RHS II scen 129 GP and me

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a rough indication of the state of the economy in the home islands.

EDIT: I'm getting really low on supplies.

[ny59giants]

You are either shipping out too much OR repairing too much. Maybe a little of both?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
You are either shipping out too much OR repairing too much.
Maybe a little of both?

Yes, I built about a helf a dozen TF's shipping supplies so
I expect a dip in the supplies but not this big a drop. I'm
thinking I''lll have to turn off some of the repairs going on
because I AM repairing the RES centers and the expanding the
airfields and several ports. Plus, I don't need to ship any
supplies for a while because the hubs should be full up after
this latest transfer.

This past combat replay had at least half a dozen sub sinkings
of my transports. I simply don't have enough escorts to go
around. So I've parked all the ASW near the mouth of the ports
and escort them into and out of the ports but they are mostly
on their own for most of the trip and a lot of the ships hit are
near the home islands just leaving the ports. But that's where
I have stocked up on spotter planes and lots of ASW boats in the
waters around the ports. I'm getting a lot of sightings but very
few subs are sinking. ASW skill levels aren't very high so far,
early war period and everything. I've been extracting the highest
ASW pilots for the patrols and I think it's helping.

A lot of the places I go for RES are low now. I've stripped all
the RES except for a comfortable margin from a lot of the ports
so now I need to wait for the RES level to build up again so I
can pull RES from them again in the future. A lot of oil is
leaving Port Arthur for Nagasaki and oil levels there are sinking
slowly. I'm wondering how much oil I'll have to leave at Port
Arthur to keep the oil refinery going.

I have only a vague idea how many planes are being built and added
to the squadrons. I haven't figured out how to get Tracker to tell
me how many planes of each type I need to make so I've been guessing
as to the production rates, as to what's best. I think I'm loosing
more planes than I'm building. I'll have to fix that.

There's still half a dozen invasion TF's still steaming toward their
targets. I'm wondering how far I need to go in the Rabaul area. I
suppose Rabaul itself is a given but Port Moresby is still up in the
air as to whether or not to invade there. I'm leaning maybe not. I
don't feel the need to invade Australia as much as I need to grab Java
as soon as possible. And Sumatra.

Brian tells me that he's having trouble with his right arm, tingling and
painful sensations. He went to the Dr. and he said to stay off of it
for 48 hours or so. Maybe it'll help. The turns are coming slower
anyway, because of it. Send Brian some healing vibrations you guys.

[larryfulkerson]

During the combat phase of the turn yesterday I flew an unescorted strike on the port at Singapore and got some
good hits on several Allied ships. I was expecting a lot of destroyed planes but it wasn't all that bad all
things considered.

[larryfulkerson]

And then immediately following the above strike there was ANOTHER unescorted strike on the port and it did
fairly well too. Good hits on several ships. And the strike package wasn't decimated like I expected. I
did get a huge number of planes damaged but I think we can fix those fairly quickly.

[larryfulkerson]

And then there was a strike at Hong Kong that didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped. Maybe I need a lower
altitude, but I'm already so low that I'm loosing planes to his flak at an alarming rate.

[larryfulkerson]

There were a series of sweeps happening over Manila and this is one of them. The Japs are still loosing too many
planes in their sweeps. Maybe I need to go over the pilot roster again and see if I can' recruit some veterans
into the squadron from somewhere.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the results of the second sweep over Manila and this one went a little bit better than the first.

[larryfulkerson]

And after the sweeps over Manila there was an airstrike on the airfield at Manila and the results were
attenuated by something or other and didn't get the devestating hits I was hoping for. But this strike
was escorted and losses were low and there are more strikes to be flown in the future. All is well.

[larryfulkerson]

The rabble at Hong Kong thought they would begin the bombardment of the Allies at Hong Kong and the results were
somewhat less than stellar. More airstrikes are needed, and If I can figure out a way around the mines I'm
thinking of trying a naval bombardment or two. But the mines are a major problem and it's tricky.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the strategic situation. I'm swimming in PP's. I have no idea how many we're getting each turn but I'm
wondering if the level is too high or am I just not spending them like I should. I thought I'd save up to buy
out the LCU's that I'm going to need to invade with and it's just about time to spend some. There's some ENG's
in Manchuria that I'd like to buy out and one or two of the better divisions.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on with the reserve pilots. I've got a boat-load of bomber pilots but not enough fighter
pilots and I'm almost out of transport pilots. I'm thinking I need to convert some of those bomber pilots into
the fighter ranks and boost the number of transport pilots by at least as many again as exists now. On the
other hand maybe the fighter reserve is so low because I've been pulling into the squadrons, especially the
sweeping squadrons. This reminds me that I need to go through the training squadrons and cull out the super
performers and get them into the reserve so I can sprinkle them out to the operational squadrons. And get some
more of the replacements into a plane somewhere to get them trained in something useful.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the TRACOM section as it exists now. I've pulled a lot of the TRACOM-qualified pilots into the sweeping
squadrons, probably about 30 of them, so this is the TRACOM reserve I have to pull from now. I want to get them
into the training squadrons to boost the rates. I'm supposing that it would be idea not to have ANY pilots in
TRACOM but rather to have them out in the squadrons teaching and demonstrating their skills. That's my theory.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm not sure I fully understand what the function of the "group" reserve is for. I thought all the unassigned
pilots should be in the general reserve and so I'm not sure what the function of the group reserve is. Are
they assigned to the squadron or not? Does being in the group reserve mean you never fly? I want to increase
the skill levels of the pilots in the reserve somehow or other.

[larryfulkerson]

I just noticed that the due date of some of my experts is in the future. I'm going to have to wait for them to
show up it seems. I would rather have the ability to filter out the future pilots somehow.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of the ships that were sunk last turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going to emerge from the shipyards soon. I halted the production of the MTB's and LCI's because
I'm not sure I'll need them for anything. Maybe the MTB's for ASW. I've never employed any LCI's so I don't
know how to use them. I've discovered that some of the transport ships can't load RES and are practically
useless to me. I'll see if I can't find one of them to show you what I mean.

[larryfulkerson]

It appears that most of the LCU's that are entering the game soon are spawning in the Bangkok area with a couple in
Malaya. I'll take 'em.

[larryfulkerson]

It appears that I'm going to lose the services of the Viet Minh soon. Which is okay with me because I couldn't
move them anyway, they were static LCU's. Garrison dudes.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of aircraft and engines sorted on the number of that item in the pools. I still don't have enough
of anything on the list.

EDIT: Oh, and I wanted to say that the number of used I-16's is because I disbanded that squadron. I'm not
making any of them, it's a Soviet plane after all. It's obsolete and a waste of materials to make them.