Days of Infamy - Japan BICE 11.2

[Wraith11B]

How does the Battle Streamer event seem to work? I'm assuming there's some sort of qualifiers about how many forces are engaged overall.

Have to say, the "Coastal Battleship" they're showing there weren't exactly worthwhile fleet units in the IJN. Certainly, they weren't ready to be converted into CVLs!

 

[Surt]

Well I've converted them to CVL's, but that might not be for everyone.

 

[Wraith11B]

Well I've converted them to CVL's, but that might not be for everyone.

I guess the BICE folks have allowed for their "C.BB" type to upgrade, but it seriously would make no sense... I don't get why that's even an option, honestly. Most of those ships were either scrapped, on their way to the scrappers or hulked before 1940.

 

[Jorath13]

How does the Battle Streamer event seem to work? I'm assuming there's some sort of qualifiers about how many forces are engaged overall.

Have to say, the "Coastal Battleship" they're showing there weren't exactly worthwhile fleet units in the IJN. Certainly, they weren't ready to be converted into CVLs!

I don't know the specific qualifiers that allows a Battle Streamer event to fire but obviously you have to win a battle. I imagine there needs to be much more losses on the enemy than yours too though not too many dead on your side.

Well I've converted them to CVL's, but that might not be for everyone.

@Surt you pointed that out to me in my last video AAR I've done and since then I always upgrade them after the China Conflict, thank you!

I guess the BICE folks have allowed for their "C.BB" type to upgrade, but it seriously would make no sense... I don't get why that's even an option, honestly. Most of those ships were either scrapped, on their way to the scrappers or hulked before 1940.

@Wraith11B I won't speak for the dev team, but the Japanese did convert several vessels in to carriers, including a German passenger liner. The US as well converted a battlecruiser in to a CV - I would say it may have been a policy decision historically but in this game the option is provided to the player. I do the same as Germany with it's two CBB when I get it's Carrier tech researched up.

 

[Jorath13]

Chapter 5: The Chinese Conflict Continues

Middle of August

From the 15th thru the 17th of August we see only 3 more Chinese transports sunk, and possibly due to the lack of targets but with a desire to fully test the new Japanese torpedoes, 2 Chinese escorts follow them down as well. Again, I promise to show the Strategic view of losses suffered next month.

As exciting as the taking of Tianjin is, our western forces want to ensure they receive sufficient accolades for their actions. Guyang province is attacked by two Japanese divisions and they will be moving in shortly. In fact, they do only two hours later with just 4 of our soldiers killed to the loss of 527 Chinese.

With some spoiling attacks, the counter-attack on Horinger is finished with perhaps more Japanese losses here than all other western provinces combined. 2214 Chinese casualties is a good haul though, representing half the force there attacking us.

The spoiling attack nets some great dividends as only two dozen of our troops are lost to over 900 of theirs, with the Chinese quite exhausted prior.

We in fact continue our western front expansion with the Horinger defenders and attack Shuoxian and Xinzhou.

Both should be easy wins for us!

Looking at the front lines after two weeks of conflict and it is easy to see where we have done the best. The idea here is a swift elimination of the three northern allies to Nat China, hopefully all three before the end of the year. With them gone, the Chinese alliance will be halved in number of countries and lose about 20% of their total strength. In fact, when an allied country surrenders, it tends to help out several ongoing battles at the time as we may see, with units disappearing from the combat.

A few hours later and we're attacking further west in Guyang and Dongsheng provinces. Again, these look to be easy wins for us. What isn't an easy win is Beiping:

Here only 11 Japanese units remain in combat, as it was required to remove a couple units due to losses in strength and organization. The Chinese may have removed some more units since last week but they still have 15 divisions in the city. It will not be a swift victory here! However, good news filters in to command

as it's relayed we have won in Guyang and Dongsheng with only 18 casualties to 1066 Chinese.

As darkness decends on the battlefield on August 17th you can see the next steps from Tianjin. The two southern adjoining provinces will be attacked by many units while those remaining will assist in the Beiping battle. While Jinghai does not have anyone in it (yet, spoiler) Tongxian does

albeit not a sizable enough force to stop my battle-hardened veterans.

The morning sun arrives over the city of Beiping on the 18th and finally we can state we've won! Or...can we? In any event, we've learned we need to push deeper in to the Deep Battle Doctrine (pun intended) as we lost 2.5 times more men than the Chinese did. Nearly a third of a million troops were embroiled in this conflict that went on for over two weeks. Sadly though, my troops are too exhausted to move in quickly enough and the Chinese reinforce the city again. Another two week siege is on the horizon.

My other Carrier group consisting of the Kaga and Akagi is involved in their own naval battle against a lone Chinese Light Cruiser. This doesn't go well for the Chinese Navy and yet another ship is sent to the bottom.

Here we see that indeed our men cannot be stopped at Tongxian and with a 10:1 loss ratio, we swiftly move in.

Just as our troops were to take control of Jinghai province, a lone Garrison unit moves in, blocking us. Ah well, more experience for my men as we still win within a day.

Further battles on the 19th are detailed here, in the West and as seen another 2 Chinese Escort ships are destroyed. In fact, another escort on the 24th, a transport on the 25th, and an escort on the 30th are later sunk by Japanese subs. It's apparent that Chinese shipping is getting wrecked! Also getting wrecked -

the Chinese garrison in Jinghai. Nearly a quarter of their men killed at a loss of only 35 Japanese.

On the 19th, the Chinese counter on Tumd Youqi is finished with two dozen Japanese to 1130 Chinese losses.

As such, we push further westward in to Baotou - what looks to be initially a difficult battle will progress better as reinforcements show a day later for us.

Xinzhou is taken with moderate losses and one of the first air battles of this campaign happens the evening of the 19th. Throughout the rest of 1937, all air battles I see occur result in only org and strength loss; never do I see a unit go down. However, the Chinese air force seems to be weaker than mine so all engagements end in a victory.

On the morning of the 21st, here is the state of the front lines. Quite the push westward with 14 provinces taken in three weeks time. To the east, the Nat Chinese have only just relinquished Tianjin and it's two southern neighboring provinces. Beiping is under attack yet again in another bloodbath.

In Seohan man to the east of the Gulf of Chihli, a group of Japanese Torpedo Boats and three subs meet coincidentally against a reported Chinese Liner. It turns out to be a torpedo boat however and it's hulk slides under the waves with little effort.

As well that same day, the 22nd our spies have gotten us some German blueprints detailing Capital Ship Medium AA, which will be well appreciated. Take that for training my enemy!

Victories in both Dongsheng and Shuoxian were expected though losses were heavy for us in Shuoxian province. As such we push further in to the mountains and hills of Shanyincheng.

We have also begun to push further south of Tianjin on the 25th

with light opposition seen in both Cangzhou and Hejian.

The next day, we see great victories in Baotou and Tongxian - I don't know which is considered the third Major Victory here but it's nice to have that many banners up! The benefits seen in the mouse-over of the Major Victory event will continue for a few months.

The next morning on the 27th, a Destroyer force engages a Chinese Torpedo Boat in the Eastern Sea...at least that's the post-battle report as during the brief conflict it was said to be a MTB. Also, missed by IJN HQ in Tokyo is another naval battle reported involving one of China's few remaining Destroyers. It too is sunk along with the TB in the Eastern Sea.

The Japanese Navy has been putting forth a good showing in this war so far! Also on the 27th, our men in Tongxian fend off a Chinese counter-attack

with little loss to us, but nearly a third of the Chinese attackers.

Back to the Western Front, our men keep moving steadily in to Communist Chinese territory with minimal losses on both sides.

The evening brings to close another brief counter-attack on Tongxian (the province with the Japanese 10th Division) with again great loss of Chinese men.

It appears Nat China is hoping to provide some relief to the defenders in Beiping by attacking my men assisting in that battle. But it's to no avail!

While our troops have been fighting for quite some time, the reinforcements I've sent in have bolstered the fighting force there.

While not a Great Victory earning me a fourth stripe, it is a victory none the less with fewer losses on my end this time. I've lost nearly 20,000 troops in this arena but so have the Chinese as well.

To the south on the 30th, Cangzhou falls as well.

A bit more bloody than the western front battles, it's still worth noting we were outnumbered yet won the day anyway. With the month drawing to a close, we keep pushing westward, this time to Linhe.

Typically, I send my Cavalry forces westward and my main Infantry takes on the Nat Chinese. This campaign, I spread the infantry divisions around on all fronts and mixed the Cav in along the front lines as well. My Army seems to be performing better this time around, even with China set to Hard difficulty.

At the end of the month and this chapter, we see further wins in Lvliang and in Yulin (again). Overall losses were minor for Japan and about expected for China. Japan has moved quite speedily and steadily westward of the initial front lines, taken Beiping and Tianjin, and even moved a couple of provinces southward from the latter city. A sneak peek in to the next chapter and thus next month of the war - we see the SNLF Marines enter the action! Let me also say, usually I have my military mobilized fully in late June, in place and ready for the July 1st Marco Polo Bridge Incident. This time, I hadn't paid attention enough to my war notes and neglected to get mobilized properly. Thus, a one month delay to the Chinese conflict. We'll see how long this conflict lasts - I predict by December-February of 1939 I will have it all completed.

 

[Wraith11B]

@Wraith11B I won't speak for the dev team, but the Japanese did convert several vessels in to carriers, including a German passenger liner. The US as well converted a battlecruiser in to a CV - I would say it may have been a policy decision historically but in this game the option is provided to the player. I do the same as Germany with it's two CBB when I get it's Carrier tech researched up.

Yes, that is true (speaking from experience with my efforts to document all major surface combatants), but I can't think of any of the pre-dreadnaught vessels which could be (or were) converted. Most of the vessels so converted would be fast enough to stay with the fleet (this was the determining factor for me in not including the IJA's carriers, as most of them were too small to justify inclusion).

Regardless, I'm derailing the thread!

Good look at the progress. Definitely interesting to see how they managed to get results from the battlefield to impact national impacts.

 

[Surt]

All those minor units you got without leader can have one assigned if you click the portrait.
See if you can surround some of those northern divisions, things will go a lot easier if you don't have to fight them over and over again.

 

[roverS3]

The next morning on the 27th, a Destroyer force engages a Chinese Torpedo Boat in the Eastern Sea...at least that's the post-battle report as during the brief conflict it was said to be a MTB.

Doesn't MTB stand for 'Motor Torpedo Boat'?

Considering how elaborate the Black Ice events are, I was surprised that the Amelia Earhart one was the same as the one in TFH. It would have been funny to see some kind of de-buff to air unit organisation as a consequence, at least for the US.

Bieping was extremely bloody. How does Black Ice change the casualty numbers? They seem to be quite a bit higher than in the vanilla game.

Otherwise the China campaign is going very well, which is a bit worrying, though I'm curious to see how Black Ice makes it more difficult as the war drags on. Knocking out the smaller Chinese states first does make a lot of sense. If you take out the Communists, this alternate universe's post-war china is going to look very different whether Japan wins or you loses...

 

[Wraith11B]

Doesn't MTB stand for 'Motor Torpedo Boat'?

It does.

Considering how elaborate the Black Ice events are, I was surprised that the Amelia Earhart one was the same as the one in TFH. It would have been funny to see some kind of de-buff to air unit organisation as a consequence, at least for the US.

I don't know why it would affect the US that way though. Makes absolutely no sense. A single airframe having difficulty finding a small island in the expanse of the Pacific? Oh no, let's scramble our entire air system.

Bieping was extremely bloody. How does Black Ice change the casualty numbers? They seem to be quite a bit higher than in the vanilla game.

Otherwise the China campaign is going very well, which is a bit worrying, though I'm curious to see how Black Ice makes it more difficult as the war drags on. Knocking out the smaller Chinese states first does make a lot of sense. If you take out the Communists, this alternate universe's post-war china is going to look very different whether Japan wins or you loses...

There are four major (and several minor) levels of "debuffing" to old equipment in BICE... and again, to me, it doesn't make sense why they do that; I get that improvements to the various techs can lead to significant overmatch, but let's be realistic: those buffs should be minimal. It's really in the doctrine that things get to be deadly.

 

[roverS3]

I don't know why it would affect the US that way though. Makes absolutely no sense. A single airframe having difficulty finding a small island in the expanse of the Pacific? Oh no, let's scramble our entire air system.

You're right. This suggestion was more for comedic effect than for anything resembling realism. I just imagined the US Air Crews sitting by the radio, and questioning everything they know about navigation in some absurd overreaction to the fact that one lady got lost over the pacific. It's just funny that there are a few events like that that don't influence the game at all, even in Black Ice.

There are four major (and several minor) levels of "debuffing" to old equipment in BICE... and again, to me, it doesn't make sense why they do that; I get that improvements to the various techs can lead to significant overmatch, but let's be realistic: those buffs should be minimal. It's really in the doctrine that things get to be deadly.

That does seem to be a needlessly convoluted system to achieve something close to parity between Japanese and Chinese units.

 

[Wraith11B]

You're right. This suggestion was more for comedic effect than for anything resembling realism. I just imagined the US Air Crews sitting by the radio, and questioning everything they know about navigation in some absurd overreaction to the fact that one lady got lost over the pacific. It's just funny that there are a few events like that that don't influence the game at all, even in Black Ice.

Yes, it was a rather common occurrence that aircraft were lost due to navigational errors. Anyways...

That does seem to be a needlessly convoluted system to achieve something close to parity between Japanese and Chinese units.

I looked it up in the 10.33 version (the latest one that I have access to without a download), and there are five bands of "Game Balance Tech" (1936-38, 39-41, 42-44, 45-47, 48-50). For the one I was on, particularly GBT 1936-1938, the unit was on "Stage 4" which means that I've gone through certain number of quarters and each of these affect all of the units somewhat differently, giving some minor malus to the various units as they go through the bands... It's certainly over-complicated.

 

[Jorath13]

...
Good look at the progress. Definitely interesting to see how they managed to get results from the battlefield to impact national impacts.

Thank you, and it is certainly an interesting method used to have your citizens be affected by events overseas!

All those minor units you got without leader can have one assigned if you click the portrait.
See if you can surround some of those northern divisions, things will go a lot easier if you don't have to fight them over and over again.

@Surt if you're referring to the Manchuko Expeditionary Force, I cannot seem to get a leader assigned to them - clicking the portrait doesn't do anything sadly.
I had high intentions at surrounding and destroying northern forces but so far have not been successful. As I progress further in to mainland China though, I will be making more of an effort to cutting off enemy units.

Doesn't MTB stand for 'Motor Torpedo Boat'?

Considering how elaborate the Black Ice events are, I was surprised that the Amelia Earhart one was the same as the one in TFH. It would have been funny to see some kind of de-buff to air unit organisation as a consequence, at least for the US.

Bieping was extremely bloody. How does Black Ice change the casualty numbers? They seem to be quite a bit higher than in the vanilla game.

Otherwise the China campaign is going very well, which is a bit worrying, though I'm curious to see how Black Ice makes it more difficult as the war drags on. Knocking out the smaller Chinese states first does make a lot of sense. If you take out the Communists, this alternate universe's post-war china is going to look very different whether Japan wins or you loses...

Aye, MTB is Motor Torpedo Boat - referencing the initial naval combat report and then the actual in-battle report there's a slight discrepancy which may be intentional.

I am not the authority on differences between Vanilla and BICE so the losses seen at this point seem rather on the nose here. The two cities always cause me the highest casualties in this conflict!

The campaign is going very well indeed but this isn't my first rodeo either. I've completed dozens of Japanese campaigns against China and each time I refine my tactics in this theater. Don't worry, we will see some hiccups and roadblocks in the future with China.

Thank you everyone who is commenting and reading this AAR - moving on to another chapter in this saga now!

 

[Surt]

@Surt if you're referring to the Manchuko Expeditionary Force, I cannot seem to get a leader assigned to them - clicking the portrait doesn't do anything sadly.
I had high intentions at surrounding and destroying northern forces but so far have not been successful. As I progress further in to mainland China though, I will be making more of an effort to cutting off enemy units.

Click a bit around on the portrait, I have done it the last 6(?) games now.

 

[Jorath13]

Chapter 6: September Sucks

September 1st - 2nd

Continuing the monthly overview of how well this conflict is going for Japan, you'll see that we're wrecking them with over 61k tons of cargo sank worth nearly 400 IC. I'm uncertain why there's no naval ship losses reported for China, aside from convoys because I recorded multiple ships hitting the bottom. Ah well, moving on to the Air campaign, they've recently started bombing Japan and causing IC loss but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what they've lost. Due to my air units costing more than China's, our IC losses in air units has been heavier. In fact, most bomber units are sitting in air ports regaining Org and Strength. Lastly, where it truly counts in the land combat, they've lost over ten times in IC value and almost a hundred times in manpower. That...will get closer as I've got some battles coming up that don't go my way. But still, first month of the war and only losing 72 manpower to their over 5000 is nothing to sneeze at.

As discussed last chapter, here are the Lvliang and Yulin results. The Chinese really want their land back as they keep attacking me in Lvliang. At the end of August during the night time hours, a Chinese light cruiser was pounced upon by my main carrier fleet, the Kaga and Akagi with escorts.

The result was not in doubt as for not the first nor last time did carrier air groups sink the enemy ship.

September 1st dawned with several events which I'll go in to detail here.

Again, I neglected to capture the individual decisions but going left to right, I did not enforce food rationing which lowered our dissent by 1. Ensuring troops were to be fed would provide 10,000 supplies but at the cost of 2 dissent. As you can see on the top resource bar I'm sitting nicely with Supplies, so no need for this now. Here we also see the End of the 1911 US Agreement was accepted (third event from the left), gaining us 1000 Fuel - this is a result of Japan being at war with China and usually occurs in July. As you remember, I had to push the Marco Polo Bridge Incident back a month.

Scrap Metal Drive was, like the Food Rationing, not pursued this time and again our dissent drops by 1. If selected, 10k Metal would be added to our reserves at the cost of 2 dissent - at this time my Metal reserves are sufficient and in worse case I can simply trade for what I need.

Regardless of war time or not, on Sept 2 1937 there's a typhoon that hits Hong Kong and affects various areas around it. This has minimal impact to Japan (Taiwan indication not with standing) and we won't worry about it here. Later on, I believe there's a seperate river flooding event in northern China but due to our late attack, this too won't affect us. The last item on the right in this picture is how Japan can get more historical troops - we've indicated at the start of the game we wanted to go this route and this event is one of several generated by BICE to provide the units. I sadly cut off the very bottom (*sigh*) but you see how much manpower and supplies are spent to bring in 5 divisions, built out of the shells of 3 other divisions. Let me say, during normal wartime (July China Conflict) this can impede some of Japan's attacks as the 1st, 8th, and 9th are front line troops. It is still impactful here even with a month later, but not quite so fearful.

Shanghai makes the news as we will be getting forces set up in the enemy city momentarily. Read the second paragraph and note that bit about Japan making amphibious landings at a couple locations. This will be seen in the game as well, handled manually by yours truly!

Lastly, I've selected A War Bonds as it provides the most National Unity (B and C War Bonds are .02 and .01 respectively) at the least amount of dissent (B and C are more apiece). Not indicated in the flavor text but somewhat indicated in the middle wording, A Bonds give a little money each month or so while C would give a lot more. If money was a real issue, choosing the option of raising taxes would be ideal but at a huge hit to our dissent. Right now, money isn't an issue.

Some Chinese fighters dare to show their faces in the skies of Cangzhou, where we are currently attacking at a 96% rating. Perhaps they were hoping to sweep my bombers away but instead, it is my fighter group doing the sweeping! The Chinese Conflict is a great opportunity to get experience for our military prior to Dec 7 '41 and I will take every chance provided.

Here, we see the results of the Shanghai event yesterday with a strong Militia unit and standard SNLF Marine in the city trying to wrest it away from the Chinese. They will need some help though and here it comes!

All 5 of my fully built and ready SNLF Marines along with their HQs are being shuttled down toward the area to help out. I have some invasion zones pre-selected but not indicated here - you'll see the landings soon enough.

The presence of my troops in Shanghai has forced out 3 Torpedo Boats and a Transport liner of the Chinese and in to the waiting arms of one of my destroyer groups. Their loss!

Somehow the liner escapes but all 3 TBs and a wandering MTB gets to join their brethren at the bottom of the sea.

September 3rd Events

Here we see a bevy of more events on the 3rd which I'll get in to more detail with. Below the event list you can see the initial attack on Shanghai isn't going quite well for the Japanese at 16% currently but have no fear, the Marines are coming. Also, the Wangpan Yang battle (bottom left corner) is going heavily against the Chinese - my light carriers the Ryujo and Hosho have joined in the fun. After this conflict, I'll go thru my carriers and note Sunk Ships by each - already, it's an impressive tally! Looking back at the new events/decisions here, I do select the "Create them!" option for the middle decision on Convoy Raiders. This will later on generate a dozen or more converted freighters in to raiders, similar to the German's efforts in the Atlantic. In fact...we may see such a ship in the Indian Ocean or Pacific later on - the Germans get around!

Here, like before, we don't make our citizen's lives any harder and they love us for it as we don't conserve Energy. At this point dissent was at 4.3 due to previous events but this choice knocks it down to 3.3. Next, a Veteran Unit is created from our previous month of battles. You do lose a little money and supplies but as you see in the second screenshot, the chance of getting an elite unit is great. We only get a Veteran though - these are regiments that can be added to a division in the place of the normal HQ addition and provide much better bonuses as well with a snippet of what they provide below. A 10% bonus to attack and defense in all terrain is a lovely thing!

As Japan I typically see 5-8 of these appear during the Chinese Conflict and with Germany I can see a dozen or more thru the first two years of the war.

Forming the Northern China Area Army will create a couple units and HQs here, among them my first Army HQ. The cost is relatively minimal, though taking a 500 officer hit is pretty harsh to my ratio (currently at 104%). Lastly,

we get some defectors from the Chinese in areas we've overrun. This is a low-strength militia unit that I simply place on Beiping to hold. We also saw an increase in our shipyards, thanks to our focus on the Navy this year.

We gained one each of Small and Medium shipyards which will help us in the later years as we build up our Naval might. There was also a Rail Terminal (the first one) built that is providing some extra supply throughput - all these new buildings are described and explained in the BICE in-game help event you can trigger from the Diplomacy menu. Oh, and note the losses we're suffering now that the US cancelled their agreement from 1911 with us. Our resources are no longer seeing those gains of 25-65%, though we see some of our supplies and money improve. Ah, and let me not forget to point out our CAS units are going to be improved shortly - so long as I can upgrade them to level 2.

Speaking of research, Japan's Grand Battle Plan Doctrine is getting all the improvements I can at this point in time. Research is mixed with our Army currently seeing most of the benefits, but that will be changing soon as my Navy needs to catch up to 1937 tech and start getting better.

September 4th- 5th Events

We have even more events happening in a short span, with more RPs provided to my Carrier projects. This isn't all the CV projects available but it is a good number of them.

I accept formation of two more armies which provides a new Light Infantry unit and Corps HQ in Manchuria. They immediately get sent down south to join the fight in China there. After all the air battles my fighters have been involved in, apparently their morale will be improving soon! At least, that's how I roleplay it. Note too the last item in this screencap about the IC investment. All those "free" units I've gotten so far aren't free - I mean, it did cost manpower, supplies, and other resources but building units also costs IC. Well, here is how BICE handles that IC cost by imposing a 20% IC reduction for a period of time to pay for them. Remember the picture of the Utility window I showed at the very start of this AAR? There is where you can adjust how much of an IC hit you take (20% or more), so you can pay off the investment quicker. More of a hit, quicker the payment is met and the sooner you can go back to your normal Production window. For Japan though, I stick with 20% for now as I need my IC intact as much as possible.

Here we see the option to remove the 3rd and 11th Divisions (Lucky and Brocade) and get them shipped for "free" to Shanghai. It does cost some manpower and resources to accomplish this, but I need them to help out the beachead there. Lastly, remember choosing to see revolts at the start of the game? Here's part of that payoff in the second screenshot with some Communist Chinese popping up on the map. Until I take that country, they'll be pushing a few militia units out in places I hold. Annoying!

Still at 16% but now with some reinforcements appearing. The afore-mentioned Lucky and Brocade Infantry Divisions along with a low-strength light armor unit and a Corps HQ to handle them all. Don't worry, these units will improve our odds dramatically here.

Now we're up to 50%! That garrison has no chance. What also has no chance were the Chinese in Cangzhou with over 4500 of them losing their lives to a mere 350 Japanese lost. Looking swiftly to the Western Front,

we are continuing the push westward with no losses to our side here.

Uh, what is this on the horizon? A lone Chinese Destroyer trying to interfere with my Marine landings? Fortunately, I left my light carrier group of Ryujo and Hosho here to provide defense - something I recommend for naval invasions.

Another Chinese fleet kisses the seafloor! Throughout the first half of the month most of the naval activity was seen by our surface ships but our underwater fleet wasn't idle - three transports were sunk in these 14 days of September.

September 6th- 7th Events

Another Veteran unit is generated and placed in Tokyo for later use for a unit to be build later. Australia also joins the embargo train but literally nothing happens to Japan for it - perhaps they would cancel any trades we had? Possibly this affects Australia in some way, too, but otherwise no notable effect occurs.

The extra units help out and we wrest Shanghai from Chinese control with minimal losses on our side. Note too that we've got some landings going on in the indicated provinces and one of our other landed SNLF units is working to secure the port north-west of Shanghai. We'll be landing with our Marines and eventually another couple more Infantry Divisions will join up to help expand out holdings in the new Shanghai Sector.

Another resource decision where we decline and improve dissent again by 1. Honestly, I almost never take these unless my resources are truly hurting. You can trade for what you're short in easy enough as it is, but I am glad these options are available just in case.

Looking over our Air Doctrines, we've got some work to do here as most everything is desired and needed. It'll come along though, no worries there!

In the middle portion of our front, we're moving in to Suide, setting us up by knocking on the Communist Chinese door to their capital. There's a small push on Yulin adjacent to Suide but this should be fought off handily.

Also taken care of handily as we end this chapter and the first week of September, a Chinese bomber gets jumped by one of my fighter groups.

It gets away but not without some damage first!

With that, the first week of September is completed - quite a lot happened which is why it gets it's own chapter. Next chapter will consist of the next week in September and we'll see how well we perform in this conflict.

 

[Surt]

Rather conservative on the war bonds, depending on how much I have invested in dissent reduction I go higher up as you can always use more money ... also when the carrier tech is up to date change to the small ship specialist to get them up to snuf.

 

[Jorath13]

Rather conservative on the war bonds, depending on how much I have invested in dissent reduction I go higher up as you can always use more money ... also when the carrier tech is up to date change to the small ship specialist to get them up to snuf.

Thank you for reminding me - I'll need to switch out the minister here before I get too far in to 1938.

Oh! I finally got the Manchuko Expeditionary forces some leaders. I had to click around on the blank leader portrait before it popped up with the leader options.

 

[Jorath13]

Chapter 6a: September Somewhat Sucks

September 8th- 9th Events

AAAHHHH! Partisans everywhere! Again, thanks to my allowance of revolts from the start of the game, we're seeing those results with half a dozen provinces infiltrated by partisans. Fortunately, most are just brigade-strength at best and should be eliminated quickly. Oh, note how we're expanding out of the Shanghai zone to the south and northwest. I want that northwestern port and pushing south will help me to hold Shanghai easier. Plus, our Marines will be utilizing that city as it's base so we don't want anyone trying to interfere.

Just off of Shanghai, that dratted transport is engaged by my light carriers and destroyer groups to no avail. We'll get him eventually!

An air battle between our fighters occurs near the southern front with some enemy planes getting knocked out of the air. After this conflict I'll need a recount on how well (or poorly) my air, naval, and army units did with a breakdown on experience gained by the unit and the leaders. Typically after China I pull all leaders off for reassignment as some leaders get so many skills they need to be placed higher up in the HQ chain.

Yongqing is getting hit hard by my troops but success is not assured, despite that green 99 seen there. We can also see how the rest of the eastern front is doing with some pushing further south of Beiping and Manchuko cavalry heading in to Huimin province.

Out west, our forces are still pushing westward though there's only a couple divisions and their HQ moving this way. Eventually they'll run out of steam but for now they fended off an attack in Wuhai while they'll be moving in to Bayan Mod province in the west.

Whipping back to the east, we win in Hejian province but at at pretty big cost. Fortunately, not too terrible especially considering the Chinese outnumbered me here.

September 10th- 11th Events

Our Infantry techs are nearly complete for this year with only the Light Infantry Branch Upgrade being worked on as we complete the Standard Infantry Branch. We don't have enough trucks or motorised units to make it worthwhile to research those two additional techs on the bottom and Body Armour, while greatly protecting my troops would only slow them down greatly. It's best to move quickly and not be encumbered!

Switching views to the Shanghai Zone, our Marines are pushing hard on the port at Hai'an. Capture of that is essential as two ports in this zone can provide plenty of supply. Too, the ultimate goal is to negate Chinese ownership of ports from Shanghai up to Beiping. This way I can move my sub fleets further south and concentrate their convoy missions.

Back up near Beiping we win a battle for Hejian province - the Chinese didn't have many troops remaining here so we'll move in quickly. This move helps us start to focus toward the west/south-west route toward Communist China and hopefully we'll see some of the enemy get caught up in our encirclement.

On the 11th, with additional SNLF forces assisting, we push the Chinese out of Hai'an port and will move fully in there, leaving Nantong province alone. We're also beginning an attack on Changzhou with the Maizuru SNLF unit to see how far out we can push.

In the middle area of the front, our troops in Xinzhou have been receiving multiple attacks with the initial first one being a true test. The Chinese outnumbered me here 51k to 32k but we still inflicted over seven times the number of losses we received. Apparently some late-comer to the party tried to attack but immediately retreated, hence the zero loss notification immediately following.

Speaking of repetitive battles, we were attacked by Shanxi troops in Wuhai but fought them off quickly and successfully. I promise I won't put down every single battle that occurs as the AI loves to send one unit to attack, retreat, and resend them again to attack. Rinsing and repeating dozens of times can get old!

My armor units poke their heads in to Taiyuan province, capital city of Shanxi China. We'll be pulling out quickly enough but I wanted a look at what's here....wait, is that yet another German trained unit? ARRRGGHHH!

After all the preamble of getting to here, the actual battle for Bayan Mod is short and very bloodless.

My 3 losses were probably a scouting party that got lost!

After moving in to Hejian province to the east with the 2nd and 16th divisions, we get attacked by....ANOTHER GERMAN TRAINED UNIT?

Please Germany...try training your own troops to get ready, ok?

September 12th- 14th Events

In our southern front off of Beiping, I detach the 14th "Shining" Division to attack Yucheng. There'd better be no German trained units here! (Fortunately there's not)

After a day's worth of combat and some excessive losses, I pull my units out of the Taiyuan malestrom and regroup. Truth be told, I forgot about these guys for a hot minute hence the 9k in losses. We'll revisit with more troops soon enough.

The next day on the 13th, enemy units take advantage of my armor units being mauled and attack Shuoxian. And to add insult to injury, it's the German trained units - everyone is sensing a theme here, right?

Note too we're being attacked in Xinzhou but that attack will go nowhere. We also get an Industrial center built in Nagasaki which means I should check my Production pretty soon.

Again, the Chinese ghost liner shows up for my carrier and destroyer groups to test their skills on. It's taken even more damage than before but we don't sink it.

A militia unit of Shanxi found it's way in to Bayan Mod but won't be staying long. What also won't be staying long are my troops in two areas of concern.

Near Shanghai the Maizuru SNLF unit pulls out of Changzhou as the battle there was going poorly. Even with their skills in crossing rivers, it's a dangerous job and I didn't want to lose more manpower even though we may have ultimately won the battle. Plus, I've got the port north of there and that's all I need here.

Lastly, our attacks in the middle portion of the front on Shanyincheng go poorly, even though we outnumber the enemy 4:1. With over 3:1 in losses sustained, I cease action here and provide time for my troops to recover.

I hope everyone is enjoying this AAR so far and with 45 days nearly completed in the conflict, how does everyone think I'm doing with Japan? I feel I'm going to be overstretched in the far West pretty soon while I won't be able to get Shanxi and Communist China both before Winter hits. Shanghai went well though and after breaking thru the northern cities we're beginning to make strides southward. I have another 45 days remaining before Winter snows set in and make battles more difficult so we'll see how well I do.

 

[Wraith11B]

I'm glad to see there's a counter-weight to the Major Victory (I guess I should have assumed that there would be). What are the effects of that?

Interesting, I'm thoroughly enjoying this AAR. I'd imagine that this is very different from what we normally see here, and that's probably why there's a distinct lack of response. I know the feelings.

 

[5CHiZO]

You seem to be doing alright. Once you spread the line out China will have to spread to counter you, weakening their defense. Once your spread out enough, granted you have enough divisions, China won't be able to stop you. You already have Shanghai so you're doing pretty well. Keep up the fight Emperor. Show them no mercy

 

[roverS3]

Interesting. Japan is starting to suffer some serious losses now. If only the Germans had made their mind up a bit earlier on who would be their far eastern ally... All those German trained units are definitely a pain... (I feel you stock photo lady)

I like the that you get to form veteran units by bringing together the more experienced fighters from various other units. Having a more fine-grained difference between different but similar units seems like a plus to me.

What is the in-game impact of a 'major defeat' ?