SoP solo Campaign Scenario AAR

[gwgardner]

In order to conquer the Philippines it's not sufficient to take Manila. There are two other victory point cities: Cebu and Davao. Two corps have now landed in Mindanao. They will take Davao, then Cebu, then support the mop-up on the main island.

[gwgardner]

I made a major blunder by not exerting diplomatic pressure on the Vichy government early on. I have had air units stationed southwest of Saigon since the beginning of the war, but they have been unusable due to lack of supply. I couldn't establish a supply convoy to make those units more useful, because the Vichyites were sympathatic, but still uncooperative. Now after three weeks of intense pressuring, they have agreed to give full access to Indochinese ports, and I can establish that critical convoy. The campaign in Malaya should go better now.

Not to mention the possibilities this opens up in Siam ... and Burma ... and India ....

[gwgardner]

Meanwhile, out in the Solomons ...

For another week the garrison at Guadalcanal has been stranded without supplies, as a pesky US task force of approx. 6 CAs has destroyed another convoy. My support fleet in the region took a beating in a sea battle as the US attempted to bring in a landing force. Their transports were sunk, but I'm going to be forced to dissolve my task force and send elements back to home waters or to Rabaul for refit and repair. I have too much of my navy tied up in support of the Philippine and Malay invasions. They have to be wrapped up ASAP.

I also need to get some air support out to both Rabaul and Guadalcanal. I've been steadily reinforcing and refitting several air units in Japan, but I'm going to have to go ahead and send them out at less than 100%.

[gwgardner]

Check out the new 'stylized' counters. Not sure if I like them yet, but one thing for sure - there's plenty of opportunity for modders in this game.

[gwgardner]

Since I started this AAR, continued improvements have been made to the game in terms of AI capability, play balance, and feature enhancements, to the point that I'm going to call this AAR to a halt and begin anew. Not to mention mistakes I made in strategy and tactics that helped me learn the game.

Hopefully my little foray has intrigued some of you to try the game. I and other playtesters have been playing it PBEM, and it really shines there too.

One last screenshot, which illustrates a few things. The 'stylized' map with sprite units is a good match, I think. Also, take a look at the situation in late January in Malaya and Mindanao. In Malaya, I have properly maintained supporting naval forces, to bring in continuous beachhead supply, allowing my forces to march down the penninsula and lay siege to Singapore. In Mindanao, on the other hand, I totally failed to support my troops from the sea, and two powerful corps have been starved to impotence, in attempting to take Davao. The game has lots of little nuances like that which make it truly interesting and fun to play.

[jomni]

Gotta love those cute rain clouds.
The emphasis of on supply reminds me of WitP which is good since it is a very important aspect of the Pacific War.

[wodin]

seems to have a lot of graphical options...every other screenshot looked like a different game....good work I say...

is this a beer and pretzel game? I don't drink beer not do I like pretzels...so is there alot going on under the hood?

[Anraz]

ORIGINAL:  wodin   seems to have a lot of graphical options...every other screenshot looked like a different game....good work I say...

  Giving our “modding roots” it is natural to offer players possibility to choose between various appearances. I`m glad you like it. I hope following mods will bring even more choices.
 

is this a beer and pretzel game? I don't drink beer not do I like pretzels...so is there alot going on under the hood?

 

Have you ever played ToW? If so I would say that amount of beer and pretzels have lessen in SOP. Hopefully more  eloquent players will supplement my judgment, but especially fleet managing, planning ahead (production) and dealing with specific geographical theater make the game much deeper than TOW. If you have never played TOW and such comparison is a bit abstract for you or if you are not convinced it is better to wait for the demo and feel Storm over the Pacific directly.

[Hairog]

Now give Peter123 credit for his fantastic TOW map mods and unit mods. I love it. I use these two mods of his in my blog about WWIII in 1946.

www.wwiii1946.blogspot.com

[Hairog]

[Tomokatu]

Anraz informed

Have you ever played ToW? If so I would say that amount of beer and pretzels have lessen in SOP.

 
So - it's a beer and sausage game, then? Meatier all round and it wil repeat on you for DAYS to come.
 
[:D]