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[Zrk2]

I was thinking after it was over.

[Erkki]

When this is over you should get your opponent to come on here and tell us what he thought...

So, we are doing well on every front except Burma, and there we are ok. Did you ever try that naval landing to cut their supplies?

Not yet, this will have to wait until there are enough forces again... Theres about a divisions worth of Marines in Tokyo but I doubt they can do it. Minimum 3 or 4 needed, the Allies easily outnumber us in Burma. So much about "steamroller". Couldnt get to even Rangoon using the historically used units...

What can be done in April is I'll ship in an airborne infantry regiment from the Philippines and land it, or elements of it, somewhere up the Burma Road the same time a new offensive is opened in China. They should need a month to deal with them, before it has to be flown or marched out...

No turn file in the email when I woke up, severely disappointed! Hope hes back in the evening.

[Journier]

welp i just found out sapporo actuall has engine production factories.

i played over a year into my game before i noticed i was still producing 5 engines of a few old engine types and was roaming all over the map trying to find it.

Funny thing is, The first thing i found was that there is actually aircraft production for japan up in the Kwantung area.

Never ever expected that.

then finally i learned how to use the industry viewer, and found the sapporo engine production centers...

sigh...

Also found that sapporo has like 2 million resources sitting there for me :/ oops.

Welp, next game ill have much easier time handing production of engines and aircraft with having an extra 5 plane plants, and 5 engine plants to balance with.
-------------------------------

Also, was the Allied player using historical units in rangoon? Every game against the AI, the AI just runs away from burma at light speed as soon as i take a city in burma. But from checking it seems like there cant be more than 20,000 men in all of burma to fight.

but then again... all i ever scrounge up from Thailand etc is like 8-12k.

Reading about japans invasion of the Phillipines however, the Japanese hauled a division? off the phillipine invasion and sent it over to help the invasion of burma, which i never do in my games since if you do it the Phillipines seem impossible to conquer.

Did you haul a division over to help the invasion? Im sure a real player would reinforce rangoon and Burma as a buffer to slow down the japanese player and inhibit his rapid expansion, and allow an earlier invasion by land into Thailand in 1944.

my god, sorry long post.

[Erkki]

Units he has in the Burma jungles:

    45th Indian Brigade
    4/8th Gurkha Battalion
    9/11th Sikh Battalion
    44th Indian Brigade
    43rd Cavalry Regiment
    4/14th Punjab Battalion
    17th Australian Brigade
    46th Indian Brigade
    Tenasserim BAF Battalion
    48th Gurkha Brigade
    150th RAC Regiment
    200th Chinese Division
    96th Chinese Division
    54th Chinese Corps
    36th Chinese Division
    22nd New Chinese Division
    16th Australian Brigade
    88th Chinese Division
    27th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
    85th British AT Gun Regiment

Add to that about 4-5 divisions's worth between front and Rangoon, Rangoon, and about ½ division in the northern jungles.

Historically used units from Jap side, not Allied...

Sounds like you play scenario 2, I dont have any aviation related factories in Sapporo. 


Home Islands burn after my expansions(in 10 days), 12,520 tons of fuel/day. Oil wells in Hokkaido and and plants in Kuyshu provide 1,560 tons(refineries easily turn that 90% into fuel).  That leaves 11,116 tons + all that ships use that need to be shipped outside... Palembang's refineries produce 9,000 tons each day, Tarakan's 810 tons, Miri's 1,500 tons. 11,340 tons combined - enough to run the Home Islands' industry for now! Balikpapan and Java are required in a few months as the war industry, especially aviation engine and aircraft assembly, kick to the high gear. I'm expecting to need 20,000 tons of fuel/day in 5 months. That means absolutely no more than absolutely necessary ship refueling at the home islands...

Yes, I brought the division that gets Hong Kong, 4th. The Philippine/American forces were outnumbering Jps badly in both numbers and firepower. And still Luzon fell only in historical time table...


April 6th

Not much happened. The Munda invasion force gets met by a sole American light cruiser... that runs into Tanaka's 4 cruisers and 8 destroyers. They combat 2 rounds, both times the Japanese get as close as 3,000ft guns blazing, they they fail to score a single torpedo or penetrating armor hit. This is the best Japanese naval commander commanding the best surface to surface ships the Empire has. They cant kill a single WW1 era light cruiser, with surprise and about 20:1 superiority. The cruiser then promptly sinks 2 cargo ships and leaves.

Allies bomb Rahaeng's airfield again, losing 5 or 6 P-40s and at least 5 Blenheims to 4 Ki-43s.

[Journier]

ahhh... so thats what scenario 2 is good for  first time playing the scenario 2 since i was interested in what extra stuff they get, figured it was only more ships and planes.

I still dont know how captains get exp, and how that effects the task force efficiency with a admiral or whichever. and Ship exp.... still no clue on that. Unless the ship crew exp is hidden somewhere, i do remember some kind of daytime/night exp level somewhere but i cant find it anymore.

And wow, rangoon sounds heavily defended, sorta ridiculous.

however if rangoon is that defended with chinese divisions, then it should be easier work to move through china... maybe china is a better option to concentrate on with extra forces? I count 34k chinese troops ish... but china probably has 250k in total?

[Erkki]

April 7th

Soerebaja surprisingly doesnt fall... Reinforcements there soon, we'll try again in 2 days.

CVL Ryujo is finally making her way back to the Home Islands.

I want to relieve some pressure from Burma and Solomons when it comes to enemy air presence, so to reduce enemy numbers as well as to keep them looking in the wrong direction 90 Zeroes will sweep Port Moresby not tomorrow, but the day after, when there are more planes to available at Rabaul.

The ASW school in Sapporo has its first graduates after 3 months of extensive training. 12 best students are sent to a 9-plane G3M2 unit at Rabaul, their task is to keep the waters around clear of enemy submarines.

edit:

ahhh... so thats what scenario 2 is good for  first time playing the scenario 2 since i was interested in what extra stuff they get, figured it was only more ships and planes.

I still dont know how captains get exp, and how that effects the task force efficiency with a admiral or whichever. and Ship exp.... still no clue on that. Unless the ship crew exp is hidden somewhere, i do remember some kind of daytime/night exp level somewhere but i cant find it anymore.

And wow, rangoon sounds heavily defended, sorta ridiculous.

however if rangoon is that defended with chinese divisions, then it should be easier work to move through china... maybe china is a better option to concentrate on with extra forces? I count 34k chinese troops ish... but china probably has 250k in total?

Probably way, way more than 250k... A new division from Manchuko arrives to the front in 4 days, those boys should be a major headache to the Chinese if they have moved troops from the South to cover other parts of the Theater. Aerial recce has in the past few weeks reported increasing activity around Hong Kong, Canton and Wuchow, first we need to create land connection from main China and Shanghai to this "pocket".

[Erkki]

April 8th

China: meat grinder.

Everywhere else:

50 Blenheims visit Moulmein with 8 x P-40E escort. The 7 x Ki-43 CAP shoots down 3 P-40s, at least damage another 3 and is itself untouched.

Carrier Division III now in the middle of the Gulf of Bengal: no contacts. It moves a bit to the North, so that it is in strike range of the presumed enemy supply route from Calcutta to Rangoon.

No new action in the Solomons, but the enemy has parked at least 5 ships off Guadalcanal... Tanaka Squad will visit the place just after midnight. It is possible that the enemy is unloading a garrison, and if that is the case, the already incoming invasion force is turned to Tulagi or Luganville instead.


Edit: there is no road connection from India to Burma. With the current carrier supremacy, we will try to suppress this sea route(especially after the Perimeter is ready and carriers are no longer needed to support offensives). It will force him to move fighter units behind, and lose lots of ships, that I can promise. Possibly even entice the British carriers to show up again.

[Sheb]

If you cut the supply, will that have any effect on his troops in Burma? Can they run out of ammunition or fuel for they plane?

[thobal]

If you cut the supply, will that have any effect on his troops in Burma? Can they run out of ammunition or fuel for they plane?

Presumably only if they're planes are in the air and they are expending ammunition.

[Sheb]

Well, if their plane are grounded, all the better. And their ground troops also use fuel, ammunitions, food, medicine etc etc.

Put otherwise, is it possible to turn Burma into a massive pocket and siege it, or is there too much industry in it? Also, if it's not possible to cut all supply, is it possible to destroy enough supply routes that they cannot maintain all their troops there? Maybe even have to divert supply from the chinese front?

[Erkki]

Well, if their plane are grounded, all the better. And their ground troops also use fuel, ammunitions, food, medicine etc etc.

Put otherwise, is it possible to turn Burma into a massive pocket and siege it, or is there too much industry in it? Also, if it's not possible to cut all supply, is it possible to destroy enough supply routes that they cannot maintain all their troops there? Maybe even have to divert supply from the chinese front?

I dont think its possible to conquer or destroy Burma any more, but it is possible to stop the Allied counter offensive and make their supply effort very costly.

China is under supplied already, keeping it under supplied is the whole reason to attack Burma... But now the Allies can do nothing about a carrier or 2 hanging off Rangoon. In a few months when Dutch East Indies is conquered and the carriers are freed.

[Journier]

Hey Erkki i have a question regarding planes and them not flying the mission i assign them.

I have bombers in Rangoon, a bunch of KI-49a helens, 200 of them 

i set them to bomb the airbase in Akyab up near the border of india, since the AI is stacking 20,000 men there and I cant take it with my 20k man army in 1943. And the airbase is full of fighters/bombers that are constantly attempting to bomb rangoon etc. 

I set them to airfield attack, set all level bombers, and set the destination, for 4 days now they have not flown a single flight at akyab... I dont understand, how do i find out why they arent flying? They are fully repaired full air groups with almost 0 fatigue and over the required amount of aviation support.

This isnt the first time ive noticed this either, sometimes planes dont seem to want to fly :/

[Erkki]

Hey Erkki i have a question regarding planes and them not flying the mission i assign them.

I have bombers in Rangoon, a bunch of KI-49a helens, 200 of them 

i set them to bomb the airbase in Akyab up near the border of india, since the AI is stacking 20,000 men there and I cant take it with my 20k man army in 1943. And the airbase is full of fighters/bombers that are constantly attempting to bomb rangoon etc. 

I set them to airfield attack, set all level bombers, and set the destination, for 4 days now they have not flown a single flight at akyab... I dont understand, how do i find out why they arent flying? They are fully repaired full air groups with almost 0 fatigue and over the required amount of aviation support.

This isnt the first time ive noticed this either, sometimes planes dont seem to want to fly :/

It should say in resolving phase why the sorties were cancelled. Hmm. Did you accidentally set the max mission range shorter than range to Akyab, after setting the target?


April 9th and 10th

2 busy days...

Burma: great aerial war for 2 days. Carrier Division III surprises not 1 but 2 convoys: heavy damage caused to 6 transports and a cruiser, and CL Enterprise is hit by 2 torpedoes!

Over 2 days the losses are approximately 5 Hurricanes, 35 P-40s and 10 P-39s for 7 Zeroes, 29 Ki-43s, 2 B5Ns and 1 D3A.

Solomons:

The enemy has landed Guadalcanal! No going there any more. Tanaka surprises a us task force in the night, the cruisers sink 3 destroyers and a huge transports, giving 2 more heavy damage.

42 long range bombers strike twice, they sink xAP President Jackson and put a torp into another xAP, but its sinking is unconfirmed.

Zeroes tangle twice with P-40s over Port Moresby, G3Ms strike and sink aviation support ship AV Langley.

All in all in the South Pacific Theater, losses from 2 days to the Japanese are approximately 12 Zeroes, 11 G3M2s and 5 G4M1s to Allied losses of about 30 P-40s, 1-2 Wildcats, 1 B-26.

EDIT: the sunk AV Langley was originally actually the first US carrier, later modified into a seaplane tender: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Langley_(CV-1)

[Erkki]

April 11th

The fighting above New Guinea continues, today we trade 2 bombers and 4 Zeroes to approximately 25 P-40s and Wildcats. 2 big xAPs are torpedoed, Japanese invade Vella Vella and Woodlark Island.

I'm hurrying an extra Zero group to the area, will take 2 more days though... B-17s struck Rabaul in force (27 bombers), they didnt do much damage but I want to stop them.

The damaged convoys at Gulf of Bengal have retreated to Rangoon. Everything we have in Burma will sweep and attack the port tomorrow, should weather permit. This is a juicy opportunity to catch and bag some damaged warships and big transports...

[Burnt Pies]

2 Torps in the Enterprise? How likely is she to sink from that?