Empire of the Rising Sun v1.1 Ready for Playtest

[Patine]

Thanks for the support, Curt! I know I haven't posted lately, as I've been busy with a few things, including EotRS' next version and a ToT re-release of my 'Contemporary Middle East' scen, with a graphics update by Chris and vastly expanded events (both should be released in due time). Any chance of getting this whole scen on the SL archives when it's done?

[curtsibling]

Sure thing - Sounds like some interesting developments...

Let me know when you want anything added to the news pages!

[Patine]

UPDATE
Version 1.2 of EotRS is close to being ready for playtest. Sorry, AGRICOLA, for not responding promptly to your e-mail. but my account server's been down for the last few days with no known time of repair (I'll be swamped with spam when I next get into it), though thanks for the update and good to know you're still working on it. In v1.2, I've incorporated longstanding advice by Eivind, utilized Typhoon's suggestion of making the bomb a spaceship (I'll have to talk to Boco on how to make it's graphics work), added the Teishi Dan (paratrooper) in the old A-Bomber slot, finished the Events4.txt and Events6.txt files, changed a few gov't's based on advice in a thread started by Willhelm II (Japan is now a Monarchy and the US and Brits are now Fundamentalist), and am currently trying to fit in AGRICOLA's last post worth of advice. Hope to have this done in good time!

[Boco]

I can't remember the details of Typhoon's suggestion. What names are you thinking of for Structures, Components, and Modules?

[AGRICOLA]

@Patine
Did you get the final info on the EOTRS playtest that I sent you last night? My DSL connection is now so erratic that this is the first time I've managed to connect since 12 hours ago. Consequently I don't know if the messages + attachments actually went through.

Regarding space ship = A-bomb: does that mean that Japan would have to invade the continental US in order to win by stopping development of the bomb? That would change the entire Japanese strategy. The primary Japanese objective would be the invasion of the continental US rather than China and SE Asia. That would be a majorand most unlikely, departure from history.

[Boco]

Good call, Agricola! The only viable strategy they had was to grab, hold, and inflict casualties. Attacking Chicago and New Mexico was a tad beyond their means. Unless you can come up with a use for SDI.... I just can't come up with a historical equivalent of SDI.

[Patine]

Good point! I hadn't considered that, for some reason. Japan would logically be doomed once the US started production, unless they prepared to invade North America from the onset, which wouldn't be inline with their historic plans, AND would ultimately likely deny them many objective cities. Thanks for pointing that annoying little crimp in my plans out. I'll have to think of another way to do the bomb. I could go back to a unit, but if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.

[Patine]

I read your e-mail a few hours ago, AGRICOLA (you should have my simple response), but was too busy to yet go over the attachments (no Sabbath day of rest for me, I'm afraid). Anyway, I noticed a mention that the triggered A-Bombers with 'MoveTo' orders didn't work if Shindens are present. Does anyone have any idea how an interceptor, even a formidable one, could scare an AI nuke unit? I don't quite know what's motivating it here (we all know the Civ2 AI is not Deep Blue, but really).

[AGRICOLA]

Let's see if I can explain more clearly.

Prior to the start of the Japanese Aug '45 turn, there was an Atomic Bomber spawned immediately outside Hiroshima and another outside Nagasaki. The two a/c were in the air at the start of the Japanese turn. (EDIT: Spawned units cannot move during the turn when they are spawned. Is that the source of the confusion?) They both became easy meat for the Shindens and Kikkas based in the Japanese Home Islands. Shooting them down did not activate the A-bombs.

In addition, I think that a player who is willing to operate thorough recce flights using carriers and assorted a/c can keep atomic bombers spawned far offshore from reaching Japanese cities. It would be time-consuming and boring but it could be done.

By far the most difficult attack to defend against is a stack consisting of naval units and a/c. Such a stack can usually be attacked only by fighters which have minimal effect on the heavy naval units in the stack. If you include an atomic bomber in the stack, it is almost certain to survive any Japanese action and be able to deliver the atomic bomb during the following American turn.

For example, in July '45, there are stacks consisting of 3 US BB's and 4 DD's spawned adjacent to Tokyo, Osaka and Kagoshima. Farther offshore are 3 stacks, each consisting of 4 B-29's and 6 Mustangs. These are impressive forces, but the Japanese easily made mincemeat of them. Yamatos and Shindens based in the three cities or nearby had little difficulty in sinking the US BB's and DD's. A Yamato can reliably sink an American BB and a Shinden can usually destroy several DD's without undue risk of its own destruction. Then carriers moved Shindens out to the offshore stacks of a/c where the Shindens had little difficulty disposing of both the Mustangs and the B-29's.

If the 3 stacks of ships were combined with the 3 a/c stacks to form 3 stacks of mixed composition, the best Japanese move would be to evacuate the cities and conserve their forces for a counter blow once the AI (duh?) scattered the American stacks during the following turn. There is no way that the Japanese can attack the mixed stacks without suffering horrendous losses. A Shinden is definitely no match for an American BB or CV. Of course, such a defensive move is possible only because there is no danger of amphibious invasion because freighters/landing craft with ground units aboard cannot be spawned at sea.

The foregoing is one reason why I arbitrarily gave submarines the 'can attack aircraft' flag. A second reason was that it would prevent the Japanese from simply stacking freighters or other naval units with an a/c, thereby making the stack invulnerable to submarine attacks. My rationale was that, historically, submarines usually could get through both A/S escorts and air cover to launch their torpedoes.

The result of this was that A/S sweeps became part of the regular Japanese operations every turn and no stack at sea was effectively invulnerable.

[Patine]

I see now! So, spawning a/c and naval units together as opposed to separately (especially with B-29's and A-Bombers) would make US tactics more conceivable. I will have to adjust the spawning in the events.txt files to do just that. Thanks! I'll look over your OPSUM file today and post or e-mail comments in good time. I hope to make v1.2 a lot more challenging than previous versions.

[Sarsstock]

Say Patrick, where can one download the most up to date versoin of EOTRS?

[Patine]

Here, Chris:

http://evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?t=576

The second last post, not the first. That's the one AGRICOLA's currently playtesting. The v1.2 is not ready yet.

[Patine]

Curt, can you update this scen's SL news article in that I plan to put out v1.2 in about a week or two? I'm briefly taking a break from the KW (while I await a few graphics to be finished and some idea where to take my map, tech tree, improvements, and WoW's) to finish this scen (at least this version). I hope to have it ready ASAP. And I hope you can take a gander at playtesting it, AGRICOLA; many of its changes are based on your advice.