Random Questions from a New Player

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dorsey -> Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 1:32:16 PM)
Hi everyone, I briefly played this game many years ago, and now am coming back (I even bought it a second time!). I have the latest patch (including beta), the tracker, and am on my way with the Allies vs. AI Japan. I've been reading the FAQ file and other resources on the forum, but am hoping you guys can help me with a few things I can't find. 1) Supply and Fuel: is there a central place to see where these resources appear? I understand how I can see that Abadan for instance produces 15,000 fuel a day, but I'm trying to organize my convoys and i'm not sure where to find this information (or if it exists). 2) This is somewhat connected to #1, but do I need to move supplies to India and Australia? I assume I need to send supplies to island bases like Hawaii, but I"m not sure if these places are self sufficient. 3) As an allied player, I never need to mess with the factories, right (except maybe to turn them off to save supply/fuel)? For instance, no need to upgrade them so I am not producing obsolete planes in 1945. 4) I played historical first turn with allied surprise. I lost 3 BBs in Hawaii--not surprised. However, I also lost the Prince of Wales and Repulse. Is that normal, or did I have bad luck?

sprior -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 1:54:17 PM)
Welcome to the madhouse! Off the top of my head: 2. Yes, you need to supply India and Australia.The fuel will have to be hauled from Abadan although occasionally a convoy arrives in South Africa with fuel. Don't haul it away, your merchies will need it. Pull supply from South Africa to Oz and from Abadan to India. 3. Right, leave well alone. 4. Yes, historically PoW and Repulse were sank on Dec 10th

sprior -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 1:55:47 PM)
Also read some After Action Reports. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3765619 is one of the worst ones and should be ignored.

rockmedic109 -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 1:59:09 PM)
1 Abadan is your main source for fuel in the western part of the map. CS tanker convoys to Colombo and use the long-legged tankers to run fuel to Sydney. Run a large convoy off-map taking supplies from England to Cape Town. Another from Cape Town to Colombo. You can spread your supply from there. Against the AI, you can get away with sending all your convoys out of CONUS from San Francisco. You will need to build up huge stockpiles of supply and fuel in Oahu. You will also need huge supplies wherever you intend to use as a base or hub {like Noumea or Sydney}. I am playing DaBabes and NZ and Australia are self-sufficient but cannot support anything else. As Allies, you will swim supplies.....you just need to move it. 2 Answered above. 3 I never have. 4 Loosing more than two is rare in my opinion. But I have in my current game.....and 4 others that need yard time for up to or more than a year. Loosing PoW and Renown is common. Sometimes you'll save one of them. Always remember that not only was Murphy an Optimist, he was also a sadist {and spends far too much time in my life}.

HansBolter -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 2:00:43 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Hi everyone, I briefly played this game many years ago, and now am coming back (I even bought it a second time!). I have the latest patch (including beta), the tracker, and am on my way with the Allies vs. AI Japan. I've been reading the FAQ file and other resources on the forum, but am hoping you guys can help me with a few things I can't find. 1) Supply and Fuel: is there a central place to see where these resources appear? I understand how I can see that Abadan for instance produces 15,000 fuel a day, but I'm trying to organize my convoys and i'm not sure where to find this information (or if it exists). 2) This is somewhat connected to #1, but do I need to move supplies to India and Australia? I assume I need to send supplies to island bases like Hawaii, but I"m not sure if these places are self sufficient. 3) As an allied player, I never need to mess with the factories, right (except maybe to turn them off to save supply/fuel)? For instance, no need to upgrade them so I am not producing obsolete planes in 1945. 4) I played historical first turn with allied surprise. I lost 3 BBs in Hawaii--not surprised. However, I also lost the Prince of Wales and Repulse. Is that normal, or did I have bad luck? 1 & 2. While Abadan is a good fuel source it is weak supply source. The East Coast is your best source of supply for India, especially after the Med route opens to Aden. India needs both supply and fuel, especially Colombo. If you turn off heavy industry in Australia to save fuel you will need to bring in supply from the West Coast. You will need to do that any way to be able to stockpile enough for offensives. The east and west coasts of the US are the supply sources for the world. I drained the east coast almost dry shipping it to Aden and Capetown. In early '45 the EC is almost dry, but I have 26 million supply at San Fran. 3. No need to mess with factories (aircraft). Heavy industry can be turned off to conserve fuel. 4. Most stock scenarios played with historical first turn and surprise result in Force Z making a historical sortie top their death. Rarely one o fteh two capital ships survives very beat up. To avoid this you have to play without surprise so you can give orders before the December 7th turn.

Chickenboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 2:20:22 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: sprior Also read some After Action Reports. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3765619 is one of the worst ones and should be ignored. In full agreement.

Chickenboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 2:21:59 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: HansBolter 4. Most stock scenarios played with historical first turn and surprise result in Force Z making a historical sortie top their death. Rarely one o fteh two capital ships survives very beat up. To avoid this you have to play without surprise so you can give orders before the December 7th turn. Alternatively, if you are playing PBEM, your partner could allow you to issue orders to POW and Repulse as an exception before the execution of the first turn.

btd64 -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 2:55:27 PM)
For number one use tracker....GP

BBfanboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 3:22:58 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: btd64 For number one use tracker....GP Or you can open the scenario in the Editor and look at the US bases to see how much supply or fuel automatically appears there every turn. Excess supply will flow to the biggest port that has good transportation links. Usage is what determines how much is not excess. Loading ships with supply or fuel is considered usage for the supply/fuel algorithm. Be sure to start your first game with PDU ON. You want to learn how to upgrade your aircraft to models you want and not just what was available historically. Part of this process is learning how to manage your aircraft pools. This does NOT mean the Allies get to choose what kind of aircraft are made in their factories - just what units get what eligible aircraft from the available stocks.

geofflambert -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 3:32:39 PM)
Dec. 10th Singapore time is Dec 9th Pearl Harbor time. Force Z was dispatched Dec 8th (Dec. 7th PHT) and was spotted by the IJN late in the day of the 9th (Dec 8th PHT) and attacked the next day.

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 3:40:57 PM)
Thanks guys. So I'm trying to think this through strategically.... What is the purpose of keeping Australia well supplied? It is a supply and fuel sink. It isn't really that useful as a staging area for future attacks against the enemy. It isn't the major producer of war material that will win the war. (I'm approaching this from the allied perspective, but the Japanese perspective seems more compelling - why commit major resources to cutting off Australia as they did in Coral Sea and Guadalcanal?)

rockmedic109 -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 4:06:58 PM)
Darwin is the closest base of any real size to the DEI. It can be used as a forward Submarine base as well as staging for attacks in DEI. Sydney is the closest shipyard for SWPAC area. Australia's size makes it impossible for the Japanese to eliminate it as a threat. They cannot take and hold enough to stop the allies from landing unopposed and waltzing over and clobbering the forces used. As for why wartime Japanese leaders thought it important, I cannot say. I suppose they thought they could cut the pipeline and dictate terms that Australia would accept and have the Aussie's enter the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. If so, they failed to understand the Australian people as much as they failed to understand Americans.

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 5:41:24 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: btd64 For number one use tracker....GP Does the tracker actually show this? I can see how to use the tracker to get the supply and fuel on hand. But what I don't see is how to use the tracker to obtain the amounts that appear there every day.

BBfanboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/7/2018 8:50:14 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Thanks guys. So I'm trying to think this through strategically.... What is the purpose of keeping Australia well supplied? It is a supply and fuel sink. It isn't really that useful as a staging area for future attacks against the enemy. It isn't the major producer of war material that will win the war. (I'm approaching this from the allied perspective, but the Japanese perspective seems more compelling - why commit major resources to cutting off Australia as they did in Coral Sea and Guadalcanal?) The Australian divisions and tank units are some of the best LCUs on the map ... once they get filled out. And filling them out takes time as the goodies trickle in from the pools. During this time you need supply to feed and train your expanding units. Australian bases also need to be expanded to handle the aircraft needed for security. For example, Sydney dockyard is the only one you will have in the Pacific west of PH that can handle the Yorktown class carriers. But KB often does a raiding sweep all the way around Australia, so before you put your precious carriers in Sydney SY for repairs or upgrades you want to have airfields that can host a lot of bombers and fighters to deal with KB if it appears (the carrier air groups can be landed to help with this). You also need ASW and Naval Search aircraft and ships operating from decent sized ports and airfields. By the time your Australian LCUs are ready to move forward and press the enemy, you should have control of sea and sky in the area so you can load the LCUs up and move them where they are needed. Whenever you need to decide where to use your resources, sit back and think strategically - "Where do I want to be at least one year hence". - the end game is to get within striking distance of Japan so you can destroy its industrial and military capacity - there are several different routes toward Japan and Japan cannot strongly defend all of them - the DEI has vital oil/fuel for Japan so it will be strongly defended, but pushing a little in this sensitive area (like taking Saumlaki or Babar) will draw his navy and air force away from other areas you wish to attack. - if things seem bleak, just open the Intel Report and look at your reinforcement queues. By fall of 1942 you will have at least local control of the perimeter of the empire.

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/8/2018 4:05:49 AM)
Guys, now I have a real problem. With the patch, the windowed display is cutting off the bottom of the screen. When I check out a base, for example, I can't see the industry options. I was searching the forum, and saw that the beta ends in "-w" when viewed in properties through the shortcut - I read that removing this move the game back to full screen mode. However, when I tried that, the game wouldn't launch. Does anyone have a suggestion?

BillBrown -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/8/2018 4:23:28 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey quote: ORIGINAL: btd64 For number one use tracker....GP Does the tracker actually show this? I can see how to use the tracker to get the supply and fuel on hand. But what I don't see is how to use the tracker to obtain the amounts that appear there every day. Yes, here is a screen shot for you. [image]local://upfiles/6818/06D4B0A894A646E7A472B0F65D026085.jpg[/image]

BBfanboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/8/2018 6:21:53 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Guys, now I have a real problem. With the patch, the windowed display is cutting off the bottom of the screen. When I check out a base, for example, I can't see the industry options. I was searching the forum, and saw that the beta ends in "-w" when viewed in properties through the shortcut - I read that removing this move the game back to full screen mode. However, when I tried that, the game wouldn't launch. Does anyone have a suggestion? When you install the game it puts a shortcut on your desktop. THIS IS NOT THE GAME SHORTCUT. It points to the Autorun.exe which opens a menu box that allows you to open the editor, the manual, search for updates or ... launch the game. The switches do not work with this shortcut. Use Windows Explorer (or whatever they call it now) to navigate your file system until you find the War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe file. Right click on it and choose "create shortcut". Drag this shortcut to your desktop and then start the process of installing switches in the correct shortcut. There is a whole series of posts in the Tech Section about switches, what they do, and how to put them into your shortcut. You can launch the game without the switches but it is likely to be really wonky, especially if you are using Win 10.

GetAssista -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/8/2018 11:38:28 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Thanks guys. So I'm trying to think this through strategically.... What is the purpose of keeping Australia well supplied? It is a supply and fuel sink. It isn't really that useful as a staging area for future attacks against the enemy. It isn't the major producer of war material that will win the war. (I'm approaching this from the allied perspective, but the Japanese perspective seems more compelling - why commit major resources to cutting off Australia as they did in Coral Sea and Guadalcanal?) Strategically it is best for Allies to supply and build up everything they can think of as long as it is close to the front, so that they have choices of where to push next. Being unpredictable is great. And Allies have the assets to make it happen. Contrary to that, Japan is very limited in its resources and has to make choices all the time

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/9/2018 11:58:25 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: BBfanboy quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Guys, now I have a real problem. With the patch, the windowed display is cutting off the bottom of the screen. When I check out a base, for example, I can't see the industry options. I was searching the forum, and saw that the beta ends in "-w" when viewed in properties through the shortcut - I read that removing this move the game back to full screen mode. However, when I tried that, the game wouldn't launch. Does anyone have a suggestion? When you install the game it puts a shortcut on your desktop. THIS IS NOT THE GAME SHORTCUT. It points to the Autorun.exe which opens a menu box that allows you to open the editor, the manual, search for updates or ... launch the game. The switches do not work with this shortcut. Use Windows Explorer (or whatever they call it now) to navigate your file system until you find the War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe file. Right click on it and choose "create shortcut". Drag this shortcut to your desktop and then start the process of installing switches in the correct shortcut. There is a whole series of posts in the Tech Section about switches, what they do, and how to put them into your shortcut. You can launch the game without the switches but it is likely to be really wonky, especially if you are using Win 10. That didn't work unfortunately. I found the exe file in the directory, created a shortcut and moved it to the desktop. That indeed solved the display problems, but the game was unpatched. It seems the only way I can run the beta patch is to use the shortcut on the desktop created by the beta installer. When I try to remove the "-w" command from the properties screen in the beta patch shortcut, the game won't launch.

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/9/2018 12:08:27 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: BillBrown Yes, here is a screen shot for you. Thanks!

HansBolter -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/9/2018 4:29:04 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey quote: ORIGINAL: BBfanboy quote: ORIGINAL: dorsey Guys, now I have a real problem. With the patch, the windowed display is cutting off the bottom of the screen. When I check out a base, for example, I can't see the industry options. I was searching the forum, and saw that the beta ends in "-w" when viewed in properties through the shortcut - I read that removing this move the game back to full screen mode. However, when I tried that, the game wouldn't launch. Does anyone have a suggestion? When you install the game it puts a shortcut on your desktop. THIS IS NOT THE GAME SHORTCUT. It points to the Autorun.exe which opens a menu box that allows you to open the editor, the manual, search for updates or ... launch the game. The switches do not work with this shortcut. Use Windows Explorer (or whatever they call it now) to navigate your file system until you find the War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe file. Right click on it and choose "create shortcut". Drag this shortcut to your desktop and then start the process of installing switches in the correct shortcut. There is a whole series of posts in the Tech Section about switches, what they do, and how to put them into your shortcut. You can launch the game without the switches but it is likely to be really wonky, especially if you are using Win 10. That didn't work unfortunately. I found the exe file in the directory, created a shortcut and moved it to the desktop. That indeed solved the display problems, but the game was unpatched. It seems the only way I can run the beta patch is to use the shortcut on the desktop created by the beta installer. When I try to remove the "-w" command from the properties screen in the beta patch shortcut, the game won't launch. The beta patches create a subfolder that the beta executable is located in. Move the beta executable file out of the beta subfolder and into the main game folder and set up a shortcut linked to it to launch the game.

dorsey -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/10/2018 6:43:12 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: HansBolter The beta patches create a subfolder that the beta executable is located in. Move the beta executable file out of the beta subfolder and into the main game folder and set up a shortcut linked to it to launch the game. I got it!!! It took me forever, but thanks so much! Last question, for a while at least. :) From the tracker, I downloaded all the ships, but the CSV file doesn't have the ship speeds or tonnage. That would be extremely helpful to organize convoys. Is that information available in downloadable form somewhere? I was looking around in the WITP folders--I thought it must be in there somewhere, but I didn't see it.

Chickenboy -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/10/2018 12:01:52 PM)
Dorsey, Since you're just getting started, I'd encourage you to not get stuck 'down in the weeds' in terms of ship draft, supply ship speeds and other tracker esoterica. Get a feel for how the first few turns feel and actually run them. Tracker and the other detailed questions can come later. As the Allied player, you can do just fine without Tracker altogether. Don't let data overload be a resistance.

pws1225 -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/10/2018 12:26:46 PM)
+1

btd64 -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/10/2018 1:37:30 PM)
+2

rustysi -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/11/2018 5:37:40 PM)
quote: As the Allied player, you can do just fine without Tracker altogether. Agreed. For me as a JFB, I don't use tracker and things work well. So far anyway.[:D]

HansBolter -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/11/2018 6:20:10 PM)
It will be a long way into the game before you have the luxury of grouping transports with common speed, endurance and capacity. The Allied shipping starts the game extremely dispersed. You will spend the first few turns combing every port to find the transports you need to get started heading back to main supply and troop hubs. My current game is in Feburary '45 and since early '44 I have enjoyed the luxury of creating efficient transport TFs with common speed, endurance and capacity. Early on, grouping by common speed is about the best you can hope for. As others have commented don't get too caught up in min/maxxing and enjoy the ride.

rustysi -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/11/2018 6:49:20 PM)
quote: The Allied shipping starts the game extremely dispersed. You will spend the first few turns combing every port to find the transports you need to get started heading back to main supply and troop hubs Same for Japan. Aka, 'Operation Red Cloud'.[:D]

Joqqemanzinho -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/14/2018 6:30:25 PM)
Not sure where to ask this question, but since I too am a new player with questions (not so much random, more stupid), maybe this would not be a bad place to ask them: I've played a bit of Warplan Orange, and while there are similarities, the dominance of airplanes of large areas of the map is a huge difference. My question is: what sort of strategies should I focus on to keep my supply lines and important infrastructure at least somewhat safe? Patrol planes seem to work well for some areas, but when it comes to offensives especially at the start of the war, I hesitate about whether I should try to get AA units around as much as possible, or just build lots of forward airfields up so I can move fighter squadrons there. What sort of weight should I give to either option and what other options am I missing here? Thanks in advance and sorry if I hijacked this thread and pulled it off-topic.

RangerJoe -> RE: Random Questions from a New Player (7/14/2018 6:35:57 PM)
AAA units will shoot in day time or night time while fighters can be swept aside. Have planes discover the subs and then have dedicated and well trained ASW task forces to kill/cripple the subs. Keep a fleet search going ti protect against commerce raiders and they can also detect subs. If bmbers are coming in unescorted, then kill them with fighters.

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