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- PACIFIC WAR PLAYER CHECKLIST and TACTICS (version 8)
-
- (The following review and extensive update is the courtesy of
- T.Holsinger and M. Ballwin)
-
- (All HOTKEYS are listed on the HELP MENU (press / or ?)).
-
- NOTE: The rule book and the game do not always agree. The rules
- were sent to the printers 4-6 weeks before the game was
- published. There have been hundreds of changes in that time and
- many of those are undocumented. There are also many undocumented
- changes AFTER the game was published.
-
- A. REPORTS SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Review battles (ALT/B).
- 2. Use SIGINT (F5).
- 3. Check losses/score (F9).
- 4. Check sunken ships (F8).
- 5. Check ship pools (F4).
-
- B. REINFORCEMENT SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Check for reinforcements.
- 2. Check replacement pools (F7).
- 3. Cycle through factories & upgrade planes (F6).
-
- C. HQ SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Examine HQ's (ALT/F).
- 2. List HQ units (ALT/D).
- 3. Relocate HQ's (ALT/E).
- 4. Move HQ's to TF in the same square (ALT/S).
- 5. Assign new leader to HQ's (ALT/L).
- 6. Set HQ control (ALT/K).
- 7. Change base HQ (ALT/C).
- 8. Set HQ target (ALT/G).
- 9. List HQ aircraft (ALT/X).
- 10. Assign HQ air leader (ALT/P).
- 11. Reinforce HQ (ALT/R).
-
- D. LAND SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Examine LCU's in sequence (S/W).
- 2. Divide LCU's (D on Unit Data Display).
- 3. Activate LCU's (A on Unit Data Display).
- 4. Assign leaders (F1 on Unit Data Display).
- 5. March LCU's overland (ALT/W).
- 6. Call for immediate sealift forces (ALT/T).
-
- E. AIR SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Check enemy AZOC's (ALT/Z).
- 2. Check friendly AZOC's (SHFT/Z).
- 3. Examine airfields in sequence (Z OR A).
- 4. Set priority target base (B).
- 5. Set missions.
- 6. Transfer air units (ALT/A).
- 7. Upgrade old planes (C on Air Unit Display).
- 8. Transfer aircraft factory control (ALT/N).
-
- F. TASK FORCE SUBPHASE
-
- 1. Examine ports in sequence (O OR P).
- 2. Examine existing TF's (N/G).
- 3. Unload TF's (U).
- 4. Replenish TF's (Y).
- 5. Transfer ships to new TF's (T).
- 6. Scuttle ships (S ON SHIP DISPLAY).
- 7. Disband TF's (R).
- 8. Check for isolated bases (ALT/O).
- 9. Create TF's to resupply isolated bases (C).
- 10. Create cargo TF's to resupply bases in rear areas (C).
- 11. Create replenishment TF's (C).
- 12. Create combat TF's at friendly ports (C).
- 13. Assign leaders to TF's (F1 on TF display).
- 14. Load TF's with troops, supplies, aircraft or fuel (L).
- 15. Set TF's destinations (D).
- 16. Set TF's functions/move options (F).
- 17. Reset TF's home bases as necessary (H).
- 18. Reset sub control (Computer/Human) as necessary (E).
- 19. Adjust submarine patrol locations (ALT/M).
- 20. Rebase all subs as necessary (ALT/M, R).
- 21. Remove TF's that complete their missions (ALT/Y).
-
- A. REPORTS SUBPHASE
-
- 1. REVIEW LAST TURN'S BATTLE REPORTS (ALT/B).
-
- a. Although all movement/action appears to be consecutive in the
- game during execution, it is actually concurrent for that week.
- Task Forces that appear to be in the same hex at the same time
- may NOT actually be in the same place, they may only be passing
- through that hex at different times during the week.
- Understanding this concept is critical for reducing frustration
- and increasing appreciation of the game.
-
- b. To move a little faster do not follow the screen combat, but
- rather wait until completion and use <Alt/B> to check out what
- happened.
-
- c. When a base is captured all of the supply is lost but half of
- the fuel is captured. When a base is captured many of the ships
- in the port will escape into a Task Force (TF) and head for the
- nearest friendly base. The remaining ships will be destroyed in
- port.
-
- d. Moderate damage to a supply depot should destroy about 20% of
- the fuel and 20% of the supplies at the base.
-
- e. LCU's with HIGH ENTRENCHMENT levels will take few losses from
- air bombardment. Air strikes against entrenched LCU's can only
- hope for DISRUPTION (reduced readiness). Disruption is not
- indicated on the after action Combat Report. The rules on base
- disruption should read: Base Disruption is reduced to ZERO
- before the start of each Execution Phase. Bases that receive TWO
- levels of disruption may not be supplied by routine convoys (they
- will show up on the ISOLATED BASE display). A base will never
- exceed level 2 disruption. This is how to isolate an enemy base
- and make it more vulnerable to attack on the ground.
-
- f. The combat reports will usually have inflated claims of enemy
- units destroyed. Combat reports relate to the number of
- personnel killed. 1 squad = 10 men, 1 tank = 3 men and one gun =
- 5 men.
-
- g. The asterisks after a ship means additional penetration
- damage has been done to the ship. Each "*" means 20% damage has
- been done, so a "*****" means the ship is doomed. The periods
- seem to indicate the end of combat from that ship for that round.
-
- h. Land combat is rather strange sometimes. Look at the
- experience and readiness ratings of the Land Combat Units
- (LCU's). If both of those are low, not many squads will attack
- OR defend.
-
- 2. USE SIGINT TO REVIEW ENEMY TASK FORCES (TF'S), BASES, AND
- LAND COMBAT UNITS (LCU'S) THAT HAVE BEEN SPOTTED (F5).
-
- a. The information you receive by clicking an enemy TF is FREE
- SIGINT. However, not all enemy TF's will be displayed because
- only those TF's (randomly) detected by radio traffic will show
- up. TF's are also SPOTTED in the execution segment (if you watch
- on higher detail levels you will see which TF's are spotted).
-
- b. To use SIGINT put the cursor on an enemy port, TF or LCU and
- hit F5. Then hit the key corresponding to what you want to know
- about (P--Port, A--Airfield, R--Army, H--HQ, T--TF).
-
- 1) The best selections have been to ask about enemy HQ's,
- because sometimes you get a message that the HQ is planning an
- operation and what the target is (no dates). Use SIGINT to
- locate the important HQ's, then check on them each turn to see
- where they are targeting. Once you know an HQ's plans, you can
- count on it sticking to the plan for awhile and spend some
- SIGINT watching TF's that support that HQ.
-
- 2) Use SIGINT to check ports for task forces and troops. You
- can click on a TF and select SIGINT. Hit the 'T' and SIGINT may
- tell you where an enemy TF is heading, what it is carrying and
- the names of specific ships in the TF.
-
- c. The only way for the Japanese player to get intelligence on
- enemy bases is to attack them. Only the Allies can get info from
- SIGINT.
-
- d. The Japanese usually keep their CV's in support of their main
- effort.
-
- 3. CHECK LOSSES/SCORE (F9).
-
- 4. CHECK SUNKEN SHIPS (F8).
-
- 5. CHECK SHIP POOLS (F4).
-
- a. Page 24 of the rulebook states that excess ships will be
- returned to the pool after a unit is loaded. In this case the
- rulebook is wrong, the game was never programmed to do this. The
- game allows multiple ship units the OPTION of sending ships back
- to the pool or taking ships from the pool. The NUMBER of ships
- in a unit may be adjusted by moving ships into or out of the ship
- pool. The ship units may only alter their size while in a
- non-isolated port. The Ship Display will have (G)et Pool and
- (T)o Pool functions. (G)et Pool allows a ship unit to draw ships
- from the pool. The (T)o Pool function allows a ship unit to send
- ships back to the pool. CVE type ships may not use these
- functions. The normal limits for maximum ships in a unit will
- still apply.
-
- b. Ships in the pool are automatically allocated during the
- Routine Convoy Phase. Japanese Routine Convoys (RC's) originate
- in NAGOYA. Allied RC's originate in LOS ANGELES (LA) and from
- the map edge south of INDIA. All ships that participate in RC's
- will end their turn in Nagoya, Los Angeles or Calcutta. For
- ESCORTS to participate in RC's they must START their turn in
- Nagoya, LA or Calcutta. Ships that are used in RC's may not be
- used by the player that turn. BEWARE: escorts that are sent to
- one of the above cities will become unavailable to the player as
- long as they see RC action. The game allows escorts to be
- available for removal from RC duty during the first week of each
- month.
-
- c. The Commonwealth ships are colored differently than the U.S.
- ships in the ship pools.
-
- d. If ALL your MCS units are assigned to TF's then there will be
- no routine convoys. To keep MCS from being utilized for routine
- convoys, put them in a TF and park it. However, it's hard to
- find a way to use all your MCS in TF's. There is not much YOU
- can do with ships in the pool. These ships automatically flow
- into and out of MCS, AP, LST, (etc.) units as required.
-
- e. The routine convoy system should be sending supplies and fuel
- to bases with airgroups, HQ's, LCU's and ships (assuming that
- there no supply or ship shortage and that the bases are not
- isolated/disrupted). Bases with HQ's which are close to their
- target bases will generally acquire a lot more supplies,
- especially if multiple HQ's have the same target. Example:
- Johnston Island southwest of the Hawaiian Islands is the base HQ
- for the Japanese 17th Army. The 17th Army, Combined Fleet and
- South Seas Fleet all have a target base of one of the Hawaiian
- Islands. Johnston Island may receive as much as 6000 points of
- supplies in one convoy phase if it was low on supplies at the
- beginning of the turn.
-
- B. REINFORCEMENT SUBPHASE
-
- 1. CHECK FOR REINFORCEMENTS (IN SYDNEY, CALCUTTA, COLUMBO,
- KWEIYANG, KUNMING, SOERABAJA, AUCKLAND, AND MANILA IF ALLIED; IN
- TOKYO, SHANGHAI, AND PORT ARTHUR IF JAPANESE).
-
- a. Reinforcement ships are automatically activated if there are
- enough shipyard points. Ship production is affected by how many
- damaged ships you are repairing in port. More damaged ships in a
- port means less ship construction points to be used for new
- ships, so they may appear later or not at all.
-
- b. If under 'computer control', the artificial intelligence (AI)
- may 'temporarily disband' badly depleted air groups. These
- groups will show up as reinforcements on the next turn at San
- Francisco/Tokyo/Calcutta. If you have no use for these groups
- you can disband them. Their aircraft will go into the pool and
- the group will return as a reinforcement in six months.
-
- c. Ship and armor/artillery production is handled by the
- computer and cannot be changed. Armor/artillery can be affected
- by bombing or oil and resource shortage.
-
- d. British capital ships (carriers, battleships and cruisers)
- are periodically withdrawn from the Eastern Fleet. This may
- happen at any time before 1944.
-
- e. US CV's that are sunk return as Essex class, CVL's return as
- Independence class, CA's as Baltimore class, CL's as Cleveland
- class and DD's as Fletcher class roughly one year later as
- replacements. If the ships are not sunk they will not be
- replaced.
-
- f. If an HQ is destroyed, it's subordinate units should be
- assigned to another HQ. Most destroyed HQ's will return within a
- month at the player's home country. ABDA and Malaya AG will
- never return if they are destroyed. At least one of them is
- withdrawn automatically even if they aren't destroyed. Whether
- the Allied Player wants to preserve them depends on what the game
- date is and how he wants to have his new HQ PP (Preparation
- Points) distributed.
-
- g. Air groups that are at the base where reinforcements show up
- (Calcutta, San Francisco, etc.) may not build up very quickly.
- It may have something to do about the number of PP available, but
- move the land-based air (LBA) units to forward bases as soon as
- possible. They fill out nicely when moved to another base. Same
- principle with respect to LCU's. They fill out (get to their
- maximum size) very slowly at the reinforcement base, but grow
- rapidly at another base.
-
- h. British ground reinforcements get rerouted to Auckland if all
- other Commonwealth bases (such as Columbo) are captured.
-
- 2. CHECK REPLACEMENT POOLS (F7).
-
- a. Replacement pool planes can be used to replace air groups
- with different planes. After clicking on an air group, use the
- CHANGE option to access the possible replacements from the pool.
- If the air group remains at a base with ample supply and the
- aircraft pool has the type of aircraft available for a particular
- group, it will gradually fill out (replacements). (As an
- example, you can always replace Hudsons and Sunderlands with
- Catalinas, but you cannot add new patrol squadrons until they
- show up at one of the reinforcement bases. Check Calcutta, San
- Francisco and Sydney to see if there are any reinforcements
- there.) Page 51 says land based air groups (LBA) can receive a
- maximum of 10 aircraft per group per turn as replacements. It is
- usually less. It can take a long time to build an air unit up to
- full strength. A table also shows the supply cost for each type
- of replacement. Air groups on remote islands will continue to
- take on replacement aircraft as long there are supply points to
- spend.
-
- b. The highlights on the planes don't mean anything, it was just
- used to make for easier reading. On the aircraft replacement
- display, every fifth line is highlighted to make it easier to
- read. The data space set aside for aircraft names did not allow
- completely spelling out of P-38F Lightning and SB2U Vindicator.
-
- c. Air groups in San Francisco and other reinforcement areas can
- be air transferred or shipped to different bases by ship. New
- air groups that enter at San Francisco or elsewhere often only
- start with 4 aircraft. Put these groups on Training missions as
- soon as they arrive. Move the air groups to San Diego, Seattle,
- or Los Angeles if San Francisco gets above nine air groups. Be
- sure to put those units on training missions as they fill out.
- When they grow to 50 for Army fighters, 40 for Army bombers, and
- 30 for Navy/Marine air groups, load those groups on cargo ships
- and ship them to the bases you want them to operate from. Leave
- the new Allied air groups at the West Coast ports until they fill
- out. Use similar tactics in India and Australia also.
-
- d. Historically, the Marines converted most of their VMSB
- squadrons into VMTB squadrons during 1944. This happens in the
- game and may be reconsidered later versions. At this stage of
- the war, ground support was more important than bombing ships and
- Avengers were better in that role. Also, by 1944 American
- torpedo performance had improved dramatically.
-
- e. The Japanese Oil Reserve is displayed when you view the
- Aircraft Replacement Pools. To find out the OIL & RESOURCE
- levels press the F7 key - they are displayed at the bottom of the
- screen. Unless OIL & RESOURCE centers are isolated, the routine
- convoy system will automatically ship the entire production of
- those centers back to Japan every week. Supply and Fuel points
- are moved around on land automatically and slowly from hexes that
- have high levels to hexes that have low levels. Players have no
- control over this. As an example, the transportation links
- between India and Burma are almost non-existent. The supply
- movement through heavy jungle is very slow. Historically the
- Burma Campaign turned into a stalemate because neither the
- Japanese or British could keep a large force supplied in that
- area.
-
- 1) When oil production areas are reduced by bombing, they
- rebuild up to a maximum of 5. This creates a wildly unrealistic
- way for the Allied player to win the game; bomb Palembang early
- on and reduce its oil production from 45 to 5 for the rest of the
- game. This game feature is a major flaw which should be
- eliminated as soon as possible. Players should voluntarily
- refrain from exploiting it. Japanese players facing an Allied AI
- opponent should keep lots of fighters guarding Palembang.
-
- 2) Fuel IS transported directly from base to base during the
- Routine Convoy Phase but this is only done when the Oil Reserve
- falls below 3000. The way the rules are supposed to work (but
- might not) is: Heavy Industry consumes oil each week at a rate
- of 25 oil per heavy industry point. Oil reserves are converted
- into fuel (1 oil converts to 4 fuel). The fuel is used to stock
- the depots in Japan. Fuel is used whenever aircraft fly or ships
- move. If a city in Japan has fuel fall below 10,000 then 1000
- will be subtracted from the oil reserve and 4000 will be added to
- the city's fuel depot. Forming TF's to do transport oil or
- resources is a waste of PP. Historically, the Japanese
- experienced an oil shortage AFTER they captured the oilfields and
- BEFORE the Allied subs started taking their toll. Keeping IJN
- TF's in port will NOT conserve fuel. It is a preset system for
- the most part.
-
- 3. CYCLE THROUGH FACTORY CITIES TO SEE WHICH PLANES ARE BEING
- PRODUCED AND UPGRADE TO NEWER MODELS WHEN APPLICABLE (F6).
-
- a. A NEW FEATURE, ALT/N CAN BE USED TO TOGGLE HUMAN/COMPUTER
- FACTORY CONTROL. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE COMPUTER TO
- AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE YOUR AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION, SET IT TO HUMAN
- FACTORY CONTROL.
-
- b. New planes usually appear in San Francisco prior to the
- factory availability. When the F2M, B-29, and P-47 aircraft
- appear for the first time in San Francisco as air groups, with 4
- aircraft in each group, they appear a month or so before they can
- be selected for production. If they show up you should be able
- to convert a factory in a month or so to produce them.
-
- c. If there are adequate supplies at a base and adequate numbers
- in the aircraft pool then your air groups should receive
- replacements.
-
- d. Air groups located in HUMAN CONTROLLED bases or ships will
- NOT automatically change their type. If under COMPUTER CONTROL,
- the computer automatically upgrades your air groups with new
- types of aircraft. The computer will follow a historical pattern
- in its upgrade decisions. The advanced models you see showing up
- in limited numbers are the prototypes of the new planes. When
- they show up, the factories will be able to produce them soon
- afterward.
-
- e. Even if your factories are under HUMAN CONTROL, the computer
- will still change aircraft at bases or TF's that are under a
- COMPUTER CONTROLLED HQ.
-
- f. The computer changes aircraft during the game in the most
- historical manner possible. The Wellington is the only British
- bomber that changes to Liberators. As for other British Tactical
- Bombers, the Blenheims will change into Beauforts. The Beauforts
- and Beaufighters will not be changed.
-
- C. HQ SUBPHASE
-
- 1. EXAMINE HQ'S (ALT/F).
-
- a. Various Japanese Army HQ's are associated with a particular
- Naval HQ. When a combat TF is formed in a port controlled by a
- Japanese Army HQ it will ALWAYS be attached to the Combined
- Fleet. Japanese Combined Fleet HQ commands all surface combat,
- bombardment & air combat TF's. When a non-combat TF is formed,
- it will be attached to the Army HQ's associated Navy HQ. The
- 14th, 15th, 16th, and 25th Armies are associated with the
- Combined Fleet. The 17th Army is associated with South Seas
- Fleet.
-
- 2. LIST HQ UNITS (ALT/D).
-
- a. When an HQ is destroyed (such as ABDA or Malaya AG) the units
- subordinate to that HQ will automatically be transferred to
- another HQ.
-
- 3. RELOCATE HQ's (ALT/E).
-
- a. To relocate a land HQ (such as SWPAC), place the cursor on
- the NEW location. (The initial HQ location CANNOT be isolated.)
- Place the cursor on a target base (that is under SWPAC control),
- pull down the HQ menu, choose CHANGE BASE and then pick SWPAC.
- Next reselect the target base and pull down the HQ menu again and
- select RELOCATE HQ. The HQ will immediately move to its new
- destination. You can only move an HQ to a base it controls. If
- the HQ IS ISOLATED you can move the leader to a SWPAC base by
- putting him in charge of that base directly. (This is how
- historically MacArthur moved his SWPAC and the Asian Fleet HQ
- back to Australia from the Philippines.)
-
- b. You cannot move an ARMY HQ onto a TF because it cannot be
- located on ships.
-
- c. Japanese players should not try to shift an army HQ's
- geographic area of authority away from what it was historically.
- The game's AI routines will try to shift things back when on
- partial or full computer control. That wastes time and
- PPs. Do it only temporarily for the bases containing land units
- whose control you want to shift to a different HQ.
-
- d. The Japanese Combined Fleet HQ controls most major combat
- task forces (TF's) regardless of where they are formed. This
- means that placement of the Combined Fleet HQ is important.
-
- e. It is possible for a base to belong to more than one HQ, even
- if there are more than one HQ on the base. This can only occur
- if the HQ's are related to each other (such as the Japanese South
- Seas Fleet and the Japanese 17th Army). Only the AI seems able
- to do this.
-
- 4. MOVE HQ'S TO TF IN THE SAME SQUARE (ALT/S).
-
- 5. ASSIGN NEW LEADER TO HQ'S (ALT/L).
-
- a. There was a problem in early versions in that it was not
- possible to examine the leader of an HQ without losing the one
- you started with. This has been corrected.
-
- b. An HQ's leaders may gain experience. They gain it FASTER if
- they are NEARER to the action. Leader ratings will go up if they
- are involved in a lot of combat actions. There is a very small
- chance that a leader will be promoted (usually the losing
- commander gets the promotion).
-
- c. There are significant errors and possible bugs in the leader
- database. Some leaders are never available. Others are
- available only as base commanders and leave the game entirely if
- removed from control of that base (Admiral Matsunaga at Saigon in
- the 1941 campaign and Rising Sun scenario is an example - he was
- historically only a rear admiral then). Other leaders are listed
- incorrectly in the rules as being available 12/41 when in fact
- they are not due until much later. Also Dutch leaders are only
- available in ABDA bases and TF's with Dutch flagships. Another
- major problem is that in the beginning the Allied Central Pacific
- and South Pacific HQ's seem limited in the land leaders available
- to them; only Marine leaders and the historic and the US Army
- General Short.
-
- d. Press the space bar or click the right mouse button to
- display the 2nd page of leaders.
-
- 6. SET HQ CONTROL (ALT/K).
-
- a. When you run the HISTORIC first turn, all Allied HQ's are
- computer controlled and the human Allied player has NO control
- over what his HQ's or units will do on the first turn. The
- Japanese have surprise in almost every land and sea battle during
- the first turn even when not using the historic attacks.
-
- b. Carrier TF's ordered to attack ships in port will almost
- always ignore enemy TF's in the same hex. Carrier TF's ordered
- to attack enemy TF's will almost always enemy ignore ships in
- port in the same hex. It is not possible to order carriers to
- attack any ships at sea OR in port in a given spot. They will
- almost always only do one or the other. Sometimes they will do
- both but this is rare. Players seem to have little control over
- this. The best chance of hitting both seems to be to give a
- carrier TF a destination of the target hex, with a different home
- port, a target of ships in port and set its return orders to
- leader discretion. It might then remain on station and make
- reaction moves (maximum of one per turn) to nail an enemy TF that
- comes within its reaction range.
-
- c. The key to learning the game is to pick one HQ to run and set
- the others to full computer control. Gradually move the HQ's to
- operational control and set their objectives, etc. You may never
- want FULL player control for all HQ's.
-
- d. If an HQ is under 'Full Computer' or 'Computer Operational'
- control then the AI routines will automatically send
- reinforcement ships, planes and troops to the base where the HQ
- is located. Problems sometimes originate in changing HQ's from
- full human control to one of the two varieties of computer
- control. As an example, the US AI sometimes gets real excited
- about Wake Island if the Japanese does not capture it early. You
- may have to run Central Pacific Command (CenPac) on full human
- control in order to keep from making Wake the base HQ for CenPac,
- which can result in it transferring most of the Pacific Fleet and
- several LCU divisions to Wake. One solution may be to transfer
- control of Wake Island to ANZAC or SEAC. These HQ's do not care
- what happens to Wake. The Japanese Combined Fleet HQ has a
- similar fixation about Truk; it will continually attempt to
- protect it, or retake it, long after Allied forces pose greater
- threats closer to the Japanese Home Islands. And the US AI
- somehow absolutely refuses to defend Johnston Island. It seems
- to consistently disband any surface combat TF's sent there to
- protect the place, and remove airgroups based there. The only
- solution to this is to set whichever Allied HQ controls Johnston
- Island to full human control. Hopefully these significant AI
- problems will be corrected in later versions.
-
- e. If the HQ is under 'Computer Operational' control you can set
- the 'target' and the AI will automatically try to capture (or
- defend) the target.
-
- 7. CHANGE BASE HQ (ALT/C).
-
- a. One way to get more control of forces is to Change Base HQ
- from an undesirable HQ to a more desirable HQ, and only then
- begin creating TF's and activating LCU's under the control of
- that desired HQ. It may be necessary to change a Base HQ before
- changing that Base's control.
-
- 8. SET HQ TARGET (ALT/G).
-
- 9. LIST HQ AIRCRAFT (ALT/X).
-
- 10. ASSIGN HQ AIR LEADER (ALT/P).
-
- a. The HQ air leader should only be selected if their air rating
- is greater that the HQ commander. Air HQ leaders handle air
- missions for that HQ's bases. If your main HQ commander's air
- rating is as good or better than the air rating of the proposed
- air leader, do not utilize him. Generally an air rating seems to
- run back up the ladder to the HQ's commander level, so a local
- base leader's air rating are not REAL important. When in doubt,
- assign base leaders that have good air ratings in the hot air
- combat spots.
-
- 11. REINFORCE HQ (ALT/R).
-
- a. Only the HQ that is commanding your MAIN EFFORT should use
- REINFORCE HQ.
-
- b. The REINFORCE HQ routine will send ships and reinforcements
- to ANY non-isolated friendly base.
-
- D. LAND SUBPHASE
-
- 1. EXAMINE LAND UNITS IN SEQUENCE (S/W).
-
- a. LCU's automatically gain 1 experience point each turn until
- they reach 50. Units of PHIL, DUT and IND nationality and all
- engineer units only gain experience up to 25. CHIN units never
- gain experience in this manner. Anything under 50 experience is
- a BIG risk for LCU's attacking atolls. If the LCU's miss a
- leadership check (or even two) they are history if there are any
- decent Japanese on the island.
-
- b. The routine convoy system should provide enough supply to
- keep army units at 99 readiness. This assumes that the base is
- not ISOLATED. If Adelaide comes up as a isolated base it is a
- bug and should be ignored.
-
- c. There are no shore batteries in the game, though there may be
- in a future version.
-
- d. U.S. LCU's: Grey LCU's are Marines while white units are
- U.S. Army.
-
- e. When invading Japanese home islands watch out for 'militia'.
- ALL the Japanese home island bases will create new 'militia'
- units in their hex after the Allies take one. The only way to
- stop this from happening is to have enough LCU's in the port over
- a certain strength so the militia units do not form. As an
- example, the unexpected arrival of the Japanese LCU's at Sasebo
- indicates the presence of 'militia'. You must garrison bases in
- Japan to prevent the militia from retaking them. The militia can
- show up whether the base is garrisoned or not. The population of
- Japan never becomes passive. This is an undocumented feature.
-
- f. Shifting control of land units from one HQ to another is a
- cumbersome process. You can change the HQ commanding LCU's by
- changing the base HQ to the desired HQ with the ALT/C command,
- then activate the LCU's you want to be attached to the desired
- HQ. The land unit first has to be inactive. If the LCU is
- already activated, deactivate it with the activate command, then
- reactivate it with the same activate command. Always FIRST
- transfer control of the base the LCU is on to the desired HQ and
- THEN activate the unit, at which point it should show up as being
- attached to that HQ. Reinforcements must also FIRST be removed
- from the base where they arrived to do this, as they generally
- arrive at a RESTRICTED home area base HQ where base control
- cannot be changed. Failure to follow these guidelines will
- result in an HQ having units all over the Pacific and
- significantly reduce LCU's effectiveness in battle.
-
- 2. DIVIDE UNITS AS NEEDED (D ON UNIT DATA DISPLAY).
-
- a. Dividing an LCU will decrease its combat effectiveness.
- Prior to separating an LCU division, increase it to an oversized
- division.
-
- b. Fractional LCU's that are stacked with their parent LCU may
- recombine with them automatically during the supply phase.
- Another method to reassemble divided divisions is to load both
- pieces onto the same TF, then unload them somewhere or just leave
- them at the same base for awhile. They will recombine
- eventually.
-
- c. The NEW unit you create when dividing an LCU should only
- receive replacements when it fall below 30 squads while the
- parent unit (original cadre) builds back to full strength.
-
- d. Dividing Allied engineer units is especially effective. The
- replacements bring both old and new subunits up to workable size
- quickly.
-
- 3. ACTIVATE ALL LCU's THAT WILL BE LOADED, MOVED, OR THAT WILL
- ATTACK (A ON UNIT DATA DISPLAY).
-
- a. If there is a '$' sign next to the unit then it is NOT
- ACTIVATED. LCU's are automatically deactivated at the end of
- the execution phase. For them to attack enemy LCU's between the
- time you activated them and the end of the phase, several
- conditions must be met: there has to be enemy LCU's/bases in the
- same area, sufficiently high odds or have an aggressive leader
- assigned. To achieve numerical advantage, you need men, good
- troop quality and good readiness. If a LCU is under 50 readiness
- it probably will not attack.
-
- b. The Chinese LCU's are a good example of poor leadership and
- readiness. There is only one leader in China. You cannot change
- leaders there. Chinese HQ's are examples of the restricted HQ's.
- It costs 120PP to activate a division or army attached to that
- HQ. If your troop experience is less than 50, and you do not
- have a really good leader, your LCU's may be virtually useless
- (read p. 35 of the manual).
-
- c. Activated LCU's may still not attack if the odds are bad.
- However, if the LEADER passes an aggressiveness roll they will
- attack at any odds. If your leader is not aggressive AND has
- fails experience checks, then you may not have a sufficient
- advantage to initiate an attack. There are 3 leader rolls
- involved in each land combat. The failure to pass a leader roll
- when low quality LCU's are involved may result in the units
- 'failing to fight'. This would explain why a 52 squad LCU
- failed to fight in one battle and while only a 2 squad LCU fought
- in the next battle.
-
- d. If you activate LCU's while your HQ's are low in PP, your
- readiness will be halved, further curtailing your offensive
- firepower. You may activate LCU's without the necessary PP but
- you will lose half of the LCU's readiness in the process. This
- really hurts the Japanese ability to attack in China and is quite
- realistic.
-
- e. An attack by LCU's uses a number of PPs equal to the land
- leader's land rating. If there are not enough PPs, there may be
- no attack. This also hurts the Japanese ability to attack in
- China. If the "on the spot" commander fails an aggressiveness
- roll (random (10) less than aggressiveness), then he will be
- bypassed as commander and the commander of the controlling HQ
- will take charge of the hostilities. This means the leadership
- duties will shift up the chain of command. (See page 33,
- paragraph 4).
-
- f. To get the Japanese to retreat you need 125:1 odds. They are
- tenacious units, and this IS historical. They don't surrender.
- It is tough to get heavy damage in jungle when the effects are
- divided by NINE.
-
- g. Sometimes you may see only 2 squads attack or defend. Look
- closely at the 1st paragraph in column 2 on page 35. If the LCU
- fails both its experience check and its leader check then its
- readiness may be reduced to 1. This happens when poor LCU's are
- lead by poor commanders.
-
- h. Check the rules on page 41: Special Headquarters Movement
- Restrictions. LCU's subordinate to restricted HQ's (ANZAC, West
- Coast, China AG, Kwantung and Imperial GHQ) pay 10 times the
- normal activation cost. When activated, these units do not
- change their HQ. SOME LCU's may NOT be loaded onto ships. You
- can move the LCU's in their home country but they take x10 PP to
- activate. These rules are necessary in order to keep the
- Japanese from pulling all their forces out of China and
- Manchuria, and the Allies from pulling their "Home Defense"
- forces out of Australia and the U.S.
-
- i. At various times during the game, ANZAC LCU's will be
- transferred to the SWPAC HQ. To determine when ANZAC units have
- switched to SWPAC, click on the LCU as if you were going to
- activate it and look at the HQ's they are attached to. If it is
- ANZAC, the LCU is tied up in home defense duties. If it is
- SWPAC, the LCU is released to go fight outside their home
- country. To ensure the ANZAC LCU's transfer occurs, you may need
- to put the Southwest Pacific HQ under computer control for one
- turn (either operational or total control). You will need to do
- this each time an ANZAC LCU is scheduled to be transferred to
- SWPAC. (Until ANZAC releases LCU's, take a division from Central
- Pacific Command, break it into smaller units, and use them to
- garrison the Solomons and New Guinea.) When an ANZAC LCU
- activates it will switch to SWPAC control and may arrive as a
- reinforcement in Sydney. Listed below is the ANZAC transfer
- schedule:
-
- 1) Apr 42 1st AUS Engr.
-
- 2) May 42 7th AUS Inf Div.
-
- 3) Sep 42 6th AUS Inf Div.
-
- 4) Nov 42 9th AUS Inf Div.
-
- 5) Jul 43 3rd NZ Inf Div.
-
- 6) Aug 43 8th NZ Inf Bde.
-
- j. In the last year of the war the Japanese started transferring
- divisions out of China and Manchuria for use in the Western
- Pacific. The divisions transferred out of China will show up in
- Shanghai (probably attached to 14th or 35th Army). The divisions
- transferred out of Manchuria will show up in Port Arthur.
-
- k. When an LCU is ACTIVATED it will become attached to the same
- HQ that controls the base. This is not true for LCU's that are
- attached to RESTRICTED HQ's (such as ANZAC).
-
- l. Inactive LCU's will always DEFEND in land combat. Activating
- in LCU does not help its performance while defending.
-
- m. A computer controlled HQ may activate some of your LCU's.
-
- n. Engineers DO NOT need to be activated in order to build
- airfields and ports.
-
- o. The gung-ho 1st Marine Division is influenced by a 'minor'
- bug which keeps the LCU active.
-
- p. LCU's can receive a maximum of 20 squads per turn as
- replacements if not isolated. Thus if a division takes 50%
- losses in combat it will take 6 weeks to rebuild it to full
- strength.
-
- q. Look at the type of terrain enemy LCU's are in. Heavy jungle
- and jungle terrain reduce bombardment effects drastically, so
- does entrenchment level. Japanese jungle defense is really hard
- to beat. Weekly air strikes also do not impact much on jungle
- defenders. To destroy Japanese LCU's you need lots of
- experienced LCU's, air strikes and shore bombardments. If the
- enemy units drop to a readiness of 9-15% they are being affected.
- Do this turn after turn and you will see the odds climb until the
- magic 125:1 odds shows up and the defender will be gone. Another
- secret to getting Japanese troops out of the jungle is to cut
- their line of supply. This usually requires a surface combat TF
- on station in the hex. It does not have to be a good TF, use
- PT's or DD's or CA's when enemy air is around. Once their supply
- is cut, 3 or 4 divisions under a good leader can usually get
- 125:1 odds in 3 or 4 turns.
-
- r. If your LCU's have gotten into a battle with enemy units, you
- CANNOT change their controlling HQ's UNTIL they have captured the
- enemy base. When you capture the base, an HQ is selected by the
- computer. The HQ that is selected by the computer for the base
- is the same as the one the lowest numbered LCU (in the game's
- database) is attached to. The captured base gets assigned to
- that HQ at the end of combat phase. Next turn, if you check your
- units, they will still have DIFFERENT controlling HQ's. What you
- can do is look at the captured base, decide which HQ's the base
- should belong to, change BASE HQ if necessary, and then activate
- the LCU's to get them all assigned to that HQ.
-
- l. After combat or movement, you can activate a unit again to
- return it to an inactive status. You can use that technique just
- after capturing a base. This makes LCU's have the same
- appropriate HQ's. If the enemy is still in a base hex, after you
- capture the base, you can activate your LCU's to turn these units
- back to inactive status so they can dig in and wait for the
- supplies to roll in and restore their readiness.
-
- 4. ASSIGN LEADERS TO LAND UNITS (F1 ON UNIT DATA DISPLAY).
-
- a. If there are LCU's belonging to various HQ's at a location
- and there is no onsite leader then the leader will be chosen
- randomly from among the represented HQ's.
-
- b. Allied land leaders cannot command an amphibious assault -
- only the naval leaders of transport TF carrying the attacking
- troops can affect the initial landings. If enemy resistance
- continues then an Army/Marine commander can be assigned to the
- base on the following turn. Japanese HQ commanders command the
- troops making amphibious assaults (the aggressiveness of the
- Japanese naval leader commanding the transport TF is vital in
- determining whether the TF turns back under air attack though).
-
- c. Both Japanese and Allied leaders have an equal chance of
- becoming casualties. Leaders that are wounded in action will be
- unavailable for 6-12 months while recuperating. The game system
- seems to inflict unusually high losses on friendly leaders from
- friendly air attack on enemy LCU's in the same hex, so be
- careful.
-
- d. To see the available leaders, check the land units under the
- control of each Allied HQ by pressing W on a ground unit under
- the control of each HQ and then press F1. Press the space bar to
- see more leaders if the screen is full.
-
- 5. MARCH LCU's OVERLAND (ALT/W).
-
- a. Marching (or retreating) to another base requires the LCU to
- start with at least a 50 readiness.
-
- b. LCU's may not move from a hex containing enemy units to
- another hex or base controlled by the enemy (whether or not the
- latter contains any LCU's) unless they have 125-1 superiority in
- the hex they are leaving.
-
- c. You also cannot march an LCU from an enemy
- occupied/controlled base to an enemy controlled/empty base and
- capture it. CURRENTLY LCU's can ONLY march to a connected
- location IF either the starting OR ending location is FREE OF
- ENEMY LCU's.
-
- d. The game system fosters holding attacks. Moving a LCU into a
- hex containing enemy units pins them down there. An AI group of
- enemy LCU's dug in on a large island with march paths, like
- Rabaul or the Philippines, can resort to sneaky tactics to force
- base hopping. After you obtain a toehold base with 7-8 friendly
- LCU's, the AI opposition may retreat one turn to another base,
- then advance back 1 or more units effectively preventing your
- advance. To prevent this, invade behind the AI forces to pin
- them down and prevent retreats and/or end-of-turn advances.
-
- e. The marching paths in New Guinea are not exactly correct.
- Some parts of the island must have amphibious assaults to get to
- bases. Many New Guinea bases can be reached by marching from one
- to another. You cannot march to an enemy occupied base if there
- are enemy units in the base where you are trying to march from.
-
- 6. CALL FOR IMMEDIATE SEALIFT FORCES (ALT/T).
-
- E. AIR SUBPHASE
-
- 1. CHECK WHICH ENEMY BASES ARE EXERTING AIR ZONES OF CONTROL
- (AZOC) (ALT/Z).
-
- a. Each time an undetected TF enters an enemy AZOC it will
- trigger searches and attacks by all enemy air groups in range.
- This point is very important because of the way TF Preparation
- Points (PP) work. The best way to drive off an amphibious
- invasion is to hit the transport TF carrying the LCU's with as
- many separate airstrikes as possible, because each airstrike
- reduces the TF's PPs by 9. A transport TF reduced to few or no
- PP will likely retire or fail to unload. The airstrikes need not
- be strong; what counts is making them numerous. This means that
- you should spread your airgroups around on multiple bases within
- a small area, preferably each with a bomber and a fighter
- squadron (tactical, dive or torpedo bombers preferred), and with
- a Patrol squadron covering them all. If the HQ for that area
- does not have an air leader, assign local leaders with air
- ratings of 3+ to each such base. You'd be surprised how
- effective Allied airpower can be in defending Malaya, Java and
- Sumatra from Japanese invasions in this fashion in 1941 and early
- 1942. The counter to this is to reduce or eliminate the AZOC's
- with massive airstrikes (6+ bomber and fighter squadrons in a
- single raid) or naval bombardments by surface combat or
- bombardment TF's with 4+ heavy cruisers or better. It may be
- necessary to pound defending airbases in this fashion for several
- turns before a transport TF can get through. The weakness of
- this air defense tactic is that you need really strong airstrikes
- from a single base to hurt enemy combat TF's. Those rarely turn
- back under air attack. It is difficult to hurt enemy combat TF's
- if you spread your airpower around on multiple bases to maximize
- the number of strikes to reduce amphibious transport TF PPs.
-
- b. Air Combat TF's will only cancel enemy AZOC if THEY ENTER
- THEM. The AZOC will be cancelled AFTER the Air Combat TF
- triggers any reaction combat or movement. As an example, in
- order to perform an effective amphibious assault in an enemy
- AZOC, you may need to send a Combat Air TF to the enemy base and
- set the STANDOFF RANGE to ZERO. This may (but might not) CANCEL
- the enemy AZOC. Your transport TF's might then follow and may be
- immune to reaction air strikes. Of course, your carriers will
- have to withstand the full brunt of enemy airpower.
-
- c. After an enemy naval force retires they can no longer be
- targeted by aircraft in the normal combat phase - they may only
- be subjected to reaction attacks as they move towards their home
- port.
-
- 2. CHECK WHICH FRIENDLY BASES ARE EXERTING AZOC (SHFT/Z).
-
- a. If you have good air cover in an area, any enemy TF's
- entering your air zones of control (AZOC) will have a good chance
- of running into any reaction forces you have sitting in port.
- Repeated bombing of a base will reduce the effectiveness of it's
- AZOC. A group of aircraft may not be enough to generate a AZOC
- at a disrupted base. Try moving more bombers to the base and see
- if a AZOC appears. AZOC exerted by TF's are not shown (either
- friendly or enemy). Only LBA AZOC are displayed.
-
- b. All TF's are much more vulnerable to enemy aircraft, both
- from carriers and land bases, when they are not covered by
- friendly Patrol squadrons' AZOC.
-
- c. The most important aircraft in the game are the patrol
- (reconnaissance) bombers. Patrol planes do not do anything but
- patrol. Just move them to a supplied base and they will start to
- patrol. They locate enemy TF's, reduce the effectiveness of
- enemy submarines and greatly enhance the effectiveness of combat
- aircraft on bases containing the Patrol units (apparently
- including air defense). You should IMMEDIATELY move a Patrol air
- unit onto any newly conquered base. It will then exert AZOC as
- well as providing targeting information concerning enemy TF's.
-
- d. Fighters DO NOT exert an AZOC but fighter-bombers DO.
- However, friendly fighter AZOCs DO cancel enemy bomber AZOCs.
-
- 3. EXAMINE AIRFIELDS IN SEQUENCE (Z OR A).
-
- a. The most important step in improving air bases is to get it
- from size 1 to size 2 (using an engineer unit). This changes a
- base which can only handle one patrol squadron to a base which
- can handle two fighter, fighter-bomber, dive or torpedo bomber
- squadrons plus a patrol squadron. The next is from a size 3 to
- size 4, because that lets tactical and heavy bombers operate
- there. Building bases up to an airfield level of 4 allows you to
- stage bombers from the U.S. to Australia, and points in between,
- by successive air transfers from base to base. Also, the bigger
- the base the more aircraft that are active in your squadrons.
-
- b. The larger the airfield rating of a base, the harder it will
- be to destroy aircraft at that base. The high airfield rating
- implies MORE air strips and a better ability to disperse the air
- groups.
-
- c. The engineer construction rate of airfields is unpredictable.
- Some airfield levels may increase from two to six in eight weeks
- while other bases with more engineers, supply, and better terrain
- may take up to three to four months. The key is to have 1000
- supply points available for construction.
-
- d. The maximum size for a land based fighter group is fifty
- aircraft.
-
- e. The big-wigs in the Pentagon plan to send all B-17s to Europe
- starting late 1942.
-
- 4. SET PRIORITY TARGET BASE (B).
-
- a. To set a priority air target, hit 'B' while on a friendly
- airbase. The screen should then show up that asks to click on an
- air target, or hit 'C' to cancel a previous air target. That
- should remove old air targets.
-
- 5. SET MISSIONS (D, N, NI, SA, OA, AB, T, D ON AIR UNIT
- DISPLAY).
-
- a. When viewing air groups, following the group name/number
- there is a designation in parentheses such as (D-USA) or
- (T-USMC). The T designates a Training unit and only holds four
- aircraft each. The "D" stands for Day Combat, "NI" stands for
- Naval Interdiction, and so on. Each AIR MISSION has a letter
- code. When you see (D-USMC) at the top of the air group display
- the 'D' stands for DAY mission (T=Training, N=Night, etc.).
-
- b. You are not required to set a group's air mission. All
- groups will start with a mission already set - usually Day
- Combat. If nothing is next to the air group data on the display
- then the group has a Day Combat mission. An air group will
- remain active and perform it's assigned mission every turn
- without spending PPs every turn.
-
- c. If you set tac-bombers or attack planes (not fighters) to
- Naval Interdiction, they will intercept spotted TF's that are in
- range IF they have enough supply and fuel to do so. Air groups
- with Naval Interdiction missions should only attack naval
- targets. EXAMPLE: a carrier has F4Fs, SBD's and TBF's - if the
- SBD's have an NI mission then only the F4F's and TBF's would be
- allowed to attack an airfield. The TF's target priorities would
- not override this. You can control this somewhat when CV's
- launch planes. Set the reaction range to 1 or 2 after giving
- them a destination, and they won't attack until within that
- range. American and Japanese ARMY bombers will not attack ships
- unless they have a Naval Interdiction mission. Bombers with NI
- missions should perform reaction attacks against enemy TF's that
- enter nearby AZOC.
-
- d. When torpedo bombers and Bettys attack from MAXIMUM range
- they will carry bombs instead of torpedoes. This does not apply
- to TBD's (Avengers).
-
- e. Air groups with Training missions will not perform any
- combat. They should be moved to the rear areas.
-
- f. There is no reason to put patrol aircraft, such as seaplanes,
- on Night missions.
-
- g. With the exception of HEAVY BOMBERS, land based bombers are
- reluctant to fly daylight missions against targets defended by
- CAP unless they have a fighter escort or very good. The mission
- may get scrubbed. On LBA attacking TF's: the airbases need
- several things to detect, locate and attack a TF. First, they
- need to be well supplied with supplies AND fuel. When the gas is
- gone, they don't fly! Second, the airbases need to be protected
- from enemy airstrikes. (Those 2 **'s behind the name of a base
- means severe air disruption, reducing all flights from that
- base.) Third, a patrol group is critical. The more patrol
- groups that can see an enemy TF, the greater chance there is that
- LBA will attack them. Fourth, of course, you need planes that
- will attack TF's. Tac-bombers will do it, but naval airgroups
- (dive and torpedo bombers) do the best job. Fighters will
- perform sweeps over enemy TF's and will strafe non-combat units,
- and tac-bombers will occasionally attack, but dive bombers have
- the best accuracy rating. A good HQ leader is useful to keep the
- reinforcements coming, too.
-
- h. At close range (2-3 hexes) the air bases put up a few
- fighters (4-8) over any TF. If you do not want fighters to move
- away from their airfield, put them on naval interception (NI)
- missions. Fighters may provide CAP over the base. Fighters
- will not strafe/attack COMBAT TF's. The only mission they will
- perform, other than CAP, is strafe/attack are NON-COMBAT TF's.
-
- i. Transport aircraft, at a well supplied base, can airdrop
- supplies to ALL undersupplied units. They can supply up to two
- times their normal aircraft travel distance. Transport aircraft
- can airdrop supplies up to their maximum allowable distance to
- LCU's (to increase their readiness up to 49%) located with an
- enemy unit. This is handy as long as you can neutralize the
- AZOC. Transport aircraft will not drop supplies into an area
- covered by an enemy fighter AZOC. Transport aircraft supply
- function is controlled by the computer.
-
- j. Changing an air group's mission requires PPs. If you do not
- have enough PPs, the mission can be changed but all the aircraft
- in the group become damaged.
-
- k. Fighters over their own bases perform almost 3 times as
- effectively in kill rates.
-
- l. Night mission bombing allows one to attack strategic targets
- without encountering swarms of daylight interceptors. The flak
- is halved and CAP is limited to those fighters assigned Night
- missions. You can reduce supply capability to Rabaul (neutralize
- it) by the use of night bombing with B-17s. Night raids by large
- numbers of B-29s can cause terrific damage to the Japanese cities
- late in the war. The Japanese can also use well trained Betty
- groups (experience 80+) to attack Allied TF's at night and avoid
- CAP.
-
- m. Army Air Groups will not attack LCU's if they have an NI
- mission. Set your airfield target priority to Ground Attack to
- guarantee that bombers will attack LCU's. Aircraft do not have
- their range multiplied x1.5 when attacking LCU's. See the data
- card comments for page 21.
-
- n. The higher the experience level of your air groups the better
- they perform. If your experience is below 70 you will not do
- very well. Try putting some of those groups on training missions
- in your rear areas, or don't deploy the groups to the battle area
- until they have a 75 - 80 experience rating. Taking losses may
- also keep your experience down as you receive replacements.
-
- o. Airgroups can attack supply depots and airfields within 150%
- of their rated range but can attack LCU's and task forces only
- within their normal rated range. This means that a Lily with a
- range of 4 can attack supply depots and airfields at ranges of 6
- but LCU's only at a range of 4. Note that it is almost
- impossible to bombard the US supply depot on Bataan with aircraft
- unless their bases are out of normal range. There are usually so
- many US LCU's in Bataan that the program will have all airgroups
- attack the LCU's rather than the supply depot no matter what the
- base target is. This means that 4-hex range Lilys must be based
- on Formosa (Takao or Chilung) if you want them to attack the
- Bataan supply depot, with Sallys being based on Okinawa.
- Hopefully this problem will be corrected in a future version.
-
- p. Zero fighters have a range of 6 while most Japanese tactical
- bombers (naval Bettys & Nells, Army Sallys & Helens) have ranges
- of 5-9. The most effective anti-shipping weapons are land-based
- air (LBA) units - the US SBD Dauntless dive-bomber and the
- Japanese G4M Betty tactical bomber. Dive-bombers are the most
- accurate anti-shipping planes (accuracy 9) and SBDs can deliver
- the devastating 1000 lb. bomb at 2 hexes range or a 500 lb. bomb
- at 3 hexes range. Bettys have a range of 9 hexes, an accuracy of
- 7, and can sometimes carry torpedoes. American SBD dive-bombers
- using 1000 lb. bombs can really hurt Japanese battleships.
- Battleship TF's seem excessively powerful in this game so it is
- essential for the Japanese to sink most of the old US ones at
- Pearl Harbor on the first turn. Large battleship TF's have high
- anti-aircraft ratings which greatly reduces the effectiveness of
- air raids. US battleships are almost invulnerable to Japanese
- 250 kg. (550 lb.) bombs. No Japanese plane uses a bigger bomb.
- Torpedoes are more effective but torpedo bombers are
- exceptionally vulnerable to AA fire. The Japanese have nothing
- comparable to the 1000 lb. bomb. Vals and Kates can attack at 4
- hexes range only with 250 kg. bombs. Val divebombers always use
- 250 kg. bombs. Kates use torpedoes at ranges 0, 1 & 2 but 250
- kg. bombs at range 3. Japanese planes do have a longer range
- than the US planes and will keep this advantage throughout the
- war.
-
- q. Air squadrons from your base fight in the order that they are
- listed at the base: first squadron A fights the enemy, than B,
- then C, etc. As an example, Allied squadrons are ordered in the
- following manner:
-
- USMC Ftr, USMC Bomber, USAAF Ftr, USAAF Bomber, Commonwealth Ftr,
- Commonwealth Bomber
-
- What does this mean? If you put USMC bombers with Commonwealth
- fighters, for example, the fighters will not protect the bombers:
- the enemy does not have to fight through your Commonwealth
- fighters to get to the USMC bombers because they see them
- straight away.
-
- q. Set fragile Bettys to NI (naval interdiction) missions to
- keep them from hitting defended enemy bases and taking horrible
- losses.
-
- 6. TRANSFER AIR UNITS (ALT/A).
-
- a. Adding a patrol air group to an airfield should not count
- toward the maximum allowable number of units. As an example, a
- level four airfield can have four air groups, not counting
- transport or patrol planes, and each air group can have up to
- forty undamaged active aircraft. But if there are already four
- air groups at the airfield, you cannot add another
- non-patrol/transport airgroup (even if all four of the others are
- patrol/transport). In order to add a non-patrol/transport air
- group, move out one group to reduce the number to three, transfer
- the non-patrol/transport group to the airfield and then bring
- back the patrol/transport unit. This appears to apply with all
- sizes of airfields.
-
- b. The only aircraft that can be based at a size 1 airfield are
- Patrol types.
-
- c. Air groups may be moved around within China (those bases
- attached to China Exp. Force). However, air group may not
- transfer OUT OF or INTO China or Manchuria. Also, air groups in
- China and Manchuria will not be allowed to disband. Keep your
- air groups out of the China and Kwantung areas or you will lose
- control of them. This is not really a bug, but a necessary side
- effect of the restricted HQ functions.
-
- d. Only heavy bombers and patrol bombers can fly directly to
- Oahu from San Francisco (SF), so if you have maxed out Oahu
- already, only the patrol planes will be allowed to go there.
- Move some planes from Oahu to the other islands, then try again.
- If the heavy bombers are not transferring, look at the size of
- the airport they are going to. A size of 4 or greater is needed
- to put the heavies there. The shorter ranged planes (Dauntless,
- P-40, etc.) must be loaded on a MCS or CS type ship to move
- across the big ocean gaps. They will show up as damaged at their
- new port when the TF gets there, but repair quickly. CS type
- ships will unload the planes and have them ready to go
- immediately.
-
- e. You can only get the nuclear mission as the Allies, and only
- starting in August 1945.
-
- 7. UPGRADE OLDER PLANE TYPES (C ON AIR UNIT DISPLAY).
-
- a. It is not possible to disband all the air units in China and
- have them reappear in Tokyo 6 months later for reassignment, nor
- is it possible to reequip them with biplanes to free up more
- modern types for the force pool.
-
- b. You may not want to convert all of your Japanese carrier
- fighter aircraft A6M2 Zeros to A6M5 Zeros when they become
- available in 1943. The A6M5 Zeros are fighter-bombers. When
- they bomb airfields or TF's, the A6M5 may suffer horrendous
- losses due to flak. The A6M5 may be only an adequate bomber when
- attacking units with minimal flack protection. A6M2s are also
- fragile, are more prudent vs. ground targets. They are fine for
- defensive purposes if you are not doing well. You should keep
- one AC TF equipped with A6M2 for offensive purposes. You should
- also keep some ground based squadrons of A6M2s. Otherwise,
- Bettys and Peggys will attack TF's without escorts during
- reaction air strikes.
-
- 8. TRANSFER AIRCRAFT FACTORY CONTROL FROM COMPUTER TO HUMAN OR
- VICE-VERSA (ALT/N).
-
- a. Alt/N can be used to toggle HUMAN/COMPUTER factory control.
- If you do not want the computer to automatically update your
- aircraft production, set it to HUMAN FACTORY CONTROL.
-
- b. Players should shift the production numbers of each type on
- an as needed basis while keeping at least one factory producing
- some of each type. There will be times when a given type is
- taking exceptionally heavy losses and its replacement pool
- shrinks dangerously so it is important to keep one of each type
- in production.
-
- c. Do not transfer all Japanese fighter production to Zeroes (a
- Navy fighter), even though the Japanese Army fighter designs are
- inferior until late 1942. The Japanese Army fighter squadrons
- will not re-equip with Zeroes and will gradually vanish due to
- attrition.
-
- d. Do not terminate production of the Japanese twin-engine Ki-45
- Nick fighter-bomber in favor of the Ki-34-I Oscar fighter either.
- This is because of the game's use of air bases. Fighters,
- fighter-bombers, torpedo bombers and dive bombers are the only
- combat aircraft which may be based on size 2 and 3 airfields.
- The Japanese have only one land-based torpedo bomber squadron
- from December 1941 through about May 1942, and no land-based dive
- bombers (the US has lots of land-based Marine Corps dive-bomber
- squadrons). The only way the Japanese can attack ships and
- ground units from size 2 and 3 airfields from December 1941
- through May 1942 is with the Ki-45 Nick fighter-bomber. This
- makes a difference for Japanese AZOC. Fighters DO NOT exert an
- AZOC but fighter-bombers do. This is the ONLY redeeming virtue
- of the US P-39 Aircobra, and then only early in the war before
- many USMC SBD dive-bomber squadrons become available.
-
- F. TASK FORCE SUBPHASE
-
- 1. EXAMINE PORTS IN SEQUENCE (O OR P).
-
- a. In Campaign 41 or the Rising Sun Campaign, when you decide
- not to use the historical first move, there is a chance that some
- of the US Fleet at Oahu will put to sea.
-
- b. Look at the port of Los Angeles (LA) or Nagoya to see the
- ships used in routine convoys. If you access the port display,
- and see a # sign next to a transport ID, this means that
- transport is being used for routine convoy duty that turn and
- will be unavailable for any missions. If you want to verify
- this, access target base (B), you will see a one turn delay next
- to it. A delay flag is set to prevent it from being added to a
- TF. When a port is expanded it may receive more supplies during
- routine convoy supply and TF's based at large ports will receive
- more PP. Ports with HQ's present also receive additional
- supplies during the routine convoy phase. The maximum
- fuel/supply level at a base is 50,000. The routine supply
- situation is dependent on who the HQ leader is. If your HQ's is
- not receiving routine supply, consider changing leaders. Routine
- supply seems to take into account the HQ, the level of supply
- currently at the base and the MCS units in routine convoys.
- Obviously all bases can not receive routine supply each turn.
- Make sure to have lots of MCS in LA and you may receive routine
- convoys with supply.
-
- c. The Preparation Point Allocation System is very complicated.
- It is vital to be aware that HQ Preparation Points (PPs) are not
- the same as TF PPs. They are considerably different. Read page
- 32 of the manual VERY carefully. Unused HQ PPs are accumulated
- from one turn to the next, subject to an upper limit for each
- side (and each HQ) which seems to vary according to game date.
- Unused TF PPs are NOT, repeat, NOT, accumulated from one turn to
- the next. While HQ PPs are sometimes transferred to TF's, this
- is rarely (if ever) done on a one HQ PPs to one TF PPs basis.
- PPs are allocated to TF's at the start of each EXECUTION PHASE.
- TF's will always have ZERO PP during the ORDERS PHASE. ALL task
- forces, including Cargo TF's, use PPs. You CANNOT see how many
- PPs the TF has been allocated. Disbanding TF's will save PPs for
- the HQ's that is listed on the TF's display. Disbanding a TF
- will PREVENT the TF's HQ's from spending PPs on the TF at the
- start of the EXECUTION PHASE. The PPs number seen when clicking
- on a port is the PPs for HQ's commanding the port. The first and
- last TF PPs assignment rules are key, especially the last. A
- shortage of PPs indicates exhausted resources or unpreparedness
- (at the start of the war). Only NAVY HQ's will provide TF's with
- PPs. All PPs allocation is done by the computer. The players
- have no control over PPs allocation. The Japanese maximum HQ PPs
- is generally 125 compared to the Allied 200. The TF PPs
- assignment rules are designed to ensure that any given HQ
- concentrates on only one or two major operations each week in
- order to be historically accurate.
-
- 1) The first rule states that if a TF starts the execution phase
- with their destination the SAME as their home base (which is
- under friendly control), the TF will receive 25 TF PPs. The TF
- will gain additional PPs based on 2x the size of the port if the
- TF starts at its home port. The TF's HQ's will subsequently
- spend 1 HQ PP.
-
- 2) If the TF destination is DIFFERENT than its home base, then
- the TF will start with a MINIMUM of 5 TF PPs, with the following
- procedures used to assign ADDITIONAL PPs:
-
- a) If a TF has a DESTINATION that is the SAME as its HQ's TARGET
- it will receive an additional 20 PPs.
-
- b) If a TF starts a move in its Home Port then it will receive
- PP bonus based on the 2x the size of the port.
-
- c) A TF will receive 5 additional PPs if it has moved less than
- 60 hexes since it was last in port.
-
- c) A TF will receive 10 additional PPs if it has moved less than
- 30 hexes since it was last in port.
-
- [(a), (b) and (c) are the only ways written in the rules which
- explain the known PP weakness of TF's which remain at sea at the
- end of a turn instead of returning to port. TF's which remain at
- sea are known to be much weaker than TF's which return to port so
- there may be some other factors at work here which are not yet
- known to the players.]
-
- d) If the TF has a leader, add the Naval Leader's appropriate
- rating as additional PPs (air rating for AC TF, land rating for
- transport TF or naval rating for any other type of TF).
-
- e) If a TF's HQ has more than 9 PPs, the TF will receive 5
- additional PPs plus the Naval Leader's rating. However, 10 PPs
- will subsequently be subtracted from the HQ's PPs. Losing 10
- PPs/TF can greatly reduce an HQ's PPs fast. This is especially
- critical if you are the Japanese player with all of your TF's
- attached to Combined Fleet. Assuming you have done nothing else
- with Combined Fleet's HQ's PPs, the first 12 TF's created may
- reduce the HQ's PPs to only 5 (125 HQ's PP - 12 TF's x 10 HQ's
- PP/TF).
-
- 5) TF's are NOT suppose to retain unused PPs from one turn to
- next. The manual states that when TF's are away from home port
- for multiple turns, they will receive a reduced number of PPs.
- However, the manual also states forming a TF and leaving it in
- its home port for a few turns will increase PP allocation. PP
- are NOT suppose to be carried over from week to week, but game
- play seems to indicate this may not be completely accurate.
-
- 6) If a HQ's is low on PPs then the TF will also have reduced
- PPs. However, a minimum of 5 PPs is ALWAYS allocated to TF's.
-
- 7) The number of PPs a TF receives at the beginning of the
- execution phase may greatly affect its movement and speed. Once
- reduced to below 10 PPs a TF seems to "abort" its mission. A TF
- that starts the execution phase with fewer that 10 PPs may not
- move! TF PPs are also deducted throughout the execution phase
- based on what happens to the TF. PPs seem to be deducted when a
- TF undergoes ANY sort of air attack, engages in surface combat,
- or simply completes its mission (e.g., a transport TF may drop to
- 9 PPs as soon as it unloads at its destination). This would
- explain why an large invasion TF can be turned back by a couple
- of otherwise ineffectual strafings by fighters. It might also
- explain the problems with getting some transport TF's to a
- destination to carry out its mission. For example, a reduced PPs
- transport TF may not move through an enemy AZOC and may not carry
- out its mission to unload. A large AC TF containing CV's may act
- as a meek, leaderless cargo group once it gets low on PPs. The
- ability of ANY TF to carry out its mission is affected by its
- PPs. When low on PPs, even a SC TF, with the most aggressive
- leader, will seek to hide from the enemy rather than attack.
-
- 2. EXAMINE EXISTING TF'S FOR DAMAGE, FUEL, AND THREAT LEVELS
- (N/G).
-
- a. You can determine the vital statistics of any ship by
- examining the ship display. Find the ship in question on the
- TF/PORT display. Point the arrow at the ship and click the left
- mouse button. Dimmed or different color ships are actually
- British, Australian or Dutch ships.
-
- b. The number of asterisk(s) displayed after a bomb, torpedo, or
- gun hit reflects additional or critical damage has been
- inflicted. Each asterisk represents about 20% damage to the
- ship.
-
- c. You do not need a shipyard to repair. However, the ports
- with shipyards get more repair points. Some ports with shipyard
- ratings include Sydney, Calcutta, the West Coast ports, and Pearl
- Harbor. These are good places to leave damaged ships. One
- disadvantage in repairing ships in shipyard facilities is that it
- may cause a delay in receiving 'new construction' reinforcements.
- If a non-shipyard port has enough repair points then there is no
- problem EXCEPT that a shipyard port has a higher chance of
- accelerated repairs (since it has more repair points). Ships
- should be placed in port or they will only perform at sea repairs
- (possible 1 point per turn). The higher the port rating, the
- quicker the ship is repaired. Ports with a lot of repair points
- will NOT expend their repair points over and over again on the
- same ship until all their points are gone. If a port has
- sufficient repair points, it will automatically repair one damage
- point per turn for each damaged ship in port. Subsequently each
- damaged ship in port will undergo two random checks with the
- possibility of removing two additional points. As an example,
- the maximum a battleship can repair in 1 turn is THREE damage
- points. Even though a port may have a number of excess repair
- points remaining after performing repairs on the battleship, it
- will not USE these points even if there are no other damaged
- ships in port. The maximum number of damage points that will be
- removed in this example is 3 but the odds are only 1 or 2 will be
- repaired.
-
- d. It is possible to obtain a critical hit on battleships. This
- will affect the outcome of the Pearl Harbor attack on the first
- turn. It will also hinder attempts to send BB's charging through
- heavily defended areas.
-
- e. Computer-controlled TF's disband when they complete their
- missions. Human-controlled TF's do not disband.
-
- 3. UNLOAD TF's AT DESTINATION BASES (U).
-
- a. Transport TF's will only unload if their standoff range is
- zero. Both Transport and Cargo TF's should unload automatically.
- The Unload TF feature is useful if you load a ship and then
- change your mind. Be wary of unloading LCU's though, as that
- will reduce their effectiveness.
-
- b. Oil cargo has one purpose in the game - to feed Japan's Oil
- Reserves. Therefore the only place Oil can be unloaded is in
- Japan.
-
- c. Unloading a TF containing an air group which overloads an
- airfield will increase the number of damaged aircraft. Until the
- situation is corrected, you will not have the FULL USE of any of
- the air groups at that airfield.
-
- d. When ships unload supplies in support of an amphibious
- assault, the supplies may be used in two different ways: If the
- assault units capture the base then the supplies are unloaded at
- the port. These supplies go into the base supply depot and may
- be used normally by LCU's, air groups and ships at the base. If
- the assaulting units failed to capture the base then the supplies
- are unloaded 'over the beach'. These supplies must be used
- immediately to raise LCU readiness (to a maximum of 49) or
- replace losses in the LCU's. Those supplies that are left over
- are lost.
-
- 4. REPLENISH TF's IF POSSIBLE (Y).
-
- a. CV's will always attempt to replenish their air groups while
- in port. You can get replacement A/C for CV's by returning to a
- well supplied friendly port, or via a replenishment CVE group
- with ac:r as their load. The port will require enough supplies
- for the normal replacement costs for the a/c types involved
- (generally 2-3 supply points per replacement aircraft) plus a
- buffer so the port isn't unsupplied. Air units will not fly from
- their land bases to carriers to replenish them. The replacements
- for CV's come from the aircraft pool for that particular needed
- plane type and not from active air groups. The carriers also
- have to be in a non-isolated port in order to take on replacement
- aircraft.
-
- b. CVE's may replenish carrier air groups while AT SEA. If the
- carrier has depleted air groups and the Replenish TF has CVE's
- loaded with replacement aircraft ([ar:r]) are within range
- (usually about 10 hexes) the transfer should occur. When you go
- to replenish, select the AC TF to be replenished, then pick
- "Replenish" from the menu. The CVE TF should automatically move
- to the AC TF. Now select "Replenish" a SECOND time. There is no
- special message to inform you that replacement aircraft are being
- transferred. Oilers and tankers can also refuel TF's in this
- manner.
-
- c. To refuel long-distance missions, create replenishment TF's
- at islands along the way, assign them a Destination of the island
- where you want them to be and a Home Base someplace else, and a
- Stand-0ff range of 1-2 hexes with a Remain On Station command.
- They can refuel any TF's passing by that need it if you order
- them to.
-
- d. Replenishment TF's should periodically disband and then
- reform at a well supplied base. It takes a lot of supply points
- to load up those CVE's with replacement aircraft (20x200). If
- supplies are not adequate then the CVE's will reactivate their
- own air groups.
-
- e. The larger ships in a TF can refuel the smaller ships in it
- by pressing Y (provided they have more than 40 fuel points).
- Carriers, battleships and cruisers can refuel destroyers in their
- TF this way. Tankers, oilers and merchant vessels may also be
- able to refuel other ships in their TF in this manner. Ships
- that are moved around with the Reinforce Base command are
- sometimes short of fuel. Disbanding a TF does not always refuel
- them. You must ensure the TF includes a ship with enough fuel
- points to replenish the rest of the ships. Check the fuel status
- of the ships in a TF. If some of them are low, press the Y key
- and check them out again. If they are still low, disband the TF
- and then create a new TF. If there is a replenishment TF within
- a number of hexes equal to about half the speed of the slowest
- ship in the replenishment TF, it will move to the TF you had the
- cursor on when you pressed Y. In some instances the
- replenishment TF will not transfer fuel to the target TF. In
- that instance, use the Transfer Ship command (T) to transfer a
- loaded oiler or tanker (AO/TK) from the replenishment TF to the
- low-fuel TF, then click on the low-fuel TF and press Y again.
- That will refuel all the ships in the low-fuel TF. Do not forget
- to transfer (T) the AO/TK unit back into the replenishment TF.
-
- f. The Replenish command can also be used as a 'scenario' editor
- to transfer ships and any cargo (airgroups, fuel, LCU's and
- supplies) from one base to another. Create any kind of TF
- and load the ships you want to move into it, but be certain to
- have an AO, TK, CVE, DD, DE or PC be the flagship. If you want
- to transfer airgroups fuel, LCU's or supplies in this manner, the
- TF must be a cargo or transport one. Then load the AP's and/or
- MCS units with airgroups, troops, fuel and/or supplies. Then
- create a replenishment TF at the same base, but be sure to answer
- No when the program asks if you want it to create the TF
- automatically. Then press Escape to not, repeat, not, load any
- ships from port into the replenishment TF. Press Escape again if
- necessary to get out of the TF creation menu. Press the space
- bar to get the empty replenishment TF number at the bottom of the
- screen. Then press T to invoke the transfer ships menu, and
- press the space bar. Move the mouse cursor to the TF you want to
- transfer ships from and click on it. Then click on the ships you
- want to transfer into the replenishment TF. Then create a TF
- (even an empty one) at the destination base (which must be no
- further away than half the movement value in hexes of the slowest
- ship in the replenishment TF) and press Y. That will drag the
- replenishment TF over.
-
- 5. TRANSFER DAMAGED (OR UNDAMAGED) SHIPS TO NEW TF'S (T).
-
- a. You cannot change the leaders of TF's which have had ships
- transferred into them from another TF. The TF must be disbanded
- and then reformed.
-
- 6. SCUTTLE BADLY DISABLED SHIPS (S ON SHIP DISPLAY).
-
- 7. DISBAND TF'S AT DESTINATION PORTS (R).
-
- 8. CHECK FOR ISOLATED BASES THAT MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL CONVOYS IN
- ORDER TO RECEIVE ADEQUATE SUPPLIES (ALT/O).
-
- 9. CREATE TRANSPORT TF'S (AND/OR TOKYO EXPRESSES, IF JAPANESE)
- TO RESUPPLY (ISOLATED) BASES IN RANGE OF ENEMY AIR OR SEA ZONES
- OF CONTROL (C).
-
- a. Create supply TF's when building an amphibious assault force
- (include MCS ships in TF) and to supply ISOLATED bases. Also
- create TF's to move some supply to a base that has engineers
- doing construction work, but only if the base has a supply level
- less than 1000. If a base is not isolated, supply will get there
- fine, either by routine supply convoys or overland. Locations
- where your HQ's are located receive large amounts of routine
- supply.
-
- b. The GET TRANSPORT function will automatically send ships and
- reinforcements to ANY NON-isolated friendly port. The GET
- TRANSPORT function will NOT work at a base that is isolated.
- When GET TRANSPORT is used, the ship units come from the nearest
- eligible base. If you want transports (AP) to show up, be sure
- that an LCU is activated at the base in question.
-
- 1) Activate a LCU before you AUTO-SELECT the Transport TF. It
- should form a TF with an AP or LST unit of exactly the correct
- size to load the LARGEST ACTIVE LCU at the base. If you select
- GET TRANSPORT and the PP level DOES NOT decrease by 10, no AP or
- LST units showed up. If it DOES decrease by 10, enough units
- showed up to move all your activated LCU's. REMEMBER: activate
- the LCU's before asking for transports, or nothing will show up.
-
- 2) GET TRANSPORT should only take units from areas subordinate
- to the requesting HQ or areas subordinate to computer controlled
- HQ's.
-
- 3) GET TRANSPORT moves AP, APD and/or MCS units directly into
- the desired port. These ships should be immediately formed into
- TF's to prevent them from being moved the next time you use the
- GET TRANSPORT function. You should receive extra MCS units each
- time GET TRANSPORT is used. In order to increase the number of
- AP's or LST's in a TF, you need a few initially in port. Disband
- some AP's or LST's out of a TF into port and then Get Transport.
- The ships in port will move to your base, where you can increase
- their number from the pool. You then can reinforce the unit from
- the ship pool if there are equivalent units (small AP, medium AP,
- large AP, LST, APD) in the pool.
-
- 4) If a British HQ uses the GET TRANSPORT command it will try to
- find a BRITISH AP unit. If all British AP's have been sunk or
- assigned to TF's then you will not receive any AP's. The same
- applies to APD's.
-
- b. For Transport TF's, the number of PPs will effect the
- READINESS level of combat troops that are unloaded. This is very
- important for Amphibious Assaults.
-
- c. You cannot change the mission of a TF. You must disband it
- in port and reform it with a new mission.
-
- 10. CREATE CARGO TF's TO RESUPPLY BASES IN REAR AREAS (C).
-
- a. Cargo TF's behave exactly like Transport TF's with one
- exception: Cargo TF's will never enter an enemy AZOC unless
- there is no other way to return to base. Cargo TF's will always
- try to avoid enemy AZOC's. Unless you are PLANNING to penetrate
- into enemy areas you should send your troops and cargo in Cargo
- TF's to minimize PPs use.
-
- b. To get ships from Columbo to SF, create a Cargo TF, give them
- a Destination of Perth and a Home Base of Suva. When they get to
- Suva they can be routed anywhere on the east side of the map.
-
- 11. CREATE REPLENISHMENT TF's (C).
-
- a. Only CVE type ships may carry reserve aircraft to replenish
- carriers at sea. In order to get reserve aircraft on a CVE, you
- can manually assign the ship from a port (it must start the turn
- manually attached to a port with an adequate supply level) and
- add the CVE to a Replenish TF. You can also AUTO-SELECT a
- Replenish TF and get CVE's in the TF pre-loaded with replacement
- aircraft (ac:r). Oilers and tankers also come loaded with fuel
- when selected in this fashion. After a replenish mission, you
- have to go back to a port, disband the TF and create a new
- replenish TF. Aircraft replenish missions seem to be a one time
- deal. If a CVE is in a TF or shows aircraft squadrons, it's in
- escort mode, and you can't load replenishment aircraft. Whenever
- CVE's are NOT carrying reserve aircraft they will be able to
- operate with their normal complement of 2 squadrons. CVE's may
- carry replacement aircraft equal to DOUBLE their capacity.
-
- b. CS ships do NOT perform replenishment missions. CS ships do
- NOT have the ability to LAUNCH fighters, dive-bombers and torpedo
- bombers from their decks. CS ships can only launch float planes.
- CS ships may TRANSPORT land based air groups.
-
- 12. CREATE COMBAT TF's AT FRIENDLY PORTS (C).
-
- a. For Air Combat TF's the number of PPs will determine the
- number of FULL airstrikes the TF can launch and chances of
- achieving surprise.
-
- b. For Surface Combat TF's the number of PPs will effect the
- chances of achieving surprise and which TF fires first.
-
- c. For Bombardment TF's the number of PPs will effect the TF's
- chances of firing three bombardments instead of two.
-
- d. When forming a Japanese combat TF in a port controlled by
- South Seas Fleet or North Seas Fleet, the TF will be attached to
- Combined Fleet. ALL Air Combat, Surface Combat and Bombardment
- TF's will ALWAYS be attached to Combined Fleet, no matter what HQ
- controlled the base where the TF was formed. All other types of
- TF's (Transport, Cargo, etc.) will be attached to the Naval HQ
- that controlled the base. The problem with Combined Fleet is
- that it is the only HQ that can control Combat TF's for the
- Japanese. The main battle fleet was never entrusted to the
- backwater North Seas, South Seas or 8th Fleets. Combined Fleet
- also transfers some of it's PPs to the subordinate fleets. In
- order to build up the PPs for Combined Fleet you need to restrict
- the number of TF's. These TF's cost 10 PPs each and Combined
- Fleet pays for all of them, directly or indirectly. This feature
- was included to reflect the real-life logistical bottleneck that
- the Japanese Navy experienced in 1942.
-
- e. If you use the AUTO-SELECT TF feature when building any type
- of task force the computer AUTOMATICALLY selects, as the
- destination for that TF, the Target base of the originating HQ.
- For example, if you created a Air Combat TF at Oahu, with Oahu
- being under CENTPAC HQ, and CENTPAC has Wake Island as the HQ
- target, using the auto-select feature builds the AC TF, assigns a
- leader, and sets TF the destination to Wake Island and assigns
- your home port as Oahu.
-
- f. There is a limit to the number of AP UNITS and LST UNITS
- available. The USN get a total of 5 Large, 7 Medium, and 8 Small
- AP Units and 6 LST Units; the Brit get 2 Large, 3 Medium and 2
- Small AP Units and 1 LST Units during the entire war. Look in
- the Appendices of the manual where it lists ship production
- times. Any ship marked by an "x" and not a name is a single unit
- and ones marked by "(#x)" is that # of units. This is why a few
- the USN only gets 6 PT boat units and each is limited to 10 ships
- and the ship pool soon rises into the hundreds of PT's available.
- You cannot move them out of the pool since you cannot create new
- ship units.
-
- 13. ASSIGN LEADERS TO TF's (F1 on TF display).
-
- a. If you are having trouble getting a particular leader, you
- might try changing the flagship to various ships in a TF to see
- if you can get a specific TF leader to come aboard.
-
- b. Any TF that might see combat should have a TF leader. Do not
- assume that if you leave the TF leaderless then the leader of the
- TF's HQ will conduct operations unhindered. This assumption is
- incorrect because in surface combat, an HQ leader is NEVER used.
- Only a TF leader can effect the outcome of surface combat. TF's
- without leaders are VERY quick to withdraw and/or abort. This
- includes Amphibious Transport TF's. There are BIG combat
- penalties for not having a leader in a TF. Leaderless TF's will
- frequently abort their missions if attacked by a handful of
- bombers. Leaderless TF's can be badly outclassed in surface
- combat (being surprised or the opponent will get the first shot).
- If no leader is present then a default rating of 2 is used. In
- deciding if a TF will retire after being attacked, only the TF
- leader's aggressiveness rating can be used. If the TF has no
- leader then a default aggressiveness of 3 is used. When
- conducting amphibious assaults, 1 is added to a TF leader's
- rating. If an HQ leader is used then 1 is subtracted from his
- rating if the HQ is located more than 10 hexes from the site of
- the assault. For carrier air operations add 1 for a TF leader,
- subtract one for an HQ or HQ AIR leader that is more than 10
- hexes away from the battle.
-
- c. You can include an American ship in a TF in a ANZAC TF and
- make it the flag giving you access to the American commanders for
- that TF or vice versa for other nations by picking it as the
- first ship in the TF, or by changing the flagship to a ship of
- the desired nationality after creation of the TF. It helps to
- toss in a few American merchant ships in ANZAC TF's so that you
- can use some aggressive invasion commanders.
-
- d. Routinely cycle through all TF's at ports at the beginning of
- each turn and disband them to free up their leaders. Then create
- new TF's in order of priority to make certain they get the
- appropriate leader.
-
- e. The leaders of Japanese Amphibious TF's do not influence land
- battles.
-
- 14. LOAD TF's WITH TROOPS, SUPPLIES, AIRCRAFT OR FUEL (L).
-
- a. When LCU's are loaded onto ships a percentage number will
- appear for each ship unit. This represents the percentage of the
- combat unit that can be loaded onto that ship unit. The LCU's
- lift capacity of a CS is 5 times its printed (aircraft) capacity.
-
- b. British transports can only carry British troops. Japanese
- CL's and CS's can only load troops. Any nationality ship can
- carry supplies.
-
- c. To load an air group onto ships select a CARGO TF and load
- the group onto MCS, CVE or CS type ships. AP type ships may not
- transport air groups.
-
- 1) When an air group is loaded onto MCS type ships they must be
- taken apart and CRATED for the journey. Thus when they arrive
- they are NOT READY to fly (they are damaged).
-
- 2) Single engine aircraft that are loaded onto CVE or CS type
- ships are not crated. The advantage of using CVE and CS ships is
- that single engine aircraft are not crated (damaged or
- disassembled) on loading, and are immediately operational once
- unloaded at their destination. This is very useful as a quick
- reinforcement strategy for airfields.
-
- 3) CS ships may only be used to transport LAND based air groups.
- When transporting air groups, the capacity of a CS type ship is
- equal to the capacity shown on the display x20. You may need at
- least three CS ships to carry an air group. Examples of
- transport capacity include: a CS with a capacity of 12 could
- carry 12 fighters (uncrated) or 8 tac-bombers (crated) or 6 heavy
- bombers (crated). CS ships are also a bit more survivable than
- typical MCS units, though not enough to send them into harm's way
- without escort.
-
- 4) As an example of adding air groups on ships in a CARGO TF: A
- fighter takes up 20 cargo points, so a 30 fighter air group
- totals 600 cargo points. A 8000 ton freighter has a load
- capacity of 100 (100 cargo points). It takes six 8000 ton ships
- to carry those 600 points. Create a CARGO or TRANSPORT TF, don't
- use AUTOSELECT, rather select the ships from PORT. Select a ship
- unit of 8000 ton cargo ships that has at least six ships in it
- and exit. That TF you just created should be listed in the
- bottom right hand of the display. Now select the LOAD TF Ships
- (L key or from unit menu), choose Air Group from Load choice
- menu, and then the air groups at that base are listed. Select an
- air group and it gets loaded on the ships. Note that crating the
- a/c for shipment damages them, but don't worry, they will be
- repaired/reassembled quickly at your TF's destination. In your
- case select Oahu as TF destination. Aircraft will be unloaded
- automatically at TF's destination. You can adjust the number of
- Cargo ships in groups when viewing them IN PORT (if port isn't
- isolated), so you can size those ship groups PRIOR to assigning
- them to a TF.
-
- 5) The number of MCS in a group will NOT change when planes are
- added as cargo. This was a mistake in the documentation that got
- through in the manual.
-
- 6) Excess planes sent to a CS or MCS unit will go back to the
- pool for that type of plane.
-
- 7) Here is a list of transport costs for all types of aircraft:
-
- a) 20 for fighter, fighter-bomber, dive-bomber and torpedo
- bomber.
-
- b) 30 for tactical bomber.
-
- c) 40 heavy bomber, transport and patrol.
-
- 8) It is wise to have AP/MCS groups carrying a particular LCU or
- airgroup have more capacity than the minimum required to reduce
- losses to the LCU/airgroup cargo if the ship group takes losses
- to enemy action. This is especially true if the TF is expected
- to see action.
-
- 15. SET TF's' DESTINATIONS (D).
-
- a. The DEFAULT <D> feature is intended to make it easier to give
- multiple TF groups the same destination, home port or target. It
- remembers the last destination picked. As an example, if you
- assign 5 TF's to hit Guadalcanal, you target the first TF
- normally. With the second TF, you hit <D>estination and the
- screen shows "...or <D>efault: Guadalcanal." It eliminates a lot
- of mouse-work (especially if your destination is a long way from
- your starting point), as well as making it easier to switch the
- home port of a TF to the next target destination. You can target
- the TF, then <H> to change home Port and then <D> to set home
- port at the default destination.
-
- b. When steering your ships around enemy bases it is best to
- retain as much control as possible. Set the Destination and Home
- Base so that your TF's dogleg around enemy bases.
-
- c. Clark Field cannot be set as a TF destination because it is
- not a coastal area. You must land units in one of the connected
- bases and march them to Clark Field.
-
- d. If you are having trouble with task forces aborting their
- missions due to low PP in the face of air attacks you can make
- the TF's home port the same as the destination. The ships will
- not run away from their destination, even in the face of huge air
- attacks.
-
- 16. SET TF FUNCTIONS/MOVE OPTIONS (F).
-
- a. There is a limit of 15 different ship UNITS in a TF. That is
- one full screen. Each UNIT can have multiple ships, depending on
- what the ship unit is. One UNIT can range from 1 to 50 ships
- (i.e., 1 BB to 50 MCS). If you had a number of large AP groups,
- that one fleet could have many landing field units (1 Marine Div,
- 37th Inf Div, 2nd Raider Btn, etc.).
-
- b. Bombardment TF's will only bombard if their standoff range is
- zero. Bombardment TF's will never initiate surface combat.
- Surface Combat TF's will both initiate surface combat AND
- bombard. A Surface Combat TF may only fire one (but usually two)
- bombardments during a turn. If you want to keep your options
- open, you should assign Surface Combat missions even to those
- TF's you expect to bombard.
-
- c. Setting a Surface Combat TF standoff range to GREATER than
- ZERO will greatly REDUCE the chances of having surface combat
- with an enemy TF. The best way to get a surface combat is to
- send your Surface TF's to friendly bases that you expect will be
- invaded or use SIGINT to see where an enemy fleet is headed, and
- set your destination there. As long as enemy carriers or AZOC
- are around, going straight for a major enemy port with a Surface
- TF could be problem. Surface Combat TF's are fairly immune to
- air attacks (compared to carriers and merchants) since the enemy
- aircraft tend to go for carriers and transports as a priority.
- On the other hand, one critical hit can kill a battleship.
- Surface combat opportunities are increased after one or both
- sides have their carrier forces exhausted. Unless you achieve
- SURPRISE, an enemy Transport TF will always abort and withdraw
- BEFORE your Surface Combat TF can attack them. It is possible to
- catch an Air Combat TF in surface combat. However, this should
- be a VERY RARE occurrence. It is hard to force a surface combat
- with carriers. In all of WW2 it only happened twice (Norway 1940
- and Leyte 1944).
-
- d. STANDOFF RANGE relates to how many hexes you want a TF to
- remain away from a target or destination. Its useful to use in
- order to stay out of the range of some land based bombers. It
- can also be used to keep transports offshore until you wish them
- to move in. You can set the STANDOFF RANGE (how far from the
- target hex you want to be) when a TF's destination is different
- from it's home port (set base). If you set the MOVE OPTIONS for
- a TF whose destination is different from the home port, then you
- will set a STANDOFF RANGE and give RETURN/REMAIN ON STATION
- orders. A TF, whose destination is their home port, will have a
- REACTION RANGE. A TF that is eligible to react does NOT have a
- STANDOFF RANGE.
-
- e. If you are on the same spot as your set base - you can REACT.
- Also a TF whose destination is the same as the home base is
- eligible to REACT. If you set MOVE OPTIONS for this TF you will
- only set the REACTION RANGE. A TF will not perform a reaction
- move to a distance greater than it's reaction range (the MAXIMUM
- reaction range is 15). Reaction MOVES are NOT automatic when
- enemy TF's enter a AZOC within reaction range of a Combat TF.
- The enemy TF must be spotted before there is even a chance of a
- reaction move and the chance decreases with range. For a
- reaction to be triggered, it is usually necessary for the enemy
- TF to plow through friendly AZOC (be detected) or move very close
- to the reaction TF. No reaction combat or movement will ever be
- triggered by an undetected TF. If a TF is eligible to react, but
- never gets the chance, then it will never leave it's home port
- hex.
-
- f. TF's are able to react while ON STATION, even with a
- destination different from their home port. A TF REACTION should
- happen if the RETURN OPTION is set to LEADER'S DISCRETION. The
- TF's REACTION RANGE will be equal to their STANDOFF RANGE. Since
- reaction moves ONLY happen in friendly AZOC there should not be
- too many situations where reaction moves are suicidal.
-
- g. Any TF, including AC and SC missions, seem to behave as Cargo
- TF's when they are reduced to less than 10 PPs. They may use
- Cargo TF paths, avoiding enemy AZOCs and any combat like the
- plague. We have all been frustrated watching an enemy SC or
- Bombardment TF waltz in and hit a base right under the very nose
- of a friendly SC TF put on station to prevent this from
- happening. Once the enemy bombards and loses its PPs, it begins
- moving like a Cargo TF and uses the 100 mile hex space to easily
- avoid interception. Check your Air Zones key to see how your
- patrol coverage is. You need to do several things in order for
- your SC TF to successfully intercept enemy TF's utilizing a
- REACTION MOVE:
-
- 1) Your intercepting SC TF must have a home port the same as its
- destination and have sufficient TF PPs, fuel and supplies to
- initiate combat.
-
- 2) You should have as a many patrol units spotting for TF's by
- creating AZOCs covering the hexes into which the enemy TF may
- move into.
-
- 3) Your SC TF should have a reaction range set to cover at least
- the hex the enemy moves TO when spotted by air patrols.
-
- 4) Your SC TF should have an AGGRESSIVE leader (naval rating
- does not count until he is in battle).
-
- h. Air Combat TF's ON STATION will perform REACTION AIR STRIKES
- against TF's that enter nearby AZOC. It is possible for more
- than one air combat TF to do a reaction strike against an enemy
- TF. They would do so one at a time. The first TF would react
- and resolve combat and then the second TF would react, etc.
-
- i. If an Air Combat TF is supporting an invasion, set the
- standoff range to 0 or 1. If raiding an enemy base set the
- standoff range to 2 or 3. Make sure that the standoff range does
- not exceed the range of any of the aircraft on the carriers.
-
- j. If an Air Combat TF has a priority target set to attack a
- port, has more than 45 PPs and the enemy airfield at the target
- poses a threat, then the carriers will send their FIRST STRIKE to
- hit the enemy airfield.
-
- k. If there are TOO MANY carriers in a TF, then there is a
- problem of coordinating effective airstrikes. What happens is
- that some or all of the carriers in the TF will launch HALF or
- QUARTER strength strikes or the AC TF's may not attack. There is
- a similar problem with coordinating large numbers of CAP. The US
- should only have two CV's and one CVL maximum in a carrier TF to
- get a good chance to launch full airstrikes, though really good
- naval air leaders such as Halsey, Sherman and Mitscher have a
- good chance with 3 CV's to launch all their planes, either on
- attack or defense. As an example, Halsey has a 75% chance of
- using all his fighters for CAP and launching all his planes
- against targets when he has three CV's in a TF. The best US
- naval air technique EARLY in the war is to put three US carriers
- in a single AC TF, give it an escort of at least a half dozen
- cruisers and a dozen destroyers (preferably more), assign Admiral
- Halsey as its Leader, and send him where the enemy is most
- threatening. There is also NO cooperation between two TF's with
- carriers in the same hex. They might fly some CAP over the
- other, but usually they do not.
-
- l. In getting CV's to initiate strikes against other CV groups,
- it is better to put them at a nearby base with a maximum reaction
- range, instead of sending them to the target hex (where you
- anticipate the enemy TF will be). Of course, if you KNOW the
- carriers are somewhere, go after them. Another important factor
- is the number of PPs the TF has. In order for an AC TF (or any
- TF for that matter) to initiate combat it must have sufficient
- PPs, and it is by having significantly more PPs than the target
- TF so that surprise can be achieved. The rule is this: Maximize
- the number of PPs available to your most important TF's. The
- longer AC TF's are on station, the less chance the CV's attack.
- Plus NEVER put the airgroups on CV's on Naval Interdiction.
- Bases, yes, but not CV's! AC TF's ALWAYS attack enemy TF's that
- get close.
-
- m. For long-distance deep strike missions (Doolittle Raid,
- raiding Tokyo with SBD's on carriers instead of B-25's, which
- will drive the AI running the Japanese berserk), include some
- oilers (AO) with the strike force and then, when the DD's are
- about to run out of fuel and you want to make a fast run into the
- target, create two new TF's, one replenishment and one Air Combat
- or Bombardment (depending on the mission) TF. Then transfer (T)
- ships out of the old TF into the two new ones and then refuel the
- combat TF (Y). You can also send the replenishment TF ahead and
- then send the combat TF the next turn to catch up to it, refuel
- the latter, etc.
-
- n. A Transport TF's decision to 'Retire' and not unload is based
- on the TF leader's aggressiveness rating compared to the number
- of bombers that attack the TF. If the TF has more than 9 PPs
- then the aggressiveness rating is squared. You should allow
- retiring TF's to return to port before redirecting them back to
- an enemy base because these TF's are very low on PPs.
-
- o. Do not ignore your Patrol Crafts (PC's) when playing the
- Allied side. Put the PC's on "reaction" status in small non-
- priority friendly ports that you do not want to lose too quickly.
- Unless the enemy arrives with firepower, the transports will
- abort their mission. The Japanese tend to keep trying with the
- same force until some larger capital ships are in the area or air
- power. PC's are also great for soaking up land-based air attacks
- such as damaging or shooting down a bunch of Bettys.
-
- p. The best way to soften up a beachhead for an amphibious
- assault is in two turns. On the first turn, put the enemy base
- under a friendly AZOC and bombard it with Air Combat TF's and
- Surface TF's. The carrier AZOC keeps the enemy troops from
- receiving supplies to boost their readiness. Air and surface
- bombardment tends to help wipe out enemy supplies. During the
- second turn, bring in the troops ships. Land combat occurs at
- BOTH the beginning AND at the END of the execution phase.
- Activated LCU's will not attack during the first phase unless
- they can get good odds or make a leader aggressiveness check.
- Since all damage during the phase is cumulative, most tough
- battles happen at the end of the execution phase. It is usually
- not a good idea to have more than one amphibious assault force TF
- due to a lack of simultaneous attacks. One LCU can be mauled
- terribly before the other LCU's land and clear the area. It is
- much better to carry all the LCU's in one TF so that way they all
- land at the same time, and live longer. Another possible method
- to get invasion TF's to their destination:
-
- 1) Make sure they are within ONE turn's movement to their
- target. There is no advantage to having the TF formed for
- several turns before sending it to its target. Send the TF as
- soon as it is ready and loaded.
-
- 2) Form a BB Surface Combat or Bombardment TF and send it at the
- target also. One BB is enough, but the more the better. Make
- the TF BB's and CA's with some DD's and/or DE's for AA and ASW
- protection. Other ship types don't add much to the bombardment
- rating.
-
- 3) Form as many CV TF's and send them at the target with a
- standoff rating of 1, set to enemy airbases for a target.
-
- 4) Make sure all the offensive TF's have the best leaders
- available.
-
- 5) Form a resupply TF with extra MCS units, load them with
- supplies only, and send them after the target port also. They
- need a leader too. For several turns before the invasion, send
- CV TF's and SC TF's at the target. They will damage the airbase,
- LCU's, supply dumps, and shoot down any attacking planes from
- adjacent bases before the vulnerable invasion force gets there.
-
- q. Move MCS to San Francisco (SF) instead of moving them to Los
- Angeles (LA). LA tends to accumulate many more MCS than it could
- ever use, and every so often run a large convoy up the coast so
- the ships will be at SF where they are needed to load supply and
- aircraft. Also scour out the rear area islands every month or
- two, sending the extra MCS back to SF. Get Transport works, but
- it tends to give you 40-odd ship units, which is a waste for
- carrying a small squadron of F4Fs to Oahu or Tonga. Sending the
- ships to SF by hand uses your merchant ships more efficiently.
-
- r. The computer will build lots of PT's, but you only can have
- so many PT groups, perhaps six or seven and those groups will
- only hold six to ten boats. Use Allied PT boats in MTB TF's on
- the most advanced bases. Set the TF with a reaction range of 3
- and this may deter enemy transport TF's. PT boats also seem to
- draw enemy air strikes.
-
- s. The SPEED at which a TF travels depends upon the PPs, number
- of ships and combination of ship sizes present in the group. In
- general TF's with a large number of ships tend to travel more
- slowly than those with few ships. TF's with a combination of
- large and small ships seem to move more slowly that those with
- just large or just small ships. For example, a group of 20 knot
- transports will go 20 knots if left to themselves, but combine
- them with 35 knot destroyers and they'll be lucky to make 18
- knots. This may be intended to simulate the difficulties of
- coordinating formation movement in larger TF's. The map is
- deceiving for computing ship movements; a heavily modified
- Mercali scale was used. Straight line distances are not
- necessarily the shortest. Run some sample execution phases when
- in preparing a turn to make certain that your TF's can actually
- make it to their intended destinations (this also helps in
- finding TF's whose destinations you forgot to set).
-
- 17. RESET TF's HOME BASES AS NECESSARY (H).
-
- a. Changing the home base of a TF from an HQ computer
- operational control to an HQ under full human control does NOT
- give the latter control of the ship. The artificial intelligence
- (AI) will sometimes ignore any orders given to such ships. The
- AI sometimes changes an HQ's objective all by itself when it is
- under computer operational control (a bug which will hopefully be
- fixed in a future version). To change the "control" of a TF, you
- have to create it in a port under the control of the HQ you want
- controlling it. This means sailing to the port, disbanding the
- TF, then reforming the TF. This will keep the TF under full
- human control (assuming the port they are reformed in belongs to
- a full human controlled HQ).
-
- 18. ADJUST SUBMARINE PATROL LOCATIONS (alt/M).
-
- a. Shipping lanes are in a constant state of flux. Watch the
- opponent's merchant convoy routes during the turn execution
- phase, look for long delays, and place subs accordingly as
- reasonably close to the action. Move the subs approximately
- every five turns at least one hex. Moving subs too often means
- they're off patrol too much and too little means they will get
- destroyed. You can also figure out where the busy areas are by
- moving subs to an area and checking the number of 'attacks' they
- make.
-
- b. Watch the resolution of enemy sub battles (since these don't
- show up on the battle reports) and pick out the main zones where
- they are patrolling. Shift engineers, bombers and maybe even
- some hunter-killer groups to the area. The engineers will expand
- airfields and planes will extend AZOC over the area. Each side
- should be careful to cover all their convoy routes with friendly
- AZOC to suppress enemy submarines. This means keeping a lot of
- Patrol aircraft squadrons in rear areas and positioning them
- carefully. Having more aircraft covering a given area helps, but
- wider geographic coverage should have a higher priority.
-
- c. Hunter-killers groups will make the subs move off your convoy
- route. Hunter-killer groups refer to AC TF's. Use a stand-off
- range to settle an AC TF (and their zone of control) right on the
- subs if a group is getting too many transports. This is tactic
- is probably only viable for the Allies later in the war when
- ample AC TF's are available.
-
- d. Shift escorts to the routine convoy ports as mentioned in the
- manual (Los Angeles, Nagoya, etc.). Make sure to move DD's to
- L.A. until the DE's start showing up. If you have PT boats
- sitting in LA they will not get used on routine convoy escort
- duty. Only the Japanese PC's (not Allied) can be used in
- convoys. American and British torpedo boats are strictly
- offensive, so the computer will never them in routine convoys.
- You can manually assign PT's boats to TF supply type convoys you
- create yourself. Since PT boats did not carry much in the way of
- depth charges or ASW electronics, they really were not suited for
- convoy duty. The Japanese player should send his subchasers,
- possibly most of his torpedo boats and 5-10 destroyers to Nagoya
- in the first few turns to serve as ASW escorts for routine
- convoys.
-
- e. Be careful to include ASW escorts for most Japanese cargo and
- transport convoys. This is less of a problem for the Allied
- player unless the Japanese player has his subs on human control
- or the AI running the Japanese in a solitaire game adopts a
- mercantile warfare strategy (which it does sometimes). Also a
- group of Destroyers with a surface combat mission can be used as
- ASW decoys if sent from port-to-port in areas of high sub
- activity. Be sure carriers have plenty of ASW support. ASW is
- factored into the number of DD's in port and the amount of air
- cover in the area.
-
- f. Japanese subs were extremely effective during 1942 directing
- their efforts against American capital ships. Japanese subs are
- maddeningly successful in picking off crippled Allied warships
- enroute to dockyards for repairs. Give injured aircraft carriers
- a large ASW escort on their way home. Allied submarines are less
- capable at this initially. Allied ASW technology improved as the
- war went on and by 1943 Japanese sub successes were rare.
-
- g. Control of your subs is not determined by HQ control. Press
- the 'E' key to toggle SUB CONTROL (Computer/Human). This will
- determine who controls ALL of your subs.
-
- h. The game allows the players to deploy subs at an extreme
- distance from their home base. As the distance increases, the
- subs lose effectiveness. Coastal submarines (RO,'S',K.XIV
- classes) have their patrol range doubled for the purpose of
- determining effectiveness. Coastal subs have their patrol range
- multiplied x8. Thus they will be unable to attack at all when
- patrolling greater than 19 hexes from their home base.
-
- 19. REBASE ALL SUBS AS NECESSARY (alt/M, R).
-
- a. The (G) for Get command on submarines at sea will show their
- home port. Historically, the subs would go out, patrol, then go
- back to another port when changing locations.
-
- b. In order to change the Home Port of a sub you must first move
- the sub into it's new port. First select the sub group. Then
- move the sub onto the new port's hex. Then enter SUB MODE
- (Alt/M) and press R or click the REMV button. (Place the cursor
- on the new base and pressing "R" for remove.) On the next turn
- the sub should be available to return to patrol at the new home
- port.
-
- 20. REMOVE TF's THAT COMPLETE THEIR MISSIONS (Alt/Y).
-
- a. Alt/Y routine will move the cursor to each TF that is in
- port and ask if you want to disband it. It will put the TF icon
- display on the screen to give you an idea what you are
- disbanding. You should use this routine BEFORE you start forming
- new TF's. A ship is sitting in port (NOT in a TF) may still be
- damaged by bombers that are attacking the port.
-
- b. Do not release troopships to rear areas. Try placing cargo
- task forces into rear area HQ's so that they do not soak up
- carrier and combat forces PP. This appears to be more of an
- issue with the Japanese than the Allies as they are more
- restricted on PPs in the long run.
-
- c. If carriers are released to a port controlled by another HQ
- and that HQ is computer controlled, watch out! That HQ leader
- will grab your CV and use it for his own nefarious schemes. The
- best thing to do is change the base to a non-computer controlled
- HQ so that will not happen again.
-
- 21. PACIFIC WAR REPORTS
-
- There is a prototype scenario editor in the SSI section of the
- Games RT library titled PWReports.zip, uploaded by R.Baldwin15
- (Mitch Baldwin). It can only modify saved game files. Its use
- is recommended to repair mistakes (such as reducing the number of
- aircraft in an airgroup to zero by first changing aircraft types,
- thereby damaging all the aircraft, and then transferring it
- (ALT/A) to another base) or game bugs. An example of the latter
- is the way sunken Japanese seaplane tenders (CS) will rise from
- their watery graves and appear in response to Get Transport (T)
- commands. You can resink them by assigning them a location of 0
- (zero) in PW Reports. Another possible use of PW Reports is to
- relocate all unused Japanese ships to Nagoya to keep the program
- from spontaneously forming them into TF's during the Execution
- Phase, which it will sometimes do even if all Japanese naval HQ's
- are on full human control. The latter will utterly ruin planned
- TF PP allocation and might seriously screw up a Japanese move.
-
- E-Mail Play
-
- 1. To play an E-Mail game, zip up the three save files (SAVEA,
- SAVEA.MD, SAVEA.CD for example) and e-mail them to your opponent.
- The most appropriate way is to send as an attached Xmodem file
- utilizing the E-Mail option on page 200 in Genie. The Aladdin
- support program is available on page 110 in Genie. It
- may save big bucks on reading and posting.
-
- 2. The honor system for E-Mail games is desirable. When
- playing E-mail games the players should alternate watching the
- Execution Phase.
-
- GENERAL STRATEGY
-
- The general strategic objective of the Allied player in 1942-43
- should be to get US forces into a battle of attrition with the
- Japanese, especially one in which USMC dive-bomber squadrons can
- hit Japanese shipping. The general strategic objective of the
- Japanese player in 1942-43 should be to rest and rebuild oil
- reserves, and keep enough accumulated PP in Combined Fleet to
- allow one good counterattack in 1944 when Allied casualties
- increase 50% in victory points. Don't use up fuel and PP, and
- risk key ships, defending the periphery. Move fast early on and
- then do as little as possible to conserve fuel.
-
- (The following is the courtesy of T.Holsinger)
-
- AIRCRAFT TABLES FOR PACIFIC WAR
-
- Here are the transport (MCS loading) costs for aircraft:
-
- fighter 20
- fighter-bomber 20
- dive-bomber 20
- torp-bomber 20
- tac-bomber 30
- heavy bomber 40
- transport 40
- patrol 20
-
-
- The number and types of aircraft assigned to carriers varied
- wildly during the war. The number of aircraft aboard a carrier
- seldom matched it's capacity. (Carrier plane loads may run
- approximately 12 planes below capacity.) The capacity of the
- carriers is used, somewhat indirectly, to determine the size of
- the air groups on board. Here are some of the AC complements you
- can expect at various times during the war:
-
-
- FOR YORKTOWN/ESSEX CARRIERS
- early 42: 27 VF, 36 VB, 12 VT
- late 42: 36 VF, 37 VB, 15 VT
- 1943: 36 VF, 37 VB, 18 VT
- 1944: 43 VF, 27 VB, 18 VT
- 1945: 53 VF, 18 VB, 18 VT
-
- FOR SHOKAKU CLASS CARRIERS
- early 42: 24 VF, 24 VB, 24 VT
- late 42: 27 VF, 27 VB, 18 VT
- 1943-44: 27 VF, 27 VB, 18 VT
- 1945: 27 VF, 18 VB, 18 VT
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- The historical airgroups carried by the British fleet carriers
- (courtesy of Al Nofi from the Military RT)
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- March 1945
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- Illustrious 36 Corsair, 16 Avenger
- Indefatigable 40 Seafire, 9 Firefly, 20 Avenger
- Indomitable 29 Hellcat, 15 Avenger
- Victorious 37 Hellcat, 14 Avenger
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- July 1945
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- Formidable 6 Hellcat, 35 Corsair, 12 Avenger
- Implacable 48 Seafire, 12 Firefly, 18 Avenger
- Indefatigable 40 Seafire, 12 Firefly, 18 Avenger
- Victorious 37 Corsair, 14 Avenger
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-
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- MAXIMUM AIRFIELD SIZE TABLE MINIMUM AIRFIELD SIZE
- REQUIREMENT TABLE
- Terrain Max Size
- # Type Airfield Plane Type Minimum Size Field 1
- 1 Atoll 4 Fighter 2
- 2 Island 6 Fighter Bomber 2
- 3 Island 8 Dive Bomber 2
- 4 Mixed 9 Torpedo Bomber 2
- 5 Mixed 9 Tactical Bomber 4
- 6 Mixed 9 Heavy Bomber 4
- 7 Mixed 8 Transport 2
- 8 Jungle 6 Patrol 1
- 9 Heavy 4
- Jungle
-
- (For more detailed plane list see version 1.07 in file section)
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- DB = Dive Bomber HB = Heavy Bomber TB = Tactical Bomber
- F = Fighter P = Patrol TR = Transport
- FB = Fighter-Bomber T = Torpedo DUT = Dutch
- JA = Japanese Army IJN = Imperial Japanese Navy
- BC = British Commonwealth USMC = United States Marine Corps
- USN = United States Navy USAAF = United States Army Air Force
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- JAPANESE PLANES
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- Model Name Type Avail Cost Rang Mnvr Cann Dura Load Carr Service
- Ki27 Nate F 12/41 2 2 19 2 7 1 N JA
- Ki34IOscar F 12/41 3 2 21 4 7 1 N JA
- Ki45 Nick FB 12/41 4 4 17 7 36 11 N JA
- Ki51 Sonia TB 12/41 3 2 12 4 24 4 N JA
- Ki32 Mary TB 12/41 3 3 11 4 19 10 N JA
- Ki48 Lily TB 12/41 4 4 10 2 20 9 N JA
- Ki21 Sally TB 12/41 6 5 9 6 38 22 N JA
- Ki49 Helen TB 12/41 6 5 10 7 40 22 N JA
- Ki46 Dinah P 12/41 4 5 17 1 15 0 N JA
- Ki54 HickoryTR 12/41 5 3 9 0 18 12 N both
- G3M Nell TB 12/41 5 6 7 6 12 17 N IJN
- G4M Betty TB 12/41 6 9 7 7 13 18 N IJN
- H6K Mavis P 12/41 9 13 1 6 44 22 N IJN
- A5M Claude F 12/41 2 2 19 2 7 1 Y IJN
- A6M2 Zero F 12/41 3 6 22 8 7 1 Y IJN
- B5N Kate T 12/41 4 3 11 3 11 16 Y IJN
- D3A Val DB 12/41 4 3 11 2 10 8 Y IJN
- Ki57IITopsy TR 5/42 6 6 10 0 20 15 N both
- J1N1 Irving F 10/42 5 4 18 16 38 5 N JA
- Ki43 OscarIIFB 10/42 3 3 22 4 14 10 N JA
- H8K Emily P 12/42 9 16 1 16 66 44 N IJN
- Ki44 Tojo FB 1/43 4 3 23 8 19 4 N JA
- D4Y Judy DB 2/43 5 3 13 3 12 11 N IJN
- Ki61 Tony F 3/43 4 2 20 8 20 5 N JA
- A6M5 Zero FB 8/43 3 4 23 11 18 3 Y IJN
- J2M Jack F 9/43 4 3 20 16 22 1 N IJN
- B6N Jil T 9/43 5 4 12 1 13 16 Y IJN
- Ki67 Peggy TB 1/44 6 6 14 10 43 18 N JA
- N1K2 George FB 4/44 4 3 23 16 23 11 Y IJN
- Ki102Randy F 5/44 5 3 21 16 34 6 N JA
- Ki84 Frank FB 5/44 4 3 22 12 21 11 N JA
- P1Y FrancesTB 11/44 6 8 10 4 39 22 N JA
- B7A Grace T 1/45 5 5 17 4 25 18 * JN
- A6M8 Zeke FB 5/45 3 4 24 11 15 3 Y IJN
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- ALLIED PLANES
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- Model Name Type Avail Cost Rang Mnvr Cann Dura Load Carr Service
- Hurricane II F 12/41 3 2 19 8 20 5 N BC
- P-36A Mohawk F 12/41 3 2 18 3 9 1 N US,DUT,BC
- P-39 Aircobra F 12/41 3 2 17 13 25 1 N USAAF
- P-40 Warhawk F 12/41 3 3 19 8 24 3 N USAAF,BC
- CA3 Wirraway FB 12/41 2 2 12 6 20 5 N BC
- Martin 139 TB 12/41 3 3 2 2 10 22 N DUT
- Blenheim IF FB 12/41 6 4 10 5 34 8 N BC
- B-18A Bolo TB 12/41 4 3 2 2 30 65 N USAAF
- A-20 Havoc TB 12/41 5 4 10 12 36 20 N USAAF,BC
- B-26 MarauderTB 12/41 5 4 9 8 45 48 N USAAF
- Blenheim TB 12/41 5 4 7 1 34 10 N BC
- B-17Fly Fort HB 12/41 7 8 1 11 80 60 N USAAF
- Hudson P 12/41 5 5 10 2 32 7 N all
- PBY Catalina P 12/41 7 9 2 1 45 40 N all
- C-47 Dakota TR 12/41 5 4 11 0 20 40 N all
- Gladiator F 12/41 2 2 17 4 17 0 Y BC
- Fulmar F 12/41 3 2 18 8 20 0 Y BC
- Swordfish T 12/41 2 2 6 1 18 16 Y BC
- F2A Buffalo F 12/41 3 2 17 8 19 1 Y US,DUT,BC
- F4F Wildcat F 12/41 3 2 19 12 20 2 Y USN,USMC
- Vildebeast T 12/41 2 2 3 2 9 22 Y USN,USMC
- TBD DevastatorT 12/41 4 2 8 2 18 10 Y USN
- SB2UVindicatorDB12/41 2 3 8 2 16 12 Y USN,USMC
- SBD Dauntless DB12/41 4 3 13 4 22 12 Y USN,USMC
- Beaufort TB 1/42 5 4 7 3 26 20 N BC
- B-25 Mitchell TB 1/42 5 4 4 6 43 52 N USAAF
- Wellington TB 2/42 6 6 6 2 45 45 N BC
- Albacore T 5/42 4 3 6 2 20 16 Y BC
- Spitfire VIII F 6/42 3 2 24 12 27 2 N BC
- B-24 LiberatorHB 6/42 7 9 1 9 60 90 N USAAF
- TBF Avenger T 6/42 4 3 11 4 23 20 Y USN
- Sunderland P 6/42 9 10 1 4 62 49 N BC
- Beaufighter TB 7/42 5 4 13 16 39 21 N BC
- Vengeance TB10/42 4 3 10 4 20 20 N BC
- P-38FLightning F10/42 4 4 20 12 37 10 N USAAF
- Seafire F 2/43 3 2 23 12 24 2 Y BC
- F4U Corsair FB 4/43 3 3 22 12 26 20 Y USMC
- FM2 Wildcat FB 4/43 2 2 20 12 24 3 Y USN,USMC
- Barracuda T 4/43 4 2 1 2 30 17 Y BC
- F6F Hellcat FB 6/43 3 3 23 12 27 20 Y USN
- P-47Thunderbo FB 8/43 3 4 23 16 39 25 N USAAF
- P-38JLightningFB 9/43 4 6 22 12 37 25 N USAAF
- B-29Superfor HB 9/43 9 10 1 16 75 150 N USAAF
- SB2CHell-DiverDB 9/43 4 3 10 6 22 13 Y USN
- TBM Avenger T 9/43 4 3 11 4 26 20 Y USN
- CA12Boomerang FB11/43 3 3 21 16 30 5 N BC
- Firefly FB12/43 4 3 19 16 25 4 Y BC
- Mosquito VI FB12/43 4 4 18 20 37 20 N BC
- P-61Black Wid FB 5/44 7 7 20 16 44 64 N USAAF
- P-51 Mustang F 6/44 3 8 24 12 33 10 N USAAF
- A-26 Invader TB11/44 6 4 13 16 64 60 N USAAF
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