Random Questions from a New Player

[BBfanboy]

My understanding is that if they are within normal transfer range for the aircraft, they will automatically transfer; but if they are further than that (i.e. two or more hops), the player has to order them forward.

[brian800000]

My solution is to order 21k supplies to Chittagong...will that make it possible to reinforce in Rangoon (it is within the range), or will I need to fly them there first? Either way isn't a big deal.

I could ship resources to Rangoon, but I didn't LR Cap one fleet sailing there and they had a series of unfortunate encounters with Ms. Betty.

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: brian800000

My solution is to order 21k supplies to Chittagong...will that make it possible to reinforce in Rangoon (it is within the range), or will I need to fly them there first? Either way isn't a big deal.

I could ship resources to Rangoon, but I didn't LR Cap one fleet sailing there and they had a series of unfortunate encounters with Ms. Betty.

Unless there is proper HQ at Chittagong you have to fly there. But you can split your Air Unit, and fly only part at a time, to get replacements.

And you should fill Rangoon with supplies anyway, because you can move this supply to China, with some proper management.

[brian800000]

This isn't so much a question as it is a discussion point.

Japanese shipping--AKs and AKLs...by my count there are almost 1500 of them in the game. Beginning shipping is more than the allies. Considering Japan has less to ship, and over far less distance (they own the interior of the map, the allies the exterior), the ships seem rather expendable from a strategic standpoint. Do you guys agree, and did Japan really have so much merchant shipping in the actual war? My understanding was that by the end of it there was nothing left.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: brian800000

This isn't so much a question as it is a discussion point.

Japanese shipping--AKs and AKLs...by my count there are almost 1500 of them in the game. Beginning shipping is more than the allies. Considering Japan has less to ship, and over far less distance (they own the interior of the map, the allies the exterior), the ships seem rather expendable from a strategic standpoint. Do you guys agree, and did Japan really have so much merchant shipping in the actual war? My understanding was that by the end of it there was nothing left.

Japan only opened up to the world in the 1850s, when Adm. Perry made it clear how far behind they were in technology. To get technology you needed industrialization. Determined not to be a vassal to the Western powers as many Asian countries already were, Japan poured everything she had into rapid modernization, with the first aim of building the weapons of modern armies and navies. To do that, they had to begin hauling everything Japan did not have in abundance, especially iron and alloy metals and later oil too. In about 90 years Japan achieved what Western nations spent centuries developing but was not quite caught up. She definitely needed all those ships to fan out to all the places she was hauling resources from.

As for not many ships remaining by the end of the war, don't fret - the same thing will happen in the game!

[Nami Koshino]

ORIGINAL: brian800000

This isn't so much a question as it is a discussion point.

Japanese shipping--AKs and AKLs...by my count there are almost 1500 of them in the game. Beginning shipping is more than the allies. Considering Japan has less to ship, and over far less distance (they own the interior of the map, the allies the exterior), the ships seem rather expendable from a strategic standpoint. Do you guys agree, and did Japan really have so much merchant shipping in the actual war? My understanding was that by the end of it there was nothing left.

The Japanese merchant fleet ranked third in size by 1940. A lot of the building subsidized by the Japanese government in a popular "scrap and build" program in the 1930s to help keep it modern. A valuable, modern asset which Japan's defective structure for merchant ship protection completely fumbled away. But even given its size it could only marginally meet the demands put upon by Japanese economy and military operations. It probably just seems large because at the beginning of the game it's mostly sitting idle in port and not busy hauling oil from California or silk to the US east coast or any of a huge number of myriad world trade duties it was preforming before war broke out.

If I recall tiny Norway had the world's third largest merchant fleet in 1939 before the Atlantic War starting paring its numbers. Their fleet included a whopping twenty percent of the all the world's tankers. The Germans took a pretty heavy toll on that establishment too.

[brian800000]

This is one that probably has been answered many times, and I think I've seen the answer...

I just parked a CV fleet for an extended period in order to train up the pilots. Now that they are trained, it is time to get in the action!

While they were training, I put reserve planes in all the groups, and one carrier now has 97 planes and I got a warning that the max is 90. I thought there was a 10% cushion in that max number. Maybe I'm making it up. But if my active and ready to go planes stay less than 90, am I okay?

[BBfanboy]

There is no penalty if you stay at less than 111% of rated complement, and only a marginal penalty for going to 115%. But after that the carrier cannot operate aircraft (no room to land!). Reserve aircraft are slung in the rafters on the hangar deck, but I am not clear on whether they count toward the total complement on board. There should be a limit to how many you can hang in the rafters!

Don't forget you also have a limit of five squadrons aboard too. You can carry more but can only fly them off (to go to a land base or another carrier with space if the aircraft is capable).

[brian800000]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

There is no penalty if you stay at less than 111% of rated complement, and only a marginal penalty for going to 115%. But after that the carrier cannot operate aircraft (no room to land!). Reserve aircraft are slung in the rafters on the hangar deck, but I am not clear on whether they count toward the total complement on board. There should be a limit to how many you can hang in the rafters!

Don't forget you also have a limit of five squadrons aboard too. You can carry more but can only fly them off (to go to a land base or another carrier with space if the aircraft is capable).

ar deck, but I am not clear on whether they count toward the total complement on board. There should be a limit to how many you can hang in the rafters!

Interesting, so it sounds like if there is a limit of 90, the limit is really 99!

So here is a new scenario. I'm kicking ass while defending Singapore. I decided to get my fleet involved in pummelling ground troops, and set up a couple bombardment task forces. One had undamaged CLs, which bombarded as planned. However, for the other, I brought the Prince of Wales out of repair--it wasn't sunk on Dec 7 but torpedoed a bunch of times and still had 40 flt damage. I thought, the guns still work, and it is low risk to bombard a hex I own. However, that fleet did not bombard. Do you think that was because the commander thought the BB was too damaged to take part? (i also had CLs and DDs, but nothing from that fleet attacked)

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: brian800000

So here is a new scenario. I'm kicking ass while defending Singapore. I decided to get my fleet involved in pummelling ground troops, and set up a couple bombardment task forces. One had undamaged CLs, which bombarded as planned. However, for the other, I brought the Prince of Wales out of repair--it wasn't sunk on Dec 7 but torpedoed a bunch of times and still had 40 flt damage. I thought, the guns still work, and it is low risk to bombard a hex I own. However, that fleet did not bombard. Do you think that was because the commander thought the BB was too damaged to take part? (i also had CLs and DDs, but nothing from that fleet attacked)

One of the ships used 1000 Operation Points for rearming. If TF have 0 movement listed, it tends to skip both phases somehow, or move not full distance in Day one.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: brian800000
So here is a new scenario. I'm kicking ass while defending Singapore. I decided to get my fleet involved in pummelling ground troops, and set up a couple bombardment task forces. One had undamaged CLs, which bombarded as planned. However, for the other, I brought the Prince of Wales out of repair--it wasn't sunk on Dec 7 but torpedoed a bunch of times and still had 40 flt damage. I thought, the guns still work, and it is low risk to bombard a hex I own. However, that fleet did not bombard. Do you think that was because the commander thought the BB was too damaged to take part? (i also had CLs and DDs, but nothing from that fleet attacked)

Sufficiently damaged ships do not take part in bombardments. Damage threshold is somewhere around 25 sys (with no floating or engine damage) from what I observed. Surely 40 flt is deemed even worse

[brian800000]

Guys, thanks so much for your help!

A new topic for you all...I'm beginning to contemplate my first offensive landings, probably around April/May 1942 (I'm now about at the start of February).I want to have amphibious landings both in the DEI and Pacific.

The first question is: do I really need to use APs and AKs, or will xAPs and xAKs do in a pinch? The reason being I don't think I have enough of the military vessels to launch simultaneous operations.

The second question is, how can I get any reading at all on what the Japanese have on distant islands? I was thinking to invade the Marshall Islands, but that is out of the range of my recon planes. Is it really just a guess what the Japanese have there?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: brian800000
The first question is: do I really need to use APs and AKs, or will xAPs and xAKs do in a pinch? The reason being I don't think I have enough of the military vessels to launch simultaneous operations.

The second question is, how can I get any reading at all on what the Japanese have on distant islands? I was thinking to invade the Marshall Islands, but that is out of the range of my recon planes. Is it really just a guess what the Japanese have there?

1. Transport ship classes are different in how much they can carry and how quickly they can unload. So if you bring a lot of xAPs/xAKs you are fine. Sometimes it can mean really a lot, because as far as I remember APA unloads ~10 times as fast as xAP. And invading atolls depends crucially on how many (full prepped!) troops you can unload in one turn. Starting amphibious offensives in March 42 is way too early against any human Japan player in my book, cause he can easily block you there with KB, counter-invade and kill your units. AI is helpless

2. Use SigInt, it is a great tool for collecting info about standing forces. Intel Monkey is a very useful tool, made by one of the forumites https://sites.google.com/view/staffmonkeys/home

[rustysi]

do I really need to use APs and AKs, or will xAPs and xAKs do in a pinch?

It depends. The load/unload rates are in the manual if you are interested. Section 6.3 starts the discussion on TF loading/unloading. Over the beach is specifically discussed in section 6.3.3.3.2.1. The rate for xAK's, xAP's is very slow. AP/AK are a bit better, a little over x2. True assault craft, APA/AKA, etc., unload at >x10 xAP/xAK.

[BBfanboy]

Not sure if you can do it in 1942, but if your TF loaded supplies at a US base and has over 20K available (be sure it is supply and not equipment for the LCUs), you may be able to click on a button on the right of the TF screen that says "create barges". Those barges will then help with the offloading. I am not sure off the top of my head how much they can handle in a day.

To ensure you have enough supply for the troops on the day they land you MUST load some ships in a separate TF with supply only, and then move those ships into your main Amphib TF. Otherwise, supply is the last thing to be unloaded and your troops will not get enough to fight with on the first day of landings.

[brian800000]

this is enormously helpful. as you know planning has a really long time horizon in the game, and trial and error is difficult considering the time investments in setting everything up.

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: brian800000

The second question is, how can I get any reading at all on what the Japanese have on distant islands? I was thinking to invade the Marshall Islands, but that is out of the range of my recon planes. Is it really just a guess what the Japanese have there?

For islands recon you can send some ships with planes on board. Some of your AVs should be able to operate FPs during journey. However you might be attacked by long range BETTies, so using CV will be probably better (if you know, that KB is at the opposite side of the map).
Or you can try Submarine Invasion. This is little complicated, and you will lose troops, but intel will be perfect, as you will know actual strength of enemy. Just search for your Transport Submarines.

[rustysi]

I'm beginning to contemplate my first offensive landings, probably around April/May 1942

TBH with you, this is bit early for offensive ops. You probably won't be able to hold anything you may take, and you'll most likely have to expose some pretty tasty assets. JMHO. YMMV.

[Edward75]

Are Japanese Divisions better to Rebuild or keep separate units?

[Uncivil Engineer]

ORIGINAL: Edward75

Are Japanese Divisions better to Rebuild or keep separate units?

That entirely depends on what you need them to do, or how you use them. It is difficult to reform the 51st Division since most of the sub-units are doing garrison duty early in the game. Of course, you can always ignore garrison requirements and take the hit. I don't. There are several divisions in Manchukuo that you'll want to buy out and redeploy, especially those with high experience. It's faster to buy out the sub-units than a reformed division (which costs upward of 1900 PP). I usually buy them out and move them to Shanghai to train and be part of that garrison, freeing other restricted units to deploy within China. You also receive several brigades as reinforcements at either Peiping or Shanghai; these are paired with other brigades that have been in play since the start, and they can form new divisions. Whether you reform them is up to you; I usually do.