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Um, I think the date tags in the last post are wrong?
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Feb 11, 2021 01:29
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aphid_licker posted:I-19, the boat that sank Wasp, fired six torpedoes and scored five hits on three different ships, ultimately sinking two And USS North Carolina got lucky in that the torpedo impact also partially flooded her forward main gun magazines, preventing them from potentially going up and blowing her out of the water. Those six torpedoes were the single most successful salvo any submarine launched, ever.
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Feb 14, 2021 04:19
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Guper posted:Yeah I was curious about this. In actual WWII are there examples of early airlift operations like this? All I can recall from my history classes is the post-war Berlin Airlift (of supplies, admittedly not troops). Quite a few, though normally it was about bringing supplies in, rather than evacuate troops en masse. Off the top of my head there's Demyansk in winter '41-42 (the success of which in turn played a role in the Germans trying and failing a repeat with Stalingrad) and, theatre-appropriate, the Chindit raids and the Hump.
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Feb 20, 2021 01:32
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Are the Anns even worth using anymore at this point? They're not achieving much of anything evne when flying against undefended targets. Seems to me the best use of those crappy old things would be to just pull 'em back to the Home Islands and use 'em as trainers. That way they at least achieve something other than padding the Allies' kill counts.
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Mar 20, 2021 23:06
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He seems to have thrown a hell of a lot of british units from India into an attempt at forward defense in the DEIs, from what we've been seeing in some of those fights?
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Mar 25, 2021 02:48
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Affi posted:Ahh tell us about the Billy please! Prototype fighter/interceptor using a licensed DB 601 engine - aka the engine used by the Bf-109. Design specifications called for high speed, good climb rate and cannon armament, in a complete departure from IJAAF principles until then. Turned out to be a lemon IRL and failed to reach its demanded specification, so it ended up dropped in lieu of the Ki-44 "Tojo", which climbed faster and met the top speed requirements, but was lighter built and used 4x12.7mm instead of a 2+2 mix of 12.7 and 20mm. A succesful Billy would basically be a better Tojo... which in early-mid 1942 means it'd basically stomp on anything the Allies have other than P-38s and now the Scythe and perhaps the Skyrocket. And even those are going to be sweating. Actually kinda bummed out. I had expected something like outright licensed Bf-109Fs. That would have been all kinds of fun. Magni fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Mar 28, 2021 |
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Mar 28, 2021 00:01
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Pharnakes posted:Yeah, it's going to be pretty nice I hope. One challenge of "balancing" stuff in witp is that Japan can just build as much as we want of a given plane. At least with the allies you can powerful plane have a very low replacement rate, but I've pretty much decided I won't build more than 30 a month of these things. Eh, I'd think it'd be pretty balanced either way in this case. The big drawback with the Billy would I think be that nothing else uses that engine or even a variation of it, so putting a lot of production into it kinda locks you into a dead end in the long run. Also, it's not like the Allies won't out-bullshit you sooner or later anyway. 
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Mar 28, 2021 01:24
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Pirate Radar posted:That’s only until the Ki-64 appears on the scene If they put that weird thing in? Okay.
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Mar 28, 2021 03:41
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The way you deal with allied SIGINT is having a bunch of units on the home Islands plan for invasions all over the place that you have no actual intention to ever launch. Flood their inbox with garbage so they can't tell what's actually important.
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Apr 1, 2021 05:50
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You know, seeing the results of that Madras shelling, my reaction would be to loving do it again the next night. With that kind of runway damage, he probably can't fly out anything, so repeat bombardements are going to just smash everything. This is exactly why parking lots of aircraft within nightly sprint range of an anchorage containing major enemy surface assets is a really bad idea.Woodchip posted:973 shells by 2 BBs, dayum. The one time the boondoggle anti-air shells the IJN developed for their battleship primaries actually turned out effective. A 14-in incendiary-fragmentation beehive shell may be impractical as an AA weapon, but airbursting it over an airfield tends to do really, really bad things to parked aircraft, and just about everything else there.
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Apr 5, 2021 01:32
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That infrastructure damage is getting kinda ridiculous. At this point, I'd start suspecting that something is broken with the game to cause this kind of complete devastation to happen so frequently.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:51
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Pirate Radar posted:Were those ships trying to escape from the Bay of Bengal and reach Australia? That or leave the map towards Suez, I guess. The allies have a sort of off-map move system allowing for that kind of thing IIRC.
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Apr 7, 2021 05:12
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Broken Box posted:Don't need to take the Suez just park a sufficiently large ship in it Ah, MV Ever Given jokes. Now there is one crew who will never live it down. 
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Apr 12, 2021 20:59
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I love how the screenshot for Kiyokawa Maru says "under repair". Now there's some optimism.
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Apr 18, 2021 00:44
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Jesus Christ man, slow down and recover.  Also, Umikaze is more and more turning into our equivalent of USS New Orleans. Let's hope it works out as well for her.
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Apr 20, 2021 22:36
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A Type 98 taking down a Banshee wouldn't be that surprising. That's no LMG, that's a 20mm AA gun.
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Apr 29, 2021 18:45
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Pharnakes posted:Err, I meant T99, not 98. I'm not aware of a a T98 MG although Japanese type designations are so confusing there might be something. Either way we definitely have no 20mms at Milne Bay. The number is IIRC just a year number using the imperial japanese calendar. Type 9x means adopted in 193x in the gregorian calendar, Type 100 would then be 1940 and after that it rolls back to Type 1 for 1941. The proper designation in japanese would always amend the equipment type, kinda like how American WWII designations worked. The confusing bit is that the japanese military used another system (numbering by the respective year of the current emperors reign) earlier and a lot of the older equipment that was designated under that system was also still in use. The Type 98 is the standard light AA gun used by the IJA, basically a Hotchkiss HMG upscaled to 20mm. Magni fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Apr 29, 2021 |
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Apr 29, 2021 22:18
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The Guards Armored Division is a scenario 2 thing. The IJA had IIRC four tank divisions during WWII. Three of those were in a way ad hoc formations - basically, during the fighting in China the IJA formed "armored groups" that centralised much of the tank units in their respective areas, and those were eventually formalized and reoganized into three permanent tank divisions in 1942. The fourth was the "Hagane" 4th Armored Division, which was founded in 1943 with some involvement of german advisors. It was meant to be a Panzer Lehr-style handpicked formation serving as a cadre/testbed for the IJA's attempt to formalize a proper doctrine for division-size tank formations. 
Magni fucked around with this message at 06:55 on May 3, 2021 |
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May 2, 2021 21:20
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wedgekree posted:Yeah, am curious at this point where the Allies are prepping to counterattack! We've not seen the USN in force for awhile and it's worrying (well aside from the sub swarm, who are perhaps the most dangerous element). Personally (and speculating entirely from the information in this thread), I'm thinking more and more it's gonna be the Solomons. The constant air activity, the way he's super-aggro about Milne Bay, the submarine swarm, the possibility of allied carriers down by Sydney and now we've spotted what looks like a whole bunch of battleships rolling in. Taken together, this is spelling out a major buildup with every new bit of information we've been getting so far. He's probably pretty angry about losing Rennell Island like that, an airfield there would have been worth a lot to him for his eventual push. I think he's been caught pants down with Colombo and now Bengal and is struggling to put something of a decent defense together in that theatre, and the Aleutians are likely just him seeing wether he can push a bit and make a nuisance of himself rather than a full-blown counteroffensive. Magni fucked around with this message at 02:25 on May 4, 2021 |
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May 4, 2021 01:43
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Night10194 posted:Man, taking a fortified zone after unloading with less than 2-1 numerical superiority and light losses on the first assault feels like some kind of miracle. I do not understand the whimsical god that is WitP Ground Combat. Many of the defenders were cooks, clerks, ground crews etc. plus 23rd Brigade only arrived in India like 6 weeks ago and should have just started retraining into a Chindit unit, meaning it probably wasn't exactly in a combat-ready state. The only fully combat-ready infantry here was the regiment from 18th Divisions. And that's not gonna stop two full IJA divisions including the freakin' Imperial Guards, with 3 supporting engineer regiments to tear down the forts. You can also see the disparity between combat and non-combat personnel in the losses he caused. Just look at all those non-combat squads that got stomped on. Most of those are probably the RAF 225 Group ground complement getting overrun. (That and the bombardement may also be why some planes didn't make it out, I think.) The RAF switches Group and Wing when compared to the USAAF, which means a Group is literally the biggest unit they have below command level. And 225 is a Bomber Command Group, too. Not entirely sure, but it might even be the former Air Headquarters Far East. Losing that should hurt quite a bit, that's a significant amount of air operations capacity getting wrecked. Magni fucked around with this message at 18:48 on May 4, 2021 |
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May 4, 2021 18:42
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Wait, how did those 2 AMC make it all the way to the Kuriles without getting spotted? That's actually kinda worrisome.
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May 8, 2021 00:42
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Gewehr 43 posted:Noooooooo! That's like fifteen whole minutes of allied production capacity! Alikchi might as well throw in the towel! British replacement rates are really, really bad this early on. Unless the mod changed things, 35 planes is a substantial part of his monthly replacement rate for the British. Losing 8 Hurricanes in a day is completely unsustainable, he's getting like one of those per day right now, if not less. With how many losses he's taken, he probably has entire RAF squadrons sitting around without a single operational plane left. Magni fucked around with this message at 03:27 on May 9, 2021 |
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May 9, 2021 01:48
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Those french seaplanes absolutely get torpedoes, they were primarily designed as torpedo bombers. I guess the Commandant Teste had a different fate this time around.
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May 10, 2021 21:36
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tatankatonk posted:How feasible is a KB raid on Sydney for the Japanese player? Technically doable from Rabaul I think, but in practice just kinda useless. No real way you'll roll a major taskforce like that through between Brisbane and New Caledonia without getting spotted, which means the Allies will have plenty time to have everything valuable running for Melbourne while the welcome mat of all avaiable subs and land-based air gets rolled out. You'd need to invade and take New Caledonia first for it to have real potential. That or Alikchi needs to be caught sleeping to a ridiculous degree by it, and there's just no way for that with how much activity we're seeing in that theatre. Magni fucked around with this message at 03:24 on May 11, 2021 |
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May 11, 2021 03:13
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I guess the supply (-) at Comilla is because they've been leaving it all behind while running for their lives? This whole thing was a bit confusing to me. There's two first-rate IJA divisions at near full strength and with substantial armor support coming up that road behind the shattered Chittagong survivors, and he seemingly thought an extra two independent battalions would allow him to take a stand here?
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May 11, 2021 22:33
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Akratic Method posted:That or he thought the extra time they bought by fighting would get him something useful, like extra reinforcements or fortifications in Calcutta or another high-value base he might suspect Pharnakes is after. Sure, but... two battalions against two divisions, a tank regiment and a recon (IIRC basically light tanks and armored cars?) regiment. That's not buying you any time, that's just throwing those two battalions under the bus.
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May 12, 2021 01:01
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Affi posted:Do we ever get anything better then the val? Or are we stuck with it? IIRC sometimes early '43 production on the D4Y Judy should start, unless Pharnakes accellerated things there. Still very fragile plane until the last models, but it carries a 500kg bomb to the Vals 250kg and is a lot faster. Magni fucked around with this message at 00:33 on May 13, 2021 |
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May 13, 2021 00:18
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uPen posted:The Japanese end up making 0 (ZERO) armored carrier-capable dive/torpedo bombers while the US carrier aircraft are all armored except for the Devastator. So you'll get faster, better bomb loads, range etc but you can still get mauled pretty badly. I think the IJA gets some armored dive bombers somewhere (Lily variant?) but they blow chunks. The D4Y does get some armor in it's late model, IIRC.
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May 13, 2021 03:30
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Jobbo_Fett posted:No mention of the B7A. Not armored all that much either, unfortunately. Also, can only be used by Taihou and Shinano unless the game or mod changes things.
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May 13, 2021 17:46
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Pharnakes posted:Also most of those “tanks” are probably just improvised Bob Semple style stuff. Can't find anything on the 43rd Cavalry, but unless there's changes from historical, the 254th Armoured Brigade should at this point field 54 M3 Lees and M3 Stuarts each, and the 150th Regiment RAC should be another 54 Lees. That's actually a pretty notable portion of british/indian tank strength in the theatre at this point, and it just took a rather painful-looking hit. He overextended those armored formations and didn't give them nearly enough supporting infantry, so now they got forced back for it. And I bet a bunch of those tanks lost weren't even combat losses, but had to be abandoned on the retreat. Magni fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jun 2, 2021 |
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Jun 2, 2021 21:52
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Velius posted:He’s playing a serious Sir Robin lately and you’re punishing him without needing to commit the KB, which is a nice trick. I wouldn't even say that he's pulling a Sir Robin. Trying to run from Burma is about the only real option when there's serious japanese landings in Bengal. Alikchi is if at all yet again somewhat late to retreat and was trying to defend too far forward. He's been doing that repeatedly now and it's cost him a hell of a lot of ground troops. The British must be seriously stretched across the indian theatre by now because of all these losses he took. What's puzzling is what he's doing out in the South and Central Pacific; either he's gonna make a move there soon or he's got US units in transit to India via the Atlantic by now. And then there's the british carriers - they've been missing for a long time now. Magni fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Jun 2, 2021 |
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Jun 2, 2021 22:22
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Yikes. Full airfield and seemingly no coastal artillery. That hurts.  Continued airstrikes might be able to now keep it shut down long enough for the BBs to rearm and come back for another round. Cratered runway and damaged planes mean he can't even fly things out. Magni fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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Jun 3, 2021 19:48
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SIGSEGV posted:So how do you counter that sort of thing? I understand it wound be costly in time and supplies, but a minefield and coastal artillery defence might help, right? Either that or swearing off using airfields in coastal hexes forevermore? Small coastal artillery detachments can help somewhat - they won't stop a bombardement force this size, but they can disrupt it and draw fire. Mines and torpedo boats are also good for this. But to fully stop a major bombardement force, you need enough air recon and naval strike and/or a significant surface force to intercept it before it gets there. Alchenar posted:Also not having that many strategic bombers that far forwards. And this really needs to be emphasized. B-17s have enough range that you can put them on airfields well behind the frontline and still operate decently enough, only with a few more ops losses over time and potentially reduced bomb loads in some scenarios. Putting them this far forward was kinda unneccessary, and with how much other stuff he's operating out of Port Moresby it created a rather target-rich environment when the 14- and 8-inch shells started raining down. You can operate out of forward airfields in risky positions, but you really want to limit the amount of stuff you operate out of them at any given time lest you end up eating a body blow like this. Magni fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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Jun 3, 2021 22:00
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Dead S-boats this early hurts. The old tubs take a backseat later on, but right now they're the most useful USN submarines he has - they're using older torpedos that actually work. YOLOing two of them into Milne was kind of a bad attempt to get revenge for Port Moresby. Overrun P-50s are a pretty nice one, too. Those things seem to be almost up there with Scythes and Lightnings in terms of utility, and there's more of them than either of those two. And yeah, I think the Liz should be limited to areas where there's no allied fighter presence. I hope the mod has a better IJN strat bomber later. uPen posted:Imagine being one of those Japanese marines. You've trained for years for amphibious assaults, working with the fleet. You've been assigned to one of the most powerful SNLF formations. Australians and a bunch of severely angry Dutchmen. (And the Dutch are the actual infantry in there, the Aussies are all cooks, clerks and assorted base personnel.) And I think they're even more rare than just normal marines - they're an elite SNLF parachute unit. Magni fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jun 6, 2021 |
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Jun 6, 2021 17:26
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Quiz posted:???????? The tiny grey, green or red dots in some hexes that aren't named. Those places can be developed into airbases and (in case of coastal/island hexes) ports.
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Jun 7, 2021 16:02
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Akratic Method posted:“We have spotted the enemy cruiser, and are moving to engage!” *leans out the window with a handgun* The Mavis can carry up to 1000kg of bombs, or even torpedos. Recon/patrol ones generally carry only relatively small stuff, though, but still enough for the occassional success and to be a real worry for submarines and other small stuff.
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Jun 8, 2021 17:52
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wedgekree posted:Also wait the Taihos are going to be useful here? As opposed to the weird Yamato refit? What's it going to be tweaked to be if not that far ahead! Taiho has an air complement only slightly smaller than the Shokakus, goes 33 knots and has an armored deck like british CVs. She's absolutely useful as long as you get some decent pilots for her air group. (The "weird Yamato refit" was Shinano. )
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Jun 15, 2021 01:14
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overmind2000 posted:Does the mod give you access to better Japanese tanks earlier in the war? Something like the Type 3 won't win you the war by itself but it would be very useful against most non-Russian tanks It definitely does. The Type 1 Mediums in the Imperial Guard Armored Division historically only entered full production in 1943 and neer saw combat as they were all held back on the Home Islands.
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Jun 15, 2021 20:35
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Pharnakes posted:Fortunately WitP tends to not produce wild outliers in the way real life occasionally does. This means it's highly unlikely Yamato will take more than 6-8 torpedoes to sink, but on the other hand a Taiho dying to a single torpedo is also very unlikely. That's kinda screwed. Yamato and Musashi taking so many torpedo hits to bring down was no fluke, but simply the result of an overall very effective TDS and more excess floatation than anything else afloat at the time. Broken Box posted:Granted most of those tanks are located in the wrong theater and intercontinental trains would have a limited volume of transfer The Soviets railed the entirety of 6th Guards Tank Army, and number of other armored formations, to the manchurian border before August Storm. It was pretty much the biggest concentration of armor the entire Pacific Theatre ever saw.
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Jun 16, 2021 03:10
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overmind2000 posted:Alikchi not upgrading the British tanks in India has got to be one of the funniest mistakes of the war, like goddamn Japanese tanks shouldn't be a fraction as successful as they've been so far Most of the beating the British tanks took in India seems to come from them operating without much or any friendly infantry units and running into IJA formations that are more well-rounded, plus in some cases getting significantly worked over by airstrikes before getting into their fights. The british armored bde's and cavalry regiments aren't really meant to independently take on large enemy formations. They have only pretty weak to outright token organic infantry and artillery and are more suited to supporting friendly infantry units and then pursuing and running over already broken enemy units. Getting hit on their own by a full, healthy IJA infantry division with some extra backup is going to push them back, and that means all the disabled tanks from the fight (and before) end up being abandoned. That's been the real cause of most of the british tank losses so far, I think. Magni fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 00:21
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