IJ commander resurrected - Mundy (A) vs. Castor Troy (IJ) - restricted AAR

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 09, 43
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ASW attack near Kume-jima at 92,65

Japanese Ships
E W-27
E W-26
AK Hakkai Maru
AK Kirishima Maru
E W-33
E W-29
E W-28

Allied Ships
SS Cod

a rare moment when the escorts keep a sub from attacking... that's a valuable troop convoy...

SS Cod is sighted by escort
Cod diving deep ....
E W-33 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-29 fails to find sub and abandons search
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-33 fails to find sub and abandons search
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-28 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub



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Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32



Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 17 NM, estimated altitude 40,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 32
Ki-84a Frank x 76

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 2 destroyed

that was surprising when suddenly an enemy sweep popped up over Hyderabad running into the 120+ fighters I have stationed there... the Lightnings on the usual strato sweep get their dive and shoot up a couple of my fighters when they are finally overwhelmed by numbers and the dive ending... without the dive it was equal fight with lots of Lightnings damaged... my fighters mostly survived while many Lightnings crashed on their long way home (Jaffna is 14 hexes away)...


CAP engaged:
253 Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 22 on standby, 0 scrambling)
10 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 31276.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
1st Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 26 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 31514.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes
9th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 26 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 31514.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes

[castor troy]

losses of the Allied sweep really favoured us, while it was a 1:1 destroyed during the fight over Hyderabad we managed to save more damaged fighters... only one pilot was lost... at that rate we would win the air war but it was an exceptional fight as I doubt we will see the enemy incoming from such a range more often and the Lightnings aren't performing as well in the game as they did in real life... never found out why but the P-38 isn't all that great...

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 11, 43
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Afternoon Air attack on Hyderabad , at 39,32

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 32
Ki-84a Frank x 72

Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84a Frank: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 5 destroyed



the enemy comes back to Hyderabad again not achieving much... counted 32 dives for the Lightnings [8|] in which they achieved their kills, non of their attacks without the dive managed a damaged or killed IJ fighter... in the end
it's a Japanese win in kills and only one Frank pilot is lost again... not sure what Mundy is up to, two sweeps to Hyderabad without achieving much, lots of bases in India get reconned daily and we also had a small task force of what looked like four or five DDs showing up West of Sumatra which seemed to have avoided all my naval search as we spotted the ships just a couple of hexes off the coast... guess he was probing my defenses as there's no other reason he would send ships down there... I'm expecting him soon to attack India out of Ceylon as he seems to be building up there, landing at the bases just next to Ceylon which are all empty then fighting him through to the Burmese border to seize India... Sumatra or Java are out of scope for him, if he tries that he will be trashed, there are so many overlocking airfields around and enough ground units to make it look like a Marshall operation 2.0...


CAP engaged:
253 Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 22 on standby, 0 scrambling)
10 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 31276.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
1st Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 24 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 31514.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
9th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 24 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 31514.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 17 minutes

[castor troy]

has something changed on the forum? I have problems formating my posts, whenever I click on an emoji, format some text or add a picture the cursor jumps to the very end of the post which is more than annoying as you have to go back up to find the end of the text you've just been typing[&:]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

has something changed on the forum? I have problems formating my posts, whenever I click on an emoji, format some text or add a picture the cursor jumps to the very end of the post which is more than annoying as you have to go back up to find the end of the text you've just been typing[&:]

It always did that to me when I add an emoji.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: castor troy

has something changed on the forum? I have problems formating my posts, whenever I click on an emoji, format some text or add a picture the cursor jumps to the very end of the post which is more than annoying as you have to go back up to find the end of the text you've just been typing[&:]

It always did that to me when I add an emoji.

Picture uploads are always added after the text. Emojis from the forum itself are added where the cursor is at the time the emoji was selected.

[Bif1961]

The P-38 was not a dog fighting aircraft as a two engine heavy fighter, it needs to dive to achieve its victories against more maneuverable well armed fighters. So this game forces the P-38 to do the very thing it was not designed for, dog fighting. The P-38 wracked up the ace with the largest number of victories 40 with Richard Bong, but that was against Japanese fighters that were slower, lightly armed and armored. It would dive, zoom climb and dive again, even the 38 victory ace McGuire was lost trying to dog fight at low level, with drop tanks.

The P-38 was designed in 1937, prototype was finished in 1938 and was ordered into production in 1939, making it a first generation fighter and pre-war. You have it fighting 2nd generation Japanese fighters in dog fights and doing poorly. By this time it was being developed as a fighter-bomber in which it could deliver 3,200 pound of rockets and or bombs. They continued to develop additional recon versions as well and as a night fighter as P-38M. It turned out to be a long lasting and versatile platform but had it's limits when confronting 2nd and 3rd generation single engine fighters in capable hands. So the window for the P-38 as a high altitude sweeper is probably P-38E in 42 through P-38G until the Georges and or Franks make their appearance in numbers.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

The P-38 was not a dog fighting aircraft as a two engine heavy fighter, it needs to dive to achieve its victories against more maneuverable well armed fighters. So this game forces the P-38 to do the very thing it was not designed for, dog fighting. The P-38 wracked up the ace with the largest number of victories 40 with Richard Bong, but that was against Japanese fighters that were slower, lightly armed and armored. It would dive, zoom climb and dive again, even the 38 victory ace McGuire was lost trying to dog fight at low level, with drop tanks.

The P-38 was designed in 1937, prototype was finished in 1938 and was ordered into production in 1939, making it a first generation fighter and pre-war. You have it fighting 2nd generation Japanese fighters in dog fights and doing poorly. By this time it was being developed as a fighter-bomber in which it could deliver 3,200 pound of rockets and or bombs. They continued to develop additional recon versions as well and as a night fighter as P-38M. It turned out to be a long lasting and versatile platform but had it's limits when confronting 2nd and 3rd generation single engine fighters in capable hands. So the window for the P-38 as a high altitude sweeper is probably P-38E in 42 through P-38G until the Georges and or Franks make their appearance in numbers.

Yes, I'm aware of that. IIRC McGuire wasn't shot down though but stalled at low altitude. Non of the US fighters were dogfighters in a way to fight a turning fight, it was like zoom and boom for all of them. Funnily enough, that's exactly what the game does, having the P-38 way high having dozens of dives still not performing as well as other fighters, so the game doesn't seem to model the fighter with the most kills in the Pacific Theatre very well. As I've said, no idea why. The Corsair isn't looking really different in the game's stats and totally outperforms the P-38 in pretty much every game.

[Bif1961]

You rightly pointed out the McGuire stalled and crashed, however, I did not say McGuire was shot down, I said he was lost while dog fighting at low altitude with drop tanks still on his P-38. I will take a slight exception to airplane design versus tactics. The Japanese designed their planes to be highly maneuverable to be able to dog fight, that is design but their tactics were to fight more as individuals and not as the US and other Western air forces developed tactics with wingman, elements, finger four and the like. Japanese tried to use some of these tactics but because of the lack radios, or reliable ones, their fights soon broke into individual battles. So design and tactics are not the same thing. Tactics can make up for a design flaw, like the Thatch weave and turn Japanese aggression against itself, when American flew more rugger, armored, and armed but less maneuverable aircraft. However the P-38 was never really used in that realm as a dog fighter as a aircraft, even with a wingman could get into a turning fight with and adversary. It was designed to take advantage of high altitude diving attacks and zoom climbs and not fly defensive CAP, which would force it to stay on station and get into dog fights against far more maneuverable aircraft. It is kinda like the ME 262, it could be a very deadly opponent in the air but could not dog fight and would be at a great disadvantage if it tried. The ME 262 had about 100 MPH advantage over the P-47s and P-51Ds it faced, in the same way the P-38 had about an 100-80 MPH advantage over the Oscars and Zeros it faced. So to get the P-38 in a turning dogfight with Oscars and Zeros in capable hands, would surrender all of it's strengths and play into the hands of all the opponents strengths. Again the difference of design over tactics.

[RangerJoe]

A P-38 had a mock dogfight with a Spitfire over England. I don't know which models. It was considered equal. Then the Spitfire come in to land. It was upside down and then flipped over fast. The P-38 then shut off one engine and landed . . . [8D]

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

You rightly pointed out the McGuire stalled and crashed, however, I did not say McGuire was shot down, I said he was lost while dog fighting at low altitude with drop tanks still on his P-38. I will take a slight exception to airplane design versus tactics. The Japanese designed their planes to be highly maneuverable to be able to dog fight, that is design but their tactics were to fight more as individuals and not as the US and other Western air forces developed tactics with wingman, elements, finger four and the like. Japanese tried to use some of these tactics but because of the lack radios, or reliable ones, their fights soon broke into individual battles. So design and tactics are not the same thing. Tactics can make up for a design flaw, like the Thatch weave and turn Japanese aggression against itself, when American flew more rugger, armored, and armed but less maneuverable aircraft. However the P-38 was never really used in that realm as a dog fighter as a aircraft, even with a wingman could get into a turning fight with and adversary. It was designed to take advantage of high altitude diving attacks and zoom climbs and not fly defensive CAP, which would force it to stay on station and get into dog fights against far more maneuverable aircraft. It is kinda like the ME 262, it could be a very deadly opponent in the air but could not dog fight and would be at a great disadvantage if it tried. The ME 262 had about 100 MPH advantage over the P-47s and P-51Ds it faced, in the same way the P-38 had about an 100-80 MPH advantage over the Oscars and Zeros it faced. So to get the P-38 in a turning dogfight with Oscars and Zeros in capable hands, would surrender all of it's strengths and play into the hands of all the opponents strengths. Again the difference of design over tactics.

Hmm, I don't think we disagree. Of all that was written I still don't see a reason why the P-38 underperforms so much in the game though.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 17, 43
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Sub vs Sub: SS I-19 attacking SS Devilfish at 19,49 - near North Male

Japanese Ships
SS I-19

Allied Ships
SS Devilfish

SS I-19 launches 2 torpedoes at 2,000 yards

we have so many sub spottings and when we finally get an attack it just has to be a miss... no idea how the game actually chooses the number of torps fired, I'm using the most agressive commanders but subs always only seem to be targetted by max two torps...


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Sub vs Sub: SS I-15 attacking SS Bowfin at 138,91



Japanese Ships
SS I-15

Allied Ships
SS Bowfin

SS I-15 launches 2 torpedoes at 3,000 yards

oh come on... [8|]

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Sub attack near Naha at 94,66

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 50

Allied Ships
SS Sargo

SS Sargo launches 2 torpedoes
Sargo diving deep ....
SC Ch 50 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 50 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 50 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 50 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 50 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[castor troy]

the game moves along with mostly being Transport Tycoon in the Pacific 2.0... lots of subs around, lots of air losses on nav search / ASW as usual, nothing else happening... my recon covers pretty much every enemy buildup in range at all fronts and lately there seems to have been a big increase of troops on Ceylon, there are 64 enemy units identified at Colombo [X(]

[castor troy]

there were probing sweeps with P-38 out of Jaffna engaging my CAP at Hyderabad, lots of long range recon at pretty much all occupied bases in India (even Calcutta and Bombay were reconned by what seems to have been US long range recon aircraft), an enemy surface combat group that showed up West of Sumatra and the enemy is trying some sort of sub blockade in the sealanes between Rangoon and Calcutta it seems...



my western front seems to be heating up anytime soon considering what the enemy is doing there or it's all a big bluff... with the naval losses in the Marshalls everything else than a limited amphib operation near major Allied bases would be suizide so I'm actually expecting an attack out of either Ceylon or Australia which makes the most likely targets Western India and Port Moresby... PM is heavily defended and hard to take without naval and air superiority but Western India is undefended so I guess the enemy will land at the closest bases to Colombo and build up strenght to move further East all the way back to the Burmese border... the buildup in the West and the long fight to the East will take time which is exactly what we are aiming at...

there's also danger of an operation out of Ceylon against Sumatra or Java but to be honest, that would be the next high risk operation and with the disasters of these operations in the past I highly doubt an invasion there is going to happen before India has been secured to threaten Burma... I consider the Pacific front as being pretty much safe until some time in mid 44 as I will have carrier superiority until then...

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 31, 43
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ASW attack near Fukue-jima at 100,59

Japanese Ships
E Iki
E Kanju
DD Uranami

Allied Ships
SS Sawfish

I have yet to see one of my ASW groups being a real threat to any sub... cruising for weeks for no result...

SS Sawfish is located by E Iki
Sawfish diving deep ....
DD Uranami fails to find sub and abandons search
E Iki fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Iki fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Iki fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Iki fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Iki fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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ASW attack near Addu at 13,49

Japanese Ships
SS I-30, hits 2

Allied Ships
DD Cony
AE Henry S Grove
xAK T. A. Johnson
xAK Ludington
xAK Nathaniel Ingersoll
xAK Meigs
xAK Typhoon
xAK Cape Alexander
xAK Cape Stephens
xAK Sidney Hauptmann
xAK Troja
DD Eaton
DD Dyson

the sub is driven off as usual but it's good intel, this looks like a US convoy... as recon reports US units on Ceylon this convoy might bring even more of them...


SS I-30 launches 2 torpedoes at DD Cony
I-30 diving deep ....
DD Eaton attacking submerged sub ....
DD Dyson fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Eaton fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Eaton attacking submerged sub ....
DD Eaton attacking submerged sub ....
DD Eaton is out of ASW ammo
DD Eaton is out of ASW ammo
DD Eaton is out of ASW ammo
DD Eaton is out of ASW ammo
DD Eaton is out of ASW ammo
DD Eaton fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 08, 43
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Ground combat at Vizagapatnam (42,37)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 92 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 7

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 7

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Vizagapatnam !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(+), leaders(-)

Assaulting units:
2nd Raiding Rgt /2


thought it would be a day like many in the recent past without any action but then I suddenly realized my total supply stocks raised by over 100k this turn... looking through the different regions I found India's supply jumping up means we seized a big supply depot at the empty base of Vizagapatnam... that's nice, didn't expect to capture anything there as the base was empty and I just took it to have captured all the bases in the region

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 19, 43
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Submarine attack near Cochin at 26,41



Japanese Ships
SS I-165

Allied Ships
TK Buccinum, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

we get a precious tanker again, looks like one of the medium sized ones... the ship was empty and the convoy seems to be heading North, which seems quite bold to move a convoy along the coast... might need some naval bombers in the area...


TK Buccinum is sighted by SS I-165
SS I-165 launches 2 torpedoes at TK Buccinum


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Sub attack near Siquijor at 76,87

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 17
SC Ch 16
TK Syoyo Maru
TK San Pedro Maru
TK San Diego Maru
TK Kiyo Maru
SC Ch 48
SC Ch 44
SC Ch 42

Allied Ships
SS Corvina

SS Corvina launches 2 torpedoes at SC Ch 17
Corvina diving deep ....
SC Ch 48 fails to find sub and abandons search
SC Ch 44 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 42 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 44 fails to find sub and abandons search
SC Ch 42 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 42 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 42 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 42 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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Submarine attack near Cochin at 27,40

Japanese Ships
SS I-23

Allied Ships
TK Thorshavn


we even get another attack on the enemy tanker convoy but the damn sub missed...

TK Thorshavn is sighted by SS I-23
SS I-23 launches 2 torpedoes at TK Thorshavn

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 20, 43
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Submarine attack near Cochin at 27,40



Japanese Ships
SS I-165

Allied Ships
TK British Colonel, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

our subs pursue the unescorted tanker convoy that is directly heading North and we sink another ship... both the fact that such a convoy is totally unescorted as well as it's going into that direction is absolutely surprising to me... have moved in three Betty daitais that might catch some more ships tomorrow... as the convoy is spotted I expect the enemy to change direction though...


TK British Colonel is sighted by SS I-165
SS I-165 launches 4 torpedoes at TK British Colonel


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Sub attack near Trivandrum at 27,44

Japanese Ships
SS I-23

Allied Ships
LST 214, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
LST 199
AM Carnatic

a sub on transit attacks a LST and sinks it in a shallow hex... glad there was only one minesweeper as escort around... both troop and ship count on Ceylon is going up steadily, no doubt the enemy is up to something, I expect an invasion on Western India any moment and there's nothing we can do about it...


SS I-23 launches 2 torpedoes at LST 214
I-23 bottoming out ....
AM Carnatic fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Carnatic fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Carnatic fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Carnatic fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Carnatic fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 21, 43
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Sub attack near Laoag at 80,71

Japanese Ships
E Kanju, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Uranami

Allied Ships
SS Apogon

wow, that's the third E vessel we lose on ASW duty while we haven't sunk a sub with those "hunter" groups yet... [8|]


SS Apogon launches 4 torpedoes at E Kanju
Apogon diving deep ....
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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Sub attack near Laoag at 80,71

Japanese Ships
DD Uranami

Allied Ships
SS Apogon

SS Apogon launches 2 torpedoes at DD Uranami
Apogon diving deep ....
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Uranami attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Mangalore at 28,30



Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 15

No Japanese losses

we have spotted the tanker convoy in both air phases as it just kept plotting North... amazing... also amazing is my stupidity to have forgotten about the requirements to launch torpedo attacks as Bombay has a level 9 airfield but no air HQ around that could supply torpedoes... silly me... of course the bombers can't hit shit from 10000ft as non of the crews has had any navbomb training, they are all trained to fly torpedo attacks... most of the bombers fail to locate the convoy due to weather or range even though the ships were "only" 11 hexes away...


Allied Ships
TK Semiramis
TK William Strachan
TK Augustina
TK Clydebank

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mangalore at 28,30

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
TK British Zeal
TK Juno
TK Clydebank
TK British Commodore
TK Thorshavn

Aircraft Attacking:
17 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

[BBfanboy]

Why are you surprised by a tanker convoy going north toward Abadan? It should be going far off the coast of course, but he may have overlooked setting such a course for that one. The subs he would not have known about but he should have guessed that Bombay airfield was dangerous.

EDIT: I just remembered that you can set your view to only show manually controlled TFs, so if that tanker TF was a CS or Autoconvoy one it would not show up for him.