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Japan summer 41

begining positions i strike pearl first for the surprise attack bonus

2 damage BB 1 destroyed. not so good [:(]

the total supply cost to attack was less than 20 i believe so what do you do. I decide to loiter at midway and send the cag on cap ( hehe i damage a BB and destroy a DD leaving pearl on the wallies turn )


CAGS attached to CV's will now op fire on ships entering their sea space so I feel a little safer taking the slow mode home with them as the wallies cant bring enough to make me laugh at this point

here is the escape attempt...silly wallies !

I take midway, guam and wake and move as much as i can into my new port in the Bismark Arch. I plan to keep moving south and I've blocked the ports from a new feature called port rebase ( port to port movment is doubled at normal supply cost but only if the path is clear, ie no op-fire) a very usefull tool for the wallies.

I fall short in Malaya though and I'll need to see what comes out of India before I commit to mopping up the DEI's

here is the attempted blockade. I'll resupply the ships with the bomber next turn if need be.

Japan fall 41

I dumped the screenies I took in progress when i unloaded my screen capture program last night so only two pics and a little narrative on the situation as 42 arrives.

The Japanese CV task force stays off midway as it appears I have the advantage with the US holding in port in the SW US with a couple of CAGS a BB and some DD's (not enough to really threaten my position yet. he'll need to get fighters in range first so I'll gamble on holding for another turn while I move the rest of my forces to complete the assimilation of the S.Pacific.

I take new calidonia, malaya and java leaving only the ports in austrlia and new zealand for the US. The Philippines conquest is complete and within 3 months only Australia and New Zealand will be left in wallied hands I see the wallies are starting to tech submarines but my early attack has me not worrying about them yet as they are still easily dealt with. ( a human player may have stared tech here earlier but even then, with my early attack I should have time to conquor and redeploy most of my forces in the south to try and minimize the damage the US can inflict on my trade routes with his subs.)

I'm gambling I can distract the US AI into wasting turns trying to recover Austrlia instead of bee-lineing to my home islands. I'm curious to see how the AI will handle this predicament.

Germany fall 41

props to the AI here as it moves to cut off 10 rp's with its task force in the central med.
I have some airpower in range but not enough Italian shipping left to feel confident I can remove it and the Atlantic grows thick with more Wallied shipping by the turn. The AI attacked rail in west Africa as a prelude to invasion there i think and at first I chuckled thinking I was getting some free inf to move to Russia until the BB's showed up off Malta [:@] And if you remember a couple turns ago I built transports in Italy for the Black sea... Doh! they may end up as harbour orniments if I cant deal with the RN in the following turns.

I still have the west coast of Africa in question as far as the wallies getting the rp's there back home but I think its only a matter of a few turns before the Atlantic is all but Wallied controlled. I still have the Indian locked so the bulk of treasure is still unrecoverable for the walllied factories.

On the Russian front I do end up using "operation Turkey" and the battle line has been strecthed the entire length of europe and Asia. My tech lead with ground forces lets me breath easier with the upcomming first winter turn and that turn will more than likely see the germans consolidating and adopting a defense posture until the spring.

The Russian AI appears to have adequalty defended its flanks and is strong in Moscow so I'll have my hands full here. Its already pulled a few factories back and is still at 27 production so I have some work to do in 42'

Germany winter 42

German tanks create a buffer zone and damage rp and rail along the front in Russia. I've gone out of my way to balance each territory with combined arms even though Russia cant gather the required units on any of my holdings I get some exposure to the practice and it will ensure I can use it on the attack in the spring. German bombers in range target the forward Russian bombers and the transport in the Caspian sea. The bomber in Moscow is damaged and the transport sunk but the southern bomber wing survives.

I'm pleased with my efforts to repulse the wallies from the med as I get a BB kill and damage with the air units in Africa [&o] I set up op-fire and make it hard for teh wallies to stay there.

...

Subs still make it tough on the wallies around the horn but I'm not investing anymore in subs and my 5 3/3 subs will slowly become useless i think.

German end turn screen, I finish off teching bombers and will invest in another 5 stukas i hope next turn. I notice the AI has built some fighters but is low on AA in Russia (2) so I hope in three turns I can still make use of them.

Japan winter 42

As predicted Japan completes its DEI campaign and drops 4 inf divisions into Australia.
With the US subs starting to prowl we head the CV task force back to safer waters.

I need to point out here that the amphib rules are much different aswell. Units that invade via transports must remain in the attacked territory and units now draw amphib cost from each sea space they travel over aswell as having to start from a coastal region. This makes the single unit take over of multiple empty territories a thing of the past.

Unit caps are in place too, a 3 amphip rating means only 15 amphib points into any one territory in a turn (multiple 3 unit invasions of two territories are possible) 4 would be 20 points, 5 is 25 and 6 is unlimited. This really curbs the earlier problems of ahistorical wallied invasions that could be considered game killers.


Also notice the island ports. its hard to see but the transports there did move units and supply last turn and even though they did they are allowed to port. ( only island ports use this feature, so that means Malta and the SoPac islands can take advantage of it and help protect transports.

the strat map screen, if you noticed the little plane icon off new zealand in the last post and wondered what those white circles were on the map they are strat points that add together with the traditional rp count to give each side its score.

I took this pic on the German turn and if you look again at the previous pic you'll see I moved another air in range and now have two points. I plan on getting the 3 from Victoria next turn [8D]

Japan ends her turn with the Wallies still holding in the US. I 've noticed the last few turns I've had no spy notices of any sort and i assume the AI is outspending me here. Being in a confidant postion with Japan I spend some supply on US spies and security

Japan spring 42

A single US sub unit sneaks in from the north and kills a transport in the S.China sea. The Japanese recall most of its CV fleet and deal with it. ( a single sub when defending has a bonus -3 to attackers, -2 with two subs in a single sea zone and 3 or more gives no defensive bonus. This certainly discourages a player from dumping all his subs into one spot to give a realism boost to the game. The same goes for attacking subs, if they try and gang up on ships in one zone they are penalized, this along with the new mechanics of subs possibly not even engaging when attacking warships the sub war is less black and white and more entertaining to play with increased survivabilty on both sides.)

Japan finished its turn with a nice sub screen set up and Victoria still in wallied hands. The US must be hurting for rp as it goes x3 and I imagine I have some time to play with before they can mount any offensives in the Pacific [>:]

I plan on focusing on supply for the next bit to try and get Japan over 20 PP. I have two more transports built so I can start moving more than 30 supply into the SoPac a turn. Its been a challenge to acomplish my goals on that 30 supply I have been able to move and the new movement costs have helped out alot also.

Germany spring 42

Russia comes out and retakes all of the buffer zone back but could only attack some rail during the winter. I dodge the combat bonuses that Russia gets in the first winter turn [8D]

With Leningrad heavily defended I decide to forgo any offensive north and choose to focus on the Black sea territories. I move in and take away 7 rp total in Kharkov and the Caucasus and damage a couple other rp's to drop Russia down to 21 PP. Russia has been successful in restoring her factories and now has 3 in the western Urals and 4 in the Southern Urals.

I'm going to move on Stalingrad in the next few turns and dig in on the defense in the north. I'm glad I started the stukas last turn as I think I'm going to have to settle for bombing the Russian production to destroy it.

Germany summer 42

With control restored in the med I can continue with my offensive in Russia. 2/3 of the Russian forces sit in and around Moscow and Stalingrad as the AI as has wisely decided to back away from my Army Group South.

My production is in the mid 40's and a balanced mix of supply, tech and a few ground units to go with tac air on the way will be the focus of German production this turn.