No, Pluton escaped, along with most of the Dutch navy. Also keep an eye out for the Fantasque and Surcouf, which remain at large!
No, Pluton escaped, along with most of the Dutch navy. Also keep an eye out for the Fantasque and Surcouf, which remain at large!
Ahh I forgot you are using the whole "The British Naval AI doesn't do anything, thus I will assume the Royal Navy is run by retards who just let the enemy do what they want unhindered" approach aren't you?The British were well aware of this activity, and also aware that sweeping efforts could not possibly hope to keep pace.
I realise this AAR has made a feature of Germany's enemies being passive and very stupid,
In reality though I find it very hard to believe that the RN just let Germany spend several month laying mine fields that could only have one possible purpose without doing anything to interfere or make any form of preparation or counter-measure. Five months is enough time to recall every minesweeper from across the Empire and refit dozens of light ships as emergency sweepers. As I said - those mine fields can only have one possible purpose and will be noticed, particularly if your trying to mine up a major port like Great Yarmouth months in advance.
Once they realise what the enemy is doing the Admiralty has to react. Off the top of my head - concentrate mine sweeping on making a clear channel around Great Yarmouth and then keep a flotilla from the Nore Command permanently on station to stop mines being relaid. Given how close you are to home the ships can be lit up like a Christmas tree and fairly well spaced to ensure nothing sneaks past. Yes that may scare off the Germans but the aim isn't to bring them to battle, just to stop them laying mines. Thus one clear channel is maintained for the RN and indeed coastal shipping to use.
Ahh I forgot you are using the whole "The British Naval AI doesn't do anything, thus I will assume the Royal Navy is run by retards who just let the enemy do what they want unhindered" approach aren't you?
You could do that, OR you could take the other option and not take advantage of AI stupidity, just because the AI leaves you a gap you don't have to take it. A bit of that, making a few deliberate mistakes yourself and the odd bit of savegame editing and you can produce a much better outcome. This is all advice I wish I'd had earlier, I would have written a much better war with Italy for starters.Given the HoI2 British naval AI, that kind of is the approach you have to write under if you're going to write an AAR.
You could do that, OR you could take the other option and not take advantage of AI stupidity, just because the AI leaves you a gap you don't have to take it. A bit of that, making a few deliberate mistakes yourself and the odd bit of savegame editing and you can produce a much better outcome. This is all advice I wish I'd had earlier, I would have written a much better war with Italy for starters.
I think it was AF who gave me this advice; you should bend the game to your writing not the other way round. If narrative or history book is the style you are aiming for then you don't have to (indeed I would say shouldn't) slavishly follow the game.
Even when what happened was you took advantage of AI mistakes/inability to get wildly unrealistic results? As I said just because the game lets you do something doesn't mean you have to do it.I like the challenge of the slavish approach -- it makes me feel more like a historian sorting out what happened than a fiction writer making it all up.
Even when what happened was you took advantage of AI mistakes/inability to get wildly unrealistic results?
Even when what happened was you took advantage of AI mistakes/inability to get wildly unrealistic results? As I said just because the game lets you do something doesn't mean you have to do it.
I can understand not editing the game, it's taking advantage of known limits/problems in the game engine and then trying to write that up as history that confuses me, particularly (as c0d5579 points out) the least bad explanation you can use is that the enemy were idiots, which wears a bit thin after a while.
And yet still people try, though sadly having someone pointed at a thread to be proved wrong rather than torn apart there and then is somewhat less enjoyable as a spectator sport.Alternatehistory.com
The discussion has been done beyond death all things considered.