Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Wineguy

Hi Brian, it looks like scenario 197 was just updated yesterday. I am just in the process of starting a game with an opponent who is in the middle of Japan turn1. Is there anything critical in the update?

Thanks, Steve.

quote:

ORIGINAL: spence

I'm presently involved in a PBEM (Beta version 1.8.1126b of DBB Lite). I have some questions.

1) If I install the various ship/plane files in the Art sub-folders do the do the new files supplant the old ship/plane files in that PBEM or only in scenarios 197/198/199?


2) If those new ship/plane files do supplant the old ones in the PBEM what happens if my opponent doesn't have those same files?

3) The game is playable agsinst AI?

quote:

ORIGINAL: spence

It seems some of the ships in DaBabes (lite) don't exist in the B-mod (being an old Coastie I noticed the 165 ft USCG cutters missing right off).

So if I like the AAA and ASW from the DaBabes Mod then I have to forgo the increased Mk XIV torpedo effectiveness of the B-mod and vice versa?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Falken

Hey Big B, can you do me a favor, and check out the last few posts in the Bottlenecks thread. I'm asking about the L2D2 entry date into the war. In Bottlenecks, it's 12/41 but in our BMOD game, it's 1944. I think, but cannot confirm, that it's also 1944 in DBB.

LST has really provided good stats on his reasoning, and seems to make absolute sense, but i'm not a war expert. I don't want the date changed for my current PBEM, but it might be something you want to check for any future updates to your MOD.

Thanks
Dave...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Timtom was quite clear on the AE criteria for the starting availability date of aircraft models.  It was not based on the date the model first came off the factory line.  Instead it was determined on the date the first air unit equipped with that model became operational in the theatre.

Alfred 

quote:

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Timtom was quite clear on the AE criteria for the starting availability date of aircraft models.  It was not based on the date the model first came off the factory line.  Instead it was determined on the date the first air unit equipped with that model became operational in the theatre.

Alfred 

Raises the question what the Japanese did do with the Tabbies produced in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943 if the first unit equipped with that model really became operational only in January 1944.

From what I have found, the first few Tabbies have been operated by the civilian airline Dai Nippon Koku or Imperial Japanese Airways. Before the war the airline was 50% government-owned, shortly after Pearl Harbor it became 100% government-owned and began operating exclusively for the Army and the Navy as "Dai Nippon Koku Choyo Yusoki Tai" or "Imperial Japanese Airways Commandeered Transport Unit".

I also found crash reports for "Douglas DC-3 (Nakajima L2D)" aircraft in March 1942, October 1942 and August 1943, plus others from January 1944 onwards: https://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=10415

So it appears that Tabbies have been used well before January 1944.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Big B
... since the aircraft was already in production and use by the Japanese military before 12/41.
Note that the L2D2 Tabby is a real aircraft that the Japanese military actually produced and used...not a drawing board prototype fantasy aircraft that the game allows you to magically rush into the war 18 months early...
That was the most childish non-troversy I have ever read here.

quote:

We've gone back and forth on whether to explicitly include some of the command transports more than a few times. As the Air Team OOB-wallah, my main concern is that doing would be opening the lid on a industrial-sized can o' worms not least considering the number of Allied transports found in echelon or similar - fx the entire US Air Transport Command in the Pacific is omitted and the argument for doing so is probably weaker than that for the IJN transports.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Anachro

I'm not sure what everyone here is angry about or what the non-troversy is, but Alfred and Timtom raise a good point regarding the design of the game as a whole. As Alfred mentions, Timtom states that there are balance issues with adding in additional transport units such as the early L2D2. I don't think they overlooked the problem so much as made a game design decision on it; it isn't as simple as adding in a plane because it was produced in a specific period. The relevant text from the posts Alfred referenced:

quote:

We've gone back and forth on whether to explicitly include some of the command transports more than a few times. As the Air Team OOB-wallah, my main concern is that doing would be opening the lid on a industrial-sized can o' worms not least considering the number of Allied transports found in echelon or similar - fx the entire US Air Transport Command in the Pacific is omitted and the argument for doing so is probably weaker than that for the IJN transports.

So the real question for me, I guess, is that if you are going to come down on one side of the issue that the developer team struggled with (i.e. whether to explicitly include some of the command transports), how will you compensate for what they saw as the repercussions of doing so? As timtom states, doing such would probably further require fixing the Allied transport OOB, which he believes is an "industrial-sized can o' worms" with the number of Allied transports/capabilities also omitted from the in-game OOB. So my question for BigB and LST is if they considered this in deciding to introduce these planes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Akos Gergely

Dear Big B!

Any chance for a '42 May version of this scenario. I remember you used to have (http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2753637) one, but I wonder if there is a more up-to-date version available?

quote:

Production: A total of 167 H8Ks were built by Kawanishi Kokuki K.K. in their Naruo and Konan plants as follows:
1 H8K1 prototype (Dec 1940)
2 H8K1 pre-production aircraft (1941)
14 H8K1 production aircraft (1941-42)
112 H8K2 production aircraft (1943-45)
2 H8K3 prototypes (1944)
(2) H8K4 prototypes modified from H8K3 frames (1945)
36 H8K2-L production aircraft (1943-45)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Anachro

@BigB Since, we are going down this route, what do you currently have set as the introduction date for the K5Y1 Willow? From what I can tell, DBB and stock have the introduction date as 5/45 but the airplane was in service in 1934,used primarily for flight training, and was produced throughout the war. No doubt, the 5/45 introduction date here reflects the fact that they were first used by operational units in-game (kamikaze units) in 1945. Probably low priority for a lot of players, but it's nonetheless there.

EDIT

Another one I found: K11W1 Shiragiku is listed in-game as being introduced in 2/45, but according to *ahem* Wikipedia it was produced from 1942-1945 and introduced in 1943. You have better sources that can probably prove or disprove this. I also don't know when it switched from prototyping to actual production.

EDIT #2

The H8K1 Emily also appears to have gone into production before its listed date of 7/42, though its unclear to me when actual production and not prototyping was done. Frankly, based on the number produced, they might have all been prototypes, which makes it very unclear to me then when the H8K1 should be introduced.

quote:

Production: A total of 167 H8Ks were built by Kawanishi Kokuki K.K. in their Naruo and Konan plants as follows:
1 H8K1 prototype (Dec 1940)
2 H8K1 pre-production aircraft (1941)
14 H8K1 production aircraft (1941-42)
112 H8K2 production aircraft (1943-45)
2 H8K3 prototypes (1944)
(2) H8K4 prototypes modified from H8K3 frames (1945)
36 H8K2-L production aircraft (1943-45)

Some sources say production started in mid-to-late 1941 whereas others say this was still prototyping. Again, judgement calls here and you have better data to confirm.