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I must say, one can notice the AI has been tweaked, and mostly for the better. In the game i'm currently playing, by March 1942 the Jap AI tried landings at Johnston Island and Palmyra, although with barely insufficent forces. This got me to quickly try to move divisions to these islands and to Midway...

Guess what happened at Midway? My APAs were escorted by my fleet carriers and this relief force run smack into a full scale Japanses invasion fleet, with Carriers and all... a massive Battle of Midway ensued resulting in land-based Danutless bombers sinking two Jap CVLs while the Enterprise and the Yorktown suffered heavy damage...

No sooner had these two CVs been repaired back at Pearl (by June or so), Catalinas from Anchorage discover several Jap task forces faar north of Pearl (about halfways to Alaska). Seing nightmare images of a second Pearl Harbor, i put the air and naval forces at Pearl on combat footing (stop training that is).

Sure enough, it IS a second battle of Pearl Harbor, and the Japs brought transports this time! The Jap carriers launch wawe after wawe against Pearl, but this time i'm ready for them, and while loosing nearly 2:1 in fighters, i end up massacring the Jap bombers and severly decimating the Zeroes. A-20s and B-18s counterstrike and damage two CVs. Big shock then: the Japs land a divísion at Kaui! The forces there hold for the moment.

By the end of the turn, the enemy starts to withdraw, but my CV task force gets a reaction move, and oh my... its a slaughter that extends into the next turn. In the end i sink 6 CVs 2 CVLs and 1 CVE, plus a dozen assorted medium combatants and 20 or so APs and MCS. Cut off, the Jap division at Kaui is eventually destroyed when my reinforcements arrive.

While this move might have seen nearly suicidial by the Jap AI, had i not happened to discover the TFs in the north pacific, he would have scored a MAJOR victory, perhaps sunk several of my CVs since most air assets at the Hawaii islands were training. I like this new agressive AI to keep me on my toes...

Only problem i've noticed with it, it does not seem to care much about the South West Pacific area, it has still not captured Rabaul or moved into the Solomons... perhaps because Java held out for rather long before falling?

/Excited Yogi

The Ai is really aggressive near Pearl (Johnston and Palmyra). I've also noticed much more aggression in India. However, I too have noticed a distinct disregard for the Solomons and New Guinea. The computer AI shouldn't pass up the opportunity at so many victory points easily gained early on.

I think the areas of Japanese computer aggression might be a random thing. After the Pearl Harbor attack I sent my 2 US carriers under Halsey to Rabaul. On the third turn they met a major Jap invasion force including multiple CVs and CVLs. Both carriers were sunk and the Japs invaded and captured Rabaul. I restarted so I can't say what the AI would have done next.

Yes Very aggressive. The gound forces are the 20th,41st and 51st Infantry divisions belonging to the China AG. These divisions were eventually (1943 era) sent to New Guinea. I'm in march and am having my thirdgo around with these guys. Also AI is very timid in so. Pac still haven't gone after Rabual. I'm in Late March.

Other than the divisions, I think the issue is focus. The IJN is focusing all of its efforts on the central pacific area, and thereby ignoring the Solomons. It may be that when the 17th army comes in (sometime in late 42), then those forces will move in and occupy the solomons, but I can't be sure. I think the AI may be too willing to go for the jugular. I wouldn't mind seeing it try a real attack on Wake before it goes after Midway or Johnston island.

Hello...

As you may know, we added the secure PBEM routines, the PBEM VCR function, and the screen for added campaigns, fixed a number of bugs and added a number of new ship types, aircraft and weapons systems, and made a number of further enhancements.

We also removed all the computer advantages in combat, so to keep the game a challenge, we spent a goodly amount of time recoding the artificial intelligence.

The computer opponent should now make moderate attacks every where at once or concentrate on the Central Pacific or against the British in India or head south into the Solomons.

But, it does not have enough preparation points, carriers or transports to make an all out attack in more than one direction at a time. So, while it is throwing every thing against CenPac, and it needs to throw a lot that direction to have a chance of winning, it will have little left to send against SoPac.

If it is going to attack CenPac, it has to do so very early in the game. It is a very risky venture. If it looses there, it will probably loose the war. But, if it can win there or at least take some of the atolls, the US will have to take them back later and that will delay entry into the Marianas and possibly make it until August 1945, without being nuked.

If it is going to attack in the east and try to take the British out of the war, so that it can fight a one front war, it is best to do so very early in the game. This is a less risky strategy, as the British and Indian troops are not as ready as the Americans and they have fewer aircraft of pooper quality. But, once again, they will most likely have to use most of their carriers and battleships to make the attack succeed. Once the British are out of the war, they will be able to concentrate their forces in against SoPac or CenPac.

They can also try to go deep into the Solomons and try to capture Espritu Santu and New Caledonia, thereby cutting off Australia. This is the tactic they took during the war. It might work, but the risk is that it could turn into a battle of attrition, as it did and they could loose, as they did.

The way it is currently coded, they can also make an attack against Alaska, but Yamato is loath to give up the preparation points need for the North Pacific Command to make that attack, unless they have done very well in the Central Pacific.

We also tried to encourage attacks by the Chinese Expeditionary Force against the Chinese. Because of the high cost the command has to pay for activation, it seldom attacks in earnest until 1945. But, like the North Pacific Command, it now is much more proactive in defense of bases it already controls.

We also changed the order in which the computer opponent attacks some bases and randomized some others.

In other words, we tried to make the game more interesting, by making it less predictable. The Allied player will no longer know the exactly where and when the computer opponent will attack. If the player expects an attack in the South Pacific and moves all his forces there to defend and the computer attacks in the Central Pacific... Well General Short and Admiral Kimmel won't be the only ones that the Senate investigate.

Other than changing the way the Japanese and Allied computer player decides to fight, we also modified the OBC files. In the past, I never lost Singapore or Manila or Rangoon against the computer opponent. Do to some brilliant work by Jeremy and Rich, we have made it much more difficult to hold onto these bases. They will now fall about the same time they did historically, if the Japanese computer opponent plays the attack everywhere with moderate forces option. So, if you find it harder to make stands at these bases, it is not because you cannot play as well as you once did.

Well, I have to go back to work on "War in the Pacific: Struggle Against Japan".

Have a lot of Fun...

Michael Wood

So far I have only noticed the vastly increased aggressivness of the Japanese AI towards the islands guarding Pearl Habor. Bypassing Wake it attacked Midway after a few turns. Caught me totally off guard. Almost all undamaged USN capital ships were on their way to Java and already too far away to help. Some planes of the two SBD groups (without fighter cover)on Midway miraculously survived IJN carrier attacks on the airfields and damaged some transport, but the lone Marine Defense Bn on the island then fought off landing attempts of two IJA infantry divisions (!). Next the AI landed a single SNLF unit on undefended Christmas Is., but didn't exploit this and withdrew Kido Butai to pound Rabaul's small Aussi garrison with all CV's and BB's for weeks before landing SNLF's there. Does the AI now emulate some of the irrationality often found on the Axis side?

B.t.w., the claim "In the past, I never lost Singapore or Manila or Rangoon against the computer opponent" makes me wonder "How???". I once thought "I'm good" when I took San Francisco in mid-43, winning the war for Japan in an even game. Playing the Allies, in most cases I kept Rangoon, but always failed to save Singapore, (much less Manila), instead sacrificing every LCU, A/C and ship within reach. Took the AI a bit longer than Feb 15th 42 to capture it, but after most of my few AP's and a lot of MCS were sunk on supply runs, there was little I could do against it. What's the secret?

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Robinson Crusoe was the only person who got all his work done by Friday.

[This message has been edited by LargeSlowTarget (edited September 27, 2000).]


[This message has been edited by LargeSlowTarget (edited September 27, 2000).]

"never lost Singapore or Manilla"!?!?! <shocked look of polite disbelief>

The IJN tried to land on Johnson Island lost 2 BB's and a CVL and 1 inf div then Signet told me they were headed for Palmyra so I went there but instead 2nd landing on Johnson Island I lost 1 inf div 1 def Bn 1 eng and 5 airgroups. I retook Johnson killing 2 inf div and 1 SNLF regt. Wake still not attacked however IJN has captured Rabaul, and Solomon's I think AI is much improved Johnson Island activity took me off guard as I was reinforceing Midway. Rear Adm Kinkaid with Arizona and Colorado and 6 CA's defeated 2 Kongo class and 2 Aobo class at first battle of Johnson Island. Halsy then sank most of 41st div but at 2nd battle of Johnson Island Halsy did nothing then when I went to recapture he spent his air wings attacking airfields ignoring at least 6 IJN carriers in 3 different TF's Now I have Halsy with 2 carrirs on react at Johnson and Sprunce with 3 at Midway. Signet says operation against Midway being planned we shall see. Good luck to all and I love this game!!!!

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I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a differant direction!

[I've played this game for years, and love it, and of course am enjoyinhg the update. However, I still see one thing that has always bugged me - the game allows you to send divissions to Midway! I've seen Midway and Sand, and there is no way "divisions" could fit!

I agree that there's no way a division could garrison Midway, and I've seen house rules reflecting this, but just about the entire 2nd Marine Division came ashore at Betio, and it's about the same size as Sand Island (Betio is only 3 miles long, 600 yds across). Don't ask me where they fit them all!

I've used other house rules limiting one assaulting division loaded per TF to prevent multiple divisions coming ashore on an atoll at the same time, and this has worked pretty well (a well entrenched regiment can do a lot of damage to a division assaulting an atoll).

Regards,

Rich Dionne

>>In the past, I never lost Singapore or Manila or Rangoon against the computer opponent. Do to some brilliant work by Jeremy and Rich, we have made it much more difficult to hold onto these bases.<<

I always managed to hold Singapore and Rangoon (the key to these is Jitra), but how did you hold Manila?

Mind you under the revised AI, the best I seem to be able to do is hold Medan and launch an early counter attack into Malaya

Hello...

In the old version, if you moved all your ground troops to Kuatan and then reinforced with Dutch troops, they would be able to hold, if you put aircraft in all the air bases in Malay. The Flying Tigers are key here, because moving them to Singapore would allow enough Japanese aircraft to be destroyed, to brunt the effects of the air strikes from French Indochina and allow the aircraft based at Singapore to gain experience by attacking Japanese troops in Malay. Placing the maximum number of squadrons that each base would hold, all over Malay, would reduce the automatic supply that the Japanese on the peninsula would receive and prevent the Japanese from activating their divisions and attacking at Kuatan. And, until Kuatan fell, the computer opponent would not attack Jitra. Eventually, your air groups would gain enough experience, and the aircraft in French Indochina would suffer enough casualties, to allow bombardment missions against Kuatan. And, once reinforcements started arriving on the map, they could be sent to Singapore and you could actually take back Bangkok and relink the British/Indian forces after horrendous battles where the Indian troops died by the thousands building the experience of the units above twenty five.

In the case of Manila, it could be held if Clark Field could be. The Japanese computer opponent would not attack from the sea or move troops from Lagaspi or Lingayen, if you had enough aircraft in the area to restrict computer opponent supply. Key in the Philippines, was to move the SBD squadron from Oahu to Bataan by turn three. This could be accomplished by flying down to Tonga on turn two and ferrying them over to Fiji. On turn three, you could then fly them to Bataan. You would end up with nine dive bombers, which would be sufficient to harass or destroy ever fleet that sailed by. You also needed to bring all the planes from Australia into the Philippines one turn one and using a method similar to the dive bombers, move all the rest of the aircraft from Oahu to Luzon and the islands around it. Cagayan would need to have all the B-17 groups you could muster. And, you would need to bring US divisions in, starting the long trek on turn one, from Oahu. If you fed in the local naval forces to prevent the Japanese from taking any of the islands around Luzon, the computer opponent would keep sending the amphibious fleets back time and time again. You would loose ships from long range Betty attacks, but they would loose ground forces on board ships from your dive bombers and medium range bombers on naval interdiction. The B-17 groups would keep any Japanese in the area supply free. You would also need to take every submarine you could muster and place to the north of Luzon, along the invasion route. The subs would sink some ships and alert the air groups to their presence.

You could empty the Hawaii area of forces, by immediately sending a division to Wake. The computer opponent would not attack Midway or Palmyra, until Wake fell.

All this took careful timing. If you missed any one item, the entire defense would fall apart. You would end up fighting the war in the Philippines and not in the Solomons. You would end up with a tremendous air war of attrition. You would end up loosing just about every fighter of every type in the Allied arsenal and most bomb groups would never have more than 15 planes in them. In the process, you would end up sinking all the Japanese destroyers, cruisers, battleships and carriers and most of their transports by air and sub attacks as they moved about trying to land troops and while they tired to bombard and resupply Lingayen. By the time Spitfires became available, the defensive war would be over and you could start fighting in China and attack in the Marianas.

I have used this strategy hundreds of times with success.

Have Fun...

Michael Wood
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Originally posted by andrewmv:
>>In the past, I never lost Singapore or Manila or Rangoon against the computer opponent. Do to some brilliant work by Jeremy and Rich, we have made it much more difficult to hold onto these bases.<<

I always managed to hold Singapore and Rangoon (the key to these is Jitra), but how did you hold Manila?

Mind you under the revised AI, the best I seem to be able to do is hold Medan and launch an early counter attack into Malaya

Wow! I ended up always writing them both off, and immediately evacuating at least the core US forces from the PI, and the "pure" Brit forces from Singapore. Shuttled the Dutch troops to garrison some of the little islands linking Indo to Oz so I could tranfer aircraft easily. Used the available troops/airgroups to hold Indonesia, Rangoon, Midway, and Rabaul, and beat the IJN fleet up when they tried to invade...could usually manage to at least heavily damage the majority of the Jp. carriers during this period. Held this perimeter until I had at least 2 carrier TF's and 2 bombardment TF's to give me a mobile "local superiority" force to start island hopping.

In the old PacWar my main strategy was holding Java. Just send every Battleship and good LBA to the island and you can hold off any attack. You see that the IJAAF built a base in Borneo and is bombing the heck out of you? Just send in your battleship force to smash it down to size. I can usually hold on to Sumatra if I can get the 8th and 18th Divisions out of Malaya. However, the IJA goes medieval on your foces (sends in troops from both the 25th and 16th Armies, around 3 Divisions) and you can only hold Sumatra if you send in the 32nd or 41st US Divisions. You should also send the 24th and 35th Fighter Groups from the Philippines to the Indies ASAP before all land routes are cut off.

Regarding the Philippines. I have noticed in the new OBC file that once Borneo, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi are taken by the Japanese they heavily arm these islands with dive-bombers, and any attempt to enter or leave the Philippine islands ends in the massacre of that force.

However, with the new OBC files the Allies have less Land Based Air Groups than the original OBC files. The RAF and RAAF Squadrons have been combined into wings, with 1/2 to 1/3 of the groups at the beginning of the game. The USAAF also has less Air Groups (this was done historically). Ths USMC Squadrons are best saved for defending the central Pacific Islands and the South Pacific Islands. So, it is harder for the Allies to win an attrition battle with the Japanese in the first few months.

Originally posted by babyseal7:
Wow! I ended up always writing them both off, and immediately evacuating at least the core US forces from the PI, and the "pure" Brit forces from Singapore. Shuttled the Dutch troops to garrison some of the little islands linking Indo to Oz so I could tranfer aircraft easily. Used the available troops/airgroups to hold Indonesia, Rangoon, Midway, and Rabaul, and beat the IJN fleet up when they tried to invade...could usually manage to at least heavily damage the majority of the Jp. carriers during this period. Held this perimeter until I had at least 2 carrier TF's and 2 bombardment TF's to give me a mobile "local superiority" force to start island hopping.

Copy that. Mike and Major Tom, I admit I'm really impressed. I played PW for years [can't remember having ever done anything else ], but after a few halfhearted attempts to hold Manila, Singapore or just only Java I now always evacuate as much as possible out of PI, Malaya, Indonesia to help defending Rangoon and perhaps Timor, using the US divisions to garrison central and south pacific islands, and slugging it out in the Solomons 42, and take back Gilberts and Marshalls in 43. Pretty conventional strategy, but I hesitate to risk "my men" for trial and error adventures. Seems I'm more a Ghormley than a Halsey. Well, there is honor in victory, honor in defeat, and honor in just staying alive.

Regarding the new PW, in my current game (USA 41 even), AI was much more aggressiv during first few months. Attempted landings on Midway, Johnson, Palmyra while bypassing Wake, finally took Christmas Is., then withdrew to capture Guinea/Solomons. Strangely, the AI failed to garrison this area. In mid 43 I walked an Aussie Bn from Moresby to Hollandia without opposition and retook the all the Solomons except Bougainville with two Raider Bns (should have been only a recon-in-force, hit-and-evac). SIGINT and Bombardment missions showed only one Rgt at Rabaul and one NCU at Kavieng, so I invaded both, triggering a major carrier & BB response which was torn to pieces by my LBA in Guinea and Solomons - so much for Kido Butai. AI seems to pile divisions in Gilberts, Marshalls and Wake - there should definitly be a stacking-limit for LCUs on atolls, perhaps linked to airfield and port size (same with sending a convoy with hundreds of MCS in a size 2 port and all ships unload there within a week).
Let's see what surprise is next. Will go for apparently ungarrisoned Jaluit, Woitje and Bikini - hit them where they ain't.

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If your attack is going really well, you're walking into an ambush.

Originally posted by Rich Dionne:
I agree that there's no way a division could garrison Midway, and I've seen house rules reflecting this, but just about the entire 2nd Marine Division came ashore at Betio, and it's about the same size as Sand Island (Betio is only 3 miles long, 600 yds across). Don't ask me where they fit them all!

I've used other house rules limiting one assaulting division loaded per TF to prevent multiple divisions coming ashore on an atoll at the same time, and this has worked pretty well (a well entrenched regiment can do a lot of damage to a division assaulting an atoll).

Regards,

Rich Dionne

One way to look at it is not whole Div invades... More like Wave after wave, especially if defenders force multiple LCU fights.

The Japanese are really more aggressive, but I think they are more silly,too. There is no sense in invading the Christmas Islands with no possibility to reinforce the LCU there. I butchered nearly the whole Japanese LCU-Transport-Fleet in about 3 turns. I just sent some bombers to Palmyra!

Just so you know--my first game is going quite conventionally. No attacks on CenPac, and so far no real effort against India either. Combined Fleet is mopping up the Dutch East Indies and the Philipines, so I presume they'll come for the rest of the Solomons and New Guinea next (they've already taken half of them). My LBA will be waiting...

On the other hand, while it looks like the same old AI, just knowing it might not be has forced me to divert assets to CenPac that would hav gone south, and added a good bit of uncertainty in general. So, thumbs up on the changes.

Some of the IJN moves are too agressive..Can't believe I just said that.

In my current game the IJN took Midway and Johnson in early Jan. 41 then stockpile each island with hundreds of ships of all types. Johnson was garrisoned by a lone SNLF and Midway left uncovered except for some Betty's and Zeroes. I landed a division size force on each and wiped out 300 plus ships!!

But did have the Yorktown torched by the Midway Bettys.