Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Lots of opinions. I love it! [:D] Keeps me thinking.

What I've decided (long ago) to work on for late war are 4 fighters, 2 for each service.

Shinden: purely defensive. Reason being it's IJN. My thoughts all along were to use the IJAAF as much as possible to preserve the IJNAF pilots for the carriers. I don't expect to have any effective carriers late war, so those surviving really good pilots will land based. Right now no R&D factories. [:(]

Sam: I screwed up as we all know. I have 11x30 factories repaired as follows: 9, 8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 1. I'll probably add 1 or 2 more in a few months. We'll see how that turns out. Right now I have no estimate as to when I'll get them.

Frank r: I get these in February 44. This is one of the few things I did right. Hopefully, they'll prove their worth. the "a" model is putting some serious hurting on the Allies. I'm hoping for some good things here.

Ki-201 Karyu: I started these early (possibly at the start of the war, can't remember). I currently have 6x30 factories repaired as follows: 20, 15, 15, 11, 8, 3. The problem is the NE Turbojet. I won't get them until February 45 so I can't accelerate using engines until then.

The main reason I didn't go with the Ki-83 was the cost. In retrospect, that may have been a bad decision. Unfortunately, it's too late to make any more changes.

So, I'll have the Frank r soon (yay!), the Shinden maybe a few months early (shrug), hopefully the Sam in early 45 and the Ki-201 in late 45.

I have the George 2 now, which is pretty good and will get the George 5 in May 44. That'll have to do for the IJN. [8|]

As I say, I think either way is good and won't have a huge impact. I don't think choosing the J7W over the Ki-83 a good decision nor vice versa; they are just different. Both are good planes (very good), but they are different. I've good success with both, so seriously no worries.

Now in your next game, you may wish to think about choosing one and starting the RnD earlier. Getting the Ki-83 early '45 can be REALLY interesting and fun. I much prefer the Ki-83 armament, those Ho-5 20mm CL … they are nasty.

Another variant is to go strong for the J7W instead of A7M … meaning you acknowledge that the KB is fishing reef by the time you can get the A7M and instead focus on getting the premier LB interceptor for the IJN early. I generally like to go for the George or Jack with this strategy as well; ie an LB based IJN.

Anyway, you're fine in this game. [8D]

I have flak at Chungking and am flying LRCAP there and I am shooting down no transports. What am I missing? I can't figure it out.

Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I have flak at Chungking and am flying LRCAP there and I am shooting down no transports. What am I missing? I can't figure it out.

Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

Hey Mike, I have a vested interest in keeping you guessing about this subject, but I'll let you in on one of the Allied realities. [;)]

The range from Ledo to Chungking is 15 hexes. In 12/43, the Allies have VERY few (almost none) transports that can reach that far. You mentioned that you have almost all of the rest of China under under control, so any supply trickle into Chungking by air will be tiny. Most days there are probably no transports even flying in there for you to attempt to intercept.

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I have flak at Chungking and am flying LRCAP there and I am shooting down no transports. What am I missing? I can't figure it out.

Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

Hey Mike, I have a vested interest in keeping you guessing about this subject, but I'll let you in on one of the Allied realities. [;)]

The range from Ledo to Chungking is 15 hexes. In 12/43, the Allies have VERY few (almost none) transports that can reach that far. You mentioned that you have almost all of the rest of China under under control, so any supply trickle into Chungking by air will be tiny. Most days there are probably no transports even flying in there for you to attempt to intercept.

Mike, I knew there weren't a lot of transports that could reach Chungking, but those transports at Ledo are doing something, and there are almost 100 of them. Chungking is the closest place the Chinese have to Ledo. Here's a map of the remaining Chinese:

6 Dec 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Air bombardment of Umnak was the highlight. Japanese raw AV is just about twice the Allied raw AV at 232:117. The tank regiment is at full strength but the 19 Division is still repairing disabled squads and effective AV is only 176. Once it hits 200, I'll attack right after a massive BB bombardment.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing on consequence here today. Just some bombing of troops at Rabaul and Hollandia.

SRA

Nothing here either. That little Allied TF I spotted west of NW Australia disappeared too, but it might just be in a gap in my naval search. I still have 4 subs headed there. Hopefully I'll pick it back up tomorrow.

Burma

Seven Hurricanes were shot down in return for 2 Franks shot down. About half a dozen more Hurricanes were apparently written off.

Over Ledo, no enemy fighters appeared. My 27 Helens put light damage on the airfield and destroyed 1 and damaged another half dozen transports, all Dakotas. There were still a few points of airfield damage at the end of the day.

China

The air bombardment of Chungking killed 8 squads while disabling another 220 squads. The artillery bombardment killed 30 squads and disabled another 48. Note that this turn happened before the discussion occurred about intercepting his transports. The turn was sent off, so I won't be able to attempt to LRCAP Ledo until I receive the next turn.

Other Stuff

Zuikaku made port today (finally) with damage of 3-62(51)-20(19)-0. I had been running her at full speed for a couple of turns and that last one increased her damage quite a bit. Looks like it'll be 151 days to repair her. [8|] Better than losing her.

Akagi and Soryu will be completely repaired in 8 and 9 days respectively. They will join Kaga, Shokaku, Unryu, Amagi and Kasasagi to form a nice KB once again. That's in addition to all the little carriers that constitute MKB.

In addition to the carriers above, the only other damaged carrier is little Chuyo, who will be fully repaired in 15 days.

In China, my goal is to kill more than 350 infantry squads a month. This was my third artillery bombardment this month, along with the (almost) daily aerial bombardment. So far, they've killed 93 infantry steps. I'll keep track daily to see the monthly result.

I'm surprised you don't have a spreadsheet or Word document with ALL your airframe and engine factories listed with which one are going to produce what for the whole game. You have been very good to excellent on the rest of the Japanese economy, but not here.

Why not?? [&:]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants_MatrixForum

I'm surprised you don't have a spreadsheet or Word document with ALL your airframe and engine factories listed with which one are going to produce what for the whole game. You have been very good to excellent on the rest of the Japanese economy, but not here.

Why not?? [&:]

Actually, I do have a spreadsheet for airframe and engine production. The R&D part, well, that's another thing. That was my weak point since back in the WitP days and I had no clue (or thoughts, really) about it when I started this game. Once I decided on an airframe, it was easy. The hard part was (and still is) deciding on what to produce. It's so late now that I'm pretty much committed to my "plan" such as it is. Late war will be the Frank r, Sam M2 (and M3 maybe), Ki-201 and the Shinden, along with the George 5.

My big mistake (in addition to not really knowing which plane stats are critical) was to not track individual factories as critically as I should have done. I kept track of the number of R&D factories assigned to each airframe, but there were a series of issues. Several factories accidentally converted to operational when I didn't want that, and I intentionally let some convert where I didn't really need to do that. Also, I have 1s & 2s allocated to airframes that are unimportant, so they're pretty much wasted. Examples: 2 on Betty, 1 on Francis, stuff like that. Not enough to really make a difference or working on models that I shouldn't bother with.

I still don't really have a handle on which stats are critical for things like air-to-air combat. Maneuverability? Speed? Armament? Durability? Armor? SR? I know they're all good, but which are the best and do some not matter? Different people say different things. Makes me crazy and the end result is what you see now.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

My big mistake (in addition to not really knowing which plane stats are critical) was to not track individual factories as critically as I should have done. I kept track of the number of R&D factories assigned to each airframe, but there were a series of issues. Several factories accidentally converted to operational when I didn't want that, and I intentionally let some convert where I didn't really need to do that. Also, I have 1s & 2s allocated to airframes that are unimportant, so they're pretty much wasted. Examples: 2 on Betty, 1 on Francis, stuff like that. Not enough to really make a difference or working on models that I shouldn't bother with.

I still don't really have a handle on which stats are critical for things like air-to-air combat. Maneuverability? Speed? Armament? Durability? Armor? SR? I know they're all good, but which are the best and do some not matter? Different people say different things. Makes me crazy and the end result is what you see now.

By design, there's no one factor that you should value above all others. I base my airframe selection from the manual (pg 173 for those interested).

Speed takes primacy IMO, as it can reduce the opponent aircraft maneuverer by half if the speed difference is high enough.

Based on that, I tend to peg my aircraft (in order of importance) based on:

1. Speed
2. Altitude
3. Durability
4. Weapons

#2,3 & 4 aren't really deal-breakers in themselves, but I think speed is key.

That's relfected in other AAR's. The big killers for both the Allies (Mustang, Thunderbolt, Corsair) and Japan (Shinden, 94, 83, Frank, Sam) all top the list for max speed.

Obviously it's a bit deeper than that when you factor in altitude bands, and even more complex when you consider pilot skills, layered CAP, radar and so on.

From what I've seen and what I infer from the manual, if there's a vast disparity in speed, the other factors matter less. Where speeds are closer, the other factors come in to play. To that end, speed is good!

PS: Not forgotten the turn, currently shifting masses of pilots [:'(]

Since you mentioned a new game about to be started, I would update your spreadsheet to include your R&D airframes. It might work out better to start with the late war airframes and work back to '41. Look at where you want to produce those '44/45 fighters and decide which major base you are going to defend the most and build them there. I know in my limited experience playing Japan, I've been too lazy to look at things form the end game back to ensure when I get there that some important factory(s) are someplace I cannot effectively defend.
I think there about 6 baseses that have to be defended. Those should have those late war factories and plan from Dec '41 to make them so.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

My big mistake (in addition to not really knowing which plane stats are critical) was to not track individual factories as critically as I should have done. I kept track of the number of R&D factories assigned to each airframe, but there were a series of issues. Several factories accidentally converted to operational when I didn't want that, and I intentionally let some convert where I didn't really need to do that. Also, I have 1s & 2s allocated to airframes that are unimportant, so they're pretty much wasted. Examples: 2 on Betty, 1 on Francis, stuff like that. Not enough to really make a difference or working on models that I shouldn't bother with.

I still don't really have a handle on which stats are critical for things like air-to-air combat. Maneuverability? Speed? Armament? Durability? Armor? SR? I know they're all good, but which are the best and do some not matter? Different people say different things. Makes me crazy and the end result is what you see now.

I don't think you need to get into the nitty gritty of which specific factory as doing what, except in some special cases (you don't want your most important factories in Harbin and Sapporo, for example, if playing scen 2 where those cities have factories).

You do need to do this a bit at the margins, like you should probably just have at least one large Frank-r factory vs. 2 or 3 that are size 30 so that you can allocate those other 1-2 factories to something else...

Even still, you can basically play it by ear on whether you have enough factories for something (or anticipate not having enough after it is R&D'd). If you don't, look for efficiencies in your big production numbers - places you can increase the size of a factory and transfer one or more of that model's smaller factories to where you need it.

I've really only had to do this a couple of times.

Dakotas have 10/12 normal/extended radius so they aren’t able to supply Chungking.
C-46 commando have 13/16 so if you see them at Ledo they could trickle some supply in at extended range, but they are few in number and they’re hard to keep flying. Same same for C-87 liberator with 20/24.

What else could he be planning to do with 100+ transports?
Are your CAPs shooting down many allied recon planes over Burma?

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Dakotas have 10/12 normal/extended radius so they aren’t able to supply Chungking.
C-46 commando have 13/16 so if you see them at Ledo they could trickle some supply in at extended range, but they are few in number and they’re hard to keep flying. Same same for C-87 liberator with 20/24.

What else could he be planning to do with 100+ transports?
Are your CAPs shooting down many allied recon planes over Burma?

Supply mission, at least for transport types (not sure about bombers) goes to 1/2 the transfer range. So if a transport plane's transfer range is 30 x 1/2 = 15 hexes to transport supplies.

Cheers I did not know that.
I’ll be reassigning my BGEN in charge of the hump airlift to the Hong Kong rubber dog poo run for not telling me earlier.

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Dakotas have 10/12 normal/extended radius so they aren’t able to supply Chungking.
C-46 commando have 13/16 so if you see them at Ledo they could trickle some supply in at extended range, but they are few in number and they’re hard to keep flying. Same same for C-87 liberator with 20/24.

What else could he be planning to do with 100+ transports?
Are your CAPs shooting down many allied recon planes over Burma?

Supply mission, at least for transport types (not sure about bombers) goes to 1/2 the transfer range. So if a transport plane's transfer range is 30 x 1/2 = 15 hexes to transport supplies.

That is very interesting. I guess I'll keep up the attempted bombing of Ledo. Is it safe to assume only 1/2 the load is transported?

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Dakotas have 10/12 normal/extended radius so they aren’t able to supply Chungking.
C-46 commando have 13/16 so if you see them at Ledo they could trickle some supply in at extended range, but they are few in number and they’re hard to keep flying. Same same for C-87 liberator with 20/24.

What else could he be planning to do with 100+ transports?
Are your CAPs shooting down many allied recon planes over Burma?

Supply mission, at least for transport types (not sure about bombers) goes to 1/2 the transfer range. So if a transport plane's transfer range is 30 x 1/2 = 15 hexes to transport supplies.

That is very interesting. I guess I'll keep up the attempted bombing of Ledo. Is it safe to assume only 1/2 the load is transported?

No. I don't recall ever hearing seeing that. Certainly might be the case but not safe to assume it.

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: witpqs



Supply mission, at least for transport types (not sure about bombers) goes to 1/2 the transfer range. So if a transport plane's transfer range is 30 x 1/2 = 15 hexes to transport supplies.

That is very interesting. I guess I'll keep up the attempted bombing of Ledo. Is it safe to assume only 1/2 the load is transported?

No. I don't recall ever hearing seeing that. Certainly might be the case but not safe to assume it.

Well wadda ya know... No idea if supply is really transported though.

Edit: But I'm assuming it does work because there's no reason to have 100 transports in Ledo unless he plans on dropping paratroopers somewhere.

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I have flak at Chungking and am flying LRCAP there and I am shooting down no transports. What am I missing? I can't figure it out.

Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

What they posted about that should be understood in the context of counteracting enemy LRCAP that is there to protect the transports.

I doubt he has CAP or LRCAP over Chungking.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli




That is very interesting. I guess I'll keep up the attempted bombing of Ledo. Is it safe to assume only 1/2 the load is transported?

No. I don't recall ever hearing seeing that. Certainly might be the case but not safe to assume it.

Well wadda ya know... No idea if supply is really transported though.

Edit: But I'm assuming it does work because there's no reason to have 100 transports in Ledo unless he plans on dropping paratroopers somewhere.

Transport missions do not follow normal range rules.

Transports fly out to half of the maximum range, which in this case is 15 hexes.

There is no mention of a load reduction of any kind.

Thanks, Loka. That confirms what he's up to in Ledo. I just got the turn, but it's too late to run tonight. I'll run it with my morning coffee. [:D] Ted made a comment about all the 1944 planning he's doing. [X(] I'm going to put permanent LRCAP over Ledo and Chungking in addition to my normal sweep of Ledo, and the bombing of course. If the LRCAP does the job, then I won't need to bomb the airfield any more and suffer bomber losses for little gain.