IJA Campaign 1938-45, v1.0 plus install help available

[McGuba]

Kokoda Track:

A very interesting and unusual map, I like it. However, for the first time during the campaign I had to reload after some time, when I realized that units with organic land transports cannot cross the deep (dense?) jungle hexes even if they are on foot. I knew about this feature, but somehow forgot. So I took away the land transport from the faster 3 leg movement infantry to allow them to cross these hexes. This way I could build up a longer frontline and I could attack with more units at a time. I suggest you to include a hint about it in the briefing, as some players may not be aware of this. You say something that the terrain is diffucult to cross, but maybe you could be more specific, by advising the player to remove the land transport from certain units.

Hard, but not impossible scen, I have manged to make a last minute DV again. The player has to think a lot how to move forward efficiently.

alex1960:
I have pasted your link for easier download. I like the new heroes, even if the quaility of the pictures is not first class, I suppose it is because you could only find relatively small pictures. Anyway, I think it is better having them:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0pguqq

[bebro]

McGuba:

Glad you like Kokoda, I had some doubts about it, because actually you should not be able to move heavy equipment at all over the track (but that's IMO too harsh and impractical for a campaign). Also good you got a DV, which is crucial to remain on the winning route (though personally I find the losing path quite interesting)

edit: re player info about terrain - I could use a separate msg box popping up during deployment, like it's coming in other scns. These work well, and having it outside the briefing is imo quite nice for a specific reminder (people might overlook it in the briefing). Noted for the patch



alex1960:

Nice work with that gfx pack. If you agree I could link to it in the first post as "alternative downloads" or so, of course crediting you as creator. I also had problems finding high quality pics of Japanese soldiers etc. for heroes, so I went with those generic pics. But one thing I really like in your addition is that you took care of navy ranks, which is very nice for the couple of IJN bonus units the player can get. I noticed the rank difference for IJA and IJN earlier when researching ranks, but completely forgot to include specific gfx for the IJA...

[fsx]

Hi Bebro!

The 2nd scenario victory condition is wrong. You have 7 victory hex, not 6. I occupied all and got a marginal victory.

[RobertCL]

Java

No mvt sound for B17
No mvt sound for Australian and Dutch battleships (largest ships I saw)

Apart this, it was a very enjoyable scenario!
I liked using a carrier, maybe the Allied Navy is not aggressive enough (even if I lost two transport ships quite quickly in game).

Just a question: why don't you allow the player to purchase a Zeke in Japanese army (purchase menu), Zeros were indeed used not only in the navy but also in the army (in the navy if I remember well they were dark green and below orange whereas in the army they were white everywhere).

[bebro]

Hi Bebro!

The 2nd scenario victory condition is wrong. You have 7 victory hex, not 6. I occupied all and got a marginal victory.

Hello fsx, and thanks for reporting this issue.

The DV should be valid if you have 6 or more VHs, but there's a mistake indeed which makes it work only if you own exactly 6. This will be corrected certainly. Meanwhile, if you still have the save where you own all 7 VHs you could proceed by using a cheat code (endscn 0") to get the correct DV.




Robert, from what I've read I understood there were land- and carrier-based Zero fighters, but all of them operated by the navy, using various color schemes throughout the war. IIRC the navy had also fighters exclusively used from land bases, like those Raiden types. It's similar in other countries, for example many US Navy and USMC fighter planes were land-based as well, not only carrier-borne.

If the Japanese army had Zeros indeed there would be nothing wrong with including it in the IJA roster. Does anybody know for sure whether there were army-Zeros? Otoh, the army fighters will catch up with their navy counterparts during the campaign...

[VPaulus]

You added more units, bebro? I don't recall you had B17... I can make a hotfix if I know which new units were added.

[bebro]

You added more units, bebro? I don't recall you had B17... I can make a hotfix if I know which new units were added.

I think I had it in already, but overlooked it when giving you the info (plus some others). I added most of those manually to the efx using the RSM sounds already provided before release, but probably forgot a couple.

If you want to create a fix I'll put it in the first full patch too.
So far it's the B17, I can correct the ships or trucks myself so you don't need to bother with those

[RobertCL]

Kokoda Trail

Marginal Victory.
One more turn and it was DV.
Lost time because units with trucks could not move in dense jungle terrain, had I known this right from the start...

A bloodbath, I lost my beloved Zeke + two strong experienced infantry units + an experienced recon unit.

I should have sold the useless captured Australian recon units and remove the trucks from my infantry units before starting the scenario...

I liked the scenario because it offered a change from all previous ones...
But one jungle forest scenario fight is enough, I don't need a second one (except in a campaign in Burma of course)!

BTW: excellent icon for the Zeke but I noticed the canopy is white and not transparent as it is for other fighters, shouldn't it be changed ?

Like in the USMC Campaign, the Japanese paratroopers cannot move by plane, is it normal (usually we just disband their truck and they can move by plane).

Buna-Gona

Excellent defensive scenario.
Marginal victory, I just lost only one VH.

I suggest you replace the Sherman tank by a flame Sherman tank, it should be stronger against the Japs.
I lost my heavy bomber.

At the end of the scenario I upgraded my 1939 and 1941 infantry into 1943 infantry.
I also like the unit being arty and AT.


Salaumaua

It was hard to get a marginal victory (4 VH).
I ended with 5 VH kept under my control.
Nice scenario where we can see the Australian air forces.

Nearly impossible to get a BV here.

Lae

Spelling mistake in scenario intro file: "Huon Peninsula... accoplished" --> need "accomplished"

Scenario under playtesting.

[McGuba]

Guadalcanal:

This scenario is the turning point deciding if I can join the ahistorical winning path, or stay at the historical (losing) path. Thus I upgraded to all the best equipment and made max overstrenght. Nevertheless I was unable to take two objectives by the last turn so technically it was a defeat. My units ended the scenario at Henderson Field near the last two objectives, I would have needed 2-3 more turns to win. As with other scenarios like this I do not really feel defeated, just run out of time. Maybe at a replay, with a different OOB, knowing the position of the enemy units, I could win.

But, instead, I will go on with the losing path as that it is longer . And I have already done more than the IJA, as I could capture Port Moresby previously

I have more than enough prestige at the end of this scen (3500), so Í have the means to stop or at least slow down the American advance. And as I see from the campaign path I still have a chance for a minor campaign victory. If I cannot, I will make my last stand at Okinawa, it is hard to forget those graphic scenes from the HBO series, The Pacific.

By the way, just out of curiosity, how come that you left out some of those more famous battles like Tarawa, Pelau, or Iwo Jima?


Salamaua:

good scen, I did not expect enemy attack from the west, so I quickly lost Pilimug. I sent a small force to try to recapture it which I did in the very last turn, after annihilating all the enemy in that area. I could only do this as the AI stupidly moved his units on the road which goes by the river, and thus in effect they are river hexes. I positioned my units in the forest north of that road with the river and finished off all the enemy one by one as they tried to pass through. You may want to modify that part of the map to make it a bit more challanging, though.

I tried hard to stop the enemy at Komiatum in the south, but my forces were overwhelmed there in the end. I somehow foresaw it so I placed my not so experienced core units there, so their loss was not so decicive. The enemy forces made their way slowly up north, but a managed to hold all the three objectives.

Thus, with the recapture of Pilimug I achieved MV in the end. However, it did not really matter as all outcomes lead to the next scen, Lae.

Unfortuantely the AI is very ineffective in the offensive, so I destroyed lots of enemy units, it seemed they were making kamikaze style attacks which is not very accurate historically. I do not think that the allied high command could have afforded such high casualties. I do not know how to improve this, maybe by reducing the number of enemy ground units and increasing naval support and or their experience?

Anyway, I like like this scenario as it is as well, it gives a good impression of fighting against overwhelming odds.


Lae:

I decided to go for MV from the onset, so I placed most of my core in the Finschafen area. I even withdrew the aux aircraft there. I really enjoyed the first few turns, I did not know where and when to expect the next landing, so I was on the guard. I could not exclude the possiblity of a paratroop drop, either. Still, when the invasion came I was surprised as they attacked next to my core. Thus I was able to annihilate both waves on the landing beaches by not allowing them to gain space and to form up. The two enemy destroyers could not support the landing or suppress my artillery and land units sufficiently. I also attacked the troop transports with my air force which was strenghtened with the aux planes. Again, I caused massive losses to the allied forces. I was happy that I could finally pay back for my similar landing difficulties in the Singapure scenario.

The only thing I would possibly change is to replace a few troop transports with capital ships to reduce enemy ground losses and increase their effectiveness. Even 2-3 cruisers would provide the much needed suppressive fire support to the allied landing. As I know naval fire support proved to be crutial in most allied landings in WW2. Maybe an enemy aircraft carrier could be added as well with a few navy aircraft instead of the P-38s.

MV, by holding the Finschafen area. Very good, enjoyable defensive scen even in its current form.

[b52pilot1]

bebro,

I am new to custom campaigns and I recently downloaded and installed your IJA campaign. I must say, it is very impressive and a lot of fun to play! Great work! One question from a rookie -- does your campaign have "capturable units"?

Thanks!

[bebro]

Thanks both of you for the feedback, Robert and McGuba. I'm glad you're enjoying those scenarios...

Answers:

I have more than enough prestige at the end of this scen (3500), so Í have the means to stop or at least slow down the American advance. And as I see from the campaign path I still have a chance for a minor campaign victory. If I cannot, I will make my last stand at Okinawa, it is hard to forget those graphic scenes from the HBO series, The Pacific.

By the way, just out of curiosity, how come that you left out some of those more famous battles like Tarawa, Pelau, or Iwo Jima?

There are several reasons, historical, plus gameplay or something regarding campaign path.

Some of those were defended either exclusively or dominantly by navy personnel, like Tarawa, others by mixed or army personnel, but most were wiped out. Those island defences are IMO always some kind of "last-stand" scenarios - IMO if you lose it makes not much sense to pogress. There is one of that kind before Okinawa (Guam 44). But I didn't want to pull that one too often, since esp. on the losing path there are already plenty of defensive scns.

Also I thought if you're thrown back from the approach to Australia it makes most sense to have the player fighting several defensive battles in the same theather (New Guinea), then move to a different one (India) after this is done.

As for those later island battles like Iwo JIma or Peleiu, these were often so small areas (like Tarawa) that it seemed inappropriate to have a player's massive end-game core with probably lots of high-xp mechanized units, aircraft etc. concentrated there when these were mostly defended by well dug-in, but (with few exceptions) rather immobile "garrison" style forces. India 44, Phillipines 44 and Okinawa are another matter, there were large formations including mechanized forces and substantial air power, so I thought this is were I want to place the end part of the campaign

Unfortuantely the AI is very ineffective in the offensive, so I destroyed lots of enemy units, it seemed they were making kamikaze style attacks which is not very accurate historically. I do not think that the allied high command could have afforded such high casualties. I do not know how to improve this, maybe by reducing the number of enemy ground units and increasing naval support and or their experience?

Anyway, I like like this scenario as it is as well, it gives a good impression of fighting against overwhelming odds.

Yeah, it's a general problem, and always difficult to find a sufficient way. The AI units can't be too weak or the player gets bored wiping them out - which at some point gets easier due to core progression, upgrades, overstrength etc. Otoh if you beef up the AI to be invincible most players will get frustrated as well.

So what I do is a combination of numerical strength and preset xp for AI units - but still at some point the player will be able to get lots of kills, since the AI has its limits. I felt a bit of the same after buying&playing Afrika Korps, which I found overall pretty cool. But after wiping out hordes of UK tanks in some scenarios I wondered how they could sustain those losses...

I should have sold the useless captured Australian recon units and remove the trucks from my infantry units before starting the scenario...

I liked the scenario because it offered a change from all previous ones...
But one jungle forest scenario fight is enough, I don't need a second one (except in a campaign in Burma of course)!

BTW: excellent icon for the Zeke but I noticed the canopy is white and not transparent as it is for other fighters, shouldn't it be changed ?

Like in the USMC Campaign, the Japanese paratroopers cannot move by plane, is it normal (usually we just disband their truck and they can move by plane).

I still used two unmotorized light inf43 (Hohei) at the end, in most scenarios they can do well in close-terrain, esp. with arty support. Kokoda it the one with most difficult terrain, there are some mountain ranges in India, but there are real roads leading through them and you get access to better transports then. You just need to take care of those pesky defenders in the way

Re Zero canopy: I think the "glas" has the same color as with all other planes, but aircraft with dark camo have those little metal "frames" around the glas in that dark color too. But on white planes those frames are white too, leaving the impression the whole canopy is the same color...pity you lost the Zeke, it had some cool upgrades late-war.

Thx for reporting the spelling prob, I already found some more, but there maybe stll some in.

As for paras, I think I gave no air TP in those defensive battles, but you should have some later, for example in India or the Leyte scn (if you don't win the camapign MV in India before). Should be given as info when available via the transport button.

[bebro]

bebro,

I am new to custom campaigns and I recently downloaded and installed your IJA campaign. I must say, it is very impressive and a lot of fun to play! Great work! One question from a rookie -- does your campaign have "capturable units"?

Thanks!

Hi, I'm glad you like it. There are some scenarios where you can indeed capture certain units. It's overall not a lot, and these are in no way "super units", but the player can always see if he wants to keep them or disband for prestige before the next scn.


One will be set to "aux" in the next patch though, so will not remain in the player's core (the B17D I discussed with Robert earlier in the thread) but award a prestige bonus directly instead.

[RobertCL]

Lae

I played this scenario twice.
First time I stopped after 5 turns when I understood the "finchhafen" thing and I lost most of my units in the Eastern part of the map. My fault, I had to read the intro text properly.

Second time I played the whole scenario again and got a loss, 1 more turn and I had marginal victory.
It seems this is the end of the campaign for me unless I manage to win this bloody scenario.

But we need strong units in the East in order to slow down the advance and to have the airfield captured by Allied as late as possible so it's a balance to find to place the units properly at the beginning of the scenario (strong enough in the Eastern and in the Western parts of the map)...

I hope I could win it, are there some tricks ?

In your table you mention the player plays Guam scenario in case of defeat.
I had a message: "end of the campaign"!!!

So what is the correct path ?

[bebro]

Oops, that's a mistake, IMO it should end indeed with a loss at Lae/Huon peninsula. Will be corrected.

As for tricks there:

Personally, I plan for an MV there from the start. So I do not commit core units to defend Lae.

As you've probably seen, the airfield in the north-west corner will be lost right away or soon after the start. The allied units attacking there will then move towards Lae, which gives you a couple of turns before they arrive there.

What I do is to place some experienced Shinhoto ChiHa tanks and HoNi SP arty around the Australian bridgehead already seen in the beginning, maybe plus 1-2 motorized heavy inf. If you got a bonus IJN inf (SLNF) unit with amphib transport it should be able to cross rivers directly, which can be useful there too, just be careful to keep it outside the enemy's viewing range to avoid it attracts air attacks. The Aussies there are not too strong, but your forces could need fighter cover. Just watch out that your planes have enough fuel, esp. when the Lae airfield gets in danger - if you lose it your planes have a much longer path home.

Wiping out that first bridgehead of Australians as fast as possible and without too much losses is priority, because it means those units you have there can be extracted towards Finschhafen.

There I prepare my defenses with inf digging in in cities as usual, backed up by arty somewhat behind (to avoid coastal bombardment by ships) plus anything else I can spare to deal with the later amphib assault. IIRC there's an aux AA gun there, which should guard the arty pieces mostly. All those units should be able to hold off that assault until your tanks "return" from wiping our the bridgehead.

Air-wise I concentrate on deploying some fighters, but leave tacs undeployed, instead I strengthen the ground forces. Hope this helps.

[RobertCL]

I failed a third time...
I cheat and I went to the next scenario, this is the sole way for me to finish this campaign...
And what does really matter for you I think is to get feedback on your scenarios of beta testers, so one scenario loss should not prevent comment on others.

Imphal

Awesome map!

The second jungle type scenario but less jungle than in Kokoda trail hopefully.

Decisive victory after heavy fights. A miracle Japanese tanks can (just) slow down the British tanks...
The British tanks in the north of the map couples with the 3 paratroopers were tough to get rid of...
The great difficulty is to get soon enough the airfield in the north, otherwise Australian airforce causes a lot of damage.

BTW no movement sound for the Mosquito.

Problem in your campaign path:



After DV a Imphal I was sent to "Dimapur", there was no "choice" as mentioned in your table. And this is the choice between what and what (Dimapur or Luzon ?) ?
Remember to correct Lae, after loss I was blocked by the message "end of campaign" instead being sent to "Guam".

[bebro]

Well done with that DV, Robert, glad you liked the Imphal scn

There are some mistakes in the campaign path displayed in the library. Originally I planned to give a choice after Imphal, but changed later to proceed to Dimapur right away. Only I forgot to edit this change into the library. Will be fixed asap.

Also I probably have to check whether the minor camaign victory at Dimapur works correctly in all possible combinations of previous outcomes.


That being said, I had the time to implement most of the suggestions and to fix most problems mentioned here. With a bit of luck I can release a patch having those this evening...

[RobertCL]

Dimapur

Something wrong in the victory conditions settings: you say "take at least 5 VHs to get a MV and all VHs to get a DV".
Problem is there are only 5 VHs so DV is impossible it will always be MV at best.

You should have written something like: "take at least 4 VHs to get a MV and all (meaning 5) VHs to get a DV".
Hopefully you just have to change the text, NOT your victory conditions because after the conquest of 4 VHs I got a Marginal Victory.

And I am sent to Guam.

I am NOT sent to Leyte so your table is wrong, please change it (unless you wanted Leyte instead of Guam).

[bebro]

At Dimapur there are overall 6 VHs, one owned by the player at the start. DV is to own all 6 at the end, MV if 5 out of (all) 6 are owned. It's not clearly expressed in the victory conditions between the turns, will be fixed indeed. Same for the campaign path in the library. Going to Guam is correct, just the library is misleading.

I see to have the patch out in a couple of hours, incl. those fixes.

[VPaulus]

Hi bebro, I'll try to hotfix the audio. Would you post pone the release of the fixes until I've it done?
I will only need a couple of hours or at most until tomorrow. I've found a lot of units that you've added later.

[bebro]

No problem, we can wait a bit But you don't need to hurry...if you need more time, I can always add those later in a second patch.