Ambassador
Posts: 1674
Joined: 1/11/2008
From: Brussels, Belgium
Status: offline
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Hello everyone,
I have seen many new faces/names around, new players having recently bought the game when it went on sale a couple of weeks ago. Welcome to you all !
While I find it great that such a game attracts new players even 11 years after the release, I’m a bit concerned by the proportion of you I see talking about following the tutorials and starting their first game « following Kull’s excellent spreadsheet ».
While I can only confirm that Kull’s spreadsheets is a very good reminder of everything there is to do in the game at start, I’m not sure most of you realize that scenario 1, or any derivative, is the not ideal scenario to learn the game. The full campaign scenarios might be why you were interested in the game at first, and they certainly are the ones most players launch most of the time, but it’s BIG !
The list of scenarios is not a list which should be followed numerically, #2 after #1, #3 after #2, etc. In fact, in order to learn the game most adequately (in my opinion, and I’ve seen other grognards with the same opinion), it’s easier to start small.
Scen 1 can be daunting, you won’t finish it in 50 hours, nor even 500. Past the first few turns and some exceptions, it might take a bit less than one full hour to set the orders up for each turn, even for veteran players who’ve done it countless times (multiple thousands certainly). The scope of the game, the intricacies of the game engine, the details of the OOB & TOE, the minutiae of the logistics, all that adds up. And if you’re still learning the game, the amount of clicking you have have between turns will make your attention disperse on many different things, so that you might not perceive every consequences of your decisions.
So, besides watching the tutorials, besides reading the Useful info for beginners and the FAQ threads (and various other threads), besides reading and documenting yourself on how real life Pacific War was conducted (there’re often good hints for the game in real life history), I also suggest you to start with the smaller scenarios, to get your grasp of mechanics bit by bit.
Start first with the Coral Sea scenario. The scope is much narrower, and you’ll learn to use aircraft carriers, surface combat, some parts of aerial warfare, how task forces are routed, and the like. The scenario lasts only a couple of days, and can be played fully in a few hours, but you will also see the results of your tactical settings in a very short time, instead of waiting a couple of (real time) days in a scenario 1 to see the result of a set of order you made two turns ago.
So, start Coral Sea, start it again, play it from both perspectives. And it’s the AI, you might also load the save at the end from the other side’s to see what real damage your bombs made. Or play it both sides at the same time.
And then, the second step might be the Guadalcanal campaign. It’s in the same general area as Coral Sea, so it’s a natural progression, but it lasts longer, several months of game days. Turns can be played nearly as fast as in Coral Sea, and you won’t have as many operations ongoing as in a full campaign, so you can better remember what you did. And playing it, you’ll get experience at organizing your task forces, how to conduct ground warfare, and more importantly : logistics !
Logistics are the alternate name of the game, and the Guadalcanal scenario will show you the importance of managing your supply and your fuel, how much both of them are used by ground, air or naval assets. You’re at the tail end of the logistical road, and only have one theater of operation to focus on, so it’ll be much easier.
Learning logistics in a full campaign is much more difficult, because not only do you have to allocate the supplies at the end, to various bases, but you also have to setup your hubs to distribute that supply right from Continental US.
Guadalcanal will also teach you to plan and execute an invasion (or how to counter/delay it from the IJ - Imperial Japan - side). The first one is already planned, with TFs already loaded and units prepped for Lunga and Tulagi, but beyond that first step, there are other operations you may conduct.
Long story short : Coral Sea will teach you tactical warfare ; Guadalcanal will teach you operational warfare ; and a full campaign is full on strategic warfare. You need to understand tactical warfare before you delve in operational warfare, and as the full campaign means balancing the needs of several operational theater of operations, you need to know how to conduct one in order to allocate the right assets.
I hope I’ve been clear and helpful, and wish you to embark on countless hours of play.
One last bit of advice : don’t hesitate to ask questions, but please check the other recent threads (and do a quick search) to see if you can’t find the answer yourself.
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A word of advice to the new players - 
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