"Day 2" Logistics Documents & Geveral Approach?

[SuluSea]

In India you may want to send some spare base forces on the south coast to start building forts until the calvary gets there but I think its wise to have the engineers get started building size 3 airbases at Dambulla on Ceylon, Bezwada, Tanjore/Maduri and Cuttack in India before forts to help eventually ring the south coast with air protection. Those bases on the south coast are protected from ship bombardment.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: dr. smith

Here is what you start with on the West Coast - it is vital to realize not all Base Forces have Engineers!
Plan what to put where, form up TF (Amphib if destination is a small port) and get them going!

Cool. I've been doing some work with WitP Tracker and will soon have a neat spreadsheet in which to capture this stuff. Just been crazy at work, but hopefully this weekend I'll have time to finish it off and load in your dispositions. Thanks!

[Kull]

As promised, here's a spreadsheet that combines the output of four different data sets from the WitP Tracker AE program: Bases, LCUs, Air Groups and Pilots, and Ships (this last is not yet available from the tool, but was created at my request by Damian from the WitP Tracker AE team - many thanks!). I had to restructure the columns so as to be able to combine all 4 datasets into one spreadsheet, but as a result, it's now possible to use the filter buttons to look at every unit located at any base (or hex), and add comments describing what you want them to do as part of the overall "Day 2" Setup.

The spreadsheet is a "work-in-progress", and I'll upload new versions from time to time. The major issue at the moment is that "Location Name" is the "key field", but the WitP Tracker datasets use different naming conventions for this field. So one of my first projects is to manually adjust this so all are the same. As an example, "Pearl Harbor" is currently called "Pearl Harbor (180,107)" in the LCU dataset. So in order to view all units located in Pearl Harbor, you have to filter the column using the "starts with" Pearl Harbor filter, instead of just selecting "Pearl Harbor". You can still get the data you want in one screen, but it's not a one click solution yet. Not a huge problem. Anyway, the first version is available for anyone who is interested. Extract the contents of the zip file, and open with excel or openoffice.

Edit: Deleted Original Spreadsheet (see post below for the improved version)

[Kull]

I've got a much better version available - if you are one of the ten folks who downloaded the original, ditch it and use this one. Changelog:
1) Row Count: A new column. Every time you use a filter button, the "counter" in Cell A5 will tell you how many records you're looking at.
2) Regions: Every row has a region, and those that were wrong (over 100) have all been fixed.
3) Location: Every row has a hex location, and all are in the same format (##,##)
4) Location Name: Every row has an entry. If it's a named location on the map, that name will appear. In some cases (such as with TFs and some LCUs) the "name" is a hex location.
5) Nation: All bases, Air units, and LCUs have a nationality. Ships do not have a nationality. It's not part of their dataset, and entering them all manually is a huge effort with little game-player impact.
6) Comments: This is the column which will be populated with "Turn 2 player actions". So far all that's in there is a "No action" comment in all cases where there's an unoccupied base. You really can't do anything to an empty base, so this tells the player they can safely ignore 493 locations on the map. I also entered the "target hex" for all existing Task Forces. Not saying the player won't want to change some of these, but that covers 150 units.

A few comments on what this spreadsheet "brings to the table":
- It covers Allied "Turn 2" dispositions only. Eventually I may do something similar for Japan, but that's well down the road
- There are 3868 rows of data. That's a LOT of bases and units for the player to touch in one turn! These break down as follows:
- 876 Bases
- 376 Air Units
- 1186 LCUs
- 1430 Ships

[Kull]

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what the AE-Setup Spreadsheet looks like. Each column has a story:

Col A: Counter - As noted above, this is the "row count". When using a filter button (lets say you wanted to work on all the "Alaska" region bases and units first), the counter in Cell A5 tells you how many rows of data you are working on (Alaska = 91).
Col B: Region - Every location on the map falls into one of 39 regions. It's one way to work on your Turn 2 selections in "bite size chunks". The Base data came from the WitP AE Tracker dataset (and some was fixed), and was manually extended to units.
Col C: Location - The hex location of every base and unit. Modified WitP AE Tracker data.
Col D: Location Name - If the hex has a name (i.e. it's a Base of some sort), here it is. Modified WitP AE Tracker data.
Col E: Type - There are four row "types": Bases, Air Units, LCUs, and Ships. New field, not from Tracker.
Col F: Unit Name - The name of each unit. Straight from the WitP AE Tracker datasets.
Col G: Unit Model/Type - Applies only to the units. Again, unmodified data from WitP AE Tracker.
Col H: HQ - Applies only to Bases, Air Units, and LCUs (not ships). Unmodified data from WitP AE Tracker.
Col I: Nation - Applies only to Bases, Air Units, and LCUs (not ships). Heavily modified data from WitP AE Tracker.
Col J: ID - Unit ID. Not sure if it's any use, but where it was provided by WitP AE Tracker, it's loaded here.
Col K: Comments - As the player assigns Turn2 actions, here's the place to sya what you are doing. If you don't write it down, you'll have to figure it out all over again when you start your next game. New field, not from Tracker.

[Kull]

Here's a pic of the second half of the spreadsheet. You may have been wondering about those descriptions in rows 1-4 of column D. They exist because I did something in this spreadsheet which is normally a bad idea - the data in columns L thru X varies depending upon the "Type" (column E). I did this for a few reasons:
- First of all, most of this data is interesting but most people won't use it when making their Turn 2 choices.
- Secondly, it allowed me to shrink the width of the spreadsheet by a factor of three, which greatly enhances "usability".
- Thirdly, all of this data was taken directly from the WirP AE Tracker datasets, and is entirely unmodified.

So how do you interpret this? It's actually pretty easy:
- If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Bases", then use the column headings in row 1 (applies to columns L-R)
- If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "LCU", then use the column headings in row 2 (applies to columns L-R)
- If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Ship", then use the column headings in row 3 (applies to columns L-T)
- If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Air Group", then use the column headings in row 4 (applies to columns L-X)

[chrisol]

Thank you very much for the time you have put into this.

I haven't launched into a Grand Campaign yet as I've been quite daunted (particularly by Turn 2) and thought I might wait for a second Patch, but have been through Coral Sea a few times.

This spreadsheet looks very helpful for getting over these difficulties (along with a sheet I've been thowing together about how all the industries tie in)

Thanks again,
Chris

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: chrisol

Thank you very much for the time you have put into this.

I haven't launched into a Grand Campaign yet as I've been quite daunted (particularly by Turn 2) and thought I might wait for a second Patch, but have been through Coral Sea a few times.

This spreadsheet looks very helpful for getting over these difficulties (along with a sheet I've been thowing together about how all the industries tie in)

Thanks again,
Chris

Glad you find it helpful! There is so much to "touch" in the second turn (3800+??!!), that it's been holding me back, too. I've been waiting for the 2nd Patch to start a real campaign, but in the meantime this will help to jump start that. Right now I'm going through and trying to add all the obvious items (which bases should expand or fortify, which units are static, some obvious TF formations, etc.) along with some of the good recommendations that have been added to this thread (lots of good stuff from Doc Smith) or which I've gleaned from others. Speaking of which, I'll post some helpful Allied strategy links below. If folks know of some good threads, please feel free to post links. Keep in mind that I much prefer specifics, not general recommendations - I can't stick an approximation into a spreadsheet.

1) Early Allied moves (starts 8/26): fb.asp?m=2220841
2) Pointers for Allies (starts 9/8): tm.asp?m=2233221
3) The dreaded 2nd Turn (starts 10/6): tm.asp?m=2260874

[findmeifyoucan]

I agree aganist the AI moving your Carriers against wake early brings good results, cruisers, destroyers and lots of Jap transports sunk but against a real human opponent in PMEM might be a little too risky.

Sydney will run out of supply that fast you think? Even with all the oil production and Heavy and Light industry. Yeah, Japs do move quite quickly against Rebaul even from the old game though I am just a newby to AE.

Where do you get supply from for Columbo or where would you suggest is the best location?

Tony
p.s. Do you know what kind of bonuses the Japs get when playing Scen #2?

[SuluSea]

Thanks for taking time to do this Kull, much appreciated . [:)]

[findmeifyoucan]

For scen 2 is it normal for the Japanese to sink 5 battleships outright on Dec 7,1941?

[rockmedic109]

I never played Scen 2, but yes you can loose 5 battleships in the first day.  Loosing three or four is more common. 

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

Thanks for taking time to do this Kull, much appreciated . [:)]

Thanks! And on that note, here's an update. Big difference is that I've now incorporated the Industry .csv file from WitP Tracker AE. Total number of rows increases from 3800 to 4600, but tweaks to Industry are also required on the first turn (as Doc Smith noted earlier in the thread), so this captures that, too:

[Kull]

And here's the updated file. A few points:

1) There are now 1600 comments (i.e things to do or, mostly, NOT do on the second turn), but I still have 3000 to go. This is painful. No other way to put it.

2) The worksheet is obviously a work in progress so one thing to ignore is the "green" cells in columns B & D. I'm making comments and the corresponding on-map adjustments in two different versions of the same game (one on a travel laptop, the other at home) so the colors just remind me which is which. (The colors will be removed from the "final" version of the spreadsheet.)

3) Feel free to comment on my choices. I thought about explaining why, for example, air search by unit "x"was set to a particular arc, or why convoy "y" has the destination it does, but then this damn thing would NEVER get finished. Maybe someday if I suffer a serious head injury and get all OCD on the issue.

[histgamer]

Where do supplies come into India? Or do they not? I have taken all my ships in India with the exception of Bombay, and Karachi and sent them to Colombo. I plan on setting up supply convoys between Colombo and Georgetown... Supplies generate in South Africa right? Where is the best place to supply India from?

I am still handling my first turn.

[Rainer79]

The great Indian mystery: supplies come from Cape Town, fuel (and a bit of supply) from Abadan and most troops arrive at Aden. It is also a good idea to send some supply and fuel to Aden or that might run dry.