Tale of the Sheep! - JocMeister (A) vs. Lowpe (J)

[witpqs]

In my present PBM (as Allies) I was paranoid about that approach and kept a sharp eye out for it.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
All those grey roads... and they go everywhere. It also helps cut off any troops still at Changsha if you take it early. They have to walk instead of taking the train. Take it quickly enough and stacking limits really don't matter. At all. For example, what would you do if he dropped paratroops at Chihkiang tomorrow? He could then fly in the better part of a division and you'd never dislodge him... In the mean time, he's flying in more troops (and Av Supp to keep the AF open) and blocking hex sides. What little supply you had flowing to the forward areas from your Central Valley is now cut off. He could do this in a matter of weeks, all while still pressuring you at the front and beating you back. Then those units that he dropped behind begin closing hex sides, trapping your units in situ for later destruction at his leisure.

Speaking as Japan: Liuchow is a clear hex. Forget Kukong for now, and even Nanning can wait (though it's necessary for the Magic Road). Kweilin can wait - you want Tuyun after Liuchow. That combines with Chihkiang and Kweiyang to effectively cut off the entire forward area for the Chinese. He could drive tanks up this way and you'd never stop him. The IJA can send its unrestricted tanks here instead of Luzon and Malaya. I would. Knocking China out is huge and you can do it quickly with tanks and paratroops. Distract in the north while preparing your eviscerating blow in the south.

I wouldn't shock across the river into Changteh. I'd simply walk through the terrain if I were him. I know that's exactly what I'm saying you should be avoiding, but he's Japan and you're China. He can move around you almost at will.

Besides that - so what if he takes Sian and all that up there first? You would at least have a clear path of retreat to the western mountains.

*shrug*

Good points. Hadn´t considered that approach at all. I have some forces down south I can shift in that direction. Chihkiang isn´t supposed to be empty. Don´t know how that happened but I´ll get some troops there.

Doesn´t really matter though as supply will be gone soon. But the longer I can keep him busy the better!

[JocMeister]

No turn from Nick. Installed World of Warships last night but havn´t had time to try it out yet. Anyone else playing?

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

No turn from Nick. Installed World of Warships last night but havn´t had time to try it out yet. Anyone else playing?

I've quite enjoyed it. It's good fun playing the middle tier Japanese destroyers and crusiers, though I've yet to give the American tree a go.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
I've quite enjoyed it. It's good fun playing the middle tier Japanese destroyers and crusiers, though I've yet to give the American tree a go.

Got the chance to play some today. Really fun. Very easy to get into and quite addicting. [:)] The tier II cruiser was a really bad grind though. That Cruiser sucked. Had time to play one round with the tier III which felt a lot better with the extra guns although slower.

Time to decide if I should go BB or stick with the CA line. Any hints? [:)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
I've quite enjoyed it. It's good fun playing the middle tier Japanese destroyers and crusiers, though I've yet to give the American tree a go.

Got the chance to play some today. Really fun. Very easy to get into and quite addicting. [:)] The tier II cruiser was a really bad grind though. That Cruiser sucked. Had time to play one round with the tier III which felt a lot better with the extra guns although slower.

Time to decide if I should go BB or stick with the CA line. Any hints? [:)]

The first battleships are absolute garbage. You're better off skipping them using free XP. I bought a small amount of doubloons and kept some ships I had gone through (they become "elite" and you have to transfer the XP off of them using doubloons at a rate of 25 XP to 1 doubloon) just so I could play ships I enjoyed to skip ships I didn't enjoy.

My summary of ships I've played so far:

South Carolina - skipped it, heard nothing but complaints from my friend who did play it
Kawachi - OK, but only 9KM range. 9KM! That's DD range.
Myogi - kind of fun. Wyoming is a bit better, maybe. I'm almost to the Kongo, which looks like a huge improvement.

In general, IJN BBs are faster and shoot a bit better, while USN BBs are slower but maybe a bit more armored.

Cruisers... USN is marginally better on some, IJN on others. The St Louis is better than the Tenryu (T3). The Kuma and Phoenix, both T4, are comparable. The Omaha is ROCKING compared to the Furutaka. The Furutaka is just awful. Everything about it is worse than the Kuma except for the health, which is still crappy. The Aoba (T6) is a bit better but has issues. I'm suffering through so I can get the Mogami...

The Cleveland is marginally OP.

DDs - I prefer Japanese. They have torpedoes worth calling them torpedoes, but the guns on them are horrendous. In general, IJN DDs are torp boats that happen to have guns while the USN DDs are gun boats that happen to have torps. I'm going to go up the USN line to get back into an Omaha-like playstyle. I love the quick/agile ships with decent guns, and torpedoes to back them up. Fun stuff.

I've heard they are going to split the cruiser line into CL and CA lines at some point, which would be nice.

Haven't played carriers, but might sometime.

EDIT - by the way, I kept the St Louis in my port. It's super fun to play. Is kind of slow, sure, but an 8-gun broadside is so much fun. I think it is a bit hardier than an Omaha also, despite only a 500 HP difference (27300 vs 26800) - armor, I imagine.

The upper tier CAs are apparently very good. I would look in the tech tree if I were you and look at the details for the ships. Mouse over the guns icon and see its firing rate, and traverse speed. Click the triangle for your Concealment and Maneuverability on the right hand side to see your "get spotted at" range and to see how fast your rudder shifts and your ship turns. I find those to be most important, at least how I play.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: mind_messing
I've quite enjoyed it. It's good fun playing the middle tier Japanese destroyers and crusiers, though I've yet to give the American tree a go.

Got the chance to play some today. Really fun. Very easy to get into and quite addicting. [:)] The tier II cruiser was a really bad grind though. That Cruiser sucked. Had time to play one round with the tier III which felt a lot better with the extra guns although slower.

Time to decide if I should go BB or stick with the CA line. Any hints? [:)]

The first battleships are absolute garbage. You're better off skipping them using free XP. I bought a small amount of doubloons and kept some ships I had gone through (they become "elite" and you have to transfer the XP off of them using doubloons at a rate of 25 XP to 1 doubloon) just so I could play ships I enjoyed to skip ships I didn't enjoy.

My summary of ships I've played so far:

South Carolina - skipped it, heard nothing but complaints from my friend who did play it
Kawachi - OK, but only 9KM range. 9KM! That's DD range.
Myogi - kind of fun. Wyoming is a bit better, maybe. I'm almost to the Kongo, which looks like a huge improvement.

In general, IJN BBs are faster and shoot a bit better, while USN BBs are slower but maybe a bit more armored.

Cruisers... USN is marginally better on some, IJN on others. The St Louis is better than the Tenryu (T3). The Kuma and Phoenix, both T4, are comparable. The Omaha is ROCKING compared to the Furutaka. The Furutaka is just awful. Everything about it is worse than the Kuma except for the health, which is still crappy. The Aoba (T6) is a bit better but has issues. I'm suffering through so I can get the Mogami...

The Cleveland is marginally OP.

DDs - I prefer Japanese. They have torpedoes worth calling them torpedoes, but the guns on them are horrendous. In general, IJN DDs are torp boats that happen to have guns while the USN DDs are gun boats that happen to have torps. I'm going to go up the USN line to get back into an Omaha-like playstyle. I love the quick/agile ships with decent guns, and torpedoes to back them up. Fun stuff.

I've heard they are going to split the cruiser line into CL and CA lines at some point, which would be nice.

Haven't played carriers, but might sometime.

EDIT - by the way, I kept the St Louis in my port. It's super fun to play. Is kind of slow, sure, but an 8-gun broadside is so much fun. I think it is a bit hardier than an Omaha also, despite only a 500 HP difference (27300 vs 26800) - armor, I imagine.

The upper tier CAs are apparently very good. I would look in the tech tree if I were you and look at the details for the ships. Mouse over the guns icon and see its firing rate, and traverse speed. Click the triangle for your Concealment and Maneuverability on the right hand side to see your "get spotted at" range and to see how fast your rudder shifts and your ship turns. I find those to be most important, at least how I play.

Thanks! Some solid advice there! [&o] Things are moving much faster now with the St.Luis. Averaging around 500-800 XP per battle. Decided to go for the CA line. Mainly because most guys playing BBs seems to prefer sitting back doing...pretty much nothing while the enemy cap flags...[8|]

Strangely enough the Tier IV CA looks worse then the St.Luis? I guess its faster though with the TTs?

Also decided to not try DDs. Looks like a lot of fun but I´ll continue with the CAs for now. Seems a little bit easier tbh. But I´ve seen some guys playing DDs that are devastating. Might try it when I get better. [:)]

[CaptBeefheart]

I've dabbled a bit in that game, although I should be classified as a "Wallower." My win percentage is something like 30%. I managed to play enough battles to get the Arkansas Beta, which is a pretty cool vessel. I also like the faster firing rate of cruisers vs. the BBs. I bought the premium Yubari in my initial package and it's very fun to play. Being an AFB, though, I've only gone up the USN CA/CL and BB trees.

EDIT: World of Warships is a fun game to play while sipping some of this:

Cheers,
CC

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

I've dabbled a bit in that game, although I should be classified as a "Wallower." My win percentage is something like 30%. I managed to play enough battles to get the Arkansas Beta, which is a pretty cool vessel. I also like the faster firing rate of cruisers vs. the BBs. I bought the premium Yubari in my initial package and it's very fun to play. Being an AFB, though, I've only gone up the USN CA/CL and BB trees.

EDIT: World of Warships is a fun game to play while sipping some of this:

Cheers,
CC

Walking up the same tree myself. Currently on the Phoenix which I like a lot. Have to be careful though! I actually tried that bottle at my in laws. Very nice one! [:)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister



Got the chance to play some today. Really fun. Very easy to get into and quite addicting. [:)] The tier II cruiser was a really bad grind though. That Cruiser sucked. Had time to play one round with the tier III which felt a lot better with the extra guns although slower.

Time to decide if I should go BB or stick with the CA line. Any hints? [:)]

The first battleships are absolute garbage. You're better off skipping them using free XP. I bought a small amount of doubloons and kept some ships I had gone through (they become "elite" and you have to transfer the XP off of them using doubloons at a rate of 25 XP to 1 doubloon) just so I could play ships I enjoyed to skip ships I didn't enjoy.

My summary of ships I've played so far:

South Carolina - skipped it, heard nothing but complaints from my friend who did play it
Kawachi - OK, but only 9KM range. 9KM! That's DD range.
Myogi - kind of fun. Wyoming is a bit better, maybe. I'm almost to the Kongo, which looks like a huge improvement.

In general, IJN BBs are faster and shoot a bit better, while USN BBs are slower but maybe a bit more armored.

Cruisers... USN is marginally better on some, IJN on others. The St Louis is better than the Tenryu (T3). The Kuma and Phoenix, both T4, are comparable. The Omaha is ROCKING compared to the Furutaka. The Furutaka is just awful. Everything about it is worse than the Kuma except for the health, which is still crappy. The Aoba (T6) is a bit better but has issues. I'm suffering through so I can get the Mogami...

The Cleveland is marginally OP.

DDs - I prefer Japanese. They have torpedoes worth calling them torpedoes, but the guns on them are horrendous. In general, IJN DDs are torp boats that happen to have guns while the USN DDs are gun boats that happen to have torps. I'm going to go up the USN line to get back into an Omaha-like playstyle. I love the quick/agile ships with decent guns, and torpedoes to back them up. Fun stuff.

I've heard they are going to split the cruiser line into CL and CA lines at some point, which would be nice.

Haven't played carriers, but might sometime.

EDIT - by the way, I kept the St Louis in my port. It's super fun to play. Is kind of slow, sure, but an 8-gun broadside is so much fun. I think it is a bit hardier than an Omaha also, despite only a 500 HP difference (27300 vs 26800) - armor, I imagine.

The upper tier CAs are apparently very good. I would look in the tech tree if I were you and look at the details for the ships. Mouse over the guns icon and see its firing rate, and traverse speed. Click the triangle for your Concealment and Maneuverability on the right hand side to see your "get spotted at" range and to see how fast your rudder shifts and your ship turns. I find those to be most important, at least how I play.

Thanks! Some solid advice there! [&o] Things are moving much faster now with the St.Luis. Averaging around 500-800 XP per battle. Decided to go for the CA line. Mainly because most guys playing BBs seems to prefer sitting back doing...pretty much nothing while the enemy cap flags...[8|]

Strangely enough the Tier IV CA looks worse then the St.Luis? I guess its faster though with the TTs?

Also decided to not try DDs. Looks like a lot of fun but I´ll continue with the CAs for now. Seems a little bit easier tbh. But I´ve seen some guys playing DDs that are devastating. Might try it when I get better. [:)]

The Phoenix is a proto-Omaha. Very comparable to the Kuma on the IJN side. Both are fun. If you like the St Louis, you'll like the Phoenix and Omaha. Things change when you get to the Cleveland - I'm not there yet, but my friend is and I can understand his frustration in adjusting.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
The Phoenix is a proto-Omaha. Very comparable to the Kuma on the IJN side. Both are fun. If you like the St Louis, you'll like the Phoenix and Omaha. Things change when you get to the Cleveland - I'm not there yet, but my friend is and I can understand his frustration in adjusting.

I quickly maxed out the Phoenix. Absolutely loved it! Just got to the Omaha but didn´t have time to try it. Having TTs can be very useful for covering your retreat and the occasional kill. I´ll probably miss those when I get to the Cleveland.

It was so much fun I´ll keep it in favor of the St.Louis!

EDIT: Just tried the Omaha...Niiiice! [:D]

[JocMeister]

PS. Sorry for all the offtopics in here lately. Hard to do an AAR when you don´t get any turns. Last one from Nick was Wednesday last week. When he sent that he said he would be gone until Sunday (3 days ago). I dutifully sent it back to him Sunday morning but still no turn back.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

PS. Sorry for all the offtopics in here lately. Hard to do an AAR when you don´t get any turns. Last one from Nick was Wednesday last week. When he sent that he said he would be gone until Sunday (3 days ago). I dutifully sent it back to him Sunday morning but still no turn back.

Just start doing AARs of your Warships battles instead!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

PS. Sorry for all the offtopics in here lately. Hard to do an AAR when you don´t get any turns. Last one from Nick was Wednesday last week. When he sent that he said he would be gone until Sunday (3 days ago). I dutifully sent it back to him Sunday morning but still no turn back.

Just start doing AARs of your Warships battles instead!

Not sure Matrix Games would continue to be tolerant of an AAR featuring a competitor's game!

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

PS. Sorry for all the offtopics in here lately. Hard to do an AAR when you don´t get any turns. Last one from Nick was Wednesday last week. When he sent that he said he would be gone until Sunday (3 days ago). I dutifully sent it back to him Sunday morning but still no turn back.

Just start doing AARs of your Warships battles instead!

Not sure Matrix Games would continue to be tolerant of an AAR featuring a competitor's game!

Eh... not really in the same business, IMO. Different target audiences.

[CaptBeefheart]

WOW would require a Youtube AAR. If I did one, the narration would be: "Ah, look, my Phoenix is on fire again. Trying to hit that DD over there, shucks, didn't lead it enough. Now I led it too much. Someone stop that thing. What's that alarm noise? Holy carruthers, look at all those torps! [KABOOM! Gurgle, gurgle.]"

Cheers,
CC

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

WOW would require a Youtube AAR. If I did one, the narration would be: "Ah, look, my Phoenix is on fire again. Trying to hit that DD over there, shucks, didn't lead it enough. Now I led it too much. Someone stop that thing. What's that alarm noise? Holy carruthers, look at all those torps! [KABOOM! Gurgle, gurgle.]"

Cheers,
CC

That sounds pretty much exactly like my games! [:D]

[JocMeister]

On a more serious note. Leaving town tomorrow morning until Sunday. Unless things pick up to the agreed pace of 1 turn/day starting Monday next week I´ll look for an replacement or start a new game. Going to send him an email today telling him so.

I feel I´ve been pretty patient with Nick during the summer. But its now 5 days since he returned from his trip and not even a word. If you are truly interested and committed to a game you can do a turn per day despite "summer". I know I can despite having two kids and have spent something like 12-16 hours per day into renovating the kitchen for the last 4 weeks.

Too harsh? Perhaps but with so few turns played by Nick during the last 4-6 weeks I feel his motivation with this game cannot be that good. I love playing AE. I make it my priority to do my turn before anything else when I have "free time". Nick doesn´t seem to have that passion which is probably not good for me in the long run.

[ny59giants]

Nick was a good opponent until the Summer of '44 when he announced that he had bought a farm in Greece and could not continue to play AE. So, it came to a sudden end. [:(] I heard very little from him until he came back to play you.

Take a walk on the wild side for your next game and try a mod like RA, BTS, or BTS Lite. [:)]

[JocMeister]

Sigh...another one down the drain. [:(]

No hard feeling against Nick but this kind of sucks. Its the 4th one in a row that ends prematurely....Anyone interested in taking it up? Nick will provide assistance if needed.