Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

A year?! Didn't know that. Probably not worth it then. Thanks.

[Mike Solli]

4 Jan 42

Sub War

The I-154 was sent to Merak in search of the elusive “BC” that had been hanging around there. That ship vanished again but she found an AMc TF that had been nearby and sank one. She’s pulling out of the hex. No reason to waste torpedoes on AMcs. Maybe the BC will reappear.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Wakes forts are up to level 2 and climbing.

SE Fleet

Soryu and Wakaba continue to repair their sys damage. KB is still disbanded in port. Still contemplating what to do. Most of the enemy subs south of Rabaul have vanished. Not sure where they are going either.

Mindanao

Davao fell to a DA. Losses were 20(0) to 603(65) enemy. All four enemy units were destroyed. The only enemy units left on Mindanao are the 2 units which were the former Zamboanga garrison. They’re 1 hex to the NE of that base starving in the jungle and of no consequence. I may use them for air unit target practice eventually but there are better targets out there right now.

Now that Mindanao is secure, I am sending an IJN Base Force and engineers to Davao to prepare it as the primary base to station Combined Fleet after the SRA is liberated. A slice of the Combined Fleet will most likely be stationed at Truk as needed.

In addition, all fuel from Tarakan and Balikpapan will flow here. From here, fuel will be used to support naval operations in the SE Fleet and 4 Fleet areas well as supporting the Combined Fleet. If there is extra fuel, it will flow to the Home Islands.

The 16 Division will depart Mindanao to clean up the garrisoned islands between Mindanao and the Philippines then will land in the southern Luzon peninsula to clean up the 3 enemy cut off units there before heading to Bataan.

The two tank regiments from 16 army will be used in Java. They will be part of the initial invasion force (along with 21 Div and 21 IMB).

Philippines

The 14 Army continues to march to Bataan.

SRA

I attacked Manado again getting 1:1 odds and wearing the enemy garrison further, losing 37(0) to 125(13) enemy casualties. I’ll attack again tomorrow. This will be a forward recon base.

Remember the enemy AMc TF at Merak? Well, my Nells out of Singkawang decided to attack them. (They never bothered to attack the BC that sat there for several days.) After losing a couple of Nells to Dutch fighters, they obliterated an AMc. I reduced their range to exclude Merak. Sheesh.

China

I beat up another Chinese Corps to the SW of Chengchow (115(1) to 1147(67) casualties), pushing it to the south. The road is open to the west over the river for the 2x tank regiments and an infantry division to begin the southern pincer of the Chengchow-Loyang encirclement. More forces are nearing this jump off point. I’ll give a detailed OOB later in the week.

Burma

The first wave of the invasion force continues to maneuver to surround Rangoon. My intel shows 4 units in Rangoon. Very nice, even though they are probably just rabble.

Malaya

Forces are moving into position.

Other Stuff

Right now, Java is assigned the following units for the initial invasion:

21 Division
21 IMB
80(?) Regiment of 20 Division
2x Tank Regiments
2x independent engineer regiments
Support

They will land at Kaldjati, which is a level 4 airfield. Fighters and recon will be stationed there to keep tabs on the enemy as well as cull the Dutch air force. After splitting the island in two, I will see what the situation is before moving forward.

The 4 Division is at Cam Ranh Bay and is prepping for Palembang. They will be assisted by a couple of independent engineer regiments as well as the 2x tank regiments from 14 Army (currently in the Philippines).

I want to begin culling the Dutch Air Force, but my Zeros at Singkawang are just outside normal drop tank range of Merak. I am building the airfield at Tobali but need more engineers, who are on the way and should arrive in a few days. Once Tobali airfield achieves level 2, Operation Dutch Cull begins. This is also the best opportunity to create elite pilots probably of the whole war. Many pilots are close to that status from tearing into the RAF. This operation will put them over.

[Mike Solli]

5 Jan 42

Sub War

The I-9 has been tooling around off Sydney looking for some nice prey. She found and obliterated an AM. Well, that’s one less ASW ship to worry about.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

I have decided to invade Lae to build up the airfield there. That’ll allow me to sweep and bomb Pt. Moresby from a shorter range to reduce op losses. I have a nice sub wolf pack south of Pt. Moresby to prevent resupply convoys as well as a daitai (soon to be 2) of Bettys flying out of Rabaul on Naval Attack.

Philippines

Nothing new to report.

China

I’ve been night bombing the AVG at Changsha for a week now. I finally killed one on the ground. Interestingly enough, since they flew on 30 Dec (and shot down 2 Anns), they haven’t flown again.

The two tank regiments are across the river just south of Chingchow with an infantry division not far behind (and more behind that). They will move NE and cover next 2 hexes. The encirclement has begun. The northern pincer (1 Army) is moving as well. It’ll take the dot hex to the north of Loyang and then complete the northern part of the encirclement.

SRA

TKs are enroute to Tarakan and Balikpapan to begin the movement of oil and fuel to Davao.

Manado fell today to a 4:1 DA. Losses were 48(1) Japanese to 430(101) Dutch. The remnants fled into the jungle. Recon will fly there tomorrow to begin their naval search.

Now that I have naval search farther into the SRA, I will begin moving toward Kendari and Ambon.

The 21 Division will begin loading for movement to Makassar to allow 21 Air Flotilla to begin operations from that airfield. The intent is to isolate Java from the south. From there, the 21 Division’s next stop is Java.

Burma

Nothing new to report.

Malaya

The Singapore assault force will begin movement in 2 days with the 2, 5, 18 and 38 Divisions. The 18 Division is still coming out of strat mode. Behind them will be the IG division (still enroute to Johore Bharu) and all the supporting engineer and artillery units. They will move to Singapore after the initial invasion recovers from their disruption. Meanwhile, air bombardment of Singapore continues. Singapore has airfield damage left each day (not much though) so it is succeeding in preventing the increase in fort levels. A Lily was lost to flak today. I have ~90 2E bombers hitting Singapore daily. Once the 3 Air Division HQ is finished moving into position, that’ll increase by about 50 more Sallys and Lilys. Currently, all of the 3 Air Division 2E bombers are allocated to Singapore and all of the 1E bombers are allocated to Burma.

Guam

Thought I forgot about that place? Not really. I have sent the 84 Naval Guard there, which was a recent reinforcement out of Saipan. It’s all on Guam now and today’s attack was a 1:1 DA. Losses were minimal to each side but the fort level was finally reduced to 0. Tomorrow, a shock attack.

Other Stuff

KB: With the loss of Hiryu, KB is now at 3 effective carriers. Soryu will be out of commission for a couple of months and Kaga is detached to the SRA. Kaga really isn’t needed any more in the SRA. The SRA has MKB in two TFs right now. Ryujo is with Kaga at Cam Ranh Bay and Zuiho and Hosho are together at Balikpapan. I will combine the baby carriers together for support in the SRA and move Kaga to Truk. KB will move to Truk shortly as well.

Good news is that Shoho will arrive in ~25 days. She will move to reinforce MKB. That will give MKB a total of 86 Zeros and 42 Kates, enough to protect itself and put a hurting on any enemy that might cross its path (other than the massed US carriers). Also, the 4 BB TF will remain with MKB for protection.

I currently have 3x CVs and 5x DDs accelerated. I may switch some or all of the DDs to the Junyo and/or Hiyo to speed them up. Their lack of speed really makes them nice flagships for MKB though. They can’t keep up with KB. Still thinking about it.

I forgot to mention that the 9x Fubuki Is went into refit on 1 Jan 42. They’ll be out until ~20 Jan or so with improved AA and DC racks. Then off to Truk for service with SE Fleet. Next are the 12 Mutsukis, which upgrade in Feb 42 and also do not have DC racks yet. The Mutsukis will provide escort to the fast AOs.

The economy is looking good. I increased the engine factories at the beginning of the month, which was required. The only airframe factories still increasing are the Ki-43-Ic factories (3 of them), which will be complete in a couple of days. I’m now pumping out 4-5 Ics a day. Another month or so and all of the 3 Air Division Nates will be gone. Then I’ll begin work on the 5 Air Division Nates.

Oil is looking good. Only Tarakan and Miri have damaged oil. Tarakan has enough supply to repair it all and Balikpapan will need ~90k more supply but has enough to last through the end of February with an additional 60k sitting on ships at Cam Ranh Bay.

I’m having a hard time getting enough supply at Hong Kong to repair the HI (or increase it). I’ve set Hong Kong’s supply to accumulate, but that’s not helping. I sent a supply convoy of ~50k supply from Japan which will arrive in a few days. That should do the trick. Once it’s repaired, I’ll probably increase the HI there.

I’m trying to look on the bright side of the loss of the Hiryu. Before I lost her, I had no IJN fighter pilots in the general reserve. (Increasing the Ryujo’s fighter daitai to 30 cleaned it out.) Now I have Hiryu’s complement of pilots in the general reserve, a total of 21 pilots. My intent is to get as many elite pilots as possible during the Java campaign and these spare pilots will allow me to do that. As my pilots gain that status, I will pull them out of the front line units and replace them with Hiryu’s pilots. This will allow more pilots “access” to the Java campaign to get easy kills and increase experience. The main unit that will perform this mission is the Yamada Det. I am going to give that unit some spare pilots so it will always have a full complement of pilots as I pull the elite pilots and replace them with Hiryu’s pilots. The goal is to increase to number of elite pilots by 24 or more. Right now I have 2 IJN pilots in TRACOM. We’ll see what’s in there at the conclusion of the Java campaign.

I would like to do the same with the IJAAF, but I don’t have any pilots in the pool yet. Still too early. My training units (both IJA and IJN) are doing nicely, but they’re not quite there yet. I’m hoping to have at least a few by 15 Jan. That’ll allow me to try and get some IJA pilots in TRACOM. Patience…..

[ny59giants]

TKs are enroute to Tarakan and Balikpapan to begin the movement of oil and fuel to Davao.

When I play the Allies, I tend to assign 6 to 8 subs to Patrol Zones to this area to see if I can catch any TKs. At least base some Jakes to conduct naval or ASW searches to see if your opponent does so.

Carriers - I like to send CVL Ryujo to join KB to add in those extra fighters to the mix.

Hong Kong - If your using a beta patch, set the Supply to Stockpile (ON). That way no supply will leave the base.

IJN Fighter pilots - There are a few Zero units that get withdrawn in April that I would place on a carrier and re-size. Overfill with pilots and use them in safe areas with probably a high setting of 30 to 50% training. They should be harvested of pilots just before they are withdrawn.

[Richard III]

Mindanao

Davao fell to a DA. Losses were 20(0) to 603(65) enemy. All four enemy units were destroyed. The only enemy units left on Mindanao are the 2 units which were the former Zamboanga garrison. They’re 1 hex to the NE of that base starving in the jungle and of no consequence. I may use them for air unit target practice eventually but there are better targets out there right now.

Now that Mindanao is secure, I am sending an IJN Base Force and engineers to Davao to prepare it as the primary base to station Combined Fleet after the SRA is liberated. A slice of the Combined Fleet will most likely be stationed at Truk as needed.

In addition, all fuel from Tarakan and Balikpapan will flow here. From here, fuel will be used to support naval operations in the SE Fleet and 4 Fleet areas well as supporting the Combined Fleet. If there is extra fuel, it will flow to the Home Islands.

Hey Mike...great AAR ! I`m about 2 weeks behind you and starting to think about getting the oil/fuel out from Balikpapan.

Instead of Davo, what about Cagayan as a primary base ? ( starts at a port 2) If you waypoint the TK`s and escorts through Jolo to Cagayan and then to the Manila Hub it`s all shallow water, which really works in favor of the escorts and ASW TF`s and ASW AC.

It`s a bit longer, but you avoid all that deep water that Subs love around Davo.

R.III

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

TKs are enroute to Tarakan and Balikpapan to begin the movement of oil and fuel to Davao.

When I play the Allies, I tend to assign 6 to 8 subs to Patrol Zones to this area to see if I can catch any TKs. At least base some Jakes to conduct naval or ASW searches to see if your opponent does so.

Carriers - I like to send CVL Ryujo to join KB to add in those extra fighters to the mix.

Hong Kong - If your using a beta patch, set the Supply to Stockpile (ON). That way no supply will leave the base.

IJN Fighter pilots - There are a few Zero units that get withdrawn in April that I would place on a carrier and re-size. Overfill with pilots and use them in safe areas with probably a high setting of 30 to 50% training. They should be harvested of pilots just before they are withdrawn.

Michael, I've got ASW at Tarakan and Balikpapan and will have an ASW TF assigned to each base as well. Mines in port soon too.

I might do that with Ryujo since I lost Hiryu.

I am using the Beta patch and have done that in Hong Kong. It hasn't helped in the past two turns, hence the supply convoy enroute from Japan.

I'm doing that with some of the fighters that withdraw.

[Mike Solli]

Richard, that's a great idea. I'll check that out tonight.

Thanks!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

A year?! Didn't know that. Probably not worth it then. Thanks.

Don't think it is a year, but there is a delay. It tells you the arrival date prior to confirming the PP expenditure.

[vicberg]

Hi Mike,

I've read through this AAR and based on my own experience with WITPQS, I've adjusted against subs.  I started out with your philosophy.  Multiple ASW TFs, moving in front or along with whatever asset I'm trying to protect.  Amphib TFs following Surface TFs.  I watched his PTs engage my amphib while bypassing my SCTF.  I've watch subs pop up aginst the Amphibs and my ASW TFs do nothing. 

I've come to the conclusion that the search routines in this game treat all these TFs as separate for the most part.  There's no way to have ASW forces actually escorting something else.  When I went away from elegance to a more straight forward approach, which is having everything in ONE TF, suddenly, I've sunk at least 10 of his subs and not taken one hit over the course of the last two weeks.  Prior to that, I took one torp in a CVL, 2 in CAs, 2 in CLs and lost 25 transports.  So the difference is striking.  Elegance doesn't work in this game.  Separate TFs are treated as separate, too much so.

[jrcar]

Not a year 2-3 months. We have done it, I think it will be worth it.

Cheers

Rob

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

A year?! Didn't know that. Probably not worth it then. Thanks.

Don't think it is a year, but there is a delay. It tells you the arrival date prior to confirming the PP expenditure.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: vicberg

Hi Mike,

I've read through this AAR and based on my own experience with WITPQS, I've adjusted against subs.  I started out with your philosophy.  Multiple ASW TFs, moving in front or along with whatever asset I'm trying to protect.  Amphib TFs following Surface TFs.  I watched his PTs engage my amphib while bypassing my SCTF.  I've watch subs pop up aginst the Amphibs and my ASW TFs do nothing. 

I've come to the conclusion that the search routines in this game treat all these TFs as separate for the most part.  There's no way to have ASW forces actually escorting something else.  When I went away from elegance to a more straight forward approach, which is having everything in ONE TF, suddenly, I've sunk at least 10 of his subs and not taken one hit over the course of the last two weeks.  Prior to that, I took one torp in a CVL, 2 in CAs, 2 in CLs and lost 25 transports.  So the difference is striking.  Elegance doesn't work in this game.  Separate TFs are treated as separate, too much so.

I'm curious if you still had escorts in the TFs you were following with an ASW TF.

I've had good results using ASW TFs following the amphib or another TF. When I don't have these I get more sub hits.

How many escorts are you using currently in your TFs? I think if you go super heavy and use a 1:1 ration escorts to merchants you'll get good results nearly every time. I've done this with small crappy Tosu PBs and the little short range tankers, and so far so good.

Now, against PTs, I still don't have a clue what will work best. I've had separate SCTFs of several DDs, one following and amphib TF and another set to react at range 4, both in the hex, and still had the merchants get nailed. I think what matters most with them is moonlight, night naval search, and SCTFs in the path BETWEEN where they are and the amphibs, not in the same hex.

[vicberg]

Now, against PTs, I still don't have a clue what will work best. I've had separate SCTFs of several DDs, one following and amphib TF and another set to react at range 4, both in the hex, and still had the merchants get nailed. I think what matters most with them is moonlight, night naval search, and SCTFs in the path BETWEEN where they are and the amphibs, not in the same hex.

I won't hijack this AAR anymore, but this is exactly my point. I've been a programmer for 23 years, so it's easy for me to detect what a program is doing or not doing. Setting TFs to "follow" forces the lead TF to slow down AND the following TFs to catch up, so I highly doubt that reaction is being allowed. I've also read that setting a TF to remain at station also doesn't allow a TF to reaction. Plus, separate TFs are treated as separate, which is why one splits their carriers into multiple in the same hex to prevent greater losses as that second TF may not be detected. Combine all this, and I doubt that reaction routines are coming into play while multiple TFs are in transit in this manner. Combine them all into one, or one AMPH and one SCTF (but not following each other), and you'll get better results.

[vicberg]

Sorry, double posted by accident

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: jrcar

Not a year 2-3 months. We have done it, I think it will be worth it.

Cheers

Rob

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

A year?! Didn't know that. Probably not worth it then. Thanks.

Don't think it is a year, but there is a delay. It tells you the arrival date prior to confirming the PP expenditure.

That's odd...it certainly was closer to the 1 year mark in my PBEM game. I'm operating under the official 'i' patch, scenario 1 PBEM. I can guarantee you that it was significantly longer than 3 months.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: jrcar

Not a year 2-3 months. We have done it, I think it will be worth it.

Cheers

Rob

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo


Don't think it is a year, but there is a delay. It tells you the arrival date prior to confirming the PP expenditure.

That's odd...it certainly was closer to the 1 year mark in my PBEM game. I'm operating under the official 'i' patch, scenario 1 PBEM. I can guarantee you that it was significantly longer than 3 months.

Unless it's changed in one of the beta's, I've have had to wait at least a year to get Hiryu's air units back after losing them. I don't recall when the CV Hiryu was sunk and when I actually bought the units out, but it was fairly early when I invaded Java and they do not become available for me until July 43. So in my case at least a year to wait at the earliest. Forgot to mention, I'm patched up to q4, but it was under the last official patch that I would have re-purchased the air units.

[SqzMyLemon]

What's the take on converting CM's to E's? Are they worth it? That option is quickly approaching for me and not sure what to do.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

What's the take on converting CM's to E's? Are they worth it? That option is quickly approaching for me and not sure what to do.

Totally worth it IMO. Anything with ASW capability that I can use for convoy escort is a worthwhile conversion. Particularly since those CMs will not have sufficient mine production to earn their keep in this manner...

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

What's the take on converting CM's to E's? Are they worth it? That option is quickly approaching for me and not sure what to do.

Convert them, you will still have enough minelayers for your mines.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

What's the take on converting CM's to E's? Are they worth it? That option is quickly approaching for me and not sure what to do.

There are two different CM's, one uses the Type 4 mine (which you have a lot of CM's and CMc's) and the other uses the Type 93 of which you only have a very few CM's that load it. I'm careful with converting those Type 93 CM's ...

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

What's the take on converting CM's to E's? Are they worth it? That option is quickly approaching for me and not sure what to do.

There are two different CM's, one uses the Type 4 mine (which you have a lot of CM's and CMc's) and the other uses the Type 93 of which you only have a very few CM's that load it. I'm careful with converting those Type 93 CM's ...

PaxMondo is right. Save your Type 93 CM's (at lest few). Mines are important and you want to have some ships capable to use Type 93 mine.
You do not want to end with 1000+ mines in pool. It is better to use them and counting for some hits.