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Level 6, err now 5, forts at Soerabaja. I shouldn't be surprised, and I should send more engineers. What a pain.

A light cruiser task force blunders into a fresh minefield at Soerabaja and five ships are damaged.

Heavy bombing on Bangkok trashes the city. I guess he managed to get supply into Rangoon.

Allied lose 20 Blenheims and 2 Mitchells but that is poor consolation for the damage done to the city.

This is simply a taste of what is going to come.[:(] Well, he could have trashed Magwe & DEI early on and didn't so I should be thankful.

Allies bombard Paramushiro with the Mississippi and Portland and then flee east. He has built up his airfield to level two and there are now some P40s there.

Pretty quiet...

I bagged three more xAKs (7vp each) yesterday in the Bay of Bengal, however his tankers disappeared from my search.

British surface ships must be very weak in this area...with 20 stuck at Soerabaja although Hermes is somewhere.

Banda Sea theater:

Ambon is still holding out, has supply. Coastal guns there can be nasty -- especially when the battleships run out of ammo.

I think this whole theater is now a backwater for the Allies with most of their capital ships in the Kuriles.

Babo has oil -- I probably should have taken that sooner. Boela is shipping out her oil, watched over by 9 Rufes and two TBs.

I am debating using paratroops to take some of these bases or wait for Naval Guards to prep for the bases. Paratroops would be faster I guess, and could be picked up with destroyers.

If there is no defense do you need to prep before the invasion.

Will a para attack on an undefended Boela shock attack and risk damaging the oil wells?

China front. Slow, steady progress here.

ORIGINAL: Spidery

If there is no defense do you need to prep before the invasion.

Will a para attack on an undefended Boela shock attack and risk damaging the oil wells?

It might shock attack... however I haven't had any damage occur on undefended bases before. I would be surprised. Even if it did, in this case it's only a maximum of 20k supplies.


I think your opponent is wasting assets in the Kuriles. His BBs are back in the yards, possibly for months, and all he has to show for it is sinking one of your CAs. And those P-40s...did they fly in from the Aleutians, or were they dropped off? I mean, they're only P-40s and he won't really need them later, but... he can't possibly defend that island at this time. There's something to be said for forcing you to respond, but I think he passed that point of "worth it" a long time ago.

ORIGINAL: Spidery

If there is no defense do you need to prep before the invasion.

Will a para attack on an undefended Boela shock attack and risk damaging the oil wells?

Here is an undefended landing at Munda with no prep by a Naval Guard unit. Usually, I have been waiting until at least 25%.

Paratroops will definitely shock attack an empty base...here they are taking Groot Natoena recently.

I think your opponent is wasting assets in the Kuriles. His BBs are back in the yards, possibly for months, and all he has to show for it is sinking one of your CAs. And those P-40s...did they fly in from the Aleutians, or were they dropped off? I mean, they're only P-40s and he won't really need them later, but... he can't possibly defend that island at this time. There's something to be said for forcing you to respond, but I think he passed that point of "worth it" a long time ago.

I think he will come back and visit once more...at least I hope so. A few days ago I dispatched the KB to head north and would like to see an engagement.

I think you can fly P40s off Carriers, load them at port docked, they repair while at sea, and then you fly them off. At least I seem to remember doing that a year or so ago in a different game. He probably has lots of spare space on his carriers.[:)]

Allied minefields are distressingly good...I think most of my ship losses have come from them. There are now 4 ships in his port in the Kuriles, but not the Idaho who catches another torpedo fleeing.

I have been re-reading the excellent AAR by Captain Cruft which holds many nuggets of great information.

In it he tests the dive bomber Lilly on battleships. Sure, they drop 100kg bombs, but the trick is to knock out AA gun emplacements and start fires. The first makes the ship helpless and the second will overwhelm the ship even though the bombs can't penetrate.

Well, in the then latest beta this doesn't work so well in the good Captain's test...which is sad because I have allocated two size 30 factories to this plane. Still should work well on CL and smaller, especially landing ships.

EDIT: In reading further back the Lillys do quite well with a very high hit rate, making this a solid IJA plane. At one point the good Captain mentions the 100kg bomb hits with 20 more effectiveness than the 6" Brooklyn class guns....not too shabby.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I have been re-reading the excellent AAR by Captain Cruft which holds many nuggets of great information.

In it he tests the dive bomber Lilly on battleships. Sure, they drop 100kg bombs, but the trick is to knock out AA gun emplacements and start fires. The first makes the ship helpless and the second will overwhelm the ship even though the bombs can't penetrate.

Well, in the then latest beta this doesn't work so well in the good Captain's test...which is sad because I have allocated two size 30 factories to this plane. Still should work well on CL and smaller, especially landing ships.

EDIT: In reading further back the Lillys do quite well with a very high hit rate, making this a solid IJA plane. At one point the good Captain mentions the 100kg bomb hits with 20 more effectiveness than the 6" Brooklyn class guns....not too shabby.

The Lily dive-bomber varient is something I'm considering as well.

Even if the 100kg bombs aren't going to seriously hurt anything bigger than a crusier, it seems to be a pretty effective way of giving the IJAAF an anti-shipping arm to deploy. It's far from the best anti-shipping plane Japan could use, but it's the best the IJAAF has until the Peggy (T) comes along.

Plus, even if you don't get much use out of it, they'll make decent kamikazies.

Situation at the Kuriles. I put 30 Helens on Naval attack out of Paramushiro, unescorted, range 10. I think his CV forces are escorting the damaged BBs back...maybe they will get a shot at his cruiser force. Not expecting any great results...

The DMS will move one hex northeast and meet with a BB covering force where they can hopefully sweep mines in safety.

Will sweep his base with 50 zeroes and then attempt a major bombing of the airfield and port with high altitude Betty strikes. I will allocate daily bombing runs of the airfield from now on. Even if I lose out in the air to air combats, I will make his planes fly from a damaged air base suffering ops losses.

My counter invasion forces are at 25% or so prep, the KB is on the way, another group of Helen IIa are repairing and training in Tokyo (naval attack). The other Kurile Islands are being staffed and built up, with the AKEs moving to Etorofu which is a size 3 port.

I spent about 500 political points purchasing units for the 5th fleet yesterday...sad, but had to do it. I guess all it really means is that I am building up the Kuriles faster than I had originally planned.

Shut off almost all my air production to build engine pools.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
Even if the 100kg bombs aren't going to seriously hurt anything bigger than a crusier, it seems to be a pretty effective way of giving the IJAAF an anti-shipping arm to deploy. It's far from the best anti-shipping plane Japan could use, but it's the best the IJAAF has until the Peggy (T) comes along.

Agree.

I am also trying some other frames most stay away from in mid-war. KAIb Nick & KAI Dinah both available I think in December 42. They have 37mm inaccurate cannons but I bet they do better than most people think.

Captain Cruft had a squadron of 36 Dinah KAIs in Bangkok, but he never mentions, that I read, how well they did. He didn't have high hopes, but did feel that cannon is better than most think.

If the KAIb Nick doesn't do well as a anti-bomber fighter, I will convert them into a low altitude Naval bomber (250 kg gp bombs x2 plus strafe with that cannon). If the Dinah KAI stinks, she will become a night fighter saving other frames for daytime use.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I think your opponent is wasting assets in the Kuriles. His BBs are back in the yards, possibly for months, and all he has to show for it is sinking one of your CAs. And those P-40s...did they fly in from the Aleutians, or were they dropped off? I mean, they're only P-40s and he won't really need them later, but... he can't possibly defend that island at this time. There's something to be said for forcing you to respond, but I think he passed that point of "worth it" a long time ago.

I think he will come back and visit once more...at least I hope so. A few days ago I dispatched the KB to head north and would like to see an engagement.

I think you can fly P40s off Carriers, load them at port docked, they repair while at sea, and then you fly them off. At least I seem to remember doing that a year or so ago in a different game. He probably has lots of spare space on his carriers.[:)]

Well, they aren't CV-capable, so they'll take up 4x the space... I am unsure if they can be flown off, as I haven't tried anything like that. My flight deck space is usually at a premium.


As for the shock attack on an empty base - yeah, they'll do that. I'm just not sure if the shock attack has any chance to destroy the base if there are no defenders.

Quiet day. I did manage to sink the xAK Iron Knight at Christmas Island in the Pacific, but my other sub raiders missed, but weren't spotted.

However, he did catch a surface raider group...probably from Pago or Canton. Shucks.

And if the intelligence is correct the Truant went down near Tiljatlap! I really dislike those British subs and this would be great news.[:)]

In the Kurile only 4 bombers flew, bad weather, and missed against a Destroyer. More building up of forces there, and almost all Allied ships are gone from the area. No mine hits, thankfully, but none swept either, and they still show up as being there.

What is the best way to put out fires: being in port disbanded or being in a task force with lots of escort type ships and not moving?

I guess it is somewhat dependent upon the size of the port, right?

I am trying to save the DMS below, but she will I think she will burn up if left disbanded in port.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

What is the best way to put out fires: being in port disbanded or being in a task force with lots of escort type ships and not moving?

I guess it is somewhat dependent upon the size of the port, right?

I am trying to save the DMS below, but she will I think she will burn up if left disbanded in port.

Disband in port and hope for the best is my usual course of action. I think ports provide more assistance than you get from an escort TF (if any escorts even provide assistance). Obviously, bigger ports are better.

It's still largely dependent upon crew and system damage. I might look at the ship's commander in this case - DMS hulls are valuable. I believe Inspiration is the attribute that affects damage control rolls. Check to see if the skipper has good stats?

With 66 Sys and 25 Fire, I'd say 50/50 you lose her.