Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22095
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Enforcer
Wow 2 months... that makes it pretty abstract doesnt it?
If I am japan and I am using carriers I do not want to pass 2 months.
YOU have to understand I have never played this game so I really dont understand turns and impulses. I play War in the pacific with each turn + 1 day so that is what I am used to.
I will not even think about getting this game if each turn is 2 months
But not much happens in War in the Pacific most turns/days does it? I've never played the game, but I can't imagine moving each individual naval unit in the Pacific on a daily basis for 4 years (1200+ turns * several hundred naval units).
WIF simulates the land and air war, as well as the naval engagements. To do that it models 4 basic naval operations: convoys, naval transport, fleet engagements, and invasions. Here is a brief overview of those 4 systems.
Convoy pipelines are built by deploying convoys in contiguous sea areas so that resources can be transported from a source to a destination; they can be attacked by submarines, land based naval air units, and surface fleets (including carriers); they can be defended by land based air and surface fleets. If a convoy pipeline exists at the end of a turn, resources flow through the pipeline (very abstract). If the pipeline has been broken, even if it is only broken in one sea area, no resources flow through that pipeline for that turn.
Naval transport is done with transporting naval units (which includes amphibious units) and its 'cargo'. The cargo is another unit, either a land or air unit. This is how the British get the Australians to North Africa and how the US gets its short range fighters to the South Pacific. It is also the preparatory stage for invasions, bringing the land units that are going to invade into the sea area that borders the invasion hex. Rather than sitting at sea for the entire turn, like convoys, naval transports can simply run from one port to another. However, they are vulnerable to interception if there are enemy units patrolling the sea area. And unless the timing is just right, invasion fleets sitting in their invasion sea areas are vulnerable to sorties by enemy naval fleets.
Which brings us to patrolling sea areas. The British usually put a fleet out in the North Sea to act as a blockade of the German Navy. The Germans can still come out and play, though there is always the possibility that the fleets will not 'see' each other and simply sit in the sea area, side by side for the turn. Each impulse, the players could search for the other fleet by introducing new units into the sea area (even 1 new unit is sufficient). Weather affects this and the use of aircraft increase the likelihood of finding the enemy fleet.
So, the players deploy their fleets to defend convoys, set up invasions, or simply to discourage naval moves by the enemy. When combat does occur there is always the possibility of 'surprising' the enemy and combat bonuses are awarded to the fleet the achieves surprise. Who surprises whom is modeled by several factors that I won't go into here. Combat is either submarine, surface, or naval air - 1 of these 3, and only 1 of these 3 each combat round. If after a combat round each side decides to stay in the sea area, rather than flee to a friendly port, then additional rounds of naval combat can occur. You could have repeated naval air combat rounds or a submarine combat round followed by a surface combat round, or any combination. Since a search is required for each additional combat round, the end result could be that the opposing fleets remain in the sea area contesting it at the end of the turn (battered, and bloody, but still willing to fight).
Lastly, there are invasions which requires bringing land units (aboard either naval transports or amphibious units) into a sea area theat borders the invasion hex. Usually they are accompanied by sufficient surface ships to lay down a heavy shore bombardment in support of the invasion, and if they are lucky, there might be land based aircraft in support as well (e.g., a Normandy invasion). If the land combat is successful, then the land units survive in the coastal hex. If the invasion fails, then the land units all die.
I have just touched mightly on the naval rules here, to give you a flavor for WIF. Understanding the land and air rules is vital to using the naval units effectively (especially the air combat rules). WIF (and Matrix's computer version, MWIF) is a different animal from War in the Pacific, primarily because it is simulating the entire war, around the entire world, and involving all branches of service.
_____________________________
Steve
Perfection is an elusive goal.
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