EA Damian(J) V Nemo(A) "Renaissance"

[n01487477]

11 Feb '43

The waiting continues, but the tension is still high, my forces are patrolling ready to strike at a moments notice. The cowardly Allies remain under the protective umbrella of a 1000 fighters (I guess). 100's of planes patrol just offshore to determine when the Allies will slip anchor and unleash the dogs of war.

The usual suppression attacks continue ...

[n01487477]

12 Feb '43

Still no movement from the Allies...

What is the concensus, given that Nemo will come with a load of troop transports, oilers and CV's, and I'm talking probably many ships, not just the garden variety, but the jungle ... giving him opportunity to ambush me hitting his trnsports, while still keeping the remaining CV's intact...

Should I wait until he gets close to the Truk~Guam~Woleai triangle (and hopefully killing zone), with land based cap, or go forth and keep hitting him ?

I'm in two minds, but given that Nemo has probably got CV's loaded basically just with fighters, I can't sit back and let him hit me...

--Damian--

[Capt. Harlock]

I can't sit back and let him hit me...

Have you laid mines and moved up any submarines? I think you'll want all the ship-killing power you can get in any form you can get it.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

I can't sit back and let him hit me...

Have you laid mines and moved up any submarines? I think you'll want all the ship-killing power you can get in any form you can get it.

I've not mined Truk as I find that the Allies have so many MSW's, that they clear the port in no time, and my ships invariably hit them more than I'd like. As for SS's, look at all I have left -- good shape huh ? Also you might have remembered that I lost a load of ML's at Cold Bay, I've just mined Ulithi though [;)]

Anyway that said I'll outline my plan in the next post [;)]

A little correspondence to dent my confidence:

Nemo: I think you have dropped quite a few troops at Truk. Fortunately Ihave enough bombardment runs available to really butcher them and thendropping 2,000 AV of troops ashore over 2 days should see the islandfall. I mightn't be able to penetrate the CAP you undoubtedly have but, then again, I don't really have to with over 12 BBs accompanyingmy forces

Did I mention the forest of ships coming ? [X(]

--Damian--

[n01487477]

We'll all go down with the ship this time ...

[n01487477]

13 Feb '43 Unlucky for some I saw the Great Allied Armada set sail !

Just some of the itemised important attacks for the day
[*]Day Air attack on Harbin [Manchukuo] Heavy Industry hits 40
[*]Day Air attack on Jesselton [BrNBno] Airbase hits 3, Runway hits 108
[*]Day Air attack on Brunei [UK] Airbase hits 5, supply hits 3, Runway hits 97
[*]Day Air attack on Brunei Airbase hits 1, supply hits 4, Runway hits 145
[*]Day Air attack on Taytay [Palawan]Airbase supply hits 1, Runway hits 23 + 9 (2 attacks)
[*]Day Air attack on Jolo [Jolo] Airbase hits 2, Runway hits 50
[*]Day Air attack on Uruppu Jima [JP] Airbase hits 4, supply hits 5, Runway hits 58
[*]ASW attack near Saipan SS SC-519, hits 6, on fire, heavy damage

Ground combat at Canton [S China]
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 174393 troops, 2103 guns, 28 vehicles, Assault Value = 9083
Defending force 20969 troops, 166 guns, 213 vehicles, Assault Value = 438

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied max assault: 13590 - adjusted assault: 2015
Japanese max defense: 280 - adjusted defense: 785

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

[n01487477]

14 Feb '42

More Nemo mind tricks or the real deal ?

Nemo's email:
Today I'm sweeping the skies and uncovering some of my carefullyhoarded P-51s. I think your CAP will kill quite a few of the P-51 (cause my army aviators are weak ) but I expect the Hellcats andCorsairs to do their job.
Replenish my airgroups, go again, send inthe BBs and then, lastly, the troops. In other news:

Canton looks like it should finally fall in a couple of days time. It held out forever
But where oh where will the Chinese go now.

A funny thought occurs to me. Wouldn't it be terrible if sucking allyour CVs into the Pacific but not actually making any further landings( but threatening them ) turned out to be a huge fake which sucked in your CVs, spare pilots and all those Ki-44 IIIs which could prevent the Brits from making a sudden, massive, amphibious leap in the DEI/China theatre? That'd be nasty.

[n01487477]

15 Feb '43

Who'll blink first ?




My email to Nemo:

Anyway, tomorrow we may both lose a lot of ships and planes. This would be worse for me than you, but maybe it is necessary, so this little war is about to either hit another peak or will you or I withdraw from battle to fight another day ? Essentially I am in two minds, a fleet in being or a fleet in flames...but seeing as you never do things piecemeal, and it will never be on my terms, this confrontation will have to happen eventually.

The China region is something I can't afford to neglect for too long, Canton should fall tomorrow, then the whole of the coast is open ... I've given you a run for your money, but I think I'm about to be called on ace high. And as you say, I can only really do one and a half operations at a time...

So right now I'm unsure... and going to sleep on it, the beer is clouding my judgement anyway.

[Capt. Harlock]

More Nemo mind tricks or the real deal ? quote: Nemo's email: Today I'm sweeping the skies and uncovering some of my carefullyhoarded P-51s. I think your CAP will kill quite a few of the P-51 (cause my army aviators are weak ) but I expect the Hellcats andCorsairs to do their job. Replenish my airgroups, go again, send inthe BBs and then, lastly, the troops. In other news: Canton looks like it should finally fall in a couple of days time. It held out forever But where oh where will the Chinese go now. A funny thought occurs to me. Wouldn't it be terrible if sucking allyour CVs into the Pacific but not actually making any further landings( but threatening them ) turned out to be a huge fake which sucked in your CVs, spare pilots and all those Ki-44 IIIs which could prevent the Brits from making a sudden, massive, amphibious leap in the DEI/China theatre? That'd be nasty.

Like I said, Nemo can play a "head game" like no one else I've ever heard of.[;)]

[modrow]

Harlock,

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock
Like I said, Nemo can play a "head game" like no one else I've ever heard of.[;)]

this is actually one of the aspects why I think it's really lots of fun to play against Nemo. The e-mail game is almost as thrilling as the one on the map. I believe we are still waiting to see someone break into his OODA loop.

Hartwig

[n01487477]

16 Feb '43

[Capt. Harlock]

Wow -- can't complain about lack of diversity of aircraft types. I'm impressed you managed to put that many Tojo III's in the air. (Did the Behemoths manage to get off any shots against Nemo's ships?)

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Wow -- can't complain about lack of diversity of aircraft types. I'm impressed you managed to put that many Tojo III's in the air. (Did the Behemoths manage to get off any shots against Nemo's ships?)

IIRC, none of the Behemoth's got a shot on target, but there would have been a big bang, if they had... actually apart from the Tojo's which I had set for 40% Cap, there were a load of planes that didn't fly... most of my CV based TB/DB didn't, and the 250+ Betty's didn't get off the ground either.

I calculated I had about 900 planes ready to sorte, still can't complain too much, esp as the action was in the afternoon phase iirc & it could have gone in fragmented and disorganised..

17 Feb '43
[*]Akita receives 12 HI hits from 56 Lib's, my Rufe's destroy 4.
[*]Otherwise all the normal attacks happen around the map. Now that Canton has fallen, Hong Kong is Nemo's target of choice.

Unfortunately, I've had to once again react to Nemo's threats along the Chinese coast and instead of going on the offensive in Borneo, I've been pulling troops back here. I noticed 2 BB's today near Hainan, and this is the build up I'm expecting for the next thrust. Sent a load of troops back to Japan for reinforcements and have my smaller KB, heading back toward Taiwan. I'm in critical shortage of Surface ships in this area, as most of my force is at Truk.

I wrote this last night, but didn't post it, seemed like sour grapes to me on my part, but might as well reveal:

Nemo declined battle cause he thinks the Allied forces are still too weak, well that is what he suggests ... maybe this is the case, however, I'm getting the impression that over the course of the war so far, that he wants to lead with his Surface forces and keep the Allied CV's out of harms way, maybe forever. This is after all how this mod is organised, the IJN has more CV's than they should.

Maybe that is the way the next few months will play out, ducking and diving my CV forces and using the hammer of old technology, & once I have to react to the situation in the West, break up my fleet, repair my CV's, in this new age of airplanes to defeat me.

I feel like I sidestepped a bullet yesterday, but I'm kinda deflated cause I realise that I'm never going to get a fair crack of the whip, and maybe that is the lot of a Japanese player.

I've hung in with this game, and will continue to, I've done better than I expected after my initial defeats, but my glaring inability to get into his OODA loop, is something that wears heavily on me

Especially, now that I'm not doing what I want, but as always reacting to situations that Nemo deems.

--Damian--

[1EyedJacks]

Hi Damain,

Can I ask what version you are playing? Can you upgrade your AK to MLE in this version?

I need to go back thru this AAR and do some reading on your battles w/Fionn - looks like you are putting up a pretty good fight.


TTFN,

Mike

[1EyedJacks]

Regarding post 611 where you shoot down a buttload of his fighters... Most of those are from his carriers - right? Can I ask what size AF Ponape has?

And can you plant enough fighters on your carriers to fill up the flight decks and go in persuit? I was just wondering if maybe you pull a play from Fionn's book...

Run your CV fleet full steam at Nemo's carriers and sprint a pair of fast DDs or CLs so they will be a hex or two in front of your CV fleet.

The sprinted DDs/CLs would draw most of his air response and give you a pretty good shot at his flat tops.

Just a thought...


TTFN,

Mike

[n01487477]

Mike,
long time, hope all is good... not sure what version Nemo and I are playing any more, certainly an earlier version than is available now.

Ponape is size 4, with a good fighter detachment, if recon is to be believed. Actually all the talk by Nemo that I am strong and he is really weak has embolden me to take this strength for a spin...or maybe it is just a ruse on his part to weaken me more. More details on this later, but what you suggest is one of the options I'm considering.

We have saved the turn from when he could have gone into Truk, for play in a few months or whenever the game is over. I feel that I layed everything on the line that turn, sure it was a let down, but it is nonsense to continue playing Nemo's game... time for me to take out some of this "strength" for a spin.

All the action I want to report from 18 Feb 1943 ...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/18/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Taihoku [Formosa] , at 49,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 15
Ki-44III Tojo x 36

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 11
P-51B Mustang XP x 11
P-40E Warhawk x 16
Spitfire VB x 26
La-5FN x 14
MiG-3 x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe-FF: 13 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 19 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 5 destroyed
P-51B Mustang XP: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 5 destroyed
La-5FN: 5 destroyed
MiG-3: 3 destroyed

--Damian--

[1EyedJacks]

Damian my friend, all is well - every day above ground is a good day <grin>. And of course I hope all is well foy you and yours too. Are you getting caught up in all of the hype ove AE? I've downloaded the manual to read over but I think before I jump into a full campaign with Carl I'll get in one of the smaller mods. I'm expecting the AE logistics model to really slow things down - at least from what I've read or heard in my reading of the AARs and manual. Taking AE out for a test run will be fun (smile).


Can I ask, with the way you two are going through air frames, I suppose the pilots levels are way down for both of you? Do you have any kind of a training program going on?

I am really pleased to see how well the Tojo is performing here in early 1943. If you have some time, could you share your thoughts on the Japanese production side of the house? It looks like you are producing a lot of frames for a limited number of aircraft models? What are you trying to set up for an upgrade path for your fighters and bombers. I'm really interested in the R&D part. For every 100 frames built in R&D you get the frame a month earlier so I'm curious as to the most months you've managed to shave off to get a frame out early. Do you think the cost of R&D investment is worth receiving a frame like the Ki-44III Tojo early?

Also, I posted to Nemo and he says he will try to get the latest update out to his site. I'd really like to do a heavy mining campaign around my island holdings but that's not gunna work out in my game VS Carl (no MLEs). Have you had the chance to gauge the effectiveness of a really thick mine filed coupled with a high fort rating while conducting an island defense against the allies?

TTFN,

Mike

[n01487477]

Mike,
I think playing this mod with its difficult economic modelling will place us in good stead for some of AE, however, you are possibly correct in assuming that AE logistics will be much harder to manage & maybe add a bit of time to the Japanese players roster.

Can I ask, with the way you two are going through air frames, I suppose the pilots levels are way down for both of you?

I haven't had a surplus since day 2 of the restart with Nemo[:D], but I do get 8 Naval and 5 Army pilots / turn, which helps. Unfortunately, I suspect that even at this rate of loss, the Allies have a big surplus, but you'd have to ask Nemo about this ...

Do you have any kind of a training program going on?

Oh yeah, but it has been scaled back somewhat since the HI bombing campaign has made me withdraw some of my trainers back to Japan. The trained pilots I get each day, go primarily into the fighter groups, but also into the priceless Angels. Anyway, I use a mix of training programs, let me see if I can explain them effectively. I wrote to Nemo some time ago that on some days a 1/3 of my time is matching groups for disband / upgrade / downgrading, it is fiddly, but without going to these lengths, I couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag right now.

1. Betty's - which I like to have a good operational tempo, I disband fragments into good experienced groups, then use the parent as a filler for poor pilots and then send it off training over China or at present Ulithi. I don't start bombing until morale and fatigue is acceptable.
2. Army bombers - while I use the disband method above, and did more of that previously than now, I've now started to just add planes and poor pilots as I'm suppressing bases near the Philippines without any fighters anyway. Bomber crews train up really quickly anyway. And I upgrade the good crews to help my Angels.
3. Some fighter units esp. in China I have to set dual roles of cap and bomb training, 50 % cap and sweeps over bases without cap. I should do some testing to see which is more effective, but on-the-job training is it for me.
4. My Nates are spread around the map, bombing and training, and honestly, as soon as they get into the high 50's, they are good enough IMO to be fragment disbanded into the front lines.
5. Some Groups in Japan are training at 80%, NO range, MAX Alt. I think this is my least favourite, but inevitable as I need to show cap over bases.

After the recent, but not last attack on Nemo's CV's, where I believe I hit a few, but lost a ton of Tojo III's, DB & TB's I moved all my land based naval DB/TB's etc to Saipan and fragment disbanded, even divided units to get a good jigsaw puzzle fit. I do this by loading / unloading a group into a TF, then once on land, dividing it. This took a few days to achieve, and had me spending an hour at a time, looking at the puzzle pieces.[:@]

I also find that while repairing, it is best to divide the unit too. Effectively, I replaced almost all my pilots quickly, but this hit to my pilots, can't be repeated quickly.

Then these parents were sent back to Tokyo for filling up with fresh meat, I had been training them up in the north, but as I saw Nemo station 200 + fighters nearby, I've moved them to hit Ulithi.

Anyway, the point is to keep track of what is going on, and how you are going to marry up the groups eventually. It takes work and I'm still thinking how I can make it easier.

I'll post about production later, after work...

Cheers and thanks for you kind thoughts.
--Damian--

[n01487477]

19 & 20 Feb '43

Been a bit of a slow down due to other stuff going on in my life.

[*]More sweeps from the Allies have started to hurt and need to be dealt with ...

Day Air attack on 19/2 Taihoku [Formosa] , at 49,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 31
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 6
Ki-44III Tojo x 17

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 16
P-51B Mustang XP x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 12
Spitfire VB x 21
La-5FN x 11
MiG-3 x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 18 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe-FF: 4 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 13 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 3 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 1 destroyed
La-5FN: 3 destroyed
MiG-3: 4 destroyed

[*]Brunei has some 25 P-51B Mustang XP now patrolling it, and I'm guessing that these are LRCap from another base, 20 mixed LB are destroyed.

20/2
Increasing concern about the deteriorating situation in China, and my own mistake of withdrawing from Canton, even though I stayed there for a long long time, I'm going on the offensive here and eventually in the Pacific.

[*] While not all my LB flew today, I had Angels vectored on Singapore, which stayed land bound, the rest was not too bad.
Trying to spread the fighters is my aim... but at Amoy:
[*] Sweeps of Amoy, and the follow up bombing proved a little ineffective and I'm pouring in a bit more to help.
[*]Attack of unescorted LB on Kiungshan, was disastrous, 40 LB destroyed.
[*]161 Helens based out of Manilla hit Camranh Bay, for much better results, 77 Airfield hits and lots of Allied planes destroyed.

I'm not sure of supply levels at some of the smaller Allied bases, but is there a complete bias in this game with repairs and supplies (Allies can, Japs can't WTF!), I suspect this cause of Ulithi & others, just keeps coming back ... I'm going to test this issue ... stay tuned!

--Damian--

[n01487477]

21 Feb '43

Another good day for my forces, hampered by a bit of weather, and the loss of Hong Kong.