el cid again
Posts: 16922
Joined: 10/10/2005
Status: offline
|
It was not the primary intent, but creating interior river systems is going to significantly change the interior of China.
First of all, the rivers are the main roads of China: the Yantze first, the Yellow River second and the Pearl River third.
This is not at all clear in past forms of WITP - regardless of mod - except to the extent you could sail ocean ships inland to Nanking in CHS and to Wuhan/Hankow in RHS (never mind we all had Hankow in the wrong place).
But that is not what I mean by an "interior river system" - that is an "exterior river" because ANYTHING can sail up it. The biggest ships in the world can sail under the Great Bridge at Nanking - the first obsticle one encounters sailing inland from the sea. The lower Yantze is very broad, and deep, and the whole system is also swift, rendering many classical river craft of marginal value (because they cannot sail upstream): unlike most rivers you don't slow your engines - you run at higher speeds - at least upstream. Anyway - these rivers represent ways to move - and for AI to move - supplies, resources and units. By putting units of transport craft on them, they WILL move these things.
Second, ports are not the same as airfields economy wise: code is going to make fuel at places it never did before - and that will make the economies somewhat more efficient (fuel wise). This will compound with the transport of resources, oil and supplies in point one above to make the mini-economies (even if isolated from the world) more functional.
Third, these river systems are new ways to flank the enemy - or be flanked by the enemy - and no one can guard long river banks at every point. They will change operations - and in a historical direction.
Fourth, the upper Yangtze basin is China's Grand Canyon. The cliffs are typically 2000 feet high, and the idea this is not a significant military obsticle - or that it is a normal river obsticle - and in particular that one could "shock attack" a unit on the opposing side is wrong. For this reason I am changing the river symbols (remember we have art to tell you where the river is - and our river functions too) to blocked hex sides. Just as I did near Shanghai - where blocked hex sides force you to be on a major island without bridges - or on the mainland on one side of the Yangtze or the other - so we will use a single (rather than dual) set of blocked hex sides in the upper Yangtze - creating a different kind of "rough country". This should increase the significance of the river as transport route - and of any roads or rail lines in the area. And it creates opportunities for blocking forces to be more efficient.
Fifth, the river systems represent micro naval theaters in their own right. If the Amur/Usurri/Sungari river system in Russia and Manchukuo are a mini-naval theater - with actual mini-warships - the Yellow river and Yangtze are micro - because here the "naval weapon" of choice is a machine gun! Absent a lot of other warships and guns, it matters too. [There is a wonderful account of the landing at Inchon in the Korean War in which a force of junks must be sunk without trace - or the presence of defenses on an island will be known. A single small vessel with mg is used to sink all five of them - never mind they mount heavier mg which outrange the attacker (which has a single US naval officer on board). Talk about a micro naval battle! We can have stuff like that now.] The Yellow River and the upper Yangtze have only motor junks, motor sampans, barge/tug combinations, micro river transports, and landing craft. These are not going to be easy to sink - because of the way we are representing them - unless air power is applied or they stupidly assault some strong point with lots of artillery. [Not sure about the Pearl yet.]
Sixth, creating the triple Wuhan metroplex (Hankow/Hanyang/Wuchang) - next to each other but separated by rivers - at the end point ocean ships can reach - all of which is geographically and historically correct - changes the nature of Central China. This is an important area - area because to fully benefit one must control all three hexes - and one cannot "hide" behind a river barrier (as one can upstream where the cliffs are - see the Three Gorges Dam project upriver from here). IF one controls this area - one has a true ocean port and major airfield complex in the heart of populated China - one that generates significant resources and some supplies and fuel - and even repairs ships (Wuhan Shipyard celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2004 - and it is the only shipyard in China to build conventional submarines: draft of the lower Yangtze permits even large modern submarines to pass). The REASONS for fighting ove Wuhan - and the difficulties - are now simulated. Control of this area is divided in 1941 - and you can tell which way the wind is blowing in China by the status of this area thereafter.
< Message edited by el cid again -- 1/25/2007 5:14:26 PM >
|
Printable Version
Transforming the interior of China - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread