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Remble I had a similar problem, in my test game with the US. I was deep in germany when my mobile armies could not move anymore. The problem was supplies.

I had enough convoys but the AI managed convoy system failed to bring enough OIL to me and believe me I had a lot of back in the states.

So i let the AI manage the creation of the supply routes, but took manual control on how much ships it allocates. I made that number bigger than it was or should have been for this particular route and voila, my problem was solved.

You should try this. If needed I can send you a screenshot some time, I should still have the save-game for that game.

Otherwise a nice overview-update.
 
I still really enjoy reading combat briefings but also monthly report!
And I'm always waiting for more!

Some suggestions :
- some times, i think screenshots are too close, to little to understand where the action takes place, for example last dogfight between INT and english STRA was not easy to locate especially this little island with 5 USA units...
- during fights, it could sometimes help if you could show the little windows with all bonus/malus (in this case, the AAR becomes more technical and you do not want)
- you may plan to do it : it could be nice to have the detail of the 3 BB divisions

Long life to your AAR!
 
Very nice work with cleaning india and burma. Good progress so far.
For the supply problem i would suggest not to use auto-convois for the most important routes and to adjust far more transport ships than are shown to be needed.
The need is shown for the current troops there, but with more troops in that area, more transports are needed for that supply route.
In my games it helped a lot to give those routes 50 or more additional transports.
 
You seem to have Great Ambitions. :D

Good luck to you and the Japanese Armed Forces!

"Everybody wants do dance in a playpen,
But nobody wants to play in my garden.

I like the forth of July,
When bombs start flashing.

Come out to play, come out to play,
And well pretend its Christmas day
In my atomic garden"
*

*Excerpts from "Atomic Garden" by Bad Religion
 
Sometimes the cause for the convoy problem is a moved/new supply depot. That can happen when you ship in new troops in an other province than the depot.
So your convoy ships a wrong number of supplies/oil to the former depot. Usually those two depots merge but if your convoys drop new supplies/oil to the old depot position that won´t happen. You wrote you tried to let the AI rebuild the convoys, but have you waited two days? Day one to let the depots merge and day two so the convoy AI knows where the new Depot position is. And then let the AI rebuild convoys. That should work.
 
I had te same supply problems once and setting the convoys to human-controlled, cancelling all convoys and waiting for 48h before putting the convoy system back to auto-controlled helped me. Didn't think of doing a reload -- that was with my old laptop and reloading took ages then!
 
Deus said:
So i let the AI manage the creation of the supply routes, but took manual control on how much ships it allocates. I made that number bigger than it was or should have been for this particular route and voila, my problem was solved.

I did the same - manually added a lot of ships to existing convoys - even more than required to carry needed supplies, and problem was solved (playing Japan, without resetting convoys or restarting game).


I am awaiting to see your next naval campaign !
 
Convoy 101







This is a break down of the Convoy problem and steps taken to try and fix it. Hopefully it can provide some insight as to why it happens and what you can do to try to sort it out.

I am not an expert on the convoy system as I usually just leave it on auto. I took what I considered to be logical steps to fix the problem.

The whole process needs to be conducted a step at a time to see if the steps taken alter anything over time.

First indication of a problem:

Lack of oil to bombers in Asia after 0300 hours.

Initial investigation and findings:

1. Check depot(s) in Asia.

2. Check spare convoys. Over 200 spare on a daily basis.

3. 4 Asian depots found in the Convoy system.

a. Tangshan - Should be only depot.

b. Saigon - Used at the start when Nat. China splits Japanese troops in Asia.

c. Cuttack - Initial invasion point in India.

d. Ahmadabad - Follow up invasion point in India.

Only Tangshan had supplies and oil, the other three were redundant but had convoys assigned. 2.5 oil /day delivered to Tangshan.

Steps taken to try and solve the problem:

1. Cancel convoys to Saigon, Cuttack and Ahmadabad. Were not re-created but oil problem remained the same after 4 days.

2. Cancel Tangshan convoy and allow auto-creation. Auto-created back to Tangshan with same problem. Allow 4 days to settle the convoy, no change.

3. Cancel convoy to Tangshan and try and manually create a convoy to Asia. Not possible as no destination in Asia can be found.

4. Auto create Tangshan again and add double the amount of convoys manually. AI leaves the convoy as manually set but still does not transfer more oil. Leave for 4 days to settle with no change.

Supplies were always sent as needed but oil never moved above 2.5 / day which was inadequate for the armour let alone anything else.

Solution:

Having tried everything above without success there are only three alternatives.

1. Create a land bridge. Against ground rules.

2. Save, quit, reload and check again. Convoy worked after 24 hours without the need to make any changes and without any noted drop in available convoys. Normal convoy numbers were all that was needed.

3. Manually add a lot of convoys by editing save game. Against ground rules.

Conclusions:

Once the convoy system breaks down it is not easy to fix sometimes. Some of the above methods do work some of the time but not always. The only fix that I did not try was to manually add a load of convoys to my convoy pool and this may have fixed it. This would be a work around solution and not an actual fix though.

The likely cause of the problem was the rebasing of all of my fleets to Japan, with a subsequent bad calculation by the game mechanics, which over compensated for the oil no longer needed or resulted in it calculating spare convoys wrongly.

It is possible that it has problems when your convoys reach a certain percentage above those needed. My spare capacity was 15% which should be adequate but I have no idea if the game mechanics dictate a larger spare capacity than that.

There was no convoy problem with my fleets using bases in Asia and the only major change was their movement back to Japan. My conclusions can not be verified and is merely a guess as to the cause.

Suggestions:

To try and avoid the problem in the first place you should:

1. Check your main depot regularly.

2. Check your spare convoys regularly.

3. Try and have 50% more convoys than you actually need. This would just mask the problem in my opinion and could result in an even bigger problem down the line.

4. Cancel obsolete convoys once landings are joined to your main depot.

5. I hate to say this but reload every 3 months to clear any problems before they impact anything.

6. The most obvious way to avoid convoy problems is to not play Japan, United Kingdom or United States. (You might not want to take this suggestion seriously)

There are other things you can do I would expect but the reload one should prevent the problem even showing up unless you actually do have a shortage of convoys.​

Note: There will be a game update later on today and I will answer other comments not related to convoys then. Feel free to point out anything wrong or other suggestions about convoys as I am not an expert as I said at the beginning of this post :)
 
Reado, germanpeon, zdlugasz - The Naval campaign is likely to be a little bloody :)

intruder alert - Acceptall would be against my rules and I am surprised they won't let me buy them.

alan_le_cowboy - I am glad you are still following and enjoying it. I try to make sure people can work out where the combat is, not always successfully I guess. I will keep this in mind. I do occasionally include the details of combat but not very often. I use it more to point out a specific problem than anything else. Bonus etc are all fairly constant. The Battlefleet breakdowns are in the next update :)

cjwet - India and Burma went fairly well, as they should without any Soviet intervention.

Sokraates - No particularly great ambitions. Making Japan self sufficient is all. I should be able to do that by annexing the Soviet Union and the United States. Just small conquests really :)

Juan_de_Marco - Thank you :)

The convoy problem will be fixed on November 1st by a save/reload. It becomes critical enough by then that I have no choice. I will, of course, let you all mull over why it might be critical :D

Update to follow ...
 
A Pacific War

1





0700 September 1st 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Osaka.

Japan's combined fleet was alongside in Osaka. Yamamoto noticed the activity more than anything else. The entire port facility was awash with workers and crew alike all working towards the same goal. Preparing the Imperial Japanese Navy for confrontation.

Most of the capital ships were fully repaired and were embarking food and provisions. One fleet had all of its ships running up their engines and preparing to sail on the tide.​

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A large Submarine fleet had been detected crossing the Celebes Sea and it would need to be dealt with.​

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Grand Admiral Nagano and Carrier Group C would sail south to Palawan which would be their new base of operations. They would be tasked with hunting the Submarines down and either sinking them or forcing them to leave the area.

The rest of the fleet was due to sail in early September and front line reports would be crucial to prevent any type of disaster befalling the operations currently planned. One such potential disaster had been encountered in the Yap Trench.​

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Spruance and his modern Battleships had found Triye's Submarine fleet which was preventing American forces retaking the island if Yap. Triye would evade Spruance as soon as he could and would do so without suffering any significant damage. The enemy fleet appeared to be heading south and away from the Marianas.​

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The withdraw of the Submarines allowed the American troops to try and march towards Yap. Tactical bombers, now stationed in the Marianas, took off to try and halt this advance but would target the garrison of Ulithi instead.

A second fleet of Submarines based in Palau would arrive on September 3rd to halt the American progress once more. Yap was not going to fall into enemy hands if Yamamoto could prevent it.​





1300 September 4th 1945.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Higashikuni's North China Army was almost totally deployed with just the extreme western forces still moving in China.​

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Mj. General Kim captured Hotan province on September 4th to reclaim all territory that had been held by Japan. He would be redeployed to his forward defensive position of Kashgar, to the north west, where he would arrive in two weeks.​





2200 September 4th 1945.
The Skies Above Palau.

Japanese Interceptor squadrons were well rested and prepared for almost any incursion by enemy aircraft. Their bases had been fully repaired after Yap had been taken and they intended to keep it that way.​

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A full British Strategic bomber wing, once something to be feared, was no longer much of a threat. Minister Jun's tactics worked well as eight Interceptor squadrons decimated the bombers during a three hour dogfight. The Interceptors did not escape unscathed but their casualties were minimal for this type of encounter.​





0000 September 7th 1945.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

Mamoru had not seen the Soviet Ambassador for a few days and decided to ask him over for tea to dicuss further trade deals. Mamoru wished to gauge the Ambassadors reactions in an attempt to ascertain if any type of aggressive action was planned by the Soviet Union.

"Good morning Ambassador." Mamoru greeted the Soviet Ambassador.

"Minister Mamoru. I trust you are well?" the Ambassador asked politely.

"I am well thank you. I have another trade proposal for your Country if you would be so kind as to pass it along."

"Of course Minister Mamoru." the Ambassador replied.​

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"We have more supplies that we would trade for energy. I am sure this will be agreeable to your Foreign Ministry."

"I am sure it will." Malik replied as he settled into his chair to play the diplomatic game with his opponent.​





0600 September 7th 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Osaka.

All of the Submarine fleets were now available to Yamamoto and he sent some of them on missions to uncover the current defenses of various islands.​

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Eniwetok island was found to have a significant garrison and would be impossible to capture for the time being.​

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The large enemy Submarine fleet had been reported in the Bangka Strait by Japanese merchant ships that had lost some ships to the fleet. Carrier Group C sailed from Palawan to attempt to find them.

By September 9th the remaining fleets in Osaka were ready to sail. Yamamoto had reconfigured them a little to provide all three Battlefleets with the ability to attack any hostile fleet.​

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The Light Carrier IJN Chiyoda had moved from BB Division 1 to BB Division 3. Both BB Divisions 1 and 2 possessed two Battleships and a Battlecruiser with BB Division 3 having both Yamato class Battleships.​
 
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Carrier Group C had expanded to include two Heavy Cruisers to prevent any smaller Allied fleets closing and having superior firepower in bad weather. Carrier Group D had been stripped of its Destroyers and now comprised the damaged ships still undergoing repair. The new Destroyers currently under construction would be added to this fleet as they became available.​

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All three Battleship fleets sailed together, along with 3. Kaigun which was carrying the marines and one infantry division.

BB Division 1 headed for Saipan while the remaining three fleets headed for Palau which would be their forward base.​

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Further intelligence was obtained as a small Transport fleet was encountered off the coast of Sorong. Two Tactical bomber squadrons had been sent to gauge the defences of the province. It was too well defended for now.​

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At 1600 hours on the 19th Halsey's fleet attacked the Submarines guarding Yap and forced them to withdraw. They would return as soon as possible. Halsey was heading towards the Palau Trench.​

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Carrier Group C found the Submarines off Singapore and would chase them and try and sink them again to the north east. Bad weather and night would hinder his operations and only minor damage would be sustained by the Submarines. Nagano would continue to hunt them.​

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A second Transport was sighted off Sorong and this one was heading into the port. Maybe the Allies were planning another invasion around Indonesia.​

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At 0400 hours on September 10th Ichimaru found a Transport fleet in the Palau Trench. Halsey's fleet also had two Transport Divisions with it and there was a high probability that an invasion of Palau could be forthcoming.

The chances of that happening disappeared within two hours as the single Transport Division was blown out of the water when a further eight bomber squadrons arrived overhead.​

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Halsey didn't heed the warning and was picked up by Mj. General Lee at 2100 hours as the enemy fleet entered the Palau Trench. Four New York class Battleships and one Alaska class Battlecruiser would be in for a surprise. Within three hours ten squadrons were trying to inflict damage on the fleet despite the rain.​

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At 0600 hours on September 11th an American Strategic bomber squadron was intercepted over Guam by Fukui and his interceptor wing. Four against one would mean massive damage for the bombers.​

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By 0700 hours Ozawa had taken over the bombing of Halsey's fleet and the damage was beginning to mount. Eleven bomber squadrons were now engaged with the enemy fleet. The Heavy Cruiser USS Chicago had already been sunk with both the USS New Mexico and USS Nevada taking damage. No further ships would be sunk before nightfall but things were looking bleak for Halsey if he was still in the Mariana Trench at dawn.​
 
Great writing, great playing! I really enjoy all the details in your reports and the detailed and informative screenshots. And naval warfare is cool on its own :cool:

Remble said:
The convoy problem will be fixed on November 1st by a save/reload. It becomes critical enough by then that I have no choice. I will, of course, let you all mull over why it might be critical

I had wanted before to delurk by a suggestion to reload immediately after the war with the Russians starts: At this point they will be cancelling the trades anyway and are giving new orders to their units, so they do not suffer an additional penalty from reloading.
 
One last shot from me to solve the convoy thing: manually disband / ship out everything from all other depots in Asia except the one in Tangshan. If the depots don't merge, this could be a solution. With only one depot left the AI should be able to calculate the oil that is needed better. I usually saved, deleted depots in the savegame and then reloaded, but as that's not what you want to do maybe you can disband the depots ingame. Maybe.

I really hope your BB fleets don't run into a major USN BB fleet, could be an ugly day for the IJN. May your pilots always find the enemy for best recon ;)
 
OneArmed - Thank you. It is a bit early to be able to reason the critical part :)

Zvetiki - Thank you and welcome :) November 1st was chosen as I had little choice anyway. The game crashed 2 days into November. Just as well I save at the beginning of every month.

robou - They do seem to have decided to come to me rather than force me to hunt them :)

Deus - Ah but I could lose the naval battles and hand superiority to the USN :)

Thurak - None of the depots had anything in them and the only reason I knew they were there is because of the convoys going to them. This is another way to try and fix things though. I absolutely hate messing with game files though unless I really really have to.

The Imperial Japanese Air Force has protected the Imperial Japanese Navy for over a year and it will do its best to continue to do so.

Update to follow ...
 
A Pacific War
2





2100 September 11th 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Saipan.

Yamamoto had arrived in Saipan and his fleet began to restock on fuel and supplies. The presence of Halsey in the Palau Trench would keep BB Division 1 in port for the time being as Yamamoto had no intention of engaging such a powerful fleet with his own smaller one.​

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The bombers had made contact with the American fleet at dawn and it was still in the Palau Trench but was moving north east. The initial two Tactical bomber squadrons were quickly joined by a much larger force and the damage began to grow with the USS New Mexico being the primary target. By 0200 hours she was close to sinking.​

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Halsey managed to evade the bombers for a few hours as his fleet moved into the South Mariana Trench. At 0600 hours the bombing commenced once more and by 1000 hours, as dusk approached, the USS New Mexico finally succumbed to the bombing she had received. Halsey's new Flagship would be the USS Pennsylvania.

Most of the bombers headed back to their island bases and prepared for a longer patrol to catch Halsey the next day east of the Marianas. Little did Halsey know that he would be safe from pursuit as a larger threat emerged.​

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At 1100 hours Tactical bombers, led by Air General Kondo, picked up a second American Battleship fleet in the North Mariana Trench. This one was commanded by Spruance and contained four North Carolina class Battleships.

BB Divisions 2 and 3, along with 3. Kaigun, altered course to the south and would approach Palau from a safer direction.​

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2100 hours saw Japanese bombers once again in the air. Ozawa and Genda were first on the scene and began their bombing runs against the most modern Battleship fleet on the high seas.

"Admiral Yamamoto?" asked Lt. General Adachi, commander of defensive forces on Saipan.

"Yes Lt. General?" Yamamoto replied.

"Are your ships conducting range practice today?"

"No they are not supposed to be." replied the Japanese Pacific Commander as he looked up from his maps. He became aware of the sounds around him as he returned to full awareness of his surroundings. "I think you might want to have your men deploy to their defensive positions Lt. General Adachi. Those are American shells and they do not fire them at land without a good reason."

Sounds of alarm began to sound around the Command post almost as if they were responding directly to Yamamoto's words. Both men went outside to find out exactly what was happening.​

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Spruance was not in the area for a patrol he was here to provide support and protection to an invasion. Four American divisions initially began to unload into landing craft with a fifth joining them soon afterwards. Someone had let Patton loose on the Pacific.

"Well it seems that we may be having some visitors." Yamamoto said to Adachi.

"Apparently so Admiral. Did you want to go to your Flagship and do something about this invasion?"

"According to my reports that would not be a very good idea right now. There is a much larger enemy fleet out there."

"I guess I had better let my men know that they are personally responsible for your safety then. I am sure they will be honoured to defend you with their lives."

"I don't think many of them will be losing their lives Lt. General Adachi. The Americans only brought five divisions and those are Japanese aircraft overhead not American."​

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By 0700 hours the aircraft that had been flying overhead had sunk Spruance's Flagship, the USS New Jersey, and were adding more damage across his entire fleet.​

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After a night of pointless attempts to land on Saipan the American troops were suffering badly. It took just an hour of daylight to convince Patton to halt his amphibious invasion as it was completely obvious that he could not win. The defenders stood down at 2200 hours.

"It would appear that they are leaving Admiral. Maybe you could chase them a little to discourage their return?" Adachi asked.

"Patience. Now is not quite the right time, let the bombers pay them another visit first." Yamamoto replied.

Six squadrons of bombers and interceptors arrived to do just that and they were closely followed by another eleven squadrons.​

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Spruance was already leaving the area but he had not been quick enough. By 2300 hours USS South Dakota was crippled and listing heavily. She sank at midnight.

Another eight hours of bombing followed before Spruance managed to escape the bombers. He would also lose the Battleship USS North Carolina, leaving just the USS Washington remaining afloat of his capital ships.

September 13th had been a good day for Yamamoto but he received some news that soured it just before midnight.​

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His most advanced Submarine fleet had been carrying out reconnaissance around the Marshall islands and been intercepted by an American Destroyer fleet. The more modern American ships, with plenty of experience at Submarine hunting, caused massive damage to Admiral Hara's fleet. He would lose four of six Flotillas before he could escape and head for the safety of Saipan.​





0000 September 14th 1945.
Industry Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

The planned production for September was not large with only one group of new units predicted to arrive. They were deployed on time.​

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Three new Dive bomber squadrons would begin forming up in Japan before finding other employment overseas.​
 
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