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

[Lowpe]

My advice is to heck with those other models and go Frank a then Frank r.

George will make you smile in the latter half of 43. Not much else will, except Frank r.

[Mike Solli]

You're right Lowpe. I start to think too much about it instead of keeping in mind that it's all about the fighter late war.

[Lowpe]

That huge battleship fleet is pretty huge...if you can slip a destroyer force in to make some torpedo runs you might be pleasantly surprised. At night of course![:)]

[ny59giants]

... with lots of moonlight. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

I'm still of the mindset of conserving my fleet. I need to start to shift to expending the fleet to cause casualties and slow him down. Right now moonlight is ~14% and dropping. His fleet vanished, but I'll move some DDs up there to hit them next time. What do you recommend? Maybe a CL & 4 DD or more?

[Lowpe]

Anything larger than 6 ships at night I think is very wasteful. You want to be in and out very quickly, so good speed, torpedoes. I might go as high as 8, but more likely would break them down into two fours ship task forces.

Other people like em big.

[ny59giants]

Having a CL with your DDs will attract too many 14" or 16" shells, IMO. Go with just 4 to 8 DDs with lots and lots of torpedoes. Double check to ensure the crews have good night experience levels and each DDs has quality leaders - naval and aggression.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Having a CL with your DDs will attract too many 14" or 16" shells, IMO. Go with just 4 to 8 DDs with lots and lots of torpedoes. Double check to ensure the crews have good night experience levels and each DDs has quality leaders - naval and aggression.

How about Oi and Kitakami?

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Anything larger than 6 ships at night I think is very wasteful. You want to be in and out very quickly, so good speed, torpedoes. I might go as high as 8, but more likely would break them down into two fours ship task forces.

Other people like em big.

I used to think bigger was better but have been wrong most of the time on that. Also, dont bother mixing different types of ships. If you want to play for points and wins, just group like ships Cl's with Cl's, CA's with CA's and BB's with BB's. The closer the caliber type the better. Add DD's in for escort.

It is not historic but it has been proven to be the most effective model.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Having a CL with your DDs will attract too many 14" or 16" shells, IMO. Go with just 4 to 8 DDs with lots and lots of torpedoes. Double check to ensure the crews have good night experience levels and each DDs has quality leaders - naval and aggression.

How about Oi and Kitakami?

Lots of torpedoes, if not upgraded, but I would take NYGiants advice and stay with destroyers. Light cruisers main guns aren't going to do much, and the Light cruisers would be the focal point of enemy fire.

I think destroyers alone would give the best chance of inflicting torpedo hits and surviving without losing too much. Straight destroyer task forces are very potent.

[Mike Solli]

I just sent off the 2 Apr turn. I'm going to see what I have available at Truk next turn. Probably Fubukis. I may send two groups of 4 each. Most of what they do at Truk is ASW work. I'll pick those with the best night experience. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

[Mike Solli]

Ted has been out of town the past week. Out of the country, actually. He's doing a grand tour of the world for work until sometime this week. He's literally traveling to a different country every 1-2 days. He said he'd be a zombie when he comes home and I don't doubt it. Anyway, he has the turn so I can't do much except plan on paper. I do have a few turns to post though. I don't expect a turn from him until next weekend.

29 Mar 43

Sub War

The I-164 surfaced at Unmak Island and sank two LCTs. Not much, but maybe it’ll slow down the inevitable invasion of Adak.

5 Fleet

Another nasty surprise happened today. Yesterday, the US bombardment fleet sat at Adak after pummeling that place. I expected another bombardment today. I was right, but it didn’t happen at Adak. He hit Amchitka. Not only did he delay the completion of the level 2 airfield there, I had an AKV (which had just dropped off a Judy chutai) and the DD Suzunami, a brand spanking new Yugumo class DD. Both went down without firing a shot. In addition, Amchitka was closed down. Fortunately, I lost only 1 Judy and 2 Emilies. The worst part of this bombardment was that all the supply there was destroyed. I have a fast transport TF of 4x PBs (4k supply) loading up to head there from Etorofu.

And yes, MKB2 is still out of range. *Sigh* [8|]

Current damage to bases in this AO:

Adak: 23-78-99
Amchitka: 87-44-81

The worst part of it is that all I have at Amchitka is an AS battalion with 12 engineers. Unless I get more engineers up here, it’ll take forever to fix the damage. After hunting around, I found a couple of engineer companies in Kwantung Army that I can buy. I set their movement to the coast to get picked up.

Then it dawned on me that I have a whole bunch of engineers in the Marianas. I’ve decided to pull two engineer battalions out to send to Amchitka. When that place is repaired and the airfield is up to level 2, I’ll send one to Attu.

To add insult to injury, Ted began bombing of Adak’s airfield with a whopping 2x B-24D1s and 15 B-25Cs. They caused little damage, but I can’t do anything about them. I’ll ambush them when MKB2 arrives in a few days.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Seven Betty sorties missed today. [8|]

Rossel Island is definitely the next target in this AO. That tiny island (with an SNLF and engineer company) received the attention of 56x 4E and 48x 2E bomber sorties, along with 30 SBDs for good measure. That place is trashed, but as long as he wants to waste bomber sorties there, I’ll take it.

He also sent 21x B-24Ds to visit Tulagi. I’m not really sure why. I have 18 Zeros stationed there and they shot down 2 of the beasts for only a couple of points of runway damage that was easily repaired.

Current base damage in this AO:

Gasmata: 0-0-0, will start working on the forts tomorrow, currently at 5.92.
Talasea: 0-39-27
Rossel Island: 57-82-98

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

What little action occurred was over Ramree Island. The Chindits stopped moving to the east. That’s fine. They’re bottled up and will eventually die at the hand of the 21 Division, when they eventually crawl there. I also have the 2 Division (Batavia garrison) loaded up on transports headed up there. I may do an amphibious assault along with the overland attack by 21 Division. In the meantime, I’ll continue to bomb with my Helens and Sallies (they didn’t fly today) to give the Chindits headaches and keep their disruption up. The occasional elite bomber pilot (that immediately goes into TRACOM) doesn’t hurt either.

China

The daily bombing of Chungking happened again today (Chengtu mission didn’t happen) damaging some planes and causing a bit of airfield damage that was easily repaired. I have 58 Sallies hitting Chengtu and 9 Sallies hitting Chungking. Chengtu’s airfield is a mess. Once I take the 3 cities in the Chungking plateau (isolating Chungking), I’ll put all the Sallies on Chungking. In addition to the 4 bases in that plateau, China controls only 2 bases in the far west near Burma with about half a dozen units over there. China is done, but I figure it’ll take to the end of the year to whittle it down to just Chungking. Then I’ll decide what to do to Chungking.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:
xAP Konron Maru – 23 kt transport. I like it.

The A6M5c R&D advanced to 6/44.

[Mike Solli]

30 Mar 43

Sub War

One of the subs hanging out by Truk, the Gar, finally scored a hit against the ASW forces. They hit an Ansyu-C PB sinking her. I can live with that. Japanese PBs are, after all, targets.

To the NE of Pescadores, the E Uji (Hashidate class) caught the Saury and hit her once. Hopefully, that’s enough to send her home.

The midget sub Ha-39 was lurking around Woodlark, but was caught and sunk by the DD Alwyn. Another one bites the dust.

5 Fleet

Nothing happened today.

Current base damage:

Adak: 23-78-95
Amchitka: 87-44-76

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Seventeen Betties missed today, and they went after was a YMS. Really? [8|]

Still no invasion. Rossel Island was hit today by 49x 4E, 48x 2E and 32 SBD sorties. Bombing holes at this point.

Fifteen Avengers went after an ASW TF looking for subs a hex NW of Rabaul and hit a PB sinking her. I’m going to leave 1 PB in the hex tomorrow LRCAP it hoping the unescorted Avengers return. Keeping fingers crossed.

That did give me some good intel. Those Avengers came from Lae. When KB does head south from Truk to ambush an Allied invasion fleet, I’ll keep them to the ESE of Rabaul to keep them out of range of LBA based at Lae and Milne Bay. My initial intent was to keep KB to the north of Rabaul, which would have put them in range.

Sweeps of 15x Kittyhawk IIIs and 14x P-40Ks were met by about 2 dozen Japanese fighters over Talasea. The Kittyhawks were totally outclassed losing 7 to 4x Japanese fighers and the Warhawks and Japanese each lost 3. Pilot losses were IJNAF – 1 KIA, 1 WIA and IJAAF – 3 WIA.

Current base damage:

Gasmata: 0-0-0, fort to 5.93
Talasea: 0-39-21
Rossel Island: 62-92-98

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

All the action was at Ramree Island once again. It all started with 2 Japanese bombardment TFs, a total of 4 BB, 5 CA, CL, 4DD pummeled the Chindits.

The one Martlet attempting to provide air cover was quickly shot down. Then, 117x Japanese 2E bombers dropped their loads on them. Their disruption has to be through the roof.

Ramree’s port damage is currently 87%. There was no AA over Ramree today. That means either they have no AA or they have no supply (or possibly both). Not sure. At any rate, they can’t be in good shape. 21 Division continues to crawl toward the attack point.

China

Bombers hit Chungking destroying a couple of bombers on the ground, damaging half a dozen more, and causing light airfield damage.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
SS RO-35 – 11k endurance coastal sub! It will base at Soerabaja (along with RO-33 and RO-34) to patrol along Australia’s west coast.
SC Ch-40 - ASW
Sasebo 7 SNLF – 4 Fleet – will garrison Amchitka (5 Fleet AO).
Takao Naval Base Force at, you guessed it, Takao. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

31 Mar 43

Sub War

The I-28, still hanging out a couple hexes from Victoria, sank an xAK heading west. I assume she was loaded. She has only 4 torpedoes left. The I-26 just completed repairs at Truk and will head out to replace the I-28.

5 Fleet

The 17 Allied bombers hit Adak again today, causing little additional damage to the airfield. One of the B-25s went down on the way home. I wish MKB2 would arrive so I can shoot down some of these pests. Still a few days though.

Current base damage:

Adak: 23-81-94
Amchitka: 87-44-65

There is no sight of the US bombardment fleet. Off to replenish, I suspect. I did see an interesting event though. One of the CLAAs reportedly sank from a collision. I don’t think she actually sank, but maybe she has enough damage to have to head home. I have some subs lurking to the east of Dutch Harbor. Maybe one will get lucky.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Seventeen Betties missed today. They went after some DMS and AM. Sheesh.

Rossel was pummeled again, this time by 46x 4E, 50x 2E and 18 SBD sorties.

The B-24s that occasionally hit Tulagi decided to go after Munda today, pummeling the base. I have a handful of Emilies there.

Current base damage:

Gasmata: 0-0-0, fort at 5.94
Talasea: 0-39-14
Rossel Island: 85-100-98
Munda: 0-40-46

Still no invasion.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My bombers hit Ramree again. Poor Chindits. Well, not really. [:D]

China

Same ole bombing of Chengtu and Chungking.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:
CHa-55 – ASW

Kendari’s fort reached level 6. It's always nice to see a fort reach level 6. That's one less fort I have to spend supply on. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

1 Apr 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The 2x B-24D1s and 14x B-25Cs hit Adak’s airfield again.

MKB2 will reach a point 6 hexes to the SW of Adak tomorrow. The Shoho’s 21 Zeros are doing 100% LCRAP over Adak to try and hit those bombers. Hopefully, they’ll whittle down the bombers somewhat and have them stop the bombing. The extra experience gained will be nice too.

Current base damage:

Adak: 23-81-69, it’s beginning to come down nicely.
Amchitka: 87-44-51, tomorrow the airfield may be up and running (to a limited extent).

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

9 Betties missed the CA Quincy and CL Columbia at Rossel Island. Hmm, I wonder what they are doing there?! [:(]

Well, a nice big bombardment fleet (5 CA, 5 CL) hit Rossel Island, making new holes in the old holes. Then a whole bunch of Allied bombers (don’t feel like counting them today) slammed the new holes making even newer holes.

Invasion Rossel Island! The 22 Marine Regiment invaded today. They landed successfully, though they took many disablements. I’m sure they’ll have enough strength to take the base. The defenders are an engineer company and an SNLF company with an effective strength of ~50%, 9 SNLF squads that are still effective.

My LRCAP trap over Munda didn’t work. The B-24s didn’t fly.

Current base damage:

Gasmata: 0-0-0, fort to 5.95
Talasea: 0-39-7

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

More Japanese 3E bombing of the Chindits at Ramree while the assault elements continue to crawl toward the jump off point.

China

More bombing of Chungking and Chengtu and the resultant damaged planes and airfields….

Other Stuff

Today Ted begins to get his Hellcats at a rate of 4.33 per day. [:(] I estimate he’ll completely outfit his 6 pre-war CVs by the end of May. Not sure when he gets the Essex, but I know she’s coming soon.

Air unit strength changes:

201 Ku S-1: Zeros, 36 to 45, 4 Air Flotilla stationed at Roi-Namur
Sasebo Ku S-1: Claudes, 4 to 18, training escort in Japan
Sasebo Ku T-1: Petes, 6 to 12, training naval search in Japan

The A6M5b becomes operational. I will not upgrade to this model. The difference between the A6M5a and the M5b is a change from a 7.7mm to 12.5mm MG. Right now I’m not even producing any Zeros. We’ll see how things go later.

I gained 84 IJNAF and 168 IJAAF pilots into the pool.

TRACOM did its thing this month and accelerated some trainees:

IJA – 30 pilots accelerated from class 10.
IJN – 31 pilots accelerated from class 10.
IJN – 101 pilots accelerated from class 9. If that isn’t all of the IJN pilots from that month, it’s darn near close. [:D]

That will save 810 HI.

A pilot escaped capture. Woohoo!

The xAP Aorangi was confirmed sunk on 25 Feb 43. The deed was done by MKB1 west of Australia and was part of the empty TF they trashed (after trashing the 9 Aussie Division TF). She was a nice, big transport weighing in at 12,450 tons.

The following ships began upgrades:

Kobe:
CV Akagi
CV Kaga
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano

Osaka:
CA Ashigara

Singapore
DD Asashio
DD Oshio
DD Michishio
E Kasu
E Kuri
E Tsuga
E Hishu
E Kika
E Susuki

Earlier I had stated that I was concerned about sending these two carriers to get upgrades. Now, I’m glad they’re there. They’ll be back at Truk around the end of the month. I currently have at Truk the Soryu, Ruyjo, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Junyo and Hiyo totaling 183 Zeros, 90 Vals and 108 Kates. I have enough Judy Y1s to fill out 1-2 daitai. I may do that. Those 500kg bombs look real good. I don’t really expect the US carriers to show up now that the Hellcat is in production. If Ted opts to go for Gasmata, I can get the carriers down there in a couple of days and do a number on the invasion or bombardment fleet while staying out of range of most of his LBA. I’ll reassess in mid-April and if things look quiet, I may send another carrier to get her upgrade, probably Shokaku or Zuikaku.

The economy is looking pretty good. Supply, fuel and resources are all up. Only oil is down, and that is inevitable. I’ll do the numbers later.

The Ha-43 factories began producing engines today, 8 of them! I have 4 factories: 125(25), 65(25), 65(25), 1(64). The last was the Ha-31 factory that I converted. I expect to hit 500 engines around 10-12 May, then my George and Francis (and eventually Frank, Myrt and Grace) R&D factories will be off to the races!

With Lowpe’s advice, I’ve decided to dump extra R&D factories into the Frank as they become available, starting later in April.

[Mike Solli]

2 Apr 43

Sub War

I have a DD ASW TF hanging out 3 hexes west of Rangoon. The Truant was hanging out around there a few days ago and my TF found her and hit her with a DC. Hopefully, that's enough to send her home.

5 Fleet

MKB2 (Shoho, Zuiho and Hosho) finally reached a point ~6 hexes to the SW of Adak and flew some LRCAP over Adak. Of course, Ted's bombers didn't fly. I moved MKB2 to a point 6 hexes to the east of Adak and will not fly LRCAP tomorrow. They are not spotted and will wait for an opportunity to do some damage.

I sent 2x 4 Fubuki TFs from Truk up north. They will take about 5 days to arrive. I'll keep them on hand to sneak in for a night attack should the opportunity present itself. They have the best night crew experience and I swapped out a couple of marginal commanders for better ones.

Current damage:

Adak: 23-81-29, the damage is starting to come down nicely.
Amchitka: 87-44-34, the resupply convoy is 2 days out so the planes aren't repairing yet.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

After a total of 46x 4E, 64x 2E and 24x SBD sorties plastered the troops and airfield at Rossel Island, the 22 Marine Regiment attacked the 7 Independent SNLF Company (~50% strength) and 52 Construction Company (no AV). The amazing troops held off the US Marines in a 3:1 attack that reduced the forts from level 3 to 2! Banzai! [:D] Unfortunately, they don't have the strength to hold another day. I'm sure they will die in place tomorrow.

Current damage:

Gasmata: 0-0-0, forts at 5.96, just a few more days.
Talasea: 0-39-0
Munda: 0-40-28

I'm concerned that when Rossel Island falls, the bombers will start to bomb Gasmata again. I'd really like to get Gasmata's forts to level 6 before that happens.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted is attempting to maneuver. He moved the 7 Armored Brigade out of the hex between Akyab and Cox's Bazaar to Akyab, to support the Aussie Division there. My army in that hex finally got some supply and will deliberate attack tomorrow. The removal of the Brit tanks reduced the AV from 951 to 873. My AV in the hex is 2232. I'm hoping for a good roll to beat up the Brits and Indians.

More Japanese bombing of the Chindits at Ramree Island (117 sorties) and a Martlet was shot down.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 7/44.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 7/44.

The -II model only improves speed by a paltry 7mph and adds 3 mvr points at higher altitudes, while it suffers from a slower climb rate and shorter range than the -I model.

The -II model wasn't worth the time and effort for me - in my view, once you've the -I model, you're wasting research factories for an upgrade that isn't really an upgrade. Better shift the factories to the jets or something.

Whats your reasoning behind researching the -II model? I'm curious, is there something there that I'm overlooking?

[Mike Solli]

To be honest, I chose the Ki-100-II when the game started. It was the best Tony out there. It's the only Tony model I will produce. I had little idea what I was doing. I really don't have a good grasp on what is desirable and what isn't when it comes to aircraft stats. Everything has different qualities and different people will say to emphasize different stats. I chose (in no particular order) armor, speed and maneuverability. Weapons was also a consideration. I'll get this model by July 43, so I hope it makes a bit of a difference. We'll see.

Edit: I also have 6x30 R&D factories going with it so I'm all in. It's too late to change those factories now.

[Lowpe]

If you get the Tony II mid 43 you will be very happy with them.

Durability 1, means they can go where George can't.

I am pretty happy with Tony I; seems better than Tojo IIc at knocking planes down at least for me.

I think having a mix of different frames makes a difference as you can fly the planes at their strengths, high cap, low cap, mid cap, escort, sweeps, etc., etc.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 7/44.

The -II model only improves speed by a paltry 7mph and adds 3 mvr points at higher altitudes, while it suffers from a slower climb rate and shorter range than the -I model.

The -II model wasn't worth the time and effort for me - in my view, once you've the -I model, you're wasting research factories for an upgrade that isn't really an upgrade. Better shift the factories to the jets or something.

Whats your reasoning behind researching the -II model? I'm curious, is there something there that I'm overlooking?

Well... climb 2730 on the -100-I vs 2460? That's not great. Anything less than 3000 and you're not building that fighter for climb, honestly, because that's what the Frank-r and J2M3 Jack have. They're your "climbers".

The speed difference at the 360-367 range doesn't do anything. IIRC, +50mph is what triggers the maneuver penalty, and the Tony is already within 50mph of the Corsair while already well outside of 50mph of the P-47. The only fighter I've found, via Tracker, that -100-II would remove the penalty for is the P-38L, which doesn't arrive until June of 1944 anyway.

I don't think the range matters between the 2. You're using Tony for CAP regardless, and LRCAP outside of range 4 (the -100-II normal range) is not very effective anyway. I think it's kind of a wash between the two models. The -II does slightly better at higher altitudes but that's about it.