Matrix Games Forums

Welcome all, the game is Big B 1.5 scenario 192
Standard House rules and we both agree to not do anything to out of the box[:D] Really expect a tough fight from John because he knows more about the Japanese side than I do.

OK We are currently on December 9th turn and the initial 12/7 attack went fairly well. I split KB up, 4 carriers went to pearl and 2 others went to manila. Did alot of damage to the ships in both places and the plane losses were within tolerance, lost about 30 planes total.

Plan is to capture Kuching, Amboina, Kopang and Balikpapan to try and cut off the SRA quickly. Also going to get Singapore bottled up fairly quickly and just put enough troops in the PI to isolate it until other objectives fall. Sending a Division + out to Truk to use to expand to at least PM and probably Noumea.

Here are some situation pictures.


Please feel free to give advice and opinions[:)]

Update: Initial Plan after some thought[:D]

Burma/India – The objective is Singapore first, take Rangoon and then to cut off the Chinese from Burma. Don’t plan on invading India from this direction (that could change but I doubt it). Once Singapore falls the plan is to mass the majority of my forces to invade and capture as much of India as I can to try and get the Auto victory. I have never tried this invasion but I want to challenge myself. Hope to have 8+ Divs and support units. Am unsure yet how much force I will have, it depends on how things go.
Philippines – Commit 2 Divs to the invasion and enough force to isolate the forces there and starve them out. Will use the islands to train my air force as much as possible.
China – This is Big B mod so I will not be very aggressive here, as I don’t want to release the static horde of troops.
SRA – Must capture all the SRA oilfields and resource areas. Will have 2 Divs and numerous smaller forces detailed to do this.
South Pacific – Capture Rabaul and Port Moresby and advance as far as Noumea. Will establish a defensive line from there. May take the northern Australia bases if I can spare the support for it.
Central Pacific – Reinforce all the Islands that make good early targets and use land based air to keep allies at bay until Indian invasion is ashore.
Northern Pacific – Plan on taking Attu and maybe one or two other islands to make the allies work getting close to Japan later on.
Economy – Have learned to get supplies back to Japan to keep things building. Will expand some engines, airframes (zero, sally and Oscars right now) and have adjusted my ship builds to move my small carriers along. Will expand HI later on once I know I have the supplies under control. Always looking for advice on economics, as I never took the course.

Situation in SRA, he came right at me and I suffered some back luck as a Dutch Sub put a torp into Suzaya and she had to leave just as POW and Repulse showed up to dance. I have some air in the area now so i assume he will not stay around.

One more of my Burma invasion force and plan.

Expect John to give you trouble in the DEI (with his surface ships) and by trying to mount a vigorous defense at Wake - he'll probably move in a CD and other troops via fast transport.  Good luck!

Situation report 12-10-41

Central Pacific - Managed to take Wake Island on Dec 7th, was glad that happened as it is a toss up what will happen there. Am grabbing the islands of Makin and Tarawa and will get BFs there and CD units as well, same for all the islands I think will be targets later on. No sign of the allied carriers.

SRA - got a torpedo into Repulse today, hopefully that will slow her down enough to get another attack in today but the crews are very low moral. Miri and Brunai both fell with minimal damage to the fields. Allies sub got into my Kuching invasion force and sank an AP with part of the 21st mixed Brigade, that hurt.

Burma - divisions are moving now, looks like he may be falling back but it is hard to tell right now.

Northern front - Am sending an invasion force to grab Attu hopefully will surprize him but we will have to see.

Here are the AC losses so far. Does anyone know if there is a way to post multiple pictures in one post?

Ken,
Well you can use photobucket or other web based photo storage sites and then link to those pictures.

PHOTOS
(AND just so you know I'm using photo bucket to show these pics)
1. Make an account with them http://photobucket.com/ (be careful - I never give accurate details!), upload the photos
2. copy each url onto a message ... 3. In this forum area copy the link and place image tags around it ... 4. That's it ... easy right!!!

Alternatively you can just copy and paste into paint and make a large pic!

test


Well what do you know it works, your the man n01487477[:D]

Ken,

You can post some of those screen shots from Tracker in regards to the economy (Industry and Production tabs) and I can pass on my new knowledge that Damian taught me in out game (currently at 4 Feb 42). If I get overwhelmed, I know Damian will speak up.

Good luck, i'll be reading both sides... 

Will do giants, just a couple but if you want to see anything in particular just let me know.

Here is my Aircraft screen, am building Sally's and Helens to build up the pools and then will build sally's


Oil and Resources Screen



Global Production I like this one and am learning how to use it.



I wont normally post the combat reports but i will this turn

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/10/41

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ASW attack near Batan Islands at 46,47

Japanese Ships
PC Ch 32
PC Ch 18
PC Ch 17

Allied Ships
SS S-36, hits 5, on fire

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ASW attack near Batan Islands at 46,47

Japanese Ships
PC Ch 32
PC Ch 18
PC Ch 17

Allied Ships
SS S-36, hits 5, on fire

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Kuching at 27,56

Japanese Ships
CA Chokai
DD Fubuki, Shell hits 1
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Isonami
DD Sagiri, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Dragon, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage She Sank later
CL Durban, Shell hits 7 She did too [:D]

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Day Air attack on Hong Kong , at 43,42

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 4
Ki-51 Sonia x 3
Ki-15 Babs x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-51 Sonia: 3 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-51 Sonia bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Alor Star , at 24,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 24
Ki-21 Sally x 40

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Alor Star , at 24,44

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 21
Ki-21 Sally x 12
Ki-46-II Dinah x 2
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Runway hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 25
G4M1 Betty x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 18 This is making Manila expensive for me.
P-40B Tomahawk x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
33 casualties reported

Runway hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 15000 feet
12 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Clark Field , at 43,51

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 34
C5M Babs x 6
Ki-46-II Dinah x 2
Ki-15 Babs x 6

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
10 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Manado at 39,67

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A Val x 18
B5N Kate x 20

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Legazpi, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Manado at 39,67

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Lepus, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Legaspi at 45,54

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 50,47

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 10

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AO Trinity
MSW Lark, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 43,53

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
Ki-30 Ann x 29

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 7
P-40B Tomahawk x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-30 Ann: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AV Langley, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
AVD Childs, Bomb hits 10, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
1 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Brunei at 33,56

Japanese Ships
CL Kashii

Allied Ships
SS KXIV

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Jolo at 39,59

Japanese Ships
AP Buyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-40


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Ground combat at Hong Kong

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 40255 troops, 444 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 876

Defending force 11563 troops, 94 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 187



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Jolo

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4412 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Defending force 700 troops, 3 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese max assault: 26 - adjusted assault: 26

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 7

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Jolo base !!! FINALLY[&o]


Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
1129 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Laoag

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 765 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 25

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

Japanese max assault: 26 - adjusted assault: 14

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 14 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Laoag base !!!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at San Fernando

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3292 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 77

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

Japanese max assault: 47 - adjusted assault: 25

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 25 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE San Fernando base !!!

Ken,

Here is a screen shot of where I am in our game with aircraft production. Use what you want to help you.

Per Damian, don't let your Global supply get below 1.8 million.

If you haven't yet, don't forget that Bangkok and Saigon/Hanoi will need Oil soon and Formosa will need Oil and Resources. I got behind a few turns in our game.

Merchant shipbuilding - I halted all AK's I could and monitored them through Tracker so I could use the points for MLE and ARs converted and then accelerated those I could afford.

Sasebo - do very little here as one turn all that extra supply will be moved by the AI and you will be like me and have a bunch Oscars that don't repair. [:(]

I will send you my cluster for Tracker using Big B's mod with my next turn as you seem to have a lot of locations under the Industry vs Japan or other locations. It will make a difference in monitoring what a regions needs.

More to follow. [;)]

Thanks alot, anything that helps me is welcome as winning militarily is hard enough[:D]

Actually I'd disagree with halting the AKs. I would stop any APs when the hit the 10x durability mark (unless suffering heavy losses) but proceed to build the AKs since they can haul supplies, resources and fuel which makes them very useful.

True. Sasebo will need supplies shipped in if you want to repair your factories there.

Port Arthur and several coastal Chinese cities have a lot of fuel which should be shipped out ASAP. Also the islands around Japan will typically have stockpiles of 8 000 supplies. I'd recommend sending a big AK to each of them to move these stockpiles to the frontlines.

BTW there is a BigB cluster file included with Tracker. It is for 1.4 but I don't think there were any changes affecting it in 1.5.

FLEET THAT THE GODS FORGOT

Update: 12-13-41

Burma/India – troops moving into position in Malaya, attack at Khotu Baru next turn

Philippines – Surface action at Aparri ends in a draw after 3 rounds with no damage to my surface cruiser group.

Several surface ships hit near manila by DB’s Slowly moving down towards Clark field. Here is a shot of the area.


China – Hong Kong still holding out, sow grind here

SRA –. Surface combat action see’s 2 allied DD’s sunk at Jolo. Caught a 3 ship task force moving away from Amboina Here is a shot of my invasion progress


South Pacific – Quiet

Central Pacific – Quiet

Northern Pacific – Attu invasion force lands, have to get ashore and clear out. Have a long range search squadron there for recon.

Economy – Adjusting ship builds and monitoring levels right now, little change. Here is the Sunk Ships report


And air combat losses report, my losses have been heavy due to his commitment of the AVG in malaya

I am familiar with CHS rather than the Big B mod, so anything I say about the economy in your game should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. However, the following suggestions might be of some help.

Merchant ship construction. When deciding which ships' construction should be halted I look at return on investment. Paying 10 shipbuilding points per turn for a ship having a capacity of 2330 is normally not such good value as paying 20 points per turn to build a ship having 5000 capacity. In this example, not only are you getting more capacity per point paid, but you will also carry double the load for the same expenditure in fuel.

Aircraft production: You are building 45 Ki-51 Assault Planes per month but already have 100 in the pool. May be worth considering changing these factories to production of another type (e.g. Ki-43 perhaps or possibly research of Ki-44). However, you'll still need 72 Ki-51 to fill out additional units yet to arrive, leaving you a margin of 28 aircraft in the pool to cover attrition. If you are playing PDU on and find you are short of one type of army dive bomber but have a surplus of another type, then you can deal with shortfalls in the pool by juggling existing dive bomber units' equipment: the Ki-30 and Ki-32 pools may come to your aid.

Remember that each factory repair costs you 1000 supply points. You have Nakajima engine factories being repaired at a minimum of 3 locations, so that's a supply cost of 3000 points per turn by itself. Changing aircraft production lines to different models will have the same effect, as will any factory expansion. That said, you appear to have 2 Nakajima-producing locations that only have 4 production units apiece yet to repair. Consequently, those repairs will be complete in 4 days time (at a cost of 8000 supply points), and the daily drain of 2000 supply points for these locations will then cease. Since supply is so critical to the Japanese blitzkrieg in the early months, consider whether to cut back on factory repairs during these early days in order to maximise supply.

Ken has kindly allowed me to have a friendly fire side chat and talk a little about economic planning in the early stages of BB1.5.

I do not profess to know-it-all and there are many ways to skin a cat. Please feel free to add your comments and suggestions as I am sure that there are many people out there who know more and those that don't might find some of this helpful in processing and planning the early stages of the Japanese economy.

Phase 1 Lay of the land ...
BB1.5 is not a highly complex economic mod, but it does hold challenges.

Initially I look at the map & Tracker and determine what I have and what the Allies have.(I do a turn V the AI) I justify this by thinking that credible intelligence must have been made by the Japanese before the war.

Then I categorise this looking at inputs and outputs and ultimately the potential of the economy. I've done all the number crunching and hope that my analysis is simple enough to follow.

Inputs

First define the limiting factor in the mod, which in this case is OilCntr. There are 1147 OilC in Japanese hands at the outset and 1041 additional OilC are needed to supply the existing HI of 13131.

1570 OC's are easy captures in the SRA/DEI/Burma leaving 430 surplus, so if I need I can capture or build another 2400 HI. Now in BB1.5 there is only little need to expand HI beyond what you can capture, but I'm about maximising potential while still looking at returns from supply usage. I realise that it will take 1000 days to repay the cost of building the 1 HI factory, but essentially if it is necessary I'll do it.

13131 HI exists at the beginning, but with the same captures in the DEI/SRA/Burma this will expand by 400 (actually 800, but halved after capture).

Manpower - never a problem in any mod I've played and I never repair any, the cost of 10 Res per MC producing just makes no sense.

Outputs

1. Engines -
In BB1.5 there are really only two main lines of production (Nak and Mit) and 3 small(Hitachi, Kaw & Aichi).
The Mitsubishi is mainly used for LB, while the Nakajima for fighters etc.
The Kawasaki is used for Ki-61 b and c Tony's. The Aichi for the D4Y Judy.
Mistubishi & Nakajima engines start in production surplus, that is more engines are being built than planes needing them.

Hitachi is used for 2 transports, an Army DB and 1 recon plane. Now comes some decisions to make, do we keep these engines producing or convert them to Nakajima. The Nakajima is more of a priority as there is a smaller surplus happening here and air frames need to be expanded in this area so I say convert.

Quickly we need to decide on one or maybe 2 Naval transports(HK62-L, Tabby &/or Tina) and one Army Transport(Topsy). The Mary(DB)and all Army DB's should be converted to Army LB over time and the Ida is not worth keeping as a recon. While doing this we must make sure that we have the TBO in mind and realise that we must boost production of those we are converting to. I hate waste, so I don't convert grps until these transports are used and abused.Eventually leaving just one grp which will burn through the last of the planes in pool. I've become a fan of Nemo's air transport blitz and will furthermore place more priority on my Transport plan production.

There are two plants producing Nissan engines, which are not needed and should be converted to Nakajima too... I have a rule of thumb whereby I want my air and engine plants at a minimum of size 15~30, to ensure production.

2. Naval Shipyards
Everyone knows to halt CV Shinano.I look at the build list, when they are starting and what might be a candidate for acceleration.

I'd think about accelerating Umryu, Amagi or Katsuragi until they get into normal build range. (It is cheaper to do this (only 1X NOT 3X the cost).
[edit] IT IS 1x the cost

Ken is presently accelerating CVL Shoho and CV Junyo plus 2 SS's(fp capable), leaving him in the red. I'm not against this cause there might be the potential that this could be a short lived war unfortunately, however I'd not advocate this in normal games.
To do as I suggest you are going to be down on Naval points to do this, 60~100 more Naval ship points will help. IF you do this do multiple builds in small shipbuild facilities so that the capacity is achieved faster.

3. Merchies -
I never build anymore Merchant shipyards, I'd leave as is. I like Local Yokels appraisal of this getting bigger bang for the buck so to speak and will roll that into my future planning...I suggest you look at this too.

Ken is accelerating 3 MLE's & 2 CVE's. I'm not sure of the strategic significance of accelerating the MLE's but there must be some point to it. I'd be thinking more long term again or the AR's.

4. Veh & Arm production
Is predicated by LCU reinforcement and arrivals, which can be checked out in the Tracker LCU Production chart area. In BB1.5, you already have enough production capacity to cover the arrivals, unfortunately war is costly, so we'll have to cover the reinforcements which is about 31K Arm and 5K Veh (but as this takes an age to be realised we have nothing to sweat about.)

In this mod I'd repair some more Veh until you reach 150~200. I note that there hasn't been an increase in Veh points so we need to see if this rises over time. Armament production is fine at about 500, I'd not be expanding or repairing here at present.

5. Repair Yards -
I like to expand these slowly over time and build the smallest to min 20 to start with. You need these to take care of the AP/AK's when the others get clogged. I know that Ship Yards can accumulate up to 4X their point production, but as I get frustrated with ship repairs and like to have more than glacial movement, I like to get to size 20 so that I can potentially repair a ship with durability 20 every second day.(Although this never happens).

I'll deal with the large area of airframes and R&D tomorrow...the Initial Build Needs and finally if I have time I want to talk about The Path Ahead.

Cheers
Damian

Good thoughts so far! You're strategic approach is identical to the one John and I are trying in our 2X2 AAR (I won't tell), in that:

1. Limited commitment to Phillipines; just enough to drive them into Manila/Bataan, then pull the troops out.
2. Invasion of India

I agree with Damian's comments on Japanese production, in general I would focus production on only a few models, and here are my takes beyond the obvious production needs:

IJA Bomber: I would mostly build the Sally. It's pretty close to the Helen in capability, but Helen uses Nakajima engines (which you will find yourself running short on, as you need them for Zero/Oscar/Tojo), while the Sally uses the more numerous Mitsubishi engine. Build some Helen for reinforcement, but expand SALLY production. I also would NOT build Lilly beyond what you need to replace DB's initially; Sally is more durable, has more range, and a bigger payload.

IJA Fighter: I prefer the Tojo over the Tonyin terms of R&D priority (though you need to build both). They are close in capability, but in Big B, the reason is engines. The Tojo uses Nakajima engines, which you are already producing in numbers for all the other needs. Unused Nakajimas can also be used on other models. The Tony, on the other hand, uses only the Kawasaki engine; this engine is a "dead-end"; you can only use it on the Tony, not other models. Additionally, should you play that long, the Tojo factories auto-upgrade to the FRANK, while the TONY auto-upgrades to only more advanced Tonys.

Like Damian, I would only build Tabby/Tina, Topsy, no Idas, no IJA DBs, no Nates of course. I wouldn't bother researching A6m3a, it's not enough of an improvement over M2 to make the expenditure worth it (and M2 factories will auto-upgrade for free when you get the M3a). You need to research M3 for reinforcement units. Also, don't ever research any Oscar upgrades; let them happen by auto-upgrade, and spend that R&D on Jacks or something else.

Thanks for all the comments for far. Damian as for the MLE I forget why I am doing that now[X(] think I read something about those but of course now I can't find out. Will be boosting Vehicle production soon and the repair of the small Nakajima plants will happen, it is just that in another game I tried to repair to much to fast and ranmyself right into the ground. Made me cautious[&o].  Am generally doing what you have all recommended but will tweak as I go along. 

No Allied battlewagons sunk so far -- this is not good.[:@]