Variants - Empire Side - Game over

[Xargun]

Well no follow up air raid on Rangoon - in fact the heavies did not fly anywhere in Burma last turn. Maybe they took more damage than was let on? He concentrated on Toungoo airfields this time with his medium bombers - no aircraft where there so only the airfield was hit.

I managed to get some Mine Layers into Rabaul overnight and lay a nice large minefield (250 mines). With nothing to tend to them they will disperse, but hopefully I can catch some interloping allied ships before then.

I have noticed I am building a device called "Shin'yo charge". Any one know what that is? I googled it and it said something about a kamikaze boat - but I don't remember anything like that in the game. Did I miss something in one of the later patches?

Xargun

[Xargun]

Well the heavy air raid came again. Once more I had fighter up flying night CAP and they seemed to do better but my losses were still horrendous. The damage to the airfields were minimal but I can't keep up this sort of trades.


3
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 13

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 45
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed
H8K1 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 1

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 38
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 11 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 22
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 21
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 20
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 18
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 15
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1

====
In all I lost 29 IIc Tojos - 14 to Air-Air and 15 to ops. Luckily only 4 pilots were lost with 6 being wounded. My pilots reportedly killed 6 Liberators (5 Air-Air and 1 ops) and 2 B-24Ds (1 Air-Air, 1 ops). So 29 to 8 -- not an even exchange. I am only building 5 Tojos a day so I lost nearly a week of production in one night.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Nothing happened and I mean literally nothing happened. No hostile air raids, not subs encounters, nothing... The combat report is empty. I'm glad as its another day of repairs for my fighters in Burma and another day of travel for the engineers and troops I have on the move. An empty day is a good day in my book.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Another slow day in the war. The only action was one of my subs.

Sub attack near Torokina at 108,131

Japanese Ships
SS I-174

Allied Ships
xAK Lihue, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
AO TAN 3
AO TAN 1
DE Stewart

Heard sinking noises after the battle so that's probably 1 less xAK for the allies - while I would rather kill the AOs, I will take an xAK full of supply.

For the first time this game every carrier the IJN own is at sea [X(] There destinations are still secret but operation Kipper will begin in about a week, which is a prelude to one or two other operations. The two operations are still up in the air as to their exact components, but operation Kipper will provide the intel needed to finalize the other two operations.

I am replacing the A6M2 zeros on my fighter CVLs with A6M5cs - the lack of range won't matter as much as these babies only exist to provide CAP to the rest of the ships. So hopefully the upgraded guns and armor will keep them in operation longer.

I looked at my ships being built and noticed I will have be receiving 5 fleet CVs in the next 130 days or so !!! 2 Taiho (approx 44d, 130d) and 3 Unryu (approx 80d, 80d and 120d). That will be the last of my carriers for the game, unless I decide to open the flood gates and build the remaining 4 Unryu class - 3 would arrive in mid to late 44 and the 4th not til 45... Just not sure they are worth the HI at this point as I would need to accelerate them to get them in the times listed above... Those hundreds of NavShip might be better spent on dozens of DDs instead. What do you guys think? I wouldn't mind having 12 more carrier air groups.

Xargun

[castor troy]

You don't have to worry about HI points. There are usually two paths a game is going: A: you get into late war, you will most likely have 2-3 mio HI points stocked. B: the game won't see late war anyways because Japan is in ruins

It's more a matter of naval points and even then, increasing them by 100 points would only be 100,000 supply, more or less the same as repairing three air R&D factories.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

You don't have to worry about HI points. There are usually two paths a game is going: A: you get into late war, you will most likely have 2-3 mio HI points stocked. B: the game won't see late war anyways because Japan is in ruins

It's more a matter of naval points and even then, increasing them by 100 points would only be 100,000 supply, more or less the same as repairing three air R&D factories.

As my current wave of CVs finish instead of spending the points to speed up other ships, I can accelerate the other CVs on a one by one basis. I thought the belief was still expanding Nav or Civ shipyards was a waste of supply?

Xargun

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: castor troy

You don't have to worry about HI points. There are usually two paths a game is going: A: you get into late war, you will most likely have 2-3 mio HI points stocked. B: the game won't see late war anyways because Japan is in ruins

It's more a matter of naval points and even then, increasing them by 100 points would only be 100,000 supply, more or less the same as repairing three air R&D factories.

As my current wave of CVs finish instead of spending the points to speed up other ships, I can accelerate the other CVs on a one by one basis. I thought the belief was still expanding Nav or Civ shipyards was a waste of supply?

Xargun

I never increase merchant shipyard but I usually do increase nav a bit. It's quite nice to drive a 1500 carrier based ac super KB around in early to mid 44 if you haven't had any disasters before. And with your variants you should have an even better KB for the cost of two dozen subs coming later.

[Xargun]

Not much happening. Been having some allied sub encounters near Palembang so I sent down a pair of Escorts. First time on their patrol path they encounter two subs and attack both !!

ASW attack near Palembang at 49,90

Japanese Ships
E Karukaya
E Yugao

Allied Ships
SS Snapper, hits 15, heavy damage

===
Sub attack near Muntok at 49,89

Japanese Ships
E Karukaya
E Yugao

Allied Ships
SS Salmon, hits 2


I believe Snapper was sunk as I heard sub sinking noises after that encounter. Hopefully SS Salmon took enough damage to go home. I have noticed that the Depth Charges these ships are carrying cannot be replenished at a level 5 port (Palembang) so I will send them back to Singapore for some replenishment.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Not a whole lot going on - very little action. I wonder what Nomad is up to? He used paratroopers to take Gasmata (lightly defended) and Umboi Island (not defended). I wonder if he is going to build up fighter bases to support an invasion of Rabaul so he may not have to risk his CVs?

On other topics. Operation Kipper is not going well - I am trying to recon some far away bases with Naval Search planes (Emilies) and just not getting much intel. Not sure if its because they have no skill in Recon or because of the plane type. If I cannot recon my targets my next couple operations will have to go in blind which is never good.

All of my carriers are back in ports again - having transited to their new locations. My CVLs are still repairing all of their 5c zeros so it will be a day or two before they are 100%. I am conducting March 43 upgrades on my baby SCs and CMcs. Also a bunch of CMs are upgrading into Escorts. Most keep their mines which is good. I have not upgraded my DMS ships to Escorts yet as I have had trouble forming Mine Sweeping TFs with E class ships and need to maintain the DMS mine sweeping abilities.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Another slow turn with little noticeable activity by the Allies. Some P-38s swept Prome again finding nothing. I bombed a chinese corp moving through the jungle toward Kachin Hills (dot base 1 hex NW of Lashio). My bombers are attempting to slow the unit down so I can get reinforcements to Kachin Hills before he arrives.

I am still prepping for my operations and have come up with a backup plan should my ability to recon the area prove ineffective.

Xargun

[BananaConvention]

I am excited to see your large scale Carrier operation in the coming days. I’ll bet it throws him completely off balance.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

On other topics. Operation Kipper is not going well - I am trying to recon some far away bases with Naval Search planes (Emilies) and just not getting much intel. Not sure if its because they have no skill in Recon or because of the plane type. If I cannot recon my targets my next couple operations will have to go in blind which is never good.

Xargun

You only get one intel point for a patrol on recon IF it passes the die roll. With pilots having good recon skill you are most likely getting a pass with every sortie over the target. As your unit only flies one aircraft each phase you get two points intel at best, one is lost each day again. So either you use way more aircraft to recon your targets or recon aircraft which give you three intel points if they pass the die roll but I guess you are out of range for your recons otherwhise you would have used them anyways.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: BananaConvention

I am excited to see your large scale Carrier operation in the coming days. I’ll bet it throws him completely off balance.

I do not expect any large scale CV action (unless something unplanned happens) for roughly 6 months. When the allies move on Truk or the Marianas he will have to have CV support and I will be there.. Hopefully its 6 months or more, then I can have another 5 fleet CVs up and running Another 300 aircraft would be nice.

Xargun

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

ORIGINAL: Xargun

On other topics. Operation Kipper is not going well - I am trying to recon some far away bases with Naval Search planes (Emilies) and just not getting much intel. Not sure if its because they have no skill in Recon or because of the plane type. If I cannot recon my targets my next couple operations will have to go in blind which is never good.

Xargun

You only get one intel point for a patrol on recon IF it passes the die roll. With pilots having good recon skill you are most likely getting a pass with every sortie over the target. As your unit only flies one aircraft each phase you get two points intel at best, one is lost each day again. So either you use way more aircraft to recon your targets or recon aircraft which give you three intel points if they pass the die roll but I guess you are out of range for your recons otherwhise you would have used them anyways.

Yeah - but guess what ?? I just got the Dinah III and she has enough range to recon what I want, so I upgraded a unit and moved them into position. Not getting 9s and 10s like I do with shorter range targets, but I think I am getting what I need now Thanks for the reminder of how recon works.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Something strange happened a few turns past - a ton of SBD-3s showed up as lost to ops - Intel showed 99 of them in one turn. I didn't sink any ships that turn (that I know) or I am wondering what could have happened? If an allied transport sunk from collision or hitting a reef I don't think one of them can carry that many SBDs; can they?

Xargun

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Something strange happened a few turns past - a ton of SBD-3s showed up as lost to ops - Intel showed 99 of them in one turn. I didn't sink any ships that turn (that I know) or I am wondering what could have happened? If an allied transport sunk from collision or hitting a reef I don't think one of them can carry that many SBDs; can they?

Xargun

No, one squadron per ship.

[Xargun]

More slow turns - even the bombing in Burma has stopped !! Did his air units get withdrawn? or is he waiting for something? The only good news is I am still pumping out ships and Saipan just turned into a level 7 fort - on its way to level 9.

Xargun

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Something strange happened a few turns past - a ton of SBD-3s showed up as lost to ops - Intel showed 99 of them in one turn. I didn't sink any ships that turn (that I know) or I am wondering what could have happened? If an allied transport sunk from collision or hitting a reef I don't think one of them can carry that many SBDs; can they?

Xargun

No, one squadron per ship.

I asked Nomad what happened and he said some of his DB squadrons disbanded while the ships were at sea. Strange - would think they would just disappear not push the aircraft over the sides of the CVs.

Xargun

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Something strange happened a few turns past - a ton of SBD-3s showed up as lost to ops - Intel showed 99 of them in one turn. I didn't sink any ships that turn (that I know) or I am wondering what could have happened? If an allied transport sunk from collision or hitting a reef I don't think one of them can carry that many SBDs; can they?

Xargun

No, one squadron per ship.

I asked Nomad what happened and he said some of his DB squadrons disbanded while the ships were at sea. Strange - would think they would just disappear not push the aircraft over the sides of the CVs.

Xargun

If that was a required withdrawal of aircraft, don't the rules require a base of sufficient size and supply to prevent loss of the aircraft? I'm guessing it was a withdrawal that happened when the carriers came in range of an eligible base that was not sufficient in size or supply.

[Xargun]

Can you not run Sweep missions over your own bases ?

Xargun