Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Great point, and I am relying upon heavy concentrations of AA right now.

At a minimum, you will want to have 3 of the AA Rgts at critical locations since they have the best radar.

I will have to start looking at searchlight concentrations, too. AA Rgts have 12, JNAF eng units have 2, while the JAAF eng units have radar.

I am curious, has anyone swapped out the leaders of the AA units with better ones? I assume Land would be the skill of choice, and a quick glance shows a lot of poor leaders in the AA units.

Is it worth swapping them out?

I don't know if it makes any difference?

[Lowpe]

Front Line Units (high probability of combat)

Assign unit leaders using the following order of priorities:


Land Skill – Influences attacking & defending LCU assault value, firing accuracy and experience gain.
Inspiration – Influences fatigue reduction, morale reduction due to fatigue, disabled elements destroyed due to fatigue, and assault value for attack and defense.
Leadership – Influences experience gain.
Administration – Influences ability to use Supply to reduce Disruption and Fatigue.
No other skills or qualities have any influence.


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That is not my list, but it surely seems that better leadership will improve an AA units fire, experience gain, and recovery from disruption.

[Lokasenna]

Ah ha. So yeah, if any attribute would affect AA fire, I guess it would be Land.

[Lowpe]

Nov 23,1942

Magwe: The combined IJAAF and IJNAF put up a spirited defense of Magwe, fighting off hordes of Allied 4E bombers.

Allied coordination was strong, with a sweep of high altitude P40K coming in first. The low altitude CAP managed to mix it up with the P40K pretty well and then came the heavy bombers at around 20,000 to 25,000 feet.

Surprisingly enough, the Zeroes were able to sometimes climb above the beast and dive on them, while the Tojo favored attacking from the front sector. The Nicks just blundered in.

Wave, after wave, they came. Japanese pilots answered the call each time, and now the Flak gunners were able to target damaged bombers and were more effective. Radar helped too, as some of the wave were detected by this new science.

After it was all said and done, engineers rated the airfield at 1% percent damage, the service facilities at 60% and the oil wells undamaged.

[Lowpe]

The final waves and then the totals for the day.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Front Line Units (high probability of combat)

Assign unit leaders using the following order of priorities:


Land Skill – Influences attacking & defending LCU assault value, firing accuracy and experience gain.
Inspiration – Influences fatigue reduction, morale reduction due to fatigue, disabled elements destroyed due to fatigue, and assault value for attack and defense.
Leadership – Influences experience gain.
Administration – Influences ability to use Supply to reduce Disruption and Fatigue.
No other skills or qualities have any influence.


---
That is not my list, but it surely seems that better leadership will improve an AA units fire, experience gain, and recovery from disruption.

The key I've found is good leadership to help experience gain but especially inspiration to keep morale up. Admin might be useful to help reduce fatigue and disruption. I find AA units suffer really high disruption/fatigue when hit day after day.

[Lowpe]

Great news about the AA leaders. I swapped out half a dozen at Magwe, and in looking at their history thanks to tracker, I have a good idea how leadership can impact experience gains and recovery from disruption. A 9 point experience swing from the lowest leadership to the highest led AA units there.

I stood down the fighters at Magwe, hoping against hope that the Allies don't bomb but sweep with large numbers instead. I have 75 more Tojos' and 30 Oscars ready to reinforce...plus one more AA Regiment coming up.

If I had to guess, I suspect with the great moonlight the Allies will run in some night bombing sweeps. I will not fly against these, but rather rely upon the 10 big gun AA units to break up the attack. Not sure what impact Searchlights have (they have lousy statistics) but a dozen will show up with the next AA Regiment.

Elsewhere all is fairly quiet. Moving troops to Tjilatjap, bombarding Tjilatjap. Getting organized for Port Moresby, and thinking about Ceylon.

[Lowpe]

Nov 24, 1942

South of Socrata and north of the Maldives

The Tone, steaming back to the Empire after a bold raid on Allied shipping at Karachi, aerially spotted an armed merchant cruiser the previous night. Hoping against hope for a troop convoy of some type, she reversed course and plotted an intercept.

During the day three columns of smoke were spotted and the Tone closed quickly in the rain. The fox had turned the tables on the hunters, and this fox had deadly big guns.

And a good thing too, since her torpedo stores depleted, this fight would be decided by guns. And the Tone's 20cm/50 3 YT-II main guns hit again and again. At such close range the big shells were devastating, cutting through the thin skinned AMCs, however the Hector managed to get one 6 inch shell into the superstructure which started a fire that was promptly put out.

With two sinking, and a third foundering with heavy fires and heavy damage, her main gun ammunition totally depleted, her duty done the Tone turned and will now head for Sabang...a long way away but each member of the crew was confident they would make it for the Emperor.

[Lowpe]

Allied bombers strike with fury on Magwe's airfield. Wave, after, wave they came destroying a handful of frames on the ground but losing 3 Wellington's to flak. 47 percent damage on the runway, we will run away and lick our wounds....

[Lowpe]

It was a good day against American submarines and I even manage to get two mine hits, followed by sinking sounds, at Singers.[:)]

Allied base building negated all my victory point gains from sinking 3 AMCs and 1 submarine.


The Saratoga showed up on the sunk ships page! But, the Nevada was taken off. A trade I will make any day.

[Lowpe]

Nov 24, 1942

Allied bombers hit Magwe to no opposition other than AA units. Airfield closed.

A submarine hit in the PI, the ship will live and the submarine is punished pretty hard. A few 15 knot sub chasers are heading in to hopefully finish her off.

Another submarine is hit at Merak. This location should always be mined...

Another new month coming up and I will get lots of new planes: Lilly IIb divebomber, Nick b, Dinah ftr. We will see how they do!

The first small squadron of Irving recon is up and running. For now, they will recon Tjilatjap, but soon they will be spying on northern Oz.

[Lowpe]

I have had two cruisers off Perth. Unfortunately, not a single ship has been spotted.

I now have moved closer to Perth,with plans to raid the harbor at Perth, but perhaps I should go to Albany instead?

No hard intel on either location, I have 4 submarines in support but no Glens. I could use the floats off the cruisers but have them working at shorter ranges and don't really want the Allies to spot Jakes.

I am leaning towards Albany, but I can't explain why other than a feeling.

What do you think?

[njp72]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I have had two cruisers off Perth. Unfortunately, not a single ship has been spotted.

I now have moved closer to Perth,with plans to raid the harbor at Perth, but perhaps I should go to Albany instead?

No hard intel on either location, I have 4 submarines in support but no Glens. I could use the floats off the cruisers but have them working at shorter ranges and don't really want the Allies to spot Jakes.

I am leaning towards Albany, but I can't explain why other than a feeling.

What do you think?

Albany would get my vote. The least likely avenue of approach often reaps the greatest rewards. Good luck.

[Lowpe]

Night fighter upadate: Both the Denko and Randy radar sets have very late effective dates, therefore I am going to not r&d them, but rather rely upon a progression of earlier planes.

Irving to Irving SA with radar to Frances. These will defend the most critical bases.

Nick, Dinah for the recon conversions, to the Peggy. I am thinking now that I will field the Peggy in large numbers for the Army.

So the final nightfighters will be the Frances and the Peggy for Navy and Army respectively. The Judy, the Zero, the Myrt I am not bothering with researching, but may build when their times come.

[Lowpe]

Nov 25, 1942

Exceptionally quiet. Cruisers are headed to Albany...

One, maybe two, days from the first bombardment at Tjilatjap.

[CaptBeefheart]

Albany vs. Esperance: What are the port levels? I like using both as the terminus of Cape Town convoys and try to avoid Perth.

Cheers,
CC

[Lowpe]

Nov 27, 1942

Another quiet day. One squadron of 11 Liberators hit Magwe at 29,000 feet. Magwe's runway back down to 30 percent damage.

A minesweeper is sunk off Java...Allies probing the search I guess, although those Aussie AMs are good ships with strong ASW.

One day away from the first bombardment at Tjilatjap. Building forces at Rabaul for Port Moresby.

A6M5c and Oscar IV advance another month.

[Lowpe]

Nov 28, 1942

Quiet.

Iboat sinks a big cargo ship off Karachi.

Allied 4E strike some in Burma and Roi Namur to no opposition. Magwe is lightly hit and runways down to 20%. If the engineers can get the field into shape I will fly in 150 plus fighters (more than half Tojo IIa) and try to hold the base again with the low cap. Another AA regiment is being trained in adding a dozen searchlight, a radar, and some big guns.

Should visit Albany tonight, and the first bombardment attack at Tjilatjap will start softening up the the three plus divisions that are cornered there.

[CaptBeefheart]

Yep, Albany would be more likely in use then, unless he has a lot of Nav Support at Esperance.

Cheers,
CC

[Lowpe]

Nov 29, 1942

While Allied bombers hit Mandalay to no opposition, heavy cruisers slip into Albany and find a 20 vp tanker with a capacity of around 9500.

This southern cruise off Perth and Albany has not been worth the fuel expended. The eastern Oz supply route is certainly safer for the Allies. With three fleet carriers left, interlocking air bases for search, and well back from the front lines.