Focus Pacific: Release

[BillBrown]

All of the ship classes for USN SS 1000 - 1089 have bad artwork.
Class 4051 has bad artwork.

[Joglinks1]

Having started a game with BillBrown, well not yet but soon.
We play without house rules so everything that the Generals/Admirals would be doing is allowed.
There are some restrictions on the first turn but then it is wide open.
Some remarks as I just finished to get Korea and the home islands done, at least so I hope:

1. With Russia active, my take would be the Japanese would drive the Russians from Sakhalin ASAP, especially since you put all the oil there. From a strategic planning perspective the Japanese would have more troops there and potentially prepped to take the places. I would also expect the Japanese to have planned an invasion of Petropavlovsk to capture the oil there. To assume the Japanese would drive all the way to the DEI and have nothing planned to take the oil in the north doesn't seem to be realistic. If Russia is an actual economic target for Japan, say take the oil, then Japan would have allocated more resources to get to them. If your goal was/is to have them in the war from the beginning without a strategic appeal to the Japanese I suggest to reduce the oil points in the north and bump up the DEI. If you keep the oil as is in Russia, some Japanese assets should be marked to invade there without having to pay the PP first to free them. They could be allocated to 5th Fleet and/or another Japanese unrestricted Army.
2. Industry: with the amount of new troops coming in and the expansion of the JAAF and JNAF I don't think the industry will keep up to fit them all out and replace losses. I'll write some more on the industry once my first turn is in and I get the first tracker analysis.

Will write more when I am done with my first turn setup.
J

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: Joglinks1

Having started a game with BillBrown, well not yet but soon.
We play without house rules so everything that the Generals/Admirals would be doing is allowed.
There are some restrictions on the first turn but then it is wide open.
Some remarks as I just finished to get Korea and the home islands done, at least so I hope:

1. With Russia active, my take would be the Japanese would drive the Russians from Sakhalin ASAP, especially since you put all the oil there. From a strategic planning perspective the Japanese would have more troops there and potentially prepped to take the places. I would also expect the Japanese to have planned an invasion of Petropavlovsk to capture the oil there. To assume the Japanese would drive all the way to the DEI and have nothing planned to take the oil in the north doesn't seem to be realistic. If Russia is an actual economic target for Japan, say take the oil, then Japan would have allocated more resources to get to them. If your goal was/is to have them in the war from the beginning without a strategic appeal to the Japanese I suggest to reduce the oil points in the north and bump up the DEI. If you keep the oil as is in Russia, some Japanese assets should be marked to invade there without having to pay the PP first to free them. They could be allocated to 5th Fleet and/or another Japanese unrestricted Army.
2. Industry: with the amount of new troops coming in and the expansion of the JAAF and JNAF I don't think the industry will keep up to fit them all out and replace losses. I'll write some more on the industry once my first turn is in and I get the first tracker analysis.

Will write more when I am done with my first turn setup.
J

All good points. On the other hand the Russians should be better prepared to defend the oil as well....GP

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

All of the ship classes for USN SS 1000 - 1089 have bad artwork.
Class 4051 has bad artwork.

Now that I am awake i'll take a look a little later....GP

[Peever]

ORIGINAL: Joglinks1

Having started a game with BillBrown, well not yet but soon.
We play without house rules so everything that the Generals/Admirals would be doing is allowed.
There are some restrictions on the first turn but then it is wide open.
Some remarks as I just finished to get Korea and the home islands done, at least so I hope:

1. With Russia active, my take would be the Japanese would drive the Russians from Sakhalin ASAP, especially since you put all the oil there. From a strategic planning perspective the Japanese would have more troops there and potentially prepped to take the places. I would also expect the Japanese to have planned an invasion of Petropavlovsk to capture the oil there. To assume the Japanese would drive all the way to the DEI and have nothing planned to take the oil in the north doesn't seem to be realistic. If Russia is an actual economic target for Japan, say take the oil, then Japan would have allocated more resources to get to them. If your goal was/is to have them in the war from the beginning without a strategic appeal to the Japanese I suggest to reduce the oil points in the north and bump up the DEI. If you keep the oil as is in Russia, some Japanese assets should be marked to invade there without having to pay the PP first to free them. They could be allocated to 5th Fleet and/or another Japanese unrestricted Army.
2. Industry: with the amount of new troops coming in and the expansion of the JAAF and JNAF I don't think the industry will keep up to fit them all out and replace losses. I'll write some more on the industry once my first turn is in and I get the first tracker analysis.

Will write more when I am done with my first turn setup.
J

My thoughts too playing as Japan. Hokkaido, the Kurile Islands, and Sakhalin are not ready for a war with Russia. There should be a Japanese corp ready to march on Alexandrovsk from start. In my game I'm just going under the assumption that Japan had to make sacrifices on the Russian front to be able to attack everywhere else, but it would be nice in future versions to have Japan better prepared for an invasion against the Soviet Union.

[Peever]

Looks like some French air tops are missing....unless they have stealth fighters in 1941, or just great cloud camouflage. [:'(] This was an attack over that French base in China.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: Peever

Looks like some French air tops are missing....unless they have stealth fighters in 1941, or just great cloud camouflage. [:'(] This was an attack over that French base in China.

I noticed that in my own game. This was working previously, so I need to look at the atop.bmp file to see what's wrong. The good news is that art fixes can be applied to in-progress games, so no one will have to start over for the fix.

Japan prepared against the Soviets.

Some good points, though I think we need to compromise a bit here - having some Japanese troops positioned to attack here makes sense, but I don't want it to be the cakewalk that the invasion of Malaya is.

[btd64]

One thing to keep in mind is that attacking the Russians is a Japanese option. If you choose to, you have to gather up the troops to do it with. Remember with scenario 75 and I think with 71, the Soviets are active but not at war. That in mind, the Allies need to make sure that the Soviet airforce is in training or search mode only....GP

[BillBrown]

A oncern about the Soviets from the Allied side scenario 71.
AFVs:
BT-7 there are 70 built per month until 4/42
T-26S LIght Tank there are 80 built per month until 4/42
T-38 Tankette there are 16 built per month until 4/42
There are no more tanks built until 5/44. There is a long time with no tank production.

[Peever]

Nagasaki/Sasebo has a default port size of 0. It's already built up to a size 7 bu this means it can no longer be expanded. The stock size has a default of 6 which allows the player to build up to size 9.

This error occurs in scenarios 71 and 72 but scenario 75 uses the stock sizes.

[paradigmblue]

Focus Pacific 1.02 Patch Preview / In Progress

Naval Bombers with incorrect weapon facings
French bombers now have the correct facings for their weapons. The Bloch bombers now also don't lose their guns on extended range missions. Thanks to Bluesky for the catch.
Status: Fixed in editor, ready for patch.

Ships With Bad Artwork
Bad artwork reported for USN subs and one Japanese sub.
The art looks fine to me, I need a third party to verify:


Status: Investigating

Japanese Prep for Invasion of Sakhalin
Players have requested some Japanese units ready for the Sakhalin invasion. I'm not against this, but I don't want to make the invasion a "gimme" for the Japanese either. Here's what I'm thinking:
Add 1 Japanese Infantry Division and 2 Japanese Armor Bdes on the Japanese side of Sakhalin, prepped for Alexandrovsk. I'm open to feedback here. Thanks to Joglinks1 for the idea.
Status: Investigating/Accepting Feedback

Missing Plane top for MS.410
This should be an easy fix. Let me know if any other planes show up with missing artwork. Thanks to Peever for the catch.
Status: In Progress

Soviet Armor Replacements
Soviet armor production ends in March of 42. Thanks to Bill Brown for the catch.
I'm removing the end-date for these devices, but reducing the their replacement rate by 25%.
BT-7 - Reduced to 55 from 70, removed end date
T-26S - Reduced to 60 from 80, removed end date
T-38 Tankette - Reduced to 12 from 16, removed end date.
Status: Fixed in editor, ready for patch.

Nagasaki/Sasebo Port Build Size
The port build size field was set to zero instead of 6. Thanks to Peever for the catch.
I've restored Nagasaki/Sasebo's port build size to 6, allowing for a level 9 port.
Status: Fixed in editor, ready for patch.

US Bomber Squadron Fielding Incorrect Nationality of B-25s
Patton found a single B-25 squadron that somehow wound up with foreign B-25Bs. The squadron is now flying their intended American B-25Cs.
Status: Fixed in editor, ready for patch.

Let me know of any additional issues. Once we have a firm direction on the Japanese prep for Sakhalin and have resolved whether the sub sides need to be fixed I'll put out a patch.

[Lokasenna]

I'd be happy to download the files and load up in Tracker/compare on the map, but my progress will be slow on determining the economic capacity here. I'm also going to want to compare to stock Scen 1/Scen 2, so we'll see.

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I'd be happy to download the files and load up in Tracker/compare on the map, but my progress will be slow on determining the economic capacity here. I'm also going to want to compare to stock Scen 1/Scen 2, so we'll see.

That would be fantastic, thank you.

[btd64]

Para, If we are going to add units to the Japanese on the island, Then we need some troops for the Soviets. Personally I would add None. The reason for my choice is in post 68 above....GP

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: General Patton

Para, If we are going to add units to the Japanese on the island, Then we need some troops for the Soviets. Personally I would add None. The reason for my choice is in post 68 above....GP

I'm not entirely convinced either. To me, the Japanese player needs to make a choice before going after Sakhalin first or going after the DEI first. Being ready to roll over both seems like having their cake and being able to eat it too.

In the alternate history of Focus Pacific, Japan is pressured by the Germans into opening the front with the Soviets at the same time as their Pearl attack due to the failure of the Wehrmacht to capture Moscow by December of 41. Following that logic, it makes sense that Japan is not well prepared for the offensive.

[BillBrown]

Ship art update. It seems that Tracker has problems with displaying ship sides for some classes. Those are right in the editor, but sometimes wrong in Tracker. Who knows? Sorry.

[BillBrown]

I would say no to any prep for Soviet bases. It looks like japan will have little trouble with the Soviets. I just hope it takes long enough I can
build some defense elsewhere.

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

Ship art update. It seems that Tracker has problems with displaying ship sides for some classes. Those are right in the editor, but sometimes wrong in Tracker. Who knows? Sorry.

No problem man. I took a quick look and it all was looking good....GP

[paradigmblue]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

Ship art update. It seems that Tracker has problems with displaying ship sides for some classes. Those are right in the editor, but sometimes wrong in Tracker. Who knows? Sorry.

Don't apologize! We appreciate you checking.

[paradigmblue]

Plane Art Issue

This seems to be a problem with some missing slots in the atop alpha file. Many of these had displayed without problem previously - not anymore.

Anyone have a shortcut on how to easily create atopalpha silhouettes from atop assets? I know there must be a trick in photoshop to do it quickly. Paging Mifune to the thread...