ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
Jocke, I think what is happening to you is an illustration of something that needs to be said. Heretical to JFBs I suspect, but it needs to be said.
Giving the Japanese player a non-historical start is the MOST advantageous give in the pre-game set-up. I would even venture to say it is more of a give than the Allies getting non-dud torpedoes. At minimum it ought not be given without a give-back of commensurate value i.e. non-dud torpedoes.
The game is VP-balanced on a presumption that PH is attacked. This puts the KB weeks away from the general bug-out in the west, and both gives the Allies valuable ships to be used in the balance of 1942 in the "hard months", as well as prevent Japan from reaping hundreds or thousands of VPs at literally no risk to themselves.
Hindsight tells JFBs that the PH strike is a poor ROI. The carriers aren't there, a fact RL IJN officers did not know but JFBs do with 100% certainty. Also, five years of game life have shown overwhelmingly that the pre-war USN BBs are as much OOB liabilities as useful. And a typical game-PH-strike sinks 2-3 with the others simply being a shipyard clog, but not a VP well for Japan.
As you're seeing, a MKB, combined with a split KB (it fears nothing in the DEI in December), gives three invulnerable naval axes able to plug the bug-out routes and simply harvest the Allies, after crippling the USN submarine force in the west for months at Manila. The Mersing move makes Rangoon fall weeks or months early, which opens the Irrawaddy Valley to invasion that much earlier too, before PPs can accumulate enough to get any Indian help into Burma. And so forth.
Japan ignoring the eastern half of the map tilts history on its head. Non-historical start as an option is fine if the players agree, and especially if the Japan player is of lower skill than the Allied. It's a huge crutch for a lower-ability Japan player. In the hands of a Mr. Kane? You gave away the store.
Hey Bull. [:)]
Glad someone shares my view on the old battlewagons!
Yeah, I kind of knew I would be in deep dodo from the get go. But I wanted a player that could push me to the max so I was very happy to get to play him. [:)]
I knew he would do a Mersing and I knew he wouldn´t do a PH. I think he is a lot like you. He doesn´t care about history this and history that. He plays for the VPs and will use the engine and assets in the most efficient way possible. I asked for that kind of game because I think that is best way to play. And I got what I asked for. Now I just need to try and survive that AV! [:D]
I think many readers fail to realize just how real the threat of AV is at this point. Mersing allows him to fast forward at least a month. Having the full KB in the DEI will be him at least another month. That is an enormous advantage due to the set and slow allied buildup. I don´t think about 43 and my position then. If I had played a less skilled player I would but right now my ONLY focus has to be to avoid AV. I would say its 60/40 in his favor for AV right now. I need him to make a mistake somewhere but I´ll doubt that will happen.
But I can´t lose you know...[;)] He is the perfect opponent to prove my mantra that a skilled Japanese player doesn´t need PDU ON (which many Japanese players claim). If he AVs my ass I will still have won! [:D] Or people will just claim I suck of course! Hmm...
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. I like using those AMCs to raid any convoys going Pearl-SoPac, sometimes also hitting ports. 6" guns and torpedoes sinks xAKs pretty good.
