Typhoon of Steel - Version 3

[El_Tigre]

Played and sent.

Admiral Halsey will be very happy, because we sunk his last three BBs in Pearl Harbor!

However, this is what happened when I tried to attack the US Army Air Wing (Fighter, Bomber, 2 Dive Bomber) on Midway:

DD bombs Midway, bombing run fails
TB bombs Midway, -1hp for the MG Battalion
TB bombs Midway, -1hp for the MG Battalion
DB bombs Midway, -2hp for the GI. Every ground unit has only 1hp left.
DB bombs Midway, no report!? Not even "bombing run failed".
DB bombs Midway, no report!?
Zero bombs Midway, again no report!?! No damage to the airplanes at all. Why can't I destroy them?
Zero bombs Midway, again nothing. Attack on Midway cancelled...
TB reduces DD Shaw to 1hp

Is it impossible to destroy airplanes on airstrips with redlined units on them?

Davao conquered after 2 Bettys and a DD bombed the City
Manila taken after heavy bombardment (Arty, 4BB) by 1 Marine, 2 Infantry and the 1hp Tank (ya, I know...).

Other fronts: lots of tactical victories against Chinese Infantry and Guerillias. Promotions in abundance. A major offenisve will be launched soon. Rangoon still in British hands, but I captured Medan. A paratrooper failed to captue Kudat.

 

[eric_A]

Played and sent.

Zero bombs Midway, again nothing. Attack on Midway cancelled...
TB reduces DD Shaw to 1hp

Is it impossible to destroy airplanes on airstrips with redlined units on them?

Yes, that is a bug in the Civ game engine (and also the reason I based a bunch of planes there), you CANNOT damage planes on airfields by bombard.
I told you you would learn lots of cools tricks in this game!

 

[El_Tigre]

Battleships do a great job of taking out land based air units, without the danger of having to risk your bombers / dive / torpedo bomber units to flak or air superiority counterfire.

Misfit

But ships can destroy airplanes on airbases? I killed a fighter in Pearl Harbor on turn 1, so I assume that this applies to airstrips only, and not to cities.

Cool trick or annoying bug? Lets say it's nice to know.

BTW, why is Midway a three-tile island on the map? It's a tiny little atoll without fresh water.

 

[eric_A]

But ships can destroy airplanes on airbases? I killed a fighter in Pearl Harbor on turn 1, so I assume that this applies to airstrips only, and not to cities.

Cool trick or annoying bug? Lets say it's nice to know.

BTW, why is Midway a three-tile island on the map? It's a tiny little atoll without fresh water.

No, you cannot damage them by any kind of bombard, ships, arty,
or planes. I did increase the worker time for airbases (those hardened
concrete hangers take a long time to build).

You are right about Midway, it should be a 1 tile island, another change
for V4.00.

 

[Misfit_travel]

Theoretically, if you damage the entire infantry stack with bombard, you should be able to destroy the underlying airfield by bombardment. That would wipe out all the air units. You'd need ship bombardment to do it though, not air units.

Could you also not use precision bombardment (from Japanese bombers) to wipe out the airfield?

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Theoretically, if you damage the entire infantry stack with bombard, you should be able to destroy the underlying airfield by bombardment. That would wipe out all the air units. You'd need ship bombardment to do it though, not air units.

Could you also not use precision bombardment (from Japanese bombers) to wipe out the airfield?

Misfit

It's the old chicken and egg thing, you can't destroy an airfield by
by bombard as long as there planes based on it. But the "bug"
does not allow you to damage the planes. As I said before it does
not matter what you use, planes, ships or artillery, it's all the same.

I would not have based my planes there if I did not know they
were 100% safe. The only threat to them is marines and I know
the marines are at least a couple of turns from Midway.

I have never tried to use percision bombing that way, I though
it was only for CITY improvements, not terrain improvements.

 

[El_Tigre]

Precision bombing is not possible on non-city tiles. I checked immediately..

 

[eric_A]

Played and Sent

We intercepted an invasion force header for the island of Tarawa.
Two enemy destroyers were attacked by carrier-based aircraft
and then one was sunk by a sub, the other by a destroyer.
Two of our cruisers then engaged in a long range gun battle with
the cruiser Maya, which was escorting a transport. The Maya
was slightly damaged, no US loses.

1 Jap DD sunk east of Midway by bombers and a sub.

One transport was sunk by a sub SW of Wake Island, I'll bet that
one was full!

Phillipines:
Our subs sank 1 DD and we lost 1 sub.
And Finally:
Our last destroyer in the Phillipines, the USS Bulmer was
racing down the east coast of the islands, when he came upon
an unbelieveable sight, a transport parked just off Davao, with
no escort!!!! It was sunk in a matter of minutes.

Two transports in one turn, Admiral Halsey is a happy man!

 

[El_Tigre]

One transport was sunk by a sub SW of Wake Island, I'll bet that one was full!

The few survivors of the transport, picked up by the escorting DD, will be quarantined for the rest of the war.



Played and sent.

Battle of Tarawa:
DD Wooden sunk
CA Maya bombs CA Chester, no effect
Bomber bombs CA Chester, -1hp
Zero bombing run fails
DB bombs CA Northampton, -1hp
TB sinks CA Northampton
Zero bombing run fails
and most importantly, our Infantry savely landed on the island (which, btw, should be smaller, too),


Pearl Harbor:
Destroyer northeast of Hilo sunk
TB bombs PH, -1hp MG Batt.
DB bombs PH, citizens killed
TB bombs PH, -1hp MG Batt.


Philippines:
DD Bulmer bombed by DD Makikumo, -1hp
Zero bombs DD Bulmer, -1hp
DD Yugure sinks DD Bulmer
Guam bombed (CA, DD) and taken without losses
destroyed the Radar Tower southwest of Cebu

Other theaters:
Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk
Manokwari and the VP location on Borneo taken
Rangoon and Kuala Lumpur taken, no losses

 

[Misfit_travel]

El Tigre:

Just a thought, but building extra transports and running them around will attract US subs. Nobody said you ever HAVE to put troops in them.

You could also stack multiple transports together, loading only one of them. You'd only need to do this in theatres where human players are operating.

Misfit

 

[Misfit_travel]

Eric_A:

Reducing some of the islands / atolls to 1 tile is going to create game play problems. If you restrict VP locations to only having 1 tile that means they can only be taken by direct Marine assault. That severely limits conquest choices.

A couple of lucky transport sinkings and you effectively stop any additional island conquests.

My thought is keep them at least at 2 tiles. That forces the defending player to at least spread out his defenses, thus making it easier for a combined marine / infantry landing to succeed.

Misfit

 

[El_Tigre]

El Tigre:

Just a thought, but building extra transports and running them around will attract US subs. Nobody said you ever HAVE to put troops in them.

You could also stack multiple transports together, loading only one of them. You'd only need to do this in theatres where human players are operating.

Misfit

I hope that eric_A's remaining subs are already damaged. Eventually, they will run out of hitpoints, even if they limit their attacks to soft targets like destroyers or transports (free defensive shot of stacked units!). I actually have more transports than necessary, but they are not were I need them the most...

With the lack of ASW technology, submarine warfare has been all about anticipating the enemy's moves. I have to confess that eric_A predicted the locations of my transports better than I anticipated the moves of his submarines. In the future, my convois will take less obvious access routes.

 

[eric_A]

I hope that eric_A's remaining subs are already damaged. Eventually, they will run out of hitpoints, even if they limit their attacks to soft targets like destroyers or transports (free defensive shot of stacked units!). I actually have more transports than necessary, but they are not were I need them the most...

Don't count your chickens before they hatch; I have started a new thread
for this game at:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=2517855#post2517855

 

[El_Tigre]

Concerning the size of Midway, Wake, etc.:

After the introdution of the 4-airplanes-per-airbase rule, it is very tempting to
use those extra workers to build a second airbase on those islands. Just thought
I'd mention it, I'm not sure if this is an argument for or against changing the
island sizes.

I could smack myself for using the Kwajalein worker to build an outpost on that
other island (a radar tower was planned, but couldn't be build). A third airbase in
the Marshall Islands would be invaluable now.

Oh, and someday you have to tell me why you relocated the airbase on Wake to
the other tile, eric_A.

 

[Misfit_travel]

Concerning the size of Midway, Wake, etc.:

After the introdution of the 4-airplanes-per-airbase rule, it is very tempting to
use those extra workers to build a second airbase on those islands. Just thought
I'd mention it, I'm not sure if this is an argument for or against changing the
island sizes.

What 4 airplane per airbase rule? I take it that is a gentleman's agreement between human players?

Its a very good idea, I was going to suggest that given the bug with aircraft not being able to be damaged by air bombardment, that Midway be made a size 1 city again.

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Oh, and someday you have to tell me why you relocated the airbase on Wake to
the other tile, eric_A.

Very simple reason for that, at the beginning of the game I expected
you to capture Wake Is., so ordered the worker to replace the airfield
with a fortress to deny you use of the airfield. After the second transport
was sunk, I began to look like I would be able to hold the island, so I
just had the worker build a new one on the other end of the island.

The four plane rule for airbases in a special rule we agreed to for
this paticular game. Since there is no way to damage planes on
airbases, this rule prevents them from being too powerful.

 

[El_Tigre]

- POWs can be airlifted. Unfortunately, the fifth airbase in the Marshall Islands
won't be completed before the scenario ends...

- AA Cruisers can't see subs, as stated in the Civilopedia

- ASW Aircraft: the animation flickers during a bombing run, and the airplane
hovers too low above the ground

- just to make sure this isn't on my computer only: during the Dive and Torpedo
Bomber bombing run animations, I don't see any bombs / torpedos being dropped

 

[eric_A]

- POWs can be airlifted. Unfortunately, the fifth airbase in the Marshall Islands
won't be completed before the scenario ends...

- AA Cruisers can't see subs, as stated in the Civilopedia

- ASW Aircraft: the animation flickers during a bombing run, and the airplane
hovers too low above the ground

- just to make sure this isn't on my computer only: during the Dive and Torpedo
Bomber bombing run animations, I don't see any bombs / torpedos being dropped

Thanks for the feedback.

-I will turn off airlift for POWs in the next version.

-The civilopedia has not been modified since I made subs invisible, I need
to do this.

-Some of the animations are not the greatest. You can complain to the
artist over on the "Unit Graphics" thread. I don't make them I just use
them. I did create a 3D model for a Japanese destroyer, but I'm still
waiting for someone to do the animation.

 

[El_Tigre]

Perfect timing: The TOS PBEM is over, the Kamikaze contest has started! I
just had a very good first turn as Japan...

Concerning paratroopers: Even if the Dutch research Airborne Warfare as
third tech for the Allies, it is still a large sacrifice. China, CW and the Dutch
need a lot of cash during the first turns; cash that is not available if only
China sets its tax rate to 100%. My point is: If the Allies or Japan really want
to invest that much money and then shields to build units to defend those
islands, why not let them? They will pay somewhere else for making
paratroopers their top priority. Again, the amount of Japanese paratroopers
you saw in our PBEM was extraordinary, because I faced only one human
player and had spare ressouces after defeating China. Of course you can
make them more expensive or weaken their attack/defense values.

China: If you want to emphasize the Pacific warfare in the scenario, why
don't you try to make the Chinese front more static? How about creating a
Chinese Infantry with a lower attack, but higher defense value than the
standard infantry? This would discourage the Japanese player to attack
China, and would make Chinese counter attacks harder (unless tanks come
into play). Or create some kind of defense unit with no movement points in
China and the Japanese mainland cities. So far, the scenario is won in China
and not near Midway...

AA Cruiser: I wasn't able to build one (my first Adv. Destroyer just left the
dock when the game ended), but their ADM values seems to be a bit weak. I
guess their main purpose it to be stacked with transports to defend them
against air strikes, but still...

Guerillas: At first I thought it was a bug that they could attack and kill my
artilleries in defended cities, then I found out about their stealth attack
abilities. It is impossible to to defend artillery against their attack. Bug or
feature?

 

[El_Tigre]

-Some of the animations are not the greatest. You can complain to the
artist over on the "Unit Graphics" thread. I don't make them I just use
them. I did create a 3D model for a Japanese destroyer, but I'm still
waiting for someone to do the animation.

I wasn't complaining, just pointing out. I myself are utterly untalented in all kind
of arts. BTW, Bebro has made some new WW2 Paratroopers.

At first I thought the DD Escort looked a bit odd, but then I destroyed one and
saw the sinking animation: awesome, just awesome!!