Analysis of Solomons Campaign scenario

[Nginear]

Just finished two games of Solomons 1942-1943 scenarios. Played against Feinder, once for each side.
Both games ended in Allied Victory, one game ended with 1 turn left, the other ended in July 1943.

All in all, it was a fun scenario, but not without room for improvement.

Noted bugs:
-Russell Island airfield never went above 1 supply. The manual states it should go to full supply in multiplayer.
-Musashi SBB only has 1 naval visibility, not 3 like all other ships.
-Carriers can intercept across the neutral zone.
-American Heavy artillery gets 2 minimum shells per turn, Japanese only 1 shell. The manual doesn't say whether this was by design or not.

Overall, I felt the Japanese strengths were under represented in the scenario. The US has several in game improvements, but not much for the Japanese.
Examples:
-Naval Visibility is the same for all ships. The Japanese 100% had better spotting until late '42 when the Americans finally started to figure out radar. Perhaps have Allied ships start with 2 visibility, add a radar tech upgrade to American ships, which adds +1 visibility?
-The US, particularly the carriers and fighters, should not have long range fighter level 4 access - the Japanese had tremendously longer flight abilities. At least make it more expensive.
-I didn't notice any advantages to represent the Japanese Long Lance torpedo, despite it playing a very deadly and prominent role. I recommend Japanese destroyers having +1 naval attack, or loss evasion, or extra strike range. By 1943 in game, Japanese destroyers are nearly ineffective in all combat, unable to even equal attack American destroyers.
-Since this is a tactical scenario, there should be no ASW upgrades on Heavy Cruisers and larger ships! The best odds I got with a sub was 2:2 against a battleship, hardly worth the attack. It should have been a knockout! In both games, subs were of no real value. There is no historical basis for heavy cruisers to have an attack upgrade value vs subs, or Battleships to defend. The ASW upgrade really crushes the threat of the two Japanese subs. Japanese subs created a highly successful "Torpedo Alley" but that threat is completely gone since every ship can defend against a sub.
-Naval Weaponry really overpowers the ships and dilutes the attacks of the larger capital ships - especially the SBB Musashi. An American lvl2 destroyer has an attack of 3, but the Musashi is 7. Equating every 2" of gun calibers to numbers, there should be a 7 point spread between a 5" gun and 18" gun.
-Naval Weaponry is another example of Allied advantage (they have lvl 2, Japanese only 1).
-I think American AA units are a bit OP. They would often cause 6 HP loss when intercepting. Sure the Americans had AA a bit later, but it wasn't THAT good. Wildcats were far more effective than the AA. In both games, once the Japanese bombers were depleted there really wasn't really any hope in rebuilding them.


Again, all in all, they were fun scenarios and we enjoyed playing both of them. Bravo!