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

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Adak currently has just under 15k supply with another 2700 on the reinforcement TF. They’re working on the forts, which are currently up to 5.08. No infrastructure damage...

Do you really want to try push forts to 6 when siege is underway? Those fort levels are already quite expensive in supply, and any engineering -1 during the asssault will make those next level investments void

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Adak currently has just under 15k supply with another 2700 on the reinforcement TF. They’re working on the forts, which are currently up to 5.08. No infrastructure damage...

Do you really want to try push forts to 6 when siege is underway? Those fort levels are already quite expensive in supply, and any engineering -1 during the asssault will make those next level investments void

Not entirely. Progress towards the next level of forts is not completely lost when forts are reduced in an attack, or so I've....heard. Somewhere, sometime. Example: 5 + 8%, with forts reduced to 4, might become 4 + 30% on the next day. As opposed to 5 + 0% would be 4 + 0%.

If somebody knows the source of that info, that'd be great [:D].

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Adak currently has just under 15k supply with another 2700 on the reinforcement TF. They’re working on the forts, which are currently up to 5.08. No infrastructure damage...

Do you really want to try push forts to 6 when siege is underway? Those fort levels are already quite expensive in supply, and any engineering -1 during the asssault will make those next level investments void

Not entirely. Progress towards the next level of forts is not completely lost when forts are reduced in an attack, or so I've....heard. Somewhere, sometime. Example: 5 + 8%, with forts reduced to 4, might become 4 + 30% on the next day. As opposed to 5 + 0% would be 4 + 0%.

If somebody knows the source of that info, that'd be great [:D].

You're right about the partial progress being saved even after fort reduction. I don't have the foggiest notion of where that codified info is, but I've seen it multiple times in cities under siege.

[Mike Solli]

Yep, I've seen it too. I'll burn the supply to get those forts back up to level 6 if possible. Right now I'm the one doing the siege. Those American troops are simply a self contained POW camp. He has nothing there to support them. Once he's out of supply, a few nice bombardments and bombings, and the attack should do him in.

[Mike Solli]

18 May 43

Sub War

There was no combat involving subs on either side. I can still see the Mississippi and hope to catch her tomorrow. An Allied supply TF is heading to the Aleutians (just a couple hexes north of the Mississippi) and I put a sub in front of it to try and whittle it down a bit.

Ted mentioned in an email that he doesn’t expect the Mississippi to survive. He said there are plenty more where she came from (which is true, unfortunately).

5 Fleet

The 90 mm mortar regiment and a 15cm artillery regiment both fully landed at Adak, along with the supply, bringing the total supply to 17.3k.

The daily bombing & bombardment of the US troops happened without incident, but the Allied AV is still slowly increasing. It increased from 516 to 518 today. The Japanese AV is at 360. The next Japanese reinforcement TF will arrive tomorrow, composed of 71 division and another 15 cm artillery regiment.

The Japanese BB bombardment fleet didn’t quite make it to Etorofu today to replenish. *Sigh*

The Akagi and Kaga escaped from the US sub yesterday and are still headed toward the Aleutians, now undetected again.

Finally the US BB TF disappeared. It had been sitting at Unmak for a few days but is gone now. I wonder if he was worried about my carriers taking them out.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted’s CV and amph fleets are still sitting at Munda. My carriers are to the NE still hanging out (and still undetected).

Allied bombers pummeled Rabaul, Shortland Islands and Madang losing 10x 2E and 1x 4E bombers to 2x Japanese fighters + about 5 op losses and another 19 or so planes destroyed on the ground. That’s not good. I have moved some non-essential planes out of Rabaul leaving primarily fighters there. There may come a time when they, too, will have to leave. I still have 100+ fighters at Gasmata rested and waiting.

That Allied unit that has been moving to Madang finally attacked. It was the 32 Division! They obviously succeeded. Also, a slice of the 503 Parachute Regiment landed at and took Hansa Bay, the dot hex to the NW of Madang.

Damage to Rabaul is 0-60-56. I hope he targets some other worthless base and allows Rabaul to recover.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I swept Akyab again. This time the results weren’t as good as yesterday. I believe the Allied fighters were low (6k feet?) so many of my sweeping Tojos (20k feet) didn’t go after them. There were 19 Allied fighters but only 2x P40Ks were destroyed. Many were damaged though.

When the bombers arrived, escorted by Oscars, only 2 Hurricanes and 1 P-40K were still around. They shot down the P-40 but the Hurricanes got through to the bombers and shot down 2 Helens. The bombers did moderate damage to the Akyab’s airfield. Tomorrow I am going to sweep and bomb Cox’s Bazaar. I see no fighters at Akyab, a handful at Cox’s Bazaar and about 3 dozen at Chittagong. Hoping for a nice sweep (Tojos and Zeros this time) tomorrow.

Not much else going on here, with the monsoon in force. I’m pulling beat up units out of the line to rebuild and am moving regiments together to combine into divisions (30 and 31 Divisions). The 1 and 2 Tank Divisions are being pulled into reserve for after the monsoon is over. I believe one has already upgraded its tanks but I’ll upgrade the other division’s tanks as soon as possible.

China

The 3 Tank Division caught up with the Chinese Corps it beat up a couple of days ago. It’s 1 hex east of Chengtu. It’ll push that Corps into Chengtu and follow tomorrow. An army (several infantry divisions and a pile of artillery) is currently on the road 55 miles to the SE of Chengtu and is heading there to team up with the Tank Division to take that base. Chengtu currently has 3 units there (plus the beat up corps that 3 Tank Division will push there tomorrow).

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: TK Takekun Maru – Type 1-TM (8150 capacity)

The A6M5c R&D advanced to 12/43 (estimated completion is 7/43). Finally armor for an IJN fighter!

The Frank R&D finished repairing its 4th factory (of 8). The latest the Ki-84a will become operational is 9/43, but I believe it will be operational in 8/43. (The b model will be available in 12/43 and the r model will be available in 4/44.)

[ny59giants]

What is the SL at Adak? How much Naval Support do you have there to speed up unloading?

Burma: any troops at Ramree Island?

[Mike Solli]

SL? What's that? 120 naval support at Adak and I do have troops at Ramree Island.

[ny59giants]

SL = Stacking Limits

[Mike Solli]

Of course. It's unlimited. We're playing a straight stock game.

Edit: The troops at Ramree are a paratroop regiment who is marching out and a mixed brigade who's hanging out there for the time being.

[ny59giants]

OK, I had to check on SL as I had three divisions at Adak and that was overstacking. So, I can expect to see ground "Death Stars" in your future. [:D]

Ramree Island: This base in Allied hands can significantly aid the flow of supplies into the Irrawaddy River valley. Just want to make sure you have it adequately garrisoned.

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, I expect a huge Allied invasion at Adak eventually. That's why I want to kill off the visitors now. Killing them off would mean that much more they would have to bring to the party. I'm hoping 2 divisions and a garrison unit (if I use it in the attack) plus a bunch of artillery could kill off the Americans if they're out of supply.

I just had a thought. Can I resupply a bombardment TF at Adak with enemy troops there?

Never knew that about Ramree Island. Good to know. Glad I'm building up the forts.

[PaxMondo]

Yes, as long as you own the base.

[Mike Solli]

That's great news, Pax. Not sure what size ship I'll be able to reload there, but I can keep a steady naval bombardment going to accelerate the destruction of his supply.

[PaxMondo]

It is why I build Adak up to Port 7 ... even though I know I eventually will lose it, I know it helps me keep it. And the allies can build it up with their Seabees in about 2 days anyway, so it isn't like it will accelerate their progress much.

At Port=7 and a naval HQ or 2, Yamato and her sisters can rearm ... [;)]

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not sure I could have done that though.....and still get the forts to level 6 like I did for a time.

[PaxMondo]

Yeah, it means I have to commit another couple scare ENG units to ADAK for 90 days early in the war ... SCARCE resource those ... but holding Adak deep into '43 is a nice tactic ... buys time to get the Northern defenses into shape.

[Mike Solli]

I'm beginning to think it may be worth it. I got lucky here (so far). I put a lot of engineer assets into the Marianas. All four of those islands are at level 6 on their way to 7, where I'll stop.

[PaxMondo]

Trade-offs .. if the allied player is alert and sees you building Adak strong, then he know somewhere else ain't as strong ... ENG assets are scare commodity for IJ ...

[PaxMondo]

one of the things you likely missed during your sabbatical ... supply is generally the Achilles heal for IJ players. Not you maybe, but a lot of IJ players overbuild their air force early in the war. They spend too much supply on air missions (+10,000/day in 42/43) which means in 44/45 they run out of supply big time.

In any case, missions ... total missions are one of the key indicators that I now use to monitor supply usage. More than fort building for sure, and right there with factory building, but more insidious as most players fail to monitor that ...

Anyway, food for thought.

[Mike Solli]

Ted's never played the Japanese. I believe he opened it once or twice, broke into a cold sweat, and shut it down immediately.

Interesting thought on tracking the number of missions flown. I haven't looked at that at all. Now you piqued my interest. Gotta check out the average number of missions flown. By the way, I a few days away from a third of the way through the game.