How do you keep track of everything going on in your PBEM?

[fflaguna]

It is only Dec. 15th in my PBEM. I noticed several days ago on Dec. 10th that I was already having trouble keeping track of all the convoys coming and going, so I decided to start a text file with a lot of notes and see where that gets me. That turned out to REALLY help me a LOT, but I am still finding that it is difficult to keep everything straight between turns. My notes are 170 lines long, broken down into different sections such as "Philippines Invasion Operations", "Borneo Invasion", "Submarine Operations", "Repair Operations", "Kidou Butai Operations", and so on and so forth.

Here's an excerpt from my notes from a few days ago, covering Philippines stuff. I have censored parts of it:

Code: Select all

 **** Malaysia Invasion - Allied AV except Singapore = 800; Singapore AV = 220; IJA AV = 900 landed + 700 hundred enroute
     *NOTE* TFs enroute: TF 108, TF 123, TF 125 = 700 AV total; TF 123 (approx. 300 AV) has ETA of Dec. 23rd
 	* Malaysia base forces
     *DONE* Better planning for Singapore (make an estimate for Singapore fall date, calculate force sizes, etc.)
 	* Bomb Singapore airfield
 	* Evaluate invasion of Kuantan base south of Khota Baru (Difficult due to Range 5+ TB at Singapore)
 	   * Consider sending IKOU BUTAI to support
 	   * When can IKOU BUTAI arrive safely in Malay theater?
 	   * Difference between invading by land vs. waiting for sea invasion? (pros/cons?)
 	*DONE* Calculate dates for capturing Malay bases
 	   * Alor Star about 10 days
 	   * Georgetown/Taiping about one week each
 	   * One week each phase
 	   * Singapore about one month
 	* Supplies from mainland needed in near future?
 

Code: Select all

  **** Philippines Invasion - Luzon Allied AV = 1700; IJA AV = 900 landed
    	* Philippines base forces
 	* LANDING ~400 AV IN LINGAYEN ON APPROX. DEC. 19th!
     *NOTE* Direct invasion of Clark Airfield is impossible due to amazing numbers of coastal guns
 	* Calculate dates for capturing cities (include invasions scheduled to land)
 	* Supplies from mainland needed in near future?
 	*DONE* Organize surface blockade of Manila
 	   *DONE* Confirm organization since it should be mostly organized
 	   *DONE* Confirm React set to 0 and Remain on Station set.
 	   *DONE* ASW protecting blockade
 	   *NOTE* Lots of TFs were created to try to lure me into minefields and coastal guns.
 	* Set up air attacks vs. Luzon
 	*DONE* ASW patrols increased around northern coast of Luzon/Takao/Okinawa (and everywhere)
 	* LINGAYEN! Can be reached by sea!
 	* Redistribute blockade ships (drawdown)
 	* 2x large Betty wings are set to 80% ASW

Code: Select all

 **** Dutch East Indies Invasion - Allied AV = 60 in Rabaul, 60 in Port Moresby, less than 8 everywhere else
     * Begin detailed planning (collect info from currently moving transports to calculate troops necessary)
 	* Decide locations of invasions and troops required for landings (bases that would support immediate operations if captured)
 	* Decide when to begin operation (backwards planning)
 	* Collect infantry at Truk to conduct invasions
 	* Collect base forces at Truk to support invasions
 	* Collect troop transports at Truk to support invasions
 	* Evaluate the possibility of invasion of Noumea
 
  **** Mindanao Invasion - Allied AV = 200; IJN AV = 380 main, and 95 AV at Zamboanga
     * Amphibious fleets are loading at Badelbaob, invading shortly
 	* IKOU BUTAI will support the invasion, but is NOT refueling at Badelbaob first
 	* DAVAO TF, CAGAYAN TF, and BUTUAN TF will all arrive on approx. Dec. 16th
 	* ZAMBOANGA INVASION TF will arrive on approx. Dec. 18th
 	* ZAMBOANGA SUPPLY TF will arrive in Zamboanga on approx. Dec. 18th

What do you personally do to keep a handle on everything going on in your game?

[koontz]

thats scares me...
thats why im still staying the Guadacanal

fflaguna u wanna have 1 more scenario there? [8|]

[Zemke]

I gave up keeping notes, too many things going on, took the fun out of it, and the major stuff is easy anyway, the rest I get to it when I get to it.

[topeverest]

You are on the right track.

A notepad is a great idea in the short term. Keep it with your strategy and tactics notes. Dont underestimate the value fo a cheat sheet for the things you need to get done immediately and how you will do them.

After a while, you will get into a system where you do a turn in the exact same order each day, and you will be unlikely to forget ongoing activities, becasue you will review each and every task force each and every turn. reviewing the last portion of the Opps reports will tell you what new entries you have, if you dont use the WITP tracker (but you really should use that).

I dont think you will ever get away from the hard-nosed operational and strategic planning that goes on in excel or on paper, but you will get a feel for your ongoing 'logistical' requirements before too long. I only reccomend that you list your needs and prioritize assets against them. For example, Dont expect Aden or Abadan to supply Australia, but Abadan can do fuel. Cape Town is a great supply source and closer thatn America to all but India...where will you put it and how many assets will you use. Where are your support (AS, AD, AR, AG, ARD, etc) units located. Where are your primary bases and supply hubs...

[Mike Solli]

One thing that's very nice is the ability to label TFs.  That solves a lot of problems keeping track of what's going where. 
 
I use lots of notes.  I have a binder and go through each tab of it each turn.  Often I just look at a tab and move on to the next one but it does remind me to do things.  I have tabs for a lot of things such as SRA objectives, Japanese ship upgrades, Japanese industry resource/oil/fuel needs, LCUs with replacements on, etc....
 
Many of the tabs are little things that would get lost in the shuffle.  There's also a general notes page to remember multi-turn things I'm in the process of accomplishing.
 
There's also the operation pages, one per op.  I keep OOBs there as well as supply/fuel requirements.
 
The list goes on and on.

[Mike Solli]

One thing that's very nice is the ability to label TFs.  That solves a lot of problems keeping track of what's going where. 
 
I use lots of notes.  I have a binder and go through each tab of it each turn.  Often I just look at a tab and move on to the next one but it does remind me to do things.  I have tabs for a lot of things such as SRA objectives, Japanese ship upgrades, Japanese industry resource/oil/fuel needs, LCUs with replacements on, etc....
 
Many of the tabs are little things that would get lost in the shuffle.  There's also a general notes page to remember multi-turn things I'm in the process of accomplishing.
 
There's also the operation pages, one per op.  I keep OOBs there as well as supply/fuel requirements.
 
The list goes on and on.

[vonTirpitz]

lol [:D] How do you manage to double post Mike?

As for keeping track of everything my only advise is to only do as much as you enjoy. Everyone has their "level" of enjoyment and micro-managing details.

As long as you are having fun then have at it and write it down, draw up battle plans and record it. I am sure somebody is probably using a voice recorder to keep notes. It's all good as long as it works and you have fun doing it.

Several folks doing AARs have interesting ways of recording details so they can share the events with others so there is a good source for you to see how they do it.

[khyberbill]

What do you do to keep a handle on everything going on in your game? Got any ideas?

I tried the notes for one game and it became work. As you get used to the game you do some stuff automatically. When I plan for an invasion, I will keep track to who is on what and going where and when. I dont play Japan anymore so dont have to worry about production, just moving fuel and supplies.

[Mynok]

He does nothing. It comes out twice. Used to be three times but apparently one of the gremlins died. Maybe it was sunk by an SBD. Nah, that's unlikely. [:D]

[crsutton]

I don't very well...
 
A checklist  helps and after a while some of it will just become automatic for you.
 
After I take care of my checklist then I go through the map theater by theater.  There are are lot of things that can be ingnored for a while.
 
Once a week or so, I will do a more extensive checklist.
 
I still miss a lot of stuff.  I pretty much wing it and take my lumps for that.
 
My biggest problem is I forget to change the move mode for units and on occasion have gotten slammed for it.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I don't very well...

A checklist  helps and after a while some of it will just become automatic for you.

After I take care of my checklist then I go through the map theater by theater.  There are are lot of things that can be ingnored for a while.

Once a week or so, I will do a more extensive checklist.

I still miss a lot of stuff.  I pretty much wing it and take my lumps for that.

My biggest problem is I forget to change the move mode for units and on occasion have gotten slammed for it.

I use the TF labels, what few neurons I have left, and any mistakes I blame on the yeomen not changing out the typewriter ribbons.

It's a long war, and mistakes get averaged out by good dice rolls.

[Nemo121]

TF Labels are very handy but right now only one of my TFs has a label.

Mostly I subscribe to the belief that if you can't remember all your main operations and convoys/plane movements in your head then your operational concept is too damned complicated.

So, I just play with my memory. When it gets overwhelmed it is time to simplify.

[Mynok]

I would agree with that, Nemo. Especially as Japan. You have enough to do operating an economy without also having to worry about complicated ops and logistics. [:D]

[CapAndGown]

1) label TFs
2) check tracker before ending turn: see what new units have arrived, and which land units have reached their destination
3) for production: check tracker industry->overview: are factories repairing? which ones? check tracker for industry->supply levels for different regions. What is the trend? Does some region seem to be getting rather low on supply? check tracker industry->global for trends on HI, Arm, Veh. Check tracker for Naval and Merchant points used per turn. Can you accelerate or should you decelerate something? Check tracker air production to see where you stand with engine production and aircraft pools. If the pools are getting large, turn off production.
4) Go around the map in either a clockwise or counter clockwise direction. Try to finish one region before moving on. This can be tough since you may have a need to coordinate actions of different regions, such as shuffling air, land and naval forces from one region to another. But try to make sure that you have completed examining all your TFs in each region before moving on. This is considerably eased if you have labeled your TF since you can just hover the mouse over them rather than having to click on them.
5) some units can be ignored for a while such as training squadrons and submarines.

I do not use notes except in the planning stages to decide which forces to allocate where. Once things are in motion, I am not using notes anymore. I think that could possibly detract from your enjoyment of the game.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

TF Labels are very handy but right now only one of my TFs has a label.

Mostly I subscribe to the belief that if you can't remember all your main operations and convoys/plane movements in your head then your operational concept is too damned complicated.

So, I just play with my memory. When it gets overwhelmed it is time to simplify.

I agree. I don't think I've ever had more than two major invasion ops going on at once, and for those I use TF labels.

For the OP, I also do a clockwise run, every turn, over each of the off-map boxes. Those TFs take weeks to transit, and if you don't check you can have up to hundreds of ships cooling their heels at once when they should be moving to the next port.

About once a week I look at withdrawls. About once a week I check, by class-type sort, for damaged ships and check to make sure I put the leakers on Cruise. About every ten days I sort air groups for fatigue and take needed actions. About once a month I check the Autoconvoy stuff. It gets routine.

[Cribtop]

I have a photographic memory. Seriously. Really helpful in these situations.

Problem is, it doesn't work well for things I hear rather than see. This dichotomy gets me in big trouble on the home front a lot.

"With your memory, how could you forget I told you to take out the trash!" [:(]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


He does nothing. It comes out twice. Used to be three times but apparently one of the gremlins died. Maybe it was sunk by an SBD. Nah, that's unlikely. [:D]

Only happens at work where I have no control over my rotten computer. [8|]

[vonTirpitz]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Mynok


He does nothing. It comes out twice. Used to be three times but apparently one of the gremlins died. Maybe it was sunk by an SBD. Nah, that's unlikely. [:D]

Only happens at work where I have no control over my rotten computer. [8|]

Work related Gremlins are the worst. Especially when the IT department is about 8 years behind the update curve! [:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

I have a photographic memory. Seriously. Really helpful in these situations.

I have one of those too, but it's Polaroid. You can't get the film anymore . . .

[Grotius]

I jot down "things to do" with pencil-and-paper (gasp) as I watch the combat replay. That serves as my basic checklist.

While giving orders, I tend to go either clockwise or counter-clockwise, as Cap and Gown does, though sometimes I'll do a second pass focused solely on aircraft. (I tend to move ships and ground troops first, because those decisions aren't usually irrevocable, whereas rebasing a squadron is.)

I label every TF -- I love this new feature of AE. The labels even show up in Tracker, so I know at a glance which TF's have gained detection levels.

And yes, I use Tracker. I follow LCU fatigue/disruption for important battles; ship repair; detection-level changes; and I make sure all my economic indicators are moving upwards.