Focus Pacific: Release

[paradigmblue]

There seems to be a SNAFU with Patton's version of the mod - not all of his changes made the patch. I've already repackaged the installer with updated files, I'm just waiting on Patton to approve to ensure that his stuff made it in OK and then I'll update the installer link.

edit: Looks like this new version will do the trick.

All patch download links have been updated to this corrected patch version. If you have already downloaded the patch and want to play scenario 75, please download this new version to bring scenario 75 to the proper version.

[btd64]

Hey guys, Thank you for your support.Para and I have been working on this mod for over a year(17 months) and are very proud of them. Of course thank you to the makers of the mods that were used as a starting point.

Now to the meat of this post.

I, and I'm sure Para, would like some feedback both good and bad in relation to the Japanese side. If you have players playing these mods but don't use the forum, Have them send info to you and forward to us via PM or email. Input is very important in making this mod even more fun. Allied stuf is fine to, but I'm looking at the allies constantly....GP

[paradigmblue]

As Patton said, this mod is made possible by the feedback of its players.

One of the biggest weaknesses that we've had in developing the mod is that both of us are primarily allied players with little experience with the Japanese economy. When I play-test the Japanese side, I know that I am not bending the Japanese economy over my knee like some of the great JFB players do regularly in their games on the AAR forum, and that means that I'm having to guess on some things. This is compounded by the fact that despite repeated attempts, I've never been able to get tracker to work on my system.

What I'm getting at is that we would really like some folks with experience playing Japan to give the mod a try with the goal of really exploiting the economic system. How much can you raise aircraft production and still keep things going? How about HI expansion? Do you have what you need to crank out 300 zeroes and Tojos a month, or are you limited by supply, HI, resources or oil? These are the kind of questions we'd like to know the answer to, and we'd appreciate your help in finding them.

[1EyedJacks]

Any changes to your recommended house rules?

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks

Any changes to your recommended house rules?

The only change I have is with the Soviets. "Allied support can't go to the USSR unless they are losing the war."

That's it....GP

[Lokasenna]

Forgive me if this was addressed in your mod development thread... I may eventually download and load this up because it looks like fun and incorporates a lot of changes that would make the stock game a bit more realistic and more playable (i.e., sub torps). Plus, a little fantasy scenario that balloons the OOB on both sides is always fun when you feel like smashing things together and with lots of options to convert ships to different classes. Cool stuff.

That said, 40+ more divisions (and increased ships, presumably air units, etc.) - did you increase supply generation capabilities as well as the initial stockpiles? That's a lot of extra required food, and if the Soviets are active that's a lot more because there's going to be constant land combat for the entire war.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: paradigmblue

As Patton said, this mod is made possible by the feedback of its players.

One of the biggest weaknesses that we've had in developing the mod is that both of us are primarily allied players with little experience with the Japanese economy. When I play-test the Japanese side, I know that I am not bending the Japanese economy over my knee like some of the great JFB players do regularly in their games on the AAR forum, and that means that I'm having to guess on some things. This is compounded by the fact that despite repeated attempts, I've never been able to get tracker to work on my system.

What I'm getting at is that we would really like some folks with experience playing Japan to give the mod a try with the goal of really exploiting the economic system. How much can you raise aircraft production and still keep things going? How about HI expansion? Do you have what you need to crank out 300 zeroes and Tojos a month, or are you limited by supply, HI, resources or oil? These are the kind of questions we'd like to know the answer to, and we'd appreciate your help in finding them.

HI shouldn't ever really be expanded a lot in stock because you'll just burn through your fuel faster. LI expansion in the early game is another matter, but the time to "break even" is much longer (something a mod could address) and the amount that it gives you is peanuts, really. I could load up the scenario in Tracker and cycle forward one turn to get some ideas, but I don't have the time at the moment. Maybe later this year.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Forgive me if this was addressed in your mod development thread... I may eventually download and load this up because it looks like fun and incorporates a lot of changes that would make the stock game a bit more realistic and more playable (i.e., sub torps). Plus, a little fantasy scenario that balloons the OOB on both sides is always fun when you feel like smashing things together and with lots of options to convert ships to different classes. Cool stuff.

That said, 40+ more divisions (and increased ships, presumably air units, etc.) - did you increase supply generation capabilities as well as the initial stockpiles? That's a lot of extra required food, and if the Soviets are active that's a lot more because there's going to be constant land combat for the entire war.

Those are good questions, and they are exactly the kind of questions that we need answered. Focus Pacific has significantly higher supply generation capabilities on the Home Islands compared to stock, but I simply don't know if it is enough, and without Tracker, I can't give you a good answer of what exactly "enough" would be.

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Forgive me if this was addressed in your mod development thread... I may eventually download and load this up because it looks like fun and incorporates a lot of changes that would make the stock game a bit more realistic and more playable (i.e., sub torps). Plus, a little fantasy scenario that balloons the OOB on both sides is always fun when you feel like smashing things together and with lots of options to convert ships to different classes. Cool stuff.

That said, 40+ more divisions (and increased ships, presumably air units, etc.) - did you increase supply generation capabilities as well as the initial stockpiles? That's a lot of extra required food, and if the Soviets are active that's a lot more because there's going to be constant land combat for the entire war.

Yes. Everything has been boosted.

One thing to consider about the Russians is yes they are active, but you don't have to be at war with them. See the first post and look for my HR about the Russians. I also Use a simple rule that if the Russians are attacked, they can attack once for each attack against them. When you reach 3 attacks, the Russians will be coming. Not sure if this made it to the last update. I WILL ATTACH THE HR"S FOR SCENARIO 75. Some of which can be used for the rest of the FP scenarios....GP

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: paradigmblue

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Forgive me if this was addressed in your mod development thread... I may eventually download and load this up because it looks like fun and incorporates a lot of changes that would make the stock game a bit more realistic and more playable (i.e., sub torps). Plus, a little fantasy scenario that balloons the OOB on both sides is always fun when you feel like smashing things together and with lots of options to convert ships to different classes. Cool stuff.

That said, 40+ more divisions (and increased ships, presumably air units, etc.) - did you increase supply generation capabilities as well as the initial stockpiles? That's a lot of extra required food, and if the Soviets are active that's a lot more because there's going to be constant land combat for the entire war.

Those are good questions, and they are exactly the kind of questions that we need answered. Focus Pacific has significantly higher supply generation capabilities on the Home Islands compared to stock, but I simply don't know if it is enough, and without Tracker, I can't give you a good answer of what exactly "enough" would be.

A rough starting point would be:

(Amount of supply required by each additional LCU at game's start) / 30 * 1121 = amount of extra supply required just to feed all of those additional units every day through 12/31/1944. With combat... you would need to increase that. And that's just for LCUs.

Once you have that number, you can decide how to accommodate that. I think a mix of additional starting supply stockpile, additional HI capacity (which has consequences on fuel and therefore fleet movements!), additional LI capacity (perhaps easier to do than HI), or potentially just additional organic supply generation a la China. Then you need to decide where to put those things.

I would not have included additional HI capacity as a desired change in that list except for the additional ARM/VEH production that will be required to replace lost devices from the increased amount of combat. You could address increased ARM/VEH requirements in a couple of other ways, such as reducing load cost of devices (and therefore you'd need to reduce capacity of ships, probably...) or adding a large number of certain devices to the pools at game's start (such as squads or common tanks/guns).


Really, a spreadsheet should be set up that has total production capacity for places that Japan can anticipate controlling until 1/1/1945 (those first 1121 days) and then you should fiddle with the numbers from there to see what certain changes would mean - how much additional fuel capacity you would have to add to have additional HI not break the economy, etc. Using Excel's formula capabilities you could add anticipated/rough capture dates for certain places (such as Java) to account for Japan having access to them for less than the 1121 days, and so forth...

[1EyedJacks]

Regarding oil - 1 word... Russia...

Okha 600
Petropavlovsk - 800
Alexandrovsk - 1200

Now you have incentive to go after Stalin.

[Peever]

Sent off the first turn and started an AAR in the forums of my game. I'm playing as Japan but no real experience though so I won't be pushing them to the limits like some of the vets around here. My opponent is an uncle of mine and I'll pass on any thoughts, issues, concerns, that he shares with me as they come up.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: Peever

Sent off the first turn and started an AAR in the forums of my game. I'm playing as Japan but no real experience though so I won't be pushing them to the limits like some of the vets around here. My opponent is an uncle of mine and I'll pass on any thoughts, issues, concerns, that he shares with me as they come up.

Thanks! Hope you have fun!'

[blueskywhitesun]

Hi Paradigm,

Love your mod. I registered an account to say that a bunch of your french aircraft, the naval bombers specifically, have their bombs set to Front settings. I can imagine them trying to shoot down zeroes with 30kg bombs.

These aircraft are affected:
The LN and Latecore line of carrier aircraft
Bloch MB162, 163
MB162 also has its weapons all set to front for the extended version. Unless that's intentional as there seems to be no extended range for it.

I know I found a few other errors - will try and remember and update again.

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: blueskywhitesun

Hi Paradigm,

Love your mod. I registered an account to say that a bunch of your french aircraft, the naval bombers specifically, have their bombs set to Front settings. I can imagine them trying to shoot down zeroes with 30kg bombs.

These aircraft are affected:
The LN and Latecore line of carrier aircraft
Bloch MB162, 163
MB162 also has its weapons all set to front for the extended version. Unless that's intentional as there seems to be no extended range for it.

I know I found a few other errors - will try and remember and update again.

bluesky, I just checked all of these aircraft and the bombs are either center line or internal. Other weapons are fine as well. Please post a picture if you think their is a problem. But right now all looks good....GP

[BillBrown]

I looked at scenario 71, 72, and 75 and most of the aircraft he indicated do have front facing bombs for extended range.

I would post a picture, but the board software is wonky and will not let me, I get a failure to upload error.

[btd64]

Bluesky and Bill, Sorry guys. I didn't look at the extended range devices. In scenario 75, The Bloch MB.162 and 163, fixed MG and Cannon weapons. LN.401, 42 and 42-A, fixed bomb position to internal/external. I didn't find a problem with the Latecoere 298. Will be out in the next patch.

Thanks guys....GP

[paradigmblue]

Join the Focus Pacific Team

We're looking for a few interested parties to help us continue to improve Focus Pacific. I think that Patton and I are pretty happy with the current playable state of the mod, but that doesn't mean that there isn't room for significant improvement.

At the moment, there are certain areas that fall outside of the wheelhouse of Patton and I, and we'd love some help to round out those areas. We're looking help in the following areas:

Art
Tasks:
* Audit current art assets for accuracy and consistency, modifying existing art or creating new ship and plane art as needed.
* Create new plane sides and tops for different models in Focus Pacific, including new color schemes for different models of the same planes.
* Insure that plane and ship appearance in game is working as intended
If you'd like to help, you'll need access to photoshop or an equivalent image editor, have an understanding on how plane and ship art works, and an eye for detail.

Air Model
Tasks:
* Audit current air-frames to ensure internal consistency of stats and upgrade paths.
* Investigate the possibility of changing the air-model to RHS or DBB standard.
If you'd like to help, you'll need a good understanding of the current air model, and preferably experience with RHS and/or DBB.

Japanese Economy and Air Production
Current PBEM games will help shed some light on this area, but I'd love to have someone who is willing to really dig into this.
Taks:
* Ensure health of Japanese economy with the changes in Focus Pacific
* Investigate maximum levels of expansion. We want the Japanese player to have the ability to expand the economy far beyond stock, but we don't want to run into issues where they can product 3,000 Zeroes a month without difficulty either.
* Look at production and availability of resources and oil both on the Home Islands and off
* Audit plane upgrade paths and research.

Flavor
Tasks:
* Investigate interesting historical and "could-have-been" units, planes and ships that could be possibly incorporated into Focus Pacific.
* If these items make sense in Focus Pacific, help translate them into the appropriate devices, planes or LCUs.
* Work to find and/or create art for the new addition.
* Focus Pacific is deeply ahistorical, but we're looking for some plausibility, so no USS Nimitz at the battle of Midway. A Japanese Design A-150 battleship though? That could possibly past muster if done well.
* Focus on adding items that make for new and interesting game-play, not just "because we can".

These areas aren't mutually exclusive - if you want to help in more than one area, that's great!

Goals for Focus Pacific[/b]

There are a few short-term and long-term goals for future iterations of the mod.

Round out Minor Nations

Round out minor ships for the Soviets and France - tenders, mine-sweepers, xAKs, xAKLs etc. Currently the Soviets are particularly lacking.

Give Japan More New Toys

Currently the allies get a lot of fun new planes and ships to play with, while Japan mostly gets more (lots more in some cases) of existing assets. I'd like to ensure that the mod is as fresh for Japanese players as it is for allied players.

Balance

This doesn't mean that we want both sides balanced against each other in every capability - in fact a big part of the game dynamics are the fact that at certain points in the game each side is very vulnerable to the other. War isn't fair, and the game shouldn't be either. The allies should still be fighting for their life in 42, and Japan should be under pressure in 44 and 45, but I'd love to see some outcomes in Focus Pacific that are not the norm.

Continued Bug Fixing

I'd like to keep up on patches so that known bugs (like the aircraft ordinance bug just found) are squashed on a regular basis.

[/b]Art Improvement[/b]

I've had a lot of help in the art department, but I've also had to do a great deal myself. That's a problem, because I am absolutely terrible at it. I'd love to have some help in improving the consistency and quality of the art assets so that Focus Pacific is a more polished and professional product for everyone to enjoy.

[blueskywhitesun]

Happy to help General

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: blueskywhitesun

Hi Paradigm,

Love your mod. I registered an account to say that a bunch of your french aircraft, the naval bombers specifically, have their bombs set to Front settings. I can imagine them trying to shoot down zeroes with 30kg bombs.

These aircraft are affected:
The LN and Latecore line of carrier aircraft
Bloch MB162, 163
MB162 also has its weapons all set to front for the extended version. Unless that's intentional as there seems to be no extended range for it.

I know I found a few other errors - will try and remember and update again.

Good catch Bluesky.