RHS105- test6a 10mar42

[el cid again]

For various technical reasons, including eratta in data entry (substitution population centers for light industry for example), bad research (inherited - lots of locations did not have the correct local industry), and changes made in the costs to industry to produce which needed tweeking - Test 6 was going to fail on logistical grounds. That has substantially happened, and the Japanese have not been sending fuel or supplies to forward forces in any quantity for some time.

Some weeks ago we decided to wrap up test six - in favor of test nine (now having its Japanese start turn being generated) - after two campaigns were resolved - the one for New Caledonia and the one for Bengal. The Allies - led by me personally - decided to fight for New Caledonia - on the basis it was too far from Japan - and too much was lost in its failed defense. The SoPac commander, who once quit the game because he had lost two large carriers on the first turn, but returned to play anyway, actually won a strategic victory. Not only did he take New Caledonia and the New Hebredes, he is today invading Fiji - correctly at Ba - which the Allied Chair 1 player failed to fortify. Supported by no less than six aircraft carriers! Chair 1 has three CVs - but not assembled - one en route to the map and two at Hawaii - not in the contest. Chair 2 has NOTHING worthy of mention - a handful of destroyers at Sydney. Fiji will fall and nothing will stop it - not even lack of Japanese supply or the dismal state of repair of Japanese AKs.

But to my utter surprise, the defense of Chittagong succeeded, at the very moment I concluded it was doomed! The Indian Army brigade present is only 3 % disrupted and has only 5 disabled line infantry squads. There are more than ample supplies - 17 000 plus vs demand of 3 000 something. The Allies can sustain air operations. The Japanese, meanwhile, have disruption levels as high as 84% and NO supplies. Worse - no way to get supplies to the battle - and no place to send them from.

If that is not bad enough, the heavy battle force - Yamato - Nagato - Mutsu - a 14 inch gun battleship - a heavy cruiser etc - ENTIRELY expended its heavy ammunition yesterday on nothing worth mention - and must retire to Singapore at least - and might not be able to rearm there even for logistical reasons.

If that is not bad enough, Rangoon is running in the pink - cannot sustain flight operations with drop tanks - and the Japanese bomber forces and fighter forces - in spite of winning the exchange rates on paper yesterday - are in no shape to fight today. Meanwhile, Allied bombers will continue to pound at will - and in this game - bomber attrition is decisive - doubly so when the ground troops are not in good supply and cannot change that.

I am declaring a formal draw - with SoPac won by the Japanese player (Paul Davis) - but the defense of India won by the Allied player (Scot McConnachie). In both cases decisive victories. In both cases in part due to technical considerations and luck but mainly due to fair skill by the winning players.

We also learned that China is wholly beyond being able to be defended in spite of the many things we added by the time the test began - and some folded in during it. I have hope that the sweeping changes to LCU - so they do not start out badly disorganized, with poor or hopeless morale, and excessive fatigue - and generally unplanned - as well as modeling major cities as Urban Heavy or Urban Light - and representing walled cities as having some fortifications - in addition to adding more things we have discovered in the official history- will change this.

Test eight shows we have a working economic system now and Test nine will test if we have addressed certain matters - such as the chronic weakness of the Allies in particular at start and the Chinese in particular? Many elements have changed which mean we cannot evaluate without a test. But we have been able to make even more local economies function as they should - due to missing sources of oil - incorrect numbers of oil refineries - etc. Because RHS does not "cheat" using widespread "free supply" - so ships need to move stuff (where it isn't automatically moved by roads and RR - generally inadequate in Asia at the time and fairly correctly modeled by code to be limited in capacity) - we had to get the numbers close to right to model the economy properly. Test nine will examine continuing changes in that direction, based on research on every location - and adding many found to be of major or minor significance for some reason.

Test six - as Mifune pointed out - did teach many lessons. It is my fault it had so many eratta - time consuming or not it was necessary to examine every location, every land unit, and every ship. Failing to do that, with time consuming research in each case, was a fundamental mistake.

Thanks to all the testers - eventually we attracted an entire group of active duty soldiers and airmen to help the SoPac commander in other theaters.

[bigred]

The SoPac commander, who once quit the game because he had lost two large carriers on the first turn, but returned to play anyway, actually won a strategic victory. Not only did he take New Caledonia and the New Hebredes, he is today invading Fiji - correctly at Ba - which the Allied Chair 1 player failed to fortify.

I did quit in protest to the use of USN BBs that sortied out of Pearl on first turn w/ no pre-knowledge that RHS allows this to happen...and to this point I still do not like that BBs are allowed to move. Roosevelt sacrificed the battleline to get the american people united in the war effort.