Setup for Friday, October 3, 2003

[eddiek]

This week we return to the South Pacific.
Guadalcanal has been taken, and the USN and IJN have withdrawn their fleets to lick their wounds after several savage and costly battles.

The focus this week is on the air battles fought between the Japanese air forces and the U.S. Army Air Force in the SW Pacific in late 1943 and early 1944.
Thus......no naval units (ships) will be enabled for either side.  All naval vessels will be made neutral and moved to the far corners of the map.

The Slot map does not have the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul included, which is a shame as it was a primary focus of Allied forces as they attempted to move closer to Japan.

The plane/vehicle sets:

Japanese:

A6M2
A6M5b
B5N
D3A1
Ki-61 (available at rear bases initially, moved forward as the week progresses.....this is to reflect their general rarity in the theater at this time)
Ki-67
C-47
M-3
M-16
M-8
LVT's

USAAF:


A-20G
SBD (A-24 in USAAF terminology)
P-40E
P-38L-0 (perked at 10 points to represent rarity in theater at the time period) available only from rear bases at the start of the setup BUT made available at more bases or moved forward as the week progresses
C-47
M-3
M-16
M-8
LVT's

As stated above, the front will be setup more to the northwest than in previous setups to reflect the US's successful invasion and capture of Guadalcanal.

Also, please read closely the descriptions of aircraft deployment:
The Lightning and Tony will be enabled at rear bases only at first, but I will enable them at more and more forward bases as the week progresses.  I was toying with the idea of having the Lighinings perk points removed as the week progressed to indicate that it was more and more common as time went by, but that would be a LOT of work for Skuzzy, so the perk cost will remain in place through out the setup.  Only change that I will make is to enable the Lightning at more bases.

Now, as Sabre told me in the CT Staff forum, this is an imperfect setup, but all the major players are represented for both the IJAAF/IJN and the USAAF.
The A6M5b is faster than the A6M3 which was in service at the time, but I added it add flavor and a touch of equality to the planesets.
Initially, I expect to see mostly Zeroes against P-40's, which was pretty much what you would have seen had you been there.  Later, there will be more Ki-61's and P-38 matchups.

Everyone's perk points will be reset to ZERO tomorrow to allow everyone to build perks from scratch again.


Tomorrow's setup will begin at or around 9AM CDT to allow Skuzzy to reset everyone's perks.  Once he has done that, I will set the arena and open it up for your enjoyment.


PS--To those who want to see the Hawgs in action, wait til my next setup, please.  This is a USAAF versus the Japanese setup.........your time is coming, I promise.  

[keyapaha]

hmmmmm,sounds good to me.

[scJazz]

Originally posted by eddiek
Everyone's perk points will be reset to ZERO tomorrow to allow everyone to build perks from scratch again.

Could the CM team please consider perking at least 1 ride for roughly 5 to 10 perks in each category every single map?

For instance and this is just a rough quick example using the last setup in Germany.

P-38L 10 perks
110G2 5 perks
Ostwinds both sides 5 perks
Lancasters 10 perks
Ju-88s 10 perks

The primary goal is of course to make it possible for the CMs to not worry about having everyones perks reset. A secondary effect would be the removal of the suicide JABO/Bomber attacks or the insane everyone has an Ostwind base defenses. Generally I suspect that this would keep everyones available perks at a reasonable level.

As it is everytime my favorite ride(s) come up I first have to do something silly to be able to fly them. For instance expect me to be flying an A-20 in Attack mode bombing a target that is totally worthless so I can fly a P-38.

An oddball thought just popped into my head before I posted this... For maps where capturing bases would be odd or unrealistic you could perk C-47s, LVTs, and M3s. If every map has a perk plane for both sides then the perk point totals will be kept to a dull roar. Perking the base capturing vehicles would cause a fair amount of consideration before launching one.

Keep the responses civil and intelligent.

[Sabre]

JCJazz, I have to admit that the thought of perking troop-delivery systems never occured to me, but it's not a bad idea.  We're always looking for ways to improve our control of milking, without taking base capture completely out of the equation.  Good suggestion.

[Arlo]

Perk the drunk express to 50 perkies and make it take 15 troops to capture.

And ... no F4U for a month or more at a time in the CT is a fact of life us Hog drivers have unfortunately gotten used to. N1K fans too, I reckon. Two CT arenas would be nice. Then, even with early non-Hog PAC setups figured in (or ... like this one ... a late PAC that has tunnel vision) there would be rotation ... but hopefully one where it comes up more often. There are F4U squads that would like to spend more time in the CT. (hint hint)

[eskimo2]

Sounds like fun.

eskimo

[brady]

One of the down sides to perking is that it is not easly implemented, it requires HTC to set the values and typicaly the perking of specific rides does not realy limit their impact on the arena effectively enough to warent the doing of it. In adation to this the eney values nead to be adjusted to realy have a true effect and this is another thing that neads working over and doing by HTC.

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by brady
One of the down sides to perking is that it is not easly implemented, it requires HTC to set the values and typicaly the perking of specific rides does not realy limit their impact on the arena effectively enough to warent the doing of it. In adation to this the eney values nead to be adjusted to realy have a true effect and this is another thing that neads working over and doing by HTC.

I don't like perks all together.

The best way to limit plane usage is to limit the fields they are available at.

Perks give more experienced players a bigger advantage, which they already have.  Field limiting makes everyone pay the same price... driving time.

eskimo

[najdorf]

I like this setup even though there are no unbalanced hogs in attendance.  I give it full thumbs up.

[eddiek]

I agree with Sabre......that is not a crazy idea, it is actually a good one.
I never thought of it, as most times perk rides are considered to be fighters or other hi performance rides.

Thanks for the kind comments and feedback, folks.  I was really sweating whether or not anyone would like my idea or understand it.  Time will tell how successful it is; success or failure is up to the players who populate the CT.

[Löwe]

Good Looking setup Eddiek. A PTO thats a change of pace. The addition of the P-38 was a good idea, although I'll be dodging them  all week, like the F4U , they need to be seen in PTO's

[Mister Fork]

One alternative to perks is to raise the number to capture a town to a number like 50 drunks. Make them EARN the capture.

[LtMagee]

Very nice thoughts for a good map. You will see me in the P-38 as I build the required perks. Since the P-40E is nearly 60mph slower than it should be, the A6M5 will eat its lunch as long as the Zero retains its energy. In the typical "hamsterwheel" furballs that are so popular in the CT, the A6M5 will rule over the P-40E.

I have to agree with eskimo, even in the last PTO, 95 % of my time was departing the cv and flying nearly three grids to the fight just to be able to fly the F4U-D.

The last map was good do to the fact that the bases were far enough apart to somewhat prevent the "hamsterwheel" and allowed "us" to regroup after a heated enguagement.

to the BOB map!! I thought it to be a great set-up Jester!

[MajorDay]

I like it

Ensign Rafe35

[kanttori]

We are coming! Banzai!