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Rufe are worth producing at least a few of. One trick it is possible to do it to use the CS to resize all the Rufe groups to 24 planes (two floatplane groups that are AMC based can upgrade to it and you get another two as reinforcements.) This gives you 96 Rufes which can be split in to subgroups of 8 and placed on your AV ships with 9 capacity. More of these can be converted from 18kt xAK's. This gives you a halfway decent secondary CAP force to help cover landings.
The rufes wont do great against even USN buffaloes but are capable of shooting down most naval strike craft and its always a surprise to your opponent as the AV don't get reported as carriers by naval search.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

With the advent of PP's required for plane changes, you should seriously consider keeping some 1E bombers in production. Ann or Mary are best. I produce both, Mike is looking to only produce the Mary.

Take a hard look at your starting engine pools. 31, hikari, and 5 you should have enough in pool not to have to build more.

You are shifting a LOT of factories here. Not disagreeing, but you will need to watch your HI supply levels like a hawk through Jan. It will be a tightrope to walk to keep your assaults in supply along with all of the factory builds you are looking to do not to mention the oil you will want to repair ....

I'm going to produce the Mary only because there are 85 engines in the pool for the Mary that can't be used by anything else. The Ann is better but the Mary will do for ASW.

Mike -

The Master Speaks!

I am several months behind the power curve; but am working hard at catching up!

Mac

Hey GJ-

I haven't gotten to keep up with your game as much as the Rader one back in the day. Two kids under 2 1/2, hiring people at work left and right, buying new software... yada yada...

Thought I would drop in and say hey.

How do you like the stacking limits and DaBabes vs vanilla? Would you recommend switching to someone who only uses vanilla?

Talk to you soon.

ORIGINAL: Saros

Rufe are worth producing at least a few of. One trick it is possible to do it to use the CS to resize all the Rufe groups to 24 planes (two floatplane groups that are AMC based can upgrade to it and you get another two as reinforcements.) This gives you 96 Rufes which can be split in to subgroups of 8 and placed on your AV ships with 9 capacity. More of these can be converted from 18kt xAK's. This gives you a halfway decent secondary CAP force to help cover landings.
The rufes wont do great against even USN buffaloes but are capable of shooting down most naval strike craft and its always a surprise to your opponent as the AV don't get reported as carriers by naval search.

I like lots of Rufes, resize them as above and hunt for every FP group that can upgrade to them. I don't split them up, however, but use them as 4E defence.... the cannon may not do much but it does something and, more importantly, they are not easily suppressed by 4Es. The Allied player will hopefully just see that there are fighters based at the airfield and keep meeting CAP so continue bombing what is basically a destroyed airfield. It seems to work quite well for me as long as I don't expect them to defeat the attacks....

Yes, thank you guys. I followed your suggestions and changed the Kate B5N1 factory into a Rufe one, producing 20 of them each months.
By mid May i should get the Tojo IIa...already at 48% research...not bad!
 
April 19, 1942
 
Huge enemy bombers formations above Akyab...more than 100!...heavily escorted... things are really bad now for me in Burma... Need to send more units there.
 
In China he managed to stop me i fear...i'm facing strong and well supplied units everywhere....
 
Lots of ships gathering at Cocos Island...another problem into my flank....
 
Cv Junyo arrived finally...will recombine with Kaga for the moment.
 
Now it's time to start reducing Batavia.... 40,000 enemies there...heavily entrenched...will be long[>:]

Rufes can be very useful. Mostly when he does know fighters are around. Also, in the South Pacific they can fly from dot bases, which is great as the fields can't be hit. Only the support troops can be hit.

Also, on CS in the KB they can add extra CAP, especially layered low to hit slow TBs and leaving more zeros up high to duel with Wildcats.

April 20-23 1942
 
Things aren't proceeding well.
 
BURMA:
Here we're facing the first allied offensive. Every day not less than 100/120 bombers pound Akyab and my advancing troops near Katha. Every raid is very well escorted, mostly by Hurricanes and P-39s. Every time i try to ambush them, weather prevents any flight and i end up with empty jaws.
More important, while the bulk of the 15th Army is marching through the muddy trail that leads to Katha, the allies are advancing from Cox Bazar with 10k men and more allied units are spotted near Kalemyo.
Having only 50 Zeros in the area i cannot hope to stop this wave... i need the Tojos so to be able to flood the theatre with IJAAF units, thus freeing the zeros for SOPAC and other duties.
 
CHINA:
The offensive is over guys. Despite the "Hawk" operation was a success (in 3 days we've wiped out the presence of allied fighters in the whole theatre and bombed to dust Chungking), our ground attacks north of Sian, on the road that leads to Lanchow, all went very bad, obtaining  a couple of 1-2 and one 1-3. He's well dug in, in +3 defensive terrain, and, under these conditions, the stacking limits favour the chinese.
We've already done more than what we expected at the beginning here in China, so i cannot complain, however it's hard to face a "lost victory"...
We're now re-organizing. I'm pulling out the 38th division, the 48th and the 37th (recently bought for 1100 PPs). They will rest at HK and get some replacements and then they'll be sent to Manila in order to start reducing Luzon once for all.
 
JAVA:
Batavia will be a great problem. I have 2100 AVs sieging the city, but Brad has 20 units, 40,000 men, 300 guns and 250 vehicles.... forts will probably be at 5 or 6 by now... i'll have to use the bombers intensively...which mean that i'll have to stretch my bomber army even more than now.
 
DEI-SRA:
I'm doing really poorly here. Makassar, Balikapan, Samarinda and all those islands between Koepang and Sosarbaja are in his hands. Cocos is, by now, a huge fortress and i have no forces to send to conquer those places (and, i remember u, the amphib bonus is over).
He's using this weakness of mine to punish me everytime he can. A Vindicator squadrons took off from Batavia on the 22nd and attacked my shippings at Palembang... luckly i had 22 Oscars on CAP there and he only sink one xAK.... but this constant menace keeps me from spreading my units on the frontlines where they would be very needed.
 
SOPAC/SWPAC:
Ndeni already reached level 2 AF...soon he'll start bombing my bases in the Solomons.
He's also sending CL raids against my shippings near Lunga...luckly the first time he arrived i sent a DD flottilla that managed to sink one of his DD and forced the two Omaha class CLs to retire...but he will come again with greater forces, be sure of that.
 
CENTPAC:
I'm still very weak here. some 4 Naval guard Units and another air HQ are arriving from Tokyo... but if he attacks here i have nothing to defend my tiny atolls...
 
NOPAC:
We managed to heavily reinforce Attu, Amitchika and Addak. Now He will need a major commitment to get these bases and this will leave me enough time to reinforce the Kuriles (where i'm sending an Air HQ and several AA units).
My CVs supported this reinforcement operation. I had kept my CVs in the shade, behind the curtain, showing him only the harmless PBs and xAKs full of troops... hoping to lure his surface forces or his CVs into a trap.... well, it didn't happen. Nothing showed up
 
So now i have my 7 CVs there south of Attu... what shall i do? raid his LOC between PH and SF?...the risk is to burn a lot of fuel for nothing or, worse, to be caught in enemy waters, far away from home, and face a confrontation with his CVs... A raid at Seattle? to do what a part from revealing the position of my CVs? a Raid at PH?...tempting...but the flak is huge in DBB and there's a great risk of finding nothing of any value... any other ideas??
 
 

For your CVs I would not commit them to a raid unless you find his LOC paths first. Use AVs or AMCs to locate something, and if it's juicy enough, then race in. Otherwise a lot of wasted fuel. If he also knows you're in the Aleutians, his ships are most likely moving far South anyway.

In China don't despair yet. In my game Jocke basically had me stopped, but I kept bombing, and bombing, and bombing. At one point he realized there were more squads in Chinese units than supply points in the entire region! [:)] You can still do a lot with the air force. Hit centers where supply is largest, like Chungking, and keep bombarding troops with a mind to using up his supplies and wearing them down. You may get 10 1:2 DAs in a row, but once you get the 2:1 the floodgates will open. The key is to have good HQs nearby and keep refreshing new troops into the hex as you have been. His will not be able to move in and out as easily or you'll notice and attack when he's in transition and his units have no forts.

Most IJ players don't even get this far into China, so you've done incredibly well, but with all of those supply/fuel centers taken, he will not be able to run his HI in Chungking soon either. Keep it up!

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

Hey GJ-

I haven't gotten to keep up with your game as much as the Rader one back in the day. Two kids under 2 1/2, hiring people at work left and right, buying new software... yada yada...

Thought I would drop in and say hey.

How do you like the stacking limits and DaBabes vs vanilla? Would you recommend switching to someone who only uses vanilla?

Talk to you soon.

Hi Jeff,

Always nice to hear from you mate!

DaBabes is a huge improvement in gameplay imho.

Flak finally works decently, even for the japs. Don't think you'll down many planes, mind you, but at least you damage and defend your bases.
Air bombing is also a bit lowered and you need a real commitment to close a base. Even the B17s need numerous runs to effectively put out of order a tiny level 3 AF
Then you have a lot less engineers and a lot less aviation support...which means your bases grow up very slowly and you cannot flood the areas with air units unless you really commit there (so that you don't committ in other areas which are left alone).
The pace of the game really slows down everywhere.

And, for the stacking limits, i think this is a major improvement. You cannot simply put everything into an hex. You always have to calculate how you assembly your armies... keeping a good balance between firepower, artillery, tanks and men. And, above all, a death star advance is impossible. You have to fight and sweat for every hex and there are no easy taking.

Burma and China are two theatres that will benefit the most with these limitations

ORIGINAL: obvert

For your CVs I would not commit them to a raid unless you find his LOC paths first. Use AVs or AMCs to locate something, and if it's juicy enough, then race in. Otherwise a lot of wasted fuel. If he also knows you're in the Aleutians, his ships are most likely moving far South anyway.

In China don't despair yet. In my game Jocke basically had me stopped, but I kept bombing, and bombing, and bombing. At one point he realized there were more squads in Chinese units than supply points in the entire region! [:)] You can still do a lot with the air force. Hit centers where supply is largest, like Chungking, and keep bombarding troops with a mind to using up his supplies and wearing them down. You may get 10 1:2 DAs in a row, but once you get the 2:1 the floodgates will open. The key is to have good HQs nearby and keep refreshing new troops into the hex as you have been. His will not be able to move in and out as easily or you'll notice and attack when he's in transition and his units have no forts.

Most IJ players don't even get this far into China, so you've done incredibly well, but with all of those supply/fuel centers taken, he will not be able to run his HI in Chungking soon either. Keep it up!

Yup, i agree about the CVs. By now he must have all his 5 US CVs operating togheder... and in a "blind" confrontation far away from home, i'm not that sure my fragile CVs would prevail... better to move back to Truk and wait for his advance.



One thing about the R&D...
I have now 2 x 30 A6M3 fully repaired factories. I've made some tests and they can be moved to the A6M5 without damaging anything, so bypassing the A6M3a.
With those two factories i'll have 4x30 A6M5 factories researching at full speed... which means 120 R&D points every months... the A6M5 is scheldued to come online on 4/43... so i should get a month of advance every 20 days...so i should have it advanced easily to october 1942...2 months before the scheldued arrival of the A6M3a... do you think it's worth to bypass the A6m3a all the same?

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: obvert

For your CVs I would not commit them to a raid unless you find his LOC paths first. Use AVs or AMCs to locate something, and if it's juicy enough, then race in. Otherwise a lot of wasted fuel. If he also knows you're in the Aleutians, his ships are most likely moving far South anyway.

In China don't despair yet. In my game Jocke basically had me stopped, but I kept bombing, and bombing, and bombing. At one point he realized there were more squads in Chinese units than supply points in the entire region! [:)] You can still do a lot with the air force. Hit centers where supply is largest, like Chungking, and keep bombarding troops with a mind to using up his supplies and wearing them down. You may get 10 1:2 DAs in a row, but once you get the 2:1 the floodgates will open. The key is to have good HQs nearby and keep refreshing new troops into the hex as you have been. His will not be able to move in and out as easily or you'll notice and attack when he's in transition and his units have no forts.

Most IJ players don't even get this far into China, so you've done incredibly well, but with all of those supply/fuel centers taken, he will not be able to run his HI in Chungking soon either. Keep it up!

Yup, i agree about the CVs. By now he must have all his 5 US CVs operating togheder... and in a "blind" confrontation far away from home, i'm not that sure my fragile CVs would prevail... better to move back to Truk and wait for his advance.



One thing about the R&D...
I have now 2 x 30 A6M3 fully repaired factories. I've made some tests and they can be moved to the A6M5 without damaging anything, so bypassing the A6M3a.
With those two factories i'll have 4x30 A6M5 factories researching at full speed... which means 120 R&D points every months... the A6M5 is scheldued to come online on 4/43... so i should get a month of advance every 20 days...so i should have it advanced easily to october 1942...2 months before the scheldued arrival of the A6M3a... do you think it's worth to bypass the A6m3a all the same?

I think A6M5 is best what Japan can have for CV groups before A7M.
Good range allowing to escort B6N bombers on max range and speed allowing to have decent fight capability in first half of `43. I cant say anything about 5c armored version. Dose he is better from M5 or not? What is more important speed or armor?

On other side A6M3a have bigger range making it better escort for G3 and G4 bombers. But for that you alco can use Oscar (some coordination problems may happen)

Hi Grey and all others.
I really enjoyed reading your ups and downs with Rader so i jumped to your ship again:)

I would recommend that you consider taking Christmas island for few reasons (PZB AAR):
Can be built in a strong base
Its on one of the most important strategic spots for harassing allies.
Just by taking it their supply lines will longer. Longer lines means more chance for your subs, more system damage to them and more important he will burn more fuel. All of his 12000 durability XAK wont be able to reach Pago Pago or some other hub from East coast and return without refueling.
Because of Christmas Island in IJ hands any major offensive action he takes in the Solomons will hard or nearly impossible and in Central Pacific impossible

Its a great tactical island because you can defend it even in 1944-1945
B29 can hit it from Pearl but only on extended range.
He wont be able to take it before 1944 because he will need more than 2:1 on carriers to be able to protect bombardment TF going from Pearl. Because of the range to Pearl, from air he will have to bomb from carries, using sorties and taking damage.
IJA 800 AV on there behind level 8 fort and with some AA, CD guns will take a hard toll on 2500AV needed to take it.

Retaking Christmas while you have KB intact will be hard for allies even in 1944 and you will have your chance of exploiting their mistakes.

For taking it at this stage start prepping big force and i recommend you don't scout it much. There is good chance he will oppose it with his carries so pack all air/naval/subs assets you have.

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

ORIGINAL: obvert

For your CVs I would not commit them to a raid unless you find his LOC paths first. Use AVs or AMCs to locate something, and if it's juicy enough, then race in. Otherwise a lot of wasted fuel. If he also knows you're in the Aleutians, his ships are most likely moving far South anyway.

In China don't despair yet. In my game Jocke basically had me stopped, but I kept bombing, and bombing, and bombing. At one point he realized there were more squads in Chinese units than supply points in the entire region! [:)] You can still do a lot with the air force. Hit centers where supply is largest, like Chungking, and keep bombarding troops with a mind to using up his supplies and wearing them down. You may get 10 1:2 DAs in a row, but once you get the 2:1 the floodgates will open. The key is to have good HQs nearby and keep refreshing new troops into the hex as you have been. His will not be able to move in and out as easily or you'll notice and attack when he's in transition and his units have no forts.

Most IJ players don't even get this far into China, so you've done incredibly well, but with all of those supply/fuel centers taken, he will not be able to run his HI in Chungking soon either. Keep it up!

Yup, i agree about the CVs. By now he must have all his 5 US CVs operating togheder... and in a "blind" confrontation far away from home, i'm not that sure my fragile CVs would prevail... better to move back to Truk and wait for his advance.



One thing about the R&D...
I have now 2 x 30 A6M3 fully repaired factories. I've made some tests and they can be moved to the A6M5 without damaging anything, so bypassing the A6M3a.
With those two factories i'll have 4x30 A6M5 factories researching at full speed... which means 120 R&D points every months... the A6M5 is scheldued to come online on 4/43... so i should get a month of advance every 20 days...so i should have it advanced easily to october 1942...2 months before the scheldued arrival of the A6M3a... do you think it's worth to bypass the A6m3a all the same?

I think A6M5 is best what Japan can have for CV groups before A7M.
Good range allowing to escort B6N bombers on max range and speed allowing to have decent fight capability in first half of `43. I cant say anything about 5c armored version. Dose he is better from M5 or not? What is more important speed or armor?

On other side A6M3a have bigger range making it better escort for G3 and G4 bombers. But for that you alco can use Oscar (some coordination problems may happen)

mmm... very interesting thoughts Koniu!
The A6M3a has this great 15 range with droptanks... which is defenetly a must... but having the A6M5 that early may mean something....
The idea is to be able to produce both of them by december 1942.
I would probably swicth the actual A6M2 production to A6M3a once it becomes available, and use part of the R&D factories to produce the A6M5.
i think i'll simply leave 3*30 R&D factories for R&D the Zero line (so A6M5b and c) and convert 2 R&D factories into production.
I should so be able to produce 120 A6M3as and 120 A6M5s every month. Not bad indeed

ORIGINAL: goran007

Hi Grey and all others.
I really enjoyed reading your ups and downs with Rader so i jumped to your ship again:)

I would recommend that you consider taking Christmas island for few reasons (PZB AAR):
Can be built in a strong base
Its on one of the most important strategic spots for harassing allies.
Just by taking it their supply lines will longer. Longer lines means more chance for your subs, more system damage to them and more important he will burn more fuel. All of his 12000 durability XAK wont be able to reach Pago Pago or some other hub from East coast and return without refueling.
Because of Christmas Island in IJ hands any major offensive action he takes in the Solomons will hard or nearly impossible and in Central Pacific impossible

Its a great tactical island because you can defend it even in 1944-1945
B29 can hit it from Pearl but only on extended range.
He wont be able to take it before 1944 because he will need more than 2:1 on carriers to be able to protect bombardment TF going from Pearl. Because of the range to Pearl, from air he will have to bomb from carries, using sorties and taking damage.
IJA 800 AV on there behind level 8 fort and with some AA, CD guns will take a hard toll on 2500AV needed to take it.

Retaking Christmas while you have KB intact will be hard for allies even in 1944 and you will have your chance of exploiting their mistakes.

For taking it at this stage start prepping big force and i recommend you don't scout it much. There is good chance he will oppose it with his carries so pack all air/naval/subs assets you have.

Hi mate! Thanks for jumping in!!

Christmas Is? It's nearly may 1942... isn't that too late? Christmas is an atoll...with a stacking limit of 30.000 .... i have no idea of what he has there...for what i know he could have for sure a couple of Marine CD units and a Marine regiment defending it behind 4/5 lvl forts.... and, above all, i would need to get there completely blind, far behind any mavis search arc and without any chance of reconning it... his fleet is completely intact, mind you... which means he could easily place several cruiser TFs and all his 5 CVs...and it's already a level 4 AF with 2 port... sincerly i don't feel confortable at all with this idea... What do the others think? .... i know i may be a bit coward here...a jap player should be defenely bolder ... [&:]

Considering his air/ground commitment to Burma, losses in Darwin, need to secure Australia/Pearl/Noumea/HUB and that Christmas after 5 months of fighting is only level 4 airfield he doesen't have more than a regiment, base fore and 1 engineer unit.

But anyways you should count on confronting 800 AV behind level 5 fort and 20-40 fighters.

What you need to be on safe side?
3 divisions + 1 on reserve
1 tank + few arty units + eng. unit

KB + mini KB
100 transports
full force of cruisers/destroyers
all the subs you can muster
Bombardment TF

If we are talking of this kind of forces imagine what he would need to recapture it later?
At this point your KB + mini KB is as strong as it will be, only way he can stop you is by committing all he has. If he does he will sunk bunch of transports (full of troops or if lucky empty) but you will get chance of getting his CV's.
Whatever he does you will have 3-4 times more AA guns, 2 times more fighters, 3:1 in surface combat and prob 5:1 in subs.
Choose you battles don't let him choose it for you and Christmas is great place to take and keep.

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

mmm... very interesting thoughts Koniu!
The A6M3a has this great 15 range with droptanks... which is defenetly a must... but having the A6M5 that early may mean something....
The idea is to be able to produce both of them by december 1942.
I would probably swicth the actual A6M2 production to A6M3a once it becomes available, and use part of the R&D factories to produce the A6M5.
i think i'll simply leave 3*30 R&D factories for R&D the Zero line (so A6M5b and c) and convert 2 R&D factories into production.
I should so be able to produce 120 A6M3as and 120 A6M5s every month. Not bad indeed

I like the A6M3a for the 2nd half of 42 with its range. It's durability is crap compared to the A6M5 and thus is won't survive many rounds with 4Es or tough Allied fighters. But the range with the G3M3 is critical so I still leave a few groups in use.

Just a note; the A6M2 factories only upgrade to the 'Sen Baku' in '44. If you change them to the A6M3a they will have to be completely rebuilt. I have a ton of factories for the A6M5 that came through R n D so I just turned my A6M2 off and will turn them on later after upgrading the 'Sen Baku' to later zero model down the line with no damage to the factories. It doesn't matter much, but in the beginning supply is critical as you know.

Also, as I found out the hard way, when you want to keep your R n D factories set them to 'no-yes-no' so they don't upgrade to production. I had my 3 x 30 A6M5 factories change to production and now I have to rebuild the R n D for the rest of the line. I'll only get the A6M5b a month or two ahead of schedule, but that's fine, it's just a waste of supply and HI.

Since so much of the real war took place in CenPac and SoPac, many players are naturally drawn to these theaters. But most of the most experienced players have evaluated the map as a whole and have determined that, in AE, those theaters are of far less signficance than they were in the war. I cannot imagine taking a risk to stick my nose out as far as Christmas Island against a player of the caliber of Q-Ball. Christmas just isn't a target important enough to justify the risk. (That's not to say it might not become important. If Japan commits a large force and ends up winning a big battle, voila!, the theater assumed great importance; but it wasn't of importance in and of itself.)

Why is Pearl so important? If we remove repair shipyard from equation, what would IJ gain by occupying it? Someone could argue that pearl is irrelevant...

If IJ takes Christmas it closes shipping lines from Pearl to hub like pago pago or Suva, only way to supply future offensive operation in whole australia/solomon area becomes 20% longer and twice as dangerous. Between east coast and Pago Pago Allies don't have a single port where they retire and base recon aircraft/surface TF/repair ships.

Without it, considering how low allies are on tankers in 1942/1943 it makes nearly impossible to stock enough fuel/supplies in hub near Australia for 1943 offensive.

In the Pacific Allies can afford to loose every single base except Christmass and Pago Pago, loosing them means Australia will be cut off for good. Allies have enough shipping to go around and keep Australia supplied for defense but not for offensive operations until they recapture it, and Christmas can be defended by KB well in to 1944 and can even win war if allies make mistake.

If Japan can take it Christmas it becomes most important base in whole pacific. Its a shame Grey didn't take it earlier but for next 3 months he will still have odds in his favor.

At worst you will find there 5 carriers and 1 TF of cruisers. But you will have 100 transport ships and 7 battleships soaking up dive bombers that get through.

Just consider having it and placing surface TF patroling 30 hex deep to the east. Aircover of 50 betties and 50 zeroes covering against bombardment TF that could come only from Pearl direction. It would be hard nut to crack

At this point japan needs big carrier battle, if you don't force him to commit he wont come. If he doesen't come when you wont it, in 8 months he will have 100 transports + 8 battleships with full force of CV's and you will have to react.

double post

None of those bases are important in and of themselves. The Solomons aren't important. And it's quite possible to supply Oz other ways. Preferable, in fact. (Caveat: Of course, anywhere the two sides elect to concentrate and thus give battle becomes important even if they weren't important until then.)

There is nothing that GreyJoy can do that will force Q-Ball to give a carrier battle. Q-Ball may elect to give battle on terms he's satisfied with, or he might make a mistake (which is fairly unlikely), but there is no way that any Japanese operation in the Pacific would "force him" to give battle.