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Can some kind soul point me in the right direction? I seem to be doing well against the AI such that I have, wonder of wonders, a VP ratio of 140% of the Japanese. Date 3 Oct 1942. I have no idea how this happened but I am not going to argue with the results. I am in my first game and have selected Option 6 Dec 8th start. Level Hard. At this rate the game should be over some time in mid to late 1943, before I really get a chance to start invasions etc.
I seem to be shooting down the opposition at the rate of 2 : 1 and I keep getting lucky in intercepting enemy amphib forces without a suitable escort, thus sinking a large number of ships, with their LCUs. In addition, though my Gato subs are normally found engaging in the surface with gunfire, the RN, Dutch and S Boats all seem to lead a charmed life, evading IJN ASW and sinking a ship or two a day. Having the Japanese do a continual assault on a well fortified and supplied Akyab does wonders for the exchange rate. I just wish I could say this was my plan all along!

The problem is that I really want to fight this through to the bitter end. The manual says, as I read it, that when I get a 175% VP result against the Japanese, the game ends. At least that is what I think it says.

Does the game allow you to continue past the automatic victory or does it close down then?

If it closes down, I assume that if I want to continue playing, I have to make some idiotic decisions to allow the AI to regain some VPs some time before then.
I have seen people say that in that case, it is best to switch the preferences to Hardest and every now and then, switch to playing the Japanese side.
I really want to have some time to experiment with the later war stuff and see what that does to things.
Opinions, advice, suggestions? I don't really want to have to restart at this stage but if that is the only option, so be it!

You can continue after auto victory

Some misunderstandings here.

1. There are two routes to determining the end of a game. Both are detailed in chapter 17 of the manual.

(a) auto victory or
(b) the end date of a scenario

2. Auto victory is like the mercy rule in baseball. It is found only in a scenario which is a minimum of 12 months long and cannot occur before 1 January 1943. It is triggered by a sliding scale of VPs over the opposition.

In 1943 you need a 4:1 VP ratio
In 1944 you need a 3:1 VP ratio
In 1945 you need a 2:1 VP ratio

3. The end date of a scenario is just that. Unless an Auto Victory has been previously achieved, the end game screen will not appear before the scheduled scenario end date. At that point the victory level is determined on the basis of a sliding scale of VPs achieved over the opponent. With a 1.75:1 ratio, a Decisive Victory is awarded. A Marginal Victory is awarded when the ratio is between 1.25 and 1.74:1. A Draw is a ratio between 1 and 1.24:1

4. There is an inbuilt negative modifier to the Allied side in as much that if an Auto Victory (which is always at a higher VP level than a Decisive Victory) is not achieved before 1 September 1945, the raw VPs ratio translation into Victory levels is reduced. Chapter 17 lists the other negative modifiers.

5. If an Auto Victory is achieved, the option to continue play is available. No adjustments to the then current position of both sides is made.


Basically, a Decisive Victory is the equivalent of achieving the historical unconditional surrender whereas a Marginal Victory is a negotiated peace treaty in favour of the victors. This is why there are negative modifiers to the Allied side if it has not achieved an Auto Victory before 1 September 1945.

Alfred

Edit: Clarified point 4 to remove ambiguity

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS
I really want to have some time to experiment with the later war stuff and see what that does to things.
Opinions, advice, suggestions? I don't really want to have to restart at this stage but if that is the only option, so be it!

To do later war against Japanese AI you either turtle up in 41 and wait until 44, or play Downfall scenario.
GC will invariably see Japan in ruins long before late war because AI cannot use his limited assets decisively. Japan just runs out of combat ships and trained pilots in 43, and there is no substitute coming

Thanks all.
I posted that late last night after a long day. I woke up this morning and realised that I had misread the manual and that what Alfred has posted was the part I did not understand fully. Going back now and reading it with Alfred's comments makes it clearer. In my tired state I had thought a decisive Victory level of VPs was the end of the game.

I am not having it all my own way. The AI has Burma except for Akyab, all the DEI except for Merauke, He has Rabaul, Tulagi and Lunga, Baker and Wake. I did a Sir robin and pulled back. I have a lot of ships in repair. Although I seem to be sinking a lot of his merchant shipping, his battle line and carriers appear largely intact so I am waiting for him to do a big thrust somewhere. Either that or It is waiting to counterattack when I finally get my ducks in a row.

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Thanks all.
I posted that late last night after a long day. I woke up this morning and realised that I had misread the manual and that what Alfred has posted was the part I did not understand fully. Going back now and reading it with Alfred's comments makes it clearer. In my tired state I had thought a decisive Victory level of VPs was the end of the game.

I am not having it all my own way. The AI has Burma except for Akyab, all the DEI except for Merauke, He has Rabaul, Tulagi and Lunga, Baker and Wake. I did a Sir robin and pulled back. I have a lot of ships in repair. Although I seem to be sinking a lot of his merchant shipping, his battle line and carriers appear largely intact so I am waiting for him to do a big thrust somewhere. Either that or It is waiting to counterattack when I finally get my ducks in a row.

Yes, getting an Auto Victory in 1943 in the Grand Campaign is more difficult than many players admit. Getting to a 4:1 ratio requires a lot of destruction and probably a good deal of exploiting the computer's weaknesses which if applied against a human in PBEM, would be quite fatal.

Alfred

I honestly cannot see myself getting a 4:1 advantage in 1943, much less even a 2:1!. Unless I get lucky and the whole IJN blunders into a sub ambush followed by fleeing into a minefield and being then picked off by a couple of hundred PT boat and the IJA decide to commit hari-Kari in sympathy.
I am having a good time playing relatively historically and seeing what small changes do to the outcome. Some may appear sub-optimal to the more experienced members but I am still coming to grips with all the nuances, even after 300 turns. Forex, 8th Indian Bde still exists in Oct 42 somewhere in Malaya, assault value about 1 and supplies the same. It is being regularly bombed. I am undecided whether to have it do a suicide attack and get wiped out so I can resurrect it and rebuild it's division. Or do I leave it there and allow the Japanese to waste supplies and the occasional aircraft bombing it everyday. Little things like that interest me.
Writing up an AAR for myself after each turn with a lessons learnt and what do we do now, Butch? type approach is turning out to be very helpful.

Get that Indian brigade to a coastal hex and rescue it with flying boats.

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

I honestly cannot see myself getting a 4:1 advantage in 1943, much less even a 2:1!. Unless I get lucky and the whole IJN blunders into a sub ambush followed by fleeing into a minefield and being then picked off by a couple of hundred PT boat and the IJA decide to commit hari-Kari in sympathy.
I am having a good time playing relatively historically and seeing what small changes do to the outcome. Some may appear sub-optimal to the more experienced members but I am still coming to grips with all the nuances, even after 300 turns. Forex, 8th Indian Bde still exists in Oct 42 somewhere in Malaya, assault value about 1 and supplies the same. It is being regularly bombed. I am undecided whether to have it do a suicide attack and get wiped out so I can resurrect it and rebuild it's division. Or do I leave it there and allow the Japanese to waste supplies and the occasional aircraft bombing it everyday. Little things like that interest me.
Writing up an AAR for myself after each turn with a lessons learnt and what do we do now, Butch? type approach is turning out to be very helpful.

A rather good approach to learning the game.

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Get that Indian brigade to a coastal hex and rescue it with flying boats.

A good suggestion if you wish to save the unit. Letting it die will cost PP's to 'buy' it back. That's even if it can be 'brought' back, some units may not.

Not only that, it will come back very under strength and it might take 6 months. Maybe even at Aden as well. Plus, Indian squads are precious.

I have found that looking back on what happened and what I meant to do each month focusses the mind. I try and mostly still do a Strategy reset at the start of every month. Basically, what were my aims , did I achieve them, what did the Japanese do to frustrate them and why?
Obviously a strategy that wanted to achieve superiority in CVs that in the last month sank 60% of them would need to be modified. Not that that has happened but I hope you see my point. Also I am finding little nuances as I progress that will alter my strategic outlook.
I review such things as the Upgrade schedule, the wdl Timings, the Arrival schedule, the pilot fatigue, the shipyard load, the fuel situation, including those I never would have thought of such as Chittagong. Sub patrols zones being vacated because of upgrades, airplane replacement pools, etc etc ad in finitum. My checklist for each turn is now over 70 items per turn. Some are now so automatic that I don't need to consult the checksheet but then I realise I am being too impulsive and I always used to tell my Staff officers to follow the laid down procedure so I feel I must follow my own rules. There is always the occasion where you say to yourself, "why did that happen? Let's stop that right now!" and you press execute orders and then think, bugger, I forgot to do X and Y and Z because I thought W was more important. I've done that a few times.
This is a very complex and nuanced game and I am happy at the moment to slowly work my way through the various aspects. That is the advantage of fighting against the AI at this stage. As I have said previously, having been introduced to this gaming system via UV, there are a number of aspects I need to understand as it has progressed so much from that. Hpefully I am now far enough into WITP AE that I have forgotten most of the UV lessons.
Anyway, a good gaming system and I hope it will continue to entertain me during the Covid lockdown and for a few more years to come.

A lot of us have been playing this game for 10 years because it gives so many chances to try different things in different places. There are others who left the game when RL got busy, tried a few other less detailed games when they could and just found that nothing satisfied them like playing WITP-AE. If you love assembling a huge amount of detailed planning and executing into a coherent strategy, this game will satisfy for decades. [:)]