Iron Storm (Scenario 50): Playtest

[Terminus]

Of course. Meet the Satsuma; I made her under the TLCLBI (This Looks Cool Let's Build It) design paradigm.

EDIT: New screenie of the proper Satsuma, fixing the typo String pointed out.

[Captain Cruft]

Awesome! Could you send me the bitmap (via PM) and I'll add it to WitP Deathmatch. Iron Storm I cannot speak for ...

[Terminus]

Oh, and just to give credit where credit's due, the picture was made by CobraAus, on commission from yours truly.

[String]

how come the sidemounts of 6.1" guns have two guns in triple mounts?

[Terminus]

Eh? It's 2*3 F and R, and 3*3 LS and RS.

[String]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Eh? It's 2*3 F and R, and 3*3 LS and RS.

Um, shouldn't the first number signify how many guns there are in total? Not how many mounts...

[Terminus]

D'OH!

I've done the same thing that Alikchi did with the Hood!!! Good catch, String![&o]

[Alikchi2]

Andy Mac - I think you are correct. Js and Ks may be just as good but they don't have that cool swept bow! I'll be looking up info on the Tribals. You have to understand that the best and newest warships, pilots and aircraft will be in the Home Fleet, but reinforcements won't be long in coming.

Re: Satsuma gaffe - [:D] It happens to the best of us! Satsuma looks scary enough as it is, really, no further modfications necessary

Agree though - it doesn't belong in Iron Storm. I'd love it to be there, but the IJN leadership in Iron Storm's world are too smart to spend their time developing guns that give their crews flash-burns whenever they're fired ..

Although I did mention dropping the Tosas. (IS 2.0 plug begins here.) I have been doing my research on the Washington Treaty! One conceivable outcome that was mentioned was a separate "battlecruiser deal" for each of the participating nations, preserving the agreed 3-3-2 ratio. This BC deal would be overlaid on top of the existing WT. (The Tosas, being BBs, are not applicable in this situation. The addition of them to the equation would have brought treaty negotiations back to square one.)

This means that, under the terms of the WT, "post-Jutland" warships would consist of:

Code: Select all

 
 Battleship Deal
 
 British Empire: Hood, Nelson and Rodney
 US: 3x Maryland
 Japan: 2x Nagato
 
 --
 
 Battlecruiser Deal
 
 British Empire: 3x G3/Invincible
 US: 3x Lexington
 Japan: 2x Amagi
 
 

Which should be interesting, no? Here's the three battlecruiser classes in question. From top to bottom, G3, Lexington, and Amagi.







Thanks again to CobraAus for these.

All of this means that the final composition of the IJN battleline on December 7th, 1941 is as follows:

Code: Select all

 
 Kongo (8x 14", 30 knots)
 Haruna (8x 14", 30 knots)
 Kirishima (8x 14", 30 knots)
 Hiei (8x 14", 30 knots)
 Fuso (8x 14", 29 knots)
 Yamashiro (8x 14", 29 knots)
 Ise (8x 14", 29 knots)
 Hyuga (8x 14", 29 knots)
 Nagato (8x 16", 25 knots)
 Mutsu (8x 16", 25 knots)
 Amagi (10x 16", 30 knots)
 Takao (10x 16", 30 knots)
 Harima (8x 14", 29 knots)
 Inaba (8x 14", 29 knots)
 

This matches up nicely with the IJN's new focus on raiders and the move away from the "Decisive Battle" doctrine.

No proper update today I'm afraid, just a quick update on Japanese capital unit construction.

[center]
Well, at least I'm doing better this time around, right?[/center]

More tomorrow!

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

I'd love it to be there, but the IJN leadership in Iron Storm's world are too smart to spend their time developing guns that give their crews flash-burns whenever they're fired ..

Or blows them clean off the ship.[:D] Still, you're completely right; the Iron Storm timeline actually has some sensible people in the Japanese naval ministry ship design bureau. I'll just keep my sea monster in my own mod, along with the Montana.

By the by, Alikchi-san, if you're including Atago and Takao as BC's, have you checked for the Atago and Takao CA's? I forget if they've been taken out already...

[Alikchi2]

Nope, Atago, Takao and the rest of their cruiser class are still in, although from that point on (1932 or so) Iron Storm diverges from the real world. Instead of the Mogami and Tone follow-up classes, the IJN builds the Kuramas, which are essentially Takao-class CAs with reduced topweight and some effort at curbing displacement.

I haven't actually added in the battlecruisers that will take said names, yet, but I was thinking of giving the cruisers "Suruga" and "Tsukaba". This would be in line with their naming scheme I believe.

I'll be interested to play your mod! 20.1" guns... *salivates*

Update in a bit.

[Terminus]

The topweight reduction part is very smart; lots of Jap cruisers had that problem in RL.

[Captain Cruft]

The full report complete with Japanese propaganda will follow later.

In the meantime Allied HQ would just like to report that a Wirraway has done something useful. Early today two planes of No. 4 Sqn RAAF braved the fierce air defences at Tarakan, Borneo in order to deliver a 250lb bomb into a Japanese MSW.

Quality! [:D]

[Terminus]

Alright![;)]

[Alikchi2]

Propaganda? The Ministry of Information reports only the facts! Nay-sayers and Western Barbarians take heed!

[:D]

2/9/42

American and Dutch subs outside Palau are getting annoying. Salmon was forced away from Kaga in the night, and Porpoise's torpedo spread did not detonate on her target, CL Hirado. However, our destroyers were completely ineffective at damaging them.

They've also caused the abortion of a bombardment run on Manado - twice - thanks to a timid commander (forgot to assign an Admiral, whoops). A huge waste of fuel, especially considering that we don't really have much available in the area!

On the other hand, no bombardment run is necessary. Manado has fallen. Finally!

The 21st Mixed Brigade was fully unloaded, and with the help of the depleted SNLF and base force units, finally shoved the Dutch defence battallion (!) away from the airfield. After nearly a month of resistance I might add. Dutch supermen!

Over on the other side of the SRA, Moulmein, the newly established airbase in Burma, is looking slightly ill. The American heavy bombers and the AVG are doing pretty well against my Oscars, who don't even bother shooting at the Liberators and Fortresses anymore. [:D]

[center]
Burma Air War[/center]

On the ground things are looking a bit better. 55th Division is marching north to join the others at Moulmein, while the parachutists are landing at Tavoy to take the base. Today's shock attack failed (not enough troops landed, due to weather: 400 Paras versus 1000 base force troops), but we will get enough on the ground eventually to take the base. Better to have two mangled parachute regiments than a severely fatigued division and a long wait before the Burma offensive can start.

[center]
Paratroops of the 2nd Parachute Regiment jumping over Tavoy.[/center]

In Malaya things are going rather better. A nice attack against Johore Bahru scored 57 runway hits and several aircraft destroyed on the ground. We're doing quite well in the air as well! Even the Oscars are shooting down Spits occasionally. The American aircraft appear to have been withdrawn, at least for the moment. On the ground another successful deliberate attack was launched at Kuantan, bringing the forts down to 3. Progress is steady here.

The final theatre of note would be the Philippines. 14th and 16th Armies have united at Manila and the first deliberate attack is scheduled for tomorrow. The airfield at Clark is also about halfway repaired (67 damage to facilities at the moment). When it is fully in service, our army dive bombers will be in a perfect position to support the ground troops. The naval bombers will be needed farther south soon.

[center]
Forces at Manila. 132,000 Japanese versus 52,000 Allied troops.[/center]

Speaking of further south - the whole Tarakan thing! The Zero cap is getting more and more ineffective (base force should be unloaded by next turn, but they've been supported by two AVs for the past few days) and the Dutch and Aussies are getting better. I think a lot of the Martin squadrons got valuable training from bombing previously-abandoned Kuching, and aren't missing too terribly often, really. The Wirraways are just annoying XD. In response to the bombing of my minesweeper, W. Something, I have accelerated and reprioritized minesweeper production!

That's all for now, another update later this week, probably. With a more Japanese voice, probably ;p

[Captain Cruft]

AVs are not supposed to be able to support anything but float-planes. Perhaps you have discovered another bug there?

Regardless, even the tubby Brewsters have shot down a few Zeros over Tarakan. Nice!

I am pleased with the Dutch airforce so far. The Martins are not useless. They just need to be used for something they can do (airfield/port attack) rather than futilely attacking ships ... Mind you, that might not be possible normally but since over half the Japanese airforce is in Malaya it has opened up a few holes elsewhere

[Alikchi2]

Ah! They don't? That explains why the Zeroes are wilting away. [:'(] I knew it didn't make sense, but I'd always thought that was something you could use. Oops..

The Buffs have been doing well! I'm always happy to see a Dutch pilot do well, although slightly less so when he's shooting down MY elites.. ;p

Re: the Japanese airforce - this is too true. Covering everything has been spotty this whole game. I suppose I could bring some Claudes down from the PI.. !

[Alikchi2]

A quick post before I go to bed - hey, it's better than nothing!

2/10/42

Today was a pretty quiet day as far as days in this game go! More of the same, for themost part - no naval combat, with some interteresting ground and air fighting.

Over in Malaya, the full two divisions + support have arrived at Taiping and launched a deliberate attack, which scored 3-1 odds. Nice! Much better than I had expected, actually, since the units are fairly fatigued by their march over the mountains. It must be the constant air support.. or the huge numbers advantage

Farther north in Georgetown an exploratory bombardment attack revealed 34,000+ enemy troops - this just might take a while! Still, it's 50,000 not available to defend the lower peninsula. (Recon is reporting something like 19 units and 60,000 troops at Johore Bahru - frightening!)

In Kuantan, my units launched another deliberate attack, even though I had ordered them to return to bombardments yesterday. This is the second time this has happened and it's starting to get a bit annoying..

Manila saw our first deliberate attack today! Which was a failure, netting me 2500 casualties. :/ I will return to bombardments are relaunch air support, hopefully that will soften up the Americans and Filipinos enough. Cagayan is still holding too and being extremely annoying really - it's holding back two brigade-sized units that would be really useful in the DEI right now!

Speaking of the DEI some fairly interesting things happened this turn. For starters, the Nells in Kuching (escorted by Zeroes) attacked a convoy of what look like small Dutch or Filipino coastal steamers at Soerabaja (probably unloading something). Two of them took multiple Type 91 torpedoes and sunk immediately, and several Brewsters were shot down, so that's nice.

Tarakan continues to look ill, but I have learned from my (in retrospect) stupid assumption, and the Allied bombers should be a bit more manageable soon. Hudsons attacked Manado this turn, doing not-too-much damage, but a Toko group of Zeroes has been transferred in anyways, even though the airfield has not been fully repaired. Naval construction units will follow up soon so that I can make it a level four and safe from bombardments.

Rabaul looks like it is going to be another protracted affair. Reinforcements will be a bit. In fact I don't think I really have the resources to pursue a Central Pacific or a South Pacific drive effectively at the moment, not with the British to worry about. I cold run it on a shoestring but I'm already a bit stretched.. we shall see.

And it's late, so I'm getting some sleep!

[Terminus]

Everytime I hear the words "Ministry of Information", I put on my propaganda-proof underwear...

[Bobthehatchit]

In Kuantan, my units launched another deliberate attack, even though I had ordered them to return to bombardments yesterday. This is the second time this has happened and it's starting to get a bit annoying..

Set them all to defensive stance first, then bombardment i find this works. Think it has something to do with having units that can't bombard like tank and engineering units with inf attached, as they can't be set to bombardment they default back to deliberate.

Nice arr by the way.

When you gona release this baby?

[Terminus]

Since Alikchi-san isn't here, I'll answer for him: Iron Storm has been out for a while now, and can be found at Spooky's website, here:

http://mathubert.free.fr/

Scroll a bit down the frontpage, and you'll find it...