Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
The Swan River runs south of Perth, not north of it.  As you go upstream from Perth proper, it becomes the Avon River.

quote:

3 hexes SE of Mackay on the Queensland map is a hex with a crossing arrow to an island hex to its E.  That hex is where Airlie Beach & Shute Harbour are, and the island hex would contain Cid Harbour.  During WWII these were important marshalling areas and supply ports for the Australian and US Navies and should rate minor port status at least.  The significant town on the rail junction there is Proserpine.  The area is now a major tourist destination.

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
I concur with Christo's comments about the cliffs along the southern coast of Australia -- desert hexes along the Great Australian Bight.  I have sailed as well as driven this area, there are no landing points, the cliffs are up to 200ft high in some places.

quote:

The unlabelled river that runs around the outside of the Sydney hex (yes it really does that) is the Hawkesbury / Nepean.  It was originally thought to be two separate rivers, one to the north and one to the west and south west, until some explorer discovered that they actually join up.

quote:

I concur with the comment about Lakes Entrance in Victoria being a swamp hex.  It is quite a hazardous entry even for small boats.

quote:

I would discard the Ipswich river south of Brisbane, it is not a significant waterway (it's a small creek, really) which is why you're not finding it on maps.  The Brisbane River runs through the middle of Brisbane from the bay that is shown there (Moreton Bay) and should be placed on the NE hexside of the hex containing Brisbane, and then following the line that you have drawn for the Ipswich river.  It is navigable by shipping along some of its length.

quote:

Brisbane is not a significant port.  The approaches to it through Moreton Bay are fairly tricky, and it doesn't have a lot of deep water anchorage or channels.  The largest port in Queensland is Gladstone, which is in the mountain hex 2 hexes SE of Airlie Beach / Proserpine (mentioned above).

quote:

The largest port in NSW (and in fact the largest coal port in the world) is Newcastle, which is not marked on the map, but should be in the hex NE of Sydney.  This should contain a resource (coal) or possibly two, it has the world's largest coal deposit.

quote:

The largest port in Western Australia is Port Hedland, which is also not marked on the map.  It is approximately 4 or 5 hexes SW along the coast from Broome.  Perth is not a port, the nearby port is called Fremantle and it is not as large a port as Port Hedland because of the railway bridge which blocks access to the river (zoom in on these in google maps if you like).  I believe that the railway bridge at Fremantle predates the war.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Thank you for your review and comments on Australia.

I know nothing about the region and would only like to make two general comments:

1 - We need the cities, ports, and rail lines to be circa 1937 - 1945. And we struggle with how to handle those that had massive changes during that time period. It would be nice if you can reassure us that the changes you recommend reflect the situation at that time.

2 - Ports have been a problem for us previously. That is because WIF uses ports to simulate two distinct, and important, aspects of the war: (a) anchorages for military use by naval combat ships, and (b) overseas transportation links for resources and military materiel by the merchant marine. We have found that some ports perform only one of these functions. In game terms, making that distinction is not possible. The result is we do not have a firm and fast rule to go by, and decide each case individually - usually based on how it affects game play.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

quote:

I concur with the comment about Lakes Entrance in Victoria being a swamp hex. It is quite a hazardous entry even for small boats.

Are you talking about the Victoria River, south of Darwin ?

quote:

The Lakes Entrance hex (The forest/beach hex two to the east of Melbourne) needs to be swamp for reasons I posted earlier in this thread - because the lakes extend practically the full width of the hex's beach just a few hundred metres across the dunes from the beach. I've been there and seen it, and it would be a nightmare place to stage an invasion - you'd beach your landing craft, then immediately have to cross another body of water...

quote:

quote:

I would discard the Ipswich river south of Brisbane, it is not a significant waterway (it's a small creek, really) which is why you're not finding it on maps. The Brisbane River runs through the middle of Brisbane from the bay that is shown there (Moreton Bay) and should be placed on the NE hexside of the hex containing Brisbane, and then following the line that you have drawn for the Ipswich river. It is navigable by shipping along some of its length.

Here, as for Perth, I think that the Brisbane river goes through the city, and that the designer decided that it would be represented as an obstacle to the entry in the city from the south and the east. From this map, I think that this is OK as it is. The scale of the map don't allow to place the Brisbane Mouth exactly where geography placed it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
The Swan River runs south of Perth, not north of it. As you go upstream from Perth proper, it becomes the Avon River.

On the attached map, we see that it is inside Perth, and then it is north of it. The original map designer seemed to think that it was moe an obstacle to enter Perth from the north than to enter Perth from the south, and I think he was right. For the Avon, I'd add the name.

quote:

quote:

3 hexes SE of Mackay on the Queensland map is a hex with a crossing arrow to an island hex to its E. That hex is where Airlie Beach & Shute Harbour are, and the island hex would contain Cid Harbour. During WWII these were important marshalling areas and supply ports for the Australian and US Navies and should rate minor port status at least. The significant town on the rail junction there is Proserpine. The area is now a major tourist destination.

In fact, just South of the crossing arrow, I added the minor port of Rockhampton, as it is often present on WWII maps of the area. Isn't this port in Rockhampton representing the marshalling areas that you talk about ?

Also, I can't find neither Cid Harbour nor Proserpine on my maps. Is Cid Harbor on Curtis Island ? The small island in Keppel Bay ?

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel

Rockhampton is a significant agricultural town, but not a port as it is inland. The coastal area to the east of Rockhampton is Shoalwater Bay which is a common tourist destination (and military practice area these days) but as evidenced by the name is very shallow and not useful as a port. To the south east of Rockhampton is Gladstone, which is a significant port.

http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-23.548881,150.993347&spn=1.49053,1.532593&z=9

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
Rockhampton is a significant agricultural town, but not a port as it is inland. The coastal area to the east of Rockhampton is Shoalwater Bay which is a common tourist destination (and military practice area these days) but as evidenced by the name is very shallow and not useful as a port. To the south east of Rockhampton is Gladstone, which is a significant port.

http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-23.548881,150.993347&spn=1.49053,1.532593&z=9

quote:

Proserpine is shown on this map. It is a small town at a railway junction, no more, I merely mentioned the name to indicate the name of the juction:

http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-20.306637,148.686905&spn=0.381229,0.383148&z=11

Cid Harbour is on the western side of Whitsunday Island, due east of Airlie Beach. Take a look at this map:

http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-20.2171,148.825607&spn=0.381449,0.383148&z=11

Cid Harbour is a natural offshore island harbour formed by the bay in the western side of Whitsunday Island and the smaller (unmarked on that map) bean shaped island to the west of that. A closer look at Cid Harbour itself is here:

http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-20.252857,148.932724&spn=0.095341,0.095787&t=p&z=13

It's not marked on that map, but any tourist map or cruising guide to the area (as I mentioned it's a very popular tourist zone) will show it. I only mentioned it because it has significant historical interest as a WWII marshalling area especially during the battle of the Coral Sea.

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
Well I maintain my claim about the ports of Newcastle and Jervis Bay. Newcastle is not, and has never been, at Port Stephens, and should be moved south to its correct location. It was in use as a significant naval port during WWII and was shelled by a Japanese submarine.

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
Port Hedland is a significant port but as you suggest did not have the rail infrastructure that it currently has until the 1950s. So it can probably be omitted. I know that it was in use as a shipping port during WWII but I'm not sure how much infrastructure it had nor whether it was in use very much during the war. Broome was in fact not in use as an allied port during the war because many residents of the town were Japanese (who had come for the pearling industry) and therefore considered unreliable. Apart from the fact that the town was bombed by the Japanese during the war, it provided no significant infrastructure -- remember that this entire section of coast from the Kimberlies down to Perth is in fact very dry and parched, your biggest supply problem for any naval activities is going to be the complete lack of water.

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel
"Snares Island" wtf? The island to the south of Invercargill is called Stewart Island.

quote:

ORIGINAL: delatbabel

As I lived in Christchurch, New Zealand, for 3 years I'll comment about that area too.

The rail line running north of Christchurch should extend to Picton, which is a small town on the other side of the Cook Strait (patch of water separating the North and South Islands of New Zealand) from Wellington. Basically the hex one hex W of Wellington.

quote:

Sorry if this disrupts game play, but Christchurch is not a port. The nearby port is Lyttleton, it's in the same hex as Christchurch but I'm not sure I'd rate it as a major port. There is a rail line between the two. Lyttleton harbour is significantly smaller and has less infrastructure than Wellington harbour and so I'm not sure why Lyttleton has major port status but Wellington does not.

quote:

There should be more alpine hexes in the South Island of NZ. Basically the east/west route is impassable up and down the length of the island, except at 4 points -- (a) north of where the northernmost (isolated) alpine hexside is, (b) Lewis Pass which is the rail line shown running West to Westport (it actually runs to Greymouth, perhaps in the hex south of Westport and then runs north to Westport from there), (c) Arthurs Pass, which is where you have marked "Pelennor Fields" (very funny), and (d) west and southwest of Dunedin.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp
I've changed Newcastle as you asked.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Well, on my 1935-1940 maps, the railway from Christchurch to Picton is not yet finished. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wharanui also states that this railway was not finished before 1945. The Picton - Wharanui railway is all what existed north of Christchurch. At the scale the map is drawn, I can even say that both are in the same hex, so the railway is not drawn.

Well, I can downgrade Christchurch to a Minor Port status then. Christchurch is not on the WiF FE maps, not even on the Pacific scaled ones, sot this is an area that is entirely new, but I would like to be sure. As I haev no opinion nor knowledge of New Zealand, I tend to trust the original MWiF map designer who did a good job overall, believe me. When I'm in doubt, I leave the thing as it is.

A drawing would help, but remember that alpine hexsides can only exist between 2 mountain hexes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

A slightly closer look at the North Island.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

A slightly closer look at the North Island.

Not close enough .
Size 6 texts are not showing .

quote:

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney
Surely Auckland should be a two-front port?  I understood it was a major Allied base and rear-area logistics centre during the war, the assembly point for new divisions coming from the States.  Wasn't it from Auckland that the Guadalcanal campaign was launched and supplied?  So it is very odd that at present Auckland is on one sea zone only, but Wellington is on two (...and if the Wellington/Christchurch debate results in Wellington being upgraded to a major port, then Wellington will usurp Auckland's role in the war).

Or does that tiny little inlet on the southwest corner of Auckland's hex permit naval movement from the port to the west?

quote:

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

The question of the (un)importance of the location of a port symbol in a hex has come up before, but I do think it remains an ambiguity where a hex has two coasts that don't link up in that hex.  Effectively, players are being asked to treat Auckland like Kiel, when there isn't actually a canal there at all.

There are two ways to make it less ambiguous.  One would be to re-draw the front-boundary so that it approaches via Great Barrier and touches Auckland's northern apex    Or ... the isthmus upon which Auckland is built is only ten kilometres wide, so perhaps redraw the hex to make the neck much more narrow and then shift the port symbol to where the city dot is presently, so it is equi-distant from each coastline.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

Do the Cocos appear? They were not important - just cable and meteorolical stations - but they were occasionally bombed by Betties.