Bottlenecks Mod: Updated Jan 16, 2026

[Cavalry Corp]

LST, thanks for that explanation. Two of my scn are playable on the super extended map - in fact, there is one PBEM game in Dec 42. I did a lot of tweaking to make the extra bases more useful, and all seems well. Like your mod too! Happy Easter...
Cav

[nico71]

That’s a great piece of work. I’d really love to give it a try sometime. Does it support AI as well, or is it only for multiplayer? I’ve just come back to the game after a few years, so I don’t think I’m quite ready for it yet. But overall, I think the idea is fantastic, and I’d definitely like to try this out at some point.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hello nico71, the mod has been designed for PBEM. I have not tested it against AI and I have made no changes to AI scripts at all. In my opinion, the AI is too limited in ability to waste much time playing against it. When not doing PBEM, I play H2H against myself - gives me two learning experiences for the price of one.

[nico71]

Thanks for the clarification. Playing head-to-head against myself is actually more the rule than the exception for me as well, but in this particular game I find it far too time-consuming and mostly useful just for learning.

I’d be open to trying a PBEM on the Allied side, but definitely not in a competitive way for now. As long as I’m performing better than the AI, that should be fine for me.

[aga2008]

Hi LST,

As like many others, I just wanted to thank you for your great mod "Bottlenecks" and all the efforts you put into that. The more I look into it the more I have to appreciate your attention to detail and cool ideas.

will start with H2H to learn more about the setup and especially the changed industry setup - and for that I've created a region-mapping file for Witptracker which I would like to share for anybody interested.

Thanks again

ps: please let me know of any errors in this

[Bullshark]

Bottlenecks MAP Observations

I am using the Bottlenecks Map in my current game and I have a few comments:

1. Rameswaram - Created base that connect India to Ceylon. Creates a land bridge for invaisons, but more importantly
Colombo is the largest base in India. All supply moves there by default. I end up with over 1M supply there. Makes for
a nice Jap target but also sets up a land invasion from Ceylon.

2. Rangoon and Bangkok/ Sing are now connected by rail. Makes supplying defending Burma so much easier.
In my game the Jap captured Calcutta, shipped in 1M resources to Rangoon that railed them down to Sing.

3. China rail - Is now not continuous throughout the country. First game that the Japanese had to send ships up the rivers
in China to supply the forces. Nice touch.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Thx for the feedback, Bullshark.

Just wondering about "Rameswaram" - there is no base of this name in the current version. Maybe in an older version but I don't remember.
The supply caps on the two bases presenting the Adam's Bridge should prevent supplies from piling up at Colombo, and Bombay has the same base size as Colombo.
Using the Adam's Bridge as an invasion route is a possibility, but it is slow going (trail), predictable and easy to defend (just block the only exit), has a low supply capacity and works for both sides.

Same for the Rangoon - -Singers railway connection. The very low supply caps covering southern Burma should prevent the movement of large amounts of supplies along that route, unless the supply caps have been raised along the Death Railway through construction work.

Are you using my map, my pwhexe.dat file and my scenario files? Or my map and pwhexe.dat but with a different scenario file?

[btd64]

LST, could you email me the files of your game? Map,
data and art, please. But only if you are finished updating, thanks. I think you already have my email. It's also in my profile....GP

[Bullshark]

LST,

I am on the road and cannot be precise about the map, but I am fairly sure I used your 2026 version,
just started the game a few months ago. I thought I would do Scen 2, with your pwhexe map. Might be the answer (problem) right there. Also I didn't use your off map Sections for Aden and ... So I have a hybrid map of stock and Bottlenecks. I know about the extra step needed to update those two off map area's but I never did. I wanted the challenge of no ground units from Aden or Fuel from the middle east.
I could fly units out of Aden to Socotra. I forget which Indian city the stock map ends but that may be why supplies stockpile in Columbo and not Bomb/Karachi. Apologies if I ruffled your feathers.

I mentioned these map features because I suddenly had 1M supply in Columbo in March 42 and the manual supply limit in Bombay and Karachi, it just stockpiled there through the land bridge, no shipping. I had no way to store supplies, except manually, in India. The Jap came in and captured 600k supply in Columbo.

At Rangoon no rail repairs to Bang/Sing. When you release the 'Yes' to stockpiling at Rangoon it all drops to normal production and 400k res. seems to go to Sing or Vietnam within a day or two. Did it twice so far. Talk about a 'Magic Highway!'

Your comments are absolutely correct but supplies flow easily to Moulmein, as do ground units. There the rail ends. So filling up Rangoon from there with supplies is easy and then to Calcutta with all the fuel from Burma, really keeps the HI cranking in occupied India. Not sure why resources flow so easily without the rail connection from Rangoon to Moulmein.

It so surprised me 25th Army railed to Moulmein. The Jap blew off central Burma and Australia and focused on India. Yes the land bridge "Ram" can be defended but so many lvl 2 airfields on Ceylon and a harbor for the BBs to rearm and repair right there. Quiet a few small harbors at the end of India to flank it as well. In Scen 2 the IJA gets three tank divisions to use in good tank country.
Quiet a good strategy that really gets in high gear when IJA get Tojo and Tony which I find beat up
the allies until the P40K (luv that 370 speed) shows up in numbers. Combine that India first strategy, a good chance at air dominance into early '43, with Scen 2 giving you supplies at the refineries, and Supply and HI will not be a problem. And in Scen 2 making 5 - 9 fighters of each type daily is easy.
However the Jap still could NOT get a Decisive Victory on points in '42.

On a side note I met this Sri Lankan woman in the Maldives who's from Kandy in central Sri Lanka (Ceylon). She was a guest worker making $400/month in a restaurant, 6 days a week. The wild elephants knocked down the brick wall of her mother's house in Kandy to get to the rice hanging in the kitchen. My 9mm Glock (I use it as a noise maker to scare off bears, much better than bear spray) seems a little underpowered but still a good noise maker, maybe, or it could just piss off the beast!
The wasp nest near my window does not seem so dangerous this spring.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Bullshark, if you don't use all elements of my mod - map, pwhexedat and scenario files - but some strange hybrig setup with a different scenario, then it is no wonder that you get strange results.

Do you play against the AI or a PBEM? If yoy play against a human opponent, he violated the house rule that does not allow strat move via the "Death Railway" without building it first


btd64, download links are on the first page of this thread. I have a small correction to upload for the pwhexedat file concerning a terrain type at the modified base of Saumlaki - the port is unusable in the current version and the civilians are stuck. However, I prefer to wait if other things crop during the Japanese expansion phase of my current PBEM before making a new update.

[btd64]

Ok, I'll check the first page. But I might wait....GP

[Bullshark]

Hi LST,

I was playing H to H after my opponent had family issues in Feb 42. So everything I mentioned is accurate. I reaaaly like you map!

Just threw that out there for testing, and hi lite a different strategy.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Bullshark, could you please post a screenshot of this "Rameswaram" base with it's location on the map and the base screen?

[Falken]

Hi LST,

QQ.. Not sure if i'm doing anything wrong but in my latest game, I can't seem to get Gifu and Maebashi to stay at 10K of supplies even though i've asked for over 5K as Supply Required. Keeps going up and down.

Because of this, having a hard time in the two bases actually producing and repairing Aircraft that I really need

Do I need to set the "Supply Stockpile" on as well.. Just looking for advice. Luckily i'm only in my second week but already falling behind on AC production/Repair, and not sure how to fix this....

Thanks LST

[LargeSlowTarget]

Yes Falken, Gifu and Maebashi are hard to keep in supply when you want to expand their industries in a hurry. Setting supplies to stockpile and required supplies to max is a no-brainer. Moving construction assets to these bases to increase the port and airbase sizes in order to raise the supply cap is a must. I also send Command HQs to these bases because these HQs try to attract 20k supplies to the base they are in. Other units creating a supply demand may help as well. And most importantly - industry expansions at these locations must be done sparingly and slowly in order to have supplies at hand for repairs - don't spend all of it on expansion. This is slowing industry expansion as intended

[Walro]

Hi.
In the Ship Availability section, after pressing the i key, select only Submarine (SS). Even though, for example, all SS ships have been decommissioned, I see that ships such as KMU-178, 188, 168, 532, 183, 511, 533, KMUIT 23, 24, and 25 are still being produced. The following format is displayed:
Name: ETA Build Rate Arrival location
KMU-178, 06 Jul 43, ---, TF167.

Even if I stop them, they reappear in the Normal Building section the next turn. Is this a bug or intended behavior?
Walro

[LargeSlowTarget]

Hi Walro,

It is intended.

The ships you mentioned (along with a few others and several surface vessels) aren't being "built" in the traditional sense, which is why their arrival cannot be halted.

These vessels are of German and Italian origin; rather than being constructed in Japan, they historically transitioned to the Indian Ocean from Europe (or from Italian East African colonies prior to their capture by the Allies).

To model this, I configured them to spawn directly within Task Forces at their estimated historical arrival dates, rather than at a base.

Unfortunately, due to game limitations, they still show up in the Ship Availability section as if they were actively under production.

However, unless I'm mistaken, they are not consuming shipyard points, which was the intended goal.

If I were to spawn them at a base instead, they would be treated as standard ships under construction, this would allow the player to halt or accelerate their progress, and they would consume shipyard points, despite the fact they have not been constructed in Japanese yards.

[Cavalry Corp]

LST yes I am sure this is correct. I have a number of ships like this like U boats appear in Indian Ocean as TF. They just pop on the map on their arrival dates...

If you want them to appear at a base, you just make the TF appear at that base. I did this with the Thai ships as technically neutral at the start, and also means they do not have to be built.

Cav

[Walro]

Hi.
I'm afraid that the submarines I mentioned in my previous message are consuming NavalShipyard points. I ran a test that confirms this. Even though I turned them off—making them disappear from the "Normal Building" and "Accelerate" views—they reappeared as "Normal Building" units after the turn ended.

So is this a bug after all?
Walro

[LargeSlowTarget]

In order to test this, you need to stop / halt all other naval construction, turn off all shipyards (no new points produced) and then watch the shipyard points in the pool for a few turns. If they go down, you have a point.