a simple trick for Japs to evade SIGINT

[deVada]

After three months of war allied player can see almost every TF's destination and composition, if he has enough Catalinas.

No surprises.
It's deadly for Japanese player.

The way to make Allied opponent confused is :

1. If You want to send Your ships to a base and keep it in secret - set the destination for other base and the standoff range behind land based aircraft range. The Allies will surely strenghten the defense of that base. Then compose another TF (in the same hex) using ships in the first TF at sea so the enemy wouldn't see it from search planes. The only disadvantage is that there'll be no TF leader in this new one, but You can always change the HQ base to first TF and then move it to the new one. Sometimes works even better. Last - change the destination to the base You want to attack.

2. Confuse Allied leader by setting the TF destinations to variable bases which You'll never attack and setting accurate standoff range that Your TF's won't leave their ports. After few such actions he wouldn't trust SIGINT no more.

BTW
The AI needs to be strenghtened up. Last week I've managed to sink 95% of Japanese fleet loosing 1CV, 1CA and few DD's playing with help Japs in Coral Sea / Midway scenario. Japanese factories were bombed every week since mid 43 from Iwo Jima and Okinawa ...

Best Luck
Peter

[Aussie]

Great piece of counter-intelligence deVada!

Remember though, that SIGINT can still be used with impunity for gethering aircraft, HQ, army and port infromation.

Dan

[deVada]

Thanx for compliment.

SIGINT is even more dangerous in PBEM mode.
By simply saving the game, using all SIGINT points, exiting the game without saving and relaunching againg Allied player has an ability to send supplies as many times as he wants and to see as much as he wants in SIGINT.

The supply convoy phases should be conducted for both players together during the execution phase.

And the SIGINT should be replaced with some kind of reports from the Intelligence, for both sides, where players will see some of information mid-randomly choosen. That would eventually make game fair and more historically accurate.

Aussie, have You maybe got some other tips unnamed in the manual ?

Regards
Peter

[mogami]

Hi, Only a dirty rat would do that. There is no way (and never will be) a way to stop some players of exploiting a game.
Just have fun playing and if you think your opponent is a fink do not play them again. To really confuse such buttheads make aTF every turn Assign it a target (with the long standoff) and then every turn disband it and recompose it with a differant TF number and a new target. Move HQ and airgroups around. Have a flying division move between bases. (a lot of work but to screw with a butthead a lot of fun) In Pacwar it is easy to move assets around and still have them protecting an area.

[deVada]

Yeah ... Only a DIRTY RAT ...

Conclusion is simple
Americans cheated during the II WW,
all those secret services ...



Flying divisions is fine idea ...

[mdiehl]

I agree. Never game with a dirty rat. There are legitinmate ways to dodge the Japanese SIGINT foiling tactics, using your noggin and a little interpretive caution about SIGINT results. Once you're up to sigint 6, you can usually blow away whetever smokescreen of randomly relocating HQs, decoy CV TFs and things that the Japanese player has concocted to lead you astray.

It is hoped, however, that WitP will do a better job with sigint. More low-level traffic analysis type sigint in general for both players, restricted ability to invade or engage in surface combat against enemy bases that are not on the HQs objective list, and reduced readiness/preparation for TFs sent to places that are not the objectives of teh HQ to which they are subordinate.

Also like to see a successful SIGINT result on a CV TF give the USN a huge recon/readiness advantage over the decoded TF in the turn that it is decoded (which is an easier word to say than SIGINTed but means the same thing).

[Jeremy Pritchard]

The one problem with this game, or any game, is primarily that the Japanese player KNOWS that his opponent has broken their 'code'. The main reason it was so successful for the US was because the Japanese kept on fighting the war as if their codes were not broken. So, no matter how well the system does to model it, it will still not work as well as it did.

[Ranger-75]

Originally posted by deVada
Yeah ... Only a DIRTY RAT ...

Conclusion is simple
Americans cheated during the II WW,
all those secret services ...

You should talk, it was Polish mathematicians who originally broke the German Enigma.

[deVada]

Mathematics have broken the Enigma.
I've seen a British move about it ...



Regardning to the fact, that Japs didn't knew that their Purple is broken - that's right Jeremy. Histrical acurateness demands that SIGINT must be real advantage for Allies.

Anyway, even with playing against human, the Allied leader can crush the IJN at will. It's only a matter of time.
Playing against a Japanese computer ends always as a diseaster for Japs. Game is unbalanced. Sometimes I wish that players could equate their odds. Just for fun.

Maybe there should be a swith in the beginning of game - to assign SIGINT to both players or disable it at all.

[boggle]

In Neil Stephensons book Cryptonomicon (fiction) he goes into details how difficult it is to use information gained from decoding so it is not obvious to the other side that their code is broken. If you use all information the enemy will soon find out that something is wrong.

A system where each usage of deciphering is coupled with a chance that the japanese will change their code would be nice. Too make it realistic one would need to know how much of deciphered information was used by the allies from all decoded messages.

[Aussie]

DeVada,

I don't know of any extra-manual advice that hasn't been discussed on these boards already. If I do I will let you and everyone else know!

It would be good if the next version of PW had some safeguard to prevent unscrupulous (i.e. cheating) allied players from misusing SIGINT & supply. In a way, it’s a bit like peeking over the top of the screen at your opponents’ ships when they go to the dunny during a game of battleship.

I concur with mdiehl about how a high SIGINT level will blow away the smokescreen. Also an allied player that has their key bases well defended shouldn't have much to worry about.

Dan