Notes from a Small Island

[Canoerebel]

10/21/44

Burma: 2nd Team Allies vs. 1st Team (I think) Japanese yields pretty good results. In the past, a turn like this one would prompt Erik to withdraw his fighters from the front lines for a week or more. I'm anxious to see what he does this time.

[Canoerebel]

10/21/44

Empties and Cripples: The egress of the empties went pretty well, despite the enemy carrier ambush south of the Aleutians. Hundreds of empty transports are en route to West Coast ports to load supplies. The egress included all the moderately damaged subs that had been forced into action at Shikuka during the desperate hours of the siege. The first two reached Prince Rupert today to begin repairs.

[palioboy2]

Great post Hans. Sounds like a very well thought out plan. Immediately bookmarked.

[Squamry]

I noticed Lexington only had system damage but was in the yard. Sometime just being on pier side will speed things up a bit depending on naval support available so worth switching between the two to check. Also if Lex is in mainland US then no reason not to bump up the priority as this may also speed up repairs as the only downside is usually using more supply although if there are other ships being repaired this can adversely effect them.

[Canoerebel]

I had checked all the various possibilities and none resulted in faster completion of repairs.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I had checked all the various possibilities and none resulted in faster completion of repairs.

It doesn't matter now with so few days left, but you could have done better. Not in Alameda most likely, but in a bigger port like SF or Seattle. In Shipyard mode the yard is the only source of repair points, so fixing System damage alone in that mode is worse than in Pierside. In Pierside, you get points from the naval support, any unused ARs in the port, ship's company, and the Port itself. Four potential sources versus one.

tm.asp?m=2990845&mpage=1&key=ship%2Crepair

Always worth a review.

[Canoerebel]

I had a handful of carriers all spread out - Bremerton, San Fran, Alameda. I tried Pierside but the time was the same (or roughly so), in part because the ship was also due an upgrade.

[Canoerebel]

Off Topic

A co-ed working a summer fast food job asked about a good book to read. I suggested To Kill a Mockingbird, when I learned that she hadn't read it before.

In return, she made me promise to read Copper Sun, her favorite book. I'm about one-third of the way through. It deals with a young African women taken captive and sold into slavery in South Carolina in the 1700s. I'm finding the writing gratingly simplistic, but the book does a fine job of making the reader think about what it would be like to be a young female slave.

Another book along those lines is Jubilee, which I re-read last summer. The first part of that book is compelling, though I didn't think the second-half nearly as good. The only issue with it was that the writer was particularly ill-informed about nature, geography and history. She had Georgia seceding through act of the legislature and made serious blunders with regard to how long it might take to get from A to B and what route one would take in doing so. But it still made me think. And there's value in that.

[JohnDillworth]

If you wish to further explore the topic in beautifully written prose look no further than The Underground Railroad. It tells a ripping story good story. Difficult at times, but the subject matter makes it necessary. Did I mention it won the Pulitzer prize?

[Canoerebel]

Thanks, John. I might've read that in high school, but I only have a vague memory. I'll git it a try on your recommend. After all, it's been about five years since I first read With the Old Breed (and since then, I've re-read it).

[Canoerebel]

10/22/44

Ketoi: As this turn unfolds, I am going to discover something annoying - two big bombardment TFs are set to come in, this being their second day from Shikuka….but they aren't going to come in for reasons unknown. You know the weird bombardment routine. I may tinker with this now, manually setting up bombardments rather than letting the computer do so. The unfortunate thing is that the infantry is attacking, so I was hoping the bombardment would have a beneficial pre-attack impact.

Things will be mostly quiet at Ketoi during the opening and middle parts of the turn, apart from this little skirmish and some decent bombing runs by 4EB out of Shikuka.

[Canoerebel]

10/22/44

Ketoi: Allied unit AV is dropping rapidly, some IJ units likewise, and forts drop by one to 3. Before the next attack, some reinforcements are scheduled to come ashore and a number of bombardments should come off.

[JohnDillworth]

I'm currently reading Barbara Tuchman outstanding Guns of August, about the outbreak and first month of WWI. I believe much of our current world is shaped by the events in this book. Clear, concise ,beautifully written history book. It's like a car crash on ice. you are standing on the brakes, knowing whats is happening, and powerless to change things no matter how hard you try. If any of the major players had done a single thing differently our would today would be entirely different. So may chances for events to turn out differently. The world changed that month.....and a master story teller explains how it happened. Mrs. Tuchman has won the Pulitzer Prize twice, including for this book. She can tell a story. A big book and a great summer read.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I didn't know that. Is there some practical reason for that or just a peculiarity of game mechanics?

A peculiarity of game mechanics. I don't know the details and didn't want to learn them, but it has something to do with the attack routines. It's not that the 4th ship is detrimental, just that it's wasted. For some reason, only 3 ships ever get the chance to attack the sub (or something like that).

[Canoerebel]

10/23/44

Ketoi: ASW battles every turn.

[Canoerebel]

10/23/44

Nagano: First B-29 strat raid in a long time - I chose a fairly obscure target but Erik was waiting. No letting down of the guard. No hits scored on the night.

[Canoerebel]

10/23/44

Ketoi: CA bombardment not particularly effective.

[Canoerebel]

10/23/44

Ketoi: Stronger TF but weak results.

[Canoerebel]

10/23/44

Ketoi: Amphib TF handles enemy sub. The amphib TF is taking station for landing reinforcements tomorrow.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

10/23/44

Ketoi: CA bombardment not particularly effective.

But even those results keep him from rebuilding forts! [:)]