Updated 30/07/2022: Bottlenecks in the Pacific v1.3b

[ReadyR]

Hi LST. I am playing a PBEM with this mod. Using the one before your last update. So far really enjoying it...although I find some of the Japanese fighters almost unbeatable...the cannons and experience levels are killing me. But I am slowly clawing my way back.

I have a problem with BB Colorado. She has been in Bremerton since game start (its now late Feb 1942). She just won't finish repairs. In the shipyard she has been showing 1 day to finish repair for several weeks now. The damage seems to be mixed up with both system and a kind of ghost engine damage. I have tried flipping her out of shipyard repairs and back to readiness to see if that can reset things...but to no avail. I may be missing something about her damage. But I think Bremerton should be capable of repairing her. Any thoughts? I have attached screenshots.

[ReadyR]

ORIGINAL: ReadyR

Hi LST. I am playing a PBEM with this mod. Using the one before your last update. So far really enjoying it...although I find some of the Japanese fighters almost unbeatable...the cannons and experience levels are killing me. But I am slowly clawing my way back.

I have a problem with BB Colorado. She has been in Bremerton since game start (its now late Feb 1942). She just won't finish repairs. In the shipyard she has been showing 1 day to finish repair for several weeks now. The damage seems to be mixed up with both system and a kind of ghost engine damage. I have tried flipping her out of shipyard repairs and back to readiness to see if that can reset things...but to no avail. I may be missing something about her damage. But I think Bremerton should be capable of repairing her. Any thoughts? I have attached screenshots.

[Ian R]

You could try this, as the scenario file is mod-able:

1. Open the scenario file in the editor, and as always, make a back-up.

2. Create a duplicate ship class for Colorado that is exactly the same as whatever it is now.

3. Create a conversion option to change your Colorado's current class to the new duplicate Colorado class, give it a 1 day delay, and bind those together. Make it a back and forth bind, see point 5(a).

4. You don't need to re-load the game to update the scenario file after that is saved, the option to use it appears in yellow text on one of the settings screens.

5. If it works and gets rid of the phantom damage, then you can either:

(a) do the process in reverse and get her back to her correct class, then delete the extra class/bind, or

(b) do nothing because an exact duplication will have the same upgrades.

6. I note from your screenie that she does not have a current conversion option.

Edit: if your PBEM opponent gives permission!

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hi ReadyR,

I face the same issue in my tests.

But my latest h2h test game with the "final" version of my mod has only reached late Dec 41, so wanted to wait a bit longer to see if the problem fixes itself and goes away - apparently not.

And I just nailed it I think - it's a database error.

I have set the "engine damage" at 10 and "major engine damage" at 20 - should be the other way round.

"Engine damage" is actually the total engine damage of minor and major damage combined and so must be equal or greater to the value set for major damage - it should be "20 engine damage, 10 of it is major".

As it is, I told the game "10 engine damage, 20 of it is major" - which of course isn't logical and most probably causes the issue.

Fixed in my current "build', but I need to restart another test game...

[ReadyR]

Thanks for this.

I know you have probably answered this elsewhere...but if we update to your current "build" will they take effect in our current PBEM, or would we have to start a new game for the changes to be caught?

RR

[LargeSlowTarget]

ORIGINAL: Mijast727

Found one minor error. APA Callaway is set to arrive in Mindat (645). Guessing this is a typo and should be Eastern USA (615). Also, I think any base setup as a secondary airfield that also can be built as a port will not show up in the Base view of Tracker. However, I think you’re already addressing this based on your post above.

Mike, thanks for your feedback. Good catch on APA Callaway, it should arrive at 615 indeed. I have checked the ship reinforcements list and it seems to be the only typo regarding arrival bases.

ORIGINAL: ReadyR

I know you have probably answered this elsewhere...but if we update to your current "build" will they take effect in our current PBEM, or would we have to start a new game for the changes to be caught?

RR

It depends - some changes are being applied to games in progress, others not. For example, changes to location (base) names and supply cap values as well as ship class "binds" (conversion options) are being applied, but changes to airbase/port sizes, ship names and ship damage values are not. So unfortunately the fix for USS Colorado requires a restart.


For the records, what's new in the current more or less "final" build (not published yet):

- correction of USS Colorado engine damage bug

- correction of location error of APA Callaway

- corrections of locations and arrival dates of numerous other ships

- renaming of bases with "coordinates names" like '81/52" to names of existing locations within the hex area (done for continental Asia, in progress for the PI etc.)

- major review of base sizes / potential bases sizes and supply cap values for more coherence concerning terrain type and transportation network. Supply caps have been too generous in the previous versions of my mod IMO, they are now more in line with the "bottlenecks" philosophy.

- in this context I have added a few more bases in the Burma area to "strangle" supply flows (the necessary base slots have been taken from Russia, which usually enters the game late or not at all)

- added the base "Namtu / Bawdwin" northwest of Lashio with a railway connection to the Mandalay-Lashio line. In the early 1900s and before World War II, the Bawdwin mine was the world’s largest source of lead and one of its main sources of silver and a major supplier of zinc. In the 1920s and 30s, it was said to be the richest mine in the British Empire. Reason enough for me to put it on the map (similar reasoning as for the Bukit Besi / Dungun base ("Iron Hill") I have added in Malaya). Slightly OT for railroad fans (like me): Check the internet for "Burma Mines Railway" for more info about this interesting track - for example https://www.farrail.net/pages/touren-en ... u-2013.php

- there are probably other minor corrections / additions which elude me at the moment - I'm notoriously bad at keeping a changelog...


On my to-do list remain a few cosmetic changes to the map art, a pwhexdat correction of a hexside near Chittagong and any bugfixes reported by players - so please keep the comments coming.

I have no fixed ETA for the release of the "official" version of v.1.3 - I'm aiming for end of February but it depends on the workload, family and other real-life distractions. If you want to obtain the files of the current "build", give me a shout.

[ReadyR]

Ian, many thanks for this. I've never mucked around in the editor and don't want to do anything that will screw up the investment of time and thought that my opponent and I have made so far. I will probably just keep it as is. One less BB isn't going to alter the PBEM in the long run.

[ReadyR]

Thanks LST. We will probably just keep things as they are...stable. Will let you know if we find anything else.

[verdugo94]

Hello LST,

I am planning coming back to WITP AE after a year hiatus and I am really interested on your mod. My plan is to play a H2H game against myself to recover some agility to play the game and get used to the scenario till I end university (in a few months I hope). I read all the documentation, I really like the slower tempo aproach on your mod and the change on bombers effectivity (so so high on my opinion). After my last pbem I still have two "complains" about the game and I would like to know if you share them and have something in mind to remedy them in case it is possible.

The first one is the difficulty to use subs historically to raid comerce due to use of lvl bombers as ASW and the high level detections that occurs in nearly in the whole convoys route to Honshu. It is also affected by rezising units so Japan has far more planes dedicated to this duty. A solution might be lower the detection values for non patrol planes. A detected sub is a useless sub in the game, cause it is less prone to attack and obviously more easily detected, attacked or avoided.

The second one are the stratosweeps, most of the air combat according to the books I read didnt happen at 35k fts as it is usual in the game, where the players choose the highest altitude possible for planes even when the performance at this altitude didn´t permit a fight at all. I know there is a house rule to limit this but I find it easily missed by accident. Do you know any solution to this problem?

I would like to hear your opinions about this and thanks you for your mod and your time. I can´t wait to try version 1.3. Excuse my mistakes english is not my nature language.

Diego

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hi Diego, no worries, English is not my first language either and in every post I make there are mistakes. I think the native speakers here will understand - and some of them aren't any better [:D].

Your waiting time is over, I justed uploaded the official v1.3.

Concerning your "complains":

It is not possible to prevent level bombers from searching and detecting subs. It is possible to reduce or eliminate their ASW bombloads, but this won't change the basic problem of "a detected sub is a useless sub". As Allied player, you will need yo move your subs every day or use patrol zones covering multiple hexes.

Concerning strato sweeps, some forumites say there are counters for it - I haven't found them yet. It appears that "low layered CAP" will help, but how low exactly and what combination of different airframes at different layers is up to each player to experiment with. Modding-wise it would be possible to limit the ceiling of all airframes to say 30.000 feet. However, the Japanese fighters will still be disadvantaged at that height. I am somewhat sceptical about Allied planes like the P-47 having the same manuever rating at all altitudes, but I lack the expertise to challenge this, so I accept the stock / DBB values.

[btd64]

Both of you type better English than half of the English speakers in this forum. I understand both of you perfectly. Good news on the new version LST....GP

[verdugo94]

Thanks you both for your kind words. I have already installed the mod, and opened the # Scenario 060 “Limited R&D” and in Japan R&D all factories are 0(0), then there is no R&D factories active. Is this intended?

From the documentation I guessed that only some factories for 1941 developing planes would be running but I was expecting some factories actives at least. I might misunderstood this.

[btd64]

I'm not sure about that. Are you playing with First turn Surprise on or off?....GP

[verdugo94]

First turn surprise off. I checked again and ran a few turn, all R&D factories are at 0(0)

[LargeSlowTarget]

Yes, R&D at 0(0) is intentionally - the scenario is called "limited R&D" for a reason [:D]. You will need to invest HI and supplies if you want to get airframes earlier than their historical availability date.

[verdugo94]

I thought it was limited on the planes we can accelerate, for example we couldn´t accelerate A68M or so. What is the point on investing HI and supplies in a scenario even more constrained than the original to bring for example, the Emily in a closer date if it comes on May. I was expecting the stock size factories for the planes we can invest as minimum. Maybe I missed some keys of your logic and we have limited r&d factories to choose even more wisely which planes we want to swap and investigate from the beggining.

So in this case change the Emily to Judys as an example

[LargeSlowTarget]

The R&D at game start is set to airframes which were under development in Dec 41 in the real war. You can change the R&D factories to whatever other airframe you want to research, but to acctually accelerate R&D you will need to pay the price in HI and supplies to expand and repair the R&D - otherwise any airframe you choose will become available at the historic date. And with the limited number of R&D factories available you will have to choose wisely which airframes to accelerate.

To take your example: There is a Judy R&D factory and an Emily R&D factory at start. Since the Emily will become available in 4/42 without accelerating R&D, you may decide it is not worth spending HI and supplies to expand and repair its R&D factory in order to advance the availability date one month, if at all - 4/42 is too close to get the necessary 100 research points. So you can switch it to something else, like a second Judy R&D factory. But you will still need to pay the price for factory expansion if you want to accelerate the availability date of the Judy - even twice if you assign two R&D factories to Judy.

It is the very idea of this scenario to slow down the Japanese R&D. You can still accelerate airframe availability dates, but not for multiple airframes all at once. I expect that experienced players will concentrate R&D to get the AM5 Zero and the first Tojo asap, then switch R&D to George or Jack or Sam and to Frank.

[ReadyR]

Hi LST. Grateful for some clarification of how the Emergency Reserve works in this mod. I don't seem to be able to re-assign any of the air groups to other headquarters and have them fly anything but a training mission. And I don't seem to be able to "withdraw" the units to put aircraft into the pool. Are these really pilot training groups only...not to be used for anything else?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

RR

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hi ReadyR, I'm surprised you cannot re-assign any of the air groups to other headquarters - I can and that's how it is supposed to work.

The airgroups sitting in the "Emergency Reserve" holding box and assigned to the "Emergency Redeploy" HQ cannot be disbanded or withdrawn without losing the planes.

They cannot leave the holding box either because the command is restricted and there is no other base of the same command.

And no base outside the holding box can be switched to that command.

So you have to spend PPs to change the command in order to be able to transfer the planes to a different base in range.

Once you have done that, the disband / withdraw buttons should switch from red to white, indicating that the airframes will go to the pools.

In the example below the disband options says "some planes to the pools" because one plane has been damaged during the transfer - if you wait for it to be repaired, you will disband 36 Hurricanes to the pool.

The emergency groups are training groups in order to prevent their misuse as frontline units. They can be used for pilot training, but this is not their purpose and I consider it an abuse of the feature - do or don't, depending on your "moral restraint" [;)]

And as the name implies, this feature is supposed to be used only in an emergency, i.e. when the pool of a certain plane model is dry and active groups flying that plane model are very much understrength and upgrading to a different, more plentyful model is not an option. Of course it is left to each player to decide whether to abide and follow this leitmotif or not.

[ReadyR]

Hi LST. Thanks, as always, for the assistance. My confusion began as I was hoping that I could use the units as front line units. Then I didn't spend enough time to work it all out. Your explanation makes perfect sense and it works for me.

Very much enjoying the mod and our game. We are near end of May 42. I am playing against a very good, and very aggressive, Japanese opponent. He is pressing in China near Sian. Still has to take Mandalay. Intel shows Colombo and Calcutta are being prepped. He has recently gone into the Aleutians. And he has everything north of Australia and used Koepang to ravage Darwin the ships that had taken refuge there after the move out of the Philippines. I have had better success in the SW Pacific where I already hold Tabiteuea and Ndeni, beyond the other early Allied bases. His fighters have been on a tear since the game opened. Don't know if it is plane quality or pilot training, but the Allies are not yet even on fighters lost. I've won some air battles, but not many. And his subs are a very potent force. I've lost a lot of shipping. I'm having reasonable success against the IJN surface fleet. One small CV encounter where there was limited damage to opposing carriers but many Japanese planes lost.

Thanks for all the work you have put in to this. It is great fun.

RR