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Bomber replacement pools...

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Allied top aces....

Burma (february 2nd - 3rd 1943)


As stated allied launched an large scale strike againts Magwe airfield. The below shows how combat.txt reported action.


February 2nd

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 27
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 41
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 30



Allied aircraft
A-29A Hudson x 5
SB-III x 5
Beaufighter VIc x 6
Beaufort I x 7
Hudson IIIa x 6
Hurricane IIc Trop x 14
Vengeance I x 15
Wellington Ic x 5
LB-30 Liberator x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 15
P-40K Warhawk x 79


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
A-29A Hudson: 3 destroyed
SB-III: 2 damaged
Beaufighter VIc: 1 destroyed
Beaufort I: 1 destroyed
Hudson IIIa: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 3 destroyed
Vengeance I: 6 destroyed, 8 damaged
Wellington Ic: 3 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 damaged
P-40K Warhawk: 8 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)



Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 13
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 16
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 15



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIc x 9
Blenheim IV x 9
Blenheim VD x 10
Hudson IIIa x 8
Hurricane IIc Trop x 17
Liberator II x 6
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 4 damaged
Blenheim VD: 1 damaged
Hudson IIIa: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed
Liberator II: 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed



Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 46 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 9
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 8
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 8



Allied aircraft
Wellington Ic x 10


Japanese aircraft losses
No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 5 damaged



Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 6
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 7
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 7



Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 15


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged



Runway hits 4


...that is how the 1st day of battles went down. The CAP seemed to be between 25 000 - 29 000 feet.

I'am having some difficult times accepting on how the air to air model is working on the AE. If you look at the reports the allied escorts managed to shoot down grand total of 2 enemy fighters! That doesn't sound right at all.

Now here is the second day of the turn.


February 3rd

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 27
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 36
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 30



Allied aircraft
SB-III x 3
Beaufighter VIc x 9
Blenheim VD x 15
Hudson IIIa x 8
Hurricane IIc Trop x 5
Liberator II x 7
Wellington Ic x 12
B-25C Mitchell x 18
P-40K Warhawk x 37
F4F-4 Wildcat x 10


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIc: 1 destroyed
Blenheim VD: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Hudson IIIa: 1 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 2 destroyed
Wellington Ic: 6 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 8 damaged
P-40K Warhawk: 6 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)



Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 27

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 19
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 23
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 21



Allied aircraft
Beaufort I x 6
Blenheim IV x 8
Hurricane IIc Trop x 9
Vengeance I x 3
B-24D Liberator x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 7


Japanese aircraft losses
No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort I: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Blenheim IV: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 3 destroyed
Vengeance I: 2 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged



Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5


...yet again fighters managed to shoot down just an one Zero. This really doesn't right at all.

A couple of other intresting points. There were severe storms in Burma but if you look at the combat.txt file than you notice that enemy spotted the raids 41 minutes before they reached the target.

What I have read in terms of japanese radar well it was poor to say at least. However these raids are constantly spotted halfway through target.

I mean the total distance from CHittagong to Magwe is just 240 miles.

All in all.. not good effort in terms of results. This time the allied fighters and bombers were set equally at 11 000 feet. The losses were not in acceptable againts these "F18 Hornet Zeros/Oscars"...

Here is an pic showing "todays" losses. I'am not sure whether this is from the whole turn or just from february 3rd though.

Re: coastal batteries not firing...

Could it be that Yamato and Musashi were simply too far off-shore for the guns to reach them? Those 18.1" things ought to have quite a bit longer range than your (4.5"? 6"?) coastal guns.

Bit of a disjointed reply here Aztez as i'm copy n pasting as i go , forgive the awful grammar [;)]

Meanwhile Dave has kept busy bombarding my armies from the ground and air. Really nothing I can do here but to let him build up his experience levels. The china is an one large combat simulator for the japanese airforce in AE.

Was in WitP as well , no change there and not a lot you can do untill the RAF has spare a/c to send over there.

Another frustrating thing here is that my CD batteries did not fire at all. I had spotted these ships a turn earlier so this was no news to me. Anyway, they opted to save their ammo I guess.

I'd bet they were well out of range so they didnt fire .. 18 inchers have a long range.CD guns only tend to fire on invasions or if the attacker uses escorts to bombard too (and any sensible player turns that off asap) .. he may forget once in a while though so the guns may see use later on.

Nasty Bombardment of Chittagong , any spare capacity in inland fields for these groups ? i'm guessing not or they wouldn't be in chittagong in the first place (at least the long range ones) . Looks badly overstacked too, hence the nasty damage and a LOT of damaged planes as a guess.

One thing that i think would help in AE and which i'll try and do in my GC PBEM is to get air groups from as many nationalities all mixed up in diff theatres so your not relient on just one pool for replacements . EG some canadian hurricanes would be handy in India right now. maybe a tad gamey but the Commonwealth operated all over thier territory and didnt always fight on home soil so i think its a valid tactic.

I'am having some difficult times accepting on how the air to air model is working on the AE. If you look at the reports the allied escorts managed to shoot down grand total of 2 enemy fighters! That doesn't sound right at all.

In my experience the combat reports are utterly WRONG pretty much all the time, watch the combat replays for a better feel of what happened imo. Target hits seem relativly accurate but air 2 air losses are way off. You may well be better off just sweeping it with your hurris and P40's and leave the bombers behind. 3 reasone really 1) your fighters will operate better vs the CAP when not tied to escort duty and 2) pilot losses will be a lot lower and the ratio more in your favour. and 3) keeps your bombers intact as a threat in being while you train them up esp in defense as that helps a LOT vs light fighters attacking .. B17's can eat zeros for lunch when defense skill is good enough. admittedly light armed brit mediums can't do this so maybe train them up in 'safe havens' untill you bet better a/c. Meanwhile they are a threat to any invasion force just by being intact and alive.

I try and never to have idle air groups , if not involved in combat then train train train , even forward CAP i set roughly to 40-50 % CAP 20-30% train and they seem fine with fatigue in the single figures and even if no enemy planes intercepted a few pilots will get a point or 2 occasionally.

As most bomber pilots come with ok ground attack skills i generally train up naval attack/search and ASW . sometimes low level naval as well. Makes you more flexible as your specialising groups at no cost to yourself and even if you never use them in that alternative role they have the option of being used that was. as i say flexibility at the cost of more micro management admittedy [;)]


Hope the above makes some sense as its mostly random thoughts in the latter parts.

ORIGINAL: aztez

Bomber replacement pools...

aztez,

You know that there is an Australian squadron that will take those Dutch DB-7Bs. In fact the squadron used Dutch pilots. Pretty useful light bomber especially early in the game when you have no mediums.

SireChaos: Yeah, most likely so. These ships have escaped mines, navalstrikes and CD batteries so he is playing good.

The best I can provide aircover is 7 hexes and these have been out of the harms way many times.

Basically we are waiting for good dice and a bit of luck here. I have RN battleships on standby but it is tricky to get them here due to fighter numbers I can put up.

...but as for the answer you gave it is most likely so.

Rob: I wouldn't call those random thoughts! [:)] ..as ever good to see you. I'am eagerly waiting to see you start an AAR too.

As for the points you raised.

It definately was so in classic witp but not nearly in this magnitude. You could spare 3-4 squadrons but diffrent story with AE.

I still do hate those artillery units there too. In recent turns they have caused 500-700 casualties per day. Add those airstrikes and things are adding up in an bad way.

I have build up Imphal, Ledo and doing few other bases inland but it takes time. That bombardment did bad damage as well as it has done at Cox's Bazaar too. I moved my bombers and fighters out of the harms way for some R&R.

I'am training.. well I have 0% idle airgroups as you stated too. It still takes forever to get the experience backup though. Personally a bit 50/50 feeling whether or not this new training model is actually improvement or burden. One thing for sure it really adds micromanagement into the game.

I'am mixing up nationalities. Allthough I have saved Aussies and NZ ones for later operations. Other nationalities are in heavy action. Nothing gamey on doing that. There are very few Canandian squadrons that can be "released". Actually checked these and found none able to move out.

Most likely combat.txt is very heavily FOW. Allthough I think our losses very even more severe than what was reported. I did not count but definately had worse fighter kill ratio than those shown.

Good sensible thoughts. I did do quite a few sweep missions earlier but the +30 000 feet CAP was quite an menace and pain in the butt. There are no immediate follow up bomber missions scheduled but these bombers can move into frontline action within an single day or so. The fighters will need to rest too or at least stay away from offensive actions in grand scale.

I don't have that many "specialized" bombers dedicated to navalstrikes at the moment. As said above I'am still trying to figure out whether or not this new feature is burden or an improvoment.

I still do think that "rader/spotting" for the japanese side on these raids is somewhat out of the ball park. They were not doing good job at this in WW2.
Other than that It seems somewhat "impossible" to pull out on organized airoperations in Burma at least.

I'am starting to load up supply TF's for the upcoming offensives. The allied offensive is now finalized and will be called "operation sleeping giant". More on this once we are actually ready for it. It will take sometime to organize... now that I forgot to turn off upgrades for few important ships.

Not an bad thing in the longrun though and things will become very hot soon enough.

crsutton: Hmmmm, no I didn't notice that but now that you mentioned it! [:D]

Agreed, that is very useful squadron indeed! The squadron is question seems to be at southern oz building up experience.

Btw, how is your game progressing? Lasttime I heard you tangled up in battles at norhern oz.

sweet,go RAF!

lolz: Welcome to the thread. Yeah, RAF has been engaging the enemy for months now. I'am eagerly awaiting for those Spitfire fighters since the Hurricanes are having tough time at Burma.
 
Those losses became somewhat "clearer" last turn when Dave revealed that he has 7/10 of his top fighter squadrons there. Also, he mentioned that the experience levels are very high. He might be bluffing but this time around I take his word for it.
 
The war has been "calm" for now but once CV Wasp becomes back from its repairs it is time turn on the heat all around the map.
 
Basically stay tuned... a lot of action is guaranteed.

I'am training.. well I have 0% idle airgroups as you stated too. It still takes forever to get the experience backup though. Personally a bit 50/50 feeling whether or not this new training model is actually improvement or burden. One thing for sure it really adds micromanagement into the game.

Training doesnt really improve the exp up much (i think just to national levels of 50 ish) However in combat e.g fighter on fighter the air skill is used primarily so an exp 40 pilot with air skill of 60+ is a valuable asset. exp is only used for anything non-combat , like nursing a damaged a/c home etc. Additionally training any skill seems to improve the defence skills as well and imo they are crucial for bombers and also can make the differance between a friendly fighter going down in flames or coming home with a few holes in it and the pilot surviving and getting valuable exp from the combat.

As a rule of thumb , if you cant effectively sweep an enemy base then tring to bomb it escorted will only result in an allied loss. with the noteable exception of heavy 4E bombers who can operate vs the light japanese fighters withour escort. if you can I'd get as many b17's into India as you can then mass them for heavy bomber strikes at medium level 11k or so , depending on flak. You will end up with a ton of hangar queens from damage but they will get through and make life unbearable for the japanese defending pilots , once you have sent in the B17's for a few days , sweep the place while the japanese are desperately repairing all the fighters the heavies damage on the way in (and out usually). This 'should' reduce his CAP levels a fair bit so your not out numbered for the sweeps , and numbers really matter in the combat model.

Hi Lolz too ! But those Dauntlesses are American ?? RAF ?? nice picture though [:D]

Aztez - I'm playing LoBaron on Guadalcanal right now and having a great time, He's one canny opponent. As for an AAR, well LoBaron and I 'may' be starting a team game at some time vs a well known forumite .. the thought makes me happy and scared in equal measure [;)]. Or we might play each other , or go for a team in the opponents wanted section. there will be an AAR from me at some time i promise , although i may start it from mid 42 as everyone knows the first few months are somewhat predictable.

As ever good luck and i'll be watching closely .. take care

Hi,

I played the orginal war in the Pacific that came out back in 2004. I've been following this particular AAR and some of the others. Time really prevents me from purchasing and playing the AE version.

There are certain parts of the game that interest me from a historical perspective as well. I've been reading certain AAR's were the allies have been able to steamroll the Japaness player in Burma at a very early point in the war. My main question would be concerning if the terrain and weather effects in this region curtail operations in a similar fashon to history. It seems that historically the Japaness fought a defensive campaign in the Burma and were able to hold on until late 44 early 45 to most of Burma. I can most likely look this up but what was the maximum army size that Japan had in the region. If memory serves they didn't seem to have that many division in the Burma area.

Sath

Sath, I personally think that WitP doesn't do really a great job at simulating the impact of monsoon and jungle ops on the supply - but well it would be like making a special game in the game, so I understand that the need for extra programmation on this aspect is quite deterring. That's why we're gonna experiment new home rules on this front in our own game ("shipwreck of our/their hopes"), feel free to comment once we get there (and before and after that too ^^)

Rob: What you are saying makes sense and basically is something I'am doing. As said personally not yet decieded whether this feature is just "useless" part of micromanagement.
 
I think those japanese fighter squadrons are most likely +80 experienced ones which is an achievement itself since the air to air war has been very bloody indeed. My RAF pilots are around 60-70's in terms of experience. Bomber crews have much more lower experienced pilots at the moment due to those battles.
 
There is no chance of bringing in B17's. There are some Liberators in India but the  crews experience levels dropped in these squadrons too. As for the other 4E bombers well I have other plans for them in near future.
 
That sounds like you are going againts Nemo! [:D] .... definately handfull there. Looking forward of seeing the AAR as well. Also agreed that the first months are somewhat similar in every game. Few twist and turns differ though. That is the reason why I haven't gone into great detail lately with updates... no need to do so and there will be more than plenty to report soon enough.
 
sath: Thank you and welcome to the thread. I have taken notice on those AAR's too. I could have moved into Burma few months back since I definately had the firepower to do so. Why I haven't advanced there yet? Well, that is just self made HR since I thought it would be wrong to advance in such an early stage. There are no restrictions imposed by Dave though... and we will start our offensive in planned date.
 
It is really hard to adjudge how much he has there in terms of infantry but taking into consideration the amount air to air resistance I would assume he has 5-7 divions worth of infantry here. That is solely based on the fighter numbers and heavy naval assets gathered in this region.
 
Fishbed: I do agree that the "weather" system leaves quite a lot to be desired for. Than again it is better than nothing and there are more important issues to be looked/tweaked at first.
 
The HR you have imposed is fair enough. As said I could have moved into Burma but have yet opted to so. Things will change though since he has now had a lot of time to prepare himself.
 
Btw, good luck with PBEM! You two are up againts some very tough "customers".

ORIGINAL: aztez

[crsutton: Hmmmm, no I didn't notice that but now that you mentioned it! [:D]

Agreed, that is very useful squadron indeed! The squadron is question seems to be at southern oz building up experience.

Btw, how is your game progressing? Lasttime I heard you tangled up in battles at norhern oz.

It is a dog fight in Northern OZ. We are at July 7th and he now holds Darwin. My mobile forces against his massive numbers. He is reinforcing and looks to be there for a while. Problem for me is I really can't fight an attritional air battle yet and he could easily try to invade Townsville or Cairns so I have to hold back on an all out commitment. He holds the north coast now but it has taken him too months so I guess I can live with it.

I was really hurt by the replacment bug as my Australian tank regiments are just filling out now. That was a big factor as I think he came ashore with too little and if I had full strength units, I might have cut him off.

If you are going to fight in N OZ, you have to get all you mobile units there early, including American tank units.

My biggest mistakes were not getting enough troops there in time and not getting any AA units to Darwin. With no other airbases in Oz he had to support the invasion from Ambion and with his carriers. I shot down a lot of planes but by not having AA in Darwin missed the chance to shoot down a lot more. Still, it is questionable that the Allies can hope to hold Darwin against a good Japanese player. Just too easy to take. In real life the idea of supporting a four division invasion force through a 1 hex port was out of the question. In the game is is a piece of cake.

crsutton: Hmmm, sounds like he doesn't want you near DEI! [:D] ... the B17's did short of work Dave's two tank regiments. After that he withdrew further up and only just regained abandoned Normanton and about to close into Cooktown. Which seems abandoned too.
 
I think he still has substantial forces around Darwin though allthough the intel is not there.
 
Yeah, I read about that bug and it was/is nasty. We haven't upgraded into latest BETA patch so that is playing into my game too.
 
Appreciate the advice. I have only the Oz tanks available at the moment and for time being it will remain so. I have few operations brewing but I still need CV Wasp back as said.
 
I also think you are being too harsh on yourself. It is "impossible" to keep hold around Darwin IF he comes in with force. Really not enough ground units to go around and quite a few of them are only militia at the start.
 
Sounds like an intresting and enjoyable PBEM game you got ongoing.

Aztez and Crsutton -

What is the replacement bug you mention?

Pacific (february 4th - 12th 1943)


We have advanced further few turns and are now reaching mid february 1943.

Eventhough there has not been any major action there are still plenty of intresting facts worth of mentioning.

The best and easiest way for you to digest them is to look into general pacific map.

It has become even more evident with time that AE is even more about logistics. There are a lot of things to take into consideration. That fact doens't necessarily mean that the offensive advance is slower than classic witp. Nope, once you are ready than you are ready to go.

cfulbright: He is referring to the fact that allied armoured units have some problems getting armoured replacements.
 
Have a look at this thread: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2367975&mpage=1&key=&#2369292
 
This is supposedly fixed in the newest BETA patch. Since Dave doens't upgrade into anything BETA we are continuing this one without this patch.
 
I hope they make this patch official soon though.

ROB yes their american from the aircraft carrier USS lexington,and i meant that many of his aces are RAF,which usully i never see in my games.
will do aztez, fantastic aar.