Here we go again! tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J) - No tc464

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Engines

Note that all my engine factories are producing a surplus with the exception of the Ha-31. That's because in Feb I had the Sonia off. Only the Ki-46-II was producing. Since then, I got the Ki-57-II and turned the Sonia back on. I need to bump up that factory. I hate to, but it'll be needed. Also note that the Ha-35 is producing an excess, but only. I'll need more next month when the Nick starts production. Even though there's a nice surplus, that's the one engine you can never have too many of.

Finally, note that the Ha-60 is producing, even though it wasn't scheduled to begin until Oct 42. It is used for the Judy series beginning in Oct 42 and continuing through the end of the war. If I let it produce until Oct 42, I'll have ~750 engines, probably more than I need for the rest of the war. I'll let it produce for a couple of months and then probably stop it for a while.

The later Judy's (D4Y3) use the Ha-33 engine. The Ha-60 will become obsolete at that point except for a few recon Judys, and even they upgrade to another engine type I believe. Do not become over-committed to the Ha-60.

I don't plan on it. I'll let it build for a couple of months and try to figure out how many I need. I'll definitely shut it off long before the first Judy comes off the assembly line in October.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Are you planning on downgrading the 6 Ku S-1 to A5M4s and redistribute the better airframes elsewhere?

I think with PDU off you cannot downgrade a unit unless I'm mistaken. At least I haven't been able to in my game, the option is upgrade or status quo.

Yup, that's it. Makes for some interesting decisions when it comes to upgrading aircraft.

[Mike Solli]

3 Apr 42

Java

Soerabaja finally fell! Here are the stats:

Manpower 1(1)
Resources 64(16)
Oil 152(38) - These will be repaired.
HI 8(2) - I added more so now it is 8(12).
Refineries 136(34) - Pondering repairing these as well as Batavias refineries.
LI 32(8)
Repair Yard 7(1) - Upgraded it to 7(25).

Singapore

With the influx of supply, the Air Force is flying again as well as ground bombardment.

[Mike Solli]

4 Apr 42

Quiet day today, other than the typical bombardments here and there.

I guess I should tell you what is in store for my now freed up forces.

14th Army - They are in the process of moving from Manila to Koepang. They are prepping for Darwin. They will be supported by the 23 Air Flotilla, 5 Air Division and naval forces.

16th Army - 1 Division, 1 Brigade, 2 Tank Regiments and other supporting units are moving to the southern tip of Summatra. They will take Palembang. The remainder of this army will take all of the bases to the west of Darwin (exclusive) through Pt. Hedland (inclusive). They will be supported by the same forces as 14th Army.

[Mike Solli]

5 Apr 42

East of Brisbane

A couple of subs have been patrolling this area. The I-174 finally found a target, the xAP Speelman. She put a torpedo into her and down she went, taking troops with her.

Burma

I've been taking all of the bases from the British as quickly as I can. I'm being slowed down by the requirement to garrison many of the bases (usually a garrison level of 5). It's eating my forces alive. At any rate, I'm making due, and taking ground. The one base I've been avoiding was Magwe, because of the large oil field there. I finally took it today, after I positioned an airfield support unit and some defensive forces there. I immediately stationed an Oscar Sentai and Tojo Chutai (6 Tojos) for support. There was minimal damage to the infrastructure - Oil 297(3) and Refinery 99(1).

[Mike Solli]

6 Apr 42

Reinforcement: Kanoya Ku S-1 (27 A6M2) - 22 Air Flotilla destined for Burma/Pt. Blair.

More prepatory bombing of Singapore. The highlight was the liberation of Shwebo (Burma), causing 338 casualties for 65 losses.

[Mike Solli]

7 Apr 42

Reinforcement: TK Okigawa Maru (Type-1 TM - 8150 ton capacity - 14 kts) This will be the first of 2-3 of this type destined for Truk, for use refueling Kwajalein and Rabaul. Currently, they are being refueled using xAKs and a couple of 1250 ton TKs. Much more efficient.

Singapore

Success!!! I finally took the joint. See what a little supply can do? Unfortunately, the place was trashed but it can be rebuilt:

Manpower 2(1)
Resources 0(20)
HI 0(35) - will repair
LI 0(40)
Repair Yard 0(50) - will repair

A Dutch sub caught and sank an xAK 2 hexes south of Kobe. She was carrying resources and was damaged and headed to Osaka for repairs. I guess they won't be needed any more. I had seen that sub hanging out there for a while. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of escorts in Japan right now. Most of them are escorting the supply convoys at Malaya. I am working to address that issue. I will dedicate a DesDiv (3-4 DDs) to that area. They'll have an excellent TF commander. Their goal is that Dutch sub.

[Mike Solli]

8 Apr 42

There were half a dozen PTs hanging out in Soerabaja harbor for a long time. I couldn't go in and clean them out due to an enemy minefield in the hex. When Soerabaja was taken, I had place a couple of surface TFs in the area to try and catch them. One (4 CA & 3 DD) paid off and found them at Den Passar during daylight at long range. One was hit and obliterated. The rest escaped.

I had also noticed quite a few ships in Palembang harbor. I set a Nell Daitai to port attack and caught and sank 14 MLs. Oops.

[PaxMondo]

Mike,
 
Great to see you back posting.  Thanks for sharing your econ updates.

[Mike Solli]

Thanks Pax. RL was crazy for a time. There's been a change at work that has settled things down both there and at home. It's amazing what can happen when the stress factor goes down a notch or two.

[Mac Linehan]

Mike!

Your Back!

The Master Speaks, the student listens..

Faithful Grasshopper Mac

[Mike Solli]

Thanks Mac. I'm waiting to hear from my opponent. He's been out of town all week, and he has the turn. I can't even do anything, just look. [8|] [:D] More turns should happen this weekend with a 3 day weekend for both of us.

[Mike Solli]

9 Apr 42

Ted's back in town and we're pumping out turns. Three done today, which I think is a record.

Reinforcements:

14 Ku T-1 - 18 Mavis - 21 Air Flotilla - Destined for Southern SRA
14 Ku T-1 Det - 2 Emily - 21 Air Flotilla - Southern SRA
14 Ku S-1 - 9 Rufe - 21 Air Flotilla - Southern SRA, but I'm not sure what they'll do yet.

China

I took Loyang, trashing a nice sized Chinese Army. They're now on the run to Sian. This also opens the door to surround Nanyang. I'll at least feint toward that, hoping Ted pulls out of there. If he does that, then I can reinforce 1 Army with some of 12 Army to go after Sian. My goal is the oil there.

Noumea

I have a few subs in this area. The I-171 sank an xAKL 3 hexes south of Noumea. She probably was delivering supply somewhere, or returning from a delivery. I've seen several DDs in the area. My subs keep taking potshots at them without luck. They haven't had any luck depth charging me either. It gave me an idea that I'll discuss below.

Palembang

The remainder of the Allied "fleet" at Palembang sortied in an attempt to get away. I had some Bettys on naval attack and they sank the "fleet" - 4 HDMLs.

KB

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned KB lately. It's been in port doing nothing. That's about to change. Akagi and Kaga are still at Kwajalein waiting to ambush any fleet Ted sends out that way. Nothing so far. They're staying. Baby KB is currently at Balikpapan. No mission yet. They reccived replacement aircraft after their little excursion off Java. The other 4 fleet carriers have been at Babeldaob for a while now. I just sent them to Truk where they will refuel. The fast Replenishment fleet is accompanying them. They'll head south and look for shipping between Noumea and Brisbane. I don't expect to find any capital ships there. Ted is hiding them. But, I'd like to kill half a dozen or so DDs. Lack of escorts is a great thing. Anyway, it's a 3 day trip to Truk. Probably another week before they are in position.

Something that dawned on me that I just thought to mention. Small bases are limited in the amount of fuel and supply they can stock. The magic number is 9 - that's a combination of 9 levels of port and/or airfield. Many of my critical bases (especially in the SRA) need to be able to house large amounts of fuel (and supply on occasion). It's mainly the small bases that have refineries. I usually max out the port and then build up the airfield to get to the magic 9 levels. Yeah, it uses a lot of supply, but supply is one thing that's been increasing steadily.

Edit:

Pt. Moresby

I forgot to mention about Ted's new tactic. He'd been bombing Horn Island daily with about a dozen B-17Es for little or no effect for about a month. Today he sent 22 B-26s at Pt. Moresby. I have an elite Zero daitai there. 15 didn't make it home.

[Mike Solli]

10 Apr 42

Home Islands

That damn S class sub around Sapporo took out another xAK on the resource run and got away. I still want to get a DesDiv up there but there are none to be had anywhere in the Home Islands. A few will complete upgrades in a few days. I might be able to scare up some by then.

One of his fleet subs got lucky and sank an xAKL off Sendai, also on the resource run. April is a month where a lot of escorts are eligible to be upgraded. I sent too many at once. Things were quiet. Ah well....

Pt. Moresby

Ted sent 11 B-17s and remaining B-26s (2) at Pt. Moresby. The B-26s were both shot down but I couldn't touch the B-17s. He's sending them in at 30k ft so they aren't doing any damage either. I have flak at Pt. Moresby, but the B-17s are too high. Stalemate.

Other Stuff

The Ha-60 engine was advanced a month.

[Mike Solli]

11 Apr 42

Reinforcement: A Gozan class xAK at Saigon.

I forgot to mention that I pulled out a bunch of pilots from training units a couple of days ago. I decided to pull out all pilots that have >50 exp and >70 in the stat they're training, with the exception of the best pilot in the unit and the unit commander. The IJA increased by 130 pilots and the IJN increased by 60.

Sub War

My subs retaliated today. One hex east of Laysan (which is SE of Midway) the I-1 put a torpedo into the TK Gulfland. I doubt that she sank but she's at least out of the war for awhile. The I-1 is on her way to the US west coast along with the rest of her division.

The I-165 sank the xAP Ormiston a couple hexes east of Adak. She was empty so I suspect she just dropped off a load of troops on Adak. Ted has this fascination for Adak. In our WitP game, he packed that place full of troops. I may have to visit that place with some BBs once they are freed up from the SRA. Unfortunately, the BBs are preparing for the invasion of Northern Australia. I may have to invade an island on either side of Adak and bomb Adak into the stone age. Gotta check to see if there are any suitable islands (with airfields) in the area.

Tankers

My Palembang assault force is going to take the base next to Palembang next turn. I should have Palembang within a week. I've been allocating TKs to all of the oil/fuel producing bases and I don't think I have enough. I can't wait for Jun so I can convert the Std- class xAKs to TKs. I have about 20 of them sitting in Maizuru waiting to be able to convert. It'll all depend on how much damage the Palembang oilfields take when I attack it. So far I've been incredibly lucky. All of the oil fields are currently maxed out with the exception of Miri (which starts with 150 oil fields automatically damaged) and Soerabaja. Miri is down to about 30 damaged fields and Soerabaja has about 40 damaged. Both places have enough supply to repair all the damage.

Other Stuff

I'm going to increase the HI factorys in Java more than I have. I need to calculate how much resources are produced there daily and then increase the HI to use it. I have the supply to spare and want to bump up my HI production as much as possible. Right now I produce an excess of about 2k HI a day. Not enough. My current HI pool is 204k.

[Mike Solli]

Now that I control all of Java, I've been playing around with the numbers. I know I need to increase HI production for the future and Java is in a nice isolated area that is unlikely to be attacked any time soon. Currently, I will have 70 HI factories when repairs are completed. If I repair just about everything in Java (Resources, oil, refineries), but not LI, I can increase the HI factories to 140. That'll give me an additional 140 HI per day, 4200 per month or 50400 per year. Here's the cost:

Resources: +28 (28k supply)
Refineries: +34 (24k supply)
HI: +70 (70k supply)

I'm already going to repair the Oil and HI (to 70) so that's not necessary to factor.

The total cost is 122k supply. I figure that'll all have to be brought in because what's there and the small monthly production (~19k) will be needed for other purposes. Assuming sufficient supply at all times, it should be completed in 54 days. That's how long it'll take to build 54 HI in Soerabaja.

Edit:

With everything repaired and 140 HI, here's the monthly surplus:

Resources: -1800 (not a problem with the current surplus and all the areas around there that produce resources)
Oil: +7500
Fuel: +45,600
Supply: +19,320 (doesn't factor in support costs, so it's probably a wash)

[Mike Solli]

Something else I've been thinking about. Resources. I'm not convinced that we shouldn't be shipping them from the SRA. Honshu uses HUGE amounts of the stuff. When the Allies control the area around Japan in the late game, those resources will be needed. I'm shipping them now and still can't raise the surplus in Honshu by more than 5-6 days each month. My fuel is dropping each day, but we'll see how things change when I take Palembang.

[seille]

Mike,
It might be VERY late for Palembang now. In my game vs the AI i took it in turn 117,must be late march
and it had terrible damage. 80% of the oil and refinieries were destroyed.
When i posted the problem some guys had the opinion it was either very bad luck or the late capturing.
I hope it was the first and you get it in better condition. Otherwise you´ll have a problem...

[CapAndGown]

If you want to build up the resource stockpile, you are going to need to turn off some of the LI factories at some point. Turning off Tokyo and Osaka will help you get your resource pool up very nicely.

[Mike Solli]

That's a thought. I may do that a bit to see what it does for the HI stockpile and how much it affects supply.

12 Apr 42

Palembang

I took Praboemoelih (the base next to Palembang) unopposed. I've been bombing the airfield to prevent Ted from building up the fort levels. Still a few days before the main body arrives. It's marching from Osthaven.

China

I attacked Nanyang getting 3:1 odds and reducing the fort level from 2 to 1. I'll continue to attack to see if I can push the Chinese out. Farther north, my victorious army is pursuing the evicted Chinese from Loyang.

Malaya

With the liberation of Singapore, I've suddenly got lots of forces to play with. Here's what's available:

25 Army:
18 Div
5 Div
IG Div
56 Div - this division is still broken down into it's component units. 148 In Reg is trashed (16% strength) and will sit in Singapore to rebuild. 146 In Reg is still on Mindinao. The 113 In Reg is the Singapore garrison. The recon, engineers and artillery are sitting in Singapore as well.

16 Army:
2 Div

Southern Area Army:
21 Div
30 Div (-) - It's composed of the 41, 74 and 77 In Regs. I pulled it out out Kwantung. The rest of the division (recon, engineers and artillery) are due as reinforcements in about 1.5 years.

The 30 Div regiments are going to take Summatra north of Malacca along the east Summatra coast. Basically, it'll take the two oil facilities there as well as the other bases. It'll then become the garrison with 1 regiment in Sabang, Medan and Bengkalis.

The 21 Division is going to clear out Mindinao and the two occupied islands south of Luzon. Then it'll become the SRA reserve with 18 kt xAKs.

The 25 Army (minus the 56 Div) with the 2 Div attached are going to prepare for a little excursion. The objective and goals will be discussed later.

Burma

I've run out of forces there. Those rotten garrisons are sucking me dry. I'm sending the 124 In Reg there to garrison as much as possible to free up the 15 Army for offensive missions. In addition, the 15 Army has been reinforced with 2 tank regiments as well as some artillery and AAA from 25 Army.

Australia

The invasion forces are getting there. The 14 Army is just about ready to go. A few more units are still enroute to Koepang. The 16 Army is loaded out of Soerabaja and starting to head toward Koepang. Baby KB will sail from Balikpapan tomorrow, as will a surface group of 4 BBs.

I've decided to land the 14 Army at Wyndham and have them move overland to cut off Darwin. I think a direct invasion of Darwin would be too costly.

KB

KB has arrived at Truk and has refueled. They are heading south and will rendezvous with the Replenishment Fleet a few hexes east of Rabaul. Then they will head south to see what trouble they can stir up. Hopefully, they'll catch some shipping between Noumea and Brisbane.