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Old February 22nd, 2010, 04:52 AM

JMHawkins JMHawkins is offline
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Default Re: This game is a joke

The targetting for airstrikes works the same for both computer and human aircraft - neither has an advantage over the other. The bombers will tend to go for the carriers, but will sometimes end up going after a less valuable ship. It is entirely even handed, no cheating in the AI. However, perceptions can be different - just like in real life it always seems like the other guy is getting better results. I think we remember more vividly our planes that went astray and his planes that didn't.

As far as the end date being variable and possibly a year prior to the historical end of the war, it's an intentional decision based on two factors: first, as a play balance issue, it really is exceptionally difficult for Japan to retain any sort of effective force deep into 1945. If the game always played out those last few months, most games would be very boring at the end. Keep in mind that "Japanese Victory" in WPP really amounts to a draw that lets Japan keep some fragment of her empire after America decides enough is enough. That's the best Japan could have hoped for anyway, and what most of her leaders were planning on.

The other factor in the survival victory condition is the pre-war set of assumptions both sides used in planning for the war. The Japanese of course assumed they could shock a decadant US populace into peace because Americans would not have the stomach for a long war. Less well known is that in its 1930's planning, the US Navy itself assumed it only had two years at most to defeat Japan before public sentiment turned against the war. That caused a lot of turmoil in the planning process as officers tried to balance the need for rapid advance against the problems of operating thousands of miles away from base.

I chose to make the actual end date random (but influenced by the ratio of surviving ships and the number of active B-29 bases) so that neither side would be encouraged to make an unhistorical last turn splurge. You never quite know if you'll need ships next turn or not.

Making a game that covers the entire Pacific Theater playable in two to three hours requires a great deal of abstraction, but I've tried to keep a historical connection in there all the same. Still, not every game can appeal to every gamer.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
John Hawkins
KE Studios
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John Hawkins
KE Studios
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