IJN Bottleneck Opponent Sought [Closed]

[Mundy]

I'm re-activating this thread, as I've had a game free up today. I'm seeking a Japanese opponent for this scenario.

Below are my preferred settings. I tend to be a minimalist with regard to house rules. I will, however, buy out units before exiting national boundaries. I will also run anti-shipping B-17 at at least 5,000 ft. I know some people want them at 10,000, but at the Bismarck Sea, they did come in at that altitude. I could also see them skip bombing at night, as they were used that ways also.

Be aware of a few things before committing to this fight. Using the classic gamey tactic of throwing IJN SNLF units far and wide to cheaply take bases Will Not Work. There are lots of civilian units scattered around and they will put up a credible fight against any weak military units. In my experience, they've even held out against fairly strong invasion forces. Any movement to take allied bases will need to be carefully thought out and well planned with good air cover helping.

If you're entertaining any ideas about invading Australia proper, like Dave has done in my other game, there are lots more units on the mainland this time around. That and having civilians everywhere will most likely bog down any Japanese offensive into Oz.

Bottleneck in the Pacific

You'll want a copy of a fresh "virgin" install to put this one into. Due to the map changes, you don't want this clobbering any other games you have. WITP is nice in that you can simply make a second copy of the existing game directory and set up shortcuts to that one.

Some of the game settings. I don't want any "surprises" this time.

Realism:
Historical First Turn - Off
Dec 7 Surprise - On
Player Defined Upgrades - Your choice
Reinforcements - Variable is nice. If you want extremely variable, I'm fine with that. I just don't want everything arriving like a train schedule

Game Options
Combat Reports - most definitely ON
Auto Sub Ops - most definitely OFF
Accept Air & Ground Replacements - On please. I hate flipping everything that arrives.

Try to keep the scenario file the same number. Tracker doesn't seem to like it when the file number is flipped every turn.

This will come up as Scenario 49

I would like to get about 2 turns a day in, so that the war progresses. I could live with one a day if need be. If you're near the US CDT time zone, it'll probably help. If we have breaks now and then, that's fine. And yes, I know turn 1 may need a few days.

I'll most likely put this in an AAR.

[Mundy]

Never mind...

[Mundy]

I'll keep this in limbo, in case any Japanese player decides to take the plunge.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Mundy, I'm honored that you consider "Bottlenecks" for a PBEM game. However, I'm not surprised nobody has shown interest to engage in a PBEM (yet). The mod is new and untested, and since the time-investment in a PBEM is heavy, I believe potential opponents may find it prudent to wait a bit for feedback about the mod from "peer review" (if any). Furthermore, the mod also has experimental features that may not appeal to everyone (I plan to work on a "standard engine production" version this summer). Personally I would love to "playtest" my mod in a PBEM against you, but I cannot manage two turns a day (two per week maybe, have another PBEM going).

[Mundy]

Thanks for that.

If you want I could help you test it out. I would be alright with a slower pace.

Ed

[Falken]

Hi Mundy,

I was going to ping you on this, but like LST, I can only do at most 3-4 turns a week (sometimes I get lucky and do more, but not usually). My work schedule won't permit more turns per week, and I don't find it fair to make a player like yourself, who can easily do 2 turns a day, play a much slower turn pace.

I also have a H2H BMOD game going so that takes half my week. Really love Brian's mod, but man o man, for the IJN player, China is a **&^&% in that mod.

If you don't find someone later on, and don't mind a much slower pace, let me know.

However, I have been looking at LST's mod, and now that he has his official release out, I'm starting to really look at the finer details. Although I have been playing IJN lately, I also like the Ally side, so I like to study both sides for any mod. There are many decision points that are not part of the normal DBB game, and decisions have to be made early in this mod.

As an example, been trying to figure out how an Ally player can evacuate some of the larger (10000 load cost) civilian groups, such as in Singapore. It's stuff like that I'm trying to understand before going full steam on this mod. Takes a lot of shipping to get them out.

LST has really done an amazing job, but takes a while to go through it in detail.
Anyway, enough babbling. Hope you find someone that can play at your pace level. It would be a really cool AAR to read.

[Mundy]

I'm debating about re-opening this.

I'd like to give bottleneck a try, but failing that, might be open to DBB-C with stacking.

A note to any prospective IJN types. In Bottleneck, you really don't want to do the sleazy fast grabbing player tactics more common in this game, or you could get burned, as my latest opponent discovered. You need good deliberate advances, preferably with land based air cover. Sending little groups around to try and cheaply grab bases will have them wind up getting bogged down by the civilians that are probably there.

[LargeSlowTarget]

I'm building a version with the number of civilian squads and corresponding support squads reduced by factor 10 to mitigate the defense issue and with standard engine production. Might have more appeal to some. Willing to accept a PBEM but would be slow-moving.

[Mundy]

If you're up to it. I could handle a slow mover. Maybe I won't do rash things then. [:D]

I can wait for your update.

Ed

[Mundy]

Bump.

[Lowpe]

Have to say, of all the excellent mods currently around, this one has gotten my interest. I like the philosophy, just have to get by the eye strain that is China![;)]

[Mundy]

LST PMed me that a new version is imminent soon. The civilian count sounds like it'll be reduced in the bargain.

China is a chore. Lots of little immobile HQ units there.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Pls check fb.asp?m=4384356

[zuluhour]

Having just finished DB "Conquest" scenario with Ed, I look forward to loading this up and taking a peek this weekend. By the way, it was my first experience as Japan and found it
very enjoyable. Running the "red team" on a shoestring was far different than I thought it would be. Kudos to the DB team on that. I also want to  thank Ed publicly for taking the
Allies. If the mod above is enticing enough, I'd like to give it a test drive. I can manage a turn a day, more on weekends. I would also require a week break in summer as my CEO,
aka the better half, does not allow interference on her vacation. Would someone help manage Industry? plot strategy? Perhaps share a turn a week?

*It seems easy to find allied opponents, I do enjoy the side as well, but am amply satisfied trying Japan. It would be fun to see a game or two side by side in the
ARs.

[Mundy]

I'm game Kurt.

Don't worry about vacations or such. I'll have my own in the spring.

I stuck the mods in the Dropbox folder we were using. One is the original and the other is a patch

#LST_MOD.ZIP goes first
Bottlenecks 1-1beta.zip is second

You'll probably want a fresh install to put this into. You can just copy your WITP main folder to another one and set up the shortcuts from there.

There's lots and lots of ships in this one. Pretty much all of them have some damage on them at start.

[zuluhour]

I'll get it loaded up tomorrow and roam around in it. I will also put out some feelers for a "consultant" so as not to run out of stuff when it counts. (Zulu san dofts soft cap and faces the rising sun whose broad beams
reach the summit of mount Fuji before falling on the Imperial homeland.)

[zuluhour]

I have taken another offer and expect to be otherwise engaged, however I would like to stay in the loop and
load the finished version and look around.
Sincerely, KB