Matrix Games Forums

Jan 4 1943
 
A quiet day all over the map. My BBs and CAs are getting to Taberfane, while my DDs (8 modern DDs) reached Lautem. The mini KB is lingering south of Ambon, while the whole area is patrolled by Netties from Ambon, Keopang, Kendari and Lautem, with several Zero Daitais ready to escort. Tojos and Nicks are devoted to purely CAP missions over our primary air bases. The AOs are refueling at Babeldolap, while the mega convoy (oil, fuel and res) reached Japan and immediately started to unload its 950k tons ([X(]) of goods.
 
Burma remains too quiet for my taste. Something strange is happening up there and i don't like it. How is it possible that not a single bombing run has been done in the last 30 days? What is he up to?
 
Is he thinking of a crazy landing with his CVs in Thailand, behind the shoulders of my Burma Army? Would it be possible?...i'm getting really paranhoid. Where are his damned carriers?!?!!?
 
How badly do i miss the allied intel!?!?...[:@][:@]
 
Decided to stop the Shinano CV for the moment.... can't efford all those nav-shyp points for a carrier that arrive in 1944.... maybe once Musashi is over...but not for the moment.
 
 

Can you see his airfields with recon planes? Are they still occupied or have the aircraft numbers dropped? He may have just decided he can't break through and is training and resting the air groups. Then again, maybe not!

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 06, 43

The sub war:
Today we've lost the Dakar Maru to a pesky sub near Kendari. I'm not happy, but this is the first ship succesfully attacked in weeks now. Overall, in the lost 5 months i think we've lost just 3 cargos. not bad. My ASW efforts are really paying off. I never sink a sub, but we're always able to avoid its attacks and that's enough!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Kendari at 71,106

Japanese Ships
xAK Dakar Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
PB Wa 1
xAP Hakozaki Maru
xAP Hakone Maru
xAK Tarushima Maru
PB Hinode Maru #17
PB Fuji Maru

Allied Ships
SS Shark


The enemy has moved 150 fighters at Darwin and several BBs are stationed there, ready to smash my southern DEI i'm sure.
We're unloading a regiment at Dobo and 18 engineer squads (which is a lot for DBB) at Babar. A strong BB TF (spotted) is covering these unloadings. If he wants to send his BBs...we're ready to welcome them

Now Tabiutea... the more i think of it and the more it seems the most obvious target for his next push. I've just delivered several tons of supplies in the Marshalls and am really tempted to move more combat ships from Truk to Kwelajein....

In China tomorrow we'll attack again the stronghold NW of Kienko...let's see how it goes. In the meanwhile the 1st and 2nd tank divisions pushed again the enemy stack to Chenghtu...we're getting close

For the rest...nothing much happened... it's clearly the quiet before the storm

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Can you see his airfields with recon planes? Are they still occupied or have the aircraft numbers dropped? He may have just decided he can't break through and is training and resting the air groups. Then again, maybe not!

In Burma you mean? Yes, they are still there...maybe the number of fighters have dimished a bit...i'm pretty sure some have been moved to Oz in the last months....
The whole Oz, from Exmouth to Cairns and Townville, is full of fighters and bombers. Most of his air force is there now

Ok, Jan 7 1942. We have delivered succesfully a regiment at Dabo.
So now we have:
 
1 reinforced rgt at Roti
1 reinforced division at Koepang
1 reinforced rgt at Dili
1 SNLF at Pantar
1 Bde at Alor
1 reinforced division at Lautem
1 tiny regiment at Babar
1 reinforced regiment at Saumlaki
1 reinforced regiment at Taberfane
1 regiment at Dabo
 
The southern DEI are more or less secure against anything which isn't a full scale invasion
 
The enemy recon flew 31 (probably a 4E recon plane) hexes from Mareuake to Babeldolap and spotted my Fast Replenishment TF....as they say in BSG....FRACK![:@] Gotta move my KB in safer waters. Now the KB1 and KB2 will reunite and will move away.
Mini-KB remains unseen.
 
no sign of enemy CVs....[8|]
 
In China we finally managed to obtain a 2-1 against the enemy stronghold!!! YES!!!!!!! But not all the enemy corps retired....the strongest one remains stubborn....will attack again tomorrow with a decent carpet bombing by 200 2Es from Sian....but now we're really close
 
Ground combat at 80,40 (near Kienko)
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 29039 troops, 421 guns, 207 vehicles, Assault Value = 809
 
Defending force 21754 troops, 139 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 291
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 357
 
Allied adjusted defense: 178
 
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), supply(-)
Attacker:
 
Japanese ground losses:
      155 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
 
Allied ground losses:
      4630 casualties reported
         Squads: 140 destroyed, 36 disabled
         Non Combat: 223 destroyed, 1 disabled
         Engineers: 3 destroyed, 3 disabled
      Guns lost 17 (4 destroyed, 13 disabled)
      Units retreated 3
 
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
 
Assaulting units:
    27th Division
    26th Division
    6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
    9th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
    Botanko Hvy Gun Regiment
    4th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
    1st Mortar Battalion
    Mongol Garrison Army
    1st Army
    Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
    14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
    5th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
 
Defending units:
    14th Chinese Corps
    40th Chinese Corps
    64th Chinese Corps
    41st Chinese Corps

Looks like you have that spot. At last. Bazai!

ORIGINAL: obvert

Looks like you have that spot. At last. Bazai!

Yup, with Jan 8 1942 we've finally wiped out the enemy resistance over the road that from Sian leads to Kienko. Now a full supply path is open and 7 Divisions are free to march to th plains. Shortly i'll start sieging Chengtu, while 5 Divisions will enter into Chungking and stop the LI industry there (so stopping any supply production, a part from the 400 automatic daily suplies created there.

I think now the campaign for the Central China is almost over. Now i'll focus on Kunming. Soon we'll start back again to sweep and to bomb. We're waiting for some more base forces arriving in frontline bases.

In Northern Oz, the enemy is massing ships at Darwin, while we keep on delivering supplies, fuel and troops in the frontline bases. The more he waits, the more my defences get stronger. I count in Darwin 5 enemy BBs and several more CA/CLs... mine-layers are arriving in theatre along with several ACMs...[8D]

I still don't get how the aircraft upgrades work. Sometimes Truk (level 5 AF) is able to upgrade a squadron. Sometimes it's not[&:]...so i am moving some 70 Vals from the KB to Rabaul (level 9 AF) in order to upgrade to Judy

Time to organise the wrapping up of you campaign in China : Do you want to destroy everything, keep just Chungking besieged, keep both Chungking and Chengtu besieged ?

How many forces do you have in theater and what to you plan on doing with them in the medium term ? Having a 3/6 months outline of what you foresee would be interesting.

ORIGINAL: veji1

Time to organise the wrapping up of you campaign in China : Do you want to destroy everything, keep just Chungking besieged, keep both Chungking and Chengtu besieged ?

How many forces do you have in theater and what to you plan on doing with them in the medium term ? Having a 3/6 months outline of what you foresee would be interesting.

I want to conquer Chengtu and just lay a siege to Chungking. Then i'd like to take Kunming. Say i'll use 5 divisions for Chengtu and 5 to lay a siege to Chungking. The rest will be moved out as soon as i get enough PPs.

Hi Greyjoy,

Do you know how the stacking rules and the respawn system mix? I would believe that, even with a very high stacking limit for Chungking, once you have the city surrendered, destroying troops will result respawns that will overstack it badly, and probably make its capture much easier than in stock.

It might be worth investigating.
Francois

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
]

I still don't get how the aircraft upgrades work. Sometimes Truk (level 5 AF) is able to upgrade a squadron. Sometimes it's not[&:]...so i am moving some 70 Vals from the KB to Rabaul (level 9 AF) in order to upgrade to Judy

Same thing for me. Sometime i have two units in the same AF and one will upgrade and second not.
Anyone know how upgrade rules working. Right now sometimes it is like lottery

How many divisions and other SUs does that represent ? How much would you move where ? what will you do with the important support units, ie artillery for example ? Where can you find the best terrain to use your tanks once China is cleared ?

Come on I want a whole dissertation on your plans !

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I still don't get how the aircraft upgrades work. Sometimes Truk (level 5 AF) is able to upgrade a squadron. Sometimes it's not[&:]...so i am moving some 70 Vals from the KB to Rabaul (level 9 AF) in order to upgrade to Judy

IIRC, it is a level 7 airfield with 20,000 supplies. I'm guessing that sometimes you have enough supplies and sometimes you don't.

ORIGINAL: veji1

How many divisions and other SUs does that represent ? How much would you move where ? what will you do with the important support units, ie artillery for example ? Where can you find the best terrain to use your tanks once China is cleared ?

Come on I want a whole dissertation on your plans !

[:D] Ok, let's be more professional so...

give me a second...

So we have:

For the siege of Chengtu:

Divisions:
70th
13th
27th
37th
59th
1st Tank
2nd Tank
3rd Tank

For the siege of Chungking:
110th
26th
34th
15th
51st

For the Kunming campaign:

104th
3rd
60th
68th
22nd

Then, for the rest of China we have:

40th
39th
36th
116th
67th
58th
32nd
63rd


My idea is, once Chentu is conquered, to move out of China (slowly due to the PPs ) the divisions involved in that last campaign and to move them to the Kuriles, Mariannas and Mindanao, building up the second inner perimeter
Some will also go to Burma and Thailand for sure...but it will all depends on how things will develop in the next 3 months

However, i'm pretty sure i'm keeping all the heavy guns in China. I'll move out the mortars and the 75mm Mountain guns, but the 150 and 280 mm guns will remain there. They are too important in China if i want to get rid of Kunming

ORIGINAL: fcharton

Hi Greyjoy,

Do you know how the stacking rules and the respawn system mix? I would believe that, even with a very high stacking limit for Chungking, once you have the city surrendered, destroying troops will result respawns that will overstack it badly, and probably make its capture much easier than in stock.

It might be worth investigating.
Francois

Yes the respawning units will arrive at Chungking, so, with the stacking limits, the respawning rule may become a problem more than a benefit.
However i don't plan to conquer CHungking at all. I need to start pulling out troops ASAP and cannot efford anymore months of great supply expenditure in China. Consider that in this game supplies are the real priority, so i need to save them as much as i can.
My plan is to simply sorround Chungking and lay a siege that cannot be broken, no matter what.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Yes the respawning units will arrive at Chungking, so, with the stacking limits, the respawning rule may become a problem more than a benefit.
However i don't plan to conquer CHungking at all. I need to start pulling out troops ASAP and cannot efford anymore months of great supply expenditure in China. Consider that in this game supplies are the real priority, so i need to save them as much as i can.
My plan is to simply sorround Chungking and lay a siege that cannot be broken, no matter what.

Won't keeping units there on siege use more supplies than it saves? It seems that if you wipe out the Chinese forces you will save supplies over the long haul.

ORIGINAL: MateDow

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Yes the respawning units will arrive at Chungking, so, with the stacking limits, the respawning rule may become a problem more than a benefit.
However i don't plan to conquer CHungking at all. I need to start pulling out troops ASAP and cannot efford anymore months of great supply expenditure in China. Consider that in this game supplies are the real priority, so i need to save them as much as i can.
My plan is to simply sorround Chungking and lay a siege that cannot be broken, no matter what.

Won't keeping units there on siege use more supplies than it saves? It seems that if you wipe out the Chinese forces you will save supplies over the long haul.

mmm...i don't think so. If you don't fight, your Divisions, even if sitting in an enemy controlled hex, shouldn't be eating that much supplies. While if you attack Chungking for several months, the supplies needed to fight and to replace destroyed and disabled squads will be much much higher!



Jan 10 1943

This is the latest screenshot for China. As you can see my 7 divisions, after having broken the enemy lines east of Kienko, are now flowing into the plains with some minor movements on the flanks to cover and keep clean the supply road from Sian.
At Kunming we're resuming the air war tomorrow. 5 Sentais (4 Tojos and 1 Oscar IIa) will begin to sweep the enemy city.

Time to post some screenshots about my Economy.

First of all my R&D efforts.

Here is the situation:

The N1K1 has just advanced at April 1943. With 112 fully repaired Industries, plus the Engine bonus, i should easily get it by mid Feb 1943!
The other plane which are advancing fast are:
The D4Y3 (which should be available for the second half of 1943) : 120 factories + engine bonus
The Frances (90 factories plus the engine bonus) should arrive by April or May 1943

For what concerns the Jack, i'm waiting for the last two factories to be repaired for the J2M2 in order to move directly to the J2M3 (as stated previously, i'm going directly to the J2M3 in order to have it (90 factories + the engine bonus) by October 1943.

For what concerns the George, the idea is to let 120 (30x4) fully repaired factories to move to the N1K2 as soon as the N1K1 becomes available, while letting 120 more factories to convert into production of the N1K1. This strategy, along with the engine bonus, should be giving me the chance of having the lovely N1K2 (with service rating of 2) available by late 1943 or early 1944.

The KI84a, despite the heavy investment in terms of factories, hasn't see yet a fully repaired factory. However we're close and so we'll soon start to advance it. You would notice the heavy investment both on the KI-84a and KI-84b. The idea is to get the KI-84a by july 1943, the KI-84r and the KI-84b by the first half of 1944.

I'm not investing anything in the Shidens or in the Jet fighters. The only very late fighter i'm R&Ding is the KI83, but, given its use of the Ha-43 engine, i'm not devoting too many efforts to it. Only 3x30 factories. Same for the SAM, which is getting only 4x30 factories.

The general strategy is to invest heavily ONLY on those planes which will be able to make a difference in 1943-1944 time period...after that, i'm pretty sure, the enemy will be already at my gates so it won't matter much.

For Torpedo bombers, i'm investing 3x30 on the PeggyT and 4x30 on the Frances. I don't care much about later frances models, cause their speed decreses (due to the Radar) and what i need is speed. So i'll simply stop R&D the frances line once the first version will become available. The Betty production will be stopped untill the newer models will become available. I'll keep on producing the G3M3 for naval search duties only.

As u can see, not a single fighter, belonging to the Zero line is being researched. We will use the A6M5 and the A6M3a untill the SAM will become available.

The second version of the Jill is already been heavily R&Ding, with 3x30 fully repaired factories and the Engine bonus (love the fact that the second version uses the Ha-32 instead of the Ha-44). With 6 R&D points daily, i should get it by june 1943.

Grace is getting 3x30 factories...but won't be available untill 3/44.


Gotta say that i made many mistakes in this first campaign for what concerns the R&D....but now i have some clear ideas for my next game[8D]

And here's my economic chart...as you can see my main problem remains the supply levels...[:o]