Matrix Games Forums

Hey guys!

So I've decided I needed to put my 4 months of real world game experience to the test. I've started a PBEM campaign with the Devilish Mr. Lodrik from Germany. He will be playing as Japan, and I will be playing the Allies.

Initially we agreed to a non-historical start and two day turns, but as you'll see in the video below, that was a big mistake for me!! Lodrik is an outstanding Japanese side player and he took FULL advantage of that, so much so that I protested a bit, and we agreed to an alternative arrangement.

We will both be posting our side's turns and combat replays/strategies on our respective Youtube channels. I encourage all of you to subscribe to us both so you can see a genuine David (Heiden) and Goliath (Lodrik) battle! I'll be posting links to my videos when I release them here on this thread. I highly encourage feedback/criticism/advice here in this thread, or in my Discord, or on the videos themselves. Like I said, I've only been playing for 4 months, and Lodrik is decidedly better than I am. I'm counting on the Allies numerical superiority later in the war to pull me through the impending disaster.

Video 1, where I show you how deadly a Japanese player can be when let loose on non-historical start with two-day cycles:

https://youtu.be/Ty4eBsEcQGc

My Discord Server:
https://discord.gg/v4A9STzW7R

Lodrik's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdvSad ... -Bct9cTEXg

Interesting, I scanned your first video. Two day turns can be a problem at the beginning. I really do not like them to be honest, I like control.

You are going to be doing 1 day turn I see. What are your options for December 7? Usually the Allies can move their existing TFs on day 1, but cannot
create new ones. That allow you do do a few things if you want

BTW, there is a way to do the first turn as a 1 day game and then change to 2 day turns. I will see about finding out the procedure.

Here is the procedure:

I was looking into this before starting a PBEM a few years ago and Alfred pointed me to a thread that contained this nugget added in one of the patches:

If the Japanese player modifies their shortcut with the command line switch below then they can change the number of days per turn as per a single player game.

"The option is a command line switch (-cd) that the Japanese player needs to run. The turn can be loaded and the 'Turn cycle' is allowed to be changed thru the in-game preferences. "

We tested it out before starting our game and it works fine!

and the thread it comes from is https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0#p4903420

Nomad, thank you so much for bringing this to our attention! It would certainly solve a lot of issues. We are going to reinvigorate our PBEM as one day turns but I am going to start a test PBEM with myself and I’ll test out this -cd thing to see if we can change to two day turns later on once we get things moving. This will really solve all the problems.

Your feedback and comments are greatly appreciated!!

Nomad wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 1:25 pm Interesting, I scanned your first video. Two day turns can be a problem at the beginning. I really do not like them to be honest, I like control.

You are going to be doing 1 day turn I see. What are your options for December 7? Usually the Allies can move their existing TFs on day 1, but cannot
create new ones. That allow you do do a few things if you want

BTW, there is a way to do the first turn as a 1 day game and then change to 2 day turns. I will see about finding out the procedure.

Here is the procedure:

I was looking into this before starting a PBEM a few years ago and Alfred pointed me to a thread that contained this nugget added in one of the patches:

If the Japanese player modifies their shortcut with the command line switch below then they can change the number of days per turn as per a single player game.

"The option is a command line switch (-cd) that the Japanese player needs to run. The turn can be loaded and the 'Turn cycle' is allowed to be changed thru the in-game preferences. "

We tested it out before starting our game and it works fine!

and the thread it comes from is https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0#p4903420

NOMAD!!!! YOU ARE AMAZING! This works!! I just did a test on my computer and I was able to successfully switch from 1 to 2 day turns mid-PBEM using the instructions listed. Thank you so much!

We are back at it! The campaign is LIVE. December 7th, 1941 (Turn 1) is in the books, and here is the combat replay from it. Lodrik shuffled everything up and caught me off guard with going very ahistorical with his task force dispositions. Take a look and see what he's throwing at me. If you want to follow along with this PBEM from the Japanese perspective, take a look at Lodrik's channel (link is below!). He will be posting updates as well.

7 Dec 41 Combat Replay:
https://youtu.be/Cu1STDKoRtc

My Discord Server:
https://discord.gg/v4A9STzW7R

Lodrik's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdvSadGjOzkcD-Bct9cTEX

Here's a status update on my turn 2 setup for the Allied side of the campaign, plus some homage giving to Kull and his totally amazing Allied setup spreadsheet and how I'm utilizing it for my setup:

https://youtu.be/SLuAFFaE0JU

By request, here is a short video where I talk about the ship and aircraft losses from the 7 December turn. I'll show you what aircraft were lost, and also the ships lost and damaged at Pearl Harbor, Manila Bay, and Malaya. Overall turn 2 setup is around 40% and progressing well, but I want to keep people entertained and interested while they wait for me to finish it up!

Detailed Ship & Aircraft Losses from December 7th:
https://youtu.be/nQthERCwtRs

My turn 2 setup is complete! I've sent the turn off to Lodrik to get this ball finally fully rolling. Here is a video I just made where I discuss my overall grand strategy for the early part of the campaign:

https://youtu.be/qKkQKPiqnB0

I wasn't expecting this! My Air Forces in Singapore and the Philippines decided to dish out some serious punishment to Lodrik's ships in a very unexpected turn of events! Other combat in the Makassar Strait and some stalwart defenses on land made for a very exciting 8 December 41 turn. The combat resolution and intel report are here:

https://youtu.be/6SagBDLms7c

About the Cats flying with bombs in the afternoon strike from Bataan - the airfield there is not big enough to handle torps (or there is not enough supply) so they always fly with bombs from that base. I moved my Cats from Bataan to Manila and they carried torps as ordered. Also make sure your Air HQ at Clark Field has lots of torps - about 100 initially.

Your P-40s are doing well against ships because he did not CAP them. If he had done that your rate of hits on his ships would be much lower. Even if he included some escort vessels for AA fire that would reduce your hits. You can also use the P-26s and P-35s on naval strike - smaller bombs but a couple of 100 lb bombs can get a good fire going on a merchant ship.

Note the lack of casualties in your shipping strikes. That is the Japanese landing advantage for the Dec. 7th to March 31st period - all troops and equipment land in one phase so that by the time your aircraft fly, only supply is left on board. Taking out a lot of supply ships should leave him short of supply for a few days so if you can, concentrate your troops and force him to engage while short of supply.

Thank you for your post! I didn't realize the Catalinas flying out of Bataan would be restricted in this manner but it makes sense totally.

The losses I inflicted on his shipping to me was more symbolic than anything else. He can absorb these losses, especially since the ships seemed to be mostly empty, but I think it definitely rattled him a little bit.

Sadly I was not able to repeat the amazing success from the 8th of December. We take heavy losses at sea today, setbacks on land, and an IJN pincer move is enveloping around my escape routes. 9 December 1941 combat resolution and intel report is here! If you're a champion of freedom and democracy, come take a seat, watch this disaster, and pour a little out for the homies we lost in this cluster of a turn.

https://youtu.be/502SeHZMCOU

Just when I thought the 9th of December was bad, this happened. I lose one of my heavy hitters due a button-clicking error on my end. Take a gander and my misfortune. Not only do I take heavy shipping losses in the DEI, one of my critical ships goes down, about 5 months earlier than it should have. I can only hope Lodrik will be gracious and let me re-run this turn because of my clicking error, but if he doesn't, this is how the turn will stand...

https://youtu.be/y96I_J2F7mc

Hey all, just wanted to update you. Lodrik was EXTREMELY fair and understanding of my situation, and he has allowed me to fix the error in TF routing for Lexington, and he is re-running the turn. Expect another train wreck in the DEI but Lexington should be spared to fight another day! I've used up my one Mulligan for this campaign. I'll post a shorter video to update the intel report when I receive that sometime tomorrow. Everyone go sub to Lodrik's channel and thank him for having great sportsmanship with me.

Lodrik graciously allowed a re-run of the 10 December 41 after my fat-fingering incident led the devastating and total loss of the Lexington and half its escorting Task Force at Laysan Island. I'm going to summarize the changes from the original 10 December turn to this one. A bit has changed, and I would argue to suggest it was worse for me aside from losing Lady Lex. Take a look!

https://youtu.be/6ipBYk1VT3Y

Has luck finally run out for the USS Boise? Lodrik and his cronies caught up to CL-47 and we get a slugfest with one of these Brooklyn-class glass cannons and a surprising enemy task force. Elsewhere, we continue to get beaten down in the DEI, and there is a substantial amount of submarine action all over the map. 11 Dec 41 (Turn 5) was spicy, so tune in for the action and my expert intel analysis!


https://youtu.be/-j-3xkYGH7c

Finally a little break in the action so I can catch my breath. We actually have a decent day in the air and stick it to Lodrik's aircraft. Take a look and see how we do, as well as listen to my intel analysis of our current situation as of 12 December 1941.

https://youtu.be/dCzTUFfKa0g

The Japanese performed their first major misstep in the air! Our stowawat P-40 detachment from Clark Field has proven its worth, bouncing an unescorted bomber formation over Canton in China. Take a look and witness the carnage. Unfortunately in other areas, Lodrik's dastardly sea mines continue to wreak havoc, the splinter cell of Kido Butai is spotted, and the Hiryu continues its reign of terror near Borneo. It's 13 Dec 41 Turn 7 action.

https://youtu.be/6k859q-GNxs

Our attempt to intercept the Hiryu in the Java sea failed, and instead we run smack into Japan's two strongest battleships. A massacre ensues, and things don't go well for us. In other regions, we lose our grasp on New Britain, there is a setback in China, and our glorious defenders in Malaya hold out against a determined attack. Tune in to watch the carnage in our second battle of Makassar Strait!

https://youtu.be/J4spUcaxpLk

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the complete and total annihilation of the ABDA Command. Lodrik moved everything that could float into the Makassar Strait and finished off nearly every single ship of the ABDA fleet I sent out two days ago to do battle against the Hiryu. Watch the sad spectacle now. I'm never going to financially recover from this...


https://youtu.be/74shnhCQdm4