Here come the Rebels! (Canoe v. Q-Ball)

[Canoerebel]

I made the 11/21/42 post above after only reviewing the combat report. Now that I've watched the turn file and issued orders for the next turn, here's the situation:

Wake Island: The Allies evacuated 3,000 troops, bringing the total down to 12,000. APs and some AKs will load two infantry regiments and the tanks tonight in "load troops only" mode. If they can evacuate that contingent by tomorrow, there is a chance I can attack the day after, as I will be down below the garrison limit. More supply xAKs (diverted from the Marcus group) are on the way, so given time I can do this, but it's unlikely I'll be given time. Brad didn't bring in troops or aircraft today, but he could do so tomorrow. The CVEs will depart tonight. South Dakota is nealry back to Midway. I've lost roughly six or eight xAK to shore guns and may lose a few more, but thus far losses have been remarkably light.

Noumea: Japanese patrols caught wind of some of the pickets west of Luganville. I'm hoping this will reinforce Brad's concern that Wake might have been a diversion.

Oz: The infantry (300 AV) are a hex from Daly Waters, so Brad knows they are coming. My armored recon unit will be a hex behind Daly in two days. I'm hoping to spook Brad out of this position. If he won't spook, another 400 AV are on the way, but a good two weeks from arriving.

India: It appears that Jaffa, a big airfield on Ceylon's western tip, is vacant. Marine paratroops will assault tomorrow. Trincomalee is lightly held. I assume Columbo is held. Calcutta is held by about 15k Japanese troops. Dacca is empty and should fall to an Allied recon unit in two days. I expect the Allies to hold all of India before the end of the year, unless Brad has difficulty extracting his remnant armies from Calcutta and Columbo, which in that case I may have to work on just a bit. The Japanese will lose about 3,000 victory points over the next few weeks as Indian bases change hands. The Allies should be in a position to invade Male Island, Addu Atoll, and if necessary Ceylon, by the end of the year. Diego Garcia will have to wait just a bit longer as I'll want picket ships in place so that I don't wander into an ambush.

[Canoerebel]

I'm very pleased with how the Allied plan to invade Sumatra by first feinting elsewhere is developing. A few comments about this and then a comment about the biggest challenge I face:

1. The Japanese are winding down the withdrawal of the massive army from India. I wanted to draw Brad's attention to certain areas, hoping that pressure exerted there would persuade him to send troops that might otherwise go where they would not be welcome. At the moment, the Allies are applying pressure in northwestern Oz (which, in turn, threatens Timor), northeastern Oz, which threatens New Guinea, New Caledonia, the islands west of Baker, Wake Island, and the Kuriles. From SigInt reports and IJ base-building activity, it appears to me that Brad is "taking the bait." I beleive Sumatra remains pretty quiet.

2. The Allies will have two major feints just prior to the Sumatra invasion - the Kuriles and NW Oz/Timor. Recent events plus plans for the near future should bolster the appearance of a major threat in these regions. I know Brad is very concerned about NW Oz/Timor, and I suspect he's concerned about the Kuriles, so I think he'll continue to take the bait.

3. The Allies will have at least one, maybe two, real invasions to take place after Sumatra. The first will be somewhere in the Coral Sea region. The second will be an island in CenPac - possibly Tarawa or Wake or possibly something that wouldn't be held quite so strongly.

4. As the Allies work on reclaiming Ceylon and islands to the south over the coming month or two, I'll try to create the appearance that the British Empire will be focusing on Burma.

Now, the one thing that really puzzles me: What to do with my carriers. I need to keep them hidden. I need Brad to think they could well be in NoPac come spring 1943, so I sure don't want him to catch a whiff of them somewhere far away. Where can I hide them? Would Portland, Australia; Hobart, Tasmania; Christchurch, NZ, or Tahiti work? Or do I have to bite the bullet and send them to Capetown again?

[vettim89]

I like the idea of Hobart. It is located such that you should be able to move either east or west to react to developing situations but also an out of a way place where those stupid Glens won't likely find them

[Canoerebel]

Thanks, Tim. Hobart is a good candidae, but there is one fly in the ointment. I have had a lot of traffic in and out, because this is my main oil storage base in Oz. Thus nosy IJN subs might have caught on to the traffic, meaning Hobart might be drawing more attention than it would ordinarily. Nevertheless, it is a good candidate.

Any other votes? Please chime in so that I can be sure to have somebody to blame when I park my carriers at the base you happen to suggest, and then a Glen-equipped sub shows up at the most inopportune of moments.

[:)]

[anarchyintheuk]

Your cvs being discovered in Hobart isn't necessarily a bad thing. Focuses his attention to SWPAC, a place that's not in your immediate plans and far away from Sumatra.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Any other votes? Please chime in so that I can be sure to have somebody to blame when I park my carriers at the base you happen to suggest, and then a Glen-equipped sub shows up at the most inopportune of moments.

Hmmm...in that case, the JFB in me says Darwin. Either that or anywhere within 14 hexes of Singapore. You know, just to keep them close to your Sumatran 'adventure'.

Banzai!

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Any other votes? Please chime in so that I can be sure to have somebody to blame when I park my carriers at the base you happen to suggest, and then a Glen-equipped sub shows up at the most inopportune of moments.

Hmmm...in that case, the JFB in me says Darwin. Either that or anywhere within 14 hexes of Singapore. You know, just to keep them close to your Sumatran 'adventure'.

Banzai!

You can't take anything from this source seriously for another two or three months. Got to wait for things to thaw out enough for the blood flow to return to his brain. Darwin is too obvious in my mind. Barring my original Hobart vote, I would suggest Adelaide

[Canoerebel]

Not to mention that Japan took Darwin a month into the war and will still be holding it well into 1943.

[Chickenboy]

Canoerebel,

Sorry to spam these delightful proceedings, yet again. However, I thought this would be of interest to certain hypothermic ungulates around these here parts. From the Matrix General Forum...:

n00b

A. INTRO
I. What is this?
II. Defining 'Noob'

B. COMMON NOOB CHARACTERISTICS
I. Noobish
II. Where to find noobs
III. Behavior of noobs
IV. Noob religion
V. More about noob habitats

C. AVOIDING NOOBS
I. Make sure you aren't one
II. Major noob avoiding strategies

------------------------

A. INTRO

I. What is this?
This guide is designed to give you a better understanding of what a noob is, how to recognize them, some details about them, and how to avoid or get rid of them. It mostly applies to online forums, which are the main targets of migrating noobs.

II. Defining 'Noob'
Contrary to the belief of many, a noob/n00b and a newbie/newb are not the same thing. Newbs are those who are new to some task* and are very beginner at it, possibly a little overconfident about it, but they are willing to learn and fix their errors to move out of that stage. n00bs, on the other hand, know little and have no will to learn any more. They expect people to do the work for them and then expect to get praised about it, and make up a unique species of their own. It is the latter we will study in this guide so that the reader is prepared to encounter them in the wild if needed.

Noobs are often referred to as n00bs as a sign of disrespect toward them, and it's often hella funny, but I will refer to them as noobs during this reading.

* Usually the topic at hand on an internet forum.

B. COMMON NOOB CHARACTERISTICS

I. Noobish
Often, but not always, noobs will attempt to communicate in their own primitive language, known as "n00bish." It is a variant of the hacker language that exposes them as having little intelligence or will to learn. Here is an example of some noobish. Do not attempt to comprehend it: it cannot be discerned without professionals at hand.

stFU /../..an, i r teh r0xx0rz liek emin3m, u cna go tO EHLL OR ATLE4St help m3 wit hthIS!!111!!!!!!!1~~1!!``!! LOLLOLOLLOLOLlOoLLOlollLLl u n00b

Although you may find this unbelievably funny and/or annoying, it is best to restrain yourself and keep from talking back to them, as they are very territorial and easily angered. This will result in their attempted verbal abuse of you, possibly backed up by other noobs, because they work in packs when doing offensive tasks. It is not an easy task to learn this language because our intelligent accent will keep it from sounding quite right when spoken. You can write some simple noobish of your own, however, by slamming your face into your keyboard repeatedly.

II. Where to find n00bs
On the internet, n00bs make their colonies on forums. They migrate in waves, usually on weekends, and proceed to clog up bandwidth with stupid questions and sometimes even stupid answers. If you happen to be unfortunate enough to be on a board large enough to attract migrating noobs, there will hopefully be authority in charge who is smart enough to take extermination measures before they can make nests and larger colonies. THE BANNER HAMMER is one form of authority.

Larger colonies can result in the mutation of some into spammers. Not commercial spammers, but pointless spammers. A noob can become one of these at any point, but the larger the amount of noobs, the more chance pointless spammers will appear.

Off the internet, noobs appear anywhere the focus is on learning or discussing something specific.

III. Behavior of noobs
Since noobs are basically ignorant bastards, they have a lot in common. The most often seen characteristic is their fluency in noobish, which is why it got its own section. They will also be very self confident as if they were the absolute best at what they are in fact the worst at. Also, they are quite agressive and self-centered, and tend to laugh a lot using many L's and O's in rapid sucession (the noobish word for laughing like an ultimate retard).

It is their instinct to assemble in packs for defense, and they often attempt to organize packs that they call teams. Unfortunately for them, teams usually result in a total loss of communication and they can often begin to fight amongst each other. These teams are quite unlike those formed by non-noobs.

Noobs have difficulty reading English and cannot comprehend the idea of authority.

Therefore, they have an all-out disregard for rules, basic or not. A good way to identify a noob (bad) vs. a newb (good) is to tell them (or have an authority tell them) which rule they are unknowingly breaking. If they respond with an apology and fix it, they are probably not a noob. If they react by insulting everything around them in rapid noobish and causing general mayhem, it is because they are a noob and have had a small seizure due to their inability to understand what is happening.

IV. Noob Religion
Noobs follow a variation of the 1337 (sometimes 7331) religion, in which they worship the number in odd rituals and put altars in their forum avatars and signatures. They often call themselves 1337, which experts say is somewhat like calling themselves godly in a human language. It's best to not interfere with their religious fantasies and practices because that can lead to a noob uprising, which can turn a forum to mush in less than a week.

V. More about noob habitats
Noobs often attempt to maintain their own web pages. Some common features of these lairs are a terrible lack of content, background music, lots of pointless animated gifs, and pages that say some variation of 'tHEir isnothinG H34r yEtt LOLLOLOL!111!1!!~~~!!`! 13371337', which means 'Nothing here yet' in noobish.

They will also have large, seemingly infinite marquees of 88X31 affiliate buttons replaced with red X's scattered here and there, and possibly a hit counter showing a number less than 100. These habitats are numerous but fairly easy to avoid because only noobs link to them. So if you can identify a noob, don't go to its homepage. Simple as that.

C. AVOIDING NOOBS

I. Make sure you aren't one
Note: This section is bilingual so even noobs can make the discovery if they haven't already.

English (T4lk)-

Read the above parts of this guide carefully. If you find yourself unable to comprehend any of it but are instead beginning to think about how great you are and how awesome 'teh 1337' is, you might want to take one of the many available online quizzes to check your noobancy.

Noobish (133713371337)- Liek, u gott4 re3D teh gudieCAREFUl1y and tehn OMG LIEK I AM R0XX0RZ ya anD ify 0u turn into teh reTARDED u gota go 2 MY WEBP4GE LOLLOLOL!!111~11 ad check 4 warez n stfuu. if u r a n00b go2HELL LOLLOLOlROFLMFAO11!!!11!!!! a/s/l pos gtg n00b suxx0rz ur b0xx0rz OLOOOLOLLLL HELP HELP HELP 1337133713371337

II. Major noob avoiding strategies
The main factor in attracting migrating herds of noobs is a large, active forum. If you find one of these, look to see if it has the management to avoid noob infestation. If not, look for a small or mid-sized forum that covers the same topic so you can enjoy your time there before the noobs find it.

Another way to keep noobs from interfering with your life is to become part of the authority on one of these forums. But that's often hard to do so you'll probably be better off avoiding larger forums first off. If you do manage to become part of the authority, however, take full advantage of it and establish extermination policies so that normal people can have a nice time without noob infestations.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Some game mechanics points that I and others have discovered the hard way:

• Combat comes before supply penalty is applied. If you didn't have enough supply for combat on the first turn, you didn't land enough supply.
• Supply penalty comes before you get to see the turn, so you will never get to see how much supply was present for combat.
• If you are greatly over stacked, the troops can only use (for combat) the supplies that you land during that turn, because all the supply will be removed (by the penalty) at/near the end of the turn.
• Unless you are very certain of yourself, be sure to cancel the Shock Attack orders after the landing is complete.
• When you have time (might not apply here), a good technique is to load up the excess units, selecting the most beat up ones. Leave behind the combat unit(s) (perhaps a regiment on a 6,000 size island) that is in the best shape.
• When you have loaded up troops and are below/very close to the stacking limit, supplying the unit(s) will be possible.
• Let the unit(s) ashore recover from both Fatigue and Disruption before attacking again.
• Use deliberate attacks after the initial mandatory shock attacks. With a unit(s) that has recovered from Fatigue and Disruption and is well supplied, these will usually be sufficient but more than one might be required.

I know you said you had lots of cargo ships that unloaded supply on day 1. I really don't know what happened to that. Did you actually see a Supply(-) in the combat report? Another possible cause is that you are still in 1942 and the ships available for landing an assault really stink. I'll bet that the troops had significant disruption and maybe fatigue too. If they were not prepped 100% (which I know they were) then it would have been even worse. {OK - I see you say Disruption 3 to 20. 3 doesn't matter, but 20 does matter in my experience. You still had a big force, though!}

One thing that comes to mind is that Michael has changed how unloaded supplies are handled and I think it's due in the patch. In the current release, all or almost all the unloaded supplies go to one unit and they are stingy about sharing them with their companions.

Well, this makes sense. An atoll invasion by Allied troops in 1942 "should"be a disaster. I can now see why they should only be attempted after the Allies get, LSTs, APAs AkAs and the invasion HQ that can stand off shore and lend support.

If I read you right, then invasions should be made with as lean a combat force as possible. That is, only combat units hitting the beach with plenty of LST type ships loaded only with supply assisting the attack. No HQs, no non combat engineers and no base forces should go in with the attack.

Plenty of pre invasion pounding is not a bad idea either.

I sort of miss the multiple rounds of combat from WITP. I thought that worked pretty well.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: witpqs

One thing that comes to mind is that Michael has changed how unloaded supplies are handled and I think it's due in the patch. In the current release, all or almost all the unloaded supplies go to one unit and they are stingy about sharing them with their companions.

This one is a killer now, as the Big Unit getting all the groceries is usually your king infantry unit. Which is good, except when the engineers get starved, decimated, and killed, leaving Forts intact.

I don't know how necessary they are. 1942 may be scarce but the 1943 marine and army division get plenty of combat engineers that are organic to the unit. I am attacking with full divisions in Burma and they are knocking forts down.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Thanks, Tim. Hobart is a good candidae, but there is one fly in the ointment. I have had a lot of traffic in and out, because this is my main oil storage base in Oz. Thus nosy IJN subs might have caught on to the traffic, meaning Hobart might be drawing more attention than it would ordinarily. Nevertheless, it is a good candidate.

Any other votes? Please chime in so that I can be sure to have somebody to blame when I park my carriers at the base you happen to suggest, and then a Glen-equipped sub shows up at the most inopportune of moments.

[:)]

Ok, third post in a row is a bit much.[:D]

I am not a JFB but if I was Hobart would be the first place that I would be reconing. It is just too obvious as a choice. I would not only be looking for carriers there but for tankers as it is an obvious choice for a fuel depot. Look for a level one port with no base somewhere south of Sulva. There is no penalty for parking any number of ships in a level one port and the chances that he would go snooping there is slight.

Or better, let him find your carriers somewhere you want him to see them and then move them.

"Bluff early and get caught" Amarillo Slim Preston

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Well, this makes sense. An atoll invasion by Allied troops in 1942 "should"be a disaster. I can now see why they should only be attempted after the Allies get, LSTs, APAs AkAs and the invasion HQ that can stand off shore and lend support.

If I read you right, then invasions should be made with as lean a combat force as possible. That is, only combat units hitting the beach with plenty of LST type ships loaded only with supply assisting the attack. No HQs, no non combat engineers and no base forces should go in with the attack.

Plenty of pre invasion pounding is not a bad idea either.

I sort of miss the multiple rounds of combat from WITP. I thought that worked pretty well.

I didn't try to be all-inclusive with what I've either figured out or seen posted (& confirmed by others). Landing an HQ is great if you have the room - for 6,000 size atolls forget about the HQ. Larger ones there would most likely be room, depending on what you were landing (which of course depends on what you expect to find).

On non-assault type ships for invasions I've run into serious problems with unloading. Suppose you have lots and lots of capacity to lift a division, so much that you can unload it all in one turn. Great. But more than once I discovered that ONE ship (always seemed to be the one with the parent fragment and therefore the best commander) loaded disproportionately more troops than the other ships and took several days to unload. Crap! Making all the ships be the same capacity might help overcome that, but I haven't tried it out. Others might be able to comment?

So, you can invade before adequate assault ships are available, but it just might be very ugly!

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Canoerebel,

Sorry to spam these delightful proceedings, yet again. However, I thought this would be of interest to certain hypothermic ungulates around these here parts. From the Matrix General Forum...:

Funny stuff. Does this mean I have a noob hasslin' rep around here now? [:)]

Oh, look, it's screamed up to 5.6 degrees. Should be only -15 wind chill at 2:40 PM. Time for a walkabout.

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Canoerebel,

Sorry to spam these delightful proceedings, yet again. However, I thought this would be of interest to certain hypothermic ungulates around these here parts. From the Matrix General Forum...:

Funny stuff. Does this mean I have a noob hasslin' rep around here now? [:)]

On, look, it's screamed up to 5.6 degrees. Should be only -15 wind chill at 2:40 PM. Time for a walkabout.

Invigorating for sure!. My 2x2 partner, Ken (aka Nomad) remarked it got down to -45 F a few weeks ago - ambient temp not wind chill. One day when I was stilling doing farm work I got to experience the "invigorating" experience of working outside at -30F. Lets just say you knew you were alive - because of the searing pain from every breath you took. Just made me wonder why our ancestors made the concious decision to settle in northern climbs when they could have made their home in warmer regions

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

I don't know how necessary they are. 1942 may be scarce but the 1943 marine and army division get plenty of combat engineers that are organic to the unit. I am attacking with full divisions in Burma and they are knocking forts down.

In 1942 I think they're critical. In 1943 most of my infantry divs have about 27 squads, while some of the dedicated combat engineer units have 54 squads, and others 27 as well. I like the separate LCUs because you can use them, save them, or withdraw them separate from your combat power. I've never checked to see if they take more, less, or the same rate of casualties as infantry squads when organic.

The Chinese look like mostly striaght 27 squads per corps with no vehicles or motorized support. I had never looked at them that closely. Interesting.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

Invigorating for sure!. My 2x2 partner, Ken (aka Nomad) remarked it got down to -45 F a few weeks ago - ambient temp not wind chill. One day when I was stilling doing farm work I got to experience the "invigorating" experience of working outside at -30F. Lets just say you knew you were alive - because of the searing pain from every breath you took. Just made me wonder why our ancestors made the concious decision to settle in northern climbs when they could have made their home in warmer regions

Where is he? It gets that cold up north in places like Tower, MN, but here in the metro a -30 night is pretty rare. At -30 you for sure you know you have nose hairs. Like a little symphony as they freeze and unfreeze with every breathing cycle.

[Canoerebel]

*ack* - Meine Nase Haare Erstarrte in diesem Glaziale Klima

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

*ack* - Meine Nase Haare Erstarrte in diesem Glaziale Klima

Es schmerzt nur, wenn ich atmen!

[Canoerebel]

Verursachen Gletscher zum Entstehen von meiner Nase!