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

[mind_messing]

Sapporo, Hakodate, Shikuka can all get there with just one more port level and a decent Naval HQ. Wakkani is two port levels away.

All of those ports will need fuel moved into them. Ominato can draw off the Home Islands stockpile. It's more efficent, in the long run, seeing as you don't need to use fuel to move fuel to Sapporo, Hakodate, Shikuka or Wakkani.

Regarding your AA Regiment, did you by any chance update your scenario? Might be better to post over at Tech Support.

[Lowpe]

Oct 12, 1942

B17Fs show up in the Marshals and Oscars and Zeroes rise to the challenge swapping one Oscar for 1 B17f and 6 damaged ones.

Bombard the Yankees in the north again...

I boat sinks a tanker of Karachi. [:)]

[Lokasenna]

Post in tech support about your guns. That's really weird, unless those guns are no longer available and therefore not able to be replaced. Still wouldn't make sense if they were actually in the unit though and not lost to combat. Even then, I'm not aware of any AA guns that can't be replaced. Just the big 30cm howitzers, I thought.

[Lowpe]

Posted the missing guns in the tech forum....I will post here if anything comes of it.

Lots of exciting action coming up...In China there will be shock attacks, In Soerabaja hopefully the final attack (allied AV at 134), Over 2000 IJA AV collected at Rangoon and will start bombarding there, Over 1500 AV at Batavia and bombarding there, and getting closer to the counter invasion in the Kuriles with some heavy air raids (weather willing) and more bombardments.

Heavy volume of radio traffic at Tabiteuea...aks spotted at Luganville....uh oh looks like the Allies are getting frisky in the Central Pacific.

[Lowpe]

October 13, 1942

Disappointing ground attacks today as I miss a 2-1 in Soerabaja by a few points and Allied forces barely hold on. Bombardment attacks at Batavia and Rangoon are just so-so, but use up his supply. In China my shock attack is stymied by the appearance of a second unit and both have supply but this is on the road to the capital so not really too surprising.

Massed Allied 4e attacks on Bangkock, where unfortunately my missing AA guns are, hit the city hard. It was previously trashed, so no real damage down. I am not defending it currently.

In the Kuriles, the Ashirgra hits a minefield, but a nice night engagement leaves the Perth on the bottom for no losses...I think Allies are moving a battleship up, one can only hope.

Ground bombing only reveals one additional unit at his base in the Kuriles, and that a fragment. The Canadian 28th AA. So two regiments, base force, field art, and AA are all there.

[Lowpe]

Is the information in Tracker more accurate than what is listed in the reports in the game itself? My uninformed feeling is that it is -- especially daily plane losses.

Tracker list 4 additional Allied ships sunk this turn, one being the cursed Dorsetshire which has been on my short list to sink since September. I surely thrashed her heavily in September, and she has been hiding in Soerabaja port, occasionally being hit by an additional 250 kg bombs.

[Lokasenna]

The ships sunk in Tracker is extremely inaccurate.

I will often know that I sunk a particular ship due to the combat report as I watched it go down in a surface battle, air action, etc., but an entirely different ship shows up as sunk in Tracker. Such as when I sank Bullwinkle's CV Indomitable - my pilots watched her sink, I verified she was gone from the plane losses, and yet Tracker insisted the "Enemy Ship removed from sunk list or whatever it is: CV Indomitable previously listed as sunk, unknown device on unknown turn, blah blah"... "CV Yorktown | Enemy ship sunk". Sure Tracker, sure.

The plane losses is, as far as I know, 100% accurate. Though the in-game losses are almost as accurate.

I trust the in-game list of ship losses more than Tracker's list, at least going back a few months. For an even more accurate count, I'd need to go through my Word doc notes, and I will at some point but for things like xAKs I just don't care.

[Lowpe]

Thanks, I want to watch the Dorsetshire go down in a replay so there is still a chance. [:)]

[mind_messing]

The ships sunk in Tracker is extremely inaccurate.

I will often know that I sunk a particular ship due to the combat report as I watched it go down in a surface battle, air action, etc., but an entirely different ship shows up as sunk in Tracker. Such as when I sank Bullwinkle's CV Indomitable - my pilots watched her sink, I verified she was gone from the plane losses, and yet Tracker insisted the "Enemy Ship removed from sunk list or whatever it is: CV Indomitable previously listed as sunk, unknown device on unknown turn, blah blah"... "CV Yorktown | Enemy ship sunk". Sure Tracker, sure.

I'll confirm that. Tracker thinks that Enterprise went down from a single torpedo in our game...

If only...

[Lowpe]

Oct 14, 1942

Quiet day. I boat sinks a Euro K cargo class ship off Perth, fuel burning. This type of ship has dual capacity so I don't know how heavily loaded with fuel she was her normal load of 300 or filled to the rafters.

Bad weather saves Allied shipping once again in the Kuriles...buildup almost done. The only ships not present for the invasion are two LSDs, both repairing damage one from a torpedo and another from Ambon's coastal guns.

I have to go back and read my notes on the effects of winter...I think if I land prior to winter's effects I avoid most of the nasty penalties which would argue for an invasion very close to the end of the month to maximize preparation -- so say the 25th or so for Day 1.

The LSDs both have about 20 damage, and I think I will use them in the invasion forces. Hopefully I won't lose them. They probably can still get 3 more days in the shipyards which will repair a lot of the damage...and still be able to make the invasion.

Marching troops out of Soerabaja for a couple days R&R before the last plunge there. Bombardments are keeping pace, now mostly Allied squads are destroyed and not disabled always a good sign.

[Lowpe]

October 15th, 1942

Kuriles:

I get my wish, and the Allies send in the Mississippi and some destroyers. Unfortunately, they miss my screening CL and DD forces designed to stop him and instead find the Mogamai on a bombardment run.

In the following engagement, Captain Akira Sone crosses the T on old Willis Lee, and although no Long Lances are fired in the short engagement, the Mississippi has her surface radar knocked out.

Damage on the Sone's ships are very light 13 system on the destroyer, 8 system on the Mogami.

Will the CL task force engage, they are packed to the rafters with long lances? And then during the day, over 100 Bettys are fueled and ready to fly from Etorofu and an additional 40 from Bihore.

[Lowpe]

The Mississippi avoids further surface engagements, and steams east.

The fleeing Mississippi is just within normal range of Betties from Etorofu, but light rain in Eotorfu and moderate rain at the target combine to ground the strike planes. A couple of Sallies fly from Paramushiro, but they lack the skill to be effective.

Another AF Company lands at Paramushiro, and no less than 4 bombardment groups are going into hit the Yankees on the morrow including the Yamato.

The KB is moving into a blocking position, fully fueled and armed, while light cruisers will both screen the KB and also protect Paramushiro on the off chance the Mississippi returns for a second day.

[Lowpe]

Elsewhere, Pegu gets the attention from the 4Es, this time striking the two lonely AF eng units there who take a pounding, but the airfield is intact.

Hurricanes and P40s sweep Palembang where in swirling dogfights 6 Oscars are lost for 6 Hurricanes. Can 4Es be far behind?

IJA fighters are in woefully short supply, Tojo IIa production is increasing and is currently at 105 (will peak at 128 until the IIc is available), while there is only one size 30 Oscar factory left and will upgrade shortly to a new Oscar the IIa I think. Nick KAIa are at 30, with some 60 in service and they are doing very well.

Tony research factories are still repairing, so future fighters are the Nick KAIb, the Dinah KAI, and Oscar IIa, but Tojo IIa is the primary fighter. I haven't bothered with the math, but there are a lot of factories researching the Oscar IV and I expect to get her sometime in 43 (currently at 4/45).

[Lowpe]

Game is on hold for a little while while Michael examines a save to hopefully fix my missing big AA gun unit problem. I have found several more AA regiments missing their guns, I haven't stopped to see if the problem is growing or if it happened all at once, but it is distressing especially when his 4Es bomb where my guns are missing.

Anyhow, I thought I would look ahead just a little. I have two size 30 factories working on the R&D for Lilly IIb. I have identified 7 Sentai of about 30 planes each to upgrade to the dive bomber.

The first batch of about 60 trained pilots (60 NavB,70Land,60 Def) will go into the sentais/pools now so I expect to be able to fill these Sentai with trained bomber pilots pretty quickly.

I am really looking forward toward these units, I think a unit in Paramushiro would have really cleaned up. The versatility of not needing torpedoes will be very nice, as the better range and durability over the Val. Plus its Army!

Quick question: Will the Sonia and Mary pilots lose skill points switching to a 2E plane?

[Lowpe]

Not content with the Lilly IIb as the only anti-ship platform, I plan on adding the Oscar IIa in that role too. At least one Sentai, maybe more depending upon their success.

Other than two 250 kg general purpose bombs, the best part of using the IIa in this role is that they are available in a few scant weeks.

The Oscar IV is my second most heavily researched plane, and I plan on building each generation until I get the IV.

[mind_messing]

You're producing only 30 Oscars? What plane do you intend to use as escorts for the JAAF bombers then?

[Lowpe]

Where Tojo won't reach I plan on using Dinah KAI and then Oscar IV later but in the meantime I am not being too faithful to history, but the A6M2 still has a size 150 factory, cheap to produce, dies like flies, but has long legs and better firepower than Oscar, plus all those oversize air groups which I can break into thirds and use.

When Dinah KAI fails miserably, and the good money is on that bet, I expect I will ramp up more Oscar IIa fighters in the short term. But, there is a slim chance the Dinah KAI will work well enough to bridge me thru until better planes become available in 43.

I might even try Nicks too.

I haven't done the math, but there are 256 points of factory r and d on the Oscar IV and I have the engine bonus too so it is accelerating quite nicely.

In addition, I am not planning on being too aggressive in the air for quite a while. I want to finish taking Java, get Rangoon, and Port Moresby and better frames. I believe I can achieve my goals without a lot of air power.

I don't think the Allied navy is in any shape to mount major offensives, my long range search points to no threats, and the KB is pretty much intact and a strong deterrent.

Of course, the allies are so aggressive who really knows what the future will bring. I would love to mount an end run in Burma, and I think it is probably doable for early 43, especially once all those trapped British Divisions are destroyed. We will see.

[Lowpe]

I did my turn and sent it away. The missing guns I have been doing without the entire game and only noticed a couple of weeks ago when I started moving them to the front lines...my bad.[8|]

It seems the scenario files the Allies are using date from 2010, like patch 4 or so, while I have patch 6 2012 files. I wonder how getting the Allies to patch 6 plus beta will change the game dynamics some in other ways?

I am amazed we were able to play to be quite honest.

I kind of rushed my turn, so I hope I didn't make too many big mistakes...kind of played defensively, moved Tojos to Palembang to help make up for the downed Oscars from last turn...dangling a small amphibious task force at Paramushiro to lure the Mississippi back in where hopefully my CL an DD force can get a long lance night engagement.

[Erkki]

What role were you looking for the Dinah KAI(you do mean the Ki-46-IIIb right?)?

I really dont think that the Ki-46 in fighter role is better escort than Ki-43. The Army doesnt even have a bomber that outranges the Ki-43, and you're likely to have bombers operating further behind the lines than fighters.

On IJAAF anti-shipping: yeah Ki-43-II does carry 2 big bombs, but they are fighters so you need fighter air unit to use them. And the IIa still doesnt have armor or durability. Outside of massed kamikaze use I think you will find better quality-price ratio in just using Ki-49s or the later dive-bomber versions of the Ki-48, and you dont need to use a valuable fighter unit for the role.

What do you think?

Also do you have PDU on and the latest aircraft data in use? If you want to R&D an army fighter there are probably much better ones than Ki-43. [:)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Erkki
Also do you have PDU on and the latest aircraft data in use? If you want to R&D an army fighter there are probably much better ones than Ki-43. [:)]

I picked up this game, 2 months ago, and I inherited really crazy r and d and plane factories. Not my choice, design or intent, but I went with the flow on somethings and that being Oscar production.

The previous Japanese player dropped, when he got crushed on Java in August 42 without haven taken Manila or Rangoon, my inherited planes losses are simply staggering, and I agree with everything you say, but I am trying to eke fun out of the chaos that is this game that I inherited, and some of that fun is using some frames that are often overlooked or never used.

Make sense?

I documented the unbelievable starting position I inherited pretty well...makes for fun reading.

My first turn saw the almost complete destruction of the 4th ID near Batavia, an Allied invasion of Tarawa, and Allied fighter planes shooting Oscars down at something like an eight to zero clip...fun times as I look back on them[:D]