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Hey all. Just picked up WitP tonight (thanks everyone for your replies, helped make up my mind). I have read every thread on the 1st turn I could find but still have some questions. I am trying to form an opening strategy against the AI. For the time being I'm not going to worry about forming tatics that would also work vs a Human opponet.

PI

The northern bases are hit with air strikes and troops on the first turn, with some Air strikes at bases further south. From the postings on the board I had the impression you had time to pull supplies and evacuate troops. I assume both of these were done by sea.

1. If Clark is the first line of defense, is the initial orders to the base forces and two inf divisions at the 4 bases on the northern coast to pack up and start marching for clark?

2. Is the evac of supplies done by sending the two HQ's in manilla to clark? Or do you risk the jap TFs and Air raids and run AK's in to pickup supplies?

3. If you evac supplies by sea, do you send them to bataan? Or to a rear base?

4. In the FAQ at spooky's they said to turn replacement/reinforcements off on the Airgroups stationed on PI, as this drained supply points. Won't this destroy them in a matter of days? I don't understand this strategy, and I have seen it posted in numerous places. Can someone please explain the thought process behind this?

5. When holding out at Clark, or any other front line base, is it wise to leave Base forces that have fallen back there? Or only keep as many base forces as needed to support combat Div?

Malya

1. Any advice on what to do here? Air groups are spread all over, and there is a large japanese base within a stone throws distance. I have no idea what to do, esp since they are hit on the first turn.

PH

I know this is probably shady to do, but....

1. I know they are coming. If I do nothing and let history repeat itself, my Air groups will get slaughtered on the ground. Has anyone evacuated Air groups to other islands? Or evacuate,then set LRCAP to Pearl?

2. Same goes for the massive amount of ships at port. Anyone use a alt history approach to the first turn at pearl.

Northern Area - Asia

1. Once I get to this area my brain gets overloaded and I pass out. Any basic advice here. There are a lot of assets spread all over the place. Mogami posted an interesting strat of re-arranging the chinese forces that I plan on using. Any other tips?



One thing I don't understand, even after reading the manual is the whole HQ/Attatched thing (unfortunatley HQ isn't a valid search string). In UV the HQ was the HQ of the division. Examp - 1st Division = HQ 1st Inf 2nd Inf 3rd Inf. They might be attatched to something, but you could deploy them together wherever you wanted.

Now if I understand it, what matters now is who they are attatched to. The HQ is just a support unit that provides bonuses.

The map is broken into zones. If you want a inf unit to operate in a different zone, you have to transfer them? Each inf unit is a division. And as far as command structure goes, every inf unit is on the same tier.


IE:

UV

Reg Command
Div HQ
1 Reg 2nd Reg 3rd Reg <---------Inf Unit in UV

Witp

Reg Command
1st Div 2nd Div 3rd Div <---- Inf unit in WitP


Is this right? This is a key concept to understand if you want to map out any kind of strategy. Atleast for me it is, I like to keep units together when at all possibe.

The units in WitP are end sized units, unless you break them down.

The Command HQs ( CenPac, SoPac, NoPac and so on) determine who gets replacements as I understand it. If your not in command radius of the Command Hqs you either dont recieve replacements or recieve few replacements.

Pearl Harbor, the computer will attack it, if you move all your forces out you are denying the computer the chance to do as the Japanese Navy did. I have no problem doing it, but it will definately make the game easier on the allies against a computer opponent. I do change the CAP settings of the fighters there and I do change the patrol craft to Patrol and ASW. The only Air units I would move are the 2 fighter units with only a couple planes in it.

Philippines, I move the main HQs to Clark and then to Bataan. I leave the Navy Hqs in Manila. I reinforce Clark from Manila and one Armor unit from Bataan. Be aware if Manila hasnt fallen and isnt invested, then the Clark defenders will retreat there ( not sure if everytime, but it happened in my game).

Some people move supplies by ship, I dont see the numbers to make it worthwhile in PI. I do evac some Base units that arent used in defending the main Island, takes 2 7K AK to move a base. Be aware there is a bug in game that once you move them, incorrect TO&E will display, they are only 30 Air support.

Malaya, There are several choices here. Some people fight it out and do rather well delaying the Japanese advance, the other option is to retreat everything that can move into Singapore, leaving a strong Blocking force in the base that accesses the causeway. I evac elements of the ISF forces to India( by air from Singapore, using Dutch aircraft, then AP or AK) Again the bases will display the wrong avaition support, they are only 30 AV units ( though before damage built up to 120).

I run the AK and TK out of PI to DEI, to either evac a few unneeded bases or to evac Resources, Oil and Fuel. Eventually they go to Australia and some on to USA. I evac the AP mostly to Australia though a few go to India. Usually carrying a Base. I form 2 combat TF's in DEI in the early months, one of US ships, one of Dutch, and raid his landings and such. Becareful eventually the computer will send Carriers. Eventually I evac all Dutch and American ships to Darwin.

Get the British Destroyers out of Hong Kong on turn one. I send the British combat vessels to India. Leaving dutch Subs and american subs to raid his shipping lines Dont leave the american subs home ported in Manila. And get the AS out of Manila to Darwin I also send one dutch AS to India and one to Darwin ( there is a bug currently, subs will only reload from appropraite nationality AS)

Or if any vet player has an allied turn one they can zip and send to me I'd appriciate it. I'm having a hard time going from reading massive amounts of threads, to reading the manual, to managing a huge opening turn. Theres a lot of action in turn 1 hehe.

Just take your time, as you overload on stuff, save and take a break. There is no rush. Start at one end and work your way to the other, or someother rememberable start and end point.

Turns will speed up as you get used to playing.

To work it out yourself, to as detailed an Allied Start as possible, SAVE IT, then run the turn and maybe one or two more.
You will always find things that can be "improved", and as you do, go back and "correct" the Allied Start. The game is
really no challange unless the Japs get reasonable success at PH, so you may have to "tickle" your initial urges there.
Had the PI and Malaya made decent use of the "forwarning" provided by the time varience between PH and the Far East,
many interesting things are possible and plausible.. This is the area where most of the "fun" of the first 3-4 months will
be had anyway, so try out several variations. The forces available probably can't "win", but you can have a good time
playing "hide and seek" with the Japs and plotting ambushes.

You have 2 carrier TFs at sea.....send the closest one to Wake to hit the Jap landings there (it is already heading there anyway but change it to full speed). Send the other towards Makin where the Japs will try to send invasion forces there as well. In the PH area, I send one of the PBY squadrons to Canton (the 12 plane South Pacific group. I send the the 6 plane PBYs to Lahaina, Hilo, and Midway. I change the CAP slightly and patrol missions and move subs in the area around a bit. There are boucoup Jap subs around the islands so maybe some ASW TFs after the attack could help with the stinging of what just happened to the fleet.


In PI, take a look at the 'preparation points' for individual units at Clark, Bataan, Manila, Tuguegaroa and Naga. Those with zero I usually will move towards the fighting. I tend to disperse the planes some in PI to other fields than Clark. I do not like trying to defend Clark as it is an open ground hex. Better to make stands in the city of Manila and on Bataan. Sortie all the subs from Manila and go hunting. Carfeul of the Jap carrier TF approaching the southern PI as it will go straight through so be patient about evacuating Manila. Chnage fighters in the PI to naval attack as well as CAP so you may be able to get some lucky hits.

In malaya, delaying actions work as you have to think strategically. Make the Jap pay and it will help future efforts. There are some subs off Singapore so be careful about evacuating anything early without taking care of them.

In DEI, plenty to do here, mainly try to evacuate the resources, oil, supply and fuel to deny its use to the Japanese who WILL be coming. I like using my little plane groups to attack anything within reach as well so moving some of them around works.

In China, try for a battle of attrition. I send huge stacks to Canton early and around Changsha for major battles to drain Japanese resources here. Keeps them off my back in the eastern and southern Pacific!

Two little notes......the MSW at Guam can be evacuated safely if you head due southwest at full speed on turn 1 and eventually reach Oz. The three DDs at Hong Kong can also be safely evacuated full speed to the southwest in single ship TFs and eventually reach Batavia and then India.

I would go ahead and let the first turn be historic. If you change too many things you end up not having a very challenging game. I would beat the Jap AI to death in UV.

Kevin

For the newer players not used to the game engine (non-UV players) or ones with less experience the modification of a first turn is there to give the assist up front. You can always choose a harder AI as well for balance but early opening moves in the campaign is what I gathered the poster wanting to know so responded accordingly with some specifics.

Rgr. I'm basically trying to take what I have read and apply it to the game. For the first game I'm not really looking for a challenge, I'm looking to get a basic idea of the differences in UV and early war tactics.

There are just so many assets compared to UV. Used to playing basically two or three bases as the frontline, and running the rear area.

Appriciate all the advice. One question. The air groups are really spread out, especially in the North and North West areas of the map (DEI, Asia, to a lesser extent PI). In UV what worked was large airbases capable of sending large strikes, and in turn fending off large strikes. Is it better to generally leave the Airgroups as they are deployed on the frontline areas, or mass them (ie: PM in UV). I have let the first turn run a few times and they seem to send very large strikes against allied assets, one or two Fighter groups flying cap don't stand a chance, and in turn one or two Bomber groups don't stand a chance of making it past the concentrated jap fighter caps.

One thing to remember also In WITP it takes time to accomplish things
like convoy's may take weeks as apposed to days in UV and that buy's you
a lot of time to focus in other areas, take some notes on what you have done
and then go to other areas and from that point it is basically adjusting and fine tuning
your strategies.

The allies are saddled with small base forces. Most bases only have support for 30 aircraft, there are exceptions, like the MAF and 3 ISF bases in Malaya and a few Navy Bases on the West Coast and Pearl Harbor. Also several Dutch Aviation units have 100 Air support, but you need them to defend where they are.

The Aliies get some Aviation heavy units ( 270 Support) but not early ( well except 71st and 51st ) and a few RAF bases with more than 30 support.

But basicly in the early going in places like the South and Southwest Pacific, if you want more air support at bases you need to rescue some bases from the Philippines and some of the DEI bases that arent on any crucial spot. And then double and triple up bases at crucial facilities to provide more air support.

Cant quite figure out what retard bought a gazillion planes, and recruited and trained a bazillion air support squads, but didnt bother to make any Bases that could use them.

Remember that if you transport those base forces when they are at 30 Av Spt that they will not "grow" any larger like ones that do not get transported.

A nifty little trick that I learned is to transport one submarine worth of troops from each unit. It still leaves 99.9% of the troops to fight. After the mother unit is destroyed that fragment will rebuild itself to full strength in 6 months to a year.[;)]

ORIGINAL: Halsey

A nifty little trick that I learned is to transport one submarine worth of troops from each unit. It still leaves 99.9% of the troops to fight. After the mother unit is destroyed that fragment will rebuild itself to full strength in 6 months to a year.[;)]

Would this be considered "gamey?"

guess it would depend on how long it takes for the unit to rebuild and what it's end EXP rating would be. The code was tweaked so that EXP gains and drops are more apparant for LCU's but i never had a chance to properly test it.

Gamey? Big Mac did it leaving the Phillipines. This is on a grander scale, you still have to fork out the PP's to do it to the Phillipine units. BF's won't load on subs, only infantry types like to load. Haven't tried it with cavalry.[:D]

I pulled a fragment from both of the Aussie units in Singapore. Left Singapore as its' objective for training. Both units rebuilt themselves to full strength in 9 months at Chandpur. Experience 84 Morale 73! Bad assed Aussies![:D]

what was the original EXP rating?

I think it was pretty close to what they were when I pulled the cadre out of Singapore. After the parent unit was destroyed a Brigadier General became its' commanding officer. Without me changing it. I also did this to a couple of Indian Bdes from Singapore. They are at 50% strength after 9 months, but all have upgraded their equipment. It seems that as long as there is an infantry element to the unit you can transport them.

This allowed me to keep a lot of troops in Singapore and Manila. Plus I didn't lose any AP's or AK's trying to evacuate troops.

hmm.....sounds like the rule might not be working.

It seemed like they kept the same morale as at the time I withdrew them. I pulled those two Aussie units out before they got hammered.

I always thought those units got shafted by Churchill. Cannon fodder sent to their doom at Singapore. I always try to save them. It's the least I can do.

Corrected statement!