Japanese AI Stategy

[Mundy]

September 2, a date which will live in infamy...

Well, I've marked the location of half the entire IJA on Wake with the bodies of several thousand Marines. From UV, and through the South Pacific scenario in WITP, I've never really done a seriously "hot" beach landing. Guadalcanal was never that fiercely contested. I've aborted the invasion, for now, since one brigade is nowhere near enough. The boys definitely won't be home by Christmas. Even diverting the 1st Cav wouldn't have helped. I'll have to gear up for a serious seige. I've just sent half a dozen minelayers to Wake from Midway out of spite. Pearl just reached port size 9, so I won't have to go statside to replenish them.

In the midst of this was a serious naval battle. Nagato and Mutsu were sunk at the cost of Nevada and several BBs damaged. I got worse than I gave. After the battlefleets pulled apart, one of my large DD groups finished them with torpedoes. Ise and Hyuga were still skulking at Wake's docks. They took hits from the bombardments, but I have no ideal how badly.

Before I'm done, Midway will look like Ft Drum. All remaining invasion troops will be dropped off there and will hopefully recover strength. Once everyone's back at Midway, I'll count heads and probably set up some continuous "Tokyo Express" runs to wear them down. The seas around Wake are a cloud of subs right now, too. I will make Wake a festering sore for Japan...

M-

[tex]

Wow, at least you´ve got a lot of action going on! A pity to see the Nevada gone, I always have a soft spot for her for some reason. Go Devil Dogs!

[Connfire]

Just out of curiosity, what difficulty level are you playing?

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Connfire

Just out of curiosity, what difficulty level are you playing?

Am at work right now, but I think "historical". I never raised the difficulty setting from the default. The high settings don't really make the AI smarter, they just load the dice...

Oklahoma went down two hexes from Midway. I have one beaten up BB going directly to Pearl. I think it should make it without a problem. In the end, they're ahead of me in the battleship tally 3 to 2. (not counting Monadnock)

The Japanese had two or three high-octane combat units on Wake, so the Marines never had a chance. Five minelayers sealed up the gap I opened up on my invasion attempt. They already can claim two hits.

Airpower is busy hitting Lingayen's port, racking up experience. This may be more effective than hitting the troops directly, since I'm hitting the supplies there. Not a lot of movement on Luzon. Clark is up to level 9 Forts now. Two combat engineer units from stateside had arrived a few weeks ago, and the construction has picked up a lot as a result.

The subs must be getting better. They finally hit a DD north of Luzon.

M-

[Connfire]

I have also been playing historical - been considering moving up to hard - but I'd rather face a smarter AI than loaded dice. Maybe in WPO - The Admiral's Edition? [:)] (This is the part where people yell 'then why don't you do PBEM?' I might down the road, if my work schedule changes)

I just got CLs Omaha and Cincinnati last night - I'm almost one full year into the 1922 AI campaign. I can see why these CLs, which are almost laughably obsolete in WWII, got people so excited in the 1920s - they carry seaplanes (right now my only ship in the field carrying seaplanes is BB Maryland, unless you count the 5 BBs that are either refitting or are have completed refit but are still west of Midway trying to catch up). And they have 34 knots speed. These types of cruisers which we take for granted in WWII are so lacking in the US Navy in 1922, and in this campaign they seem perfect for what they were initially built for - scouting.

Anyway, I'm sending these modern marvels to Guam, which has been freshly stocked with supplies and fuel. I put the most nervous admiral I could find in charge of the CLs, Leary I think, with an aggressive rating of 31. I'm going to try Tankerace's idea for scouting, checking out the south pacific islands to see if there are any bases down there I should be paying attention to, and hoping if I discover any Leary runs away before the CLs get badly hurt. I'm sure there are people reading this who have a clue if there are bases down there, and where they are - please do not give me hints or spoilers, I want to do this 'old school' on my own. It'll probably be over a full game month before I get down there, but my first stop will be Truk.

[tex]

ORIGINAL: Connfire
Maybe in WPO - The Admiral's Edition? [:)] (This is the part where people yell 'then why don't you do PBEM?' I might down the road, if my work schedule changes)

Admiral´s Edition would be wonderful, but not likely. I feel like we paid 35 bucks for abandonware. I would be angry if I didn´t like the game so much [:D]
But if they ever did manage even another patch, there are some enhancements I would like to see, such as being able to name task forces and the ability to add our notes somewhere in the game, either in the unit screen or just a general notes section on the main screen. Alas, it just ain´t gonna happen.

About the pbem, you are absolutely right, it is what you should be doing [:)]

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Connfire

I'm going to try Tankerace's idea for scouting, checking out the south pacific islands to see if there are any bases down there I should be paying attention to, and hoping if I discover any Leary runs away before the CLs get badly hurt.

That sorta crossed my mind too. The Japanese can't exactly have an entire corps on every atoll. I'd need a number of good engineer units in my back pocket to get one built up quickly.

Back in UV, I think Irau was one of those Easter eggs -- a nicely located island with good build-up potential.

M-

[Mundy]

Crap.  Forgot to back up this file while replacing my hard drive.
 
Someday, I'll get more than three months into a game.  [8|]
 
At least I'll think to save Monadnock next time...
 
M-

[tex]

I don´t know how many times I´ve restarted, but at least each time I get faster at setting up the first turn.

[Connfire]

Because my game crashes from time to time, part of my regular SOP is to save the game to my hard drive right after I give my orders, so if it does happen I don't lose much.

[tex]

ORIGINAL: Connfire

Because my game crashes from time to time, part of my regular SOP is to save the game to my hard drive right after I give my orders, so if it does happen I don't lose much.

That´s only happened to me once, and fortunately I haven´t been able to duplicate it. Have you been able to pin down a cause?

[Connfire]

For some reason, it seems to freeze or shut down most after I look at the Game Optiona, Realism Options, or Preferences menues.

For awhile I was going back and forth between checking out the hexside details, particulary when things were getting dicey in the Philippines. I'd just do it to peek - I didn't like the look of that map so I'd change it back as quickly as I could. Changing it that way or back almost always resulted in a crash. Once, I lost practically one entire game week that way. That's when I got into the habit of saving after each turn around that time. It only takes about 5-10 seconds per turn, which is far less time then it takes to do multiple turns over, or restart a game.

[Rysyonok]

Also, don't check databases in the game - it freezes it. If you must, save your game first, then check databases...

[Connfire]

I've had the database crash happen to me, also.

[Mundy]

What kind of "house rules" are you guys using in the campaigns?
 
The "US only unless provoked" seems to be common.  It's definitely a tougher haul that way.  I'm obsessed with getting Monadnock back up to snuff.  It's landed some big shell on IJN transports on my first campaign run.  I'd have to run it all the way back to Pearl instead of Hong Kong.  Could take months...
 
If the Brits get hit, do you include the Commonwealth in the response?
 
M-

[tex]

I usually assume that going to war with Britain means going to war with the whole Commonwealth. After all, that is what would really have happened anyway.
It is definitely more difficult going to Pearl with the US only rule, but in a PBEM game the UK gets attacked pretty quickly. The AI, on the other hand, isn´t quite so ambitious, as you know. [>:]

[Mundy]

In my first attempt, while the back and forth for Clark was raging, the AI did land troops on Sandakar, on Borneo.  Though, to me, it did seem like an isolated, resource-less place to kick off that campaign -- no roads, even.  I scored my first ever torpedo boat hit during the off-loading going on there.
 
M-

[tex]

That´s right, I forgot about The Boreo Incident. If that ever happens again, you can exploit it for all it´s worth!

[Rysyonok]

I always preach that Allies can't attack or even build up on the frontlines unless attacked. Japan starts off in an inferior position, and this evens up the odds. I've had a game where the Japanese player took a month in the beginning just lining up his troops.
 
Don't save Monandock. It's got very weak armor. I was able to save it one time, repair it to 100%, only to watch it sink after 2 16" hits in a battle where everyone else fared decent. It wasn't worth slowing my TF to a crawl just to include that dinosaur

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Rysyonok
Don't save Monandock. It's got very weak armor. I was able to save it one time, repair it to 100%, only to watch it sink after 2 16" hits in a battle where everyone else fared decent. It wasn't worth slowing my TF to a crawl just to include that dinosaur

I'm not being rational -- it's 100% sentiment. [;)] Spanish American War era ships are neat. And after all, it took almost 25 years to build her, so I need to give her a chance. [:D]

It did do a reasonable credible job against the mass IJN transport mission to northern Luzon. in my more "free for all" campaign, I grouped it with the old Dutch battleships.

M-