Matrix Games Forums

1969, January.
Sat out the month while various major units completed repairs from the December battle.

British minor forces have been making a nuisance of themselves in the western med and off the coast of Ireland, but we are single-minded in pursuing the blockade of the British Isles--still holding--and waiting for an opportunity to decisively trounce what' left of the RN.

1969, February.
Offering battle to some British light forces. February 27, 2335.
Night action, light rain.
2359: Radar contact. Weapons free. 0003: Our ECM is working well. Theirs...not so much... 0030: Moving the CLs a little further out of torpedo range. Then we'll go about and fire off the last few missiles.

That CL is doomed. We're done here. Retiring. 0108: It's all over.
0215: CL Stuttgart is mined. Damage not too serious.
Major victory, +1P. Enemy CL and DD sunk, damage only on our side.
VPs currently stand at 43k Germany, 7k Britain. I think they'll throw in the towel soon. Or at least, they will if they have any sense.

1969, March.
Peace feelers. The nation is sick of constant war. Time to end it. Territories to the value of 16. But with only 21 momths of the game left to run, I don't see the point.
Taking the reparations, and can hopefully click through to the end. This AAR stuff is hard work, and I'm more or less over it.

1969, April.
In case you're wondering whether Elite Pilot Training is worth it. 1970, January.
Calm everywhere. 11 months to go.
1970, July.
The Naval Research Bureau has invented helicopters.
Whatever...
1970, December Finished with a P of 238, which is by far the best I've ever done. Economy second only to USA. We have inflicted vastly more losses than we've incurred. The only thing remaining is to outline what happened before 9/1900 when I started this AAR.

I started the game with my usual preferences: slight tech variation, harsh peace deals, slow aircraft development and airbase size limited to 60. This has the effect of making the game from the 40s onwards much more interesting.

Even though Britain declared war in 1892 or 93, when I had very little new construction, the AI obligingly sent out the RN in penny packets of 3-6 Bs and I defeated each one in detail. So no particular trick there, just luck. Other games it's sent out pretty much the whole lot at once, and there isn't much answer to this in view of the inevitable attrition.

I noticed that the pre-dreadnought RN likes the ram, so watch out for that if getting in close. This accounted for about half my cruiser losses during this period. Heaven knows they couldn't hit them with their guns. I daresay if the devs included boarding actions, the RN would have tried that too!

I use CLs and to a lesser extent CAs in the early game as torpedo boats, because you basically have no choice if you want to win battles. Early game gunnery, before some of the cool fire-control gadgets get invented, is terrible, but early ships have no defence against torps. Don't think there's anything new there either.

Extra training--night and torpedo, then night and damage control, then just DC--worth every penny. I have had ships overcome seemingly impossible damage and make it home--this can make all the difference between victory and defeat.

I take as my inspiration here the saga of SMS Seydlitz after Jutland. Yes it can be done.

Anyway, if anyone has actually read all this, I hope you've enjoyed it. There are still quite a few rough edges and annoyances with the UI in this game, as I've mentioned here and there. But it is by far the most engrossing and fun game that I've seen for years.

Kudos to the game originators, great job!

Thanks for this thread, I read it with particular interest because I was in the late stages of my own Germany campaign. I don't recall the RN being quite as combustible in my game though.

mrchuck wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2024 4:39 am 1911, January.

The Russians are down to 2 Bs, 2 CAs and 56 DDs. I've formed the Baltic Fleet with 4 Bs, 3 CAs, 2 CLs and some destroyers to keep them quiet. The Bs will do 20kts and are all six-guns.

The rest of the fleet has rebased to the west and includes 2 actual BBs, 2 BCs and five Bs which the designer has reclassifed to BB after upgrading to turbines and 22kts, 10 CA, 4 CL, about 20 destroyers. These pseudo-BBs are all six-guns and I hope I can get more use out of them yet. There about a dozen more units still fixing up light damage for another month.

Are these B/BB 3x2 ships still rocking Q-2 guns?

Larcrivereagle wrote: Sun Mar 23, 2025 6:25 am

mrchuck wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2024 4:39 am 1911, January.

The Russians are down to 2 Bs, 2 CAs and 56 DDs. I've formed the Baltic Fleet with 4 Bs, 3 CAs, 2 CLs and some destroyers to keep them quiet. The Bs will do 20kts and are all six-guns.

The rest of the fleet has rebased to the west and includes 2 actual BBs, 2 BCs and five Bs which the designer has reclassifed to BB after upgrading to turbines and 22kts, 10 CA, 4 CL, about 20 destroyers. These pseudo-BBs are all six-guns and I hope I can get more use out of them yet. There about a dozen more units still fixing up light damage for another month.

Are these B/BB 3x2 ships still rocking Q-2 guns?

Sorry about the v. slow reply, only just noticed this.

Yes, you can't build sixguns with quality -1 or better--2 x 2 maximum once you have -1, or build BBs if possible. However, with increased elevation, the -2s stay useful for a good while longer than you would expect, and what really does them in once and for all, is lack of TP. Makes them very, very fragile and then it's time to scrap any that survive.