Okinawa

[Jack59]

I have just finished my first game against the Japanese AI. I completed it with eight turns to spare. I noticed the 77 Army Division starts with an assault on the island of le Shima. Historically they assaulted the Kerama Islands during the last week of March (1945) and re-boarding transports for the assault of le Shima. While on the route between April 1st and 15th the convoy received damage by Kamikaze attacks. on April 16th the 77th assaulted le Shima. Later the division was involved in the drive for Shuri.

I suggest the start of the game be reworked with the 77th Division units on land next to the ports on the Kerama Islands. The first two turns would allow them to embark and form up an attack convoy. The next three turns would be the approach with attacks by kamikazes. That should take one to April 16th for the amphibious assault.

I also note that the USA starts with 250 MPPs and gets similar amounts each turn. This is way to much. Maybe start with enough MPPs to embark the 77th over two turns and 100 MPPs per turn thereafter for future amphibious assaults and reinforcements. It takes a while to transport men and material to the Kerama supply depots.

I also note the western part of the Island has little value. There should be some insensitive to capture the smaller cities and towns. More victory points per town or city taken?

I am also a little confused about how the Kamikazes work. I set my USA CVs to intercept, but they do not seem to try to intercept the Kamikazes. My warships also don't seem to use the antiaircraft abilities to attack them. I tried placing Battleships and CVs in front of CVLs and amphibious transports to no effect (at least that I could tell).

One last thing I noticed, when playing the Japanese, the USA AI's CVs start buzzes the Japanese ground units. They are not in bomber mode, and they are not protecting the fleet. A waste of supply that would be useful later in the game!

[Bo Rearguard]

I am also a little confused about how the Kamikazes work. I set my USA CVs to intercept, but they do not seem to try to intercept the Kamikazes. My warships also don't seem to use the antiaircraft abilities to attack them. I tried placing Battleships and CVs in front of CVLs and amphibious transports to no effect (at least that I could tell).

According to the game's rules, Kamikazes are basically untouchable by air and AA in exchange for the ability to "fly and die"....

Kamikaze.jpg (12 KiB) Viewed 664 times

[Jack59]

Well the Strategy Guide says: Naval forces must contend with waves of Japanese kamikaze attacks, which inflict severe losses unless aircraft strength is allocated to combat air patrol (CAP). In my game I tried to kill the kamikaze aircraft on the ground, before the took off.

[Robert24]

Bo Rearguard, Jack59;

Thank you for your comments about Okinawa. You’ve raised some very strong points. I’ll take action on several of them and explain the limits on others.

Your observations about the Kamikazes are excellent. While their mechanics will remain the same, I’ve added more information in the Strategy Guide to help players understand their impact on game play.

Regarding the 77th Division, you’re absolutely right - it did not land on Ie Shima until later. I placed it off the island at the start to streamline game play, but I appreciate the historical attention to detail.

On MPPs, I intentionally gave the Allies an overwhelming amount. In practice, they may never use them all. The real constraints are keeping units in supply so they can be fully reinforced and finding enough large ports for damaged ships. The high MPP pool gives the Allied player a sense of near-unlimited resources, but supply and port availability place natural limits on how many can actually be used.

As for the western (or perhaps northern?) island, you’re correct that its value is limited. This was deliberate. An empty northern island can be a tempting diversion for an Allied human player, drawing attention away from the true victory conditions.

Finally, on the issue of USA AI carriers “buzzing,” this may sometimes be confused with reconnaissance, though it’s possible the AI is actually attempting attacks. Your note is appreciated, and if that proves to be the case, we’ll have a useful lead for improving AI behavior.

Robert

[Jack59]

Thank you for the reply. I still would like the CVs and the Navy in general to play a increased role, besides reconnaissance. Having said so, triple the amount of kamikazes, so they become a distraction. Maybe that could be accomplished by adding more kamikazes per difficulty level. In the beginning of the game they should spawn around forward air bases, so they have more range. Near the end of my game I did find a Kamikaze on the Motubu Airfield, I think out of range of the action. It was not there early in the game when I flew reconnaissance.

Do the kamikazes actuality spawn on a hex or do the fly in from Japan or Formosa? What are the British actually accomplishing? Are they killing planes before they fly to Okinawa or is this a abstract process to increase the effectiveness of the Kamikazes?

I note that the Sixth Marine division did secure Hedo Point on April 13th and Motohu Peninsula on April 20th. Maybe the game could be tooled by a slowly increasing the US morale as more cities in towns are captured? If the Northeastern portion of the Island is left alone the effectiveness of the US land forces could be decreased? The one lone Japanese regiment could then have some use. What was that regiment doing there anyways? Hiding treasure or running a radio/radar station?

[Robert24]

Jack59,

I am almost certain the Allied AI CVs are doing reconnaissance and attack missions. I am just not sure to the extent of either.

Yes, the Kamikazes do spawn on Formosa. If they are left on the island there will be more attacks on Allied naval units off the coast of Okinawa. So, the British Fleet can be used to eliminate the Japanese air units on Formosa.

I could add more game play depth to the northern part of the island. In the meantime, the biggest threat to the Allies is the Japanese basing air units in the north. But, IMHO the north functions best as a distraction to a human player.

Robert

[Jack59]

I found CVs useful to attack planes on the ground. Even in bomber mode they appeared to do little damage to ground units. The CVL was a little better with ground units, as expected. I need to play the game against the Allied AI. I also need to remember to set the difficulty level to expert. A Japanese retreating strategy to the southwest may be interesting. In my game the Japanese lines appeared static. I do not know id the AI has different strategies?

Just to let everyone know it is a challenging game, and well worth playing. My comments are made to make it more realistic and interesting a second time around. Good job!