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Starting my first campaign (PBEM) as Japan.

Industry:

I did alot of research and planning on industry and I think I have a pretty good handle on it, but there are a couple specific questions.

1) Is HI produced daily?? ...and thus would consume the necessary Oil and Resources Daily. Mechanically, this makes sense, but after looking at the volume of resources I need to transport, this seems like alot of transporting to the home islands.

2) What happens when I'm short on Naval/Merchant Points, probably no delay reduction, but if so...which ships get priority??

3) Maybe I've missed it, but how do I tell how much Armament/MP will a LCU consume when it's deployed??

ASW:

As I'm reading and could guess, protecting your convoys is of huge importance. But looking at the penalties that Japanese crews suffer as the war progresses, I'm not sure how best to approach my ASW.

1) I want to commit a good portion of planes to ASW patrol. But Im worried that this will not be effective in-game. I was thinking alot of my bombers, while training, could participate and cover key choke points, attacking subs both lingering and passing through. How effective is air based ASW??

2) How nullifying are the crew exp penalties for naval ASW?? Does it become pointless to even bother dedicated ASW, or would those ships be better served running convoy escort??

3) I want to use a hub a spoke system so I can concentrate my higher endurance screens on longer convoys. So with that in mind, would I be better served to set up a hug and spoke that avoids highly sub-patrolled choke points??


Thanks.

ORIGINAL: aphrochine

Starting my first campaign (PBEM) as Japan.

Industry:

I did alot of research and planning on industry and I think I have a pretty good handle on it, but there are a couple specific questions.

1) Is HI produced daily?? ...and thus would consume the necessary Oil and Resources Daily. Mechanically, this makes sense, but after looking at the volume of resources I need to transport, this seems like alot of transporting to the home islands.

Yes HI is produced daily - transporting is part of the game and the war. Get WitpTracker or Decoder these will help you...

2) What happens when I'm short on Naval/Merchant Points, probably no delay reduction, but if so...which ships get priority??

The priority is based on the slot number of the ship in the DB - it starts from the Top and works down - once again Tracker can help you here

3) Maybe I've missed it, but how do I tell how much Armament/MP will a LCU consume when it's deployed??

Depends on the makeup of the LCU - I could give you my figures for each type (as there are multipliers for different things) but I don't to look at my code right now ... once again Tracker can tell you this.

ASW:

As I'm reading and could guess, protecting your convoys is of huge importance. But looking at the penalties that Japanese crews suffer as the war progresses, I'm not sure how best to approach my ASW.

1) I want to commit a good portion of planes to ASW patrol. But Im worried that this will not be effective in-game. I was thinking alot of my bombers, while training, could participate and cover key choke points, attacking subs both lingering and passing through. How effective is air based ASW??

Well two sides to the debate here, AFB think Japan is too strong and vice-versa. There was some work done by Apollo and others about this in the Must Read Threads. But you must understand that low exp pilots in all likelihood will not attack a SS, usually the grp exp needs to be above 80, but they may be able to discover a SS.

2) How nullifying are the crew exp penalties for naval ASW?? Does it become pointless to even bother dedicated ASW, or would those ships be better served running convoy escort??

Not sure really - Must Read Threads...many strategy options here regarding ASW usage

3) I want to use a hub a spoke system so I can concentrate my higher endurance screens on longer convoys. So with that in mind, would I be better served to set up a hub and spoke that avoids highly sub-patrolled choke points??

Many ppl do this - I don't in the early stages of the war..

Thanks for the help.  I have WitP tracker, but since I've mostly played Allies before, perhaps I didnt really appreciate it.

Re ASW

your IJAAF bombers will do fine at ASW, if my experience is anything to go by.
As allied in a PBEM the IJAAF Sallies have sunk more subs by end Feb 42 than all of my patrol squadrons and bombers combined have scored hits on IJN subs.[:(]

Once your bomber pilot experience climbs you will have a better ASW force than the allies can muster until mid 1944. Not entirely historical but the game mechanics produce it.