Record Keeping

[CaptDave]

There have been many, many threads in this forum discussing the various strategies players use in PW. I'd like to explore another facet of the gameplay.

As you're all more than aware, Pacific War is pretty complex (no!), and there is a lot of information to keep track of. You have to worry about your headquarters, your resources, your task forces, your inactive units, and on and on. One of my pet peeves is when I'm prompted as to whether or not I want to upgrade an air unit, but I have no opportunity to go find out where that air unit is!

So, my question to all who wish to respond, is this: what sort of records do you keep while you're playing? And, if it's not obvious, where do you get the information? Finally, are you blessed with the time to play a game reasonably continuously (at least a few times a week), or are you one of us who has a couple hours available once or twice a month? That last bit could make a big difference in what you need to keep track of!

There are no right or wrong answers -- mostly I'm just curious as to how others do it! As for me, I don't have a method, yet; I've started I-don't-know-how-many games that I then abandon because it's 3 or 4 weeks before I can get back to them and I've completely lost track of what I was doing.

[showboat1]

I fiddle or play for several hours every week for like the past ten years.

I don't record keep. I'm just one of those freaks who can keep that sort of info in my melon. Amazingly I forget to eat, take out trash, pay bill on time, and other mundane life dependent things.

[Nomad]

Well Showboat, I'm glad there are other people like me out there. Usually when I play PacWar I just keep it in my head, but you can easily ALT-Tab out to a txt document and make notes as you go along. That helps some.

[Dirtdog20]

Right now, after a 4 or 5 year absence from the game I am playing so badly that I dont want to keep records.

[henhute6]

I play about one turn per week with Aussie. I have no more interest to play against AI anymore.
I have on paper following things:
- all planes and their characteristics and when they arrive
- all carriers and their characteristics and when they arrive
- battle diary: carrier and battleship losses, bases occupied
- headquarters and their commanders
- battle and transport fleets and suggested leaders for them

[Aussie]

Henhute6: I knew you were keeping some notes, but that is quite detailed. Quess when you have all those forces being engaged in offensives, then it makes sense. In March 42' I don't have all that much to keep track of. I will have to keep some decent notes in 1943 onwards when the allies start getting mountains of equipment.

[pasternakski]

I don't keep separate records, either, which slows my games down some because I have to review everything almost every turn. I think that is a positive thing. First, it makes the game go slower so that you can enjoy it more. Second, it makes you review almost everything every turn.

[henhute6]

Air groups are the hardest thing. When you need a certain air group somewhere, you have to search manually through bases to find one (or you have their positions in your mind).

Thank god, there's find ships function to find ships.

[Aussie]

Why don't you try using the 'HQ Air' function? That would narrow down the search somewhat.

A formulated plan of attack is useful for the allies when conducting offensives in 43-45. By then, you are receiving more ships/planes/LCUs than you know what to do with (esp. CVEs). If I am planning a major amphibious operation (e.g. Marianas, Philippines) then I draw a mud/coral map with my plan of attack, with allocation of TFs/LCUs etc. Although it may not be absolutely necessary, its fun!

[boggle]

I like to have a printout with plane information. Else I just make notes what I'd like to capture next in which area and that's it.

I find the shift-l screen for leaders and there whereabout very useful. Same goes for alt-x and alt-d for airplanes and land-units. Usually I cycle
with alt-f through the HQs and get a rough
idea what forces each has available with alt-x and alt-d. Where I usually fail is getting AP there where I need them most. Currently I try to send them into the HQs locations port, so it is not that puzzling where they are currently.

Torsten

[Bernard]

sAme for me. No Record. Meaning i sometimes forget a TF on an island that should have embarked a LCU...
But not following orders happens in real war, doesn't it ?

[Aussie]

Hi Bernard,

I find that playing in shorter sessions (e.g. 5 turns) at a time is much more effective. After a dozen turns I tend to forget to do things, like load LCUs. When I play the AI, if I forget something silly, then I redo the turn. Obviously this isn't an option in a PBEM, so record keeping is a good thing.

[Sardaukar]

Originally posted by Aussie
Hi Bernard,

I find that playing in shorter sessions (e.g. 5 turns) at a time is much more effective. After a dozen turns I tend to forget to do things, like load LCUs. When I play the AI, if I forget something silly, then I redo the turn. Obviously this isn't an option in a PBEM, so record keeping is a good thing.

When I play a session and then come back after couple of days...it takes me long time to figure out what the heck I was planning to do next At least carrier groupos are easy to find That usually gives me a hint of my forgotten plans...

Cheers,

M.S.

[Aussie]

It would be nice to have a log file generated during the orders phase: This could record all actions taken by the player during this period. Of course if you just had LCUs, ships, airgroups sitting around, then you still wouldn't know where they were.
How about this - a text file generator that could provide a list of all TFs, airgroups, LCUs, ships etc on request.


Dan