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Aggressive Japanese Airfield Personnel


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I've played a couple of Operation Z games as the Allies against the computer and both times witnessed Japanese airbases appearing behind my lines in Burma. Both times Rangoon fell to the Japanese, awarding them Burma, but my lines still held in Burma, generally along the road to China. Apparently all unoccupied villages in Burma become Japanese at that point, even those behind my lines. Suddenly I am surprised by two air units based behind my lines in Myitkyina! Those sneaky Japanese just operated through my lines.

While I understand that the program has all unoocupied towns change allegience upon the fall of a capital, it just seems odd that this means your rear areas can be occupied by operational movement. I guess land units do not do this since there is no connecting passage. However, this does not stop air units. Boy, those are some gutsy airmen to operate in with no land units.

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I do understand the issue here, but on the other hand there were pro-Japanese elements in Burma and the Japanese were pretty good at infiltrating units behind enemy lines, so having Myitkyina fall to the enemy when Rangoon falls isn't as far fetched as it might at first appear. The allies were chased out of Burma with their tails between their legs, and are lucky in this game that they can usually hold onto Mandalay for sometime, possibly for the entire game.

Also, if the Japanese do land air units behind allied lines then remember that they will be in very poor supply and easily destroyed by your own ground troops. Such a move could actually work in the allies' favour.

I will think some more on this, but it is a tough issue and even with this, on balance the situation in Burma is slightly more favourable to the allies than it was in real life.

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I do not know how many troops you have in 1942 in Burma, but I need everyone on the front to hold the line. Infiltration is one thing. If a partisan unit appeared, that would be one thing. Moving whole air groups miles behind enemy lines is another.

And, yes, I think it was a stupid move for the AI. It cost the Japanese two air groups and only kept two corps away from the front for four turns (rain kept my air from flying). However, it is a jarring departure from what is otherwise a very good game. I realize that it may be impossibe to code this to prevent this one instance, as I have not seen it occur elsewhere.

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