Defeating the Devil !!! ( aka Damian )

[Nemo121]

Hartwig,
Yeah sorry for the delay. its going to be Thursday before I get it back to you. I'm no call tonight.
 
As to the "only psychology" statement... Well, I'd invite anyone who wants to to email me and ask for the game files.
 
I think that anyone who looks at those game files and compares them to Damian's would be amazed at just how few first-rate fighters I have on the map, how weak my CV-airgroups are etc when compared with the forces available to Damian.
 
Logistically I am quite comfortable in stating that I should NOT be able to advance. Psychology though has allowed me to "talk" Damian out of Canton ( which otherwise might never have fallen ) supported by a few days of massive raids ( with massive losses ) to bluff him into thinking that I could support that loss rate ( and enforce the equivalent loss rate on him ) indefinitely... 2 days of raids pretty much wiped out my forces but psychology let me make him believe that actually I was just re-organising for another few days of massive raids ---due to the first 2 days of raids I STILL have many RAF squadrons flying Hurricane Is and Buffaloes as I don't have enough Spitfires or Hurricane IIs to upgrade them.
 
So, yeah, I think that logistically I shouldn't be advancing at all but psychology, misdirection and misinformation is allowing me to make advances the realities on the ground and in the air don't warrant. Anyone's welcome to the game files to check this themselves if they want.

[ny59giants]

Michael,

Why the screwball comment? I would have thought it was self-evident that in the face of superior forces only psychology and manoeuvre ( supported by deception/psychology etc ) could succeed in allowing further advances.

Maybe I'm missing something you're seeing though?

Fionn,

For some people, the idea of seeing a "mental health professional" for any reason is considered screwy. My one living grandfather served in WW II in the USA 45th Division and always thought of me getting into this field was not smart. If you talk to most people of that generation, that have a different view ofmental health.

When it comes to your game vs Damian, he does post some of your e-mail exchanges. I see some Psych Warfare 501 (graduate school level) going on. IMO, you have the strategic initiative while he has had trouble even getting the tactical initiative in an area for very long. Its been that way since you took over for me.

In this mod, even though both sides have a lot more forces available, he is like most Japanese players in WITP and believes that he cannot afford the type of losses an Allied player can. You keep having losses that would scare away most Allied players. Thus, the screwball as you keep reinforcing the delusion.

[Nemo121]

Michael,
 
Ah, ok, I see where you're coming from now. I thought you were questioning whether I was correct in ascribing it to psychology and that I was actually stronger than I thought ( I really, really amn't ).
 
Hehe, he posts email exchanges eh? I bet that when we finish the game and I look at his thread I'll find that the ones he posts aren't the ones where the work is actually happening. If he posts it he thinks there's subterfuge there and thus it is most likely just the red herring which convinces him he sees the trap and thus causes him to stop looking for more.
 
 
Losses: Aye. Damian is still loss averse. If he would lose 1,000 planes in 7 days ( which he COULD afford ) he would crush my airforce all over the map and I'd be set back by many months ( more than allowing him replace all those losses ). But he is afraid of such a tempo of loss and that is beginning to cripple him.

[Capt. Harlock]

Damian is still loss averse. If he would lose 1,000 planes in 7 days ( which he COULD afford ) he would crush my airforce all over the map and I'd be set back by many months ( more than allowing him replace all those losses ). But he is afraid of such a tempo of loss and that is beginning to cripple him.

I can't blame Damian too much: it's not easy to see that slow attrition is favorable to you but quick attrition is favorable to him. (e.g. the loss of 170 of his fighters for 350 of yours gives you the advantage, yet the loss of 1,000 of his planes for the loss of, say, 2,000 of yours would favor him, because many of your squadrons would cease to be effective.) A good thing he doesn't have comprehensive intel!

[Nemo121]

Harlock,

Only for a little while. In a short time I'll be getting more fighters than him, more bombers than him and I'll be able to beat him in the "rate of loss" game too. At that point in time a lot is going to depend on how quickly he realises this and shifts to the grand strategic defensive with only minor operational and tactical attacks from time to time.
 
As to intel: He need only check my reinforcement queue and replacement arrival dates - which he is allowed to do. Come June 43 I get another major increase in fighter availability in terms of P-47s, P-40Ns and P-51Bs as well as quite a few different new types of strategic bombers and that is when the balance will turn in terms of being able to live with him even during short but intense bouts of combat.

[1EyedJacks]

Hi Fionn,

We are looking at a restart and I'm hoping to use a mod version that has the MLE upgrade fixes for Japan. Are the files here the latest/greatest - or do you have an updated mod to what is currently listed?

http://sites.google.com/site/empiresablaze/


ttfn,

Mike

[Nemo121]

Mike,

Nope, I actually just found a flawed upgrade in this game ( a USN AP upgrades but a typo in a field means that instead of upgrading and still only needing a few hundred tons of fuel to refuel itself fully it now needs several tens of thousands of tons to fully refuel.
 
I will be posting this upgrade ( and the others since last year ) to the site this weekend thanks to your reminder. I'd actually forgotten to upload the latest version as I kept incrementally updating it based on feedback.

[Capt. Harlock]

Come June 43 I get another major increase in fighter availability in terms of P-47s, P-40Ns and P-51Bs as well as quite a few different new types of strategic bombers and that is when the balance

Hmm. Granted the P-40N is a step up from the previous models, it's still a P-40, and IMHO not adequate against the improved Japanese fighters. What's the schedule for P-38 upgrades in this mod?

[1EyedJacks]

There was a question in another AAR - Is there an upgrade path to the Ki-219?

TTFN,

Mike

[Nemo121]

Ki-219s can only outfit night fighter units ( and, I think, 1 or 2 twin-engined fighter groups ). Basically though they are limited to the night fighter groups. I've made sure there are about 300 slots in these night fighter groups though so you should be able to use the Ki-219 pretty aggressively, even during daytime.

[1EyedJacks]

yeah - 300 slots should be good. These are a nice-looking airframe that should hold up well against the defensive fire power of the allied B-17s. I can see how I'd want to really mass the ki-219s together against some of those 100+ bomber attacks.

I just wanted to make sure there were enough available to help defend against the ubber bomber formations <grin>.

btw - how goes the update for this mod?

I'm of two minds in doing a restart with Carl as, although I've gummed up the Japanese economy pretty thoroughly, I'm gradually digging myself out of the hole and still think I can give Carl a good fight and maybe even a good thrashing - lol. I need to hook up w/Carl to see if he'd like to continue instead of doing a restart tho...

For myself, I'm not planning to jump right into AE until I've verified that I'm competent with the new features of the game and that the future update they are already talking about will be backward compatable to any games started out in version 1.0 of AE. In truth, I'm thinking about starting a 2nd game of EA with the updated mod you are working on while keeping the current game going with Carl.


TTFN,

Mike

[Nemo121]

So, couple of bits of news....
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1. EA 2.0 ( final update ) is now uploading to the site.
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2. In news from the front my US CVs and LOTS of USN troops are now slowly but surely making their way towards Oz via Noumea etc. I have given up on forcing invasions of the atolls I need between Kwajalein and New Guinea in order to create a chain of airbases which I can use to fly my naval and USAAF fighter and strike planes from Kwajalein to China without having to resort to sea transportation.
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Basically the range of my P-40Es means that every base cannot be more than 14 hexes from the next base in the chain. Once that's accomplished I can hope them from Kwajalein to China in about ten days.
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In other news the last of the IJA bases on the southern Chinese mainland has been taken. I will slowly repair it whilst rebuilding my RAF and RAAF squadrons with Spitfires and Corsairs and then begin placing defensive CAP over these bases preparatory to using my USN fighter groups to LRCAP an invasion fleet aimed at a weakly held IJA base south of Shanghai. That'll take a couple of weeks and will only be launched if my ground offensive aimed at Shanghai from Changhsa fails.
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I don't hold out too much hope for this ground offensive as I will be facing about 1600 AV of dug in IJA troops ( 5 divisions worth ) and the Chinese aren't really great at shifting defenders out of defensive positions. With that said I will have about 10,000 AV of Chinese troops and may even be able to free up a couple of thousand AV of UK and Indian troops to help out. Combined with massed bomber raids on the defending troops that might be enough.
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The idea is to slowly but surely get closer to mainland Japan AND Korea. The Japanese are really throwing lots of troops and ships into fortifying the islands on the way to Japan but I think that if I can just isolate Formosa and Okinawa I can leave them to wither on the vine whilst launching a bit of a surprise invasion of Korea. That'll give me all the bases I need, resources and supplies AND allow me to squeeze the IJA in China and the Soviet Union in between my forces. Damian's only choice will be to either evacuate by sea ( impossible given the masses of bombers and fighters I'll be able to mass ) or to try and fly his troops out ( which can be done but which will be expensive in terms of planes, pilots) which will be slow.
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In the meantime my CVs will repair and with a little luck by September 1943 I might be able to have sufficient CV cover to force a proper invasion of the Home Islands themselves.
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A word on fuel: I've been doing my best to run the IJN ragged over the past 6 months and it seems that at this point in time Damian is having significant problems keeping his naval vessels fuelled. Unfortunately as his perimeter shrinks his need for fuel also shrinks so it won't be as crippling as if Damian actually held more than just the Home Islands, the Phillipines, a third of China and Korea --- a rump which requires very little movement of shipping to keep supplied/shuffle troops around. Still, with less fuel he'll start keeping CVs in port where my bombers can begin taking pot shots at them and over time I'll manage to put a few out of action, helping my forces when the battle actually comes.
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Overall though I plan to conduct as many invasions as possible under LRCAP from land bases keeping my CVs nice and safe behind my front line. Maybe by the end of this war the CV would be viewed as a white elephant?

[1EyedJacks]

Thanks 4 the update to EA. I look forward to seeing the changes.


Now that you've played the mod 4 a while, are there any additions to house rules you would like to recommend - U know - like the rule about not using ASM munitions below 10k?



TTFN,

Mike

[Capt. Harlock]

Damian has just reported a massive strike on Amoy with some impressive Allied losses. Can you give us your side of it? And how are your total losses to date running?

[Nemo121]

1EyedJacks,

Ki-=264 Bs can't level bomb from below 20,000 feet and should never be used to hit ground targets.
Soviet Union is active but not necessarily in the war.
G9Ms can NEVER be used for port attacks ( their torps would hit the harbour bottom )

Those are the only absolutely necessary ones...


Harlock,
Yeah the Allied side of it is that things are going wonderfully well

No, seriously, I lost 51 top-flight fighters ( P-51s, La-5s and suchlike ) in return for 48 Demons... I also lost about 100 second-rate fighters ( P-40Es, Spitfires, Kittyhawks etc ). Those losses don't really matter though as I have large numbers of those guys in the pool.

Basically the maths is that he lost about 60 first-rank pilots over my territory and while I lost 160 or so fighters I had second-rank pilots ( below 70 and often below 60 Exp ) in most of the 110 or so second-line fighters. Of the 51 top-line fighters I had mostly 60 and 70 Exp pilots in them. I lost about 1/3rd of those pilots. So in terms of experienced pilots lost I'm way ahead on the deal.

I also think this will tempt Damian into a raid on my rear bases with Ki-264s and I've been prepping them with lots of Hurricane IIs ( slow but with multiple cannons, real Ki-264-killers).


Currently I'm taking Fiji and Noumea ( just sideshows really ), building my air bridge from Kwajalein to New Guinea via Shortlands and Buin and am moving my CVs to Oz for refuelling and reprovisioning before striking for Hong Kong --- I may land at targets of opportunity on the way there.

My Chinese forces are gathering east of Changsha as well. I currently have over 7,000 AV there with a few thousand more on the way.


I'm resting most of my LBA at the moment with a view to unleashing them once I have airbases a little closer to Japan. In the meantime I am considering letting my long-range bombers ( Wellingtons, B-24s etc ) be unleashed in a night bomber offensive. I think that might well pay dividends if aimed at Ki-66 VI factories ( new name for the Ki-44 III ).

Right now though I'm more focussed on building up my Southern China bases so that when my fleet is fully gathered I will be able to move them to whatever Chinese base I choose whilst under the maximum amount of CAP possible.

[Nemo121]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/08/43



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Night Air attack on Takao [Formosa] , at 47,45


Allied aircraft
Pe-2 x 11


Allied aircraft losses
Pe-2: 8 damaged

This is the first night attack of the war and serves Damian notice of my intention to begin a night bombing campaign. I am hoping to get him to split his fighter over Formosa into both day and night CAP thus making my job of shooting them down during the daytime much easier.


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Sub attack near Truk [Nanyo] at 66,78

Japanese Ships
AK Tokiwa Maru, Torpedo hits 1
DD Akatsuki

Allied Ships
SS O23

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TF 1099 troops unloading over beach at La Foa [New Cal], 66,116



Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported


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Day Air attack on Saigon [Cochin Ch] , at 31,45

Japanese aircraft
Ki-264 Angel x 187

A massive raid of almost 200 Angels runs into my CAP comprising second-line fighters and a squadron of Spitfires which are rebuilding. The main thing to note about all of these Allied fighters is that they are ALL cannon-armed. The Beaufighters and Hurricanes in particular have impressive cannon armament.

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Mk X x 10
Blenheim IF-NF x 15
Hurricane IIc x 45
Spitfire VB x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-264 Angel: 73 destroyed, 16 damaged

My 78 fighters downed 73 of the enemy and damaged another 16. All in all I'm sure that since some of the damaged planes will also go into the sea on their long flight home my fighters will have done better than bringing down a bomber for every fighter committed. Obviously the cost was high but I have many replacements for all of the planes lost except for my Spitfire Vs and B-17s. It will take Damian 3/4 of a month to replace these 80 or so Ki-264s. By that time I ought to be ready ( by the beginning of April ) to unleash a long-range night bombing offensive on the Japanese homeland.

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter Mk X: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
Blenheim IF-NF: 8 destroyed
Hurricane IIc: 14 destroyed, 18 damaged
Spitfire VB: 4 destroyed
Blenheim IV: 5 destroyed
Wellington IC: 3 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed
Dakota I: 2 destroyed
Hudson IV: 1 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed
IL-4C: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 22
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 84

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Day Air attack on Pisanuloke [THAI] , at 31,37

Japanese aircraft
Ki-264 Angel x 3

Allied aircraft
Hurricane I x 10
Hurricane IIc x 19
MiG-3 x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-264 Angel: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane I: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1

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Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 8
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 5 damaged


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Runway hits 3

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Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] , at 35,56

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 -I Helen x 181

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 -I Helen: 5 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIc: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
76 casualties reported

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 192

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Day Air attack on Bandjermasin [BNO] , at 27,64

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-II Lily x 19

No Japanese losses

Runway hits 6

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Day Air attack on Ulithi [Nanyo] , at 57,68

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 5
Ki-44III Tojo x 9
D3A2 Val x 18
B4Y1 Jean x 34
Ki-27 Nate x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 3 damaged

Runway hits 23

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Day Air attack on Ulithi [Nanyo] , at 57,68

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 11
G4M1 Betty x 58

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 39

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Day Air attack on Majuro [Nanyo] , at 84,88


Allied aircraft
P-35A Hawk x 87


No Allied losses

Port hits 2
Port supply hits 2

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Day Air attack on Noumea [New Cal] , at 66,117

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2
SBD-3 Dauntless x 100
TBM-1 Avenger x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
H6K2-L Mavis: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 59

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Day Air attack on Wake Island [USA] , at 85,72


Allied aircraft
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 23


No Allied losses

Runway hits 35

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Day Air attack on TF, near Aparri/Tuguegarao at 45,49

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 5

Allied aircraft
A-20G Havoc x 6
B-26A Marauder x 7
B-19A x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
A-20G Havoc: 2 damaged
B-26A Marauder: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-19A: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 1
CLAA Mifune-san, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Uranami, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Hato
CL Agano

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Day Air attack on TF, near Roxas [Panay] at 43,55

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 12

Allied aircraft
B-19A x 3

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Tetsuzan Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

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Coastal Guns at Morotai [NEI], 43,68, firing at TF 36
TF 36 troops unloading over beach at Morotai [NEI], 43,68


18 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese ground losses:
1760 casualties reported

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Coastal Guns at Roxas [Panay], 43,55, firing at TF 85
TF 85 troops unloading over beach at Roxas [Panay], 43,55


60 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AS Nagoya Maru
LCVP AG-1455A
DD Asagumo
LCVP AG-1456A
LCVP AG-1425A, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
637 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

A further Japanese riposte... I interpret these two landings as an attempt to push the front line in the DEI further west and buy time by giving me one more line of islands to invade when the US fleets link up with the RN fleets.

Time to send a few more of my floatplane pilots to their death ferrying in men and supplies to Morotai.

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Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 24979 troops, 548 guns, 493 vehicles, Assault Value = 976

Defending force 118415 troops, 1803 guns, 52 vehicles, Assault Value = 3242



Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Skovorodino [SIB]

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 89792 troops, 1651 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3242

Defending force 64709 troops, 835 guns, 759 vehicles, Assault Value = 976


Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Morotai [NEI]

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1710 troops, 41 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 114

Defending force 9192 troops, 183 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 269



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Ground combat at 25,44

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4959 troops, 71 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 178

Defending force 6071 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 152



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Ground combat at 32,36

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3637 troops, 174 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 95

Defending force 1744 troops, 0 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 4



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Ground combat at La Foa [New Cal]

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4101 troops, 103 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 214

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Allied max assault: 97 - adjusted assault: 33

Japanese max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 33 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE La Foa [New Cal] base !!!



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Ground combat at Roxas [Panay]

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 569 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 21

Defending force 1898 troops, 11 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 73



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Ground combat at Bankha [Sumatra]

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 8 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Defending force 1811 troops, 25 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 81

Japanese max assault: 0 - adjusted assault: 0

Allied max defense: 73 - adjusted defense: 275

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


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IJN Kwajalein SNGF Naval Guard Unit Wiped Out at Kwajalein [Nanyo] by attrition!!!

[Nemo121]

Progress continues slowly. We're up to about the 13th March 1943 now and the USN is almost at Sydney ready for refuelling and a quick sprint north via Port Moresby toward the DEI.
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My ground troops are holding at Morotai and I'm just resting my forces ready for the next major push.
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A quick precis of my ground troops:
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1. Approximately 11,000 AV of Chinese troops are gathered at Changsha. They will push eastward. As they cause the Japanese to react another 4,000 AV in northern China will begin pinning operations there.
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2. Approximately 4,000 AV of British and Indian troops are gathered in Hong Kong. They are resting and recuperating.
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3. Over 1200 AV of tank formations are gathering at Singapore and in Northern Oz where I will attempt to pick them up, bring them to Hong Kong and get ready to unleash them en masse into Southern Korea.
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4. Approximately 3,000 AV of Australian and Nz troops are gathering in Northern Oz just waiting for sufficient transports to allow them to invade the southern Phillipines.
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5. Some 1500 AV of US troops is making their way via Oz into the DEI region.
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I'm continuing to be able to goad Damian into bomber and fighter strikes over my bases. My plane losses are significantly higher than his but my pilot losses are lower. The end result is his fighter pilot experience is dropping while mine is increasing. As time goes by and more and more of my fighter units are 70+ Exp I will begin upgrading them to P-51s, P-47s etc and really taking the fight to Damian.
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In other news KB is lurking south of PM trying to ambush the USN> I'm happy to let it waste another 80,000 tons of fuel and so am trailing my coat just out of range to encourage him to keep the wastage up.

[Nemo121]

17th March: Happy Paddy's Day [:D]
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Basically slightly over 11,000 AV of Chinese troops are now 60 miles from Nanchang. The Japanese have rushed reinforcements there as well so we have a bit of a strategic meeting engagement. That's fine though as I am betting on the ability of my heavy bomber streams to negate much of this enemy numerical reinforcement. I've taken great pains to ensure the Chinese have enough supplies and, at the moment, the 11,000 AV are fully supplied- which is rather miraculous for the Chinese theatre. Assume 2,000 AV defending with a multiplier of x 3 for max forts = 6,000. Assume that my bombers hit 2 of the defending divisions (333 AV each ) and reduce their effectiveness by 80%. This gives us an adjusted AV of about 1500 x 3 = 4,500. Assume the Chinese attack with 11,000 AV divided by 50% for poor leaders and experience etc. That should give me 5,500 AV. Probably I'll end up with less than that but, still, 50+ Armies have enough engineers to drop forts even with a 0:1 attack. I'm hopeful that once I drop the forts a bit with blood that the next few attacks can be made normally and, in the end, I'll drive the Japanese back... Once I do that I'll keep attacking and, with a little luck, I can destroy most of the 2,000 or so AV I expect to be at Nanchang before they can make it back to Shanghai.
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In other news the US carriers and transports are at Townsville refuelling and replenishing their carrier wings. I am going to have to run the transports etc to the DEI via the channel to the west of Port Moresby. I'm a little concerned at the possibility of the Japanese CVs dashing in close to the coast west of PM and launching long-range strikes at my transports ( or coming around the horn of PNG and trying to get in amongst my transports. Accordingly I am going to fill up all the airgroups I have with Hellcats ( about 150 are available in the pools ), CV-Corsairs ( about 50 are in the pools ) and Wildcats ( about 90 are in the pools ). With a little luck I ought to be able to mount a strong CAP of 300+ fighters and that ought to hurt the IJN enough that they look elsewhere.
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In other news over the past 5 days or so, at pretty massive cost, I've taken down about 150 Ki-44 IIIs over Formosa and closed two of his three big fields there. My plan now is to close the third with Pe-2s while keeping the other fields closed with level bomber raids before committing Il-2s to taking out the heavy industry and resources and letting his troops on Formosa starve. I don't need Formosa if I take China and taking Formosa right now in the face of what looks like 500 to 1,000 AV dug in in Level 9 forts at every base would cause me massive losses SOOOO I'll let them starve while I try to take China and bring the US fleet into action in the Phillipines. If China falls I can let Formosa starve, if China doesn't fall then I can land in Formosa and have a MUCH easier job of it as the Japanese will have spent a few weeks starving before I land.
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In other news: It looks like the entire IJN is at Rabaul. I don't have the strength to go head to head with his fleet. I have 4 CVs versus about 12 so that'd be stupid. I can, however, hop planes from Kwajalein to Amboina via a chain of 5 airfields and so that's what I'm going to do. I have a whole slew of Avengers and SBDs sitting in Kwajalein doing nothing and I think hopping them to Amboina and beyond would help the invasion of the Phillipines/DEI immensely.

[Capt. Harlock]

In other news: It looks like the entire IJN is at Rabaul. I don't have the strength to go head to head with his fleet. I have 4 CVs versus about 12 so that'd be stupid. I can, however, hop planes from Kwajalein to Amboina via a chain of 5 airfields and so that's what I'm going to do.

What's your closest major airfield to Rabaul? It's always useful to trade land-based fighters for CV-based fighters.

Also, kudos for supplying your troops in China. Are you having to use transport aircraft?

[Nemo121]

Port Moresby is a Level 6 airfield I think and I am builing up Shortlands and Buna. Buna should be a Level 4 in about 3 weeks time.
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I can base level bombers from Port Moresby or Kwajalein really... But I amn't planning to hit Rabaul, I can let it whither on the vine without losing planes over it.
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As to China... No, I amn't using any supply planes or bombers to fly supplies in. I am using the port at Hong Kong to bring large amounts of supply in by sea. At present I have about 120,000 tons of supply in Hong Kong and about 60,000 tons scattered around the rest of China. Hopefully that all proves sufficient.