Revised House Rules

[Culiacan Mexico]

Originally posted by Jeremy Pritchard
General Rules

4. The "pool" command may only be used between ships in the same port or at Player national bases (i.e., Home Island bases for Japan, US West Coast bases, Australia bases, Colombo and Calcutta).

I have a problem/question:

After using an amphibious invasion to take a base, the units size has increase making it too large to be reloaded into its’ transport. For example 1st Para Brigade can increase in size rather quickly in the opening part of the war, and it seems unrealistic that I should have to send its’ transport back to Japan to add one ship to it. Does it seem unreasonable to allow any transport group to add one ship, if there are any at the start of the turn in the pool?

[Jeremy Pritchard]

Is it more realistic to magically transport a ship across the Pacific or to send another AP group to join your group at the desired base. You can then switch around ships in that pool.

i.e.

You have 4 AP, but need 3 more (7 AP)

There are no more AP at that base

Therre is a 5 group AP at a nearby base.

You send this 5 group AP to this base.

You remove the 5 group AP TF so it is in the pool with the 4 group AP.

You then remove 3 AP from the 5 Group and add it to the 4 group leaving you with 7 AP.

This is possible within the rules and is more realistic than automatically transporting ships. I never said that you must send ships back to the home islands in order to switch ships, just that you cannot access the pool from anywhere but the Home Islands/west coast. You can switch ships between groups, but not access the pool.

[Culiacan Mexico]

Originally posted by Jeremy Pritchard
Is it more realistic to magically transport a ship across the Pacific or to send another AP group to join your group at the desired base.

I agree, however…

At the start I usually don’t have enough AP groups, but plenty of APs. In particular, the numbers of Africa Muru in the pool is quite generous, while the groups are somewhat limited. It isn’t uncommon for me to have all 10 (?) Africa Muru groups in action, while using only 60-70% of the 62 (?) available. To move APs from the pool to one of my transport groups would require me to reduce the number of Africa Muru groups I use for actual invasions, because I would have to assign groups to the sole purpose of acting as a ferry service from Japan to my invasion fleets.

Realistically the ships in the pool should be able to move by themselves as the restriction on the number of AP groups is a game limitation, not a historical one.

I never said that you must send ships back to the home islands in order to switch ships, just that you cannot access the pool from anywhere but the Home Islands/west coast. You can switch ships between groups, but not access the pool.

The limitations of the game are causing me this trouble: I should be able to form AP groups in Japan out of pool resources (historical), but that isn’t allowed. I am restricted by the game in using only the number AP groups that it allows.

This is possible within the rules and is more realistic than automatically transporting ships.

I disagree. How did the extra troops and/or equipment get there in the first place? Obviously it had to be transported from Japan to the 1st Amphibious Bde., that transport should be available at the destination. If this reinforcements were optional then it would have been my choice, but it isn’t.

Historically, if I was commander of 1st Amphibious Brigade and was instructed to prepare my plans for the invasion of Koepang I should know how much transport I would need. I should also know that if I will receive a 20% in men and equipment, I will also require an increase in transport. Now obviously if this transport is being used in an invasion at Tarawa it can magically appear Macassar, but there is no historical reason why an asset that has be setting in the pool (Japan) for the last month or two couldn’t be ordered to transferred to the fleet at Macassar. Unfortunately the restrictions of the game force me to add Africa Muru to existing groups if I want them to move, which is not historical and is just a game limitation.

PS. It isn’t about “to magically transport a ship”. It is about the game limitations forcing non-historical actions. Have 20 Africa Muru in the pool, but being unable to use them unless I send a group back to pick them up is a game limitation not a historical one. IMO

PSS. The only time I have this problem is with those magically appearing reinforcements.

[CynicAl]

Also under Allied Air Limitations, the F7F should never be assigned to CV groups. Though it was designed as a carrier aircraft, it turned out to be totally unsuitable for CV ops - much worse than the early F4U-1s (which would have replaced the F4Fs on USN CVs starting in late 1942, warts and all, had the F6F not already been in the pipeline with several fewer warts). In the event, all the Tigercats built went to the Marines, who operated them from shore - mostly as two-seat, radar-equipped night fighters, plus a some single-seaters for CAS.

For future OOBs, perhaps the F7F should be bumped down the list so that it's no longer considered carrier capable. Or just replace it with the F4U-4 .

[IntellWeenie]

The "reinforcing" troops come from supply at the base. It doesn't appear by itself (IIRC, all supply and 1/2 fuel at a base are destroyed when captured) but must be transported there by a TF or routine convoy. That's how the "extra" troops and equipment get there.
I don't know about the Japanese, but it was very common for US combat units to accumulate equipment beyond their normal TO&E. Accumulating extra combat troops was a different story; most units later in the war ended up with shortages in "line" units (infantry, artillery, etc.) but were overstrength in support troops.

Yes, limited numbers of ship groups and "magic" reinforcements are limitations of the game. Keep in mind it is an older game and when it was written there were many more restrictions on what was possible to code and run on PCs of the day (typically 286 and 386 processors with 1MB RAM!) Maybe you need to look for ways to overcome the limits of the game to accomplish what you want.

For the problem you stated (ending up with more troops than transport, with excess transport stuck in Japan) I would suggest that you should perhaps assume that this will happen when planning your assaults. Add an extra transport or two to your Transport TF to plan for any extra troops that might appear. This also will make your troops more survivable while they are in the ships. If any ships get sunk, you will lose a proportionately smaller number of troops. I normally over-transport for this reason alone. The only drawbacks to this are that your TF will be slightly easier to detect and the Japanese player must consider the additional fuel expenditures this approach takes.
You may also want to make sure you aren't assaulting with understrength units. Once supply is available, they will try to grow back to their default strengths.

[Jeremy Pritchard]

Attacking with weakened LCU's is not advised, as the priority of supply is to grow units. So, when you send a weak LCU to attack an enemy base they drain supply to grow the unit that is more valuable in attaining high readiness required for combat.

[Culiacan Mexico]

Jeremy Pritchard I know you are busy and I appriciate your response.

Thank You