The Hive - Cruft PBEM (Japan, Scen 2 Beta + Stacking Limits)

[FDRLincoln]

My submarine torps have been OK, so perhaps that part is less of an issue. But surface ship and air-dropped torps (other than at Pearl Harbor) have done very little for me.

[PaxMondo]

Mmmm.  My Kates hit regularly with torps.  No Problem.  Netties hit as well, but are more dependent (from my perspective) on lack of interference.  It doesn't take much CAP for them to miss.  So early on in the DEI, they hit a lot as there is little to no CAP on the targets (xAKL's and the ilk).  Later in the war, they don't hit as much as there is too much CAP.

[FDRLincoln]

My Kates do well against slow merchantmen, but they consistently miss against warships (except at Pearl). So do Betties and Nells. My LBA has been quite disappointing so far, and they haven't been fighting CAP. Morale is good. Experience levels fine.

It's early in the war though, just December 24. We'll see what happens.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Saros

A not insignificant proportion of old IJN DD's are really no good at fighting surface battles and should be relegated to escorting valuble things like oilers and troops. Many have only 2-3 12cm guns, are quite short ranged and sport only a couple of old torpedo tubes. As a good rule of thumb if it doesn't have Long lances its probably not worth bringing to a surface fight.

Even the old IJN DDs are deadly against poorly escorted transport convoys. My opponent is down 100+ AP/AK thanks to 12cm guns...........

[FDRLincoln]

Checking the sunk ship list, it turns out that I did sink three US four-stackers using Long Lance torpedoes in the Phillipines area early in the war. I think I assumed I sank these with gunfire, but the LLs show up as the culprit on the sunk ship screen.

[Captain Cruft]

What Miller said ...

One thing I did this last turn was to give birth to 20 midget subs at Tsushima. These are the 9 kt jobbies with endurance of 500.

I want to see if they train up or not from the 50+ exp level they start with.


The other TFs you can see are MGBs, SCs and short range normal subs. Again it's all to see if they can train up.

[Captain Cruft]

Meanwhile, over in far-flung Burma, here is the 33rd Division, which is stationed at Mandalay behind level 4 forts and is the only ground unit north of Rangoon.

Every two or three days, seemingly every British and American bomber in the theatre flies over and gives these poor troops some love. As a result the unit is slowly deteriorating. It doesn't matter though, since it will retreat as soon as the Brits cross the river, as reported earlier.

Far better that the extensive Allied level bomber ordnance be deposited at this target rather than something that actually matters. I suspect that he could have taken Mandalay months ago, but (hopefully) the cognitive dissonance I have attempted to inculcate in him by not doing the expected things has stopped him from trying. Or perhaps on the other hand it's something more prosaic like lack of supplies or something. I don't know, but whatever the reason for his inaction it's good [8D]

[Captain Cruft]

Random musings ...

I just noticed something. Emilies can reach Ansi and Hami from Tientsin. Why might this be useful? Well, the Chinese airforce has not been seen or heard from in weeks. It does not seem to be hiding at Chungking so where is it? Chengtu perhaps, but also out there in the desert maybe, quietly training.

So, maybe the "special ops" Toko Chutai could pay a visit, it can be there in a day flying from its current station at Kusaie Island. I will also have a sweep and a recon over Lanchow, which is another possible hiding place. I have not visited this base once yet in any way.

Invite him in with the one hand and push him away with the other ...

[Captain Cruft]

More random musings ...

This follows from playing the Downfall turn where I noticed some things that had previously escaped my attention.

I think it might still be worth building some of the super long-range subs (or "temporarily submersible cruisers", which IMO is a better description). The endurance is awesome and the weapons systems are quite powerful. I just need to work out what to do with the beasties. They're certainly less of a waste of money than the beautiful but pointless Yamatos.

Meanwhile I have decided to do some acceleration of the later Unryu CVs. This is not to get anything stupidly early, but rather in order to get all 6 ships at more or less the same time. A poor man's replacement KB, if you will.

[Schlemiel]

In thinking about it, I like the test of the Oscar swarm, but what precautions are you taking to avoid your opponent thinking about it to much (or use that thinking if that's your direction). Seems using it now gives him a couple years to think of a countermeasure. Do the Soviets have enough AA to put a unit or two with each major advance? (I'd think it possible that the AA units might absorb the bulk of the disruption while the infantry downs a number of planes). What kind of testing have you done for your late war scenario with the swarm? What is your plan if he creates several large, heavily AA supported echelons? I know that would slow him considerably, but it still might make your timetable unpleasant (especially if he pre plans it instead of doing it as an ad hoc reaction to a first experience of the swarm phenomenon)?

Do the sub-cruisers have a significant aircraft capacity? Seems like a glen fragment + some kamikazes might be a nice field raid on the Allied supply lines (or maybe even better on CVEs) They could potentially raid pretty deep too (perhaps Aden to India or Capetown to Singapore to divert more escorts) even from the Hive, I would imagine. Even some port raids deep in Indian Country might divert some additional squadrons of fighters from the front lines (which can potentially make your other tactics more effective outside the edges of the Hive). I think anything that can mess with the sense of security of your opponent would be helpful if he's the conservative approach type player you read him as.

[Captain Cruft]

Good points. However none of this has been worked out scientifically. I'm just having fun making it up as I go along

[Captain Cruft]

Speaking of fun ...

I have now actually actioned the hypothetical "plan" elucidated above whereby Emily flying boats will endeavour to attrit the Chinese airforce which may or may not be hiding in the deserts of western China. The Toko Chutai, or as it is now known the "851 Chutai", has been re-based at Tientsin and after a day or two's rest will attempt to deposit some bombs at an appropriate place. If nothing else, this should cause my opponent to experience some small measure of surprise.

On a possibly more serious note, this escapade has led me to think about range in general, and my conclusion is that I want more of it. Therefore, although they are most definitely sub-optimal weapons delivery platforms I have marginally increased production of both the G3M3 Nell and G4M1 Betty. Perhaps more importantly, I have also seriously cranked up R&D on the Ki-74 Patsy, to the tune of an eventual 180 planes a month. Whether I can deliver the Mitsubishi Ha-43 engines for that is another matter though.

[FDRLincoln]

Am I missing something? You can rename air units? Or is that just something informal you're doing?

Creative thinking with the Emilys by the way.

[Captain Cruft]

All the IJN airgroups automatically rename in late 1942. They lose the nice names and get numbers instead.

[Captain Cruft]

Nov 7 1942

There appear to be no planes at Lanchow. More poking around needed ...

Meanwhile, over in blizzard country, we have some intruders. Is this just another bombardment run or an invasion? If it's the latter then it's a bit strange since we have just entered the wintertime.

I have mobilised the fleet anyway just in case.

[Captain Cruft]

Emilies in the Desert ...

Thinking about this more I have conceived a truly evil plan which goes way beyond my initial thoughts. It will have to wait a bit though, in particular I need the Dinah III (arrives in Jan 43) so I do some recon of all those far-flung bases. I could also really use some more Patrol airgroups, but there are none in the reinforcement pipeline until way into 1944.

Stay tuned. Operation Yak will happen some time in 1943 [:'(]

[AcePylut]

Good idea to mobilize the fleet. Better safe than sorry, and if it's just a probing fleet, you can overwhelm and sink it - as long as you know it's not a potential trap

[Captain Cruft]

I would happily trade a couple of second line CVs for one or two US ones. The only problem up there is it's blizzard weather, so air strikes will be difficult. Maybe that's part of his plan? Of course the 6 old clunker BBs might prove useful then ...

[Captain Cruft]

Well the ships approaching the Kuriles have disappeared. No bombardments, no landings. Either they have retreated due to being spotted, or perhaps they are headed deeper. My Nav Search up there is pretty thin and the weather is bad.

Sakhalin perhaps? It is very poorly defended and there are always lots of xAKs loading and transporting Resources back to the Home Islands.

I have taken what measures I can ...

[Captain Cruft]

Another turn played ...

The ships near the Kuriles really do seem to have retreated.