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Ugh, I had a long patch notes post typed up, but the forums ate it. I'll repost all the notes when the patch goes live (I hope tomorrow), but for now, here's a preview of what's coming:

Bug fixes, including flight-deck cruiser squadrons no longer changing size automatically or upgrading to planes that don't exist yet.

A rework of the US Army restricted units on the West Coast

Some major buffs to the Soviets in 1941 on the ground and in the air, with the addition on the Yak-1.

Some small quality of life improvements for Dutch, Australian, Chinese and French forces in the way of Aviation Support, some forts a and airfield sizes.

The biggest change, and the one I'm most excited about, is the implementation of a Lend-Lease air-ferry system. No longer will American produced Soviet aircraft show up as automatic replacements in the Soviet pools. Instead, replacement squadrons of these aircraft will appear in Fairbanks, Alaska, which was the switchover point for the Northwestern Air-Route. These squadrons will need to be ferried to a large soviet base and disbanded, and the aircraft will be added the Soviet pools that way. Unfortunately, there isn't a way for me to restrict these squadrons from disbanding at a West Coast base instead, so you'll have to make it clear how this works in the house-rules.

To facilitate this change, PAD 1, the Soviet Air-Ferry division has been added to the game. It is broken up into 5 aircraft ferry regiments (PAPs). Also, the hex of Gambell field on St. Lawrence Island has been added.

Been doing some research of my own. I found that the KNIL had ordered almost 700 Marmon-Herrington tanks, 200 M3 light tanks, some M3 scout cars, and about 100 P39s.

The M-H tank factory was having a hard time producing the tanks fast enough. A transport with a 20 plus ran aground and delayed the arrival. Some M3 light tanks almost made it before the KNIL surrendered. The KNIL ground forces was suppose to be reorganized into mechanized BDEs with either Alvis or M3 scout cars. I am thinking 5 to 8 BDEs. A tank unit of around 90 AFVs was suppose to be created with M-H tanks.

The US kept turning down the Dutch for equipment such as tanks and the airplanes because they were afraid that the Dutch would do the same thing that the French in Indochina did.

Patch 1.02 is up, and can be found here. This patch will work with all previous versions of Focus Pacific 1.01 Beta.

For a new install, first install the full mod, then the patch.

New Features

Lend-Lease

New to 1.02 is the removal of most Soviet replacements of US made aircraft. Instead, these aircraft will appear in Fairbanks, Alaska as replacement squadrons. They will need to be flown to Soviet bases and disbanded to add the aircraft to the pools. A savvy Japanese player may opt to take Soviet bases in range of Fairbanks, to prevent this transfer of aircraft.

This new feature does require a new house rule for dealing with these Lend-Lease squadrons. I would encourage players of PBEM games to agree on language similar to this: "Lend-Lease squadrons may only be disbanded in Soviet territory and may not be used in combat operations."

National Guard and White-Restricted Reinforcements

1.02 adds 5 National Guard divisions to the US. These white-restricted divisions have poor experience, but add more AV to the West Coast.

Along with this change comes two big boosts to the flexibility of US ground strength. There is now an unrestricted ground command under the West Coast restricted command, which makes it much easier to buy out restricted US LCUs so they can be loaded on transports and shipped to the front. Additionally, many LCUs that were previously white-restricted are now yellow-restricted, which means that the Japanese player will have to contend with some ground units that they are not used to facing.

Balance Changes

United States

*Added National Guard Divisions to the West Coast
*Added an USAAF DB training squadron at March Field which arrives on the same date as the A-24 Banshee squadrons in Australia
*Added a Naval Search training squadron to San Diego

Australia

*Added additional aviation support to base units at Townsville, Darwin and Port Morseby
*Added a small naval repair yard to Brisbane
*Increased the garrison at Port Morseby

DEI

*Some Dutch bases are now better fortified
*The Dutch have added some naval guns outside Palembang and at Koepang
*Dutch mine pools are now a little larger
*Certain Dutch fighter squadrons now have higher starting experience
*The Dutch now have dedicated ASW patrols at Pelembang, Batavia and Soerejaba

China

*Some Chinese cities are now better fortified
*Chinese supply generation has been increased

Soviet Union

*The Soviet Union now begins the game with additional reinforcements
*The Soviet air-force is no longer starved for pilots in 1942, and will no longer run out of them in early to mid 1942. Pilot experience has also been tweaked
*A small repair shipyard has been added to Komsomoslk, to reflect the presence of the Amur Shipbuilding Plant, which was founded there in 1932
*Additional AA assets are now present at key Soviet bases
*Additional merchant shipping has been added to the Soviet OOB
*The Soviets now can field the Yak-1. Like the MiG-3, it is fast but under-gunned. However, it will be an important early game upgrade for the Soviet Union for their bi-plane squadrons.
*Some additional border forts have been added to protect roads into Soviet territory

French

*Noumea's aviation support and airfield size has been adjusted upwards slightly
*France now starts with two fighter squadrons at Noumea
*Aviation support at Kwangchowan has been adjusted upwards so that it does not start out in the red
*Tahiti's supply situation is a little more stable, so that it will not go in the red so quickly after the game starts, giving the allied player some more time to begin shipping in supplies

Japan

*Japan begins the game with more Nate's and Claudes to fill out rear-area squadrons
*Oil, Heavy Industry and Resources have all been adjusted upwards for the Home Islands to facilitate a greater expansion of production by the player. These numbers were very high in the first version of Focus Pacific, which copied the Ironman Japan scenario as a base. They had to be adjusted downwards significantly so that Japan would have a reason to expand. However, that downward adjustment was more severe than I would have liked. Japan now is in a much more comfortable place industry-wise than in stock, but will still need to expand the empire.
*Starting production of the vital Ha-35 engine is significantly increased, which will make it easier for the Japanese player to quickly increase their production of Oscars, Zeroes and the new heavy bombers.
*Two Amagi class Battlecruisers have been added to the game.

Bug Fixes

*CLV and CAV air groups will no longer disappear and re-appear with air-frames that haven't been invented yet
*The Dutch capital ships have been correctly re-designated as battlecruisers instead of battleships
*Many detached air-groups that were not connected to their parents have now been fixed
*The hex of Terapo was incorrectly designated as an airfield rather than a port, precluding port construction. This has been fixed.
*French Breguet 700-C2 factories will no longer upgrade to the 700-D and immediately switch back to the 700-C2

I found and patched some bugs. Patcher can be found here.

Bug Fixes Include:

*Fixed maximum size of Lend-Lease Squadrons that appear in Fairbanks.
*Fixed incorrect spawn date for some Lend-Lease Squadrons
*Fixed incorrect maximum squadron size for some of the new Commonwealth CVLs
*Fixed incorrect maximum squadron size for the floatplane groups of the Constellation and the Ranger

Has anyone tried to download this yet? I keep getting a setup error.

That being said, I doubt if there's a more computer-illiterate individual in these forums than yours truly.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks,
Nate

Hi Nate, where in the install is the setup error occuring?

I get the error in the destination folder box, as soon as I click "Next".

Thanks,
Nate

ORIGINAL: nate25

I get the error in the destination folder box, as soon as I click "Next".

Thanks,
Nate

Are you pointing the destination folder to your install, and then modifying the destination folder?

If I'm following you correctly, I am not trying to modify the destination.

I think the path says it wants to go right into the WitPAE file.

Thanks,
Nate

ORIGINAL: nate25

I think the path says it wants to go right into the WitPAE file.

Thanks,
Nate

Here are the steps that should work:

1) Using "Browse" point the installer to the folder WitP:AE you want to apply the mod to. Do not use your main install, as the main installer of Focus Pacific installs new hex files and an extended map, as well as changes many art files. I usually will rename the new install folder from "War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition" to "Focus Pacific" to make things easier.

2)If you've done the above, the Destination Folder should now read "C:\Matrix Games\Focus Pacific\Focus Pacific Beta Updater". DELETE the "\Focus Pacific Beta Updater" portion in the destination folder dialog box". The final destination folder should read "C:\Matrix Games\Focus Pacific".

3)Hit Next

You will need to follow the same procedure for the patch as well so that it points at the right files.

Let me know if that works!

All right Paradigm, I will work on this tonight and let you know tomorrow.

Thank you for the help, I can't say it enough.

Thanks,
Nate

I've just finished a very passive play-through of Focus Pacific through 1942 to create a save game that gives players a chance to start in 1943 against a fully expanded Japanese AI with its OOB as intact as possible.

Japan has Burma, all of the DEI, Attu and Kiska, Wake, Attu, Kiska, Baker, Canton, Luganville, and Port Morseby. The largest ships it has lost have been cruisers, which means it's packing a substantial carrier force.

I've kept the allied OOB as intact as possible as well, though I did not Evac, and instead let the Japanese AI destroy the units in the contested areas.

Why go to all this trouble to create this save game to share? Personally I've played through 1942 many times, and I usually lose interest about 3/4 of the way through the year, as I've already crippled the AI's carrier force and shipping capability. While I don't think that this will be any more challenging than 1942, it will be a different experience to play with the 1943 OOB and with Japan at it's high-water mark. I'm also hoping that because Japan won't be invading new territory, it won't loose as many ships or troops to ill-fated assaults.

Here's the save.

This should be played on Very Hard so that the AI gets all of the logistic advantages.

ParadigmBlue: Thanks for the save. I fired it up yesterday. As usual after an AI vs. AI run, the fuel situation is dire in Oz. The first thing I did was turn off all Oz heavy industry.

I noticed the Russian aircraft gun accuracies are about double what would be expected for centerline and wing mounts (i.e. they are around 100 and 50, respectively). Just checking if there's a reason for that. I'll do a closer look and write some things down in the next few days.

EDIT: I do like that New Guinea is full of IJ aviation assets.

Cheers,
CC

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

ParadigmBlue: Thanks for the save. I fired it up yesterday. As usual after an AI vs. AI run, the fuel situation is dire in Oz. The first thing I did was turn off all Oz heavy industry.

I noticed the Russian aircraft gun accuracies are about double what would be expected for centerline and wing mounts (i.e. they are around 100 and 50, respectively). Just checking if there's a reason for that. I'll do a closer look and write some things down in the next few days.

EDIT: I do like that New Guinea is full of IJ aviation assets.

Cheers,
CC

I actually didn't do AI vs AI - I played vs AI but essentially did absolutely nothing as the allied player except when I absolutely needed to step in - like when the Japanese AI tried to invade the Hawaiian Islands. Me not creating a fuel supply run for Australia is my oversight.

I'm not sure what the reason is for the accuracy issues of the Soviet aircraft gun devices - I don't think I touched them in the editor. However, I've found that the Soviet planes have very low gun values, so they certainly don't feel unbalanced in action. I can certainly adjust this if need be though. I might also bump up the cannon effectiveness if I lower the accuracy - the very low gun values on some of the Soviet aircraft feel off to me.

I'm now in February after using this save to start a 1943 game, and I've been stymied in the air both in Burma and off the coast of Australia by the AI, which is a nice change. Figuring out how to supply Darwin is a challenge, and as of yet I don't feel that I'm rolling over the AI like I do in 42.

If this works and people enjoy playing the save, I may take the time to create a 1944 save as well.

No worries on the Oz fuel thing. I like coming in and setting things up. I'm doing two-day turns as I get things re-positioned for offensives. And yes, the Bay of Bengal and Coral Sea are quite contested by IJ aviation.

I haven't done enough Russian air combat to get a sense of whether those fighters are overpowered. For now I'm keeping Russia and China pretty quiet.

I noticed at least one RAAF squadron with 72 aircraft and an RNZAF one with 36. I'll write down their unit IDs this evening. Also, I noticed that every U.S. Army tank battalion I checked has 59 ea. 81mm mortars in addition to 59 ea. Stuarts (which is correct)--I think it's supposed to be three mortars.

Further, I don't know IJ's ability to pull off a CONUS invasion, but having those extra perma-restricted National Guard divisions (one for each state--so five or six of them) seems like overkill.

Cheers,
CC

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

No worries on the Oz fuel thing. I like coming in and setting things up. I'm doing two-day turns as I get things re-positioned for offensives. And yes, the Bay of Bengal and Coral Sea are quite contested by IJ aviation.

I haven't done enough Russian air combat to get a sense of whether those fighters are overpowered. For now I'm keeping Russia and China pretty quiet.

I noticed at least one RAAF squadron with 72 aircraft and an RNZAF one with 36. I'll write down their unit IDs this evening. Also, I noticed that every U.S. Army tank battalion I checked has 59 ea. 81mm mortars in addition to 59 ea. Stuarts (which is correct)--I think it's supposed to be three mortars.

Further, I don't know IJ's ability to pull off a CONUS invasion, but having those extra perma-restricted National Guard divisions (one for each state--so five or six of them) seems like overkill.

Cheers,
CC

That's strange, I didn't touch the TOE on the tank battalions.

The large air squads are working as intended - though I suppose I can break the RAAF squad up into 3.

I think you're right on the National Guard Divisions. I've already made it easier for the US player to have access to more AV, there really isn't a compelling reason to have the National Guard units as well. I'll probably roll back that change in the next major update. The good news is those divisions - being restricted - won't affect the course of most games.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but have you thought of adding in the American B-19 long range bomber? It's range could be useful to allied players early in the war. But I think it would also be somewhat balanced out by its horrendously slow top speed. Just a thought, I would guess no more than 3-4 trained equipped squadrons at game start, with a low number of airframes in the replacement pool.

So what do you think?

ORIGINAL: jakla1027

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but have you thought of adding in the American B-19 long range bomber? It's range could be useful to allied players early in the war. But I think it would also be somewhat balanced out by its horrendously slow top speed. Just a thought, I would guess no more than 3-4 trained equipped squadrons at game start, with a low number of airframes in the replacement pool.

So what do you think?

Honestly, it sounds fun as long as production stays low. Do you know if there is art for it?

Did some bug fixing in the editor today, thanks to my PBEM partner Saros over on the SA forums. These changes will roll out in the next patch:

Bug Fixes:

To'so xPB class now changed to 8cm guns instead of 15cm (unless they 15cm guns are correct? They seem very large for a xPB)
Several Japanese cruisers and destroyers now arrive with their proper upgrade for their arrival date.
Fixed German ships arriving with too much ammo.
Fixed the 7th Imperial Guards arriving as a Brigade
Fixed the Japanese player starting with a pool of 200 late-model Betties that haven't been invented yet

Balance Changes:
The Japanese player will now receive Amagi Class BCs instead of Kongo class BBs as additional reinforcements
Some Japanese airbases in Manchuko have significantly more aviation support in hex, particularly Harbin.
Staring Oscar and Zero production is increased
Staring Japanese engine production is increased

Things I need to work on:
Japanese upgrade paths. I'm terrible with this side of the game, so if there are any JFBs that would be willing to delve into this for me I'd appreciate it. Currently, too many paths lead straight to late-game aircraft, which mean that they can be chain-upgraded to jets in '43, which is a little too fast for my taste.