RHS interior river system questions

[Mistmatz]

A)
I recognised there are shipyards inlands to repair damaged river vessels. But it seems there are no new ships arriving in the inland river systems. So I wonder if it isn't a bit too easy to hunt down the few existing ships and thus denying the opponent the usage of the rivers at all afterwards. Are there any mod/house rules meant to be in place to cover this or is this just not really an issue? How about adding (replacement) AKs every once in a while, or is it maybe possible to spawn barges in river ports?

B) The Burma river system is nice to move resources and oil around, but I'm not sure if it is possible to move the stuff to the harbour next to Rangoon (only access to the ocean for this river system) and hope for getting it moved into Rangoon to move it away. Any observations on this so far?

[Historiker]

I guess one has no choice than using barges in the river systems. 

[el cid again]

There are various possibilities - and the rivers are a very successful and rich addition to the game. They are not exactly all the same -
and what is possible depends critically on what is where - and what vessels are there or can get there.

But - first - you CAN have vessels "appear" in the rivers - two ways:

1) Any unit that appears under player control will appear in a river port if available and if called. This includes Allied PT boats and Japanese barges.

2) You can use RIVERpwhex.dat - or after a certain date in 1943 - RRRIVERpwhex.dat to "open" the "green lines" isolating most interior rivers from the sea. While this was originally intended to be done any time you want to move vessels in or out of these systems, in games I am playing we use it ALL the time INSTEAD of STANDARDpwhex.dat. But we ALSO have house rules about what can go upriver:

a) If it started in an interior river system - or is any vessel with R in its designation (R meanding River in naval designations) - it is allowed.

b) All naval units with P in its designation (P meaning Patrol)

c) All landing CRAFT - with LC in the designation (LC meaning Landing Craft)

d) All junks, dhous, and similar civilian minor transport vessels.

e) We decided to add special small AK and TK vessels designed for riverine work: since there is a famous set of three Standard Oil tankers involved in the Panay incident in RHS - and since they are rated at 500 tons - we set the line at a cargo of 500 tons - above that it cannot go upriver.

Now the INTENT of RIVER pwhex files was to permit a player to "evacuate" the Salween - this was a specific request from a specific player in a specific game - and later "return"

IRL the river craft simply changed sides - mostly - but the code does not permit capture - so it is aworkaround.

The CONCEPT was "when you want to move in or out - tell the Japanese player to use ths file the next turn" -

But we found it in practice is possible to use the RIVER file ALL the time - IF the players know their river systems well enough to NOT cross the green line without it being there. It cannot be done in a solitare game of course - and indeed AI scenarios have no river ports to use - or river shipyards.

[el cid again]

The most important river system is in/near Manchukuo. It is a triple river system - I call it the Amur River system - but there are other rivers involved - and it is vital to the Russians - as it moves oil from Sakahalin to the cities that need it - without going to sea. It has mini navies on both sides. It was used for a non-road/rail line invasion during August Storm - and might be used the reverse way by the Japanese.

The Ganges/Bhramaputra River System is the most important transportation infrastructure in India - but it is exclusively Alied - and it is not likely the Japanese will ever use it. But it is possible.

The Irrawaddy sysem in Burma is the most important transportation system in the territory - and it was a big deal in WWII - and the only place in the world the US Army commissioned British warships! It is potentially usable by either side as a transport system - but it is not likely to see battles as in the Amur case - although there were IRL it is not likely in the game.

Near their mouths the River in Thailand and the one in Vietnam have ports so close together they will act like a perfect RR - and while you are supposed to build them to Level 3 for this to work - it appears it works at ALL levels (I am running 5 games and they even send thousands of tons of fuel to an otherwise isolated port in Thailand on about day 2). IF you exploit this - you get something like the real value of these areas logistically - without any craft at all - using "invisible" local craft - something like ferries in RHS.

In contrast, the upper Mekong is an isolated river system that NEVER connects to the sea. So is the Yellow River. The first ONLY has craft on the Japanese side. The second MOSTLY has Allied units - except for a single point - Kaifeng - where the river mysteriously "ends" - it was "destroyed" before the game begins and is the "swamp" hexes after that. [The Old Yellow River also is an exterior river - for a single hex - and it is being feed by that swamp]

There is a strange extension of the Yangtze exterior river system. Two rivers meet it at Wuhan - and these form a normally isolated upriver interior river system. Like the Yellow - the Japanese have only one port on this river - and minimal units in it. But the Allies have many ports and many units. However- if you let the green line at Wuhan be crossed - the interior and exterior river systems become one vast - and vital - creature useful in lots of ways to both sides. In two games the Allies sailed vessels from the sea to the upriver area - in one I sank the unit after 5 battles - 3 surface and 2 air - and in the other I was unable to damage the unit by air - but two surface forces sank 2 of the 3 vessels involves. This is a lot more realistic than I thought might happen in a game not designed for riverine warfare. But the Allies did not "cheat" - because the units COULD go upriver. Ocean ships CAN go to Wuhan - they build deep draft modern submarines there today - and the bridge at Nanking was designed so the Queen Mary could sail benieth it. [It is called "the Great Bridge" in China]

[el cid again]

There are exterior river systems you probably never heard of. The one at Magadan Siberia is on a vast river with four times the flow of the Mississippi. The one near Darwin is a big deal - as is one near Normanton - both in Northern Australia. These - and the Yangtze - and others - can be used to invade enemy territory from the sea - OCEAN vessels MAY enter them in all games - they are NOT isolated by green lines - and only carriers should not conduct flight ops in them. I expect some surprises for players not thinking about rivers with these in some games.

[el cid again]

The big surprise is that it is illegal EVER to sail to Calcutta - in spite of the fact I thought I once did just that. The port of Calcutta is Diamond Harbor - and even if you use RIVER pwhex you may NEVER sail a SHIP across the former green line between it and Calcutta. This because of silting - only shallow draft craft ever cross it.

[el cid again]

Returning to the original topic queries - there ARE naval units appearing in interior river systems - UNLESS you PREVENT this by using "creat barges" command many of these will appear this way for example.

Interior river systems are unexpectedly successful - but were unexpectedly a problem for AI - so they were removed from all AI scenarios of RHS. How much they are used depends on players - and be warned - river craft are dangerously exposed to enemy air strikes. You must do what they had to do IRL to prevent those - cover them with cap or take you losses. But the game does not make it a guaranteed thing you will find such units - and if you don't send out search - the strikes are not very likely to work at all. I find it irritiating to divert air power to riverine work - when i have so much else for it to do - and I like that too. It is just as IRL.