Keeping high oil reserve for Japan?

[boggle]

I'm pretty new to Pacific War, downloaded it a couple weeks ago. So far I played the Japanese side and tried different openings in the matrixgame 1941 campaign. In my current game I'm in mid January and my oil reserve is down to 4000. The rate it is dwindling is alarming, as the preparation points are based on this. I conquered Palembang and other locations with high oil resources in the west, but still get no increase in oil reserve.

So what are common strategies for spring 42? Shutdown some theathers? I'm still advancing on all fronts. Conquering even more oil resources? Is there an up to date list of resources for 3.1 somewhere?

Another observation: In turn one I tried to attack Pearl Harbor with two carrier forces. One with focus on ships, the other targeting air field. Neither one attempted an attack, but were quite successfull. The computer player threw a lot of planes against the carriers and had no success. As I told both TF to stay on station (suicide in RL I guess) in turn two an american carrier force arrived and I was able to sink two carriers for one. Plus some secondary ships which showed up.

And one question: Is there a way to transfer a ship from the pool to a port directly without a ship of the same kind? Even when APs are in the pool Alt-T doesn't transfer them to the ports where I need them.

Bye,
Torsten

[Jeremy Pritchard]

I don't remember if I playtested this in 3.1, or in the still progressing 3.2, but I have seen that the IJ AI can rebuild its oil supply level to 10 000+ starting around late 1942 or early 1943. They usually do this when they slow down on all theatres but one. The major use of oil/fuel is the Japanese merchant fleet. When it has to continually supply advancing front lines, the fuel supply dwindles. I recommend holding only one offensive front line after you secure the East Indies. I might even recommend not venturing into Burma, as it is a major supply drain for little VP gain.

Using large fleets is also a big fuel drain. Never do a Midway style operation, as it sucks up fuel for little proportional gain. Use only your best and fastest ships, rely on your Heavy Cruisers and keep your battleships at port.

Train air groups ONLY at the Home Islands. Training missions eat up a lot of fuel, but doing them is important. If you train your air groups at bases outside of the Home Islands, Merchant ships have to waste fuel sending the fuel to the base, however, fuel is created at the Home Islands, so using it up for pilot training will skip the Merhcant middleman, requiring that less fuel is used.

Also, similar to this, never send out LCU's or Air Groups that are newly created. Sending them out may be easy on your shipping, as they are so small moving them is no problem. However, when they are at their bases, the requirements of supply to get them to grow to full strength will require a lot of merchant vessels to use up fuel to send supply over.

I recommend you wait until your IJA/IJN LCU formations have reached 243 Squads and 48 Artillery before you send them off. Chances are you will not get enough AFV's in your pool to have your Tank numbers at full. Never send an airgroup into battle unless it has 60-65 experience, otherwize it will be slaughtered and a waste of supply building it up.

The IJNAF becomes pretty much useless when the USMC gets the F4U-1 Corsair in October 1942, so your best bet for LBA in the South Pacific is to use the IJAAF for fighter cover. Their fighters, notably the Ki-61 and Ki-45, are the only ones who can tangle with the new USMC and USAAC fighters. Keep the IJNAF LBA groups in reserve, keep their experience high, so in 1944 when you get better planes they are very powerful.

[jjjanos]

Re: Oil reserve....

There is precious little you can do about this as it is your heavy industry that eats all the oil - I believe 25 oil for each heavy industry point. Military operations are secondary to this use, and for the most part, are hampered by the lack of oil and do not cause the lack of oil.

Part of this is simple economics - the Empire had a shortage of tankers and really could not transport sufficient oil to fulfill all of the needs of the Home Islands. Part of this is military - the UN subs are popping your tankers and every tanker that sinks loses both the oil resources on it and the future oil it would have carried. This second loss only begins to bite when you start to lose alot of tankers. Part of this is game mechanics, or at least it use to be.

Fuel is sent to the forward areas independent of whether you want fuel sent to a location and, as far as I can determine, captured fuel is never transported from a base. Some of the DEI bases have decent sized fuel stocks and, unless you make the effort to ship it from there to where you want it, it ain't moving. Consequently, you could have massive amounts of fuel in the DEIs, but the convoy system keeps drawing oil from your stockpile. Or at least it use to do it this way.

While this is a a result of programming, it also serves to represent the absolute chaos of the Empire's supply system. The Army and Navy each had their own merchant fleets and they did not coordinate shipments. Just read last night that the only reason the Empire started a protected convoy system in mid-war was because the Army instituted one. The Navy refused to protect or form merchant convoys.

Second question: Pearl Harbor. I do not know why the TFs did not attack Pearl, but unless you play the historical first turn, there is no reason to expect the Pacific Fleet to be in harbor.

Third question: No. Because of memory constraints - remember this is a 10(?) year old game - the number of units is limited. Consequently, merchant and transport ships can only enter the game through a unit.

Observation: I never use the get transport function nor, except for the first turn, do I add ships to a unit at any port other than in the US, Australia or India/Ceylon. I will transfer ships between units in the same port. This is my way of simulating the lack of shipping and amphib capability that hampered both sides. If I want to invade Guadalcanal and Lae, then I will need to deal with the time it takes to get the 'phibs from the first staging area to the second.

What this makes for is a tight game of logistics. E.g. You've just invaded Guadalcanal and want to reenforce the landing. You've only got 1 division available in the area, but 3 divisions sitting back in the US. If you use the reserve division, you no longer have a reserve in theater, but if you try to use the troops in the US, then you are looking at 6-8 weeks before they arrive in theater as your 'phibs will need to sail back to the US and then back to the theater.

This puts a premium on planning. An offensive will stall for a lack of transport and failure to ensure adequete reserves. You always have the option of a shoesting operation like Watchtower, but you pay the penalty of waiting weeks for the followup forces.

Jeff

[Blackhorse]

Originally posted by boggle
I'm pretty new to Pacific War, downloaded it a couple weeks ago. So far I played the Japanese side and tried different openings in the matrixgame 1941 campaign. In my current game I'm in mid January and my oil reserve is down to 4000. The rate it is dwindling is alarming, as the preparation points are based on this. I conquered Palembang and other locations with high oil resources in the west, but still get no increase in oil reserve.
Torsten

Torsten,

Don't worry about the initial, precipitous decline in oil reserves. It is hard-wired into the game (mostly to give the Japanese a lot of PP in the first two months, I think.)

Now that it has been reduced to a "historical" level, your actions -- capturing oil bases, limiting ship movements - can increase the size of the reserve.

[Capt. Harlock]

There is another techique I've tried, but it's pretty labor-intensive, and I've had only limited success with it. Many of the bases in the Dutch East Indies come with large amounts of fuel stockpiled when you capture them. Take a few tankers, and all the AO's you can spare, and ship the fuel back to the Japanese Home Island cities. Whenever a city drops below 4000 fuel points, it replenishes itself, at a cost from the National Oil Reserve. If you can keep your cities above 4000 fuel, it should help. (The reason you use AO's is that they are not involved in the Routine Convoys.)

[Denniss]

And AO are much faster than tankers - not so vulnerable to sub attacks .
And avoid moving your HQ around too often .
Seems the routine convoy system often fills HQ bases with masses of fuel and supplies .
Supplies ok but more than 4000 fuel is never needed .

[Nomad]

Also realize that if you put your HQ at a base that has land connections, even more fuel and supplies will be sent since they will be transferred to the adjacent bases.