Rumble in the Southwest witpqs-A vs Andav-J 2011-11-29 to 2017-02-08

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByVleYydeDVcQW5NVFc4V0g1Qkk&usp=sharing

There are four files there, you need three of them. Download the .exe and both .txt files. The .py file is optional, in case you want to see the source code.

One of the text files is a configuration file, the other is the documentation. Read that, and give things a try.

New batch, all four files updated. Same link.

Added two columns about the estimated minimum number of attack transport types (APA, etc.) needed to unload the unit in one day. I made the unload factor I chose (3,000) configurable within the accompanying text configuration file.

I used the ROUNDUP() function. I looked it up and the syntax is the same in Excel as it is in LibreOffice, so I am hopeful that will be universal enough.

Also made relevant changes to the documentation in the notes file.

[RangerJoe]

This is a very informative and entertaining AAR. I recently purchased the game and I am still trying the scenarios. But I have a question about China. Since it appears that a lot of the restricted units in China are reacting to your push through Indochina, would it be possible to pound any garrison in Chungking and then paradropping enough forces to defeat the Japanese there? That should bring back the rest of the Chinese Army and cause trouble for Japan.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

This is a very informative and entertaining AAR. I recently purchased the game and I am still trying the scenarios. But I have a question about China. Since it appears that a lot of the restricted units in China are reacting to your push through Indochina, would it be possible to pound any garrison in Chungking and then paradropping enough forces to defeat the Japanese there? That should bring back the rest of the Chinese Army and cause trouble for Japan.

Welcome! [:)]

An interesting idea! And BTW Chengtu acts as a backup to Chungking for arrival of units.

I get decent recon on Chungking and Chengtu most of the time, but what I have no idea about is the level of fortifications. They've had plenty of time to build, so figuring on level 5 or 6 is reasonable provided those were seen as worthwhile to spend the resources (engineers and supply) on. In case you haven't come across it, the fortification level modifiers are like this.

Level = Effect
1 = +10%
2 = +25%
3 = +50%
4 = +75%
5 = +100%
6 = +125%
7 = +150%
8 = +175%
9 = +200%

So basically the defense would get doubled on account of fortifications if I am right about the forts that have been built.

Paratroopers often get dropped with no supply (need lots of extra airplanes to get supply too), and that means fighting at 25% effect. It all comes out to mean that you have to drop a fairly substantial force, because only one or two days of bombing won't wear the defense down far enough. And a longer bombing campaign alerts the defense and they can bring in reinforcements, AA & fighter CAP (both VERY bad for paratroopers, too!), and so on. Transport planes can only drop paratroopers within their normal range, which complicates matters a little more.

Chungking is stronger as I recall, but I've seen Chengtu go down to >6,000 troops in 2 units. Probably still too strong to pull it off. But the opportunity might still come. I'll be watching!

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

This is a very informative and entertaining AAR. I recently purchased the game and I am still trying the scenarios. But I have a question about China. Since it appears that a lot of the restricted units in China are reacting to your push through Indochina, would it be possible to pound any garrison in Chungking and then paradropping enough forces to defeat the Japanese there? That should bring back the rest of the Chinese Army and cause trouble for Japan.

Welcome! [:)]

An interesting idea! And BTW Chengtu acts as a backup to Chungking for arrival of units.

I get decent recon on Chungking and Chengtu most of the time, but what I have no idea about is the level of fortifications. They've had plenty of time to build, so figuring on level 5 or 6 is reasonable provided those were seen as worthwhile to spend the resources (engineers and supply) on. In case you haven't come across it, the fortification level modifiers are like this.

Level = Effect
1 = +10%
2 = +25%
3 = +50%
4 = +75%
5 = +100%
6 = +125%
7 = +150%
8 = +175%
9 = +200%

So basically the defense would get doubled on account of fortifications if I am right about the forts that have been built.

Paratroopers often get dropped with no supply (need lots of extra airplanes to get supply too), and that means fighting at 25% effect. It all comes out to mean that you have to drop a fairly substantial force, because only one or two days of bombing won't wear the defense down far enough. And a longer bombing campaign alerts the defense and they can bring in reinforcements, AA & fighter CAP (both VERY bad for paratroopers, too!), and so on. Transport planes can only drop paratroopers within their normal range, which complicates matters a little more.

Chungking is stronger as I recall, but I've seen Chengtu go down to >6,000 troops in 2 units. Probably still too strong to pull it off. But the opportunity might still come. I'll be watching!

I think forts have an effect on firepower effectiveness and the adjusted AV required to force units to retreat .... which all combine to effect the combat outcome ..

[witpqs]

I'm having a look at the newest Tracker. There is a small difference in the LCUs.csv that is exported. I'll make a change to accommodate that.

Does anyone care about this working with the old version of Tracker? Speak up now, or...

[RogerJNeilson]

Which version is the 'newest' one?

Roger

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Which version is the 'newest' one?

Roger

The version I have had for a long time and referred to as the 'old' version is 1.9.2 June 16 2012. The 'new' version is 1.10 June 13 2015.

So I wrote the utility against the CSV created by 1.9.2. I assume people are or have migrated to 1.10.

[RogerJNeilson]

Ok that's fine, that's the one I use. I just had a thought maybe a new version had 'sneaked' out.

Roger

[witpqs]

Quite possible I missed one too, but AFAIK that's it.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Ok that's fine, that's the one I use. I just had a thought maybe a new version had 'sneaked' out.

Roger

Tomorrow I'm going to make the change so that it will work with Tracker 1.10. I'll post word here and drop you a line.

I am also going to add a set of tallies to the bottom. Obviously the Troop Load and Equipment Load figures cannot be tallied until the numbers for each units are typed in by the player, but at least the tallies will then automatically fill out for them. And if/when I get information directly from the Tracker database I might be able to get information on the devices in each unit and calculate those loads instead of the player looking them up.

What I have in mind is something like this. Feedback?

[RogerJNeilson]

Cannot really tell from that snippet what is going on with the spreadsheet - sorry.

Roger

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Cannot really tell from that snippet what is going on with the spreadsheet - sorry.

Roger

Sorry. Same spreadsheet as earlier pics posted, just added that tally section. In hindsight I think it makes sense to tally the other relevant columns too.

[witpqs]

OK, here is the new version. You can get it at the same link.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByVleYydeDVcQW5NVFc4V0g1Qkk&usp=sharing

It works for the LCU CSV file created by both the older (1.9.2) and new (1.10) version of Tracker.

This is what I was getting at about the totals section. The formulas for the totals are automatically put into the spreadsheet. They work for LibreOffice. I suspect they will work for Excel but I haven't tested it with Excel.

[witpqs]

And as a "now back to the AAR" gesture, here are the current totals for the Okinawa operation, all targets. Not counting separate supply landings for the invasions or support troops to follow on.

The minimum number of ships given are for attack transport types. Others might due for supply.

[RogerJNeilson]

Its very early morning here and one of my cats is sitting on my arm as I try to type..... What is T Min Att and E Min Att?

Roger

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Its very early morning here and one of my cats is sitting on my arm as I try to type..... What is T Min Att and E Min Att?

Roger

I think I put this in the notes - must if I didn't - 'T' for troop, 'E' for equipment, they are the minimum number of attack type transports to unload the unit in one day, as calculated by that unload factor that is in the config file. 3000 by default, but you can change it in that config text (same place you change the bases) and whatever number you put in there will be used in the spreadsheet.

The abbreviation 'Att' for Attack might be a poor choice because the player might use the number for xAKL (250 instead of 3000) if they want.

Also, I used (as that default) what I believe is the number for one Phase, while the number for a Day ought to be 2 x Phase. I did this to account for ops point usage by other factors, such as shore fire. It would be great if the group can arrive at a better number.

[witpqs]

1944 September 20

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs are still working along the China coast.

Quiet in China.

The attacks near Chiang Mai went well enough, and Surat Thani will fall tomorrow!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Surat Thani (51,68)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24578 troops, 414 guns, 282 vehicles, Assault Value = 1113

Defending force 12649 troops, 127 guns, 63 vehicles, Assault Value = 159

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Allied adjusted assault: 247

Japanese adjusted defense: 209

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
331 casualties reported
Squads: 46 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 18 (7 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
134 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Assaulting units:
Gardner's Horse Regiment
26th Indian Division
20th Indian Division
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
5th Indian Division
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
112th Infantry Regiment
11th/A Division
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment
11th/C Division
29th Army
32nd Field AA Battalion


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 60,51 (near Chiang Mai)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21954 troops, 394 guns, 242 vehicles, Assault Value = 483

Defending force 10628 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 241

Allied adjusted assault: 312

Japanese adjusted defense: 19

Allied assault odds: 16 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), morale(-), supply(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
712 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
103 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
23rd Indian Division
17th Indian Division

Defending units:
29th Division


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 59,53 (near Chiang Mai)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13157 troops, 145 guns, 73 vehicles, Assault Value = 367

Defending force 9554 troops, 16 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 229

Allied adjusted assault: 190

Japanese adjusted defense: 10

Allied assault odds: 19 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
morale(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
849 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 82 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
537 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 75 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
1st Burma Brigade
2nd Burma Brigade
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2/15 Punjab Battalion
22nd (East African) Brigade
14th LRP Brigade

Defending units:
53rd Division


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But notice that in one of the battles near Chiang Mai our troops took nearly as many disabled squads as the trapped enemy. At Surat Thani the two divisions that attacked are in good shape and all units will attack tomorrow. With two Rgts of Stuart VI added in the result should be big. The mines at Sabang are cleared, support units are partly ashore, and the 81st is moving out to the SE.

Maneuvering around the trapped units north of Saigon continues.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 62,66 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3033 troops, 46 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 93

Defending force 1860 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 19

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/C Division

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Division


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The airfield at Haiphong is building at a snail's pace because the engineer units are still highly disrupted from that stupid 1x DD bombardment. Grrr! Supply is plentiful and some big HQ units are next door at Hanoi so hopefully they will recover without spa treatments. 1 unit of 70 armoured vehicles has arrived at our crossing hex from the Empire's main defensive position (between Hanoi and Lang Son). Our units have more disruption to recover so all will wait for the artillery before attacking. There is no other movement seen at the main Imperial position. Just east of Haiphong we continue to see movement to the east, away from our advancing divisions.

Holdouts at Ternate are being eroded away.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Ternate (78,102)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4402 troops, 178 guns, 101 vehicles, Assault Value = 100

Defending force 3267 troops, 7 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 36

Allied adjusted assault: 84

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 84 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
31st Infantry Regiment
134th Field Artillery Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Battalion
260th Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
205th Field Artillery Battalion
871st Aviation Engineer Battalion

Defending units:
12th Garrison Unit


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The P-47D group at Kuching caught a flight of Sallies attacking a destroyer patrol. Only one got to make its ineffective attack run.

Indochina.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

Those zombie-like engineers.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Its very early morning here and one of my cats is sitting on my arm as I try to type..... What is T Min Att and E Min Att?

Roger

I think I put this in the notes - must if I didn't - 'T' for troop, 'E' for equipment, they are the minimum number of attack type transports to unload the unit in one day, as calculated by that unload factor that is in the config file. 3000 by default, but you can change it in that config text (same place you change the bases) and whatever number you put in there will be used in the spreadsheet.

The abbreviation 'Att' for Attack might be a poor choice because the player might use the number for xAKL (250 instead of 3000) if they want.

Also, I used (as that default) what I believe is the number for one Phase, while the number for a Day ought to be 2 x Phase. I did this to account for ops point usage by other factors, such as shore fire. It would be great if the group can arrive at a better number.

Thinking of changing those column headers to "T Ships" and "E Ships". Any better ideas?

I also could add a line above the heads and show something like "Unloading Factor = 3000" or what ever number the player put in the config file. Better ideas?