Game review: SOPAC By: Avalanche Press Rating: on a scale of 1-10 with 10 the best, I give it a 3. Let me start out by saying that the tactical game involving the ships is fun. SOPAC is AP’s first foray into expanding their GREAT WAR AT SEA system into the Second World War. If they had designed a game without airpower (good luck) it might have worked. With the air units combined with the operational system it fails. Gripes: I base most of my complaints upon my extensive knowledge of the South Pacific struggle that took place from 1942 to 1943. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I know a **tiny** bit about what went on From May till December of 1942. My observations are based upon a playing 6 turns of the CORAL SEA operational scenario, May 1-8th, 1942 with Kevin Kiff, who knows a bit about the battle himself. #1. F4F-3s are rated better than A6M2’s. Give me a brake. The only advantages the wildcat had over the zero was firepower and durability. All other pertinent aspects of aircombat went to the Zero. The game gives the F4F-4 the same ratings at the A6M2, but state the F-3 was superior to the F-4 since the F-3 had two fewer .50 cals making the plane much more maneuverable. More maneuverable than a Zero? I don’t think so. The US Navy didn’t gain an advantage over the Zero until the Hellcat entered service in mid-43. #2. Submarine speeds. Turns in the operational game are 4 hours thereby giving 6 turns a day. Each hex corresponds to 36 N.miles. So far so good. The problem is that submarines can move every other turn instead of each turn and they can only move 1 hex per turn. So in 8 hours the subs can move 36 miles. Wait a minute, I-boats could make 23 knts an hour on the surface and the US fleet boats could do about 20 knts. So in this game submarines are limited to about 4 knts throughout the entire game. Once the transports and merchant ships get by a sub it becomes impossible for the sub to catch them! So much for the end around manuver. I realize that AP is assuming that the subs are all submerged but it doesn’t make for an exciting, or historically correct game. #3. American eunuch subs. Now I realize that American submarines suffered from poor torpedoes throughout most of 1942 and 1943, but in this game American submarines can only hit ships that are moving if the ship is a carrier, BB, BC (due to negative die roll modifiers being cancelled out by the size of the capital ships) or if the ship is dead in the water or stopped to unload. Therefore it is impossible for a boat like the SS-44 to hit a Japanese CA like the Kako which it sank the morning after the battle of Savo Island. Also, unless a Japanese merchant ship is stopped to unload it is impossible for the USN subs to hit these ships. It should be hard for the USN sub to hit/kill a TR or Mechant ship, but not impossible. #4. Lae and the Ki-43’s/G3M’s . As I said earlier, we played the Coral Sea scenario, May 1-8th, 1942. I don’t know who did the research on this scenario over at AP, but they have Ki-43’s, two counters full, based at Lae on New Guinea. I’m sorry, the Imperial Japanese Air Force didn’t make it to the Solomons and New Guinea until December of ’42, not May. Also, the air base at Lae was a very small, dirt airfield incapable of handling twin engine bombers during the Spring of ’42 (aside from emergency landings I would assume). So why did AP place two counters full of G3M’s there? More fantasy on the part of AP. #5. Tulagi Seaplane base. In this scenario, as in real life, the Japanese had a sea plane base at Tulagi. So far so good. I’m sure most on this board are familiar with the fact that the USN took out this base with strikes from the US Carriers (Yorktown and Lexington) at the beginning of the battle. In this game, don’t bother trying to take out this seaplane base because it will take you a couple of days to duplicate the same feat, even with better than average die rolls. But it is critical that the Americans take out the that base or the Japanese will have valuable intelligence generated by the indestructible Sea planes! #6. Indestructable Sea planes. At the beginning of the day, before any strikes can be launched against bases, either side can put their sea planes in the "search" or "ASW" box. While in these boxes it is impossible for the Sea planes to be harmed. So you can pound their bases with attacks over twelve hours (three turns) and not a single sea plane will be harmed. Oh you can shoot them down on bad search die rolls while they attempt to search enemy task forces, but the "shoot-downs" have no affect on the counters that represent the sea planes! What? What is the point in "shooting them down" if it has no affect? #7. Northern Hemisphere prejudice. In this game, during the November, December and January turns, the "dusk" turns are treated at "night". The problem is that in the Southern hemisphere, where these battles are taking place, November, December and January are SUMMER months, not winter and dusk turns should be considered "day" instead of night. . Obviously, these people who designed the game or edited it didn’t travel to the South Pacific or they would know this. Well I’ll leave it at that. Kevin Kiff and I gave some 6 turns into the game deciding that the game needs a substantial re-work. The game does have some promise, especially with the fun tactical surface combat aspects, but the operational game is FUBAR as it stands. My advice is stay away from this game and their Indian Ocean version that is coming out until they fix SOPAC. Bowden