RHS Thread: Planned Update 8.20

[Yaab]

And the map could use some uncluttering. On-map text could use a different font (Verdana perhaps?) and a different color( off-white)

[el cid again]

[Re Tag Team Game} It is getting pretty intense. Japan is invading New Caledonia, Mindinao, and the ground assault on
Balikpapan goes home today (it is not a contest in doubt). Singapore is ready to fall, but Japanese
25th Army has to shed some disorganization and is only able to move in enough supplies (by a single RR)
to attack every few days. Bataan is in a similar state, and 14th Army alone is reducing it - 16th Army
has moved out for points South (needing time to get there) - relieving 15th Army (which temporarily
moved on points South instead of on Burma). Two entire armies were released in Central China by the fall
of Zhumudian - and are moving to contact. One to mop up the former defenders (at one point well over
a hundred thousand strong) - the other to finally link up the main North South and East West railways. I cannot
speak for what the Allies are doing, of course. I can't see their moves far from the front. [2/3 of the
longitude of the world is on the AE map!]

[el cid again]

The problem is RHS needs an artist. The map - such as it is - is the stock map of Andrew Brown modified by me.
Mifune never got around to making map art (except for Madagascar, which we don't use) and is no longer able to make
air or ship art. One volunteer map artist who wanted to automate the maps (so they could read the pwhexe file and
change seasonally) gave up on the idea.

I lack both time and skill to make a proper set of maps with a new system. The first RHS artist was Cobra AUS.
He died. Mifune is disabled from a shipyard accident and has not been able to produce art for several years.
He DOES consult by telephone (or rarely by email), and he DOES monitor a tag team game of the scenario he created
(129 - TWO - Total War Option) - one that shows off all the special plane and ship art he collected and usually
improved.

RHS is open. We accept work from anyone on the basis "if it is better than we have, it is in." We shamelessly use
a lot of art from other places. About half of RHS comes from Forum members rather than the RHS team per se.

ORIGINAL: Yaab

And the map could use some uncluttering. On-map text could use a different font (Verdana perhaps?) and a different color( off-white)

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

[Re Tag Team Game} It is getting pretty intense.

Appreciate the update. I'm glad you resumed the game.

I take it the current Clown-in-Chief in charge of Burma withdrew the 31st Chinese corps from Moulmein

[adarbrauner]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: el cid again

[Re Tag Team Game} It is getting pretty intense.

Appreciate the update. I'm glad you resumed the game.

I take it the current Clown-in-Chief in charge of Burma withdrew the 31st Chinese corps from Moulmein

hehehehehe

[adarbrauner]

Sid: the Cloud OneDrive link cannot be opened for the download of the update!!

help please support

[el cid again]

RHS Comprehensive Update 4.14


https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg

This update includes many device changes and additions, many location file changes,
some display art (e.g. target art when bombing), added leaders, a couple of ship
file changes, and some documentation updates.

The focus was on getting armor devices right, and defining armor formations properly.
This was used to redefine IJA armor brigades and divisions. Numbers of new devices
were added to help create the flavor of IJA TO&E's. I discovered that the infantry
regiment in an armor division had vastly more tracked than wheeled vehicles. Yet
these units were not considered to be mechanized infantry. So I went looking for
an explanation. I found numbers of light vehicles, some specialized (e.g. artillery
spotting), some utility (tow an AT gun and carry ammo for it, carry a squad, etc).
I also split the SP guns up into two categories. Some units use them for direct fire,
some for indirect fire. I need to finish reviewing the independent regiments and
also to finish associating artillery companies, battalions and regiments with the four
artillery groups (ALL of which existed in 1941, ONE of which was used at Hong Kong
in December, 1941). Associating small units with large ones, so they can combine,
is laborious work. This is done for "full" RHS scenarios = those with odd numbers.
In many cases, only the larger units will appear in "simplified" RHS scenarios =
those with even numbers. There will be one more update to complete this extensive
review in a few days.

[el cid again]

Having decided to review every Japanese tank regiment, I discovered one was missing. Now there
are cases where we leave tank regiments out of some RHS scenarios. In Japan Enhanced Scenarios,
we do not shed division recon regiments and turn them into tank regiments late in the war (while
in strictly historical scenarios, we do). This is different. It appears never to have been in AE,
even in full stock scenario number 1.

I got the initial data about the regiment from a web site devoted to IJA armor organization. This site
lists all divisions, brigades and regiments. However, the site incorrectly listed the date of formation
of the regiment as 1944. It did provide a hint that its commander was a famous competitor in the Olympics!
Also that the regiment fought on Iwo Jima. From these hints, I was able to find the full name of the
commander, Baron Takeichi Nishi, and to learn that the regiment formed even sooner than stated: not later than
1943, when he was promoted to Lt. Col. as its commander, where he had been previously commanding as a major. The
regiment lost all 28 of its tanks en route to the island (but only 2 men), but had obtained 22 replacements before
the battle began. The regiment had Type 95 light and Type 97 heavy tanks. Nishi was posted to the regiment
sometime between his promotion to Major in March, 1939 and the occasion of his further promotion to Lt. Col.
in August, 1943. The regiment formed in what is called Mudanjiang in a biographic article, and Mudankiang on some
maps. In fact, its official Japanese name during the period Manchukuo was dominated by Japan was Botankou, a
change only made to RHS maps this month.

[el cid again]

RHS Comprehensive Update 4.15

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg

If you have any of the last few updates, the only changes
here are to scenario files (device, leader, location, in the main,
others for safety incase I forgot something).

These changes complete a review of IJA armor. Both historical
and Japan Enhanced Scenarios.

[el cid again]

I am surprised to report significant historical issues with stock
scenarios re such famous units. This may affect all mods based on them,
and certainly affected RHS.

Because almost everything Japanese is complicated, it is perhaps understandable
that confusion has crept in.

The Imperial Guards had origins in the 19th century, and were always based on
French military concepts, including their uniforms. In the 20th Century they
had formed a classical WW1 era "square" division of two brigades of two regiments
each (because with walking infantry, that is the largest formation which can go
from line of march to line of battle in a single day). But at the period just
before the Pacific War begins, these two brigades separated to fight in China, and
by the end of 1941, existed in the form of two organizations:

1) The Imperial Guards Division (in Indochina assigned to 25th Army)

2) The Guards Mixed Brigade (back in Tokyo in its traditional security role after
a period in China)

In June, 1943, both organizations renamed and reformed.

1) The Imperial Guards Division became the Second Imperial Guards Division.

2) A new regiment (the 6th Guards Regiment) formed, and this, plus an medium artillery
battalion and a few minor elements, folded into the Guards Mixed Brigade, turning it
into the First Imperial Guards Division.

In 1944, a 3rd Imperial Guards Division formed. It never left Japan.

Stock has a fictional 7th Guards Regiment. Only 9 regiments were formed. Eventually
the First Division had 1, 2 and 6 regiments, the Second had 3, 4 and 5 regiments,
and the Third had 8, 9 and 10 regiments. The reason for skipping 7 was to create the
impression there might be a larger force than there was.

Stock has a Guards Mixed Artillery regiment. This is more or less correct, but it cannot
easily be used. 2/3 of it is part of the Guards Mixed Brigade. 1/3 of it joins when
that unit becomes the First Imperial Guards Division. I handle this by making the
Guards Mixed Brigade subordinate to the First Imperial Guards Division (which does not
appear at start) and by creating a reinforced 6th Guards Regiment on the same date as
the First Division forms. That regiment has a (+) for reinforced, and includes the
additional artillery, a few AT guns, and a few extra support squads related to them. IF
one makes the artillery regiment separate, and combines that with the Guards Mixed Brigade,
one ends up with too much artillery. FYI the other two Guards division had artillery regiments,
but these were not mixed, and they do not appear as separate units in stock.

[el cid again]

Location slot 3687 in stock is the IJA 1st Division. It has six
daughter units:

3676, 3682, 3683, 3684, 3685 and 3686.

These units can be combined into the parent unit. However, because
whoever did the data entry did not understand AE protocols for slots,
they cannot do so properly. Such a combination must create the wrong
number of squads in many slots (and in particular, in the lower numbered
slots).

To fix this, use the slot order of 3687 for ALL the daughter units.
Then they will combine properly into a parent with the correct number of
squads.

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: el cid again



Stock has a fictional 7th Guards Regiment. Only 9 regiments were formed. Eventually
the First Division had 1, 2 and 6 regiments, the Second had 3, 4 and 5 regiments,
and the Third had 8, 9 and 10 regiments. The reason for skipping 7 was to create the
impression there might be a larger force than there was.

What is your source for this,
In RIKUGAUN, Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945
by Leland Ness

In May 1943 2 Guards Infantry Regiments, a Field Artillery Regiment and Division base units were raised to form 2 Divisions.
1st Guards Division with 1st, 2nd, 6th & 7th Guards Infantry Regiments, 1st Guards Field Artillery & Guards Cavalry Regiment.
2nd Guards Division with 3rd,4th & 5th Guards Infantry Regiments, 2nd Guards Field Artillery & Guards Recce Regiment.

Plus, to be taken with a grain of salt, 7th Guards Rgt was identified by US Military intelligence in April 1945.

[el cid again]

Finally I have found an acceptable way to model these units which makes
them more than chrome, but functional. A surprising problem was the symbol.
I was forced to compromise and use an artillery symbol (caused by defining
them as artillery units), which I did not want to do (because they have NO
artillery!). This classification permits a suffix of "regiment" which is not
only correct, but permits a commander of relatively low rank (classified as
small ground unit). I wanted to use HQ classification, but AE does not really
permit HQ to use officers for "small ground units" nor the "regiment" suffix.
These compromise units are actually a bit more than the Artillery Intelligence
Regiments per se: they include everything in the HQ of an artillery brigade
other than elements of artillery companies, battalions or regiments. The most
important of these elements are "tractor companies" and the HQ staff and
communication elements. That is slightly awkward in that not every artillery
command at the start of the game has one of these regiments, yet they really do
have a HQ staff and communications element, and a "tractor company" as well.
The tractor company part can be addressed by attaching it to the largest artillery
unit in the command. Modding, as with game design, is an endless series of
compromises between perfect modeling and what will work in software terms.

The invention of "spotters" (ground) for RHS does give these units a real intelligence
value for the hex they are in. A spotter is a low probability of detection surface
search radar. It was originally intended (when RHS added it) for use vs ships at night,
mainly for coast defense artillery units, or in the form of "night glasses/ship", for
surface naval combat at night. However, these regiments, which are carefully designed
to model actual organization, have 15 of these spotters. That should result in very
good reporting of enemy ground units in the same hex, at least on the turn after the
unit arrives in the hex.

A different invention for these units, which I have already applied to armor units bigger
than a battalion (albeit in a very limited way), permits the combined units to be self
supporting. It changes the meaning of "support" inside a composite unit from purely
logistical and cosmetic to an actual support unit. RHS added supply and support units
mainly so supply consumption and transport requirements will be right. AE (and WITP
generally) only model "combat effective" elements in a command. This has a very perverse
impact on supply requirements. It ALWAYS is too small, and the LESS EFFICIENT units, which
have less firepower, do NOT require MORE supplies and more sealift, airlift or rail/road
capacity impacts as they should. [That is because "pack" units use human bearers or
pack mule strings, which carry very little, but eat a lot of what they carry; "draft"
units use carts, still feed animals, but carry more than pack strings do; "motor" units
carry more cargo without feeding any animals to feed. To which add that pack units often
have the very weakest artillery (which is all they can haul along), draft units often
have slightly better artillery (at least in range, sometimes also in shell weight), while
motor units usually have longer range artillery with heavier shells. The net effect is that
a typical units that is pack is the weakest in firepower, but the most expensive to feed and
lift, while the motor units are the least expensive to feed and lift, but usually have more
firepower - draft units being usually slightly more powerful and slightly cheaper to feed
than pack units. This kind of modeling is very good and applies equally to both sides, but
it is more of an "invisible" advantage for the Allies, which have more motorized units, and
which get ever more of them as time passes. The relative advantage of motorization does
apply to the Axis, however, with the few units that have it, and that makes them preferable
to use (maximum power for least cost in lift and supplies).] Adar got me thinking about this
by complaining my "support" was "only cosmetic, not real." Well, now it is kind of real.
An Artillery Command (IF it includes an artillery intelligence regiment) is usually almost
perfectly self supporting (because it has motorized support squads at a higher ratio to
squads supported). Instead of the nominal SOP of a unit gets 5/6 of the support it needs
(so a HQ can supply more, making it more "supported" IF an HQ is around), an Artillery command
has that support sort of organic (particularly if you combine its elements into one unit).
The actual ratio depends on the command itself. The smallest command (the First) has a better
support ratio than the largest (the Fifth at the time of Okinawa), because there is less to
support in the First than in the Fifth. This is because all of the artillery intelligence
regiments were almost exactly the same in organization (even more than they were the same in
size, slight variations in manpower and vehicles did not change the numbers of functional units).
As well, the number of tractor companies assigned varies from zero to two, with one being typical,
for an artillery command. We CAN model this part because we define each artillery support regiment
individually and assign it to a specific artillery command. A different effect is that the player
gets the better intel in the hex due to the (ground) spotters, and so does AI, which may help
make other ground units more effective occasionally.

There is some uncertainty remaining. Older materials suggest there were only three
artillery intelligence regiments in December, 1941, with three more forming in early 1945. Newer
material suggests there were four in 1941 and that one of them was split, literally in two places
at the same time (with fewer squads in both places of course). Now I have these units working the
best I can, I will render artillery commands properly defined (but only for specific dates). Most
will appear in their 1941 form, and sometimes "grow" - e.g. the First Artillery Command has a
daughter unit (First Artillery Command minus) which starts the game, but which can become the full
First Artillery Command as it was used on Bataan, if it adds the regiments attached for that. Unlike
other artillery commands, which show up on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, or are sent to Japan, I don't know
where the First was in 1945? So the 1945 scenario assumes it was returned to Japan, and it is not
modified (since I don't know its 1945 form) - but still in its 1942 form. I am ignoring the one
case of a split artillery support unit and a split artillery command (in Manchukuo in 1941), assigning
them as combined units to just one of the two armies supported (the one with more artillery). It is
a simplification - players may attach the command to the other army, or to any army, if they pay
the price in political points to change command.

[el cid again]

Mifune - the second and longer serving of RHS artists - called with good news.  Someone in his
part of the world managed to disinfect a computer so he can work.

RHS has implemented (almost) all the art in a joint project common to many major mods, the AltWars Project, with a focus on aircraft and ship art.  RHS also has adopted donated art from many individuals and sites, on the basis "if it is better than we have, it is in" - no matter how much work we have invested in the same image.  And in many cases, Mifune was able to "polish" the art from others - working at a higher resolution and then returning it to AE standards - which for some reason looks better than working at the pixel level does.  But he has not been able to produce product for years due to a nasty infection in his hardware.  

I always teamed with an artist. Originally with CobraAus - until he died.  I would not have attempted RHS without one.  I am NOT an artist, although I have managed to master how to use art and can modify art if it
is a simple enough task.  It is better to have a real artist with modern and powerful tools (that take years to master).

I am going to be issuing a series of updates - mainly related to the database (mainly location file, class file, ship file, leader file and device file), out year pwhexe.dat files, and now, apparently, art files.  If we clean up the cases of ship and plane art which need better product, maybe we can get some cleaner map art.  And them maybe out year map art showing seasonal construction.  Fingers crossed.

We have new data for 1945 locations (for Scenario 126, a "short" but full map Downfall Scenario) of Japanese units.
We are working in the actual composition of the Artillery Commands - 4 at start and quite a few added later in the
war. The First Artillery Command, with all its sub units, is now done. This is the most important because it is the
only one to start outside of "NE China" [US Army parlance for Manchukuo] and also was important in the Philippines.
We have it CHANGE composition from what it had to attack Hong Kong to what it had to attack Bataan. In 1945, it
is back in NE China, but at its new location (Tsitsihar), relieving the 8th, which was sent to Okinawa. Next I will
do the eighth. Only the first four (all existing in 1941) will be broken down in total detail. Late war ones
will either start as a combined unit, or will break down only in a Full RHS Scenario (one with an odd number).

Armor units were originally done at TO&E. Now, all have been modified to actual startup strength and only point
at TO&E - which they will try to grow for (production and supply permitting).

[el cid again]

RHS Comprehensive Update 4.16

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg


This is an interim update. It is "comprehensive" insofar as it includes
scenario files (class, device, leader, location and ship, with aircraft &
air groups thrown in for safety), pwhexe.dat files (new Spring files), and
art files (bombsight images, maps thrown in for safety WPEN only).

The major update is to the IJA First Artillery Command, which is correct in
all respects, mother, daughter and even grandmother levels, for early and
later modeling. Almost all other artillery commands are defined in some sense,
but the other three start of war ones need detail review of the daughter units.
A great deal of eratta was detected and corrected, and a model made for other
artillery commands to follow. Every daughter unit must share slots with parent
and grandparent units for them to combine properly. Similarly, commands must
be in sync.

There are a few tweeks to armor units. The biggest of these is that IJA units
start with actual strength instead of TO&E and will grow if production and
supply permit. Start of war units tend to be weaker.

Someone noticed that a ship was not defined properly. Replenishment tanker Hayasui
was never defined properly since stock was born. Now it is a modified Kazayahaya
class, a ship also not properly defined. [Both were Shiretoko class] The difference
is Hayasui carries seaplanes. I added a planned unit for Japan Enhanced Scenarios,
using a name from a class built in favor of the Kazahaya class.

Night Glasses/Ship were redefined. They are range limited to the visual horizon
(which any Navy boot can tell you is 16,000 yards for hull up full view). They
have a significant chance of not detecting, but are better than early radar in
detection probability. Surface Search radar, on the other hand, has more range.
So a night action might have either side detecting first, depending on the range
when the die roll is made by AI, as well as the value of the roll.

Some leaders were added. Artillery units with incorrect leaders got the correct ones.
This frees up some IJA officers.

Numbers of eratta of all sorts were fixed. The rule is - if it is identified - it is
fixed at once - so it isn't forgotten.

Next I will review the remaining artillery groups in detail. And I need to do some out
year pwhexe.dat file reviews to insure things fixed for early editions are consistently
present in all of them.

Update 5.00 will have everything up to date and some new art by Mifune, apparently. He
has managed to get a disinfected work station after being plagued by a bad virus for some
years. However, note we have some donated art included here.

[el cid again]

RHS Comprehensive Update 4.18

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg

This is a microupdate. It only includes scenario files: class, ship and location.

It updates the units, subunits, and parent unit of the 7th Artillery Command.

It also updates details for Shimakaze Class ships, and corrects eratta in the Yugumo
class - in particular insuring that each ship has the correct sub-class for its date
of completion.

There is one final Artillery Command to review: the 5th. This one is complex,
as we will make its late war form correct for Scenario 126 (Downfall) - for Okinawa.
It WILL reform to this even in a 1941 start scenario. What we did is create a
5 A.C. (-) (minus) command which will then combine with other units to form a
5 A.C. (no minus) which is the larger unit. This was also done with the 1st A.C.
so it can form into its later form for the siege of Bataan (or any other place in
a game). It is a chore - all the sub units need to be in the same hex and assigned
the came command to combine, but it permits a command to reform into a later form.

This work has resulted in an unusual amount of historical detail being folded in.
We have replaced some commanders with the historical ones, but this has been folded
in already in recent updates.

[el cid again]

5th Artillery Command begins the Pacific War period at Tsitsihar in Manchukuo, responsible for
supporting military operations defending the Northern frontier of that nation (which I do regard
as a nation, and the most successful economically in the world in the 1930s, consistently growing
at double digit rates throughout the Great Depression era, due to promotion of small enterprise,
and due to attracting five million immigrants from the USSR, China, Korea and Japan).  

Late in the war it moves to Okinawa and is exterminated there in 1945.

In game terms, even for a solitaire game, it is impossible to know game events years into a campaign.

But for a 1945 game - which Scenario 126 is - it IS possible to model the command for 1945 events.

So I modeled 126 differently.  Apart from adding the (entirely missing) IJA 62nd Infantry Division,
I got rid of three base forces on the island and its coast defense unit.  I turned the 5th Artillery Command
into a "fortress" and assigned to it (as happened in history) the coast defenses (and forts) of the
former CD unit.  In that scenario the unit is static. [It is almost static - there are only two hexes on Okinawa,
and almost the entire battle occurs in just one of them.  The Allies landed in both hexes, and likely always
will, so moving isn't very germane in any case.]  The base forces, many elements of the fortress unit,
and at least 20,000 Okinawans, plus a host of minor IJA and IJN units were turned into a gigantic number of infantry and construction troops.  Many of these were added to the two divisions and the brigade on the island, but these units lack the slots to add the many different kinds of squads required.  So I created an Okinawa Militia Corps, which is also a static unit.  Its main problem is, apart from special forces and some naval infantry, it has little infantry training.  Okinawa is rare for the Japanese:  they had perhaps too many weapons.  Mainly because they were supposed to be sent forward, but shipping losses prevented this from happening.  In effect, the island gets two infantry divisions, an artillery brigade, an armor regiment, an infantry brigade and this gigantic "militia" corps (which includes 20,000 actual local Okinawa militia called as such). 

But the 1941 scenarios - 121 to 125 and 129 - get a different, and always potentially mobile 5th Artillery Command.  It does NOT include the 33 coast defense guns historically attached on Okinawa at any point.  These remain in the fortress unit which never disappears.  The base forces also do not disappear in 1945.  As modders we cannot know what will happen by 1945, and an RHS principle is "if we give it to you, unless absolutely necessary for compelling reasons, we won't take it away from you."  Okinawa might not be the site of a battle. And units based on it might move somewhere else.  We let the players of each game manage events.  In these scenarios, 5th Artillery command has two forms:

1) Its form in 1941, in Manchuria.  This is very much smaller than its form in 1945.

2) A later form, controlled by having it upgrade to a different organization, similar to the later form, omitting
the CD units.  This appears in Manchuria and may either stay there or move somewhere else.  To move to a different theater will cost political points - it is Restricted Temporary - but it can be done if the cause is worth spending the points - and if time and transport permit the movement. 

[el cid again]

RHS Micro-update 4.19

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg


This micro-update only involves leader (H) and location (L) files.
It completes the complicated 5th Artillery Command in three different
forms - for the (testbed, incomplete) Downfall Scenario, for strictly
historical scenarios, and for Japan Enhanced Scenarios.

Because working on this command on Okinawa in 1945 led to a discovery
of problems with "China" type class C divisions - one of which should
be on Okinawa - this type of division was redefined without artillery
and with lower skill levels both at the formation level and in several
cases of the divisions using it.

The next round of updates will do the rest of these class C divisions
and the small, out year artillery commands.

[el cid again]

RHS Micro-update 4.20

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhZAU7bdtWbbscE_oLg

This microupdate only involves scenario files. Mainly the location file,
also the leader file. Possibly the device file as well.

The 9th Artillery Command is defined WITH its daughter units for the first time.

Most (possibly all) Class C divisions and brigades were revised - a major rework.
I simplified them in two senses. There is only one kind (at least three had a slightly
different form in 1946, substituting mortars for a new artillery battalion). Also,
most begin as independent mixed brigades, but when they upgrade, these lose their one
artillery battalion when they combine with reservists (or recruits) to form a division.
I simply define the early brigades without the artillery - it being difficult to "subtract"
when the unit combines. They get it back later in the war. [Do not confuse regimental
guns with artillery - the WW1 vintage mountain guns are used as direct fire weapons by the
infantry.] These unit turn out to be semi-motorized - operating over a wide area as four
independent battalions, each brigade found it useful to have trucks! Two such brigades
form a division. Many were misnamed, originally or when they upgrade, or mislocated, etc.
Since I had the data, I entered the 1945 locations in the Scenario 126 database (or eliminated
them if they were wiped out). I added missing divisions, but there are probably more. For
example, the 30th Independent Mixed Brigade forms in 1943 and converts to the 100th Division
and is sent to Mindinao in 1944. There appear to be numbers of missing brigades - so many
we may need to "steal" slots from the massive numbers of militia brigades in 1945. I will review
this one more time, but it is hard to be complete.

Many other Japanese divisions and brigades were reviewed, particularly in China. One of these gave
a clue that we have the wrong Inner Mongolia start of game situation: the Japanese Mongol Army
captured the area in 1940 and the 26th Division remained in Wu Yuan County until its transfer to the
Philippines later in the war (where it is wiped out on Leyte). This means Chinese units were in the
wrong places, and ownership of hexes was wrong - so I reworked both.

I found some interesting data on Axis Allied naval and air forces - both of which we have - but we don't
usually have the right officers and sometimes we don't have the right names of units. I will review this
before moving on to the pwhexe.dat rework for out years. Mifune IS finally working on art as well.

For a micro update this is a MAJOR CHANGE because of the change in start of game data about the upper Yellow
River area. ROC forces are more consolidated and perhaps more effective. As well, I revised upward the
strength of two ROC corps I had to move; one brigade was already at full strength, so was a Political Unit.
I left the city of Tatung contested by guerillas, replacing the 26th Division (which moved to Wu Yuan County)
with the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade (one that is in a class B form, not a Class C unit).

[el cid again]

Years ago, someone suggested adding a pioneer device. This was done, but only for the
Allies. A pioneer is an engineer with values set so it can build, but not reduce fortifications.

Some weeks ago, I added a similar device called AA Pioneer = Axis Allied. I wished the name
to imply that the pioneers on the Japanese side were likely not Japanese. Most were Koreans.
But I only implemented it for a tiny number of units being reworked, where appropriate.

Reviewing Japanese construction battalions it occurred to me that stock organization uses
engineers. Playtesting as the Japanese reveals a real temptation to use these construction units
as assault troops. Now there ARE Japanese assault engineer troops - these are normally the only
squads with flamethrowers on the Japanese side. But construction units should not be treated
as second line assault engineers (lacking flamethrowers, mortars etc that combat engineers have).
More than that, I note that Japanese airfield construction times were longer than Allied were. Now
some of that IS in hard code. But I decided to enhance these effects by reworking the army and
navy construction battalions (to start with), and other construction units (time permitting - it is
tedious work because there are so many units.

I replaced 2/3 of the engineer squads with pioneer squads. These will build but not reduce forts.
The other squads become things like bearers, with just one platoon (square) of four engineer squads
in a battalion. The bearers or porters were common, and often natives (and used by both sides), but
they are almost useless in combat. At the same time, I reduced these construction units combat
experience and morale ratings to that of third rate militias. That will either discourage their use
as offensive troops, or such use will not work out very well for players who use them in that way
(except against defenseless or almost defenseless positions).

These features, perhaps spread into even more construction units, will appear in the next update.