Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Yeah. She got sunk by a PBY in 1942. One rarely sees a sub sunk exclusively by aircraft in the game

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

In every game I've played and every AAR I've followed, Allied subs dare not go anywhere that enemy air ASW is operating, assuming the pilots are competent. They always are when the Japanese player is experienced, so the rule of thumb is that any Allied subs that steams beneath enemy air is likely to get badly damaged or sunk.

I think JD was referring to PBYs in 1942, not later the game.

Great job at Tulagi I would liken it to a reverse Truk Lagoon strike, vice Pearl Harbor as PH was before the war began and the defenses were not at a war footing like it was in Feb 43 strike on Truk that netted 70ish aircraft and many secondary support vessels.

I’ve had zero luck sinking Japanese subs with aircraft alone. I’ve damaged them but air based ASW , at least for the Allies, has been abysmal. Might be the way I am using them. I have a lot more luck sighting them with aircraft and then vectoring ships

Air ASW has been brutal on both sides this game, especially CV based. We have both lost 4-5 subs on a single turn to carrier ASW. Of course this is usually when each squad is set to low level and 100% ASW.

21st-31st Dec 43

The carrier battle that never was....

Well the dreaded sync bug reared its head with very poor consequences for me. Despite losing the Wasp and CVE Chenango (the damaged one that was finished off by another sub a few turns later) he sent his CVs north west midway between Wake and Marcus. My fleet had been hovering just north of Marcus for a few turns out of range of his search a/c. In my replay we ended up 10 hexes apart and only lost a few search planes to each others CAP. However, in his replay the fleets react and a big CV battle takes place which he losses badly, in his own words:

you got perfect strike 500-600 bombers with 300 Zeros on escort, my cap was just 60-70 wildcats/hellcats and they managed to shoot down only 40 bombers , my strike went without escort and was decimated by Zeros. I have already checked my settings, not reason to fighters not to fly.

He did not mention what he 'lost', imagine his relief when he opened the next turn file and found out it didn't happen! Obviously this spooked him and he retires all his CVs, being short on fuel I could not pursue at full speed so had no chance of catching them. Oh well, having seen what my CVs are still capable of I'm sure he will be waiting for a few more Essex's to arrive before looking for a real fight with my fleet[:(]

Elsewhere I retreat in good order from Prome in Burma to the better terrain to the SE. He is trying to flank my troops just south of Toungoo, I will do a map to explain it better in my end of year report to come shortly.

Points totals 1st Jan 44

Industry





Both Supplies and fuel have plateaued at around 5.5M. HI continues to rise very slowly by a few k each turn. My economy is running flat out now as I try to build up reserves of a/c and engines. All major warships are now built and I'm accelerating all DDs, escorts and the useful subs, not the crappy transport ones.

Major IJN ship losses





So in 43 I have lost CVL Ryujo to a sub, 3 old CAs due to my stupidity at Rangoon, about 10 DDs and a lot of subs. I have lost only 10 TKs/AOs so far. He has retreated his subs due to heavy losses from air ASW and only uses them in big swarms in advance of his CV fleets.

Major Allied ship losses part one

Part two



There are another 30 or so DDs he has lost in addition to the ones on this list.

The Lexington is actually the Wasp, all the other losses are pretty much confirmed. Bottom line is he still has a huge fleet to play with that is growing stronger every day.

Burma





Please excuse the crappy art but you get the idea. The thick red blob at the top is my current defensive line, however as can be seen by his troops to the east he looking to try and cut me off. I can't let this happen so I will have to retreat soon. Eventually I plan to pull everything back towards Moulmein, Rangoon would be a death trap as any attempt to evacuate by sea would be destroyed by his huge low flying 2E bomber fleet. As you can also see he marched a few poor Indian brigades to Chiang Mai and managed to kick out my small Thai unit there. He is now marching them west but they are little threat at the moment....

China

This has been static virtually all of 43. That will change soon as he continues to build up his industry and damaged/respawned divs at Chungking.

NORPAC





On good advice I've beefed up the defences here a bit. Shikuka now has a division, as does Shimushiri-jima, whilst the rest get an extra brigade or SNLF. I have left Paramushiro-jima lightly defended in the hope he lands there to trigger all the emergency reinforcements....

SOPAC

Rabual and Kavieng are abandoned and he is just using them as target practice now. Once he gets bored of this and takes Kavieng he will be in fighter range of Truk...

CENPAC

I still have token forces in the southern Marshalls but he could take them easily if he wanted. Ponape is well defended and he has already had one failed invasion attempt there.

Elsewhere

The Marianas are all well built up now and each has at least a division on it. The PI are fairly empty apart from the major bases. I had left one base 15 hexes from Takao in Allied hands thinking it would trigger Kamis but it has not, think I've miss-red the rules on that[:(]

All of Java/Sumatra is still mine, Java is well defended, Sumatra no so well....

I continue to hold Darwin, Timor and the rest of the bases on the northern Aus coast.

Where will he head next? No idea.

ORIGINAL: Miller

Elsewhere

The Marianas are all well built up now and each has at least a division on it. The PI are fairly empty apart from the major bases. I had left one base 15 hexes from Takao in Allied hands thinking it would trigger Kamis but it has not, think I've miss-red the rules on that[:(]

All of Java/Sumatra is still mine, Java is well defended, Sumatra no so well....

I continue to hold Darwin, Timor and the rest of the bases on the northern Aus coast.

Where will he head next? No idea.

It has to have at least an airfield size 1.

The thread below explains, but is still a bit vague. Michaelm states under 21 hexes once, then" in range (21 sea hexes)" later.

ORIGINAL: Misconduct

Kamikazes are activated if the Allies own a base within 15 hexes (traced by sea only) of either Tokyo, Takao or Saigon. These will not activate before Jan 1, 1944.

I am not sure if this adds to account the Chinese, however I would believe it stands for "Allies" as in Australian, British or American.

Edited: can anyone confirm whether taking a base within 15 hex of the 3 bases as Chinese it would enable Kamikaze?

ORIGINAL: michaelm75au

Excludes Chinese national hexes.

The range was changed to under 21 hexes due to the map scale change in build 1092. It was forgotten on release as 15 was from stock.

ORIGINAL: michaelm75au

Base must have an AF 1+. This would exclude the 'dot' bases unless they are built up.
There is no limitation such that the base has to have been occupied by the Japanese and re-captured.

If the base is in range (21 sea hexes) of TOKYO (base #252), TAKAO (base #330) or SAIGON (base #435), is not located in China/Tibet and controlled by Allied player and 1944+, then the kamikazes (converting groups to kamikaze mode,as distinct from the occasional plane turning into a kamikaze prior to 1944 due to damage) are activated.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2617899&mpage=1&key=kamikaze%2Cactivation

Thank you, that is good to know about the Kamikazes.

Y'all are in '44 already? Heck you just started this game, how are you flipping so many turns so quickly?

ORIGINAL: AcePylut

Y'all are in '44 already? Heck you just started this game, how are you flipping so many turns so quickly?

Tom is available virtually all the time as he does not work due to a health issue. So on my days off we can do up to a dozen a day if its quiet. On days when I'm at work it's usually around 3-4 a day.