::Felix, Ferdinand and FRUPAC:: obvert (A) v Greyjoy (J)

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I´m trying to drop by here every second day or so. [:)]

I'll try to make it worth your while. [;)]

In Mauritius I tried some of the best rum I've ever had! The place is known for sugar production, so the good quality and plentiful sugar is naturally also turned into a much more useful product in a number of places. Some of the touristy sugar factory museums have great stuff.

In this linked list I recommend the St Aubin or the Chamarel. The golden rums are excellent there and full of a caramel richness.

http://www.masterofmalt.com/country/mauritian-rum/

My favorite though was a local infused rum from a small restaurant called Di Sab (where I also had maybe the two best meals while I was on the island, one a 'Chinese Bowl,' a mix of creole, chinese and indian cuisines!). Here is a picture of some of the rhum arrangé ready to go. I want to try this at home soon!

[JocMeister]

Haha, is that even legal to "try at home" in Britain? [:D]

Looks awesome though! [&o]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Haha, is that even legal to "try at home" in Britain? [:D]

Looks awesome though! [&o]

Well, I won't be setting up a still, just adding the after-flavours and letting them infuse for a few months! [:)]

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[font="Times New Roman"]March 13 - 15, 1943[/font]

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[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SUBS: [/font] The I-4 gets in the LOC from San Fran and meets our very first DE, the Austin. Two direct and 9 damaging hits later and it'll have a long slog home. [:)] The bombardment run to Nauru hits not one but two subs on the way in and damages both.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]INDIA: [/font] I'm going to load up and try to sweep Madras for a few days. For two reasons. One, to see what he's flying there and try to break down a few of the groups. Two, to see if I do break them down where he brings reinforcements from to replace them. He's got to let something go a bit after a few days, and I now have enough numbers to maybe take advantage of that. I'll also hit the fields at night with about 4 groups of 4E to try to hit a few fighters and lower moral, put a few hits on the base.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CENT PAC: [/font] Normanby and Goodenough are in Allied hands again. I'm gambling and sending in a few small TFs with xAKL and some small xAP with supply and support troops. So far Nick seems reluctant to engage around here.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SO PAC: [/font] Invading Shortlands the APD Ward hits a mine and sinks later in the turn. The troops land though and barely take the base as somehow mostly support and guns loaded up on these. Judys from Buin sortie expensively. About 25-30 shot down for no losses. Is he not escorting these or are they not flying? Maybe the sweeps we've been running around the edges have been discouraging having CAP extended to allow escort. At any rate it looks like another group has moved in so maybe some dedicated escorts will be there now.

Vella Lavella is taken by paradrop, and now landing craft will ferry in engineers.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CHINA: [/font] Zombie troops are showing up now and moving out of Chungking to the areas to the South still in Chinese control. I'll let them go to the wilderness and starve and keep the better troops near the capitol.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]OZ:[/font] Almost to Kalgoorlie. Another 3-4 days and tanks could roll in to take the base.

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 13, 43
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Shortlands at 110,132

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y1 Judy x 30

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y1 Judy: 18 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
APD Crosby
APD Ward, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
347th FG/339th FS with P-39D Airacobra (12 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(12 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 12000.
Raid is overhead

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[font="Trebuchet MS"]Pretty good day in the air here![/font]

[ny59giants]

American ASW ships - You should be rolling in on DEs, PFs, and SCs soon. The crews need some experience, but you will have Nic running for safety soon enough.

Reinforcements - As a new Allied player, every 15th and end of month reinforcement list must be a shock for you. [:D] Lots on new toys and the decision of where they should go. Logistics will take up more and more of your turn time. Some PBYs and those ASW ships should leave Eastern USA and Panama for Cape Town and/or Aden in the months ahead.

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ORIGINAL: ny59giants

American ASW ships - You should be rolling in on DEs, PFs, and SCs soon. The crews need some experience, but you will have Nic running for safety soon enough.

Reinforcements - As a new Allied player, every 15th and end of month reinforcement list must be a shock for you. [:D] Lots on new toys and the decision of where they should go. Logistics will take up more and more of your turn time. Some PBYs and those ASW ships should leave Eastern USA and Panama for Cape Town and/or Aden in the months ahead.

Yeah, in about a month I'll be getting LOTs of stuff. I'm still short now so the new DE and PF ships will be very welcome, as will the AP/APA and AKA ships arriving. Moves are slow right now as I wait for upgrades to APA and LSI and because there just aren't a lot of those ships to go around yet.

The Hellcat is close too. That will be very good to have as the George, Tojo IIc and Jack come online. I just met the first Tony Ib over Madras, so he's going to be using a bit of everything.

I like the logistical side of things, and I've done okay so far, but I have a bit of a logjam now and need to get more bases to put things in! With SL things get filled up quickly, especially in Cent Pac.

[crsutton]

Yes, it is sort of the beauty of SL for slowing operations down. You really need to base and launch major operations from Australia or Pearl so it slows things down. Also make it much more attractive (almost a must) to capture the PI as that is the only really good staging area for an invasion of Japan.

[crsutton]

Biggest disappointment about the DEs and PFs was that the hedgehog was pretty useless in my last campaign. Too bad because it was a great weapon. By late war skilled skippers were relying on hedgehogs and foregoing using DC because the DC tended to kill their sonar fixes.

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

Biggest disappointment about the DEs and PFs was that the hedgehog was pretty useless in my last campaign. Too bad because it was a great weapon. By late war skilled skippers were relying on hedgehogs and foregoing using DC because the DC tended to kill their sonar fixes.

At this point I'm not yet worried about killing the subs as making them less effective. It'd be great to throw a few hits on too, but I just want to avoid losing stuff on ships.

[JocMeister]

Don´t overestimate the effectiveness of allied ASW. Its all about DL as you know. In our game I had 8-12 CVEs dedicated to nothing but ASW. Still you crippled a bunch of CVs with your subs. If I ever comes around to playing a PBEM again I will dedicate a lot more effort on LBA ASW as well as making sure I have plenty of ASW trained USN pilots.

Allied ships are good for sinking subs but truly sucks at preventing attacks.

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ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Don´t overestimate the effectiveness of allied ASW. Its all about DL as you know. In our game I had 8-12 CVEs dedicated to nothing but ASW. Still you crippled a bunch of CVs with your subs. If I ever comes around to playing a PBEM again I will dedicate a lot more effort on LBA ASW as well as making sure I have plenty of ASW trained USN pilots.

Allied ships are good for sinking subs but truly sucks at preventing attacks.

I've been trying to dedicate both some LBA to ASW and a few training units getting some TBs ASW capabilities. It's tough as you know to train what's needed, but since I haven't used the fleet air units much yet I've been able to get a few going. Not sure it'll make a difference, as I know mine did get through your wall of ASW ships and search.

So far Nick has been pretty conservative with subs, and I haven't seen a lot of them other than in a few key areas, like around Nauru and PH.

[BBfanboy]

I had some Dutch subs sent into a nest of at least four Japanese TFs and they were detected and depth charged at least ten times each, usually in a Ping-Pong between two of the TFs. This was early game when the IJN DCs could not go deep, and the subs were in deep water so they survived. I think the DCs only stopped when all of the escorts and Atago CAs ran out!

The point is the Dutch subs came out with crew experience in the high 90s, and thereafter they became deadly at sneaking in on IJN TFs, and almost never miss with their torpedoes (although they still have duds 10% of the time). It seems the same would apply to IJN subs late war - they would get lots of experience from attacks they survived.

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ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I had some Dutch subs sent into a nest of at least four Japanese TFs and they were detected and depth charged at least ten times each, usually in a Ping-Pong between two of the TFs. This was early game when the IJN DCs could not go deep, and the subs were in deep water so they survived. I think the DCs only stopped when all of the escorts and Atago CAs ran out!

The point is the Dutch subs came out with crew experience in the high 90s, and thereafter they became deadly at sneaking in on IJN TFs, and almost never miss with their torpedoes (although they still have duds 10% of the time). It seems the same would apply to IJN subs late war - they would get lots of experience from attacks they survived.

Could be true. I do know some had very good experience levels. Hope that works for my USN subs as they seem to get a lot of contacts. I'll have to check the experience gains soon.

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[font="Times New Roman"]March 16 - 17, 1943[/font]

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[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SUBS: [/font] The one time I send an unescorted ship down the west coast the I-5 appears right on shore and nails the xAK Frederick J. Turner with a Ventura group (2 planes) on board. [:(]

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]INDIA: [/font] Sweeps rained over Madras for most of the 16th and 17th. The first day there were 144 (!!) Nicks in base, obviously expecting some bombing runs soon, and none of the groups were set to 25k. Over the course of the day, in spite of almost 240 planes in the base, our sweeps got an advantage and managed to take out a bunch of the Ki-45 especially. The totals on the day were around 60/100 (see below).

On the 17th the CAP was changed over to mostly A6M5and Oscars. Only two of the groups from the previous day were left in base. This is pretty standard practice for Nick, and I imagine he could throw fresh groups in for 3-5 days around this area. I wanted to see where they were coming from and if that could be taken advantage of later. I added some 4E into the mix for day two and they put a bit of damage on the fields, some at night (only about 15 making it to the base out of almost 50 set to fly) and another 45 during the day.

Nick had enlarged some groups to massive 80+ plane monsters and thought that if he left them on 50% rest this would not produce an advantage. It seems this did work previously, but on this turn the groups ignored rest settings and sent everything airborne, which resulted in a bloodbath. We did knock down a lot of planes, around 150 on the day, but lost another 130 or so ourselves. Without the big groups the number would have likely been a lot less. Larger groups are much more resilient throughout the combat and also still have numbers to throw up in the afternoon phase, as it turned out these did. He offered to replay the turn, but I didn't want to go back and change everything, plus I've also occasionally made a mistake on our HRs, so it all evens out.

We lost around 15 4E and around 35 F4F-4, another 30 P-40K, plus a smattering of the other fighters here. The big losses for the Japanese were from the big groups, since they were around for even the last sweeps, and they lost around 70-80 A6M5. Interestingly no Tojos were in the mix. I'll see if they appear soon. They have to be somewhere in the area.

Tomorrow I'll change tack a bit. I'll just sweep with a few groups to see what is up in the air. I have a feeling a whole new set of groups will be there. This is costly for Japan, as I've found out playing that side, because without a direct rail connection, to move out one group you must disband the damaged planes (often losing them) and it costs a bunch of supply to get more into the groups, plus a few cycles to get them to full strength again. This cycle is what I'd like to exploit, and this is just the beginning. he's allowed Madras to be isolated, and the key to supporting it is Ceylon, so after the next day sweeps, which will allow most of the groups to rest, I'll see if some of the CAP on Ceylon bases has been reduced to help keep Madras defended. If I can close either Colombo or Trincomalee, the whole network could start to unravel.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CENT PAC: [/font] I've gotten some USN 4Es trained up to hit airfields in the area, but I'm having trouble getting them to fly. Nauru seems veiled in a layer of storms nearly every day lately. Naval bombardments are still periodically going in, but I keep wondering when he'll send in the CVs and hum one, and I'm not keen to lose three modern cruisers.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SO PAC: [/font] All is going well in moving up the Solomons. Engineers and supply moving forward and lots of small craft scuttling back and forth.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CHINA: [/font] The first attack one hex from Kunming goes well for the defense, but not well enough to have much hope up there.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]OZ:[/font] Tanks will move into Kalgoolie tomorrow. Fingers crossed no massive airstrikes hit. Everything in Port Augusta is in strat mode and ready to launch forward.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SIGINT:[/font] I'm now sending some subs to get in the SLOC from Japan to Babs and Truk. I have a few coming every week so I can now afford to send them out to raid in this way.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]2/1st JAAF AF Bn is loaded on xAK Nishimi Maru moving to Babeldaob.
112th JAAF AF Bn is loaded on AK Azumasan Maru moving to Babeldaob.[/font]-16th

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 16, 43
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Morning Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 21
A6M5c Zero x 30
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 30
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 144
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 9

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 3 destroyed

CAP engaged:
Chitose-1 with A6M5c Zero (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 21 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
4th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 25 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
5th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 29 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
21st Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 21 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-43-IIIa Oscar (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 21 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes
264th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 17000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes
265th Sentai with Ki-61-Ib Tony (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes
Chuyo-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
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Ground combat at 70,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12327 troops, 240 guns, 492 vehicles, Assault Value = 460

Defending force 22093 troops, 119 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 650

Japanese adjusted assault: 249

Allied adjusted defense: 637

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1442 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 95 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Vehicles lost 11 (2 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
245 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Guards Tank Division
104th/C Division
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
23rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
32nd Chinese Corps
56th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 2, 43
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Night Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 27 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 9

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

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Morning Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 31,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 177
A6M5c Zero x 20
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 39
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 38
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 21
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 24

Allied aircraft
P-43A-1 Lancer x 8
Hurricane IIb Trop x 10
P-400 Airacobra x 16
P-40K Warhawk x 7
F4F-4 Wildcat x 76

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra: 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x F4F-4 Wildcat sweeping at 25000 feet
9 x F4F-4 Wildcat sweeping at 25000 feet

CAP engaged:
Hosho-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 36 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 18000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
Chitose-1 with A6M5c Zero (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 14 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes
1st Sentai with Ki-43-IIa Oscar (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 23 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 23000 and 28000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-43-IIb Oscar (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 23 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-43-IIIa Oscar (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 15 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
265th Sentai with Ki-61-Ib Tony (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 12 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 18000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
Unyo-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 51 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 25000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes
Chuyo-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 47 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes

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Morning Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 162
A6M5c Zero x 18
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 36
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 35
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 21
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 22

Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 12
P-400 Airacobra x 13
F4F-4 Wildcat x 22
F4U-1 Corsair x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 4 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x F4U-1 Corsair sweeping at 25000 feet

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Morning Air attack on Madras , at 35,40

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 79
A6M5c Zero x 6
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 20
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 19
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 10
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 13

Allied aircraft
P-43A-1 Lancer x 6
Liberator II x 18
Kittyhawk I x 32
B-24D Liberator x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 25
P-40K Warhawk x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
J1N1-C Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Kittyhawk I: 2 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Liberator II bombing from 22000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

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Submarine attack near Coos Bay at 212,61

Japanese Ships
SS I-5

Allied Ships
xAK Frederick J. Turner, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires

xAK Frederick J. Turner is sighted by SS I-5
SS I-5 launches 2 torpedoes

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[font="Trebuchet MS"]Over two days he's lost about 230-40 airframes and we've lost around 190. Luckily our troops are in the base so very few pilots lost. [:)][/font]

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I had some Dutch subs sent into a nest of at least four Japanese TFs and they were detected and depth charged at least ten times each, usually in a Ping-Pong between two of the TFs. This was early game when the IJN DCs could not go deep, and the subs were in deep water so they survived. I think the DCs only stopped when all of the escorts and Atago CAs ran out!

The point is the Dutch subs came out with crew experience in the high 90s, and thereafter they became deadly at sneaking in on IJN TFs, and almost never miss with their torpedoes (although they still have duds 10% of the time). It seems the same would apply to IJN subs late war - they would get lots of experience from attacks they survived.

They really should not survive. The combination of Allied air superiority and deadly Naval ASW pretty much make Japanese sub attacks a one shot deal after by late 43. Training air units in ASW was useful and necessary for me but by the end of 43 I was no longer doing it. The combination of plenty of well trained searching aircraft and better and more skilled ASW surface craft just means death to Japanese subs. The Mk 9 DC for the Allies is actually less powerful but comes with a significant boost in accuracy and the late model British DC make a big boom. Funny but after 1944 with all of the DEs and PFs that I had the real killers were still the DDs. Every DD coming after 1/44 has excellent exp. My opponent Ark is being much more conservative with his subs this game and practically foregoing hunting merchants in favor of massing them in support of naval operations. I think this is a mistake as the real chance for Japanese subs to feast is in 1942. After that, it matters little how they are used. They are going to sink in droves.

[crsutton]

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

I thought that in addition to an airfield stacking limit by number of groups, there was a limit by number of engines vs airfield size? Something like 50 engines supported per level? That would make the 160 planes on a level 2 AF overstacked by 60, suffering coordination/fragmentation and maintenance penalties?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

I thought that in addition to an airfield stacking limit by number of groups, there was a limit by number of engines vs airfield size? Something like 50 engines supported per level? That would make the 160 planes on a level 2 AF overstacked by 60, suffering coordination/fragmentation and maintenance penalties?

Absolutely! Not over stacked by number of groups, much over stacked by number of engines.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

I thought that in addition to an airfield stacking limit by number of groups, there was a limit by number of engines vs airfield size? Something like 50 engines supported per level? That would make the 160 planes on a level 2 AF overstacked by 60, suffering coordination/fragmentation and maintenance penalties?

Absolutely! Not over stacked by number of groups, much over stacked by number of engines.

They blow up nice when you bomb them, too. Same thing if you're overstacked by number of groups but not number of planes.

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ORIGINAL: crsutton

I am not a big fan of the Japanese player creating massive groups. It is a bit gamey as Allies fighter groups can only be 16 to 24 planes in size. This practice would allow not more than 50 Allied planes at a level two field while the Japanese could put 160 there without over stacking and facing a penalty. A measure of reality is called for. As the Allies I expand some naval fighter groups to 36-40 planes to give me some spares and many of the small CVE torpedo squadrons I expand but that is about all. Viperpol told me after our last campaign that he had created massive training groups of 90 planes. He was not anywhere close to running out of pilots. In the end I suppose it did not matter much as I was not having trouble shooting them down.

This is one thing that I think has to be HRed. For training, fine, but for any kind of combat it's not okay as there is an advantage to larger groups in almost any situation and it's not something the Allies can do, as you say. The only groups I can increase to this size are a few RN groups, and after I just enlarged the two training groups from 40 to 80 planes, which should keep the RAF fighters filled out nicely.

For the USN you have to use FP groups to train fighter pilots, or the replacement groups from CVEs. I haven't tried as it's currently logistically impossible, but maybe I can increase the size of these on the CVs. We'll see.

I have no problem with each side using larger groups fro training, but it should be somewhat equitable. In combat the Allies basically can't do this due to replacement rates, unless the groups are filled out with FM-1.