Gary Mod Test: 2x2 Team Game

[GaryChildress]

This is a Beta test of the mod I've been working on.

More information on it can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/garychildress4 ... ENARIO.htm

Players are:

Nomad and Darken92 as Japanese

Miller41 and Gary Childress as Allies

Game settings:

WITP version 1.806

Both Sub Doctrines: OFF
Fog of War: ON
Advanced Weather: ON
Allied Damage Control: ON
Historical First Turn: OFF
PDUs: ON
Vary Setup: OFF
Dec 7th Surprise: ON
Reinforcements: Both Variable by 15 days
Auto Sub Ops: OFF
Facilities to expand: OFF
Auto Air Upgrades: OFF
Accept Replacements: OFF

House Rules:

TURN 1 CONDITIONS:

1) Japanese don't go after Allied carriers on turn 1.
2) Allies can only move TFs at sea on turn 1.
3) Allies may not change air group locations on turn 1.
6) Allies may set LCU planning points on turn 1
7) Allies may set LCUs to move on turn 1, however, not into Japanese territory.

GENERAL GAME CONDITIONS:

1) Japanese forces in Manchukuo must change to China Expeditionary command to move into China.
2) Soviets may not move or form TFs at all until Soviets are activated. ie. Soviet Navy cannot be used to "scout".
3) No 4-engine bomber under 15,000 feet, except for ASW / Naval Search missions or Strategic Bombing missions
4) LCU's belonging to the Kwangtung Command may not leave Manchuria unless PP's are spent to change their command. In general players should always attempt to change the command of units to the theatre of operations they are in, not just Kwangtung.
5) No more then 50 aircraft per level of airfield. (not counting float planes/amphibs)
6) General Rule of Thumb: Play a "gentleman's game". If you think it might be gamey, it probably is, so don't do it.

This is an open AAR so both Allies and Japanese may express reactions/criticisms of the game.

Good luck everyone! [:)]

[GaryChildress]

Here's a quick screen shot to start off with. One of the few new bases I did add to this mod; Tsushima. The Allies will have a difficult time getting into the Sea of Japan. Everything else visible in this pic is standard CHS.



Tsushima is rigged in the game whereby supplies will NOT flow through it from mainland Japan into Manchukuo, nor visa versa. However Tsushima is connected by road to Fukuoka in the hex just southeast of it on mainland Japan so it will be supplied from the mainalnd.

[GaryChildress]

One other added base; Chalong Bay. There is a small Royal Thai Navy base force there but it will be difficult for the Japanese to supply the base as there is no land access to it from the main rail line leading into Malaysia. My research indicates that supplies to Chalong Bay were traditionally delivered through the Straight of Malaca past Singapore. Of course the Japanese commander could conceivably use transport aircraft to do the job.

[Nomad]

Hi Gary, just to let you know, Darken is working on the turn and will be sending it to me for a few add ons. I will be commanding the West side of the map - China, Burma, India(?), Malaya, DEI. Darken will be commanding the invasion of PI and the expansion of the GLORIOUS EMPIRE into the south pacific.

[kfmiller41]

Hello everyone, I am Gary's playing partner Ken and will be commanding the US forces on the West Coast and Australian Forces plus all island east of there. Gary will be commanding the West side of the map. Looking forward to trying this mod out, and with the changes it should allow both sides much more leeway in what to activate and where to concentrate forces.

[Nomad]

So, I am matching wits with Gary - sounds like fun. We should have been on the same team, Ken and Ken. [:D]

[GaryChildress]

Woops, Nomad managed to find the first errors. Some bad upgrade paths, 3 of them. Then on a quick scan I found one more.

I've sending everyone new files (except Darken92 as I still don't have an e-mail) and updating the download page for the mod now.

I've asked Nomad to forward the scenario files to Darken92.

Sorry about that guys. [:(] They should be in your in boxes (e-mail).

EDIT: Never mind. I'm told Darken is about finished so we're going to go with the scenario as is. Will update the scenario files on the download page though.

[kfmiller41]

Damn he is good[&o] Hope i find some errors besides in my play[:D]

[GaryChildress]

OK. Website has been updated with Gary Mod version 2.1. Readme.txt file will say "VERSION 2.1" at the top.

[Nomad]

ORIGINAL: miller41

Damn he is good[&o] Hope i find some errors besides in my play[:D]

No, it's Woos that is good. His WitPdecode poped them right out - no problems. Mostly done with turn, lots to do, had to come up for air. [:D]

[GaryChildress]

I'd never paid much attention to WitP decoder and then downloaded it a few days ago to see what the fuss was all about. I have to admit, it is an amazing program. Wish I had downloaded it a long time ago while working on this mod. Of course most of this mod was also done with the stock database editor too. It took me a while just to bulid up trust in WITPExcel. Now I'll never do another mod without it!

[kfmiller41]

how hard is it to install woos?

[GaryChildress]

Installation isn't that bad. If you can install all the pieces to this mod you can do WITPDecoder too. [:D]

EDIT: 1 more error report from Nomad: Nagasaki was producing a blank aircraft slot - FIXED

I'm temporarily deleting the download for a while from the website, at least until the first 5 turns or so are out of the way.

[GaryChildress]

So far so good. 1st turn went well with no more noticable bugs.

PH was pretty severe:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 57
D3A2 Val x 111
B5N2 Kate x 157

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed, 7 damaged
D3A2 Val: 5 destroyed, 60 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 10 destroyed, 41 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 20 destroyed
P-36A Mohawk: 7 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 4 destroyed
PBY Catalina: 18 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
B-18A Bolo: 9 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed
C-47 Dakota: 4 destroyed
P-26A: 3 destroyed
SB2U Vindicator: 3 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 2 destroyed
B-17D Fortress: 3 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 15, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Boggs, Bomb hits 1
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 19, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 12, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Roseville, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL St. Louis, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AR Vestal, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Selfridge, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1
DD Monaghan, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AV Curtiss, Bomb hits 1
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, on fire
CA Florida, Bomb hits 1
AD Dobbin, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1
DM Breese, Bomb hits 1
SS Cachalot, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Vireo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Detroit, Bomb hits 1
DMS Zane, Bomb hits 1, on fire


Allied ground losses:
178 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 40
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 247

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x A6M2 Zero attacking at 100 feet
19 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
28 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 9000 feet
13 x A6M2 Zero attacking at 100 feet
26 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
26 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
18 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
15 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
17 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
20 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
26 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
29 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 9000 feet
29 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 9000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note target ship BB Florida is in the game in place of BB Utah and rated as a CA so it will take a little attention away from the other ships at PH. Unfortunately it looks like the Japanese attack payed almost no attention to the Florida. Florida's sister ship BB Utah is actually preserved as a BB, however, is relegated to gunnery training. BB Wyoming which was historically a gunnery training ship is now an active BB along with her sister Arkansas, however, Wyoming will spend the war in the Atlantic.

Here's the new lineup of heavy hitters for the Allies:







All these BBs and BCs are available on turn 1.

BCs Constitution, Constellation and United States are in the game as the new United States Class BCs. These are based upon the Lexington hulls and are part of the alternate history twists in the mod. So that the Allied player will actually get to use them and not simply see them sink at PH on the first turn, all three of the new BCs are paired with carriers as fast carrier escorts and not present at PH.

As commander of the western half of the map my only new ship is HMS Hood. The rest of the big guys are over in Miller41's half. Maybe if I'm really nice to him, he'll loan me one or two of them. [:D]

As for the rest of the first turn combat summary, Manado, Kota Bharu, Batan Is. and PI were invaded on turn 1. So far nothing out of the ordinary. In fact I'm a little surprised Wake and Hong Kong don't seem to be under attack. Maybe some real surprises brewing?

[GaryChildress]

The IJN gets only 3 heavy hitters in exchange, BBs Tosa, Kaga and the old semi dreadnaught Settsu. Historically Settsu spent the war as a radio controlled target ship, however, in this alternative universe Settsu sees new life as a shore bombardment ship.

[GaryChildress]

Fortunately for the Japanese but unfortunately for Miller41 and I, the Japanese get many other advantages in this mod to offset the extra Allied BCs. The Royal Thai armed forces are included in entirety. IJA will be able to upgrade bombing Sentai to the 4E, super long range Ki-124 Amelia, a four engine bomber based upon the German Me-264 design. The IJA gets the ability to build these bombers on day one, however, they will need to convert factories to it and convert engine factories to a special engine.

[Nomad]

Well, I sure hope Darren reads this, he is in complete charge of production.

Hong Kong? My units only marched 45 miles the first day - they will be there tomorrow.

Wake? Ask Darren.

I like it that 2 BBs sunk at PH and CL Boise ate a torpedeo. [:)]

One thing Gary, setting all of the LCUs to 0 planning is probably going to hurt the Japanese. You probably
should have left them set to historice locations - the player can change them if he wants. I am going to have
divisions attacking on the 2nd or 3rd turn with a planning value of 1 or 2 - not good.

[John 3rd]

Gary,
 
This looks interesting!  Just a question--shouldn't you do an upgrade of the US BCs?  Considering the massive reconstruction (conversion to oil, better subcompartments, TT blisters, limited AA, etc...) of the old BBs between WWI and Dec 7th, it would make sense to do it...
 
Looks like a very good PH Raid!  What sank?  Looking at the combat report, one could easily see 3 US BBs in deep trouble...
 

[GaryChildress]

Hi Nomad,

I tried to offset it somewhat by giving Allied formations 0 planning points as well. My troops at Kota Bharu have no planning points there. Normally the Allied planning is 50 points. I tried a couple tests a while back and found that the Japanese 18th Division was able to take Kota Bharu with 0 planning points. I think I tried it about 5 times with the same conclusion.

For one thing most Japanese forces had planning points only for initial objectives, some of which they didn't really need. For instance in standard CHS 48th division is at 100 planning points for Vigan. Vigan is undefended anyway so no need for them. As soon as 48th division takes Vigan it is going to need to set planning points back to zero for Manila or wherever. 65th Brigade is planning for San Fernando which is only nominally defended. Again, shouldn't be much of a contest.

If you have your units set on attack at Kota Bharu, lets see what the results are after this next turn and see what happens. Even in the stock game, IIRC Kota Bharu didn't always fall on the first turn. But if you have too much trouble taking Kota Bharu, then I will certainly consider restoring planning points, but my suspicion is that it should fall at most by turn 2.

[GaryChildress]

Hi John 3rd,

West Viginia and Tennessee sank.

When I created the stats for the new BBs and BCs I basically went off a combo of what the ships were originally armed or supposed to be armed with. Then I compared them to contemporary ships that were in service in 1941 and tried to modify weapons accordingly. Also in the case of some ships I borrowed a few stats from Tanker Ace's War Plan Orange if I couldn't find them anywhere else. Armor, however, I kept the original stats. But I think on second thought you are probably right and the armor should be upgraded some. The United States' are looking a little vulnerable compared to the stats of other ships.

Historically the Lexingtons were cancelled probably mostly due to their perceived weaknesses. So if they were built they probably would have upgraded the protection in the 30s.

Thanks for the input John 3rd! [:)]

NOTE to self: Upgrade armor for United States class BCs.