Bill101

Thanks for the report Bill, it sounds like a fun and action packed game! Your suggestion regarding the victory conditions is interesting and I'll bear it in mind, though I have been working on a few things that should give the Japanese a bit more of a chance without detracting from the USA's mighty industrial potential. As an aside, in my experience focusing too much on China is a mistake for the Japanese. Yes, it needs a good pounding, but if too much is invested in China then the British and US are left free to build up their forces, and conquering China won't make up for the power that the British and especially the US will ultimately deploy against Japan.

Where are the US putting their pressure?

I think we'd actually find it more frustrating if a 1 strength unit couldn't be destroyed by air attacks. I see a unit's destruction as representing the loss of its combat power, as it has effectively disintegrated and the survivors need to be taken out of the line, rested, re-equipped and reinforced by replacements from the depots. As a result it will be out of the war for a period of time, and that's the end result that this game gives us.

The US will steadily get more interested in joining the allies, and this process is faster if you've been fairly aggressive in invading neutrals. Could it be that your actions have caused the US to join the allies?

I think this is true but only up to a point, as I've learned the hard way that too much emphasis on China to the detriment of inflicting more losses on the US in 1942 can be a mistake. The Japanese player does need to play with a lot of care, but they also cannot afford to be too passive. What a tricky situation! But it's always a great feeling when yet another US carrier sinks to the bottom...

They've effectively been interned by Vichy French forces. It's a harsh lesson, but the moral of the story is to not have any non-French units in the area that will become Vichy France when the fall of France is imminent. I once lost a bomber that way, and I have never done it again!

It's a Panther.

Hi Ludi Thanks for the extra thoughts, there's a lot more to think about there! With regards to some of the issues you mentioned in your first post, I have some ideas for solutions that I will be testing this week. With regards to your last post, I actually do find a US submarine campaign a useful prospect in this game, and a real pain in the neck when I'm Japanese. The price of ASW research usually puts Japanese players off researching it, thus the allies can strike at Japanese convoy routes secure in the knowledge that even if found and attacked, the cost of sinking them can be rather expensive. I do fear that if we made US submarines too invunerable to Japanese ASW then players would actually find it more frustrating as Japanese. US submarines at the start of the game will already dive on average 25% of times when attacked. With research, which is relatively cheap for US subs at 75MPPs per level, at their maximum level they will be diving 65% of the time when attacked. This doesn't make them 100% invulnerable, but it does render Japanese attacks pretty futile, and there is in addition the problem that the Japanese have in locating the subs. Anyway, I'm not knocking your post as it is a valid look at submarine warfare, and I'm sure that we all look forward to further improvements in the game engine.

Glad to hear it!

Some other Reading, I like that! The original one in fact, in England.

I've been thinking about this some more since I posted earlier, and I think that what it means is that a mixed strike will not take as much damage from enemy fighters if intercepted, if it lacks escorts, as it would have done if it was in Naval/Tactical mode. So it's a safer method of launching if you fear enemy interceptors and have no escorts available, and want to guarantee doing some damage on the target (which a CAP strike couldn't guarantee). But each strike in mixed mode is a mixture of fighters and bombers. The reason why the second strike will escort the first is because if any interceptors come up then your side will automatically look for someone to escort the strike. It searches for the best escorts first, hence if you have fighters or carriers set to CAP available then it should, all things being equal, use them before it uses your Mixed Mode carrier's strike. I think it's actually safer this way than if the Mixed's strike went in unescorted by the second strike, as being a mixture of fighters and bombers it would probably lose against the interceptors and not strike home. Sometimes it is a wise option to use, but other times I'll send in the fighters only, or if I'm really desperate to get a kill on a naval target, just Naval/Tactical without escorts, always hoping that the bombers actually get through!

It's good to see an invasion of India here, that's the way to go!

Hi Willy You were explaining yourself correctly as what you've described is actually exactly what I expected, as you were taking income from the oilfields before the DEI surrendered. Then the DEI surrenders and Japan's income from the DEI now relies on the convoy, but as the convoy won't start working for 5 turns due to the port's destruction, your income will fall before rising again. If you were to play with the convoy scripts on, then after the strength of Batavia's port has risen back to 5 then your income should go back up to 205 (or even more if you've made further conquests by then). As Japan relied on imports of raw materials, turning the convoy scripts off means that an allied submarine strategy is no longer a feasible method of draining Japan's income. It's up to you of course, but my own preference would be to play with the convoys in effect.

Mixed mode does put up a mixture of planes in its first strike, but to ensure that this strike reaches its target, the carrier will send up a second strike to escort the first if it is intercepted. However, if you have a proper fighter unit within range and at a decent strength level, or a carrier set to CAP which hasn't yet moved or fought, then it will send up an escort to your carrier's strike, thus allowing your carrier in Mixed Mode to have another strike.

Hi Willy What's happening when the DEI surrenders is that the Dutch at Batavia are destroying vital port installations before it falls. This prevents the convoy from starting up for five turns, and is why (if you've already taken the oilfields on Sumatra) your income will drop then rise. It is a slightly roundabout way of achieving the intended result. We did experiment in beta testing with having the DEI set to scorched earth on invasion, but it actually made the DEI far too hard for the Japanese to take. In fact, we had allied players stopping the Japanese dead in their tracks here for a very long time, even though the allied defenders of Java were operating on a shoestring. I've always wanted the DEI to be a potential battleground between adhoc allied formations and the Japanese early in the war, but the overall advantage should, unless the Japanese invest too little in the invasion, be in favour of the Japanese.

Hi Ludi Thanks for the reply. It certainly wasn't my only reaction on reading your post, and my lack of a response to your other comments shouldn't at all be taken as a negative response to them. For a variety of reasons, including time constraints and the need to think about suggestions, I won't always reply in detail, but you can rest assured that I will always attentively read any posts like the ones you've made here as constructive criticism is always welcome and that's partly what this forum is for. Bill

SeaMonkey, are they also acting as escorts during the turns when you only get one strike? The reason for asking is that mine have always launched two strikes, except when their first strike is intercepted, in which case what would have been the second strike acts as escorts for the first. Could this be the answer here?

Hi Ludi I am a little confused by this as I ran a lot of tests to check that the Nevada wouldn't refloat if the Japanese had taken Honolulu, but I take it that this is still happening in your games with version 1.01? Or is it happening when the Japanese have landed but not taken anything? If you could confirm it would be very useful so that I can see whether or not the Nevada reflotation scripts needs tweaking. Thanks Bill

Hi Jack You weren't dreaming! The carriers did lose one of their balls as some people found it hard to follow when they had two coloured balls, so it's been reduced to one.

You won't be able to transport or move him if he's in "prepared" mode. Take him out of that and you should be able to catch your ship.

When I read your post I was initially confused, but then realised why: because I always think of WWII having started on the 1st September when the Germans invaded Poland. Then it dawned on me what you were referring to!

Yes, if you go into the editor, open up the scenario you want to look at, then click on campaign (in the top row) and then edit weather data, it will show you all of this information. Separately from the above, if you click on the lightning symbol in the top row, it shows you what areas each weather zone covers.

No, the Japanese player just went straight for the big prize. It was a very tough and exciting fight both times, but because I hesitated to commit more naval units into what looked like a lost battle, he managed it both times. I then built up in the USA and in the islands further south and eventually retook Hawaii. But these Japanese successes cost me valuable time, along with the blow to my prestige. Still, it's not my most embarrassing moment in playing Operation Z, but that's another story...

Any chance of a screen shot or two?

I have seen Pearl Harbor fall in the standard Operation Z campaign a number of times. Unfortunately only when I was playing allied! :eek: