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I actually have that game on my HDD (Enemy Unknown). I got it as free download when I bought my new GFX card but never got around to play it. Perhaps I´ll give it a go and if I like it. [:)]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I actually have that game on my HDD (Enemy Unknown). I got it as free download when I bought my new GFX card but never got around to play it. Perhaps I´ll give it a go and if I like it. [:)]

I played the bits off the original Xcoms back in the day. Xcom, the underwater one, and the futuristic city one (can't recall the name.) I remember the underwater one had a game-stopping bug if you took a wrong turn on the tech tree, and this was pre-Internet for patches. You just learned about the bug from paper & ink magazines, and didn't go down that tech path.

Enemy Unknown the first time through is a stunning game. As I said, the expansion makes it 300% more fun.

Xcom Apocolypse?

I played a bunch of later ones too that was okayish. One was on earth and one was on Mars or something? Fairly new? 10-15 years ago? Aftermath?

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Xcom Apocolypse?

Correct. Based in one big city with all the factions.

I have all three originals via Steam and still play em.

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I played a bunch of later ones too that was okayish. One was on earth and one was on Mars or something? Fairly new? 10-15 years ago? Aftermath?

The end mission of the original Xcom took place on Mars. I don't remember any that all took place there. I'm pretty sure the original Xcom was one of the first games I got on CD, and I played it in Windows 95 in DOS mode.

ORIGINAL: catwhoorg

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Xcom Apocolypse?

Correct. Based in one big city with all the factions.

I have all three originals via Steam and still play em.

The new one includes a lot of old favorites (Sectiods, Etherials, etc.) but improves them. Base management is a big part of it, but is better while also being simpler in some ways. You don't have to wrangle ammo clips anymore. There are new options in how the finances work. And so on. The expansion adds a whole new item to Elerium that has to be captured and managed, and that item opens up two huge new research and combat trees.

Through November 3, 1942

Couple of developemnts.

1) Java

Despite level 2 forts, good supply and leaders, the retreated garrison at Merak, from Batavia, does not stand up to a first attack. Much of the combat LCUs are now at PBang, but I'd hoped for more. The Dutch army is nearly gone. Soerbaja remains the only Allied base on Java.

Ground combat at Merak (48,97)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26647 troops, 262 guns, 74 vehicles, Assault Value = 857

Defending force 9379 troops, 84 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 150

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 520

Allied adjusted defense: 118

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Merak !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
410 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
12808 casualties reported
Squads: 363 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 809 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 35 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 102 (102 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 13

Assaulting units:
48th Division
33rd Division
2nd Engineer Regiment

Defending units:
5th Coastal Gun Battalion
2nd KNIL Regiment
Batavia Coastal Gun Battalion
4th KNIL Regiment
1st KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Merak Base Force
ML-KNIL
KNIL Army Command
1st Regt Cavalerie /1
1st KNIL Rgt /3
Kalidjati Base Force
1 ML-KNIL Aviation /1
1st KNIL AA Bn /1

Firebombing on Batavia from Oosthaven has started some decent fires. Batavia has excellent Resource points and pretty good supply generation capacity. I want Java to be non-self-funding and require supplies to come by sea.

2) Makin

An IJN TF comes shopping for unloading TFs, but they have just left. It's an expensive foray.

TF 326 encounters mine field at Makin (136,125)

Japanese Ships
CL Kuma
DD Ikazuchi
BB Kirishima, Mine hits 1

2 mines cleared

3) Ocean I.

Musashi, which I don't believe I have ever seen in combat, comes with an amphib TF to Ocean Island. The island was taken for free by a Marine Raider unit, moved in by SST a long time ago. It holds against the bombardment and first attack.

Pre-Invasion action off Ocean Island (130,130)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Musashi
CL Tenryu
DD Ushio
DD Arare
DD Nowaki
xAK Zinzan Maru

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Amphibious Assault at Ocean Island (130,130)

TF 215 troops unloading over beach at Ocean Island, 130,130

Japanese ground losses:
175 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 55 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)

10 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 65th Nav Gd /5

Ground combat at Ocean Island (130,130)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 2117 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 67

Defending force 680 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 40

Japanese adjusted assault: 5

Allied adjusted defense: 6

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
762 casualties reported
Squads: 70 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
230 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
65th Nav Gd /1
48th Nav Gd /2

Defending units:
2nd Marine Raider Battalion

4) Sumatra

The carriers in the IO west of Sumatra do not find the southbound TF. The surface TF, coming north, is attacked by Nicks based, I think, at Padang. Good info to mark down. It's a bad day for the Nicks.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Pagai-eilanden at 43,89

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 10 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
CA Hawkins
DD Hughes
DD Express, Shell hits 1
BC Repulse
DD Encounter

Aircraft Attacking:
33 x Ki-45 KAIa Nick bombing from 100 feet

5) Elsewhere

Strat bombing on two Chinese cites in the west starts good fires at one (Kwielin.)

Ramree I. continues to be pasted. Fighters on ground damaged and un-flyable, but over a dozen bombers are destroyed or damaged.

BANDIT forces continue across the jungle gaps.

Through November 17, 1942

Two major events in this period.

1) The US continues to build Makin I. as a mid-chain base to support coming ops to the north. A large TF full of support and supplies is unloading there, with snoops of enemy activity to the west. Staying one day too long, the TF is hit hard by the KB. About half escapes to either Makin or Canton, heavily damaged, but another BB is lost, plus a CVE.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Makin at 136,125

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 91
B5N1 Kate x 12
B5N2 Kate x 50
D3A1 Val x 52

Allied aircraft
P-38F Lightning x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CL Nashville
CVE Copahee, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1
DMS Hopkins
AP Arthur Middleton, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Benham, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AK Libra
DD Meredith
DD Smith, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Lansdowne
DD Shaw, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Makin at 136,125

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 114 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 42 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 87
B5N2 Kate x 53
D3A1 Val x 61

Allied aircraft
P-38F Lightning x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 3 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CVE Copahee, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Nashville
DD Shaw
DMS Hopkins
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Meredith
DD Benham, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Smith, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Lansdowne
AP American Legion, Bomb hits 1, on fire

On the 10th a bombardment TF led by Mushashi visits and kills a few P-38s. Damage to the AF is heavy, but Seabees are present. A set-back, but not fatal. I tell myself that all this running around is burning fuel he doesn't have to spare.

2) The second event goes uncommented by Mike. This isn't abnormal for our game, which has very little chatting (my choice.) But it might be important.

In line with the thread I recently opened in the main forum concerning Allied intentional activation of the Japanese emergency reinforcement package, I land one APD's worth of troops on Para Jima. About 100 men. There is no announcement in any report, so I load a sandbox game in head-to-head and observe that Para Jima does in fact have the correct country code to activate.

The APD gets away clean. The landing is wiped out over two turns. In addition to the CD unit there are three more base force-type LCUs. Good to know for later. Japan now has many new depot divisions to feed and clothe.

Ground combat at Paramushiro-jima (137,47)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1468 troops, 24 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 67

Defending force 90 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2

Assaulting units:
Kitachishima Fortress
2nd JNAF AF Unit
5th JNAF AF Unit
44th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
145th Infantry Rgt /2

3) Other

--Marcus I. is bombarded for intel by a CLAA-led light force. Only one CD unit is present.

--Japan, for reasons I don't understand, begins a huge, on-going bombing campaign against Madalay. Scores of 2Es are lost or damaged already. There are no planes there, the AF is nearing an 8, and supply rides comfortably at about 4500 day in, day out. Japan might think this is disrupting supply flows in Burma, but this is not the case. Over this first monsoon I think supply efforts have been pretty successful. Probably 750,000 has been shoved through Chittagong. The stacks at Rangoon/Pegu/Moulmein have never been out, although the last is in the red.

--Air prepping continues against the two Japanese bases on Timor, plus Ambon. Landings are almost ready to go from Townsville. Kendari has bombers though and LRCAP is light out of Darwin. The base at Babar is building slowly. There is still time to wait on this vector.

--NorPac continues to build to be a huge fortress. Only an occasional sub is seen.

--Operation BANDIT forces have nearly bridged the jungle gap south of Imphal to get on the roads. They will train to TG for further movement on Chiang Mai.

--Oil at Medan, after BDA, was less damaged than thought. About 82 is gone. Another carrier strike is approaching. TFs in for fuel continue to be heavy. Subs have laid mines and the Dutch patrol the shallow water there in good numbers. Only six weeks before the USN gets a little help on the torpedoes.

--Strat bombing continues across much of China, doing pinprick damage through Fires, but it is beginning to add up. Quite a bit of LI is lost already. A lot of it is daylight Manpower; not much CAP is encountered in central China.

--The offshore bases west of and north of Sumatra are getting base forces. Several bombardment runs have been done on Padang and Benk. without naval response. Both bases have CAP, Padang Nicks, Benk. Oscars. Padang has a brigade. One IJA ID continues to sit at Lahat. PBang is stuck with daily bombing at 5 + 72%. The troops continue to be well-fed and happy.

--SSTs play cat & mouse in the Marshalls, taking dot bases while Japan takes them back (with disruption and fuel usage.) I love my SSTs.

Hi,

Been reading through this AAR over the past few weeks. Recently started my own PBEM match, also Scen 2, DBB version C, as Allies. Its given me a lot of insight as to how the game progress. So thanks for that!

Do have a few questions if you will humour me. Its Jan 16 1942 now or so.

P40E warhawks versus Zero.

The zeros outclass me no doubt. Most of the battles are me defending my own airfields and for the most part trying to conserve my pilots, with most surviving being shot down. We have a sweep altitude limit of 27000ft and thats the height he is coming in at. Versus a zero sweep at 27kft, what is the optimal altitude to put my cap? The zeros out maneuver me at all altitudes so really not sure what is optimal.

Historically the P40's performed well, with the dive advantage against the superior maneuvering Japanese fighters.

So if your opponent is sweeping at 27 000, you need to be higher than that.

ORIGINAL: BattleMoose

Hi,

Been reading through this AAR over the past few weeks. Recently started my own PBEM match, also Scen 2, DBB version C, as Allies. Its given me a lot of insight as to how the game progress. So thanks for that!

Do have a few questions if you will humour me. Its Jan 16 1942 now or so.

P40E warhawks versus Zero.

The zeros outclass me no doubt. Most of the battles are me defending my own airfields and for the most part trying to conserve my pilots, with most surviving being shot down. We have a sweep altitude limit of 27000ft and thats the height he is coming in at. Versus a zero sweep at 27kft, what is the optimal altitude to put my cap? The zeros out maneuver me at all altitudes so really not sure what is optimal.

Why are you fighting his sweeps?

That early in 1942 the easiest way for your pilots to survive is not to have them on CAP...

Get them into training and at 70/70 they are more than a match for the Zero's that are being thrown at you at equal CAP. The limit in our DBB-B game is 29,000 feet for 1942.

No one would ever accuse me of being an expert, or even good, at the air portion of this huge game. To an extent I also think the answer to the P-40E question depends on what the opponent is after, and the general status on the ground.

I could be wrong but I focus on the man. bands, and with those the P40E is a pig above 20,000. Not nimble below either, but the drop above 20k is radical. We don't have any altitude limits in this game, so I've seen Oscars sweep al the way up to 35,000+. An extra 5-7k feet on defense isn't meaningful there.

Also, are the sweeps in support of bombing, or just to attrit? And is the bombing meaningful for the Allies to slow or stop? Meeting sweeps at bad odds just because is bad play. Working through sweeps because you hope to have some scraps of CAP left to at least spoil the bombers' aim is a different issue. With the coordination changes in the betas it's a toss-up whether the sweeps come before or after the bombers. A lot of the time in this game large sweeps (50+) meet open skies as the CAP has already shot its wad on the preceding bombers.

The issue of pilots is secondary to me.. I am sweeping 81+ guys into TRACOM every turn to save them for the first P-47/Spit squadron. But there are few enough of them. I guess I look at it this way: if the strike is hurting my ground efforts I'll oppose it, no matter the pilots and no matter the planes. If the ground can get along and take the damage, I pull the fighters back or ground them. His sweeps aren't free remember. Ops losses, fatigue, and especially supply costs. Sometimes, such as at Port Blair where his sweeps are at extended range, I play games where I'll put up a max CAP (!00%, no Rest), then 100% ground it the next day. When he sees max CAP he tends to send a lot of escorts the next day and they just waste themselves with the CAP missing. The downside is he bombs the AF and I get quite a few damaged fighters. But it's manageable.

At about Dec. 1, 1942 the plane losses are running about 1200 in my favor. Pools aren't great, but not flat. I think I fought too hard at a few places, like Singers, but overall you do what you can with P-40Es and P-39s and wait it out.

I only contest his sweeps when its in my favour, I have numbers and its far from his bases. The only places I was really succesfully holding him off was at Bessein (Next to Ranogoon) and I am now resisting his sweeps at Batavia. I still have Singapore but he rushed into Palenbang and got it with very little resistance. Mostly my bad.

So he is launching from Palenbang and the fights are occuring over Batavia. I don't fly CAP every turn, every other occasional turn, fatigue his out and rest mine a bit. He hasn't tried bombing it yet. And I have a lot of Dutch fighters and trying to get the best use out of them there and want to keep Batavia up and running as a threat from where I can fly naval attack missions. I am reasonably happy with the results and my pilots have much higher survivability, right? Right?

I did do a nasty trick a few turns ago. I long abandoned trying to defend the airspace over Singapore and he was bombing it to his hearts content. And stopped escorting his bombers! So I transferred buffaloes (only with range) to Singers to set up the CAP to catch unsecorted bombers! Worked reasonably well but unfortunately his first raid had some oscars but the latter raids were really messed up.

But my original question still stands. His sweeps are coming in at 27k ft, house rule limit.

What altitude should I set my warhawks at to get best results? (Buffaloes also?)

TRACOM
I have some questions on this, most of the information I could find seemed to relate mostly to the Japanese. For the Allies what is the benefit of having pilots in TRACOM, faster pilot training? Do the new pilots get more xp or skills?

Cheers

EDIT:
On the topic of asking questions one thing that has really been bugging. How bad is the FOW in the aircraft losses screen? Under/over reported or both? How can I reasonably have information of his OP losses?

ORIGINAL: BattleMoose

I only contest his sweeps when its in my favour, I have numbers and its far from his bases. The only places I was really succesfully holding him off was at Bessein (Next to Ranogoon) and I am now resisting his sweeps at Batavia. I still have Singapore but he rushed into Palenbang and got it with very little resistance. Mostly my bad.

So he is launching from Palenbang and the fights are occuring over Batavia. I don't fly CAP every turn, every other occasional turn, fatigue his out and rest mine a bit. He hasn't tried bombing it yet. And I have a lot of Dutch fighters and trying to get the best use out of them there and want to keep Batavia up and running as a threat from where I can fly naval attack missions. I am reasonably happy with the results and my pilots have much higher survivability, right? Right?

I did do a nasty trick a few turns ago. I long abandoned trying to defend the airspace over Singapore and he was bombing it to his hearts content. And stopped escorting his bombers! So I transferred buffaloes (only with range) to Singers to set up the CAP to catch unsecorted bombers! Worked reasonably well but unfortunately his first raid had some oscars but the latter raids were really messed up.

But my original question still stands. His sweeps are coming in at 27k ft, house rule limit.

What altitude should I set my warhawks at to get best results? (Buffaloes also?)

TRACOM
I have some questions on this, most of the information I could find seemed to relate mostly to the Japanese. For the Allies what is the benefit of having pilots in TRACOM, faster pilot training? Do the new pilots get more xp or skills?

Cheers

EDIT:
On the topic of asking questions one thing that has really been bugging. How bad is the FOW in the aircraft losses screen? Under/over reported or both? How can I reasonably have information of his OP losses?

I can't give you a better answer on altitude than I did above. The bounce is powerful. Maneuver bands are significant. Which is more deserving of priority I don't know. I favor the bands. But I've never played with an altitude limit HR. In the early war his fighters can come in higher than you can get above. If , however, he has to come at 27k or lower you'll need to find your own sweet spot for P-40Es. I don't like to put mine above 20k. I accept the bounce losses.

You're also in an early phase where you feel "rich" vis a vis the Dutch air force. It won't last. Their planes are mostly crap, and the pilot pool is very shallow. To that end you need to decide what you'll defend and WHY. I picked PBang for fuel denial. I don't know why you care to defend Batavia really. I get the anti-naval air, but your limited stock of TBs is pretty much a few-shot weapon if he's dumb enough to come into range. To take Batavia he doesn't have to. Java has among the best railroads of any piece of map in the game. Most Japan players get one foothold base, often SE of Soerbaja, and do a purely land campaign to take down Java.

One thing you could think of, and I didn't do, is you can spend PPs to convert Darwin's base ownership to ABDA, and make that a retreat base for a lot of the Dutch forces. They have a lot of pretty good base forces, and Oz is short of engineers in 1942 considering how vast is the need to build the coasts.

But to return to the air war, you can compete, some, in January 1942. By March if he's any good the Dutch will be pretty toasted and a non-factor. If you're playing a beginning Japan player you might have a bit longer. But the Dutch simply can't compete in the air for very long, HR or no HR.

Edit: FOW is variable. His ops losses are variable. I wouldn't base a strategy on his ops losses anyway. He isn't basing his on yours either.

Edit Edit: for the Allies the main use of TRACOM is to stash pilots for later use in better planes. They have no need to accelerate nuggets through the training pipeline as Japan sometimes does. Allies will never lack for pilots.

Okay thanks for all the input!

Another question.

What is stopping the Japanese player, if anything, of making duplicate copies of the turn file that is being sent to him and run through it a few times to obtain the best result for himself?

ORIGINAL: BattleMoose

Okay thanks for all the input!

Another question.

What is stopping the Japanese player, if anything, of making duplicate copies of the turn file that is being sent to him and run through it a few times to obtain the best result for himself?

The turn is sent with a seed for the random number generator (I believe), so that regardless of how many times you run the turn from a save as Japan, you should get the exact same result. Back in original WitP there was some doubt about whether this was in fact happening every time, but in AE it doesn't seem to be an issue.

As of December 21, 1942

Quick update on this game, still progressing at about four days per real-time week.

Two massive battles today.

1) After a long, highly interesting and educational siege, Soerbaja falls. The Dutch garrison is lost as well as the two cruisers, one CA and one CL, which had been huddled there for months with 99 system damage, not repairing and not sinking. Organic supply had been enough to maintain the LCUs, but not to re-build forts. About ten days ago a stack of useless base forces had been moved to the SE to free up some supply for the forts, but it wasn't enough. Have not looked at the turn file yet to see if I can determine any damage roll, but this will give Japan a much-needed shot of fuel.

The Allies are about to re-take Timor, and a strat bombing campaign on Soerbaja might be possible fairly soon. But this also frees up significant IJA LCUs to either go for Pbang, or to reinforce Sumatra in general. Or something else.

Ground combat at Soerabaja (56,104)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 58920 troops, 566 guns, 402 vehicles, Assault Value = 1999

Defending force 19751 troops, 159 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 285

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 2950

Allied adjusted defense: 151

Japanese assault odds: 19 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Soerabaja !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
3345 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 227 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 40 disabled
Vehicles lost 14 (4 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
27764 casualties reported
Squads: 433 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2554 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 81 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 224 (224 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 147 (147 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 29

Assaulting units:
5th Division
2nd Engineer Regiment
65th Brigade
33rd Division
48th Division
11th Garrison Unit
124th Infantry Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
Artilleriecommando Coastal Gun Battalion
Tjilatjap KNIL Battalion
Mobiele Eenheid Battalion
2nd KNIL Regiment
Prajoda Garrison Battalion
Barisan KNIL Regiment
6th KNIL Regiment
Van Altena Battalion
Makassar Garrison Battalion
Madion Base Force
SE Borneo KNIL Battalion
North Sumatra Base Force
Semarang Base Force
Tjilitap Base Force
Djojakarta Base Force
VII KNIL Battalion
Commandement Marine
Loemafjang Base Force
Tarakan Coastal Gun Battalion
Samarinda KNIL Battalion
Bandoeng Base Force
Banjoewangi Base Force
Marinier Battalion
3rd KNIL AA Battalion
MLD
Soerabaja Base Force
4th KNIL Regiment
2 ML-KNIL Aviation
Balikpapan Base Force

2) On the other side of the ledger Japan attacks Chungking for the 4th or 5th time (can't remember.) There has been daily, intense bombing here for months, but the numbers are so large it doesn't really dent China much. Supply is all a bit of internal (Resources are off due to co-location in hex), plus the Ledo air lifeline. I insert this combat report since Chungking sieges have lately been a thing in the forum in several AARs, as well as the Symon-led discussion in the modder sub-forum on how to make China more playable and interesting.

If Chungking holds out it's only a matter of time before supply will once again reach the region. Meanwhile Japan has about 65 LCUs tied up here for most of the year. Chengtu's supply generation has been bombed out by about 2/3, with more to come as US Army 4E inventories are growing. Paoshan is getting regular supply now through Lashio and the beginning of a force to re-take Tsuyung is gathering.

Is it worth it to try for Chungking? Maybe still an open question. But the resurrection rule is a powerful factor for the Allies trying to hold there.

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 253728 troops, 2627 guns, 1677 vehicles, Assault Value = 7853

Defending force 154819 troops, 815 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4339

Japanese adjusted assault: 5654

Allied adjusted defense: 7451

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
46772 casualties reported
Squads: 945 destroyed, 1699 disabled
Non Combat: 229 destroyed, 419 disabled
Engineers: 267 destroyed, 569 disabled
Guns lost 527 (104 destroyed, 423 disabled)
Vehicles lost 337 (91 destroyed, 246 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
11972 casualties reported
Squads: 115 destroyed, 747 disabled
Non Combat: 87 destroyed, 536 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 51 disabled
Guns lost 158 (31 destroyed, 127 disabled)
Units destroyed 3

Assaulting units:
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment
36th Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Tank Regiment
37th Division
7th Ind.Mixed Brigade
35th Division
23rd Division
60th Division
4th Brigade
39th Division
10th Tank Regiment
116th Division
34th Division
58th Division
40th Division
51st Engineer Regiment
1st Mobile Engineer Regiment
1st Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
28th Engineer Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
6th Division
13th Division
22nd Division
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
41st Division
23rd Tank Regiment
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment
20th Recon Regiment
3rd Division
104th Division
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Armored Car Co
12th Tank Regiment
16th Division
17th Division
24th Division
3rd Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
20th Engineer Regiment
5th Armored Car Co
26th Engineer Regiment
4th Mortar Battalion
5th Army
11th Field Artillery Regiment
44th Ind.AA Gun Co
21st Mortar Battalion
42nd Ind.AA Gun Co
5th RF Gun Battalion
43rd Ind.AA Gun Co
41st Ind.AA Gun Co
41st Air Defense AA Battalion
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
42nd Air Defense AA Regiment
10th Mortar Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
North China Area Army
26th Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd RF Gun Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
11th Army
1st Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
1st Army
10th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
68th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
36th Chinese Corps
47th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
55th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
14th Chinese Corps
1st Chinese Cavalry Corps
32nd Chinese Corps
7th Chinese Corps
91st Chinese Corps
23rd Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
41st Chinese Corps
34th Chinese Corps
40th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
51st Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
33rd Chinese Corps
16th Chinese Corps
17th Construction Regiment
8th Construction Regiment
39th Chinese Corps
20th Artillery Regiment
39th Group Army
37th Group Army
12th Construction Regiment
49th AA Regiment
38th Group Army
Central Reserve
41st AA Regiment
Lusu War Area
10th Chinese Base Force
4th Heavy Mortar Regiment
1st War Area
13th Construction Regiment
China Command
57th AT Gun Regiment
21st Group Army
5th Chinese Base Force
11th Construction Regiment
13th Group Army
26th Group Army
2nd Construction Regiment
2nd Group Army
22nd Group Army
1st Artillery Regiment
7th Construction Regiment
3rd Chinese Base Force
3rd Heavy Mortar Regiment
CAF HQ
8th Group Army
22nd Artillery Regiment
5th War Area
56th AT Gun Regiment

3) In CentPac Operation CHUMLEY, an attack on Marcus Island, is in transit. I don't have enough naval air to be comfortable, and I don't know where the KB is, but I'm going to try a smash and grab. I have good intel on what's there. If successful, MArcus would give me an island arc from Wake, to Eniwetok, to Marcus, and position naval search to not only spy on the Marianas approaches, as well as the Bonins, but also give me eyes deep into HI waters for my subs. The first phase torpedo Great Healing is a week away.

If the KB shows up it could get ugly though.

4) Operation BANDIT, the march on Chinag Mai in Burma, is about half-way to the objective and so far unmolested. I don't know if he doesn't see all of it or doesn't care. IJA bombing of AFs I don't need continues every day. Burma is superbly supplied right now through Chittagong and the Allies have survived the first monsoon. The three big stacks at Rangoon, Pegu, and Moulmein are all in the white and well-rested. At Port Blair an Aussie division plus Indian help is prepping for a landing at Tavoy to flank Moulmein. Two Chindit units are ready to board planes for a para drop at Raheng when Chiang Mai is invested. Allied air power in Burma is still anemic and really a bunch of pick-up scraps, but it's not really about the airplanes here.

5) In NorPac the Aleutians are a massive, ready fortress and left alone except for an occasional sub. The jump into the Kuriles waits only for naval air power and amphib ships. Still a year probably. In the meantime a lot of sub patrols into the northern resource areas will base from here.

6) All of northern NG is built, with Hollandia a major operating base to bookend Rabaul. SSTs will shortly leave to progress into the last NW corner bases, which are ungarrisoned as far as I can tell. Haven't decided yet what to do with the PI. I'd like to skip it. We'll see.

So, that's the general gist. This is a VP report from today. Despite the massive losses at Soerbaja, and the much lower gains at Chungking, the auto-vic ratio doens't move much. The absolute VP numbers are hard to move by now with single battles.

So Long, and Thanks For all The Fish

September 17, 2014

Mike has chosen to end our game after roughly two years.

I plan to do a tie-up post on final dispositions so any remaining readers can see where it all ended up.

I want to thank Mike for the game. I learned a lot in this, my first PBEM experience.

Steve

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

So Long, and Thanks For all The Fish

September 17, 2014

Mike has chosen to end our game after roughly two years.

I plan to do a tie-up post on final dispositions so any remaining readers can see where it all ended up.

I want to thank Mike for the game. I learned a lot in this, my first PBEM experience.

Steve

Really sad to see your AAR and game ending. [:(]
You and your opponent both tried some unusual things and took risks that made the game exciting for us in the cheap seats!
Bravo on your first PBEM - I hope you can sucker - er - I mean entice another opponent into playing you soon!
Many thanks for the effort! [&o][&o]