The First Team: Take Two!

[Hornblower]

i am enjoying this one...  Keep it up

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

My strategic partner has made important moves and THEN informed me of it!

What can you do, unfortunately my employer just doesn't understand WITP. I have tried to explain several times, and even though I work for a JAPANESE company, one founded in 1936 that worked in the war effort, trying to reclaim the glory of the Empire, they insist that I work IRL! Barbarians!

[Hornblower]

Management at my place of the employement has the same lack of "strategic" vision..

[John 3rd]

I didn't think they existed!

NOW we can play some...

[flaggelant]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Maybe we can shift those big lines over to something we want in 1943 like Jacks or FRANKS!!!

what i kinda concluded from damian's report on R&D was that smaller factorys work better for R&D
having to repair a switched 100 capacity factory makes you wait for a while before it actually developes anything
(as stated in damians R&D report a not fully functionally plant doesnt research anything)

so the bigger plants would seem better of working on real production since they do produce even when not fully repaired



Allied warships?? you got to be kiddin' me!!
those only exist in fairytales [:D]

[n01487477]

Flaggelant,
I'd probably conclude the same as you, although I did "a"(pivotal word here!) test last night on R&D. Set up was to R&D Tojo's in BB1.5, starting Dec 7. Set multiple lines of 30,60,90,120 and checked every month, surprisingly I saw something interesting. All of them repaired at a rate compatible with their size, and while there were small differences, all of them repaired fully by or before iirc 7/5/42(english dates), whereas on the 7/4/42, none were fully repaired(but close).

Leaving about 100 days to R&D. Hence the need for multiple factories. 2*30 would give "about" 100 points after "about" 50 additional days, so sometime mid 6/42, making the plane avail 7/42  , 1 month off... And you'd need > 4 factories to get 2 months(well mid 6/42). Or so I'd conclude as do http://witp.kodapa.com/index.php?title= ... e_Industry

I'd like to test this again for more data and long range > 1 year R&D.

--damian--

[John 3rd]

Brad and I's opinion of the R&D situation is probably not printable right now...

The American CV moves off and we lose track of it. No great excitement. The CA and DD hit yesterday will make it to Attu, pump out, and then repair. We asked ourselves the question 'why would the Americans risk a single CV for a raid?' Doesn't make a lot of sense unless they were counting on no resistance.

Another day at the office...

[anarchyintheuk]

If their goal is to confuse you, mission accomplished.[;)]

[John 3rd]

  Brad and I trying to figure out their tactics!

[John 3rd]

The two members that form the major decision-making bodies of this War Cabinet are trying to figure out a few things at the moment.  WE had 5-7 emails go back and forth today as we tried to hash out some things.  I will list the topics and then start the discussion some and see what Brad and others have to say:

1.  The Aleutians

My gut tells me that this is where the hammer may fall.  I do not base this on anything serious.  It s simply a gut feeling.  Since we saw the one US CV there has been no other sightings of anything.  My spider sense is twitching.  I've decided to continue the LBA build-up until we have a strong force at Amchitka.  Current goal is 100 Zero, 39 Helen, and 81 Betty.  This should be a strong enough force to punch some serious holes in their targets and yet be sustainable on the current AF. 

Have ordered another Chinese Independent Brigade to garrison Amchitka.  Want Kiska and Amchitka at about 300 AV for the time being.

Am also looking at sending more supply and fuel up there in case I need them.  Want enough to top off the Kaigun once if needed (50,000 Fuel) and have both major bases at about 30,000 supply.  Kiska is already there so we'll get supply to Amchitka.

The bases are building up decently and that is good.  Unmak went to Lvl-1 AF and is headed to Lvl-2 pretty quickly.  Don't want to build too much here but need enough to be able to use it effectively.

2.  The Line Islands

Will take these Islands hard and fast.  The Palmyra Invasion Force has already left and it is covered by Yamato and friends.  After another day the KB will move out to provide aerial cover.  As soon as Palmyra falls I will occupy the other bases and then use Palmyra and Christmas for development and future power-projection.

Figure to leave one Ind Brigade as a garrison at Palmyra and the other two will form a regional reaction force.  Current major troop units deployed for reaction are 54th ID at Kwajalein and South Seas Force at Suva.  Think I might move the two Ind Brigades to Suva so I have a division-sized Reaction Force here as well.

Would like more troops but this is what I have at the moment.

3.  The Fleet

Must begin rotation home for upgrades and repairs.  As soon as the Line Islands are taken the Fleet will move to Kwajalein and sit.  Unless something major occurs up north I will let the Kaigun rest and work off their System Damage.

Figure the current strength of 6 CV and 3 CVL is adequate for a while.  Brad and I were talking about the IO CVs (Junyo/Hiyo/Ryujo/4 CVE) and I think they should stay over there to deal with the British Fleet is it ever comes out of the Aden Channel.

4.  India and Burma

We must wipe out the damned Chinese hanging on at 35,29.  They have held out even against a 42-1 attack!  Brad has started moving more troops into the hex to get this done.  The impact of this resistance is considerable.  They are keeping 1,000 AV occupied when they are most definitely needed elsewhere.

Ceylon will be taken over the next two weeks or so and that will help immeasurably.  We can advance the Fleet to base it there as well as gain the Repair Yard and good AF.  We'll be able to pull the whole Theatre together with NOTHING behind our lines.  It will also allow us to move about 200 or so Army planes to more better areas of use.

Karachi is a ticking time bomb.  Two Sweeps over the last couple of turns have yielded a 1-1 exchange of 47 Zero to 53 Allied Fighters.  We can afford the Fighter losses without much issue but Karachi's rapidly expanding AF poses real trouble sooner or later.  Our troops just got kicked out of the hex and so there is real worry that the Allies may try a breakout from this corner.  BIG CONCERNS HERE!

We have ground troops in the pipeline to help with India.  The 9th Inf Div and two Engineering Regiments are at sea heading for Madras.


This is a rough topical overview of the situation throughout the Empire.  I open it for discussion...

[Q-Ball]

That is a good summary from John.

Karachi is a problem. The last troops are pulling up to Bombay to start attacking, but Karachi might be a breakout. We have 3 divisions over there, and the plan was to get them into the Urban hex, but we didn't quite make it. The fact that Karachi is an airbase and Malir is not was the deciding factor. We will see how this develops; I expect them to cross the river, which will change the India dynamic for the worse. At least they will be marching away from their airbases and towards ours; as that happens, we will rule the skies.

Burma, John mentioned the Chinese holding in 35,29. FINALLY a unit surrendered yesterday (July 7), so I think they are about to crack. Those troops are now spent, and will need R&R to get combat ready.

We will land soon on Ceylon; I thought of delaying to put more troops in Bombay, but regardless of what happens we can't have that in our rear. Plus, we should capture 15K or so Brits.

[Rainer79]

IMO the highest priority should be to immobilize the forces in Karachi while ignoring Bombay for a while. You will need a long siege anyway to take the base.

Therefore I'd divert the troops moving to Bombay to Karachi. You should be able to pull some of the troops already in Bombay out as well to reinforce this thrust. 800 - 900 AV should be more than enough to pin the defenders in place. Once the Brits are safely locked into the two urban hexes you can start thinking about Bombay again.

[ny59giants]

For those more familiar with Big B's mod, where do the troops changed from West Coast Command to SE Asia go to??
A) Aden
B) Bombay
C) Karachi
D) None of the above

If the answer is either B or C, then the Japanese are screwed. [X(]

[John 3rd]

I choose E----Ships sink due to German Submarine Attack!

[Hornblower]

Are you going to reposition some of your SS and AS's to the line islands do you can hit the shipping lanes between SF and PH?.  I think moving the KB to Kwajalein is a good move.  it will to a degree midigate what it always thought the USN was going to do.  swing around from wake into your rear. 

[frank1970]

Operations up in the North:
I would not drop the possibility of a trap you are going to run in. What can they do up in the north? Recapture their bases? How would this change your plans? How would it help them?

They showed you ONE carrier up in the north. They might want you to think the others are up there, too. Then they will counterattack in southern pacific or at least defend Palmyra in strength. It cannot be your aim to loose some carriers for an island without any potential for your strategy.

As for India, your opponents couldn´t do you a larger favour than to attack and leave Karachi. Then you can destroy their divisions at non urban hexes. So, let them come, they should not have the units to keep up their LOS.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Frank

Operations up in the North:
I would not drop the possibility of a trap you are going to run in. What can they do up in the north? Recapture their bases? How would this change your plans? How would it help them?

They showed you ONE carrier up in the north. They might want you to think the others are up there, too. Then they will counterattack in southern pacific or at least defend Palmyra in strength. It cannot be your aim to loose some carriers for an island without any potential for your strategy.

As for India, your opponents couldn´t do you a larger favour than to attack and leave Karachi. Then you can destroy their divisions at non urban hexes. So, let them come, they should not have the units to keep up their LOS.

Brad---I like the way this man thinks!

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Are you going to reposition some of your SS and AS's to the line islands do you can hit the shipping lanes between SF and PH?.  I think moving the KB to Kwajalein is a good move.  it will to a degree midigate what it always thought the USN was going to do.  swing around from wake into your rear. 

This is a good idea to work with. Our SS are stretched pretty thin at the moment prowling just about everywhere but I'll see what can be moved there. We have 3 Glen-SS and 2 Ro-Class presently in the area.

[John 3rd]

Combat Report
July 8, 1942

On a day that sees the Japanese land at both Trincomalee and Palmyra, the Japanese are somewhat surprised to find 60% of the US Carrier Fleet ENE of Palmyra. Most of the action is described below in the screenshot.

Palmyra
What happens tomorrow will depend on whether Americans stick around for another day of action. I doubt if they will considering the large number of Wildcats we shot down. If the Americans stick around they will be sunk. Should be about that simple. If there are 3 CV (noticed Lex/Ent/Wasp Squadrons) then they have lost over 20% of their Fighters without doing any serious aerial casualties to the Japanese.

Ship Damage:
BB Yamato 41B and 6 TT---SUNK!!! [:o]
CA Chikuma 3B--On Fire
CL Yura 3B--Heavy Damage
CL Kitakami 1 Torp--On Fire
DD Shigure 1B

Considering that there were 150 SBD and Avengers, this could have been much worse! Only Yura looks pretty bad at the moment.

The Invasion begins in the afternoon and experiences heavy CD fire. The Shock attack (with only one landing phase) is just barely 0-1 (33-43) against Forts 6. There is a CD units and two Base Force. The two Inf Brigades land about 50% of their strength. I order the 3rd Brigade that was moving on Christmas to divert towards Palmyra to add punch if needed.

Karachi
Brad had a GREAT attack at Karachi today! He struck with 81 Fighters and 108 Bombers against a CAP of 57 Allied Fighters. We lost 20 Oscars and 12 Zeros plus 5 Bombers on the bomb run. The Allies take it on the chin losing 41 Fighters in the air with another 24 destroyed on the ground. Another 12 planes (Recon and Bombers) are destroyed on the ground.

Trincomalee
The Japanese begin landing here. CD is fairly lite and it appears that taking this base might be fairly easy.

[2ndACR]

That looks familiar.........Yamato never survives more than 2-3 months in my games either.
 
But you found the enemy.......but you state low on fuel.......that makes me cautious about your chances. You want no react and 5 hex range attacks. Make them come at you with 500 lb bombs.