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 Its that time. The United states have initiated an oil blockade against Japan in protest over their ongoing war in China. The statisticians estimate that we have but eighteen months of fuel remaining to us before we are forced to leave our fleets at home. It is time. We have but one option. War. We need to strike the Americans and their allies hard, smash their forces and sink their fleets. The Americans, the British, the French and the Dutch have no will to fight. They are soft and weak. Once we have taken the land, they will sue for peace, and Japan will take its rightful place as the superpower of Asia. It is time. We shall have to strike quick. A surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines will allow us to destroy their fleet and then sweep down into the Dutch East Indies. Once we have secured the oil fields and the refineries, we shall have all the fuel we need. It is Time. The Pacific War is about to begin. What is this? If you are new to the forums, you may not remember that I ran this game as the allies for a few years. Yeah, a few years. This will be a day by day account of a version of the second world war. I shall post one update a day, which will be the same day during the war. I'll be playing this using War in the Pacific's Admiral's edition, which is a very groggy hex based game. You control every squadron, every ship, every land unit and for the Japanese, the very production of the nation!  This is the map, its divided into regions so I can move all of the reports into the right place and give continuity to the various battles. You will notice that its not a normal map, as it has been adjusted to take into account the curve of the earth – something that is very hard to do on a 2D plane. Its not perfect, and can be a bit annoying, but it works for the most part. As the Japanese, I have no real hope of winning. For me, winning means holding out for longer than historically, or making the Americans drop more nukes. I can force an auto surrender, but I've not played this much since the last LP, so I'm going to be rusty to begin with, and I've also not played the Japanese before – I've been saving the carnage to make this LP special. But the war started on the 7th?” Yes, but the Japanese get a turn to plan their attacks, this is that turn. Your mad! You'll never do it! I did it before. Look. Again, I'm not toxxing myself, I know that this could run for four years, and a lot can change in that time. If my life shifts to the point that this is unmanageable, or if it stops being enjoyable, then I shall end it. But I should be able to finish this. Breaking the game WITP is a good game, but its not without its bugs, and I plan on exploiting said bugs. If you see me not doing something that I could be, then let me know – the main one will be the Japanese fleet has a lot more fuel than it did historically, so expect me to be hanging around Pearl for more than a day.... Sink the Royal Navy! Sink the Enterprise! I got a lot of stick last time for my aggressive tactics early war which lead to a lot of losses to the British forces – It also meant that I have something of a reputation for foolhardy attacks. I'm now playing the Japanese. I plan on Sinking all the ships I can get, and every charge shall be a Banzai charge! I'm sure someone will be along to start a lucky ship database, and maybe fire up the wiki again. Yeah, the last game had a wiki...... I also plan on gauging how well I'm doing by comparing this game to my last one in the monthly reports. Lets see if I'm better than the AI at being the Japanese! So, on to the planning.   This is the current score. As the war has not started yet, most of the values are at zero. The Bases we control have little value to us, while the Allies have a huge chunk of land. Score wise the Allies have ten times what we do – for now. The Manchukuo Garrison is the number of troops need to prevent Russia from entering the war early. Expect me to strip this down to the bone over the next year. Political points are needed to move units from commands and change commanders – I'm not in complete command, and I don't get everything my way. These points represent what I can do for now. They build up daily. Next I'll take a look at the Aircraft replenishment pool. The game models every single plan in the Pacific theatre, and of course, I have to manage the factories to produce these planes.  As you can see, I have a large number of Zeros, Nates and other single engine planes being produced. The one I'm not happy about here is the Betty – these things are very long ranged and were the bane of my game last time around, so I'm going to have to look into increasing the numbers of them produced. Next up is the pilot replacement pool. I currently have a good number of pilots available, but they are of average experience – stat's in this game are out of 100, so 35 is on the low side – I'd rather that be much higher, but this is acceptable for starting pilots. Looking at the column towards the end, and I can see things are only going to get worse though. The numbers across the months show the training time – so after 10-12 months of training, new pilots will still only come out with a 28/29 experience level! This means that Pilot losses are really going to hurt me. Once those 4,000 or so currently trained men are gone, I'm going to have to rely on weight of numbers to get men back up the experience chart. Oh wait, I'm Japan, I won't have weight of numbers.....  The next screen is the first one I'm going to make an alteration on. This is the production screen. This tells me all the ships that are being built at the moment, how many aircraft engines are being made, and how many of the various resources I have. CV for those who don't speak military jargon means fleet carrier, and these are the most important ships in the game. Which is why its going to surprise you that my first cuts come here.  The Aso and the Kasagi are both due to be completed in 1945. by that point, I'm guessing they will be to late to affect the war, so I have cancelled their build orders – tell me if you think this is a stupid idea, but for now, I don't see them being worth the investment.  The Shinano and the battleship Musashi are also halted. The Yamato is only six months from completion, and I need a nice flagship, but her sister ship is another big battleship that only gives the Allies something to sink. Likewise, the Shinano is just that little to far out. I think about halting the Taiho as well, but decide to keep her going for now. I'm not going to mess with R&D for now, I'll let people weigh in on that first.  Lets get on to planning the attacks! That's what you are really here for!   We all know how this is going to go. The Americans don't expect a surprise attack, and they will have their battleships in a nice row. While historically the Japanese were going after the carriers as well, they were out on ops.  The island is currently surrounded by the bulk of our submarine force, and many of these are carrying mini subs that will attempt to sneak through the nets and put torpedoes into anything valuable they can find. These brave men are on suicide missions, but they will not be forgotten!  These are only the secondary strike forces however, the main force is the glorious Kido Butai! Six fleet carriers all loaded with planes and ready to strike the Gajin with 387 carrier aircraft. I suppose I should explain ships a little more for first time readers. The Type is military code CV = carrier, CVL = light carrier, BB = Battleship, CA = Armoured Cruiser ect ect. Then there is the ships name, followed by its endurance – basically how much fuel it has. Speed is in knots, ops is how much time it needs to spend loading fuel and the like, capacity is how many planes it carries. The Damage is split into systems, flotation, engine and fire. To much of any will sink the ship, but they all do different things. Already overwhelmed with info? Well screw you, this is WITP, and I going down another layer!  This is the Kaga The game tracks all her guns, how much ammo they have as well as telling you who is her captain, experience, number of sorties and what the crew had for lunch last night. We can also see how many points the Allies get for sinking her in her victory value – fleet carriers are the highest value naval targets out there. We can also see her three squadrons. See the yellow text, that means I can click on it for more information!  Now we're getting into the interesting stuff. This is Kaga-2, the Val dive bomber squadron. Commanded by Lieutenant Makino, a fantastic leader, they are 27 planes set to attack at 15,000 feet for maximum dive bombing potential. Currently on port attack I'm going to have to switch this to naval after this turn to get the best from them, but for now they are all ready to smash the waiting US Navy. I Think that does us here. I'm not going to make any changes in day one.   Here we have the first of our planned land invasions, forces are due to hit Vigan, Aparri and Batan on the first day. They are coming from Formosa (now Taiwan. The game uses the names of places as they were.) Other troops are also loaded and about to set out for Legaspi in the south. Again, I'm not going to change anything here, mainly because they are good targets and the ports are to full to let me do anything else at this time!  Invasion task forces look a little different, here you can see the troops loaded into the ships, along with enough supplies to keep them going for a few days, but a main part of the logistical part of the game is making sure everyone has enough food, bullets and other supplies to keep them going. Ships live or die on fuel, troops need supplies. I'll save looking at troops for another update, as this is a long one already!   China, where the war has been going on since 1937. This is the main land war, and while it won't get me many points, I'm hoping I can wrap it up and then free the troops up in later war. I did well here in the last game, so I'm hoping to repeat that here this time. I've already ordered a division from Shanghai to load to hit Khangchowan. The plan is to smash them quickly and then begin to roll up the Chinese supply lines. Starving their troops and allowing me to destroy them. More troops are ordered marching towards Hong Kong to take the city there. Most of my time spent here is ordering units to march towards unconquered Chinese cities and units.   Japan. Here I mostly spend my time moving ships around and organizing resource runs from Korea. Unlike the Allied first turn, there is much less in the way of supply runs to set up. I do make a convoy to deliver supplies to Singapore, to keep my Chinese expansion going.  Oh yeah Baby, Supply convoys, that's how this LP is going to roll!   Here we are prepping for two assaults, one north into Burma and one south towards Singapore. Again, most of these attacks make sense, so I leave them and just order some units to move towards Burma.   I've been wittering on for a while, but here is the last area of interest. At the Marshall Islands I have troops ready to go north to Wake and south to Tarawa – the Tarawa force was set to take the tiny Atoll of Makin, but that's worth no points at this stage, so I'm skipping it. So, that's if for today. Tomorrow, we see the attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of the war! One day down, 1200+ to go!
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Dec 6, 2014 18:54
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 08:22 |
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Awesome! Also, if we're doing ship stuff again, totally calling the Heavy Cruiser Chokai.  GoogleDocs presents: War in the Pacific 2014-201X - Lucky Ships  List is sorted alphabetically by Ship Type for the time being and to help anyone who hasn't yet picked their lucky ship Googledocs list of confirmed sunken ships (Contains Spoilers)          Edit 01/25/2015 - Both Googledocs now merged together Ship Type Designations (Special thanks to Drone for this list) Drone's awesome list posted:
Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Dec 6, 2014 18:59
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Grey Hunter you glorious bastard As far as lucky ships, I'll take the BB Fuso. Drone fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:02
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Lucky ship Soryu. Banzai!
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Dec 6, 2014 19:05
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Good luck! This one could be even longer than that last madhouse.
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Dec 6, 2014 19:06
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Let's Play War In The Pacific: From Home Isands to Austraila  never change, GH 
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Dec 6, 2014 19:08
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I'm a little worried that you say you're going to exploit all the bugs you can find. I'd sooner see the game run as realistically as possible.
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Dec 6, 2014 19:08
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I call the IJN Akagi! I'm sad you canceled the Musashi, super BBs are the best! (at wasting resources) I love them. dtkozl fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:09
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Calling for IJN Kaga
Dreamsicle fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:11
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Gort posted:I'm a little worried that you say you're going to exploit all the bugs you can find. I'd sooner see the game run as realistically as possible. Well, not ALL the bugs.
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Dec 6, 2014 19:13
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Calling the Akagi as my lucky ship, so happy to be around for this one as it goes on, the last one was amazing Edit: damnit, I'll take the shokaku instead then two_step fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:17
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Lucky ghost battleship Hiei! Akagi was taken by dkotzl, two-step.
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Dec 6, 2014 19:18
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Gort posted:I'm a little worried that you say you're going to exploit all the bugs you can find. I'd sooner see the game run as realistically as possible. There's really probably only the "Kido Butai has too much fuel" one that enables him to smack the US Pacific Fleet for an extra day or two after the attack on Pearl. He could potentially game it a bit in Malaysia too, landing a force right away at Mersing and cutting off supply to Singapore where the peninsula is only two hexes thick, but I think that's more of a multiplayer thing than a viable single-player "exploit".
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Dec 6, 2014 19:19
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I remember that veteran at the WitP forums who stayed at PH for 8 days, then the noob did intel sifting and took Hokkaido from the veteran who convinced him not to firebomb him because it felt like an unrealistic amount of damage.
Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:24
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It took me weeks to get through the original War in the Pacific. You are insane to do this again. Bansai! Also, at least your loving torpedoes will work this time!
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Dec 6, 2014 19:28
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My lucky ship? I can't Hiryu.
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Dec 6, 2014 19:30
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Calling the big E as my lucky ship. Go USA!
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Dec 6, 2014 19:30
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Calling the Zuikaku then. Surely such an important ship wont be sunk !
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Dec 6, 2014 19:32
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Readingaccount posted:I remember that veteran at the WitP forums who stayed at PH for 8 days, then the noob did intel sifting and took Hokkaido from the veteran who convinced him not to firebomb him because it felt like an unrealistic amount of damage. And then the veteran nuked the poo poo out of the noobs fleets around Japan by throwing old cheapass fighters as ablative armor, using up all the CAP passes (which had a limit back then that was reasonable unless you got in to the late game, now removed due to that very thread) letting all the attackers through even though there were some ungodly number of planes on CAP. That thread really showed all the holes in the model when it came to late game combat, especially once you start throwing large numbers of aircraft around. That veteran took most of India, all of China, and a bunch of other poo poo, and set up a whole shitload of house rules that basically hosed the noob over from day 1. That thread blew the gently caress up once the noob posted his forces approaching Hookkaido, it was crazy. I stopped following it after the whole ablative armor CAP poo poo happened, because no matter how the noob played the house rules constrained him from really doing much else. What scenario is this? 1?
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Dec 6, 2014 19:36
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Lucky ship Yamato! Let's take another big battleship doomed to die!!!
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Dec 6, 2014 19:49
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In all fairness the noob did it first by mistake using proper fighters, but yeah, the house rules were out of town. At least they both had fun and really liked each other. Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:49
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Pervis posted:And then the veteran nuked the poo poo out of the noobs fleets around Japan by throwing old cheapass fighters as ablative armor, using up all the CAP passes (which had a limit back then that was reasonable unless you got in to the late game, now removed due to that very thread) letting all the attackers through even though there were some ungodly number of planes on CAP. That thread really showed all the holes in the model when it came to late game combat, especially once you start throwing large numbers of aircraft around. That veteran took most of India, all of China, and a bunch of other poo poo, and set up a whole shitload of house rules that basically hosed the noob over from day 1. That thread blew the gently caress up once the noob posted his forces approaching Hookkaido, it was crazy. I stopped following it after the whole ablative armor CAP poo poo happened, because no matter how the noob played the house rules constrained him from really doing much else. Yeah Scenario 1, 1 day turns
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Dec 6, 2014 19:49
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Looking forward to this, I followed all of your Allied campaign, and steinnroken's Japanese campaign was great before he ended it. Looking forward to a big Pearl Harbor victory.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:06
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Grey, the Emperor will expect the timely news of the Enterprise's destruction within 1942. It is believed it will shatter the morale of the Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 20:06
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Readingaccount posted:Grey, the Emperor will expect the timely news of the Enterprise's destruction within 1942. It is believed it will shatter the morale of the BFC news channel. Just sink the HMS Enterprise, it's probably gonna be leagues easier. Also hoping you invade Australia because I like it when these things go balls-to-the-wall crazy.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:10
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Making a google docs with lucky ships. I'll try to keep it up to date as often as possible and will put up the link in my post at the top of the page. If anyone wants more columns of info added let me know and I'll do my best to include it. War in the Pacific 2014-201X - Lucky Ships
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Dec 6, 2014 20:12
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Night10194 posted:Also, at least your loving torpedoes will work this time! Counterpoint: Damage control and ASW.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:15
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Jobbo_Fett posted:Making a google docs with lucky ships. I'll try to keep it up to date as often as possible and will put up the link in my post at the top of the page. If anyone wants more columns of info added let me know and I'll do my best to include it. Doesn't WitP only track what type of gun was used to sink a ship, not which ship fired that gun? It might be a bit of work figuring out exactly which ship sinks another unless Grey specifies in his narrative. Otherwise hell yeah, stats tracking.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:17
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Drone posted:Doesn't WitP only track what type of gun was used to sink a ship, not which ship fired that gun? It might be a bit of work figuring out exactly which ship sinks another unless Grey specifies in his narrative. I figure I'd put in shared kills to mitigate that with confirmed kills as the first/primary number. Planes will be hard to figure out at Pearl Harbor among other things but eh, worth a shot!
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Dec 6, 2014 20:19
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YAY! once again I pick THE USS IOWA BB For my lucky ship, i'll be waiting quite a while, she might never make it in, but she is mine.  I hope she sinks the yamato in a glorious gun duel.Incidently Will the USS Enterprise still go to BrklnBruizer?
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Dec 6, 2014 20:21
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Is it an utterly terrible idea to make a pass on the harbor with the battlewagons and most of the escorts? Hiei has a reputation to earn...
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Dec 6, 2014 20:25
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Readingaccount posted:Is it an utterly terrible idea to make a pass on the harbor with the battlewagons and most of the escorts?
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Dec 6, 2014 20:30
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Gort posted:Counterpoint: Damage control and ASW. And infantry weapons and armored vehicles and pilot replacement and manpower and industrial capacity and transport capacity and jesus why did Japan think it could win this, yes, but the torpedoes are excellent!
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Dec 6, 2014 20:30
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Lucky ship HMS Prince of Wales it will live one of these LPs, I swear
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Dec 6, 2014 20:36
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I'm curious, after reading the original WiTP LP, what BBs are actually particularly useful for. They seem to take a lot of supplies, they're vulnerable to air attack, and they can be outrun or torpedoed in surface combat. Are they mostly useful for supporting landings and bombardment?
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Dec 6, 2014 20:41
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This is going to be beautiful. I only caught the last year of the other one, so I'm glad to see the start of this. Lucky Ship USS Arizona BB. Maybe it can survive.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:43
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Night10194 posted:I'm curious, after reading the original WiTP LP, what BBs are actually particularly useful for. They seem to take a lot of supplies, they're vulnerable to air attack, and they can be outrun or torpedoed in surface combat. Are they mostly useful for supporting landings and bombardment?
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Dec 6, 2014 20:44
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This might be entirely too late for the LP, but some enterprising fan has made an alternative map-art mod for the game and I'll let the screenshots speak for themselves:        I was just thinking that a new look could serve as a backdrop to Grey swinging for the other team this time. In any case, this is like starting a new chapter in my life. I was still in college when the first run started, and it's going to be weird(ly familiar!) having a daily WITP routine to look forward to again.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:50
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Night10194 posted:I'm curious, after reading the original WiTP LP, what BBs are actually particularly useful for. They seem to take a lot of supplies, they're vulnerable to air attack, and they can be outrun or torpedoed in surface combat. Are they mostly useful for supporting landings and bombardment? Early on in the war they can be pretty devastating in the Dutch East Indies, before the Americans are able to get many carriers down there. Later on their best use is for shore bombardment and amphibious support, and raiding convoys.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:52
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 08:22 |
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Night10194 posted:I'm curious, after reading the original WiTP LP, what BBs are actually particularly useful for. They seem to take a lot of supplies, they're vulnerable to air attack, and they can be outrun or torpedoed in surface combat. Are they mostly useful for supporting landings and bombardment? Welcome to what the world's navies figured out during/after the real WW2.
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Dec 6, 2014 20:55
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