Matrix Games Forums

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:30 pm 13 Apr 42

SRA

Ambon is a pain. They have HUGE CD guns and in the end I'll lose a couple of ships invading. I see 150 and 180 mm CD gun shots headed my way.

I imbed either CA or BB in my amphib TF ... CA's can take a 150mm shot w/o damage, but the 180mm would mean I would have to use a BB. The CD's tend to aim at return fire, so don't include any AMC's in your Amphib, and they should concentrate on the BB.

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 3:59 pm 15 Apr 42

Reinforcements
DD Makanami (Yugumo) - KB escort

Can't get enough of the Yugumo's ..... they just needed to built A LOT more of them ....

PaxMondo wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 5:27 pm

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 3:59 pm 15 Apr 42

Reinforcements
DD Makanami (Yugumo) - KB escort

Can't get enough of the Yugumo's ..... they just needed to built A LOT more of them ....

I accelerate every DD as soon as I can. I totally agree with you.

PaxMondo wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 5:23 pm

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:30 pm 13 Apr 42

SRA

Ambon is a pain. They have HUGE CD guns and in the end I'll lose a couple of ships invading. I see 150 and 180 mm CD gun shots headed my way.

I imbed either CA or BB in my amphib TF ... CA's can take a 150mm shot w/o damage, but the 180mm would mean I would have to use a BB. The CD's tend to aim at return fire, so don't include any AMC's in your Amphib, and they should concentrate on the BB.

Ambon was rough, but I don't foresee any issues invading Akyab or Cox's Bazaar. Just one unit in each location and the one in Cox's Bazaar is moving out.

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 6:49 pm

PaxMondo wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 5:23 pm

Mike Solli wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:30 pm 13 Apr 42

SRA

Ambon is a pain. They have HUGE CD guns and in the end I'll lose a couple of ships invading. I see 150 and 180 mm CD gun shots headed my way.

I imbed either CA or BB in my amphib TF ... CA's can take a 150mm shot w/o damage, but the 180mm would mean I would have to use a BB. The CD's tend to aim at return fire, so don't include any AMC's in your Amphib, and they should concentrate on the BB.

Ambon was rough, but I don't foresee any issues invading Akyab or Cox's Bazaar. Just one unit in each location and the one in Cox's Bazaar is moving out.

Sorry, my comment was too late ... you're running turns so FAST!!!! Keep going!!!!

Yeah, turns are going fast. Often 2 a day when we're both home. Both being retired allows us to be home a lot. We're done traveling until spring too, which is nice for turn grinding.

16 Apr 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

KB is 7 hexes NW of Nauru Island and headed south. Still unspotted, but I'd be really surprised if they were spotted here. They're still in an Axis lake.

I have a chutai of Dinahs at Tulagi flying naval search to the south and they spotted a couple of ships at Ndeni. They keep saying one is a CA, but I suspect it's an AV and an escort. I have a sub headed there to investigate, but it'll take 3 days to get there. Briefly, I was tempted to have KB steam within range to take them out, but that's not their mission. If they're still there when KB withdraws, then they'll do a drive by. Maybe the sub will get lucky.

KB's first mission is to put a hurting on Townsville's airfield, and the B-17s stationed there. Secondarily, they are tasked with hitting the port and any shipping there or in the vicinity. They should reach their launch point in 4 days. They'll spend probably 2 (maybe 3) days accomplishing those missions then will withdraw to the east past Tulagi then north to Truk.

SRA

Borneo

Melak was liberated. I think this is one of the added bases. It's a couple hexes inland from Balikpapan. Not sure why they bothered. Only 2 more bases left in Allied hands here, Sampit and Bandjermasin.

Burma

The Akyab and Cox's Bazaar invasion fleets, MKB, a BB TF and the slow oiler fleet are departing Singapore today. They really put a hurting on the supply status of Singapore and I don't see that rectified anytime soon. There still is need for substantial supply at the various oil fields that are repairing:

Medan: needs 3k to complete repairs
Palembang: needs 49k to complete repairs
Miri: needs 86k to complete repairs

I've subtracted out supply on ground (in excess of 10k) and enroute to those destinations. I've decided (while writing this) to send a supply convoy from the Home Islands to Singapore to give them a much needed reserve. Once the oil fields are repaired, then the supply issue will ease up tremendously. Right now, I send all excess supply to those 3 destinations.

I figure about 30-40k supply from the Home Islands will suffice.

China

Well, I finally got enough supply to Chengchow to allow the Zeros there to use drop tanks to reach Lanchow. Guess what? They are too far to do a LRCAP mission. Ok, next plan. I flew in a couple of TR units to move some engineers and AS to Yenan to try from there. Let's see what happens tomorrow...

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
AMc Kaio Maru #2 - local minesweeping - I'm building a lot of these for the future. They're getting spread all over the empire.

17 Apr 42

Sub War

The I-19 put a torpedo into an xAK off San Francisco leaving her burning and heavily damaged. In the afternoon, I heard sinking sounds. I suspect it was this ship, but don't know for sure.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

KB is 5 hexes NE of Tulagi and will pass through the Solomon Islands tomorrow and reach its jump off point the day after. The attack is scheduled to begin on 20 April. KB is still unspotted. They are only 10 hexes from Ndeni, so maybe there aren't PBYs there. They definitely have the range. Interesting.

I've moved a couple of Emilys to Rabaul and they are providing naval search in the vicinity of Townsville. They will recon Townsville the day after tomorrow to get an idea of the number of fighters there. I may start with sweeps depending on what I see.

SRA

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Burma

The invasion ships are still about 4 days from their jump off point. From there, it'll take 2 more days to reach the landing zones. No one has been spotted (not surprisingly) and the weather is extreme overcast.

China

So, good news (I think). I dumped engineers and AS at Yenan and flew the Zeros there. They had the ability to use drop tanks and I was able to set LRCAP to Lanchow. The airfield is only 1.04 though. Let's see what happens tomorrow!

Other Stuff

Ha-43 R&D advances to 4/45, with an expected date to become operational of 7/43.

There is a way to schedule air strikes on land bases to arrive in the afternoon . . .

RangerJoe wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 7:26 pm There is a way to schedule air strikes on land bases to arrive in the afternoon . . .

Sure is. Give them some other primary mission (like naval attack) and a secondary mission of ground attack. Assuming they don't do the primary mission, they'll do the ground attack mission in the afternoon.

Mike Solli wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 10:27 pm

RangerJoe wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 7:26 pm There is a way to schedule air strikes on land bases to arrive in the afternoon . . .

Sure is. Give them some other primary mission (like naval attack) and a secondary mission of ground attack. Assuming they don't do the primary mission, they'll do the ground attack mission in the afternoon.

Especially with a naval attack range of 0! But the KB should be ready to attack anything short of PB Boats at the targeted base.

RangerJoe wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 11:49 pm

Mike Solli wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 10:27 pm

RangerJoe wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 7:26 pm There is a way to schedule air strikes on land bases to arrive in the afternoon . . .

Sure is. Give them some other primary mission (like naval attack) and a secondary mission of ground attack. Assuming they don't do the primary mission, they'll do the ground attack mission in the afternoon.

Especially with a naval attack range of 0! But the KB should be ready to attack anything short of PB Boats at the targeted base.

All 6 carriers will be there so I'll have 6 Val and 6 Kate units to play with. Right now they're all on Naval Attack, just in case something bad shows up. I doubt that will happen, but you never know. I have yet to see an enemy carrier.

Mike Solli wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:14 pm 17 Apr 42


China

So, good news (I think). I dumped engineers and AS at Yenan and flew the Zeros there. They had the ability to use drop tanks and I was able to set LRCAP to Lanchow. The airfield is only 1.04 though. Let's see what happens tomorrow!

Yeah, but we JFB's make our living at flying from over stacked and understaffed (with AV) airfields ...

PaxMondo wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 4:52 am

Mike Solli wrote: Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:14 pm 17 Apr 42


China

So, good news (I think). I dumped engineers and AS at Yenan and flew the Zeros there. They had the ability to use drop tanks and I was able to set LRCAP to Lanchow. The airfield is only 1.04 though. Let's see what happens tomorrow!

Yeah, but we JFB's make our living at flying from over stacked and understaffed (with AV) airfields ...

Ain't that the truth! I never said I had _enough_ AS flown in there. 8 AS for 14 aircraft.

18 Apr 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

So, the Dutch squadron (3 CL, 6 DD) bombarded Milne Bay evading the subs it had to traverse to get there and the mines in the hex. I wish this had happened a day later. KB is currently 4 hexes west of Tulagi and will be roughly halfway between Pt. Moresby and Townsville tomorrow. By then the Dutch will be gone. But where are they going? Pt. Moresby? Townsville? Somewhere else? No clue. At any rate, KB is still undetected. I'm still debating how to set my missions for the aircraft. (I'm a turn ahead of this so I already figured it out. I'll tell you next turn when I "decided".) This should be interesting.

The bombardment probably wasn't worth the supply and fuel expended. Right now Milne Bay is really a target for Ted to focus on.

The bombardment force did catch a PB on a fast transport mission and sank her.

SRA

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Burma

The invasion fleet is still moving north.

China

Of the 14 Zeros on LRCAP over Lanchow, 6 made it there and they shot down a whopping I-16 and SB-III. They drove off almost all of the planes. Only a few bombed and they were ineffective. Well, it was something.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
SW Area Fleet HQ - arrived in Soerabaja and will stay there.
8 Independent Engineer Regiment - These regiments are much more fragile than in vanilla, with only 9 each combat engineers, 9 construction engineers and 9 laborers (mouths to feed). This one was destroyed early on before I realized how fragile they are. It'll go somewhere to build forts, probably the Marianas.

19 Apr 42

Sub War

I-174 took 2 DCs from a KV a couple hexes south of Dutch Harbor. She's a tough old bird and she'll survive. Her damage is: 19-36(15)-0-0. She's headed back to Etorofu for temporary repairs then Yokohama for full repairs.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Things are getting interesting. Below is a shot of where KB is today. They are still unspotted! You can see where they will end up tomorrow, 6 hexes from Townsville. Here's how I decided to allocate the aircraft:

5x 18 Zeros: range 7, 60% CAP
1x 18 Zero: Sweep of Townsville
6x Val units: Total of 119 Vals, range 6, primary mission is naval attack, secondary is airfield attack
5x Kate units: Total of 116 Kates, range 7, 10% naval search, primary mission is naval attack, secondary is port attack
1x Kate unit: Total of 27 Kates, range 7, 10% naval search, primary mission is naval attack, secondary is airfield attack

The goal here is do damage/destroy B-17s and ships as well as damage the port and airfield. Unfortunately, the recon of Townsville didn't happen. Don't know why. Rabaul is showing clear skies and Townsville is partly cloudy. Oh well, we go in blind. Actually, the thing I wanted to know was how many fighters are there. My guess is few, because there are 64 showing in Pt. Moresby.

Here's the screen shot:
I have no idea what ships are to the NW of KB. Intel says it's 3 ships heading SW and one is a PG. *shrug* I'm hoping the Dutch squadron is in Townsville waiting to be bombed.

SRA

Borneo

Nothing to report.

Burma

The invasion fleet is nearing its jump off point to the west of Rangoon. Today I spotted an enemy sub in the deep water hex 3 hexes due west to Bassein. Let's see where this guy goes...

China

I expected the Chinese fighters to be fighters today, but they were still bombers. Today, 5 Zeros arrived over Lanchow shooting down 4 enemy planes of 14 sorties. Only 2 got through to drop their loads. No effect. You may be wondering why I'm not attacking at Lanchow. I don't have enough troops there, yet. More are on the way. Also, I bought out 2 tank regiments from Kwangtung Army to support operations up north in China.

I liberated Hengyang today. The infrastructure took a beating unfortunately:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 32(78)
LI: 12(28)

I now own the entire east-west railway. Hopefully, that'll help begin the movement of oil/resources/fuel from Singapore.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report. Things should get interesting tomorrow.

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 7:32 pm Ain't that the truth! I never said I had _enough_ AS flown in there. 8 AS for 14 aircraft.

LUXURY!!! Over 50% AS!!!!

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 7:50 pm 18 Apr 42
... At any rate, KB is still undetected. I'm still debating how to set my missions for the aircraft.

Fingers crossed!

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 7:50 pm China
Of the 14 Zeros on LRCAP over Lanchow, 6 made it there and they shot down a whopping I-16 and SB-III. They drove off almost all of the planes. Only a few bombed and they were ineffective. Well, it was something.

Hey, they accomplished their mission. WTG!!!!

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:41 pm 19 Apr 42

SE Fleet
Things are getting interesting. Below is a shot of where KB is today. They are still unspotted! You can see where they will end up tomorrow, 6 hexes from Townsville.

The goal here is do damage/destroy B-17s and ships as well as damage the port and airfield.

Good target, tomorrow is another big day ... of course this part of the game, most days are big days!!

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:41 pm Unfortunately, the recon of Townsville didn't happen. Don't know why.

Ok, CRAP!!

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:41 pm China
I expected the Chinese fighters to be fighters today, but they were still bombers. Today, 5 Zeros arrived over Lanchow shooting down 4 enemy planes of 14 sorties. Only 2 got through to drop their loads. No effect. You may be wondering why I'm not attacking at Lanchow. I don't have enough troops there, yet. More are on the way. Also, I bought out 2 tank regiments from Kwangtung Army to support operations up north in China.

Make sure you have some AS at Lanchow when you take it so you can put a few fighters there ... LRCAP works, but it is expensive ....

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:41 pm I liberated Hengyang today. The infrastructure took a beating unfortunately:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 32(78)
LI: 12(28)

Hey, you're bound to lose a roll sometime, and this is a good place to "lose". 16 LI is not the end of the world. If this had been Palembang .... right?

Mike Solli wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:41 pm I now own the entire east-west railway. Hopefully, that'll help begin the movement of oil/resources/fuel from Singapore.

Whoo-Hoo!!!

( You may need to pump it a couple of times, and watch out where your HQ-C's are. Other than that, you should be fine ....)

If it doesn't move from Singapore, then block Jahore Bahru from sending anything on to Singapore. The items will then flow to Indochina and then into China. Georgetown is a nice place to drop oil from Sumatra.