US Navy Campaign (1942-1945)
for Pacific General
by Narayan Sengupta


Campaign Overview:

This 10 scenario campaign comprises almost completely of hypothetical battles with the exceptions of Sicily, Anzio and Normandy.  There are also many historical units which I have added inspired by the great breadth of Steven Strayer's revised equipment file.  So you will find Plan Z vessels such as the Type H heavy battleships and the Type P battlecruisers, all the Richelieus, etc. 

There will be many fleet vs. fleet engagements along with quite a few hit the beaches type invasions to allow the player to build up both experienced naval and experienced land units as well as the usual experienced air units.  In reality, of course, the US battleships almost never fought enemy battleships or carriers, but here you will get your chance.

One should be able to end up with at least four American battleships, including the powerful Montana class vessels, and maybe an Essex or two and several other vessels as well.  There are, I think, 24 naval slots in all.

I'm still wondering if the individual scenarios are too easy, especially with the generous prestige point allowances as the campaign progresses.  I hope to get more extensive feedback on that from anyone playing this.

I haven't worried too much about play-balance as much as being able to reproduce somewhat historically accurate results.  So the Battle of Phillipine Sea should turn into a Turkey Shoot.  But it's also easy to make an error which will change everything.  If you're still finding that the campaign/scenario is too easy, then sink a couple of your most experienced ships or crash your best planes.  That should change things.  I accidentally crashed a 15 strength dive bomber by letting it run out of fuel during the night turns, much to my chagrin.  

For this first campaign, I took out as many variables as possible.  So it's mostly great weather, no night turns, and smooth sailing (pardon the pun).  The main exception to this is the Singapore scenario, where the player may encounter snow, and the Coronet scenario which typically has some bad weather; also every other turn is a night turn.


Versions:

0.5 Alpha:     written 12/14-21/00; complete playtesting.
0.6 Revisions: (play balance) 12/22/00.
0.7 Revisions: (maps, titles and descriptions, some unit types) 12/26/00.  
0.8 Revisions: (additions of core units to make all scenarios playable as stand-alone scenarios; complete playtesting).  
2.0 Revisions: (unit facings, some more clean up, all naval units named, many units moved around, more night turn scenarios, more Enemy prestige and units and experience and a few of the towns have been given proper ownership, weather has been toughened up a little bit for more challenging play and more turns have been added to some scenarios as a consequence, more enemy submarines added to force Allied player into more balanced naval force using more destroyers) 04/21/01-04/29/01.


Skill Level:

Intermediate to Advanced.  None of the scenarios is extremely challenging, though they are more challenging than previous versions.  There are a few scenarios with night turns through the campaign and perhaps a few with inclement weather.  Prestige is tight through the first few scenarios but gets very generous the last few; this is one of the concessions to history since Allied production was easily able to ramp up and overwhelm Axis production.  The Scenario Summaries in this document give the player more information that the all too brief scenario descriptions in the stand alone scenarios.


Quick Installation:

All the files required to play this campaign are included in this zip file.  The two Pacequip.* files are the revised equipment files created by Steven Strayer.

NOTE: All folder references are for the directory C:\Program Files\Pacific General.

Copy the two Pacequip.* files into the "data" folder after making backups of your existing ones.
Rename the "scen" folder to something else such as "scen_backup".
Create a new "scen" folder.
Copy all other contents of this zip to the "scen" folder.
To play your original campaign(s), simply reverse this process by renaming "scen" to "NS_USNavalCampaign_scen" and then rename "scen_backup" back to "scen".


Acknowledgments:

Special thanks to Steven Strayer for all of his hints and advice and asking my endless series of questions.  Steve also went way beyond the call of duty or generosity and redid two of the maps in this campaign (Overlord and Anzio).  And of course, I've used at least two of the other maps that he has created with incredible detail and great accuracy (Iceland and Norway).  The Iceland map was so nice that I wrote a scenario just to be able to showcase it.  (I just loved the detail of the map.  I thought it was superbly rendered.)  v 0.7 revisions were based almost completely on his preliminary commentary as well as a revised map to allow capital ships to sail around the Malaysian Penninsula, changes in air transports, etc.  

Also a very special thanks to my wife, Janel Sengupta, who has no idea that I've been working on this, and hopefully never will.

Thanks for great feedback from:

Greg Astrige and Chris C. (aka Jinrosoju) for v 0.8 which has led to v 2.0.


Technical Details:

I took a lot of historical liberties with the campaign (such as moving between different theaters, etc.).  Also the player has the opportunity (actually will practically be forced into it) for heavy naval action.  You will be able to pit your vessels against the Italians, the Vichy French, the Germans, the Japanese and even the Soviets!  Any scenario which is based on history may also have many details that are different from the truly historical event.  On the other hand, some of the more historical scenarios are probably more accurate than their Allied General counterparts.  For example, the Sicily scenario has a strategic line which was completely ignored by AG.  And the Normandy scenario has almost no armor or air opposition, at least initially, which is historically accurate.  I have also had fun in cases including ships that were actually sunk at the time of the scenario.  I think at one point, I had the Prince of Wales and King George V sailing together, and at another point, the Bismark and the Tirpitz together as well.  I also included some ships that were never built or completed, such as the Clemanceau, the third Richelieu class vessel.

I have done some extensive research into World War II, and have been a WWII history buff since I was six.  I have done everything from visit Normandy and the Maginot Line on one hand to Pearl Harbor on the other, and I also majored in history (which is a really lousy major for anyone who wants to make more than $15K/year out of college).  This campaign is the result of three or four trips to the library with five to ten WWII books each time.  So I hope that my hypothetical scenarios and line ups and my generous liberties with the reality of history still create an engaging campaign for anyone playing it.  That said, there are technical details that are questionable, such as which ships were in which battles.  At this point, I have decided to keep everything pretty simple since I don't want to invest too much time in this if no one is out there to play it.

The scenarios are, of course, linked as a campaign.  But the first five or so can also be played as replacement scenarios for the American scenarios that come with Pacific General since they have the same values of core units as the US campaign.


Saving...:

I recommend that you save as you go along.  I typically save at the start of a scenario, then do quick saves throughout the scenario (every other turn or so), a save in the middle of the scenario, and then another save at the end of the scenario and give each of them different names.  This does two things:  it enables me to restart if I get totally surprised and lose a very prize unit, and two, it allows me to keep my cool if my machine decides to reboot Pacific General in the middle of a campaign.


Scenario Summaries:

Icelandic Express

The war has broken out.  Japan has attacked Pearl Harbor.  Hitler has declared war on the US.  England and the British fleet have been severely weakend.  The weather in Iceland is nice for a brief period within the year and is a good time to make things happen.  The US has occupied Iceland with a small group of aircraft and men, and is rapidly moving reinforcements in anticipation of an immediate German invasion force which Ultra intercepts point to and which has been confirmed by British aerial reconnaisance overflights of German ports.  The British have a few ships to spare and have placed them at your disposal.  

Hit the German fleet as hard as possible as rapidly as possible to make the German invasion fleet scatter and land on the eastern seaboard of Iceland.  This will disorganize the Germans and make them take much longer to roll westward to Rejkavik and Keflavik, which are their two main objectives.

Crete

The mass of the Italian fleet has been moved out of Taranto and further away from elements of the British fleet based at Gibralter.   Pressure from Hitler and other political reasons have forced the Vichy French fleet, led by the half-complete Jean Bart, the Strasbourg and the Dunquerque join the powerful Italian surface fleet.  Knock out this combined Axis fleet to help secure the Mediterranean for Allied forces.  You'll be getting a little bit of help from the British and the Free French as well.  The Germans have been tied up elsewhere for the most part, and have given the Italians occupation duty in their absence.

Sicily

Combined American/British operation to capture Sicily before moving further up into mainland Italy.  Enemy resistance should be light if we hit them by surprise.  The Italians don't seem to be as interested in the war as they once were.  But their units are well placed.  Intelligence says that there are German units too that are dug in where we would least want them to be.  And their U-boats have been rather active in the area lately.

Spain

Franco and Hitler have combined to capture Gibralter and cut off one end of the Mediterranean.  The Germans have also overrun Portugal and are using its ports for submarines and for long-range naval aircraft.  Gibralter is the overriding objective, but liberation of Portugal and Spain from Hitler and Franco's talons is almost as pressing.

Anzio

Use the American battlewagons to hold the Germans at bay while you establish a firm foothold on the Italian mainland.  German armor and troop reinforcements are rapidly moving toward the front, so establish a firm beachhead as soon as possible.  The Italian carrier group is rumored to be nearby.

Normandy

D-Day.  The Longest Day.  Expect light resistance from the Luftwaffe, at least initially, and from the Kriegsmarine.  But their subs are getting better and there may be one or two or more waiting to disrupt any possible invasion a la Sharpton Sands debaucle...  Try to prevent the German armor from arriving at the front.  This is the most important operation yet.  The whole world will be watching...

Norway

The German fleet has been hiding in German ports as well as Norwegian ports while Hitler has continued his massive Z-Plan naval build-up.  By 1946, the Germans might have the most powerful surface fleet in the world.  Fredrick der Gross is superior to anything in your inventory.  Be careful and use your probable advantage in air power.  There will be one or two P type battleships and maybe the Tirpitz as well, which is aerial reconnaisance had spotted hiding in the northern fiords along with the Peter Strasser aircraft carrier.

Phillipine Sea

The Japanese fleet has sortied en masse to do battle with the American fleet.  In a pure surface engagement, the formidable Yamato and Super Yamato class of vessels will destroy everything you have unless you can weaken the Japanese fleet first with air attacks.  But air superiority may be impossible.

Singapore

The last major elements of the Japanese fleet are based under the watchful big guns and heavy anti-aircraft of the huge naval base of Singapore.  Root them out and destroy them.  Land your invasion fleet and capture Singapore after dispatching the enemy navy.  Watch out for suspected kamikaze aircraft.

Coronet

The Soviets have turned against the US.  Japan has decided to ally its home forces with the Soviets in a faustian pact that guarantees that Japan will get to maintain its territorial sovreignity in exchange for trade concessions and other possessions along with the entire island of Hokiado.  The Soviet invasion force will be hitting from the south west.  Capture Tokyo and meet the Soviets head on.


Design Overview:

I designed this campaign for several reasons:

1.  There are too few campaigns for Pacific General.
2.  The US Campaign has very little naval action.
3.  Because I knew that I would enjoy doing so.
4.  I wanted a campaign that would allow naval and land units to get experience with almost every single scenario.


Known Bugs:

At least one spelling error, and a couple of towns that are unnamed, but both of these are part of the underlying maps and not part of the campaign itself.  And none of them is material nor will any of them affect game play.


Future Plans:

Please send any feedback to NewFrontiers@Mindspring.com.  If it was too easy or too hard, then let me know.  It will be a little easy for you hard-core players.  I will work on this campaign more only if I get feedback so that I know that people are actually playing it.  The Singapore scenario was originally supposed to be a much more difficult Hong Kong scenario, but I haven't been able to get it to work.  There are other things that I might sort out if I get more time, such as proper identification of naval and air units, using maps that have better depictions of the coast line, reworking the Sicily scenario so that one can go around the island, etc.  But I will only do so if I think that anyone cares!  So please let me know that I should do so.

Thanks to everyone who plays this.  Even more thanks to whoever gives me feedback.  Look for your name in the credits of this document in the next release!
Narayan


Narayan Sengupta
NewFrontiers@Mindspring.com

December, 2000-April, 2001