WITP-AE questions

[sandman2575]

lol.. he can't tell you the port, cause then I'll know!!

You keep out of this then!   ;)

@RyanE -- commanding the entire PTO means exactly commanding this kind of stuff. A sizable percentage of your total 'fleet' in WitP is just cargo and transport ships. So much of the challenge of the Pacific war was just the logistics of getting stuff from A to B. Logistics are a major challenge in land theaters too, of course, but in dealing with the vast Pacific and Indian oceans circa 1942, multiply the difficulty by 100 or 1000. 

One of the things I like about the challenge (and headache) of logistics in WitP is that it makes your real 'toys,' your carriers and capital ships and subs, that much more valuable to you. You have to work so hard to keep your naval war machine running, it just heightens the stakes when you do get into actual battles. Carrier engagements in WitP, at least when playing the grand campaign, are incredibly tense experiences. It just feels like so much is at stake -- a feeling I've never had playing WitE, despite all you have to do to maintain railroads etc. etc.

[simcityrefund]

anyone use witp tracker i have no idea how to load it at all

[sandman2575]

witp tracker can be a pita to get working.  You need to install a 32-bit version of Java 6 or 7, and then run the tracker batch file from that.

I personally find Tracker kind of baffling.  I much prefer the Combat Reporter -- in fact I find it essential:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2456864

This requires Java 7, I believe.

[simcityrefund]

How do i use this combat reporter is there like a tutorial

[Tuna]

Does anyone know where I can get the latest version of Tracker? When I go to the Tracker Site the web link isn't working..

https://sites.google.com/site/witptracker/

Edit: Nevermind, I found that if I click on the arrow way over on the right instead of the filename. It works!

[Tuna]

Question on the Replenishment Task force for resupplying a TF at sea? How do you set it up? If you say load fuel, will it only load fuel.. What is needed for Task Forces at sea, Fuel and Resources?

[sandman2575]

I assume you want to do underway refueling (i.e. not at a port) -- you need an oiler (AO) to do this, ordinary tankers cannot.   Form a Replenishment TF and have your AO load fuel at a port, doesn't need to load anything else.  Then give it a "Meet TF" order and specify "Refuel" for the TF you want to refuel.

Resources are only ever needed for industries located at bases, never for units.

[Tuna]

So you don't have any way of replenishing armament for the planes? Except to go back to port? Not that I have issues right now with ammunition.. but just wanted to know ahead of time what I need to do, to keep the TF working at sea.

Boy so much to this game!.. don't know how those guys are doing a Grand Campaign!.. SDR and I are just doing Guadalcanal and we have a lot to learn! But I'm liking it.. lol.. 6 years after I bought it and didn't touch.

[sandman2575]

Do you mean planes aboard carriers?  When you refuel an Air Combat TF at a port, you not only refuel but get fully supplied with ammunition (assuming you have the supply available at said port). What you need to keep an eye on with carriers is the "Sorties" percentage. Every time you fly yer carrier planes (I *believe* including CAP and naval search, although not 100% sure), you use up some of that Sorties value. When it gets to zero, your planes no longer fly. The big USN and IJN fleet carriers have large values, so it takes a good amount of time to completely wear that value down. (Your carriers also carrier a limited number of torpedoes for your torp bombers -- another number to keep an eye on, as that number will diminish quickly).

Otherwise, land-based planes only use Supply. They just draw Supply from the base, that's all that's involved in 'rearming' them. (Note -- confusing, but *only* ships use Fuel. Aircraft 'fuel' is abstracted as Supply.) 

Getting plane *replacements* to squadrons that have suffered losses... that's a more complex matter. Long and short, it's not easy to do if you're not at a big base with ample supply and HQs nearby...

In terms of re-arming fleets at sea, not just refuelling?  Short answer is -- you can't until later in the war. Underway ammunition replenishment is done by AE auxiliaries, but only in late '43 or '44 do they get the ability to rearm ships at sea. Only way to get your guns reloaded for TFs is to replenish them at ports.


...the game is so freaking complicated, and yet soooo satisfying when you pull something nifty off.

[Sir Slash]

Do you need a supply line from a base, such as in the Phillipines, to the USA to keep fully supplied? If bases are isolated like that will they continue produce supply or will they," Wither on the Vine" so to speak?

[sandman2575]

Only 2 ways to get supply:  (1) move it from place A that has a lot to place B that has a little, or (2) be connected to a land-based network that includes "Small Industry" which produces supply (provided it is supplied with Resources.  Simple, right?).

Method 1 is definitely the most efficient way in areas that lack good infrastructure, which is most of the map. On the West Coast, you don't need to necessarily ship supply via TF from, say, San Francisco to Seattle. Both 'bases' are integrated into the land-based supply network via good railroads and roads, so supply can flow between them with relative efficiency.

So, with the Philippines -- bases like Manilla have small amounts of Small Industry (I believe -- don't have the game running atm) and so produce supply. But not much supply. Supply will flow internally, to Clark Field or Bataan. But here's the thing: any isolated landmass that doesn't internally produce supply, you *have* to ship it there from one port to another.

Long and short of it:  if you're playing the Allies -- you have little choice but to ship supply via Cargo TFs from the West Coast to Pearl, and thence to SoPac (as well as to Alaska from Pacific Northwest). You have to ship supply from Capetown to India and Burma.  Australia and New Zealand are the kickers.  They're far from everything and don't really have the capacity to sustain a war effort on their own, in terms of producing Fuel and Supplies. And Oz's internal infrastructure sucks.  Darwin is an isolated outpost, and once Japan owns the DEI and New Guinea... getting anything there is extremely hazardous.

Don't play Japan in GC. I've never even tried and have enormous respect for anyone who can do it. Playing Allies is hard enough, playing Japan is 1,000 X harder. Your logistics and production are just insanely complex and precarious...

[Tuna]

Do you mean planes aboard carriers?  When you refuel an Air Combat TF at a port, you not only refuel but get fully supplied with ammunition (assuming you have the supply available at said port). What you need to keep an eye on with carriers is the "Sorties" percentage. Every time you fly yer carrier planes (I *believe* including CAP and naval search, although not 100% sure), you use up some of that Sorties value. When it gets to zero, your planes no longer fly. The big USN and IJN fleet carriers have large values, so it takes a good amount of time to completely wear that value down. (Your carriers also carrier a limited number of torpedoes for your torp bombers -- another number to keep an eye on, as that number will diminish quickly).

Otherwise, land-based planes only use Supply. They just draw Supply from the base, that's all that's involved in 'rearming' them. (Note -- confusing, but *only* ships use Fuel. Aircraft 'fuel' is abstracted as Supply.) 

Getting plane *replacements* to squadrons that have suffered losses... that's a more complex matter. Long and short, it's not easy to do if you're not at a big base with ample supply and HQs nearby...

In terms of re-arming fleets at sea, not just refuelling?  Short answer is -- you can't until later in the war. Underway ammunition replenishment is done by AE auxiliaries, but only in late '43 or '44 do they get the ability to rearm ships at sea. Only way to get your guns reloaded for TFs is to replenish them at ports.


...the game is so freaking complicated, and yet soooo satisfying when you pull something nifty off.

Thanks for the clarification, I see the sortie percentage and torp percentage in Tracker, so good to know. I think most likely I will return my carriers to port when needed.. Thanks!

[Toonces]

Yeah I stopped playing Australia at the moment I pulled my CV TF into Sydney or Brisbane or somewhere on the east coast and realized all the ports had a fuel of 0.  And then I realized that the only way to get fuel to Australia, and hence to my ships, was to ship it all the way from Pearl Harbor.  And then I started to get a huge headache looking at the pain of setting up that logistics network.  And so that was that.  I figured I'd get back to it when I had some "time" and it turns out I never have "time" I want to burn on something like that.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I'm having some issues with my Val dive-bombers throwing themselves face-first into Tuna's guns at Pt. Moresby.  He has some nice, juicy ships in the area that I'd love to bomb but the planes often go to the port instead. 

I have them ordered to do naval attack but I can't seem to find a way to limit this to just ships.  Without specifically assigning a target (I sometimes lose sight of enemy ships) or moving my carriers in such a way that they're out of range of the port but still in range of the ships, is there a way to stop my bombers from killing themselves over the port?

[undercovergeek]

do you have a secondary attack option chosen - naval and then port?