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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: warspite1


warspite1

Why the 001 file?

I tried to explain but made a hash of it, here's the best link - tm.asp?m=2180809

If you're not using it already, I'd strongly recommend Tracker for Japan. It's absolutely invaluable as a time-saving tool for matters of organisation, production and industry. Saves on the screeds of paper that you'd need for notes as Japan as well.

Two schools of thought on playing the Japanese. One is that you MUST have Tracker. The other, to which I subscribe, is that you don't NEED it. There are some rules of thumb and general trends to follow that, along with 'Kentucky windage' will get you where you need to be.

You're right that it's not completely essential, but you're severely handicapping yourself if you don't use it.

I find it essential for several reasons:

- Engine/airframe management is easier by far. Trying to figure out how many Ha-32 engines you need per month using the game alone is fustrating (and prone to human error if you forget that the Emily and Mavis use 4 engines)
- Easily view and compare the stats of every device in the game.
- Industry management in general is also much easier. Tracker even provides warnings about resource/oil storage being at max and fuel/oil/resource shortages.
- View supply/fuel/oil/resource data both globally and regionally (as well as view trends as the game progresses).

Most importantly it saves time. Say, for example you want to know how much supply is on Honshu. That's a lot of clicks in AE. Not so in tracker. And tracker won't make mistakes with the rounding.

Japan, essentially, is a numbers game centered around fuel, supply and VP's. You don't want mistakes.

Biggest thing is that it gives you list of every LCU that has arrived at its location … big help in shortening a turn. If it did it for TF's as well, that would be even better, but ….

Welcome back HMS Noob. Hopefully your game experience is more enjoyable the second time around.

And make sure you teach the Royal Navy its proper place was nowhere east of Ceylon.[:'(]

Good Luck.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: mind_messing




I tried to explain but made a hash of it, here's the best link - tm.asp?m=2180809

If you're not using it already, I'd strongly recommend Tracker for Japan. It's absolutely invaluable as a time-saving tool for matters of organisation, production and industry. Saves on the screeds of paper that you'd need for notes as Japan as well.

Two schools of thought on playing the Japanese. One is that you MUST have Tracker. The other, to which I subscribe, is that you don't NEED it. There are some rules of thumb and general trends to follow that, along with 'Kentucky windage' will get you where you need to be.

You're right that it's not completely essential, but you're severely handicapping yourself if you don't use it.

I find it essential for several reasons:

- Engine/airframe management is easier by far. Trying to figure out how many Ha-32 engines you need per month using the game alone is fustrating (and prone to human error if you forget that the Emily and Mavis use 4 engines)
- Easily view and compare the stats of every device in the game.
- Industry management in general is also much easier. Tracker even provides warnings about resource/oil storage being at max and fuel/oil/resource shortages.
- View supply/fuel/oil/resource data both globally and regionally (as well as view trends as the game progresses).

Most importantly it saves time. Say, for example you want to know how much supply is on Honshu. That's a lot of clicks in AE. Not so in tracker. And tracker won't make mistakes with the rounding.

Japan, essentially, is a numbers game centered around fuel, supply and VP's. You don't want mistakes.

I recognize that many players 'swear by' Tracker. Good on them. My opinion is that the information found on Tracker can be:

A) Found on other screens
B) Summarized / extrapolated / surmised sufficiently elsewhere. Say you want to know how much supply there is on Honshu-in a general way. Is there a single base that serves as an 'acid test' to underscore production / supply shortfalls? [spoiler alert: There is]
C) Replicated manually or dispensed with altogether

Problems with Tracker include:

A) Notoriously user unfriendly to get started. Not for technophobes that don't enjoy fiddling with programs ad nauseum that make their life "easier".
B) Increased potential for 'paralysis by analysis'-may vary user by user. More detailed information about minutiae may not be meaningful for the big strategic picture.

Probably unhelpful (my opinion) for a first time PBEM player playing Japanese for the first time trying to grapple with 'big picture' items instead of minutiae.

For me the diagram was key in persuading me that I didn't know what I was doing...

Yeah, that one really does help visualize the IJ economy ...

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Yeah, that one really does help visualize the IJ economy ...

It is easy for Japan to overproduce early in the war if not considering support costs...Tracker helps with that. The Japanese player needs to set target levels for pools at certain dates (based on my limited experience).

We'll agree to differ on this one Chickenboy, but failing to use tracker is putting yourself at a serious disadvantage.

A) Found on other screens
B) Summarized / extrapolated / surmised sufficiently elsewhere. Say you want to know how much supply there is on Honshu-in a general way. Is there a single base that serves as an 'acid test' to underscore production / supply shortfalls? [spoiler alert: There is]
C) Replicated manually or dispensed with altogether

A - Tracker lets you navigate extremely easily between widely different topics without much clicking. Say you get a new radar set. Tracker concentrates all the information on the build rate, availability dates and the specific stats for that radar. All that information in-game is separate.
B - Yeah, the key there is "general way". Tracker gives you the exact number, broken down by base, without excessive manual addition.
C - Sure, you can do the sums yourself, or you can let Tracker do it and save the time for plotting the turn. Tracker also won't make mistakes, as humans are prone to do when adding airframe production before their morning coffee.

A) Notoriously user unfriendly to get started. Not for technophobes that don't enjoy fiddling with programs ad nauseum that make their life "easier".
B) Increased potential for 'paralysis by analysis'-may vary user by user. More detailed information about minutiae may not be meaningful for the big strategic picture.

A - We're agreed here. I've had some trouble with Tracker in the past, but nothing that wasn't solved with a search on the forum.
B - Ah, but Tracker even gives you the option to filter by the important stuff. That Port Arthur is out of resources is critical information, that the umpteenth regiment arrived at some hex is not.

Probably unhelpful (my opinion) for a first time PBEM player playing Japanese for the first time trying to grapple with 'big picture' items instead of minutiae.

I disagree completely. Tracker is very helpful for playing Japan, point blank, irrespective of skill level.

The screenshot posted by Zorch is the best example for the present case - a general overview of IJ industry. Here we can see that green info = good, and red info = bad, as well as daily production and global totals. Gathering that info from the game alone is an exceptionally tedious process.

A little questionette if I may make so bold: How does one copy and paste the combat reports? There doesn't appear to be a right click or CTRL left click capability.

Thanks

ORIGINAL: warspite1

A little questionette if I may make so bold: How does one copy and paste the combat reports? There doesn't appear to be a right click or CTRL left click capability.

Thanks

They should be in the "SAVE" folder of your AE install. The combat report for the current turn is always undated, but previous turns will have the date after them.

"combatreport.txt" is the current combat report, "combatreport_450101.txt" is the combat report for a Jan 1st 1945 turn.

You can copy/paste from the .txt file.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: warspite1

A little questionette if I may make so bold: How does one copy and paste the combat reports? There doesn't appear to be a right click or CTRL left click capability.

Thanks

They should be in the "SAVE" folder of your AE install. The combat report for the current turn is always undated, but previous turns will have the date after them.

"combatreport.txt" is the current combat report, "combatreport_450101.txt" is the combat report for a Jan 1st 1945 turn.

You can copy/paste from the .txt file.

warspite1

Coolio thank-you. Would never have thought of that.....

So my fellow noob AllenK and I have decided to throw ourselves in at the deep end and try a full campaign game. I tried Coral Sea as the Allies a few times circa 10 years ago, got creamed and haven't been back since. I think that this provides the perfect background to try a full campaign as the Japanese......

This should be interesting.[:D]

I recently played TOAW IV's Pacific campaign and had some fun with that - but it was just waaaay to unrealistic to keep the interest.

I've had an older version of the game, and was thinking of getting the new now that its on sale. Does something like this make you want to recommend against the purchase.

will this be akin to the Gorn's "AAR" wherein nearly all of the posts took place before hostilities

Is that thing still going?

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I recently played TOAW IV's Pacific campaign and had some fun with that - but it was just waaaay to unrealistic to keep the interest.

I've had an older version of the game, and was thinking of getting the new now that its on sale. Does something like this make you want to recommend against the purchase.

warspite1

I think it depends what you want it for. I played a Case Yellow scenario, but having played DC:WtP this offered nothing really. As said the Pacific Campaign just wasn't worth it from a realism perspective. BUT - I bought the game solely because I wanted to play a Mediterranean game - and it certainly scratched that itch (sadly too little naval action but a really fun campaign all the same). If you liked the earlier versions of TOAW then it may appeal. I certainly liked the game mechanics - just could have had better scenarios.

Have fun with your game, Warspite! [8D]

Sing along with me!

"We gotta find the battle ship that's causing such a fuss
we gotta sink the Warspite cause the world depends on us
'So hit the decks a running boys, and swing those guns around'
we gotta sink the Warspite, we gotta put 'er down"

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I recently played TOAW IV's Pacific campaign and had some fun with that - but it was just waaaay to unrealistic to keep the interest.

I've had an older version of the game, and was thinking of getting the new now that its on sale. Does something like this make you want to recommend against the purchase.

warspite1

I think it depends what you want it for. I played a Case Yellow scenario, but having played DC:WtP this offered nothing really. As said the Pacific Campaign just wasn't worth it from a realism perspective. BUT - I bought the game solely because I wanted to play a Mediterranean game - and it certainly scratched that itch (sadly too little naval action but a really fun campaign all the same). If you liked the earlier versions of TOAW then it may appeal. I certainly liked the game mechanics - just could have had better scenarios.

Well, TOAW4 focuses more on land mobile warfare and it excels at it. There are some excellent scenarios and there are some not so good.

For air-naval warfare... better stick with WitP:AE.

Warspite, are you using the xls that has every Jap ship/plane/unit and their Turn 1 location? I forget whose it is.
You don't have to make the same moves as given in the xls; I use it to make sure I didn't miss anybody.

7th December 1941

The Kido Butai are unleashed on the unsuspecting Americans on a sleepy Sunday morning just before Christmas.

Only the WeeVee appears to have sunk and the cream of the Japanese naval air arm don't appear to have destroyed too many American aircraft either. I am hoping the fog of war is at play here because otherwise that's potentially a bit disappointing. I do like the fact that I appear to have hit a few CA's though.

Sadly over a third of KB's fighters are destroyed or damaged, 10% of the torpedo bombers and 13% of the dive bombers. Nagumo is summoned for a de-brief.....