Post by dizzy on Nov 11, 2019 2:42:25 GMT -6
Empire of the Rising Sun Mod Link.
A few of you (maybe three, lol) may have tried my Regia Marina mod, an Italy campaign here, and since that mod exceeded my expectations, it's got me thinking about how to make a Japan Campaign mod that's just as focused as Regia Marina is. I wanted to bounce some ideas off the community and see what you'd like to see. Feel free to jump in with comments.
Campaigns are generally designed affairs. For example, in a stock Japan playthrough, Italy is tasked with the invasion of islands in the Mediterranean. This is absolutely meaningless in a Japan playthru and illustrates how campaigns could be better if individually crafted to the nation you play so the resultant playthru is tailored to events in your theater of concern. Having Italy as a nation in a Japan playthru at all is a wasted nation slot. Italy and Japan never enter into a major war and colony exchange. Likewise, the UK tasked with the invasion of Ireland or Iceland is also meaningless for a Japan Playthrough. Instead, have the UK focused on taking Korea, Hainan or Formosa away from the Japanese. So there are better choices to swap that nation out with another and I'll discuss that below.
What I've also noticed about the many times I've played Japan is that it seems difficult to get good fleet battles going. This is because no one has an effective home area near Japan so capital ship fleets never really show up for a fight and meager base capacity and the AI's inability to respond to your base capacity increases exacerbate the issue. Germany, is far far removed and has extremely low base capacity colonies that they can't properly defend, so like Italy, Germany is a wasted nation slot in a Japan playthru. Russia has one, but also keeps their fleet on the other side of the world. Again, this takes away the focus on Japan.
I've also noticed Japan's economy is one of the smallest you get to play with. This can be fun. But taken in context of the focus I'm trying to achieve, it is wasted potential. By 1920, Japan was the third largest naval power in the world, and even at Very Large Fleet size, you cannot come close to approximating Japan's full historical navy. For example, everyone's global economy is based on worldwide concerns. Since the entirety of the British navy cannot be present in Southeast Asia, what would be the relative economy and fleet size that the British would be able to face Japan with? What would Japan's relative economy look like in comparison? These questions are at the center of my mod focus as I'd like to move away from a general campaign and do one that is more tactically focused on just the Pacific theater.
A few changes I've decided upon and some I'm considering in order to provide a more focused campaign:
-USA's Home and Build area swapped from Eastern USA to Western USA. To place the focus on Japan, why would USA place all their ships on the East coast? So that will be fixed.
-Reduce USA's starting economy by 1/4th to represent the forces permanently deployed in the Atlantic Theater and unavailable in the Pacific Theater. As it is, the entirety of USA's navy may move to Northeast Asia and historically this wasn't so. To fix this, Eastern USA, Southeastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast will become colonies which will require a naval presence.
-Reduce Britain's economy by a 1/4 to represent the above as in the USA.
-Swap Britain's Home and Build area to India or Eastern Australia. This will bring the fight to Japan for the forces the UK could devote to the Pacific Theater. Do the same as above with the USA in regards to require a naval presence in former home areas.
-Replace Italy with the Republic of China and place their Home and Build area in Southern China next to Hong Kong with control of Hainan, Shanghai and Northern China.
-Replace Germany nation with Netherlands nation in control of the German colonies of the Pacific and Africa along with control of oil rich Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
-Reduce Russia's economy by 1/4 and swap their Home and Build area to Northeast Asia.
-France would likely see some economic adjustment and have their home and build area moved to Southern France placing them one sea zone closer to SEA.
In looking at the general economic adjustment, above, it would probably be better to raise Japan's economy instead of lowering everyone else's so much. Other changes involve boosting base capacity and colony values a smidge for balance purposes.
I've tested most of these changes and they seem to work very very well. Japan is beset on all sides, and although other nations economy levels are slightly reduced and Japan's has been raised, it still makes for a game where Japan is slightly disadvantaged and constantly surrounded by adversaries that will bring fleet battles and invasions to her very shores. I think I'm going to move on to more advanced testing soon, but I wanted to know if anyone had any particular criticism or comments to share.
A few of you (maybe three, lol) may have tried my Regia Marina mod, an Italy campaign here, and since that mod exceeded my expectations, it's got me thinking about how to make a Japan Campaign mod that's just as focused as Regia Marina is. I wanted to bounce some ideas off the community and see what you'd like to see. Feel free to jump in with comments.
Campaigns are generally designed affairs. For example, in a stock Japan playthrough, Italy is tasked with the invasion of islands in the Mediterranean. This is absolutely meaningless in a Japan playthru and illustrates how campaigns could be better if individually crafted to the nation you play so the resultant playthru is tailored to events in your theater of concern. Having Italy as a nation in a Japan playthru at all is a wasted nation slot. Italy and Japan never enter into a major war and colony exchange. Likewise, the UK tasked with the invasion of Ireland or Iceland is also meaningless for a Japan Playthrough. Instead, have the UK focused on taking Korea, Hainan or Formosa away from the Japanese. So there are better choices to swap that nation out with another and I'll discuss that below.
What I've also noticed about the many times I've played Japan is that it seems difficult to get good fleet battles going. This is because no one has an effective home area near Japan so capital ship fleets never really show up for a fight and meager base capacity and the AI's inability to respond to your base capacity increases exacerbate the issue. Germany, is far far removed and has extremely low base capacity colonies that they can't properly defend, so like Italy, Germany is a wasted nation slot in a Japan playthru. Russia has one, but also keeps their fleet on the other side of the world. Again, this takes away the focus on Japan.
I've also noticed Japan's economy is one of the smallest you get to play with. This can be fun. But taken in context of the focus I'm trying to achieve, it is wasted potential. By 1920, Japan was the third largest naval power in the world, and even at Very Large Fleet size, you cannot come close to approximating Japan's full historical navy. For example, everyone's global economy is based on worldwide concerns. Since the entirety of the British navy cannot be present in Southeast Asia, what would be the relative economy and fleet size that the British would be able to face Japan with? What would Japan's relative economy look like in comparison? These questions are at the center of my mod focus as I'd like to move away from a general campaign and do one that is more tactically focused on just the Pacific theater.
A few changes I've decided upon and some I'm considering in order to provide a more focused campaign:
-USA's Home and Build area swapped from Eastern USA to Western USA. To place the focus on Japan, why would USA place all their ships on the East coast? So that will be fixed.
-Reduce USA's starting economy by 1/4th to represent the forces permanently deployed in the Atlantic Theater and unavailable in the Pacific Theater. As it is, the entirety of USA's navy may move to Northeast Asia and historically this wasn't so. To fix this, Eastern USA, Southeastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast will become colonies which will require a naval presence.
-Reduce Britain's economy by a 1/4 to represent the above as in the USA.
-Swap Britain's Home and Build area to India or Eastern Australia. This will bring the fight to Japan for the forces the UK could devote to the Pacific Theater. Do the same as above with the USA in regards to require a naval presence in former home areas.
-Replace Italy with the Republic of China and place their Home and Build area in Southern China next to Hong Kong with control of Hainan, Shanghai and Northern China.
-Replace Germany nation with Netherlands nation in control of the German colonies of the Pacific and Africa along with control of oil rich Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
-Reduce Russia's economy by 1/4 and swap their Home and Build area to Northeast Asia.
-France would likely see some economic adjustment and have their home and build area moved to Southern France placing them one sea zone closer to SEA.
In looking at the general economic adjustment, above, it would probably be better to raise Japan's economy instead of lowering everyone else's so much. Other changes involve boosting base capacity and colony values a smidge for balance purposes.
I've tested most of these changes and they seem to work very very well. Japan is beset on all sides, and although other nations economy levels are slightly reduced and Japan's has been raised, it still makes for a game where Japan is slightly disadvantaged and constantly surrounded by adversaries that will bring fleet battles and invasions to her very shores. I think I'm going to move on to more advanced testing soon, but I wanted to know if anyone had any particular criticism or comments to share.