LCU fatigue + China questions

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> LCU fatigue + China questions

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LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 9:00:24 AM

Krikke100

Posts: 19
Joined: 4/7/2005
Status: offline

Hello, great game, very impressive.

I'm working on the (rather overwhelming) first turn, and had a couple of questions after trying to organise China.

1) LCU fatigue - In the manual it says tired and mostly disabled units will start losing people. Quite a few Chinese units have 30 fatigue and are half disabled. Can I just march these units and will they measure their pace, or will my boys start dropping dead next to the road? It's just that I feel that too many "your son died marching around in the rear" letters to Chinese mothers will really damage my already shaky credibility as the Chinese overlord-general-commander in chief.

2) Some of the Chinese units are quite far away from the HQ they are attached to. Does it matter for things other than reinforcements that they are away from their own HQ?

3) My first goal in China is going to be to open up some better roads/railroads between the N and the S of China, so I want to start off by regrouping, resting, and training my armies and then attack Nanchang and Sinyang in full force (like 10+ of the stronger corps each city), then rest and refit, and then continue from both sides on Wuchang. Is this wildly optimistic and am I gonne get butchered?

Thanks for any help.

Post #: 1

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 9:05:34 AM

moonraker65

Posts: 556
Joined: 7/14/2004
From: Swindon,Wilts. UK
Status: offline

In China I've always found the watch word to be "Consolidate". Look at all the units that are not already in bases and send them where they want to go. But be careful because some are set to march on strongly held Japanese cities. I've lost 3 or 4 units that way. Probably better to send them all to Chinese held cities and train them so that they are more effective later on.

(in reply to Krikke100)

Post #: 2

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 9:15:52 AM

vinnie71

Posts: 964
Joined: 8/27/2008
Status: offline

Good advice but the Japanese are pretty aggressive and inflict grevious damage in the first days. I tried to outmarch them but it was useless.

Consolidating the armies is a bit difficult for 2 reasons

a) supplies are lacking and have to be used judiciously

and

b) fort construction is difficult because of lack of engineers and of supplies.

Also its airforce is pitiful at the start of the campaign, with the Japanese airforce having free rein over the skies in China. They are constantly attacking formations, inflicting losses and disabling large numbers of men and machinery. It would take years to make something out of Chinese armies.

BTW put all the Chinese formations with their parent HQs because they don't have enough support personnel.

(in reply to moonraker65)

Post #: 3

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 9:18:16 AM

Jim D Burns

Posts: 4013
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Salida, CA.
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: moonraker

In China I've always found the watch word to be "Consolidate". Look at all the units that are not already in bases and send them where they want to go. But be careful because some are set to march on strongly held Japanese cities. I've lost 3 or 4 units that way. Probably better to send them all to Chinese held cities and train them so that they are more effective later on.

I disagree somewhat. Consolidation is a good thing, but if you move everyone into a base, the Japanese will simply enter the hex and start bombarding you, thus preventing any recovery. The best thing to do is set up strongpoints in non-base road/rail hexes to stop any Japanese movement into your bases. Then rest/train some units at those rear area bases and when they are fresh, swap them out with your roadblock units.

Early on you'll need to keep a lot more units in the field on your roadblocks then are resting at rear area bases because your units are in bad shape. But later as your units recover and become more efficient at fighting, you'll be able to keep more and more units in rest status and they'll be in tip top condition to act as a reserve to commit if Japan launches an offensive.

Jim

_____________________________

(in reply to moonraker65)

Post #: 4

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 10:50:23 AM

Sonny II

Posts: 2878
Joined: 1/12/2007
Status: offline

quote:

1) LCU fatigue - In the manual it says tired and mostly disabled units will start losing people. Quite a few Chinese units have 30 fatigue and are half disabled. Can I just march these units and will they measure their pace, or will my boys start dropping dead next to the road? It's just that I feel that too many "your son died marching around in the rear" letters to Chinese mothers will really damage my already shaky credibility as the Chinese overlord-general-commander in chief.

Marching does not overly tax your units. They won't gain very much fatigue.

(in reply to Jim D Burns)

Post #: 5

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 12:12:14 PM

vinnie71

Posts: 964
Joined: 8/27/2008
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

I disagree somewhat. Consolidation is a good thing, but if you move everyone into a base, the Japanese will simply enter the hex and start bombarding you, thus preventing any recovery. The best thing to do is set up strongpoints in non-base road/rail hexes to stop any Japanese movement into your bases. Then rest/train some units at those rear area bases and when they are fresh, swap them out with your roadblock units.

Early on you'll need to keep a lot more units in the field on your roadblocks then are resting at rear area bases because your units are in bad shape. But later as your units recover and become more efficient at fighting, you'll be able to keep more and more units in rest status and they'll be in tip top condition to act as a reserve to commit if Japan launches an offensive.

Jim

Problem is that initially the Japanese move pretty fast to consolidate their hold on China. Thus any corps caught in the open will get clobbered by the Japanese. I even had one corps almost demolished completely when caught alone (1 support unit surviving!). I'm concentrating on the big cities, placing sufficient HQ's to have good support services and increasing the supply flow. Japanese seem reluctant to attack and the first attacks were more in the nature of probes, because the regimental/brigade units move faster than their bigger (divisional) brothers. Also consolidation really helps in easing supply and reinforcement, which is a must in the begining.

Incidentally the area where the Japanese seem to be the weakest is in the north, beyond Yennan. There the forces are evenly matched in numbers and I'm just training up my land units and about a quarter of the airforce. Hopefully I'll take the offensive around the begining of summer...

(in reply to Jim D Burns)

Post #: 6

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 1:50:40 PM

Krikke100

Posts: 19
Joined: 4/7/2005
Status: offline

Thanks all! Is even the AI agressive as Japan in China? I'm getting scared now.

(in reply to vinnie71)

Post #: 7

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 2:16:53 PM

vinnie71

Posts: 964
Joined: 8/27/2008
Status: offline

Pretty much so. It will hit you from several directions at once. The objective of the AI seems to try to link Vietnam with the rest of China, solidify its grip on Southern China and dominate the north. To this end it will hunt your southern forces which are dispersed here and there, hit you from Vietnam and strike at a road junction up north.

Then the main offensive in central China starts rolling....

(in reply to Krikke100)

Post #: 8

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 2:32:21 PM

Krikke100

Posts: 19
Joined: 4/7/2005
Status: offline

Right, new plan then...

Sacrifice my army to give me enough time to build a supersecret bunker inside some big Himalaya mountain to sit out the war (with my accumulated loot). Then laugh as all kinds of diseases spread amongst the Japanese, shouldn't take too long with millions of bodies from my destroyed armies lying about.

Thanks for the answers all!

(in reply to vinnie71)

Post #: 9

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 2:38:16 PM

jomni

Posts: 2827
Joined: 11/19/2007
Status: offline

I'm playing Japanese and the Chinese AI is also aggressive. He attacked Canton but lost a lot of troops.
But I also lost one city from his early attacks as well as they are all over the place and hard to contain.

(in reply to Krikke100)

Post #: 10

RE: LCU fatigue + China questions - 8/5/2009 11:40:44 PM

vinnie71

Posts: 964
Joined: 8/27/2008
Status: offline

Yes but a few tank units for the Japanese can actually shred the Chinese in the open. Though the Chinese aremy is pretty much inferior to its opponents, normally it is only when the Japanese bring in tanks and/or additional artillery that they make spectecular victories.

Btw where do the Chinese get their artillery? Do they have their own list or do they take American hardware? And where is that solitary tank regiment that was in WITP?

(in reply to jomni)

Post #: 11