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12th - 17th september 1942

DEI

- usual bombing runs in Sumatra and Koepang.
- on 14th september, AK Forafric is sink at Koepang: it has come under cloud cover to bring supplies, but one day after reaching this base, the weather is clear and the sally and bettys destroy it.
- 16th september , BB Ise and Yamato shell Koepang. 2 dutch subs ae on patrol in the area, but catch nothing.....

PHILIPPINAS
Tawi Tawi is captured by a SNLF on 12th september

SOPAC
- my planes made milk-runs against Efate to raise the damages of airfield and harbor. On 15th september, 2 SBD flying from Luganville are destroyed by flak.
- On 13th september, despite bad weather, bettys from Gili Gili find a TF of 2 AK heading for Port Moresby with supply. The TF is covered by 9 wirraways flying from cooktown; this is not enough to stop the 12 attacking bettys. 3 japs planes are damaged, but one AK is doomed and sink after 2 torpedoes hit. THe other AK sail back to safety and reach Cairns 3 days later.

BURMA
Many scattered raids on japs units west and south of Irrawady, but with few results. Two armored attack on 13 and 15th september fail to dislodge the two japs brigades still north of the river.

Andaman
This base is raided by japanese aviation 6 times. he japs sorties gather 96 sorties of fighters (Tojo, Tony, Zeros) and 239 sorties of bombers. These raids face a bunch of dutch, british and american fighters (AVG/C being among the defenders).
These raids cost me 14 fighters, and costed 15 japs fighters and 15 bombers





SUBWAR
16th september is not a good day for allied subs:
At Brunei, K XVII is hit by patrol planes. At Victoria point , 6 patrol boats hits Truant with 7 depth charge and is set on fire.
At Johnston Island, SS Guardfish miss it's target, a PG Boat.
In the Salomons, SS S-37 hunt KB but don't manage to catch this target.
17th september is not better: still at Victoria Point, japs patrol boats hit K XI twice, sinking it, and damaging another sub.
And at Kwajalein, SS S-35 is shaken by an ASW TF without hitting any target.

12th september - 17th september

CHINA

Wuchow suffer a deliberate attack on 12th september wich reduce forts to level 6; 9600 japs casualties for 2900 chinese.
The japs launch offensive again on 16th and 17th september, wich drop the forts level to 4; 19000 japs casualties for 7000 chinese.
This place seem doomed at short term.

Kweilin and Hengchow are besieged by the japs units. The japs army control the railroad from Canton to Hengchow.

Changsa suffer a deliberate attack on 16th september wich drop fort level to 6; the japs suffer 6800 casualties for 2700 chinese. The level of disruption of my units is quite high, but fortunately the supply can flow freely from Chungking.
The japs resume bombardement on 17th september.

Airwar still cost for the japs, but the allies side suffer also.
First of all, the depleted allies squadrons are sent back toward India. Places like Pakhoi or Wuchow are no more covered by allied planes after the 14th.
And on 14th september , AVG/A suffer it's darkest day: 11 planes are downed this day above Wuchow; FLT Reed score his last kill, reaching 34 ( now a legend ) .But, his planes shot by a zero, he bail, wounded, and disapear behind the ennemy lines. He is now MIA.
Others Aces, like SLDR Cooper-Slipper of 605th squadron (20 Kills), are MIA or KIA.

21september.

So why disaster ?
AAR was a bit long to come because 1°first of all i was angry against myself and 2° things were still in action and i didn't wanted for ennemy ears to have info.

Crossing Coral Sea near Norfolk Island, a HUGE convoy was heading toward Brisbane, without fear. There was nearly 100 AK, covered by 2TF of 1CV each. 1st USMC Div and 37th US Div, along with 1 aviation Regiment, 2 base forces, a Seebee and 120000 supplies.
On 21st september, i was caught with my pant down: KB made a lightning strike that had nearly no counter strike.

1) A stike with 30 F4F, 29 SBD and 12 Avenger aimed at KB, and was torn in piece by the CAP of 48 zeros and 15 Rufe.
13 Rufe and 8 zeros are downed with 14 F4F, 7SBD and 9 Avangers. The only hit was a bomb wich bounce on CV Hiyo deck.
Why so few US Planes ? Because i am deeply stupid !! The 3 others attack squadrons spread on the 2 CV were on ASW duty !!!
Congrat Gladiatt, you are probably the most stupid player on the board [:o]

2) The KB Stike came the same morning, 71 Vals and 66 Kate without escort [X(]. The 24 F4F on CAP are dumb, and all pilots should be executed, but hopefully for them, they have drown and sunk !!![:@]. 24 Vals and 14 kate are destroyed, half of these by the flak of my CV; CV Wasp take 4 torps, and CA Quincy take a torpedo.

Afternoon
The allies manage to launch another strike, a weak one, 8 F4F, 6SBD only manage to be shot down except a F4F.
The japs launch a second strike, 28 val and 29 kate without escort; my 11 F4F don't catch the incomers !! 16 japs planes are downed by AA fire. CV Yorktown receive 4 torpedoes, DD Momsen one.

As you could imagine, after the blow about my CV, i had fear about my troops .
I had luck !!!! [X(].
KB probably sail back on next day. Why ? Jan didn't knew where were my others CV.
In a second, my transport spread like gudgeon hunted by barracudas. And in a week, no air strike came to slaughter my convoys.
Troops are now in safety in many australians ports.

WASP sinked in the late afternoon.
Despite it's MAGAZINE EXPLODE (look the screen), YORKTOWN struggle enough to stupidly give me hope.
It fist extinguish fires in 2 days, but was at 88 sys and reached 88 flot...and on 29 september, sinked at one hex of Auckland harbor [8|][:(]

With such a blow, i must consider
1) that i am stupid. I think i had forget this true evidence for too much time. Ok, now i know.
2) that one shall NEVER underestimate an opponant.
3) That i am not going anywhere for 6 months or more, until i could have enough CV to match KB, and until i get GOOD PLANES ;
4) see next post for another true evidence.

CHINA

Well, i am not going to enter the details, but after several days of land and air bombardement , WUCHOW suffer a deliberate attack on 30 september. The forts are dropped from 5 to 4; the japs suffer 6300 casualties, for 1500 chinese.
On 1st October , the attack keep on. And WUCHOW FAIL;
Japs casualties 10100 ;
Chinese casualties: .....107000; 650 victory point in one day.

Now, the japs have 3 choice of heading. North toward Kweiang.
East toward Kweilin/Hengchow/Changsa.
West toward Nanning.
In fact, the japs have so much troops (57 at Wuchow, 26 at Changsa, 4 around Nanning, 22 at Hengchow, 6 at Kweilin) that they can head in ALL direction at the same time.
CHINA will fall. In 2 months or in 6, but it will fall.
THEN, the huge japanese army will be free to head for anywhere else, and being unstoppable !

I think it will be long for my opponant to kill me and achieve victory, but i think he can 1) earn a lot of VP in China
2) achieve a strategic decision in China, wich will allow the japs to achieve another strategic decision 6 months later by sheer weight of number. Than, every 6 months, another domino could fall.

Until a miracle arise, i don't see how to change this ;
And from previous post, you could guess that i am no more relying on my intelligence to achieve victory.

2nd October - 16 october

After the fall of Wuchow and the huge losses suffered by my chinese troops (14 corps wipped out ), the japs slowly advance north.

Kweilin is slowly encircled by japs units, and as it is not on the railroad leading to Hengchow, i decided to retreat 3 of the 4 corps making garrison in this town. For now, the japs has slipped aside of the city, but no doubt he will come to seize it in a moment.

Hengchow is quite well garrisoned , and as long as roughly 20 japs units besieged the town, i was able to hold the artillery duel.
But a big part of the HUGE jap army is now coming....no idea how long it will take for Jan to tame me here.

Changsa has became a first choice target for the japanese army.
At first, i tried to cut the supply line by sending 754th US Tk Bn behind the town. The incoming of a jap unit, and heavy hammering by divebombers shake the tank unit; the withdrawal turn in retreat, and half the vehicles are lost in the process...
On 14 october, the japs launch a deliberate attack wich reach no less than 2/1 odd and dropp forts from level 6 to 5. 5600 japs casualties for 2800 chinese. The attack is hard, and i desperatly look for reinforcements....a chinese div is withdrawn from Hengchow to bolster the defense. 15th october see another attack, odd 1/1, forts dropped to level 5 (one level having been made in the night!) , 7200 japs against 2200 chinese. The supply level down. 16th october another attack only reach 0/1, 4500 japs casualties for 2200 chinese. What's will arrive tomorrow (still in waiting).
IF Changsa fall, Hengchow will be cut from supply in 2 or 3 days, and same thing aboout Hengchow, the fall of this city would mean the end of Changsa. Once one of this city fall in japs hands, i will have to retreat (will be a collapse) toward Chungking, but with no more line to draw a front line. It will be the end of China, except for Yunan.

AIRWAR IN CHINA
Ambush had been changing from success to failure at random. AVG/A is not any more a killer squadron, and 6th FS (P-39) suffer heavy losses, but Brits squadrons have some good success with the fabulous Spitfire.
The allies air losses amount in 15 days to 5 bombers (Sb2c and Blenheims), 7 spitfire, 17 P-40 and P-39; Major Rea, leader of AVG/A is KIA on 16th october (Total Kills 20), but 1LT Lopez and 2LT Landry reach kill 23 each (a few kills in 15 days).
605th squadron become the renown unit of the time. PO Friendish reach ace status in one day against some Oscar datai, SLDR Edge reach 23 and FLT Stephen reach 29, coming close to champion Reed.

The japs losses amount to 5 bombers and 58 fighters of all kind.

SOPAC 2nd to 16th october 1942

After the KB strike of 21st september, and the time needed for me to avoid the japs CV and reach port for my convoy, i thought KB was back in Rabaul.
Despite my airbase in Norfolk Island that i use to close the patrol gap between Asutralia and New Caledonia, KB appear once more in Coral Sea, South West of Norfolk Island, seaking a lone AK.
Once more, my convoys spread far away; the surface combat TF (made of the escort of the CV now without capital ship to protect) take a heading south at full speed, to disapear in deep ocean. 21 subs try to concentrate in a square between Fiji, New Caledonia and New Zealand, trying to catch KB. Slowly, at cruise speed , the japs CV roam here, spotted daily by my patrol planes....and disapear on 13th october.....Without even crossing the search arcs of my patrol planes. Hidden under clouds ? Heading toward Alphabet Sea (see Mandrake AAR [;)] ). Or else ?

DEI

4th october, the remnant of 8th Indian Bde surrenders to 81st Nav Guard Unit in Sumatra; 538 mens are POW.

Jolo is bombed quite daily by bettys from Tarakan.

Koepang heavily bombed by sallys, Helens, Kates and Oscar on training. My dutch AA unit is now reduce to a single bofor unable to shot the japs planes. The port and airfield look like moonscape.

BURMA 1st to 16th october

On 30th september, the british units broke the jap line south of Mandalay. 33rd jap div and 4th mix bde retreat under the blows of 5th Indian Div and 7th arm Bde.
My units slide south, and as the jap withdraw in Pagan, the british and chindits brigade walk along the railroad south.
On 2nd october, the japs launch a counter attack with 55th Div and 1st and 8th Tk reg, wich is repulsed.
Then 16th chindit bde reach Taung Gyi on 6th october, launch an attack on 7th and capture the base on 8th, forcing the Jap base force and a construction battn to retreat in the jungle toward Raheng.
On 11th october, just having reach Pagan, my brits units are attacked by the japs at Pagan, a shock attack reaching odds 1/1 despite the several setbacks that these units had in the previous month ! Fortunately the attack fail to throw me back, the japs suffering 2600 casualties for 830 allies. In a few days, others brits units reach the place, hoping to pinn down the japs.
A probe attack by 3rd carabiniers suffer 420 casualties and 14 vehicules for only 96 japs. The base have a level 9 forts !
On 14th october, the japs bombardement manage to cause 300 brits casualties ! my artillery only manage some 20 daily casualties.
My LBA are stucked on ground by bad weather [:@] and can't add their weight to the battle.
South of Pagan, a brit bde reach the suburb of rangoon. It seem some japs units are evacuating ( Aviation Regiment) .
But others unit are bringed, probably by Fast Transport TF and AK;
My british planes in Akyab are stuck by bad weather !!! (except for one day, see below)

AKYAB

Since months i am raising this base in hope of future operations.
Port have been raised from 0 to 3 , but this suck much supplies. Jan is aware of the move of my AK.
The place is raided 11th, 12th,13th, 14th and 16th october.
The jap gather as usual a big deal of zeros, and my local airforce suffer , while 4 AK are heavily damaged in port (One has already sink ).
Theses fights cost me 58 fighters of all kind (dutch and brits), for 30 japs zeros and 12 bombers.
On 13th october, 3 japs DD enter Akyab bay and sink an AK, and then withdraw south at full speed , avoiding my wellingtons on Nav attacks despite being in range [:@].
I would like to use Akyab as a major hub for the incoming action in Burma, but the japanese planes are too much of a threat, and my fighters can't stop the attacks of the bettys...Thus, i sent all the avalaible subs in the bay of Bengal, but too often, they don't catch their prey, or are heavily damaged by the japs planes on Nav Search....And no RN Ships could stand so close to japs planes.

ANDAMAN
Is another target of the japs on 7th, 8th, 12th. Here also i have a bunch of dutch and brits fighters along with AVG/C; my squadrons loose 11 fighters; the japs loose 25 fighters and 3 bombers.

And here is the situation in Burma

- the allies subs (mostly dutch) try to ward the incoming avenue of Akyab, and suffer from patrol planes near Victoria Point.

- you can see the TF south of Rangoon bringing japs units to garrison the place, or worse, to counter attack me

- the spreading of my units, trying to totaly encircle the japs in Pagan: i seek destruction, not retreat.
But it is most probable that the japs will send heavy units to relieve the place and break my siege.
The AA units in Pagan have already torn my LBA that launched an attack on 16th october....reducing this place will cost me planes from Flak (even flying high is costly).
To Close the incoming in Rangoon seem impossible if bad weather prevent my planes from flying, or if they miss their target or don't have escort ( remenber the short legged brits fighters).
Reinforcement are not a solution: a small Blenheim squadron in 60 days only; and LCU are 2 months away from Pagan by foot (damned stupid trails between India and Burma).
So all this is probably a futile attempt to hurt the japs units....

17th october - 22 october

Why frustration ?
When one of my sub is close to a japs base, in the following days, japs patrol planes manage to hit the sub wich have to quickly get back to a base. In a month, 2 have already been lost this way.
When one of my sub cross the path of a japanese ship , it never made contact....(i'd like to fire some torpedoes from time to time)
Because most of my suadrons (or US Groups) can't manage to have 100% planes ready, even when there is enough airsupport at the base...
Because the weather is on the ennemy side, always (no, i am not exagerating with bad faith, just ask the weather god for wich side he is working [:@] [8|] ); i have hundreds of planes in India that sould hammer the japs...
Because 4E are supposed to fly missions even if there are japs fighters facing them, but this does not happen [8|].
I am frustrated.

Now for the events:

CHINA
Siege of Pakhoi, Kweilin, Hengchow, Changsa are underway; in Hengchow and Changsa, the supply level never get upper of 20000; hence, no reinforcement is possible. The building of forts (after the japs assault) are too slow to my taste.
And the chinese corps walk too slowly (to escape some area, or to reinforce others) [:@].

BURMA
The siege of Pagan seem strange: there are more japs besieged than there are allied besieging. The artillery duel is on the japs siede; the allied bombers don't fly [:@] (thunderstorms since 7 days now). 3rd carabiniers and 7th armored bde launched an attack to test the defence and to try to shake the japs; but this attack fail.
The morale of my troops, wich was pretty good when defending Mandalay, is dropping everydays, and no HQ can halt this [:@].
7 allied subs try to keep the area of Rangoon, so the japs could not send troops here....4 have been hits by patrol planes. 2 others are just coming out of repair yards to keep some "garrison" (that will have no result for sure).

SOPAC
KB raid was near New Zealand on 7th october, sinking an AK; it then headed East.
On 18th october, it sink another lone AK south of Tongatapu.
On 20th, KB is spotted south of Pago Pago. One US sub decided to sleep of go fishing rather than shooting at KB.
On 21th october, KB raid Pago Pago: 58 Vals, 71 Kate and 17 zeros face 2 F4F (yes, two: VMF had just been unloaded 2 days ago, and tried to repair the planes). Strangely, the Zeros don't catch the wildcats; one of the val is shot down by my fighters. Than flak down 2 Kates and 4 vals. No ships are in the port, so damages are only a few hits on port supply and port fuel.
On 22th october, KB seem to take a path north of Pago Pago.
There are 4E in Pago Pago , but they decide to play base ball or soccer or poker rather than attacking the KB [:@].

West Coast
October is a big month for the upgrades : subs, CV, BB , CA, DD, everyship can have some.
The shipyards are full, working as they can. Some ships "refuse" to repair before having a upgrade. This is true of 2 CV that i got in West Coast. Every trick fail (creating a new TF and disbanding in the hope of launching once more the repair routine; emptying the repair yard of every other damages ships, and so on). Will have to send back to operation those stupid CV damaged (by sea only) and without refit [:@][:@].
This game is frustrating.
I am going to play Civi : there is a "worldbuilder" that allow me to cheat [:@][8|][:(][:'(][:o]

a couple of things that came to my mind upon reading your main frustrations;

ORIGINAL: gladiatt


17th october - 22 october

When one of my sub is close to a japs base, in the following days, japs patrol planes manage to hit the sub wich have to quickly get back to a base. In a month, 2 have already been lost this way.
When one of my sub cross the path of a japanese ship , it never made contact....(i'd like to fire some torpedoes from time to time)

i never really bothered to do so, but it seems that the aggression lvl on your sub commanders can make a real difference on attacking or staying still, paying pp to get a commander on a sub is a choice, but it can pay of if you get a couple of good hits with it

Because most of my suadrons (or US Groups) can't manage to have 100% planes ready, even when there is enough airsupport at the base...
sounds logical, but have you tried forming air battles around air HQ's? i tend to air lift air HQ's to where theyre needed with the japs, the allies have a larger distance to travel, but in some cases it can still be a sound strategy, this will keep morale and disruption on a better lvl, so you just might get a couple of extra planes into the air.

no result except slaughtering of my forces. no luck. no imagination. no strategic goal. nothing worth the effort.



NOPAC
SOPAC
CENTPAC

nothing to tell. Convoys bringing stuff that won't make any difference. After KB raid, a lot of them are sent on different ways, and now trying to reach a port with fuel.

DEI
Koepang bomb daily.
3 subs are hit by japs patrol planes between 23 and 31 october. None sink but they are useless.

BURMA
Siege of Pagan going well....for the japs. Artillery duel is good for him: between 90 and 200 allied casualties each day. Between 20 and 80 ja^s casualties each days. Supply low. Morale in the sokcs (as we say in France). Disruption climbing.
In 9 days, 2 see missions on Pagan, just a few planes, and there are too much planes lost to flak for NO results. Disgusted.
Probe attack made by Chinee Tk Reg on Rangoon. 7 SNLF and 3 eng units in there. Too much to dislodge with the few troops i have avalaible. The eng are now building the forts.

AKYAB
Jap raid on harbor on 23th oct cost 16 zeros and 3 bettys, for 11 allied fighters (not the good rate to win), 2 AK are hit by the bettys torp. THE bombers ALWAYS get through, no plan can be made in these conditions, here or elsewhere .
25th oct, between Akyab and Andaman, 2 swordfish and 9 beaufort hit CA Ashigara with 2 torp. Since, no sign of sinking !! must have reach safely Singapore repair yard.
30th oct, 8 japs DD enter Akyab port, sink 4 AK and a MSW; few allied ac attack in the morning , 2 DD are hit by a bomb each, only one seen on fire, no sign of sinking, must be safe now [:@].

30th oct, sweep of 32 P40B and 35 brand new P-38 on Moulmein, where the jap has come back with his planes.
For 21 japs planes, 3 P40B and 21 P-38 are downed . 21 ?????????? WTF ??? This planes is supposed to be good. Don't talk about exp, with 7500 planes lost since beginning of war japs exp should be awful, but NO; my exp was around 62; so what ? I supposed that Sweep were the best missions !!! ALL THIS IS ONLY CRAP AND BULLSHIT !!

CHINA
Japs send attack on Hengchow and Changsa. Changsa suffered 7 attacks in 9 days, dropping forts from level 4 to 0.
Near Nanning, my corps are stucked at 59 miles of travel and NOTHING MORE [:@][:@][:@].

[:@]
NOV 1 to 4

Nothing particular except 3 more allied subs hits by japs patrol planes in DEI or Bengal Bay.

CHINA
Changsa fall 1st Nov; Nanning fall 1st nov . Kweilin fall 30th oct ( 1 corps and 1 hq surrender). Hengchow fall 3 nov. 3HQ and 3 corps surrender.
Japs was about to close escape road but the crossing of 8 chinese corps repulse the 2 japs tk reg trying to do so.

INDIA
No sign of missions flying here : no bombing of Pagan that could help.
Subs stucked in Repair yard don't repair.
Squadron upgrading don't repair planes [:@][:@][:@] ( 60000 supplys, 300 airsupport, AirHQ with Claire Chennault on place, so NO REASON they don't repair [:@][:@])

REPAIR YARDS in Australia/West Coast/India : some ships don't repair, even if only ship in yard !! of course they are not useless MSW or AK, but CV !!! Thinking of scrapping some stupid CV don't repairing (and thus don't upgrading);

My own failure are hard to stand, but i could (should/would) learn and repair them
BUT THE FLAWNESS OF THIS STUPID GAME P...... ME !!!
And no sign of going better.
All this is highly frustrating, this is not the goal of a game...........

sorry if annoying/disturbing people.

30th oct, sweep of 32 P40B and 35 brand new P-38 on Moulmein, where the jap has come back with his planes.
For 21 japs planes, 3 P40B and 21 P-38 are downed . 21 ?????????? WTF ??? This planes is supposed to be good. Don't talk about exp, with 7500 planes lost since beginning of war japs exp should be awful, but NO; my exp was around 62; so what ? I supposed that Sweep were the best missions !!! ALL THIS IS ONLY CRAP AND BULLSHIT !!

At what range were you conducting your sweep? And, do you know if the Japanese have radar at their base??

And what is the experience of the Japanese? If they are in the high 80's, you are going to take really bad losses.

One thing i've found that most newer players don't quite get: if you are flying aircraft at something near maximum range, you will take disproportionate losses...

i've had 2 Japanese players try attacking at near maximum range (in CHS, where air losses are markedly decreased) into fairly stiff opposition with their crack pilots, and they (the Japanese) were uniformly slaughtered... i used to make the same mistake frequently in my first game... hopefully i make the mistake less often now.

If you as the Allies are flying at more than about 3 hexes, you are going to be at a severe disadvantage (at least for the 1st year or so of the war).

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

30th oct, sweep of 32 P40B and 35 brand new P-38 on Moulmein, where the jap has come back with his planes.
For 21 japs planes, 3 P40B and 21 P-38 are downed . 21 ?????????? WTF ??? This planes is supposed to be good. Don't talk about exp, with 7500 planes lost since beginning of war japs exp should be awful, but NO; my exp was around 62; so what ? I supposed that Sweep were the best missions !!! ALL THIS IS ONLY CRAP AND BULLSHIT !!

At what range were you conducting your sweep? And, do you know if the Japanese have radar at their base??

And what is the experience of the Japanese? If they are in the high 80's, you are going to take really bad losses.

One thing i've found that most newer players don't quite get: if you are flying aircraft at something near maximum range, you will take disproportionate losses...

i've had 2 Japanese players try attacking at near maximum range (in CHS, where air losses are markedly decreased) into fairly stiff opposition with their crack pilots, and they (the Japanese) were uniformly slaughtered... i used to make the same mistake frequently in my first game... hopefully i make the mistake less often now.

If you as the Allies are flying at more than about 3 hexes, you are going to be at a severe disadvantage (at least for the 1st year or so of the war).

Bob, you are still reading my crap ??[X(]; i think i should make efforts to seem less pathetic then !
Thanks for the info, i was not aware that the distance of a sweep could work on the results. And that is a pain, because if i want to launch offensive, i must go and seek him where he is, thus far away of my bases.
Building advance base is a pain (Akyab is a good example, as was Luganville 3 months ago): i need to send supplies for the engineers to build the base, and the japs is really good at sinking many AK with his raids, that i am unable to really harm [:(]. It cost me a lot in number of ships and victory point.
Bringing warships to counter his raiders seems stupid: it will be in betty range, and my CAP cover would be not enough.
Previous japs air raid has show that the bombers ALWAYS get through ( so Signore Douet was right), even if the fighters pay an heavy toll. So loosing a few AK by torps is a pain, but loosing Warships would be really hard.
Mines ? I had spread a lot, no japs warship seem willing to hit one.
Subs ? They don't catch anything (when not going to repair yard after several hits by japs patrol planes) even if my own patrol planes spot the japs TF.
QUESTION ? Will the upgrade of october 42, giving US subs a SJ Radar improve the contact rate, or is this just useless feature ?

Don't know about radar in jap base : i must assume every base have one.
Distance was 6 hex, between Akyab and Moulmein on stock map.
There is nothing shorter because usually the jap try to avoid being to close to my 4E; although after having evacuated base for months, he is now coming closer to the fronts, because he have new fighters having good results (Tojo and Tony; there are no more crappy Oscar in front of me, what a pity).
Finding targets at 3 of range seem pretty impossible.

About exp of the japs pilots: during summer, there was some terrible results for the japs, and i thought it was the lack of experience of his pilots, but it seem he has manage somehow to raise the exp of many squadrons by now. And i am unable to guess where are the crack pilots and the rookies. Except for AVG/A and 2 Spitfire squadron, most of my fighters units have around 62 exp.
My bombers have higher exp but this seem not enough to achieve results on anything ???? [&:][:(];
Also, does someone know a cast or a prayer to the gods of weather ??
India and Burma seem stucked in Thunderstorms since weeks (now in november, is it the real weather of this season ? ), and the rate of flying mission is pretty low. Thus, bombing of the japs in Pagan, or intercepting incoming japs ships is too often impossible.

And when flying missions, i don't have the same result rate as the japs. I had already seen bunch of 6 to 8 bettys or Nells achieving 2 or 3 (and sometime 4 ) hits on my ships; when i have the same number of planes, they achieve roughly 5% hit rate (thus needing 15 planes to have one hit). (and as i previously said, my bombers exp is in the high 70).

GENERAL STRATEGIC THINKING OF MY OWN
Should i wait for better time ? When ?
Does the Corsair make a difference ? Should i really rely on this plane to change the course of the war ? This seem a bit hard to me. Others planes like P-47 come in too much time; P-51D only come in late 44; so i must think of doing something before 1944 but this seem LONG and WRONG to me.
BUT without air cover and good planes, each move is at high risk (read on the hit rates of japs bombers and the fact they always get through higher in this post);
just imagine i send an invasion somewhere. Look at the map (there should be one somewhere in the June or July report, and nothing has really change since). There is nothing close to my support. Each invasion should have a long travel time (long is anything higher than 1 day). No invasion could go secret with the range of his patrol planes. OK, imagine i have long range fighters: there are only the P-38 right now and until a long time. With a rate of production of 100 there are not enough to convert all my squadrons. And it is not a perfect planes (although the stats of this planes made me think it could have been).
Still, i decide to launch an offensive, covered by P-38 and CV ( well, only if they manage to repair, and they don't); the risk would me too huge and the cost will certainly be awful.
To detter this risk, i must close the closest japs airbase, so send my 4E, covered by long range fighters....and the P-38 is not good enough and in too few numbers

=> THIS IS THE SNAKE THAT EAT HIS TAIL ;
seem to be impossible to go forward.

And i don't even speak of China. In 6 months, Jan would be knocking on heaven's door (sorry , this joke was too easy); i mean i will be knocking at the door of Yunan, and then of Burma.....

Long post, but too many question right now, and i seem in a impossible situation.

Your problems are fundamental

You are too impatient - in stock Allies must wait until 43, late 43 for the offensive
Give it time - once you get corsairs ect - you will see Japan lose 50-60 to 1
trust me.

At the moment -hang on -and if you must be aggressive -concentrate on SS ops -in stock they will work eventually..

And just wait unil you start swanning around the ocean with your CVs with 500 hellcat CAP -able to go anywhere with out harm........[:o]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Your problems are fundamental

You are too impatient - in stock Allies must wait until 43, late 43 for the offensive
Give it time - once you get corsairs ect - you will see Japan lose 50-60 to 1
trust me.

At the moment -hang on -and if you must be aggressive -concentrate on SS ops -in stock they will work eventually..

And just wait unil you start swanning around the ocean with your CVs with 500 hellcat CAP -able to go anywhere with out harm........[:o]

So you guys are roughly telling me that things are quite normal [X(][&:].
I was thinking i was doing badly [:o];
And i also was thinking i was too late for starting limited offensive operations.
What would be your advice so: waiting, but with really limited ops ? maintening a slow tempo with raids/sweeps of my planes ?
And waiting for better time for long haul offensive ?
Thanks for advice [&o], you are enlightening ( word ???) my feeling on this game (even if CHINA is really going bad, but there, there is not much to do).

Subs getting radar makes a slight difference, but not all that much.

China is terribly modeled in stock WITP (and AE, from what i can read)...

Stock WITP with PDU on is a terrible game for the Allies (as far as the air war) ... the Japanese can literally outproduce the Allies in fighter planes if they so desire... [X(] [8|] The best you can do is to try and get the IJ pilots killed. Try to set traps where the Japanese sweep into poor odds (1 to 2 or worse)... this is hit and miss by transferring scads of fighters into bases where the Japanese are likely to try to attack... move them out quickly again and keep your opponent guessing.

Due to the ahistorical modeling, i wouldn't try comparing a stock WITP game to actual events.

So you guys are roughly telling me that things are quite normal .
I was thinking i was doing badly ;
And i also was thinking i was too late for starting limited offensive operations.
What would be your advice so: waiting, but with really limited ops ? maintening a slow tempo with raids/sweeps of my planes ?
And waiting for better time for long haul offensive ?
Thanks for advice , you are enlightening ( word ???) my feeling on this game (even if CHINA is really going bad, but there, there is not much to do).

Things look normal to me, the CV battle you've already examined and flying long range against experienced Japanese pilots is always a tough game. Attrition and new planes will even the field. I would concentrate on logistics at this point, make sure you have supplies and fuel moved forward to support planned offensives and keep probing your opponents perimeter. It will keep him guessing[:)]

Good luck.