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I have several friends that have never played this game but check the Scen 78 AARs to see how I am doing. They all know I am on strictest security because my opponent has requested I not read their AAR.
Friend: “Sorry to hear about the Chitose, is that important”

Me ” Your Japanese is terrible, Ya, I lost a small carrier, how do you know that”
Friend: “ The last post I saw someone said you lost it”
Me: “ Wait, someone, my opponent billbrown”
Friend: “Hold on.., no a Bif1961”
Me: “That’s funny that ship is still in the game. Why would he say that? Were are you, hold on”
Me: ”I turn to my adorable but not altogether there biking friend and ask her to open the web page”
Biking Friend “ Oh here it is Cheeto’s, is 177 points a lot? Are you going to lose the war?”
Ugg, later..

Me: “Wait, he said that right after the post with a screen print that shows it sunk, you’re telling me in post 76 he really repeated what the reader could see in the screen before”
A little later

Me: ”So you are telling me that he is giving obtuse strategy suggestions, and commenting about my play without having a seat at the table”

the rumors of the Chitose’ demise are much exaggerated. However,

“LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS”

Dear Btd64,

As long as I am ranting a little. My good friend does know history and he pointed this out the other day. For this AAR I do a little research to find great historical quotes. So I was researching some Patton quotes and I found that the quote btd64 uses is most likely a Hollywood quote, he most likely never said it. The main reason he probably never said it is because it acknowledges the skill of the Germans at local counterattacks!

So btd64, feel free to leave a quote on your personal page, but place the correct name of the author beside it or remove it. You dishonour the man and mis-inform the readers.

June 5 1944

General Pattons Address to the 3rd Army


General Patton arose and strode swiftly to the microphone. The men snapped to their feet and stood silently. Patton surveyed the sea of brown with a grim look. "Be seated", he said. The words were not a request, but a command. The General's voice rose high and clear.

"Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American."

The General paused and looked over the crowd. "You are not all going to die," he said slowly. "Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they ARE He Men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen."

"All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling". That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you're not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sockful of shit!" The men roared in agreement.

Patton's grim expression did not change. "There are four hundred neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily", he roared into the microphone, "All because one man went to sleep on the job". He paused and the men grew silent. "But they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before they did". The General clutched the microphone tightly, his jaw out-thrust, and he continued, "An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking!"
The men slapped their legs and rolled in glee. This was Patton as the men had imagined him to be, and in rare form, too. He hadn't let them down. He was all that he was cracked up to be, and more. He had IT!

"We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world", Patton bellowed. He lowered his head and shook it pensively. Suddenly he snapped erect, faced the men belligerently and thundered, "Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do". The men clapped and howled delightedly. There would be many a barracks tale about the "Old Man's" choice phrases. They would become part and parcel of Third Army's history and they would become the bible of their slang.

"My men don't surrender", Patton continued, "I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back. That's not just bull shit either. The kind of man that I want in my command is just like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Luger against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand, and busted the hell out of the Kraut with his helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German before they knew what the hell was coming off. And, all of that time, this man had a bullet through a lung. There was a real man!"
Patton stopped and the crowd waited. He continued more quietly, "All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the 'G.I. Shits'."

Patton paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men. One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, "Fixing the wire, Sir". I asked, "Isn't that a little unhealthy right about now?" He answered, "Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed". I asked, "Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?" And he answered, "No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!" Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the road to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren't combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable."

The General paused and stared challengingly over the silent ocean of men. One could have heard a pin drop anywhere on that vast hillside. The only sound was the stirring of the breeze in the leaves of the bordering trees and the busy chirping of the birds in the branches of the trees at the General's left.
"Don't forget," Patton barked, "you men don't know that I'm here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Some day I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, 'Jesus Christ, it's the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton'."

"We want to get the hell over there", Patton continued, "The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit."
The men roared approval and cheered delightedly. This statement had real significance behind it. Much more than met the eye and the men instinctively sensed the fact. They knew that they themselves were going to play a very great part in the making of world history. They were being told as much right now. Deep sincerity and seriousness lay behind the General's colorful words. The men knew and understood it. They loved the way he put it, too, as only he could.
Patton continued quietly, "Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin", he yelled, "I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"

"When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!"

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!"

"From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don't give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder WE push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that."

The General paused. His eagle like eyes swept over the hillside. He said with pride, "There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON'T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana." No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!"

12 15 41

South China

Here is a screen print of what the Japanese player see’s and I made one below to illustrate what the allied player might see. No recon, poor d/l no planes flying, this is a poor example, my opponent probably does not see anything. But if in the second attach the allied player did not see a movement into the road below Nanchang. He might try and cut your supply line. The div in the hex is resting moving east, to conceal the move, reduce fat., and get closer, undetected, to this single unit of unknown size. This is a bad example, however, if you apply this thinking to other movements, you can disguise the size of the force moving and the direction. It's the art of maneuver and Clausewitz got it right. Why pay for the ground pay, when you can maneuver and get it for free. I think an American Civil War leader said it. Thomas? Rosecrans?

I busted down the road from Wuchang with two divs. to clear the highway to Changsha. After completing this I rest, moved one div back to Wuchang. Split the 2nd div and marched a Bgde se and sw. Change that, if I only move to the road next to Changsha, through the woods, my opponent has no idea of the size and strength of my move, and has withdrwawn from one woods hex and appears to be retreating into Changsha or its just a HQ moving, and they are making a stand.

The mod gives you several new divs in the China AO. One just won the battle near Hanoi. The other won the battle near Kukong yesterday. I think a couple of new reg’ts are in the Chinese ports, above garrison requirements and they cut the highway. The Chinese player probably see’s none of this.

Gotta wonder if the French shouldn’t have a few recon planes for this mod, to let the Chinese maneuver better.

China 2, Not Worth posting

12 15 41

Japanese Operational Report

Here is a sample report and I’ll go down it, and skip a lot of lines, you don’t need to go through the details; unless you don’t think that this will improve your game, I mean your game, this print isn’t glamorous. But it shows why the Japanese side is so complicated and a good player has to go through this every turn, or its tracker equivalents; both sides.

L1. Probably subs refueling L2 Oops, Do not unload orders 6. Put your naval bombers to work as search a/c. 7. Jake sighting 6 ships subs! 8… Here they come the Manila boys. Not one shot fired north of Formosa and I know trouble is coming. I know today to lock up the gates there’s a storm coming. I mean it’s Dec, of course they are. But now I fine tune my day/night and for many units I may have to only change once or twice in the next two years. Now the ASW ships are given their l/t patrol routes. A couple are kept in ports to respond to sightings. Watch the exp of the crews, PBs are low. The mod has about 20 10 kt. SC boats, with ASW of 8, 34 exp., gotta think how you can safely train them for a few months. (They are you’re example of how the Allied player is increasing his exp, by just convoy escort) Every sub encounter can increase exp., so note which ships are getting contacts and later you can move them to elite ASW TF. The British hunter killer system.
L. middle: D3A1 on Search, ASW, see post above, deepwater hexes. I have been watching this for three days now. They are moving because their direction changes, but I always see one in each hex. Each side has no d/l value of opposing ships. The hardest thing to do is to find out how good that sighting is. The allied player see’s x/x dl and knows. The other player does not have the same info. Even though they initiated the d/l!

The report shows as you go down the increasing reliability of the sightings, at different locations. But wait at the bottom, Ann’s getting reliable sightings? In Amoy avg. 60 exp, 34 ASW. 70% ASW 2k, no search. But wait it gets better. Somewhere in all this I might actually have an original thought, but more likely just a refinement of what those before have pointed out, but no one has put it in one place with an economy of words and posts. Must be the clean air.
The Mod gives you a 36 plane group of experimental D4Y1 Judy’s to take for a test drive. So I want to preserve this unit. Search maybe, but not training, the screen print in the next post will tell you why. It took a while for the community to fully understand not all bomber pilots are created equal. The elite pilots in the group, are DB pilots. You move them to a squadron other than a DB, they lose only exp. The Reserve Pool only has bomber pilots listed.

It’s actually an indirect way to simulate carrier trained pilots and land based trained pilots. That Grigsby guy is behind this! Every game one side has to simulate to the nth degree. "You handle production and I'll do the flight and pilot modeling". They lose their elite status if you get it wrong. I try and move a few at the same exp or DB skill into the Reserve Pool and then immediately move them into another DB unit for training or frontline use. Same TB, 2e to 1e. The only thing that’s really cool is every time I hit “request veteran” for a fighter squadron Santa Claus appears, 89 or 90exp. Note to self third pilot down is bomber pilot what kind?), take down holiday lights. There is no joy in mudville. I told you the Japanese side is really hard to get right. I think the only thing harder to do is play this game in Japanese writing. I thought I would fact check that, but instead just relied on Google search. I may actually be write:

'Japanese/Japanese writing system. The Japanese language uses three different systems for writing. There are two syllabaries—hiragana and katakana—which have characters for each basic mora (syllable.) Along with the syllabaries, there are also kanji, which is a writing system based on Chinese characters.'

6 5 19

AAR INTERRUPTUS

I am on vacation in the land of the midnight sun, and my friends want to go hike a hill and watch sunset. It’ll be a while. No I have some thoughts about the game I want to write down. I type up this whole analysis proof it, look out the window and see a real local kind of guy fishing by the stream. Well behind him I see a muskrat, or duck or otter or something leaving a wake going across the lake. I grab my pole and figure maybe he saw it and will also give me a chance to fish for wildlife info. My pink worm lure, with no spray scent, is not going to fool anybody. Shutdown grab my gear, 5 mins later run out the door, the laptop is still shutting down. Some message about awaiting Windows shutdown because of some Japanese language text or something. See I’m brilliant, I said this would happen, I would never be able to even attempt an AAR using Japanese language with Microsoft Windows. It apparently doesn’t even work in Japanese Arabic.(?) I would have to buy new software, but would I go to Microsoft US or Japan? Would it work on a Dell PC built in Canada? I gotta go fishin’.

In the next hour Tourist 4 Local 1. Apparently the Trout like worms tonight. The picture was on my friends phone and its too large, sorry. A 6 in. trout with a beautiful little pink stripe down the side.

We released them all.

Oh and I didn’t even tell you that I have been getting oil in the water sightings by Pesc. For two days. I can only guess these two boats are leaking and they don’t even know it, or else they are new, transiting? I can’t chase damaged boats, effectively, and I am getting hits scored almost 1 in 5 shallow water encounters.

Yin/Yang well if Army Annie can get good sighting’s lets see what the elite fellers can do. The ASW exp increase tells me something is happening. My heads hurting. I have to figure out a L/T ASW plan now; train these guys, B5n2 gets MAD, all those planes sitting around after Jill arrives, use the Mabel...

Dear Btd64,

I believe you are the lead developer for Scenario 78. That means you have the most at stake in the success of this project. I started this to give back to the community some of the knowledge I have gained in a year and a half. I had a good knowledge of Scenario 75 and was keen to share with you my insights into some of the longer term problems a mod this size has on the Japanese player. Apparently you are not even reading my AAR. Apparently you are actually dissing me on my oppenents thread.

Where is the honour in that?

Here on the Anniversary of D Day I throw down the Gauntlet of Challenge for you to tell me to shut up or do what every developer that has ever worked on this game has strived to do:

GET IT RIGHT!!!


"We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats"

Gen. G. Patton

I posted this on Tuesday in another thread, but with Game 5 tonight, I wanted everyone to know where my focus is right now. What a Game 4!

A Great example of the Intensity of North American Hockey. It’s almost the only professional sport where players compete almost exclusively for the Pride, Honour and Glory of having their name inscribed below the greats that inspired them. They gladly assume the mantle and title of ‘Role Model’ to inspire all those that follow.

“Large People… Knowing what’s at stake, playing a Man’s Game”

Doc Emrick

When you take on a game with a well respected member of the forum you feel you can expect a certain level of courtesy. How many games have ended early because of a minor disagreement or misunderstanding? An AAR is meant to instruct and inform so that is my intention so that others may learn from events and maybe avoid these same mistakes.

Zorch – Shutup you gladly throw gasoline on the fire
When people have no information about a volatile situation don’t show your ignorance of the details and make it worse

Post #81 on my opponents thread is a very strong statement to deny the larger audience insights into the mod. That’s how I know my opponents gender, a very public hissy fit because their expectations were slightly dented. In the corporate world that kind of back stabbing reputation follows you through your whole career with that company.

So I will post the last email I sent to my opponent and rather than responding with an email chose to go public with this matter in post # 81 :

“Oh and talk to your friends and tell them to temper their enthusiasm!”

I believe that includes policing their AAR.

So I am a direct person, and maybe a bit rude, but then to turn around and go public, after one week, with someone new to the AAR world. This is how the community greets me. I was right to let my non-gaming friends look in!

So everyone can learn from my frustrations I think it's only fair that we keep this dialogue public. We have an attachment only correspondence. I have received an email from my opponent and I think its only fair that BillBrown show how a Matrix Elite Guard resolves a situation like this. I have deleted the note.

If my opponent chooses to go public than let everyone see how forum professionals handle this situation. I need to have some sort of confidence that a hissy fit won’t be a regular occurrence, and I don’t have to put up with thoughtless, apparently well respected, twits.

I hope you continue with your AAR and some others, though well meaning, don't try to influence your decision making. I am following both sides of this as it is very educational to see how opposites see the conflict as it unfolds. It is actually something you don't get during actual conflicts. Nothing wrong with being direct but, as I always told my soldier, never type angry because once you hit send you can't bring it back, or in other words you can't unring a bell. Good luck , I hope you work through whatever the issues are.

ORIGINAL: WingCmdr

Zorch – Shutup you gladly throw gasoline on the fire
When people have no information about a volatile situation don’t show your ignorance of the details and make it worse

Please don't tell me to 'shut up'.

Hey guys really appreciate that. See, there are adults in the room. Sorry Zorch, but sometimes someone has to be made an example of, you went public. Could have been anyone

(except for Mr. Awesome, he has a facebook page you know, that’s shock and awe!)

BBA


It’s not personal, thanks for sucking it up for the greater good and adding in a teaching point about etiquette.

I only use original source material. This forum prides itself on getting it historically accurate.
Anyone who gets in the ring without a mask is Awesome. I think you can counter punch his hook.


BBA Entrance 3:45

The Masked Destroyers

I can’t do this AAR without my friends input. It’s called teamwork you finger waving twit. [:-]
(And the name of this video is very related to this game, We can't make this up, historical accuracy is much better!!)

What is also clear about this post is the position this person had in the military; I am supposed to listen to a REMF?

Location: Lolo National Forest

“The Destroyers” as they now call themselves have started calling me Fleet Commander BBA. One of them salutes me and they are going to get hurt. They said as long as you are waiting for the forum to help you out with mod concerns why don’t you tell them about what makes this country great and some of the many reasons its truly worth the sacrifices we all make for it, even if it’s just the taxes we pay.

When you drive 140 miles though the forest its called a 'cyclist’s dream that hates hills', its virtually all steady gradient. Going along highway 12 you get to pull over anywhere, sit by the river, fish (catch and release, by law) you are almost alone in a Huge Wilderness. A gorgeous road easily following the river, steady, 1 -2 % grade uphill to the center and then down just as easily. Hike into virgin woodland. There are a few unique tree species found only in that forest, along with hundreds of other different North American tree varieties.

Lolo Natl Forest

We chose this image because it’s gorgeous. Wait, put your Bletchley park hat on. It’s a little bit disorienting moving to a place that is always green; there’s no leaves to fall with the season and its actually snowing out today, at 7500’. As you look into the distance, the hilltops are not green. You can see a small forest in the cut below the high peak in the middle in the distance. They were burned by wildfires 20 years or more ago and the intensity of the blaze scorched the soil so that this may still look like this in 100 years. The cities of Europe and Japan recovered in a fraction of the time. Our Democracy has come to the point that disaster funding is routinely considered fair game for Political Gamesmanship.


Actually, let me put this in a way they will understand. Over 100 jobs were lost, with these woodlands, and federal revenue has been lost, through the selective cutting program. Several individuals have died, in logging accidents and in fire fighting prevention efforts. It’s dangerous work and those on the front lines desperately need a little more organization and long range planning from inside the Beltway!

Update

I have posted on the lead developers thread and my opponents thread to get help with changes to the mod. So while that is going on I would like to bring up a few teaching points. This is simply what is happening on my AAR.



In post #33 above I really do not understand why the writer would say so much? Was that necessary? It’s what every person that uses this forum reads all the time. If you don’t have a few stars in your title you have no cred.





I include post #33 here so that future readers will understand.

"I hope you continue with your AAR and some others, though well meaning, don't try to influence your decision making. I am following both sides of this as it is very educational to see how opposites see the conflict as it unfolds. It is actually something you don't get during actual conflicts. Nothing wrong with being direct but, as I always told my soldier, never type angry because once you hit send you can't bring it back, or in other words you can't unring a bell. Good luck , I hope you work through whatever the issues are."

bif1961

Self-Censorship

You see I have an ‘edit’ key on my posts. I believe this person has that same functionality.

Forum Cred

If you look at post #3 above that is how you get cred in the Forum system. Oddly enough it’s the same individual. I get the feeling that the system encourages a lot of inane posting simply to get cred.