The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

P.S. Maps to resume tomorrow. It's been a busy couple of days here, but things return to normal in the morning. Except I have to go the DMV to renew my driver's license, producing 324 documents to prove that I am who I say that I am at that I don't look anything like John Cochran and that I am still supple enough to do remarkable things.

[Canoerebel]

With the Ardennes offensive in the early stages, I'm getting alot of information, but not enough to know exactly what's going on. The map is, at the moment, compicated and confusing. I'm in the midst of preparing for a major offensive while trying to understand what may be a major enemy counteroffensive. Here's what I think I know and what I think I want to do:

1. There is an enemy concentration of combat ships in the western Aluetians. NavSearch shows BBs, though I doubt that unless John is moving on the Allied bases. As with Celebes, the bases hold little real value to me. But I don't want to lose a bucketful of good troops. I just pulled an Australian division out of Adak a month ago, replacing it with much weaker units. But there are alot of engineers and AA units posted there. An enemy invasion might succeed, though it wouldn't accomplish anything that would have a longterm impact on the game (other than the point value of the troops).

2. Burma is turning into a mess for John. It's surprising that he didn't see this and react accordingly. Allied air power is just killing his units. He's got to stop this or retreat. And if he chooses the latter, he's going to have many messed up units and the Allies will probably have Rangoon in two months.

3. As I said last night, Celebes is a major problem. There I'm concerned only about the units, as the bases aren't critical long term (partly because there are so many others nearby that can serve the same purpose if I decide to move into the Java Sea). Other than the units in peril, I think John's commitment here is risky. If Fun House does what I think it will do, he's regret the time and infantry devoted to Celebes. However, if he does wipe out the Allied units there, it's probably worth it to him.

4. John has a sizeable carrier force employed, stripped of bombers and housing only fighters. So he was very worried about security and would flee if Death Star was moving that way. But this is not full KB. He has a stout carrier force somewhere. It would help me alot if I got lucky with a SigInt report or sub sighting or if John revealed them somewhere far, far away.

5. My carriers are involved in a super-secret, highly important mission - so important that it overrides even the Celebes emergency. But if I can account for most or all of his carriers, that will speed things up alot. Come on, John, show your hand!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Why can't they just say "north of 16 degrees"?

Because it never gets that cool in Vietnam!
I like the use of the word parallel - it is instructive for people who have never done any real navigation or map reading and slept through their geography classes (not me - I love maps). Youngsters I meet these days know how to use GPS gizmos but don't seem to understand what the numbers on them mean ...

[Canoerebel]

I love maps too. In the category of "information not to include on your resume," maps are my bathroom reading material. I switch them out occasionally, but right now I have a state map of Arizona and a park map of Yosemite. Why those places? Just random. I like maps of any place in the continental US, either because I've been there or hope to go eventually.

[BBfanboy]

Between boot camp and being a Scout leader I learned a lot of neat things you can do with maps - like using some graph paper to draw a skyline profile of a map section by plotting the contour intervals vs distance. Very handy when you are not sure where you are on the map.

[Canoerebel]

I did "compass and pacing" (orienteering) in college, including some intercollegiate contests. (I think I beat Clemson one day, which is definitely resume fodder).

I have a huge stack of topographic maps covering most of northwest Georgia. I used them all the time. Not many people are comfortable bushwhacking these days. But if you know how to use a topographic map, there is no way to get disoriented or lost in the Georgia mountains.

[bradfordkay]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I did "compass and pacing" (orienteering) in college, including some intercollegiate contests. (I think I beat Clemson one day, which is definitely resume fodder).

I have a huge stack of topographic maps covering most of northwest Georgia. I used them all the time. Not many people are comfortable bushwhacking these days. But if you know how to use a topographic map, there is no way to get disoriented or lost in the Georgia mountains.

I like to quote Daniel Boone. Someone once asked him if he ever got lost. He pondered a moment and then replied, "No, but I'll admit I was a might confused for four or five days once."

I am also a map fiend. I have a file cabinet filled with them and have always loved perusing maps. As a result, my friends claim that I have an atlas for a brain.

[crsutton]

As a third officer I lived with nautical charts. They were just instituting satellite navigation in my day, and we still relied mostly on the sextant. Something very satisfying about being able to locate your position using the stars. It is pretty sad to see how younger people have lost the feel for geography. You have to keep using it or you will lose it. GPS is wonderful but even I am losing my knowledge of the local streets. It is sort of like when you are the driver, you remember the route but if you are the passenger you admire the scenery and don't pay attention to the route. Nowadays we are all passengers.

[Canoerebel]

3/11/44

DEI: I had a better day in Celebes, due to a modest air victory but mostly due to John's BBs and CVs not being in proximity. See map for details.

Burma: John had a very bad day in Burma, and I hope that's going to continue. See second map for details.

NoPac: Those enemy "BBs" seen at Attu are apparently withdrawing to the SW. The threat level declines, accordingly.

Fun House: Departure date is only 9 days away. So many ships! So many troops! So much time and analysis involved in the loading operation. Augh! But everything is on schedule.

Marshalls: These islands no longer have true significance in the game. I thought John had withdrawn, so I moved to take bases with little forces. John reinforced and beat me back twice with almost-as-little forces. It doesn't really matter (unless one of us makes a mistake in committing good ships that end up sunk), but I wonder if both of us are using this theater to try to distract or mislead the other?

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: crsutton
As a third officer I lived with nautical charts. They were just instituting satellite navigation in my day, and we still relied mostly on the sextant. Something very satisfying about being able to locate your position using the stars. It is pretty sad to see how younger people have lost the feel for geography. You have to keep using it or you will lose it. GPS is wonderful but even I am losing my knowledge of the local streets. It is sort of like when you are the driver, you remember the route but if you are the passenger you admire the scenery and don't pay attention to the route. Nowadays we are all passengers.

That's exactly right. No youngsters have the slightest idea how to read a map (especially a topographic map). With their generation tethered to electronics, the ability to know where you are, where you are going, and how to get there, will be lost.

I don't use a GPS. That's easy, since I don't have a cell phone or other electronic gizmo. So I'm still using the old-fashioned way of navigating. Being a luddite has its advantages.

[Canoerebel]

Burma and China

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Why can't they just say "north of 16 degrees"?

Because it never gets that cool in Vietnam!
I like the use of the word parallel - it is instructive for people who have never done any real navigation or map reading and slept through their geography classes (not me - I love maps). Youngsters I meet these days know how to use GPS gizmos but don't seem to understand what the numbers on them mean ...

Then you should also say "north" as just 16th parallel is ambiguous. Which one?!

[Lokasenna]

That map, from a Japanese perspective, is confounding. I just can't fathom letting an Allied player retain control of China like that.

[Canoerebel]

John declared his intent to "leave China alone" after he conquered Changsha in 1942. I urged him not to do so, but he's a navy guy. Eventually the preference not to handle the land war in China will cost him.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

John declared his intent to "leave China alone" after he conquered Changsha in 1942. I urged him not to do so, but he's a navy guy. Eventually the preference not to handle the land war in China will cost him.

He should remove China from his mods, then! [:'(]

[bradfordkay]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

As a third officer I lived with nautical charts. They were just instituting satellite navigation in my day, and we still relied mostly on the sextant. Something very satisfying about being able to locate your position using the stars. It is pretty sad to see how younger people have lost the feel for geography. You have to keep using it or you will lose it. GPS is wonderful but even I am losing my knowledge of the local streets. It is sort of like when you are the driver, you remember the route but if you are the passenger you admire the scenery and don't pay attention to the route. Nowadays we are all passengers.

Speak for yourself. My mom (rest her soul) used to tell this story on me and my dad (who was not a good navigator). We lived in Richmond, VA from when I was three until just before I went to college. Mom's parents still lived in her hometown of Shreveport, LA. Twice we drove from Richmond to Shreveport for vacation - once when I was five and again when I was eight. During that second trip we were halfway across Tennessee when I piped up from the backseat "Dad, you were supposed to turn left back there."

"I know what I am doing, son." was his response.

Thirty minutes later he sheepishly turned to mom and said, "I think Brad was right. We missed our turn."

He never questioned my directions after that...

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

That map, from a Japanese perspective, is confounding. I just can't fathom letting an Allied player retain control of China like that.

B-29s at Chungking in 1944. Yum.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

As a third officer I lived with nautical charts. They were just instituting satellite navigation in my day, and we still relied mostly on the sextant. Something very satisfying about being able to locate your position using the stars. It is pretty sad to see how younger people have lost the feel for geography. You have to keep using it or you will lose it. GPS is wonderful but even I am losing my knowledge of the local streets. It is sort of like when you are the driver, you remember the route but if you are the passenger you admire the scenery and don't pay attention to the route. Nowadays we are all passengers.

On Christmas we were all talking (GOTP, her 29-YO daughter, and her BF) about what cell phones have done to society. I mentioned that it was normal in the old days to have at least a dozen phone numbers memorized. GOTP and I both recited the number from our childhood homes. The millennials looked at us like we were circus freaks.

[Anachro]

Hey! Just 'cuz I'm a millennial doesn't mean I didn't do the same! Cellphones were not very common back in the 90's so I and all my friends memorized our home phone numbers. I could still recite it for you and I also remember having to use a big phone book as well as the Yellow Pages to make calls. Only later on when kids starting getting cellphones in junior high an high school did it start becoming common to save contacts. It's really Generation Z (post-millennials) that have grown up only having to use a save contact list.

[BillBrown]

BR9-8350, home phone when I was in elementary school( about 1954 )