Just a couple of suggestions strategy-wise when playing against the AI:
1) When playing as the Allies:
The Japanese should be reinforced at Lae and at Gasmata within the first few months of the long campaigns (specifically scenarios #17 and 19).
When I played as the Allies in scenario #17, I by-passed Shortland, and hit Lae and Gasmata instead (in December, 1942). While there were 45,000 Japanese troops on Shortlands, there were only light forces at Lae, and NO troops at Gasmata.
In December, 1942, I attempted to capture Gasmata. While the Japanese airforce and ships did pound my convoy ships, I was still able to land at Gasmata unopposed, and after three weeks (by January 28, 1943), I had a level 4 airbase where I was able to station 100 fighters and 200 medium bombers. From Gasmata, I was then able to strike Kavieng, Rabaul, and ALL enemy shipping trying to either be re-supplied from, or were attempting to re-supply, those bases. Needless to say within one month, by March 25, 1943, I had completely unhinged the Japanese position, and had shut-down their air and naval forces, rendering them powerless.
Therefore, it would be very helpful if, in the early months of 1942, Gasmata could be stationed with: one Eng, one Base Force (with AV support), a Naval garrision, and about 5,000 combat troops. This could probably be done with just some minor editing. This way, Gasmata is always garrisoned with Japanese troops.
In addition, if I do seize Gasmata, the Japanese should be directed to bombard Gasmata to shut-down my airfield and render my planes stationed there inoperable.
This way, if a player does decide to by-pass Shortland, and strike at Gasmata early, they will have a poor chance of seizing it, at least in 1942.
2) When playing as the Japanese against the AI:
This suggestion also pertains to scenarios #17 and 19.
When I invaded Australia in August, 1942, it was a tough fight to secure Cooktown, Townsville, etc in the northern portion of Australia. However, according to the rules, if I hold onto a base at or below the 52 parallel (row), I will win the game by January 1, 1943.
The problem is that the Australians and USA seem to have separate commands. When the Japanese seize towns in northern Australia, alarm bells should go off, and the Americans should be sending about 40-50% of their forces to fight for Australia.
So a routine could go something like this:
If Cooktown is captured, then USA sends 15% of air, naval and land forces to Australia (Brisbane).
If Townsville is captured, then USA sends 40-50% of available forces to Australia, etc. . .
This is important because, once the Japanese player has taken Townsville, he can just sit back and wait to win automatically by early 1943.
The Allies, on the other hand, MUST seize these bases. They have no other choice. Otherwise, it's an automatic loss for them. If Japan seizes Townsville, the AI should become hyper aggressive and attack at all costs with all available forces. The Allies should be pounding Townsville with every available bomber at their command.
Hopefully, this can be done with just a few extra lines of code. But it would go a long way to making it a tougher game as the Japanese should they invade Australia.
3) One last point:
I hope that land battles can be tweaked a bit more. As they stand right now, it is usually an all or nothing affair. If my 50,000 troops storm a position with 30,000 defenders, I should suffer more losses than just a couple hundred men. It should be a very bloody affair. 20,000 Japanese may have been killed on Iwo Jima, but the Marines suffered 6,000 killed and about 20,000 wounded. It was a victory; but a bloody victory. . .
Greater losses to the attacker would also help to put the brakes on Japanese forces invading Australia.
I sincerely hope that these issues can be "fixed". They will make UV an all time winner (especially against the AI - which is an extremely difficult thing for any game company to achieve).
EDIT: BTW, after playing Hearts of Iron for just a few days, I have gone back to playing UV; UV is a much better strategy/wargame
Cheers!
