Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

Topeverest, I tend to focus on the economy as well. I babble for two reasons. First, when I make really stupid plans, the smart guys set me straight. Second, I have to have something to do at lunch at work, so I tend to get long winded.

[Mike Solli]

17 Jan 43

Sub War

The Salmon put down a Kiso PB in the straights south of Takao.

Just NE of Truk, another US sub sank a Kasu-D loaded with a portion of the Sasebo 6 SNLF. Fortunately, the SNLF is loaded in 6 xAKLs, so only 10-15% of the troops were lost. This is the unit headed to Gasmata as the garrison reinforcement.

5 Fleet

Adak continues to build up and repair damage. The runway damage is down to 5%! Supply increased to 1245 and 2 more tanks offloaded. At this rate, the 23 Tank Regiment will take a month to offload. Tomorrow, another fast transport cargo ship arrives as well as a cargo ship with some troops from the 4 Garrison unit. KB2 & KB3 are topping their tanks off one more time before heading toward Dutch Harbor. Right now I see a couple of ASW TFs and a large transport TF. KB will come in from SSE toward Dutch Harbor.

4 Fleet

[>:]

SE Fleet

Some night bombing at Pt. Moresby and Terapo did light airfield damage and damaged a couple of planes.

Ted did another sweep of Gasmata with 10x P-38Gs vs. 68 various Japanese planes, costing 6 Japanese fighters for 5 Lightnings. He should be low on them soon. He only gets 20 per month.

SRA

Noting exciting here. I started loading 90 Infantry Regiment at Davao, headed eventually for Gasmata.

Burma

Normal day. Some night bombing of Chittagong and Allied sweeps of Magwe and Tongoo causing 3 Japanese to 2 Allied losses.

China

My daily sweep of Chungking netted nothing today. Only 1 P-66 flew against them. I bombed Chungking's airfield causing light damage and damaging ~10 aircraft.

Other Stuff

I am averaging +8500 supply a turn so I increased 2 of my 3 Ha-45 factories by 30 (the 3rd has 39 still repairing) bringing the Ha-45 R&D to 240. They are scheduled to go operational in 6/43 but should advance to 5/43 this month.

I have 620 armament factories with 500 shut off. I turned an additional 100 on today. My armament points are slowly dropping and I need to increase production a bit.

Two Kageros completed refit, getting the all important Type 2 DC.

[Lowpe]

What are your thoughts on putting Tanks on islands? Wouldn't they be better served where there is some room to move? PI? SRA? Burma? China?

Do they stand up to naval bombardments better?

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

What are your thoughts on putting Tanks on islands? Wouldn't they be better served where there is some room to move? PI? SRA? Burma? China?

Do they stand up to naval bombardments better?

I don't really care about the movement part, but....

Look at the anti-hard on American and USMC squads, and then tell me what you think about it [;)].

[ny59giants]

Adak - As an Allied player I like this base as once expanded to max port I can base my subs here and start my blockade of Japan from here. The Allies get plenty of ARDs (3000 capacity) and ARs that I can send two pair here and repair most damage. Those that need more extensive repairs go back to Prince Rupert. Olorin can attest to the intense sub war I waged off northern coast of Hokkaido in which many of his resource carrying convoys from Sakhalin.

Nicks - Olorin has spent the PP to convert many of his 2e bombers over to Nicks to try to take on my 4e bombers. He can offer feedback if its working.

I use Prince Rupert as my main North Pacific base, so sending some subs and a Glen equipped one might be worth it.

Air HQs - You may need to break your pattern of behavior here and be willing to send out Nell/Betty to attack his shipping in SE SRA so he feels the need to escort them all the time. Even if you just have a few attacks here and there, you can get him to devote his longer ranged fighters to TF escort duty. You can use that to your advantage.

[Mike Solli]

Lowpe, Lokasenna, we'll see. Part of this is to see how tanks fare on islands.

Michael, I'll check out Prince Rupert. I've never checked out that base. I've lost track of convoys when they've moved east from Dutch Harbor. That could very well be where they're going. I just checked and it's maxed out.

Whenever I've tried any type of attacks against his shipping in the SE Fleet area, invariably the bombers go after shipping at Pt. Moresby and get chewed up. I've been thinking of sending some AS to a base in the Solomons and base some Betties there. I'm trying to scrounge up some AS. I get quite a few units in a few days.

[ny59giants]

Run the cursor over Prince Rupert. If the port is maxed out to a 9, then there is very likely chance I'm correct.

Can I get a screenshot from Darwin to the east past Horn Island??

[Mike Solli]

Michael, Prince Rupert's port and airfield are both maxed out. Heading out for a couple hours. I'll get the screen shots when I come back.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Whenever I've tried any type of attacks against his shipping in the SE Fleet area, invariably the bombers go after shipping at Pt. Moresby and get chewed up. I've been thinking of sending some AS to a base in the Solomons and base some Betties there. I'm trying to scrounge up some AS. I get quite a few units in a few days.

For a day really fine tune your naval search patterns to exclude Port Moresby and then try the attack. The Nells/Betties won't attack what they don't see.

[Mike Solli]

Ok guys, here's the SE Fleet area with all the naval search showing. It's the area you requested, Michael:

[Mike Solli]

And here's what I have available at Shortland Island. The Tojos are CAP and the Zeros are escort for the Betties (if in range):

[Mike Solli]

18 Jan 43

Sub War

Ted seems to be flooding the deep water hexes to the east of Nagasaki with subs. I have most of it covered with naval search and air ASW. I also have some ASW TFs but I’m going to send more. The issue I have is a lack of ASW assets around Japan with the Type 95 mod 2 or Type 2 DC. The rotten Type 95 is pretty much useless in deep water hexes. Definite note to self about them in the next game.

Anyhoo, he took out an Ehime xAK today in that area with the Guardfish. She was on her way back to Manila after dropping off resources at Nagasaki.

5 Fleet

More good news at Adak. Damage levels are dropping much quicker than anticipated. Port damage is still 100% (it’s the last to repair unfortunately). Runway damage is 0%(!) and service damage is down to 84%. That’s a total of 21% repaired since yesterday. At that rate, the port should be completely repaired in about 9 days. That’s assuming no interference from Ted, of course. Once the service damage drops below 50%, I will move the Hiryu fighter daitai to Adak for air defense. Ted hasn’t sent any bombers recently, but they’ll be there just in case. He found out the hard way that I have mines there (2 subs went boom), so I don’t expect him to send a bombardment fleet any time soon either. I’m probably going to send a small Val unit soon as well. What I most likely will do is to upgrade them (come Feb 43) to the Judy. Their mission will be to dissuade any Allied minesweepers from getting frisky.

The damage to the port is definitely slowing down the offload of ships. No tanks offloaded, and only 4 squads from the garrison unit, but supply levels increased a bit (1245 to 1370). At least it’s going in the right direction. By the way, none of the TFs were docked. They definitely don’t like to remain docked at ports with 100% damage.

KB2 has refueled and KB3 will refuel tomorrow. Then they will proceed together toward their target of the shipping at and around Dutch Harbor. The attack should happen in a few days.

4 Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

SE Fleet

Night bombing of Pt. Moresby destroyed a B-24, as well as damaging another 9x 4E bombers and a fighter.

As you can see from an earlier post, I am attempting to set up my naval search to exclude Pt. Moresby, so I can use my Betties stationed at Shortland Island to interdict Ted’s shipping in the area. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t fly into a buzz saw at Pt. Moresby or close enough to attract their CAP.

Ted did a couple of sweeps of Gasmata again. This is definitely working in my favor. The battles are all over my territory, so my pilot losses are minimal. Also, I can swap out air units with those at Rabaul to gain replacements and to rest. Today, I lost a single Oscar (pilot WIA) to a P-38G (couple of op losses too) and 2x P-40Ks. I think Ted is trying to wear down my air forces before trying to bomb the airfields. At this rate, it’ll never happen. He began getting Corsairs this month (1 a day) but I haven’t seen any yet. I suspect that will increase my losses, but at only 30 Corsairs a month, he won’t have many operational. I don’t expect more than a couple of squadrons, and I suspect they’ll all be in this theater.

SRA

Nothing exciting to report.

Burma

Night bombing of Chittagong killed a Hurricane on the ground and damaged another 8, along with minor damage to the airfield. There were no sweeps that connected on either side.

China

Ted had moved an army from Nanning to Liuchow, where I had 2/3 of an infantry division as garrison. He attacked once, which was repulsed, a while back. Since then, he’s just been sitting in the hex. He’s cut off supply to the north. I moved the 5 Division in the hex and have been attacking him to drive him out. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is sometimes to drive a unit out of a hex where he doesn’t control the base? That’s the case here. But, the army is wrecked. It’s composed of 4x HQ, 5x Corps & 4x BF. This last attack was at 5:1 odds, caused 242(0) Japanese casualties and 1632(128) Chinese casualties. All of the Chinese units are showing 0 AV. But, they’re still sitting in the hex. Tomorrow’s attack should really trash them.

Other Stuff

An Allied AM was confirmed sunk in Oct 42. Woohoo!

I’ve bought out a couple of infantry regiments from China for use in Burma. They are for the 31 Division. The other regiment from that division (124 Infantry regiment) is already there and the engineers, recon and artillery will arrive in Shanghai in 2 months. I’ll buy them out as well and send them to Burma. That’ll give me another division for use there. One of the regiments began loading in Shanghai today. The other is enroute to Shanghai and will head to Burma when the remainder of the division arrives.

[ny59giants]

What do you have on Wessel?? If Ted takes this and builds up Gove he can easily send in massive supplies to Darwin via his LSTs which can quickly unload. This would make the whole SE area of the SRA vulnerable. Him focusing on New Ireland is good news for you (nothing that effects your economy there). Dobo and Taberfane are two bases that can have their AFs max out at 8. Mine just got there and lots of B-24s are warming up their engines to attack deeper into the Empire. [:D] Very few bases that can be expanded to level 9, but many that can go to 8 which gives the Allies a base with double Aviation Support. How is your defense here??

Adak - you need or needed to airlift in some Naval Support to speed up unloading. Look at your port being 100% damaged as trying to invade the base. Without the NS it will take some time to unload.

[Mike Solli]

Michael. I have nothing on Wessel Island. I took it and put a small slice of AS there and a chutai of Rufes when I tried to take Merauke. They did their job and shredded some SBDs, saving the TF to be beat up later by cruisers. Later I withdrew the troops and Rufes. I don't think I can get enough there to matter should Ted want to take it.

Dobo and Taberfane have some AS there, and are building forts slowly. I'll put some defenses there. I didn't realize the significance of level 8 & 9 airfields.

[Mike Solli]

19 Jan 43

Sub War

I have an ASW TF hanging around Koepang, because Ted seems to usually have a Dutch sub hanging around here. I’m not sure why, but there’s usually one around. Well, it found and sank a DMS there. Of course, it got away without a shot being fired at it.

5 Fleet

Adak is repairing nicely. Damage is 100% Port, 61% Airfield Service and 0% Runway. A little supply and a few infantry squads offloaded. Still no replacements to the units on ground though. The only enemies I see are some TFs at and around Dutch Harbor. 26 days to the Base Force upgrade adding CD guns.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

There were 5 Allied sweeps of Gasmata. Losses were 8x P-40Ks and a P-38G to 13 Japanese fighters (all IJA) but no pilots lost. I’ll take that!

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted swept Lashio (Kittyhawk IA), Tongoo (Hurricane IIc) and Magwe (P-40E) losing 8 fighters to 1 Oscar (and its pilot).

My Akyab assault force is still crawling toward Akyab.

China

I attacked the beat up Chinese army at Lashio (4 HQ, 5 Cps, 4 BF) destroying 2 corps and 3 base forces. They still are in the hex.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

20 Jan 43

Sub War

There’s finally some good news in this section. (Remember, it’s all relative.) The I-35, patrolling NE of Hawaii, caught an xAK and put a torpedo into her. No report of her sinking. (See, I told you it was all relative.)

5 Fleet

I can’t begin to figure out how this infernal game works sometimes, especially when it comes to ships unloading. Anyway, Adak’s clean-up is coming along nicely. Damage is down to 100% Port (not for long, hopefully), 31% Service and 0% Runway. The Service damage went down by 30%. Excellent! [:D]

The weird thing was that 25 new tanks and 20 motorized support unloaded today! That ship has just a bit of supply to unload and it’s done. I have another xAK with more tanks heading in. A few more infantry squads offloaded and Adak’s supply dump increased slightly to 1396. It’s all good.

KB2 & 3, both refueled, are beginning their movement to attack Dutch Harbor. It’ll be a few days before they are in position.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

My night bombing did basically nothing today. It may be time to rest them for a few days.

Ted had 2 sweeps of Gasmata (5x P-28G & 7x P-40K), losing 2 Lightnings to 3 Oscars (2 pilots KIA).

Then, something really strange happened. Ted sent 3 strikes against Lae’s port(?)! I’ll take bombing raids like that any day. He sent 81x 4E and 31x 2E bombers escorted by P-40K, P-40E and Spitfires. P-40E? He’s still using them? He gets about a bazillion P-40Ks a month. He can’t be running low on them. That’s odd. Also, that may be the first time I’ve seen Spitfires. Something old and something new. [:(]

Remember the earlier discussion about naval search patterns? I took the advice and adjusted the patterns to exclude Pt. Moresby and Terapo (both Allied fighter bastions). I neglected to exclude Milne Bay. Of course, 6 Betties escorted by 9 Zeros went after a couple of AMs at Milne Bay. Fortunately, there were only a couple of P-40s there and the Zeros held them off, losing 2 of their own, including both pilots. The Betties missed, of course. [8|]

SRA

Remember the daitai of Nells I put at the new airfield at Saumlaki? Well, 5 of them launched against a small TF spotted south of Merauke. They took shots at a DE & xAK and missed. Too much sake, I guess.

Burma

Useless bombing of Allied airfields. I’m thinking of giving my bombers a rest, like in SE Fleet area.

Ted’s fighters took a break as well. No fighting in the air today.

China

I hit the rabble (4 HQ, 2 Cps, 1 BF) outside Liuchow again. I killed off a bunch more and a HQ surrendered. They’ll be gone soon.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:
xAK Noshir Maru (Std-B) – converting to a TK.

Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 9/43.

[ny59giants]

Size 8 and 9 AFs get treated differently using Beta patches.

[Mike Solli]

Michael, I have 106 naval support at Adak. The repairs are coming along nicely.

21 Jan 43

Sub War

The Gato sank an xAKL just off Truk. This is going to be an ongoing issue. I currently have 18 Marys providing ASW within a hex of Truk. I just converted 2x 12 plane Sally chutai and a 27 plane Helen sentai to ASW pilots and gave them the same mission. The pilots will drag their butts in over the next week. That’ll give me 69 planes that carry 250kg bombs covering 7 hexes. All pilots will have 70+ ASW skill. I hope that helps. I really need to sink/drive off the those subs because there is a constant flow of ships, from cargo ships to carriers, moving in and out of Truk.

5 Fleet

I goofed yesterday. I forgot to move the Zeros in to Adak. Of course, Ted sent in a dozen SBDs to hit the shipping there. They put 2x 500 lb bombs into the xAP Gokoku Maru, carrying a part of the 4 Garrison unit. She’s got 18 fires. I hope they are put out next turn. Keeping fingers crossed.

No tanks unloaded today, and only a few squads from the 4th unloaded, along with some supply. The good news is that the airfield is completely repaired and the engineers started on the port, which is down to 96%. Three to four days and it should be gone, assuming no problems from Ted. I moved the Zeros into Adak. I hope the Dauntlesses come back tomorrow. They won’t make it home.

KB2 & 3 are 2 days away from launching. Tomorrow, I’ll finalize what I want to do. I will give everyone a primary mission of naval attack, and a secondary mission of either port (Dutch Harbor) or airfield (Unmak Island) attack. I still haven’t decided on how to divide them up. The one thing I usually do (and will do here) is set my fighters to 60% CAP, leaving 40% for escort. I may set 1 or 2 small fighter units on sweep missions, probably over Unmak Island. I have seen no evidence of fighters there, but I’ll take no chances.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Well, I found Corsairs. They’re stationed at Milne Bay. One of my night raids hit there, damaging a couple of the beasts. There were also night raids of Merauke and Pt. Moresby. Just minor damage and a few damaged planes.

I’m really pissed at my Betties. I very specifically set my naval search to avoid all bases, to include Milne Bay and Pt. Moresby, and I had 2 raids hit Milne Bay. I lost a total of 4 Zeros and 2 Betties, including 4 Zero pilots KIA/MIA and only 1 Betty pilot WIA(!). They went after a DE and 2x AMs, getting no hits. That’s very frustrating. They ran into Corsairs and P-40Ks.

Ted swept Gasmata with half a dozen P-38Gs again, losing 1 for 2 Japanese fighter losses.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Same ole bombing.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
7 Air Division HQ – element of 4 Air Army.
68 JAAF AF Unit – Southern Army
70 JAAF AF Unit – Southern Army
72 JAAF AF Unit – Southern Army
108 JAAF AF Unit – Southern Army
113 JAAF AF Unit – Southern Army
112 JAAF AF Unit – General Defense Army
115 JAAF AF Unit – 4 Fleet

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

They put 2x 500 lb bombs into the xAP Gokoku Maru, carrying a part of the 4 Garrison unit. She’s got 18 fires. I hope they are put out next turn. Keeping fingers crossed.

That's one upgrade I don't do. I keep her as an AMC. Much more useful.

[Yaab]

Mike Solli, in order to stop your Betties and Nells reacting to Milne Bay, drop any recon/naval search missions that overfly Milne Bay. You may have some air units on 360 degree search that gives you detection level for Milne Bay.

I found that naval attack missions with narrow search arcs will still react sideways to detected bases/TFs. An example could be a Betty unit from Rabaul set to naval attack, range 11 hexes, search arcs narrowed to include just Milne Bay. The unit may still react to Port Moresby if any ships are detected there. You have to set range to 9, which is the distance from Rabaul to Milne Bay and you should see bombing attack on TFs in Milne Bay.

Also - sweep. Break your Zeros into A/B/C for low unit IDs. Thus your Zero sweeps will go BEFORE the naval attack raids.