How do I start?

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: kris279
Sorry about all that questions, but there is a lot to "digest" in that game....

It took me months before I finally grasped enough of the essentials to simply complete the 2nd turn (one of the links in my sig might help you out a bit there). But even then, I hosed up all sorts of stuff and wound up restarting. Several times, in fact.

Here's the thing. Forget everything you thought you knew about "games" and how long they should take. This one can go on for years. In fact, it is not uncommon for games to last longer than the actual war itself.

Think about that for a minute.

[Dili]

Note: Aircraft loaded on an AKV are listed as “disabled”

Not correct.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: kris279


Now - East coast. I tested to transfer already aircraft from the east coast to the West(SF). Will it be there in the next turn or how long does it take to transfer airgroups?

About three days to arrive. The aircraft will be disabled during transport so it will take a few more days to make them operational again. You can find the air groups in transit in the Intel Reports section called Group Reinforcement Schedule.

Can I not move supplies from the East to the West using Railroad/Road? I remember reading about transport in the manual.

The Game Engine handles distribution of supplies. In general, it sends what is needed to places where supply is being used and accumulates the rest at the largest port within a reasonable distance. You do not need to worry about supplies for San Francisco and Los Angeles - after a few days the amount at the big WC ports will grow rapidly until you have literally millions. You do have some things that can influence supply movement but it is probably best not to mess with them before you understand supply movement better. Read the manual on supply movement and take note of the effect of base size on supply movement, frequency, accumulation and maximum holdings without wastage.

I am thinking to bring as many fighter groups as possible onto the islands, expand airfields, have a good cap ready. Now I cannot let them fly from the mainland to Pearl. Which type of transport is best to use them to ship them over(I remember a "let's play" where he even split them up so if a transport would go down not the entire airgroup is lost - does it make sense?). Yes. And be careful to match aircraft to the Air Support squads available, the supply available, and the airfield size. You can fly B-17s off a Level 2 AF, but they won't carry a full load and they will have lots of operational accidents.

I am setting up some destroyer TF to search for that subs around Pearl. Yes my BB's are all badly beaten up(had the historic start). So, I let them do some flood/fire repairs and then send them over to the West Coast.

Sounds good, but do not overload your shipyard with all the ships that have flotation damage. The SY will repair up to its capacity and any excess load will receive NO REPAIRS. These are better left in "Pierside" mode where the port itself can help repair system damage until a space is available in the SY.

Subs? Manual or keep it under default KI control?

The Game Engine is lousy at managing subs, especially in setting patrol zones. ALWAYS do subs manually. It seems like a PITA at first but they can stay on patrol for a long time so you don't have to do much after you deploy them all. Usually each turn I only have to tweak the zone of one or two in reaction to new intel on enemy shipping.


Sorry about all that questions, but there is a lot to "digest" in that game....

[rustysi]

Is an aircraft tender (AV, AVD, AVP) then having spare aircraft for CV'S with them?

No. These vessels support flying boats (Catalina's) and/or float planes.

Now - East coast. I tested to transfer already aircraft from the east coast to the West(SF). Will it be there in the next turn or how long does it take to transfer airgroups?

Don't know how long it takes, but once done the unit will be removed from the map. You may then look at the reinforcement schedule and it will show there, with the number of days before it will arrive.

[btd64]

About 3 days....GP

[kris279]

Thanks gents. Still trying around in my first turn(actually 2nd considering I could not do anything before turn 1), I really had the impression I had some kind of a basic plan but then I got just surprised by the size of that game. Still doing West Coast, found something , tried to figure out in the manual what it means but no luck.

If you go in the base screen, infantry stationed there, I found(Canadian base, Victoria for instance) some infantry(INF) unit with an star afterwards(INF*) - what does that mean? I found as well some HQ unit with a "a" afterwards, I think thats a split up HQ unit(why would someone split up an HQ??).

Found quiet a lot INF* - manual does not say anything about it(at least place I looked at, that's bases and land units....).

-Kull - I looked into you CL and is just smashing. Most likely if I follow it step by step I should be ok. But - where would be the fun in it? I mean, I looked some bases up and your orders make perfect sense(was thinking about Guam for instance and building a fortess there makes perfect sense - not sure if I will be able to supply it, but the conclusion is spot on).

Still trying to figure out what each base needs and what not. Glad I am playing the US, I think I can do quiet some mistakes with that economical power behind(as the germans learnd the hard way) should win me the war so or so, as long as I do not loose to many of that precious carriers at the beginning.

Will "pump up" Pearl , Midway, Johnston(this seems already on the limit) as far as I can and then try to go SW. I think as soon as my airbases in the Pacific are up and running it should be a big advantage.
This all comes from a guy struggling THINKING about his first turn and which units he might need at which place.....(and still has no real idea which transports he will be using for what task, but hey ).

[btd64]

The * means that the unit is a part of a bigger unit. There are several different HQ types. An a is an air HQ. Can't remember the others right now....GP

[kris279]

Thanks btd.... so it just gets a tad more complicated [8|]. Do I need to rejoin this units before I force them onto a transport(e.g. the canadians). Or it does not really matter and I can ship of the part of a unit anyway?
Or is it anyway the better idea just to ship off US boys towards the islands and keep for instance the canadians where they are?

[btd64]

You can send the unit recombined or single....GP