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

[Lowpe]

Deathstar moving southwest, probably going to head to Pescadores to sink the Tone. The Tone becomes active in one more day and can make 29 knots....maybe I can get here away.

Ningpo is forts 3 (93%). Even with troops on Honshu I worry about a Chinese invasion. Probably silly on my part, but there you have it.

[Lowpe]

Supplies are very hard to get to the front here, but we have stymied the Allies here thanks to the terrain.

I think they Allies are making another push north of Dalat, but I reinforced there with the 1st Tank Division so they are going nowhere.

Cam Ranh Bay was bombed heavily, and I am moving out the 14th Division for some R&R (14 morale). Should be good here for a while.

Will be interesting to see what develops here.

[Lowpe]

I suspect these ships are going to Saigon and Singapore to establish a western fleet....since I trashed his CVEs here what two months ago?

This bodes ill for my shipping in the area, as Palembang, Miri, and Balikpapen are great supply generators for me even if the supply can only get to Luzon and troops still in the area.

Perhaps I can sink some of these guys...[:)]

[Lowpe]

Japanese industry build 8 more Type 3 tanks yesterday, but I have what left: July, August, September, October, November and December to make it thru.

Boy does it look bleak! It looks like all Japanese shipping will come to an end in days.

I think the Allies should have focused their invasion on Honshu at Iwaki, Sendai etc, and gotten their wonderful troops in the open. That would have been exceptionally difficult to stop.

Or, perhaps an invasion of either Korea or China.

I have got some mines up river of Shanghai now, and will put more there. I am trying to get some CD guns on the river too, but that is proving somewhat difficult. I need to look at the reinforcement que and see if anything spawns around there shortly.

Below you can see the state of the defenders of Nagoya. The heavy bombardments hit the big divisions hard with disruption, but the Regiments and Brigades are basically untouched. Need to get more brigades and regiments there, and perhaps even retask a command HQ to the defense there.

I think about how tough it was to take Chungking, encircled, and no way would I try to take either Osaka or Nagoya without surrounding them first. I can cycle units in and out and fight on some of the best terrain on the map. You couldn't ask for a better setup, meanwhile the vulnerable north approaches are digging in and the divisions there are at forts 2 already, which will help, even if it is only x2 terrain.

The longer I can keep the Island from being cut in half, the better I will be.

[Lowpe]

It absolutely is not much, but it is something.

Hopefully I can nail something down here...

[Lowpe]

Still working on the turn...

I have broken down a heavy ID at Fusan and will use barges to move the splinters across. Experience has shown that barges can load, move and unload and then disband to port up 1 hex in one day, but can they make the trip across from Korea in one day and not be bombed to pieces.

I will put the air CAP up there to protect them, and even if they don't disband, perhaps I can sucker some Allied planes to their death.

I need this heavy division for the street fighting in Nagoya I think...or somewhere to prevent the Allies from running all over Honshu.[;)]

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

It absolutely is not much, but it is something.

Hopefully I can nail something down here...

It's like Jubal Early leading his army into Maryland in 1864.

I bet you catch him by surprise down there. If not, do you have a merchant or two that could follow those DDs (thus refueling them) to allow you to penetrate deeper?

[Lowpe]

Yep, there are several trailing merchants to refuel from. Plus another group of raiders, that force is a CL and DD.

I think Jubal had a stronger force! I think he caused a mild panic at Washington.[:)]

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

No, you played it correctly.  No dev has ever approved of transferring LCU to an Air HQ to get the PP discount.  Not just not approved, several have posted that it should not be done as it is a clear player "cheat".  There are no circumstances which justify use of the "cheat" if there is any intent to be realistic to the conditions and capabilities of the era. 

You will get posters saying this is not so but every single one of them will fail to provide you with a quote where a dev approved the practice.

Players who approve of the "cheat" may as well edit the scenario to allow Japan the Atomic Bomb on 7 Dec 1941, to deploy a B-52 equivalent, Tomcats on the KB, and Abrams tanks in every single LCU.  Oh, and a Manchukuo garrison requirement of zero AV.

Alfred

Despite several patches in the past few years, there has been no effort made to patch this "cheat". Owing to your encyclopedic knowledge of the devs intentions and comments, has this not been attempted?

We've had flak and database updates, but nothing for the HQ/PP system.

I do take particular distaste to the statement "There are no circumstances which justify use of the "cheat" if there is any intent to be realistic to the conditions and capabilities of the era."

This is simply not true and frankly I'm surprised that someone such as yourself could make such a blatantly false statement.

Tokyo wouldn't care that an IJA division cost 2200 PP's to buy out from Manchuria, but Japan only had 1000 saved, if the Americans were invading Hokkaido. Washington wouldn't care about sending squadrons to fight the war in Europe if the Japanese were over-running Australia.

The PP/HQ system does a reasonable job. It has severe flaws. It works well enough. But is it realistic to the conditions and capabilities of the era? Not a chance.

Basically the devs wanted to remove hard coded restrictions and allow flexibility. But flexibility within historical, real world constraints. Unfortunately the game engine, like all game engines, allows players to exploit loopholes. Plugging any loophole always creates another; and that is without taking into account whether the resources were available or best utilised on plugging that loophole at the expense of other coding tasks.

The good thing with flexibility is that it allows creativity. Where you see loopholes I see players who read the rules, understood them, and used them to their advantage.

Anyone remember when the Fortress Palembang gambit first appeared on the forum? According to Alfred that wasn't someone being creative, it was someone exploiting a loophole!

ORIGINAL: Alfred

It is all a bit like the man who goes fishing using dynamite and at the end of the day turns to a fisherman who used a fishing rod and claims to have won because he "caught" so many more fish.  Sure he has a big catch but it was a rather hollow "victory".

Except it isn't.

If the two people agreed beforehand to use fishing rods to catch the most fish, then there's a problem.
If the two people agreed beforehand to use any means to catch the most fish, then there's not a problem.

Which is a nice metaphor for this game, in fairness. What's right and whats wrong within the game is agreed between the people taking part in that game.

[Lowpe]

July 2, 1944

A new month. I used to look forward to new months, but not with Japanese industry in ruins. No new planes to get excited about. New ships have to run the obstacle course to survive and then their days are usually numbered anyhow.

Most turns I feel like a punching bag.[:D] The small counter blow something to look forward too, but I have no strength left for anykind of major counter punch.

6 BB, 6 CA and company visit Nagoya. Luckily there are a ton of units to absorb the bombardment.[;)]

[Lowpe]

It is beyond the Japanese Intelligence service to figure out the reason for this invasion at Nagoya.[&:]

[Lowpe]

The first of what seems like a hundred sweeps of Osaka. Then, of course, the bombers come. Ugly.

Over at Pescadores, where the Tone is in her last day of being stood down for emergency repairs...her boilers are finally getting hot, her crew back aboard, last minute hasty repairs are being done for a mad dash from the Deathstar headed her way....

The corsairs signal most likely a divebomber attack from the Deathstar later today and the end of the Tone. Pity, her speed is back up to 30 and she might have escaped. At least I moved the forty five Zekes away...they stand no chance for the those fighters.

[Lowpe]

In a strange twist of fate, the Allies don't strike Pescadores, so the Tone lives for another day to make a mad run back to the Yellow Sea. She has 42 system damage...and 30 knots.

[Lowpe]

Allies moving out...they have so many troops.

No attacks, but bombardments everywhere which Japan gets the best of.

[Lowpe]

Shikoku for example....the Allies have 5 divisions on this island between the two provinces under attack.

[Lowpe]

Holding fast here. Cam Ranh Bay bombarded by a CL force, and then bombed. Vinh bombed today for the first time in a while.

[Lowpe]

More Allied plane losses.

[Lowpe]

75 barges across three task forces moves the majority of the heavy infantry division across from Korea. I feel better...[;)]

A Japanese Heavy ID is a pretty darn tough defender in good terrain and with AA to protect them. Go get the invaders boys!




You can see how slack I have become with prep...I should do better.[:-]

[Lowpe]

July 3, 1944

Hey, hey, hey, 10 percent of July done. VP ratio has climbed to 1.9 with all the strategic bombing and the latest deathstar run sinking my merchant ships.

Today we lose 2-1 in planes as heavy sweeps hit one of my festungs...the festung survived into the afternoon to destroy two B29s. Whoopee![:D]

An Allied attack at Matsumaya gets a 1-2 and doesn't even drop my forts there. Allies started bombing there today, so I suspect he is getting frustrated there...I will barge in another regiment with 35 prep tomorrow.

[Lowpe]

If Nagoya can hold on for a few more days, a big reinforcement groups arrives -- most likely with 100 prep.

100 prep, Urban Heavy, and Forts 2 will make for a tough unit indeed. Plus I have a HQc, HQy, and I switched over a command HQ making Nagoya like a rock in the river.

I am moving the 3Tank Division out of Osaka which got beefed up with another Infantry Division, pulled back from Shikoku, while the 24th Division arriving from Korea will head to the northern two hexes.

Things look good on Honshu until the Allies invade again. Moving troops from one side to the other will become tough once the Allies sever the rail line which I anticipate will happen in two days.