Guadalcanal Diary

[bru888]

At some point, I would like to learn what is involved in the various OOB:P difficulty levels. As difficult increases: Is it more enemy units? Tougher enemy units? Smarter AI? Some combination or all three?

In some of my posts, I stress that I have been playing the US/Allied campaign on medium difficulty level. I believe that, when we are discussing the AI and playability of scenarios, the difficulty level should be mentioned.

So, I just finished Guadalcanal. I know that was a tough campaign IRL due to the tenacity of Japanese land troops and their momentary sea dominance of Iron Bottom Sound, but I was not prepared for how difficult this scenario would be. Even if I had used all of my beginning Requisition Points (not to mention Command Points, which are limited, of course) to augment my naval forces, I would have been hard-pressed to defeat the initial Japanese fleet. Much less the major second fleet that appears in the last quarter or so of the scenario (I forget exactly when). No way I could have held them off - I lost everything.

Fortunately what I did was to throw only a few points to the navy and devoted the bulk to the marines. What navy I had was able to save the initial supply ship that turns around and runs at the beginning and to occupy the Japanese ships long enough for my reinforcements to arrive. As it is, I had just enough ground force to hold on to Henderson Field and my other strategic points before finally wearing the Japanese down to take the offensive. (Didn't get too far, though. I did manage to take Mount Austen after hard fighting.)

So much for Guadalcanal. I am glad to move on but my thoughts linger. Did I really win this scenario? I mean, the Japanese were in control of the sea at the end. They could have: 1) Eliminated my supply ships (I scurried them as far down the coast as I could) or, more importantly, 2) Shelled and destroyed Henderson Field (they did not, even though they had done so, briefly, earlier in the scenario).

How would it have been easier on a less-difficult setting? (I shudder to think of it on the fourth or fifth positions.) Also, did I deserve to win this scenario, with my troops in danger of being cut off from supplies and nothing stopping the Japanese navy from destroying Henderson Field?

[bru888]

Well, in case anybody is reading this and is curious, I will answer one of my own questions.

I opened up the New Georgia scenario three times, on three different difficulty settings: Ensign, Captain, Fleet Admiral (easiest, medium, and hardest settings). After starting each iteration, I used a cheat code to lift the fog of war and went to the western part of the island where, as I discovered in my first attempt at this scenario (on Captain difficulty, and I lost), pure Hell awaits. Each time I positioned the screen the same and pressed F9 for screen prints.

Comparing the screen prints, I see that the only difference is in the starting strength of the Japanese units. On Ensign difficulty, they start as 6's. On Captain, as 10's. On Fleet Admiral, 13's. Even the darned mines were 6's/10's/13's! There was NO difference in the number of units.

This leads me to believe that starting unit strength is the only difference among the various difficulty settings. It does not seem to be the number of units, if my sample holds true. Lastly, why bother tinkering with the AI (dumber to smarter) when the obvious solution is just to weaken or strengthen the AI's forces?

Heh. I'm talking to myself here. Well, at least I worked it out on my own.

[Erik2]

Yes, I think only the strength of the (AI) units are changed in the various levels.
I'm no fan of über-strength units, so I always play at default level.
I think a better (quick) solution would be to give the AI more RPs on higher levels and reduce RPs on lower leves.
The AI still can't purchase/spawn units, that would be a nice way to increase difficulty.

[bru888]

That's interesting. An experienced player and mod-maker such as yourself always plays on the default difficulty setting (second from the left, between "Ensign" and "Captain" - I don't know the actual term for it). This makes me wonder about the setting that I have chosen ("Captain") and whether it might be in fact a bit too tough. I have barely made it through some of these scenarios on that difficulty.* The settings to the right are definitely out of the question.

*Which I don't mind. I can always dial it down if I want or engage in a bit of cheating! Moreover, it makes me think more carefully about preparation and tactics. For example, some of the reasons why I failed in New Georgia (in addition to the ridiculous amount of hidden Japanese units clustered in the west around the ultimate objective - my gosh, you can't "walk" from east to west on that portion of the island without tripping over them!) are these:

[*]I needed to use marines. Instead, I reassigned and resurrected heavy army infantry units who were too darned SLOW!
[*]I also used three tank units which are useless in that jungle terrain - constantly in low efficiency disruption and also too slow.
[*]I attacked from east to west, slogging across the island and wasting resources. Next time, I grab the airport and the seaport and guard them with a couple of units (little or no opposition, I noticed), then I go straight for the jugular with everything else (just east of the minefields)!

And if that doesn't work, I am demoting myself to "Ensign" and calling this scenario my daddy. Or perhaps a few more resources and command points here and there, hee hee.

[Erik2]

I think the default difficulty is the second from the left. That sets the AI units at strength 8.
I always move it to the third with AI units = 10.

Sorry about the confusion...

[bru888]

I think the default difficulty is the second from the left. That sets the AI units at strength 8.
I always move it to the third with AI units = 10.

Sorry about the confusion...

Hmm. That's what I've been doing, and I had my butt kicked in the Coral Sea and on New Georgia, and I barely (and unfairly? - my other question in OP) eked out a win in Guadalcanal. You just had to ruin my day, didn't you? [Just kidding.]