DBB: DEI Scen and Map Mods

[JWE]

Hi Berto and Mac, glad you are looking forward to it. Been a long time coming and still has a bit to go but it should be 'different' enough to give ya'll a different set of challenges.

It's taking more time than anticipated because of all the Naval OOB and location date and orientation things. The last thing we wanted to do was mass merchandise warships, so we put what we could identify into an organizational TF at the appropriate place at the appropriate time. The KB, too, is split up into its operational units, as it was, with the various CarDivs appearing at Truk and Palau at the times they did, with the support ships they had; so Akagi/Kaga can whack Rabaul, Hiryu/Soryu can whack Ambon, BatRon 3 splitting up (with CruRon 4) as Eastern Covering Force, but we had to make some decisions about CarDiv 5.

The 'Kakus showed up at Truk 1/14 and helped whack Rabaul, and went on to whack New Guinea, but didn't really do squat, and then went home the first week of February so they were only in-theater for two weeks and had a marginal impact. Rather than figuring out how to get the gd scenario to allow for withdrawals, we just left them out of the mix altogether. So now there's two CarRons floating around, doing the nasty to Rabaul and Ambon, but can be combined under Nagumo (CarRon 1) if desired.

Similarly, BatRon 3, D-1 (Kongo, Haruna) was deployed as the Cover Force for the DEI Op, but was itself split into two groups to support the eastern (Celebes/Ambon) and western (Borneo) areas of the Eastern Force (Takahashi) targets.

And lions and tigers, and bears, oh ! my ! None of this would have been possible without the exquisite work of Allyn Nevitt (aka Suirai Sama of combinedfleet.com). My debt and gratitude has no limits.

So ... the IJN TFs are looking pretty good. All that's left is to dial in the transport ships over and above those that actually took part in the scenario 'opening week' operations. Shouldn't be too hard, but need to know what port they were in on given days.

Allies won't be that hard to tweak into place. PI and Malaya are looking good, except for the reinforcement convoys to Singers (do they show when and where they came, or can they be diverted (and how the Holy 18th Div do we do that, Batman?)).

Yeah, there's still some serious tweaking to do. But we are working on it, so don't fash yer'sels. If you have comments or suggestions, please feel free.

Ciao. John

[Alfred]

I would have thought that the Singers reinforcement troop convoys is an abstract anyway because other than the 18th div, they were mainly bringing in drafts to fill up the existing units (eg IIRC 4000 Australians to replace losses in the 8th AIF div).

Alfred

[Mac Linehan]

JWE,

Thank You for the update; I do appreciate the brief on the design Team's thoughts and intent.

I to, would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Allyn Nevitt of combinedfleet.com for the work and support he has contributed to this scenario.

JWE, if appropriate at some point in the future, would you mind listing some of references that you feel are of particular importance? While I have a general, basic understanding of the DEI campaign, am always ready to read more - it enhances my understanding and appreciation for the OOB and the Team's design decisions.

Gents, Thank You again,

Mac

[berto]

@JWE:

What is the time limit for this scenario? (If that makes any sense given your design intentions.) Or does the scenario effectively end when the player feels like it? (Like the Japanese have steamrolled the map, and there's nothing left to conquer--regardless of when that happens.)

Are you testing this with 3-day turns? 2-day? 1-day?

Whatever, it's all looking to be awesome!

[JWE]

ORIGINAL: berto
@JWE:

What is the time limit for this scenario? (If that makes any sense given your design intentions.) Or does the scenario effectively end when the player feels like it? (Like the Japanese have steamrolled the map, and there's nothing left to conquer--regardless of when that happens.)

Are you testing this with 3-day turns? 2-day? 1-day?

Whatever, it's all looking to be awesome!

The time limit is substantially 120 days; the time period between the organization and launching of the Tarakan/Manado operations and the fall of Bataan/Corregidor (Jan. 8 to May 8, 1942).

The intent is to model the Japanese centrifugal offensive in the DEI/SRA. There are some peripheral operations included such as 4th Fleet ops against the Bismarcks, and some end-game opportunities against the north coast of Dutch New Guinea and Papua (because a rational map rectangle just happened to include those areas), but it’s basically the DEI offensive.

There’s an Operational Order included with the scenario, that is based on the actual Japanese Op Ord, that says what must be done. Japan does not have to steamroller the map but neither are the objectives so specified that one can win by merely capturing 6 or 7 major bases. It is a tiered approach, where each of the island groups (Celebes, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Ceram, Bali, Timor) all have their own respective victory conditions. Basically, Japan needs to “substantially acquire” the Southern Resource Area.

The rationale for the scenario is that everyone, Japan included, was astonished at the scale of operational success and the scope of the outcome. Now, hindsight always breeds contempt, so the time limit is the actual time limit, just as the combatants are limited to those who actually took part. The players get nothing beyond what the participants actually got.

So the deal is, can Japan do what it did in the time it took to do it, or can some creative Allied player forestall the a-pox-eclipse; or can some creative Japanese player figure out how to do it more efficiently?

Are you testing this with 3-day turns? 2-day? 1-day?

Good question. We normally do combinations of 1 and 2 day turns; in those pauses between ops impulses, we run 2-days (and sometimes 3), but when things get intense, we do day-by-day; it’s like a rule of reason.

Hope this helps. I know it’s been a long time coming, but there’s a lot of new stuff in this and we just want it to be right. Anyway – soon.

Ciao. John

[stuman]

JWE, very, very cool. This kind of stuff makes my CPA's heart skip a beat . And I second Mac's Tip-'o-the-Hat to Mr. Nevit.

[JWE]

In the final tweaks now. Playing around with the Dutch in accord with some comments by Jo van der Pluym and Harald Velemans. Keeping the KNIL as KNIL, but making some new squads and giving the KV and RK units NI Inf Sqds (Nederlands-Indisch) with a more limited weapons suite. Also made Landstorm-type and Land/Stadtswacht-type militia and finally, native militia.

Since a lot of these were groupings of independent companies, we’re lumping them together and calling them commandos. So there’s KNIL Bns and Cdos, some RK Bns and Cdos, KV Cdos, Militie Cdos, etc.. Some (KNIL mostly) will have better experience and morale stats, others will have worse. DEI should be a skoosh harder nut to crack, but might also be a skoosh more brittle.

Ciao

[berto]

Are we a few days or a few weeks away from scenario release?

[Pascal_slith]

Thank you to the DBB DEI gang!

[JWE]

ORIGINAL: berto
Are we a few days or a few weeks away from scenario release?

More like days rather than weeks. We are very close. MO is going through some last minute KNIL Arty stuff from Stellan Bojerud and we're getting a good handle on the makeup of most of those Dutch "composit" and "undefined" independent companies/commandos/brigades scattered everywhere. We should have the Land OOB done in a couple days. We have the warships set where they were in the groupings they had and some of the actual amphib TFs defined. Last thing to do is populate with a rational number of xAKs for use in support functions and from which Ozawa's Western Force and Takahashi's Eastern Force can draw the necessary transports for the Sumatra/Java operations.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: JWE

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen
OK, found it. From Trota, The Philippine Army.

In depots in the Philippines as of November 12, 1941:
96 British Style 75mm, including 14 with wooden wheels!
52 2.95 inch pack howitzers.

Hi Don. Perfect!! All the usual sources are pretty vague as to the arty organization and equipment. This is a God-send because it puts an ultimate limit on tubes available for deployment with PA arty.

I don't fash myself too much over the wooden wheels; this was the PI in 1941 after all, when folks still used horses and mules. A lot of PI roads weren't all that well adapted to pneumatic tyred, high speed gun carriages, generally. Think they would be acceptable as mobile arty within the game scope. Think a horse drawn battery would move over that road from Olongapo just as quick as a truck drawn.

Ok, back to the editor. Thanks, ever so much.

Ciao. John

Honestly, given the state of the roads where I live, a horse drawn limber might actually be faster than a truck in 2012! And if roads in the PI in 1940 were worse, I'd have to agree with your assessment of it 100%.

[JWE]

And there you have put you finger on it Shark. The gun, was the gun, was the gun. Ok, the carriage was modified a skoosh to get the center of gravity a bit (approx 7 inches) farther back for balance for the hi-speed version, but the guns were identical. Any artillerist, worth his salt, could adjust his tables depending on whether his carriage axis had big wheels or small tires, without even thinking.

The big radius wheels were very manual friendly, guns with small radius pneumatic tires are a stone bitch for gun bunnies to maneuver (just ask one!). Six of one, half dozen of the other. But the gun, was the gun and, did its gun thing without regard to the wheels [;)]

[Rising-Sun]

I been trying to make something like this, starting from scratch is no easy picking. And it does take awhile to get it all done. Good luck doing this project!

[berto]

Any plans to re-release the DEI scenario sooner rather than later (if at all)?

And what about the talked-about Philippines '42 scenario? Still in the development pipeline?

[mike scholl 1]

ORIGINAL: JWE

ORIGINAL: Terminus
Stuff 'em. This is not a kid's scenario anyway.

Yeah, gosh Termie. That was my first thought - just deal with it. But there's players out there that aren't buttholes, and don't post, but still want to use the game as the tool for which it was intended. It's to them that I address the question. For the 'usual' weasels, I'm totally inclined to have them crawl up my ... erm ... thingy. But this game is so much more than what those "usual' pimples can conceive of. So the question goes out. And trust me, I know how to parse the answers. Ciao.

Sounds interesting John..., and perhaps more accurate as well. Along the same lines, MacArthur was supposed to have supply available in Luzon for a six month siege holding Bataan. IRL he scattered it all over to support his silly "forward defense" strategy. But in the game, even if the Allies pull every point of supply in Luzon into Bataan, they don't have enough to hold out until June. Should there be more available?

[JWE]

Well, our small scenarios are designed for a particular play style; umpired, H2H, CPX. So units and things are parsed very differently. There are no divisions, biggest unit is a regiment and Arty is all separated out. Makes the DEI more operationally interesting - no divisions munching on battalions. Japanese Base Forces are just HQ units, everything operaitonal is split out and provided separately. Very grainy and doesn't play anything like stock.

Developed a PI scenario, with lots of assistance from Don Bowen, for the guys at Carlisle. It's also extremely grainy (regimental level), and assumes certain weapons already in the pipeline, or on the docks at SFO, actually got delivered. The PA also gets fleshed out a bit with replaced US weapons and completes a bit more of its organization. Makes the PI more operationally interesting. Again, developed for an umpired, H2H, CPX, play style.

Not particularly interested in historical outcomes for situations. Scenarios are set up as generally Operational Problems, with several Tactical Problems, Fleet Problems, and the like, cropping up from time to time. The debriefs, after some of these, are probably more fun than actually turning the problem.

The Guadalcanal scenario has few enough units in it so it's worth tweaking the AI files to make it playable v the computer, so people can start getting used to the Babes style. But even that one is very grainy and requires a great deal of thought, care, and attention.