I love Allied SigInt

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Alot of Japanese players foil that "x unit is loaded on Something Maru headed to Miri" intel by routing the convoy to an adjacent hex, nearby hex, or another base entirely and set the Waypoint to Miri....

You can't foil the "52nd Nav Gd preparing for attack on Singapore" intel

Also, you're going to get a ton of "Yokohama Fortress is located in Yokohama" intel reports to come, so don't congratulate all the boys in intel just yet

Yeah I need to start doing this more. I've even heard some players will avoid prepping for where they are going preferring taking landing losses over giving the intel away...

[DesertWolf101]

I find Japanese SIGINT to be very useful. Of course it is not at the same level as the Allies, but overlooking it is a serious mistake. I mean that both in terms of not using it, as well as dismissing its potential as a threat when you play as the Allies. As Japan for instance I have used it to sink an enemy carrier fleet and to wreck large convoys on multiple occasions.

[JanSako]

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

[spence]

The game has seriously downplays the value of Allied SIGINT (aside from Midway). IRL, by 1944, many Japanese warships and merchant ships were sunk because of SIGINT which told individual submarines patrolling in the vicinity that HIJMS X was in position x,y (determined by radio direction finding) course: blah di-blah, speed: something or other (in other words everything one needed to know to intercept) and then were able to say that the HIJMS X was sinking in position xx,yy in REAL TIME (see the end of the TROMS of various IJN ships at NihonKaigun.com - just before they report "removed from Navy list") . The Japanese convoy routing authority REQUIRED that EVERY merchant ship report its position at noon (local) each day in a code which had been broken by the USCG way back in 1942 (ineffective Mk XIV torpedoes spoiled US submarine statistics early on though).

IJN Players should be glad that Allied SIGINT doesn't tell the Allied Player everything.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: JanSako

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

Nice damn you guys are tricky [:D]

Only downside is you are losing the ability to train units at their current position though as I believe units have to be prepped 100% to their location and set to rest/train to begin seeing training experience increases...

[Macquarrie1999]

To be fair if you are having to defend the Home Islands, Manchuria, or Korea you have most likely already lost.

[Nomad]

forget it.
No one reads what I post anyway.

[geofflambert]

As the Japanese I always track down all of those radio intercepts. Those are reliable insofar as they go. Maybe once a year it could give you an opportunity to arrive at a battle prepared. That said that's the only intel the Japanese player gets except the bad news when you find out a ship you thought you sank is still in service.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: JanSako

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

Nice damn you guys are tricky [:D]

Only downside is you are losing the ability to train units at their current position though as I believe units have to be prepped 100% to their location and set to rest/train to begin seeing training experience increases...

Units that are 100% prepped do not have to be at that location in order to gain experience. They just have to be 100% prepped.

Also units will not gain experience this way anyway past the national morale level; I don't see Japanese units, for example, going past 54 exp unless it's via combat.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: JanSako

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

Nice damn you guys are tricky [:D]

Only downside is you are losing the ability to train units at their current position though as I believe units have to be prepped 100% to their location and set to rest/train to begin seeing training experience increases...

Units that are 100% prepped do not have to be at that location in order to gain experience. They just have to be 100% prepped.

Also units will not gain experience this way anyway past the national morale level; I don't see Japanese units, for example, going past 54 exp unless it's via combat.

Did you mean to say 'morale'? That word is a different thing than 'experience', and morale can always rise to 99 if conditions are right.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: JanSako

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

Nice damn you guys are tricky [:D]

Only downside is you are losing the ability to train units at their current position though as I believe units have to be prepped 100% to their location and set to rest/train to begin seeing training experience increases...

Units that are 100% prepped do not have to be at that location in order to gain experience. They just have to be 100% prepped.

Also units will not gain experience this way anyway past the national morale level; I don't see Japanese units, for example, going past 54 exp unless it's via combat.

Ah good to know could have sworn I read that somewhere! Where can you find the national morale level?

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

ORIGINAL: Tanaka




Nice damn you guys are tricky [:D]

Only downside is you are losing the ability to train units at their current position though as I believe units have to be prepped 100% to their location and set to rest/train to begin seeing training experience increases...

Units that are 100% prepped do not have to be at that location in order to gain experience. They just have to be 100% prepped.

Also units will not gain experience this way anyway past the national morale level; I don't see Japanese units, for example, going past 54 exp unless it's via combat.

Did you mean to say 'morale'? That word is a different thing than 'experience', and morale can always rise to 99 if conditions are right.

Good point that is confusing...

[Q-Ball]

Sorry, I was conflating this with another game!

There is a table of national experience somewhere. Generally, I see Japanese, UK, Indian units top out at 54 or so, Chinese at 50, Australian at 60, and USA at 55 or 60 depending on Army or Marines

[Platoonist]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

There is a table of national experience somewhere.

Page 187 of the manual. Or right here.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

There is a table of national experience somewhere.

Page 187 of the manual. Or right here.

Thanks!

[spence]

Those charts perfectly explain why the Yamato, Musashi, all the IJN CVs etc have a crew experience in excess of 65 (even when they were commissioned in 1944)
.

[jiajia1]

Heya Hano, welcome.

Part of the overall learning curve in AE is developing your personal "Staff Officer" mantra (for lack of a better term).

What I mean is, you are on your own certainly, but take time to develop a checklist of To-Dos each turn in order to keep yourself as Commander of the Pacific informed of developments as much as possible without bogging your brain down too much.
I know, I know... it's a lot to ask. But you will improve as you play and get stomped. I personally think that our WITP:AE overlord status is balanced by our lack of an Admiral's Staff to take strategic directives and execute them down to the last detail. The hard part is trying to remember to do all these things while simultaneously keeping a weather eye out for trouble- oh, and yeah that AVP you sent to some far off atoll to extend your PBY search areas... how is he coming along?

I find it a perverse part of the challenge you face, even learning against the AI. The game's fog-of-war and inaccurate reports (just like in RL btw) immerse me in the Nimitz role and it is a huge part of why I love the game.
Don't despair, you will get better and find it a bit easier as time goes by- AE is a very rewarding game if you can stick with it.
Have fun!

+1
I am gonna keep a calendar, static and dynamic actions so you won't miss.

[jiajia1]

Part of Japanese setup on turn 1 - set all your garrison & base force units in Manchuria, Korea, Home Islands & China that you won't be moving to prep for random ports that you have no intention of ever assaulting. Then set some of them to ports that you do intend to assault.

Maybe not Abadan & such, but setting a couple of Infantry divisions to prep against Anchorage... you get the point

Of course real experienced players will probably know which of these are 'fully restricted' & therefore fake, BUT they could dismiss this report as a ploy & miss the unrestricted division that is coming for real.

I wonder if FOW can cause the report to say Division X prepping for place Y, but get the name of the division wrong?

That is sooooooooo smart.