Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: BillLlorente

I made a hard copy of the manual, but it is still pretty vague. For instance:

1) Do I need to have my industry, e.g. in San Francisco, produce supplies, then transport it out to the Area of Operation, e.g. Espiritu Santo and Brisbane, then from there to Guadalcanal itself?

Nope for limited area scenario - there are map boundaries your ships wont get through. Supplies, Fuel, Resources, Etc are generated from local industry located on map, or the flow of them is hard-coded into bases (such as Noumea and Brisbane). Open Base screen and look for Supply/Fuel - there is something like "14521 / 500" - it means total on hand / daily arrival.

2) When I am unloading my troops at Guadalcanal, to you have to transfer the troops from the AP to a LST or LCI, then to the beach, or just push the unload button and the computer does that automatically?

Just push the unload button. All ships have some "unloading rate" coded in them - representing Higgins boats, barges, etc. APA/AKA are on the top, AP/AK middle, xAP/xAK low rate. Landing Ships and Crafts usually unload in one day. So no trans-loading at the beaches.

3) If I have to transfer the troops to a LST or LCI, how and where do you load these crafts onto the transport ships?

LST/LCI/LCVP/LCM are small landing crafts - you can create them at the base, or from the ship sometime by clicking on a button "Create Landing Craft". However you use them just as regular amphibious ships at short ranges. So Load them at point of origin by unit on land in combat mode, and land them at the point of destination by unloading. For greater range, add an escort or cargo ship.

4) The same question pertains to the supplies, do I need to load them onto barges or other landing craft before sending them to the beach?

Same as number 2

5) If I have to ship supplies from San Francisco, should I set up an Auto Convoy to say, Espiritu Santo, then manually control the convoys from there?

In scenario not needed as per Q1. In grand campaign it can be done, but most players usually prefer manual control instead of AI. Or you can find your supplies sunk in unfriendly seas :)

I am sure in the Grand Campaign I will have to send supplies from the mainland USA to Australia and such, but in the scenario for Guadalcanal, do all the forward bases (Brisbane, Espiritu Santo) have enough supplies to play the scenario?

Supplies and fuel are at premium in the scenario - simulating the real shoestring nature of the campaign both for Japanese and Allies. So do not cruise your ships around with no purpose. Also husband your supplies - and protect supply carrying shipping.

quote:

ORIGINAL: BillLlorente

More questions:

1) I haven't really studied the troopship loads, but I am assuming that there will be a HQ unit, and some Engineering units, such as Seabees. If I want to send more troops or Engineers, where do I get the ships from. I know that there will be ships coming into play in the future, but do I need to manually send troops from San Francisco, or are there more troops that can be loaded in Australia or on Espiritu Santo already in play? Do I need to unload the ships at Guadalcanal and use them again by sending the ships back to E.S. or Australia for more troops and supplies, or will there be reinforcements appearing in time not to worry about that?

If you need more troops look around your bases - sometimes you can get a unit forward. And look into your reinforcement queue. I think in the Guadalcanal Scenario most of the reinforcements are arriving either at Brisbane or Noumea. For their transport reuse ships you already have in the scenario. Also some reinforcement ships are bound to arrive. But it is vital to protect your original ships and reuse them.

I appreciate the help on these probably stupid questions, but once I play the scenario and have a chance to see what is happening, everything will be clearer. I played the Coral Sea scenario, and actually won with a Decisive Allied victory after sinking 2 carriers, 1 cruiser, and a bunch of transports, so now I have a basic understanding of how to use task forces and naval air. It's still the logistics of the game that is confusing, since I didn't have to send supplies or rearm my ships manually, and hopefully Guadalcanal will help clarify a lot of it.