Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by USSAmerica »

I would expect that LRCAP over Chungking would be the most effective method of intercepting transports bringing supply there. I may have known about the rule for transports using half of their Max Range for Transport missions many years ago, but I had forgotten it. Gonna file that one away for later. [;)][:D]
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Lokasenna »

Unless you are planning to attack Ledo, LRCAP there wouldn't do diddly.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

7 Dec 43

Sub War

The I-32 has been hanging out off Karachi for a few weeks and it's finally paid off. She caught the fully loaded TK British Energy and hit her with 4 of 6 torpedoes. Nice fireworks display before sinking.

The I-7 caught a big xAK off Vava'u (the layover point of the US-Australia route) and put her down too.

Unfortunately, the I-22, who was grievously wounded in the hunt for Bunker Hill, finally succumbed to her wounds and was lost.

5 Fleet

Nine B-17Es visited the Japanese troops at Unmak. Yep, the Allies are putting their first line stuff up here. They didn't do much, but then, neither did my Sallies, who visited the Allied troops there later in the day. I did notice the lack of AAA, so maybe supply is running low. I've decided to attack when the BBs return, in about 10-11 days.

I have a line of Glen subs to the east and south in case the US carriers decide to try and sneak up on me. My goal is to kill Allied formations and run, not fight US carriers.

4 Fleet

Nothing of interest.

SE Fleet

Not much here either. Ted is "softening up" Hollandia with 4E bombers (28 sorties) for an eventual invasion. He's using some of his 2E bombers (60 sorties) to try and kill off the rabble at Rabaul. Frankly, I don't know what's keeping them alive. They haven't had supply in months.

SRA

Nothing much here either.

Burma

My Helens hit Ledo again (35 sorties, 5 lost to flak) doing moderate damage to the airfield, but not enough to matter.

I'm sending a sentai of Franks on LRCAP over Ledo tomorrow to see if that matters. This is getting frustrating.

China

None of my bombers flew. Weather, no doubt.

My artillery destroyed 21 squads (17 infantry) and disabled another 36. The last of my division completed their R&R and are headed to Chungking. The next assault is in 3 or 4 days, depending on when they arrive. This attack will be 11k AV. 110 Chinese infantry squads killed off this month.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: MTB G-161

I get 10x independent infantry brigades in China tomorrow. They'll free up some more divisions currently on garrison duty to add to the Chungking assault force, but it'll take a while to get them in place.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by mind_messing »

I get 10x independent infantry brigades in China tomorrow. They'll free up some more divisions currently on garrison duty to add to the Chungking assault force, but it'll take a while to get them in place.

The units in question (and most of the IJA brigades in China with 75mm or smaller arty guns) are completely transportable by air, provided you buy them into an unrestricted command.

Worth thinking about, as those brigades and others like them can form very useful quick reaction forces as the war progresses. They're nothing but infantry and a few popguns, but AV is AV. Very useful to be able to throw units into a hex and pull them out when needed. A nice advantage is that with float transports, they can get pushed off a base and still get evacuated so long as they're coastal.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by rustysi »

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: rustysi
I have flak at Chungking and am flying LRCAP there and I am shooting down no transports. What am I missing? I can't figure it out.

Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

What they posted about that should be understood in the context of counteracting enemy LRCAP that is there to protect the transports.

I doubt he has CAP or LRCAP over Chungking.


tm.asp?m=4567896&mpage=1&key=#

Posts 10 & 12 relate to intercepting transports with sweeping aircraft. Nothing said about CAP/LRCAP so I don't know to what you may be referring.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by rustysi »

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
ORIGINAL: witpqs



No. I don't recall ever hearing seeing that. Certainly might be the case but not safe to assume it.

Well wadda ya know... No idea if supply is really transported though.

Edit: But I'm assuming it does work because there's no reason to have 100 transports in Ledo unless he plans on dropping paratroopers somewhere.


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Transport missions do not follow normal range rules.

Transports fly out to half of the maximum range, which in this case is 15 hexes.

There is no mention of a load reduction of any kind.


OK, so here's my next question. Mike has said he keeps Chunking's airfield bombed to 100% damage on a regular basis. So does this stop the possibility of an airlift of supplies?
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by GetAssista »

ORIGINAL: rustysi
OK, so here's my next question. Mike has said he keeps Chunking's airfield bombed to 100% damage on a regular basis. So does this stop the possibility of an airlift of supplies?
Recall that you can supply offbase hexes by air just fine, and there will be your answer
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Lokasenna »

ORIGINAL: GetAssista
ORIGINAL: rustysi
OK, so here's my next question. Mike has said he keeps Chunking's airfield bombed to 100% damage on a regular basis. So does this stop the possibility of an airlift of supplies?
Recall that you can supply offbase hexes by air just fine, and there will be your answer

I'm not sure what happens if there's an airfield and it's damaged - whether they use the airfield (increased chance of Ops losses) or not, I mean.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: rustysi



Try sweeping Chungking. Someone recently posted it works.

What they posted about that should be understood in the context of counteracting enemy LRCAP that is there to protect the transports.

I doubt he has CAP or LRCAP over Chungking.


tm.asp?m=4567896&mpage=1&key=#

Posts 10 & 12 relate to intercepting transports with sweeping aircraft. Nothing said about CAP/LRCAP so I don't know to what you may be referring.

I currently have the turn. I've had no luck at all intercepting those damn transports. I have a full sentai of Oscars that have been strafing Chungking on a daily basis (very effectively, I might add). I'm changing that to sweep this turn to see what they do. I also have a chutai of Oscars that were training but I'm putting them on sweep as well, along with anything else I can find. This is really making me crazy.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
ORIGINAL: Mike Solli



Well wadda ya know... No idea if supply is really transported though.

Edit: But I'm assuming it does work because there's no reason to have 100 transports in Ledo unless he plans on dropping paratroopers somewhere.


Image

Transport missions do not follow normal range rules.

Transports fly out to half of the maximum range, which in this case is 15 hexes.

There is no mention of a load reduction of any kind.


OK, so here's my next question. Mike has said he keeps Chunking's airfield bombed to 100% damage on a regular basis. So does this stop the possibility of an airlift of supplies?

I have a Sally sentai dedicated to bombing Chungking's airfield daily, keeping the damage up in the high 90s at a minimum. I thought I had heard somewhere that it's airdropped if there was no airfield. Maybe that's the case if the airfield is badly damaged? I know he's getting supply in because his AV is creeping up with just air/artillery bombardments, so disablements are being repaired.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna




What they posted about that should be understood in the context of counteracting enemy LRCAP that is there to protect the transports.

I doubt he has CAP or LRCAP over Chungking.


tm.asp?m=4567896&mpage=1&key=#

Posts 10 & 12 relate to intercepting transports with sweeping aircraft. Nothing said about CAP/LRCAP so I don't know to what you may be referring.

I currently have the turn. I've had no luck at all intercepting those damn transports. I have a full sentai of Oscars that have been strafing Chungking on a daily basis (very effectively, I might add). I'm changing that to sweep this turn to see what they do. I also have a chutai of Oscars that were training but I'm putting them on sweep as well, along with anything else I can find. This is really making me crazy.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

Zorch, you crack me up. [:D]

8 Dec 43

Sub War

The I-32, who sank that big, loaded TK off Karachi was caught by an ASW TF and hit twice. She'll probably make it to Singapore for repairs, but that little area is most likely closed off to any more Japanese incursions for awhile.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report. Resting for another attack a week or more down the road when the BBs return.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Hollandia received 26x 4E sorties and Rabaul received 61x 2E sorties, all to no effect.

There are now over 300 bombers at Kavieng. I have 300+ fighters at Truk rested and ready to slaughter them.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report. Weather shut this theater down today.

China

Aerial bombardment killed 4 squads (1 infantry) and disabled another 119 squads. Artillery killed 13 squads (11 infantry) and disabled another 20.

This month, 122 Chinese infantry squads have been destroyed.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

9 Air Division HQ, 3 Air Army, Headed to Burma. I really can use the 72 AS with this HQ in this AO.
87 JAAF AF Bn, Southern Army
89 JAAF AF Bn, Southern Army
1 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
2 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
3 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
4 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
5 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
6 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
7 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
9 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
12 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
13 Independent Infantry Brigade, China
43 Naval Guard, rebuilt

I didn't realize that about half of those infantry brigades are components of divisions (with the remainder coming in July 44. I've decided to change my plans a bit. I'm sending in all the brigades that are NOT part of a division to Chungking to take part in the fun happening there. They'll gain experience and I'll buy them out for use in more important areas (thanks, MM).

The B7A2 Grace R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational in 3/44). There are 4x30 R&D factories. 3 are fully repaired and the 4th is still at 24(6). I'm switching that last one to a late war fighter now. If it had fully repaired this month (unlikely), it wouldn't affect the acceleration of the Grace beyond what it is now. Just thought it out a bit and decided to add it to the Sam R&D, making 12 factories for that model now, my goal for that model.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

9 Dec 43

Sub War
5 Fleet
4 Fleet


Nothing of interest to report.

SE Fleet

Same ole thing here. 20x 4E bombing sorties of Hollandia and 60x 2e sorties against Rabaul. No damage done.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Over Akyab, 6 of 14 Hurricanes were shot down for no loss.

Ledo was a little more even. Two each Franks and Warhawks were shot down and then the bombers went in. I lost 4 Helens to flak and destroyed a couple of transports on the ground while damaging a couple more. There is still light damage to the airfield. I still have this turn and am attempting a large fighter sweep of Chungking to neutralize this pain in the ass air supply mission. We'll see what happens next turn. In the mean time, I'll continue with my fighter sweeps of Ledo, but I'm resting my bombers. The losses to flak are too much to take. I can replace the losses now but with the conversion of the Ha-34 factory, I have enough engines in the pool to build only about 250 more Helens for the remainder of the war. I will start Peggy production in 2/44 but I'm planning on only 30 per month.

China

Air bombardment killed 8 squads (3 infantry) and disabled another 183 squads.

Artillery bombardment killed 31 squads (29 infantry) and disabled another 34.

Infantry squads destroyed this month: 154.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

TK Matsushima Maru, Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)
22 JAAF Base Force, Southern Army
26 JAAF Base Force, China
27 JAAF Base Force, 1 Air Division
30 JAAF Base Force, 8 Area Army

The N1K5-J George R&D advanced to 1/45 (will become operational 5/44).
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Bif1961 »

Can you set LRCAP over Chungking instead of sweeps, as sweeps come and go quickly but CAP stays at about 1/3rd of the air group size assigned.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

I've tried LRCAP several times with no luck. I'm going with sweeps this coming turn. I have 81 Oscars sweeping Chungking at 15k, 10k and 6k, all from 4 hexes away. Let's see if this does any good.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Zorch »

The transports are coming from Shangri-la.

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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by mind_messing »

The B7A2 Grace R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational in 3/44). There are 4x30 R&D factories. 3 are fully repaired and the 4th is still at 24(6). I'm switching that last one to a late war fighter now. If it had fully repaired this month (unlikely), it wouldn't affect the acceleration of the Grace beyond what it is now. Just thought it out a bit and decided to add it to the Sam R&D, making 12 factories for that model now, my goal for that model.

That's a great date for the Grace to be operational. I'm very fond of that plane, it's a major improvement in capability over the Judy and Jill.

To be honest, you can probably relegate the Judy to land-based work if you build enough Grace's. The altenrate loadout for non-torpedo attacks is 2x250kg bombs, which seem to have a better chance to get hits than the 500kg or 800kg of the Judy DB's (as there's two of them).

Out of my own curiosity I looked into the values for it. The 250kg SAP bomb used on the Grace has a Pen value of 65. It won't hurt any BB's, the Brit CV's or the Midway CVB class ships, as they've strong enough deck armour to bounce the 250kg SAP bombs.

As bad as that seems, they're all targets that you'd want to use torpedoes on anyways. That seems like a good argument for keeping the Judy around to drop 800kg AP smashers through the deck armour of BB's, but even the Judy's 800kg monster bombs can't punch through the deck armour of most of the USN fast BB's.

Food for thought :)
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
The B7A2 Grace R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational in 3/44). There are 4x30 R&D factories. 3 are fully repaired and the 4th is still at 24(6). I'm switching that last one to a late war fighter now. If it had fully repaired this month (unlikely), it wouldn't affect the acceleration of the Grace beyond what it is now. Just thought it out a bit and decided to add it to the Sam R&D, making 12 factories for that model now, my goal for that model.

That's a great date for the Grace to be operational. I'm very fond of that plane, it's a major improvement in capability over the Judy and Jill.

To be honest, you can probably relegate the Judy to land-based work if you build enough Grace's. The altenrate loadout for non-torpedo attacks is 2x250kg bombs, which seem to have a better chance to get hits than the 500kg or 800kg of the Judy DB's (as there's two of them).

Out of my own curiosity I looked into the values for it. The 250kg SAP bomb used on the Grace has a Pen value of 65. It won't hurt any BB's, the Brit CV's or the Midway CVB class ships, as they've strong enough deck armour to bounce the 250kg SAP bombs.

As bad as that seems, they're all targets that you'd want to use torpedoes on anyways. That seems like a good argument for keeping the Judy around to drop 800kg AP smashers through the deck armour of BB's, but even the Judy's 800kg monster bombs can't punch through the deck armour of most of the USN fast BB's.

Food for thought :)

That's definitely an interesting thought. I have a lot of DB units doing nothing but training. Sending a few to the front with Judies in places where the Allied carriers are unlikely to roam might be an interesting idea. I'll have to figure out how many Graces to build.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by ny59giants »

To intercept transports, it has to be by LRCAP. There is a formula on how far away the fighters can be away. I do recall that you need fighters with good range. May need to use drop tanks even if only two hexes away.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

Post by Mike Solli »

This is just plain irritating. I can't shoot down unarmed, unescorted transports where I have air supremacy. For a couple of days, I shot down some transports. I'm going to find out when and figure out what I was doing. It happened for only a couple of turns. It'll take awhile but I'll find out what I did.
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