Colin I

John, Agreed it is design philosophy, but as I suggested, surely the script just has to be a bit more subtle and take account or a few more contingencies to improve the matter. Sure, it will not be perfect but it does not add complexity for the player. In the example I give you just have to play the game according to WWII logic, basically if I control the sea then enemy will not be able to ship reinforcements though my forces. Its not perfect (I would rather sink reinforcements, and they perhaps should be diverted elsewhere) but its better. In H v H games I'd far prefer a lot more stuff on the build stack and off script so I can decide if paratroopers show up near Singapore, for example.. They must have been trained and shipped from Japan. Some things, such as formation of Pro-Japanese forces in Burma need to be script OR specified placement (you can only place in Burma so you cannot place them unless you hold Burma, though I admit having them pop up every turn to be placed could get irritating but perhaps a script could handle this - only add to Build stack if Burma held by Japan). I do understand AI cannot coordinate this stuff as well and does need scripts.

Scott, Unless you can indeed beam yourself down, no ;-)

Furthermore, as myself and others have noted, Scripts allow reinforcement with land troops where it would not be possible. the examples I have come across are reinforcement of US held islands when Japanese have > 10 warships nearby and the US has none. A troop transport would not make it!! In a few cases its legitimate if the forces are raised locally, mostly they are not. I think its easy to improve. Script should be something like reinforcement has 30% chance per turn if event triggers are right UNLESS IJN warships within X tiles outnumber US warships within X tiles by > 2-fold AND are > 2 in number. The numbers do not matter, and its not perfect, but effectively it lets you blockade which is a legitimate military tactic. Otherwise, reinforcement appears to be by teleportation. I know the US has advanced technology, but its not THAT good ;-) This becomes important, to invade Hawaii you should isolate it. You cannot stop home guard being recruited but other external should be stoppable. If we really want to get sophisticated could count carriers and land-based air in range vs air.

Lampcord, Stalin knew about the A-bomb. The Allies actually revealed it to him and were shocked how little he reacted.

Posting for opponent for Operation Z. PBEM, not a fast rate of play but am reliable. Possibly suit a resonably experienced SC2 player exploring Pacific Theatre. Play either side. Colin

Thanks to Blashy for a great game, learned a lot. Will be looking for a new opponent PBEM, not a large number of turns per day but reliable. If we are looking for what we can do to help the Japanese, without deviating too far from reality, then the Soviet activation as many have noted is one point. As I mentioned earlier, I think the speed of the Japanese advance through SE Asia may justify mobility 1 for a few units (its not mechanisation so bicycles used well count!). I like the dynamism of the Carrier action and the Island warfare aspect works pretty good too. Good game, Hubert! Will send turn with unusually high Japanese MPP soon. Never got to A bombs, would like to see how they work.

Well, feel free to finish things if you want - I'll settle for a description of the effects but would like to know.

God, yes. You can imagine a partitioned far east to match a partitioned Europe.

Japanese go hand-to-hand against poorly lead marines and Soviets on their home island - 2 units driven into the sea and the third damaged.

Blashy ** me first thought ** <<<me second thoughts >>> 3) China and the use of bombers, they were used to attack units instead of cities. I always had enough MPPs to buy more units and reinforce, not as many as I lost but enough to keep China alive for a long time. When the bombers are used against the cities it causes more MPP damage than a single point of damage to a unit cost to reinforce and it reduces supply to current units making them easier to kill. ** Good point. ** <<<Actually on second thought I am not so sure is so obvious. I'm sure Blashy is right on MPP but there is also demoralization and reduced of his ability for immediate counterattack and loss of experience. >>>

First repeat of Blashy ** Then me ** 1) He left cities in Manchuko unmanned 3 times and I got increased Russian activation 3 times because of this. ** Yes, I think at one point I thought Russian entry was inevitable so I stopped trying to garrison as heavily and did not understand how to ramp up the garrison later to keep Stalin quiet. ** 2) I exploited his newbie experience by quickly capturing that northern village. There was a chance for him to kick me out with his navy early on but it was sent after the UK fleet. He probably did not see long term consequences by letting me build up an air base, in the end I have now taken away over 2500mpps via bomber raids just from that location. I am sure anyone reading this thread will now place one unit on that village at the begining of the game. ** A good move. I felt did not have the resources to garrison heavily though did realize there could be problems. Actually I with I had put a bomber one island further from Japan and seen him coming. ** 3) China and the use of bombers, they were used to attack units instead of cities. I always had enough MPPs to buy more units and reinforce, not as many as I lost but enough to keep China alive for a long time. When the bombers are used against the cities it causes more MPP damage than a single point of damage to a unit cost to reinforce and it reduces supply to current units making them easier to kill. ** Good point. ** The IJN, for sure he will do better in future games but he did ok. Again I will not say more as players can discover how best to play the IJN. ** I felt I was too passive after Pear Harbour and before I hit the UK fleet but did not have the MPP to reinforce and upgrade my fleet and build a ground force in China so chose the latter.** ** Blashy - we need to verify this but I think not holding NZ might be a mistake - think I did quite well out of that. ** ** In may ways I had more technology than I could affort. Naval warfare 2 is great but it costs a lot to get your fleet into the new technology. Similarly, by the time I got advanced air 3 it was too late. Mobility is useful - in China I wish I'd had it to get into difficult terrain. Actually, given the Japanese speed of advance through jungles I might suggest they have it at start with a couple of the Burma and Singapore units upgraded. ** ** One other surprise - the Dutch air force fights on - was not expecting this, after all both NL and Dutch East Indies were occupied by this point. ** ** Felt I should have deployed AA and Art in Burma to slow him down. I do not think taking India was possible at high water mark without losing momentum in China. **

Thanks Rambo. Well Japanese consider a banzai push but are distracted by the beautiful snow and do not really reach the US marines. This won't last much longer, I made some errors though I think Russian entry has a lot to do with this situation too - it means its really very hard for Japan to profit in the long term from taking China. I used the MPP from the surrender to buy lots more units but a similar number were trashed by the Russians. If the Allies entering SE Asia had hit the full Japanese arms they would have had trouble and the extra MPP would have fed into the Naval side which I lost some time ago. Its not THAT hard for US to take Japan though I should have defended the islands to the North of Japan for sure.

We bomb a battleship and a carrier, both get hit and the battleship actually sinks.

Japanese keep salvaging stuff doggedly to pack their crowded islands. Rain comes at long last.

That US amphibious unit in China is bombed out of existence.

The odds calculator suggested I wasn't going to nail the carrier (sub is not in range) so i hit other targets. Damage a US transport and kill an Allied army in China.

IJN is doomed whatever but we kill another Allied unit in China.

We destroy Merrill's Maurauders in China and apart from that hang on for grim death. Good news, bad weather in China for allies and they aren't so tough in an infantry firefight.

We sink a couple of older British battleships out of pique and destroy one Allied army in China.

I agree too and its nice Japan starts with an edge in aircraft range. I was investing and got one hit but, especially as upgrades cost, Japan cannot win this technology race if US really goes in heavy. Its inevitable my fleet it outclassed at this point, plus there is also the intelligence edge that the Allies enjoy. I have to say LR air has been hugely helpful to me in China.

Generally beat up on the Communists - both the Chinese variety (again, communist China falls) and soviets (whose infantry really should know more after 2 years fighting the Germans).

I didn't realize Communist partisans are so likely - Japan has so few forces that its impossible to be everywhere. But we kill another Soviet unit and sink an Allied cruiser. I think I'm joining the chorus that feel Soviet intervention at this stage is overkill.

I opted to hit China hard rather than go for India - really couldn't get the forces to do both - I wanted to cut supplies to China. I actually went further into India than expected because of a run of good weather.

Ooops, I mean USSR border. Hope that caused a panic ;-)

Japan deploys to the US border - did not look at scripts but it might have scared Stalin off for now. I guess before my garrison was too little even though had all cities occupied around the border. Apart from that we bomb a few partisans and protect our air force. I'm starting to get a feel for the allied problem - its not SO easy to collapse my position THAT fast despite their superiority in air and sea. The push into China will take some time and effort and I've still got MPP and strategic options. Without China I'd be dead.