Bill101

Hi Rich The game needs a sharp definition between neutrals and belligerent countries. Having to declare war on a country doesn't rob your attack of any surprise value, it just changes the status of the country you are attacking from neutral to belligerent, and at this stage any scripts tied to that country's joining the war are run, and their armed forces (if they are a minor) are also deployed. One benefit is that minors can sometimes have their forces deployed in slightly different places, and this prevents the aggressor from being always 100% confident that their attack plan is going to work. If you didn't have to declare war, then this feature would probably be impossible to implement. If it were possible to attack countries without declaring war, then there would be nothing stopping the USA from joining in the war against Germany whenever it wanted to, nor the USSR from attacking Germany in 1940 or Japan in 1943 (I'm just giving examples of when it might suit the allied player, because it would have the potential to totally mess things up for the Axis player if they did so). To be honest, the game wouldn't work if you could attack anyone whenever you wanted, and it actually makes no difference whatsoever to your attack, you suffer no penalties at all from having to declare war. One last thing to bear in mind is this: we all misclick every now and again, and rather than moving where we wanted to, we move somewhere else, or attack the wrong enemy unit. Having to declare war prevents you from accidentally attacking a neutral power before you are ready - just imagine what a game breaker it could be if the Germans accidentally attacked the USSR in 1939, rather than in 1941/2 when they are ready? Or if a Japanese unit in Manchukuo, rather than moving up to the Soviet frontier, is actually moved too far, crosses the frontier, and bang, you're suddenly kicking yourself as hard as you can because you've just brought the wrath of Stalin down upon yourself, and all your ground forces are already fighting for their lives in Burma and China. Game over! The need to declare war protects us from making such a simple error.

Hi Xwormwood Just to let you know that I am still looking into this, I haven't forgotten it. Bill

There's a lot of cryptic talk going on here: Blashy: Colin: I get the impression that you're both planning on springing something rather nasty on the other side. Good luck to you both!

Hi Makris! In answer to your questions: 1. If I've understood you correctly, you would like a resource to start the game at zero, and then at some later point for it to be activated and start producing MPPs, but for it not to start at 1 but at a higher figure? If so, you could try having the resource belong to a neutral power, for the portion of territory this resource is in to be transferred to an active country on the date when the event occurs. I think this will give it a starting strength of 5, but I've not tried it myself so you'll need to experiment here. Otherwise, I'm afraid that there isn't another way round it that I can think of, though you could always set the event to fire a little earlier so that the total MPP effect is the same. If you meant that you wanted the resource to start the game at (say) 5 and then to increase to 10 then there is a way, but it requires the supply connection to pass through a land-sea tile, so it may not be relevant to your design. If it is, take a look at Ceylon and Trincomalee in Operation Z. 2. I'm afraid not, I appreciate your situation here as I had to test and retest the first few turns of Operation Z literally hundreds of times. 3. If you open up Operation Z in the editor, then by selecting the text icon you can right click on existing text on the map and it will tell you what font, font size, shadows, etc the text has. Make a note of it and you'll be able to then use this information in your scenario. Good luck!

I'm glad it was that. Good news is that the Soviet Union will gradually get more and more interested in joining the war as time goes on, so investing in diplomacy isn't necessarily a lost cause because it may well bring forward their joining date.

How about editing the screenshots so that just the front lines are showing?

Have either the source or destination ports for the convoy from China to Japan been badly damaged or taken by the allies? If so then no resources will be shipped from China, and that would explain why it's at zero. That doesn't mean that you won't be getting any income from China, but obviously sending raw materials to Japan for them to be turned into munitions is the most profitable use for them, and if the allies are interfering with the convoy then it would explain it. If not, please let me know and I'll take another look.

If the USSR has joined the allies then this is indeed a strange occurrence. Can your Soviet units attack any Japanese units that are adjacent to them? I'd also be interested to know if your Soviet aircraft can attack Japanese targets? You can always email me a copy of your save file to bill@furysoftware.com and I'll take a look to see if it's a game issue, or a technical one. If the latter then I'll pass it on to Hubert.

It's an interesting concept, definitely worth thinking about.

Hi Xwormwood Thanks for your comments, there are a few points to think about there. I just thought I'd answer this one. The USSR's economy starts the game extremely small but slowly increases in line with victories in the west (after Stalingrad, Kursk, Bagration and VE Day) as Stalin can afford to divert slightly more resources to the east. If attacked very early on the USSR will benefit from the redeployment of some Soviet forces from the west, but will lack the economy to keep them in the field if Japan puts pressure on them. Obviously this gets better for the USSR as the war goes on, so they will do better against the Japanese in 1944 than they would in 1943, better in 1943 than in 1942. They are of course at their best and strongest in 1945, but it is only in the summer of 1945 that they will receive a large reinforcement of veterans from the west. After that, Japan had better be very, very strong to have a chance of stopping Soviet tanks rolling straight through Manchukuo...

If the AI is allied then by 1945 it does have more units to handle, so a little slowing down is inevitable. However, have you pressed F3 to speed up the animation of the AI's turns? That should help. There is also a video acceleration option (in Options) which might also help.

I'm up for a PBEM game of the Imphal-Kohima scenario if anyone fancies it. It's a tough one for the Japanese, but I'm happy to take them. PM me if you're ready for battle!

I'm really enjoying reading this, keep it up!

Especially if you back up your attack with some bombing raids, as the bombers will reduce your target's supply quite drastically. Another thing to bear in mind, and it's the main reason why Blashy is correct in saying that surrounded units usually fall very quickly, is that they won't be benefiting from a HQ, and HQs are vital to success in this game. In this case not only for supply purposes, but also for leadership which can give a massive boost to a unit's combat potential.

I lost Hawaii in a few pbem games during playtesting, and it was a bit of a pain, but the situation facing Japan is that ultimately the US will return in major force, and Pearl Harbor is a long way from Japan. The Japanese end up with a problem - do they keep their navy at Hawaii to defend it from the US counter attack (which might not come for some time) or do they use their navy elsewhere and risk losing Hawaii very easily? But what would a game be without strategic problems to get the brain working!

Never mind, we've all been there!

Is the sea stormy? If so, carriers can't launch air strikes so you will either need to find a tile that isn't stormy (coastal ones never suffer from storms) or wait for clearer weather.

The USA starts with intelligence level 1, so it's actually never too early for such a report!

Mines are worth 30MPPs at strength 10, oilfields 50. So when the bombers strike they can inflict damage upto these amounts. It's painful, but it ensures that mines and oil are very important resources to capture.

Hi Xwormwood, I'm glad the AI is giving you a few surprises! We use this type of connection where the gap is considered minimal enough that it shouldn't require a full blown amphibious landing to do the job. It's generally more representative of a large river or small(ish) sea crossing. The same applies between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, and between Java and Sumatra. In fact there are probably quite a few other examples on this map, far more than on any previous European Theater map. Although there are far more of these than we've had before, as they aren't a new feature I didn't think of advertising them on the map. I will certainly take a look into this but I don't want to promise anything more than that at this stage. Here are the four types of tile that represent locations where units can cross from one side to another: You have raised an interesting issue too, one which has made me revisit my atlases... stand by for a small amendment in this area!

I've not had this issue, as whenever I start a new pbem game it has always created an E-Mail folder for me. Hubert may have an idea here as to what the problem/solution is. I have had a minor issue when receiving my very first PBEM turn, if I hadn't already started a PBEM game myself, as my operating system doesn't like installing empty folders when downloading games (in this case I have to create the E-Mail folder myself so that I can pop my opponent's first turn into it). But in my experience the game should have created an E-Mail folder for you, as you had started the game yourself. This can be simply rectified (via explorer) by going to the game's folder, going to the game's Multiplayer folder, and creating a folder called E-Mail. However, that doesn't explain where your saved game is.... I can only recommend searching the game's folders looking to see if there is a saved file somewhere, dated to when you started the game. If not, create the E-Mail folder and recommence the game. You'll have to redo turn 1 but hopefully that won't take too long.

Hi Willy I'm glad you're enjoying it! Korea was part of Japan in 1941 so you can fully reinforce your ships and carriers in Korean ports. Also, Chinese partisans and US bombers permitting, you may be able to use some Chinese ports for this task too (any that are at strength 6 or greater). Capturing Changsha and Kweilin in China will also provide a rail connection right the way through to Singapore, enhancing your supply values all the way there!

Hi Rich I do see your point. I have been thinking about this some more and a couple of thoughts came to mind: 1) The potential for a gamey exploit. The Japanese could bypass the Philippines, just keeping an eye on it until they see that MacArthur has deployed there. Then they could strike the following turn with a mass of carriers, thus making MacArthur's time in the Philippines a rather short one. 2) As a HQ represents not only the leadership of the commander, but also (and in many ways more importantly) the massive logistical support he can muster, the arrival of MacArthur in Australia is really the fundamental starting point for the growth of US armed forces there. Without a HQ, US troops and air units in Australia will lack punch, and as the purchase and sending of another from the USA will take some time, having MacArthur deploy in the Philippines could have a serious impact on their ability to organise a campaign to defend Port Moresby and the Solomons. It could in fact be a good incentive for Japan to invade Australia, a task that is currently very hard partly because of MacArthur's presence there.

With respect to question 1, although it is not possible to do in that way, one thing you can do is edit the proportion of a country's MPPs that are shipped by convoy, and thus get the same effect. For instance, if you want the US to ship 300MPPs a month to the UK, then by editing the convoy you should be able to make it ship 10 a turn, which will give you the same result as far as the transfer of income is concerned.

If I were going for my first game against the AI, I would actually play as allies. It can be pretty scary seeing the Japanese rampage across South East Asia and the Pacific, when you start with virtually no ground or air forces, and you have to cobble together multi-national task forces to get anywhere near having a navy that can do battle against the Japanese navy. But as you'd like to play as Japanese, I think one of the basic principles of war contains the best advice: concentration of force, that is the key. Pick your objective and go for it! And yes, I also advise giving it a try at maximum settings.