Lorks-a-lordy, my Empire is on fire! GBL vs 1EyedJacks - Nemo's mod

[Alfred]

Have you considered, in order to build up their experience, reassigning your night Blenheims to say day naval attack from other bases (eg Brunei) where opposition CAP will be limited.
 
Alfred 

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Have you considered, in order to build up their experience, reassigning your night Blenheims to say day naval attack from other bases (eg Brunei) where opposition CAP will be limited.

Alfred 

Hi Alfred

Every turn. Brunei will shortly become a hot zone where they will not be safe. I want to cause him a few problems at night in the hope that it will make him expend resources trying to counter. Singapore is a little too crowded now, so I was thinking of moving the Nightfighters elsewhere next turn.

[goodboyladdie]

Here are the Jap air replacements. As you can see, with the headstart he gets when I cannot take him on in an attrition battle, I will never be able to deplete his pools...

[goodboyladdie]

And this is a nasty shock. It's the most awesome AAA platform available apart from the Shinano class CVAs (and only because the latter are unsinkable!). These ships will slice and dice my attacking planes! If real this ship would roll over in the slightest breeze...

[Nemo121]

You'd be surprised. This only allows the replacement of 2,000 pilots up until June 1942. Sure you won't be awash with pilots then but the first two days should cost Japan well over 100 pilots an if you keep the pressure up between FlAK, Ops losses and wht you can claim A2A you shouldn't be facing unconquerable pilot pools ---  so long as you keep the pressure on.

[Alfred]

goodboyladdie,
 
Because I have limited time to access the forum, I will be concentrating my commentary on this mod at IEyedJacks AAR against Nemo121.  I'm sure you already are, but if not you might find some useful discussion over there.
 
Alfred

[goodboyladdie]

Hi Alfred

I am keeping track of your advice and comment. Between Nemo, you and the other Michael I am learning a lot for free. Thanks Guys.

13/12/41

PH damage stands at 7/58/45. Johnston is 0/31/46. VMR 252 has started to ferry in 1st USMC Def Bn. 2000 tonnes of supplies are on the way and the USMC SB2U unit is back at full strength. 42nd BS with 9 B-18As has moved to Midway.

2 more damaged BBs have left PH for LA.

On the West Coast the successful ASW tf has rearmed and is on the way to prosecute a new target. 2nd Marine Div is loading for Noumea. It's a risk as they are a very useful strategic reserve, but I figure they might as well be stopping the easy conquest of New Caledonia while acting as a theatre reserve for SWPAC as well as PacFlt. 18th Engineers and 40th FA Rgt have transferred to SOPAC and are planning for the Noumea super base.

61st BS and 11th BS, both equipped with B-17Es have moved to Batavia from Brisbane and Townsville respectively.

Here is a screenie of the major war vessels I have arriving in the short term...

[goodboyladdie]

Mike lost a Nell over Manila as he scored 1 Port hit and 1 Port Fuel hit. Clark was hit twice with a total of 4 base hits, 1 supply and 18 runway. Bataan was finally attacked. The submarine USS Skipjack was torpedoed and sunk, at the cost of 5 Nells destroyed and 13 damaged. Manila is 36/0/0 and Clark is 0/49/49.

Blenheims missed overnight at Kota Bharu again. They have now moved to Kuching to try their luck off Miri and Brunei tonight. I lost quite a few planes to defending fighters today but finally got some telling hits in. Off Miri CL Kashii took a torpedo and 2 bombs in two attacks and is heavily damaged. CA Chokai was left on fire after a bomb hit and CL Kasug Maru (an Armed Merchant Cruiser, I think) took a torpedo but does not seem to be badly damaged. In return AV Langley was caught off Bataan and went down after 10 bomb hits.

Miri had an Oil hit from my B-17 raid. 1 bomber was downed and two squadrons have low morale and need resting.

HMS Indomitable and her escorts are heading for Batavia to join Force Z. If they can be in postion for when Mike moves on to Kuching, I might get lucky.

[goodboyladdie]

SB-2s and V-92Cs hit Jap ground troops at Ichang. I am attemting an ambush over Nanchang using the P-35 equipped 6th PI squadron. I do not have high hopes.

I have scrambled Soviet subs to patrol Russian waters in the hope that Mike has not dialled down his Naval Search aircraft. Another incident to make him worry is what I am after. If it leads to war and forces him to change his plans it will be a good thing. Anything that forces him to deal with Russia will slow him down elsewhere. An AK and a TK have left Petropavlovsk for Seattle.

Here is another question for Nemo - Are these AMCs supposed to have a troop capacity instead of an air capacity?

[Nemo121]

Oops, my bad. It is now fixed for British, Australian and IJN AMCs

[Alfred]

goodboyladdie,

It is a good sign that you are thinking about having theatre reserves in addition to strategic reserves. Theatre reserves can be found on the frontlines, they don't have to be in rear areas, so I like what you are doing with 2nd Marine Division. Just be careful though, it is a perilous trip and the destination may be a hotspot.

Alfred

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

goodboyladdie,

It is a good sign that you are thinking about having theatre reserves in addition to strategic reserves. Theatre reserves can be found on the frontlines, they don't have to be in rear areas, so I like what you are doing with 2nd Marine Division. Just be careful though, it is a perilous trip and the destination may be a hotspot.

Alfred

All plans remain fluid at this stage. I have yet to decide where my main defences will be. Everything in front of them will be series of stop lines that can be converted into stronger defences if necessary or jumping off points if Mike runs out of steam. Currently I am looking at Dutch Harbor, Hawaii, Suva, Noumea, Darwin, Perth, Townsville and South, and the Indian Border (and Ceylon) as my major defensive lines that everything will be done to build up. Everything inbetween there and the Japs is considered expendable. Everything I do will be towards slowing Mike down and hurting him as cheaply as I can until I am ready...

[goodboyladdie]

14/12/41

I got SigInt of a possible Jap sub location, but do not have the ships to chase it down at the moment. 2 Flower Class Corvettes from the RCN forced I-1 to submerge but did no damage. A US DD task force is on the way, so hopefully the sub will not move. I have detached 5 DDs from the undamged ships task force fleeing from PH to chase down another sub (see screenie).

Next month I will get:
Sea Hurricanes (20 per month); F4F-4s (96 a month); Spitfire Vs (31 per month); R-12s (30 per month) and TBM-1s (72 a month).

PH damage stands at 7/58/26 and Johnston stands at 0/31/40. USS Argonaut has reloaded and is off to mine Wake. 4 DMs have laid mines at Midway. ML Oglala has been busy laying mines in the Hawaiian chain.

2nd BS, with torpedo carrying B-26As is loading for PH at SF along with about 10,000 tons of supplies. 427th BS, at Brisbane, has traded in their B-17Es for B-25Ds, in order to create a reserve of Fortresses. They'll change back as soon as possible. 60th BS, flying B-17Ds, has flown from Cairns to Batavia.

Gull Force is unloading at Port Moresby.

[goodboyladdie]

Japs are unloading at Brunei. AP Tatsuho Maru hit a mine, but does not appear to be on fire. CA Chokai was attacked by KXVI and sank after a further torpedo hit.

I lost 8 bombers and fighter attacking Mike's ships today, but CL Kasuga Maru and DE Tsuga took 3 and 1 bomb hits respectively off Singora.

[goodboyladdie]

TK Agnita was sunk by I-157 South of Tarakan. I have ASW ships in the area, but they do not seem able to gain any success.

My small B-17D attack on the oilfields at Mris was driven off by Zekes and Claudes. Manila was hit at the cost of 3 bombers. Clark was hit twice and Bataan once. 11 Nells were damaged over Bataan, but the badly damaged DD Pope took another bomb.

My Nightfighter Blenheims have been given orders to attack Miri airfield at low level. 22nd Australian Brigade is loading onto ships at Singapore for Trincomalee. As you can see from the screenie, Mike has crossed the border at Alor Star. The Indian Brigade there is running away to avoid the morale drain involved in a retreat.

[goodboyladdie]

SB-2s and V-92Cs bombed Jap troops at Ichang again. The Japs at Ningpo resisted an assault but had forts reduced to 0.

The screenie is the PG Asheville. I am tempted to keep her around the DEI for bombardment work because of the amazing large gun she has on board. I would welcome any suggestions as to how I get the best out this weapon.

[Nemo121]

It is a bug, I input device 57 instead of device 56 ( the 3 inch DP gun ) for the left side of the boat. I've fixed it now.
 
Looking at the characteristics of that gun I really wouldn't hold out much hope for any excellent results. It is a 7 inch gun with good range but poor accuracy and damage per hit.

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

It is a bug, I input device 57 instead of device 56 ( the 3 inch DP gun ) for the left side of the boat. I've fixed it now.

Looking at the characteristics of that gun I really wouldn't hold out much hope for any excellent results. It is a 7 inch gun with good range but poor accuracy and damage per hit.

Thanks for the fast response again. I'll ignore the gun then. I'll use these ships as stand in ocean escorts. That gun might make a nice surprise for any AMCs that happen along...[:D]

[goodboyladdie]

15/12/41

After three attacks I-1 finally took heavy damage. The Flowers will keep contact until more DDs arrive from the West while my sub killing 4-stackers head back to SF.

Pearl Harbor damage is 7/58/6, Johnston is 0/32/34. A small AK is unloading much needed supplies at Johnston. 26th BS at PH caused a few problems. It upgraded from the B-18A to the B-17E using up my reserve. I have had to designate it as the Opeval unit for the B-24D to free up the B-17s for use in the DEI. BB California is heading for SF under escort, as are the two remaining ARs. They will be needed to get my upgraded 4 stackers back on duty as fast as possible.

Rather worryingly I have lost track of the KB. It should have had time to get to Kwajalein and be on it's way back by now and PBYs have a range of 21, so I ought to have had a sighting. Mike's first CVA has arrived, so I reckon he will be very aggressive with the KB once he can arrange a joining.

USS Boise and USS Houston will head for Townsville to join the ANZAC cruiser force (well what's left of them when they get back from Rabaul!). I have enough cruisers on hand to cover all the CVs I have due in the next 100 days so might as well add their radars and guns to the mix in the hot theatre.

Here are my air reinforcements. I will have trouble filling up all those Hurricane squadrons with the small number I get. When the Mk IIc is available will my Mk I production switch over?

[goodboyladdie]

DEI/PI/Malaya/India

AP Nittu Maru took a mine off Brunei. KXIV was attacked and has system damage of 6. My B-17 raid on Miri was driven off with losses. The squadrons at Soerabaya have stood down to recover. AP Kisogawa Maru later took an air launched torpedo, but I lost 10 bombers in various attack over the day and that was the only positive result. The Mini KB looks like she is heading West to deal with Kuching. I have moved my subs along their expected track and have dispersed my air units from Kuching.

Manila and Clark were hit twice; Bataan was hit once. Mike lost at least 4 bombers over Manila and Clark. Bataan AAA proved effective again with 2 Nells Destroyed and 4 damaged with no damage on the ground. Manila is 32/0/0 and Clark is 0/55/63.

Alor Star and Brunei fell. Alor Star had been successfully vacated. A Jap attack at Kota Bharu failed. The Japs considerably outnumber me, but lost 795/23 for my 68/1, so Mike must have supply issues there. RAF 114th Base Force has arrived at Addu Attoll and has started to build a base.

China

Allied deliberate attacks at 48,36 (North West of Nanchang) and Ningpo failed. The attack at 48,36 went particularly badly and cost 1197/55 against Jap losses of 29/1. These two Chinese units are large and have supplies, so I can only put it down to the shocking quality of Chinese LCUs. At Ningpo the attack went in at 0:1 but the Japs took much higher losses (440/16 to 74/1). The unit is so disrupted that it is incapable of attacking again yet.

A Chinese guerrilla unit at 53,33 was forced back by a Jap attack.

The screenie is the current view off Northern Borneo. I will post some China screenies later to show where I am pushing and where I intend to defend. I have no definite strategy for China as yet.