The Butterfly Effect: A British AAR

[Kurt_Steiner]

For a second this page was so slow to go from a comment to the next that I wondered wether Paradox was doing an homage to El Pip's narrative style.

Truly impressive.

 

[RustyHunter]

For a second this page was so slow to go from a comment to the next that I wondered wether Paradox was doing an homage to El Pip's narrative style.

Darn, now we have to fill another 19 posts! Just kidding of course, El Pip will grace us with his writing when we are good and ready.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Darn, now we have to fill another 19 posts! Just kidding of course, El Pip will grace us with his writing when we are good and ready.

I've done it again.

I'm going to change my nickname to Kurtney Spears.

Just kidding, too.

19 posts? Easy that one.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

I mean...I started out on this AAR so...

And you certainly have made an impression and maintained standards, yes. Which sounds great so long as we leave it at that.

 

[H.Appleby]

As a result the specification had called for the use of an air cooled radial engine, the improved reliability and easier maintenance were deemed important for aircraft that would be deployed at the end of a very long supply chain

I wish someone had told the people who purchased the F-35 about this concept (I believe it's referred to as 'supportability') given that we're supposed to be taking spares for this very temperamental end technically complex aircraft out to WESTPAC and maintain it in probably less than ideal conditions.

There was a degree of irony in the newly independent FAA choosing to revert to the 'bad old days' practice of accepting the RAF's cast-offs, but such are the ways of defence procurement.

The Butterfly Effect's frequent diversions into the dynamics of military procurement and engineering minutiae have only become more interesting and relevant as my life has progressed, given my career choices.

 

[Wraith11B]

It's all good. I'd hate to pester Pip about things... it's only been what, 20 posts or so since his last update? That's not that bad. We'll get there. Together.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

The Butterfly Effect's frequent diversions into the dynamics of military procurement and engineering minutiae have only become more interesting and relevant as my life has progressed, given my career choices.

I was going to say that sounds a little depressing, but then I realised Le Jones' Royal Prerogative is basically exactly the same for me...

It's all good. I'd hate to pester Pip about things... it's only been what, 20 posts or so since his last update? That's not that bad. We'll get there. Together.

This is The Butterfly Effect. You should really leave your morality at the door.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

And you certainly have made an impression and maintained standards, yes. Which sounds great so long as we leave it at that.

I am reminded very much of Alexander Pope's relationship with John Dennis...

 

[H.Appleby]

Huey Long is alive and well in Butterfly.

Not eaten by a hippo as in OTL.

Moreover Italy did go to war (and lost, but war still happened) whereas Hitler had his bluff called over the Rhineland. In a strange way that probably gives Mussolini more credibility; Hitler now has a reputation for folding where as if Mussolini threatens something he just might do it, even if it is a bad idea.

The Madman Theory, I suppose.

The US had 'Destruction of the British Empire' as at least war aim #3 (#1 and #2 being Japan and Germany and Italy in #3, but honestly I feel a lot of US politician would have taken Mussolini surviving if that was the price of destroying the British Empire).

Well certainly the polio-paralyzed legless drug addict wanted to kill the British Empire and wear its skin like a coat.

I am also astonished that the HOI2 and 3 AAR areas are in better shape than HOI4...

I met someone the other day who had been playing Paradox games for years and knew nothing of AARland. I think it's Reddit and the Let's Play community which have corrupted generations of potential AARland youth and seduced them to terrible social media sites as opposed to decent American forums. I don't know who precisely to blame, but forming a screaming mob seems like the best solution.

Unlike Nev who this absolutely should be seen as a criticism of, because he was really relentlessly awful at foreign affairs yet baffling thought he was quite good at them.

Well if you measure how good at negotiating with foreigners you are by how happy the foreigners seem with the deal, Nev was a genius.

Because it is really questionable if any of these qualifiers actually apply to the offal pile politely referred to as HoI4.

HOI 4 follows the typical Paradox model of "release something broken and slowly fix it over ten years until it's functional," the same model used to build modern military aircraft and missiles.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

I met someone the other day who had been playing Paradox games for years and knew nothing of AARland. I think it's Reddit and the Let's Play community which have corrupted generations of potential AARland youth and seduced them to terrible social media sites as opposed to decent American forums. I don't know who precisely to blame, but forming a screaming mob seems like the best solution.

I have read through a few Reddit "AARs" and they are frankly depressing compared to even the average abandoned fare on these forums. They consist almost entirely of gameplay screenshots with a few sentences of explanation apiece, very little actual writing and really little better than bragging about beating a frankly easy game with a thin veneer of narration.

I do hope forums continue to have a valued place on the Internet, enough that robust and active AAR and fictions sections persist for any games worth writing about, but I will admit to occasional pessimism.

HOI 4 follows the typical Paradox model of "release something broken and slowly fix it over ten years until it's functional," the same model used to build modern military aircraft and missiles.

This model in fairness works well for (peacetime) weapons development. In theory, it can be sufficient to build something which works 90% of the time, then field-test it and work out which of the remaining 10% are actually important and optimize the design for those needs. Probably more realistic of a goal than expecting perfection. Of course in wartime this is a luxury and it seems that reliable and quick to build trumps state-of-the-art in many cases.

The problem with the Paradox approach is that they have switched these percentages.

 

[Wraith11B]

I met someone the other day who had been playing Paradox games for years and knew nothing of AARland. I think it's Reddit and the Let's Play community which have corrupted generations of potential AARland youth and seduced them to terrible social media sites as opposed to decent American forums. I don't know who precisely to blame, but forming a screaming mob seems like the best solution.

I'll issue out the pitchforks and torches as needed from the armoury.

Well if you measure how good at negotiating with foreigners you are by how happy the foreigners seem with the deal, Nev was a genius.

100%

HOI 4 follows the typical Paradox model of "release something broken and slowly fix it over ten years until it's functional," the same model used to build modern military aircraft and missiles.

Whoa now, let's not bash the actual military strategy of "This is developed over the course of twenty years and is essentially obsolete upon IOC."

 

[El Pip]

Some excellent discussion on procurement and HOI4, wonderful stuff. To aid us all in getting to the end of the page I propose to inaugurate a new series, one I am calling "Things El Pip was Seriously Considering writing a chapter about before deciding it was a bad idea." Which may not be snappy but is at least accurate.

#1 Whaling.
The starting point would have been the OTL 1937 Whaling Conference in London, basically the main whaling nations (but not Japan) agreed a treaty on whaling in that Summer. This would be the 'hook' to look at the importance of whaling to German autarky plans, Europe's largest industrial concern in the 1930s, Anglo-Dutch-Norwegian-German trading disputes and the currency and foreign exchange complexities that evolved, and why the Nazi Antarctic base in New Swabia was actually about margarine.

This idea was cancelled when I realised that despite everything that has happened in Butterfly, none of it would significantly impact any of that. While the matter is full of the fundamental inter-connectedness of all things and is certainly a properly obscure rabbit hole, I must also admit that any writing on it would basically be a history lesson that probably would never impact on the main narrative ever again. Hence this may well be the only words written on the subject.

It is my hope that discussion on this will might-have-been update will profitably fill the next few posts and bring us close to an appropriate starting point for the next chapter.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Ah...whales. Not as interesting as Orcas. But made of resources, and very large and noisy. A poor combination if you want humans to leave you alone.

 

[Wraith11B]

The Germans wanted to be whalers? Huh. Learn something new every day.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

Ve're vhalers on der Moon
Ve carry our harpoons
But der ain't no vhales
So ve invade Poles
And sing this vhaling tune...

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Did you know that whales live in the ocean?

 

[Killerduck]

Can't add much about whales and/or whalers, but I can say that while researching HoI 4 mechanics in every one I inevitably find that it has a major bug that was (always) reported several years ago, but Paradox doesn't bother with fixing it. Adding new mechanics (and new bugs) to sell is obviously more preferable.

I used to think Pip's hate for Paradox was mostly for comedic purposes, but upon closer inspection I see that there's plenty of reason for it.

 

[Killerduck]

Also, this site might be known to everyone but I've discover it only recently and among other stuff it has a magnificent description of development of Hood, G3, etc.

Washington Cherry Trees II./ Part 1: The other side of the ‘pond’

Early designs and HOOD preliminaries

warshipprojects.com

 

[nuclearslurpee]

Can't add much about whales and/or whalers, but I can say that while researching HoI 4 mechanics in every one I inevitably find that it has a major bug that was (always) reported several years ago, but Paradox doesn't bother with fixing it. Adding new mechanics (and new bugs) to sell is obviously more preferable.

I used to think Pip's hate for Paradox was mostly for comedic purposes, but upon closer inspection I see that there's plenty of reason for it.

Wait until you find out about HoI3 HoI2 HoI1...

 

[Killerduck]

Wait until you find out about HoI3 HoI2 HoI1...

Played plenty ot HoI 2 and loved it with all its warts, but in this older age I became much more critical. Perks of childhood I guess.