Thanks to both of you. Thread up.
23 Sept 2023, 20:06
Playthrough - Manchukuo
I thought I'd try writing a HWW playthrough, as I write myself private ones anyway during most games. Recently I decided I wanted to challenge myself a bit more, having joined games as Nationalist China, Japan and UK, so here we have it: the weakest playable country in Asia. I had three reasons for picking it:
1. It allowed me to return to my favourite doctrine;
2. No matter how full a HWW is, one can be 99% certain that nobody's bagged it yet, so I didn't need to camp out the games page for hours; and
3. I did everyone a favour by taking one of the least popular countries and allowing that game to be replaced by a new HWW with the powerful countries untaken slightly faster than it would have been otherwise.
A disclaimer: I only play occasionally, so I'll probably do a terrible job of running the country and this will end in ignominious defeat.
DAY ONE
Fig. 1 And here we have it: one of the wimpiest armies to grace playable east Asia.
Surrounded as they are by two of the three most seriously powerful countries by far in this theatre (and, in my opinion, the scariest in the entire game), and having a weak army, the new government's first priority was to establish friendly relations on as many borders as possible. Japan being the most desirous ally, a particularly grovelling request was sent.
The Soviet Union instantly accepted, but as her ladyship had not thought to send a trade offer as part of the request, she was obliged to accept an unequal alliance (Right of Way vs Shared Map) rather than risk the wrath of a much more powerful state. Japan was much more reasonable, with the states agreeing to share maps with each other.
International peace and security being secured, Emperor Aragosta's thoughts turned to war. Manchukuo launched its first research project: light tanks and artillery, both level 2. Across the country production of artillery and militia began. Rule no. 1 in the east Asian theatre is always 'invade Manchukuo first', so I'm going to get in there pre-emptively; I've ruled out Japan and the Soviets, which leaves just one easily accessible country: Mongolia.*
An artillery division is staying right there in Hsinking (leaving one's capital undefended is asking for an ally with shared map to backstab you - I should know because I've done it) and Nanching (a port city) is remaining under militia guard, but everything else is going up to the Mongolian border. Having Japan as an ally - meaning there is no pressing urge to leave garrison forces in every city - is a huge relief, but the emperor barely trusts the Soviet Union and it's high on her list of future backstab victims.
I notice that neither of them are particularly strong players. Japan's player in particular fails its country's particular litmus test (i.e. if they don't invade Manchukuo on Day One, they're doing something wrong). Good - makes them all the easier to backstab. The Soviets are locked into a coalition with Britain and France, neither of whom bother me in the slightest as they're a fair way away from me.
As usual for me Manchukuo is already running short on goods - a combination of my habit of having every city on near-constant production (which I feel fully justified in doing here, what with Manchukuo's army being wimpy) and the fact that I focus heavily on ordnance in Comintern and Pan-Asian (ordnance foundries and artillery both chew through goods quite alarmingly). Furtunately the state has powerful - and, more to the point, rich - allies to provide aid, although begging for goods so close to first sealing the alliance is pushing it. Somehow the country is making money, so there's going to be a bit of a buffer before the emperor's chronic financial short-sightedness catches up to her.
Her financial advisors would like to know why she is not developing their industries? That won't take up goods. Most of the cities are already occupied by unit production projects that involve upgrading ordnance foundries, but the rural provinces have no such restrictions... and Yingkow, one of the only two major cities without expensive projects taking place at present, is the country's top goods producer. The other, Harbin, produces food; Manchukuo's agricultural wealth leads to the emperor dismissing industry development there as a waste of money. Metal is her next priority.
The die being cast for Manchukuo's first real war, the emperor loses interest until the first front reports start arriving.
*With the benefit of hindsight, I know what I should have done: declared war on Nationalist China and sent all my forces through Japan. With a neutral country in the way they'd be in no position to retaliate, or at least not without triggering a war with the most OP country in Asia. I did the reverse version of this, and won in a walk, the first time I played HWW, so I really should have thought of this earlier.
Feedback would be appreciated! However I should add that I'm posting on a three-day delay, so it may be too late to take very specific advice into account.
Her Ladyship Aragosta
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
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476 Replies
23 Sept 2023, 20:28
lol itβs in general discussions thread by Nick check itCarking the 6th wrote:
Iβd still love to see that lolSamPGS_17 wrote:
Wow that was simple⦠I just posted a whole ass essay explanation plus pics to help in the thread that Nick created 20 minutes ago.Carking the 6th wrote:
You see the paper clip over the submit button? Hit it. Then you just gotta hit upload and do it however you prefer.NickXXXNick wrote:
Wow, that was fun thanks. Did not read all but well done.How do you post pictures. I have a pic of a map I want to share?
canβt seem to get it to work.
Have a blessed day <3
23 Sept 2023, 20:32
AmazingSamPGS_17 wrote:
lol itβs in general discussions thread by Nick check itCarking the 6th wrote:
Iβd still love to see that lolSamPGS_17 wrote:
Wow that was simple⦠I just posted a whole ass essay explanation plus pics to help in the thread that Nick created 20 minutes ago.Carking the 6th wrote:
You see the paper clip over the submit button? Hit it. Then you just gotta hit upload and do it however you prefer.NickXXXNick wrote:
Wow, that was fun thanks. Did not read all but well done.How do you post pictures. I have a pic of a map I want to share?
canβt seem to get it to work.
CarKing the 6th of the Abrahamic Caliphate
12 Oct 2023, 18:57
You gain units when a province revolts with enemy troops in it. I've lost a few infantry regiments that way.Lady Aragosta wrote:
DAY FORTY-SEVEN
Fig. 153 Well, I can't honestly say I wasn't expecting it.
In fact I wasn't destroyed; I had a few provinces and, somehow, two infantry units. I don't know how I acquired those what with not having any cities.
Fig. 154 Unnoble, 1/10
It's around now that I'd ideally be making some heartfelt, pithy statements about everything I learned playing a tiny nation, building it up to a vast empire, and having it deflate in days. In fact I had this great big speech all ready prepared, but you know what? I forgot every damn thing I intended to say and anyway, I'm far from sure my playing will be any better next time around.
Thanks for joining me on this playthrough; I hope you were entertained as I was. Thank you also to everyone who gave me advice. I'll be seeing you all, I understand, in the HWW. I may or may not tidy up my personal playthrough of that and post it here, depending on how much interest people show in seeing a retold game they were actually part of.
The Qing will return again one day, when I feel like I am a more competent player.
"γγγγ¨" - Last words from the Japanese 9th Artillery Regiment before being pounded into oblivion by Manchu Battleship "ZhΓ¨ngxiΔngbΓ‘i"
11 Apr 2024, 14:15
Phenolphthalein, aka 3,3-Bis*(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-benzofuran-1(3H)-one and the phth combination is a contender for the hardest consonant cluster to pronounce. Fortunately shortens to PH, appropriately enough.Lady Aragosta wrote:
The newspapers have been amusing; my first few ships were named after Manchurian leaders before I gave up and started giving them names like 'Phenolphlalene' and 'The Game' (which you just lost). I had an SS Frenellelge in there somewhere; I'm not entirely sure where that name came from, and may just have been trying to baffle newspaper readers. Now they're likely to last more than a few hours I think I'll revert to normal names.
*not di-
Lady Aragosta wrote:
And finally, the SS Frenellelge has died.She was killed bravely fighting the Japanese 29th Cruiser Flotilla.
General discussion question: what's the stupidest name you've ever given one of your units?
To commemorate her valiant sacrifice at the Battle of Honshu, I will make a point of naming a battleship SS Frenellelge every game from now on.But to answer the question, HMS Pansy and HMS Cockchafer would have to be up there.
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
11 Apr 2024, 14:35
Nuclear deterrence depends on the notion that leaders are a) rational people who want their citizens to survive, not warmongering maniacs and b) don't enjoy itLady Aragosta wrote:
These all end in AUs where people blithely sling nuclear weapons around and almost nobody has any grounding in basic nuclear deterrence. Including proper rules would end very, very badly.I wonder how some of the people who play this would fare if placed in charge of an actual country for the duration of a war.
And then there are people who whine about the game 'already being realistic so we should add such and such'.
Carking the 6th wrote:
You struggle to make one bomb, but See in fat Albert land I am currently pumping out 30 high level units and 4/5 nukes at a time! Very nice things.As a CarKing who made good use of them, I must disagree and state that commie armored cars are great ascetically and are very nice overall.
I think that soviet tank is based on a t-26 or some bt tank? I donβt like its look either, but once you get to level 4 you get a good improvement. Not that commie light tanks are the best.
Commie armoured car lvl1-3 is represented by a BA-20. Very nice. I like.
Commie armoured car lvl4-5 is a GAZ BA-64. I do not like.
Light tank lvl1-3 is represented by a T-37A (ampibious), or possibly T-38, which looks more like it but the turret is on the wrong side. T-26 is completely different.
Light tank lvl4+ is a T-60 which replaced it.
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
12 Apr 2024, 08:30
Doesn't surprise me that I spelled it wrong. Then and again I could have spelled it worse. ('Fennelflalene'.)Lord Crayfish wrote:
Phenolphthalein, aka 3,3-Bis*(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-benzofuran-1(3H)-one and the phth combination is a contender for the hardest consonant cluster to pronounce. Fortunately shortens to PH, appropriately enough.*not di-
Good Hangman word anyway.
Her Ladyship Aragosta
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
12 Apr 2024, 20:19
You could have convinced me it war German, at least for a few seconds.Lady Aragosta wrote:
Lord Crayfish wrote:
Phenolphthalein, aka 3,3-Bis*(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-benzofuran-1(3H)-one and the phth combination is a contender for the hardest consonant cluster to pronounce. Fortunately shortens to PH, appropriately enough.*not di-Good Hangman word anyway.
Then again, Name is too chemically. Easy to tell.
CarKing the 6th of the Abrahamic Caliphate
12 Apr 2024, 22:35 (edited)
3,3-dimethyl butanoic acidCarking the 6th wrote:
You could have convinced me it war German, at least for a few seconds.
Wankpanzerpumpernikelsauerkrautwagen IV
Not so different are they?
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
12 Apr 2024, 22:39
Did you use ChatGPT to make that image?
13 Apr 2024, 00:04
Those are certainly all words. German ones, even, for the most part.Lord Crayfish wrote:
Wankpanzerpumpernikelsauerkrautwagen IV
Her Ladyship Aragosta
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
A.K.A. "The Backstab Person"
Pan-Asian is a better doctrine than Axis when played correctly and you cannot change my mind.
You just lost The Game.
Join the Madness here:
CoW Forum Players! Unite!
13 Apr 2024, 06:11
Nope, found it on the internet. It's a Panzer III. Why?Phillip Bosley wrote:
Did you use ChatGPT to make that image?
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
13 Apr 2024, 06:12
Let's make a part 2 or something.
The President
13 Apr 2024, 07:43
Well this has aged well hasn't it?Carking the 6th wrote:
@The Mister Class WHY DID YOU LET YOUR ARGENTINAN GRANDPA OUT!!
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
β Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
β Lord Kitchener, on tanks
13 Apr 2024, 09:57
I always liked the Eisenbahnknotenpunkthinundherschieber (switchman)
16 Apr 2024, 10:44
Aged like wine.Lord Crayfish wrote:
Well this has aged well hasn't it?Carking the 6th wrote:
@The Mister Class WHY DID YOU LET YOUR ARGENTINAN GRANDPA OUT!!
"We can be wrong, or we can know it, but we can't do both at the same time." ~ Heisenberg
RETIRED ELECTION MANAGER
RETIRED ELECTION MANAGER
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