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AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/13/2011 6:25:35 PM

Nikademus

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This scenario is based on the grand campaign May 1942 version that shipped with original WitP stock.

Veterans of WitP will remember that the post 1941 grand campaigns were essentially copies of the standard Dec 7 1941 scenario with a few key playing pieces moved around whilst the majorty of the units remained in their 1941 positions. Please read carefully the descriptions and disclaimers before commenting. Thx.

What This Scenario attempts to be:

This scenario is meant to be a more comprehensive 1942 GC scenario than it's predesessor with a focus on minimizing player administration on Turn 1. This was acomplished by the following:

- most units (land/sea/air), including reinforcements that arrived between 12/7/41 and 5/1/42 have been moved either to their historical locations, or placed in a logical distribution based on the time period in question. (aka, in other words...no more finding piles of LCU's for example at Formosa in their 1941 positions ready to invade the SRA and PI islands)

The exception here is China. For the time being I have left it alone due to the mostly static nature of the conflict there at the time, + the fact that it's such a hyper Theater that players will quickly change the entire face of the map with movements, offenses and defenses within a few turns. An exception to this exception is that I put in a rough estimate of the Chinese Expeditionary Force that stumbled it's way out of Burma by mid 42

- The bulk of the opposing forces' merchant fleets have been concentrated at either their respective auto-convoy ports (Osaka/Columbo/San Francisco), or their home capital as in the case of Australia. This will allow players to quickly and easily allocate what preportions of their merchant fleets to economic and auto convoy duties without having the scour the map trying to locate them.

- The various opposing fleets have also been congregated in large part at home ports and bases with the exception of units assigned to imminent ops. For the Japanese fleet, there was some dispersement of major units to various naval commands so one will find major units at Singapore, Java, and the PI's as well as the Home Islands.

- All warships and merchants have been scrubbed to put them on their most current upgrades as of 5/1/42

- Airplane pools have been adjusted for May of 42. This was roughly based on letting the respective economies run for the six month period from dec41 to may42 + a tweak here or there.

- Map has been adjusted to account for May 42 situation (obviously) and command HQ assignments dolled out. (This may change somewhat in future versions as the AI scripting is hashed out)

- The historical forces for the Coral Sea operation and the situation in Burma are represented in close proximity as these were the two active hot spots at this point in time.

- Some additions to Restricted Commands were put in force to balance out the large amount of Allied LCU's that start the orginal scenario as well as reinforcements. This was done to reflect the political priorities of the time that stressed a defensive posture for the Allies in case of Japanese invasion. On a pragmatic game related side, it helps curb the 'early Allied counter-offensive' phenomenum that tends to infect most AE GC's.

What this scenario is NOT

This scenario is not....repeat NOT meant to represent a complete and anally retentive effort to historically place every single air unit, LCU or ship in their historical starting points in May of 1942. So please do not polute either this thread or my email box with gobs of Errata regarding the proper placement of the Australian 45th Bagpipe Cleaning Regiment or the whereabouts of Admiral Yammamotto. Such an effort would require 100's of man hours to acomplish and at the end of it, there would still be nitpickers who will complain that this or that is not HISTORICAL. In my own personal view I beleive that, in addition to time constraints that part of the reason why the Stock WitP post 1941 GC scenarios came off looking like partial conversions of the 41 template was because the original Developers probably figured that the effort was not worth the cost and time when in reality a game with this level of detail control by the players will quickly result in a completely changed situation...in other words...an AHISTORICAL situation outside of Restricted Commands. So given players' tendancies to take total charge of their forces and go their own ways to make history....does it really matter whether or not the 45th Bagpipe Cleaning regiment is in Brisbane on Turn 1 or Perth? By turn 5 it could be in Rabaul cleaning the socks out of Japanese bagpipes.

As stated, my primary goal was to ease player adiminstration duties on turn one and enhance enjoyment of the scenario by not having them have to take several hours tracking down units still sitting in their 1941 positions or in reinforcement ports and get them moving. What one has here is a rough mid 42 starting point that allows players to get further into the war without having to first mire through the first six months conqueroring the same areas before getting to the main showdown that was seen during this period and into 1943.

****

That all said....i welcome feedback and Errata corrections for major boo boo's and problems that crop up in player testing. I'm sure there are still a ton as i've only had 2+ weeks to work on this.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Version 1.0 of this scenario is ******PBEM ONLY********

Andy Mac has graciously agreed to write AI scripts for this scenario and the process has begun but it will be at least a couple weeks testing before it can be finalized. Until then....there is no AI. Don't try it....you'll get bored quickly. On the other hand...your brilliant plans will always suceed against an enemy paralyzed with fear.

Attachment (1)

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/13/2011 6:35:59 PM

Captain Cruft

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Awesome, thank you.

(in reply to Nikademus)

Post #: 2

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/13/2011 7:25:27 PM

oldman45

Posts: 2320
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From: Jacksonville Fl
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Thanks for your work on this, are you planning on doing this using any of the babes mods as your base?

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/13/2011 7:43:01 PM

Rob Brennan UK

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From: London UK
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Great work Nik , the game really really needs a may 42 scenario as there only so many times an allied player can do Dec-May before becoming suicidal

. also a great start for an AI game as Japan imo.

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sorry for the spelling . English is my main language , I just can't type . and i'm too lazy to edit :)

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Post #: 4

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/14/2011 3:04:22 AM

drw61

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From: South Carolina
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Thank you Nik!

(in reply to Rob Brennan UK)

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/14/2011 5:44:17 AM

vettim89

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From: Toledo, Ohio
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Thank you for your efforts. I know a lot of people have been interested in this scenario

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/16/2011 7:05:38 PM

Andy Mac

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From: Alexandria, Scotland
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Anyone who is playing it got time to do some AI testing for me - you would need to run about 50 - 90 turns v the Ai and give some feedback on how it plays in this scenario ??

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/18/2011 3:39:23 AM

derhexer

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Great!! I have had a lot of fun with the 5/1/42 scenario in the original WiTP!!

Thank you so much for the effort!!!

I am looking forward to the AI version

Chris

(p.s. the 45th Bagpipe Cleaning Regiment didn not form until 5/1/43.

(in reply to Andy Mac)

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/18/2011 10:00:22 AM

Hortlund

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Great work!

I would like to take this baby for a spin. Anyone want to try a pbem? Shoot me a PM.

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The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/19/2011 2:11:46 AM

TOMLABEL

Posts: 5116
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From: Alabama - ROLL TIDE!!!!!
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Thanks soooooooooooooooooooooooo much NICK!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't have time to post or test to much, but THANKS for your time dedicated to doing this!!!!

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WITP Admiral's Edition: Ship & Sub Art/Base Unit Art/Map Icon Art

"If destruction be our lot - it will come from within"...Abraham Lincoln

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Post #: 10

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/23/2011 8:17:35 PM

Captain Cruft

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PJH and I have just started a game of this. I am Japan.

Initial thoughts:-

+ LCU placements are very good generally
+ Airgroup placements are fine
- Having the entire merchant marine at Osaka is a pain in the arse

Another negative is the lack of rear-area base development - everything is at Dec 7 1941 levels. This is not a biggie though.

One specific problem with 3 prominent fighter airgroups (64th Sentai, 77th Sentai, Tainan) which are all missing "Dets". Not being able to merge into the parent unit causes a few issues with pilot management.

Overall it's great though and I will probably do an AAR once things get going a bit.

< Message edited by Captain Cruft -- 3/24/2011 4:10:43 AM >

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/24/2011 8:31:25 PM

Mac Linehan

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From: Denver Colorado
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quote:

ORIGINAL: drw61

Thank you Nik!

+ 1!

Mac

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LAV-25 2147

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 3/25/2011 11:45:35 PM

Andy Mac

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From: Alexandria, Scotland
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Still working on the Ai hit a few snags nothing imposible to fix with time but will take a short time

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/15/2011 8:07:24 AM

Mont

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Thanks Nik been looking for may 1942 start, changed a few things ships, LCUs, airgroups, positions and delays. Suggest players remove the ships overdue for withdraw, they will cause political point losses for allies, for those at Columbo. Increaed the Japanese VP score to 6540, by increasing VP point values to Japan at Tokyo,Truk, Pelembang, and a few other places, hoping to reflect early victories, not sure how this will play out. Using the AI from full campaign with some changes, appears to work but I look forward to Andy Mac,s AI. Again thanks for your work I know it was not easy.

I just read Andy Mac's earlier post on editing the AI script, he really has his work cut out, hope it turns out.

< Message edited by Mont -- 4/15/2011 9:06:21 AM >

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/20/2011 6:49:13 AM

Mont

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Just finnished modding the scripts, I have four, attacking Midway, Canton island, Luganville, and South pacific, using the KB, with some relief for Port Moresby ( I hope), reduced Japanese VP back down, playing Allies, have never got pass june 42 yet ( Im a newbie if you have not guessed) and Im damn looking forward to the bash ahead. Thanks Nik for the ground work.

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/25/2011 7:13:36 AM

Mont

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Hope Im not polluting this thread with gobs of errata, just some feed back. If there is a version 2 these are some things I think should be included, perhaps.
Hornet moved to Pearl, air group upgraded.
Saratoga arrival at Pearl 6/6/42 with upgraded air group including Avengers.
Arriving at Pearl: West virginia 7/44, California 5/44, Nevada 12/42, Pennsylvannia 8/42, CA Raleigh 7/42, CA Helena 6/42, DD Cassin 2/44, DD Downes 11/43, reflect battle damage from Japanese attack and times they rejoined fleet.
Increased air capacity, and air groups of Japanese carriers as per OB for Midway.
Americal Div 132,164,182 Rgts, 70 coastal artillery Rgt, 67 FS, at noumea.
I have made RAAF command unristricted so they can move into areas of SW Pacific control.
VF sqn's on Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, with F4F-4, perhaps.
VP 71,72, at Noumea.
Made some other minor alterations, like increasing aviation support at Moresby, Noumea, Midway, supply at Truk, Rabaul, and many other outlying locations on both sides. Wau still in allied hands defended by coy of Kanga force.
AO Neosho, Tippecanoe, AV Tangier, at Noumea.
Made some other changes like increasing experiance level of most front line allied Sqn, ( I think they are better than represented), and some moves here and there.
I think if your going to play allies against the AI, this is the start point to begin at, starting at 7/12/41 previously I was able to inflict some major losses to the Japanese especially their CA force. By May 42 the Japanese have most of the area they wanted, except for some instances where they stuck there necks out ie Midway, they where in a general defensive stance, the allies must hold and counter attack to win. May 42 gives the Japanese AI by default the area they gained in history.

(in reply to Mont)

Post #: 16

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/25/2011 11:17:20 AM

michaelm75au

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

One specific problem with 3 prominent fighter airgroups (64th Sentai, 77th Sentai, Tainan) which are all missing "Dets". Not being able to merge into the parent unit causes a few issues with pilot management.

Detachments that are not in play are still being counted when loading the scenario. This was fixed for small map scenarios by removing the link in the code.

I will extend this to full map scenario loading in the next build. There are not too many though so this fix could act as a back drop to correcting the scenario.

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Michael

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/25/2011 12:51:50 PM

Mont

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I will have to look for the said issue, hope you had a good ANZAC day, Mont from Townsville.

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/25/2011 1:45:10 PM

michaelm75au

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Mont

I will have to look for the said issue, hope you had a good ANZAC day, Mont from Townsville.

Yes, but with some sad past memories.

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Michael

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 4/29/2011 6:36:29 AM

Mont

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Still working with this, a few bugs, I think I have ironed most out, Air group upgrades can be a problem, you need to check and maybe alter some like the marine and CV US airgroups that have already been upgraded, cause the next upgrade might be a down grade.( confused?). Corrected air Det issue, they are now in the game or removed as dets. Working on the AI now.
Referencing alot of info from wiki and Pacific war online encyclopedia.

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Post #: 20

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/2/2011 5:25:48 AM

Mont

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Made some changes, corrected some things, would like to show everyone, but I don"t know how or if I'm allowed?

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/6/2011 6:11:26 PM

Nikademus

Posts: 25684
Joined: 5/27/2000
From: Alien spacecraft
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

PJH and I have just started a game of this. I am Japan.

Initial thoughts:-

+ LCU placements are very good generally
+ Airgroup placements are fine
- Having the entire merchant marine at Osaka is a pain in the arse

Another negative is the lack of rear-area base development - everything is at Dec 7 1941 levels. This is not a biggie though.

One specific problem with 3 prominent fighter airgroups (64th Sentai, 77th Sentai, Tainan) which are all missing "Dets". Not being able to merge into the parent unit causes a few issues with pilot management.

Overall it's great though and I will probably do an AAR once things get going a bit.

Hi....been offline for while.

The decision to mostly group merchants at their auto convoy points (or in the case of Oz....at Sydney for their merchant fleet) was based on experiences from the stock 42/43/44 scenarios that largely left merchants both scattered all over the map and in their 1941 locations. It made the "turn 1" experience a real administrative nightmare so i figure this would ease player burden at the sacrifice of some realism (as it allows a quick redeployment of assets.....but players do that anyway.....this just eliminates alot of the foot work) I did spread some ships out to major ports like Singapore same as i did for the respective navies.......but ultimately....players will do what they do and assign assets as they see fit, usually in concentrated form :)

I did go through and build up key bases to a more 1942 level but only a few because between 1941 and mid 42, not alot occured there yet in the US case and in the case of Japan....their abilities on expanding facilities was somewhat limited, which is what made capturing ready made bases so important. Key SRA Japanse bases were expanded somewhat to allow full 2E ops. while some key US garrison bases were also increased. (as were the Hawaiian island bases besides Oahu. I may have missed one or two of course.

The decision to leave the primary sentais in Burma concentrated is based on several factors:

1) in real life, re-equipment of these units here (and elsewhere) required withdraw of the unit to Japan or close proximity. By mid 42 only the 64th Sentai was left in Burma....the others all withdrawn to re-up with Ki-43.

2) Due to the nature of the air combat model......"small detachments" are easy meat if attacked by concentrated fighter sweeps. Having alot of small detachments will do little but make them targets....esp light armed japanese planes.

3) Whilst the Japanese used detachments extensively in Burma and bounced around many fields to keep the Allies from hitting them on the ground......major strikes tended to be in sizes larger than detachments. On average 20-30 ....though sometimes made up of elements of 2-4 sentais.

I will admit that i'm biased against small detachments as i feel that squadron/group sized air units are enough of a management chore for players in an operational level game of this scale. Thats why Grigsby used the Group as the basic element in the first place.

thx for the feedback. :)

hope players are enjoying the scenario.

< Message edited by Nikademus -- 5/8/2011 7:15:04 PM >

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/6/2011 6:51:59 PM

Nikademus

Posts: 25684
Joined: 5/27/2000
From: Alien spacecraft
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mont

Hope Im not polluting this thread with gobs of errata, just some feed back. If there is a version 2 these are some things I think should be included, perhaps.
Hornet moved to Pearl, air group upgraded.
Saratoga arrival at Pearl 6/6/42 with upgraded air group including Avengers.
Arriving at Pearl: West virginia 7/44, California 5/44, Nevada 12/42, Pennsylvannia 8/42, CA Raleigh 7/42, CA Helena 6/42, DD Cassin 2/44, DD Downes 11/43, reflect battle damage from Japanese attack and times they rejoined fleet.
Increased air capacity, and air groups of Japanese carriers as per OB for Midway.
Americal Div 132,164,182 Rgts, 70 coastal artillery Rgt, 67 FS, at noumea.
I have made RAAF command unristricted so they can move into areas of SW Pacific control.
VF sqn's on Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, with F4F-4, perhaps.
VP 71,72, at Noumea.
Made some other minor alterations, like increasing aviation support at Moresby, Noumea, Midway, supply at Truk, Rabaul, and many other outlying locations on both sides. Wau still in allied hands defended by coy of Kanga force.
AO Neosho, Tippecanoe, AV Tangier, at Noumea.
Made some other changes like increasing experiance level of most front line allied Sqn, ( I think they are better than represented), and some moves here and there.
I think if your going to play allies against the AI, this is the start point to begin at, starting at 7/12/41 previously I was able to inflict some major losses to the Japanese especially their CA force. By May 42 the Japanese have most of the area they wanted, except for�some instances where they stuck there necks out ie Midway, they where in a general defensive stance, the allies must hold and counter attack to win. May 42 gives the Japanese AI by default the area they gained in history.

feedback is always welcome, but please note that per thread starting post, this scenario is not meant to be a 100% accurate depiction of every unit's placement during May of 1942 save for a few key situations (such as Coral Sea....invasion of PM and the Burma sit. ) So i caution players about wasting too much time sending "errata" about this ship or that unit being at Nomeau or anyplace else. The idea here is that the first thing players do is redistribute....redeploy and go their own way. The major opponents are there for a Coral Sea matchup but i'm betting that most Japanese players will decline to face an equal # of USN carriers and risk losing their numerical edge in carriers so in most cases.....i doubt there will ever be a "historical" Coral sea! :)

Major boo boos like ships that were sunk being present are welcome......the first pass for ver one was based on the latest version of AE grand campaign (the editor has entries for "sunk" to aid modders)

Version 2 will primarily focus on adding an AI and correcting any blatent errors and useability improvements.

< Message edited by Nikademus -- 5/6/2011 6:54:06 PM >

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RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/7/2011 6:59:23 AM

Mont

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Hi Nikademus, sorry if I'm alittle over the top with my errata post, just wanted things a little closer to historical, made my own mods to the start, and have modded four AI files based on GC campaign.
At first it takes alittle time to set up playing allies but once that is done the game moves along quite quickly and is fun to play, But still looking forward to Andy macs AI work. Hoping to see version 2 soon.
Thanks again for your work it is appreciated.

(in reply to Nikademus)

Post #: 24

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/31/2011 6:09:06 PM

sfbaytf

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Did AM's AI get done for this?

I'd like to give it a spin.

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Post #: 25

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/31/2011 6:13:10 PM

Nikademus

Posts: 25684
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From: Alien spacecraft
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Andy's been swamped by work. I'm afraid the AI is still a work in progress.

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Post #: 26

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 5/31/2011 6:17:30 PM

Andy Mac

Posts: 15222
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From: Alexandria, Scotland
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Sorry guys day job and vacation mania its (high) on my list to get finished I promise.

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Post #: 27

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 6/2/2011 4:16:32 AM

Mozo

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Andy,

Thanks for this labor of love - I've been waiting for this and the summer is perfect timing (I'm a teacher so I'll be free in a couple of weeks).

Quick Q - you'll be making scripts for the Allies too? I really want to play as Japan with this scenario.

Again, thanks so much for putting your personal time into this for all of us.

Regards,

Mozo

(in reply to Andy Mac)

Post #: 28

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 6/5/2011 9:55:13 PM

Andy Mac

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From: Alexandria, Scotland
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Yes allies as well but in many ways its a lot of work

Its easier because you dont need to deal witht he Japanese expansion but its still a massive amount of scripts to be re written.

Will take a fair bit of time spent some more on it this weeken and its going to take a fair amount of time to adjust the scripts

(in reply to Mozo)

Post #: 29

RE: AE Grand Campaign - May 1942 start - 6/11/2011 5:09:09 AM

Mozo

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Well I appreciate the effort - I'm looking forward to finally playing Japan when you are done. I'm off during the summer so hopefully I'll get a chance to try it then.

Regards,

Mozo

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Post #: 30

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