Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Another one is naval search.. I mean Pt Blair is a perfect place to put 100+ Betties doing nothing but naval search; their long range would had given you an idea of how big was his TF. It is actually very common to see a very strong/ USN augmented Eastern fleet. Same happened in my 2 games (as Allies and as Japan)

That being said, your losses, as tragic as they are, are not crippling. Those carriers are among the most useless on Japan's inventory

I do not have Port Blair built up enough for netties - but have moved some Mavis there.

I agree - the 4 Carriers lost were the slowest ones - that is why I operated them together. The CV lost was bad, but the loss of the BBs and CAs really hurt.

It is dangerous to move the carriers on waters that had not been searched, this specially true in the Indian ocean, which is easily accessed by the Allies from Ceylon

Something that might had work is to send multiple TFs, to multiple destinations that are not within range (what I call a cockroach run) this way you can guarantee that some TFs will survive, at least for a turn
And it is 2 hexes per phase... ~4 in total, which is not little

There was little you could do to increase the chances of saving them, really only provide your opponent with the chance to make a mistake. Which he did not, of course.

ORIGINAL: witpqs

There was little you could do to increase the chances of saving them, really only provide your opponent with the chance to make a mistake. Which he did not, of course.

+1

Totally. You did the best you could, you needed a mistake by Kane which was not likely to happen. Put it behind you.

you paid a price to know where the allied CV's are and a potential axis of attack. Be sure you use it.

It is possible that Mr. Kane did this just to get your babyKB ... a lot of IJ players use it in the IO in the early game, so it could have been a trap that he gambled on.

OR

He moved them there to support a major axis of attack.

The former means he got lucky on a long shot. Nothing really more to do. The latter though requires followup by you ...

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo


OR

He moved them there to support a major axis of attack.

The former means he got lucky on a long shot. Nothing really more to do. The latter though requires followup by you ...

The Brits and Ozzie units are making a huge push for Burma - the deathstar may have been simply escort for moving troops or for some other purpose I have not deciphered yet. I did see at least 1 CV arrive at Columbo and missed my chance to sink her as all 6 torpedoes missed CV Hornet [:@] That would have made me so happy but I haven't landed a sub torpedo in like 3 months of gametime. I think my torpedoes are all broken now...

Myitkyina and Katha have fallen to the allied offense (which I did not see any movement tags on some of the units so I was taken by surprise - is there some way to 'hide' them?). I will try to post some pics this evening of the current situation. The good thing is allied air strikes are more prevalent and I have pulled off a couple good sweeps / cap traps.

ORIGINAL: Xargun

The Brits and Ozzie units are making a huge push for Burma - t

Where are the US units? He has a bunch now bought out ...

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo


OR

He moved them there to support a major axis of attack.

The former means he got lucky on a long shot. Nothing really more to do. The latter though requires followup by you ...

The Brits and Ozzie units are making a huge push for Burma - the deathstar may have been simply escort for moving troops or for some other purpose I have not deciphered yet. I did see at least 1 CV arrive at Columbo and missed my chance to sink her as all 6 torpedoes missed CV Hornet [:@] That would have made me so happy but I haven't landed a sub torpedo in like 3 months of gametime. I think my torpedoes are all broken now...

Myitkyina and Katha have fallen to the allied offense (which I did not see any movement tags on some of the units so I was taken by surprise - is there some way to 'hide' them?). I will try to post some pics this evening of the current situation. The good thing is allied air strikes are more prevalent and I have pulled off a couple good sweeps / cap traps.

MrKane moves his units in an unusual way that does seem to hide directional movement indicators sometimes. I have not figured out how he does that.

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Myitkyina and Katha have fallen to the allied offense (which I did not see any movement tags on some of the units so I was taken by surprise - is there some way to 'hide' them?). I will try to post some pics this evening of the current situation. The good thing is allied air strikes are more prevalent and I have pulled off a couple good sweeps / cap traps.

MrKane moves his units in an unusual way that does seem to hide directional movement indicators sometimes. I have not figured out how he does that.

Very interesting. I did some quick testing.
It seems that you can partially conceal movement blip under the top icon if you do not move the LCU with lowest ID number. It can become harder to see with diagonal movement, especially on the original map containing colorful hex graphics with lots of darker dots.
But I was not able to altogether make the blip disappear. Tested with different movement modes and did not see any conclusive difference in how movement indicators appear for the other side, both in head-2-head or save-load-as-other-side.

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Myitkyina and Katha have fallen to the allied offense (which I did not see any movement tags on some of the units so I was taken by surprise - is there some way to 'hide' them?). I will try to post some pics this evening of the current situation. The good thing is allied air strikes are more prevalent and I have pulled off a couple good sweeps / cap traps.

MrKane moves his units in an unusual way that does seem to hide directional movement indicators sometimes. I have not figured out how he does that.

Very interesting. I did some quick testing.
It seems that you can partially conceal movement blip under the top icon if you do not move the LCU with lowest ID number. It can become harder to see with diagonal movement, especially on the original map containing colorful hex graphics with lots of darker dots.
But I was not able to altogether make the blip disappear. Tested with different movement modes and did not see any conclusive difference in how movement indicators appear for the other side, both in head-2-head or save-load-as-other-side.

One good tactic is to keep movement blips going in contested theaters, even when you have no intention of moving the units. For example, leave the unit in combat mode and start a move. If you are not in a malaria zone, it will not harm the unit. Just be sure to cancel the move before the unit arrives at the target hex. If you change these orders every few turns, especially on hexes with high DL, you can confuse your opponent. Keep in mind though that issuing these orders will increase supply use slightly, so try to do it with small units only.

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Wargmr

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Myitkyina and Katha have fallen to the allied offense (which I did not see any movement tags on some of the units so I was taken by surprise - is there some way to 'hide' them?). I will try to post some pics this evening of the current situation. The good thing is allied air strikes are more prevalent and I have pulled off a couple good sweeps / cap traps.

MrKane moves his units in an unusual way that does seem to hide directional movement indicators sometimes. I have not figured out how he does that.

Very interesting. I did some quick testing.
It seems that you can partially conceal movement blip under the top icon if you do not move the LCU with lowest ID number. It can become harder to see with diagonal movement, especially on the original map containing colorful hex graphics with lots of darker dots.
But I was not able to altogether make the blip disappear. Tested with different movement modes and did not see any conclusive difference in how movement indicators appear for the other side, both in head-2-head or save-load-as-other-side.

That is a master-level skill I will not try to master anytime soon. Although I need to find a way to 'see' the movement. He caught me nearly blindsided in Northern Burma and I'm scrambling to save 2 divisions cut off by this.

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Xargun

The Brits and Ozzie units are making a huge push for Burma - t

Where are the US units? He has a bunch now bought out ...

Have not seen any US units in Burma but there are a lot in the Solomons and around Port Moresby. I need to take an hour or two and go through the combat reports and list them all out.

Are the Indian units any good in late 42 / early 43? An Indian Division - is it equal to a IJA Division? weaker? stronger?

I have not taken Wake in this game. Is it too late to take it or is it just not worth it?

The air war is growing hot and heavy in Burma and the Solomon - New Britain area. I have waylaid (cap trapped) several medium bomber groups and last turn inflicted 2:1 losses upon him. I have been fairly successful in sweeps and cap in Burma as well - scoring on average even losses. I feel a bit better about the game when I can get some air action on my time table moreso than always reacting to him. Seems like he is in full attack mode in Burma so the air war will be heavy. I am considering moving a couple more fighter sentais into theater but am lacking AV support. My bases are fairly full of aircraft.

Here is a quick screenshot of the Industry page in tracker - I check it every turn and track HI, Armaments, Vehicles, Naval & Merchant Shipyard Points and Supply.

Closing in on the 6 Million Supply mark and Vehicle and Armament Pools are growing.

OK, so you are Q4Y42? Nov42? something like that, right?

So, about 1150 AC factories, so then your engines factories look a little behind (if I am doing my sums correctly).
1150 AC is within my norms for this point in the game, with about 50% of that being fighters.

Supply at 6M is VERY good for this point, kudos. Res/Fuel/oil all look fine.

HI is low though. This is where it is interesting. You've increased ARM, NSY, and MSY which I rarely ever do, and your VEH is a bit higher than I normally go. This means you will have lower HI pools, you're burning it faster than normal for me. ARM pool is within norm, even with the factory expansion. What this suggests is that you are filling out your LCU's and you are building a lot of ships. Beware. The IJ economy cannot support all of her units being at full strength, or better to say, the burn rate of full strength units in combat will deplete the supply pools at an unsustainable rate. Ditto the navy with fuel ... just words of caution about over producing the IJ forces beyond which can be sustained.

Just remember, every device in every LCU eats some supply every turn. Be cautious about the devices that you add. Ex: I tend not to replace the 7mm AA guns when they are destroyed. They don't do much except eat supply that I would prefer would be left for 75mm AA guns. [;)]

That is a lot of pilot training. I am jealous. HI well spent in my opinion. Why so much merchant ship production? You can probably afford to shut some off at this point to save HI for other things. Very nice job on fuel as well. You economy is well-positioned at this point for a long game if you cut back a bit on merchant production and get some more HI as Pax observes. To be honest, I have never had such a large stockpiles of fuel in any game that I have played (about 6 against the AI or any PBEM, none of which reached the end of 1943). Your supply stockpiles are equal to the largest that I think that I have ever had. Be sure to build some nice forts at key points; you have supply sufficient to dig in well.

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Are the Indian units any good in late 42 / early 43? An Indian Division - is it equal to a IJA Division? weaker? stronger?

Depends on upgrades. Statwise "Ind Inf Section 42" squads are on par with IJA, while starting level "Ind Inf Section" is considerably weaker. Squads from 43 and onwards though are real tough, making Indian divisions the mainstay of Burma and Thai push. Hardware-wise Indian IDs are better endowed than most of IJA IDs. But that can be said about practically any Allied ID, because IJA wanted their IDs to be very mobile.
This all assumes you trained experience of those divisions sitting somewhere through 42 with prep 100. All of Indian troops start with very low xp and initially are only marginally good in defence from strong places, nothing else.

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Are the Indian units any good in late 42 / early 43? An Indian Division - is it equal to a IJA Division? weaker? stronger?

Depends on upgrades. Statwise "Ind Inf Section 42" squads are on par with IJA, while starting level "Ind Inf Section" is considerably weaker. Squads from 43 and onwards though are real tough, making Indian divisions the mainstay of Burma and Thai push. Hardware-wise Indian IDs are better endowed than most of IJA IDs. But that can be said about practically any Allied ID, because IJA wanted their IDs to be very mobile.
This all assumes you trained experience of those divisions sitting somewhere through 42 with prep 100. All of Indian troops start with very low xp and initially are only marginally good in defence from strong places, nothing else.

I will add that it also depends on losses. Although the Indian Army is much better off than the British Army in this respect, they never have enough replacement squads. In fact in many games they must be managed closely for upgrades to take place at all.

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

OK, so you are Q4Y42? Nov42? something like that, right?

Mid November 1942.

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
So, about 1150 AC factories, so then your engines factories look a little behind (if I am doing my sums correctly).
1150 AC is within my norms for this point in the game, with about 50% of that being fighters.

My AC factories are in a flux atm as I am changing models on my navy fighters and had no easy way to R&D the A6M8 AND start producing the A6M5c, so I decided to change all my A6M2 factories to the A6M5c and they are still repairing. Only 2 AC models are in end of game mode - the G3M3 Nell and now IIb Helen (which just came online this month).

My Engines are built out at the moment, but I need to look at my plans for late 43 and 44 and begin to slowly build up the size of the factories to support the expected need. Currently my engines are as:

Ha-32: 330 (150, 90 x2)
Ha-33: 330 (150, 90 x2)
Ha-34: 240 (120 x2)
Ha-35: 330 (240, 90)
Ha-43: 240 (all R&D: 90, 30x5)
Ha-45: 180 (30 x6)

(Leaves me with 3 Engine factories currently set to Ha-5, Ha-31 and Ha-60 which will be converted over once I figure out my end game needs on 43 vs 44)

I do not have all of my engine factories running right now (one each of the size 90 Ha-32, Ha-33 and Ha-35) are off.

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
Supply at 6M is VERY good for this point, kudos. Res/Fuel/oil all look fine.

HI is low though. This is where it is interesting. You've increased ARM, NSY, and MSY which I rarely ever do, and your VEH is a bit higher than I normally go. This means you will have lower HI pools, you're burning it faster than normal for me. ARM pool is within norm, even with the factory expansion. What this suggests is that you are filling out your LCU's and you are building a lot of ships. Beware. The IJ economy cannot support all of her units being at full strength, or better to say, the burn rate of full strength units in combat will deplete the supply pools at an unsustainable rate. Ditto the navy with fuel ... just words of caution about over producing the IJ forces beyond which can be sustained.

Just remember, every device in every LCU eats some supply every turn. Be cautious about the devices that you add. Ex: I tend not to replace the 7mm AA guns when they are destroyed. They don't do much except eat supply that I would prefer would be left for 75mm AA guns. [;)]

Can you turn individual devices off so they don't produce? IF so, how?

My fuel usage has been fairly low - most of my capital ships sit in port all day, with my cruisers getting the most workouts. The BBs rarely leave port except to escort CVs or on one of the few Bombardment runs I have done. I am thinking of pulling my carriers back to Japan and docking them for several months (like 6-12) and offload their air groups to useful places. This will definitely save fuel and cut down on the risk that I may use them rashly and run into the allied death star.
I am scraping the oil from all the bases as fast as I can and moving it to a larger port (like Singapore) or sending it home. My TKs/AOs have been alternating between moving Fuel and Oil home from Singapore and I have over a million combined there. They are moving almost non-stop (only stops are loading/unloading and an occasional day or two in the shipyard to remove system damage).
Resources and Oil are moving from Singapore on xAKs as well - plus smaller TFs are keeping places like Manila, Takao, Pescadores, etc... clean too.

ORIGINAL: Xargun


Can you turn individual devices off so they don't produce? IF so, how?

Of course ... key part of managing the IJ economy.

Intel screen, then Industry/Troop/Resource Pool. Stockpile ALL devices. Then selectively turn off stockpile those very few that you actually want to build. I adjust this in conjunction with what units have replacements turned on. That way I build only what I want and it goes only where I want it.