Japan 45

[Strela]

KK, you can post as you like here, as long as you don't violate our rules, but JTS/designers don't HAVE to reply. So Bill is well within his rights to state what he did. And you can share your thoughts, and feedback. But don't expect Bill to be involved per his post. Appreciate your sharing things, but Bill has his way of getting feedback so if you want him to get it, you will have to do as he asks, assuming you have anything now.

Rick

All,

Firstly, thank you Ricky for helping dial down the heat a little bit here.

We welcome all feedback on all titles - good and bad. There has been a truckload of it over time and much of it has been included in updates and future development.

I want to be clear on the state of Panzer Campaigns (PzC). This series was essentially finished back in 2012 with the release of PzC Moscow '42. This was the 21st release in the series and I was the only developer left working on the series with the 'retirement' of Glenn Saunders. I moved across to Panzer Battles (PzB) at the request of John Tiller and we essentially mothballed all work on PzC as there was no one left to finish any titles that were under consideration.

In 2017, Rich Hamilton and I decided on an ambitious project to update the (whole) JTS catalogue to included some of the developments that we had learned with the WDS PzB and American Civil War titles. From this the PzC Gold updates were created. During this process, Mike Prucha (of France '40 Gold) joined the team and Bill Peters volunteered to look at some stillborn PzC projects as he had ended his Napoleonic tenure.

Bill picked up the work Glenn Saunders had started on Japan '45 back in 2009 and did an absolute mountain of work to get that title in shape and out to you. This is his first title in the series and was a big learning experience thing for him. There are some areas that we cautioned on such as which optional rules, but we give the designers the latitude to select what they believe is appropriate. Post release, we can see where there have been issues that haven't reflected what we were trying to simulate. Some of these have been the crux of this thread. Many of the learnings called out here have been taken into consideration for the upcoming Japan '46 and we have gone back and laid out the revisions we're doing for Japan '45. This included another review and adjustment to the PDT files. I expect a follow-up mini patch for Japan '45 to align it with the changes we have made for Japan '46.

Kool Kat's call out on #45_1107_3: Eastern Beaches - The Breakout highlights the challenges we sometimes have testing scenarios and providing 'appropriate' scoring. This scenario was tested against the Japanese AI with higher victory levels set for that scenario in the Solo Victory condition document (values of 200, 500, 800 & 1,100 respectively). These were then scaled back for the HtH values that were in the scenario played. This scenario was not tested HtH (though many were) and feedback on scoring issues as called out by Kool Kat are welcome feedback for future patches. 

The discussion around fortifications should take into consideration the books we have included in the bibliography. In particular people should try and read Steven Zaloga's Osprey - Fortress 099 - Defense of Japan 1945. This is a very good primer on the Japanese strategy, state of the defenses, Japanese doctrine and resources available to augment any defensive effort. Please do try and look through the items mentioned in the Designers Notes as there was some very deep consideration for the applicable fortifications and what would have been available and the interplay with the game system.

We're sorry that some in the community are unhappy with this title. Please keep in mind this is the first time we have done anything in the Pacific theatre and also using the fanatical nations rule. Though a first time developer to the PzC series, Bill is extremely experienced with delivering (Napoleonic) titles for JTS. Rarely, do people universally like a title and with the amount of content included there will always be areas that people have a different perspective on. This is one of the reasons that we include the editors to allow players unhappy with design decisions to make their own variants and we will always try and support those that build mods. If we believe there are areas that we have got wrong, we will call that out and aim to correct them in the next patch cycle.

Finally, through the effort of Bill and Mike, the PzC series has been revived with new titles being worked on. These guys do this in their spare time and it can be challenging when there is some pretty 'demanding' threads on the whys and wherefores. We try and be and be as clear on why decisions are made (included Designer Notes and feedback on Forums such as the Blitz) but we will never satisfy everyone. Without these guys and the people working with them you would not be getting any new titles or much of the additional (free) content that was provided with the Gold updates.

David

PS As far as refunds, I will leave JTS support to work that with those that want them.