War In The Pacific Admiral`s Edition
Feb 25, 2011 War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition, by Matrix Games, is a painstakingly-researched, realistically-modeled turn-based war game based on (obviously) the.
- Metacritic Game Reviews, War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition for PC, This new expansion for the legendary War in the Pacific adds significant improvements and.
- Matrix released War in the Pacific,. In mid-2009 Matrix released an update to the original WiTP, calling it the War in the Pacific: Admiral’s Edition.
So I just downloaded the game here at work to play around with it for a bit. I like a lot of the details so far, and the first impressions are pretty good. Some stuff I noticed out in the 15-30 mins of checking it out and playing the (automatic) first turn.
Day One Attack So the Japanese were a bit more lucky this time around. Their initial attack was a bit more devastating. The day started off with observers spotting something moving underwater off the beaches near Pearl Harbour, followed by an explosions from one of the minefields nearby. After that it was a pretty intense air raid coming from Northwest.
War In The Pacific Admiral's Edition Manual
Here's a quick snapshot of the first wave: 298.22KB 11 downloads The results of the hit were fairly substantial. Most of the Battleship fleet is out of commission, with the Colorado-class BB Maryland being sunk right in the harbour (a bigger loss than the Arizona historically) as some smaller ships such as destroyers and transports. Here's a look at the ships in the biggest jeopardy of being lost due to progressive damage: 245.56KB 9 downloads Outside of the big losses at Pearl Harbour, the British also lost the BC Repulse and the BB Prince of Wales is off the coast of Malaya suffering from 4 torpedo hits. She seems a few days out of Singapore at her current speed. There's some closer ports nearby, but they are small and the PoW is likely to not receive much assistance from them. The prognosis does not look good.
The Phillipines Island got hit hard from airstrikes that flew out of Japan. Fortunately there is RADAR present on the island so I do get decent early detection.
The unfortunate thing is that I just didn't have sufficient cap the first day. All in all I lost over 130 planes on the ground alone. No real troops have landed yet, outside of Malaya. So far not much combat has happened there though. The first turn sounds like it's a bit of a long one as there's a lot to get sorted out. Right now my first plan is to deal with the repair situation at Pearl Harbour: 251.94KB 5 downloads Unfortunately BB Tennessee is not able to enter the port due to her large fires. Hopefully she can put those out and soon!
My main options for the repair yard are Pierside, Shipyard, Repair Boat, and Readiness. Readiness keeps the boat at Readiness, meaning I can add her to a task force at any time. The other options have various effectiveness. The Shipyard is a repair yard found at Pearl Harbour.
It has a finite capacity of 100,000 tonnage at the moment (I don't think it was damaged in the attack thank goodness), and I do have a repair ship there. The Shipyard has the longest delay to reactivate, but repairs damage much quicker, and is the only way to repair most of the major damage sustained to the engines and hull integrity (float damage). For my next update, I'll discuss my repair plans! I placed the BB West Virgina right into the Shipyard. I also put some smaller destroyer and cruiser type ships in there, as it greatly reduced the repair time to often 10-20 days (which I guess includes the preparations to make ready timer).
I debated putting the Oklahoma in there as well, but I wanted to save some space for the Tennessee in case she can get her fire problems sorted out. On the plus side, it means the entire Shipyard can focus its efforts on the West Virginia. The majority of ships I placed at Pierside, with only one assigned to the repair ship.
Pearl Harbour has a large enough port, with enough Naval Support units, that the Pierside usually had significantly shorter estimated repair times. Any ships that only had major damage (and not much of it.I use the term 'major damage' as the game does: needing a shipyard to repair) were placed into a task force and will make their way to San Francisco.
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There's two repair yards in that area which should help my repair situation immensely. THere was also two Battleships in Seattle. The US BB Colorado, and the UK BB Warspite. Both had minor system damage from refits/whatever, and the Colorado also had minor engine repairs needed.
I placed them both in the Shipyard there to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. America is at war now and we need to get every able ship in the region to PH.
There were a host of ships with minor damage. I tended to keep them set to Readiness as they aren't a threat to be sunk, and I don't want to completely handicap my Navy there by having all of my ships stand down. Next up will be the mess of planes I will need to sort through at Pearl Harbour and the Philippines. There's a lot of details that have been added to them and that will be for another day (maybe even two!) as I am tired now. Free learning audio books. With still much to do before the end of this day, I am looking at Pearl Harbour's airplane situation at the moment.
There are three things that I am looking. First, I don't want a repeat of the first day. That is, planes coming through and bombing my ships. I suspect that there are submarines in the area, so I want to make sure I have some ASW searches going on, in addition to my Nav Searches. Finally, I want to see if I can get lucky and score a hit on the Kido Butai task force that scored its early hits on me December 7th.
To protect Hawaiian airspace, I have set 50% of all fighter wings to fly Combat Air Patrols (CAP) in and around Pearl Harbour. Those not flying CAP on a particular day will be split between training and resting. I have the CAP altitude set to 15000 feet, to help ensure that any airborne planes already have significant altitude to intercept planes. It's easier (and faster) to dive down rather than fly up.
The risk here, is that my initially airborne planes will be separated from any planes taking off for a longer period of time. And if the enemy ends up flying in at a very low altitude, the diving planes still might not get there in time. I don't think this is that big of a concern for Pearl Harbour though, as I do have significant Radar stations, both on boats as well as on land, in the area. They'd have to come dangerously low to avoid early detection, which will leave them very vulnerable to the AA guns that will most definitely be manned now. 15000 feet is also a good number as much higher and the P-40B Warhawk tends to lose performance. There will be P-36 Mohawks and F4F-4 Wildcats that maintain maneuverability above 15k feet, so I am not too worried about it. If the Japanese come in that high, they'll be unlikely to hit very much before they get shot.
I did provide some of the fighter wings with some replacement fighters, but for now, they'll have to mostly make due with repairing what they can. 237.66KB 4 downloads Next up is securing the waters around Hawaii. I have a lot of patrol wings in the area, mostly made up of the fairly long range PBY-5 Catalina. I am concerned about both submarines, as well as the Kido Butai carrier task force that just attacked.
I know that attack came from the Northwest. Submarines I suspect are primarily to the West, but I am less certain. So what I have done is split the bulk of my patrol wings to search various arcs, with the ASW arc being slightly wider. The ASW search is one a wider arc, from 140 degrees all the way around to 20 degrees (clockwise). The Naval Search spans 230 degrees to 10 degrees.
I did however, set one patrol wing to a full 360 arc for both Naval Searches and ASW, just to ensure total coverage. I have went with an even split of ASW and Naval Search, committing 80% of my patrol wings in that regard. The remaining 20% are split between training and resting.
194.14KB 2 downloads The plus side is the Catalinas have airborne radar, which is very handy. Combined with decent payloads, hopefully I can catch some submarines and lay some hurt down on them. They are also float planes, and are unaffected by the significant runway damage at the airport. 243.68KB 4 downloads The final aspect is setting up the bomber wings.
Unfortunately my ability to launch and effective counter attack. Currently I only have 4 planes ready to fly! This might change by the time flight orders are coming around in the morning, as support personnel work to bring planes up to speed. However, extra planes on ASW searches won't hurt either. I'm also looking on returning planes detached from their primary air group. I have already brought some in from San Francisco.
This is considered low priority however, and I don't expect any real results in the naval attacks. As for the rest of Pearl Harbour, I have approved reinforcements for most of the land divisions in the area. Oahu Defense command would like to lay down additional Coastal Defense (CD) guns as well some additional AA guns.
There's also 3 specific AA Regiments in the area, though they typically have their full Table of Elements (TOE), but some of their guns have been disabled. This should hopefully be rectified quickly. Any and all available engineers will immediately work on repairing the airfield (a crux to all of my flight plans in the area, and will likely keep all but my fighters grounded). Next up will be assessing my two carrier task forces west of Pearl Harbour, and examining the Home Front, in addition to other forward bases such as Wake Island and Midway. Edited by alanschu, 30 July 2009 - 08:44 PM. Currently my two carrier task forces (Lexington and Enterprise) are en route to guard Wake Island and Midway Island (respectively).
Lexington has a wing of SBD-3 Dauntless Dive Bombers, and Enterprise has a wing of F2 Midway Island has been approved for personnel replacements, and the Catalinas on stations are set to 70% Naval Search. A convoy is en route to Pearl Harbour from San Francisco, as well as one to Anchorage from Seattle. I have also set up 4 ASW patrols in and around the Pearl Harbour region. Each consist of a variety of ASW ships. The ship quality is nothing too special. Some Wickes class DDs, as well as some short range patrol craft and minesweepers.
Hopefully we can find some submarines (assuming there are some to be found!) I have done about all I can do for the American forces, and will now be transitioning to the Allied forces in the Dutch East Indies (DEI), Malaya, Burma, and Australia. One neat thing I found out about today, was that there's a lot more flexibility in how you canperform conversions for your ships. For example, the Clemson Destroyer (prewar destroyer) can be upgraded as a (not so good range) fleet destroyer with some improved AA, or I can convert it into a Escort Destroyer (smaller guns, a bit slower, but more depth charges, as well as radar), a Destroyer Minelayer, a Destroyer Minesweeper, and so forth. It's pretty neat!
I suspect I'll make them DE (Escort Destroyers) as the speed drop is minimal, but the smaller calibre guns comes with more guns, as well as more depth charges (less torpedoes too, but meh). This should help my ASW, as well as my AA effectiveness. The ASW will skyrocket up as it'll go from just two rear mounts, to 3 on each side as well (they get fired off the side of the boat, increasing the spread). It should help me ruin the days of many IJN submarines! 387.25KB 3 downloads I'm getting anxious just to see another turn, and I'm starting to get comfortable with the system (airplanes is still a bit intimidating.so many squadrons!). Done one turn! First off, some bad news.
Not too surprisingly, but the blazing inferno that was the USS Tennessee was deemed not salvageable early December 8, 1941. The crew abandoned the ship early in the morning as she rolled over in the harbour. Reclamation efforts are unlikely. Now for the rest of the day.
It turns out that our assessment of submarines was, in fact, correct. Our ASW fleets detected 3 different submarines just west of Pearl Harbour. Unfortunately, one of the detections came when one of our patrol craft was hit starboard side by a torpedo. She exploded violently and sank quickly into the ocean.
The two other patrol craft in the task force actively searched for the submarine, but were unable to find any sign of the submarine. However, another ASW task force in the area detected a submarine a little bit later. It is unknown whether or not this was the same submarine, but several attack runs were made by multiple destroyers. 8 attack runs in total were made, at which point the submarine suddenly disappeared from ASDIC contact.
The sub was either able to dive deep, or hopefully sunk! A few hours later a different task force made an attack run on another submarine, but contact was lost.
Moving into the morning, things got a little bit worse near Hawaii. The quick ASW response did result in some attacks against submarines during the night, but resulted in some bad news in the morning. The quick response to send ships out to investigate submarines assumed the that Kido Butai would hastily retreat back to the Japanese Home Islands. While the task force is believed to be farther away, meaning Pearl Harbour is safe, the extreme range of the planes from that task force did result in attacks against several of our ships. One task force composed of 4 minesweepers saw 3 ships utterly destroyed, and one heavily crippled. Shots were fired against other task forces as well, with a total of 5 ASW ships being sunk or critically damaged.
Another task force of the CA New Orleans escorted by several destroyers saw 2 destroyers get hit in an attack. AA fire in response did shoot down one plane, however. The only plus side of the situation is that one wing of 'Nate' Torpedo bombers did attempt to attack one of the task forces that was still close to Pearl Harbour.
2 P-36s and 6 P-40s were able to intercept the bombers. While they did get their torpedoes away, none were hits and 9 'Nate' TB were shot down. First Lieutenant Arnold scored 4 kills himself in the air combat from his P-40B Warhawk (in other news, his 'exp' is green now, indicating that he has improved overall.nice feedback).
Given the presence of the carrier task force, however, all fleets have been ordered immediately back to Pearl Harbour. Only submarines will be sent out on combat missions. In a desperate move however, I did set a Catalina air group to do some night patrols along a narrow band where I anticipate the Kido Butai to be. The rest of that air group is to attempt night attacks on the fleet.
The hope here is that we can catch the Japanese without any CAP flying above the task force, and perhaps score a torpedo hit from one of the Catalinas. A risky venture, but one that could really pay off in the long term. In Malaya that Japanese have landed troops along the border with Siam. British troops were routed into the woods as the Japanese seized control of the base.
Several air raids occurred, but fortunately the damaged Prince of Wales was protected by heavy cloud cover. A group of Nells attempted to attack a small task force near Singapore but it was intercepted by 24 Buffalos. No hits were scored on the ships and significant losses were incurred to the Nell bombers. Here's some interesting feedback of the three flight groups based out of Singapore leading into the fight. 518.82KB 8 downloads Wake Island saw it's first attack: a ground raid from some Nells based out of the Marshall Islands. The F3F-4 Wildcats have had their CAP strengthened as a result.
The SBD-3 Dauntless bombers currently on board the Lexington will be arriving shortly, allowing the wildcats to focus on escorting and CAP. Midway Island is quiet, and should be getting reinforced in the next day or two. Batan Island, just north of the Philippines was taken. We anticipate the Japanese will continue to press on to the main island and push towards Manila.
Currently the B-17s out of Manila are attempting naval strikes. No hits were scored, but hopefully the continued experience will see more hits in the future.
Any ship we can sink now will be critical in the coming months. Our ability to strike back at the Japanese right now is very limited, so any restrictions on their movements. Admiral Nimitz, Commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, has issued an order of unrestricted submarine warfare. Any Japanese ship is to be shot on sight. Target focus is the supply lines of the Japanese: cargo and tanker ships. A few submarines were ready to deploy out of Manila early Dec 8th, and most of them are gearing up operations right now to head out and begin hunting.
The Silent Service stands the best chance of scoring hits on the IJN at this time. We wish them good luck and good hunting! VADM Schumacher.
I wouldn't convert all your DD's in to DE's. If you mix them you'll get the guns and depth charges from the DE's as well as the torps and heavier weapons from the DD's (which could be helpful in blowing a BB out of the water. Admittedly you probably already know all of this, but your best bet is to take the CV groups out as your primary task force and then maybe have the Destroyer groups running around as wolf packs to hound enemy shipping and harass fleets to wear them out. Maybe use DD groups to act as a trap for the enemy fleets (lure them into a direct confrontation with your CV group and then have a DD group or two appear and cut off the enemies fleet. It sounds exactly like the kind of game I would like. Need a replacement for War in Russia and War in the Pacific (old SSI dos games available for free from Matrix games website).Woooo, a convert!
Well, this and War in Russia were both made by Gary Grisby (as well as the upcoming War in the East - 2010). As for me, I'm holding out for now. It actually turns out to be cheaper than I thought given the standalone status, and I won't have to get WITP as well.
The main obstacle is also one of time. For now, I'll be content just reading alanschu's AAR's, and maybe wait for some Matrix sale event. Plus, I'll be prioritizing HoI3! I'm literally buying a new PC for that game (which I've been procrastinating since forever). I will, however, likely be working on an AAR thread as well once the new Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge comes out.