Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Alfred

The priority now is not to hit the supply lines, it is to stop Kushiro from falling.  That means

• the KB also must strike at the beachhead.  It is not just a question of inflicting casualties but raising the disruption level plus increasing significantly the  enemy supply consumption rate.  Remember to reset your DB and TB to level bombing altitudes and dedicated bomb ordnance.  Also set destination even for the KB's fighters
• all LBA launching ground attacks against the beachhead
• use your NFs, not bombers, on offensive night missions
• naval bombardment of the beachhead, yes that includes the Musashi
• rushing LCU reinforcements in, by air, SST, land.  Even being in the wrong move mode assists the defence
• ensure you have on hand adequate supply, use level bombers and PA which are not tasked with flying in troops.  You don't need naval search.

Delay, delay, delay the fall of Kushiro is the only game in town for the next 2-3 days.  Give up Kunashir and Shikotan if necessary to keep Kushiro.  But don't lose Bihoro.

Remember Allied supply can not be dumped into Kushiro, only into the LCUs themselves and that is limited.  There will be plenty of time later in the week to go after the out of ammo retreating Allied TFs with the KB.  The outlook for the Kushiro defenders will increasingly improve after 3 more days.

BTW setting drop tanks on carrier planes is not a winner.  Search for my posts on the subject.



Alfred

Edit: Forgot to add that even air lifting in support squads with zero offensive assault value, stiffens the defence.

If I would have hit the beaches with the KB, I would have no KB now...and not inflicted a lot of damage. I managed to get some Helens thru, but he cost was high in planes, and damage not that great. Same story at Bihoro.

Good tip about using NF on night bombing missions, and I have plenty of Nick NFs, but they don't have any bombs, just the cannons.

The Irving Sa has 2 60kg bombs. Better than nothing...

Lesson learned about drop tanks on CVs. The hard way of course.[:)]

Care to provide the objective evidence that you would have lost the KB or is it just an emotional gut feeling without any backing analysis.

1. Enemy CVs were east of Kushiro with fighters overwhelmingly tasked with CAP/LRCAP of carriers and Kushiro hex.
2. Enemy bomber planes were tasked with hitting the Kushiro defenders.

So what exactly would have been contained in the enemy strike package that struck so much fear?

3. KB could be positioned out of range of enemy planes but still within range of hitting the Kushiro beachhead.
4. You said all but 4 fighter units had returned to the Home Islands. That means you have some short legged fighters which could not reach Kushiro and these could have been tasked 100% to protect the KB from that all so fearsome Allied strike. By the way what exactly did those short legged planes do other than drinking sake.
5. Japanese CVs by themselves sink nothing. Same applies to Allied CVs. It is the aircraft they carry that inflict damage. The KBs planes could have been offloaded to a land airfield and from a terrestrial airfield launched against the Kushiro beachhead. The CVs themselves could have skedaddled off to Shanghai. That would be some game bug if the Allies could have sunk the Japanese carriers anchored in Shanghai.

Would the KB airwings been decimated? Probably yes but you have deep pools and if you don't, you won't survive until April Fool's Day 1944. Plus you could have swapped out all your good pilots and drafted rookies in. For the purposes of inflicting disruption and increased supply consumption the rookies would have sufficed.

6. Instead you sent planes to attack the Allied carriers located one hex further away than the beachhead. How exactly was that going to aid the beleaguered defenders at Kushiro. Enough enemy troops had already been landed to capture the base if they remained unfatigued and undisrupted.
7. You know you can't specify a target with a naval attack mission. But you can with ground attack, as I reminded you. Even the escorting fighters could have been given Kushiro as the target. Doing so would have improved considerably your aircraft coordination against Kushiro.
8. You flew in to Bihoro more troops. Why, they should have been sent to Kushiro as you were advised. What had been landed at Bihoro was not yet fatal there but more than sufficient Allied troops would be released to capture it once Kushiro fell.


The KB is currently off on a Pacific sightseeing tour. Even if it had sufficient sorties, (which it doesn't have anyway), the KB sightseeing cruise could sink every single Allied APA and AKA plus all the xAK etc and this will have no impact on Allied capabilities to launch future invasions. Firstly because he is already on Hokkaido. This is why Shikotan and Kunashiri were expendable for even with their possession the Allies would still need to launch an invasion to get ashore on the Home Islands. Secondly what is still coming down the Allied pipeline dwarfs what he currently has and therefore future invasions elsewhere are not impeded.


As always, Kushiro was the key to everything. Eventually you will find out how close were the Allies to failure had everything been singularly focussed.


Now is the time for a very serious reassessment of the future.

• Hokkaido and Sakhalin must be considered as lost. An Allied landing in Korea with the principle aim of triggering Soviet activation can not be totally dismissed
• An Allied landing in Korea with the principle aim of triggering Soviet activation can not be totally dismissed
• With so much pulled back to the Home Islands and unlikely to be released for duties elsewhere, the SRA will be easily lost

.

There are some counters to these possibilities but they are very difficult to pull off

Alfred

I realize that I have perfect information and you only have the information I provide. A definite shortcoming.

During the AM phase the Allies let loose with 90 DB & TP escorted by 60 Hellcats. My KB consisted of 4 DD, 3CV, 1CA, 1CS. That is it. A strike on my carriers could not have been stopped by 24 Rufes and 30 Zeroes.

Now, I had thought about transferring the CV planes to the ground and using them thusly. Thanks to M-M for that advice in a PM. However, I tried twice to break thru his CAP and failed. Time to try something else...and I thought a strike south might cause him to pull something back making future strikes easier.

I had all my short range fighters flying CAP of Kushiro which was bombed twice by the Deathstar. They did very well, and didn't drink any sake that day.[:D]

There are still fighter units making the journey back to the HI.

Great tip on drafting rookies for that kind of strike against land units.[&o]

Look at the first combat at Kushiro...Allies got a 3-1. After that fight, my troops had 40-70 Disruption. I lost a lot of transport flying in troops at the treetop levels reinforcing Kushiro. My 27 Plane Tina unit had 4 planes at the end of that day.[X(] Another day of that and I would have no transports left to airlift into Hokkaido or move the General Defense divisions off one of the Jimi's.

I had failed the first day at penetrating the Kushiro CAP, sending in all my bombers on a dedicated strike at Kushiro would have cost me even more than 400 planes than I did lose against a weaker CAP. Plus, no matter what I did, my troops weren't going to hold Kushiro. It was over when he naval bombarded that night.

Good advice once again on using targeting for fighters and ground attacks.[&o]

I flew troops to Bihoro because I couldn't afford the losses amongst my transports flying into Kushiro. I still lost a 18 planes flying into Bihoro, but at least I got 50AV there.

I sent the KB off on its sightseeing turn, in an attempt to divert some of his carriers. I am actually pleased with what they did, they sank a few ships and they stayed alive.[:)]

Good advice on the Korea coast.

I gave up on trying to defend the SRA prior to this attack. There isn't much there now.

Thanks for the great advice.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard

It seems you're bombed also with friendly advices from your HQ staff, tot capita tot sententiae [;)]
So I add mine [:'(]
I believe you're doin well to suspend bombing attacks against a so strong CAP; you're only wearing yourself in that way; better to sweep now against his fatigued fighters.
And it's useful to attack his LOC with KB, you sink some precious APA and if you're lucky you can sink also some reinforcements troops.
When the enemy will leave with CVs you can bomb his conquered AF with BB. IMO don't bomb it with planes cause you'll only find a super flak and a strong CAP.
You'll restart to bomb with planes (also long range) at reinforcements ships only when his CVs will be away.
Throw to him more MTBs if you have, they've done well mainly on dark nights.
IMO it's not time to think to counterinvasions, he will simply ignore it and you'll divide your forces.
It's a pity your KB planes escorts didn't fly.

It is war. I guess it was the drop tanks...a failing of the A6M5c. Some people avoid the A6M5c all together because of its shorter range. But I never knew this might happen. Live and learn.

Sucks. It shouldn't be a problem for them to be using drop tanks with CVs in range.

I noticed above you listed air skills. Do you prioritize aggressiveness too? I always choose aggressive air leaders for groups, TFs and HQs that will influence strikes. I don't prioritize those for things like recon.

As with most of us the first game is to learn and you're definitely getting to see a lot here. There is still some hope to slow this advance. Your Helens now will be very important. You most likely have a ton of good ground bombing pilots. Those fields need to be shut. Night, day, both.

He's still losing planes, and that eventually could mean he either has to pull back or face the odds with a weakened CAP.

Japan in the war was weaker than you are now and yet the Allies did not chose to invade the HI at this point. It shouldn't be possible to do this without a lot of bloodshed and carnage. You need one break and his whole fragile position could fall apart. Keep at it! [:)]

Aggression 67 and 63. In individual squadrons on the KB I alway pick aggressive squadron leaders.

Yep, Obvert, I plan to keep hitting him. It will be carnage from here on out. I guess it has been carnage this whole game.

[Lowpe]

Turn is away.

Sweeping, and sweeping and bombing the airfield. I counted 4 Coast AA units at Kushiro, plus base forces and all the other AA. 41 units there.[X(]

Moving troops to Hokkaido. I will try and fight for it the best I can.

Looking forward to using Kamikazes. I am not expecting miracles, just more fun. I have a few squadrons picked out and most pilots have arrived.

This is my first PBEM, and also I have never played this late against the AI. I think the major mistakes I have made is creating strong points, but leaving weak areas that allowed the Allies to bypass all strong points. Plus throwing away the KB in the Marianas trying to force a lucky break. So don't do that guys.[:)]

Still, it is a game, and I was never playing to win but to have fun. Which it is.[8D]

[njp72]

Well I had some success with LBA and KB near the end fighting Wargmr around HIs, especially one big one against 20 odd CVEs and amphibs (I think Wargmr documented it in his AAR).

I was operating from massive airbases (Osaka, Hiroshima), with a stack of air support and plentiful supply.

I found the infrastructure supporting the big strike packages were more important than the number of airframes involved.

Still always tough to get big strike packages away in a semi-coordinated fashion and had I very little joy in hitting Fleet CVs even after penetrating CAP.



I was trying to think especially of examples of Japanese air strikes hurting Allied invasions. Have you seen that from the Allied side? A lot of strikes big enough to do damage to your CVs? If I remember also in my game with Jocke LBA was a big part of the success of later strikes, and against a much larger Allied force, but I also had better airframes and a decent KB to land the right hook after the initial jabs.




[/quote]

[Lowpe]

Well, I guess we will see about big packages on airfield attacks with fighter set to escort and Kushiro picked. Should be interesting.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

As always, Kushiro was the key to everything. Eventually you will find out how close were the Allies to failure had everything been singularly focussed.

Alfred

With near enough a 4:1 advantage in raw AV (to say nothing of firepower, troop quality and armor), Lowpe could have bombed and bombarded with all his might and thrown planes and ships wholesale into the meat grinder and the Allies would have still taken the base. Yes, they'd probably have some pretty damaged and disrupted units, but the base would fly the Stars and Bars.

In going for the ships, Lowpe has gained the VP's. Those are VP's that need to be made back by the Allies before they can declare victory.

For every in-game situation there's a perfect counter, in theory. Sadly the realities of PBEM play mean that putting theory into practice is far from easy.

[topeverest]

end game is always a difficult choice for the empire.

Alfred's suggested deployment is one where the probability of empire substantive success is higher than other combinations.

IMHO, concentration at the point of attack is the key to any inferior force winning a battle. We can argue what that might be, but spreading across the target options reduces rather than increase the small margin of success. I encourage any who doubt this to sandbox such a situation.

of course, this doesn't mean that the other option wins the day, just that it has a better chance.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Alfred

As always, Kushiro was the key to everything. Eventually you will find out how close were the Allies to failure had everything been singularly focussed.

Alfred

With near enough a 4:1 advantage in raw AV (to say nothing of firepower, troop quality and armor), Lowpe could have bombed and bombarded with all his might and thrown planes and ships wholesale into the meat grinder and the Allies would have still taken the base. Yes, they'd probably have some pretty damaged and disrupted units, but the base would fly the Stars and Bars.

In going for the ships, Lowpe has gained the VP's. Those are VP's that need to be made back by the Allies before they can declare victory.

For every in-game situation there's a perfect counter, in theory. Sadly the realities of PBEM play mean that putting theory into practice is far from easy.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Alfred

As always, Kushiro was the key to everything. Eventually you will find out how close were the Allies to failure had everything been singularly focussed.

Alfred

With near enough a 4:1 advantage in raw AV (to say nothing of firepower, troop quality and armor), Lowpe could have bombed and bombarded with all his might and thrown planes and ships wholesale into the meat grinder and the Allies would have still taken the base. Yes, they'd probably have some pretty damaged and disrupted units, but the base would fly the Stars and Bars.

In going for the ships, Lowpe has gained the VP's. Those are VP's that need to be made back by the Allies before they can declare victory.

For every in-game situation there's a perfect counter, in theory. Sadly the realities of PBEM play mean that putting theory into practice is far from easy.

+1

[topeverest]

Are we now at the situation where / if the empire can get enough AV to turn the tide, and if the airpower can keep the base knocked out?

[Lowpe]

Jan 21, 1944

During the dark night, MTBs still sortie to deadly effect.

[Lowpe]

From the above fight, you can see the dire shortage in American escorts.

[Lowpe]

Night goodness, thank goodness.

[Lowpe]

Lilly divebombers strike...bad weather really reduces the size of the strike, but we will take any damage.

An xak carrying vehicles and this oiler, left burning with fuel.

[Lowpe]

Nail some Allied bombers and good.

[Lowpe]

Lillies fly again in the afternoon, normally I don't get two naval strikes from land based air at such range, perhaps it is due to the squadrons being set to 10% naval search.

This transport is left with heavy fires, and heavy damage while the non-combat squads going swimming.

[Lowpe]

Another group of Lillies hit...darn what a great plane.

[Lowpe]

Despite 99 morale, 64 aggression, in the largest of the George Sentai's none of them sweep. The base was covered in ugly clouds and lightning bolts - so I have to assume it was the weather. Disappointing, but it is advanced weather.

The 4th Marines and company kick us out of Bihoro, it will be tough to hold on here in the short term in Hokkaido. My airlift got in 70 fresh AV - not a lot. Not a lot. Enemy PT boats are trying to isolate the ports.

Still, we inflicted 3-1 air losses on the Allies but lost 14 Dinahs doing recon here and in Indochina. Have to refine their settings.

We will keep fighting.

[Lowpe]

Lets talk kamikaze strategy, because they activated (thanks Koniu). I was disappointed I didn't get them last turn, but today is a new day.[8D]

I can convert one squadron each day. If I elect to not convert a squadron, it doesn't accumulate. Once converted they can't go back. Low experience and high morale are important factors in being able to convert a squadron. You can convert the main squadron even if all the planes aren't present.

All kamikazes use LowN to hit, however they can make attack runs at any starting altitude. Somewhere, I read that the initial attack altitude might play a role on where the kamikazes hit. Side -- belt armor, for very low attacks, and the higher the attacks more likely you might get superstructure hits or hits on tower or deck armor. Not sure if this is true, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Once converted the squadron can train, attack, or stand down.

Since I don't wan't to lose the squadron, a 10% rest order for an attacking Kamikaze seems important. All attacking planes are lost.

This is a Grigsby game at heart, and it rewards mass. Therefore, larger squadrons are more important to convert than say a Chutai.

So, what is the best strategy in using them that I have overlooked?

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
I can convert one squadron each day. If I elect to not convert a squadron, it doesn't accumulate.

It does accumulate up to seven squadrons. So if You don`t convert today tomorrow You will be able to covert two squadrons, next day 3. But max kamikaze conversion bank is 7

Once converted the squadron can train, attack, or stand down.

They can train but only lownaval attack skill (on all training settings)

[Lowpe]

Wow, Koniu, that is great to know! Once again plaudits![&o]