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Still playing Carib cat and mouse, keeping the ai off balance. You can now finish off the Dutch East Indies and look forward to its incorporation into the Portuguese Empire. Australia now part of the war offers further opportunity. Holding Ascension gives you control over the southern atlantic. The German bombing of England is clearly the reason for the home keeping of the GB armed forces. As long as the Germans are free to concentrate everything they have, they'll keep them there. Once Russia and the USA enter, those forces and others will have more freedom of action.

Neat moves in Kenya. You could need some extra forces to close off the campaign. Somalialand and Aden give you forward bases for the attack on Egypt. Still very disappointed about the naval ai. That carrier group ought to be able to prevent everything Portugal has achieved via amphibious operations. From the AAR, it's good they didn't.

Are the Free French in Djbouti?

I think the operation against Egypt will be the toughest you've yet undertaken. Good luck.
 
Nice update! Wondering about manpower and fully operational divisions and their locations? Have you abandoned scherpunkt for catch-as-catch-can? Seems you are spread a little thin, like too little butter over toast...
 
Another excellent update!!! Very nice going so far!! Now push the british back up the nile to Egypt, capturing the Suez Canal would help you alot and hinder the British even more, both when it comes to trade but also with the operations in the Mediterranean and getting ships to and from India!
 
Excellent update, though Australia is worrisome... Any chance they'll take some of you indonesian provinces?

Good point: is the addition of Australia enough to stretch your forces past their breaking point, or do you feel that you've weakened the British enough in your areas of interest that any Australian intervention doesn't really matter?
 
Nice update! Wondering about manpower and fully operational divisions and their locations? Have you abandoned scherpunkt for catch-as-catch-can? Seems you are spread a little thin, like too little butter over toast...

I like the LoTR reference! (If you understand my handle, you would know why) but even more I agree that the update was great! This is such a fascinating AAR! I think he has to spread himself out too thin though, if he only tried what he could safely cover, he'd probably have stayed in the homeland (and not been safe anyway). Can't wait to see this develop further.
 
I would think Australia has enough of a navy to be a big threat to your pacific based ships. Even with Chita bombing the heck out of them, I would think you'll have to leave Australia alone for awhile. Perhaps once Africa is cleaned up and the rest of Asia pacified you can make a full strength landing on the continent. I would think anything less than a full invasion of Australia would be a waste of time, but your innovative gameplay seems to find other opportunities.
 
Sorry it's been a while since feedback!

Rensslaer -- I gave the US a shot ('36 scenario). I got into the war in 1940; I successfully made an amphibious landing at Denmark, and now am waiting on the rest of my army to cross the Atlantic so I can expand from there. Still working out the kinks, but I initially hated HOI 3; great AARs (like yours) and the SF expansion convinced me to try it again. I think EU 3 players are not meant to go straight to HOI 3 :D -- it was a lot easier once I figured out Vicky 2.

Excellent! Yes, V2 is a good stepping stone to HOI. EU3 is just so different. USA invading at Denmark, eh? I've never played US in HOI, but I guess that's a clever place to land -- good defensible space. Course, I guess the other side of the coin is it's defensible for both sides. I have faith in you, though! :D

Points to anyone who recognizes the irony. :D

Not sure if anybody made a go at this. The irony was that the date in the game for the fiction scene where Chita was in trouble WAS May Day (and the post was very nearly on May Day too).

Damn, I dont remember the name of that movie...

I think Stuyvesant may be right -- you're remembering Memphis Belle. I'm a huge fan of B-17s, but I have to admit I struggle to like that movie. Too Hollywood, I guess. Course the original Memphis Belle (the real plane) was kind of Hollywoodish too. But stood as a mascot for tens of thousands of soldier-airmen.

Memphis Belle? Never seen it, but it's about a B-17 over Germany, which seems to fit the general 'Bomber vs. Fighter' theme.

Liked the scene. Chita will survive, but she has been wounded. And their wing leader is dead. Death is creeping ever closer to Ari and his crew...

Thanks, Stuyvesant! It didn't go over as well as some others of my fiction scenes. Since I switched my format to gameplay/historybook from fiction/historybook (you still haven't read Fire Warms, have you? :p) the fans of my fiction have slipped away. The reason for the scene was to illustrate how badly my airwings got beat up over Hong Kong. They'd been flying valiantly for nearly 2 years of amazing victories, had been active doing something that whole time, including many ground attack duties, and there in Hong Kong they finally got hurt! Hong Kong was worth it, though -- a thorn in my side, and now that Australia has entered I only have one direction to look, not two.

How is Sweden doing?

Well, as I recall, they surrendered a long time back. Norway too, I'm pretty sure.

Great update, just got one thing to add, when you have the characters refer to the british (or english) instead of calling them brits, call them "Bifes" (literally "steaks"), since that's what we call them XD:eek:o
:p
Hey, it's fair since the calls us PIIGS :eek:o

Excellent addition to my knowledge of Portuguese culture, Poloport, thank you!

The 'luck of the cheetah' indeed! Well told and very enjoyable!

:D Thanks! Fun to write, too. I'm itching to get back into writing fiction. I have a non-fiction book I need to finish first.

I subscribed, keep up the good work :)

Welcome, Fullbloodsaiyan! Glad to have you along!

Looking forward to seeing what you'll do next :) You have plenty of options!!!

Thanks! It'll be fun and interesting, I guarantee.

Just read the whole thing. Subscribed.

Thanks, LaughingTulkas! And Welcome to yet another AAR! I'm honored that of your first 5 posts in the forum, 2 were in my AARs!

Still playing Carib cat and mouse, keeping the ai off balance. You can now finish off the Dutch East Indies and look forward to its incorporation into the Portuguese Empire. Australia now part of the war offers further opportunity. Holding Ascension gives you control over the southern atlantic. The German bombing of England is clearly the reason for the home keeping of the GB armed forces. As long as the Germans are free to concentrate everything they have, they'll keep them there. Once Russia and the USA enter, those forces and others will have more freedom of action.

Neat moves in Kenya. You could need some extra forces to close off the campaign. Somalialand and Aden give you forward bases for the attack on Egypt. Still very disappointed about the naval ai. That carrier group ought to be able to prevent everything Portugal has achieved via amphibious operations. From the AAR, it's good they didn't.

Are the Free French in Djbouti?

I think the operation against Egypt will be the toughest you've yet undertaken. Good luck.

I think the Free French are locked up in an Italian jail in Djibouti! :) I could always use more forces, but the good news about marching north through Africa is that my frontal lines are shortening! You're probably right about why the British aren't trying to hit back -- they ARE (legitimately) worried about invasion at home.

Have you counted how many Britons you have killed and captured so far?
Compared to your own losses?

Well.... To be honest I'm not sure where to look that up, or if it was even possible in v1.2. If memory serves, I haven't lost any divisions, unless I lost one on a ship that was sunk. The British have lost... around 10 or 12 divisions to my actions (1 or 2 of which were originally Dutch). Plus myriad casualties on both sides.

Nice update! Wondering about manpower and fully operational divisions and their locations? Have you abandoned scherpunkt for catch-as-catch-can? Seems you are spread a little thin, like too little butter over toast...

I AM spread rather thin, but that's nothing new. Love the LOTR reference. Not sure on Manpower -- would have to look back in screenshots -- but it's low, as always. Operational divisions -- about 3 or 4 in the Caribbean, about 2 or 3 in west Africa, 1 in central Africa, about 6-7 in South and/or East Africa, 2 in Singapore, 1 in Sumatra, 2 in Borneo, 2 in Hong Kong... That may be it (another 6 or so garrisons in Portugal). Hard to remember off the top of my head.

Another excellent update!!! Very nice going so far!! Now push the british back up the nile to Egypt, capturing the Suez Canal would help you alot and hinder the British even more, both when it comes to trade but also with the operations in the Mediterranean and getting ships to and from India!

Thanks! I'm almost hesitant to take Suez, as that would cut off the merchant traffic I'm preying upon. But sacrifices must be made, you know... :D

Excellent update, though Australia is worrisome... Any chance they'll take some of you indonesian provinces?

Thanks! It's slightly possible, but I don't think they have anything available for offensive moves. They're hunkered down waiting for us to come. They probably have a couple of units in Papua New Guinea, plus a whole lot at home.

Good point: is the addition of Australia enough to stretch your forces past their breaking point, or do you feel that you've weakened the British enough in your areas of interest that any Australian intervention doesn't really matter?

Well... I'd hesitate to say. If they stay home, we're fine. If we feel obligated to go after them, that's a bigger elephant to take down than we had in South Africa. Seems like I remember someone asking about the Australian Navy, but I don't see it now (it was Gen. Hillier -- see 2nd feedback post)... If they have ships (and they do!) and if they're willing to commit them, then the Pacific naval war just opened up again, and I'm on the losing side like never before. :)

Sorry it's been a while since the last update! I'm going to try to get one up this weekend, along with another update to I Am Siam. After that, I'll update my other WW II AARs and try to get back on a regular schedule.

Thanks again for your comments! Anybody reading who hasn't said hello yet?

Rensslaer
 
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Sorry, missed a couple more for feedback! :)

I like the LoTR reference! (If you understand my handle, you would know why) but even more I agree that the update was great! This is such a fascinating AAR! I think he has to spread himself out too thin though, if he only tried what he could safely cover, he'd probably have stayed in the homeland (and not been safe anyway). Can't wait to see this develop further.

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it! You're right -- it was a "go big or go home" choice, and I chose to go big, rather than staying at home. ;)

I would think Australia has enough of a navy to be a big threat to your pacific based ships. Even with Chita bombing the heck out of them, I would think you'll have to leave Australia alone for awhile. Perhaps once Africa is cleaned up and the rest of Asia pacified you can make a full strength landing on the continent. I would think anything less than a full invasion of Australia would be a waste of time, but your innovative gameplay seems to find other opportunities.

You're right -- I addressed this some in my previous feedback, but I think your assessment on all counts is spot on. I'm good at innovative solutions, but Australia is a bizarre place for alot of reasons -- not sure innovative solutions will work there! :D

Rensslaer
 
You're right that I haven't read 'Fire Warms' yet - and I doubt I ever will: that thing's just so... daunting. ;) Plus, there's another little Stuyvette on the way (ETA July), so I'll be lucky if I can maintain my current reading load after that. Not exactly the time to start a 5000-page (I'm sure that's not an exaggeration at all) AAR. :)

But I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how this progresses, whenever you have the time for it.
 
We take a moment from our regularly scheduled AAR to bring you a special announcement....

It's been a while since the "Guess the Author Challenge" has been active, but it is a very long-standing tradition here in AARLand. I wanted to let you all know it is running, the new authors' contributions have been posted (here), and are awaiting readers to provide feedback if you don't mind.

The GTA Challenge is a great place for authors (experienced and novice) to challenge themselves to write short pieces of fiction on a topic chosen for them, and then they receive feedback from readers who don't know who the authors are. The Paradox Forums are already a great place for this sort of "writers' workshop", but GTA takes it to a new level by allowing anonymous submissions (until I post the names later) which promote more honest feedback. This is very helpful for the development of authors' skills.

The Rules:
1) Everybody will have 2 weeks to read and leave comments. What did you think about the piece? What did it make you think about (which is different than the first)? How did it affect you? Were you surprised? Emotional? Did something in the story distract from your enjoyment? Something stick out to you or impress you? Etc...
2) Please be polite, but feel free to be frank -- constructive criticism is okay, as is praise, of course. This is a more valuable writers' forum than almost any other out there, and real writers can learn/earn real skills here, but only if they get credible, heartfelt feedback.
3) Feel free to offer a guess as to who the writer is. This was easier back when there were fewer writers, but if you wish you can try. It's okay to identify a favorite piece, but no ranking of the 4 entries is necessary (or probably desired).
4) On May 15 (or so) I will post who wrote each piece (Surprise!) and list some of their AAR works so you can go check them out.
5) Have fun! :) This can be as educational for the readers and commenters as for the writers, so go for it!

Please come by to see what's there, and to have your say!

Rensslaer
 
Having landed in Aden in June, then crossing the Bab al-Mandab to Somaliland, then having secured our position there through July, our 22nd Infantry embarks again aboard a transport in August, intending to leapfrog along two coasts – the Horn of Africa and the coast of Aden.

11Aug1941Yemen.jpg


Instead, HMS Barham and HMS Queen Elizabeth show up to spoil the plan! This time, the naval AI does not fail – the transport and our valuable infantry division are lost at sea. The plans against Somaliland and Aden foiled for the time being.

In mid-August, the British holding out in the mountains and jungles of western Jamaica surrendered, and all of Jamaica came under Portuguese control. Our strategy of tentative attacks to sap enemy strength, then waiting to reinforce, then going at them again, has worked.

19Aug1941Jamaica.jpg


In Borneo, the Battle of Sarikei finally becomes a victory, partially thanks to the employment of our Tactical Bombers rebased from Hong Kong. The two provinces that two British divisions had held since 1939 are now reduced to just one. Garrisons being slow as molasses in transport, it will be a while before this theatre is closed out, but its foreclosure is becoming more and more certain.

21Aug1941Borneo.jpg


Throughout the sweltering tropical summer, three Portuguese divisions had been finding their way slowly across the waist of Africa, gobbling up Free French provinces in the African interior. In order to speed the advance, single brigades of our German-designed, license-built armored cars were detached from the divisions they were supporting in order to comprise a fast-advance force to scout ahead of the rest.

22Aug1941CentAfrica.jpg


In late-August, this advance battalion of armored cars emerged from the African interior into British Sudan. This sweep had the potential to cut off British troops south of Khartoum from any hope of resupply – yet another encirclement move which came as quite a surprise to British divisions retreating north from Kenya. The image above shows the three Portuguese divisions, as well as highlighting in red along the far right edge our minor conquest in British Somaliland. Italy’s Ethiopian territory is the darker green nearby it.

Our Production Queue had settled down some, from earlier frantic builds. The fighters were deployed, and our first new Light Cruiser. Now our 45 IC devoted to production was concentrating on framing two Heavy Cruisers, due out after the first of the year, more Armored Cars (license built, again), and garrison and infantry divisions. The Convoy Transports in the Queue were a reminder of the constant drain on shipping a few isolated British and Free French cruisers were having during their marauding in the Indian Ocean.

25Aug1941Production.jpg


The low numbers of Supplies and Fuel are, believe it or not, sufficient for the force Portugal has in the field. This will surprise those of you who strive to maintain 5-digit stockpiles of these commodities in expectation of potentially running out otherwise. Portugal is just a different animal than Germany or other major powers. So too, you may be surprised by our Manpower of 3. That’s really low, but not devastatingly low. Portugal is not experiencing casualties that would immediately drain that supply, and we use most of our existing Manpower for recruitment of new units. Also note that Portugal is abundantly supplied with stockpiles of every major Resource item (again, unlike our major ally, Germany, or probably our enemies!).

In early September, it’s time to switch out our division in Antigua. Thankfully, we now have a free and relatively refreshed unit in Jamaica, fresh from her conquest there. We will switch them out, and let these poor, beleaguered troops from Antigua rest in Jamaica while our buddies from Jamaica move in to keep the pressure on the British at Anguilla.

2Sept1941Caribbean.jpg


Now, this isn’t Kriegsgefahr (my experimental peaceful Germany AAR), and you don’t see a whole lot of Research achievements in Imperio Novo, do you? Well, here’s one (just one) – Coal to Oil Conversion. You may recall from my other AARs that I normally try to AVOID this tech, because for major powers it constitutes a drain on scarce Energy stockpiles which some heavily-engaged countries cannot afford. However, Portugal, by contrast, is flush with quantities of Energy, and could use some additional Oil and Fuel. This tech benefits us unlike almost anyone else.

Did you notice (above) our Manpower has climbed, in two weeks’ time, to 4? :D

Also notice the two transports sunk in a short period of time by Portugal’s FW-200 Condors (Chita!), operating over the Red Sea, where British shipping was thick and had no room to maneuver or hide.

4Sept1941Khartoum.jpg


Khartoum, Sudan, finally falls on the 4th of September. There are apparently no British units nearby to contest this single-minded lateral advance across the continent! The defenders along the increasingly messy African front line are far to the south, and the defenders in Egypt are far to the north. Once the armored cars connect with Italian Somaliland, the British forces to the south will be unable to get supply.

Those forces, though, as it happens, may not last long enough to be strangled from their supply lines! One of the last remaining divisions has been cornered at Arusha, in central Kenya, and is on its very last legs.

7Sept1941Kenya.jpg


Don’t miss that notice of another transport sinking, in the lower right corner. Every day or two, another British or Allied transport falls victim to our naval bombers!

Now that Australia has entered the war, the slow takeover of Dutch territory in the East Indies picks up urgency. Our single division that had been holding down the fort (literally – I built one in the late ‘30s) at our Naval Base in Dili had not ventured forth to get the rest of the island, fearful that someone would snatch up the port while they were away (ala Kingston, anyone?).

3Aug1941Dili.jpg


But now, we create a purpose-built headquarters/scouting battalion for the sole purpose of ranging west and taking the rest of the island. This is done in August, and by mid-September, its mission is accomplished and it moves to take up residence in the islands other port.

As Chita and her brothers continue to sink countless Allied merchant ships in the Red Sea, on the 10th of September the 1st Armored Car Brigade reaches Italian territory, cutting off British supply to the south, and then angles north to reach the Red Sea proper.

10Sept1941RedSea.jpg


Also on that date, the British division trapped at Arusha, Kenya surrenders. The advance from the south resumes.

In mid-September, the 26th and 27th Portuguese Garrison Battalions are placed in service at Lisbon. They are immediately loaded aboard transports for a journey overseas.

15Sept1941Whereto.jpg


The obvious question is, “Where should they go?”

Considering Portugal’s manifold fronts, and varied opportunities, where do you think they should go?
 
thats an impressive raid by your armoured cars. You've not mentioned it (or I've missed it) but if the Germans haven't invaded the UK, I'd opt for the Carribean, if they have then the Far East, they'll help shore up your various gains against any Australian activity
 
Instead, HMS Barham and HMS Queen Elizabeth show up to spoil the plan! This time, the naval AI does not fail – the transport and our valuable infantry division are lost at sea.

Ouch! That's a painful loss - not the transport, of course, but losing a whole division... That could be your worst wartime loss yet!

But it seems like you've already replaced it (with TWO new units, to boot), so no harm done there. :)

Since the Red Sea area appears a bit dangerous for your ships, I'd not send those shiny new divisions there. Is there anything left to do in the Carribean? Otherwise, I'd send them east. Far East - like the Dutch East Indies. Yeah, playing defense is not very glamorous, but I'm still concerned about Australia's troops. It's just a short hop from Darwin to the Indies...

Or, to match Enewald for a more 'exotic' suggestion: why not liberate Goa? ;)
 
The Caribbean seems a logical choice to me as well as to many of my fellow readAARs. However, there may already be enough troops in theater to accomplish your goals. So, I will not speculate further except to say that they should go where they can be useful. I'm feeling "vaguely sage-like" today. ;)