Review Dec 20 2008

[gdrover]

Replay/ Review

Received the game a few days ago and have played through 4 times (As Japan each time). The first three games, I was womping the allies and sinking tons of shipping and conquering lots (as you might expect), but I ran afoul of the oil limit each time. On the fourth try I was able to conquer the Singapore, Java, and Borneo and get them all functional. Soon I had a massive supply of oil in reserve.

Meanwhile, the allies kept attacking Singapore with almost everything they had. Many big sea and air battles were fought there resulting in devastating losses for the allies:

By June 1942, I had lost 1 Lt. Carrier, 4 Cruisers and 5 Lt. Cruisers, and the allies ahad lost:
6 Carriers
13 Battleships
1 BattleCruiser
19 Cruisers
23 Lt. Cruisers

I had also conquered:
the Aleutians
Midway
Truk
Luzon
Leyte
Borneo
Java
Singapore

Having secured my oil supply and dealt the allies a crushing defeat, I had the run of the Pacific. I therefore decided to drive southeast and cut off Australia (and go for the win before the Americans could re-build their fleet).

I conquered all 3 of the required island groups and Palmyra for a shield (so I could sortie there and defeat any attempts at reconquest and relief). At this point a problem occurred. (a bug I assume). The countdown that I expected didn't start. The button didn't turn orange and it didn't change from saying that the line of communication was open. This was somewhat annoying, but I decided to keep going to see if I could win a different way.

I pummeled Hawaii but then noticed that a carrier fleet was building in Ceylon. When I examined it, there was an American carrier there (must have come from the Atlantic because there was no open route there through the Pacific (is this possible?).

The war raged on with the Americans rebuilding their fleet and starting to reconquer some island groups as expected. Luckily I was able to keep my forces somewhat concentrated (2 main carrier fleets usually), and continued to make them pay in big air/fleet battles. By June of 1944, they had made little real progress (re-taking the Aleutians, Kwajalein, and Palmyra), and their naval losses crippled them.

Japanese losses were:
1 CV
2CVL
5 CA
6 CL

American Losses were:
15 CV
9 CVL
25 BB
2 BC
25 CA
30 CL

I eventually won the war in later 1944.

Overall it was a crushing victory.

I like the game quite a bit. The combat sequences are truly awesome, and the heart of the game. It's an edge of the seat experience every time (even when you're way ahead, as you don't want your air crews to suffer losses.)

The strategic imperatives for the campaign are just right. The Japanese are placed on the horns of a dilemma as they must try to simultaneously secure their oil reserves (SW), secure the Aleutians and Midway to prevent the Americans from raiding the home islands (E), and attempt to interdict the line of communication between the Americans and Australia (SE) to win an early victory before the Americans can construct an overwhelming force. Then they must hold on against assaults from every direction and outguess the Americans as to where they will strike next.

The graphics are quite good for a game like this, and the sound is appropriate and evocative of the era.

Problems:

There are several significant problems that exist in this, the first published version of the game. While I understand that these will likely be patched, it is still quite annoying that the game is essentially broken as I am trying to play it for the first time.

1) The major bug with the Australian line of Communication as mentioned above.

2) Luzon never repaired despite receiving several supply convoys

3) The Prince of Wales was impossible to sink in the Singapore harbor. Despite taking almost 100 bomb and torpoedo hits after reaching a sliver of green, it didn't sink, and thus caused 2 successive invasions to fail. It finally sank on the third invasion.

4) Often the attack of a second and/ or third CAP fighter group would result in 0 casualties, regardless of the size of the group. (example was 124 CAP fighters vs. 30 bombers = 0 kills...and then the 30 bombers bombed my ships!) Not sure if this was intentional, but it was annoying and improbable.

5) The enemy would postpone an invasion when I guessed right and had a large interception force waiting for them. Not only did the invasion fleet get clean away with no casualties, but the program placed all of my fighters in the strike box and yet allowed their entire fighter force (on the fleeing carriers) to shoot down my land-based bombers (now with no escorts). Ugh!

6) The AI seems a bit facil. Despite the fact that I had a strong base and a strong fleet in Singapore and in the Japanese Home Islands, they just kept on coming at me there. The results (as detailed above) were catastrophic for them. Why were they so desperate? The allies should be playing a waiting game, not trying for a knock-out early, especially when they were at a disadvantage. Maybe this was a one-off. I'm going to keep playing to see if this trend continues.

7) My last comment isn't a bug, but rather a comment about quality. For $40, I expect to receive a real printed manual, not a stapled photocopy. C'mon guys. I know all about the costs of printing small runs, but really...the customers who show up for your first run at least deserve this quality.

Despite all these glitches and annoyances, this is a fabulous game and once patched will be the standard for fast-play strategic gaming of the war in the Pacific.

[Uncle_Joe]

1) The major bug with the Australian line of Communication as mentioned above.

A long shot, but did you have the base 'operational' - ie, had it grown from the initial conquered state? I was able to cut the Sea LOC fairly easily in my game as Japan (but I took Epirito Santo).

[JMHawkins]

gdrover,

Thank you for the detailed feedback. We'll look into the issues you mentioned, but some things to consider about a few of them:

1)the Sea Lanes issue: as Uncle Joe said, the bases need to be functional in order to cut the sea lanes. This may be counterintutive and perhaps needs a better explanation, but the sea lanes aren't cut because the Allied ships can't call at the ports represented by the bases. Rather it's because the Japanese can base raiders and bomber aircraft at the bases to interdict commerce. But that requires the bases be functional for Japan. Try sending a convoy (along with patrolling ships) to Fiji for a turn or two and see if that triggers the countdown.

2) speaking of convoys building bases, you do need to send patrolling warships along with the convoy for the convoy to work. But you are the second person to specifically mention Luzon having trouble, so we're checking into it.

3) Was the Prince of Wales In Port or part of a patrolling TF? Ships in port are harder to sink that ships in TFs. Its the "settle into the harbor mud" issue, such as several of the BBs at Pearl Harbor. The last several points of damage are harder to come by in port. However, a ship in port will not prevent an invasion (in fact a successful invasion will scuttle it). Singapore is a large base though, and large bases can sometimes soak up more than one transport group without falling (though two should usually do the trick, but you may have gotten unlucky).

6) The Allied AI will usually try to avoid a decisive battle early, but it may have gotten fixated on Singapore trying to cut off the oil. Was your oil supply below 2 or 3? The AI may have thought it could starve you out for an early victory. Especially if it suffered losses in the first battle (or two), it may have deicided the only chance was to go for the oil victory, else it wouldn't have the ships left to survive until the influx of reinforcements. But point noted about the experience.

Thanks again,

John Hawkins
KE Studios

[gdrover]

1) I was absolutely wrong here. After re-reading the manual, it became clear that I needed to make the bases operational to cut the line of communication. Played again last evening and it worked fine. Suggestion: Make this clearer in the pop-up help. It is stated in the manual, but the wording is a bit murky.

2) Also something I missed, but Luzon is still broken.

3) I suspected as much and assumed that this was the logic behind this. (I thought dry-dock could also be an explanation). However, there should be a built-in limit to how many hits a ship can take and still be repairable. In my example above, the Prince of Wales took over 100 hits after being down to the minimum hits. I would suggest re-looking at this formula as a 'saving throw', and/ or put a limit on how many hits it can take after reaching the minimum (like a second invisible strength bar) to avoid impossible situations. LOL - I mean after 100 hits, the ship would have disintigrated! One other thought: A ship that is down to the minimum like that should not stop or negatively affect an otherwise successful invasion. Not like its a stationary battery when its that messed up.

6) The oil supply was somewhat low at first, but was at +2, so it went up quite quickly. It also seemed like the AI didn't go after Java, which I quickly realized and stopped trying to defend, which allowed me to concentrate even more power for the Singapore battles.

All this said, this is a great game. Congratulations! truly outstanding work.