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

[DesertWolf101]

February 16-17, 1943

The pressure remains on in India, with the focus on the Calcutta area as my troops continue to pull back to either the city or the Burmese border.

[DesertWolf101]

Unfortunately, an excellent day in the air on the 16th of February was followed by a pretty bad day on the 17th. My LRCAP was hit by no less than a dozen sweeps and grinded down over the course of the day. 5 Zero pilots were lost, 3 of them aces. This is the result of the 17th.

[DesertWolf101]

The day got better towards the end with the destruction of yet another one of Andy's paratrooper landings.

[DesertWolf101]

Hurry Up Frank!

Here are all my Frank factories. The research levels are all over the place. I have had a single factory already reach level 30 two months ago and is about to push the date closer by a month. Think I can get the Frank by June 1943? Fingers crossed...

[DesertWolf101]

February 18-22, 1943

The last few days in India have been relatively quiet in comparison to the usual hectic action. The vast majority of my forces have now reached Madras, Calcutta, and Assam. On the 22nd of February though I pulled off a good ambush on some USN dive and torpedo bombers that were harassing my doomed ex-Bombay garrison.

[DesertWolf101]

February 25, 1943

The air war over India intensified once again on the 25th when Andy sent in significant sweeps to clear the skies over Calcutta. Fortunately, the sweeps ended just as my CAP was starting to tire out. I think my losses could have been more serious had he pressed his attack with his full weight. 2 of my fighter pilots are KIA, one an ace.

[DesertWolf101]

February 26, 1943

After yesterday's hesitant start Andy's air assault on Calcutta intensified to a fever pitch. Nearly a thousand Allied aircraft came at the city today in endless waves. The defending Japanese fighters did very well against the initial sweeps but started tiring out pretty fast towards the end of the onslaught. Andy lucked out in two regards, almost all his fighter sweeps came in first in the morning phase and by the time the bombers showed up in the afternoon phase the weather was perfect which really helped him plaster the city's airfields. Nevertheless the Japanese aces give as good as they got and only 14 Japanese pilots were killed. Given the scale of the battle I think that's a fairly modest number. About half of those were aces but many more were created on the same day. Runaway damage is at 42 so tomorrow is going to be a decisive day as he could very well close down the city's airfields if he presses on with his attack in force...

[PaxMondo]

You have 2x the sorties as compared to the allies ... where are all of those other aircraft and what are they doing?

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

You have 2x the sorties as compared to the allies ... where are all of those other aircraft and what are they doing?

Good question. Besides training and recon/search which are both intensive my bombers are heavily concentrated in the Soviet front and the bulk of my fighter squadrons are now in the Burma/India theater. Also important to note that having lost his CVs Andy has deployed his air groups on land while mine are aboard ship, which accounts for some discrepancy in the sortie rate.

I should also clarify that my biggest constraint right now in bringing enough aircraft forward in India is the lack of air support units and airfield stacking limits. For instance I have the fighter squadrons to reinforce Calcutta even more but I can't because that would blow past the stacking limits on the cities airfields. Andy on the other is not lacking for support units or airfields in India.

[DesertWolf101]

February 27, 1943

I swapped in new squadrons into Calcutta and braced myself for another day of intense pressure. Andy did not rest his squadrons and hammered me once again with massed waves of bombers and fighters. Unfortunately, it was another day of clear weather, and with hundred of bombers at his disposal Andy successfully closed down Calcutta's airfields. Here are the losses for the latest round.

[PaxMondo]

Ach, to bad about the lack of AV at the base. This is the ideal scenario for the IJ to eliminate the allied air forces. Oh well.

[jdsrae]

Try LRCAP 50% over Calcutta from fighters based at Dacca, set range to 0.

[DesertWolf101]

February 28, 1943

Might try some LRCAP but overall I doubt I can keep him from closing the airfields. This past turn is a good example of my challenge. I slaughter his fighter sweeps but then my fighters don't have the guns to really deal with his massed 4E formations that are then able to plaster the airfields. It hasn't helped that there has been very good weather these past few days.

Right now I am fighting to impose casualties on his air forces and for time to finalize my Burma air defenses. For Burma I am going to lean more heavily on flak to counter his powerful bombers. I think my options should improve a bit going forward as well since the George has just entered production and judging from its stats it should have an easier time damaging/destroying 4E heavies.

Here is the latest turn, Andy is keeping Calcutta closed while shifting his attention to Diamond Harbor. My fighters shatter a Spitfire sweep but couldn't keep the bombers from breaking through.

[DesertWolf101]

The air battle of Calcutta concludes with Andy successfully closing down the city's airfields. In the four days during which the battle has occurred Andy lost 460 aircraft and I lost 154. Some of these losses occurred elsewhere such as in my bombing against Vladivostok but the overwhelming majority (especially the Allied ones) were lost in India.

[DesertWolf101]

I ran a turn earlier today and found something interesting. I am attacking one of the Soviet forts right next to Voroshilov and the combat report says the fort is suffering from a supply malus. Surely the Vladivostok pocket still has plenty of supply? Thoughts on what this could mean?

[29000Kevin]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

I ran a turn earlier today and found something interesting. I am attacking one of the Soviet forts right next to Voroshilov and the combat report says the fort is suffering from a supply malus. Surely the Vladivostok pocket still has plenty of supply? Thoughts on what this could mean?

This could be either one of these two things.

Andy is stockpiling all his supplies in Vladivostok or Andy is running out of supplies already, this can only be confirmed if the heavy AA pieces are not firing their guns.

It seems too early for the Russians to be running out of supplies, unless he used it all to upgrade his units into their 1943 versions, which are far more deadlier than the 1942 version.

Meanwhile the lost of the Calcutta airfields are a shame, thankfully the George will be ready soon to place a nasty scar on those 4E planes, the early 4E Bombers will not fair well against the George from the combat reports I've seen, only the late war variants of the B-24 in 1944 seem to fair very well in getting rid of the George.

All those Ace pilots you have are a godsend for you, especially when the Frank will come online later this year with all the Tojo Aces.

Now we must pray to the gods of WiTP:AE for bad weather for the following days in India to give the base some relief.
Note that having any fighter opposition, no matter how small, against the 4E bombers will automatically lower how well they aim in the game since its hard coded in so make sure to disrupt those milk runs to Calcutta.

Still all those pilot loses over enemy terrian for the Allies will hurt, make sure that their is no Allied Subs nearby to rescue their pilots.

[DesertWolf101]

I have no doubt that he is stockpiling but I was under the impression that units out on the field (such as this fort which is not in a Soviet base hex) get supplies regardless of stockpiling when they are in range. Maybe this understanding of mine is faulty.

Yes, George is in production finally and I should have start equipping my squadrons with it soon enough. Just in time too, he starts getting massed Hellcats next game month.

[DesertWolf101]

March 1-2, 1943

On the 1st of March I was evacuating some support units from Diamond Harbor when enemy torpedo and dive bombers came in to wreck the party. I lost four good xAKs as a result. Painful!

I decided to extract my revenge so I sent in the KB that is covering the shipping in the area closer to Diamond Harbor on the 2nd of March. This drew out the same planes that attacked my merchant shipping which were promptly finished off by the Japanese CV fighters.

[29000Kevin]

The xAK loses were unfortunate, that is why you should always make sure to set up CAP trap in a region to make sure that the enemy player is not just letting Torpedo and Dive bombers fly wherever they want to go without escort, forcing them to escort will fatigue their pilots and remove some their planes away from CAP, Training and Resting duties which will help you overall in the campaign, especially with all the Fighter loses he has already lost, seeing knowing the low replacement numbers the UK has, its safe to assume that the US is the only nation with fighter flying, thanks to the replacement rate and pilots who are progressively getting worse.

Although I do find it gamy to make a CAP trap out of a worthless tiny boat.

Heck a bombing campaign against the Allied air bases could be really effective, it if weren't for Russia, the campaign could've even been elongated for much more longer.

Maybe night attacks could work, especially in a clear night with 100% moonlight.

[DesertWolf101]

March 6, 1943

Over the last few days Andy positioned his forces around Calcutta and began moving into the city for the river crossing. His bombers were distracted in engaging my garrison and plastering Diamond Harbor which allowed my engineers to repaired the runway damage. I took the opportunity to send in my fighters for another round of intense air combat. 9 Japanese pilots were killed in action, three of them aces.