Empire of the Sun - DesertWolf101 (J) vs Andy Mac (A)

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
Andy is pulling back his army near Irkutsk. I will follow and entrench in the next hex over if he stands his ground there as he likely will. This is the ideal place for me to hold the line. I think I only really need two hexes here (98,16 and 99,16) but I will also place some troops on 97,17 as added security. If there is any position to weather the future Soviet assaults I think this is it!

I don't understand why he's pulling back. He had that nice frontline in the mountains and rough jungle with a dirt road connecting the flanks. Why give you additional good terrain hexes for future defense in depth for free? I don't believe that his army is in bad shape too

Well, never interrupt your opponent in certain situations [:)]

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
Andy is pulling back his army near Irkutsk. I will follow and entrench in the next hex over if he stands his ground there as he likely will. This is the ideal place for me to hold the line. I think I only really need two hexes here (98,16 and 99,16) but I will also place some troops on 97,17 as added security. If there is any position to weather the future Soviet assaults I think this is it!

I don't understand why he's pulling back. He had that nice frontline in the mountains and rough jungle with a dirt road connecting the flanks. Why give you additional good terrain hexes for future defense in depth for free? I don't believe that his army is in bad shape too

Well, never interrupt your opponent in certain situations [:)]

The terrain we were in was x2 terrain, so he is now moving back one hex to x3 terrain.

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

Damn, now I got what you meant. I understood you somehow moved a B17 group there during the test.

So, if he cannot rail the groups offmap and then inmap again, I guess he cannot move other than bombers from India.

Yeah, and he already lacks enough Fighters there, so more bombers serve little purpose.

Personally I would bet my head on an imminent offensive in India. I was just speculating about other possibilities.

Given his losses on convoys to Karachi, and the fact he committed (and lost) his last two US CV to escorting those convoys, a focus on India is a safe bet.

[DesertWolf101]

1943!

I placed my last orders of 1942 in the turn that I just sent Andy and here we are in 1943. Wow - what a year in the game! Three more years until I make it to my goal of 1946. I thought I would give a comprehensive update on where things stand with the Empire. If you see something wrong (too many losses of a certain type, an economic weakness, etc.) please let me know. Let's start with the overall picture.

[DesertWolf101]

The Empire

[DesertWolf101]

The Economy

Supply has just recently passed the 5 million mark and is climbing. Fuel is at 5.8 million and is steady. Oil is finally climbing after I closed down some refineries in the SRA. The newly captured oil wells in Sakhalin are now half repaired and that should help with the oil flow too.

[DesertWolf101]

Surface Warship Losses

I am not sure why, but I mourn the loss of the Maya more than the CVLs.

[DesertWolf101]

AP, AO, and TK Losses

Even having lost almost no tankers I still find myself in need of many more.

[DesertWolf101]

Submarine Losses

[DesertWolf101]

Aircraft Losses

[DesertWolf101]

Aces and Pilot Losses

My top pilot was recently wounded in the air battles over Karachi. I am curious if I have lost too many pilots relative to the date of the war?

[DesertWolf101]

And it's all over!..... J/K, we will continue until the Empire is no more.

[DesertWolf101]

January 1, 1943

The effort to clear out the Soviet submarine defensive screen around Vladivostok is proceeding well thus far. There were nine subs there a few days ago and already five of them have been destroyed. It's a combined arms approach: ASW air and warships damage the subs enough to force them into port and then when enough of them are in port my bombers swoop in at low altitude and finish them off. The cost in bombers is fairly heavy given the flak density at Vladivostok, but it is ultimately worth it. I judge the threat has been mitigated enough to commence the battleship bombardment of the city. That will go in next turn.

[DesertWolf101]

Radio Intelligence

The Japanese are clearly at a disadvantage with regards to SIGINT in comparison to the Allies, but it would be a grave mistake to dismiss its use either as the Japanese player or the potential threat it poses to you if you are the Allied player. SIGINT for instance has been critical to my two ambushes in the northern Arabian Sea, with spectacular results. Now I am receiving enough SIGINT to lead me to the conclusion that a big Allied convoy is approaching the northern Arabian Sea in a matter of days. It's all about pattern recognition and connecting the dots with on the map operations. The KB will move up in the hopes of another intercept.

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Radio Intelligence

The Japanese are clearly at a disadvantage with regards to SIGINT in comparison to the Allies, but it would be a grave mistake to dismiss its use either as the Japanese player or the potential threat it poses to you if you are the Allied player. SIGINT for instance has been critical to my two ambushes in the northern Arabian Sea, with spectacular results. Now I am receiving enough SIGINT to lead me to the conclusion that a big Allied convoy is approaching the northern Arabian Sea in a matter of days. It's all about pattern recognition and connecting the dots with on the map operations. The KB will move up in the hopes of another intercept.

It only takes one good intel report to organize a successful ambush. It’s the classic problem, when the offense only needs to be lucky once to get a breakthrough.

Congrats on your victory. The disproportion between both sides’ losses is astounding.

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The Economy

Supply has just recently passed the 5 million mark and is climbing. Fuel is at 5.8 million and is steady. Oil is finally climbing after I closed down some refineries in the SRA. The newly captured oil wells in Sakhalin are now half repaired and that should help with the oil flow too.

Nice R&D and Engine increase, but I see the Armaments are still at 620, which is the starting level, as far as I remember. Don’t you fear running out with the soon to happen IJA squad upgrade, and all the new LCU’s you’ll get in ‘43 and ‘44 ?

I note you have increased the Refineries quite a lot, but have shut down a third of it. Any reason why ? I see your Oil stocks are high, production too, you’d have enough Oil to run those extra Refineries for quite some time.[&:]

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Radio Intelligence

The Japanese are clearly at a disadvantage with regards to SIGINT in comparison to the Allies, but it would be a grave mistake to dismiss its use either as the Japanese player or the potential threat it poses to you if you are the Allied player. SIGINT for instance has been critical to my two ambushes in the northern Arabian Sea, with spectacular results. Now I am receiving enough SIGINT to lead me to the conclusion that a big Allied convoy is approaching the northern Arabian Sea in a matter of days. It's all about pattern recognition and connecting the dots with on the map operations. The KB will move up in the hopes of another intercept.

It only takes one good intel report to organize a successful ambush. It’s the classic problem, when the offense only needs to be lucky once to get a breakthrough.

Congrats on your victory. The disproportion between both sides’ losses is astounding.

Thank you!

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The Economy

Supply has just recently passed the 5 million mark and is climbing. Fuel is at 5.8 million and is steady. Oil is finally climbing after I closed down some refineries in the SRA. The newly captured oil wells in Sakhalin are now half repaired and that should help with the oil flow too.

Nice R&D and Engine increase, but I see the Armaments are still at 620, which is the starting level, as far as I remember. Don’t you fear running out with the soon to happen IJA squad upgrade, and all the new LCU’s you’ll get in ‘43 and ‘44 ?

I note you have increased the Refineries quite a lot, but have shut down a third of it. Any reason why ? I see your Oil stocks are high, production too, you’d have enough Oil to run those extra Refineries for quite some time.[&:]

I am navigating a bit blind here since this is the first time I am doing all this, so I appreciate the feedback.

I didn't know that armaments would be an issue, I thought that the base starting level would be generally sufficient for the length of the game. It hasn't been an issue so far at least. Think I should increase it now? Is the IJA squad upgrade worth doing or can I skip that to save on armament points?

I haven't increased refineries at all, rather the increase has come entirely from captured facilities. I recently shut down a third because oil was decreasing and I prefer to use the refineries in the home islands so as to generate supply back there. It's likely just a temporary move though as it is nice to have the extra supply generation from the refineries closer to the front.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
I recently shut down a third because oil was decreasing and I prefer to use the refineries in the home islands so as to generate supply back there. It's likely just a temporary move though as it is nice to have the extra supply generation from the refineries closer to the front.

Shipping supplies back to HI might be easier, more ships can do it efficiently compared to shipping oil/fuel

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
I recently shut down a third because oil was decreasing and I prefer to use the refineries in the home islands so as to generate supply back there. It's likely just a temporary move though as it is nice to have the extra supply generation from the refineries closer to the front.

Shipping supplies back to HI might be easier, more ships can do it efficiently compared to shipping oil/fuel

Good point! I am surprised I overlooked that.