durin
New Member
Posts: 31
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Post by durin on Dec 27, 2013 4:11:29 GMT -6
Victory got in May 1905 (some days before real Tsusima's date). No Russian losses at all. No sank warships larger than CL. No major battle like Yellow Sea-1904. Nothing except hunting for transports and AMC's.
Difficulty level Normal, time step 4 weeks.
Japan AI was totally passive.
Port Arthur didn't fall (situation could be quite different if I have time limited to November 1904, when all Arthur ships are lost like real history).
But now it seems like campaign was made for Japanese player only
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Post by Fredrik W on Dec 27, 2013 5:10:23 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback! We may have to look at play balance. Personally, I usually win as the Russians too, but I will usually suffer some setbacks, for example last time I had the Boyarin jumped by four Japanese cruisers in the Yellow Sea on the way back from a shipping raid, she was sunk after a brave fight, and I had an indecisive encounter with the most of the Battleships at Port Arthur against the Japanese fleet, no losses, but my battleships were in dockyard hands for so long that they never really could sortie again.
Could you expand on how you think that the Japanese AI was totally Passive? There will usually be a number of bombardments and other missions carried out and patrols that you will have to evade with raiding cruisers.
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Post by alex on Dec 27, 2013 7:28:40 GMT -6
I think the main problem is that very often AI does not even try to intercept Russian ships, especially Vladivostok squad. Playing as Russian I can do almost anything without paying attention to the Japanese. I suggest to increase the probability of detection the Russian ships at sea and give the Japanese special features to intercept them
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Post by randomizer on Dec 27, 2013 10:17:31 GMT -6
I think the main problem is that very often AI does not even try to intercept Russian ships, especially Vladivostok squad. Playing as Russian I can do almost anything without paying attention to the Japanese. I suggest to increase the probability of detection the Russian ships at sea and give the Japanese special features to intercept them Question: - Did you examine the track charts to see if there was any Japanese naval activity in the Sea of Japan? Suggestions: - Try weekly turns. Monthly turns may not allow the Japanese AI to accumulate sufficient VP to trigger land warfare events. - Try Hard difficulty. Admiral Kamamura's Second Fleet hunted the Vladivostok cruiser squadron for six-months before finally bringing them to action off Ulsan so finding the Russians in real life was pretty difficult. As FW writes, we may need to revisit balance but your game choices stacked the deck solidly against the AI so it is little wonder that you experienced a Japanese rout. Thanks.
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durin
New Member
Posts: 31
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Post by durin on Dec 27, 2013 13:52:39 GMT -6
I think there should be a time limit for 1 POS (Pacific Ocean Squadron). If it's still in Arthur in November 1904, Russian player loses big ships every turn (result of damned Japanese 11' howitzers bombardment) and respective scores. It's a reason to seek battle before like real history.
And certainly Kamimura should be more aggressive against Vladivostok cruisers.
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Post by gornik on Dec 27, 2013 15:44:53 GMT -6
I have noticed that playing at "weak" side is easier in SAI campaigns. All you need is activity (and some luck), as you have little to protect. The game cannot show some real problems - incompetence, admiral's avoidance of risk and responsibility, commander's nervous tension, fatigue of sailors... Winning for Russia is generally easier, than for Japan. But there are some problems in game AI too. Japanese fleet quite rarely patrol really important points with adequate forces. For examlpe, I often meet only pair of slow CLs in Corea Straits and near Port-Artur - good prey for Bayan, Gromoboy or even Pobeda. Moreover, cruisers, patrolling on 10-knots speed sometimes don't increase it, even under attack (looks like a bug). Japanese Bs and CAs too often operate independently, so they can easily be outnumbered. There are no DD patrols near P-A, and only one minefield was spotted during campaign, so Russian fleet feels safe while manoeuvring there at night. Also, "100 miles safe radius" makes campaign easier, as 10-20 last miles to P-A may be more dangerous, than 1000 before. Yet (end of summer 1904) don't see Japanese fleet trying to bombard Russian bases or block P-A entrance. Is this normal? Japanese fleet never used emergency activation, even when my cruisers were spotted several times at the gates of Fusan. Vladivostok squadron looks overpowered a bit, as player may use ships much more actively and effectively than the real commander at that time, so I set home rules - squadron may not be activated, if there are no missions for it. In future, in my opinion, it would be good to make for them the same system as in Baltic campaign for HSF. Also, I think it is possible to add VP penalty for too many sunk (non-transport) merchants, as some cruiser actions caused diplomatic scandal. With rules game became hard to 1-st Pacific squadron. Even complete victory may become Pyrrhic after some weeks or months, if Japanese ground troops finally capture P-A with dozen of damaged ships, so I'm very cautious. Battle with repair and refit problems is harder than with enemy and it is very interesting experience As for Kamimura, after some missions in my present campaign I saw his attempts to catch cruisers, but they ended without results...yet. All this is written about hard 1-week Russian campaign 1.61.
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Post by Fredrik W on Dec 28, 2013 3:33:05 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback Gornik! I will consider the points you make and see if it is possible to make some improvements.
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