Japanese Production

[ditkadg]

Hey all! I am a complete newby (possibly idiot as well), I love this game and usually am one to just start playing and then read the manual when I get to something I don't understand. Well, I have arrived. I am playing completely stock campaign and am at 8/25/42. I seem to be doing well as I have sunk Enterprise, Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown and Hornet so far (the Wasp keeps elluding me), but I am really comfused as to what I need to do to get more supplies to my troops. I have imported from the DEI a crapload of resources (I have 277,316 at Osaka/Kobe) right now and although it goes down 825 per turn, not much else is happening. I have a major shortage of Nakajima engines (i.e. 0) and cannot build any it seems. I have 1148 Mitsu, 0 Nakajima, 78 Hitachi, 128 kawasaki as of my last turn. I have turned off all Mitsubishi production but nothing is happeneing. I have plenty of fuel but it seems no "supplies" production in the HI. Some of my bases such as Palembang have skyrocked up with supplies recently (90k or so) and I have convoys on the way to get and disburse to outposts). My confusion is that I assumed (I know what it stands for) that I bring resources to the HI and then it is turned into war material and supplies that are then transported to garrisons. Am I fundamentally messed up here. And why does the auto-convoy system not seem to do anything even thogh I have like 250 AK's and 75 AP's plus escorts in it? Thanks your your help and putting up with what undoubtedly is a pretty stupid series of questions.

Derek

[Gem35]

Only stupid questions are those that go unasked. How is your oil stockpile? That seems the bugaboo for japanese players. You need that precious oil.

[ditkadg]

Right Now in Osaka/Kobe:

Supplies: 6963
Supplies equired: 4532
Fuel: 201986
Fuel requested: 128000

Oil Storage: 744
Resources Storage: 277316

So, I need to get some TK's to Palembang, Tarakan, Balikapan, etc. and load OIL, not fule correct?

[Sheytan]

yep you need to load oil.

ORIGINAL: ditkadg

Right Now in Osaka/Kobe:

Supplies: 6963
Supplies equired: 4532
Fuel: 201986
Fuel requested: 128000

Oil Storage: 744
Resources Storage: 277316

So, I need to get some TK's to Palembang, Tarakan, Balikapan, etc. and load OIL, not fule correct?

[ditkadg]

Cool, thanks guys for the advice. I have several convoys loading as we speak. Can one of you guys shed any light on the auto-convoy system. I read in the manual about how to put ships into and set up bases for it but it really does not seem to do diddly. Am I better off just making my own convoys and running them myself. Right now I only have a few select bases activated (Rabaul, Truk, Siapan, Kwajalein, etc) and none of the small ones. It just doesn't really seem like it does anything.

[ny59giants]

Here is an example of all the numbers you need to learn about. Call it Economics 101. This program takes them from the same place you read in your game. The program tells you what went where and if you spent more than you have. Some of the tabs under the Industry Section show you where all your Supplies, Fuel, Oil, and Resources are. It will tell you if the Home Island have a shortage of Oil, how many days worth you have there. I cannot play Japan without it. [;)]

[Gem35]

great stuff ny59giants.[:)]
Auto-convoy is a bit broken, don't rely on it.
Computer will send your transports into harms way of enemy land -based aircraft on average.
Manually enter your convoys for the best results.

[ditkadg]

Ahh, it is starting to make some sense. Economics was never my strong point. Where can I find the WitP tracker as it seems like quite a helpful tool?

[Gem35]

here is a thread about it.
tm.asp?m=1774229

[ny59giants]

Here is the link to download it (Tracker). If you run into problems, just post here 24/7. There is always tech support. This is a world wide organization on the message board for WitP. [:D]

One of the two Tracker developers lives in New Jersy while the other is in South Korea. Usually, one of them is on this board for part of the day and others will be glad to help guide you through the steep learning curve.

http://witptracker.googlepages.com/

[ditkadg]

You gys really rock! Thanks for taking the time to help explain some of the details of the game. Since you guys seem to know your stuff, maybe I can get away with two more questions...or maybe they are just things that seem to bother me.
 
1. If I have a convoy that is home based in Nagoya and I send them to Palembang, why will they turn around sometimes without ever making it to Palembang (fuel was not an issue). This can be other destinations s well, I had one that seemed like it did not want to go to Shanghai. And why to they always revert back to "retirement allowed" from "patrol, do not retire"?
 
2. This is a land based question, but the same goes for some units as well. If I have a division in Pakhoi and I want them to advance to Nanning, I set it up as move to Naninng, with future plans for Nanning. Say the unit had future plans before of Hanoi, well after a tuen it reverts back to Hanoi and the unit starts to move away. Is this due to what HQ the unit is attached, or what "theater" it is assinged, i.e. China Expeditionary, Burma, etc. 

[alaviner]

ORIGINAL: ditkadg

You gys really rock! Thanks for taking the time to help explain some of the details of the game. Since you guys seem to know your stuff, maybe I can get away with two more questions...or maybe they are just things that seem to bother me.

1. If I have a convoy that is home based in Nagoya and I send them to Palembang, why will they turn around sometimes without ever making it to Palembang (fuel was not an issue). This can be other destinations s well, I had one that seemed like it did not want to go to Shanghai. And why to they always revert back to "retirement allowed" from "patrol, do not retire"?

2. This is a land based question, but the same goes for some units as well. If I have a division in Pakhoi and I want them to advance to Nanning, I set it up as move to Naninng, with future plans for Nanning. Say the unit had future plans before of Hanoi, well after a tuen it reverts back to Hanoi and the unit starts to move away. Is this due to what HQ the unit is attached, or what "theater" it is assinged, i.e. China Expeditionary, Burma, etc. 

The problem for both your questions is probably some regions set to computer control. It is best to have everything set to human control. The AI will change orders to meet its "objectives"

[Bogo Mil]

Often I have the first problem, too. And I have nothing under computer control.

Turning around is quite rare. I can usually explain it: There was an air threat, and the not-quite-so-brave TF commander aborted the mission.
But the "do not return" order is always ignored by transport TFs. If all ships finish unloading, they revert to "retirement allowed" and leave immediately. My workaround if I want the ships to stay: I set the destination port as homeport (this also makes turning around impossible).
But this workaround has a small problem, too: Often the ships do not start unloading automatically at their home port. They just enter the port and sit there with "no orders", then I have to order unloading manually next turn.