Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: MrKane

Hi Mike, it seems to me that your issue here is high max speed delta. Yours A6M5 real maneuver values against F4U are more like this: 14/14/12/5 vs 20/19/18/16/12 of Corsairs due to slower plane being subjected to rule of reduction maneuver up to 50%. As you can see F4U can outmaneuver Zero on every altitude. So, over 31K alt it fly more like B-24 than fighter. When you add superior firepower and durability and good pilots killing F4U may be problem. I am sure that N1K1-J can do the trick due to altitude advantage and good firepower. But in case of using A6M2, Ki-44, Ki-43 you need force his to dive low and engage him under 15K alt.

Ok, that's interesting. I never knew abut the rule concerning speed and reduced maneuver. Very interesting. I get the George in mid-43, May or June most likely. Do you recommend I keep my fighters at low altitude, say 15k ft?

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Fuel & Oil: I would use both Balikpapan and Tarakan to build up your fuel surplus at Truk and beyond. If using CS convoys, use waypoints and then click the small icon at bottom of these three waypoints to have convoy return the same way with "Do Not Refuel" set to not use any fuel to return back to these two bases. The oil from Boela and Babo should go to a base that you bring the resource back for collection before going back to Japan. Is it Davao for you or Babeldoab?? I use the dual capacity xAKs (cargo and liquid) to load both resources and oil for trip back to Japan for efficiency. Most of mine are operating out of Singapore when I play Japan. I use those small 1250 capacity TKs or smaller (std-'x') to go from Miri to Manila and use the 'coastal' routing option to keep them in the shallow hexes to avoid Allied subs. Naga on Luzon is built in size 4 port for those small resource gathering TFs in the archipelago. The oil/fuel from Miri gathers at Manila for eventual use or transport back to Japan.

Urumuchi (China) - you will probably need a small LCU as garrison after your Tank Division takes the base. To get the AI to move the oil out of this base, you will need to create a need in Manchuria. So, once you see what you have after capture, be prepared to haul lots of oil back to Japan from Manchuria to get it sucked out.

Adak - I would mine a hex/base/dot base to the east to see if the BB TFs coming in are being routed through the shallow sea hexes. Then, above the mined hex, place two to fours subs both above and below this hex. Force him to get hit by something so you can see how his TFs is getting in and out.

As always, wonderful info, Michael. I'll take it one at a time:

Balikpapan: I do just as you say.

Tarakan: I was using this fuel to stockpile at Davao for the Combined Fleet, which was stationed there. Since that is no longer the case, I'm using Manila and Babeldaob as my hubs and am using this fuel to build up a small reserve at those bases for operations there. Eventually, I'll ship some of this to Truk.

Boela and Babo's oil goes to Babeldaob now, along with resources from various bases in that region. And yes, my preference is to use the duel capacity xAKs at Babeldaob (as well as Singapore).

Miri/Brunei: I use 18 of the 1250 TKs here, but I send it to Cam Ranh Bay. That works perfectly to keep them drained. I use 4x 11.6k TKs from Cam Ranh Bay to Nagasaki, alternating fuel and oil. I use some dual xAKs out of Saigon because that base tends to accumulate resources and oil as well.

Manila: I use the coastal hexes as you say. I also use Naga for the 5 resources bases to the south of the Philippines.

Urumuchi: I plan on keeping the Tank Regiment there until I can get a proper garrison there. I get some Chinese reinforcements soon and a brigade is allocated to head up there. Thanks for the tip on how to get the oil out of there. Roughly what level of oil do you keep at Pt. Arthur? I usually keep 120-150k there. Should I suck more out to create a need?

Adak: That's a great idea. Ted has staged his bombardment (and the carriers the one time they showed up) in the dot hex 3 hexes to the east of Adak. There are some mines with that dot hex's name on them. I do keep subs north and south. That's where I caught the WV and put her down after she took a couple sub torpedoes at Adak.

Encircled, I upgrade the DMS to E for one reason. The E class gets the Type 2 depth charge. It's the best the Japanese player gets. The sub threat is a constant threat that only grows with time, so I want the best ASW weapon I can get to counter it.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: MrKane

Hi Mike, it seems to me that your issue here is high max speed delta. Yours A6M5 real maneuver values against F4U are more like this: 14/14/12/5 vs 20/19/18/16/12 of Corsairs due to slower plane being subjected to rule of reduction maneuver up to 50%. As you can see F4U can outmaneuver Zero on every altitude. So, over 31K alt it fly more like B-24 than fighter. When you add superior firepower and durability and good pilots killing F4U may be problem. I am sure that N1K1-J can do the trick due to altitude advantage and good firepower. But in case of using A6M2, Ki-44, Ki-43 you need force his to dive low and engage him under 15K alt.

Ok, that's interesting. I never knew abut the rule concerning speed and reduced maneuver. Very interesting. I get the George in mid-43, May or June most likely. Do you recommend I keep my fighters at low altitude, say 15k ft?

Manual 7.4.2 AIR-TO_AIR COMBAT:
"Top Speed is not a trump, but it does affect or modify the way Maneuver
is used. When an Aircraft checks it’s “instantaneous” speed versus an opponent, it may be able
to reduce it’s opponents Maneuver by some factor up to one half depending on the severity of
the top speed delta."

Most people on this forum claim that is noticeable when max speed delta is 40+;

I do not have good view at your game, so I can only tell you how was fighting GreyJoy's P-47 sweeps.
Usually I had several CAP layers 5 - 6. All my pilots were trained 75/70/70. Most maneuverable a/c were flaying at 5k as bait. Other layers were flaying every next 3k alt. The best planes like N1K1 or Ki-84 were at 20-25 alt. And one more, you need a lots of radars.

And keep your squadrons leaders grounded as groups reserve. It easy to loose them, and new comers after 2nd half of 1943 are not so good.

MrKane, very interesting. I'll try it next turn. Good idea about the unit commanders. I never thought of that.

8 Feb 43

Sub War

Overall, I’m surprised at the resiliency of my subs. They usually survive with 1-2 direct depth charge hits. Unfortunately, the I-168 took 3 direct hits, which was too much for her, down in the fertile grounds south of Norfolk Island. I have to take care to constantly move my subs down there due to prowling ASW TFs, which is what got her.

5 Fleet

Adak’s port is still at 100% damage, with repairs continuing on the airfield. The troops look good.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

My Betties launched (16 sorties) against Pt. Moresby. Grrr… Eight returned after scoring no hits.

Overall I lost 3 fighters for 1 Corsair. I’ll try the stacking method tomorrow to see how that works.

Damage:

Shortland Island: 0 – 64 – 88
Gasmata: 7 – 59 – 0

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

A total of 29x 4E and 137x 2E sorties went after my army to the SE of Cox’s Bazaar, doing no damage.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

9 Feb 43

Sub War

The I-7 is hanging out between Norfolk Island and Tonga and spotted an Allied TF heading east (presumably empty). She caught up with it and took shots at 2x xAKs, hitting one.

5 Fleet

Supply continues to slowly increase at Adak (12,492) despite the troops there taking on replacements.

Adak: 100 – 46 – 0

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted’s 4E bombers hit Hollandia today causing light airfield damage and destroying 2 planes on the ground. I’ll take that. That was a waste of 55x 4E sorties.

Today I tried stacking fighters. That was a miserable disaster. I lost a dozen planes for 1x P-38 and no Corsairs. Forget that. I’ll stick with my old tactic.

Shortland Island: 0-64-81
Gasmata: 7-38-0
Hollandia: 0-7-24

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I tried to oppose Ted’s bombing of my army between Akyab and Cox’s Bazaar. I did well against his escorting P-40Ks, shooting down 10, as well as 4 bombers for a cost of 2 Tojos. The problem I had was against his sweeping fighters. I did the layering of my fighters here too (big mistake, I should have tried it in one place only), and lost another half a dozen fighters against no sweeping Allied fighters. From now on, when I choose to oppose the attacks here, I’ll stick with high level to wear down his fighters and live with the bombing. No damage, by the way.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:

xAK Tsukuba Maru – Std-C, will convert to a TK.

10 Feb 43

Sub War

Lots of fun today. Here goes…

Off Dutch Harbor, The I-162 sank an xAK.

Southwest of Tonga, the I-7 sank 2x xAKs and the I-174 sank another xAK.

South of Hawaii, the I-25 sank an xAK.

West of Rangiroa, the I-27 sank an xAK.

Most were empty unfortunately, but I’ll take it. It was a lot of fun to watch.

5 Fleet

KB2 attacked the shipping around Dutch Harbor today. Ted put some old fighter there (8x P-40Es and 8x P-400s) and they did surprisingly well. There were several attacks, and when it was all done, here were the results:

Japan:
10 Zeros
6 Kates

Allies:
2 P-40E
1 P-400
4x xAK sunk
1x AK sunk
2x SC sunk
1x AM sunk

Next time I’ll sweep with one of my fighter units.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted’s 4E bombers hit Rabaul today, 68 sorties today. At a cost of light airfield damage and a dozen planes destroyed on the ground, I shot down 8(!) B-24Ds. Banzai!

Rabaul: 0-17-25
Gasmata: 7-17-0
Shortland Island: 0-64-70
Hollandia: 0-7-17

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted sent fighter sweeps over my army near Cox’s Bazaar, Mandalay, Shwebo and Tongoo, and sent his 2/4E bombers to Mandalay. Overall losses were 4 Japanese fighters vs. 13 Allied fighters and 2 Wellingtons. Mandalay took only a couple of points of airfield damage.

China

Something really strange happened at Kweiyang. I had ousted his defending forces a little while ago with a large force, most of which was still sitting there. I sent some of it to head west to clear out the 3 bases in that direction. I think Ted thought I moved all or just about all of the troops out because he moved his defeated force (2x corps, 1 HQ and a base force) across the river to take the base back. Anyhoo, it was a Chinese disaster. The 1:2188(!) Chinese shock attack cost me 58(0) casualties (undoubtedly from laughing too hard) to 9859(934) Chinese casualties with one of the corps destroyed. Ouch. Surprisingly, the Chinese remnants stayed in the hex. Too bad for them.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:

xAK Surakaruta Maru – Std-D – will convert to a TK

K9-100-II R&D advanced to 1/45.

One of my minelaying subs dropped off some presents at Palm Island, 1 hex to the NE of Townsville. Maybe one of Ted’s ships will find the presents.

The E Fuyu entered refit at Singapore.

Marcus Island reached its maximum fort level of 6. The Ichiki Bn landed there to replace the 27 Electric Engineer Regiment, which is heading to the Marianas to dig some more.

11 Feb 43

Quiet day today.

SE Fleet

Ten P-38Gs swept Rabaul. We each lost 3 fighters.

Burma

We each traded a fighter.

China

I attacked the remnants at Kweiyang. The 55:1 attack caused 58(0) Japanese casualties (again!) to 3426(317) Chinese. Now the remnants of the remnants fled over the river.

Other Stuff

See, I told you it was quiet.

12 Feb 43

Even quieter today.

Burma

We traded 2 fighters.

Other Stuff

Ki-43-IIIa R&D advanced to 5/44.

13 Feb 43

Sub War

Things are going to heat up in the south shortly. The I-27 spotted a cargo TF leaving Rangiroa for Australia, and I suspect it’s loaded with supply (or possibly something else). She sank a cargo ship a few days ago and has been chasing the convoy. In addition, I have 3 more subs waiting for the TF. She caught up with the convoy today and torpedoed another xAK. No report of a sinking though.

Farther to the west, the I-174 put a torpedo into an xAK in a different TF heading east. No report of a sinking here either.

5 Fleet

Nothing exciting here. The one thing I have been waiting for will begin tomorrow. All of my IJN base forces (not special base forces or IJA base forces) will allow the addition of 24 various DP guns. Very nice. Can’t wait for them to add at Adak!

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Rabaul was the target again today. First, 10x P-38Gs swept, losing 6 to 2x Zeros. Then, 61x 4E bombers showed up. Only one B-17 was shot down, and they destroyed another dozen planes on the ground. That is starting to get annoying.

Rabaul: 0-29-30
Shortland Island: 0-64-35
Gasmata: Completely repaired

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted snuck a bombardment TF in to Akyab (I never saw it) (4 BB, 4 CA, 1 CLAA) doing minor damage and causing a few troop losses. I’m withdrawing from Akyab, so I don’t care how much he batters the place. I just wanted to kill some troops (the Indian brigade I destroyed when I took the place).

It was a good day in the air here. For the loss of 1 fighter, I killed 4.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

TK Kyokuho Maru (Type-1 TM, 8150 capacity)
58 Field AA Battalion – 8 Area Army – Korea
59 Field AA Battalion – 17 Army – Korea
3 IJN Special Coast Gun – when combined with an SNLF, it becomes a Special Base Force with some nice CD guns. It’s headed to Saipan (where the SNLF is already stationed).
Det, 3 Special Base Force – it is headed to Tinian.

A6M5b R&D advances to 5/43.

14 Feb 43

Not much excitement other than over Rabaul today. Ted sent 59x 4E bombers. For a cost of 4 fighters shot down and minor airfield damage, I shot down 12(!) bombers. Very nice! I like when he attacks Rabaul with his bombers because they usually have no escort and I can put up around 50 fighters to oppose him.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

934 Ku S-1 (9 Rufes), 3 Fleet, will upgrade to the A6M5 if it can (some of my other Rufe chutai can) and will move to the front line somewhere. I haven’t decided where yet.

109 Sentai (27 Topsy), 51 Air Division. Will train and move units around General Defense Army bases.

CHa-52 – ASW/torpedo magnet

AO Ashizuri – 3600 capacity, 16kt.

CM Nuwashima – 20 mine capacity

DMS W-23 – will upgrade to E

AMc Wa-11, 12 & 13 – will move somewhere important as a minesweeper TF.

Today is the day I’ve been waiting for. My IJN Base Forces (not special BF) can begin receiving DP gun upgrades. Can’t wait for Adak’s Base Force to get some.


Update: RL has reared its ugly head this past week. I finally got the turn off to Ted last night. Waiting for it now. Hopefully, it'll come before I have to run off and do chores.

What are you going to look forward to now with the DP gun upgrade here?

You are now in mid-Feb '43 and Allied war machine is starting to crank up. [X(]

Are you ready for......
48 B-24D1/month - lots of AFs to be closed down if you're not careful. Range is 16/20.
30 B-25D1/month - these attack bombers can come in at 1000' at ranges from 11/14 and make mincemeat of your merchants. Think about setting some CAP/LRCAP below 10k to make sure they don't get a free shot.
28 PV-1 Ventura/month - The USN gets into the medium bomber game with these aircraft. Not many groups at first, but the trickle will become a stream and eventually a river. Range is 10/12.

No fighters to fear until April when the Hellcats come out. [;)]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

What are you going to look forward to now with the DP gun upgrade here?

Lowpe, I still expect Ted to invade Adak, but not until winter is over (soon) and not until he attacks me somewhere else first to get my attention. Because I don't expect to be able to send much, if any, naval units, I want the attack to take nasty losses and hopefully get mired down for a little while. The DP guns will help cause casualties to the invasion forces before they land causing casualties and disruption to the ground forces. I just want to make him swear at the computer. [:D]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

You are now in mid-Feb '43 and Allied war machine is starting to crank up. [X(]

Are you ready for......
48 B-24D1/month - lots of AFs to be closed down if you're not careful. Range is 16/20.
30 B-25D1/month - these attack bombers can come in at 1000' at ranges from 11/14 and make mincemeat of your merchants. Think about setting some CAP/LRCAP below 10k to make sure they don't get a free shot.
28 PV-1 Ventura/month - The USN gets into the medium bomber game with these aircraft. Not many groups at first, but the trickle will become a stream and eventually a river. Range is 10/12.

No fighters to fear until April when the Hellcats come out. [;)]

Michael, you're full of good news. [:D] Ted has been "warning" me about this stuff for a while now. For some reason, I seem to shoot down the B-24s much more frequently than the B-17s. Not sure how much better the D1 is vs. the D model. Ted won't use the B-25s where I have fighters. They die too easily for his tastes. He uses them where I have bases that I've already written off. Every now and then I LRCAP one of them and shoot down a few, just to remind him of his fears.

Ted plans on using the PV-1 as a recon platform initially.

No fighters to fear? Have you forgotten the Corsair? He's going to take Lae soon and will base them there. Then I'll have them close enough that I have to battle them again. I've only shot down a couple so far. He has at least 2 squadrons right now.

I'm hoping the George works. Right now they're still set to arrive at 9/43 but that'll advance to 8/43 in less than a week. I have 6 R&D factories at 30, 30, 26, 25, 21 & 20 so far. I expect to get them in April or May. I'm going to convert the 2 A6M2 factories I have doing nothing to size 30 & 60 to start. I may convert another to size 30. We'll see.

Mike, tell Ted he needs to improve a second skill for for his B-24 so their Defend skill goes up. It will help them survive better.

The first attack bomber model of the B-25 is not that great (Gun value only 20 vs the nasty one in screenshot). However, with each newer version they add more and more guns on them and then they don't need too much in the way of fighter escorts.

Corsairs ONLY come in at one per day.

I think Michael gave me the same warning about impending doom about this game time....he must have it saved to a word file somewhere.[:D]

No Word document here, just experience. [;)] This is the beginning of the Americans getting a decent flow of bombers, the Allies in general getting the '43 version for their Rifle squads with a massive increase in Anti-Armor value, and the Hellcats coming out. Add in the ability to convert those at start APs to APAs and the Allies can begin to be much more offensive minded. The beginning half of '43 brings both opportunity and danger for the Allies as Japan should be at her peak in naval power as most players should be getting the accelerated Unryu Class CVs.

In my game vs Olorin which just reached August '44, I had my failed attempt to recapture western Australia during these 6 months or so. IMO, much of '43 can bring about great joy for an Allied player, but mistakes can set them back for months depending on losses then and from '42. Thus, from about August/Sept in '42 to the same time in '43 is the best year of game time. Mike is getting to the point of needing to be a very good counterpuncher. Hope he is up to it!! [:D]

Hi Mike. Just an FYI (in case you're not aware). IRL the Corsair had the highest kill ratio of any plane in history (until present day) at 2140 to 189. Just a little something to sweat.[:D]

P.S. Sorry I couldn't resist.[:'(]