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fredleander posted:Already Kavieng and Rabaul! Quite a shortcut! I'm not 100% sure I can take Rabaul with the forces I have there, but I'm willing to take the risk - go big or go home!
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Dec 16, 2015 08:42
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I've never once been able to either reinforce or evacuate Rabaul by sea in time before the Japanese invade. I usually just do the admittedly-gamey-but-still-valid tactic of sending some PBY Catalinas there and ferrying out little bits of the troops that are stationed there, to recombine them into the Australian 6th/8th Division (I forget which) at Moresby.
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Dec 16, 2015 09:14
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Drone posted:I forget, wasn't there some tactic that a Japanese player used on some Matrix forums AAR of WITP where they pre-emptively attacked the Soviets to free up the garrison troops after cleaning them up? Do the Soviets get a Patton-style intervention event if the Japanese player advances too far into Siberia (Zhukov showing up to push Tito's poo poo in, I guess)? The problem with attacking the Soviets in an AI game is that you can't completely defeat them, like you can the Australians, Dutch, or New Zealanders. In those cases, if you take the base hex that serves as their main reinforcement hub, they will no longer receive reinforcements. Because Soviet Union has an off-map hex that can't be moved into as the Japanese, which represents the Western half of the Soviet Union, all of the Soviet reinforcements will wind up piling up in this hex, and over time this will be enough Assault Value to push Japan back. The Soviet Union gets waves of reinforcements that turn their OOB into a nightmare for the Japanese player, with lots of heavy armor that is very difficult for the Japanese to deal with, as they have few units with good anti-vehicle numbers. In a PBEM game in which players are playing for an auto-victory, based on points, attacking the Soviets is more doable, but still risky. The Soviets don't get their first major reinforcements until the summer of 42, and their planes are uniformly terrible until 1943, with the exception of the Mig-3. This allows the Japanese player to potentially gain lots of victory points in the form of Soviet bases and destroyed Soviet units and planes, but if they don't get that 1943 auto-victory, they've made the situation much worse for themselves, as they've opened a front with a force that they can't actually take out of the game. Different mods handle this differently (In Focus Pacific, which Saros and I are playing (I'm really bad about updating my Let's Play thread, I'm sorry), the Soviets start activated, but Japan starts with an additional 6,000 AV in Manchuko), but because Grey is playing for the full 5 years, and isn't going for an autovictory, there's going to be no advantage for him to open the particular can of worms that is the Soviets before their automatic activation in late 45.
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Dec 16, 2015 11:00
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Drone posted:I've never once been able to either reinforce or evacuate Rabaul by sea in time before the Japanese invade. I usually just do the admittedly-gamey-but-still-valid tactic of sending some PBY Catalinas there and ferrying out little bits of the troops that are stationed there, to recombine them into the Australian 6th/8th Division (I forget which) at Moresby. You have some empty USN transports that are headed East in the Pacific at the start of the game. If you re-direct these APs straight to Rabaul, you can, along with some help from your PBYs, grab your units before the Japanese get there. Alternatively, you can split the TF up and grab both the detachments on Naru and Ocean Islands before the hammer falls.
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Dec 16, 2015 11:03
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Nauru and ocean bf aren't worth the fuel, they're like 2 support each.
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Dec 16, 2015 17:12
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   The Americans go after our sub.  I'm landing fresh troops at Lingayen. The enemy get a torpedo into one of the ships.  We still land fresh troops.  We also invade San Fernando.  We take Davao as the enemy troops surrender to us.   We hit Guam.   I've moved some planes to Kota Bharu, they go into action today.  Alor Star falls to our rapidly advancing troops.   The battle for Hong Kong continues. The Allies are taking heavy losses now.  We lose Sinyang, I cannot foresee a long battle to retake it.   We're still taking a lot of air casualties. But we need to keep pushing on.  Hmm, this one is suspect.
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Dec 16, 2015 17:56
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Wasn't Sinyang the site of a battle that spanned the better part of a whole year in the last LP?
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Dec 16, 2015 18:02
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Drone posted:Wasn't Sinyang the site of a battle that spanned the better part of a whole year in the last LP? I think so but the most "famous" was Kaifeng aka KIAfeng.
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Dec 16, 2015 18:53
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Could I have the Honolulu please.
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Dec 17, 2015 00:04
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Drone posted:Wasn't Sinyang the site of a battle that spanned the better part of a whole year in the last LP? Wouldn't it be nice if there was a wiki or something? Over 445,000 reported casualties.
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Dec 17, 2015 00:50
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If I'm reading the spreadsheet right, no one has claimed the USS South Dakota, so I'll take her,
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Dec 17, 2015 01:11
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i like when massive generation-defining battles happen in places where they didn't in real life. i loved the sinyang and kaifeng battles. to a lesser extent surabaya, i think, on java. places that didn't really get stuck in to wwii irl but did in the simulation
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Dec 17, 2015 02:09
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I'll claim the USS Whitney AD-4. Not the most impressive ship, but it's where my great-grandfather was stationed way back on December 7th, 1941. Please don't kill my great-grandpa, Grey!  (Or my grandfather, or my great-uncle, but I digress)
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Dec 17, 2015 03:28
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Acebuckeye13 posted:I'll claim the USS Whitney AD-4. Not the most impressive ship, but it's where my great-grandfather was stationed way back on December 7th, 1941. Please don't kill my great-grandpa, Grey! So, uh, did Oswald do it?
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Dec 17, 2015 04:06
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Grey Hunter posted:I'm not 100% sure I can take Rabaul with the forces I have there, but I'm willing to take the risk - go big or go home! One at a time. Fly in the Navy paras...... Aaahh......British Vildebeests supporting the Americans in the Philipppines? That'd be the day.
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Dec 17, 2015 08:23
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Drone posted:I've never once been able to either reinforce or evacuate Rabaul by sea in time before the Japanese invade. I usually just do the admittedly-gamey-but-still-valid tactic of sending some PBY Catalinas there and ferrying out little bits of the troops that are stationed there, to recombine them into the Australian 6th/8th Division (I forget which) at Moresby. If you're playing the US side there is always the Pensacola convoy. Not sure MacArthur would like that, though.
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Dec 17, 2015 08:34
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OpenlyEvilJello posted:Wouldn't it be nice if there was a wiki or something? Over 445,000 reported casualties. I still have a dream that some kid is going to stumble across that wiki and hand in a very confusing report to their teacher one day.....
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Dec 17, 2015 08:42
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While doing the big writeup of the Iwo Jima debacle, it really started to blur into one - there's still a bit of me that thinks the (irl) invasion of Iwo Jima was somehow the second battle, and that the one in the greyverse was an early attempt at Island hopping.
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Dec 17, 2015 09:51
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No, we can go even deeper. We should publish a book, "The Pacific theater of World War 2 as told by Grey Hunter" It can include not only his first play through, but this one as well simultaneously (Hell even his first botched attempt.) All told as if it was a legit history book.
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Dec 17, 2015 10:03
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If Grey has backups, he could release saved games of the original Allied run at various points, so people could delve into it and trace things like the deployment, performance, experiences and battles of individual ship captains and pilots through the years.
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Dec 17, 2015 10:35
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Ikasuhito posted:No, we can go even deeper. We should publish a book, "The Pacific theater of World War 2 as told by Grey Hunter" It can include not only his first play through, but this one as well simultaneously (Hell even his first botched attempt.) All told as if it was a legit history book. Like the enormous nerd I am, I've been dying to do this ever since the first thread was winding down. In the end I think I wrote up maybe five or six thousand words before I realised I should get on with my entirely unrelated phd.
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Dec 17, 2015 10:44
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Ikasuhito posted:No, we can go even deeper. We should publish a book, "The Pacific theater of World War 2 as told by Grey Hunter" It can include not only his first play through, but this one as well simultaneously (Hell even his first botched attempt.) All told as if it was a legit history book. Too late, I'm already at it. Would have liked to post a link to it but the local moderator seems rather sensitive to such. Am I correct?
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Dec 17, 2015 11:33
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fredleander posted:Too late, I'm already at it. Would have liked to post a link to it but the local moderator seems rather sensitive to such. Am I correct? Only if you sign your name at the bottom of each page.
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Dec 17, 2015 11:43
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fredleander posted:Too late, I'm already at it. Would have liked to post a link to it but the local moderator seems rather sensitive to such. Am I correct? You should be fine - you just ran into one of those things that's so old around here no one even thinks about it.
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Dec 17, 2015 12:18
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Looks like the game is 50% off at Matrix Games right now. Decisions, decisions...
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Dec 17, 2015 12:52
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SOLarian posted:Looks like the game is 50% off at Matrix Games right now. Decisions, decisions... Get WitP or Get WitP Tough call.
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Dec 17, 2015 15:59
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SOLarian posted:Looks like the game is 50% off at Matrix Games right now. Decisions, decisions... Really the only decision you should be making is whether to play the Allies or Imperial Japan.
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Dec 17, 2015 16:03
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gradenko_2000 posted:Really the only decision you should be making is whether to play the Allies or Imperial Japan. If it's your first time out as Japan, do yourself a favor and read up on how their economy and research works at the Matrix forum, it'll save you a major headache.
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Dec 17, 2015 17:54
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   Take that America! We just sunk your Liberty!  Hey! These are supposed to be duds! That's a troop ship as well!  I'm fairly sure these planes are flying in the wrong direction – to the Philippines you idiots!  Later in the day we see the sub strike again.  We slam into the defenders of Hong Kong, they can't hold for long.   Ooooh, This is a good kill – oilers are rare beasts.  Its a good day for the subs.   Argh! One of the dreaded Dutch Subs!  Well, this is interesting....  I need to move these onto more useful missions.  This was a brave raid.  We advance deeper into Malaya.  I hate these things.  We find a light freighter fleeing the area.  We hit the beaches on another island.  We attack at Lingyen again, and despite the fact the enemy are poorly lead and green, they hold – numbers do seem to count for something it seems!  We have some reinforcements incoming though.  We take Guam!  Well, that was a busy day of ups and downs! We see a 200 point shift in our direction however, as we have taken a good amount of ground.  The subs have been active everywhere.
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Dec 17, 2015 18:29
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Duds? The Mark XII torpedoes of the USN "S"-boats were supposedly more reliable than those carried by the newer boats.
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Dec 17, 2015 19:24
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Where there are fleet oilers, there are carriers. Although I notice that the one that you hit was Aussie.
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Dec 17, 2015 20:24
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Take a look at the adjusted AV in Lingyen: all the way down to a single digit! Those troops must be hella disrupted. How'd that happen? Landings can cause some disruption but not that much I thought. Probably need to rest them up however that happened.
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Dec 17, 2015 22:41
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I think the operational number in that fight might've been 'we have 238 tanks, you do not have any.'
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Dec 17, 2015 22:51
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Yep, that's probably it. The Japanese are hobbled by a lack of effective anti-armor small armors. Good eyes.
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Dec 18, 2015 00:05
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Where are the Japanese battleships at the moment?
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Dec 18, 2015 00:10
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:Where are the Japanese battleships at the moment? I was wondering this myself - Grey, would you be willing to give us a rundown as to what our big fancy ships are up to at the moment?
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Dec 18, 2015 02:22
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fredleander posted:Duds? The Mark XII torpedoes of the USN "S"-boats were supposedly more reliable than those carried by the newer boats. In game they are very much more reliable for the first year of the game, though slightly less damaging especially compared to IJN torpedoes. The only issue with those boats is that they have short range until '43.
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Dec 18, 2015 04:02
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But isince their torps actually, you know, work, it's still an acceptable trade. Especially early on if you can avoid damage so they don't try to get repairs in Java or something.
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Dec 18, 2015 09:39
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It was a gamey exploit in SH4 as well to just load those Mark 10s into your non-S-class fleet boat instead of the Mark 14s just so you'd have fish that'd explode reliably.
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Dec 18, 2015 10:01
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That said, it's not like the dud rate in SH4 was particularly bad. Even the 'realism' mods didn't seem to quite capture the hillarious awfulness of US torpedoes.
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Dec 18, 2015 10:32
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