Midway Scenario revisions ( PACIFIC GENERAL )  4 AUG 97
        set up by John Heidle           HEIDLE@NSTAFF.SUNYERIE.EDU

The PacGen MIDWAY scenario seems to me to be very unbalanced, with some 
historical Order of Battle problems noted below.  I have attempted to make up 
a more balanced scenario.  If anyone wishs to playtest this, please email me 
and I will email you these changes.  These games are played via load homemade 
scenario.  They have to be put into PacGen's save directory, not into the 
scenario directory where the original maps are.  You can examine and change 
these revisions in the Battle Generator.

The overall effect of these changes makes a marginal Japanese victory possible 
against the computer, while as the Americans it is harder to win a decisive 
victory (3:2 ratio requirement).  As the Americans, you will have to avoid 
losses in order to win decisively.  Even losing a few cruisers and one fighter 
can result in a minor victory.

I have created two Midway scenarios by using PacGen's Battle Generator.  This 
generator can not change the unit data for each model.  I believe that the 
Zero was historically more effective in 1941 and 1942 against the F4s that 
were used then, but I could not figure out any way to change that except by 
giving some Zeroes more experience.  The 2nd revision doubles the number of 
bombers in the game while eliminating all surface ships except carriers.

Here is what I believe to be the historical Order of Battle for Midway.
I looked at about 10 sources.  There was agreement on many items, but for 
some, particularly the surface ships nearby that were not involved much in the 
battle, there are many discrepancies.


                Japanese        American:
                                total           land            carrier

Fighters           84           108               27                  81
                                                (20 F2A3 Buffalo)
                                                ( 7 F4F3 Wilcats)

Bombers           193           206               52                 154
  (excluding PBY & Japanese equivalent)
                                                (15 B17s)
                                                ( 4 Marauders)
                                                (27 divebombers)
                                                ( 6 torpedo bombers)
  
Destroyers         12           15    
Light Cruisers      1            4
Heavy Cruisers      2            4
Battleships         2            -

NOTES:

    The games's general ratio for FIGHTERS was historically pretty close.
For bombers, the ratio is 2+ to 1, meaning that there were many more bombers
historically than are on the game map.  One of the variants doubles the number 
of bombers, so that creates a very different game.  For that game I have 
excluded all surface ships except carriers since the surface ships were not
much involved either way.  You have to use bombers to kill the carriers, so
the torpedo bombers become very important as they allow more than one bombing 
attack per turn on a carrier.
    The one gross inaccuracy in the original order of battle was land-based 
fighters.  The game shows 40 while only 27 were present, most of which were 
obsolescent F2A3 Buffaloes which are not even available in June 42 in the 
PacGen database.  The land-based fighters were overwhelmed by 36 Zeroes,
so the land based fighters were changed to 3 different models that appeared 
before the F4F.  I left the American carrier fighters unchanged.  Even though 
I saw no mention of Claude fighters, I still kept the 3 Claudes in the 
revision.  I did increase 3 Zeke's experience to 1*.
    I also changed the land based bombers.  There is one B17 to represent 
both the 15 B17s and the 4 Marauders (2 to 1 bomber ratio).  There is one 
land based Marine Dauntless divebomber.  All of the 3 long range recon level 
bombers (Ami PBY + J Mavis) were reduced to 5 strength to reflect their use as 
recon, not as actual bombers.
    NAVY changes:  only 4 Japanese carriers were involved, so one was dropped.
That taskforce had 2 battleships, so I included them.  The destroyers are 
represented by four Japanese and 5 American to reflect the 4 to 5 ratio.  The 
single American sub was retained.

>>    The resulting Order of Battle for Midway.r1  ==
                                                                  
                Japanese                American

Fighters        3 Claude                2 FF1 Grumann
                3 Zeroes                7 Wildcats
                3 1* Zeroes             1 P40 (land based) @8
                                        1 P39 Air Cobra (land based) @8
                                        1 P36 (land based) @8

Bombers         3 Kate                  2 TDF
                5 Val                   4 Dauntless
                1 Mavis (@5)            1 Dauntless (land based)
                                        1 B 17
                                        2 PBY (@5)

Destroyers          4                   5    
Light Cruisers      1                   4
Heavy Cruisers      2                   4
Battleships         2                   -
Sub                 -                   1


>>    The Order of Battle for bomber heavy Midway.b2  ==
                                                                  
                Japanese                American

Fighters        9 Zekes                 9 Wildcats
                                        1 P40 (land based) @8
                                        1 P39 Air Cobra (land based) @8
                                        1 P36 (land based) @8

Bombers         6 Kate                  4 TDF
               10 Val                   8 Dauntless
                2 Maven (@5)            2 Dauntless (land based)
                                        1 B 17
                                        1 B26 
                                        4 PBY (@5)

Carriers        4                       3

>>   BATTLE GENERATOR NOTES:

  Load Scenario was initially very confusing.  I wanted to load and modify the 
Midway unit data, but this is not allowed.  Load means to load a battle 
generator scenario, not the data from an original scenario.  
  To use Battle Generator, first load a map.  Some Allied and a few Panzer 
General maps are included along with all the Pacific General maps.  Where 
scenarios are in both Panzer & Allied, the Allied map is used.  You have to put 
in the individual units thru a Purchase menu, then you have to deploy the 
units on the map.  This procedure will make it very tedious to revise Panzer 
or Allied games as you will have to write down an order of battle for them, 
then purchase and deploy each individual unit.  Also the map screen is clumsy 
to use as one constantly has to switch from edit more to place unit mode in 
order to move units around after the initial deployment.
  For the two revised Midways, I set both sides to defend, hoping to lessen 
the chances of the computer AI sending carriers ahead recklessly.  Other 
parameters can be examined in Battle Generator.  Prestige was set to 1, 
scoring only depends upon kill ratio.  Against the computer, there seems to be 
some given base score for the AI at the start of the game which can not be 
modified.
