New Player

[moiled]

Taken advantage of the matrix sale to get this. Been playing the Coral Sea scenario for a few weeks.

I will post thanks in the appropriate threads in the forum but a big thanks to those responsible for the Combat Reporter app, the Victoriam map and The Turn 2 spreadsheet for the full campaign.

I am about to commence the full campaign - wish me luck.

I might only be a few weeks into WitP AE but i love it - and i have a shedload of wargames on my computer

[Anachro]

It's the best wargame out there, at least for computer-based wargames. Have fun.

[BBfanboy]

Welcome to our madness!
If you have played Coral Sea for weeks you must have finished the scenario several times. It is good to do that to try different strategies and find out what works and what doesn't, but eventually you need to try the other scenarios to learn new things.

I found that the Guadalcanal scenario is a logical step from Coral Sea - there is lots of potential for carrier clashes but also lots of surface combat action and shoestring logistics operations to keep the troops fed and reinforced. Fighting an air war from a land base is also essential learning before the Grand Campaign (GC).

[Anachro]

Try seeking another "noob" opponent in the Looking for Opponent forum who wants to play a Guadalcanal PBEM with you. It's a great learning opportunity, a fun scenario, and the game is so much more fun with a human opponent. That's what I did when I just began learning the game.

[rustysi]

I might only be a few weeks into WitP AE but i love it

Got ya!!!!

[btd64]

Welcome aboard. Post if you have any questions....GP

[moiled]

thanks for tips - will deffo be looking for advice i am sure. Already have a few questions but will search the forums here as i am sure they will have been asked many times before.

yeah - done coral sea a few times - seeing how different things work (or not)

started turn 2 from the spreadsheet tonight - i can see that will take some time (and then some) but it is already making me see and hopefully understand a bit more, especially so far regarding planning convoys etc

reckon i will take the advice and start playing Guadalcanal scenario in between plugging away at the GC spreadsheet.

[Dili]

Welcome

[mogami]

After Karen takes the kids and all your stuff make sure you have something to set your computer on and a chair

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: mogami

After Karen takes the kids and all your stuff make sure you have something to set your computer on and a chair

Don't forget a fridge for ice and beer and a coffee machine....GP

[Kull]

If you haven't done so already, be sure to update your build with the latest scripted AI files. It makes a big difference, as AndyMac improved them significantly. Not save-game compatible, however (although the new updates won't interfere with an ongoing campaign). Also, the beta patch is a MUST.

[adarbrauner]

ORIGINAL: moiled

I am about to commence the full campaign - wish me luck.

It ain't be easy man to do it alone - because of the sheer greatness of the OOB... but you have time;

not better to grab some more limited scenarios?

I sincerly would;

[adarbrauner]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

It's the best wargame out there, at least for computer-based wargames. Have fun.

What about its siblings (WITE, WITW)?

[Korvar]

ORIGINAL: moiled

started turn 2 from the spreadsheet tonight - i can see that will take some time (and then some) but it is already making me see and hopefully understand a bit more, especially so far regarding planning convoys etc

reckon i will take the advice and start playing Guadalcanal scenario in between plugging away at the GC spreadsheet.

Just take one region at a time. It will be tedious, but it is the equivalent of the "wax on / wax off" training of WITP:AE. At times it will be frustrating issuing order after order with all the minutiae of tweaking each setting, but stick with it, and you'll suddenly realize at some point that you've learned most of the interface. Then the fun part begins where most of your focus can shift to the strategies and tactics of the game - especially useful when the training wheels come off and you've 'graduated' from the spreadsheet.

Try some of the smaller scenarios, but don't be afraid to jump straight into (or exclusively continue with) the GC if the other smaller scenarios don't work for you. My own experience found the smaller scenarios too confining - I wanted to have complete control of the logistics chain and deal with all the consequences thereof, even if it meant 'eating an elephant'. On the other hand, you may find the smaller scenarios a great 'stepping stone'. Point is - there's no one right way to approach the game and listen to yourself if a particular approach isn't working for YOU. You'll get there one way or another!

[wegman58]

In the War Room there is a stickied 'new player' stuff and there is another non-stickied thread for 'beginners'. I recommend both.

[mogami]

Don't listen to any of them. Play the whole thing and if you can get a PBEM game play that. It does not matter if you get spanked the first time out you will learn how and why you got spanked. When you play a game this size and time consuming you are looking for some kind of truth. A search for truth is never easy. Obviously the truth is Japan was going to be whipped. Play Japan. You will learn history. No egotistical person can play Japan. Only Egotistical people will never play Japan. This is a game. A chess game where having the first move does not count for very much. The allied player only needs suffer for around 6 months. The Japanese player will suffer for 3+ years. (Unless the allied player has a really massive ego and throws away the war)

[Lecivius]

.

[Trugrit]

ORIGINAL: mogami

Don't listen to any of them. Play the whole thing and if you can get a PBEM game play that. It does not matter if you get spanked the first time out you will learn how and why you got spanked. When you play a game this size and time consuming you are looking for some kind of truth. A search for truth is never easy. Obviously the truth is Japan was going to be whipped. Play Japan. You will learn history. No egotistical person can play Japan. Only Egotistical people will never play Japan. This is a game. A chess game where having the first move does not count for very much. The allied player only needs suffer for around 6 months. The Japanese player will suffer for 3+ years. (Unless the allied player has a really massive ego and throws away the war)

“No egotistical person can play Japan”

This is not exactly right.

The problem with PBEM is not necessarily ego. The problem is the “fun” level.

The game is front loaded for Japan. In a PBEM game the Japanese player can run over
the Allied player in 1942 and well into 1943. Then the Allied player can come back for the next three years.

Playing the Japanese you won’t find a lot of war-gamers who find it fun to spend three years
of their real lives getting beaten in order for the Allied player to have fun.
This creates an incentive for the Japanese player to have fun during 1942 and 1943 and then
to just drop out of the game and leave the Allied player high and dry.

This is a reason the game designers created a victory points system to make the game competitive.
It is a very good design. With that in mind it can be lots of fun to play Japan right up until the end of game.
That is if you have three or four years of your life to dedicate to it.

I will quote Alfred on this:

Japan will experience an economic implosion. As it should because that is historically accurate.
But it does not follow that the Japanese player is doomed to lose the game.

Japan has two ways of winning in AE. One is by achieving an auto victory which can occur
at any time after 1 January 1943. I see too many Japanese players who recklessly throw everything
to achieve an auto victory on 1 January 1943 and failing to do so then they reap the consequences
of their poor play. They forget that unless their opponent plays very badly, a later auto victory
which builds on thoughtful play throughout 1942, is the road to take. A very good example of properly
approaching an auto victory is found in Cribtop's recent AAR where a Japanese auto victory
on 1 January 1944 was assured (provided he did not lose his head waiting) and an auto victory
in the last quarter of 1943 was very much on the cards.

The other approach to achieve a Japanese victory is to prevent the Allied player from achieving either
an auto victory or a decisive victory at the end of the scenario. AE's victory conditions are very much
shaped by the historical outcome which equates to the game's auto/decisive victory conditions.
A Japanese player who prevents the Allied player from achieving that outcome, has in fact performed
much better than Japan did historically and therefore can consider to have won their race.

As to the strategy of digging in, at least in terms of how most interpret that strategy,
they simply get it wrong. The correct approach has always been for Japan to employ an active,
not passive defence. Again a very good discussion on how to conduct an active defence is found
in Cribtop's AAR. The fact is that the simplified and abstracted logistics model, combined with
certain "switches" which greatly augment Japan's historical at start asymmetrical advantages
and initiative, a good Japanese player can keep the initiative until he achieves victory.

Supply is overrated. Or more correctly, the lack of supply is unnecessarily feared. This is due
to the simplified abstracted logistics model. In AE a division which has zero supply still fights
at 25% of its theoretical combat power. In real life, such a unit, without water, puts up zero resistance.
In AE a unit with zero supply is only in trouble if it is called upon to do prolonged fighting or is confronted
by an overwhelming enemy force. In AE Japan will always be able to produce more supply than it was able to historically.
The ability to fly planes consuming only rice instead of avgas, means there is always the potential of flying air missions.

The issue really is not the production of supply per se but the distribution of supply to where
it is really needed. What usually happens is that Japanese players tend to look at their supply
distribution network and priorities only when it is too late. Not too many Japanese players consider
how much supply will be subsequently needed, and how to get it there, before embarking on their operations.
Cost benefit analyses do not figure prominently in their planning.

Alfred

Many players play the AI only for the following reasons:

The AI is always ready to play 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Late or early hours are not a problem. Multiple turns in a single day.
The AI won’t quit and won’t get mad or complain about some obscure issue.

You can sometimes finish an AI game in about six months and still remember what your wife looks like.

In any case welcome to the game Oli Draper. Have fun.

K

[rustysi]

and all your stuff make sure you have something to set your computer on and a chair

Yup, that's all I had left.[:D]

You can sometimes finish an AI game in about six months

Hehe. Yeah, right.

and still remember what your wife looks like.

Ex, and do I have to? I got rid of that... person long ago, and for good reason. None of which had to do with AE. Matter of fact I didn't even get into the game until after I decided not to 'date' any longer. Too much effort for too little gain, dating that is.[:D]

Not too many Japanese players consider how much supply will be subsequently needed, and how to get it there, before embarking on their operations.
Cost benefit analyses do not figure prominently in their planning.

Hey, I said I wanted an 'historical' game. Isn't that how Japan did it IRL.[:D]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Trugrit


You can sometimes finish an AI game in about six months and still remember what your wife looks like.