More Variants - The End of Western Imperialism - No Nomad please (Feb 1944)

[Xargun]

Burma:
So my LRCAP got a bit confused - they were ordered to fly over my retreating TFS but some of them decided to cover Akyba again and tried to fight off the high-level Hurricanes on a sweep mission.

My TFs retreated to Ramree Island (as ordered) - unfortunately that was not far enough away - allied B-25s came acalling and my morning LRCAP spent all their time over Akyab so they were not around. B-25s landed 1 bomb on CA Mogami - actually damaging her this time, and another bomb on an xAK setting it aflame.

In the afternoon more B-25s arrived over my TFs, but my afternoon LRCAP actually showed up. After a brief air battle, the B-25s made it through and made bombing runs on 2 CAs and 1 xAK, luckily missing them all.

I have ordered the TFs back to Rangoon - I will find another way to get the rest of the Division to Akyab. The damaged xAK is ordered into its own TF so it can unload the rest of the troops and supplies its carrying before disbanding at Ramree - hopefully this will all happen during the night phase before bombers return and finish off the xAK.

B-17s bombed the port at Cox's Bazar to prevent fort building. Still not sure why they haven't attacked yet - unless they are low on supplies.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
Hurricanes sweep Cox's Bazar again and B-17s hit the port there. RAF Wellingtons have not been seen for a couple days - maybe I damaged a lot more of them than I thought.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Sub Warfare:
Amphib TF pulling into Rangoon sights Ducth sub KX and escorts attack reporting they damaged the sub before breaking off. It was a single near miss that did a little damage. Makes me wonder if they are planting mines. The DMS stationed at Rangoon has been activated and will conduct some sweeps of the port and river mouth for enemy mines.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Sub Warfare:
My ASW patrol in the Straights of Malacca found and attack the dutch sub O24 damaging it. Not sure if its enough to send them home or not.


Burma:
The air war continues - RAF Hurricanes sweeping Cox's Bazar and Sallies and Helens bombing the 9th Indian Division near Akyab.



Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
The attack is finally here. Two RN TFs bombard Cox's Bazar during the night, but they only damaged the port.

Night Naval bombardment of Cox's Bazar at 54,43

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CA Dorsetshire
DD Jupiter
DD Isis
DD Inconstant
DD Tjerk Hiddes
DD Van Galen

Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Night Naval bombardment of Cox's Bazar at 54,43

Allied Ships
CL Newcastle
CL Birmingham
CL Mauritius
CL Emerald
CL Hobart
DD Hotspur
DD Griffin
DD Fortune
DD Encounter
DD Decoy
DD Arrow
DD Stronghold

Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1

My Betties on Night Naval duty got the call and attacked the CAs, but for some unknown reason they only carried bombs - and they can't hit the side of a barn with a bomb... very different mechanics than torpedoes

Then as dawn came the RAF - Hurricanes sweeping the skies, and B-17s, B-25s and Wellingtons bombing my troops there. With the first bombing of the troops I knew he was attacking - and I was right for once. When the attack came if was quite impressive - or at least the troops said it was from 50 miles away !!! Yep, Nomad attacked an empty base as my troops moved out just ahead of the attack.

Ground combat at Cox's Bazar (54,43)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 60647 troops, 1081 guns, 1150 vehicles, Assault Value = 2315

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

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 2919

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 2919 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied forces CAPTURE Cox's Bazar !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker:

Assaulting units:
6th Australian Division
2nd British Division
18th British Division
B Sqn 3rd Hussars Regiment
7th Australian Division
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
7th Armoured Brigade
23rd British Brigade
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Heavy AA Regiment
35th Light AA Regiment
3rd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
III Indian Corps
2/13th Field Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment


The troops have been switched to Move mode and are hurrying along the trail to Akyab where we will defend for a bit.


Xargun

[Xargun]

South Pacific:
During the night B-17s hit the airfield at Rabaul. They didn't harm the airfield itself much but they did manager to kill 11 aircraft on the ground: 5 Mavis patrol, 2 Mavis Transports, 2 Tina Transports, 1 Zero and 1 Betty.

As the sun came up so did the ultra-high Corsair sweeps - 42,000 feet... I don't think they ever flew that high in the real war. But they do every day here and the crazy "run & gun" code gives them huge bonuses - they achieved roughly a 3:1 kill ratio over my fighters on cap. A total of four Squadrons of Corsairs and three of P-40Bs swept the base at max altitudes. My fighters were sitting at 5,000 feet and still got crushed. A total of 48 fighters (27 zeros and 21 Tojo IIcs) were lost in A2A in exchange for 13 Corsairs and 5 Warhawks.

I will admit my one squadron of Zeros only had pilots in the 60's exp - but the rest were all in the 70s - same with majority of the Tojo pilots. There has to be some counter-measure for these ultra-high sweeps. I read somewhere that fighters at 1-5k feet usually won't engage the sweeps - that does not seem true.


Xargun

[BananaConvention]

Dang man, that stuff with the stratosphere sweeps is frustrating to be sure. He’s using the game code advantage to maximum effect. Maybe you can talk off line and come up with some house rules about sweep altitudes.

[Xargun]

Dang man, that stuff with the stratosphere sweeps is frustrating to be sure. He’s using the game code advantage to maximum effect. Maybe you can talk off line and come up with some house rules about sweep altitudes.

I would rather have some sort of solution in game.. Just not sure if there is one.


Xargun

[Xargun]

South Pacific:
More fighter sweeps over Rabaul find no one home - I figured he would continue the sweeps so I stood my fighters down. What I didn't figure was he would send in the bombers during the daylight after only one day of sweeps. The heavies caught a lot of planes on the field and the lvl 8 AF is approx 50% damaged so those that survived will take a while to repair

I have moved every able aircraft out of Rabaul to nearby airfields and Truk. but there are still probably 50ish damaged aircraft there that he will probably kill before I can move them.


I took a closer look at my fighter and pilot losses to the sweeps - and not sure what his losses where, but I lost 19 pilots killed and 17 wounded in the previous day's sweeps. The good thing is, it looks like the under trained zero Sentai took the brunt of those losses. Looks like the two Tojo IIc units lost about 6 total pilots each (between killed / wounded) and the highly trained zeros took about the same. Leaving the bulk from the zero unit with its pilots mostly in the 60's for exp. Still not a good thing, but better than losing a bunch of skilled pilots.

In a month I will have both the IIcs under production and the A6M5c under production - with 5 factories of each. I will be able to start replacing the base zero, oscars and tojo IIa with a much better aircraft.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Sub Warfare:
Allied sub SS Grunion sunk an empty xAK north of Truk with a pair of torpedo hits.


Burma:
I put some LR CAP up over my troops retreating from Cox's Bazar both to protect them and to lend some escort to my bombers who struck there. In a bit of a surprise, RAF Hurricanes swept the skies. We lost a dozen or so in the air to kill 6 or 7 Hurricanes. Once more I think it was a numbers game... and since I can never get more than a handful of planes in the air no matter what cap setting I use we were on the losing end.

After a couple sweeps, the bombers came in and inflicted a few losses. My Sallies and Helens did the same to his armoured units there.


South Pacific:
Allied bombers hit the damaged aircraft at Rabaul and I lost another dozen or more aircraft sitting on the field. Chances are I will lose all of them as the airfield is getting near max damage along with the Service - which means no aircraft will be repaired. I flew the few that repaired out of Rabaul but it was less than 5.


Xargun

[BananaConvention]

BRUH! He's kicking your butt. You need to break glass in case of emergency and get drastic.

[Xargun]

BRUH! He's kicking your butt. You need to break glass in case of emergency and get drastic.

Yeah I know. He does strato-sweeps which really knocks my cap down and then kills them on the airfield with heavies. B-17s seem to always hit their target doesn't matter night, day, storms - doesn't seem to matter. And they are nearly impervious to my fighters and flak.

I don't know what I am doing so differently compared to other Japanese players that allows him to basically walk over me.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
Lots of RAF Hurricanes sweeping the hex with my retreating troops in it, but no bombers came today.


South Pacific:
Corsairs sweeping at Rabaul and B-25s making low level attacks on the port.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
My troops arrive at Akyab ahead of the British. I delivered 2400 tons of supplies last turn which helped but now I need more. The 9th Indian Division has taken up residence east of Akyab blocking any land retreat. So I either need to cross the river and hit them hard to dislodge them or sit here and wait for a ride from ships... Neither option is good.


South Pacific:
Corsairs sweep Rabaul some more - despite the airfield being nearly 100% out of action and all of my aircraft there being damaged and stuck on the airfield. After the sweeps the bombers come in and hit the airfield and port. Another dozen aircraft are lost on the ground - and only 3 were repaired enough to fly off.


Xargun

[BananaConvention]

Is there any chance all this variants stuff is stacking the deck unnecessarily in his favor?

[Xargun]

Is there any chance all this variants stuff is stacking the deck unnecessarily in his favor?

I am sure its not helping - I think both sides Should NOT have equal points. The game is already heavily favored for the Allies and even points simply allows the Allies to increase that advantage earlier - where no amount of points would let Japan win the actual war.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Sub Warfare:
A Dutch sub, KX, attacks a DD near Rangoon and misses, but the escorts pounce on the sub inflicting 6 hits - one of which was an actual hit with a depth charge. Combat replay reported a fire in their control room.

Another Dutch sub, KVII, is sighted by one of my TFs near Rangoon and attacked. Reports indicate light damage inflicted.


Burma:
My night bombing of Chittagong airfield scores a couple hits and kills a P-38 on the ground.
My Sallies and Helens bombed Cox's Bazar and ran into some P-38s flying LR CAP there. Once more my escorts failed to show up and my bombers got murdered - around 30 bombers were shot down in the multiple attacks.


South Pacific:
An allied TF braves the waters in Rabaul harbor to bombard, somehow avoiding 250+ mines to damage the base some more. Wish I knew the magic means to avoid mines everywhere I go.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
RN TF bombarded Akyab inflicting minor damage to the troops and a lot more damage to the base, including some fires due to the manpower there. Not sure why my Night naval planes did not attack, but I doubt I will ever understand the night naval attacks for aircraft - nothing seems to work the same as during the daylight.



South Pacific:
My CD Guns at Rabaul caught some allied mine sweepers clearing the mines. Unfortunately they only landed a few hits and they were able to continue their work.

TF 78 encounters mine field at Rabaul (106,125) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

25 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
AM Echuca, Shell hits 1
AM Cowra, Shell hits 4, on fire

A mixed allied TF bombards Rabaul - passing through the mines like they weren't even there - and killed some more aircraft. I have given up hope of getting those planes out of there - and are just waiting for them to be killed.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Burma:
The RN showed up at Ramree Island and engaged my Surface TF there. It was a pretty even engagement but the RN did better and they actually hit with their torpedoes - all of mine missed. The TFs closed to 1,000 yards before opening fire. It was a close in brutal fight which the IJN lost.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Shigure
DD Murasame
DD Hatsushima, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Wakaba
DD Yugure, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire
CA Devonshire, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Van Galen
DD Tjerk Hiddes
DD Inconstant
DD Isis, Shell hits 1
DD Jupiter, Shell hits 4, on fire

Reduced visibility due to Thunderstorms with 100% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 100% moonlight: 2,000 yards

My Minelayers laid some mines at Akyab and on their way back ran into the same RN TF and did better than the surface TF. The fleets closed to 6,000 yards before spotting each other.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,46, Range 6,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CM Shirakami
CM Kyosai, Shell hits 1
DD Uruyuke, Shell hits 1
DD Kosugiri, Shell hits 2
DD Myojinami

Allied Ships
CA Dorsetshire
CA Devonshire, Shell hits 4
DD Van Galen
DD Tjerk Hiddes, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Inconstant, Shell hits 1
DD Isis, Shell hits 1
DD Jupiter, Shell hits 2

Reduced visibility due to Thunderstorms
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms: 6,000 yards


Other than the ships sunks, the rest of them have minor damage, but they are being moved south for repairs.


My fighters were ordered to fly LR CAP over Ramree Island to protect the TFs there from air attack and for some reason they once more wandered 90 miles north (beyond their assigned max range) and flew cap over Akyab. I really wish they would go where I order them. I ordered 80 fighters to fly LRCAP at 50%. So 40 fighters... Shouldn't 20 be in the air at all times? Seems I am only getting like 5... I may need to reread the rules there and see what I'm doing wrong.


South Pacific:
Another allied AM is hit with CD gunfire at Rabaul but they still clear a lot of the mines there. It seems he is ignoring Woodlark and Milne Bay in favor of taking Rabaul and cutting them all off.


Xargun

[BananaConvention]

How are you setting up your LRCAP? Are you assigning the destination hex or TF with max range set to 0?