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What would Midway do for you?
 
India is a better suicide gambit - he has to respond to it. 

i agree , midway is pointless at this stage of the game. Go for broke . throw it all at India in a make or break operation. but make sure its 'all' else nemo will find a way to stop it. you cant afford 1/2 measures against him.

just my 2p tho

Thanks for the thoughts guys...

I knew Midway would spark some dissent, and I must admit I agree with both of you ... I just wanted to hit something quickly and see if I could move some fighters/ LB out of the Aleutian's.

I still think Australia is more viable than India, I caught sight of a large TTF about 2-3 weeks ago heading out of West Australia. Some days later Nemo asked about the shipping lanes...this makes me think he is moving troops out of Australia (especially as I told him I thought my Australian odyssey was over) toward India and hence Malaysia.

If I go for India, I'll be up against the entire Allied air force + the British navy (minus the CV's). Australia will be much less damaging and I believe he has little protecting this realm otherwise he would have used it by now into Kendari, if nothing else but to displace my CV's near Medan. Also it may be more difficult to move his air force to Australia, apart from LB. I'm sure he has many fighter sqd, as they had been protecting Koepang.

Another thought has been to land back in Vietnam, cut off the Chinese troops and starve them, thus reducing the risk of Bangkok being taken. However, the Chinese are just too numerous and even though poorly equipped / trained they still have huge AV values. This is what I would love to do, but would need at least 2000 AV to achieve this. That in itself is a huge laugh ... I have nowhere near that available right now, and even in the next 90 days if I get everything at full strength am still below that thresh hold.

The Chinese are just too numerous in this mod, sure it might reflect the real numbers, but as we all know only a small percentage of those forces were ever used in a cohesive way. If the game engine is unable to assign regions to china to represent the war-lord mentality, then at least make the numbers small or do as BB1.4 does and make them static until attacked. Nemo knows most of my thoughts on this, but from day 1, I knew China was lost if troops had been stacked and sent against me. To show what I mean, there are 4 units at Canton, at least 12 in Vietnam and numerous in Burma, and I still cannot make any headway in the East. Nor with 7 units Nth of Hue, even get close to the AV. LCU combat drives me cold. But then against Nemo, none of my forces seem to be making headway.

My CV's are never going to get going against his CV's. I doubt he ever plans to use them offensively until late '43 and they will remain behind the main force. I believe has more combat ships than I already. More LCU's and more planes. Shouldn't there be more parity in mid '42 ? All this might sound like sour grapes, as I have destroyed my air force and lost numerous troops in Burma all on my own.

Lastly, all these plans may be a pipe dream however as I need 3000 PP's to free up the next bunch of troops coming in. I get 125 PP/day.Nothing that I get is assigned to any other HQ other than Home Def.

Although I want to do better analysis on this using Tracker data, on av. over a 30 day period:-
I get 3750 PP's. PP's needed (just Lcu's) = 5000. So I am behind the ball at present (compounded by mistakes in air assignment over korea + my desire to keep true to the rules Michael and I originally agreed to), this gets better over the course of a whole year as my large AV units trail off toward the beginning of '43.

If I had really gone after the Allies in the early part of the game, as Nemo has done against Alfred, then right now might be a little different. This mod is not meant to be played with caution as a Japanese player, and Michael did a great job keeping his forces almost untouched.

Enough of the criticism, I am still enjoying this mod and to get the chance playing Nemo is cool. Just playing a conventional game early against a mod that is designed for the unconventional, and being one step behind is frustrating and making me critical of the mod rather than myself...

After this game I will have to go over to the other side and pamper my ego ... [:D]

6th July
The 6th July was quiet again, Nemo has moved out a load of ships from Cold Bay, I guess the damaged ones are going back to Kodiac. He emailed me to tell me he had sent some troops (via air transport) to Attu Is, I still have not seen them. Damn, I really should have taken all the chain when I could have.
I question why he is telling me ...
1. He wants me to pull out.
2. He wants me to move some troops.
3. He is practising misdirection again.
4. It is what it is & he is leap frogging me ...

Whatever it is I have to respond ...

My fear now is for another front being opened in another theatre, possibly the CPac, I'm very light there now. And he tells me he gets a few more BB's next month.

RE: China ... would a resource bombing campaign on your part work?

He does, after all, have to supply all those troops and even with the burma road open he's still pretty dependent on domestic supply production.

Added benefit would be you could use the resource bombing as part of a pilot training program.

ORIGINAL: pat.casey
RE: China ... would a resource bombing campaign on your part work?

He does, after all, have to supply all those troops and even with the burma road open he's still pretty dependent on domestic supply production.

Added benefit would be you could use the resource bombing as part of a pilot training program.

Normally in a game I don't employ such tactics in China, but I think you are right again ... time to be mercenary and less ethical. There are about 4K Res Cntrs and 100 HI in china plus I should bomb Vietnam, where he captured another 1000 Res and 100 HI.

This will take some time, but might also have the added benefit of moving some fighters.

ORIGINAL: n01487477

ORIGINAL: pat.casey
RE: China ... would a resource bombing campaign on your part work?

He does, after all, have to supply all those troops and even with the burma road open he's still pretty dependent on domestic supply production.

Added benefit would be you could use the resource bombing as part of a pilot training program.

Normally in a game I don't employ such tactics in China, but I think you are right again ... time to be mercenary and less ethical. There are about 4K Res Cntrs and 100 HI in china plus I should bomb Vietnam, where he captured another 1000 Res and 100 HI.

This will take some time, but might also have the added benefit of moving some fighters.

You allowed Nemo to throw away your rules, so don't forget to take your gloves off too mate! You have to hit any Resource or Oil centres he takes. Lack of supplies will hamper his offensives and the need to ship them forward will also tie up shipping he would otherwise be able to use for strategic mobility.

7 July '42

[*] Decided to make sure the Allies were protecting some bases with cap as for the last week I've sat back and not attacked anything in Burma. 120 LB (Betty's & Sallys) went for the airfields at Ye destroying only 10 planes. The cap was light, as I thought but I should have done a bit more recon before the attack to up the accuracy, but am very disappointed with the whole op.

[*]Below is a composite of two attacks on his LB. The Angels flew from Sakhalin (they have a 44 hex range). Their fatigue hit the 90's straight away, and after I moved them this turn they went above 100...

Day Air attack on Anchorage [Alaska] , at 113,28

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 82
Ki-264 Angel x 15

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 24 destroyed, 9 damaged
Ki-264 Angel: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 5 destroyed, 13 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 9 destroyed
B-19A: 3 destroyed
B-17D Fortress: 2 destroyed

24 Betty's destroyed is a bad bad blow, I only produce 4/5 a day, so I will try to save them for a few weeks before massing them again (but Tracker shows many more ... ). I have to destroy 16 B-17's a month to drive down those pools. And just to show that the combat reports are not always accurate ... have a look at the losses in the pic.

[*] Atka Island [AK] & Kiska Island [AK] are captured by paradrops, Nemo had bombed them the turn before and found them empty ...
[*] CV Hiyo and CLAA Pauk-san slip off the shipyard. I'm thinking of sending them South to Java.
[*] Nemo moved a small SCTF to Dutch Harbour, he is trying to lure me into attacking and destroying my carrier based cap. I'm letting it go for now or until it is worthwhile attacking.
[*] CV's are sighted again at Kodiac, far behind the fight, maybe he believes that he has enough fighters now not to need naval air. I must think about this some more ...

[*] Tomorrow Resource bombing starts ...

Thanks for the advice everyone ... I appreciate it.

<laughter> 114% - now that's dawg-tired... [:D]

Do you have any Oscar-II fighters? They've got the altitude and if they get shot down over your bases (which I assume you'd lose droves of those K-43-IIs against Fortresses) most of you pilots should be recovered. Plus they gain experience... Even more value for your hard-earned dollar. [;)]

ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks
Do you have any Oscar-II fighters? They've got the altitude and if they get shot down over your bases (which I assume you'd lose droves of those K-43-IIs against Fortresses) most of you pilots should be recovered. Plus they gain experience... Even more value for your hard-earned dollar.

Not yet, I'm still July '42, I've got a few more months to wait, but will eventually produce about 130 / mth. I'm hoping that I can get them a month early, as I'm at 75 repaired 55 repairing. The Oscar I factories auto-upgrade, but I changed those a while back. The Oscar I is just too suicidal to use.

Nemo says he will have me negotiating a peace in 3 months so maybe I will never get them, but I'd really like to hold on until the Ki-44III Tojo. It looks the business & CV capable! I need to ramp up its R&D soon,(35/57) I want these to replace many Zero's (although I want to keep many for the legs)...

The Angels are good, but I need many more, I'd really like to unleash 100 and see the damage ... then build up some Behemoths ... I'm going to do some testing on both of these by modifying the mod (date changes)and make some conclusions. I had initially just chosen to go the Angel route, but now I'm changing my position ... I'll let you know. And then of course there is the Marlina in Sept ... I want to see those torpedo's fly ...

I know the great range of these planes is what attracks you to them but don't underestimate the AF denial aspect if you can use them at close range - thats a lot of bombs with lower ops losses and fatigue
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1 of them almost carries more ordnance that a Sqn of Betties 48 bombs will close a lot of AF's
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I guess what I am saying is don't waste them on Long range raids escort them and use them to crucify AF's closer to hand

Good point Andy,
yes I had focused too much on the LR aspect, thanks for the reminder. I've lost half 22 out of 46 so far, and as they are so expensive to build, I'll try some escorted missions in a few days to see how that goes.

Thanks for the welcomed heads-up.

Damian,
Your KI-264's in whatever combination will require a size 5 AF or larger to be able to carry a full bomb load. Nemo knows this and due to their high production cost you will need to ensure their survival at almost any cost. Whatever you do, do NOT leave them where his B-17's and soon the B-24s can reach them. Next, think about him using the long ranged B-19's to hit them (I left him with 5 squadrons 12x5 and he may have added another squadron to bring his total to 72). They both have the same range (33/44). You will need some good CAP over whatever base you base them at.

What is going on Luzon?? Has Manila fallen yet?? You need those forces released to help in other theaters.

I agree with the other post and you need to hit his Resource centers that you will not be able to use to deny him the free supply. A friendly reminder that this game is all about logistics. The Allies have more to burn, but you need to make it difficult for him as he still has to move the free supply from Aden and other major bases to the front lines via AK's. I would consider accelerating any minelaying subs and any that can carry Glens. Mining his ports will help you gather valuable intel when his ships hit them. The Glens can be scouts and then your CVE/CVL's can go on raids.

Michael,
Luzon still stands even though I pound it with 250 small load LB each day. I'm going for a deliberate attack again this turn, to see if there is any difference, but I had to pull out some troops earlier to fortify Vietnam. Otherwise Nemo would have Saigon by now. I guess that my stalling attempt Nth of Hue is just a waste of manpower since he now has Ubon and can build it up. But I can't accept giving up ground just yet.

I've been running LRCAP over both Manila and Ubon for a while now and every day I intercept transports, the Allies are well endowed with this capability.

I'd really love to fly in 2 or 10(I wish) Div's to Luangpraban, Nth of Ubon and then cut off this base and other forces.

8 & 9 July '42
Resource bombing commences - I still think the whole process is flawed with almost 100% intel and too large damage as compared to the repair cost. But that is with my Japanese economic hat on...
[*]Bombed Hanoi for 53 Hits, resulting in 143/1000 damaged.
[*]Bombed Pucheng for 21 Hits, resulting in 57/100 damaged.
Nemo is unresponsive on the 9th July, but I know he is a Wiley Fox, and will try to cap me sometime, so I've decided to bomb a different city / target every day. If he can guess and get lucky then he should go to a casino straight away (I'm also moving them) ... I'm also wondering how large the response will be to my own res/HI.
[*] Trying to dislodge his forces out of Hailar keeps giving 1-1, but they still remain, shock attack planned for the 10th
[*] Re invaded Atka and Kiska Is in the Aleutian's, Nemo tells me I'm doing the wrong thing, I know that moving AV out of Adak is a mistake, but I'm just going to kill the unit, then ship back to Adak. So unless he moves quickly to attack Adak I'm safe for now. Nemo also confirms (reading between the lines), that he will not be using his CV's here. Which makes me think, where can he redeploy them / use them ?
[*] Dislodged a Chinese unit out of Lop Buri, 1 hex Nth of Bangkok to keep the road open. Hopefully tomorrow I can send back some more directly East of Tavoy, with the Hirito Tank Div.

Tomorrow might see the focus swing back Nth, but I think there is a day or two before the two armada's clash.

Are you overcommitted in manchuria e.g. if you switch to a defensive stance there, can you pull a lot of AV out of there?

If you fall back to woods or a city hex, then you can probably hold him with significantly reduced AV, and then you could use that AV elsewhere to address your scarcity of LCUs.

Seems like when you're on the attach in manchuria you need to outnumber him 3:1, but if you go defensive then he needs to outnumber YOU 3:1 so you can pull an aweful lot of troops out without opening the door for a red invasion.

I think I finally agree with you Pat, my offensive days up North are long gone. Repositioning those forces will take some time, in the meantime I'm really thinking about the invasion plans.

10 July

[*]Nemo has finally launched on Dutch Harbour, some funny things happened today with the combat report saying my troops are surrounded there, but no troops can be seen on map. Some troops offloaded, but are no longer there ... I'm waiting for Nemo to confirm this.

Something else strange happened with a ML TF going back 2 hexes, before continuing on its way ...

[*]Manila still looks strong from my last attack, I did have 50% more troops here, but they have slowly been siphoned off to Burma and Thailand. But I will keep attacking until I finally capture the base. I have to believe that it is close to 0 supplies.

Ground combat at Manila/Cavite [PH]
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 81065 troops, 937 guns, 827 vehicles, Assault Value = 2235
Defending force 57444 troops, 1218 guns, 376 vehicles, Assault Value = 2208

Japanese max assault: 2137 - adjusted assault: 1502
Allied max defense: 2171 - adjusted defense: 8025

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese ground losses:
5900 casualties reported
Guns lost 137
Vehicles lost 11

Allied ground losses:
386 casualties reported
Guns lost 27

[*]Hailar is finally freed of the 3 Allied tanks Reg & my troops can now cross the river.
[*]Against all my better wishes I'm sending 2 SCTF into DH tomorrow, aided by my CV power ... what may come ...

11 July CV air wing decline battle.

[*] Plenty of action today, but tomorrow is where the real damage was done. Overall the day goes to Nemo, but I believe this was because my CV air wing, decided to stay aboard ship due to inclement weather.

[*]I organised my 3 SCTF's into 3 groups, taking a feather from Nemo's hat I tried to keep to the 8-10 ship fighting unit...
[*]TF 1 & 2 went to Dutch Harbour
TF1 BB Hiei, BB Kirishima, BB Mutsu, BB Yamashiro, CA Tone, CA Chikuma, CA Chokai & CA Mikuma.(react 1)
TF2 CA Suzuya, CA Kinugasa,CA Furutaka,CL Isuzu,CL Abukuma,CL Tatsuta,DD Hayashio, DD Amatsukaze,DD Yamagumo
(react 0)
[*]TF 3 was sent to Umnak, as well as a fast transport of APD's to pick up some troops.A ML TF, was also in the vicinity.
TF3 DD Usugumo,DD Uzuki, DD Shiokaze, DD Nokaze, DD Hiyodori, CL Akagi Maru, CL Asaka Maru,CL Awata Maru,
CL Kongo Maru,CL Saigon Maru,CL Ukishima Maru, CL Syoka Maru.

The sequence:
[*]APD TF hit SHCH108 5 times.
[*]APD TF trying to pick up some troops is ambushed by a small DD TF. Nemo decided to go after Umnak rather than Dutch Harbour (I guessed wrong!)
[*]Sweep of DH by 40 assorted planes, mostly Zekes, blew away 40 P40E Warhawks, but lost 27 planes in the process.
[*]Betty's and Nell's came in with a very small escort and were decimated, but did torpedo BB North Carolina
[*] My fleeing APDTF and ML TF gets hit heavily by Avengers and Dauntless' 8 ML's are sunk and 1 APD succumbs to the waves.
[*] 2 rounds of surface combat between TF3 and 9 enemy DD's (but it was much larger) results in the sinking of DD Hiyodori and CL Syoka Maru.
[*] TF 1 reacting to the ships at Umnak goes 3 rounds with some CL's & DD's, sinking 5 DD's and damaging many more.

Other news:
[*]Shock attack by the Hiroto Tank Reg pays dividends and sends 2 enemy units fleeing north 120miles NE of Bangkok.
[*]A Mike LRCap over the same units kill 3:1 enemy aircraft.

12 July
Dispirited by my CV's, I moved them 1 hex North West to seek better weather, but in the Aleutian's, CV air power is not a certainty and something that ppl should be aware of.
[*]TF 2 coming from DH enters Umnak and takes on 25 DD's, doing very little damage and sustaining plenty. DD Hayashio is sunk.DD Yamagumo later sinks. The TF then heads back toward Adak.
[*]TF 1 (the BB's) goes 4 rounds with 2 different large DD TF's. None of my ships were sunk, but sustained large damage and I hit 20+ DD's with gusto.
[*] Finally my CV's came into play, but even still not all my planes flew, and somehow (I saw clouds over Cold Bay), there was no LRCAP over this TF ...[:D]

Day Air attack on TF, near Umnak Island [AK] at 101,37

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 154
D3A2 Val x 62
B5N2 Kate x 68

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 12 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 5, on fire
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CL Helena, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CA Vincennes
CL Leander, Torpedo hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CL Concord, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1
CL Perth, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Detroit, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CA Quincy, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

[*]A second wave of 52 Vals & 43 Kates hit the same DD TF that TF 1 had played with earlier and hit 8 DD's.
[*]The response by the Allies was swift as they launched Avengers and Dauntless', but unfortunately for them did not go after the BBTF, but rather sank a CL and a DD.
[*] Umnak is captured!

** the use of CV avengers and dauntless' based out of Cold BAy makes me more aware that the Allied CV's are steaming elsewhere, and the thought of slaughtering these planes without escort wets my lips. But the desire to withdraw now is getting looming large ... I'll pull out what I can while I can.

With the fall of Umnak. he can build that base up to be a major force in the northern Pacific. Eventually, it will be large enough for him to base B-19s out of and they can reach most of your bases in northern Japan from there (range 44). I had plans to do that, but they never materialized.&nbsp;[:(]

What are your plans to defend the Aleutian Islands?? He can use Army fighter to LRCAP his troops as they jump from base to base. A size 2 AF has him place his Dauntless and Avengers, once it gets to size 4, your toast (Army B-26 now come into play with their torpedo range of 8). I would consider moving your BB/CA with a speed over 30 to this area as you will need to make this area "The Slot" to bombarded his bases to slow him down.

13 July

Not a whole lot happened, I sank a further 2 DD's, Umnak looks like it it crammed to the point of sinking under the weight of Allied men and machines (which did not fly today)... but will soon.

Michael,
I'll try to do what you think is a good strategy, but have a look at the fleet, it is damaged, beaten up and bleeding. TF 121 is near Nth tip of Sumatra, and I need to keep it there lest Nemo tries a run at Vic Point. And any bombardment will hit the 100's of DD's on station.

The weather up north is bad to worse for most of the year, so during the good time (now) it will not favor either side as you have found out already. I have followed Nemo's AARs for some time and he is always aggressive in Alaska regardless of which side he plays. He will be getting B-24s soon and if he gets to Attu, he will have most of northern Japan under attack by the end of '42.

How many Glen subs do you have?? I would place them with a few conventional subs between Kodiak and West Coast and try to interdict his resupply efforts. I don't know if you can stop him from retaking the Aleutian Islands, but you need to slow him down. I would view his efforts there like a NATO commander would in Western Europe against the Soviets in the 70/80s. You may not be to beat him head on, so hit him where he is most vulnerable . . . . his supply lines.

Finally, you need to "act" somewhere and not remain in the "reaction" mode across the board. Your playing a game of chess against a much higher rated player and if you continue to go down this path, its just a matter of time before checkmate.&nbsp; For your mental well being, you need to go way outside the box to get his attention.

Good Luck and Good Hunting!!&nbsp; &nbsp;

Muster a force and hit him hard in some place critical but not a place he can overwhelm you in - dont commit force to India or the main Australian seaboard where he can easily reinforce you need to hit him where its important to him but where he cannot easily reinforce.
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Go for places where he cannot easily reinforce I cannot determine from the map where it might be but he must be hurting as well.
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Hit hard hit fast but dont expect to hang around you need to delay him.
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Mix it up a little and suprise him.
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One of your main advantages now is carrier air and you are fighting it out in a place where surface vessels are most improtant because of the weather - he gets a lot more and better DD's than you do dont trade 1 for&nbsp;1 or even 2 for 1 its unfavourable.
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nygiants has made a good suggestion maybe go south and hit his LOC with your carriers you get those fast raiding CVL's with good endurance use them as raiders.
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Look for places where a short sharp offensive can really hurt him.
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The obvious locations are Ceylon, Perth or perhaps New Cal by land perhaps a raid on San Fran by sea&nbsp;not sure as I dont know the full facts you need to&nbsp;try to get into his face&nbsp;and hit him hard somewhere.
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