Matrix Games Forums

I'm a JFB who is setting up my 1st turn in a PBEM game. It seems to be taking me an extraordinarily long time to do so. I've invested approximately 15 hours so far and am only a third of the way finished.

I am curious to know about how long it is taking you other JFB's to perform this daunting task.

Thank you in advance,

Caliban

Even with first time setups as Japan in WitP and AE I've never used more than 6-7 hours.
Do we have a perfectionist here? [;)]

I spend about 12 hours and just accept the inevitable omissions and screwups [:D]

My first turn usually takes about 6-8 hours of setup and review. I learned to spread the rest of setup across the first 4-6 turns focusing on the most important objectives, limited industry expansion and other priorities first. The rest will fall in place over the next few turns. Usually after 7 turns I am in a fairly quick adjustment and can get turns back in an hour or two.

Keep in mind it doesn't hurt to let your LCUs soak up some reinforcements the first couple of turns so I don't worry much about the mainland initially.

And like pompack said, you learn to accept that your are going to forget something along the line. You just hope it isn't anything critical. [:D]

I do it in stages , A/c 1st then engines next turn when tracker gets the numbers for me. then later look at HI and shipyards, by the end Dec it all makes more sense. My biggest problem on turn 1 is finding all the useable troops for japan, they seem to have been scattered to the 4 winds previously [;)]. I know everyone has complained about china before but if you keep to the actual needed garrison levels its a nightmare swopping troops around for weeks for me.

My 1st game vs the AI i lost 4 cities in china ! thats probably a record [;)]. Must focus on that place more. as allies i'm semi comfortable with it post patch 2 but as japan im lost in a morass of very mixed units, most of which are over garrisoning places. Hopefully it'll make sense later on [;)]

I'm also with Pompack here , there will inevitable be screw ups , just deal with them when you can later on. Any 'perfect' japanese startup turn depends on the players perspective anyway so its a illusive beast regardless.

ORIGINAL: Caliban

I'm a JFB who is setting up my 1st turn in a PBEM game. It seems to be taking me an extraordinarily long time to do so. I've invested approximately 15 hours so far and am only a third of the way finished.

I am curious to know about how long it is taking you other JFB's to perform this daunting task.

Thank you in advance,

Caliban

Just make sure you "save" your set-up often..., and especially when you think you have finished. Then all you will have to do is "adjust" it for your next game.

Exactly right. I make numerous interim saves at differing points in the process. I can always revert to those stages.

Jah, doing a little each turn is the best approach...
I find it necessary to go through all Jap bases on T0 - after this is done I take a quick look into industry and production.
Then I can go through all dispositions and plan the turn.

I'm still finding more things that could have been done on T0 but it's no big deal if I wait.
Being patient is actually a virtue in AE just as well as being accurate and tedious [;)]

So far, I've always played "historical start" in both WITP and AE - so - my first turn takes a few seconds - as I key in my password and hit save!!! [:D]

Yeah, it takes me at least 16 hours for setting up the first turn. LOL

It took me two weeks...

I prefer not to save previous mistakes. Everytime I play this game I find a better way to do things or find things that I should have done but didn't the first time or second or third. LOL.
So, I never save previous game starts as there is always room for improvement!

ORIGINAL: Caliban

I'm a JFB who is setting up my 1st turn in a PBEM game. It seems to be taking me an extraordinarily long time to do so. I've invested approximately 15 hours so far and am only a third of the way finished.

I am curious to know about how long it is taking you other JFB's to perform this daunting task.

Thank you in advance,

Caliban

Mike Solli (a long-time forum member) spent about the same amount of time you're describing on his first turn. I probably spent 15-20 hours on my first turn getting the basics taken care of. I adjusted anything I wasn't able to get done in subsequent turns.

I agree with other posters re: saving your first move orders in a save game file for future use.

For me about 4-5 hours. There is always turn 2, 3, 4...

About 4 hours or so. I don't try and do everything on turn 1 -- because by turn 2 I won't remember everything I tried to get done anyway!

I have a vague goal of getting everything up and running to my liking within a week or two, and then I start the Tracker.

The first few turns are combat intensive, and I find it pays off to concentrate on that aspect of the game off the bat. Resources, oil, fuel, engines, HI and the like fall into line as December 41 progresses. A little bit done here, and a little done there. About the only "must" is to get Kate production started early!

Regards,
Feltan

It is one and half month already (since patch 2 came out), that I and guctony are working on various issues, plans, and discussions about our future 2x3 game... We havent give one order to the units in game yet [:D]

Turn 1 took me several weeks to plan. I had to find out where everything was! Then I had to check what the allies had available in different theaters. Actually entering orders took about a week. The second turn went rather fast. But then I found out about how to set up a pilot training regime, more changes that production needed after consulting with the tracker, and things to do with ships that were starting to arrive in the places I needed them on turn 1. So turn 3 has taken about 8 hours. Hopefully, I am back down to two hours now! [8|]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Turn 1 took me several weeks to plan.

Sounds like I'm in trouble!

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Caliban

I'm a JFB who is setting up my 1st turn in a PBEM game. It seems to be taking me an extraordinarily long time to do so. I've invested approximately 15 hours so far and am only a third of the way finished.

I am curious to know about how long it is taking you other JFB's to perform this daunting task.

Thank you in advance,

Caliban

Mike Solli (a long-time forum member) spent about the same amount of time you're describing on his first turn. I probably spent 15-20 hours on my first turn getting the basics taken care of. I adjusted anything I wasn't able to get done in subsequent turns.

I agree with other posters re: saving your first move orders in a save game file for future use.

Definitely keep multiple saves when you're doing your first turn. I had 27 saves. Each one had a title describing what I did. It took me about 4 weeks and 80-100 hours. Keep in mind that this included gathering all the info on all the units too. If I ever do another 7 Dec turn (not anytime soon [:D]) I expect about 50 hours to complete. Yeah, I'm anal. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Caliban

I'm a JFB who is setting up my 1st turn in a PBEM game. It seems to be taking me an extraordinarily long time to do so. I've invested approximately 15 hours so far and am only a third of the way finished.

I am curious to know about how long it is taking you other JFB's to perform this daunting task.

Thank you in advance,

Caliban

Mike Solli (a long-time forum member) spent about the same amount of time you're describing on his first turn. I probably spent 15-20 hours on my first turn getting the basics taken care of. I adjusted anything I wasn't able to get done in subsequent turns.

I agree with other posters re: saving your first move orders in a save game file for future use.

Definitely keep multiple saves when you're doing your first turn. I had 27 saves. Each one had a title describing what I did. It took me about 4 weeks and 80-100 hours. Keep in mind that this included gathering all the info on all the units too. If I ever do another 7 Dec turn (not anytime soon [:D]) I expect about 50 hours to complete. Yeah, I'm anal. [:D]

All true - but saving for future use can be tough because many patches require that the game be started under the new version to pick up certain changes. One example is the monsoon season changes. In patch 2 beta the dates for the monsoon were off. Patch 2 fixed the dates, but only for new games.