alanschu

The most complicated thing about HOI3 so far I am finding is wrapping my head around the command structure. Having said that, I think it will be easier with a 1936 game where I can customize the setup.

Even with Sprites the game defaults to counters at the far zooms levels, so I am playing with Sprites.

I think the idea of a war room will be good fun! I'm taking a look at the game to see how I can make it work!! Hahahaha.

They are introducing more variability in the HOI3, so I'm not sure how well that w ill work.

I am not against this line of thinking haha. I am actually working on making a site to host the AARs, so I can be more picture-friendly. Hence my lack of update for War in the Pacific (though I do have a week played in the game with some updates pending).

Soooo, As some of you know I like WW2 strategy games. I in particular have been a big fan of the Hearts of Iron series. THe third installment is coming out soon (in like 15 minutes haha) and I plan on playing this. I'll be creating an AAR report for this game as well. I'll likely be playing as Germany my first game, since they're the ones that see all the action. If all goes well, I'll control the entire world before 1949 (game ends Dec 31 1948 haha). Should be good fun!

Hmmm, all of my "play for fun" experience in the game has been on the PC, and I think it actually looks pretty good. I enjoyed Mass Effect, but I think Dragon Age is a different enough of a game. Keeping in mind that my experience has been PC side, but I find the combat much more challenging and tactical than Mass Effect, and I think it does a better job of handling "shades of grey" (given that seems like one of the intentions of the game, that's not that surprising haha). I genuinely really enjoyed the game. I really enjoyed the ending too.

/facepalmx2 Imitating him of all people!? r00fles

/facepalm

You should host servers!

I am planning on moving these off site so that I can be a bit more picture heavy (since I'll be going with two different AARs too!). I do have another week done though and will probably get another update in tonight!

Least of all LoF. I still chuckle at his accusations that my Coltan comes from the Congo. It was clear then he was either a troll, or just someone not so good at playing Devil's Advocate. At least I hope so. Otherwise he's just one of those misguided sycophants with a warped perspective on reality.

I laughed my ass off when he described how each character plays.

Its the deep and hidden desire to have virtual sex while being all that you in fact - are not, with "women" you could never have, and to hide this from everyone else. Understandable, and I get if people feel a little jealous of Geralt but you know, some pixels have all the luck. No. It's hypocrisy to have criticisms and reservations about BioWare's completely optional brothels provided for comic relief, while you rationalize the absurdity of a nude card trading game and sexual encounters of The Witcher as being optional comic relief and hence above the criticism. Though I think you were trying to be sassy, but I'm not really sure to be honest. I'm not sure what any of this has to do with virtual sex and desire to be Geralt. Unless maybe you're projecting.

Same with optional brothels.

Better get started then. Should be quite the list.

Which alignment system are you referring to for DA?

O.o

Uh, that seems like a pretty good computer to me HAHA.

Haha. Here's a fun little write up of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo Losing Lex this early in the war sucks though. I wasn't expecting another assault on Wake. In the first game they usually make their one attempt and then leave it at that, but my task force got absolutely annihilated. I also found a bug with the game: Manually setting your task forces to "Full Speed" didn't result in a speed different (but I think they still sucked up a ton of fuel hahaha). THere's a hotfix supposed to be coming out today for this issue though.

As things have become a bit more "routine" I'm not breaking up the AARs into longer time increments. A week has passed and it is now December 19th, 1941. Early in the week saw CV Lexington overextend herself. Following a Japanese task force towards the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Marshall Islands (and scoring several successful hits), the task force started to come under attack by air forces from the islands. Believing the carrier to be at risk, she pulled back and retreated to Wake Island, which had recently had an invasion force staved off and was looking on pushing the few forces that landed into the ocean. Unfortunately tragedy struck! Unbeknown to Allied forces, the Japanese carrier fleet, Kido Butai, was heading to Wake Island after it's attack on Pearl Harbour. After-the-fact intelligence figures that, with talks of an unsuccessful initial landing, the Kido Butai was redirected there to engage American forces. The results were not pretty. Though the heavy cruisers escorting Lexington had detached themselves to attempt to interdict naval vessels in surface combat, the destroyer escorts were no match for the mass quantities of planes in the air. CV Lexington was hit by numerous bombs and torpedoes, and quickly capsized and sunk. All hands on deck were lost. The same can be said for destroyers escorting it, with them taking heavy casualties in the afternoon follow up attack. Two of the three heavy cruisers were also detected and sunk in the afternoon. In the aftermath, only the CA Portland was able to escape back to Pearl Harbour. Following the loss, all surface vessels in the central pacific have been recalled to Pearl Harbour. The convoy heading to Wake Island to resupply it has been diverted to Midway Island. Only submarine forces will be operating in the theater until further notice. With Wake Island cutoff, massive air raids began from Kwajalein, and some heavy battleships came to bombard the tiny atoll. A few days later Japanese reinforcements arrived, and after very brief fighting, the disorganized and battered defenders surrendered. Wake Island is now in Japanese hands. Additional bad news came from the Philippines, which saw Japanese forces land in the north, and further landings down the coastline. Some Japanese forces are as close as 40 miles away from Clark Field, the primary airfield on the island. A day after the North coast of the Philippines was taken, the south was attacked. The southern tip of the main island was quickly taken, and the base at Davao was blockaded. 3 American cruisers station in Soerabaja attempted to break the blockade, but ended up engaging larger battleships. While the fight valiantly went on, in the end they were outgunned and outarmored, and the three ships were lost. With bases established on the Island, the small port of Jolo, just east of Brunei was taken. Dutch submarines have moved to protect the corridor south of the island. Meanwhile, Manila and Clark Field CAP fighters are slowly being worn down by the excessive air strikes against the two bases. The situation appears to be dire in the Philippines. Malaya is fairly quiet at the moment. Outside of the occasional airstrike, Japanese forces seem to be more interested with the reinforcements arriving in Rangoon, Burma. While many troops and supplies have landed, Nell bombers using torpedoes were able to inflict heavy losses on the ships in the harbour. Insufficient fighters are present to significantly affect the airstrikes. Singapore, however, has begun building fortifications in anticipation of the inevitable siege. Rangoon has also begun building fortifications, anticipating an eventual push north by the Japanese. The Prince of Wales did make it back to port, and is currently in drydock being repaired. The hopes were to repair the ship enough so she could be sent back to India, but with that area being threatened by Japanese aircraft, it seems as though a move southeast to Australia is more likely. From there she can head to the United Kingdom for repairs. In a final bit of bad news, the small port of Rabaul was also lost, putting Port Moresby and even Australia at risk. Rabaul is a deep water port and will be a key staging area for any Japanese invasions in the area. In a bittersweet scenario, it seems as though the Silent Service is doing a wonderful job of interdicting Japanese shipping. The unfortunate part, is that an overwhelming majority of the torpedoes have been duds! Frustrated sub skippers have taken to attacking while surfaced, utilizing their deck guns and small profile to make the attacks possible. The only American submarines that have had any real successes with their torpedoes have been the smaller S-Class submarines. These submarines use the 21" Mk 10 torpedo instead of the larger 21" Mk 14 torpedo. Reports have come back that sub skippers believe there is a problem with the firing pin, as well as depth running issues. BuOrd denies the allegations, stating that it's just as well that the torpedoes are suffering failures since crews are opening them up and tampering with them. An investigation on the issue has commenced. Fortunately, the Dutch submarines seem to be doing well. Though many of them only use the smaller 45cm torpedoes, they are scoring hits with them and inflicting some losses on the IJN. Away from the frontlines, forces in India have begun moving towards the Burmese border and Calcutta, while ships from the Middle East enter the theater. American cargo ships at the Panama Canal have been directed to Pearl Harbour. The entire air forces based on the Mainland USA have also begun extensive training.

I disagree that it's the developer stooping to the troll's level. In a discussion with the developer about the topic at hand, the developer is effectively stating that this decision isn't going to change, so the discussion is over.

Given many of the complaints fans have, I don't blame them. Seriously, people make design decisions all the time that aren't going to mesh with what I am looking for in a game. If there's not much else a game offers to me, I'm not going to buy it. One game I am really looking forward to is Hearts of Iron 3. It's an active design decision to have technologies be globally available to all countries, but practical and theoretical knowledge will differ based on what you build and research. Unit names exist almost exclusively for flavour, so on paper in the game, a T-34 Panzer division will be roughly equivalent to a PzKpfw IV division. So you get people screaming bloody murder because historically, the T-34 was a superior tank to the Panzer IV, and getting all uppity about it. Other people get all pissed off because Japan's Zeros should have much longer range as they are the flavour name for Japan's 1939 Fighter. It gets ridiculous and people end up wasting a ****load of time and space on the forums babbling on about this nonsense, when it's been clearly stated that those decisions are not going to change. They've been this way for quite some time, and after getting complaints about this (despite the majority of people enjoying it for what it is) over and over, often by the same people, what more is there to be said than "If you don't like our decisions, then don't buy the game?"

The following Day was a bit quieter. Outside of the usual air raids (and unsuccessful Naval bombing missions in Malaya and the Philippines ), not too much happened. Well, not to much that was good unfortunately. Another submarine hit a mine in Bataan (/facepalm), and Admiral Halsey's Carrier Task Force (CV Enterprise) had an unfortunate run in of bad weather. During the bad weather, combined with their hasty movement, a collision happened between two ships, resulting on one destroyer taking heavy damage! To make matters better, poor weather near Wake Island grounded all air operations of Lexington. The best attack that could be mustered up was a small raid from Wildcats based directly out of Wake Island. Speaking of Wake Island however, there is some good news. The amphibious task force seems to have called off its attack. After dropping a small contingent of soldiers and taking heavy damage from bombers and 5" guns the day before, the task force seems to be in retreat. USMC are preparing for an aggressive counterattack on the Japanese soldiers on the atoll, hoping to push them back into the ocean. Lexington will continue to standby and provide air support for the island, and the USMC Dive Bomber group currently stationed on Lexington will soon be disembarking directly onto Wake Island, allowing the Wildcats there to take up more escort duties rather than naval bombing. Not much interaction west of Wake Island however. The only thing of any substance that seems to be happening is some submarine attacks. Most are uneventful, with the occasional surface skirmish, or a fire and disengage torpedo encounter. The Commander of the SS Shark, however, has been particularly aggressive. He engaged a single transport ship for a significant amount of time, as the two exchanged MG fire as well as deck gun shots. The transport ship was left with heavy damage and heavy fires. He encountered another vessel and exchanged some fire there, but ultimately disengaged due to ammo issues. Here is the feedback from his first encounter (not, a successful hit with a .50 MG attack still counts as a shell hit, hence the rather large number).

I didn't really take part in the brothel but I heard there's some very hilarious things that can happen there, under the right circumstances. My guess is it's more for comic relief, but like I said, I didn't do anything there.