire at the planes.


The above is the main reason why DP high caliber guns expend more ammo. They a) usually fire in three phases instead of one, and b) also fire against a/c attacking other ships in a TF.

This is VERY intersting;

A couple of question, first, could you write here how did you execute the search please?

Also, I'm not completely pleased by the fact ships other than the one directly attacked do not fire at all during the attack run, as stated;

[Mahrgell]

This had been a repeated topic in a number of IJN threads about the value of certain DD upgrades.

And conclusion was always: DP guns are godly, the ingame AA rating is useless for escorts but only matters for the big target ships. Don't upgrade your ship if you lose DP guns for pewpews. It is nice, that Anachro actually found one of the original posts about the topic though. This one clarifies it quite well.

If somehow the opponent feels like low level bombers are a thing, those Bofors/Oerlikons do something as escort defense. But in your usual engagement they are pointless.

[durnedwolf]

This is the whole thread that LoBaron was posting on.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3563689

[HansBolter]

The small caliber guns fire in naval combat at close range and also in shore bombardment if you let the ships get close enough. They have more use than is being considered here.