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The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:43:13 AM   
LoBaron


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I have seen a lot of posts again lately, even by people who should know better,
who take historical data as a measure for ingame results and question those results
based on exceptional real life single events.

Historical data is only useful if you take everything with influence on the events into account.
If you just look at a historical map snippet, at the the military hardware present in this snippet,
and the extreme battle result on that snippet, you will never have data to start a discussion on in
game mechanics encompassing a much broader spectrum of action-reaction variables.

The two examples that stood out lately were:
- The Midway discussion
- The Pearl Harbour damage discussion


I´d like to evaluate shortly why one has to be careful when assessing
a single historical battle as representative:

Midway:

Midway did not happen on a 500x500nm square, it did not start on July 4th, and the outcome is not
deducable only from the forces present at the day the battle took place.

The battle of Midway started over half a year before events unfolded.

From a Japanese perspective it was a compromise decision to satisfy warring high commands, the
strategic goal and the reason for the operation were vagualy outlined at best, many compromises
weakened the forces available for conduction in advance, and the operation itself relied
on unrealistic prerequisites and was doomed to failure as soon as those prerequisites were not met.
And this is just the beginning.
Based on the above there were a lot of decicions made on a tactical level which improved the
situation for the USN and slowly but continuousely worsened the position of the IJN.

As anybody else who has read it (though I disagree with some of Parshall&Tullys conclusions) I can
reccomend Shattered Sword as a very in deep read about how Japane stumbled into disaster.

Pearl Harbour:

Pearl Harbour did not happen on a 550x500nm square as well. But here the explanation is a bit
different to why it is not representative.

Since Scen1/2 starts at the night before the war, the setup is pretty accurate in terms of
firepower and decisions made leading to the result.
But the behaviour of the US on the day of the attack was relaxed to the point of willful negligence.
The reason for this is understandable, noone expected a large scale carrier raid because
the general belief still held that the queen of the seas was the BB.

Looking at "Battleship Row" the position of the ships begged for the most disastreous result
possible. It was an invitation to cause maximum damage (combined with many of the other factors
working against the Americans). Look at the pic below. Doesn´t it say "please sink me"?



Any change in the positioning of the BBs may have resulted in an improvement, any small decision
to reduce the exposure against air attack would have had the potential to lead to less gutting
losses.

WitPAE does not simulate "position of ships at anchor" individually. It abstracts the position
by adding randomness, which partly can be interpreted as different outcome because of different
target layout.

Midway is on the extreme upper scale of how an offensive battle can go wrong.
These things happen in game. Just not when you expect them.

Pearl Harbour is at the slight upper scale of how an offensive battle can go right.
These things also happen in game. Just not when you expect them.

What I want to show with the above is:

Yes, AE tries to represent and even replicate events in WWII, on every scale from grand logistical
down to single pilot, inf squad, and individual ship crew.
But it does not recreate history. This is a misunderstanding. It provides you with similar capabilities
and sets up a similar initial situation and general option for the parties involved.

It does not replicate every out of average battle result wittnessed in WWII. And it shouldnt.
Be aware that it does not suffice to estimate an averaged out game result. You have to average
out the real life event as well. Only then you can begin to compare the result and come to a conclusion
about the ability of the game to recreate situations on the scale you are interested in.


My personal conclusion when looking at the specific events and comparing to the historical battle is:

In game, on a small scale, with the same setup, Midway should be quite unlikely to end
as a decisive victory for the USN, PH should be a bit less likely to be as successful
for Japan as both events were historical.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 12:01:10 PM   
HansBolter


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Well of course the Battle of Midway didn't start on July 4th since it occured in June.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 1:06:13 PM   
USSAmerica


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LoBaron wrote:
quote:

I have seen a lot of posts again lately, even by people who should know better,
who take historical data as a measure for ingame results and question those results
based on exceptional real life single events.


... and Knavey has barely posted in months.

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Artwork by The Amazing Dixie

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 2:37:06 PM   
LoBaron


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quote:

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Well of course the Battle of Midway didn't start on July 4th since it occured in June.


Thanks Hans. June the 4th.
I see you got to the essence of my post.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 2:59:07 PM   
PaxMondo


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quote:

ORIGINAL: LoBaron
I see you got to the essence of my post.

Well, I agree with your OP and sadly agree with this one as well. It was a good try though.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:12:43 PM   
LoBaron


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Pax your new avatar is awesome!

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:14:21 PM   
PaxMondo


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Motivational support for the JFB's, particularly in those long days after 1942.

(I had to crop it carefully to meet forum requirements.)

< Message edited by PaxMondo -- 8/26/2011 3:15:45 PM >


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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:48:17 PM   
HansBolter


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quote:

ORIGINAL: LoBaron


quote:

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Well of course the Battle of Midway didn't start on July 4th since it occured in June.


Thanks Hans. June the 4th.
I see you got to the essence of my post.



Back at ya!

I was just availing myself of the oppurtunity to poke a little fun.

Whenever I undertake to lecture my fellow players here I usually get ripped a new one, so in an effort to spare you the same I avoided addressing the content of your lecture while poking fun at your most obvious error.

No offense meant and I hope none was taken.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:49:06 PM   
Cap Mandrake


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quote:

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Pax your new avatar is awesome!


I was going to say that myself. Beautfiful use of light and composition and depth of field. I love art.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have an insanely beautiful woman with her clothes off in the picture either.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:56:15 PM   
LoBaron


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No offense taken.

For some reason I always confuse the Battle of Midway with the Decalaration of Independence.
dont ask me why, probably because I´m not American.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 3:59:34 PM   
LoBaron


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quote:

ORIGINAL: USS America

LoBaron wrote:
quote:

I have seen a lot of posts again lately, even by people who should know better,
who take historical data as a measure for ingame results and question those results
based on exceptional real life single events.


... and Knavey has barely posted in months.


Did you worry there would be noone available to fill the gap?

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 4:10:06 PM   
Ketza


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quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Motivational support for the JFB's, particularly in those long days after 1942.

(I had to crop it carefully to meet forum requirements.)



Awww :(

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 4:24:46 PM   
Shark7


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Another thing players often forget is that Midway depended heavily on the fact that the US had broken the Japanese Naval Code. If that one singular thing is not present, Midway never happens, much less becomes a major US victory. Now does that man Japan wins the war, of course not, as they could not outproduce or out-populate the US, not to mention the other Allied powers combined. What it does mean is that the IJN keeps its teeth a bit longer and the end of the war is delayed a bit.

Pearl Harbor is the same, it depends heavily on the USAAF and USN being completely unprepared for the attack. If General Short hadn't ordered the aircraft at Wheeler parked to guard against sabotage, then completely destroying the air wings would not have been possible. Perhaps a counter-attack could have been mounted against Kido Butai...or maybe the cap is present and able to launch more aircraft and mount a credible defense.

Just back to my point that 1 thing being different can have a big impact on history.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 5:12:13 PM   
oldman45


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So for the sake of a bit of fun, lets say the attack of midway took place but the US never broke the code. Would it have been a fight that only one side showed up for? What are your thoughts if they did take the island? What could they have really done with it?

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 5:30:01 PM   
Nikademus


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quote:

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

I have seen a lot of posts again lately, even by people who should know better,
who take historical data as a measure for ingame results and question those results
based on exceptional real life single events.

Historical data is only useful if you take everything with influence on the events into account.


Agree fully. However as i'm sure you know, its not about people who "should know better" They do but their Agendas required them to act in spite of said "knowing better" The Midway thread showed at least two typical ones...one actually involving the game, another had nothing to do with the game itself at all.

I, on the other hand should have "known better" than to respond to the former agenda. Sometimes I slip.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 5:46:18 PM   
Shark7


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quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

So for the sake of a bit of fun, lets say the attack of midway took place but the US never broke the code. Would it have been a fight that only one side showed up for? What are your thoughts if they did take the island? What could they have really done with it?


If they took the island, honestly not much they could do with it...send out Emilies to scout around PH perhaps?

But with no code broken, would Nimitz have known that he could set a trap at Midway? Probably no more fight than what was seen for the first 6 months of the war. Breaking the code is what led to a decisive US victory.

Which is the point I am making...change 1 variable, and it may or may not have an effect on the end outcome. We can never know.

As to the game, it more or less lets us change that variable, be it in that the Allied player doesn't get the forewarning of the invasion, or the Japanese player decides not to invade or at least go 'all in' for it. As far as the game goes, we the players provide the variables.

< Message edited by Shark7 -- 8/26/2011 5:49:03 PM >


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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 6:00:05 PM   
Graymane


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quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Motivational support for the JFB's, particularly in those long days after 1942.

(I had to crop it carefully to meet forum requirements.)


That picture approaches LST's for viewing pleasure while reading the forums.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 6:27:25 PM   
Nikademus


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quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

So for the sake of a bit of fun, lets say the attack of midway took place but the US never broke the code. Would it have been a fight that only one side showed up for? What are your thoughts if they did take the island? What could they have really done with it?


probably. Nimitz could retake it at his leasure. The IJN couldn't skulk around indefinately. Parshalls and Tully covered it pretty well as have past authors. Midway was too small and too isolated to act as a proper logistics base for a move against Hawaii. Even if it had, by that time Oahu had a quarter million military personel present. Yamamotto's goal was to draw out the US fleet and defeat it. They were supposed to come running after Midway was invaded. I just don't see Nimitz doing that. With the US not playing his game he'd have to either go back to square one or [worse] actually attempt a Hawaii op of which it's hard not to predict it ending in tears.

Instead of Tarawa (or Lunga), Midway would then make a good 1st practice assault for the USN/USMC.


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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 6:29:12 PM   
mdiehl

 

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quote:

Which is the point I am making...change 1 variable, and it may or may not have an effect on the end outcome. We can never know.


I disagree. That's why people DO history in the first place. To look at the variables, identify the ones that matter, and project how changing them could alter outcomes. Without the codebreaking at Midway you don't have a Midway battle because the USN would not have been there. So "acquiring intel about the objective and timetable" was obviously a key variable that set the battle in motion.

It wasn't what decided the battle though. The battle was decided more or less by the Japanese use of an operational plan that required both perfect execution and the complete absence of any USN CVs in the area, and a USN operational plan that was simple and fault tolerant.

So if you assume that "Codebreaking intel of the Midway sort" was available, and if you assume that players use the same or analogous forces, then it is quite reasonable to expect the same outcome from a consim as the historical battle produced.

After all, you have to anchor your Consim on SOME sort of historical data. If you just make up a range of results from cake to catastrophe, you haven't really made a Consim at all. Just a game.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 8:09:26 PM   
LoBaron


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Nikademus


quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45

So for the sake of a bit of fun, lets say the attack of midway took place but the US never broke the code. Would it have been a fight that only one side showed up for? What are your thoughts if they did take the island? What could they have really done with it?


probably. Nimitz could retake it at his leasure. The IJN couldn't skulk around indefinately. Parshalls and Tully covered it pretty well as have past authors. Midway was too small and too isolated to act as a proper logistics base for a move against Hawaii. Even if it had, by that time Oahu had a quarter million military personel present. Yamamotto's goal was to draw out the US fleet and defeat it. They were supposed to come running after Midway was invaded. I just don't see Nimitz doing that. With the US not playing his game he'd have to either go back to square one or [worse] actually attempt a Hawaii op of which it's hard not to predict it ending in tears.

Instead of Tarawa (or Lunga), Midway would then make a good 1st practice assault for the USN/USMC.



Agreed. Taking Hawaii would be the only logical consequence of attacking and invading Midway. There was a lenghy discussion some time ago where
some stated that, since Hawaii is not self sufficient, Japan, even in the highly improbable event they take the islands, would be overwhelmed by
keeping the population supplied and under control.

Contrary to in game, where a conquest could be an interesting perspective, even if extremely hard to pull off.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 8:13:21 PM   
CaptDave

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mdiehl

quote:

Which is the point I am making...change 1 variable, and it may or may not have an effect on the end outcome. We can never know.


I disagree. That's why people DO history in the first place. To look at the variables, identify the ones that matter, and project how changing them could alter outcomes. Without the codebreaking at Midway you don't have a Midway battle because the USN would not have been there. So "acquiring intel about the objective and timetable" was obviously a key variable that set the battle in motion.

It wasn't what decided the battle though. The battle was decided more or less by the Japanese use of an operational plan that required both perfect execution and the complete absence of any USN CVs in the area, and a USN operational plan that was simple and fault tolerant.

So if you assume that "Codebreaking intel of the Midway sort" was available, and if you assume that players use the same or analogous forces, then it is quite reasonable to expect the same outcome from a consim as the historical battle produced.

After all, you have to anchor your Consim on SOME sort of historical data. If you just make up a range of results from cake to catastrophe, you haven't really made a Consim at all. Just a game.


I think he's right -- we can never know. All we can do is project, based on best-effort estimation. Eisenberg's Uncertainty Principle applies in all counterfactuals; we have no way of knowing what later decisions would have been different if one variable had been different.

For what it's worth, AE is a game and not intended to be a true simulation. It's just that the game is designed to be as realistic as possible given the constraints of development time, selling price, potential sales, available computer capacity, and lots more. If the developers (and customers) had the Department of Defense's budget and we all had Cray supercomputers, it could be a lot more realistic.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 8:41:50 PM   
JWE

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mdiehl
After all, you have to anchor your Consim on SOME sort of historical data. If you just make up a range of results from cake to catastrophe, you haven't really made a Consim at all. Just a game.

And that's the whole point, Mike. This isn't a Consim. It's a game. And it doesn't follow Consim rules. It can't.

Just go to Europe 1939. France had every single solitary advantage in Consim inputs, but got whacked in a few weeks. Why? Because Germany departed from the Consim model and went out of the box. How in the world does one capture a unique operational concept in a model? One doesn't, one can't. That's the whole frikkin point!!!! That's why it was so unusual!!!! That's why it was successful to certain degrees!!!! Because it could not be planned for, given the expectations of the defenders!!!!

But assume the attackers will strike according to their expectations of the defender's reactions, and assume the defenders have intelligence of the attacker's dispositions, and assume the defender commander has big brass ones, and is willing to risk, Oh, yeah, right; how you gonna model that?

This Consim crap is nothing but a pile of hot, wet, manure. Ya want historical, watch 'Victory at Sea'. Ya want to play a game, then play the stinking game.

I'm off to munch on some hamachi sashimi. Ciao. John

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:10:47 PM   
mdiehl

 

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quote:

Eisenberg's Uncertainty Principle applies in all counterfactuals; we have no way of knowing what later decisions would have been different if one variable had been different.


Baloney. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle only applies to certain conditions of modeling the behavior of very small particles in high energy physics. People who invoke it under other circumstances don't have any clue what they're talking about.

quote:

For what it's worth, AE is a game and not intended to be a true simulation. It's just that the game is designed to be as realistic as possible


if it contrives for any sort of "realism" then it aspires to be a Consim. That is the nature of consims. It has been the nature of consims for decades. That is why it's called "War in the Pacific" not "Aquamonster Metal Munchers of Planet Xenon."

quote:

If the developers (and customers) had the Department of Defense's budget and we all had Cray supercomputers, it could be a lot more realistic.


That misses the point. One can design a good consim that resolves everything with a 6 sided die. A Cray supercomputer won't make anything better unless the details of the model are well researched. Otherwise it's just cumulative effects of GiGo interactions.

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Didn't we have this conversation already?

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:26:41 PM   
mdiehl

 

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quote:

And that's the whole point, Mike. This isn't a Consim. It's a game. And it doesn't follow Consim rules. It can't.


It professes to be a Consim. That it is a poor one is a point of frequent observation. It doesn't even require ME to make that observation, plenty of others have made it.

I'm addressing the claim made in this thread that one should not design a Consim (or if you like, a GAME) to produce a typical result based on a single or otherwise limited number of historical examples. I think the claim is incorrect. But you need to know enough about the example so that your consim (or if you like, your GAME) accurately models whatever you claim it models.

You can object that to make a better model you'd want to know penetration values, angle of incidence, and all that baloney. I don't think you need that kind of detail, but if you're going to have something like that, you better do a good job researching and modeling it, otherwise you're going to get GiGo results.

quote:

Just go to Europe 1939. France had every single solitary advantage in Consim inputs, but got whacked in a few weeks. Why? Because Germany departed from the Consim model and went out of the box.


Gibberish. Utter gibberish. If "out of the boxness" is a quality you want to model in your game, it's either something that you leave to the players, or else you create some bullshit "out of the boxness" index. But to use such vague, imprecise, and obfuscatory language when one could be a lot more perceptive simply discussing German armor doctrine and French armor doctrine strikes me as a non-productive comment.

quote:

But assume the attackers will strike according to their expectations of the defender's reactions, and assume the defenders have intelligence of the attacker's dispositions, and assume the defender commander has big brass ones, and is willing to risk, Oh, yeah, right; how you gonna model that?


If I had any idea what specific example you have in mind, I could answer.

quote:

Ya want to play a game, then play the stinking game.


That's horse hockey. It's a straw man argument that indicates both an ignorance of why people do historical research, and why people make consims. A consim is not intended to exactly replicate every circumstance of a historical event. A consim is designed to deliver plausible and believable results under reasonably well modeled circumstances and yet to allow the opponents to select different strategic objectives, design operations differently, etc. But if two players wind up creating by their choices a setup similar to Midway, if you understand Midway at all, then you'd expect Midway-like results most of the time.

To claim that no one could predict Midway's outcome, which sounds like what you're claiming, is utter rubbish. Not only could ANYONE with knowledge have predicted the outcome, prior to the actual battle, both the USN and IJN DID predict something like that which actually happened.

quote:

Ya want historical, watch 'Victory at Sea'.


I could as easily note that if you want the feeling of being a victorious Japanese overlord, you should collect Japanese propaganda posters rather than play a consim.

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Show me a fellow who rejects statistical analysis a priori and I'll show you a fellow who has no knowledge of statistics.

Didn't we have this conversation already?

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:39:55 PM   
LoBaron


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quote:

ORIGINAL: JWE
This Consim crap is nothing but a pile of hot, wet, manure.


Ok thats good to hear, I already feared its something really dirty...

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:42:43 PM   
Nikademus


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JWE's a dirty boy......and he's a flak fanboi to boot. I shouldn't have attacked Pearl twice. ow. I thought my mod was bad.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 9:51:36 PM   
PaxMondo


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quote:

ORIGINAL: JWE
This Consim crap is nothing but a pile of hot, wet, manure. Ya want historical, watch 'Victory at Sea'. Ya want to play a game, then play the stinking game.


Thanks John. I couldn't articulate this as well as you did. I suffer from a lack of eloquence.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JWE
I'm off to munch on some hamachi sashimi. Ciao. John

I trust your dinner was better than this thread.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 11:15:07 PM   
mike scholl 1

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: oldman45
So for the sake of a bit of fun, lets say the attack of midway took place but the US never broke the code. Would it have been a fight that only one side showed up for? What are your thoughts if they did take the island? What could they have really done with it?



Isn't this pretty much precisely the situation the game simulates? I've certainly never seen any intel recieved by the Allies that even begins to reproduce the advantage the code-breakers gave them historically.

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RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 11:17:00 PM   
Nikademus


Posts: 25684
Joined: 5/27/2000
From: Alien spacecraft
Status: offline
I have.

Got a detailed intel about a major infantry unit, on a ship bound for one of my bases. I set up a nice ambush and sank the regiment at sea along wtih a number of transports and supporting vessels. Sweet.



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(in reply to mike scholl 1)
Post #: 29
RE: The art of "averaging out" - 8/26/2011 11:20:00 PM   
Alfred

 

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
Status: offline
LoBaron,

When I first saw the title of this thread, I was soooooooo excited. Then when I read it, I was sooooooo disappointed.

Why the different reactions? My initial reaction was, great, at long last in stereotypical Teutonic efficiency someone is going to discuss on the forum what is really important; how one can take advantage of the opportunities presented by a bear stockmarket by averaging one's stock portfolio to a lower cost base.

Once this was addressed I thought surely, with his attention to details, LoBaron will also be addressing the proper uses of one's personal M1 money supply to best advantage in a deflationary asset market. Surely that is a subject which post Stresseman's tenure of the finance ministry in the Weimar period, every Teuton would be taught about in school. Particularly important to discuss the second issue because whilst averaging lower one's cost base is almost always a good idea in an inflationary market, it isn't necessarily so in a deflationary market. One very much needs to then factor in opportunity cost plus if one is European, sovereign risk.

Alas, "sigh", when opened, the thread merely dealt with the old rehashed topics. All well, nothing to add to JWE's succinct comments.

But LoBaron, one last plea, any chance of you getting this initially very promising thread back to the really useful matters I mentioned.

Alfred

PS: I will not be providing any free investment advice and the above is provided only as general advice not to be relied upon by individual investors. I recommend those so inclined to discuss their investment situation with their licensed financial advisors.

(in reply to Nikademus)
Post #: 30
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