Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[Spidery]

November 27th 1942

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 4 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

I-1 takes a pot shot at a convoy off San Francisco and misses.

Sweeps launched against Russell Islands but no defenders.

Order naval search over the Allied forces at Guadalcanal. Nothing major shows up and lose a Mavis and an Emily.

Burma area

More Allied encroachment in the North.

Weather grounds most flights.

China

Same old attacks. Allied AV at Chungking continues to increase. He is getting resurrected now the units that were destroyed in the first attack. Since the last attack he has reinforced with:

16th, 17th, 2nd Construction Regiment
1st Group Army
18th Chinese Base Force
53rd, 6th, 70th chinese Corps

AV is up to over 2500 now. If I attack in 2 days I will be attacking with 5100 so it is close.

Australia

Darwin continues to be bombed by 4E.

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Quiet

SigInt

3 Heavy Volume of Radio Traffic messages from San Francisco and one at Suva.

[Spidery]

November 28th 1942

Air Losses: 3 Japanese, 1 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

It still remains quiet, no Allied activity reported. The longer it remains quiet the more I imagine some massive hammer blow falling (invasion Hokkaido, Java, etc.).

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

The AMC lurking in the Indian Ocean turns out to be the AMC Pansy worth 4 VP and I over do it by sending a task force of 5 CL to engage her. She is sunk[:D].

More signs of Allied attacks in Burma.

China

Send some air strikes to help on the attack on the Burma road. This is just enough to get the odds up to 1::1 [:)]but the Allies continue to hold:

Ground combat at 67,44 (near Tsuyung)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10863 troops, 310 guns, 935 vehicles, Assault Value = 537

Defending force 17839 troops, 168 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 114

Japanese adjusted assault: 370

Allied adjusted defense: 370

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
953 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 14 disabled

Supply shortages mean attack will have to pause. A third of a division is moving to assist, this will keep within stacking limits as this hex has a larger limit than others on the road (30,000 instead of 20,000).

At Chungking, order another attack as the odds look okay:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 8413 troops, 627 guns, 458 vehicles, Assault Value = 5135

Defending force 195307 troops, 249 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2422

Allied ground losses:
1804 casualties reported
Squads: 99 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 9 (9 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Australia

What looks like an American unit is moving to Darwin.

Engineering

Allies expand Lunga airfield to 8 and Tulagi port to 3 and other places.

Marcus Island forts reach 5.

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

November 29th 1942

Air Losses: 3 Japanese, 3 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

RO-60 tries for a hat trick but only scores one sinking:

Submarine attack near Kirakira at 117,141

Japanese Ships
SS RO-60

Allied Ships
xAK Comliebank, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage

xAK Comliebank is sighted by SS RO-60
SS RO-60 launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Comliebank

Submarine attack near Kirakira at 117,141

Japanese Ships
SS RO-60

Allied Ships
xAK Industria

xAK Industria is sighted by SS RO-60
SS RO-60 launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Industria

Submarine attack near Kirakira at 117,141

Japanese Ships
SS RO-60

Allied Ships
xAK Fairfield City

xAK Fairfield City is sighted by SS RO-60
SS RO-60 launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Fairfield City

Was he running without escorts? RO-60 needs to return to base to get more torpedoes.

I-162 finds a large convoy near Garner Island but cannot get into a firing position.

SigInt provides a useful detection near Canton Island.

Burma area

Quiet

China

At Chungking, get a 2::1 result and reduce forts to 3[8D]:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 173415 troops, 2010 guns, 760 vehicles, Assault Value = 5148

Defending force 193141 troops, 237 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2301

Japanese adjusted assault: 2615

Allied adjusted defense: 1221

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
8715 casualties reported
Squads: 46 destroyed, 1102 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 83 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 53 disabled
Guns lost 74 (5 destroyed, 69 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
22412 casualties reported
Squads: 524 destroyed, 473 disabled
Non Combat: 598 destroyed, 755 disabled
Engineers: 25 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 72 (53 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Units destroyed 12

Disruption on the attackers is high again but I have some fresh divisions to commit so will not wait for disablements to fix and can attack again as soon as disruption is under control. The alternative would be to fix everything and launch a shock attack next time that might finish off the forts. Any suggestions?

Kunming is burnt again. Also, a small daylight raid hits the airfield and destroys a couple of transport and a recon plane on the ground. Correction: Kweiyang airfield was hit.

Blenheims hit the 2nd tank on the road near Paoshan but damage is minor. The 2nd Tank has some 8cm AA and I have a couple of AA machinecannon companies present to deter him from bombing below 6000 feet. Also have the AA part of 21st Ind Mixed Brigade coming along (the lighter parts have been flown to Burma).

Australia

I had to look back at the combat report to remind me whether he bombed Darwin, he did.

Engineering

Ominato airfield goes to 8 providing some extra protection for Hakodate. Allies expand Russell Islands airfield to 4 and Ndeni port to 4.

R&D

Ki-43-IV to 5/44


State of infantry divisions after the attack at Chungking. Note the levels of disruption and fatigue but also the experience levels of these divisions.

[Spidery]

Value of SigInt

So at 150,144 a sub tried to attack a convoy. At 148,143 I get a sig int report. If I take those two as being the same convoy and extrapolate it comes out on Ocean Island in about 3 days time. Looks like he may be making a move there.

[Spidery]

A topic in the tech support area reveals that an ACM uses an average of 20 fuel per day that it tends mines. I have about 50 ACM looking after minefields and wonder whether it is worth abandoning some of them. That is a 1000 fuel a day or about 1,000,000 supply for the rest of the game! Do you all maintain the minefields at home?

Are the SST worth building? The "Type Yu" ones, that are available in 1943, seem to have short ranges, be very inefficient, but are still 22 VP each. Some of the later ones look a bit more useful.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Spidery

That is a 1000 fuel a day or about 1,000,000 supply for the rest of the game! Do you all maintain the minefields at home?

Scary.[X(]

[Spidery]

November 30th 1942

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 2 Allied, 2 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Quiet

China

Attack again fails on Paoshan road. Allies bomb again and this is getting annoying so will look for some fighters to shift.

Fires at Kunming are getting worse.

Australia

Darwin hit again

Engineering

Gasmata and Rota forts improved.

R&D

B6N2 advances to 12/42 and enters production. Two factories will roll into producing 60 a month. Not counting groups used for training, there are about 200 kates to replace so this should be enough.

A6M3a, Ki-21-IIb, Ki-46 KAI and Ki-45 KAIb all become available but will not be produced.

Nakajima Ha-44, with 1 factory of size 80, enters production. That should be enough to cover research and production of KI-94-II unless things go extremely well.

The 47mm Type 01 AT Gun becomes available as an upgrade for the 37mm Type 01. It is a slight boost to anti-soft and significant boost to anti-armour and penetration. There are about 1150 of the old guns to replace which would take about 8000 arms and supply. I shall upgrade all the ones likely to be attacked by Allies soon but may skip those in the China.

The Type 3 mine becomes available, but I think I will have to wait before I can start using air-dropped mines.

[Spidery]

November in review

Darwin was resupplied, marred by the loss of the Ryuho to a single 500lb bomb.

In China, have taken Tsuyung and pushed a bit further along the road. At Chungking, 3 attacks have reduced forts from 6 to 3 with the latest achieving a 2::1 result. Excepting some 4 corps near Paoshan, all Chinese forces have been isolated and will not be able to move to India.

Allies have started bombing industry and have knocked out some oil production at Lanchow and at Magwe.

Otherwise, tended to be a quiet month.

Code: Select all

               Japan     Allies
 Overall VP:   +1964       +779
 Air VP:        +392       +448
 Land VP:       +841        +58
 Sea VP:         +74       +178
 Base VP:       +667        +95
 

[Spidery]

Industry Status

Disappointing drop in supplies, probably caused by expanding engine production.

Some fuel increase but not as much as would like. Carriers were active during the resupply of Darwin and wasted some fuel on ineffective bombardments at Darwin. Also, am burning loads of supply by ACM.

HI increase is fine given the large Vehicle and Armaments growth. Vehicle stockpiles are being hit a bit as the 3rd Tank Division is outfitted.

Code: Select all

 Oil:      -84,405
 Fuel:     +20,604
 Supply:   -35,266
 HI:       +53,077
 Vehicles:  +1,636
 Arms:     +11,206
 

[Spidery]

Engine Production

Stockpiles increasing to cover future builds and R&D. But Aichi Ha-60, Nakajima Ha-34 and Nakajima Ha-35 production probably exceeds future needs. However, can turn these off later rather than now.

[Spidery]

Aircraft Production

Relatively low intensity of air operations means stockpiles are accumulating. In particular, stockpiles of 1E IJA LB, IJN LB, IJN TB, and Nates are excessive. Best IJA Fighters and IJN DB are in short supply. However, the VAL gets replaced by the D4Y1 next month so may keep some DB groups small for a time.

There are some fairly big groups due as reinforcements next month.

[Spidery]

December 1st 1942

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 0 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Allies bomb Myitkyna airfield.

China

Same old

Australia

Quiet

Engineering

Taiping airfield to 8. Roi-Namur forts to 5.

R&D

Quiet

Other

Insufficient fuel at Chengtu for HI.

[Spidery]

December 2nd 1942

Air Losses: 19 Japanese, 6 Allied, 14 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

A night airfield attack at Paoshan fails to take off[:(]. A sweep of Paoshan does not occur[:(]. Bombers go in with some light LRCAP. End result 3 Sallies, 1 Tojo IIc lost for 1 P-40E and 1 Hurricane IIb, not a good swap[:@].

China

P-38G appear over Chungking. The A6M2 on LRCAP take losses and don't protect the bombers[:@]. Fortunately, most bomber losses are obsolete Lilies. One P-38G fails to make it back.

Australia

4E hit Darwin, 1 B-17E and 1 B-17F are shot down.

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Quiet

[Spidery]

Move to 1123x8 version

December 3rd 1942

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 4 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Quiet

China

Air strikes and attack on the Burma road but still only a 1::1 result. MrKane has a Chinese corps digging in on the other side of the Mekong.

Kunming burns.

The 59th division has been de-restricted and is heading to Canton to be shipped out.

Australia

4E hit Darwin.

Engineering

Allies do lots of expansions.

R&D

Mitsubishi Ha-44 to 8/44.

First Ki-84a Frank factory is repaired[:)]. The engine for this will reach the 500 pool level tomorrow.

[Spidery]

December 4th 1942

Air Losses: 4 Japanese, 22 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy:
Allies occupy:
Japanese land at:
Allies land at:

It is still too quiet. Nothing really to indicate where his main focus of his next attack will be. SigInt, occasional sightings etc., still suggest more activity in the Pacific.

Pacific

Quiet

Burma area

Blenheims hit Myitkyna airfield.

China

35 Ki-44-IIc move to Kunming and when he strikes again they do very well. 3 planes (and no pilots) lost for 8 Wellingtons, 6 Liberator II, 6 B-25C Mitchell and a B-24D Liberator shot down. Very nice[8D]

Australia

Quiet

Engineering

Quiet

R&D

Ha-45 stockpile now at 505 and accelerating R&D.

[Spidery]

Just had a look at Kunming. There are 10 Tojos left flight worthy so I won't be hanging around to see if he sweeps with Lightnings.

The Tojos were flown by some of the best (including pilots drawn from TRACOM) although they did have some pilot fatigue.

[FeurerKrieg]

Ha-45 stockpile now at 505 and accelerating R&D.

What's the relationship between engines and aircraft R&D? I think I've seen it mentioned, but haven't taken the time to try and dig it up.

[Lowpe]

Those pilots deserve a break! Send them somewhere nice for a job well done.

How much planning went into the timing of 500 engines for the Frank just as the first factory fully repairs?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

Ha-45 stockpile now at 505 and accelerating R&D.

What's the relationship between engines and aircraft R&D? I think I've seen it mentioned, but haven't taken the time to try and dig it up.

Once you have more than 500 engines then each factory that generates a point of R&D instead generates 2 points but uses up one engine.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Those pilots deserve a break! Send them somewhere nice for a job well done.

They will be sent to Tsuyung, stood down. The broken planes can be railed to Tsuyung and there is more aviation support there. Be interesting to see if he tries to bomb them.

The armour really pays off. Watching the replay could see aircraft being damaged and dropping out of combat, with other aircraft they would die.

It is also noticeable that even the 12.7 mm guns of the Ki-44-IIc can get single shot kills on the Liberators.

How much planning went into the timing of 500 engines for the Frank just as the first factory fully repairs?

None at all! The N1K1 factories have been working without engines for a while and the P1Y1 for a little while. I must have had a fair wind on the Ki-84a factory repairing as (out of 7) the next two have 9 points left to repair. Average from the start of the game would put factories repairing at about April 1943.

I think it may push availability of the Ki-84a forward to May 1943 and the Ki-84r to November. That will give me a little window of superiority before the Thunderbolt arrives.