What can I let the computer do to ease the load?

[Greyeye]

My first real game (granted its vs. the AI) and I really love it. I am playing CHS with the nik mod and extended map. I am the Allies and am playing my way thru my first turn. I have read the manual and played the tutorial. My question is what can I let the computer do to help me out a little bit. I want to play the Chinese theatre (I think) but I am a little overwhelmed with still trying to grasp all the logistics of the situation. Couple of questions along those lines -

1. What are the best bases to start supply runs from?

2. What is the most important thing to bring from the US into my island bases in the central and south pacific (supplies or oil)?

3. In the first turn the japanese have landed troops on Wake....Do I have a chance to hold there?

4. Are AKs the best way to get all those planes over from the US?

5. Where is the best place to send all my subs? Or are they so useless with crappy torpedoes that they are more recon assets?

6. Can someone give me a quick rundown on plane upgrades and how that occurs?

7. Can I build forts at locations that are not bases?

Thanks for all the help....Looking forward to playing some of you guys in the future...

Greyeye

[RUPD3658]

Don't let the computer help with anything. It will only lead to disappointment.

1. Run from West Coast to Hawaii then out to smaller bases from there
2. Fuel/supply. Oil/Res are needed at production centers in Australia
3. Maybe. If if holds send some DM and PT there next turn along with a CD unit to make sure it holds against a second attempt
4. Yes. Longer range planes can hop from base to base. Fighters and Dive bombers can also be ferried by CVs
5. The torps on the S-boats work. Send them to the area between the PI and Singapore. use the rest to lay mines (Base them at a size 9 port)

[niceguy2005]

See below...

ORIGINAL: Greyeye

My first real game (granted its vs. the AI) and I really love it. I am playing CHS with the nik mod and extended map. I am the Allies and am playing my way thru my first turn. I have read the manual and played the tutorial. My question is what can I let the computer do to help me out a little bit. I want to play the Chinese theatre (I think) but I am a little overwhelmed with still trying to grasp all the logistics of the situation. Couple of questions along those lines -

1. What are the best bases to start supply runs from?
Hard to answer, I usually don't ship much supply to PH in the beginning, there is enough there already. I ship from WC straight to SouthPac bases, at the same time you can send the empty freighters from OZ back to the WC to reload.

2. What is the most important thing to bring from the US into my island bases in the central and south pacific (supplies or oil)?
Not oil. You have plenty in the DEI to ship to OZ. Start doing that from day one. In paticular the oil at Palembang. Scavange as much as you can before the Japs get there. Get your Infantry into position at key supply bases and get them enough supply in case they are isolated for a while, but not too much because spoilage will be high initially. Get as much supply as you can to OZ and NZ.


3. In the first turn the japanese have landed troops on Wake....Do I have a chance to hold there?

Not for long, even if you repulse the first attack 50/50 chance, they will be back in force.

4. Are AKs the best way to get all those planes over from the US?
Not necessarily. Once your bombers get to PH many can island hop. 4E and patrol planes can fly from that Canadian base to PH, (not Vancouver, the other one). Fighters can be loaded onto CV and transported intact. If you use freighters your AV support has to assemble the planes at the destination port which can take weeks. Sometimes though AKs are the only way. If you use the split up your larger air groups and manually load each onto a ship. I have lost entire bomber groups to an unfortunate sub attack.

5. Where is the best place to send all my subs? Or are they so useless with crappy torpedoes that they are more recon assets?
Only subs that are bad are the US fleet subs. S-boats, Dutch subs and UK subs are all quite effective early on. Use them for anti-invasion work. They can do a lot in Malaya and DEI. US subs can be used in groups for troop evacuation, supply, or very importantly as spies and pickets. You can even use them early on around your convoys to keep an eye out for raiding carriers and ships.

6. Can someone give me a quick rundown on plane upgrades and how that occurs?
This could be an entire Thread in itself. I'm not sure what your actual quesion is. My first suggestion is to get to know your plane replacement pool. It lists when upgrades are available. My second suggestion is to go to the screen that lists all your land bases and ship based planes and use the command to Universally turn off upgrades. Then, as you get new plane types available for upgrade (you can see when that will be from the replacement pool screen) manually go to different units and select who will uprade. If you try to upgrade everyone at once or too many units you will strain your replacement capabilities.

7. Can I build forts at locations that are not bases?
Not really. Your units if left unmoved will build forts on their own in hexes that are not bases. This is the equivalent of digging in. They max out at level 4 fortification. A little barbed wire, foxholes and some rudementary pill boxes are all you can do.

Thanks for all the help....Looking forward to playing some of you guys in the future...
Your welcome. And welcome to the cult...you have now been assimilated. [:D]

Greyeye

[niceguy2005]

ORIGINAL: RUPD3658

Don't let the computer help with anything. It will only lead to disappointment.

RUPD is right and its a very important point. Don't set any zone to computer control. It leads to massive control problems throught the pacific, even outside the automated zone. It's a bug.

The auto convoy system doesn't work very well. It doesnt actually start sending supplies until the base is almost out and doesn't account for transit time. Plus the AI is likely to plot a path right through the center of enemy territory. You can use autoconvoy, but only for bases that (a) aren't the least bit important and (b) are well away from the enemy. For example, Sitka island can be set up on auto convoy almost from day one. Later in the war you can set up places like pago-pago or Christmas Is, when they are no longer the least bit important.

[rockmedic109]

Welcome to the void. Like you, the game has sucked me in and won't let me go. I play the same scenario {CHS Nik Mod}.

1
I set up CS convoys and single ships from the west coast to Central Pac islands. LA each of the four ports on NZ. I run Fuel from the WC to Suva and then distribute it from there after sending a Dozen Tankers or so. Aden supplies India and Burma. There are 32 or so American AKs in Indian ports. I move them to Aden and when supplies build up to 200,000 or so, I load them and send them back to the west coast, dropping supplies off at Sydney on the way.

2
No need to move Oil around other than to deny it to the enemy. I do not move Dutch oil from DEI to Australia in my game {House Rule-why would Dutch oil companies give their oil away?}.

3
Half the time. If they hold, reinforce it. It can make a nice forward Sub base in 1943.

4
Yes. I use the fast AKs for this exclusively.....just never have enough.

5
Send the subs out anyway. They can get lucky and even if they don't do anything, they are building up EXP for when they have good torps.

6
Someone above said to watch the Replacement Pool. Listen to him. Don't upgrade Aussie squadrons to Hurricanes till after the first few squadrons of Hurris arrive in Aden. If you do and loose a bunch in combat, the incoming Hurri squadrons will not have any Hurris in the pool and will arrive with useless and obsolete planes {Lysanders or Mohawks}.

7
I don't think so.

You do NOT want the computer to run anything for you. It will end up a mess. The first turn is a bear, but stick with it. A few House Rules to limit yourself can keep the game challenging.

Have Fun

[rokohn]

First let me say that I am sorry to have to disagree with some of these posters.
 
They don't remember how difficult it is for a new player.  Just creating and moving a TF can be overwhelming until you get the hang of it.
 
What I did on my first campaign game is to set ALL the zones to AI.  The bugs won't hurt you, if you are aware of them.  (Movement of the LCUs are the biggest problem).  Start playing with single turns, and just move the ships or ground units first (which ever one you enjoy the most).  Don't worry what the Japanese are doing to you, it is impossible for the AI to hurt you in the first month.  That is 20+ turns to get a feeling for the game without it being overwhelming.  As you feel comfortable with whatever you are working on, take another zone off of Computer Control.  Then start working with that "new" zone.
 
In my first game, I just played with PH and setting up supply and transport for the West Coast.  Within three turns I felt confident enough to play around in the PI and took them off of computer control.   The Japanese AI hadn't done enough to hurt me and I was able to easily recover from the lack of three turns of control.  After 2 weeks I took over control of OZ.  By January 1st was dealing with India and Burma.  I ignored DEI to give the AI a chance.  Just let the computers fight it out.  Eventually though you will have to take control from the AI because of the bugs.  
 
Just remember to have fun, the Japanese AI can't win.
 

2. Oil is not necessary to the Allies.  If you wish to, ignore it.  Let the Japanese have it.  It is only the AI.  By the time you are ready to play a real person, you will be able to handle the extra problems of dealing with the oil.
 

3. For Wake Island, don't be surprised if the Japanese leave it alone after their first attempt.  It is the AI after all.  It happened to me twice.


5. The subs are a pain.  Put them on AI until you get fed up with watching them do nothing and then take control.  One or two subs at a time to not be overwhelmed.
 

Remember, as long as the Japanese are playing the AI, let the computer help you.  In my game, I still have the Chinese and Russia and Alaska being run by the AI.  Just remember, if the computer seem to screw up your orders, it is probably a bug caused by the AI control, and you can deal with it as you want.

Remember that playing against the AI will not teach you how to truly play the game.  That takes a real opponent.  All the AI will do is teach you how to move the many units  and what to expect with the AMAZING Allied increase in strength.  Even that can be overwhelming to a new player.   (Where in the hell am I going to put all these new squadrons???)  But also, if you don't know how to move troops and feel confident with the many options each turn has to offer, you will never have a chance against an experienced player.  Nimitz had it easy, he had a navy to help him and never had to deal with giving orders to the army (just had to deal with that MacArthur premadonna[;)]). 

[niceguy2005]

If you zones under computer control you will have the AI overriding your orders in other zones. It's a bug and it ALWAYS happens when the computer runs is running a zone. Just last week we had a player asking why his planes at Port Morseby wouldn't attack Rabaul. The answer was the China theater was under computer control and the AI kept resetting the orders of his planes at Port Morseby. That sort of thing will go on all over the map.

My suggestion, since the game is very difficult to get your hands around, is to play the first game or two on smaller scenarios, until you get the hang of the game. Both the Guadalcanal and Marianas scenarios can be quite fun.

Also, I think the AI makes an outstanding early opponent and I wouldn't play a PBEM with anyone until they had done a considerable number of turns against the AI first. The AI is forgiving, in that it isn't terribly smart, and a human opponent won't be. Once you can whip the AI, even just at normal level of difficulty, you will be able to play a PBEM

[Greyeye]

Does anybody have a CHS Mod scenario for the Guadalcanal scenario? Thanks for all the advice....

Greyeye

[wdolson]

Some good advice thus far. I'm a fairly new player myself, though I've had Uncommon Valor for a few years. I would recommend starting with the tutorial scenario, which is loosely based on the Marianas Turkey Shoot. There is a tutorial manual that will step you through the first couple of turns. I played that first and it took me about 10 days to complete it.

The rest of my suggestions are for the full campaign.

ORIGINAL: Greyeye
1. What are the best bases to start supply runs from?

On the West Coast, I run most of my supply out of SF and fuel out of Los Angeles. I've tried both transhipping supplies to Pearl and distributing from there and sending direct from the West Coast. I've settled on direct shipments. Overall, I don't think there is much difference in the long run. I do have a large cache of supplies at Pearl for the Central Pacific bases, but most everything else goes direct from the West Coast.

2. What is the most important thing to bring from the US into my island bases in the central and south pacific (supplies or oil)?

Oil is only used at industrial bases where it is converted to fuel. Fuel is only used by ships. Avgas is lumped in with supplies. You need enough fuel at bases that have ships based at them so you can continue operations without problems. I have some fuel at most of my bases to refuel long haul cargo ships on their return journeys. The bulk of my fuel is at bases where my fleets are.

Every base needs supply. If you check the master base screen (star or meatball icon on the top bar), you will see bases running low on supplies will show up as orange in the supply collumn. Bases running out of supplies will be red.

3. In the first turn the japanese have landed troops on Wake....Do I have a chance to hold there?

I experimented running the first turn 5 or 6 times and Wake fell on December 7 every time. I've never heard of Wake holding out more than a day or two. If you're playing against the AI, Wake makes a good place to train your carrier pilots. After the first week or two of the game, the AI will leave a couple of units at Wake and start focusing forces in the islands south of Japan. I sent carrier task forces to Wake a few times to get bombing practice. The carriers are parked off Wake for a few days and they pound the place flat, then return to Pearl.

4. Are AKs the best way to get all those planes over from the US?

Often it will be the only way. If you want to transfer aircraft based in the West Coast, you will have to transfer them to another headquarter burning political points. Early in the game, you won't have many bases capable of operating larger bombers, so you are best off leaving most of them in the US until you get some bases built up. There is a formula for how big a base needs to be for a bomber to operate most efficiently. It's based on the maximum load of the plane.

Depending on whether you're playing the stock game or one of the variants, B-17s require a size 5 or 6 base. Most medium bombers require a size 4 base.

You will need to ship your engineers around to get the bases built up. When I started my game against the AI, I marched the engineers in Malaya down to Singapore and moved them to bases further back in the Dutch East Indies to get some more defendable bases built up.

I'm in August 1942 now and I still have a fair number of units in the West Coast of the US. AKs are probably what you will need to use for the shorter range aircraft. B-24s can make the flight from the West Coast to Hawaii in one shot. As others have said, you can use carriers too. Later in the game, you will get some aircraft ferry CVEs which come with no airgroup. These are a good way of moving single engine and some twin engine aircraft without have to have the aircraft damaged and repaired with transit. Until you get these, you will either have to use fleet carriers for this, or AKs. The fleet carriers are too valuable and are the only thing you have to counter the Japanese carriers effectively, so you will be using AKs for most aircraft transports.

5. Where is the best place to send all my subs? Or are they so useless with crappy torpedoes that they are more recon assets?

The US long range subs are not as useful the first year of the war. One thing that will improve sub effectiveness is to replace the commanders with more aggressive captains. To change the sub captain, you need to select the sub within the task force (even if only one sub) and replace him there. If you replace the commander from the task force screen, you will only replace the commander of the mission and the sub will still have the same captain. You then have to disband the task force and reform it to get the new commander as commander of the task force as well as the sub. If you have a bunch of subs in a port, you can form a task force with all of them, change all the commanders, then disband it.

The US starts out with some extremely passive sub captains and that will greatly affect whether they attack or not. When I started replacing captains, I started seeing a lot more sub attacks. The long range subs still don't get many hits, but the S class subs do get hits when they attack. The Dutch and British subs also get results.

Another sub mission which can give the Japanese fits is mine laying in their ports. The US long range subs are probably more useful for mine laying of emergency transports in the first year of the war. I have most of mine possitioned off the coast of Japan though. With agressive commanders, they do make a lot of attacks in a target rich environment. One of them put a torpedo into the Akagi doing some serious damage. I later was able to sink her while transfering to another base for repairs.

6. Can someone give me a quick rundown on plane upgrades and how that occurs?

There is an option for doing player defined upgrades (PDU), which allows you to set which plane a unit will switch to. With the option turned off, the unit will upgrade along a predetermined upgrade path.

When a unit is at a base with more than 20K supply, or within some distance (a few hexes, I forget the exact criteria), and there is enough aircraft of the new type in the pool, the unit will upgrade to the new plane type. All of the new aircraft will be set to damaged and it will usually take a couple of days to get the unit back to full strength. When I was doing a lot of upgrades, I had a couple of bases behind the lines I sent planes to for upgrading. That way they aren't subject to combat while their new planes are being brought up to combat readiness.

7. Can I build forts at locations that are not bases?

I see someone else answered this one.

Bill

[Sardaukar]

7. Yes you can but it's automatic. Troops do increase fort levels even when not in base, but it's not player-controllable. You see on unit screen something like "7th Inf Div, Infantry unit with 3 forts" or something like that when they have more than 0 fort levels. I don't think it's possible to build up to lvl 9 tho...might be terrain-dependant.