Quick Questions

[ScottWAR]

Well, in the demo I have started turns with a lot of my ships in Brisbane, or West Coast when I DID NOT mve them there the previous turn. Now that I have the game I know what happened,... the game moved them there on its on when I didnt, to fulfill the patrol requirements.

So move the ships yourself or take the chance the AI will move ships you dont want back to the population center.

[AlanBernardo]

Originally Posted by Herode

Also, you must notice the Luzon is very far form West Coast. Distance affects effectiveness of TFs, maybe it has the same effect on convoys ? That being said, if you try to supply some closer base than Luzon, convoys are efficient.

Patrolling bases with a small single ship TF also has some effect, although pretty slow. At least I had some results with the Japanese. I've not checked yet for Allies.

Okay, I've done further tests and sending all ships from all areas to patrol Luzon does not rebuild the base one bit. I did this for four turns. Also, sending a single small ship (CL) from the West Coast to Luzon arrives and stays in Luzon. One would think that if that Light Carrier can reach Luzon from such a distance, a Convoy should be able to also, and have some affect on how large Luzon gets.

I'd have to say almost conclusively that something is wrong with Luzon, in that no matter what it can't be built up.

I did send the Convoy from the West Coast to Midway, along with some other larger ships. The base did grow, but not immediately. It took two turns.

As for the oil victory condition : Leyte has to be conquered before Japan is allowed to attack Borneo. Once you control Borneo, you have to repair the base and make it functionnal one full turn before the +1 oil bonus comes. But as long as Allies control Leyte (-1 oil), your -1 overall malus remains. You'll have to capture and repair Borneo or to capture Leyte before your oil supply rate switches to 0. But if my memories are right, if Allies re-capture Leyte, the -1 to bonus applies again even is Leyte is not repaired to be functionnal.

Yes, this is the way things happen in the game. But that's not what the manual says nor what the Victory Condition explanation says in the game.

And now, my question.

The rules state that if a population center is bombed (Ceylan, Brisbane, etc.), then the owning player must patrol this center 1-4 month with at least 25% of his navy. Okay. But what happens if he does not patrol or doesn't use enough PV for patrolling ????

Sorry, I don't have an answer for this.

I know it's the weekend and all, but do the developers typically show on the forums? There are some odd things happening in this game, and some things need clarification.

I'd also like to know a little more about how new scenarios can be created. I do like this overall game engine. Now a later expansion that could add research and unit-building elements to the game would really be an improvement.

Alan

[S.R. Krol]

Originally Posted by AlanBernardo

I know it's the weekend and all, but do the developers typically show on the forums? There are some odd things happening in this game, and some things need clarification.
Alan

Yes, John Hawkins (designer/developer) does stop by the forums but as you pointed out it's the weekend, and please also consider that it is Christmas week. While I know War Plan Pacific is his baby I'm guessing that his organic babies also want some attention this week.

I'm sure that as soon as he gets a chance he'll stop by. It's good to see everyone playing, and being interested enough to ask questions!

[Herode]

Originally Posted by AlanBernardo

Okay, I've done further tests and sending all ships from all areas to patrol Luzon does not rebuild the base one bit.

Well, now that my first test game with the Allies is up, I confirm that on the last turns (I'll say the 10-12 last turns), I had similar issues with
- convoys : sent to Leyte, Midway, but with no effect on the size and effectiveness of the base
- ships in port waiting to be repaired, and waiting, and waiting... I remember 2 CLs with moderate damages in a minor allied base (Port Moresby or Guadalcanal). Not a single damage point was removed after a few turns. I sent one of the ships to a major nearby base where it was repaired 2 turns later (including the turn for the travel). The other ship was also repaired at least in the base where it remained.

Yes, this is the way things happen in the game. But that's not what the manual says nor what the Victory Condition explanation says in the game.

Eeeeeeer, you're right. But who ever reads the manuals ?





(just jocking )

[Annette]

Originally Posted by S.R. Krol

Yes, John Hawkins (designer/developer) does stop by the forums but as you pointed out it's the weekend, and please also consider that it is Christmas week. While I know War Plan Pacific is his baby I'm guessing that his organic babies also want some attention this week.

I'm sure that as soon as he gets a chance he'll stop by. It's good to see everyone playing, and being interested enough to ask questions!

I received an email from John this morning that he's been without electricity because of the ice storms. I'm sure once he has a stable internet connection he'll be getting caught up and answering questions.

[OTGamer]

Originally Posted by Annette

I received an email from John this morning that he's been without electricity because of the ice storms.

Sounds like he needs a convoy.

[JMHawkins]

Originally Posted by OTGamer

Sounds like he needs a convoy.

One finally got through

We get a lot of rain up here in the Seattle area, and a little bit of snow, but not many full-fledged bilzzards, and I don't mind saying it's no fun getting caught out driving in one. But we got sort of lucky, the 90mph winds they were predicting didn't materialize, otherwise I'm sure we'd still be in the dark.

To the questions:

The oil rules: General Chaos described it right. Borneo, Java and Singapore can each add 1 oil unit if they are functional Japanese bases. This represents pumping oil from the oilfields in the area (Singapore represents Sumatra). Luzon, Leyte and Formosa each subtract one if they are functional Allied bases. This represents submarines, PT boats, etc. intercepting the tankers taking the oil back to Japan, so it can never subtract more units of oil than are actually flowing form the oil field bases. Japan also consumes one unit per month.


Building bases: Even if you send a convoy, you still need at least one warship in a TF patrolling the base for it to grow (a single CL is enough). The patrolling TF can't be sunk or forced to withdraw though, or the base won't grow.

Repairing Ships: The larger the base, the faster it will repair ships. Small bases can take forever to repair any significant damage, it's usually better to send ships to a larger base. But even major bases only have so much capacity, and if there are too many damanged ships in port, the repair capacity may be spread out and slow down how fast any one ship is repaired. Ports with several damaged ships in them will attempt to repair CVs, CVLs, BBs and BCs first, and may end up totally neglecting Crusiers until the larger ships are patched up.

Note, the ship must be In Port to be repaired. Ships in TFs do not repair (though carriers will replenish aircraft while in a TF).

Thanks, if I missed anything, please let me know,

John Hawkins
KE Studios

[AlanBernardo]

Building bases: Even if you send a convoy, you still need at least one warship in a TF patrolling the base for it to grow (a single CL is enough). The patrolling TF can't be sunk or forced to withdraw though, or the base won't grow.

Okay, I tried that, sent the Convoy from the West Coast to Luzon along with a TF with one CL, and it did build the base. It took four turns to get the base to a major base (actually three, since on the first turn the Allies can't do much).

Is this rule-- that just a Convoy is not enough-- explained in the manual?

Alan

[JMHawkins]

I will enter a suggestion into the database to provide more feedback about base growth.

It definitely takes time to grow a base to Major base status, even with convoys. If you keep the base patrolled, it will grow a little bit each turn. The size bar will grow, though the change in any single turn may be too subtle to notice if it doesn't cross one of the thresholds (rebuilding to minor, minor to major).

But you definitely should see the bar growing over two or three turns (with convoys at least - without convoys it will grow more slowly).

Thanks,

John Hawkins
KE Studios

[AlanBernardo]

Thanks for the reply. It would be nice to have numbers there, instead of the bar, or numbers somewhere. Oftentimes it is difficult to know whether a base has grown at all.

Good job on the game overall. It's very well done.


Alan