Lambs to the slaughter (Lowpe (J) vs Jocke; BillBrown (A)) Finished

[Lowpe]

More ASW goodness...but I would rather be doing other things here.

[Lowpe]

And the supplies flow once again! There was much rejoicing![:)]

[Lowpe]

AA does good work north of Shwebo!

[Lowpe]

Kaga!

[Lowpe]

Great North!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: tomamars

Guys, I have a question considering PDU off and Sam. Wouldn't it be more economical to start researching Sam AFTER research on M6A line is complete?
Firstly, you wouldn't spend all that supply when you need it the most - during expansion stage. You shouldn't stop while you are ahead.
Second, If you switch 30 size research factories to Sam, they'll go down to 20, not 0, so not much additional input is needed to bring them up to 30 again.
Third, if you start researching Sam in first half of 1943, you'll already have a engine bonus, factories will repair and research a lot faster since arrival date is closer than it is in 12/41.
All in all, you could easily get Sam in first half of 1944 with no significant cost while at the same time remaining somewhat competitive with the Zero line.
What are your thoughts?
PS: Love reading your AARs, learned A LOT from them.

Cheers!

How many A6M factories are you talking about?

I think you need to get Sam asap, which means separate line. The A6M r&d facilities can go Ki94II instead if the game is in position to support it, or Frank B, Randy 102b etc.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: tomamars

Guys, I have a question considering PDU off and Sam. Wouldn't it be more economical to start researching Sam AFTER research on M6A line is complete?
Firstly, you wouldn't spend all that supply when you need it the most - during expansion stage. You shouldn't stop while you are ahead.
Second, If you switch 30 size research factories to Sam, they'll go down to 20, not 0, so not much additional input is needed to bring them up to 30 again.
Third, if you start researching Sam in first half of 1943, you'll already have a engine bonus, factories will repair and research a lot faster since arrival date is closer than it is in 12/41.
All in all, you could easily get Sam in first half of 1944 with no significant cost while at the same time remaining somewhat competitive with the Zero line.
What are your thoughts?
PS: Love reading your AARs, learned A LOT from them.

Cheers!

This is where my third Sam R&D factory came from (completing the A6M line).

Your second point is also why you'd have even less supplies during the expansion phase, unless you just let that factory earmarked for Sam sit idle and do nothing with it until later. Better to just set them from the start.

I don't think you can "easily get Sam in first half of 1944" unless you invest significantly in it during the first month of the war.

[Lowpe]

Setp 26, 1943

Big attack at Katha...

[Lowpe]

A war of movement...

[Lowpe]

Lots of action here...what can I do to slow the Allies down some? I will figure out something.

[tomamars]

10 research plants + 5 production plants going after Zero, same for Oscar line. PDU off

[Lowpe]

Sept 27, 1943

I put a squadron of A6M5c at Katha, testing, and the Hellcats come first and crush the Zeroes who were down low. After many sweeps the Bombers came.

Notice the movement pips...breakout at Katha, and also the horde on the plains.





Also, two big fleets and 110 fighters at Port Blair.

[Lowpe]

Sept 28, 5942

Yesterday the Allies spotted a relief convoy for Rabaul with the 16th Division...so I re-routed them to Manus...Rabaul bombarded overnight by several battleships...no mines hit, no cd guns fired.

Also a 5 battleships 2 TF bombardment of Kodiak.

Some Lillies fly without escort (my bad) and got thru but missed the light cruisers at port in Port Moresby.

[Lowpe]

Ooops, I wanted to take some more pictures and post them and clean forgot. Sorry.

I put some LRCAP over Katha on the off chance he would bomb and not sweep after trashing some zeros yesterday, but no joy. He swept.

My normal traps and raids are up...more mines destined for Rabaul -- about 500 more if I can get them laid.

Sam's continue to repair damaged factories quite fast, it is like there is a bonus for having one factory fully repaired.

End of the month fast approaching.

[Lowpe]

New Japanese planes for Nov, 1943

The Betty gets most all squadrons...the Peggy gets up to 5 squadrons...the Jack only 1 for now, eventually 4.

I never used the Peggy much in my last game, so I am looking forward to using them here. Betty...ok, but the Jack is a screamer.

I finally finished buying out my last destroyed unit from the West Coast (well destroyed division). Some have gone to Burma, SRA, Marianas, PI, while others continue building out at Tokyo.

Feels good to start buying out some troops/support units.

[Lowpe]

Sept 29, 1943

Attacks at Kodiak (1-7) and at Rabaul (1-2) leave the Allies a little bloodied.

Set up some daring raids, aggressive fighter usage this turn...we will see if any of it pays dividends.

[Lowpe]

Ground combat at Kodiak (181,42)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7632 troops, 86 guns, 29 vehicles, Assault Value = 235

Defending force 6315 troops, 40 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 220

Allied adjusted assault: 55

Japanese adjusted defense: 407

Allied assault odds: 1 to 7 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
174 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1055 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 138 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 27 (1 destroyed, 26 disabled)

Assaulting units:
53rd (Sep) Infantry Regiment
22nd Marine Regiment

Defending units:
302nd Ind.Infantry Battalion
Ichiki Det.
65th Bde /4
46th JNAF AF Unit
11th Air Fleet /1

[Lowpe]

Much needed fighter reinforcements...some don't upgrade past the A6M5 series which means they get removed down the road...those squadrons will be additional trainers.

[Lowpe]

The Allies bomb the clear terrain north of Shwebo, where I have two garrison infantry units and 7 AA units and 1/3rd of a tank division all moving to various spots.

Lots more waves and the AA keeps busy...

Morning Air attack on 41st Infantry Regiment, at 60,44 , near Shwebo

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 14
B-17E Fortress x 6
B-17F Fortress x 3
B-24D Liberator x 15
B-24D1 Liberator x 12
B-25C Mitchell x 20

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 5 damaged
B-17F Fortress: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 6 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese ground losses:
108 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

[Lowpe]

48 days till a very significant growth in Japanese Army strength. And here is one reason why you need to slow the 43 expansion down, these troops need time to prep, train and build morale.

I am trying to figure out how to get more troops into Rabaul without losing the ships, as a full division is at Manus. I have 500 more mines coming to Rabaul...and the Kaga has shed any detection levels on her and will now head back to Babeldoab freeing up the KB.