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Quick overview of some of the new v0.60 mod features via a short Japanese campaign (Part 7)
Suiyuan Campaign in Shanxi's lands
We advised Princ Demchugondrub to wait just three more weeks. He and his staff weren't particularly happy about our suggestion but they stayed put never the less. We boosted their warmongering capabilities by sending them some additional military supplies and got ourselves ready for the upcoming major disturbance of local geopolitical balance.
On 10th April 1937 we told the Mongolians to set the uprising in motion. They needed a few days to readjust everything in order for the surprise attack to be as powerful as possible. Both our parties were a bit on the edge because of some mistakes that have occurred while setting up the trap but luckily warlord's Shanxi troops haven't realized that big desert storm is coming in their way.
The plan is executed and Mongols move swiftly like their horses. Three Mongol divisions rise in the uprising and Suiyuan is liberated in a matter of just one day. Shanxi's warlord didn't expect it coming at all and at first wrongly accused his messengers as traitors bribed by Japan to try instilling fear amongst Shanxi's troops by delivering such news. What a fool! His indecisiveness and confusion were a great gift to Mongolians who used this fact to a great advantage. Prince snatched one province from Shanxi and if everything will go according to his plans two more provinces will fall under his rule.
We decided to took direct control over the Mongolian force.
Meanwhile Heavy Cruiser that we have been researching has been finished so we assigned Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushi to be in charge of the new carrier design for which we have a blueprint which will speed up the project considerably. We hope that when design gets finished we will be able to put it in production as soon as possible. Unfortunately there isn't enough IC available for us to start building recently researched new CA design. Next time this story shall be different and our efforts need to materialise if we are to become masters of the Pacific sea.
On 24th April Mongols set on a raid towards Shanxi with the ultimate goal to liberate provinces which rightfully belong to Princ.
Second major battle for Mongolians is a complete success - partially cut off Shanxi forces weren't able to boost up their defences in time and got subdued.
While spring was in it's full swing we started to train security forces which we will use on the Chinese lands to quell resistance movements in the regions that we will conquer.
Second batch of infrastructural improvements have been finished in Tokyo. This time there wasn't much of publicity about it - people from the provinces where major improvements are being built seem to get used to them by now.
Our established relationships with Germany have just strengthened since we backed Hitler in his pursuit to contain Stalin's influence. We share the same view on the matter. We need to inform our troops on the border with Soviet Union to get ready for possible increased hostilities due to the Pact we signed.
In a Mongolian desire to get Yuling into their hands high command made a mistake which will hunt Prince Demchugondrub for some time to come - Shanxi used the opportunity of overstretched Mongolian forces and attacked recently established Mongolian capital. With the majority of the Mongolian forces engaged with Shanxi forces in Yuling the disaster was just bound to happen. One third of all the Mongolian forces was forced to escape towards Erenhot. If they were to escape towards West instead of East they would be in much better situation to continue their fight. Being cut off your own country is not something that can be taken lightly. Their move also jeopardized us since Shanxi can label us for the ones behind current war if we will be spotted helping retreating troops to openly.
Unfortunately Manchurian forces can't help in the current situation since such an act would involve us in a direct war with Shanxi which we would like to avoid for the time being.
On 11th June the inevitable happened - Mongol capital fell...
Although our's and Prince's plans didn't go very well we are notified on the same day by Kyoiku Sokanbu that Traditional Firepower has been implemented. Kyoiku is thus put in charge with yet another mission...
All the disturbance caused by the Mongol uprising triggered new waves of unrest in China and our border troops are experiencing a lot of tension again. This time it got very hot indeed. We are on a brink of war with Shanxi. To quell this situation we decided to send additional garrison soldiers to the area but we have low hopes this move will be successful. Things there have gone almost too far by our opinion and once again the smell of war is in the air. We simply won't tolerate any additional provocations from the Chinese.
If we are really to engage in a war with Shanxi Nationalistic China probably won't just sit there and wait - we expect it will attack us. This time though we won't be afraid to confront them...
Soon after this recent developments Osami Nagano finished researching Maritime Administration so we assigned Hisaichi Terauchi to organise and fully implement Traditional Offensive doctrine for our land forces.
Our predictions were right - on 27th July conflict with Shanxi escalated to the point when we can consider it as utmost open hostilities - war has started!
Be with us until the next time when it will be revealed how the second Sino-Japanese war went down. Until a further ado, cheerz!
Quick overview of some of the new v0.60 mod features via a short Japanese campaign (Part 8)
*Note: Due to my tight free time I decided to not make long accompanying text and just let the pics speak for themselves.
I'm still using a heavily outdated internal version for this representation - latest internal version is way sweeter!
I'm getting it today - anyone envious? War with the Chinese
Assault on Shanxi commences on 29th July...
Due to war state and it's increased IC availability for military purposes Japan starts building much needed medium bombers.
On 8th August whole China enters the war against us!
Carrier attack on Shanghai port is carried out on 9th August in order for us to neutralize Chinese naval capabilities but the arrival time is fubard and many bombs and torpedoes miss their target. Duh!
Patrol bombers follow suit on the same day.
Two days later our patrol bombers got intercepted by Chinese interceptors and deal a serious blow to our air forces - we didn't expect the enemy to have any substantial air assets in the region - our intel suggested that majority of Chinese planes were in the South. What a miscalculation!
Ever since the entry of the Nationalistic China into the war Taiwan was in a reach of the enemy planes who started to pummel our security forces stationed on the island. Luckily enough enemy didn't perform an airbase attack otherwise our interceptors stationed there would suffer. Another enemy's attempt is intercepted and some damage is made to the invaders.
Our ground invasion force in the north made some progress in Shanxi area - the following map shows the situation on 20th August. Our air forces are enforcing serious problems to the enemy which is being pushed, enveloped and routed by our valiant troops.
Our progress is much more apparent seven days later. Sneaky amphibious attack makes strategical situation of the enemy much worser. Luckily for us Nationalistic Chinese troops in general didn't manage to reposition themselves in time to fight us in a synchronised manner. We got our first major victory against Nationalistic China in the province of Yucheng. Our major goal is to secure the area of Shanxi and thus reach the rivers in the West and South where our forces can have an easier time defending themselves against the Chinese onslaught.
Mongol allied forces finally managed to push the enemy out of their home province with our help. We shall grant them their own state under our leadership of course.
Mongol prince had a dream and this dream just came true... His people rejoice.
Our pressure on the Chinese has bore first diplomatic results - Nationalistic China wants to negotiate peace but yet again we won't budge so soon.
Minoru Genda finished his independent ASW group research in the middle of October which will boost capabilities of our destroyers against submarines and soon after started researching Port Strike Tactics which are of paramount importance for our carrier force.
Further conquest of the Shanxi area by our forces liberates two additional provinces which rightfully belong to Prince - they are his for the taking.
18th October - Shanxi falls!!! Our troops have reached their objectives before the winter set in. Now all we can do is to wait for an amphibious attack in the central China - we lack forces to do so immediately but time is on our side. With our presence in the Southern China enemy has to split his forces - our earlier campain in Guanxi Clique was well devised! Chinese will have a serious problem when a third front opens...
In the second battle over Taiwan our interceptors managed to deflect enemy light bombers but didn't inflict much losses.
On 21th October our 25.000 t fleet carrier is researched but we need just a bit more time before it's production can be started - it remains our high priority but current war has once more strained our capabilities! Next up we started to research standar freighter design which will make our future production of transport ships more rational.
Planned carrier strike on the Fuzhou airfield for the 27th October didn't go well because of the bad weather which hampered visibility - most of the bombs missed their targets - again! High command won't tolerate another such mistake!
On 30th October Kumano and Suzuya are commissioned.
On 6th November we finally manage to start producing the latest Fleet Carrier. Faction supporting the naval way is happy but some land army officers have shown great discontent with our latest move.
11th November - Yamamoto finishes researching Underway replenishment and starts arranging everything necessary for the reorganisation of our naval infantry.
In order for the Imperial Japan to have a united front the government arrested all the political troublemakers at the end of November.
Yet another winter has come into Japan, Tokyo had it's infrastructure improved once more, Tomoyoki finished researching his Operational Infantry and a slot is free for the 1938 Infantry equipment to be slowly put in our soldier's hands. In the same month (December) aircraft carrier Soryu is finished and sent to Carrier fleet.
What awaits Imperial Japan in the year of 1938? Stick around and you'll see...
So just a couple of things in Hister´s post that show new features:
Look at the carrier model images in the battle for Shanghai: those are nation and model specific icons. They would look different for US carriers and they would look different if a Taiho class carrier were in the attack instead of Kaga or Akagi.
You will also see the small planes indicating the strike power of the carrier.
In the air plane pics further up you will see 1930´s air groups, another change where we pushed in a complete generation of planes at the bottom.
And the message about the Suiyuan campaign succeeding is an exotic bug that I will have to squash.
Look at the carrier model images in the battle for Shanghai: those are nation and model specific icons. They would look different for US carriers and they would look different if a Taiho class carrier were in the attack instead of Kaga or Akagi.
You will also see the small planes indicating the strike power of the carrier.
In the air plane pics further up you will see 1930´s air groups, another change where we pushed in a complete generation of planes at the bottom.
And the message about the Suiyuan campaign succeeding is an exotic bug that I will have to squash.
Good progress so far, Hister - I wonder , though, if supply problems will start to hamper your operations the deeper you advance into China...
Very good AAR, just a bit surprised the China AI is building CAS though
That's the mixed air group available to nations without their own advanced aviation industry IRC. There have been some changes on this front, so I can't say how it'll work in the coming version.
Looking good Hister, can't wait to see how you'll do once China gets its footing and your supplies are drawn out. Those Core reserve infantry divisions really change the game up, especially in China and the SCW!
Ah ok, I've never been able to fully play CORE so I have little idea about its features, but it looks good so far!
Heads up info: Since Beta was publicly released I see no need to continue this little AAR of mine also due to the outdated version AAR is played on. I have a lot of pics ready though so I might make one more AAR part just for the laughs or I might not. it's getting hot outside so spending time in front of the comp screen is not as attractive as sunbathing at the seaside... :blush:
Growing weather, dear sir, it's called marvellous growing weather...
I'll second that! Nice post man! I'm very intrigued by this MOD and Japan so far.
Very glad to see this up, congratulations! I'll follow this closely, as CORE is getting me more and more interested by the day.
Excellent choice about the graphics, also
My Germany game is pretty depressing, AI Japan failed miserably so far and somehow China beat the communists before the sino-japanese war (?!?) Meaning the only thing Japan achieved is annexing part of Shanxi. Meanwhile, Nat. China has some mighty 63 IC in december 1939... On my parallel SU and UK games however Japan made good progress. Why only when I´m Axis they fail, goddamit :angry:
I´d like to add that the choice of armaments minister is probably one of the most strategic choices the player can make, through the minister who gives IC is still overall the best. Even then, guys like Rudolf Hess can make quite a difference to the strategy, the bonus to research and production for planes is significant (14-20 less days in research for a tech team might not seem much, but when all airplane techs are added, it saves a lot of time) and allows for a quite mighty Luftwaffe. Likewise, the 10% IC decrease makes a huge difference if the player builds a nice diversity of planes, including STRATs. However, if the plan is having specialized build order as any country, best do that ASAP.
Also, espionage isn´t very viable because the missions are too expensive. I´d suggest a reduction in 10% in all espionage missions.
I´d like to add that the choice of armaments minister is probably one of the most strategic choices the player can make, through the minister who gives IC is still overall the best. Even then, guys like Rudolf Hess can make quite a difference to the strategy, the bonus to research and production for planes is significant (14-20 less days in research for a tech team might not seem much, but when all airplane techs are added, it saves a lot of time) and allows for a quite mighty Luftwaffe. Likewise, the 10% IC decrease makes a huge difference if the player builds a nice diversity of planes, including STRATs. However, if the plan is having specialized build order as any country, best do that ASAP.
Also, espionage isn´t very viable because the missions are too expensive. I´d suggest a reduction in 10% in all espionage missions.
I enjoyed reading you AAR. It is too bad you stopped. I just started to play as Japan. I crushed China. I went after Chinese states one by one. South China, Yunnan, North China, Commies, Nationalist got tired and declared war on me. By then, I was in position to slice through to objectives. After war with China, I allied with Germany. I intend to build Chinese wall along hills and mountains and draw bulk of Soviets away from Germans. Alliance will help me tremendously with research. Hopefully, I will be able to turn the tides in Russo-German war. I hear German AI needs help with rares. I am giving them to Germany for free. In the same time, I will take Singapore, Malay states, Indonesia, and hopefully India, New Zeeland, and Australia. Who knows, maybe I can help Italy with Suez. Yes, I am very ambitious. Until USA enters war, Japan will be on rampage. I will take the most advantage during these times. I am frustrated with IC and time to build navy. Naval warfare will be tough. I can not afford to loose carriers.
How did you attack the chineses when guanxi is your puppet? I think the event is bugous, and the renewed fightings will not happen and if at Marco Polo you go gung ho, then you will end up in a war with your puppet....