5 Things a WitP player should know coming to AE

[m10bob]

I used to be able to evac Phillipino infantry to Manado, kill the initial Japanese grunts, and after that first wave, the Jap AI kept sending rear echolon non-combatants to my warriors..No more.
Now, when I conquer in an initial battle, I better get reinforcements there ASAP because more combat types are coming, and their naval and air support will be with them in force!!![X(]

[Hanzberger]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

1.  Eating is still required. 
2.  Caffeine is a good way to stay awake longer in order to get more turns in per day.
3.  You still have to spend time with your wife.  Those two hours you spend sleeping can be spent next to your wife.
4.  Play on a laptop is preferred to a desktop.  That way you can take the computer with you when nature calls.
5.  AE is even more addictive than WITP.  There is no cure.  The only support group is this forum unless you want to call divorce lawyers a support group for your wife.

And for some of us you still have to show up at work~! good one Rock [&o]

[Chickenboy]

Gnome,

I'd add the following to the list:

1. Different economic engine make greater use of fuel rather than oil as WiTP.

2. Different malaria zones, different cities that can produce their own supplies (e.g., Manila)

3. Different allied access to supplies and fuel in theater. IRL, the allies 'paused' for much of 1943 whilst they built up their offensive reserves of men, materiel, supplies and fuel. AE seems to be going this way as well. In WiTP, I'd be positively awash with supplies and fuel as the allies by early 1943.

4. PT boat effectiveness-see other threads on this topic.

5. Somewhat toned down "Netty" (Nells / Betties) that can teleport across hundreds of miles of open tractless ocean and magically torpedo everything afloat. Everyday. Twice a day.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: The Gnome

- So when you guys say there isn't enough of anything anywhere, are there a lot fewer supply points generated?

- Do you US players do any ship conversions to start?

- Someone mentioned guarding my replacement pools like they're gold - what do you mean? Do you mean like replacement pilots and whatnot?

Other posters have commented on the difficulty of getting supplies in theater versus the generation of said supplies on CONUS. I agree that that has changed the dynamic of supplying SWPac or SPac. Additionally, Karachi and Bombay do not produce meaningful supply now, as they did in WiTP. IIRC, Karachi spontaneously supplied 5,000 / day in WiTP. No longer. Now, the allies have to move that stuff onto the subcontinent from off map suppliers. This takes scarce shipping, and lots of it.

I have not yet had an opportunity to upgrade much of the USN. Everything afloat is being used in some capacity. No downtime-the pace for APs and AKs is much more hectic.

[Chickenboy]

Alright, I'm hogging the thread, but wanted to add:

Mid-ocean intercepts by SCTFs. In WiTP, this was a very rare occurence. In AE, it happens frequently. It gives surface combatants a new lease on life and provides a realistic check on CV TFs operating in restricted waters. IRL, operating a CV TF in restricted waters was very dangerous if engaged by a challenging SCTF. AE reflects this risk much more so than the Uber death stars that could roam at will through shallow and narrow straits. [8|]

Escorts. Transport or Amphibious TFs without escort are very, very, very susceptible to intercept and destruction. Add another 'very' to the above statement if the transport ships are loading or unloading. Again, more realistic than WiTP. One simply MUST provide strong escort to these TFs now if one wishes them to live.

[John Lansford]

RE: Logistics
 
I ran Aden out of both fuel and supplies from TF's picking up LCU's and returning to that base.  Now I'm having to send TF's from Abadan to Aden loaded with fuel, and supplies from Karachi.  At least those transports can pick up LCU's on the return trip, but the tankers are just lost for the return trip back to Abadan.
 
(Makes note to set all TF's going to Aden to "minimal refuel" to keep that from happening again)
 
In fact, the Indian theater is awash in supplies and fuel while the eastern half of Australia is starving for fuel.  I've got a largish convoy of tankers from Surabaya headed towards Horn Island and south to Sydney that will help, but they're still a week out.  I may have to reverse transport some fuel from Noumea and PagoPago back to Sydney (as soon as I deal with that surprise invasion in the SoPac area...)

[EUBanana]

I don't know if it's changed from WITP but it seems to me that heavy bombers slurp up supply like you wouldn't believe.

Combined with the restrictions on port sizes, at Port Moresby, for example, the convoy runs are constant shuttles - soon as one is done it reloads and sets sail again.

I'm not sure if this is due to not being able to land One Big Convoy or because supply gets consumed quicker now, but 15k supply seems to magically become 12k, and then 8k, and then 5k, disturbingly fast.

[jjax]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

I don't know if it's changed from WITP but it seems to me that heavy bombers slurp up supply like you wouldn't believe.

Combined with the restrictions on port sizes, at Port Moresby, for example, the convoy runs are constant shuttles - soon as one is done it reloads and sets sail again.

I'm not sure if this is due to not being able to land One Big Convoy or because supply gets consumed quicker now, but 15k supply seems to magically become 12k, and then 8k, and then 5k, disturbingly fast.

Funny thing is that I never noticed heavy bombers sucking up supply in WITP. But there have been more than a few times when i had to rush supplies to a base to keep them flying in AE. So maybe.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109
5.  AE is even more addictive than WITP.  There is no cure.  The only support group is this forum unless you want to call divorce lawyers a support group for your wife.

This worries me! I took my vow of celibacy in April because WitP had nearly detroyed my ability to function in real life. If AE is worse (!!!!), perhaps I'd be better off sticking to my vow...

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: skrewball

I think a big thing to remember is that the map scale is DIFFERENT!

I'm still thinking in WitP terms..."I'm 5 hexs from the Allied CV TF, I'm the perfect striking distance"

Yeah...not so much...that's what we call a mulligan [:D]

It is perfect striking distance.. Just not for you [:D]

Xargun

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: jjax
Funny thing is that I never noticed heavy bombers sucking up supply in WITP. But there have been more than a few times when i had to rush supplies to a base to keep them flying in AE. So maybe.

Is it that or the ability to have 50k supplies everywhere is no longer the case for the allies ? Also, how are you doing keeping the suckers repaired enough to fly ?

Xargun

[jjax]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Is it that or the ability to have 50k supplies everywhere is no longer the case for the allies ?

That could be it as well.[;)]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Also, how are you doing keeping the suckers repaired enough to fly ?

Not great! Something else that AE seems to be making me pay more attention to [:'(].

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Xargun
Is it that or the ability to have 50k supplies everywhere is no longer the case for the allies ?

Well, not sure. But I have a 10k supply run going from Townsville to Port Moresby in my Guad scenario game which fits into the port and unloads in a day or so. It isn't far from Townsville to PM, but that convoy is non-stop, and even then I have to top PM up with additional shipping every so often.

Also, how are you doing keeping the suckers repaired enough to fly ?

Xargun

There isn't anything you can do about that. Aviation support is not my limiting factor, airbase stacking limits are (5 squadrons at PM - 1 P38, 3 B17/B24, 1 Dauntless), so the planes are always in the white. I can muster up 30 heavies in one go, which becomes 20 heavies the next day due to maintenance/damage. Its one or two raids a week normally.

In WITP I'd have nigh on 100 B17s in Port Moresby in that scenario within 2 or 3 weeks.

So the difference is marked.

[crsutton]

You build ports first, then airfields. In WITP port size hardly mattered.

You get enough Aks but you better protect those tankers.....[:-]

BBs are fat ugly gas hogs. Best not to use them in 1942 as you will not have an gas left.

As the Japanese you close down Allied air by sweeping with zeros first then bomb to close down the air base. Allied air to air combat will kill you just about as easy as you kill them. Overwhelm the base, close the base and kill the planes on the gound. In early 1942, the Allied shortage is airframes, not pilots. Even AVG can be shut down this way.

Fear the PT boat.[:@]

[DrewMatrix]

Atolls can't be defended due to the stacking limits. The other side can always bring up enough ships/LCUs/CVs to take anything you put on the atoll. This makes things more fluid. The only solution I see is to attrit the other side's ships/LCUs/CVs slowly.
 
 

[John Lansford]

The AI retook Canton from me by landing 13,000 men at one time, overwhelming my defense battalion I had there.  So far they've not been successful in getting those men off that barren rock thanks to my constant SW TF's patrolling the area, and it's been weeks since they took it from me.  I sure hope those coconut husks taste good, guys...

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

The AI retook Canton from me by landing 13,000 men at one time, overwhelming my defense battalion I had there.  So far they've not been successful in getting those men off that barren rock thanks to my constant SW TF's patrolling the area, and it's been weeks since they took it from me.  I sure hope those coconut husks taste good, guys...

Shouldn't that have a 6,000 troop limit? How did they land that many? *


*Pretend I didn't read the manual yet.

[Smeulders]

The limit isn't really a hard limit, rather, if you go over 6000 they will begin to suffer penalties for supply, disruption and the like (not sure what exactly). This way it's possible to send in big enough forces to take the place, but garrisons over the limit will be very costly to maintain.

[DrewMatrix]

Yes, that 's the point. Steady state you can't leave more than 6,000 there (or they attrit I gather). But you can land twice that, take the atoll, then move 1/2 those off, leaving 6,000 so he can do it back to you.
 
I suspect the only way to hold an Atoll the other side wants is to control the water around the atoll permanently (which makes sense).
 
 

[The Gnome]

Have to say you guys make this the best game forum I have ever been on. Thanks for the great replies, I have a LOT to think about.

Some more question:

- Do auto-supply convoys actually work now?
It used to work sort-of-ok for me in WitP for the eastern most pacific outposts I had like the Palmyra's of the world working ok, but anything else would be doomed to sinkings and failure. I would love to put New Zealand on a routine auto-supply for instance.

- What level do you leave your training squadrons at? I used to leave them at 80% but is that catastrophic now?

- What is an xAK??????? (hint to the devs, having a mouse hover action for shiptype would be sweet. ie I hover the curson over xAK and a little pop up comes up with the full name or something)

- Is the airbase cap based on squadrons or # of planes? Damn I need to start taking notes lol

- Do you guys actually waste time pushing squadrons with withdrawal dates forward? Seems like a waste of time/logistics to push something forward that is due to leave in 6 months.

- A lot of air units in the Dec 7 campaign are set not to upgrade or replenish - is this because they are due to upgrade?

Strategically for me the first 6 months of the war I would try to do a few things:
- Train, Train, Train, Train, Train. I train everything, ship crews, air units, and let my LCU's replenish their strength. In WitP support was rare and I would need to be very careful letting that build.
- Turn PH into a fortress
- Reinforce/Secure my supply chain from the US to Australia
- Fight a delaying action in DEI/Malaysia/Burma/PI
- Secure as much sea lift/Resources from DEI as I can - usually taking as much as I can down to Darwin while moving supplies to Singapore.
- Establish a supply run from Aden to Karachi and Karachi to India
- Turn AI on to fight the morass in China lol Oh well can't do that anymore.
- I hold my CV's in reserve only to punish any over extensions. The never leave a land based air umbrella. This is only after all the CV's upgrade to F4F's.

That pretty much still the SOP?