5 Things a WitP player should know coming to AE

[AHFlattop]

What WITP players should know for AE, Hmm..........

After my first 9 days as Allies...

1. Love those TF route options such as Waypoints, follow TF with variable standoff distances, patrol areas. Just another layer of decisions but it saved dozen ships so far. My TFs retreat from surface and air threats unless set to Direct.
2.Now I have to convert LCUs to Stat Movement before loading onto ships. Keep forgetting to do that. More Or status options for using rest for rear area bases.
3. Have to think about port size and ship size for logistics
4. Now I have to think about how I'm going to rearm or fuel my ships.
5. The offmap and holding boxes and Cvy units are a nice addtion. Makes the game more realistic.

Its been fun so far.

[Walloc]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

- What level do you leave your training squadrons at? I used to leave them at 80% but is that catastrophic now?

- What is an xAK??????? (hint to the devs, having a mouse hover action for shiptype would be sweet. ie I hover the curson over xAK and a little pop up comes up with the full name or something)

40 seem to be the sweet spot in my experience. 50 = ever increasing fatigue which means ops losses at some point and dead pilots.

x before AK or AP means its a civilian vessel as opposed to a purposely build for military use.
In effect it means xAK has fewer cranes and such and there for unloads slower if unloading not docked.

So xAK unload slower than a AK that again unloads slower than a AKA "over the beach" and same with APs.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[treespider]

The MOST important thing to realize -

AE is NOT WITP.

[The Gnome]

ORIGINAL: treespider

The MOST important thing to realize -

AE is NOT WITP.

Yeah I am swallowing the bitter pill and reading the manual [>:] It hurtss our eyessss precioussss

[Mynok]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

- What is an xAK??????? (hint to the devs, having a mouse hover action for shiptype would be sweet. ie I hover the curson

x means it is a civilian vessel commandeered or borrowed from the merchant fleet. It is still an AK for usage purposes, it just doesn't have the military additions a militarized AK would have (like heavier onboard lift for example).

[The Gnome]

So pretty much xAK's are great for schlepping supplies to larger ports?

[Sonny II]

ORIGINAL: treespider

The MOST important thing to realize -

AE is NOT WITP.

Shhhhhh! You weren't supposed to tell.

[Walloc]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

So pretty much xAK's are great for schlepping supplies to larger ports?

Basicly yes. My experience since u dont have that many AKs that they in a pinch can be used to unload over the beach just dont expect it to go very fast. Naval support squads will help a bit tho. More of question of necessity than desire as ur in essence right.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[WITPPL]

1. Carrier Based Planes Ranges.
2. Betties are better in an Airfield missions than Naval ones.
3. Zeroes are good but not Uber.
4. allied overall supremacy pops up earlier
5. Your back is still on fire after 2nd hour at work but not after 27th hour playing.

[The Gnome]

Gah, ok starting my first turn... send a search party if no one hears from me for a few days...

[IS2m]

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

The AI is much more aggressive, stubborn, and opportunistic than it was in WitP.  It will do stupid things but it will also surprise you too.

However, if it's current rate of major ship loss continues for much longer, it will have no surface fleet to speak of by the end of 1942.  Six CA's, a BB, a CVL, and about 2 dozen DD's have been sunk by my forces before the end of February 42, mostly in surface battles and by submarines.  Kongo was sunk by a 300 kg bomb dropped by a lucky Dutch pilot.

Kongo committed suicide against a Dutch minefield in my current game against the AI.....
I do appreciate the more aggressive AI though, kudos to the programmers. On the other hand, it should have learned by now to stop sending wave after wave of unescorted Betty's to their doom against my now 'elite' Buffalo pilots.

[The Gnome]

Oh snap, here is a big change:

I'm going through the US and disbanding/withdrawing skeletal air units, setting up training missions, and trying to set leaders. Leaders all seem to take ~100 days to get paired with the unit!! WOW!

Is this because the leader isn't trained yet? I sorted the leader list on "travel time" and everyone is set to 399. Where is everyone hiding?

[Mynok]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

So pretty much xAK's are great for schlepping supplies to larger ports?

They can be used in amphib TFs to unload at the smaller ports. Don't expect heavy equipment to unload fast if at all though.

[oldman45]

What a difference when you get to do an invasion with AP and AKA's can't wait till I get APA's. Even doing small invasions with xAP and xAK it was a week (13 days on one operation) to get everything unloaded. With AP/AKA it took 2 days to unload 2 regiments with support. Life is getting better.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome
- What level do you leave your training squadrons at? I used to leave them at 80% but is that catastrophic now?

Strategically for me the first 6 months of the war I would try to do a few things:
- Train, Train, Train, Train, Train. I train everything, ship crews, air units, and let my LCU's replenish their strength. In WitP support was rare and I would need to be very careful letting that build.
- Turn PH into a fortress
- Reinforce/Secure my supply chain from the US to Australia
- Fight a delaying action in DEI/Malaysia/Burma/PI
- Secure as much sea lift/Resources from DEI as I can - usually taking as much as I can down to Darwin while moving supplies to Singapore.
- Establish a supply run from Aden to Karachi and Karachi to India
- Turn AI on to fight the morass in China lol Oh well can't do that anymore.
- I hold my CV's in reserve only to punish any over extensions. The never leave a land based air umbrella. This is only after all the CV's upgrade to F4F's.

That pretty much still the SOP?

For REMF aircraft-away from the front lines-I set my training to 70-80% when I have it on. I 'hard code' the other 20-30% of their time as rest, rather than leaving it 'unallocated'. I haven't noticed appreciable fatigue with this training schedule.

I'm torn about training. Sure, I do some of it, but if a unit is training, it's not transferring or moving or in a fighting position or away from the front recuperating. It's also taking up supplies. I occasionally get messages re: OPs losses associated with training. Training is not a completely innocuous activity.

I think unit 'Rest', particularly for those units deprived of sufficient supply or support is underappreciated in this game. Most of my LCU positions are resting most of the time.

Maybe I am more open to commiting my CVs than you say you are. If there are IJN overextensions, I will consider committing as a punitive measure for the overextension. This may require them leaving the air umbrella altogether, as they did IRL. It's a risk, but if I wait until I have local air superiority in deploying and using my CVs, it will be late 1943 or early 1944 before they will do me much good beyond a fleet in being. I'm not Halsey, but I'm not Ghormley, either.

[The Gnome]

There was a quote that I live by when defending from some german infantry officer:

"The MLR is the warriors shield, the reserve is his sword."

I like to take swipes with my carriers from time to time, but never want to over extend them. They definitely don't sit in Pearl though

[morganbj]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

For REMF aircraft ...

It's been a long time since I heard the term "REMF." I wonder how many folks out there even know what it means. [;)]

[witpqs]

In AE, when you upgrade a squadron to a new model a/c, it can takes weeks until all the planes are ready. Beware when upgrading carrier squadrons!