ORIGINAL: vettim89
* The Japanese economy can run entirely or nearly entirely on the resources gathered from points already held by IJ on 7 Dec 1941
* The Japanese war time supply need can be met soley from the supply produced by the HI (20 resource + 2 fuel = 2 HI and 2 supply). This means that the bulk if not all of the LI is turned off because it is less efficient at producing supply (15 resource = 1 supply)
* Because of the above two facts, most JFB import little to none of the resources found in the SRA. This has a two-fold effect: fewer xAK/xAKL are needed to haul Resources and those that are used are more efficient than their RL counterparts due to shorter distances to be covered
I recognise that one needs to be a bit leery about drawing conclusions from USSBS, but unless the figures it tabulates are seriously in error then:
1) With a couple of notable exceptions, yes, the real Japanese economy was able to function by reliance upon resources already available within Empire territory on 7 December 1941, and didn't need to capture the SRA in order to source those materials.
2) Those notable exceptions consist of (a) the oil required to drive the Japanese mercantile marine and (more importantly) the Imperial Navy, and (b) the bauxite required for aluminium production, and, by extension the aircraft industry. Incidentally, the Palaus made a modest but significant contribution to meeting Japan's bauxite needs, yet in the game there's not a single resource centre on Peleliu or Babelthuap.
3) Far and away the largest slice in the Japanese import pie was coal followed by iron ore. The Japanese placed heavy reliance upon imports of good quality coking coals from North China to run the coke ovens at the Yawata works et al., and China and Manchukuo were also their principal sources of iron ore. By weight, all the other imports required by the Japanese economy pale into insignificance. What this implies is that the vast majority of resource traffic should pass through the Yellow Sea along the same trade routes as existed pre-war.
A more differentiated economic model for the game might, in theory, better simulate these patterns, even down to the more exotic raw materials such as tin, but I doubt that any added sophistication would be worth it - in the case of tin, for example, the Japanese captured ample finished ingot stock for their long term needs when Malaya and the Indies were overrun, so any requirement 'in game' for its haulage from the SRA wsould be a worthless detail.
The conclusion I draw is that there is no foundation of any substance for a complaint that the game does not oblige the Japanese player to haul resources from the SRA since, in real life, the obligation to do so was in tonnage terms minimal.
Likewise, in view of the data set out in JWE's posts, I can see little basis for a complaint that the Japanese are deprived in the game of any significant percentage of the shipping 'lift' they enjoyed. I do, however, think that room remains for concern about the extent to which the game accurately reflects the hard choices the Japanese planners had to make between satisfying the economy's resource hauling requirements and the need to provide sufficient shipping for the offensive into the Southern Area. I have always been under the impression that sufficient shipping for the troops was only provided by denuding the resource hauliers of some of their ships, yet, as I hinted at the start of this thread, I have never heard of a Japanese player having to reduce his resource shifting operations in order to provide sufficient invasion transports. If we accept that all Japanese merchantmen of significant size are represented in game, then some other mechanism seems to be at work that gives the Japanese player an unwarranted advantage in this respect.
Since I have a preference for playing the Japanese side, I can scarcely be accused of seeking some advantage for myself by inviting attention to this. I do so because, as a Japanese player, I want to be confronted with the same kind of hard choices as were made by those in whose shoes I stand, so that I can better contrast my performance with theirs. Whilst it's not directly in point in this thread, I want to see any opponent having to face the same hard choices as confronted the Allies. At present, the impression I get from the AAR's is that Allied forces are able to maintain a much higher operational tempo than, historically, was feasible at the date on which it is brought to bear. This suggests to me that at present the game is subject to imbalances of greater importance than the availability or otherwise to Japan of a few extra ships.
is that the British in India have too easy a time launcing early offensives, when in fact it took them ages to accumulate enough material to support such offensives.
) revealed that one of the things he did in the mod was to alter capacilites. I don't think this was 100% a work around to make the mod work. I think he felt that ships capacities were overstated.