Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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Via email and comments in a main-page thread, John has stated his opposition to Victory Points. I think he feels that he can determine when Japan surrenders and that it's based on the economy or other subjective factors that he decides. He and I haven't discussed this yet, but here are my thoughts. We're playing a game with established victory conditions. I think the Allies are about to meet those conditions (by May 1945). By that measure, the Allies will have achieved a decisive victory. Does "Decisive Victory" seem warranted in this situation? IE, per some of Loka's comments in other threads, he makes a very good case that Victory Points may not be properly balanced yet. In close games, therefore, there might be room for further "human" evaluation. In this game, though, the victory margin is going to be substantial and well ahead of the historic timeline (unless the wheels come off, which is possible). Moreover, the Allies are far, far ahead of historic pace. By early 1945 in real life, Allied 4EB were hitting Japan from the Marianas. In this game, they've been hitting Japan from Luzon, Formosa, China and Korea for months. Territorially, the Allies have taken far, far more territory than taken in real life - and that territory is meaningful, significant ground close to the Home Islands. This has been achieved in a mod in which Japan had a number of advantages, especially at sea and in the air and per some house rules. That's what I wanted - a stronger Japan able to fight harder and deeper. Yet despite those advantages, Japan has been pushed much further back much sooner than in real life. The Japanese economy, according to John, is still humming. The Strategic Bombing points might paint a different picture. The Allies have scored 27.2k to this point, meaning that Japan has been under heavy aerial attack. But aside from that, John chose a rather unorthodox strategy - allowing me to penetrate deep without opposition. In order to take advantage of the opportunities, I struck deep and elected to forego territory off to the sides. So John's strategy preserved for him the DEI. In order to concentrate deep, I've also mainly ignored his convoys running from the DEI back to the Home Islands. Give and take on both sides. Now the Japanese military leaders and people are looking at the Emperor, who keeps saying, "But we still have the DEI! Our economy is still humming?" Their reply? "You allowed them to take Luzon and didn't attack, selling us on another course of action. You did the same in China. And Formosa. And Korea. And now the Allied dogs are sitting on our doorstep hammering our navy, hitting our Homeland, and apparently poised to increase the pace of punishment. And yet you never unleashed the Imperial Navy or the Divine Wind. You hung back...and when finally pressed, sent them in piecemeal to get chewed up ineffectually. We're replacing you and suing for peace."
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