Trying Out Japan

[ChadS]

I'd asked a few posts ago about changing an R&D factory to a prod factory, and how you do that. Pax said just choose a Production AC.

As you can see, I don't have any of those available. This is a partial list, but shows all available Zero models. Note the current A6M2 is not available.

Did I miss something? I do have PDU off--is that the diff? If so, is there no way to convert those factories?

[BBfanboy]

AFAIK, PDU OFF means the upgrade paths for both sides are pre-set in the game, at least for the individual squadron. I am not sure if the Japanese aircraft industry is similarly locked.
In your screen picture I do not see where the A6M2 is unavailable - all those aircraft are in the yellow text colour, not greyed out. That means they are all in production. What does the other side of the screen look like? Or maybe you are in the aircraft engine screen rather than the aircraft manufacturing?

The factories are on one side and the aircraft on another. You select the factory first and then pick the aircraft you want to switch the factory to.
What I am not clear about is the "unused R&D" you mentioned. I always thought the plant doing R&D had to finish all of the R&D for that plane type before it could start converting to production? How do you get unused R&D?

[ChadS]

OK, so the image I posted is the right side of the screen, after selecting an R&D factory. This is the Ki-202 research factory at Hamamatsu. You'll notice all those airframes have dates after them--that's their current "go live" date--when they'll be done with R&D and ready for production.


I re-read the Production primer, and it sounds like the only time I can change from R&D to production is when a plane is completing it's research phase, and about to become available for production. At that point, I can decide to leave the factory alone, and it will become production, or I can switch what it is working on to another model, to keep it R&D.

Unused R&D -- these are R&D factories that have repair set to NO, to prevent them from using supply, etc. In the economy primer, it suggests repurposing these to build airframes. It doesn't really describe how to do that, though. But, I guess I can toy with it as research progresses.

[BBfanboy]

Ok, so if you don't want to use the factory for R&D, you switch it to an aircraft production factory by clicking first on the factory and then on the aircraft model you want to produce. ALL the factory points will switch to that model and ALL will be "damaged", so you have to repair them to get the production going. If the model you picked is under R&D already, the factory you are converting will also go to R&D to speed up that process, and then switch to production later.
There is no getting around repairing factories though!

The above describes what I know from PDU ON. If the PDU OFF prevents you from re-purposing a factory, you are stuck with what the AI has pre-set.
Even scarier, if you CAN change the factory production but CANNOT change the squadron upgrade path, you need to make sure your factories are making airplanes your squadrons can actually use!

[ChadS]

I'm on Dec 12 or so, and have taken the northern bases in Philippines. From my previous attempt, I know that they don't do much for a while, so I set them to rest up.

Is this a good idea in general, to rest after a battle? Or, do you typically push, drive up those fatigue numbers, then rest for a longer period? It seems that the fatigue drops in a sort of exponential manner--a little over a couple of days, then it starts dropping faster.

Any thoughts?

I think I'll start my new AAR tomorrow. I wanted to get a couple of weeks in.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: ChadS

Yeah, OK. So, I see what you mean. It looks like that feature is more about adding a new pilot to fill a hole in your skillset for a group or something like that, not massive assignments.

That said, I think I'm finally read to go.

A lot of really good information on moving pilots between units and in/out of the Reserve pool in this thread (start with page 2)

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The above describes what I know from PDU ON. If the PDU OFF prevents you from re-purposing a factory, you are stuck with what the AI has pre-set.
Even scarier, if you CAN change the factory production but CANNOT change the squadron upgrade path, you need to make sure your factories are making airplanes your squadrons can actually use!

With PDU off, you can change the factories (both types; production and R&D) from one model to another. What you can't do is arbitrarily switch an R&D factory to a production airframe. Only way to do that is to switch it over to the next pending airframe, and convert it to produce the desired model after the research is complete.

For example, let's say it was March 1942 and you wanted the Ki-202 plant in Hamamatsu to produce the Ki-30 Ann (since none are building and it's a kick-ass ASW platform). Switch the factory to the A6M2-N Rufe, wait for it to become a production plant in April 1942, and then switch it over to the Ann.

[ChadS]

ORIGINAL: Kull

With PDU off, you can change the factories (both types; production and R&D) from one model to another. What you can't do is arbitrarily switch an R&D factory to a production airframe. Only way to do that is to switch it over to the next pending airframe, and convert it to produce the desired model after the research is complete.

Hi, yep. I think I figured that out. I don't have any pending completion yet, but when I do, I'm going to give that a try (well...do that, as it's the way you do it).

I'd love to talk with you sometime about how you put that spreadsheet together. That looks like literally hundreds of hours of work.....

[ChadS]

How, if at all, do you use Sub Tenders, DD Tenders, and the like? I thought they'd refuel/reload subs, but I'm not seeing that happen.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: ChadS

How, if at all, do you use Sub Tenders, DD Tenders, and the like? I thought they'd refuel/reload subs, but I'm not seeing that happen.

Be sure that they have supply. They do work as you describe above ....

[ChadS]

Just two days ago, reported enemy strength in Changsha was about 28000 troops. Today, it is reported at over 130k troops.
Ichang, which only fell 4 days ago now has 105k troops. the town west of Kaifeng has about 76k in it

It's December 28, 1941. In this image, I'm trying to push the Chinese west of the rail line, to open up better Strat Moves to Hankow and Wuchang.

Question is this--are these troop reports accurate? I'm basing this off the combat reports, as well as the rollover information in particular hexes.

If it is accurate, where are they all coming from? Do I need to work on cutting off their supply?

The colors for Allies haven't been adjusted. For Japan, white is the smallest units, and then they progress to darker shades of gray for larger units.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: ChadS

How, if at all, do you use Sub Tenders, DD Tenders, and the like? I thought they'd refuel/reload subs, but I'm not seeing that happen.

Be sure that they have supply. They do work as you describe above ....

Right - a lot of players get tripped up when they move a tender that has supply and forget to set "DO NOT UNLOAD", so the tender gets to the new base and promptly unloads all the cargo it needs to be able to service ships/subs/seaplanes. [8|]

You can start loading the tenders when they are disbanded in port using the "load tenders" button, but this only provides the amount of supply that could be loaded in one phase (12 hours) -- presumably because it is leaving some operations points for the tender to service vessels/aircraft.
If there are no units to service at the time, it is better to put the tender in a Support TF and dock it to load during both phases.
Don't forget to set "DO NOT UNLOAD", and "Auto Disband" so it will disband when finished loading. Tenders load slowly so it may take several turns.

[BBfanboy]

The numbers of troops in Chinese units can seem overwhelming at first, but with almost no artillery or HMGs or AFVs or AA they are not all that dangerous to the IJA unless they are defending in good terrain. The area you have shown in your screenshot is where the Chinese have the most troops at game start so the numbers you are seeing are likely close to accurate. Don't worry about it, just go in the direction you want.

[ChadS]

Thanks, folks!

So, with the Tenders--do they only work at a port, or should they work at sea, like a refuel TF does (with an AO)? Do AGs work? I recall a thread on those, where it was indicated they don't work, or aren't able to work until a particular time in the war? I don't recall the specifics, and I'm not finding it. Probably not too important.


On China/Chinese and their overwhelming numbers. If I'm in a rough or wooded area, and they come in, I'm the defender--I assume I get some bonuses there. Is there any point in bombing/shelling them if they aren't in Open terrain? I'm guessing it's really just a modifier (I've reviewed the chart) but I'm not certain I entirely understand and grasp the overall impact of those numbers. Currently, I'm just trying to push them away, out of the area I want to control (Changsha to Kaifeng, and the railroad lines between). Not sure if lots of little battles, or one big battle is more effective.

[Yaab]

Arty bombardment lets you see what units you oppose, disables Chinese squads, and raises your exp (though it raises the defender's exp too).

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: ChadS

Thanks, folks!

So, with the Tenders--do they only work at a port, or should they work at sea, like a refuel TF does (with an AO)? Do AGs work? I recall a thread on those, where it was indicated they don't work, or aren't able to work until a particular time in the war? I don't recall the specifics, and I'm not finding it. Probably not too important.

The only tenders that can work at sea are AOs and AEs (NOT AKEs). Everything else must be in port, usually disbanded.

On China/Chinese and their overwhelming numbers. If I'm in a rough or wooded area, and they come in, I'm the defender--I assume I get some bonuses there. Is there any point in bombing/shelling them if they aren't in Open terrain? I'm guessing it's really just a modifier (I've reviewed the chart) but I'm not certain I entirely understand and grasp the overall impact of those numbers. Currently, I'm just trying to push them away, out of the area I want to control (Changsha to Kaifeng, and the railroad lines between). Not sure if lots of little battles, or one big battle is more effective.

By all means bombard - you have lots of supply and they have little. It forces them to shoot back and use their supply.

[rustysi]

Question is this--are these troop reports accurate? I'm basing this off the combat reports, as well as the rollover information in particular hexes.

From my experience I've seen the reported numbers as high as twice the actual in the hex. I know because as I was learning against the AI I looked. My take on this is simple FOW. How much contact/combat/recon did I have on said unit. As said above the Chinese have a lot of troops in the area, but they are generally of poor quality. In the clear terrain you should be able to pretty much push them around any way you want, just don't get too reckless. In clear base hexes you'll only have problems if he can manage to get his fort levels pretty high.

A good way of gauging your chances in combat is to bombard and look at the raw AV values in the combat report. If the numbers look good you can attack the next turn and should take the hex. Always keep in mind that there's a lot going on under the hood and you will from time to time be unpleasantly surprised when you think you have a sure thing.

[ChadS]

Questions on garrisoning towns.

Is there a benefit to garrisoning every town I come upon? Or, should I be selective--garrison the ones at key transport points, or that hold resources/factories, etc?

In some games, "partisans" pop up and I'm not clear if that's the case here. All I've read indicates that they can damage facilities. I'm OK with that in some spots--Kweisui, for example.

[GetAssista]

Every base has garrison requirements. Most have them at zero, but some show "Garrison level X/Y" or "Garrison level Y met" for your ones or "Garrison level Y" for enemy ones. Y is the AV you need to keep at the base to not have guerilla activity there. X is your current AV at the base. Most of big cities have those requirements.

Apart from garrison requirements it's up to you. You can go lightly against AI since it rarely uses paratroopers. But human player will punish you for light garrisons in key junctions

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: ChadS

Questions on garrisoning towns.

Is there a benefit to garrisoning every town I come upon? Or, should I be selective--garrison the ones at key transport points, or that hold resources/factories, etc?

In some games, "partisans" pop up and I'm not clear if that's the case here. All I've read indicates that they can damage facilities. I'm OK with that in some spots--Kweisui, for example.

Allowing partisans to attack an undefended base does two things:

- although the message says you lose victory points, it really just gives the enemy VPs (usually only one or two)
- it inflicts a random amount of damage on the base facilities

The AI allows a really astounding amount of damage in one turn for partisans! For example they can cause 99% damage to a level 7 runway, which is presumably hard surfaced. Do they have bulldozers or something? [8|]
Even worse, for an island location the Port is the first thing they seem to wreck, so if you intend to bring in troops to build it up or commence operations, they have to be in amphib mode to land.

EDIT: PS - the VPs can be gained every turn, even if the base is already totally wrecked, but typically attacks take place once every two or three turns if there is no garrison at all, and less often if there is a garrison that is smaller than required.