Returning Questions

[John S]

I have been away from the game for more than a year and a half. For a while I was fairly active in reading the forum and trying to understand the complexities of the game. I am trying to start up again. I'd like to ask a couple of "reminder" questions. I am playing the Campaign that begins in June 1943.
First - there are a bunch of LCT, LCVP, lcm and LST 's in San Francisco or San Diego. They are very slow and have a very short endurance. How do you get them to Pearl Harbor and then into the war zone? Can you load them on AK's for transport (if so, how?). Is it worth it to transport them or can they be created like PT's at places in the war zone? (I always thought the explanation of amphibious stuff in the Manual was kind of sketchy, any tips or reminders - much appreciated).
Second - What is the best way to transport planes from really distant locations to the war zone? Transport by land, in Australia & India was, as I recall, a bad idea. Are escort carriers really the only way or can you box them in AK's?
Finally - I gave up playing the game after two months of solid play when the First Marine Division completely disappeared, never to be recovered, all as a result of a "known bug". I thought I'd come back when this immensely frustrating bug was, hopefully, gone. As far as you guys know, is it gone???

[Terminus]

1): LST's have more than enough endurance to reach from the West Coast to Pearl. The others are much smaller, as you point out, and not really meant for amphibious ops, but since you asked, you can shepherd them across the sea by attaching them to an AK filled with fuel from which they can underway replenish. It's a leeeeetle gamey, but not much.

2): Planes can be packaged onto AK's no problem.

3): The disappearing unit bug is, unfortunately, still around. I've never seen it personally, but others have complained mightily. It doesn't happen often, but I'm sure it's very frustrating.

[madflava13]

If you're sending planes via AK, divide the units into their sub-groups (for the big groups, that is). Then load each sub group on a different AK. This way if a sub catches them, you won't lose the whole unit...

Just a neat little trick someone taught me a while back.

[Crowd Control]

I just experienced the disappearing unit bug in an AI game. I gambled on a paratroop drop and lost the 2nd Parachute Regiment. I've experienced the loss of a unit about 25% of the time I air transport. I should know better by now.

[alfrake]

ORIGINAL: Crowd Control
I just experienced the disappearing unit bug in an AI game. I gambled on a paratroop drop and lost the 2nd Parachute Regiment. I've experienced the loss of a unit about 25% of the time I air transport. I should know better by now.

As far as I know, losing a unit when air transporting it (the last piece of it) is a COMMON problem. So common that you should simply never never transport the last piece of a unit. Its thus effectively avoidable, you just get stuck with a somewhat annoying fragment.

As far as I know, units spontaneously disappearing in other ways is rare. They sometimes seem to teleport, but I believe its very rare for them to entirely disappear.

[dtravel]

Given my own experiences and the frequency with which it is reported, I would expect at least one unit to disappear per full campaign game. Whether it is solo or PBEM, doesn't matter.

[bilbow]

ORIGINAL: alfrake

ORIGINAL: Crowd Control
I just experienced the disappearing unit bug in an AI game. I gambled on a paratroop drop and lost the 2nd Parachute Regiment. I've experienced the loss of a unit about 25% of the time I air transport. I should know better by now.

As far as I know, losing a unit when air transporting it (the last piece of it) is a COMMON problem. So common that you should simply never never transport the last piece of a unit. Its thus effectively avoidable, you just get stuck with a somewhat annoying fragment.

As far as I know, units spontaneously disappearing in other ways is rare. They sometimes seem to teleport, but I believe its very rare for them to entirely disappear.

If you wait a turn before air transporting the last portion of the unit, the portion already transported will have been re-named by the game to be the parent. The remaining piece at the origin base will become the fragment. Once that happens, the remaining piece is safe to tranport, and nothing will get lost. Granted we shouldn't have to do this, but it does work, and I have never lost a unit during air transport.

I have seen a few (3 I think) times a unit or portion teleport to another location. Seems to happen during unloading from ships. I have only seen this in a game where my Japanese opponent was running 1.795. One time a unit unloading at Macassar ended up on Japanese occupied Bonin; the other 2 ended up at San Francisco.

Clearly this is a problem but in my experience an annoyance only and far from a game breaker.

[TheTomDude]

ORIGINAL: alfrake

ORIGINAL: Crowd Control
I just experienced the disappearing unit bug in an AI game. I gambled on a paratroop drop and lost the 2nd Parachute Regiment. I've experienced the loss of a unit about 25% of the time I air transport. I should know better by now.

As far as I know, losing a unit when air transporting it (the last piece of it) is a COMMON problem. So common that you should simply never never transport the last piece of a unit. Its thus effectively avoidable, you just get stuck with a somewhat annoying fragment.

As far as I know, units spontaneously disappearing in other ways is rare. They sometimes seem to teleport, but I believe its very rare for them to entirely disappear.

Rare? Well not if your talking about the "follow all" bug. I lost 2 whole divisions within 2 turns in the same game, until I read about the this bug. That's not what I call "rare". [:D]

Anyway, all the different LCU disappearing bugs can be avoided as many have written already.

Tom

[Mistmatz]

I'm not too far into a game with 1.795 beta but havent experienced any disappearing units.

Afaik this bug is considered solved for this version _IF_ you started the game with 1.795 and did not upgrade to it. There is also a thread in the support section afair...

[ChezDaJez]

I have seen a few (3 I think) times a unit or portion teleport to another location. Seems to happen during unloading from ships.

Not just unloading from ships. I have a very important unit (the Southern Area Army HQ) that routinely teleports between Port Moresby (allied base) and Truk (Japanese base). This is a game that I took over from theElf's previous opponent. It was started under 1.3, upgraded to 1.5 then 1.6.

I tried loading it onto ships once when it teleported to Truk but it promptly disappeared as soon as I went to unload it.

Chez

[LargeSlowTarget]

I have lost four different IJA Divisions in the Philippines, Malaya (2) and Burma using the follow command in games started under v1.795. I have sent a gamesave of my most recent loss to Joe and he said that he has identified a bug and fixed it. Let's wait for 1.8 and see...

[niceguy2005]

A good way to transport planes long distances is by ship. Sometimes I will even do this if I could island hop them instead. The reason is op losses and my avoidance of micro-management. Just remember that if you do crate them, first, divide the unit if possible and second, plan in the considerable amount of time it will take to reassemble. My experience is that only 2-4 planes can be assembled per day so it can take upwards of a month to get a 64 plane squadron operational again.

Regarding the transport and teleport bugs I find them to be highly annoying, but manageable. I still transport units by air or sub all the time, you just HAVE to make sure that you wait as many turns as it takes for the child unit to become the parent before finishing the transport. The other bugs I have heard of about dissappearing or teleporting, in my opinion are rare. In all the turns I have played I have only had a unit teleport once. I have only had one or two units disappear if I pay attention to what I am doing. I think it is an issue that someone can work around. Let's just pray that they fix this problem once and for all in the next formal patch.

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

I have lost four different IJA Divisions in the Philippines, Malaya (2) and Burma using the follow command in games started under v1.795. I have sent a gamesave of my most recent loss to Joe and he said that he has identified a bug and fixed it. Let's wait for 1.8 and see...

Which proves it was a good decision for me not to use the follow command... missed to mention that in my previous post though... [:'(][8D]

[LargeSlowTarget]

Yes, but coordinating cross-river assaults without the follow command is time consuming.

[ny59giants]

The Bermuda Triangle is alive and well throughout the Pacific [X(][X(]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Yes, but coordinating cross-river assaults without the follow command is time consuming.

I agree, but it's preferable to losing units.

[niceguy2005]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Yes, but coordinating cross-river assaults without the follow command is time consuming.

I agree, but it's preferable to losing units.

I've never, not once, lost a unit with the follow command and I use it all the time.

[Mike Solli]

Lucky you. I'm not taking any chances.

[anarchyintheuk]

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Yes, but coordinating cross-river assaults without the follow command is time consuming.

I agree, but it's preferable to losing units.

I've never, not once, lost a unit with the follow command and I use it all the time.

Do not taunt the follow command bug. [:-]

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli




I agree, but it's preferable to losing units.

I've never, not once, lost a unit with the follow command and I use it all the time.

Do not taunt the follow command bug. [:-]

... maybe he just doesnt keep track. [;)]