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*sigh*
I suspect I'd do a noob island Ireland or bust tutorial aar with the aim of forming Ireland and playing until the game breaks. I also suspect I'd only survive such a thing by being as lemony a narrator as possible and playing everything random that happens straight. Naturally all the sliders will be set to default to give the game the best shot for viewers/early adopters...idk. I'm tempted but genuinely afraid the game is either bland bland paste or beyond nonsenseness.
For what it's worth, the early comments I'm seeing remind me somewhat of the comments on Civ 5 when it was coming out. Take that for what it's worth.

Sounds like performance is generally good but varies by system as usual. Overall not a huge mess on release like, saaaay, that one game about Rome or something. Or any game that starts with 'H' and rhymes with "Farts of Tyron". Or...
 
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The no navy Japan game would be easy from a gameplay point of view (lots of NAVs will chew up any amount of ships), if a massive challenge from a narrative point of view. The IJN not building anything would be like Britain ignoring a massive naval build up and not... doing... anything. Oh. Oh dear.
Oh dear is right... That is how things turned out TTL, isn't it?

Anyway the Swiss game would be a challenge in breaking the German AI. I reckon if you declared at the right point you could disrupt the Axis AI so badly it would give the Allies a chance to win the Battle of France.
But that would require helping France. Is there anything so truly contrary to British humors than that?

You always were a gentleman of wisdom and taste.
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I do make that impression at times.

A very well executed campaign. All that remains is to properly exploit the situation... I can imagine we are about to be treated to something suitably spectacular.
I can only hope that my writing and graphics continue to inspire!

As others have said, we’ll done making a series of fish-in-barrel shoots so entertaining! I know (or at least think) you’ve said you were going to do a bit as Britain later in an attempt to even things up a little, but there will only be smouldering ruins left to fight back with! :eek:
Indeed he will! :p
I tried to rationalize a way for things to bring them back into contention. I think I was successful.

I think it must be. Straight into Sydney, despite the enormous distance involved to land and sustain an amphibious invasion force! :mad:;)
Indeed. One downside to quite how cruddy the logistics system is in HoI3 is that despite the complexity, it can be abused with how childly simple it is to support far-flung adventures.
 
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Except properly supporting a D-Day landing in Europe! :rolleyes: :D
Exactly. I don't know what sort of thinking they're doing or have done about such things. It either seems like things are overcomplicated or underappreciated.
It seemed like quite a few of the views were everyone coming through here en route to your CK3 AAR!

ALL: I've basically got the next update text-side done, I'm going to whip up some graphics, pictures, et cetera and then be ready to post it... perhaps by the end of the weekend.
 
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And with a flurry of exploding British Capital Ships, the 'War at Sea' updates come to their terrible and inevitable end, as does much of the Royal Navy. Truly a masterly tale of superior Germanic seafaring and intelligence gathering. They broke British codes? To be fair, that was beautiful, I had a smile on my face when I read that. I'm sad the Kriegsmarine pron is over, but I'm certainly looking forward to whatever Operation Orkney Bulldog is. My guess is that it's either an Invasion of the British isles through the Orkneys or a secret plan to kidnap one of the British Royal Family's most beloved Bulldogs.

PS: That Italian OOB is looking good.
 
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XI: 1. Operation Bauhinia: The Invasion of Hong Kong, 11 - 14 July 1942
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The Sun Also Rises
1. Operation Bauhinia: The Invasion of Hong Kong
11 - 14 July 1942


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Japanese soldiers marching into Hong Kong from Kowloon.

The Japanese declaration of war against the British, delivered by the ambassador to the Court of Saint James on 11 July 1942, was the culmination of the breath that had strained against being held for so long since the Japanese had become signatories to the Anti-Comintern Pact only days less than a calendar year previous. The attack on Hong Kong--and the British Empire in general--was clearly a violation of international law: notification to the British that a state of war existed between the two empires was received in London only after engagements had begun. Both sides in the conflict recognized the importance of the territory, but the preparations for the coming war were decisively different.

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Canadian troops marching in formation, 1941. These
troops were unprepared for the violent and overwhelming
attacks of the Japanese forces.

Controversy over Britain’s actual dedication to fighting the Japanese is centered on testimony from the American consulate delegation, who would later write that the British were more interested in keeping the Chinese in line than the Japanese out. Other charges leveled at the British indicate that they failed to adequately prepare both the civilian population and their forces to resist; these are balanced by the heroism and tenacity of the Commonwealth troops who made the best of a bad situation. The efforts were complicated, however, by a concentration of the fortifications being directed towards the sea, rather than towards the mainland. The British had assumed that any attack by the Japanese would come from the sea, but the strategic situation had changed with the truce which placed the Second Sino-Japanese War on ice until 1944. Despite this, there had been nearly four years in which the British High Command could have prepared their forces better for the assault which was seen by all to be inevitable, but with funding being what it was, no monies were devoted for the development of said fortifications, or a unified command structure to man them.

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A shore battery gun operated by Indian troops. Much of
the defense had been focused on the perceived likely
invasion from the sea, rather than from the shores of
Kowloon.

The decisions regarding the status and defense plans for Hong Kong were altered repeatedly in the interbellum period. Originally planned to left as an open city given the forces arrayed against it at the end of a very long and expensive tether to London, pressure on the British from Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek to ‘prove’ London’s support of the Chinese efforts led to the creation of the two brigade-strong Hong Kong Command, a motley force of British, locals, Indians, and even Canadians to resist against the expected Japanese attack. The losses in the North Sea and the strategic plan of “Each In Their Turn” meant the major surface vessels of the China Station had long since been recalled, leaving a mere two flotillas of Triton-class submarines and a handful of gun- and motor-torpedo boats. No appreciable air units were available from the Royal Air Force.

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A comparison between the forces arrayed to fight for
Hong Kong. The outsized force of the Japanese proved
more than a match for the few British defenders.

On the other side of the coin, the Japanese ground forces arrayed against the island were the two divisions of XVIII Corps. These formations were composed of the two divisions of Imperial Guard troops, supported by a brigade of artillery and a brigade of engineers. In the air, three groups of Ki-63 multi-role fighters--the same aircraft developed by the Japanese from their purchases of Bf109Fs--were launching from Guangzhou. Of these, two groups were dedicated to conducting port strikes in an attempt to destroy the Royal Navy’s submarines (that is, the only major threat to the Imperial Japanese Navy in the area), while one group was devoted to providing close air support to the ground units. At sea, a small force of two ancient “heavy” cruisers and four groups of similarly old destroyers provided a small boost of naval surface gunfire support to the troops.

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Japanese artillery firing on positions during the invasion of
Hong Kong.

The engagement began at dawn on 11 July 1942 with a combination of air attacks and the guns of the Asama and Izumo. Within twenty-four hours, most of the garrison was out of organization and clinging desperately to small pockets of resistance. Constant air attacks combined with the rapid silencing of the coastal artillery allowed the ships to close in and press home their advantage. What few aircraft remained transported wounded and important people out of the colony, including Mme Sun Yat-Sen, the widow of the late Sun Yat-Sen. Effective resistance ceased approximately two days into the assault, but pockets of sporadic resistance kept the island from being truly pacified for nearly a week. In all, the Japanese Army reported that for the loss of only 86 soldiers and a handful of aircraft (mostly to accidents, though there were reports that a few fell to ground fire), they inflicted 586 casualties on the British and Commonwealth defenders, and took over five thousand prisoners.

*****
Author's Note: Not a top of page, but definitely worth it because I felt like things were dying down which would prevent me from getting there, and this is done so why not?! We move now to the Pacific, for the inevitable ROFLSTOMP for the Commonwealth. In other news, in a month, I'll be going to Midnight shift, which will mean that I become a monk, and probably have a few hours a night to devote to working with some of this stuff! Maybe.
 
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I am sure Japan is about to have a lot of run terrorising the Pacific.
 
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I am sure Japan is about to have a lot of run terrorising the Pacific.
I doubt they will even get Yamamoto's Six Months. Because frankly Wraith should have won this war long before then, certainly he has no excuse not to. ;)
 
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I doubt they will even get Yamamoto's Six Months. Because frankly Wraith should have won this war long before then, certainly he has no excuse not to. ;)

The Royal navy doesn't exist and the US are awful so yes, the axis should body the entire Pacific fairly easily and then tag team russia down at least successfully, if not quickly.
 
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6oDxIQN.png

The Sun Also Rises
1. Operation Bauhinia: The Invasion of Hong Kong
11 - 14 July 1942
Well, that was a quick update. Just when the AARs in this forum were starting to trend Pippian in their update schedules, even! :p

Hong Kong is an interesting conundrum for the British. Utterly indefensible, as mentioned in the update it's simply too far at the end of a very stretched and vulnerable supply line to hold out against any prolonged attack, and its only real defense is in being the property of the biggest, baddest naval empire on the planet which is sure to rain 15" hellfire on anyone who dares to...oh...oh dear. Well, then.

That said, it's such a valuable position economically and politically that not defending it would be a politically untenable position with the British public. Which puts the military establishment in the awkward position of trying to find the minimum amount of what would essentially be wasted resources to spend on "defending" an untenable position. And then later having to reclaim said position by climbing over the defense works they themselves constructed.

Now, Singapore on the other hand I'm sure will be an impregnable rock and easily repulse any attempt at...what's that you say? We've left the AI in charge? Well, then...
 
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I am sure Japan is about to have a lot of run terrorising the Pacific.
I doubt they will even get Yamamoto's Six Months. Because frankly Wraith should have won this war long before then, certainly he has no excuse not to. ;)
The Royal navy doesn't exist and the US are awful so yes, the axis should body the entire Pacific fairly easily and then tag team russia down at least successfully, if not quickly.
Well, that was a quick update. Just when the AARs in this forum were starting to trend Pippian in their update schedules, even! :p

Hong Kong is an interesting conundrum for the British. Utterly indefensible, as mentioned in the update it's simply too far at the end of a very stretched and vulnerable supply line to hold out against any prolonged attack, and its only real defense is in being the property of the biggest, baddest naval empire on the planet which is sure to rain 15" hellfire on anyone who dares to...oh...oh dear. Well, then.

That said, it's such a valuable position economically and politically that not defending it would be a politically untenable position with the British public. Which puts the military establishment in the awkward position of trying to find the minimum amount of what would essentially be wasted resources to spend on "defending" an untenable position. And then later having to reclaim said position by climbing over the defense works they themselves constructed.

Now, Singapore on the other hand I'm sure will be an impregnable rock and easily repulse any attempt at...what's that you say? We've left the AI in charge? Well, then...

All of these are correct. There were long periods of inactivity (because running things is difficult, and this was back when I was only running three nations and not six), but it did seem to happen rather quickly. Not to mention I didn't allow myself to think about what the game engine was doing insofar as what it allows the player to do versus what historically could actually happen.
 
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Despite this, there had been nearly four years in which the British High Command could have prepared their forces better for the assault which was seen by all to be inevitable, but with funding being what it was, no monies were devoted for the development of said fortifications, or a unified command structure to man them.
As in OTL, so in ATL. :rolleyes:
We move now to the Pacific, for the inevitable ROFLSTOMP for the Commonwealth.
:(
Now, Singapore on the other hand I'm sure will be an impregnable rock and easily repulse any attempt at...what's that you say? We've left the AI in charge? Well, then...
... uh oh.

Very clear and shiny graphics there. You do enjoy them, don’t you? ;)
 
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As in OTL, so in ATL. :rolleyes: :( ... uh oh.
Yup. Sorry.... suffice it to say that "It gets better?"

Very clear and shiny graphics there. You do enjoy them, don’t you? ;)
They are easy to do, actually. The most frustrating bit is when things don't want to align to the appropriate other item... because that chews up quite a significant bit of time.
 
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We are being spoiled here. 2 updates in 1 week, brilliant!
The defence of Hong Kong was about as well prepared as I expected. As others have said, with the Royal navy in tatters, it doesn't look like the UK could do anything about it's eventual fall, even if it had been well defended. A logical first step in the Japanese war with the Allies. On that note, it's nice to have a little change of scenery as we're now following the Japanese point of view. I guess that's another advantage to playing multiple nations at the same time...

Well, that was a quick update. Just when the AARs in this forum were starting to trend Pippian in their update schedules, even! :p
What do you mean? Who ever said anything about a schedule? What a novel idea. As a wise old man once said: "An update is never late. Nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it is meant to."
 
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The poor British, have the USAians joined the battle? In OTL the US had given some vague guarantees that they would join if the British and Dutch possesions where attacked.
 
We are being spoiled here. 2 updates in 1 week, brilliant!
The defence of Hong Kong was about as well prepared as I expected. As others have said, with the Royal navy in tatters, it doesn't look like the UK could do anything about it's eventual fall, even if it had been well defended. A logical first step in the Japanese war with the Allies. On that note, it's nice to have a little change of scenery as we're now following the Japanese point of view. I guess that's another advantage to playing multiple nations at the same time...
For sure. In the interest of time and effort, I've since stopped registering ground attack losses in the Chinese theater, because the original focus was not on Japan, and there is something to be said for a "fuzzy" relation with losses. I'm also not working on inputting the images from the conflicts into the spreadsheets until it's actually time to do so, since that chews up lots of time otherwise.

What do you mean? Who ever said anything about a schedule? What a novel idea. As a wise old man once said: "An update is never late. Nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it is meant to."
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The poor British, have the USAians joined the battle? In OTL the US had given some vague guarantees that they would join if the British and Dutch possesions where attacked.
Recall that the USA is under the heel of the German-American Bund section of the GOP right now in TTL. Isolationism is the order of the day, but things are agitating over there to bring that policy (and the administration) to an end.
 
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Reading about the fall of Hong Kong gave me flash forwards to 2020. A chilling time for democracy.

Nice update Wraith!
 
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Recall that the USA is under the heel of the German-American Bund section of the GOP right now in TTL. Isolationism is the order of the day,
This AAR truly is a masterclass in the art of breaking butterflies upon the wheel.
 
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