Happycat

Thanks for responding. It turned out that my problem was that although the city of Batavia was "five", the port itself was only "four" (having sustained damage when I captured it, I guess). Once it went up to "five", the para went sailing

Are there tables anywhere that show the percentage chance of various types of weather for each zone, according to month/season?

I have a Japanese paratroop unit in Batavia that for some reason will not convert to a transport and sail somewhere else. It’s readiness and morale is high, so no prob there---also, the port and city are in good supply now. Has anyone heard of any problem like this? If it would ever stop raining, I would just fly him to where I want him (not far) but y'all know what Burma and the DEI weather is like

I suppose that we could look at intelligence as an abstract form of reconnaissance, and certainly the higher the level researched, the better it gets. But the Japanese can only research to level 2, while the US can get to 5. It might be interesting to give the Japanese the same (or close to same) potential, and see if researching that gives the Japanese the desired results (i.e. more spotting of enemy ships).

I don't read manuals, why would I read the documents? Kidding! I'll read the docs. Thanks!

Go east. I'll look after things in the west for you

That possibly is why this happens. I haven't seen it happen in the Midway scenario that comes with the game, however. Anyway, the human player can chose to decline this gift if he wants a more realistic/reasonable game.

Yes, but by 1939 China had been at war with Japan for over two years. In this mod, it will be necessary for Japan to DOW China, pay to transport units over there, and fight like hell to try to get to the historical lines of December 1941. There might be some grand design behind all of this, but it escapes me.

I have asked this question a couple of different ways, in a couple of different places, but I still have no answer. Why is China neutral in the Nurpremal World mod? There is no historical basis for this, and I am wracking my brain trying to think how this impacts upon the gameplay. Since the World mod is otherwise very well thought out, I have to assume there was a good reason for this decision too. Anyone? Nupremal? Are you there?

Did you fix the problem with the Japanese carrier wandering into the middle of the American fleet on the first turn? That was the basis for my "hedging" over playing the AI. For an Allied human player, the enemy carrier presenting itself like a Christmas gift is an advantage that most people don't require to beat the AI. Otherwise, I agree, the AI works just fine.

And now for the truth from Poland: Warsaw fights bravely on, and the Polish HQ, Air Force and supporting elements are still largely intact. True, we have lost most of our cities, but after all, Warsaw is the capital, politically, culturally, every which way, really. Meanwhile, the French are doing their part by staring intently at the Germans from behind their fortifications.

Nice to see a new "face"; welcome to the forum. I think PDE and PT are the best, but they're all good. Honch mods are good, and the Nupremal world mod for PT looks like it will be very enjoyable; I'm just starting a game. Scottsmm has done a lot of work making a campaign in PT that starts from Midway instead of Pearl. It's probably best as a pbem at this point, which of course doesn't work for you---unless you like hotseat solo? Once you have tinkered with the editor for awhile, you will probably be creating your own mods

OK, I don't mind confessing my ignorance. I know what an AAR is, but what will make it transparent? Also, I hope you're volunteering to do the AAR, because I don't think I would have time to keep it up to date. NOTE TO NUPREMAL: Nice map, and I like what I see so far of the balance between the various powers. The only thing I'm curious about is China---why is it neutral? The fighting had already been raging for two years by 1939, hadn't it?

I'd love to go see the Nation Aviation Museum. At least living in Fredericton, I'm closer than I used to be (Victoria). I haven't seen a Bolingbroke, other than the one that was fished out of the water a few years ago near Sidney. I think the museum there is trying to restore it. At the same museum, several years ago a B-17 and HE111 came in for a two day show. The Heinkel was acquired from Spain, and had originally been a gift of Hitler's to Franco. Anyway, it was fun clambering around in both planes, the Flying Fort is very compact inside, and the HE111 even more so. When I climbed up through the belly hatch into the Heinkel, I stood up and promptly whacked my head on the butt of a machine gun installed for the dorsal position. I bled like a stuck pig, but still enjoyed the tour. I guess this is all off-topic, but what the heck, it's YOUR topic

Excellent analysis. I enjoyed reading this, and especially the part about the RCAF units deployed to the Alaskan area of operations. My stepfather, rest his soul, served in the RCAF and was stationed in some forsaken part of Alaska from 1942-44. He said that after his time there, he forever hated the song "White Christmas" You are right of course about the nature of the RCAF bomber unit. The bombers Canada deployed on the west coast were mainly Bolingbrokes (Blenheim IV's). You might enjoy the article at this link: http://www.rcaf.com/aircraft/bombers/bolingbroke/serials.php?name=bolingbroke Thank you clarifying what was behind your original comment.

That would be fun, and a great addition to the game. But as Nupremal points out, there is no mechanism for this. But, perhaps his suggestion of engineeers building rail could be considered for a patch. Japanese engineers don't have much else to do in 1942 and 1943 anyway.

Why? The balance in the game is not that bad, and since there are already unrealistic things going on, such as amphibious invasions of India, American aircraft able to be deployed to India (beyond the historical such as 7th Bomb Gp), why worry about the pathetic little RCAF bomber. I'm using it in the Pacific, and I have to tell you---it's not a game breaker. What is a game breaker is deploying four or five Marine tactical air to India. And in fact, until such time as the Japanese player land-locks China, massive numbers of American air units can be deployed there as well. Conversely, the Japanese player can pretend that the outer islands don't exist, and place all of his air units in China and beat them into submission fairly rapidly. I'm all in favour of historical accuracy, but this game does not necessarily put that concept first and foremost.

Thank you. If I had done more than just scan the manual, would I have known this? Or is the lesson here that I should read the scripts?

I note that when the DEI falls, the surviving Dutch ships remain in the game. So in my game with Abu, since he is systematically killing every Allied unit he can see, I thought it would be useful to save the remnants of the Dutch air unit. I flew it to India (unrealistic, yes) but it died when the DEI surrendered. Does this sort of extinction occur randomly, or is it never possible to save the Dutch air? The DEI air units were a hodge podge of Fokkers (the T9 bomber had an 1100 mile range), Brewster Buffaloes and the like. Some of them did escape to Australia before the Japanese consolidated their hold of the DEI. I have been unable to find hard information on numbers, but in addition to the "refugee" hardware, pilots also escaped, and a DEI air component was reconstituted in Australia, with a fairly significant naval patrol and interdiction capability. So I would suggest that it might not be out of line to let the poor little Dutch air unit escape the evil minions of Imperial Japan, if the player so desires.

You're right that supply and communication are not a factor, but I think that what some people are implying on this thread is that they should be, thus giving the islands a raison d'etre. Otherwise, they are just eye candy on the map. For a game at this scale, it's hard to inject the realism that some people crave, but I think the game would be all the more interesting if it can be done.

Good information here Abu. I knew that cavalry figured into operations in China and Manchuria (as well as Soviet Far East) but had not appreciation of the degree. Like you, I wonder why the anti-tank units exist. The only reason I ever build them is to use as garrisons, or to hold non-critical portions of the line (or, if I'm just truly desperate and can't afford anything betteer). In Blitzkrieg and PDE I found them of some utility on the Russian front, but they seem fairly useless in SCPT (although I guess the Japanese could ship them to the islands). I think it would be good to have cavalry for the appropriate nations, and that they NOT suffer a movement penalty in mud/rain. So Hubert, make that two votes for the cav!

Absolutely! And I especially agree that the American player needs to pay attention to what Abukede says about starving Japan. The challenge for me, at the moment is how quickly to fade back in China. I can contest every city and road intersection, but I can also run out of people really fast doing that, too. Abukede is being very aggressive with his air units in China, and has done some rude things to the Chinese production. Even more telling was his destruction of a Chinese HQ, again by air power. Notwithstanding that this game is departing from the history track, big-time, it is shaping up to be one of the most interesting I have played.

Japan's performance in the first few months of war was quite impressive in my opinion. They took Malaya in just over two months, against a numerically superior British army (although about half of it was non-European troops). When you say that you take out Singapore and DEI in one turn, I assume it's not the FIRST turn. I guess I would be interested in what you do with the 25th Army and the SNLF's on turn one. Most of Malaya did fall "that fast". Singapore held out until mid February. The 25th Army, consisting of three divisions, supported by some additional artillery and a tank brigade, was what western armies of the time would consider a corps. It was a very good one, with one division being highly experienced (China), one not so experienced but very efficient, and one that was quite green (Imperial Guards). So I think that Hubert's initial layout is quite accurate. I have no problem with players making focused, and different attacks than those which occurred historically. My problem is with lack of realism. The Japanese attacked Singapore overland from the north specifically because the fortresses to the south of the city were too formidable. If a player wants to try that, great---but the fortresses should make that a more expensive proposition. When I see two SNLF's come ashore suffering only 20% casualties, on top of fortress tiles that represent the most formidable fixed defenses in the Far East at that time, I think it's safe to say that reality has been suspended. I think that my opponent's strategy is a brilliant one, and it will probably win the game for him. I also think it will be an interesting game for both of us. But, it really isn't going to be instructive as to how Japan could have done better, because the game setup is allowing things that could never have happened. (specifically, focusing almost all Japanese airpower in China, and landing in the face of very strong fortifications). I hasten to add, this is a criticism of one aspect of the game, not the entire game. And it is certainly NOT a criticism of how my opponent is playing the game. His strategy appears to me to be very well thought out.

Who knows? I may demonstrate how to counter them in THIS game

Good point.