IN HARM'S WAY...AE VERSION: STONEAGE(IJ) VS SPRUANCE(A)

[racndoc]

And finally....here is a screenie of Allied aces at the end of the war. Initially....all of the Allied aces were Dutch/British....then it was USAAF fighter pilots. now...8 of the top ten are USN pilots......characteristic of the USN pilots fighting for air supremacy over the Japanese Home Islands.

[racndoc]

OOpps...double post.

[racndoc]

And here are the Allied pilot pools:

[Cap Mandrake]

Lt. McClusky flies 1259 missions, shoots down 16 enemy planes and he doesn't even make Lt. Commander? [X(]

And no War Bond tour either? He must not have been very photogenic. [;)]

Well done to finish it off by Dec 44!!

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Lt. McClusky flies 1259 missions, shoots down 16 enemy planes and he doesn't even make Lt. Commander? [X(]

And no War Bond tour either? He must not have been very photogenic. [;)]

Well done to finish it off by Dec 44!!

Just odd as the game likes to promote Aces.

[Sredni]

Thanks a bunch for all the work you put into this AAR, I enjoyed it immensely. The layout you use was very readable compared to a lot of aar's. It was nice to have such a long running AAR that lasted to (nearly) the end.

It's going to be weird to not have a browser tab open to this aar constantly heh.

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Lt. McClusky flies 1259 missions, shoots down 16 enemy planes and he doesn't even make Lt. Commander? [X(]

And no War Bond tour either? He must not have been very photogenic. [;)]

Probably was caught with Admiral's daughter or something...[:'(]

Great AAR, enjoyed it.

[racndoc]

Cap Mandake, Sredni......thanx for your comments! Sardaukar......Ive very much appreciated both your comments and suggestions throughout the game....especially in regards to training of divebomber pilots.



THE AIR WAR....REFLECTIONS ON STRATEGIC BOMBING OF JAPAN



I finished one game of stock WitP in 2006 that ended on 1/1/45. In that game....the Allies had accrued 10,000 strategic bombing points total.....all from B-29s based in the Marianas attacking from July 1944 to 1/1/45.

In this AE game.....the Allies amassed over 30,000 strategic points total......mostly from B-24s flying from Okinawa and islands off the southern coast of Japan in an assault that also was staged from July 1944 to 12/44.

I know that the scoring for strategic bombing losses is different for the 2 games.....but still the order of magintude of destruction in this current AE game was far greater than in my previous WitP game.

I think that trying to strategic bomb Japan only with B-29s from island bases in the Marianas is insufficient to create the damage needed to put the Allies over the top. The main problem is the extreme range from the Marianas to Japan.......the way that AE models fatigue and op losses for long range missions simply prevents the B-29s(at least the 2 earliest models of the B-29) from a robust enough operational tempo to inflict significant strategic bombing damage. The B-29s are lucky if they can sortie more than 8-10 times/mo and the replacements dont keep up with ops losses..... even in the face of negligible flak and fighter defenses. I saw this range-based operational loss effect early on in the game with my transport AC.......just trying to fly supplies unopposed into rear area bases in Burma from India resulted in the C-47 Skytrains leading all Allied plane types in losses for the 1st 2 years of the war.....all to ops.


I think that it is better for the Allies to recapture Luzon as quickly as possible. Strategic bombing missions can be initially launched against southern Japan from a level 9 airfield at Aparri. Okinawa needs to be captured......you can construct a level 8 airfield at Naha and a level 6 airfield at Nago. Naha also provides you with an excellent front line naval base for refueling, rearming and repairs. Amami Oshima gives you a level 6 airfield and Tanegashima gives you a level 7 airfield and then you can get all your B-24s and long range fighters into the mix.

The first 10,000-15,000 strategic bombing points are relatively easy to amass....after that it becomes significantly more difficult to score more strategic loss points....especially at a favorable victory point ratio. Switching targets from southern Japan to the large industrialized cities of central Japan...Kobe/Osaka/Nagoya/Yokohama/Tokyo.....endurance and extreme range again became a factor as the B-24 crews' fatigue ramped up considerably and I ran out of long range P-38Ls and nearly ran out of the P-47D25s.

I got to a point where I couldnt make a dent in the 3:1 point ratio needed for auto victory.

The turning point was capturing the island of Miyake-jima off thre coast of central Japan and building a level 5 airfield there. This enabled the Allies to not only base Corsairs and medium bombers to help reduce the cities of central Japan.....but it also enabled the Allies to make use of the USMC fighter pilot pools which were very extensive. The Japanese Home Island fighter force was quickly overwhelmed and the medium bombers were able to fly virtually every day(as weather allowed) without fatgue as the range was so short.

As far as targeting......MP attacks work best against nearly virgin cities with large MP......this is the most cost effective way to damage HI/LI. As city damage and MP damage increase it becomes significantly more difficult to creat the fires needed to damage the HI/LI. Precision bombing of HI.....and especialy LI.....has diminished returns and is very time consuming.

As far as precision bombing, it is most effective(in descending order) for resources/shipyards/refineries/armaments/AC factories.

As far as using carrier bombers, they are most effective(in descending order) for resources/shipyards and then(to a lesser extent) refineries/armaments/AC factories.

Weather seems to be the biggest determinate of damage inflicted and it is usualyy bad over most of Japan. Using 'Commanders Choice" scored some points for me(and gave me a bit of insght into targeting for precision bombing) but overall I was disappointed as the "Commander" repeatedly bombed cities with poor weather and targeted MP in small agrarian cities.


Ive attached a screenshot of Japan with islands noted with the greatest potential for airfields. off the south coast of Japan, the Allies can acquire a level 8 AF at Tsushima and level 7 AFs at Nakadori-jima, Fukue-jima and Koshiki-jima. Off the central coast of Japan, the Allies can acquire level 5 AFs at Izu Oshima and Miyake-jima and a level 4 AF at Hachiro-jima.

[CaptBeefheart]

Spruance: Looks like I'm late to this party. Well done and thanks for a very insightful and thorough AAR.

Cheers,
CC