PzB vs Wobbly - Clash of Steel

[Honda]

Haha! Running out of Hellcats! Didn't see that one coming!

[pauk]

nah, Samurai doesn't support the enemy!

what he was expect? After the Hellcats were introduced The Empire would surrender?

Btw, Imperial HQ Inteligence estimated that app 1300 Hellcats were produced by now... so it is up to you to decide if he is really demoralised....

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to conclude what you have to defend:

1. Borneo, Java
2. Marcus
3. Northern Japan


personally, my choices would be #1 and #2.... anyway, congrats on victory (it seems that Andy gets sick from the victory disease) and stay steady... stay steady (um, i mean in the game, not in the Crimea[:D])

[PzB74]

Me neither [;)] Andy should have though...if he had gathered 600 Cats in the pools before engaging
in the Marianas, he would have had enough.

I will deploy reserves to Borneo and Java Pauk. The PI will receive their fair share shortly.
Already moved several base force, aviation regiments, engineer regiments, bdes and SNLF units to Borneo.
No more FUBAR para attacks [:@] [:D]

130k hits, that's incredible [&o]

Do svidania [8D]

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: PzB

Do svidania [8D]

You have a Slavic soul after all![8D][:D]

[Fishbed]

Da svidania Samourai! [:D]
You'll hopefully get a surprise when you'll come back!

[Monter_Trismegistos]

Hey PzB while travelling for your hollidays do not use planes! You know, Andy is quite pissed off, and he could send Lanphier in his P-38 to shot you down like Yamamoto!

[Nemo121]

Have a great holiday PzB. You've certainly earned it after this. Turning back a US invasion in 1944. I'd lost hope of ever seeing this.

[kkoovvoo]

ORIGINAL: PzB


I'm logging out for 15 days gents [8D]

<cough> <cough>

Give me my dose!!!

[PzB74]

I'm back [8D]
Summer weather and family to attend, but should be able to do a turn today or tomorrow!
&nbsp;
So, any advice regarding how to defend the Empire for the rest of the war? [;)]

[Nemo121]

Succesfully !!! [:D]

[aztez]

ORIGINAL: PzB

I'm back [8D]
Summer weather and family to attend, but should be able to do a turn today or tomorrow!

So, any advice regarding how to defend the Empire for the rest of the war? [;)]

Glad to see this continued.

Send the rest of the KB on strike againts US West Coast! [;)][:D]

[Honda]

ORIGINAL: PzB

I'm back [8D]
Summer weather and family to attend, but should be able to do a turn today or tomorrow!

So, any advice regarding how to defend the Empire for the rest of the war? [;)]

You are NOT goint to belive what happened today!!!
There I am minding my own bussines, taking care of my wife, 3 week old boy, sleeping badly, crying about why Oscar is so underrepresented, thinkink to myself when in the hell will I fing enough time to start a pbem, avoiding the AAR section since you and Pauk are gone for holidays etc. etc. and I get a call from none other than Pauk. The man is away basking in the sun for 3 (let me spell it: three!) days and asks how I'm doing, how are wife and baby...and!..."is PzB back yet...he's due to return one of those days, right?" He called to tell me to give you some advice about future defensive actions. [&o]Which I will do in a moment, BTW...
So...
now that you gave Andy a bloody nose in the Marianas operation (it's still possible it was just a raid and not a full scale aborted invasion) he's likely to abstain from going for any bases out of LBA cover. With that in mind, Wake, Marcus, Marianas and Bonins can be left with their present garrisons and stripedd of any high quality aircfaft. You should be safe in that area for at least 2 months. Your attention should now be focused on a fighting withdrawal along the axis of Andy's main push. That will surely be from northern NG. Possible targets are Java, Borneo and PI. I belive you have plenty of air assets to counter any of those offensives. Don't expect victory, at least not at first. You have to make very base a very hard gain for Andy and fight for every inch. Remember, this is SRA you are fighting for so any plane lost means the lenghtening of your production back home. Sacrifice of air assets, unlike naval, is at this point neccessary to keep SRA Japanese as long as possible! Naval assets should be put in calculated danger only when it is deemed vital or can lead to a major (strategic) Allied defeat in the area of operations. The path to PI should get most attention, because it seems to offer the Allies two important things: severance of SRA-HI connection and a quick route to HI for the purpose of Superfortressing the Japanese economy.
I see only two areas which seem favourable for a strong conteroffensive aimed at destroying a sizable number of enemy troops - Java and PI. They both offer some malaria-free and inland bases which can hold a healthy amount of troops. Any such counterattack should be swift and undertaken only if a favourable result seems attainable. That's basicaly it. To top this off, I'd just like to add you should begin reinforcing Okinawa and Formosa.

[PzB74]

Pauk, that's the man! [;)]
I've had my longest offline period for years! Still, my best vacation ever [8D]
Somehow I've lost 2-3 kg during the vacation - how in gawds name could this happen!? [:D]
Even 30 hours on a sunny beach couldn't really give me a tan though....

Visited the former top secret Soviet submarine base at Balaklava in the Crimea. Proof against nuclear bombs, pretty kewl place. Turned into a museum now.
Also got a sightseeing in Sevastopol Harbor and got a look at units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It was also possible to buy WWII badges, uniforms and medals in the market street in Kiev.

Well, time to get back to the war! Been thinking a bit about how to organize things from now on.
Agree with Pauk/Honda's comments: The Combined Fleet will not intervene unless a highly favorable situation arises! Still need a couple of months to get the KB
fully battle ready again. Another sortie against enemy convoys between PH and the US WC is not out of the question.

Wake, Marcus, the Bonins, Marianas and the Palaus will retain their strong garrisons. I will be satisfied if we can force Andy to take a longer route to Japan.
The Northern New Guinea is certainly on Andy's list. He will also expand his bases in Sulawesi. The US now got ample resources that can be used to complete these actions
while simultanously conducting new offensives. This will most likely mean that the Kamikazes will be activated along the historical time line. So we have to figure out how
to put them to best possible use.

After the aborted offenisve in the Marianas I think Andy will be quite impatient. He's always quite desperate to try to follow the historical time line.
Personally I expect the following bases to be invaded first:

Morotai
Menando
Kendari

These bases have large airfields and will allow LBA to support operations against Borneo, Java and the PI.
To me it looks like Timor may be ignored and Java is really an unnecessary target. Borneo would be a much more obvious target.
So I will move more troops there and strengthen aviation support to nearby bases in the area.

An invasion of Okinawa and Formosa would be ugly - but ralso very risky without LBA support. There are already 2-3 divisions in these areas, but just
to be on the safe side I will try to reinforce them over the next couple of months.

The PI will receive substantial reinforcements over the next few weeks, so I think the train has left for an easy invasion here.

It will be almost impossible to prevent Andy from capturing both smaller and larger bases in the SRA/PI. So we will fight a delaying battle and try
to inflict as many causalties on the enemy as possible. An all out defensive operation will only be carried out if a base within B-29 striking distance
of Japan is invaded.

ORIGINAL: Honda

You are NOT goint to belive what happened today!!!
There I am minding my own bussines, taking care of my wife, 3 week old boy, sleeping badly, crying about why Oscar is so underrepresented, thinkink to myself when in the hell will I fing enough time to start a pbem, avoiding the AAR section since you and Pauk are gone for holidays etc. etc. and I get a call from none other than Pauk. The man is away basking in the sun for 3 (let me spell it: three!) days and asks how I'm doing, how are wife and baby...and!..."is PzB back yet...he's due to return one of those days, right?" He called to tell me to give you some advice about future defensive actions. [&o]Which I will do in a moment, BTW...
So...
now that you gave Andy a bloody nose in the Marianas operation (it's still possible it was just a raid and not a full scale aborted invasion) he's likely to abstain from going for any bases out of LBA cover. With that in mind, Wake, Marcus, Marianas and Bonins can be left with their present garrisons and stripedd of any high quality aircfaft. You should be safe in that area for at least 2 months. Your attention should now be focused on a fighting withdrawal along the axis of Andy's main push. That will surely be from northern NG. Possible targets are Java, Borneo and PI. I belive you have plenty of air assets to counter any of those offensives. Don't expect victory, at least not at first. You have to make very base a very hard gain for Andy and fight for every inch. Remember, this is SRA you are fighting for so any plane lost means the lenghtening of your production back home. Sacrifice of air assets, unlike naval, is at this point neccessary to keep SRA Japanese as long as possible! Naval assets should be put in calculated danger only when it is deemed vital or can lead to a major (strategic) Allied defeat in the area of operations. The path to PI should get most attention, because it seems to offer the Allies two important things: severance of SRA-HI connection and a quick route to HI for the purpose of Superfortressing the Japanese economy.
I see only two areas which seem favourable for a strong conteroffensive aimed at destroying a sizable number of enemy troops - Java and PI. They both offer some malaria-free and inland bases which can hold a healthy amount of troops. Any such counterattack should be swift and undertaken only if a favourable result seems attainable. That's basicaly it. To top this off, I'd just like to add you should begin reinforcing Okinawa and Formosa.

[Honda]

One more thing. Disregard everything I wrote about which planes to convert to kamikaze. I did some testing and this is the deal: it's all about the plane's max bomb load. Repercussions are as follows:
1. Recons don't work. They don't even get a chance to hit since their load is 0. They do however crash in the process. So, no point in making any of them kamikaze.
2. Judy is not the best option since her max load is still insufficent to penetrate BB armour. They gain nothing by becoming kamikaze accept certain death.
3. Torpedo planes make good kamikaze.
4. The best revelation of the testing was the OscarII. It has a better max load then Judy and a few of them can seriously damage a CV. Excellent choice for kamikazes. Still, they cannot penetrate BB armour but good for crippling CVs.
5. The biggest punch is carried by Emilys but they are few in numbers as it is so I wouldn't recommend converting them.
6. The ultimate kamikaze for me is the Sally/Helen. Since they carry only bombs they aren't much of an anti-ship plaform. With their conversion to Kamikaze they become great and are the best improvement among the kamikaze conversions. Three of them sink a CV. They penetrate BB armour.
7. Okhas don't work. Don't count on them.

[String]

The venerable IDA however packs a punch as it has a bomb load.

Edit: From my last year Kami test

Damage to ships caused was :

CVE Manila Bay - 5 Judy, 1 Jill, 6 Mary - Sunk
CVE Saginaw Bay - 1 Jill, 2 Mary - Sunk
CVE Wake Island - 4 Zeke, 1 Jill - Sunk
CVE Steamer Bay - 3 Jill - Sunk
CVE Kadashan Bay - 1 Helen, 1 Sonia, 1 Irving - 96/66/49
CV Wasp - 2 Judy, 1 Jill, 1 Irving - 78/62/49
CV Ticonderoga - 2 Judy, 3 Sonia - 70/39/49
CVE Marcus Island - 1 Jill - 64/32/30
CVE Savo Island - 3 Judy, 1 Helen - 59/36/43
CV Hancock - 2 Nick , 1 Jill - 52/55/49
CVL San Jacinto - 1 Jill, 1 Judy - 50/46/49
CLAA Flint - 1 Judy - 34/5/11
CVL Langley - 1 Judy - 31/6/33
CV Yorktown - 1 Judy, 1 Sonia - 31/4/16
CVE Tulagi - 1 Zeke - 24/10/15
CVL Cowpens - 1 Judy, 2 Sonia, 1 Zeke - 24/16/25
CV Essex - 1 Judy - 21/7/14
BB Massachusetts - 1 Jill - 7/29/6
BB Pennsylvania - 3 Mary - 1/0/2
BB South Dakota - 1 Judy - 1/0/1
BB Washington - 1 Judy, 1 Sonia - 0/0/0
CVL Cabot - 1 Nick - 5/0/0


So all in all the hit percentage of planes which actually flew were:

23 Sallies - 0 hits
26 Helens - 2 Hits - 7,6%
50 Nicks - 3 Hits - 6%
21 Sonia - 7 Hits - 33%
116 Judys - 18 Hits - 15% (more judys flying are shown in combat report as some actually didn't locate their targets and came in for a second run in the PM phase)
50 Zekes - 6 Hits - 12%
92 Jills - 11 Hits - 12% (same as with Judies)
31 Marys - 10 Hits - 33%
10 Irving - 1 Hit - 10%


Jills seemed to be most devastating with their torpedoes, I havent tried turning Emilies with their double torpedo load into Kamikazes.. I wonder what kind of effect THEY would have..

[Honda]

Yes, that about right. It's clear that BB didn't get their armour penetrated. You need planes with bigger load for that. Sallys/Helens would've done the job. They are tougher then Jills and couse more damage. Also, too bad you didn't include Oscars in the test. They are an unlikely choice but very devastating to CVs. As far as Nicks are concerned, there are 3 variansts in the game with loads ranging from 250 to 1102. That makes a lot of difference for a kamikaze in WitP.

[WhoCares]

Do you plan to pull out some of your troops in the Marianas once he pushes forward along a new path or are they doomed to rot there to eternity?
&nbsp;
Such a mission (by sea lift) will become more and more difficult the more CVs he will&nbsp;have loitering on the seas,&nbsp;so you might have to plan for it fairly early if at all. In the end there will come the time, once he seized bases in PI/Formosa/China,&nbsp;when you will no longer care so much about the Marianas but wont be able to safely travel there and back with&nbsp;big slow convoys. And air lift will only evac the troops but not guns and vehicles...

[DuckofTindalos]

Hmmm... Not to hi-jack your AAR, but I've been wondering: does the size of the weapons load on a kamikaze make a difference in how hard it hits?

[Honda]

Marianas are still too valuable to desrease the garrisons. Once Allies get an equivalent base in HI range, only then Marianas become less important.

Kamikaze:
The only thing that matters in how hard they hit is their bomb load value. That's how Oscar is 3 times better then Tony, for instance. If the value is 0, the kamikaze won't work because the game won't recognize them as a plausable threat but the planes will go on with the attack and be wasted for nothing. Planes with a value of 500 or less are pointles as kamikaze because they do damage in the range of a 250kg bomb. Only plane with a 1102 load worth converting is Oscar due to its general uselessness for anything else. Above that are TBs with 1764 bomb load and they are serious killers. The best are medium bombers with 2205 load (frances, sally, helen, G4M2 and G4M2e). They penetrate BB armour and can sink fleet CV with as less as 3 hits.

[DuckofTindalos]

Aah... Thanks, Honda... That means my Ki-115 with 1,764 bomb load rating is going to be even nastier than I thought...