War on the Sea coming soon! (from Killerfish Games)

[Toonces]

Last Friday night I re-booted this with the TTE Mod and determined to stick with it for a while in the campaign.  I am sort of figuring out how the campaign plays.  But at one point I got into a scrap off Guadalcanal with a U.S. surface force vs. an IJN surface force and I tell you, that was some serious fun.  Very atmospheric and just plain fun. 

But after landing troops on Guadalcanal I was attempting to clear datum with my surface forces and the AI kept spamming aircraft at me.  Just flights of 6 or so bombers each time, over and over.  From what I can tell there is no way to auto-resolve these attacks so I simply couldn't progress in the campaign without fighting off these flights repeatedly.  It got very tiresome, sort of like in Morrowind when you are continually spammed by those birds every 10 steps.

I put any attempt at the game being historical and just tried to enjoy it as a game, and there's almost something appealing here.  But for some reason it just keeps feeling like a miss, like there's a great idea lurking in there but I keep just miss finding it.

I'm going to spend some more time with it this week.  I'm hoping with some more play that it will resonate with me better than it currently does. 

[Toonces]

^for all the struggles people seem to be having getting into this game, it sure does look spectacular. Maybe you guys should step away from the strategic aspect of the game that is holding you back and just try to enjoy the tactical battles in all of their glory?

There is no "quick battle" option.  You have to either play a pre-made single mission or laboriously create your own.  The process to create a single battle is not quick, nor intuitive.  This game would benefit greatly from a fast battle option because you're right, the tactical battles are pretty cool.

[W8taminute]

^^I'll echo what you said about this game.  It really is good but for some reason it misses the mark on keeping one hooked for "just one more turn". 

Contrast that with say Rome Total War: Remastered and Civ6, two games I picked up over the last sale.  Both of these games have grabbed hold of me and won't let go. 

[MengJiao]

This thread makes me so happy I could cry, if only I could remember how.

  Well, it was a very messy thread...possibly memorable for other reasons.

[ArizonaTank]

....
I put any attempt at the game being historical and just tried to enjoy it as a game, and there's almost something appealing here.  But for some reason it just keeps feeling like a miss, like there's a great idea lurking in there but I keep just miss finding it.
....

I agree the campaign game is a bit off. The campaign game is at once beautiful, fun, but also frustrating and a big tease. As a simulation of the Pacific War, the campaign is a let down. Like you, I just have to think of the campaign as a game.

But the campaign has given me some great moments. Like when the AI spanked one of my troop convoys very hard with a sub attack. My escorts eventually toasted the sub, but I lost a few transports in the process.

Another great moment was when I had an American cruiser group try to bombard a Japanese base. It was dusk and my radar was showing nothing. Suddenly flares appeared in lines above my battle line (I believe they were dropped by floatplanes). Then came the incoming rounds. Radar still picking up nothing. I could somewhat get a bearing by how the Japanese splashes fell. I sent my two DDs off in that direction to find the enemy. When my DDs finally got close enough to spot them, I saw that I was very outnumbered. I decided discretion was the better part of valor, turned and ran. Somehow I got away untouched...but had a great tense moment with the game that had me on the edge of my seat.

But I say the campaign is also a 'tease' because it is missing some basic air war pieces that would really tie the game together for me.

The biggest things that would help would be the ability for aircraft to attack bases, along with more realistic handling of CV based aircraft. For CVs, simple things like putting up CAP and sending out scouts are just laborious and wrong.

Because aircraft can't attack bases, your CAP has no meaning if there are no ships around. If there are no ships, who cares if there are Japanese bombers in the air? They have no targets.   

I finally installed the TTE and OM mods, and the mods do add so much to the game. Like a decent number of aircraft types and more ship classes.

However, as you point out, with the mods, the AI now spams air raids. But I have just been ignoring the air to air fights where there are no ships around. The game seems happy to let me move past them, but frustratingly it does stop everytime the aircraft bump into each other.

Despite the warts, I still very much like the game.

[Pete Dero]

However, as you point out, with the mods, the AI now spams air raids.

TTE mod has an optional submod : (A) TTE Reduced Air attacks. *Reduces the amount of air attacks from airfields*.

Maybe this helps ?  I just got the game so I can't tell if it does.

[W8taminute]

I've noticed they have patched this game a few times in the past 10 months. 

Is income the campaign improved?  I seem to remember you earn 0.50 dollars every week but to upgrade an airfield costs 100 dollars.  I'm exaggerating obviously but you get the idea.