Calling all lurkers (and forumites) - STATUS UPDATE please!

[Anachro]

This forum has seen better days in terms of activity (that said, it seems to have picked up recently and the corona thread is obviously very active). Although I've been here a little under five years, I'm still considered a new man that all the old salts look on with disdain (EDIT: haughty derision) [:D]. That said, even I can see the difference between the number of posts in 2015 and the number of posts (and AARs regularly updating) today.

So, I came up with an idea. There are a lot of lurkers that still seem to frequent here, even regulars that do more lurking now than posting. However, I know many of us have secret little games of WitP going on that we love to hide away from the forums, but I don't like that. I want to read YOUR story! What is going on in your present game, be it against the AI or another player? No need to give a full update: you can post a sentence or two, or a paragraph, or even add pictures! Regulars with no AAR but games going on should post an update too. I know our resident alien has a game going on with Steve.

I think it will be fun to read all our updates, even in short form, especially from new faces I don't see often or ever here. So, STATUS UPDATE PLEASE!

[Admiral DadMan]

I wouldn't call it disdain. Maybe a slight amount of good humored haughty derision...

[Anachro]

I'll start with myself. I've three games going on, one at a slower pace.

1. Game 1 as Allies in BTS mod versus John, the third!: LINK

Currently playing as the allies in this modded game that gives Japan a massive boost to industrial capacity and OOB. It's been a tough game so far with lots of action, as John is quite aggressive. I'm enjoying it, but I feel it's going to get more, not less, painful for me as we head into 1944 and 1945. Currently, the game is in Dec 1943 and the Allies are finally starting to feel a bit more confident thanks to recent carrier battles in our favor. That said, I'm sure John has tricks up his sleeve.

2. Game 2 as Japan in BTS mod versus Qball!: LINK

This game is in its early stages. That said, I have tried something I've never done before and figured the strengthened Japan in BTS would make it easier for a noob like me: I tried to take Pearl Harbor. It's February 1943 and I am still working on that...Qball, I promise I'll update this AAR more whenever that happens, if ever that happens. Boy is my timetable falling behind due to my own fault and disorganization.

3. Game 3 as Japan in DBB-C versus AndyB (forget his forum name)!

This game is now in April and while Japan has secured much of the normal territory, she has fallen behind in the DEI and no longer has the landing bonus (this seems to be a theme with me for Japan). Batavia has fallen but we are still marching on Soerabaja. Much of the little DEI islands to the east remain to be taken. Port Moresby is still in Allied hands; we have not inflicted enough damage on the Allied navies, though we did manage to cink a British CV north of Port Blair. Andy is a good player that plays the Allies right by staying forward in defense and frustrating Japan where he can, not conducting a Sir Robin (Qball is like this I suspect, too).

[Q-Ball]

I have a non-documented game going vs. 821Bobo, a very good opponent from Slovakia who I've also played War in the East against.

We are in late March; the DEI is completely secure except for stragglers, and I've just taken Darwin along with the rest of the coast up there. The perimeter is basically historical otherwise, with a couple outposts beyond that line. China is a complete disaster for me! I stink at China. There has been nothing sunk the entire game bigger than a CL, which is different.

I also have a game going vs. Sean K, I forget his screen name, he is Japan and I am the Allies. It's going about how I expect, but I'm about to spring a massive surprise in that one; alot depends on how alert he is around the Home Islands

Also, I am grateful to keep playing and commenting during this crisis. WITP-AE is of course not that important in real-life terms, but it's good to have a distraction you can do from home!!!

[Canoerebel]

Good idea, Anachro (said with a hint of supple, winsome haughtiness).

I've finished three games in the past couple of years: vs. John III, Fabertong and Obvert. The Faber game ended just before Christmas; the Obvert game last month.

I haven't take on a new game yet and may not for a long time to come. I'm trying to get a measure on life without an addiction to crack (AE) to see get a base line of reality. The game is that addictive, to me. To my surprise, thus far I haven't missed it. The reasons are tied to some personal things and the usual busyness and once-in-a-lifetime busyness of this particular season of the year.

But I sure do enjoy and appreciate the AE community.

And I'll be back, sooner or later.

[Anachro]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
I also have a game going vs. Sean K, I forget his screen name, he is Japan and I am the Allies. It's going about how I expect, but I'm about to spring a massive surprise in that one; alot depends on how alert he is around the Home Islands

Hmmm....hmm..... Yes...this must by psyops.

[Macclan5]

Macclan5 = John

3 (4) full games as Allies verses AI -

One more in process - beta patch / updated AI

Guadalcanal / Solomon sea scenario first

(1st game which I got an auto victory in 1945 was so poorly managed I like to discount that one [8D] )

I classify myself as (an amateur historian) historically centered in this game and love to experiment with different "avenues of advance" through to end game conquering Tokyo. i.e. Traditional Allied advances / DEI advances / 'Northern advance' / currently a Burma / China / Korean advance.

I post occasionally

I learn frequently. Not only game mechanics and strategies - but there is a vast and generally well informed wisdom among this forum.

I lurk often

I hope to play and experiment with Japan verses the AI

One day (in the not so distant future) I hope to play by email against an opponent -'historically centered' PDU off - as either side.

However I await the time when my daughters are 'a little older' and all in University and I can commit to being a good timely opponent

[HansBolter]

Have an Ironman Ported to Babes (scen 40) game semi-active that I have to confess I haven't played a turn on in at least two weeks. This is about the longest hiatus I have had from the game in a long time.

Have grown bored with this particular scenario as its in mid April of '46 with an end date in late May and there is no prospect of taking Tokyo before the game ends. Am also struggling with supply issues having loaded up the HI with more than I can keep supplied.

Was about to restart for a second play through this scenario, but got distracted by Elder Scrolls Online.

Had been away from the MMORPG genre for about a decade now after having been thoroughly hooked on them during the period '97-'10.

After having fallen in love with the stand alone Ultima RPGs in the early '90s I jumped into the kick-off of the MMORPG genre with the release of Ultima Online. Played it constantly for 3.5 years and then made a jump to Dark Age of Camelot where I stayed for another 3.5 years. After that I gave WOW a try but found it too cartoonish. Spent about a year and a half playing Everquest 2 and then drifted away from the genre until this recent foray into ESO.

Keep meaning to get a new scenario started, but keep getting distracted.

[Cheesesteak]

Two Games


1. Game 1 as Allies, Scen 2 - 'Always with them negative waves' AAR

Co-op with Aaffins, playing against RADM Yamaguchi. June of '42. We have lost a considerable amount of our surface assets (CAs, CLs, BBs), but have compensated with decent to good ground and air campaigns. Strong SoPac presence, otherwise historical borders. Lots more going on behind the scenes.

2. Game 2 as Japan, BTS mod versus Aaffins - no AAR

2/42. Hold all of Java minus a few bases, most of Sumatra, most of Borneo, little under half of Burma + Chittagong/Dacca, Noumea, Baker/Johnston/Midway. Have failed to take PM. Holdout forces still in Temolouh (sp), Clark/Bataan, mountain hex of Java I can't name. Just lost my first SCTF forces. No CV losses on either side. Have not taken Changsha, but have besieged Sian.

[Barb]

1. Game 1 as Japan, Scenario 1, against Hahn:
July 1944, front line going from Chinese central plateau - Rangoon - DEI - Moluccas - Palau - Marianas. Some good fights.

2. Game 2 as Allies, Scenario 1 in Dababes C (is it 28?) against Joerg:
January 1944, about to land in Marianas, Year long hiatus now due to health reasons. Hope to resume in the future.

3. Game 3 as Allies, Downfall scenario against AI:
Crazy to start against AI with empty plane/pilot pools and no pre-planning. More for fun than anything.

[Evoken]

I have 2 PBEM's going on right now

1) Vs Guctony as allies in scenario 10 ; Japan is super strong in this scenario and my opponent is playing without any mistakes. Its December 15th he is about to take clark field and singapore and landed on Java this turn.
He landed directly on wenchow and pushed me out with a week of non stop battleship bombardements. Send help [:D]

2) Vs Dutchy as Japan in a custom scenario. He asked me to do a strong Dutch mod and i gave him a super strong Dutch [:D] Dutch starts with 4 British Revenge Class BB's which they can rebuild into a Bismarck class in 43(Takes a year in shipyards) , 4 Hipper Class Heavy Cruisers , 1 Gnesinau class Battlecruiser and 2 more building , 3 Fleet Carriers arrive from 06/42 annually , start with 1 CVL in DEI and 3 more on the way like fleet carriers , a lot of Destroyers and finally around 30 Submarines as reinforcements.

On the ground a lot of the starting forces beefed up , Batavia and Sorebaja have 28cm coastal guns , 1 Infantry Division and Sorabaja and a lot of Division strength reinforcements

Airforce beefed up big time , most Dutch planes use Allied airframes but German guns , Dutch start with Spitfire in production and get the upgrade Spitfire's a year early , turned useless Dutch planes into more usefull ones like CW-22 turned into a divebomber that carries 250kg bomb

Whats my justification for this scenario ; Although its not too realistic i have imagined Dutch going down the armed neutrality path and preparing for next world war. As a result both sides wanted Dutch to join on their side and helped Dutch with development and shipbuilding.

We are in day 2 of this scenario i have landed at Mersing with a strong force , KB is split to hit Singapore,Manilla and Sydney and got satisfying results , should be interesting one [:D]


PS:Japan is also a lot stronger in this scenario

[pontiouspilot]

3 ongoing PBEMs. These constitute 11 total PBEMs under belt (or maybe slightly overhanging belt)

1. DBB 28 vs. aussie swagman....3rd game against him; a noble opponent but don't tell him I said that. He is always the evil empire. This game is in Jan. '43...we have taken a wicked toll on each other but he must by now be swinging by a thread given all the new Allied reinforcements. Time zones play mischief with our exchange of turns so we accomplish 1 turn every 2 days.

2. DBB 28 vs. Irishman in London: I just finished 3rd game versus Jackie...we are just re-starting. He always plays Japan and in each encounter he learns exponentially more about how to knacker me. The just ended encounter got to June '43...he figured out what POW Camp Darwin was about. We exchange turns almost every day.

3. Scen 2 vs. mein Deutche freunden. This is my 1st encounter with Dirk and my first serious game as Japan. We started after the other games but are already in late Dec.'43. Dirk is driven, and exchanges turns like a machine! I have had some successes (I captured China in July '43) but certainly see the frustration that comes with playing Japan later in the game...it now seems that the mortar in my bricks is made of jello. I have no illusions about the outcome on our eventual re-play!

My thanks to these opponents for their honor, their reliability and their humor. May you all suffer at their hands some day.

Cheers

[geofflambert]

I can't post unless Steve doesn't peek. He's just back from NOLA so maybe he picked up the virus and that will become moot. I'm more or less immune to it though my doctor says gorns can turn from lovely emerald green to sickening yellow ochre from it.

[Leandros]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

This forum has seen better days in terms of activity (that said, it seems to have picked up recently and the corona thread is obviously very active). Although I've been here a little under five years, I'm still considered a new man that all the old salts look on with disdain (EDIT: haughty derision) [:D]. That said, even I can see the difference between the number of posts in 2015 and the number of posts (and AARs regularly updating) today.

So, I came up with an idea. There are a lot of lurkers that still seem to frequent here, even regulars that do more lurking now than posting. However, I know many of us have secret little games of WitP going on that we love to hide away from the forums, but I don't like that. I want to read YOUR story! What is going on in your present game, be it against the AI or another player? No need to give a full update: you can post a sentence or two, or a paragraph, or even add pictures! Regulars with no AAR but games going on should post an update too. I know our resident alien has a game going on with Steve.

I think it will be fun to read all our updates, even in short form, especially from new faces I don't see often or ever here. So, STATUS UPDATE PLEASE!

I think it's fair to say that I'm contributing a little to the "entertainment" here. And, at least as ROOKIE as yourself.

Fred

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... age=1&key=

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Cheesesteak

Two Games


1. Game 1 as Allies, Scen 2 - 'Always with them negative waves' AAR

Co-op with Aaffins, playing against RADM Yamaguchi. June of '42. We have lost a considerable amount of our surface assets (CAs, CLs, BBs), but have compensated with decent to good ground and air campaigns. Strong SoPac presence, otherwise historical borders. Lots more going on behind the scenes.

2. Game 2 as Japan, BTS mod versus Aaffins - no AAR

2/42. Hold all of Java minus a few bases, most of Sumatra, most of Borneo, little under half of Burma + Chittagong/Dacca, Noumea, Baker/Johnston/Midway. Have failed to take PM. Holdout forces still in Temolouh (sp), Clark/Bataan, mountain hex of Java I can't name. Just lost my first SCTF forces. No CV losses on either side. Have not taken Changsha, but have besieged Sian.

For awhile there I was giving RADM Yamaguchi some suggestions on what to do. [;)] But he hasn't posted lately.

I am playing scen 2 as Japan and trying to learn that side against the AI.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I can't post unless Steve doesn't peek. He's just back from NOLA so maybe he picked up the virus and that will become moot. I'm more or less immune to it though my doctor says gorns can turn from lovely emerald green to sickening yellow ochre from it.

I don't "peek". I look , I observe and I perform Reconnaissance. And while you do turn yellow , you forgot to mention that your tail falls of.

I am not dead yet . NOLA closed it's bars and eateries before that happened. [:D] Anyhow , what's this "peek" crap? Just tell the man where and when our game is , or at least your falsified version of it. Then I'll do the same and we begin a series of sniping , finger pointing and name calling. What's the matter with you Lizard? Kirk hit you in the head with a rock again? You know how the game is played. GET ON WITH IT! [:D]

[ReadyR]

Long time lurker here. I must say the times I have asked questions on the forum, I have always been grateful for the thoughtful responses that have helped me begin to learn this game.

After a couple of years of playing the AI to get the basics down, I started PBEMs about two years ago.

My first game as Allies (against an opponent in the UK) was a DBB-C match and strategically a pretty classic historical start. By August 19 42 I was beginning to push back (in Burma, in the Molucca's, in the Solomons and in the Gilberts). That is when real life caused my opponent to drop out of the game.

About that time I approached Sid (El Cid again) with some questions about his RHS mod. I ended up starting a "test" match with him to allow him to continue the search for data issues with units etc. and to test a very aggressive Japanese approach. He is looking for auto victory at the end of 1942. And he will be playing hard in the North he has advised He had already begun a match with a team of Allied players, but offered to also play the same strategy against me, to help me learn the mod. It is early March 1942 and he has Burma, the Philippines, all of the Solomons and has Suva, Midway and he has just launched invasions in the Aleutians. An interesting wrinkle is that we have agreed a 1 year ceasefire (to expire in Dec 1942) in China. This has allowed me to not lose Sian. But it has also allowed him to relocate some significant forces for deployment elsewhere. It has been an endless series of body blows for me, although I have relished several engagements where I gave as good as I got. Still have my CVs. The game won't go to the end as it will end for test purposes at some stage. I'll just have fun learning until then. He reports the two matches in one thread in the AAR section of the forum. You can read about my misadventures and miscalculations there. I am Test 5A and am slightly ahead in time of the other Test team.

I am also playing a Bottlenecks in the Pacific mod game with another opponent in the UK. He is very aggressive as Japan and in mid-March is pressing in Burma, at Nanning, has captured Singapore, Timor and ravaged, but not invaded, Darwin. We are currently in a pitched battle at Luganville and in the Aleutians. I have lost a lot of cargo vessels, particularly in and around Darwin. His KB floated offshore for a week and ravaged everything that had got out of Manila etc. We have had a several hard naval engagements that have essentially been a draw vis a vis combat vessels. I think he is probably overextended and while I will have work to do, by August I should be pushing back hard. I have not heard from my opponent for over a week...am assuming that pandemic reactions may have caused some kind of a temporary pause. Hope that is all it is.

I have an AI game going as Japan (want to learn the dark side as well) with the BMod mod. Among other things it is good to play a side that has some success early on.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I can't post unless Steve doesn't peek. He's just back from NOLA so maybe he picked up the virus and that will become moot. I'm more or less immune to it though my doctor says gorns can turn from lovely emerald green to sickening yellow ochre from it.

I don't "peek". I look , I observe and I perform Reconnaissance. And while you do turn yellow , you forgot to mention that your tail falls of.

I am not dead yet . NOLA closed it's bars and eateries before that happened. [:D] Anyhow , what's this "peek" crap? Just tell the man where and when our game is , or at least your falsified version of it. Then I'll do the same and we begin a series of sniping , finger pointing and name calling. What's the matter with you Lizard? Kirk hit you in the head with a rock again? You know how the game is played. GET ON WITH IT! [:D]

How does your Doctor know the virus makes you turn yellow? You might be a chameleon for all he knows.

[geofflambert]

His name is McCoy, if that means anything to you. He doesn't call me green-blooded, though. We get along well.

[WriterNotViking]

I'm currently engaged in my second PBEM with JoV. After our first Guadalcanal game ended prematurely, we switched sides and are now both in unfamiliar territory, he as the allies and myself as the Japanese. About thirty turns in, we've both taken solid hits, but we have plenty of iron left to throw into the fray. I have troops at Port Moresby, whose skies have seen some devastating air battles. It's fun learning about the practical capabilities of Japanese forces (as opposed to just their stats on paper,) but holy glass cannon Batman. One slipup and I'm down 50 Betties! [X(]