Thanks for the quick replies.
Now to make sure I get the all the useful info.
1. Repeat to self. "SP:WAW is not WinSPWW2"
2. The reason my tanks are getting nailed is due to a lucky top hit, or getting hit by a mortar. Yes they are tin coffins (Ft-17 Tg and Ft-17 MG). So I guess I should try to keep a bit more distance with the Japanese Squads.
3. I don't get it. Am I supposed to get a formation for AAMGs in 1931, or is everything working as intended, and Nat Chi is not allowed a AA formation early in the war (very true, NatChi had very little credible AA assets ( there was nothing to shoot at), and the game represents it very well by allowing them a pea shooter AAMG as the only AA weapon. I miss the Bofors from WAW
.)?
I guess if it is the secound case, I better grin and bear the planes in the first mission, and quickly upgrade my HMGs to AAMGs.
3. About the tankers who look like infantrymen. I loaded another campaign, bought a few armour groups, and checked their armour command ratings of the officers. They still have armour ratings in the teens, but with pretty decent infantry command ratings of 60s. Now I am not complaining about this at all (very historical, a few of my distant relatives talked about how rare it was to even see a tank, much less find someone who knew how to drive and use it), but when I look into the manual and see that nice example officer with decent armour command ratings, and then look at my own tankers running after a few shots and generally missing the enemy, I get the feeling the KMT army has reached the bottom of the barrel and are assigning random conscripts who may have never seen a engine in their lives to command tanks. I mean, heck, my pioneers ( guess they know engineering) and a few infantry have better armour command ratings. Is this a bug, or a cool feature that adds a lot of historical flavour? I am playing on default historical troop quality by the way.
4. On artillery strikes. I guess I have been spoiled by WAW, becuase artillery there hits very fast, often at the end of MY turn. I do plot priority fire hexes and plot missions in advance (mostly on crossroads/towns/ victory hexes), but I hesitate in plotting it inside the jungle. Why? My troops will have to move through the forest eventually, and low morale+ suppression and casualties from fires are a deadly combination. I will give it a try to see what happens though.
A secound point why I don't plot arty until I see the enemy is because I believe there is a severe accuracy/delay penalty if the spotter has no LOS to the target. Should I just ignore it and go blow up the jungle anyways? I have several hilarious incidents of friendly artillery missing the targets by a mile, and hitting my ammo mules, causing havoc and a chain rout when I tried artillery missions without LOS.
5. On Militia. I bought them as support troops, becuase I would rather the militia bump into the Japanese troops rather than my core troops. I guess they are quite the liability. Any suggestions on what to get for support? I always thought support was supposed to be cheap and expendable. Does NatChi have any Off Map artillery at all?
6. On spotters for artillery. From what I gather, any X0 unit can call for artillery? So say I buy a sniper and he spots some enemy troops? Can he call artillery, as he is a X0 unit? Should I have bought a dedicated FO? I used to use my scouts to call for artilllery.
7. On the Long Campaign. Hurray! Someday I can even fight warlords. Would it be possible to have the Chinese Communist forces buy Soviet Allied Support troops late in the war for flavour ( representing soviet advisers)? That would give the NatChi player a NATsty shock. The level of support in this game is amazing.
Once again, great game and thanks for all the help.