Integrated Pacific War Campaign (1941-45)

Integrated Pacific War Campaign, 1941-45

World-War-II-Pacific

Asian warfare is necessary part of the World War Two, and unique forces, weapons and maps are very attractive for the game.
However, the method used in the current game that implement any battle as “Campaign” is not suitable for Asia-Pacific war. Therefore, I suggest to implement “Pacific-War campaign” instead of implement some specific battles like Guadalcanal, Iwojima, Okinawa etc.

In this suggestion, I suggest battle between Japanese and allied nations, especially American, British (include India, Australia and other colonies) and Dutch.

Also, as you know Chinese is very important part of ABCD line, but it is a bit unnatural for Chinese troops to fight on the Pacific islands so I did not contained them. Perhaps Chinese National Revolutionary Army in Burma is interesting addition for premium squads.

Problems of currently game method

Summary

Unbalanced weapons

To make a good game, balanced weapons are necessary. However, there are large gap between Japanese and Americans.
For example, in case of submachine guns, they were quite rare and only few units used it. Also, in case of tanks, Japanese adopted Type 97 MT Chi-Ha with 47mm as a counter of M3 Stuart but when they reached to battlefields, allies already had more heavily armored tank like Matilda or Sherman etc.

Lack of weapons

To build the campaign progress, it is necessary to have various weapons and vehicles. However, except for some battles there weren’t enough number of weapons.
Especially, problems of Japanese armored vehicles were quite serious. In most of battlefields, there were only one or two types of tanks. In addition, decent vehicles which are able to destroy M4 medium tank were used only in Philippines or stayed in Japan.

Map problems

Pacific maps basis on famous battlefields have some problems.
In the South-Pacific islands like Guadalcanal, Peleliu, New Guiana etc., it is a bit difficult to make enough variation of types of battle areas: there were only beach, deep jungle, airfield and high mountains. There are not many man-made objects, and due to the small number of man-made objects, it is difficult to create multiple battle areas that change in the same area, such as in urban area, villages and fortresses.
Large islands like Philippines islands, Okinawa etc have enough size of area and have enough component.

Separation of player

In the campaign basis on single battle, there aren’t enough room for update. Due to it, if developers want to keep updating the game they have to implement new campaign.
However, this system separate player and cause serious matching problems.

Advantages of this idea

In other hand, this suggestion have each advantages below:

Large variation of map

If expand campaign from one battlefield to Asia-Pacific war in 1941-45, we can get enough weapons and it makes easy to construct campaign progress.
Also, it makes game designers easier to take balance.

Large variation of map

It is possible to implement multiple battlefield maps for one campaign. By this future, we can fight not only jungles of Guadalcanal but also urban area of Manila, hills of Okinawa, cave positions of Iwojima etc.

Highly expandable

It can contain whole battlefields of Pacific area. Because of it, it is possible to implement new battlefields in the update. Also, there are large amount of types of weapons and it is very good for update, too.
Also, implement highly expandable “theater” campaign instead of separate to multiple campaign is very good when considering the playerbase.

Weapons in the campaign

Weapons on the Axis side were used by the Japanese Army and Navy. It also includes weapons produced in factories in China occupied by the Japanese and weapons captured by the Japanese.

Allied weapons were used by American, British, Indian and Australian forces. In addition, weapons of the Dutch East Indies Army and the Chinese National Revolutionary Army in the Burma would also be suitable for Gold Orders and premium squads.

Rifle


Note:
“I” is initial of “Italy” in Japanese.
“Mo” is initial of “Mauser” in Japanese.

Japanese
As well known, Japanese did not used domestic-production semi-auto rifle on the battlefield. Due to it, we have to implement prototype weapons.
Allies
Slightly less variety of bolt-action rifles, but generally it’s fine.

Sniper Rifle

Japanese
Late models of Experimental Automatic Rifles had scope mount on side.

Allies
Same as Normandy.

Rifle Grenade launchers

Both
First grenade launcher is ordinally grenade and second grenade launcher is anti-tank grenade.

Submachine Gun


Note:
“Be” is initial of “Bergmann” in Japanese.
“Su” is initial of “Steyr” in Japanese.

Japanese
There are four types of available Japanese SMGs.
For Japanese, SMG had multiple problem (logistics, effective range etc) so service was limited.

  1. Imported by Navy for their ground forces: SIG-Bergmann M1920 and S1-100 (Japanese variant with 7.63mm ammo and bayonet)
  2. Variants of Type 100 machine pistol
  3. Experimental prototypes
  4. Captured/produced at Manchuria: Thompson SMG

Allies
For Pacific campaign, I added US Marines’ M50 Reising and Australian Owen gun.

Light Machine Gun


Note:
“Chi” is initial of “Czech” in Japanese.

Japanese
Both Type 91 and Type 97 were machine gun for armored vehicles, but they could equip bipods for ground battels.
Type 96 and Type 99 can equip bayonet and scopes. It would be interesting equipment in the game.

Japanese captured lots of ZB vz.26 machine gun at 2nd Sino-Japanese war. In addition, they adopt it officially and manufactured over 20,000 on captured Chinese arsenals during WW2 .

11th Year Type LMG and Type 91 Tank LMG used rifle’s 5 rounds clip. Experimental Type 3 LMG used feed strip similar to heavy machine guns.

Allies
For Pacific campaign, I added unique US Marines’ Johnson M1941 machine gun.

Flamethrower

Japanese
Different to US, Japanese used lots of flamethrowers since the early of war because it was effective weapon when attack bunker and urban warfare.
Navy used not only Type 93/Type 100 but also outdated Mk.1 Flamethrower (一号火炎放射器).

Allies
At the late of war, they often used flamethrowers to attack Japanese cave positions.

Motor

American motor seems heavy a bit.

AT Weapon

Japanese
Due to Japanese did not had light-weight anti-tank rifle, I selected HEAT shell launchers.
Except for naval 8cm rocket launcher, they were never used in the battlefield. Naval 8cm rocket launcher was used during Battle of Philippine in 1944.

Allies
There’s no problem.

Handgun

Japanese
FN Browning M1910 was one of the most popular officer’s personal handgun in the Japanese army.
In Japanese army, officers used personal handguns, so they had about hundreds of types of pistols. Because of it, Japanese arsenal have to supply not only domestic Nambu 7mm/8mm/9mm cartridges but also .25ACP, .32ACP and 7.63x25mm Mauser etc. (Although, it seems that they refused to supply some minor ammunition when requested to do so.)

Example: IJA 19th Division

将校准士官軍装用拳銃同実包補給の件
In case of IJA 19th Division, there were twenty-eight types of pistols.

Number of bullets requested for procurement (over hundred) were below:

8mm 14th Year Type: 1619
8mm Type 94: 1430
7.65mm Browning (M1910): 802
7.65mm Mauser Medium (M1914): 244
6.35mm Mauser (1910): 212
7.65mm Royal (Ruby): 168
6.35mm Browning (FN baby): 199
7.65mm Colt (M1908): 114

Allies
I inserted Colt Pocket Hammerless which is used by officers.

Armored Vehicles

Japanese
Type 3 MT, Type 4 MT and Naval 12cm SPG were not sent to battlefield.
Type 1 Gun Tank equips decent 75mm field gun, but protection is limited. Type4 Gun Tank equips mighty 15cm howitzer and it can destroy all US tanks.

Allies
To take balance, I added multiple light protected vehicles. Their protection are limited but have good mobility.

Aircrafts

Japanese
There are really lots of good aircrafts and it is difficult to select them.
Generally speaking, army’s aircrafts are suitable for ground battles.

Allies
Same as above.
Marines’ naval aircrafts will be interesting.


Battlefield

In the Pacific War, battles were fought not only in jungles, but also in mountains and urban areas.
In the game, developers can choose several battlefield as a map of Integrated Pacific War campaign. In addition, they can add several battlefield as a new map in the major update.

  • Philippine

    • This islands became battle field two times.
    • Battle of Philippine in 1944 was one of the largest battle of the Pacific War. Both functions mobilized vast numbers of aircraft, warships, and soldiers.
    • Not only jungles but also large city like Manila became a fierce battlefield.
  • Okinawa

    • One of the fiercest battles of the end of the war.
    • Okinawa was a part of the mainland with a large population, so there was a large number of Japanese soldiers, including child soldiers.
  • Iwojima

    • Battle for a volcanic island in the distant sea.
    • Heavily fortified island and there were lots of cave positions.
  • Malaya / Singapore

    • Battle over Singapore, the largest base of British forces in the East.
  • Burma

    • A very important front for supply routes to China. Not only British commonwealth but also Chinese National Revolutionary Army participated the battle.
    • The Battle of Imphal was a particularly important decisive battle, after which the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia collapsed.
  • Guadalcanal

    • The Battle of Guadalcanal was one of the first defeat of Japanese army. It is an important battle where offense and defense are switched.
    • Jungles and open sandy estuaries are the main battlefields.
    • This island was called “飢島” (Ga-To / starvation island) by Japanese.

and more

7 Likes

I am not gonna read, but i see that this is well made and took some effort.

I can see youre just like me. You keep making pacific posts, i keep making new moscow posts :smiley:

1 Like

Yeah, but I believe it is better than my previous posts :slight_smile:
Separate to multiple campaigns have serious problem and integrated Asia-Pacific war campaign would be great.

well they should integrate several campaigns into fronts. so early weapons can be put into early campaigns and late weapons in later parts. it could solve many things like disunified playerbase, better MM etc.

1 Like

Addendum: Possible Japanese Special Forces

Similar to other country, Japanese also established various special operation forces.
They will be interesting addition for premium squad or event squad.

Army Paratroopers

Army paratrooper unit were called Raiding troops. (挺進, teishin) Raiding troop means not only paratrooper but also commando units, so now it is called Kūtei (空挺), which is a shorten of Air Raiding (空中挺進, chū Teishin).

After the early victories of the war, a military song was composed in their honor, the “Sora no Shimpei” (God Troops in the Sky). Now, this song is official march of the JGSDF 1st Airborne Brigade.

1st Raiding Brigade / 挺進第一連隊 (1RB)

1st Raiding Brigade was established in December 4, 1941. This brigade consisted with 1st Raiding Regiment, 2nd Raiding Regiment and Raiding Flight Regiment (transport aircraft group).

1st Raiding Regiment lost all equipment before operation because transport ship was sunk, but 2nd Raiding Regiment participated the airborne operation on the Palembang. They succeeded in capturing the oil refinery, which was the most important target of Japanese, and is known as the greatest victory of the Japanese paratroopers.

Equipment
They equipped with state of the art weapons because they were elite unit. In addition, all troops had pistol.

  • Type 94 Pistol
  • Type 99 Short Rifle
  • Type 99 Light Machine Gun
  • Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
  • Type 100 Flamethrower
  • Type 100 Rifle Grenade Launcher
  • Type 89 Heavy Grenade Discharger

1st Riding Division / 第一挺進集団 (1RD)

1st Riding Division is established in November 1944 and sent to Luzon island. Among them, 1st Glider Infantry Regiment and headquarter were sunk during transportation. 2nd Glider Infantry Regiment was destroyed in Battle of Clark district.
2nd Riding Brigade (aka Takachiho Airborne Unit) participated airborne operation to airfields on Leyte island to support all-out ground attack and counter-landing operations. However, counterattack was failed so additional airborne operation was canceled. Remeining troops in Luzon were participated airborne operation to Ormoc.

Equipment
Equipment is same as early of war, but in addition they received new weapons as below:

  • Thompson Submachine Gun
  • Type 2 Rifle (Takedown rifle)
  • Type 100 Submachine Gun

Naval Paratroopers

During the war, both Japanese army and navy had paratrooper forces.
Naval paratroopers were equipped with not only army’s weapon but also naval unique weapons. Their main firearms were below:

  • Type 94 Pistol
  • Browning M1910 Pistol
  • Type 38 Carbine
  • SIG-Bergmann M1920 submachine gun
  • Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 submachine gun
  • Type 89 Heavy Grenade Discharger
  • Type 96 Light Machine Gun
  • Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
  • Type 94 37 mm Gun
  • Type 99 20mm Machine Gun

Yokosuka District 1st Special Naval Landing Force (1941-44) / 横須賀鎮守府第一特別陸戦隊

Both Yokosuka District 1st and 3rd SNLF were paratroopers of the naval ground forces.
This force was the first naval paratrooper unit established in September 20, 1941. They participated airborne operation on Manado, North Sulawesi during the Operation H.
This unit was annihilated in the battle of Saipan in 1944.

Yokosuka District 3rd Special Naval Landing Force (1941-43) / 横須賀鎮守府第三特別陸戦隊

Participated airborne operation on Timor island during the Operation H. In March 1943, they merged with Yokosuka district 1st SNLF.

Airlift Commando unit

At the late of war, Japanese army established airlifted special forces. In the operation, their transport aircrafts landed to enemy airfield to destroy enemy aircrafts. These operations were called 戯号作戦.

They armed with relatively good equipment. Firearms were below:

  • Type 94 Pistol
  • Type 99 Short Rifle
  • Type 100 Submachine Gun
  • Type 99 Light Machine Gun
  • Type 89 Heavy Grenade Discharger

In addition, they often used 2kg Explosive with stick and sucker to destroy enemy aircrafts. It will be interesting unique equipment for premium squad.

Drawing

http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~fuwe1a/newpage14.html#:~:text=を発射する。-,★吸着梱包爆薬,-戦争末期から

Kaoru Paratroopers / 薫空挺隊

Kaoru paratroopers (“Kaoru” means fragrant) was Japanese army’s command unit established in 1945.
They were consisted with ethnic minorities in Taiwan which is a part of Takasago Volunteers.
They participated assault operation to enemy airfields at Leyte islands.

Giretsu Paratroopers / 義烈空挺隊

Giretsu Paratroopers (“Giretsu” means Heroic) was Japanese army’s commando/paratrooper unit established in 1945.
In May 24, 1945, they landed to Yomitan airfield (Okinawa) by Type 97 Heavy Bomber and destroyed enemy aircrafts and munitions.

Uniform
They used ordinally uniform, but they painted camouflage of spots with green dye.

Photo

image

Jungle unit

Takasago Volunteers / 高砂義勇隊

Takasago volunteers were special units for jungle warfare. They were consisted with ethnic minorities in Taiwan (not Chinese Taiwanese). They were well known for their jungle survival ability.

Submarine-lifted special unit

Since 1944, Japanese navy start to train special troops landed by submarines to assassinate enemy commanders or sabotage on enemy territory.
Later, they changed plan to use aircrafts instead of I-361 class submarine, and target was changed to destroy nuclear bombs in Tinian island, but operation was cancelled due to end of war.

Kure District 101st Special Naval Landing Force / 呉鎮守府第101特別陸戦隊

aka Yamaoka (山岡) unit

Sasebo District 101st Special Naval Landing Force / 佐世保鎮守府第101特別陸戦隊

aka Yamabe (山辺) unit

Sasebo District 102st Special Naval Landing Force / 佐世保鎮守府第102特別陸戦隊

aka Tokiwa (常磐) unit