War in the Pacific RELEASED!

[+pcpilot 181]

This game isnt actually a sim. Its more of an operational wargame. However, since it covers the Pacific war, the navies of both sides are a major factor in combat, hence, I felt it newsworthy to include a forum topic covering it's release. This game has been under devolpment by 2by3 games and Matrix games for quite sometime. If you have played Uncommon Valor by the same people, which covers the NewGuine/Solomon Islands area of operations, then you have an idea what this game is mostly about. However, on reading the game description, it is apparent there are a number of changes, improvements, etc., not the least of which is the AWESOME size of the area of conflict. Not just a local area like the Solomons, no sir. The whole Pacific! You heard right, the whole FREAKING BANANA! :D

 

Anyway, enough blabbering. Here is an excerpt from the Matrix website describing the game...

 

“ War in the Pacific: The Struggle Against Japan 1941-1945™ ” is a completely new strategy game, based on the award winning “Uncommon Valor” game engine. The scale is 60 miles per hex and losses are individual vehicles, aircraft, guns and squads. Since half the planet Earth is covered by the titanic Pacific struggle, the game is massive in scope, covering thousands of ships tens of thousands of aircraft. Virtually every ship, air group and battalion sized or larger troop formation is covered in exacting detail. Massive, yet simple to play, as the computer tracks all the factors and the interface allows the player to concern himself with only the degree of detail he prefers. Phases are one day, composed of two 12-hour impulses. A turn is composed of 1 to 7 phases, at the player’s discretion. He may also choose continuous play and may interrupt that by pressing a key. War in the Pacific has detail never before achieved in a game of this scale before.

 

Key Features:

 

WitP covers the entire Pacific Theater of WWII from Dec 7th 1941 until June 30th 1946.

 

Huge game map - 148 X 148 hexes with each hex representing 60 nautical miles.

 

The armed forces of every major nation are represented.

 

The Japanese control their production.

 

Oil and Resources added to the game for production.

 

Complete player control of aircraft upgrades.

 

Course and Speed – Course and speed is now provided with spotting reports.

 

Divide Units – land and air units can be divided into sub units and recombined as needed.

 

Table of Equipment - An option has been added that allows the player to view the TOE for the selected ground combat unit.

 

Coastal Defense Units will now protect friendly mine fields.

 

Air Dropped Mines - Starting in 1943 the Allied player may mine ports by using air dropped mines.

 

Air Dropped Supplies – Supplies may be air dropped onto any friendly hex.

 

Air Transport Pick Up Option – You can now fly from one base, pick up troops at another base and return them to the first base.

 

Target Selection – It is possible to select a target that is out of range so that you can set up a carrier strike the turn before.

 

Atomic Bombs – When available an atomic attack can be made on any city with industrial center.

 

New City Attack Option – The player can select a city to attack and the industry within that city to be targeted.

 

New Fire Bombing Mission - City attacks on Manpower have a chance of creating high fire levels that will cause damage to any and all industry within the city and has the possibility of creating a firestorm.

 

Kamikazes – After January 1944, if the Allies get too close to Japan, the Japanese player can form Kamikaze squadrons to smash into enemy ships and drive them away from the homeland.

 

New ASW Taskforce – Use the ASW Combat task force to locate and attack enemy submarines before they are able to fire their torpedoes.

 

New Escort Taskforce – Use the Escort task force to escort your damaged vessels back to a safe port.

 

Manchukuo Garrison Requirement - The Japanese player must keep a certain number of assault points in the Manchukuo area or the Soviet Union may be activated.

 

Political Points - Each day, each player accumulates political points which can be used to reassign assets to the various headquarters or to change leaders.

 

Preparation Points – Ground units can prepare to attack a given location by setting its future objective and accumulating preparation point prior to making the attack.

 

Ship Repair- Now you have a choice of where to send damaged ships for repair. Each side has a number of different ports to choose from and each port is rated for its own repair capabilities.

 

Special Ships - A submarine, PT or DD tender may help two ships per turn repair (they give a bonus equal to increasing the port size by 2). A repair ship may help four ships per turn repair.

 

Training of LCUs – Land combat units can now be trained, until they reach 75% experience.

 

New Set Speed Order – Take full control of your task force and pick the speed setting you want.

 

New Reaction Range Order – Rein in your aggressive commanders by setting the maximum range they are allowed to react..

 

New Unload/Don’t Unload Order – You decide if the taskforce will unload upon arriving at its destination. Now you can send that taskforce into a port to refuel without it unloading its cargo.

 

New Do not Refuel Order – Tired of having merchant ships suck up all the available fuel? Now you can set them to Do Not Refuel and save that fuel for you war ships.

 

New Auto-Disband Order – With this set to on the taskforce will automatically disband when it reaches its destination saving. This is a great option when sending ships into port for repairs.

 

New Max Range Settings for Air Groups – Worried about that invasion taskforce just off the coast? Set the max range for your air groups to 1 an ensure they defend their home island.

 

New amphibious assault rules that make use of specialized ships and landing craft.

 

Filters have been added to most information windows, which allow the players to easily find the information they are looking for.

 

Engineers and Demolition - There is now an added demolition routine that looks at the number of engineers at a base when it is captured and gives them a chance to damage factories, airfields and ports before the capture.

 

British Ship Withdrawal - Withdrawals of British Ships (Human player only and only in full map scenarios) – On the first of each month the computer will calculate which, if any, ships must be withdrawn by the human player by the end of the month.

 

Chinese Partisans - All Chinese Nationality bases that are controlled by the Japanese are subject to damage by partisans, if not adequately garrisoned.

 

 

Matrix WITP website is HERE! Take a moment and look at the screens, very nice! Only thing that caused me discomfort was the astronomical price of $69.99! Someone thinks mighty highly of their coding work. And work it is to be sure, but Uncommon Valor took something like 6 or 7 patches to finally settle down to a relatively bug-free game. I think I'll wait on my purchase and read some reviews and keep an eye on the Matrix WITP FORUMS before I even THINK about shelling out that kind of dough.