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[Erkki]

Build lots of fast surface fleet ships smaller than BB.  And subs...build lots of subs.  gut reaction. :p

Whats wrong with the BBs? 

CV Taiho accelerated now... The capacity just fits her acceleration, and leaves some over, for reserve or something. Her ETA is now Feb 28 1943 - 363 turns!

WTH, February only has 28 days? 


March 2nd 1942

China: Sian falls! Chinese casualties are about 20,000 and they retreat. Oil fields are about 40% intact, as is the industry and refineries!

Burma: Initial assault on Port Blair fails, damn! Cruisers sweep ahead of a huge Allied convoy, which stops... and gets attacked by CVE Hosho's planes! They fly 2 strikes, putting bombs on 6 ships (1 confirmed sink, rest in bad shape at least, all likely to sink), shoot down 7 P-40Es that patrol over the convoy, losing one Zero.

Marshalls: CVL Ryujo makes it, it seems! Fires are out and it makes it to the anchorage. A repair ship is prepared in the home islands, a destroyer stolen to escort from another task force. Ryujo should be back in Kure Yards in 3 weeks and back in action in 2 months.

CV Junyo arrives! With 39 aircraft and crack pilots. She'll sit off Yokohama for a while, training her crew and getting more planes.

EDIT: also:

B-17s show their their ugly heads again. 3 B-17Es strike Palembang at 6000ft, all 3 get damaged by the patrolling Hayabusas and get through.. And now it paid to bring 5 flak battalions! The 48 heavy flag guns damage 2 more heavily, and they are confirmed to have crashed. Nice!

[yamo]

scuttlbutt is that the fast japanese cruisers can dodge torpedos.

[Erkki]

March 3rd

China: We're advancing well in the middle, more Chinese troops thrown back today. I need to soon move the bomber squadrons and their support units closer...

Burma: Just air action today, Zeroes sweep Moulmein, shoot down 4 confirmed and 1 probable Hurricanes and damage a Hawk for 3 lost Zeroes. 2 pilots are lost.

Very quiet day otherwise. Troops will land Shortlands(Bougainville) tomorrow, and with the engineer battalion now reinforcing the Japanese at Kuching, the North Borneo will probably be ours by tomorrow evening.

scuttlbutt is that the fast japanese cruisers can dodge torpedos.

Yep, they're harder to hit and fast, but also not as well armed nor armoured. Battleships can take wave after wave of dive bombers and engage any surface vessel 1 on 1.

Though really the Battleships arent that good, guns may be big but against great numbers of smaller, torpedo armed vessels, they are vulnerable, as they are to air attacks(any ship is). I use them for bombardment and as floating anti-aircraft artillery platforms, and bomb magnets. Cruiser & destroyer combo does surface action better in the big scale. But carriers, their versatility, mobility and superb firepower projection over thousands of nautical miles makes them easily the most powerful vessel, even if the aircraft and pilots have to be built and trained separately, no easy task. Era of the battleship is over, CV Taiho now eats all the extra NSY capacity. 

[Sheb]

Great. I'm a bit sad you couldn't pursue tehm and sink every single carrier, but I guess you know better. What about a raid on Australia?

[Zrk2]

I asked about that earlier, apparently there isn't much down there.

[Erkki]

Great. I'm a bit sad you couldn't pursue tehm and sink every single carrier, but I guess you know better. What about a raid on Australia?

I forgot to mention that he also had at  least 4 subs in the area... I rather keep all carriers alive with 70% change all US ones are down, than lose one of mine to subs or cruisers, to make sure they're all down. 

Now that they dont have carriers I might send a force of 2 or 3 down there. Need to refit, fix & replenish the air units first though. KB is now heading to Kobe.


March 4th

The British cruisers return... and bombard Moulmein again! On their way out, the 6 cruisers and 1 destroyer run into CVE Hosho's cover squadron: cruisers Nagara, Ashiragu and Nako and their escort destroyers. The British destroyer and 3 of the cruisers are hit repeatedly, and they cant return much fire as they're apparently low on ammo. Ashigara takes 6 hits, all penetrating, with fires... But few hours later the fires are out, and the Japanese ships barely took a scratch! Theres lots of ammo left, though no torpedoes, so they will try to catch the Brits during the night before they make it to Rangoon or further!

CVE Hosho's aircraft strike the egressing enemy, putting 3 250kg bombs on CL Dauntless. She now burns.

Shortlands invaded, there are no defenders.

Over Moulmein, another day of heavy air war, sees 16 Hurricanes and P-40s, and another 16-ish of damaged, shot down for the loss of 3 Zeroes, 9 Ki-43s and 7 pilots to all reasons.

Also, Kuching fell! Most defenders surrendered, a hundred or so ran into the jungle.

[Erkki]

March 5th

Interesting action today!

Naval action:

The Japanese cruiser force chasing the Brits never sees them again.. But instead runs into 4 passenger liners! Live fire target practice, all 4 are sunk quick, and all of the ships are literally full of troops and equipment... Estimated 4500 British troops and huge amount of equipment destroyed! 2 of the xAPs are great 22,000 ton liners, others 13 and 11kt. Big ships. Why were they unescorted?

3 x B-17s raid Makassar at 5,000ft, putting 500lbs bombs on 4 ships... None are now in danger of sinking, but the B-17s will probably come again tomorrow, so 2 squads of Zeroes are tasked to patrol over the port. Intact ships are moved out so that they are not so easy targets next round.

Air action:

2 new Allied aircraft show up for the first time today. Japanese sweep near Moulmein meets 3 P-39 D-1 Airacobras. 2 of them are shot up, and one goes down in flames by the Zeroes. Further sweeps manage to shoot down 3 or 4 Hurricanes and 2 P-40s to the price of one Ki-43.

Second new Allied model, 12 x B-26B Marauders raid Rabaul's harbor at just 1,000ft. One is shot down by the AAA, at least 1 more damaged, and they miss all the ships. 2 bombs find their ways to the supply dumps. Rabaul's Zeroes had been moved to Merang just yesterday, to cover the unloading ships, bad luck there!

Land war: Pretty quiet day, only bigger fights are the 2 Allied units at Port Blair trying to throw the Japanese invaders back - they fail, losing about 500 to just 9 Japanese. Chinese try their luck as well in the Northern Front's mountains(2 Corps that have been encircled), but they are thrown back with heavy losses.

[Erkki]

March 6th. Another interesting day!

Burma: I think we can already start calling this the Battle of Andamans: out of the blue come 3 British battleships, reported Ramillies, Royal Sovereign and Revenge, apparently completely unescorted? Before they can reach Port Blair and bombard it, they are sighted and attacked by 18 x G4M1s from Alor Star. 2 of the battleships are hit by single torpedoes, but one of them takes 2 hits! This was reportedly Ramillies. A few hours later, CVE Hosho, nearby, launches 9 B5N1's against Ramillies, and the planes score 4 hits. I dont think these 4 250kg bombs hurt much, other than there are some fires... 2 nearby cruiser squadrons and a submarine are sent to the area! First squad arrives Ramillies' current position just before the dawn. G3Ms from Palembang moved to Alor star, naval search increased, tomorrows fighter sweeps over Rangoon and Moulmein canceled in the favor of escorting the bombers!

But what now, British carrier?!? Just NW to Andaman Island naval search spots a 2-ship TF, and Albacores flying out. 18 Albacores attack Hosho! There are just 2 Zeroes in the CAP. Corporal Saburo Kanda is the other. His leader's guns jam early in the battle, but he keeps attacking the biplane bombers, shooting 2 of them down and damaging 3 more. Then the bombers reach Hosho... 8 of them attack Hosho, 8 its escorts. Escorts survive without a scratch, but Hosho is hit by 3 500lbs bombs. 1 of the bombs penetrates her side, starting fire below the decks. 2 more penetrate the flight deck and start more fires. In the end of the day she still burns, but is now out of enemy's range, and damage was lighter than I anticipated... Only problem left are the fires. She'll need 4 days to Singapore, but can, if needed, divert to Alor Star or Georgetown. Hosho is out for at least 3 weeks..

3 x B-17 raid Singapore, and without a loss hit the port, sinking submarine I-121. Not much to do against the heavy bomber menace but try to CAP everywhere, which is impossible. Waiting for the Allies to get a couple of hundred of them. At least they cant really hit moving ships.

Rabaul: Over 30 B-16s raid Rabaul, hit the runway and destroy one G3M2. I was counting on the enemy not raiding 2 days in a streak... Zeroes moved back in now. If they want to come tomorrow they need to prepare for casualties.

EDIT: the British carrier 80-90% cannot be the old junk CVL Hermes... There were too many Albacores. Indomitable in the area, then... CV Junyo is now in the Strait of Formosa, and will arrive to the area in a week.

EDIT2: hard to believe the Allies are risking their carriers before a week has passed since they lost 2 or 3 of them. The position where the British CV TF was spotted is easily within both G4M1 and G3M2's torpedo delivery range!

[Zrk2]

Show them hell.

So, is this where the odds start to turn against us?

[Erkki]

Show them hell.

So, is this where the odds start to turn against us?

Allies dont have capacity to do a fully amphibious operation before late 43 as they lack, heh, some carriers... Thats about 500 turns.  I think they also just lost 20% of their battleships, to drydocks for half a year at least! I hope Ashigara and Maya will catch at least one and tag it for good.

Java, Waitapoe and Timor, among others, still in the to-be-conquered list. Japan is not stopped this easy! 

[Erkki]

March 7th

Burma:

Moulmein finally falls! One Brit unit has cut one of the 2 supply roads but our reinforcements will deal away with them in a few days.

Massive numbers of Hurricanes strafe Japanese troops at and behind the front lines. The very only loss to these raiders is a single patrolling Zero. Flak shoots some of the Hurricanes down, finally.

40 G4Ms raid Rangoon's port with heavy fighter cover... But there are no defenders! All war ships are missed, but 3 cargo ships are hit, one confirmed sunk.

Enemy carrier has moved to the West overnight, its Albacores(16, 2 missing from yesterday) attack Japanese destroyer squadron, but achieve nothing but sustaining casualties.

13 Blenheims attack Bangkok, defending Ki-27s shoot down 5 of them. The survivors hit nothing!

Looks like Port Blair now has some enemy aircraft, lots of fighters! Whatever there are, Zeroes will sweep the place tomorrow.

CVE Hosho is OK. Fires are almost out, no fatal damage sustained. If she doesnt get hit by a submarine or something, she'll make it.

Elsewhere:
3 x B-17 strike Makassar's port again, this time meeting 7 Zeroes. All 3 are hit multiple times, and they miss all their bombs.

31 B-26s (!!!!) attack Rabaul again from Port Moresby, Zeroes shoot down 4 bombers and flak the 5th. About a dozen are damaged... Only couple of bombs hit the airfield.

4 days to Midway invasion.

[Sheb]

Heavy bombers are a pain in the ass. Can you bomb the airfield they're operating from?

[Journier]

heavy bombers, b-17 etc are the most annoying thing to try to destroy in this game, Zero's even in great numbers 30+ vs 9 or less b-17's take losses trying to destroy them when they are alone.

I dont know why either, youd think 30 zero's would laugh at the b-17's and shoot them all down with some losses but nah

I assume its because Zero's dont have big guns (atliest the early ones?).

damn heavy bombers.

[Erkki]

Heavy bombers are a pain in the ass. Can you bomb the airfield they're operating from?

I think I know which field they operate from, but not going to bomb it. Majority of IJAAF bombers are now supporting China and Sumatra campaigns... Even if I'd have the force, if there are just 4 of them at the field, most likely they will not be hit, but AAA will hit the attackers. If I guessed the field wrong or they werent hit, he would just move them away.

heavy bombers, b-17 etc are the most annoying thing to try to destroy in this game, Zero's even in great numbers 30+ vs 9 or less b-17's take losses trying to destroy them when they are alone.

I dont know why either, youd think 30 zero's would laugh at the b-17's and shoot them all down with some losses but nah

I assume its because Zero's dont have big guns (atliest the early ones?).

damn heavy bombers.

Zero's problem is probably fairly low top speed combined with no armour. The gunners can hold the trigger and spray the sky. 20mm cannons in the Zeroes can kill them, but they dont usually die above the target area.. Heck, I had Ki-43s kill 2 of them few days ago, and I've seen an A5M get one as well. 

Japs dont have equivalents of German hardware just have to survive with what is given... Zeroes, Hayabusas and Toruys instead of 190s, 109s or 110/410s.

[Erkki]

March 8th


If someone thought still the Japs are good in night action... Well Lady Fortuna turned her jacket today.

The cruiser squad hunting CV Indomitable found her in the night. 3 Japanese cruisers and 5 destroyers vs. a carrier, 2 destroyers, 1 light cruiser and BB Royal Sovereign(out of ammo and with torpedo hole).

The sole light cruiser put 2 torpedoes into CA Kinugasa, sinking it. Then the Allies, with the Royal Sovereign and its torpedo hole, escaped! One of the destroyers did put a Type 95 Long Lance into the 2nd escort destroyer, making it explode right away, but still.

Also, crap weather prevented the 60 Japanese bombers in Alor Star from flying and killing off them all. They shouldnt be out of range tomorrow morning no matter what they do but they might not be found by search planes in time any more. 2 more cruiser sweeps sail up the Macassar Strait but they probably cant catch the Indomitable.