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JWE -> RE: Manila or Pearl-new paradigm? (5/25/2010 5:41:38 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Q-Ball I can't really make a point that hasn't already been made, but I am firmly in the PH camp. The surviving US subs will mostly sink your transports; big deal. There is nothing else in Manila harbor worth sinking other than the subs, and at any rate a few SAGs can clean alot of those surface ships up when they attempt to leave. BBs are important in AE, moreso than IRL. In my PBEM as Japan, I am in a better position because of the 4 sunk BBs, and the other 4 damaged ones (none of which I have seen yet), giving me much greater surface superiority and freedom of action. The only arguments I can see are post-attack positioning, but even there, the USN CVs are in position to wreck havoc on a Wake landing or Solomons if KB is in the DEI. Meanwhile, having KB in the DEI providing ground support is a waste of a strategic asset. And Ryujo/Zuiho is enough to cover invasions, or keep the Allies honest, at least for the first month. Anyway, I just don't see the benefit to a Manila attack personally It all depends on the initial conditions. Judged in a vacuum, a PH strike appears to have the more beneficial result. But Harry and Bliztk are playing a classic, traditional CPXercise, so the initial conditions are different. In their case, the cost of a PH strike is to add two years to the Allied victory timing, so the cost/benefit analysis is different. Under those conditions, I would fo-sho think hard about Southern deployment options. I might even bifurcate the KB and look at a Kuantan/Palembang operation; forget the knees, cut the swine off at the neck. In one sense, it does seem beneficial to out-deploy the KB elements; give them their mission at the outer edge of the op (the most important and also the most risky), and then reel them back to a central position, supporting the peripheral ops on the way. Personally, I'm a fan of the Southern option. Have got some really nice results with it. But, like Harry and Bliztk's scenario, my initial conditions are different. I have an umpire that says what troops/ships I can use, and who wants to see my o-plan. Maybe little bits and pieces of it will show up in intelligence to the other side, so I am never confident as to potential responses. That's the wonderful thing about this game. If played right, all sorts of options can be explored. That is why I say the PH v Manila strike is a question in a vacuum. The game provides historical tools, and a judicious and intelligent application of those tools will give countless hours of stress. Rather than modding 'what ifs', our group is more concerned with developing scenarios with specific 'initial conditions' and going from there. Given the fabulous editor, this is a simple task. Would suggest that a-historical options not be judged by books or hindsight, but by their immediate, actual capability. Well developed opening day scenario alternatives will provide a garden of flowers, of all sorts of colors.
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