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

[PaxMondo]

Also, a lot of those fighter groups are 49 plane groups. You literally need 100's of fighters to fill them.

Frank 'a' is a staple. You want it and a lot of them.

Frank 'b' is a luxury, but if I am doing well, I will invest in it. Best armament for Franks and it has just a skotch more range so it actually will work as an escort for your Helens. MUCH better than Oscar and you get nothing else until the Ki-83, which is a 2E and so is more $$$ and has the 2E malus in dog fights.

[rustysi]

2E malus in dog fights.

What's that? I just had some Nicks tussle with some F4F4's and they shot down four for no loss.

[PaxMondo]

2E fighters have a malus against 1E in dogfights. Devs have never disclosed how big. Also mulus when max speed differential is greater than 70.

Gary's fundamental engine still has a lot of random and of course pilot exp and skill matter a lot along with armament differential and everything else. Doesn't mean the malus isn't there.

Set up a sandbox. Create an IJ 2E F4F .vs. F4F straight up (same leader, same pilot exp, etc.) test them both each way (sweep vs CAP) one side and then the other. When I did it with a 10 run sample size, very clearly a malus (or bonus if you are on the other side) shows up. YMMV. Ditto for the 70 max speed differential. It was clearly there. Both make a lot of sense from historical perspective and given Ian was in charge of the air team and given who and what he is, no surprise both got added to the air combat model.

[Lowpe]

I think you need the Nicks to augment your fighters. There is a lot of industry in China, deep shipyards that you need to protect from his long legged bombers. Yeah, the Nick isn't that great, but will hamper bombing runs. Heck, even Rufes and Rex can do ok, but the point is to have something that either forces the Allies to go to night bombing or just not attack at all. You don't want to be giving the Allies freebies and you want to keep damaging his bombers. Nothing worse than a milk run...

Nicks will help slow the aerial bombardment game down without costing you precious fighter squadrons. Preserving your industry,ships,supplies in the long run.

BTW, this is a really great role for the Ki100. Plenty of speed to catch bombers, twin cl cannons, probably your best bomber killer unless you get the the Ki84b. But it is hard to have enough squadrons to rely solely upon fighters.

YMMV.[;)]

[Mike Solli]

Lowpe, I don't disagree with you at all. I was concerned about screwing up the economy and made a hard decision. It turns out I can afford to invest in a FB. Any recommendations? I'm still using the Nick a, although I have the Nick b & c available too. I'm not doing any R&D on any FBs at all.

One of our few house rules is no strategic bombing in China for either side. We figured it would have screwed up that place even more. That's a safe haven for my industry.

[Lowpe]

At this point of the game, Mike, that is an engine question. Pick A or C depending upon your engine production and pools for their particular model.

If both engines are equal...flip a coin. A model has a slight advantage in speed and more accurate guns.

Skip the B.

[Mike Solli]

Well, that makes it easy. I no longer produce the Ha-31, so the a model it is. That shouldn't be a problem because the Ha-35 decreases in need with time, at least for me.

[Lowpe]

No Nick D, eh?[X(] Brave man.[;)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Well, that makes it easy. I no longer produce the Ha-31, so the a model it is. That shouldn't be a problem because the Ha-35 decreases in need with time, at least for me.

The 'a' it the best model to produce in numbers. The 'c' is good for killing bombers.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

No Nick D, eh?[X(] Brave man.[;)]

If this is the case, rectify it...

[Mike Solli]

The Nick d is a night fighter. I opted for the Dinah as my IJA night fighter. Better accuracy.

[Lowpe]

Dinah comes late and has no armor....and has a poor track record in other AARs.[:(]

[Mike Solli]

Figures. I made that decision back when this AAR started. I must have gone with speed with that decision. 51mph faster than the Nick d. No Ha-31 engine factories and I don't have any factories to spare either. Guess I go with the Dinah this time around.

[Lowpe]

Mind-messing is doing that too, so you track his success with the Dinah there. Not a game killer if night bombing isn't actively pursued. Especially with not having to protect China.

But if the Allies get the B29 into position on 3/44 your Irvings along will not be able to deter him much.

Is Hong Kong part of your no strategic bombing exclusion?

[Mike Solli]

Hong Kong is considered part of China for the strategic bombing rule.

Guess I need to read Mind-messing's AAR. Been wanting to, but not enough time in the day.

[Lowpe]

Check page 17 or so of his AAR for some good discussions on night fighters...he had not yet reach having the Dinah at that point, but did have the Irving.

[mind_messing]

Sorry to wade a bit late into this discussion (I read this days ago but forgot to reply), but I've some important findings.

Two IJA fighter bomber squadrons, the 53rd and the 5th (both size 49 squadrons), can transfer from fighter bomber squadrons to night fighter squadrons via upgrades (assuming PDU ON). The only two NF they can choose to upgrade to are the Randy "c" or the Nick "d".

Producing the Nick "d" (at least in small numbers) is then essential if you want to convert these two squadrons to night fighter use before the introduction of the Randy "c" (and you do want this, as it's nearly 100 IJA night fighters in frontline use!)

Once they've been converted to the Nick "d" you can freely upgrade to the IJA night fighter of your choice.

I'm off to do some testing to see if you can switch those bomber squadrons that have the option convert to fighter-bomber squadrons can then be converted to night fighter squadrons...


EDIT: The answer appears to be no, sadly...

[Mike Solli]

Hi Mind_Messing. I haven't dug that deep into the specifics of individual air units for the most part. Yeah, I know I need to, but to be honest, I focus on other parts of the game. I guess everyone has his likes and dislikes. I'll try to give it a shot.

On another note, the reason why this AAR has been quiet lately is because Ted has been sucked into real life. Not sure what's going on but he says everything's ok, just busy. I just keep looking for a turn and I know one will eventually pop up.

Guess I can use the extra time to review my air units. [:D]

[PaxMondo]

Mike you are playing PDU ON ... thank goodness! Anyway, my attention to what groups do what has evolved quite a bit differently compared to other players. I look at broad roles and don't get caught up in the minutiae of the little numbers. 26 or 28 is all the same to me.

So, for example NF's: these will be any high DUR AC that has CAP capability. Bonus if armored. This means Nicks end up in an NF role. A lot of players swear they are great bomber killers. Me? I've had mixed results with that. BUT, they do their job as NF's (disupt night bombing missions) and don't suffer high losses doing so. Lotta damaged AC is the rule, but not many losses as compared to Oscar/Zero in these roles. Sure, I use Irving and the rest of the NF's in this role too, but at least in my games, I can never have too many NF groups.

Anyway, just a counter view from the peanut gallery ....

[Mike Solli]

Hi Tony. I got a turn a couple days ago and have been busy with RL trying to work the turn a little here and there. Hope to get it back to Ted this evening. Anyway, I've been thinking about night fighters. Your thoughts are very compelling. I like the Nicks because of their high durability. I'm going to increase their production and give that a shot, along with the Dinah and Myrt, which I've long ago committed to with R&D. Too late to change for this game. We'll see how it works out.

By the way, I've had little success with Nicks vs. bombers. There are usually Allied fighters about so the Nicks don't fare too well. Maybe they'll work better in locations that are beyond Allied fighter range. Not too many of those locations at this point in the war.

[Mike Solli]

14 May 43

Sub War

There’s no combat to report but four Allied subs showed up in the area west of the Aleutians. I’m sure they’re there looking for MKB and that there are more than four. They are on my SLOC from Etorofu to the Aleutians. I need to find some decent ASW ships I can station at Attu to combat them. Pain in the butt…

5 Fleet

Overnight, 3 US BBs bombarded Adak. The little damage they did was completely repaired and only 1 Oscar was destroyed on the ground. By morning, they were gone.

Some Sallies bombed the US troops at Adak during the day disabling half a dozen squads and killing an engineer and a vehicle. Are the US troops marooned on Adak in such bad shape that I’m already killing squads?

No Allied bombers flew here today.

The subs are telling me that Ted wants to scare me away. That’s unlikely to happen. I have plenty of places to hide my ships. He’ll need many more subs to cause me concern.

Right now, MKB2 (Zuiho, Shoho and Hosho) is several hexes south of Adak looking for Allied TFs that are in range of their 24 Kates. The 4 BB TF is going to hit the Allied troops tomorrow. That should hurt them and burn some of their supply. It’s composed of the Yamato, Musashi, Nagato and Mutsu, along with 2 CLs and half a dozen DDs. It’ll be the first time the Yamato and Musashi will have fired their guns in anger.

KB2 (Junyo and Hiyo) will arrive in the area tomorrow with their 54 Zeros, 36 Vals and 18 Kates.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Things are heating up down here. Ted focused on Munda today. He sent a total of 118x 4E sorties there, primarily against the troops. There was little damage against the troops and the few bombers that went after the airfield did little damage there. I withdrew the Emilies that were stationed there to Rabaul.

I see several TFs to the west of Munda, including one that has a BB (we’ll see how accurate the intel really is), 1 with a few cruisers and one composed of LSTs. Munda is defended by level 5 forts and has only a Naval Guard unit (along with some support).

I carefully positioned my naval search to cover as much water as I could, while carefully avoiding all the Allied bases. I changed the 45 plane Betty daitai from night to day naval attack at 9 hex range, which will include Munda but no Allied bases. I have a Zero unit dedicated to escorting them.

I have diverted a few subs from protecting the waters south of Gasmata to defending Munda.

Finally, I have sortied KB1 from Truk. That TF includes Shokaku, Zuikaku, Soryu and Ryujo, the 4 Kongos, Tone and Chikuma, Jintsu and 8 DDs. It has 129 Zeros, 54 Vals and 72 Kates, as well as 6 Judy recon. They are steaming at full speed tomorrow (mission speed after that) and then will be in position to support Munda the following afternoon from the NE of Munda. The fast replenishment fleet will support them. Munda is expendable (it’s just a small flying boat base minus the flying boats now), but I want Ted to hurt when he takes it.

I’m hoping the invasion doesn’t happen for 2 days, otherwise he’ll land before I get a chance to paste his transports with troops still aboard.

If Ted really intends to invade Munda and my op goes well, this will do nothing but cause delays and troop loss for a base that won’t help him at all and is a redundant base for me. KB1s fighter pilots are excellent and include 24 elite pilots (6 per daitai) with practically all the rest with 65+ experience. I hope it isn’t just a waste of fuel.

Another US PT boat did a nice impersonation of matchsticks at Gasmata when it kissed a mine.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted sent 50x unescorted 2E bomber sorties after my main army. I had a dozen Tojos on LRCAP protecting them. Nine enemy bombers were shot down for no loss and the remaining bombers did no damage to my troops. I have a daitai of Zeros who fly CAP over Rangoon. I am going to let them get in on the action to gain valuable experience so I can cull the good pilots for carrier pilot replacements. I do that at SE Fleet AO and will do it here to gain more highly experienced pilots (70+ experience).

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

20 IF Chutai – transports – came in at Rabaul assigned to the 4 Air Division, which is restricted. I changed it to a non-restricted HQ.
E Etoforu – Etorofu class – another of the nice, long range ASW platforms.
AMc Wa-15 – I’ll probably convert this to an AMC.
AM Wa-101 – I’ll probably convert this to an AMC.
TK Kyokuyo Maru – Type-1 TL (11.6k capacity).
SC Ch-44 – ASW
SC CHa-58 – ASW

The D4Y3 R&D advanced to 7/44. It is expected to become operational in 11/43.

I have 495 Ha-45 engines in the pool. Tomorrow, my R&D airframes that use this engine should accelerate!

I didn’t mention this earlier but yesterday I began conversion of 4 of the Type-1 TL TKs to AOs. At some point I am going to lose some AOs so I want to have more available. I’m starting to get quite a few carriers and may need them soon. If they aren’t needed, I can use them to haul fuel/oil, but I suspect I will need them. The 4 I converted will be replaced by new builds that will arrive (starting today) over the next month or so.