Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lowpe]

We find a Largemouth bass in the the Bay of Bengal...not a monster, but heading that way.

Search does not reveal anything else during the course of the day.

Warramunga is, I believe, a Fletcher.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
140/mo is insane. You'll only need to produce for like 2-3 months and you're done with them forever.

I think I inherited 80 rufes. Would that be insane too? Welcome to my world.[:D]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I know Erik tried a lot of things like putting armored fighters down below (the engine seems to very often(?) make the sweepers dive on the lowest placed CAP) to increase surviveability and whatnot but I´m not sure he found something that really worked. I know I really didn´t like the later models of the Jack. Quite often (despite ALT advantage) it would climb above the sweeps and dive on my sweepers. Besides the Frank -R which was made a super fighter due to our 2nd MVR HR its the only Japanese fighter I really was concerned about in the later stages of the war. Not sure the Frank -R would do so great without that HR. Stats arn´t awesome. But good with Japanese late war standards.

I have not researched the Jack at all. Not a penny. But if the the Jack's climb rate gave it an advantage, wait to you see the Ki202's rate of climb!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

140/mo is insane. You'll only need to produce for like 2-3 months and you're done with them forever.

Added: I will make them until the engines run out. 3 months.

[Lokasenna]

Warramunga is an RAN ship, I believe. The Allies pretty much start the war with it.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Warramunga is an RAN ship, I believe. The Allies pretty much start the war with it.

I looked her up. A Tribal class RAN ship, reinforcement in 12/42...

[Lowpe]

Feb 13, 1943

No Allied night bombing attacks. Betties hit Imphal at night and get a few runway hits. Light flak present.[:)]

I-16 catches two cargo ships...

[MrBlizzard]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Feb 12, 1943

No strikes by Allies. Night attacks by Japan fruitless.

For some odd reason, Allies strike hard at Magwe again. Why? They closed the airbase yesterday, and bombed the airfield again today. All planes had railroaded out.

For some odd reason, the sweeps came last, in the pm. I actually do great with the Lightnings, but the last sweep of the day, P40Ks do well. Still, a very expensive day for the Allies...for no appreciable gain.

I noticed that often the recon detection over enemy AF damage is a little poor because of FOW, so probably he believed it was still open and deserved a new bombing

[Lowpe]

During the day, the Allies send only 3 Liberator II over Magwe, and loses two of them. Magwe is still destroyed: 93% runway, 99% service damage.

However, IJA bombers hit Shwebo prior to another forced river crossing against two Chinese Divisions. Will this crossing end in horrible losses like the assault in the Central Plains of China?

Nope! Shwebo is part of the Empire again!

[Lowpe]

Tarawa

Allied concentration of shipping.

Any neat ideas on how to hit them here?

I have the KB, the mini KB, 2 BB, 3 CA, 15 destroyers in the area now. The returning surface fleets from the Moresby operation will grow that by 2 BB, 2CL, 15 DD.

How about dropping mini subs there? Something I have never done....it always seems to me just giving victory points away.

Aerial mines?

Major naval operation?

[Lowpe]

Burma

Allies keep bringing more troops down...probably 11 more units heading south to Akyab.

[setloz]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Tarawa

Allied concentration of shipping.

Any neat ideas on how to hit them here?

I have the KB, the mini KB, 2 BB, 3 CA, 15 destroyers in the area now. The returning surface fleets from the Moresby operation will grow that by 2 BB, 2CL, 15 DD.

How about dropping mini subs there? Something I have never done....it always seems to me just giving victory points away.

Aerial mines?

Major naval operation?

I have tested mini-subs in perfect conditions and found them lacking ( large numbers, no detection, friendly base with enemy TFs there)
At 4-5 VPs each, they are free VP for the allies because once they are spotted, they are toast - any depth charge will disintegrate them due to their low durability.

Oh, and they fire only 2 torpedoes each try. Missing most of the time.

I haven't thoroughly tested them on the offensive though. I think I sent about 6 of them to ports that were not mined and they just floundered/ran aground. So I simply gave up on using these.

Aerial mining - if using the latest beta, your planes will get intercepted by CAP.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard
I noticed that often the recon detection over enemy AF damage is a little poor because of FOW, so probably he believed it was still open and deserved a new bombing

I went back and counted. 98 500# bomb hits on the runway alone.[X(]

But you have a very good point, in that Allied recon is weak and spotty, often jumping around from base to base and never at full. Weather is partly to blame, as a lot of recon flights get cancelled each day.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: setloz
I haven't thoroughly tested them on the offensive though. I think I sent about 6 of them to ports that were not mined and they just floundered/ran aground. So I simply gave up on using these.

Aerial mining - if using the latest beta, your planes will get intercepted by CAP.

Thanks.

That kind of mirrors my thoughts/experience on mini-subs.

Aerial mining at night would miss the CAP. However, it seems there are minesweepers there too, so they would not be too effective.

[DanSez]

Any clues to where the US Carriers are?

If he is building up there and as you reported, he got a detection that the KB is lurking nearby, and as aggressive as he has been, I would be concerned that he would be rushing his carriers there for a major face off.

Not that I am a Grand Strategist yet, but:
I would be thinking about setting up a bleed-off force for the carriers to attack and then step in with the KB when US Ops are low and blow them to the bottom of the ocean.

[Lowpe]

[quote]ORIGINAL: DanSez

Any clues to where the US Carriers are?

If he is building up there and as you reported, he got a detection that the KB is lurking nearby, and as aggressive as he has been, I would be concerned that he would be rushing his carriers there for a major face off.

Not that I am a Grand Strategist yet, but:
I would be thinking about setting up a bleed-off force for the carriers to attack and then step in with the KB when US Ops are low and blow them to the bottom of the ocean.

/quote]

My guess is they are at Pearl or West Coast. I think he is afraid to use them right now...but who really knows? I would love to see them at Tabiteuea.

I have been debating a CAP trap over some surface ships to nail some of his planes in teh Marshalls. When I have tried that before he didn't have anything on Naval.

Right now, I am trying to catch his surface ships as he bombards Nauru. Also trying some night bombing in the Marshalls...hit and run style.

[Lowpe]

Fusan

Very pleased here. I am pulling now about 6K of fuel, 12K of oil, and a lot of resources. In fact, the rail system can't keep up with the resource pull.
But it is the fuel and oil that are really important, and I need to pull more into Fusan.

Java to Oosthaven.

Palembang to Singers.

Medan to Georgetown.

Miri to Cam Ranh Bay or Manila area.

Singers to Saigon.

Balikpapen area to Manila area.

Manila to China.

Fusan to the HI.

[Lowpe]

Feb 14, 1943

Very quiet day. A few air battles over the central China plains, and a submarine sinks an xakl up in the Karachi raiding grounds.

Quietest day in a long time...

28 Tonies arrive in the Burma theater, 30 more Tojo IIa will arrive in another day, and then we will start our attack on Prome.

[Lowpe]

What a shame the BB/CA bombardment force didn't close with Akyab yesterday. They were 9 hexes distance, but they close the range and will go in this turn. Hopefully those 4 AP are still there, probably xaks but you never know.

Bad weather socks in the Betties again....maybe tomorrow.

Allies have retreated from the jungle rumble with the Imperial Guards division east of Prome. It will be a titanic fight at Prome.

[Lowpe]

Feb 15, 1943

A few scattered night bombing raids by Japan cause no damage, and 5 Betties are shot down by flak over Tarawa.

No night bombing by the Allies.

In Burma, the battleships surface group hits Akyab, catching 4 cargo ships and then bombarding the port. A job well done.