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In a PDU ON game, I would follow Erik's suggestions:

Get both the Jack and the George. Paired together are great for defence.

IJA: KI-84r is a must and you can have it pretty early. I'd pair it with the KI-44c so to have a SR1 and SR3 planes working together.

Get the D4Y4 ASAP and the Grace. Both are great.

Frances... I didn't have that good results, despite it's clearly a very good plane. I wouldn't invest much on it.

Get the Peggy-T ASAP and start training as much NavT Army pilots as possible as early as possible.

Between 1943 and 1944 your bomber pilots can concentrate on training LowNavB skills for future Kamikaze use

I think how you play the air war and what models you use have to be determined by HRs. If I recall correctly you don´t have any HRs at all? That is a big Allied advantage in late war as many (most?) Allied planes can get above your CAP. In that situation I would be looking at the fastest possible plane with a great MVR down low. No point in trying to fight up high if he can get above you anyway.

Against the P47s (especially the "N" version) there is nothing you can do. All you can do is accept its the best plane in the game and he will have is best pilots flying them. He is still somewhat limited by numbers (100 per month for the "N").

Personally as Erik says the Japanese planes I feared the most was the Frank and the Jack. Especially the Jack had a nasty habit of getting above my sweeps on occasion. When they did they did very well for going against P47s.

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I think how you play the air war and what models you use have to be determined by HRs. If I recall correctly you don´t have any HRs at all? That is a big Allied advantage in late war as many (most?) Allied planes can get above your CAP. In that situation I would be looking at the fastest possible plane with a great MVR down low. No point in trying to fight up high if he can get above you anyway.

Against the P47s (especially the "N" version) there is nothing you can do. All you can do is accept its the best plane in the game and he will have is best pilots flying them. He is still somewhat limited by numbers (100 per month for the "N").

Personally as Erik says the Japanese planes I feared the most was the Frank and the Jack. Especially the Jack had a nasty habit of getting above my sweeps on occasion. When they did they did very well for going against P47s.

Against the P47N there is something you can do: Ki-94 II[8D]

Well, things got very busy here very quickly.

@ Obvert - Thanks for the input. I'm got a fair bit of R&D working on the Grace and later-war Judy's. Disappointed to see that the Ki-115 didn't live up to expectations for you.

Don't see the low/high division as being cast in stone. It's more of a rough guideline for me when it comes to planning strikes.

It's good to see the Peggy gets your approval. I had considered simply not bothering to R&D it and just wait till the P1Y2 version arrived. I've changed my tune now.

@ Greyjoy - Jack and George are already in mass production.

The Ki-84 tree is also moving along nicely.

Interesting that you're using the Ki-44c so late. I'd intended to use the Ki-100 Tony as my late war SR1 fighter, but looking at the Tojo's stats, it might be worth keeping it around for it's superb climb rate. How did the Tojo fare against late-war Allied airframes?

Peggy T has a big R&D investment. I understand the importance of getting the more-or-less redundant IJA bombers an airframe that makes them potent ship-killers.

Seeing as I've enough GroundBomb, NavS and ASW trained pilots to last me through the war, there's a whole host of training groups working on future kami pilots.

@ Joc - Yes, no house rules, so it's a big Allied advantage in the late-war air game. That said, I'll take being slapped around by P47/51's in exchange for being able to take China.

I'm not hugely worried about the P-47/51's. Yes, they'll get absurdly lop-sided kill ratios, but he won't, get to Tokyo by sweeping away my CAP.

My plan is to force him to send his sweeps against massive CAP stacked from treetop level up to the stratosphere. That will need to suffice, at least until the late-war goodies like the jets, Ki-94 and so on come online.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
Against the P47N there is something you can do: Ki-94 II[8D]

Not sure I encountered that plane? Or is that the twin engine one?

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
Against the P47N there is something you can do: Ki-94 II[8D]

Not sure I encountered that plane? Or is that the twin engine one?

No, it's the fastest single engine (Ha-44) the Japs have. In DBB it makes 433 mhp and it has 2x30 + 2x20mm cannons... not something you want to face as the allies.
Against mr.Kane I've been swept to oblivion in 1945 by hordes of these beasts and the KI-83s. P-51s, P-47s or even Spits XIV couldn't stop them arriving at 42K feet en large masses.

This, for example, happened in Jan 1945 over Makassar...[X(]


Morning Air attack on Makassar , at 65,106

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 51,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-94-II x 44

Allied aircraft
P-38L Lightning x 17
P-51D Mustang x 72
F4U-1D Corsair x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-94-II: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38L Lightning: 4 destroyed
P-51D Mustang: 13 destroyed
F4U-1D Corsair: 6 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Ki-94-II sweeping at 48000 feet *

CAP engaged:
VMF-121 with F4U-1D Corsair (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
15 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 40370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
18th FG/44th FS with P-51D Mustang (4 airborne, 1 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 16 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 41900 , scrambling fighters between 38870 and 42370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
318th FG/333rd FS with P-51D Mustang (3 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
11 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 41900 , scrambling fighters between 38340 and 41900.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
475th FG/431st FS with P-38L Lightning (3 airborne, 1 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 40000 , scrambling fighters between 36000 and 43370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
475th FG/433rd FS with P-51D Mustang (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 41900 , scrambling fighters between 33000 and 41900.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
[X(]

If I was getting odds like that I would figure out a way to not need CAP.

Ouch! Yeah with combat like that I would avoid CAP too! [X(]

48k? Do the allies have anything that can get up that high?

Oh! What is the matter you AFB's? Doesn't look worse than a typical high altitude jugs sweep to me.[:D]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Oh! What is the matter you AFB's? Doesn't look worse than a typical high altitude jugs sweep to me.[:D]

Haha, true that! Expect we do get a limited number of them. Unlike you JFBs! [;)]

Man. Jan 45 is REALLY EARLY for the Ki-94 II!!! That is a tough plane to be sure. I bet it does okay against 4E too.

So how far along is that in our game Nick? [:D]

July 2nd to July 8th, 1943

North Pacific

Back to the usual absence of action up here.

Central Pacific

I'm considering shifting the Combined 8th SNLF from Tarawa to somewhere in the Marianas. Likely to Tinian, which only has a few light CD guns.

The Takeo crusiers and the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers are rotated back to Manila for upgrades: an air radar for the crusiers and some extra AA, while the destroyers lose a 12.7cm gun in exchange for 12 25mm AA guns and a surface radar set.

South-West Pacific

The 2nd Area Army withdraws from Guadalcanal with no problems at all. They're headed for Guam, where General Sadae Inoue has a nice big command bunker waiting for him.

After a few days of careful recon of bases along the Austrailian coast, I get off a nice little sting with IJN 2E bombers.

Recon reported no fighters at Normanton, which has been a hub of Allied coastal traffic in the Gulf of Carpentaria, so I marshall as many IJN bombers as I could out of sight of Allied recon. They flew into Hansa Bay on the 6th, and struck on the 7th.

The attack came in three waves, and met no opposition:

Morning Air attack on Normanton , at 86,138

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 9 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Waller, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DM Preble, Bomb hits 1
SC-704, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CL Durban, Bomb hits 2
CL Boise, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CM Weehawken, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CM Keokuk, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DM Gamble, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Port hits 4
Port fuel hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
29 x G3M3 Nell bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Normanton , at 86,138

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 51 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 5 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
CL Durban, Bomb hits 1
CL Boise, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
SC-519, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
32 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 9000 feet *
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Normanton , at 86,138

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 71 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Boise, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DM Breese, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage Those 800kg bombs will hurt!
CL Durban, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
23 x G3M3 Nell bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb

Massive explosion on CL Boise

The Boise will be out of action for some time, and the Durban lost a radar set and a secondary battery, so both crusiers will need some yard time. 2 G4M1's failed to make it home, so a good raid in all.

I've flown the bombers away to their home airbases, and now it's just a case of waiting for the inevitable Allied counter-strike.

There was a bit of a fuel shortage at Rabual at the start of the month as I re-organized my subs operating along the Austrailian coast. Thankfully, a tanker convoy arrived on the 6th, enabling my subs to sortie. I'm sending a couple to watch the Torres Straits to see if they can't try to hit any of the cripples trying to get back to the repair yards.

DEI

A small task force has been spotted off Port Hedland. I'm sending a small flotilla of 6 destroyers to try to hit them.

Other than that, it's been a case of engineering in the Pacific here, as work progresses on my second line of defence.

China-Burma-India

A tank regiment in the far-west of China is making a bid to push the Allies out of Wasu. Seeing as the Allies can't fly in heavy equipment, the 50 or so tanks should be enough to get me a few VP's.

Burma is being stripped of most of the good unrestricted artillery units belonging to Southern Army command. Most of the Medium Artillery Regiments are now destined for the Marianas, though I'm leaving all the super-heavy artillery guns in Rangoon to be expended when the Allies make a bid to take Burma.

The 3rd Air Army has also been transfered from Burma to Timor as there are two IJN Air HQ's due to arrive in Saigon in two months.

Industry

HI Stockpile:

Supply: 3,581,900
Fuel: 2,505,000
Resources: 9,548,000
Oil: 1,101,000

Everything is looking good in this regard. Oil is a little low for my liking, but I'm making a serious effort to get as much of it back as I can.

HI Points: 1,754,767
Armaments Points: 244,370
Vehicles Points: 30,100

We're still on track for my goal of banking a million HI per year. I may turn Armaments points off, considering the lack of combat currently and there are no major IJA units arriving as reinforcements for another two months.

All in all, so far, so good.

[center]
The USS Boise has managed to avoid the torpedo and dive-bombers of the KB and help to destroy a IJA division at sea. It's anti-climatic to have it severely damaged sitting in port.[/center]

Anti climatic? I will take trashing the Boise anyway, shape or form! Well done.

Allied carrier raid on Sumatra! More to follow!

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
No, it's the fastest single engine (Ha-44) the Japs have. In DBB it makes 433 mhp and it has 2x30 + 2x20mm cannons... not something you want to face as the allies.
Against mr.Kane I've been swept to oblivion in 1945 by hordes of these beasts and the KI-83s. P-51s, P-47s or even Spits XIV couldn't stop them arriving at 42K feet en large masses.

Actually, their max altitude is 37000. But you make an excellent point. Japan built some killer airframes at the end-of-war period. But they were plagued with technical issues and there simply weren’t the pilots available to use them properly. That’s why one gets sources of WO Sushi and Lt Sashimi flaming 7 of 9 F6Fs in an engagement. Conversely, 4 F6Fs and 2 F4Us flamed 11 of 21 KI-48s with no losses.in the same time frame. That’s all historical. It was real. It happened. So why?

The game allows Japan to adapt its wartime production, and has this Tracom thing going on ( to which I am violently opposed, but it exists, so WTF), so the whole paradigm is skewed. Accepting all that, it makes no sense at all to arbitrarily penalize IJ airframes. You got the gas, you got the production, you got the pilots, so wtf is up with you can’t tune a supercharger?

Babes gives you the planes as they would have been. If you play with PDU-off and without the Tracom crap, it works very well in a historical context. If one plays with the utter IJ mods, then the Allies will be very surprised as to IJ air performance, and will have to adapt. Adaptation requires thought. Hootz gazooties ! Ciao. JWE

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Allied carrier raid on Sumatra! More to follow!

That somehow doesn´t surprise me considering its Loka you are playing. [:)]

He tried(?) to hit PB?

July 9th, 1943

The only action has been in the DEI, so we'll keep the focus there.

DEI

The main event - Allied carriers bomb the oil wells at Medan.

Coming directly west, the Allied carriers must have just operated at the limit of Jakes searching from the islands off the west coast of Sumatra.

The strike was opposed by a unit of Oscars, but Medan has been neglected compared to Palembang in terms of fighter protection. The Oscars gave a brave show, but there were too many American fighters to make any serious impact on the strike:

Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 41

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 72
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 32
SBD-3 Dauntless x 70
TBF-1 Avenger x 112

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 6 damaged

Oil hits 77

I'm disapointed that the 28 8cm AA guns in Medan didn't manage to down a single Allied bomber.

The oil in Medan stands at 82(128), and I've already got supply loading in Korea to enable repairs to start.

I'm moving a bunch of fighter units around as well as some IJN torpedo bombers, but I'm not going to bother with a relatatory strike: I can't mass enough escort fighters to ensure that some CAP gets through without abandoning air coverage of Palembang and Singapore.

As some consolation, DD raiders off Austrailia pick off the two cargo ships that escaped in the engagement off Broome.

As much as the loss of oil smarts, I'm not hugely bothered - for once, the Allies didn't get a free shot due to my incompetence. The supply of long-range search planes for Japan is significantly less than the demand, and I've had no choice but to depend on Jakes.

I do, however, take a great deal of comfort from the fact that it's July 1943 and the Allies are conducting raids. I'd much rather have them using carriers to conduct raids than to conduct invasions!

Allied carriers operating in the Indian Ocean does, however, change the balance of power here firmly in favour of the Allies. I've started shifting air units from NorPac, which has been dormant, as well as some units in the Home Islands that I've been using for training purposes.

The good news is that Sumatra is pretty secure in terms of ground troops, and the INA units are helping to fill out the Andamans - I don't have much faith in these small units, but they're better than having no garrison...

As strong as the temptation is, I won't split the KB. It will head to Singapore and lurk. The Pacific will need to depend on land-based air till I can assure myself that the oil is sufficently protected and that Lokasenna isn't in the first stages of his '43 offensive..

China-Burma-India

Allied bombers strike units all across the Burma-India border. The strikes are small, as is the damage caused, but something tells me that the air war is going to pick back up here shortly.

There's also some movement of Chinese units from Ledo westwards, so I'll need to see if this is the Chinese Dragon rising from it's slumber...

Interesting turns...

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

Allied carrier raid on Sumatra! More to follow!

That somehow doesn´t surprise me considering its Loka you are playing. [:)]

He tried(?) to hit PB?

If he'd went for PB he'd have gotten a very bloody nose. 120 fighters, plus a good dose of flak!

ORIGINAL: Symon

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
No, it's the fastest single engine (Ha-44) the Japs have. In DBB it makes 433 mhp and it has 2x30 + 2x20mm cannons... not something you want to face as the allies.
Against mr.Kane I've been swept to oblivion in 1945 by hordes of these beasts and the KI-83s. P-51s, P-47s or even Spits XIV couldn't stop them arriving at 42K feet en large masses.

Actually, their max altitude is 37000. But you make an excellent point. Japan built some killer airframes at the end-of-war period. But they were plagued with technical issues and there simply weren’t the pilots available to use them properly. That’s why one gets sources of WO Sushi and Lt Sashimi flaming 7 of 9 F6Fs in an engagement. Conversely, 4 F6Fs and 2 F4Us flamed 11 of 21 KI-48s with no losses.in the same time frame. That’s all historical. It was real. It happened. So why?

The game allows Japan to adapt its wartime production, and has this Tracom thing going on ( to which I am violently opposed, but it exists, so WTF), so the whole paradigm is skewed. Accepting all that, it makes no sense at all to arbitrarily penalize IJ airframes. You got the gas, you got the production, you got the pilots, so wtf is up with you can’t tune a supercharger?

Babes gives you the planes as they would have been. If you play with PDU-off and without the Tracom crap, it works very well in a historical context. If one plays with the utter IJ mods, then the Allies will be very surprised as to IJ air performance, and will have to adapt. Adaptation requires thought. Hootz gazooties ! Ciao. JWE

Yup John! I know. I've learnt enough my lesson . Now will only play with PDU OFF[:D]
I just had the wrong expectation with that game of mine with the allies and when those expectations got frustrated by the ability of my opponent, i got very frustrated too [:D]... i posted those reports here just to scare the hell out of some AFB lurkers[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

Sorry for hijacking your thread mate!

ORIGINAL: Symon

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
No, it's the fastest single engine (Ha-44) the Japs have. In DBB it makes 433 mhp and it has 2x30 + 2x20mm cannons... not something you want to face as the allies.
Against mr.Kane I've been swept to oblivion in 1945 by hordes of these beasts and the KI-83s. P-51s, P-47s or even Spits XIV couldn't stop them arriving at 42K feet en large masses.

Actually, their max altitude is 37000. But you make an excellent point. Japan built some killer airframes at the end-of-war period. But they were plagued with technical issues and there simply weren’t the pilots available to use them properly. That’s why one gets sources of WO Sushi and Lt Sashimi flaming 7 of 9 F6Fs in an engagement. Conversely, 4 F6Fs and 2 F4Us flamed 11 of 21 KI-48s with no losses.in the same time frame. That’s all historical. It was real. It happened. So why?

The game allows Japan to adapt its wartime production, and has this Tracom thing going on ( to which I am violently opposed, but it exists, so WTF), so the whole paradigm is skewed. Accepting all that, it makes no sense at all to arbitrarily penalize IJ airframes. You got the gas, you got the production, you got the pilots, so wtf is up with you can’t tune a supercharger?

Babes gives you the planes as they would have been. If you play with PDU-off and without the Tracom crap, it works very well in a historical context. If one plays with the utter IJ mods, then the Allies will be very surprised as to IJ air performance, and will have to adapt. Adaptation requires thought. Hootz gazooties ! Ciao. JWE

This is true. I often point out that there is always a counter to every tactic. However that does require players to properly analyse the situation and then adapt accordingly. For many it is far easier to complain and demand a HR or that he game be "fixed".

The one issue I have with PDU OFF is that it is impossible to downgrade back to old airframes. I play with PDU ON but I generally voluntarily restrict myself to the historical upgrade path for that unit. But will downgrade to an obsolete airframe whilst still retaining the original upgrade path for the future.

Alfred