Many Newbie Questions

[Chernobyl]

Alright so I finally bought the game after years of lurking, watching WITPAE youtube videos and reading AAR. I've never played more than a few turns but I know the difference between Kavieng and Kota Baru.

Unfortunately there are several (many) topics I don't understand yet and these are preventing me from starting a game. I intend to play as Japan against the AI.

Feel free to answer any/all and/or direct me to good sources of information!


1: 1.7.11.24 is the version I have. Is this the latest version? I get an error if I try to update.

2: Industry / Aero Engine Research
I have no idea how to efficiently rearrange the number of engines I am producing and "researching" at the start of the game. I think the more advanced (future) engines I produce, the faster those engines become available, or something. Or maybe that's only for airframes? And if that's true, I also have no idea how many engines to produce to research efficiently. Is there a formula or curve for this? I don't want to allocate too many or too few HI. Also what is the main downside of simply expanding a lot of HI at the start of the game?

3: Manpower / Pilots / Training
I am under the impression that manpower is used for two things: industry expansion and pilot training. Does that mean that if I expand HI, that I will have fewer trained pilots permanently?
Also, pilot training missions seem complex. Is there a general rule for what skills are most critical to train, and what training levels are good/optimal? I gather that you want to have an air HQ and lots of obsolete aircraft flying training at a certain altitude with a certain % of the pilots resting. Any suggestions for extra units to send to Manchuria for training purposes?

4: Optimal altitude for missions
I have a general idea of what altitude to fly for various missions, but I have no idea what altitudes are absolutely optimal. Is there any difference at all between dive-bombing from 10000 and 11000 feet? Will bombing from 1-3K result in more hits than bombing at 5-6K? I know that higher altitude is better for fighter sweeps (and many games ban flying over 20K until 1944 or whatever). Why not just always sweep at max altitude? I know that flying at very low altitude increases vulnerability to AAA. I'm unclear if flying lower really results in more bomb damage and/or if there is an 'optimal' altitude for certain missions, assuming 'average' AAA resistance.

5: Convoys
In PvP games do players typically use auto convoy, manually control every convoy, or a mix (e.g. only manually control the most important convoys)?

6: "Fortress Palembang"
Do Allied players still do this? This seemed like a killer strategy at least back in the day and I'm not sure how to beat an Allied player who simply stacks this hex.

7: India
I don't see many AAR where the JP player seriously attacks India. Is there a good example of this? They seem to love going for the Aleutians and North/West Australia. I have no idea why the Japanese player would target these locations. Calcutta seems like a juicy target with 500 HI.

8: China
What is the general strategy for conquering China?

9: Pearl Harbor Second Strike / Pearl Harbor Exodus
When testing, I placed the Lexington inside PH on turn 1. As the Allied player, I placed it in a task force and told it to leave the harbor. When the KB strike arrived at PH, the Lexington was at sea. This was with the "Dec 7 surprise" setting turned ON. Is this working as intended? It seems that the allied player can simply move his ships out of PH on turn 1 to avoid the strike (or even attack the KB).
Also, is it generally considered advantageous for Japan to strike again on 8 Dec or after? It seems to me like there is potential to finish off a lot of heavily damaged BB.
Finally, I notice a lot of my J aircraft are dying to flak on 7 Dec, especially the ones that attack airfields. What altitude do you suggest for airfield attack?

10: Good Sub locations
Where are the best areas for J subs to go in order to sink convoys? I really have no clue.

11: Leader skills
Apparently aggressiveness is extremely important. I get the impression that squadron commanders want high AIR skill, but I might be wrong about this for bombers. Do they need high NAV or LND for attacking sea/ground targets?

12: Ship sprites
Is there an easy way to edit the BMP ship picture files for a non-artist? I want to include the BBs Kii and Owari and for now I am forced to use the Nagato picture.

13: Facilities Expand at Start
What is the cost of expanding? Is there any? Do people use this option or do they manually expand only the things they need?

[Yaab]

ad 7.
No, it is not. You have to conquer and control the surrounding bases (Asansol, Jamshedpur, Sambalpur)to maintain a steady supply of Resources for Calcutta's LI. Otherwise, you are just the king of Calcutta's slums, nothing more.

[geofflambert]

10. Play the other side, sending convoys from where they would begin to their terminus and note the route. Of course there are ways for your opponent to avoid those obvious routes. And you are not going to sink any convoys unless it's with surface ships. You'll be lucky to get torpedo hits on one or two ships.

[geofflambert]

2. Once you have 500 of a particular engine in inventory you get a big boost for any airframe you are researching that uses that engine.

[geofflambert]

3. Don't expand HI, you have plenty and need no other reason not to. Also don't expand or repair refineries. You will have all you ever need. Expand LI (a little at a time) in resource rich areas like Hokkaido and Manchukuo to increase output of supply without shipping as much in resources to Kyushu and Honshu.

[geofflambert]

4. If you're sweeping and you fly more than 5k above the enemy, you won't see them unless they have radar and come up to play. I sometimes sweep at a lower altitude than I think his CAP is at to increase the odds of a fight, even though I cede a small advantage doing that. You keep your advantage of having more planes in the air than he has and attrition is a good thing when you are sweeping. One drawback is that he is more likely to retrieve downed pilots than you are. I dive bomb from 10k generally. As long as you are high enough you will dive rather than glide bomb. Don't play games with how high his CAP is, he can change that or otherwise defeat your well laid out stratagems. Bombing at lower altitude will get more hits on the target and more hits on your planes by his flak. What sort of flak he has at the target is the ruler of how high my bombers drop their loads. The value of the target is key. If you're trying to sink a CV greater risks may be worth taking. If you are bombing ground targets, guess what, the ground will still be there after you bomb it but your planes might be part of the landscape.

[geofflambert]

5. I have never used auto convoy or learned how to. Auto anything is against my religion.

[geofflambert]

6. Get there firstest with the mostest.

[geofflambert]

7. India has nothing you want. Look east and you'll see the enemy and there sure will be a lot of him.

[geofflambert]

8. Beat the crap out of him. That's always been my strategy and it works every time.

[geofflambert]

9. The Japanese lost the war on Dec. 7. Come up with a better plan.

[geofflambert]

10. Here is a page (one of many) of sub logs I keep. I note the date, location, what ships were observed and what heading they were on and use that as my guide. If you are playing against the AI keep a log, it will serve you well in the future. Opponents will use tricks to not be predictable, you just have to do your best at catching them. You have subs with float planes, use them. When they make a port call make sure that they have at least two trained aircrews, not the one they start out with. Generally a lot of convoys will pass to the SE of the big island, start there. There will be in time a lot of activity around Christmas Island. Snoop around on the E to W track to Sydney and don't ignore the approaches to Auckland.

[geofflambert]

Yes, and keep in your log radio contacts as well.

Oh, and that 2/19/41 date is obviously wrong, it was 2/19/42.

[geofflambert]

11. Aggressiveness is important but be careful. You don't need it for training squadrons or LCU garrisons. Match the character traits to the job you wished performed. Sub commanders should always be aggressive above all other things, but apart from that you have to consider the risks/benefits.

No, your commander does not need to be proficient at doing his target's job. Do not put Vice Admirals with high Nav skills in charge of torpedo plane squadrons.

[geofflambert]

12. I prefer fairies over sprites.

[geofflambert]

13. Do what you need to, don't do what you don't need to. The Axis player has limited resources, so before you increase something, figure out what you are going to decrease. I wish our US congressmen could somehow understand that. Que sera sera.

[geofflambert]

Back to 10. Don't forget you have AMCs with float planes. They have 5 and 6" guns on them. They can sink convoys. You also have AMCs that lack float planes. Send them along for the ride.

[Theages]

ad 3. Pilot training:
Generally set Training to 100% and Range 0
Fighter pilots should mainly be training Escort or Sweep to increase AIR and DEFENSE at altitudes of 6k to 10k (just not too high or too low). When they reach 70 in AIR and DEFENSE is still under 70, then I use training in Ground Attack at altitude 100ft.
Land Bombers should train in Airfield/Ground/Port to increase Ground attack.
Bombers for naval missions (Dive Bombers, Torpedo Bombers, Nells, Bettys) should use Naval Attack as training mission. With TB you have to switch between Bomb and Torpedo load to train the relevant skills. Also you have to train them in Naval Search, else they won't find the enemy ships. If you want to do Port attacks / Airfield attacks, you also have to train them in these categories. At the beginning of the game you will problably have to prioritize naval + search due to pilot losses and the time needed to create a unit that can do everything.
With Army Bombers - besides training in Ground attack - I also train them in Search and ASW to use them in this role.

Training can be done at every base. Best are really large bases (eg Tokyo) with enough of Air support crews.

One can also use the float planes for training. Float plane groups could also be increased in size (if they don't have a set date to "self-adjust" size) to make them more efficient (done by transferring them to an CS after the groups on the CS have been flown to a land base and then adjusting the size of the group to fit the size of the CS. Beware not to overextend this, because you still need to produce the planes, which is a drain on the economy)

[geofflambert]

Addendum to Theages: As the IJA I use about half of my transport fleet to do "General Training". When they get to Defense skill of 50 I graduate them and send them to train in a fighter squadron. That way I don't have to do step b.

[geofflambert]

Second addendum to Theages: You don't need to have a full complement of aircraft for a squadron to train efficiently. My rule is 1/3 complement but less seems to work well. Do not for G sakes build any planes to go into training squadrons. You already from the get go have too many.