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Capt Andrew

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  1. When playing Allies, I used to max out diplomacy investments for Russia. I had about a 1 in 20 success rate at getting Russia involved sooner. I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it (to me). I'd much rather have the 600 MPP, which would buy an extra aircraft carrier and fighter unit! Those two units have better than a 1 in 20 chance of changing the game!
  2. I enjoyed the game too Bill! Allied reflections on the game: This was my first venture into a PvP with this mini-campaign. I enjoyed it, and it really renewed my interest in the full campaign. I recommend this (and the other mini scenarios) for anyone feeling a little "burned out" from Operation Z... although it's hard to get burned out on that one! Without a doubt, my success in this match was due to three factors. First, the Japs were aggressive in the Arakan. Matching that aggression and inflicting any losses there for the Japs meant they wouldn't be able to send needed reinforcements to critical units pushing towards Imphal or Kohima. When this southern front collapsed, I was able to chase the Japs east towards Mandalay (ensuring an Allied Major Victory!). In addition, I was able to slide units back north and operate them to Dimapur and to the Hukawng Valley. As soon as the Arakan began to crumble for Tojo, I was also able to start leapfrogging my RAF units north towards Imphal. Second, my decision reinforcements. You have to decide on Imphal or Dimapur for where you want your British units to arrive. Imphal may be the tempting target, but Dimapur allows you to get units to Kohima faster. I was able to get the right units into the right areas at the right time. The AAR may not reflect it, but I was EXTREMELY concerned I was going to lose Kohima for sure. I felt good about Imphal being saved. With the Japs being ultra aggressive here, I was able to really concentrate on units one or two at a time and destroy them - rather than wounding them. Third, my air superiority. Since the Hukawng Valley is virtually worthless in terms of victory conditions, there wasn't a need to maintain my USAF units in the area. Yes, my advance was stalled (the Chinese are about worthless), but I just needed to prevent the Japs from pushing north towards the USA "capital". By sending my American fighter, bomber, and tac bomber west and my RAF Arakan tac bomber north, I was able to establish massive air superiority. This really allowed me to punish the advancing Japanese infantry units. When the monsoon rains hit, they were all useless - but the tide had already been turned. A great match (all my games with Bill come down to chess matches!), and I'm glad we did an AAR for this. I am curious if people enjoyed the AAR posting method (posting in blocks with plenty of screen shots). I don't think this style favors the full campaign scenario since subterfuge is needed there - but here, it wasn't a big deal. Thanks for the fun match Emporer Bill!
  3. March '44? Unless you've got units ready to go near Australia and can hit both the east AND western sides, I'd say it's too late to go after them. Russia will ramp up soon and you'll have your hands full if you don't hit them before they join. I'd recommend getting units maxed up in technology and reinforcements, move them into place, and take a shot at the USSR. Unless you're concerned about the USA coming (and they will!).
  4. Your British India infantry unit at 20,34 has maintained control of the port, so taking Chittagong will destroy the city but not the port. As soon as you destory that unit and move to the tile, you should see the port switch sides.
  5. Vista likes to "make things easier"...so it sometimes hides things! Argh. I had the same problem, and Vista sends my PBEM games to a "Virtual Store" folder. If you're using Vista, look in "your profile"/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Battlefront/Strategic Command WW2 Pacific Theater/Multiplayer/Email. That's where I found Vista hiding mine. Once I found that, I right clicked dragged a shortcut to my desktop. When I download a turn, I can easily locate the folder and save turns there, email them, etc. Hope this helps JJR.
  6. It's hard to give you suggestions without revealing any hints! Hopefully this won't be a game buster: Remember your historical hindsight! All I can say if you are going to go blind into it as the Japanese (as I did in the very first Beta version) is, Buckle Up and hold on for a crazy ride! Doing it this way can certainly add to the tension for sure. The AAR holds many hints, so you may or may not want to read that - your call. As a Vet from the old SC1 days, I would suggest you totally disregard your old strategies on naval warfare. Placement, modes, and proper spotting techniques are CRITICAL in this campaign. I would actually suggest a quick mini-campaign to get used to the naval aspects - such as Midway. It's pretty quick, intense, and gives you a baptism by fire on naval manuevers (take the USA first). For Operation Z, don't change any settings and give it a go on basic levels (with FOW on) and default settings. Good luck!
  7. Willy - I believe the MacArthur script is 100% historical with his arrival in Adelade. Bill can fill you in on this one. But between the PT boats, bomber planes, trains, (and automobiles?), the date he arrives in Australia in the game matches the date in history. Is that what you are referring to?
  8. I think you're starting to face the exact same problems that frustrated the Imperial Japanese Army!!
  9. Speaking as the playtester in the match described by Bill, I'll add some more thoughts there. As the Allies, I was attempting a "defend Dutch East Indies at all costs" strategy. Those are valuable MPPs going to British India, and really helps the Japanese. So I immediately put my 2 USN carriers to sail and brought them around the south end of Australia...upgrading them in a brief layover in Australia ports. I snuck my reinforced British carrier to the south end of Java to link up with the USN. I had an armada of ships at my disposal. I dangled a unit within spotting range of a IJN flattop that I saw (Intel hit) sail into the straits between Borneo and Java. The IJN took the bait and brought their carrier, a BB, and at least one cruiser below Java to engage what looked like a pitiful fleet. After losing 2 cruisers in the initial battle, I pounced on Bill! I sank his carrier and the 2 heavy escorts below Java. It was nerve wracking because I had left eastern Australia, Solomons, etc...all exposed for an opportunity to really stall the initial (and vital) Japanese advances in their quest for resources! Imagine how my utter triumph and jubiliation turned to horror as the IJN counter-attacked, revealing FOUR carriers near Java! I lost both my USN carriers and my British unit's air component was depleted! I also lost (what was it Bill?) NINE surface ships (destroyers, cruisers, etc) in their overwhelming counter-attack! I was able to damage and sink a couple more units, but his carriers striking from the "safe" side of Java decimated my determined DEI defense strategy! It was one of the more costly naval battles I've ever had! The only bright side of the whole thing was it revealed that he had (at best) one carrier to the east (Truk). I was able to take advantage of that with a separate task force of newly built USN ships and completely crush any advances he was contemplating towards the Solomons. After that, I was able to change strategies and go with a more practical Island Hopping campaign. But that encounter at Java (DEI) was one of the most intense and brutal naval/carrier battle's I had in Head to Head playtesting matches!!!
  10. Rocko1, The manual describes it best. But for a Reader's Digest version: Fighter mode - Use this if you are worried about air strikes against your carrier or ships within CAP range. Naval/Tactical - Use this for best results when hitting other ships or ground units. Think of it as arming your planes with torpedoes or HE bombs. Mix - A mixture of both modes. Not as good vs. other planes, and not as good vs. ships/ground units...but better than fighter vs. ships and naval/tactical vs. fighters. A good compromise if you want to attack another ship, but are worried about their combat air patrol protection or the possibility of retaliative strikes against you the following turn. Modes generally apply to Fighter mode only. Set to fighter/CAP and then select Mode: Auto - Default mode. Fighters will escort other naval/tactical attacks if intercepted by other carriers or ground fighters. They'll also intercept incoming attacks if their strength is > 5. Intercept - Intercepts incoming attacks. Think of it as having fighters circling above in combat air patrols looking for inbound attacks. Will protect friendly units within range. I typically like to keep my carriers in Fighter/Intercept mode when moving around the map. It helps to know what mode they are in right away because of the "I" icon next to the carrier. Escort - Won't intercept, but will escort your naval/tactical or strategic attacks in case they are intercepted. Honestly, I rarely use this mode. Ground - Keep those planes on the ground so they won't escort or intercept. I only use this if I am completely confident that my carrier won't be attacked, is out of spotting range, and that I'm planning a massive counter attack. Hope this helps. But don't forget, as important as it is to have your carriers in the right mode, it's equally or more important to have your surface vessels in a protective placement in front. I prefer (when possible) to spread them out with a tile between them, subs in front, then destroyers, then cruisers, and battleships closest to the carrier. I do this because if you lose your subs or destroyers, they're cheapest to replace. Having a surprise encounter with a sub can inflict some nasty damage. And if your opponent keeps pushing forward, hopefully they will keep getting surprise encounters with increasing damage. Saving your cruisers and battleships for surface attacks (hint, a BB can inflict brutal damage to an unprotected carrier!) in a counter attack can really swing the battle to your side. Sometimes it's the counter attack that means the most! Technology is also key. Having a fully upgraded carrier is vital when encountering other carriers or surface ships. One more hint... carriers are your queens and kings all put together. Protect them and treat them like gold. But don't trade excessive surface fleets just to sink an opponents. Japan can't afford even up trades like America can due to the economic situation. So America can be slightly more aggressive. but if a trade looks like: 1 CV lost to 2 BB, 2 CA... it's not THAT great of a trade. But it also depends on the situation. If you know Japan only has one carrier in the area, you can be more aggressive. TONS of things to take into consideration, and the main campaign (Operation Z) does not have a "cookie cutter" strategy that wins every time. Hope this helps!
  11. Speaking for my experience with the AAR... Yes, FOW was a b-tch. But that's what REALLY adds to the flavor of the Pacific Campaign! At times, the tension was really paltable and I was really stressing about where Japan had their flattops! You can read by the AAR that it's vital. The Brits never invested anything in Intelligence... they were too busy trying to hold the Japs at the Salween River in Burma! And I very nearly lost that front... which would have folded like a cheap suit! China doesn't have the money to invest in Intelligence. It was strictly Anti-Aircraft and Infantry Weapons for me. I had great luck in infantry tech hits, but little help in AA. The USA got up to level 3 Intelligence I believe. It was a big help at times. Unfortunately in the earlier intelligence reports, I was getting information about garrison units in Manchukuo, and that didn't help me at all. I did get quite a few Intelligence hits about IJN CV's off Indo-China and Borneo. But I wasn't in a position to take advantage of that. I did get a timely and helpful report about a carrier near north Japan twice near the end. The problem was... was it the same ship? Was it a second one? I used that intelligence information to dangle a lone AA Amphib transport near their spotting range, and quickly moved carriers and surface ships to the area in the hope that the Japanese would expose their carriers and entice a decisive naval battle. It worked, but it was much more costly than I anticipated!!! As Bill said, the AAR was a lot of fun and hopefully gave some players some ideas to use. It was an older beta version, so some exploits we discovered were fixed. But to answer your question, yes, Intelligence is one of the most beneficial (at times) research areas in this theater. Much more so than in the ETO! I believe the Japanese are limited in their research in this area, so the historical advantage for the Allies is there for the taking...you just have to keep investing in it!
  12. Sorry to hear that Happycat! Don't worry, Battlefront is pretty consistent about getting back to people, regardless of the issue. I believe that you can contact them at elicense@battlefront.com, and they may answer you pretty quick (even after hours or on weekends from what I hear!). If not, you may have to wait until regular business hours, but don't be surprised if they work it out with you. Good luck, and enjoy the game!
  13. Nice newspaper release Battlefront! Very clever! Go download it folks and get out there and fight those Japs off!
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