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The rifles and balancing?

British?

British?

British small arms would be a balance to the American??? You link goes to a Wiki British small arms page... NO! Is this a mistake or intentional? Why would you want to give the Japanese what they didn't have?

The Japanese should have what they typically had on these islands:

Rifles Type 99
LMGs Type 96/97/99 (99 being the most common)
HMG Type 92
Type 89 grenade launcher (Knee Mortar)
Pistol Type 18
Sword/s Officer/Nco
Grenade Type 97
Mortar - any which type from 70mm to 150 mm
Tank/s Type 95/97

The saving grace of the Japanese should be their extensive defensive positions, where it takes more Marines/GIs to root them out as is/was historically accurate ortherwise, by giving them what they didn't have creates a fantasy game which is not the intention of the Rising Storm mod. On these maps the Japanese will have to use their cover and well established position networks to their advantage, with maybe the knowledge that they will not win, but to prolong the map as they prolonged so many an Island battle for as long as they could. If such a game was to be accurate, it will only be a matter of time before the Japanese are out of ammo and overwhelmed by superior numbers and firepower. So why then would anyone want to play Japanese - simple, to see how much damage they can inflict upon their attackers.

What some of you may not realize is this, if you're attacking you should be lucky to even see the Japanese as more Marines did not - you only heard the wizzing rounds passing you by, and or striking into your buddies and the ground around you, until you, yourself were hit. On any of these islands, the only time you'll see them is when you're right up on top of them, or they're launching a counter attack. Typically for most the battles/maps you might play, past 1942 the Japanese will not be much in the way of attacking - from late 1943 and on they are mainly on the defensive, with of corse many a counter-measure/attack made to block or stop the invading Marines/GIs.

Their defensive positions should be so well created that you'll not see them until you're only 50 feet infront of them. Most bunkers, pill boxes, caves and tunnels are/were so well hidden that they simply blended into the natural surroundings. One has to remember that then they were covered with sand and or coral and sand with plants growing ontop to where they looked like just another sand dune or lump/hill feature in a sea of wrecked jungle (after naval and aerial bombardment).
 
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I think the real question is, why the he'll didn't they just go with plain strippers or use a mag? No need to re-invent the wheel here!

Oh trust me, John Garand did reinvent everything. This is evident in the evolution of his design for the M1 rifle. It first started off looking like a 1903 Springfield.
Nobody would even listen to him or take up his suggestions in the 20s. He was so dedicated to his project that he even invented the machines with which to make the rifle.
With all the obstacles he managed to overcome, no one bothered to really nit pick small stuff like the enbloc clips. The idea of a mag fed service rifle during the 30s and 40s was alien to many people.

The Marines, true to their bolt action tradition of 50+ yrs initially rejected the M1. Many of the Corps' top shots tried sabotaging it during the test trials just so they could keep the Springfield.
 
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I was under the impression that the reason the Garand doesn't use a detachable magazine was because of the belief that common soldiers would lose them.

All weapons have a magazine mate ;)

The Garand uses a special en block which fits into a fixed magazine,
It's basically the ring which holds the bullets together. The Garand ASAIK is unique in the fact that it's the only rifle to ever use this type of magazine.

And the story or the sets table magazine is for the Lee Enfield SLME, which was one of the first prototype rifle to use detachable magazines at that time.
 
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Before you read on, I'm assuming that Rising Storm will be similar in that it will mainly focus on the early parts of the Pacific War, and I'm also only posting the following as "food for thought".
Now, wasn't one of the reasons for the U.S. Marines not being issued M1 rifles the fact that most were being shipped out as part of "Europe First" when the U.S. entered the war? And thus many had no choice but to use the Springfield, or that M1917 Enfield until more M1s became available.

It may be outside the timeline due to it being designed around 1944, however, as I understand it, the Japanese Type 4 rifle was meant to be based on the M1, but with modifications; the main modification being the use of two 5 round stripper clips rather than an en bloc clip, I imagine so they could share with other infantry and simplify production.

For balance purposes, I could imagine it being somewhat like this.
U.S. :
Rifleman: Springfield/M1917 Enfield (both are Bolts)
Assault: M1 Garand/M1 Carbine/"Chicago Typewriter"
Support: M1917 Browning Machine Gun/BAR
Commander: M1 Carbine/"Chicago Typewriter"
Sniper: M1903A4 Springfield

Japan:
Rifleman: Arisaka Type 99
Assault: Type II smg/Type 100 smg/Type 44 cavalry rifle
Support: Type 11/Type 96 lmg
Commander: Type 100 smg/Type 38 carbine
Sniper: Arisaka Type 99

A few side notes:
1.) Japanese should be able to achieve a higher rate of fire with any Arisaka rifle over any other nation's bolt-action due to its design.
2.) Japanese should be immediately issued bayonets for use.
3.) The Type 100 smg and Type 96 lmg were able to mount bayonets.
4.) As far as early war tanks goes, the Type 97 "Shinho To" Chi-Ha should prove to be on par (slightly inferior in armor) to the M1/2 Stuarts. Which was about all the Marines could field without getting heavily bogged down at some point.
5.) For fun, Japanese commanders could be given the option to wield a sword as a secondary rather than the Nambu. :)

Just my two cents. Food for thought~
 
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Before you read on, I'm assuming that Rising Storm will be similar in that it will mainly focus on the early parts of the Pacific War, and I'm also only posting the following as "food for thought".
Now, wasn't one of the reasons for the U.S. Marines not being issued M1 rifles the fact that most were being shipped out as part of "Europe First" when the U.S. entered the war? And thus many had no choice but to use the Springfield, or that M1917 Enfield until more M1s became available.

It may be outside the timeline due to it being designed around 1944, however, as I understand it, the Japanese Type 4 rifle was meant to be based on the M1, but with modifications; the main modification being the use of two 5 round stripper clips rather than an en bloc clip, I imagine so they could share with other infantry and simplify production.

For balance purposes, I could imagine it being somewhat like this.
U.S. :
Rifleman: Springfield/M1917 Enfield (both are Bolts)
Assault: M1 Garand/M1 Carbine/"Chicago Typewriter"
Support: M1917 Browning Machine Gun/BAR
Commander: M1 Carbine/"Chicago Typewriter"
Sniper: M1903A4 Springfield

Japan:
Rifleman: Arisaka Type 99
Assault: Type II smg/Type 100 smg/Type 44 cavalry rifle
Support: Type 11/Type 96 lmg
Commander: Type 100 smg/Type 38 carbine
Sniper: Arisaka Type 99

A few side notes:
1.) Japanese should be able to achieve a higher rate of fire with any Arisaka rifle over any other nation's bolt-action due to its design.
2.) Japanese should be immediately issued bayonets for use.
3.) The Type 100 smg and Type 96 lmg were able to mount bayonets.
4.) As far as early war tanks goes, the Type 97 "Shinho To" Chi-Ha should prove to be on par (slightly inferior in armor) to the M1/2 Stuarts. Which was about all the Marines could field without getting heavily bogged down at some point.
5.) For fun, Japanese commanders could be given the option to wield a sword as a secondary rather than the Nambu. :)

Just my two cents. Food for thought~

Thanks for your input but there is absolutely no way that we will have late-period marines, or any-period-whatever army using predominantly Springfields.
 
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Yup, I'd love to see the good ol' Enfield back in action :D

1917 Enfields didnt see much action in the Pacific with the Marines. There were more 1903 of 1910s and 20s vintage than Enfields.

The Enfield was more of a WW1 rifle when enough 1903s couldnt be produced.
The 1903 should only be supplemented by the 1903A3 on the 'Canal.



Also...the 1903A4 wasnt a Marine variant. We used our own version up through Korea.

4267474846_cf6f8143bf_z.jpg


MOHPA renderings of these rifles was spot on.

MoHPA-M1903Springfield.jpg



800px-MoHPA-M1903Scoped.jpg
 
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Haven't posted in a while, so I think I'll give my 2 cents since this is a pretty important topic.

As many have said before, obvious moves to make to help balance this out are to give the Japanese a terrain advantage, and defensive advantage. Another possible solution is to give the Japanese a spawn point advantage, by either making their spawns closer to the objectives, or by making their spawn times faster, maybe a combination of both. You can explain this in a somewhat realistic way by saying that the Japanese knew the terrain better, and thus could organize assaults and reinforcements more efficiently. As a Japanese rifleman you might die a lot, but if you spawn closer to the front line, and wait less time to spawn, it helps keep that from being as bad. A problem with that idea though is that spawning closer to the action could lead to easier spawn camping, which might be remedied by clever map design (which I realize isn't easy at all).

While I'm on spawning, another possibility is to increase the frequency that the commander can use the force respawn ability (if the team decides to keep that system from RO2 in place). Camouflage helps, although it's hard to make good camo that works naturally in game...
 
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There are several maps we have atm which seem to heavily favour riflemen.

Given the normal loadout of US Army (not marine) squads and the loadout of all Japanese forces, this is no bad thing.

We just have to make sure the run'n'gun bunnies have something to do with their Thommies tho ;)

that big? if it was only 100m you could just have the tommies spam at ridgelines and corners as makeshift mgs :p
 
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To be historically accurate, Japanese had far inferior weapons than US. Their weapons were basically unchanged from WWI.
I would like the option to choose Springfield bolt rifle. I think the soliders could request springfield instead of M1.

Actually, in modern tests (sorry, dont have a link but it was on a show I watched on military channel comparing ww2 bolt actions) the Type 99 Arisaka was found to be one of the most durable and accurate rifles of it's time. And the Type 99 came into service in I think 1937, replacing the old Type 38, so it was a pretty new model, and a well made weapon (At least until the allied bombing campaigns). The Type 99 LMG was also widely produced, and from what I can tell (sorry, don't know as much about this weapon) was solidly built.

As for what others have said about the Japanese taking massive casualties compared to the allies, this was mainly due to suicides and Banzai charges, which of course will not be present in MP, rather than weapons. On Iwo Jima for instance, the Japanese General Kuribayashi strictly condemned Banzai charges and suicides, resulting in the only battle (in which the marine corps was involved) where American casulaties (26,000) exceeded Japanese (21,000). So it was entirely possible for the Japanese soldier to successfully combat and American one.
 
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I think a problem people are just going to have to accept if they want accuracy is that Japanese squad-level firepower just sucked during the war. You could design the maps around these deficiencies to minimize them, but the reality is in a stand up fight an American squad can and just will put way more fire than an equivalent size Japanese squad.
 
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