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Sadly it wasn't to be. [:(]

The Marines and combat engineers knocked the forts down to 2, but couldn't get a positive attack here. After the turn the combat engineers are shot with 14 disabled and no ready troops, while the Marines are more than half disabled. It'll be another siege!

At least this time it's closer to some other bases and I can try to work a regular bombardment schedule. We'll see.

I suspect if you let your own forces recover between deliberate attacks then it won't be very long at all. Of course bombing and bombardment will help too!

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

A6M8 isn't much better than the A6M5c in stock, but I guess in your mod it is a little different. At least it is a Navy plane, and those pilots are dead or pows.

It seems one way to get an island defense is to have lots of units in the hopes that something survives...you may not get that base in one attack depending upon the forts.

I had 14 AV hold off over 200 AV of Yanks at Wake recently.

On the day we shot up the A6M5c groups, but not the M8. They were giving as good as they got right to the end.

Maybe it was the pilots. Was! [:D]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

I suspect if you let your own forces recover between deliberate attacks then it won't be very long at all. Of course bombing and bombardment will help too!

Yes. I learned a lesson on that at nauru. I just have to make sure they don't do much recovering too!

I had thought the M8 had the centerline gun too, but it doesn't, so it shouldn't be as formidable as it was just this turn. I wonder of those were IJN golden boys? CV jocks?

Here is the comparison. The speed is the real advantage of the M8, which gets it in a range to compete for another year at least. It's Achilles, like the M5c, is it's short range. For 43 though it's a good plane for Japan, almost as good with a service 1 as the George with it's service 3.

`Here are the air losses!

That's got to hurt....he's missing all those pilots he lost over India....

ORIGINAL: paullus99

That's got to hurt....he's missing all those pilots he lost over India....

I'd say about his play in India with th eairforces was for the most part spot on. He mostly made me come to him. There were a few moments when he extended and tried to do some offensive things, and they didn't work as well as planned, so he sat back and let me skewer my bomber forces over his bases.

I'll not know for a good while, but i'd guess he didn't lose a lot of his to pilots there, and if he did he might have lost them anywhere due to lack of armor on early war Japanese planes.

That's one reason not to try for big second tier objectives as Japan though. Your fighters are fragile and it's tough to replace 80 exp pilots.

Can someone on the Japanese side using tracker let me know how many groups he can field in PDU-off of the Jack, now and into the future?

The arrival date is 2/43, so they should be out there, and with the speed increase in the air mod pushing the J2M2 to 397 ([X(]) I'm a bit wary of finding them unexpectedly. They were good enough wen I was using them at around 370.

I think most of your VF squadrons should be able to upgrade to Hellcats; it’s the VC(F) squadrons that will likely have upgrade paths limited to Wildcats. I perused some of the Location weekly reports at intervals from 6/44 to 3/45 and found that the Sangamons seemed to always have VF squadrons assigned, while the Bogue and Casablanca CVEs were assigned VC(F) squadrons.

The important point, though, is that squadrons were rotated – Suwanee operated VF-60 with F6F-3s during the Summer/Fall ‘44 period, then went to the West Coast for repairs (refit?) and came out in Spring ‘45 with VF-40 and its F6F-5s onboard. In other words, you should feel free to swap your carrier-based and land-based VF squadrons on the Sangamons and Commencement Bays as needed – the USN did this IRL.

I seem to recall that the VRF squadrons in the game were created as a bandaid – there were no VRF squadrons IRL; replacement aircraft were simply loaded on the CVEs assigned to the Carrier Transport Squadron (there were 27 CVEs so assigned in March ’45, including 6 RN CVEs operating from Pearl Harbor and the West Coast).

Also, the carrier-trained Marine VMF squadrons (which upgrade to F4Us) were not carrier-based until early ’45 because of bureaucratic lethargy, lack of exposure to CINCPAC, and maybe some political infighting. They were trained for carrier ops and ready to fight by the Fall of ‘44 – as Barrett Tillman states in Corsair “they were all dressed up with nowhere to go.” In a game where you are CINCPAC, you should feel free to use them on carriers, complete with their F4Us.

Sorry for the long post, but I get the feeling that several Allied players feel obliged to hobble their air assets out of a sense of historical fairness that is based on some myths that have arisen over the years. And yet in 1943 you are already facing one aircraft that never made it into production (A6M8) and will soon have to deal with two such others (Ki-43-IV and A7M), while fighting a fourth that never made it to prototype testing (Ki-84r).

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: paullus99

That's got to hurt....he's missing all those pilots he lost over India....

I'd say about his play in India with th eairforces was for the most part spot on. He mostly made me come to him. There were a few moments when he extended and tried to do some offensive things, and they didn't work as well as planned, so he sat back and let me skewer my bomber forces over his bases.

I'll not know for a good while, but i'd guess he didn't lose a lot of his to pilots there, and if he did he might have lost them anywhere due to lack of armor on early war Japanese planes.

That's one reason not to try for big second tier objectives as Japan though. Your fighters are fragile and it's tough to replace 80 exp pilots.

He played it right in India but he is messing it up in China... why get good airplanes shot up over Chungking ? what's the use ? The priority for him should be to finis off southern China to ensure that you can't base a bombing campaign from Chungking. If you chose to have good fighters there, who cares ? I just don't understant what he is doing.

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

I think most of your VF squadrons should be able to upgrade to Hellcats; it’s the VC(F) squadrons that will likely have upgrade paths limited to Wildcats. I perused some of the Location weekly reports at intervals from 6/44 to 3/45 and found that the Sangamons seemed to always have VF squadrons assigned, while the Bogue and Casablanca CVEs were assigned VC(F) squadrons.

The important point, though, is that squadrons were rotated – Suwanee operated VF-60 with F6F-3s during the Summer/Fall ‘44 period, then went to the West Coast for repairs (refit?) and came out in Spring ‘45 with VF-40 and its F6F-5s onboard. In other words, you should feel free to swap your carrier-based and land-based VF squadrons on the Sangamons and Commencement Bays as needed – the USN did this IRL.

I seem to recall that the VRF squadrons in the game were created as a bandaid – there were no VRF squadrons IRL; replacement aircraft were simply loaded on the CVEs assigned to the Carrier Transport Squadron (there were 27 CVEs so assigned in March ’45, including 6 RN CVEs operating from Pearl Harbor and the West Coast).

Also, the carrier-trained Marine VMF squadrons (which upgrade to F4Us) were not carrier-based until early ’45 because of bureaucratic lethargy, lack of exposure to CINCPAC, and maybe some political infighting. They were trained for carrier ops and ready to fight by the Fall of ‘44 – as Barrett Tillman states in Corsair “they were all dressed up with nowhere to go.” In a game where you are CINCPAC, you should feel free to use them on carriers, complete with their F4Us.

Sorry for the long post, but I get the feeling that several Allied players feel obliged to hobble their air assets out of a sense of historical fairness that is based on some myths that have arisen over the years. And yet in 1943 you are already facing one aircraft that never made it into production (A6M8) and will soon have to deal with two such others (Ki-43-IV and A7M), while fighting a fourth that never made it to prototype testing (Ki-84r).

Yes. Based on the info here and my own feelings about historical accuracy (basically that if the game allows a plane on a CV then it's acceptable, of rme and my opponent) I'll be fine with using what Hellcat groups I can. I was just worried there might not be so many but this is starting to look like a good contingent.

As for the advanced Japanese planes, yes, I will be facing a lot of tough fighters soon and some of the best strike planes in the game. This highlights that the Japanese could design aircraft at the highest level, but their downfall was getting them into production with high quality results in numbers and then into the field with good support.

Based on the arrival of the A5M8 a bit sooner than I'd even expected (although I did look on the info screens two months ago to see where these were in RnD), I've been having another look.

Here's what I've found:

Frank

Ki-84a - 8/43 - At 403mph this is not going to be fun to face. Sweeping P-40N (which dips back to 350mph, slower than the K) and other mid-level Allied fighters will be cake. I'll have to be very careful come about July when I'll start seeing these appear. With the bump in speed even Corsairs and P-38s will struggle.

Ki-84b - 3/45 - This hasn't yet moved up and probably didn't get much if any RnD as he would focus n the easier path to from the 84a to the 84r.

Ki-84r - 7/45 - Next in line and the best of the Franks. Faster than stock at 411mph, and at 19/13 for the top two maneuver bands, equal to the best Allied planes. Service 3 is the only handicap. He should get this by mid-44 I'd guess.

Tony

Ki-61b - 2/43 - I've only seen this a few times, and it didn't fare too well. 367mph.

Ki-61c - 6/43 - Not a bad plane, but the service 3 makes it another tough plane to use daily on the front lines. 367mph. Centerline 12.7mm and two wing mounted cannons though.

Ki-61d - 2/44 - This version is only service 2, so slightly more useful, and at 360mph is slower but still decent speed, but nothing like the next versions in line. A good bomber killer for lower level CAP, the first with CL 20mm cannons.

Ki-61 KAI - 8/44 - In spite of the debilitating service 4 rating, this can be a really tough plane. At 397mph it's even tougher in this mod.

Ki-100 - 3/45 - This plane gets a really big bump in speed to 386mph. At service 1 it will be great if available in enough groups for Japan. CL 20mm and decent maneuver to 31k.

George

N1K1-J - 3/43 - Only one group seems to be able to use these now, so I doubt his RnD program is he to get the next model moved up. 390mph.

N1K2-J - 10/44 - Still a good way off, which is positive. The service 2 version. 397mph!

N1K5-J - 10/45 - Awesome at 401mph, still with good maneuver ratings 0f 18/13 up high, but service 3.

Oscar

Ki-43 IIIa - 12/42 - This is obviously really far forward. A pretty good plane, but better as a defensive fighter or escort, not so much in a sweeping role. No enough guns or durability. It's 358mph in this mod.

Ki-43 IV - 3/44 - This one has the CL 20mm, but still low durability. I found them useful for Oscars, but still Oscars. 364mph.

Sam

A7M2 - 6/45 - This one is of course tough. Get to 392mph here, and hopefully won't be moving forward too much. Looks lie he put a lot into the A5M

A7M3 - 1/46 - Hopefully this is too far in the future to meet.

Monsters

Ki-94 - 2/46 - I hope I never have to face this plane.

Ki-83 - 10/45 - Nice to see this hasn't moved at all yet. One of the planes I fear most late. 438mph. 13/16 range.

ORIGINAL: veji1

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: paullus99

That's got to hurt....he's missing all those pilots he lost over India....

I'd say about his play in India with th eairforces was for the most part spot on. He mostly made me come to him. There were a few moments when he extended and tried to do some offensive things, and they didn't work as well as planned, so he sat back and let me skewer my bomber forces over his bases.

I'll not know for a good while, but i'd guess he didn't lose a lot of his to pilots there, and if he did he might have lost them anywhere due to lack of armor on early war Japanese planes.

That's one reason not to try for big second tier objectives as Japan though. Your fighters are fragile and it's tough to replace 80 exp pilots.

He played it right in India but he is messing it up in China... why get good airplanes shot up over Chungking ? what's the use ? The priority for him should be to finis off southern China to ensure that you can't base a bombing campaign from Chungking. If you chose to have good fighters there, who cares ? I just don't understant what he is doing.

Firstly I think it was surprising that P-40K did so well against the Tojo IIc. He had smashed my earlier CAP a few months prior and forced me to pull those groups back to India, so I'm sure expected the same result this time. The inclusion of the Hellcats was definitely a shock and that changed the playing field considerably at a moment when I'm sure he thought the P-40 groups should be wearing down (and the were). It was a risk for me to put them there, and could have gone the other way pretty easily. Not sure it's a smart move still, but it happened to work out this time, for now.

Secondly, I think he wants to bomb the base to try for a capture or at least make it unusable once and for all. He's aware that I'l have very good airframes available in the near future, and to allow a base with supply generation, support and the ability to interdict his a bombing campaign (or generate its own) to simply sit there probably didn't seem like a good option.

If I can keep Chungking open until I can secure Ledo again, it becomes even more dangerous with or without Paoshan.

ORIGINAL: obvert
Ki-94 - 2/46 - I hope I never have to face this plane.

You can be disappointed here, it is game end plane for 90% of his fighters units, and he know what this bird can do.
However this plane is not good defender due to very low climb rate and poor guns quality.

K-83 is much better however there only a few Sentais able to fly it.

ORIGINAL: obvert

Can someone on the Japanese side using tracker let me know how many groups he can field in PDU-off of the Jack, now and into the future?

The arrival date is 2/43, so they should be out there, and with the speed increase in the air mod pushing the J2M2 to 397 ([X(]) I'm a bit wary of finding them unexpectedly. They were good enough wen I was using them at around 370.

My tracker shows March 44 ( 302 Ku S-1). But in case of N1K1-J it fail to show me that static restricted Yokosuka S-1 can use it or I have no idea how to check it correctly

ORIGINAL: MrKane

ORIGINAL: obvert

Can someone on the Japanese side using tracker let me know how many groups he can field in PDU-off of the Jack, now and into the future?

The arrival date is 2/43, so they should be out there, and with the speed increase in the air mod pushing the J2M2 to 397 ([X(]) I'm a bit wary of finding them unexpectedly. They were good enough wen I was using them at around 370.

My tracker shows March 44 ( 302 Ku S-1). But in case of N1K1-J it fail to show me that static restricted Yokosuka S-1 can use it or I have no idea how to check it correctly

Thanks! That helps and may indicate why I haven't seen it yet. I appreciate at the quick reply!

ORIGINAL: MrKane

ORIGINAL: obvert
Ki-94 - 2/46 - I hope I never have to face this plane.

You can be disappointed here, it is game end plane for 90% of his fighters units, and he know what this bird can do.
However this plane is not good defender due to very low climb rate and poor guns quality.

K-83 is much better however there only a few Sentais able to fly it.

Good to know. Yes, I remember too what you were able to accomplish with it. He will have plenty of good climbers late, especially the souped-up versions of the N1K5 and J2M5 in this mod, and of course the Tojo IIc should he still find a use for it.

The Ki-83 is awesome. What the later P-38s should be, but I don't think they are. Maybe the twin Mustang is similar.

Invading 6k SL Atolls - I would use a regiment (4556 Mar or 3871 Army), combat engineer (694 or 1388), and a tank battalion or two (1712 Army or 1151 Mar). I tend to overstack these invasions, but having those tanks really help.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Invading 6k SL Atolls - I would use a regiment (4556 Mar or 3871 Army), combat engineer (694 or 1388), and a tank battalion or two (1712 Army or 1151 Mar). I tend to overstack these invasions, but having those tanks really help.

I saw what they did on Nauru, and I've got more prepping now for Mili, but hadn't started them in time. All of Cent Pac is just a slow learning process for me, and not high stakes as long as I don't get high VP targets too much in harm's way. The timeline is pretty fluid, so I don't have to stress (I don't think).

I have learned a lot and I think your set-up for those sounds about perfect. Thanks!