Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[GreyJoy]

One more note. The A6M line is another waste after the A6M5 imho. Even the "8" version is so slow that it won't make any difference.
Aboard carriers, the A6M5 is just as good as anything else... you're gonna lose, no matter what, and the CVs are one shot guns after 1943... so why care?
You just need ablative armour to escort your Jills/Judys...and the A6M5 is just as good as any later zero model
what, imho, is really important is what you can have for LBA IJN.
the best path, in this optic, is N1K1, J2M3 and N1K2. Then you better stop cause the "5" line gets back to a service rating of 3 and changes the engine (which translates in bluring of your concentration efforts).
With the Engine bonus, you can "easily" have the N1K1 by Feb 43, the J2M3 (SR-2) by August 43 and the N1K2 (SR-2) by october/november 1943

[Mike Solli]

This is wonderful stuff guys! I need to leave now to see my son graduate from college, but I'll go over it again more thoroughly this afternoon. Thanks!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy


Imho, if you heavily research the SAM, The KI-83, the Shindens and the Jet/Rockets, you're gonna be short on the mid-term fighters.
So it's a trade, as always.
The question we have to answer is: is it better to have a great fighter force in 1945 or to have a relative strong fighter force in 1943-1944?

Wow. I have to try again here. Sorry for the hijack Mike.

First, GJ I agree with you even though you seem to think I'm not. I would never research all 4, have never suggested I would, and would not recommend it ... that's what I've been trying to say now 4 times. pick one each for IJA, IJN. That means either Ki83 or Karyu. Not both. ONE. That means Shinden or SAM, not both. ONE. IF you choose ONE you can then research your 43/44 ONE FIGHTER EACH just fine. ONE. let me repeat for clarity as this seems to be lacking in my posts:

43/44 IJA - CHOOSE ONE
43/44 IJN - CHOOSE ONE
45/46 IJA - CHOOSE ONE
45/46 IJN - CHOOSE ONE

This is a total of 4 fighter a/c to research. [;)] I typically choose George/Sam for the IJN. IJA, typically Frank a/b models. That's just me. I really beleive if you try to R&D more than 4, you will not be efficient.

Not trying to be insulting here, but my posts are not being interpreted as written (which is confusing the heck out of me) and I don't like being accused of recommendations that I do not make.

[Mike Solli]

29 May 42

Another quiet turn.

None of my planes flew the ambush over Chittagong. Must have been the thunderstorms. [8|]

The Oscar sentai swept Pt. Moresby again meeting 8x P-40s and 3 Kittyhawks. For one op loss (no pilots lost), they shot down 4x P-40s and there were also a P-40 and Kittyhawk op loss. He's running out of fighters there. Once I have air supremacy over Pt. Moresby, the bombing begins.

Reinforcement: I-31 - headed to the Aleutians theater.

[Mike Solli]

Just a few comments on the SRA....

I'm keeping the bases in Borneo pretty much emptied of fuel/oil/resources.

Miri/Brunei ship all their stuff to Cam Ranh Bay. There are 4x 11.6k TKs that haul fuel or oil to Nagasaki.

Tarakan hauls all it's fuel to Davao, where the Combined Fleet calls it's home. There is >50k fuel at Tarakan right now. I use some Yusen N xAKs to haul the fuel. Yeah, I know it's not efficient but it'll have to do until the Std-C class get converted (which begins in a few days!).

Balikpapan is the supply source for Truk, which supplies SE & 4 Fleet AOs. There are 2x convoys, each with 4x 7950 TKs. They are perfect for the job. They keep Balikpapan emptied and Truk fueled. Truk currently has 127k fuel and 165k supply. For me that's an amazing amount of stuff. The supply comes from Japan whenever a new unit is shipped to Truk. I'm beginning to ship 10-20k supply to each base with troops.

All of the bases in Sumatra ship their stuff to Singapore. I use all of the Kyushus as well as 5x Tonan Whalers, 8x 12k TKs and 4x 11.6k TKs to haul oil, resources and fuel to the Home Islands. This is the bottleneck right now. I really need the Std-C TKs to move stuff. Here's the current situation:

Palembang:
F: 35k
O: 64k
R: 8k

Bengkalis:
F: <1k
O: <1k
R: 17k

Medan:
F: 40k
O: 93k
R: 34k

Singapore:
F: 170k
O: 20k
R: 25k

It's not bad, but I want to clear out this area in 1942, before Ted runs amok with his subs with good torps.

I have 20x Std-Cs that are in ports ready to convert on 1 Jun 42. Three weeks later, they'll complete their conversion and deploy. Most will go to the Singapore area but some will go to Tarakan and some will go to Davao to haul stuff to the Home Islands. Speaking of Davao, it has 93k oil and 58k resources that can't get back to the Home Islands fast enough. It gets that stuff from Tarakan, Balikpapan/Samarinda, Babo and Boela. Babo and Boela could each use a Std-C temporarily to empty those places of oil.

Java is getting all of the resources from the small bases around it. I'm repairing Soerabaja and building up the HI in Batavia. It'll be ~5 months before the oil is completely repaired at Soerabaja. Soerabaja gets periodic supply convoys from Japan, which then hauls resources back.

Overall, not bad, but it'll get much better when the Std-Cs are converted.

[ny59giants]

Airframe Factories:
Scen 1 has 19 Production + 77 R&D = 96
Scen 2 has 26 Production + 80 R&D = 106
RA has 24 Production + 77 R&D = 101

[Mike Solli]

Michael, thanks. I was wondering how many R&D factories I had to play with.

30 May 42

Sub War

The I-123 was dispatched to drop a load of mines at Kodiak Island, east of the Aleutians. Ted is definitely building that base up.

She got there and dropped off her mines, then all hell broke loose. She got attacked by a couple of KVs, which caused numerous near misses with DCs. Then, 3x DDs attacked her and she took more near misses and a hit. She's limping away with heavy damage: 59-66(12)-1-0. I have confidence (keeping fingers crossed) that she'll make Adak. I don't want to lose a second minelaying sub. I have a nice number of Mk 88 mines.

After the turn ended, the DD Cassin showed up as sunk from a Mk 88 mine at Kodiak. I suspect she's only damaged but at least it caused a little headache for Ted. [:D]

Burma

One Zero daitai swept Chittagong (the other Zero daitai and the Oscars failed to fly again). They found 4x Hurricanes and shot down 2 for no loss. I even got another elite pilot out of the deal, who promptly went to TRACOM. TRACOM is now up to 36 IJA and 63 IJN pilots.

SE Fleet

The B-17s visited Milne Bay again today, this time going for the port. I lost 2x Zeros (1 pilot WIA) and got light damage to the port.

China

Nanyang is surrounded and my army's heavy artillery bombarded the place, identifying 2x HQs, 5x Corps and a construction regiment. I'm attacking tomorrow and should eliminate them in short order.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

2 Ku S-1 - 12x A6M3 (upgraded to Claudes) - 13 Air Flotilla - training - note that I was able to add 27 pilots, which is great. I need IJN fighter pilots desperately.
2 Ku K-1 - 12x D3A1 - 13 Air Flotilla - training

CVE Unyo - Once I attach some planes (probably DBs), she'll join MKB.

1 Air Army - General Defense Army - Headed to Kobe
2 Air Army - Kwantung Army - Headed to Harbin
Majoro Base Force - 4 Fleet - materialized at Majoro, of all places!
88 JAAF AF Bn - Kwantung Army - Harbin

[Mike Solli]

One other place where a bottleneck is occurring:

Hokkaido currently has ~2.4 million resources. (Toyohara has ~300k resources and ships to Hokkaido.) There are 50 Akasis hauling resources from Hakodate to Ominato, and it isn't enough!

[obvert]

I use Sapporo, Muroran and Hakodate just to have more ports working, and I think I have about 7-8 TFs plying that transit. I also drop off at Hirosaki/Aomori and Ominato, and even Akita once it's built a bit. Most of mine use xAKLs so they load faster.

Currently I've got Hokkaido sucked dry (no port more than 25k), and Sakhalin after getting to 50k is at about 210k and dropping again after a lull using some of those ships for transporting engineers. It's amazing how much I still tweak this stuff even now in late 43! [:)]

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: obvert

I use Sapporo, Muroran and Hakodate just to have more ports working, and I think I have about 7-8 TFs plying that transit. I also drop off at Hirosaki/Aomori and Ominato, and even Akita once it's built a bit. Most of mine use xAKLs so they load faster.

Currently I've got Hokkaido sucked dry (no port more than 25k), and Sakhalin after getting to 50k is at about 210k and dropping again after a lull using some of those ships for transporting engineers. It's amazing how much I still tweak this stuff even now in late 43! [:)]

+1

I also build up Niigata and Sendai a bit and have 2x10TFs ( xAK Adens ) hauling out of Sapporo to these two ports.

It sure does help.

[PaxMondo]

I also go Toyohara to Wakkanai, then Hakodate to Ominato.&nbsp; I can get everything with just those&nbsp;4 ports.&nbsp; But, I use more than 50 xAK's ... prolly more like 80 xAK's and xAKL's.&nbsp; I use Gosen's and some others that will load and off-load in one turn from Hakodate.

[GreyJoy]

Pax, i'm sorry: i didn't express myself the way i wanted to. It wasn't a critic to what you were sayin, nor a disagreement. I just wanted to add my voice to yours and to Obvert's one. nothing more. Probably i should have kept my mouth shut, but i guess, being a newby JFB, i wanted to show you all that i did my homework and studied enough the subject to be able to "add" something to the conversation.... nothing more, really. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding
&nbsp;
Sorry Mike... this is my last hijack to your awesome thread (that i studied a lot, btw, when i started to play as Japan[&o])

[obvert]

Sorry Mike... this is my last hijack to your awesome thread (that i studied a lot, btw, when i started to play as Japan)

I still look to the first page with the cargo conversions, etc. It's the one place I know I can get the detailed info about the types when I don't have the game in front of me. I still can't keep To'su and Kiso E straight.

[Mike Solli]

Guys, there's no such thing as hijacking this thread. Whenever anyone gives some thoughts, that's a great thing. We all learn here. Just think, there's a bunch of crazies who frequent this thread just to try and figure out how to win on the side that's unwinable. [:D]

Pax, I think I have sent all the Akasis to the Ominato-Hakodate route. You're right, they don't load in a turn, but each port loads or unloads the max amount just about every turn. I'm going to look for more naval support to put in each base to increase the amount of resources that can be loaded/unloaded a turn. That will help. I guess I'll need more ships as well. [8|]

[Mike Solli]

Question for the group: What's the engine bonus. I remember hearing about it months ago, but can't remember, if I ever knew what it was. [:'(]

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Pax, I think I have sent all the Akasis to the Ominato-Hakodate route. You're right, they don't load in a turn, but each port loads or unloads the max amount just about every turn. I'm going to look for more naval support to put in each base to increase the amount of resources that can be loaded/unloaded a turn. That will help. I guess I'll need more ships as well. [8|]

NS doesn't help load Raw materials only troops and supplies

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Question for the group: What's the engine bonus. I remember hearing about it months ago, but can't remember, if I ever knew what it was. [:'(]

[jrcar]

Mike how are you going Oil / fuel wise? I've found that really is the critical bit, next time I'd try to save fuel by not hauling as many resources. Having said that hauling lots from Korea as we have a lot of China captured and the transportation link from Vietnam to China is also open.

Even hauling every drop of available oil from the DEI is not enough

Next game I'd fully repair Miri as well.

Cheers

Rob

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

I'm going to look for more naval support to put in each base to increase the amount of resources that can be loaded/unloaded a turn.

I don't beleive that NavSupport affects resource or oil load/unload rates. I may be wrong though. Maybe Damien can confirm as he is lurking around here.

Ehh, Damian already answered (confirmed) this above. [:D]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: jrcar

Mike how are you going Oil / fuel wise? I've found that really is the critical bit, next time I'd try to save fuel by not hauling as many resources. Having said that hauling lots from Korea as we have a lot of China captured and the transportation link from Vietnam to China is also open.

Even hauling every drop of available oil from the DEI is not enough

Next game I'd fully repair Miri as well.

Cheers

Rob

I always repair Miri and every other oil center.*
Yes, there is never enough fuel/oil.
I am scrupulous about minimizing fleet fuel expenditures.
The Singers to Korea overland resource/oil route saves an incredible amount of fuel.

*Except Burma unless/until I control India to Calcutta. Has to be out of 4E range for me to repair it.