Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel Here are a few comments about the game. First, as you can imagine, this has been just a blast. To have the tension and uncertainty of a vast operation that took forever to come to fruition come to fruiton in such a mighty way is simply amazingly fun. So, I tip my cap to the designer of this game and to my opponent, who fights hard and who is aggressive and who flips turns as often as possible and who sometimes irritates me but who I really, really like and who I know well enough to sometimes be able to put together amazingly intricate and fun plans that don't get sniffed out for Just In Time Reinforcements, Part III. I am aware that the fun won't last and that big hurts are coming. That won't be fun. But dang, what a game! Now, a true story about OpSec that may put everything into perspective. I once played a PBEM match as Allies against a crafty opponent who orchestrated a huge 1944 invasion of southern India. I had nothing there...except, one slow R-Class BB had just finished upgrading at Bombay and was enroute to Colombo. It just so happened that on the very turn the Japanese amphbious armada arrived at Trivandrum to begin unloading, said BB was in that hex. My opponent howled and screamed OpSec violation! I was beside myself that my honor had been questioned! It took us some turns and some harsh words to get that straighted out. Eventually, my opponent realized that nobody sends an unescorted BB into harm's way. Point being - a small coincidence was sufficient to unleash doubts about my integrity and OpSec. My opponent in that game? John III. Same thing in this game, but on a vastly larger scale. I won't go back through the details, but talk about massive consecutive coincidences and predictions! Anyhow, you can see how such an environment might breed questions. You can also imagine how somebody totally innocent - as John III is, of that I've never had a doubt - would be highly agitated, mortified, stricken and fuming about allegations of dishonor. So, gents, if any of you harbor any doubts, I hope you will agree that the circumstances warrant total dismissal of OpSec concerns. If anyone has publicly stated (as in John III's AAr) reservations about OPSec, I hope you can see it in your hearts to publicly withdraw them and repair any breach. Now, I will say that it is possible for any player (including me) to pick up very subtle almost subliminal things through AAR comments. In the hands of a smart and wary AAR keeper, those things may coalesce in remarkably insightful ways that yield strong hunches. I think that kind of thing will happen in every game wtih an AAR. For instance, in this game, you guys have been remarkably, commendably, assiduously careful not to reveal OpSec. But I seemed to pick up sublte undercurrents that suggested my maskirovka might be working (though, at the same time, I was harboring doubts that some Japanese fans might even be performing counter-good feelings.). Let emphasize - these were the smallest of things - an attitude, a concern, and ephemera like that. OpSec violation? Of course not. Nobody even had the slightest idea that I might be able to sniff the slightest thing. But I'm convinced that any AAR is going to generate small electricl and magnetic undercurrents that almost become a part of the game. So, did John benefit from something like that? Probably. I just think that's universal, 100% unintentional, and 100% impossible to prevent. Here's an interesting post D-Day comment about OpSec and coincidences....
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