Matrix Games Forums

First: I sunk the Heii and Mutsu in a surface battle. The game reported them sunk, the battle report listed them sunk, the game made the "sinking noises" when stating they were sunk. The problem is that the ships do not appear in the "sunk ships" listing anywhere so I'm out 300+ points.

Second: I paused some transports for a turn to allow a coordinated assualt on a base. To my surprise, the TF's UNLOADED the troops and supplies in the middle of the Solomon Sea! This needs to be fixed. The TF's were on human control and I did not select unload!

Third: DM's will not lay mines in hexes with enemy bases (Subs will). Also, DM's will not lay mines unless "Retirement allowed" is selected. Should be able to lay mines despite the orders and should be able to mine any hex.

Fourth: I set my carrier TF's to "Do not react to enemy" yet my TF keeps reacting to the enemy and leaving the hex I want them in for air cover. Do not react shold mean just that.

Fifth: One of my P-39 units (12-24 planes) has 60+ pilots?!

Sixth: Several B-17 units of 1-2 planes were combined into another unit using withdrawal. Now those same withdrawn units are reappearing with 1 plane. I don't think the units should come back until there are enough pilots and planes to make it a full strength unit. Now I have 6-8 B-17 units with one plane again!

Seventh: For (NO KIDDING) 20 minutes while I could do nothing but sit, my carrier F4F's intercepted Japanese transports (KI TOPSY) and several HUNDRED messages said KI54 Topsy intercepted by F4F. KI54 Topsy destroyed**** To my surprise, only 12 TOPSY planes were reported killed in the battle reports! So why did the machine crank away with several hundred messages of killed planes!? The game didn't lock up or anything and play resumed normally after the ENORMOUS intercept. I have a 2GHz pentium 4 and 512 high speed memory with .1 second message display settings and this went on for 20 minutes!

Eighth: Don't know if this is a bug but subs seem useless on both sides in patrol mode. I've played 9 months and have had just a few dozen torpedo intercepts on both sides with only three successful torpedo attacks. Insanely, I've had probably four dozen intercepts where the subs keep surfacing and using their deck guns against armed targets?! and getting creamed!

Ninth: I've NEVER EVER had a plane attack a sub! I've had planes like dauntless, catalinas, B-26's and others set on ASW with 100% search. I've had them at every possible altitude from 100 to 5000 feet. I've found subs dozens of times but NEVER had a plane attack. This is unrealistic! ALSO: I've had dozens of TF's of SC's and PG's and PT's set on surface combat with every possible order combination and they've NEVER attacked a sub EVER. I've kept them in bases, I've moved them into hexes with sighted subs, everything but they won't attack! What good are sub chasers and the like if they never PATROL for SUBS! You definitely need a TF OPTION for ASW PATROL. The only time any sub gets attacked is after it has attacked a TF and then MAYBE the DD's will drop depth charges.

Tenth: CVE's don't work! The A/C won't fly off these ships. This is unrealistic since the primary job of Jeep carriers was ASW and planes certainly operated form them! Mine won't cap/ attack or anything. All one can do is transprot planes between bases.

Eleventh: Loading troops and supplies is a little whacky. The ships don't always load what they are ordered to load and will often load up on supplies instead of the troops. Also, APD's keep getting drawn from a port and loaded with troops when I don't want any APD's in my human controled transport TF's. QUESTION: How can I get a TF to load supplies on transports and fuel on TK's/AO's without making two different TF's? Certainly tankers and transports can load up and sail together.

QUESTIONS: How does one know when shore batteries engage the enemy?
What good are EAB units? They are called Engineer Aviation Battalions but they don't have ANY aviation support at all attached to them. Aren't they called EAB for a reason?! Do they have some other advantage over a regular engineer?

Hey, great game! Hope you can tweek some things before the Pacific War game. I'd like to see the possible AF/Port values with the VP values associated with each beach as I put my cursor over the hex. Currently it only does it for friendly bases but not red or green beach hexes or enemy bases (Don't see the actual built values-just what's possible). All the extra "clicks" to look at the Port/AF values is a detractor.

Well, you shouldn't be able to mine ANY hex...

Can you? I haven't tried mining anything other than Lunga and Gili Gili (got a ridiculously huge # of hits at Lunga, and at Gili Gili, with TWO sub mines, I got a hit. Speaking of, you should NOT get told when the enemy hits your mines (unless it's at your own base, possibly). It's not like they had remote video cameras set up to watch your mines.

But you shouldn't be able to mine anything but coastal hexes....most of the map has water several thousand feet deep. Can't mine anywhere in reality that isn't shallow.

I can help with your problem #7. Look for the thread "A6M2 zero intercepts C-47 Dakaotas" on page 2 of this forum.

1. Even if the local commander is certain he sunk a ship, it doesn't appear in the sunk ships listing until higher command can verify that as close to 100% as possible. Sometimes ships will show up right away, sometimes not for weeks.

2. This bug came up in testing and was reported fixed. Apparently, it wasn't - please send a zipped saved game to rossm@matrixgames.com with a description of how to show this if you have it. I recall this one was hard to duplicate in testing, it didn't happen often.

3. DMs don't like to stick around once they've laid their mines. That's their purpose in life - therefore they work with retirement allowed Mine Warfare orders. Patrol Mine Warfare orders are logically reserved for minesweepers. We'll check into the base problem.

4. Do Not React still allows for a very limited amount of initiative on the part of the local commander. They may be moving out of some bad weather or just trying to get their TBDs within range. US commanders will generally want to get a bit closer to Japanese carriers. More aggressive commanders are more likely to do a one or two hex reaction. On React orders, they could do a reaction as far as a full move. If you anticipate this, you can assign commanders to counter the tendency when you absolutely must have them stay put.

5. The army personnel department screwed up. It will get sorted out in time. Seriously.

6. If they are sub-units of the same unit, putting them at the same base will lead to them automatically recombining. Units will often be reconstituted in pieces as resources are available. Same thing with ground troops, you may see replacements arrive in company-sized chunks from time to time.

7. Known issue, should be addressed in the first patch. This needs a summary rather than the endless scroll. We tried to eliminate as much of the combat reporting as possible from the scrolling area, but missed this one. I understand hitting the Z key might get you through these faster.

8. One reason for subs surfacing is if they run out of torpedos. As for their effectiveness, it's plenty good. Re-read the manual on subs and read some of the posts from other folks who find them frighteningly effective. Also, keep in mind the newer US subs have incredibly bad torpedos. S-boats are actually more effective when they do torpedo attacks than the new fleet subs.

9. See my other post on this board about ASW patrols. Surface Combat TFs on Patrol and React to Enemy will attack spotted subs.

10. They do work, though there may be a bug associated with one specific CVE, the Long Island. I've regularly used them, including the Long Island, to ferry squadrons. If I've misunderstood you, please elaborate a bit more on a very specific situation where they are not working for you.

11. If you have a TF with both APs and TKs and you click on Load Supplies, the APs will load Supplies while the TKs will load Fuel. As for the drawing in of APDs, the TF commander will supplement if he feels he doesn't have enough room for all the troops. They try to load the troops so that there aren't so many on a single transport that it will take too long to unload them. Excess ships in port are used to improve this process. If you want to make sure your APDs or anchored APs are not included, put them in a separate TF before you start loading.

12. Shore battery hits will be reported during the bombardment/debarkation and in the combat report afterwards.

13. It's a name, I assume they are named that because they built airfields. They're no better or worse than other construction battalions.

Thanks for the comments, glad you're enjoying the game.

Regards,

- Erik

#10 I've had the same problem with CVEs, I can't get planes to fly off and attack from them. I actually pulled one into a Japanese port with ships and it would not attack!

Originally posted by shall9
#10 I've had the same problem with CVEs, I can't get planes to fly off and attack from them. I actually pulled one into a Japanese port with ships and it would not attack!

How many planes were on board your CVE. Remember that if the number of aircraft exceeds the aircraft capacity of any carrier by 110%, planes will not fly off of them. They will only perform air transfer missions (see rule 18.5, page 112 of the manual)

In the case of the CVE Long Island with a capacity of 16, anything above 17 would prevent flight operations off of her.

Erik,
Thanks for the quick reply. Perhaps I should clarify some items.

1. It has been 3 months in game time since the sinking of the BB's and they still don't show in the list. Can the reporting take this long?

2. I don't have a saved game form that pint as I just reloaded and had the TF's move one hex so they wouldn't unload. I believe the way to recreat the problem is to have the transports stop in the water with no movement orders and leave them there. The following turn they will unload the trrops. I'm fairly certain I had the "Do not retire" setting. Destination was a Jap held base. Home base was Noumea.

3. The trouble with retirement only orders is that the TF will retire from percieved threats at a great distance so I can't get them to lay mines in a key area like the slot. Certainly a commander can order the mine laying "at all costs!" Besides most of the time (This case in particular) my carrier TF's were all in a position to counter the enemy carriers (Which is what happened) but the mine laying didn't happen because the DM's withdrew when they were perfectly (Well, not perfect!) screened and covered with CAP!

4. Understand. However, the whole point was for the carriers to provide air cover for the transport TF's so by even reacting a hex or two stripped the invasion fleet of it's protection. DEFINITELY not what the commander ordered! The invasion fleet was to be protected PERIOD! I would fire the commander the abandoned them! So I would like to see an order of NO REACTION PERIOD!

5. It's been a long time in the sorting! How did it happen in the first place and did this affect the number of pilots in other units? I believe so because several of my bomber units had 8-12 planes and only 2-3 pilots! This may be more of a game bug where the pilots at the base got confused as to which A/C they flew?! Or maybe the pilots got tired of bombers and wanted some fighter action!

6. They were not sub units of the same unit so recombination hasn't happened. I still have several one place B-17 units in Noumea although one or two are now up to 9 planes due to replacements (Three months later!) Still rather eliminate useless squadrons to obtain full strenth ones.

7. Understand, happened again yawn!

8. Understand but these are subs with full loads of torpedoes (I checked the units) Besides, don't computer controlled subs return to port when out of torps? This is what I've seen. Subs retire when out of torps.

9. I'm still trying but three more months and no reactions to spotted subs.

10. Sorry, they don't work. Yes you can FERRY but otherwise unusable and I've checked the capacity.

11. Thanks, understand. However, do believe ships should NOT be added unless I put them in the TF. Afterall, ships don't sail without HQ orders to do so. If they need more capacity, well the remainder gets left behind. It may be by design.

12. I've had shore battery hits because damage has appeared but I've never gotten any reports of it during the bombardment phase or any other time. I just hear the pop of a shell.

13. They should get a new name! LOL!

Seriously, great game. Hope Pacific War will be out in 2003! I'll keep looking for glitches to make that better too.

Originally posted by gdpsnake
4. Understand. However, the whole point was for the carriers to provide air cover for the transport TF's so by even reacting a hex or two stripped the invasion fleet of it's protection. DEFINITELY not what the commander ordered! The invasion fleet was to be protected PERIOD! I would fire the commander the abandoned them! So I would like to see an order of NO REACTION PERIOD!

On the other hand, such situations happened. The most famous, of course, is Halsey at Leyte Gulf. He reacted to enemy carriers and ended up a tad bit away from the invasion fleet [:D], and thus they lost the majority of their air cover. It probably has a lot to do with the agressiveness of the TF commander.

1. It's certainly possible. In some cases you may not know for certain until the end of the war. It will be included in the final VP calculations though and cases where sinkings remain unverified for so long are uncommon. Usually, you get confirmation within three months.

2. I'll try to duplicate it, but I recall from testing that this was not regularly repeatable. If you see it again, please get a save file, zip it and send it with description to rossm@matrixgames.com. Thanks.

3. You can set them to Do Not Retire until they get to the hex, then give them Retirement orders and set the hex as a target again. That should do it.

4. I'm afraid this will happen in some cases if the local commander decides it's the best thing to do. Still, I'll note your request for a COMPLETELY NO REACTION setting.

5. Try putting them on 90% to 100% Training missions and things should get sorted out more quickly. If they're not within range of Brisbane or Noumea, moving them within range may help as well. In general though, don't worry too much about it as these things do tend to get sorted out. The game will make sure that there are enough pilots to fly any given mission, training missions are a way to get this sorted quickly without risking the unit in combat.

6. Unfortunately, Washington has different ideas.

8. Computer controlled subs will return, human controlled won't. If they had full torpedo loads, then it was a decision by the skipper. He may have thought he had a good chance but made a poor call. I haven't seen any unusual level of this in testing or post-release.

9. You have to move them onto the sub, then they will react and try to attack it. The key is experience and having them spotted. It is more costly early on but building an effective ASW force is possible and many players are getting the hang of it. Nevertheless, the designers are looking at the balance of this segment to make sure nothing's out of whack.

10. We're checking into this with. Certainly, I've some of them work when I've needed them to, but there seem to be some reported problems specifically associated with the Long Island.

12. I regularly see reports in the bombardment screen regarding shore battery hits. They also show up in the post-bombardment combat report. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be seeing these. If it persists, try a quick head to head game where you set up several CD units and then have the other side bombard with a cruiser/destroyer force to see if the messages appear.

Regards,

- Erik

1. Whe I click on an AC in a base that has multiple AC groups in it and transfer that group to a new base, my view then changes to that new receiving base. It should go back to the original base so I can reassign more AC there to new groups. This is confusing.

2. Jap subs won't lay mines even though they are on a minelaying mission unless the computer is set to Computer Control. I should be able to assign them a mission and a destination and have them lay the mines at that destination even though the sub is set for Human Control.

3. When I try to load troops on a TF and the game is set for two turns, the troops load then begin unloading before I can get control back.

4. The game allows you to assign more supply, fuel, and troop tonnage to a TF than it allows, although I don't think that it would actually load more.

5. When playing the Allies int he East Solomons battle, I attempted to make a new TF and assign one carrier from each of the existing groups based at Noumea. One of the original groups just disappeared along w/ its carriers and ships, never to return.

6. There should be a command to have a TF intercept an enemy TF.

7. I want Waypoints!

Originally posted by KevinRohrer
When I try to load troops on a TF and the game is set for two turns, the troops load then begin unloading before I can get control back.

See the followoing thread...

www.matrixgames.com/forums/showthread.p ... post217298

It would be nice if the “Follow Task Force” button allowed you to follow enemy tast forces in an attempt to intercept them. As the game stands now, it is almost impossible for a surface task group to intercept anything unless the intercepted group is at a base.

Yamamoto

3. When I try to load troops on a TF and the game is set for two turns, the troops load then begin unloading before I can get control back.

Read the appropiate manual section on loading/unloading troops again .

Originally posted by gdpsnake
Fifth: One of my P-39 units (12-24 planes) has 60+ pilots?!

Sixth: Several B-17 units of 1-2 planes were combined into another unit using withdrawal. Now those same withdrawn units are reappearing with 1 plane. I don't think the units should come back until there are enough pilots and planes to make it a full strength unit. Now I have 6-8 B-17 units with one plane again!

I have a P-400 unit with 60 pilots and 12 A/C, and an F4F unit with 50+ pilots and 12 A/C both on Guadacanal, the SBD only has 16 pilots and 16 planes. These guys should never get tired.

You are lucky I recieved two B-17 groups that were disbanded with NO planes and NO pilots and only one has a commander the other has a comander ? with ratings of ? and ?. Both of these units were from the original B-17 groups in Austraila.

Also I have found that the view all land units sometines displays another base's units.

When you assign an attack mission to land units the screen displays the Air Craft replacement screen. The orders are assigned but the display changes to show the A/C relpacement screen.

When you disband a task force could you please make the screen go back to the base display screen.

Originally posted by KevinRohrer
5. When playing the Allies int he East Solomons battle, I attempted to make a new TF and assign one carrier from each of the existing groups based at Noumea. One of the original groups just disappeared along w/ its carriers and ships, never to return.

Do you have a saved game of this? Have you been able to repeat it? If so, please send a zipped copy of your save to rossm@matrixgames.com along with a description of how to duplicate this. Thanks!

Regards,

- Erik