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Andav wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:49 pm Here is an Industry overview. I did well managing my HI. In the Home Islands, I was just beginning to run short of supplies. Outside of the Home Islands, the rice balls and bullets were few and far between.

Industry overview.png

We had discussions here about strategic bombing strategy and priorities. Apologies in advance that I forget who offered what advice, but one person was quite vocal about going after supply generation. By far most favored going after advanced airframe production. I chose to go after advanced airframe production.

I got the strategic bombing campaign going a little earlier than historical IIRC. Things got off to a decent start. Then the defenses ramped up much more quickly than the bomber fleet could stand the attrition. I had to switch to night bombing. We had a discussion here about night bombing against Manpower versus against specific targets. I chose to restrict my night bombing to Manpower because I feared night bombing against specific factories, etc. might be over powered. I was never able to hit enough of the specific factories I prioritized. Worse, some cities have 0 or only a few Manpower, stymying progress under that restriction. What really was telling was when I started seeing certain advanced airframes in combat far in advance of when I anticipated that was possible. Walter's R&D was simply amazing and far outstripped anything I was able to do to slow it down. When I was able to switch back to daylight bombing, at least partially, I was going after Light Industry and Heavy Industry. I should have chosen to go after supply generation from the very start of the strategic bombing campaign.

As a side not, you might have noticed that at a certain point in the liberation of China, I went after supply generation there even though for play flavor reasons I had resisted doing so in Allies territories.

Although it wasn't strategic bombing to bear on this post in general, the last few days of ultra massive 4EB strikes on HI airbases, especially on or near Kyushu, got so many 500 pound supply hits that I was starting to hope that might influence events at Kanoya when the ground operation resumed.

Andav wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:54 pm Plane pools would have allowed probably one more strike like the final turn provided I had about 3 weeks to prepare. The only really safe airfields were in the north east of the home islands. I do not think the Tokyo area could have been protected enough to rebuild the air force.

My trained pilot pool was down to basically nothing so the next strike would have suffered badly from low experience.

Airframe Pools.png

Using 3 weeks as a marker:

- The air bases on Yakushima and Tanegashima would have been maxed out (6 and 7 respectively). A small increase.
- Some new CVE and very few repaired CVE would have been online. At least 1 new Essex class CV, maybe 2 at the front.
- Shanghai would have fallen and been fully repaired, allowing the RN carriers, quite a lot of them including their CVE, to deploy to the HI operations.
- Shanghai airbase (7 upon capture) would have easily been maxed to 9. The 2 hexes (compared to Hangchow) of range advantage would have mattered to the avalanche of B-17G groups upgrading/arriving.
- The Kochi invasion would have all landed and likely begun reducing defenses. This is where the Empire's targets would have been tethered.
- B-29's and B-24's would have smashed several more major airfields on the HI. A bunch of new, fully stocked B-29 groups were making their way to the front. Also a bunch of B-17G groups. Well over a dozen empty B-29 groups had been upgraded to B-24J and B-17G (huge numbers arriving from Europe) and many were still on their way to the front. Notably, all of Honshu was within Normal range for B-29's, 20 x 500 pound bombs each. B-29B, any place where a paucity of Imperial fighters allowed their operation (everywhere for at least a week after the last turn) would have carried 36 x 500 pound bombs to target. Suppression of aircraft making ready would have impacted that next strike (the one 3 weeks hence).

Andav wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 2:34 pm I think my biggest lost opportunity was the CV battle around the Marshalls in May 43. KB was still at it's peak and we met in reasonably favorable grounds. I scored hits on the Allied CVs but they are spread out across many ships and not enough to sink any. I ended up losing Hiyo, Hiryu, Juno and Ryujo. He did not lose any. This was a pretty major defeat.

I think my defense and withdrawal in Burma was handled much better than the previous games.

My defense at Singapore was good with the exception of the counterattack after his initial river crossing. This hurt my forces bad because a large Allied army came across the same day. If I had not attacked, I think this force would have shock attacked as well based on assault values. It would have put his capture of Singapore out several months I think. I started with about 220k supplies at the beginning of the siege. I needed 350 or 400k.

That lucky (for me) mistake with the shock attack only partly made up for my awful, overly optimistic decision to send a partial force across the strait on the first day. The idea was to have enough to easily hold the 1/3 beachhead while the rest crossed with no need to shock attack. I greatly underestimated the combat power Japan had in place.

If I had just sent everything across in ordinary fashion the attacking force would have been in far better shape and the siege would have been much shorter. Still would have been a very stout defense that took a long time to overcome, but nothing like what happened.

I think I did a decent job with my economy. I had plenty of HI in the end.

Stellar!

As far as planes, I think I did well researching. I put nothing into the jets because I did not think I would get to them. I did get the Shinden fairly early. Sam came early as well. Tojo came fairly early along with George and Franks.

Sam was by far my biggest failure in research. Research for the airframe was finished in April 1944. The engine did not go into production until June 1944. I am deeply ashamed by this. Japanese Fan Boys can line up and flog me. I deserve it.

I think my biggest complaint about a game mechanics is how many planes B-29s could shoot down at night. Even night fighters were shot down in numbers. Something flying at 400 mph in the dark should be a lot harder to shoot down. B-29s at night were very hard to shoot down as well. During the day, the Japanese faired better if they ever survived the sweeps.

B-29 pilots were trained in night combat the old-school way.

I should have edited my comment to: Plane pools would have allowed probably one more strike like the final turn provided I had about 3 weeks to prepare without witpqs bothering me.

Supply is really the key especially in Scenario 1 based games. I think targeting supply generation is a good priority. I was a bit happy you were targeting strategic things instead of airfields and ports. Targeting airfields and ports is really a double bonus for supply usage. You hit supplies in the bombings plus it consumes supplies trying to defend with AA and such. Then it burns supplies trying to repair. Manpower is definitely 1B or a very close second especially if there are modern airframe factories which might be destroyed in the fires. Outside of the Home Islands, I am not sure how much bombing supply generation really helps. I think airfields and ports are better. While there were resources for LI, there was not really any fuel for HI so supply generation was minimal. I always had to supplement China from the Home Islands. Same for the Philippines.

Here are the sunk Allied ships. It's a PDF, and apparently it can't be put inline.

Sunk ships, the hard way.

I want to thank both of you for the post war analysis. Not many games go this far and it is instructive on what happens this late in the game and what seems most effective from both sides.

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Congrats to both of you for a well-played game! And for sticking it out longer than the RL politicians could!
The wrap-up comments were something not many AARs do and are appreciated. Thanks for bringing us in on the drama.

Thanks for the great game! I don't know what I'll do for lunch at work now.

All hail 1st Border Defense Fortress!

Congratulations to the both of you!

Andav wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 2:34 pm I think my biggest lost opportunity was the CV battle around the Marshalls in May 43. KB was still at it's peak and we met in reasonably favorable grounds. I scored hits on the Allied CVs but they are spread out across many ships and not enough to sink any. I ended up losing Hiyo, Hiryu, Juno and Ryujo. He did not lose any. This was a pretty major defeat.

I think my defense and withdrawal in Burma was handled much better than the previous games.

My defense at Singapore was good with the exception of the counterattack after his initial river crossing. This hurt my forces bad because a large Allied army came across the same day. If I had not attacked, I think this force would have shock attacked as well based on assault values. It would have put his capture of Singapore out several months I think. I started with about 220k supplies at the beginning of the siege. I needed 350 or 400k.

I think I did a decent job with my economy. I had plenty of HI in the end.

As far as planes, I think I did well researching. I put nothing into the jets because I did not think I would get to them. I did get the Shinden fairly early. Sam came early as well. Tojo came fairly early along with George and Franks.

Sam was by far my biggest failure in research. Research for the airframe was finished in April 1944. The engine did not go into production until June 1944. I am deeply ashamed by this. Japanese Fan Boys can line up and flog me. I deserve it.

I think my biggest complaint about a game mechanics is how many planes B-29s could shoot down at night. Even night fighters were shot down in numbers. Something flying at 400 mph in the dark should be a lot harder to shoot down. B-29s at night were very hard to shoot down as well. During the day, the Japanese faired better if they ever survived the sweeps.

Take heart Andav, it was an excellent Japanese performance. I note that getting IJ Aces into the 20's in kills is pretty hard. I think you managed to not give up much strategic losses...I gave up over 60K points in one game!

The Sam engine blunder is definitely one that can bite any JFB.

Interesting notes on the Singapore fight.

Night fighters: If I recall correctly you used a fair bit of regular fighters on night duty? Normally I can trade 1-1 roughly, using nothing but Night Fighters and make it painful enough for the Allies to stop...but I really like the night mini game and spend a lot of effort there and r&d. If I am forced in using regular fighters for night duty, I use them in such a manner they never close with the bombers but show up and disrupt their aim....I really like Dinah fighters in this role in 43/44. Frances is far away the best practical night fighter against B29s for Japan. Zero NF will allow you to increase the 18 plane squadrons to something a little more reasonable...say 30 -- and that is a game changer for the the night mini game. I never really tried, but can you load up a non CV plane on a carrier and resize it?

Anyhow, great game, incredibly long, serious kudos to you both!!!!

witpqs wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:00 pm

Andav wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:49 pm Here is an Industry overview. I did well managing my HI. In the Home Islands, I was just beginning to run short of supplies. Outside of the Home Islands, the rice balls and bullets were few and far between.

Industry overview.png

We had discussions here about strategic bombing strategy and priorities. Apologies in advance that I forget who offered what advice, but one person was quite vocal about going after supply generation. By far most favored going after advanced airframe production. I chose to go after advanced airframe production.

I got the strategic bombing campaign going a little earlier than historical IIRC. Things got off to a decent start. Then the defenses ramped up much more quickly than the bomber fleet could stand the attrition. I had to switch to night bombing. We had a discussion here about night bombing against Manpower versus against specific targets. I chose to restrict my night bombing to Manpower because I feared night bombing against specific factories, etc. might be over powered. I was never able to hit enough of the specific factories I prioritized. Worse, some cities have 0 or only a few Manpower, stymying progress under that restriction. What really was telling was when I started seeing certain advanced airframes in combat far in advance of when I anticipated that was possible. Walter's R&D was simply amazing and far outstripped anything I was able to do to slow it down. When I was able to switch back to daylight bombing, at least partially, I was going after Light Industry and Heavy Industry. I should have chosen to go after supply generation from the very start of the strategic bombing campaign.

As a side not, you might have noticed that at a certain point in the liberation of China, I went after supply generation there even though for play flavor reasons I had resisted doing so in Allies territories.

Although it wasn't strategic bombing to bear on this post in general, the last few days of ultra massive 4EB strikes on HI airbases, especially on or near Kyushu, got so many 500 pound supply hits that I was starting to hope that might influence events at Kanoya when the ground operation resumed.

It is really hard to figure out how much supply is being destroyed in an air raid like this...I have seen thousands of supply destroyed on an Atoll by a nuclear naval bombardment...but tracking interlocked land bases for supply destruction is hard -- but seems like a very valid tactic. perhaps port strikes on suspected fuel depots is another good tactic!

Well Played, WITPQS!

I assume Andav was swimming in PPs at the endgame, I need to look at the Japanese command structure and see how difficult it would be to switch all those end game squadrons into one of the large HQa commands in an attempt to better coordinate the ride of the valkyries strike. In theory, you could use two HQas in an attempt to coordinate different attacks...fast and slow or high and low for example.