Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

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mind_messing
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by mind_messing »

ORIGINAL: Spidery

I think his pools were generally running low so he redirected the Liberators to help support the ground offensive as that conserves planes and he can use them later on day light raids once he has Thunderbolts able to sweep the bases.

Or he may have decided he doesn't need to destroy the oilfields at Balikpapan and Palembang because he can take them by ground before the end of the year.

Now that he has tried a few night raids against air bases, I think if I started another game I would be inclined to propose a house rule to avoid these - not because of the damage and air-air losses but the massive morale hit even almost ineffective bombing has on groups.

Your experience mirrors mine. Night raids inflicted a steady stream of losses on my planes for only the occasional Allied bomber lost. I'd probably lose three or so planes in the air and twice that on the ground, with an Allied ops loss being the only thing to show for it. Coupled with that, it wrecked the morale of airgroups and in some cases even managed to severely damage the airbase.

My pet theory is that the code for night combat has something wonky going on. I've no proof, and there will be those that will scream that the code is perfect, but it's evident for all to see that something is out of whack with night air combat in general.

I'm a recent convert to playing without house rules, so I'd like to avoid them if possible, even more so considering how HR'ing night bombing is a nerf to Allied capabilities (after all, they have the best bombers), but I do think that something should be done.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

Not sure about what the issues really are with night strikes.

How much of the problem is actually that (a) there is too much of a morale hit on groups for a single bombing strike, (b) the general high tempo of the game?

I've not really been that unhappy with the results of air-air combat at night. Interestingly though, I think the Beta changes may have made the situation worse. The tendency of a night strike to have lots of small follow on forces seems to result in the night CAP being depleted and it is the last few, unopposed, small groups that do much of the damage.

It is clear that night air-air combat hasn't really been modeled that differently from day. That I see messages that my Irvings are diving on enemy bombers is indicative of that. Why would a night fighter with only upwards firing guns be above the enemy?
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 13th

Quiet turn. No night bombings. Allies bomb Buka, Batavia and Bandoeng (what is with the alliteration?).

Sampit is now level 3.

Fusan is beginning to pull oil effectively. After the last big resource move there is 15000 oil at Fusan and 21000 at Port Arthur.

Political Points are accumulating, looking ahead there is little in the way of ground units that I will need PP for - those in China can stay there and most arriving in Japan are unrestricted.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 14th

Useless night strike tried against Sampit.

Allies bomb Buka and Batavia.

Force of DM and DMS spotted heading from Australia towards the Solomons.

Allied task force reported as 6 ships including 2 BB and 4 CA spotted 2 hexes East of Batavia - is it a bombardment task force that didn't quite make it or will the BB be detached and the CA sent to try and bombard Palembang?

Shokaku has completed fixing minor damage and enters the shipyard, 54 days to fix.

Game oddity I just found, if you upgrade an air group the planes may have weeks to repair. Rail it somewhere else then they will only have 1 or 2 days to repair.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 15th

End of the monsoon and more confirmation of an Allied move on Burma.

Near Balikpapan, a couple of ASW attacks against SS Bluefish by DD only manage 3 near misses, no significant damage.

Guam airfield reaches level 8.

Batavia is bombarded by a task force of 2 BB, 4 CA, 7 CL, 6 DE, 6 DMS - how does he avoid collisions? 25 ships the maximum allowed. Annoyingly, his guns concentrate on the two infantry divisions and ignore all the small stuff. Heavy ground attacks later - my AA guns fall silent during this (I think he knocked them all out).
Ground combat at Batavia (49,98)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3669 troops, 366 guns, 282 vehicles, Assault Value = 3273

Defending force 39600 troops, 269 guns, 162 vehicles, Assault Value = 901

Japanese ground losses:
195 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
50th Cmbt Engineer Regiment
30th Australian Brigade
40th Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
27th Infantry Division
193rd Tank Battalion
24th Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
7th Infantry Division
II Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
767th Tank Battalion
25th Infantry Division
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
131st Cmbt Engineer Regiment
766th Tank Battalion
9th Australian Division
2nd US Naval Construction Battalion
205th Field Artillery Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
I US Corps
2nd Medium Regiment
109th Anti Tank Regiment
168th Field Artillery Battalion
30th Field Artillery Regiment
Sixth US Army
108th Anti Tank Regiment
181st Field Artillery Battalion
260th Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Regiment
86th Coast AA Regiment
134th Field Artillery Battalion
208th Coast AA Regiment
226th Field Artillery Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
65th Coast AA Regiment
249th Field Artillery Battalion
216th Coast AA Regiment
183rd Field Artillery Battalion
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment
148th Field Artillery Battalion
22nd US Naval Construction Battalion
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 16th

Allies attack at Batavia; they achieve a 3 to 1 result and reduce forts to 2. Will probably take it with the next attack. 7 Divisions plus a load of artillery etc. One Allied unit is destroyed, not sure what yet. VP wise 44 Japanese lost for 43 Allied but it will get worse with the next assault.

Various sub actions, the I-9 is damaged off Gasmata and will return to base. An SC is sunk by a sub North of Sorong. An Allied sub is lightly damaged near Cam Ranh Bay.

Ki-46-III KAI Dinah to 5/44.

Allies expand Sampit to 4 so it is now a base for 2E to attack the oil facilities in Borneo.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 17th

Quiet turn. 2 Liberators are downed by flak over Rabaul and one Kingfisher to ops and that is all the air losses. No ship or sub action.

The 48th Division reforms at Tokyo. Annoyingly it comes back with a full complement of guns so will cost over 700 PP to move it from General Defense and it has too much that is not air mobile. I'll leave it without replacements for a bit until I decide if I can afford the PP.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 18th

Allies capture Batavia and the surviving defenders retreat to Merak. Manage to inflict another 40 odd VP worth of losses on the Allies.

Allies send 4 B-24J to hit Billiton and a few Franks meet them and shoot all 4 down without loss. However, there are now 6 damaged aircraft on a base where they may be hard to fix.

Smaller Allied forces seen approaching Madang, I hope he isn't planning an immediate landing as the 65th Brigade is retreating that way and only a few days from reaching the base.

Soerabaja has been expanded by the Allies to level 9 air base and level 8 port.

Ki-84r to 3/44
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 19th

Big mess!

I messed up and sent 4 APD to their doom at Billiton. I have been dangling an ASW force under CAP for a few days and getting no strikes so I risked sending the APD in and they were hit hard by B-25G.

Allied Liberators launch small daylight strikes at many airfields, picking those with no or little CAP, I think what happened was he forgot to give them orders after Batavia fell and they were left on Commander Discretion. I hadn't realised Commander Discretion allowed to find those airfields with planes and no CAP even though they had zero recce over them. Lost 19 planes on the ground. Even worse, the morale of groups, that took little damage, plummets.

Allies lost 6 Liberators so actually slightly ahead on VP for the day but still extremely annoying.

Flew some Rufes in to Rabaul to try and mess with his attacks. I think they did okay, now what happens with repairing them given there is lots of aviation support but the service damage is 100%? Looks like they repair okay. So I will upgrade to Rex and try using them to interfere a bit more.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 20th

Bandoeng, merak and Aitape are bombed. At Aitape I lose 6 Rufe and 4 Dinah on the ground.

Otherwise, piece and quiet.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

There will be a break now over the Xmas period and we will restart in 2015. The reports are up to date with the current game turn.

All is basically quiet as I wait for the next Allied strike. There are a few weak spots in my defenses, I wonder if MrKane will find them, but mostly defenses are looking okay. Supply, fuel and oil are accumulating beyond my expectations when the Allies landed in Java so it is looking good for the economy holding out into mid 1945. However, whether I can hold the territory...

To all my readers, Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2015.
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FeurerKrieg
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by FeurerKrieg »

Merry Christmas and thanks for your ongoing efforts on this AAR!
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Upper portion used with permission of www.subart.net, copyright John Meeks
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Lowpe
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Lowpe »

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 21 1943

Quiet. Allied strikes at remnant forces on Java and at Buka.

At Buka 4 Rufe from Rabaul arrive, in the morning they don't do to well, shooting down one PV-1 but in the afternoon some SBD-3 strike and 5 of them are downed for 1 Rufe lost.

Allies have expanded Sampit airfield to 5 so can base 4E bombers there with full effect to target Tarakan, Miri, Brunei and also reach ports on Mindanao so the support tenders will move into task forces for some safety.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 22nd 1943

25 Thunderbolts from Sampit sweep Samarinda: 13 P-47D2 downed for 9 Ki-43-Iv, 6 Ki-84a, 4 N1K1-J, excellent result against Thunderbolts. However, if he had swept with two groups the second would have done a lot better and would have cleared the way for a bomber strike.

P1Y2 to 2/44
Ki-115a to 5/45 (I like this)
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

To evacuate Burma or not?

There are 6 Indian divisions at Akyab which should be able to blast their way across the river and make it to the plains in about 30 days. There are something like 4 or 5 British/Australian Divisions in the North (I don't think they will be going anywhere quickly) and I'm not sure how much in the center near Kalemyo, maybe 3 more divisions.

I could pull back now and hold on the Salween river. Probably, with sufficient force that he will have to go around the back and land in Indo-China or amphibiously at Tavoy/Mergui/Victoria Point. If I try and hold I am likely to have difficulty managing the retreat. However, this gives up Magwe and each day I hold there gives me another 2400 fuel. An advantage of pulling out of Burma is that it will allow me to use the fighters there more aggressively and possibly move some to add protection to the other oil wells.

I think I will evacuate, as it seems the better option and it makes an interesting operation.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 23rd 1943

An SC is sunk by a Catalina on patrol.

Another isolated Chinese Corps is destroyed, only 2 more to go.

Quiet otherwise.
Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 24th 1943

I-159 sinks xAK Cairo City (2750 tons) near the Solomons.

A failed attack on O23 near Manila.

At last, manage to destroy one group of Chinese in the mountains, it has been over half a year since these were cut off[:(], just one group of 3 units to finish the Chinese[:)].

Akyab falls, possible MrKane slightly overdid this[:D]:
Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 83366 troops, 1208 guns, 1411 vehicles, Assault Value = 2943

Defending force 19 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 4287

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 4287 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Akyab !!!

6 Indian divisions participated in the attack. Stacking limit on the hex is 50,000 as is it on the hex just over the river. So I don't think the single Division holding there will be to stop the Indians.

N1K5-J to 8/45 (not sure this will be much use, should have Shinden in same time frame)
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Lowpe
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Lowpe »

Burma: A slow, steady withdraw seems to make sense timewise...if I remember correctly you have some strong units in the jungle with no roads. Just remember, the Allies always move faster than Japan.

Spidery
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RE: Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

Post by Spidery »

October 25th 1943

CA try to raid Batavia but encounter some Fletchers. 3 DD take minor damage and the Haguro takes a torpedo, not too serious. Allies take minor damage only. The battle ran into the day and I expected the CA to do better but maybe they had little ammo left. Bombardment has no significant effect.

Some Allied PTs target PB boats at Toboali, one PT boat sunk.

Miri airfield is now size 3 which should be useful.

Somehow, despite all the fuel in China, Chengtu comes up short of the fuel to run HI.
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