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unmerged(469057)

Second Lieutenant
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Mar 26, 2012
165
1
  • Darkest Hour
After three years of war with the world's greatest economy and its allies the Empire of the Rising Sun is exhausted materially and morally. Its once-proud navy has been severly mauled
and its invicible armies have been beaten in the Pacific Island Campaign. Yet there is still hope. Japanese soldiers are still unswervingly loyal to the Emperor and will fight to the death in his defense. There remains a ring of protective forces around the Home Islands yet that ring is slowly and steadily shrinking as American and Allied armies inexorably close in
ultimately reaching the very shores of Japan itself.

The Situation for Japan is grim. Outnumbered in China:

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Outnumbered in Burma:

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Losing ground in the Pacific:

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The Cabinet:

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Our current lagging technology:

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(Note, I tried to screenshot the "national army, navy and air force comparison statistics screens but they won't screenshot for some reason. If anybody knows how to fix or work around that feel free to chime in.)
 
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June 20, 1944

The Japanese government convenes, at the behest of emperor Hirohito.


Hirohito- Gentlemen, the time has come for me to have a more direct involvement in the war effort. I have been secretly studying the art of war, with the aid of our best generals and admirals for the past 3 years. While I applaud the effort and spirit with which the war has been prosecuted, I feel that our strategies have failed and the time is ripe for a change of thinking.

Tojo- Your majesty, what would you like us to do differently?

Hirohito- Until now, our forces have been far too aggressive. Often offering battle to the enemy in less than ideal situations. We can’t hope to compete with the production abilities of the allies. We will change our strategy to one of force preservation and offer battle when we can ensure, or assume, decisive local superiority. We have neglected our research to a staggering degree and our forces are outnumbered, outclassed, and being improperly led.

Minister Tojo, I feel that you have taken on too many responsibilities, making you unable to do each to the level that it needs to be done. We will be welcoming some new faces to our meetings starting today. You will act as my second in command, chief of staff and overseeing the security ministry

At a motion from the emperor, the guards at the door open it and admit 3 men

Hirohito- Gentlemen, meet ministers Fujiwara, who will be acting as armaments minister, Minister Inanba, who will be acting as chief of the army, and Admiral Nagano, who will be the new chief of the Navy.

Our first act will be to strengthen the hawk lobby in Japan. This will have the effect of improving our production and strengthening the zeal of our people to fight for our nation and it’s emperor

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Now we will discuss, each in detail, what our plans are and the resources that you each need to carry out your objectives. As I have called this meeting, I will begin.

We are currently fighting on 3 distinct fronts, and losing on two of them. We are fighting the Chinese in China, the British and their allies in Burma and the United States in the pacific. We simply lack the resources to fight any of these opponents, with the possible exception of the Chinese, and win without concentrating our forces. I ‘suggest’ we begin concentrating forces against the various fronts one at a time so that we can bring each to a close, allowing us to regain the initiative and fight the war as we wish. My opinion is that we can no longer continue our policy of only occupying parts of China, as this ties down a significant portion of our resources permanently. This front needs to be brought to a conclusion first, so that forces can be re-deployed to Burma and or the Pacific. With this in mind what do you gentlemen need to make this happen?

Minister Inanba, what does the army need to begin carrying out my plans?

Inanba- Your Majesty, we need more men. Simply put. My men are outnumbered on every front but fighting valiantly. I suggest we begin training additional infantry divisions in 9 separate camps. In this way we will be able to train 9 divisions simultaneously. Within 6 months we should be able to move forward against the Chinese at will and hold the British, if we can get troops to them. If we can get assistance from the Air Force I feel we can be quite successful on both fronts.

Hirohito- Admiral Nagano?

Nagano- Your majesty, we should be able to move troops to Burma by sea if we can get some help from the air force to help locate and allow us to avoid American and British fleets.

Ushiroku- Of course.

Inanba- Then we would also request a tech team to begin researching more modern doctrine and my needs would be met.

Hirohito- Very well. Admiral Nagano?

Nagano- Your majesty, we currently have 4 fleet carriers under construction, and I would suggest we dis-continue any further builds until more modern models can be researched. I would like to use two tech teams, one to research more advanced ship types, both destroyers and carriers, and another to research more advanced doctrines. What we are lacking is sufficient escort vessels to allow us to properly utilize our fleet, and in addition, the allies are operating submarines within our home waters with impunity, devastating our convoys. Our current destroyers are not adequate to combat this threat. I would like to begin construction of numerous destroyers, at least 5 simultaneously, and of the most modern type that we have researched at the time. We have a large deficit in this area and the current fleet, and ships under construction, should suffice for the immediate term if we can obtain enough destroyers to escort them. We will be depending on the air force for a great deal of reconnaissance and may request planes for naval strike duties. This will be necessary until we can research and build more modern carriers, in keeping with your stated force preservation plans.

Hirohito- Minister Ushiroku, it sounds like your forces will be in high demand. What will you need to assist the Army, Navy and to carry out your own duties?

Ushiroku- Your majesty, we have the doctrines we need to fight on an even level with all of our adversaries, however, we are lacking the modern aircraft, or the numbers to carry out all of the missions that will be required of us. I would like research into turbojet engines and planes equipped with them as soon as we are able. I would also like to open 4 production lines of tactical bombers. Our interceptor forces are sufficient for the time being. In the future though, I would like to begin building longer range fighter aircraft, but those can wait for now.

Hirohito- Minister Koiso?

Koiso- Your Majesty, we are lacking in several tech fields. Our economy can support research into five different technologies at any one time. You, yourself, in our earlier conversation, stated that you wish to see our manufacturing and computer sciences updated. I’m afraid I can’t accommodate everyone’s requests.

Hirohito- Then I will prioritize our research myself. Kure will begin researching an up to date aircraft carrier

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Nissan will begin researching improved computing machines, which will help speed our research and allow us to study ways to improve our encryption and decryption technology.

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Kawisaki will begin researching small arms assembly line, to get our new infantry trained faster.

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Field Marshall Terauchi will begin researching central planning doctrine, to improve the fighting abilities of our army

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And Mitsubishi will begin researching advanced destroyers. I take it as a personal affront that there are enemy naval units operating in our waters. I want it stopped.

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Hirohito- Naval doctrine will have to wait for now Admiral Nagano.

Minister Fujiwara, will you be able to accommodate the production requests that you have heard?

Fujiwara- I believe so sir. Resources will be tight, especially until our current builds, with the exception of a destroyer production line that we will keep, complete. Once some construction finishes we should be able to return more industrial capacity to upgrades.

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Hirohito- Very well gentlemen. Let’s have lunch and then set about discussing our strategy to fix this mess.

(Note: I forgot about the existing destroyer serial that's running when the scenario starts so I will delete one of the ones I added, for a total of 5, rather than 6. Also, convoy transports and maybe escorts may be added once I unpause and see if I have any IC left over, or if I might have to cancel something that I've already ordered:eek: )
 
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As the cabinet settles down to finish the day’s planning, Tojo brings out several maps to illustrate current plans for emperor Hirohito.

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Tojo- This map illustrates redeployments and movements we will be making to accommodate our new war plans.

All of our close air support aircraft are moving to Mandalay, where they will be used, along with a single Tactical Bomber squadron, to attempt to slow or stop the allied advance through the jungles and mountains of the region. This terrain is difficult to bomb troops in, as they have a great deal of cover, but it also slows their movement, giving us more time to delay their movements, and hopefully buy some time for us to defeat the Chinese and redeploy forces from that theatre, or deploy newly trained units to this area.

General Makino is currently in charge of operations in this area. Field Marshall Kanin will likely take overall command once the two divisions finish re-deploying to Prome.

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In China, we have three of our best commanders tasked with bringing the Nationalists to heel. Field Marshalls Terauchi and Hata, and General Yamashita.

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These men will be tasked with driving on, and occupying, all areas of strategic importance within the current Nationalist controlled area. To support these operations 8 tactical bomber squadrons have been based to Quinzhou. Once airfields closer to the front lines are captured these squadrons will rebase to stay near the action.

In the Pacific, overall command will be with Grand Admiral Yamamoto. He has Admiral Tanaka sailing with Battleship fleet 1 to rendezvous with a group of transport ships to escort them on a mission to remove some of our isolated troops from areas that have little or no strategic or materiel importance. We will try to retain our bases in the area except for Sorong. The location is far too exposed with a large American force on the island currently.

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We have dispatched a transport fleet with three divisions to shore up the defenses on Wake and Marcus Islands.

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And on Rabaul, a division is moving to occupy Gasmata.

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As you know, Truk is a lynchpin for us against the Americans. We hope to be able to reinforce it soon, as it provides us a naval and air base behind the American front, from which we can disrupt their operations. Until such time as we can get additional divisions to Truk we have dispatched almost all of our submarines to the island. We hope they will be able to disrupt any American landing attempt.

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Those are our current force distributions. Our commanders have their orders, and if you approve sir, we will begin executing them.

Hirohito- I do. Good luck gentlemen. Let’s meet again on or around the first of July and discuss how the opening moves of our new plan are working.
 
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Marshall 18- Great to have you aboard. I, too have an affinity for these later scenarios, when things seem all but lost. Whether or not I can have any success remains to be seen but I'm going to give it one heck of a shot.

Dxeka 1994- Thank you very much. It's great to see that people are reading. Writing something that you think nobody is bothering to read isn't very much fun. The more input I get the better:)

Cybvep- I wasn't even aware of Operation Ichi-Go until I read your post and looked it up. I would say that is a pretty close description to what I have planned. The Chinese will be completely annexed if I can but the capture of air bases is of utmost priority. Not to deny them to the allies, as they can't use them in this game, lacking an alliance with the Chinese, but for my own use in bombing Chinese troops into oblivion.

I urge everybody who reads this AAR to feel free to ask any questions you have and make any requests you feel like. This is my second attempt at an AAR, the first having failed due to a lost save, and I am not really set on any particular style. If there's something you want to see, or see more of, or anything you want to see less of, feel free to make your opinions known. I plan to save monthly so I will have save games available if anybody wants me to send them one. Above all, keep the feedback coming. That will make me keep playing and writing.

Update follows...
 
Admiral Yamamoto gets news that he’s been expecting, if not happy to see. The Americans have attacked his surrounded troops in Northern Indonesia. The soldiers fight valiantly, but unable to retreat over the mountains to the south are eventually forced to surrender.

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In Burma, General Makino orders his two divisions in Kalewa to retreat to Mandalay. The two divisions that were defending Mandalay board trucks south for Prome, while three Siamese divisions advance to begin setting up defensive positions in Lashio.

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Chinese forces also launch an assault on the single cavalry division defending Datong. Lacking enough men to hope to hold, Field Marshall Terauchi orders the division to pull back to Kalgan to defend the capital of Mengkukuo.

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To his south, Field Marshall Hata orders the opening attack of the new campaign. Lt. Generals Tomonaga and Nakai launch an attack on Guangzhou with support from Lt. General Kozuki. Tomonaga will continue his advance through Guangzhou and attempt to occupy the province of Shaoguan. This action, coupled with an attack south by General Okamura’s 4 cavalry divisions toward Hengyang will isolate a large portion of the Chinese army in the southeast of the country. Meanwhile, American forces continue to sink our convoy transports at an alarming rate.

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To the north, General Yamashita orders Maj. General Gatot Mangkoepradja to retreat from an envelopment attack toward his position in Xinyang. The new battle plan calls for forces to muster in Hankou and drive West toward the Chinese capital. With luck, the Chinese divisions to his north will end up surrounded and their current attack will simply put them further from safety if an encirclement can be made.

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On the 21st the Chinese offer a peace deal, which is refused by Hirohito with a chuckle, and our Hungarian allies send us some blueprints which we may find useful.

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Word comes that our forces in Aitape have been forced to surrender as 8 squadrons of tactical bombers continue to fly interdiction missions in support of our offensive in China.

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Foreign minister Shigemitsu brokers a deal on the 22nd for oil from Venezueal. Although much of the oil will be lost to American interdiction in transit, obtaining supplies of this resource is vital to Japanese war efforts.

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The Chinese Communists offer us peace, which also makes Hirohito chuckle, while our Romanian allies send more blueprints. These will be of great use to the empire.

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Victory over the Chinese in Guangzhou! This victory would trap 15 Nationalist divisions if the Salient could be closed in time.

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If there's something you want to see, or see more of, or anything you want to see less of, feel free to make your opinions known.
Zoomed-out overview screenshots are always cool IMO, as they allow us to see your strategic situation at a glance.

It looks like you will encircle several Chinese divisions soon.
 
Be aware that the USSR is going to DOW you in mid/late 1945 (when it happens depends on how many divisions you have in Manchuria, but I'm pretty sure it's inevitable).
 
Zoomed-out overview screenshots are always cool IMO, as they allow us to see your strategic situation at a glance.

It looks like you will encircle several Chinese divisions soon.

I just edited it to add a better shot of the situation in Southern China. :) I will include some shots of Germany's predicament soon as well. I can put anything anybody wants to see as I'm not playing ahead.
 
Grand Admiral Yamamoto receives word from Vice Admiral Tanaka that he has arrived in Bandjermasin. He will add 3 transport flotillas to his fleet and begin transport operations in the area.

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His first stop is the Savu Sea, where he will pick up two infantry divisions from their positions garrisoning worthless islands that have no value, but place the garrisons at great risk of being overrun and unable to be supported.

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The reports to Admiral Yamamoto continue as he receives word from Admiral Mikawa that he has arrived safely at Wake. He will leave two infantry divisions on Wake and move one to Marcus island, returning to Japan with the elite marine division that had been at Wake.

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At 2200 on the 29th a more disturbing report arrives on Yamamoto’s desk. An American carrier has been sighted near Palau. The carrier is of an older type, but with an modern air group it could pose a danger to ongoing operations. Admiral Mikawa is informed of this sighting and told to remain in port at Wake for the time being.

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Both naval bomber wings are sent to Palau to sink the American carrier but upon beginning their patrol on the 30th they make a far more alarming discovery.

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Admiral Tanaka, having picked up two infantry divisions in the Savu sea is ordered to immediately set course for the base at Makassar.

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Air strikes continue on the 1st against the American Battleship fleet.

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A daylight sortie on the 1st by naval bombers from Palau fails to locate the the Battleship fleet. While interceptors from Palau attack the Battleships, the bombers find the American carrier in the South Philippine Trench and sink it and it’s escort.

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The American Battleships, showing great resistance to our bombing efforts, are located again on the 2nd in the South Kyushu-Palau Trench.

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Admiral Tanaka arrives safely in Makassar. He requests permission to move to engage the American Battleships to his north but, in keeping with the emperor’s wishes regarding force preservation, Admiral Yamamoto denies the request. If the American fleet can be reduced in size, however, Yamamoto may well turn the guns of the Yamato and the Musashi on the Americans.

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On the 4th, contact is made with the American Battleships again. Bombing continues to have minimal effect.

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Admiral Tanaka gets to unleash his ships’ guns in anger on the 7th, but not against American Battleships. A transport fleet, spotted by an interceptor wing on naval patrol south of Makassar is ambushed by his fleet, after detaching his transports. The escorting destroyer and 3 of the transport flotillas will be sunk. The Yamato claims credit for the destroyer flotilla and 2 transport flotillas, with the 3rd transport flotilla sinking to a barrage from multiple ships.

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On the 7th, having failed to locate the Battleships again interceptors from Guam make another startling discovery. It seems that the Americans are making a concerted effort to locate and engage the IJN. Yamamoto intends to deny them any such opportunity for the time being. All 8 tactical bomber squadrons are sent to the pacific from China to try to assist in the hunt for the American fleets.

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Watch for borders with USSR.And situation in China is not so bad,but you must rise your manpower
Good luck
 
July 7 1944
Imperial Palace, Tokyo Japan.

Emperor Hirohito greets his cabinet for a war meeting.

Hirohito- Welcome gentlemen. I see that most of you have made it but we seem to be missing ministers Nagano and Ushiroku. Why is this?

Tojo- Your Majesty, the Americans have two major battle fleets West of the Marianas Islands and ministers Nagano and Ushiroku were urgently needed at their commands. I can summon them if you wish…

Hirohito- No, no. If they have urgent duty then they should be about it. I trust that you will be able to adequately brief me on their areas of responsibility?

Tojo- Of course your Majesty. Should I begin?

Hirohito- Please do so.

Tojo- We have rebased 8 Tactical Bomber squadrons from Quinzhou to Iwo Jima in an effort to chase down and destroy the American fleets that have been sighted transiting Westward near Palau and Guam. Those forces currently have no worthwhile targets within their range in China but will likely be based back once Lt. General Tomonaga occupies Shaoguan province. That will be the start of further offensive operations in China:

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The majority of our navy is currently in port at Quinzhou, reorganizing into more usable formations. If the Americans aren’t sighted today, or are still heading West we will re-base both Naval Bomber wings to the Airfield there to help protect the fleet from a possible strike from the US carriers. Our aircraft have been somewhat effective against the American fleets. Sinking the older fleet carrier Saratoga and the battleships Indiana and Alabama.

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Admiral Tanaka is still holding station in Makassar, awaiting word to either sail to intercept any retreating American fleet, if we deem victory likely, or continue his transport operations once the threat is negated.

Hirohito- Very well. Minister Fujiwara.

Fujiwara- Your Majesty. Production continues on all builds without issue. We have also added production of convoy transports at 3 different shipyards. We are producing approximately 30 of these inexpensive ships concurrently.

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Hirohito- Why so many?

Fujiwara- Your Majesty, we have lost approximately 30-40 transports in the 17 days since our last meeting. Until we can stop or slow Allied anti-convoy activity we will be unable to even keep pace with the losses, but we hope that we can slow the net loss of convoys sufficiently for the time being until Minister Nagano’s new destroyers begin entering service.

Our resource stockpiles are in reasonable condition and growing.

Research is progressing well now that we have made it a priority. We hope to have a new model of destroyer researched soon and will seek your counsel about what to research after it has completed.

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Hirohito- Thank you, my current thought is that we should research more modern infantry equipment but our manpower is not infinite and research into better agricultural methods may pay bigger dividends. I will think on it further. Minister Shigemitsu.

Shigemitsu- Your Majesty, Allied efforts are causing us to lose nearly half of the oil that we are importing from Venezueal. We may, however, attempt to conduct another trade with the Soviet Union, shipping more supplies for oil imports, rather than exporting oil to them. Minister Fujiwara and I have discussed the possibility. We are reluctant to allow the Soviets to be such a large part of our economic lifeline, as they are at war with our allies and relations are chilly at best. Minister Koiso has additional information on that front I believe.

Koiso- I do your Majesty. I have had unconfirmed reports from two of my agents, code named wormyguy and Ericafaq, that the Soviets are already planning action against us in the event of victory against our allies in Europe.

Hirohito- I will consider this. My opinion is that the trade with Venezuela could always be re-started in the event of hostilities with the Soviets but let’s explore our options further before cancelling a trade for oil, which we need badly.

Speaking of Europe. How are our allies doing on that front?

Shigemitsu- Not very well sir. The allies have expanded their beachhead and now occupy a considerable portion of Western France. The Soviets are pushing through Eastern Poland and the British are advancing in Italy. I fear that it’s only a matter of time before we stand alone.

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Hirohito- I see. Is there any assistance that we could offer the Germans?

Shigemitsu- No sir, it has been discussed and we simply do not have the resources to attempt any kind of intervention in that theatre. The best we can do is finish the Chinese and begin a new offensive against the British in Burma/India.

Hirohito- Minister Koiso, Can you give us your intelligence report?

Koiso- Certainly sir. Our current armed forces are as follows:

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The British:


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The Americans:

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Hirohito- What of the Soviets? If we may find ourselves in conflict with them, perhaps we should begin keeping tabs on them as well.

Koiso- We thought the same sir.

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(I don't know what color scheme most use here. I use a light grey, and the black text shows up best, but I know when it was on the default dark blue, white text was much better. I've been trying to remember to change it to black but if you guys are using a darker scheme, let me know and I can change the text back to a lighter color.)
 
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Ericafaq- I want to research the agri techs but am behind in so many areas that they have to wait a bit. You are correct, China isn't too bad. Just building some drama:)

Casual- Maybe if I MC'd them I could pull it off without screwing Japan up but that would take more micro-managing than I care to do. Lol. Japan takes enough.