Piumarcobaleno

Hi Kuni! Well, I've developed a new addiction, Warhammer Fantasy they call it, so i'm a bit more on the 'miniature painting' side of life than on the 'europe conquering' one

The old guard is just waiting the order to march.

Tnx for the comments! These are the things that make me load the Sc forums every time i come back home!

Last night I played a game against a fairly new player, this is the outcome. Turn 2: Operated units from polish front crush the belgian fortifications, low countries falls. Polish air operated near paris, to force-intercept german air. Turn 6: Poland finally falls, it survived with the battered polish air hidden in france and a 5-strenght army in the middle of the polish wilderness --> result, russian readiness 41%!! Germany, now in a difficult position on the french-belgian border, seems to be ready to rock. Turn 8: Terror in Belgium, 1 german army destroyed each turn, german air in troubles against 2 uk carriers, 3 uk airfleets, 1 french airfleet and 1 uk bomber. German navy desperate assault, 1 carrier sank, at the cost of a sub, 3 damage on 1 cruiser and 8 to another. Atlantic subs luckily escape sticking to the northern end of the map, and make it to the baltic sea. Spring 1940 Germany down to 3 armies, 1 tank at strenght 3, 1 at strenght 7, 3 half strenght corps on the russian border and 3 corps patrolling defensive positions on the french border. Italy enters the war, encountering 2 uk corps patrolling the french-italian alps. Time to get the kill!! 2 subs at full strenght, now resupplied, guided by the 8-cruiser strike again the british-french navy: 1 carrier down to 1 point, 40 german air factors storming over french troops: 1 army killed, good combat rolls (lost 0-2 on each interception, hopefully dealt more). Tanks in the breach, this is the last hope to take France before Fall 1940. Summer 1940 French on the run! As the French army crumbles under the hits of the german air (now that the allied one has a hard time resupplying, since that carrier had to cost a lot to rebuild) and land forces, Italian troops reach the outskirts of Paris, soon followed by german panzers and armies. Fall 1940 When Paris falls, UK troops have just embarked from marseilles, trying to reach the safety of Giblatar. Italian navy is waiting for them, and at the cost of a damaged (down to 3) battleship and a sub, sinks 1 cruiser and 1 corp, and batters 1 cruiser down to strenght 4. Here the Caio Duilio: Italian Headquarters decides to buy a bomber unit, to better defend the mediterranean sea from the uk fleet (obviously split in 2), while Gen. Rommel is sitting on the shores of Netherlands, wondering why the high command sent him there. Uk med navy attacks: 3 battleships and a cruiser began sailing towards italian coast.. There a bomber, placed in the right spot, foils their evil plan! Full strenght italian navy, with full supply, goes on the offensive: 2 battleships sank, at minimal losses. This will result being the last allied offensive in the war. 5 german airfleets, reinforced with the french plunder (1 was bought), fly over england, bombing london, and engaging a furious air duel with the undermanned RAF. A carrier shows up near England, probably the med one. Luckily no tech for the british people, as they fought too hard during the french campaign to be able to buy chits. 2 corps are sent on transports along the coast of england, one near manchester, the other near london, as a major force of 4 armies (1 italian at half strenght... sigh... i had to win then, or die trying) reach the southern coast, across the Channel. Uk air and fleets still have what it takes: 1 italian corp destroyed as it landed near manchester, 1 german army sank at sea and 1 down to strenght 1 (a valuable army exp.2). It's obviously an all out, as german air and land troops race to london and manchester... In manchester a str. 3 bomber survives, while the corp in london, down to str. 2, gets killed by the german str.1 army in a desperate attack! But no troops to move in, and another corp is raised in london with all the remaining british resources.Spain decides it's time to enter the war Next turn, another german airbombing on london, while 2 corps are diverted north towards manchester. . There they take down the pesky bomber, taking the city. London remains, as in thrill german units attack the city.. 2, 3, 4 hits... soon the corp is gone, and a victorious rommel lands north, and marches with his HQ into the city! To no avail USA politicians try to raise popular support for the war: once Dwarven Clowns dressed as british royal guards mock up the last mementoes of the empire that always had sun on it, no one wishes to confront the german and italian powers. The war is over, as Axis powers rule Europe indistubed.

Pfui! This thread makes me happy, thinking on the 'second language' issues

You can check some oldies (Third Reich, High Command and many others) at www.the-underdogs.org , be warned that many of them can not work on a recent machine, if u aren't skilled with dos setting on a windows system.

Since i don't actually speak spanish, and i based my translation on the similarities between italian and that language, i think i fared in an acceptable way

Terif, i found one occasion that saw u saying '100%' in SC forum history! Enjoy!

Codename Condor said encripted: "Esta claro que sencillamente no aceptaste una op. Sealion fallida/retrasada, yo he tenido montones de ellas, es frustante ver aparecer corps de la nada cuando crees que UK esta desprotegida. Calculaste mal, actuaste mal, es lo que digo. Debido a cosas que no tienen que ver con tu partida la gente se volvio loca por aqui con rumores y demas, diciendo acusaciones que tu habias dicho, pero tu no estabas aqui para aclararlas. Ni defensor de la verdad ni leches solo digo lo que pienso." Since i don't believe it's fair to speak in a matter many can't understand in a public forum, here's a short translation: It's clear that u have not accepted a failed\prolonged op. SeaLion, it's frustrating to see UK corps pop up out of nowhere when u believe UK is undefended. U misjudged, u fared bad, that's what I say. Now people here speak about accusations that u have done, and u are not here to explain them. I'm no truth-defender, i just say what i think.

If you speak of realism, well... Russian HQ, seeing how bad german troops fare against polish forces (3 months into their attack, and poland still fights on) [6 or 7 game turns], decides to get their promised partition of Poland, PLUS something from germany itself. Stalin, reassured of the german weakness, clearly displayed in a so bad conducted Fall Weiss, orders his army to prepare for war (accepting a swift peace treaty from Finland and shifting his attention west).

I don't know if you have experience with Pacific General, but there airfleets were split into 3: Strat. Bombers (low ground attack, caused $ loss bombing certain cities\targets, regardless of troops in that place, that got bombed anyway, low air combat but high air defence), Tac. Bombers (good ground attack, low air combat) and Fighters (low ground attack, best air combat). Anyway i wouldn't relate ground attack effectiveness only to bomb payload; it's like saying that a big cannon is a better artillery piece than a smaller one. Every piece has his use, and if strategic bombers were used to bomb cities and tac bombers to attack troops, probably it's because of operative difficulties. Maybe a heavy bomber, so slow and cumbersome, could have many problems dealing with ground fire, and have some difficulties hitting anything different from fixed targets.. Early tank designs (1920-30 ca.) called for multi-turreted tanks, with a great firepower increase, and even WW1 tanks had 1 cannon and up to 8 heavy MG, but eventually tanks armed with 1 main gun and 1 or 2 MGs became the standard during and after WW2. I doubt that actual SC Strat Bombers should have any increased effect: they are great at naval and resources bombing, they reduce entrenchement by 2, and with an escort they can effectively help in pushing enemy HQs farther from the front. Sure, airfleets are a bit overpowered with the coupling of anti-air and anti-ground capabilities, but, all in all, i find SC is almost balanced as it is. We'll wait and see what Hubert is cooking in SC2, i suppose..

Here, 3 pics for eyes pleasure! By the way, during my search i stumbled upon this wonderful site: it has many insights in tank technology and production of many many nations up to 1946, and a lot of pictures of armored vehicles from tankettes to Tigers. Here's the address! http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/

Thanks for the advices, JerseyJohn, and for the encouraging words on my work! Let's see to improve that with some image..

Well, two world war and no wins sure, but take a look at population\land of the contenders.. they anyway did unbelievable things..

Last night i played a game against a canadian player nicknamed 'Jul', here's a small after action report. Sept. 1939 Methodical attack of German forces against Poland: on turn 1 the two polish armies got surrounded and slaughtered, on turn 2 the polish corps rallied around Warsaw got nailed, and on turn 3 the Polish Flag waved no more. Meanwhile the german navy conducted a suprise shore bombing against the neutral Denmark, whose small resources stimulated the Fuerer. Fishers of the baltic reported of a German submarine sailing toward Norway. In the Atlantic, by the end of Sept., the german raiding subs were no more. One was caught near Canadian shores, raiding merchant shipping, by a mixed french-english naval task force of cruisers, while another fell in the hands of more powerful UK battleships and carriers ca. 300 km. north of Irish beaches. As the germans prepared to invade the low countries, UK naval HQ decided to try a Baltic move while german airfleets would have been necessary to bomb Bruxelles. A task force of 2 carriers and a battleship (to be later reinforced by two battleships just freed from sub hunting in the atlantic) sailed towards Oslo. Unfortunately erroneous intelligence led to an assault against the task force; UK naval HQ refused to flee the battle, and committed more forces: after German air involvement in the action, UK\French naval forces sank the remainings of the german navy, and retreated for MUCH needed repairs. Winter '39 - Summer '40 German troops, after having stormed the Ardennes, broke the french lines with Luftwaffe heavy support. Weygand, commander in chief of French operations, retreated the defence line to Paris, and recalled most colonial corps to the mainland, having given enough time to UK mediterranean fleet to sail past Giblatar. As the germans regrouped before the final drive to Paris, 3 French armies, led by Weygand HQ were able to reach the safety of the english ports before Paris fell. The heroical stand of the last French corps entrenched in Paris will be always remembered, as no French soldier surrendered to the enemy: 'Free or Dead' has been the password. Fall-Winter 1940 With Italian entry in the war, German assets had been shifted to the mediterranean sea: Wehrmacht detachements, along with italian armies, stormed greek beaches, assaulting Athens from the sea. Reports spoke of frightening Panzer divisions coming out of the sea; intelligence reports of a Panzer III mod that makes the tank waterproof, and capable of going up to 15 m under the level of the water. Back to England, Naval HQ reports of an increased German naval activity, and sends a task force towards Norway, sure of catching German troops ready to land still in their transports. Unfortunately a bad timing is chosen, as no German ships are sailing in the norwegian channel; most unfortunately a large concentration of German planes was preparing for a huge bombing on Oslo, and the british task force is heavily attacked, reporting the loss of a Battleship, and several hits to the escort Carrier. UK fleets faint a withdraw, luring german transports near Norway where, protected by a screen of U-boats, they begin their attack on Norway. German troops land, and, with the help of the powerful Luftwaffe, Norway seems doomed: their garrison in Oslo is destroyed, even if no german troop is able to occupy the city yet. 1941: The year that changed history While more fearful elements of the English government are struck in fear, seeing the power of the german air force, and the great resources of their industry, desired a retreat of the UK naval forces from the risky action, again the PM, Winston Churchill, astonished his audience: "One year ago I had only one thing to say: we shall fight them. And now, the same words come to my mind: we shall fight them on the waves of the Atlantic, on the fjords of Norway, on the gentle waters of the Mediterranean Sea; our struggle shall be carried on by our brave soldiers, and in the air no more a German pilot would fly, feeling safe from our Royal Air Force. We shall defend our island, as well as every nation shall accept us as friends: we shall not leave Norway alone in this God's given task." Superior UK battleships sweep the waves from german u-boats, and Carriers wreak havoc upon german HQs and troop at sea; meanwhile, UK fighter pilots intercept every german air mission, forcing the german HQ to retire his luftflotten from Danish soil. Free french and canadian soldiers hit the shores behind german lines in norway, cornering the enemy in the northernmost part of the coutry, chasing them as a cat plays with the mouse. UK special forces take the port of Kiel, while Greek heroes stand like Leonida's spartan army, delaying the axis conquest of their soil for months. Italian subs and battleships got bombed by UK air forces while sailing near Alexandria and Malta, and Yugoslavian people rally under the Allied banner, joining the struggle against the Greatest Evil Ever. UK lead researchers work day and night, knowing no rest, to deliver their nation the much needed technology upgrades. British troops leave Kiel, having completed their task: german troops and air forces are stretched all around europe, while Stalin prepares for war; UK controls firmly norway, and Italian navy can't do anything else than sitting in their ports. Internal pressure is too much, and the Fuerer is killed in a suicide attack of a former SS officer, and struggles between internal Nazi and Military factions forces the Third Reich to crumble under allied blows. Peace is sued, and Europe takes its time to rebuild its cities... This was a heavy tech-affected game: jet was at 0 for both germany and UK until the battle for Norway. UK (me) got lvl 1 long range and jet on the same turn my carriers bombed german transports, while germany got the lvl 1 jet one or two turns later; in 5 more turns i got level 2 jets. This helped a lot UK efforts, and then URSS readiness jumped on by 10\turn, so Axis player decided to bail out instead of a painful defence against soon-in-war Russian forces. (This is just to tell that SC community is ALIVE, maybe a bit less LOUD!) [ October 03, 2003, 03:50 AM: Message edited by: Piumarcobaleno ]

Only one thing: maybe the game should be set up in a manner that allowed a first russian attack capable of diverting german attention from the western front. With the suggested house rule of no russian move\attack until 3rd turn, CP can attack in both directions, forcing an early russian surrender (if your suggested house rule that at the second russian city taken, civil war breaks out), and easily (esp. with 2 or 3 rocket detach.) sending the frenchmen in the sea. Maybe urrs should be given some corps on german border, with which create some trouble capable of forcing the germans to operate a couple of armies. 3 years of war are a long time, and US entry could be too much delayed.

Once i have been 'repressed' during my (so- believed) ground-breaking Barbarossa. [ October 01, 2003, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Piumarcobaleno ]

1st i suggest to always play with Fog of War on, i believe it makes things a little more unexpectable, esp. if you have little in-game experience. I find that to fight a sub war in the atlantic (or better, to complement the italian fleet with some german subs) your best chances are to build subs on the french west coast, better not in brest, and to send out subs in packs, 3 or more units at once, thus increasing durability and fighting punch. Giblatar would be another good place for starting subs, if you have gone through Spain. Recons are best handled by air or corps units. Since a corps has only 2 spotting range, it's often difficult to use it to spot air units, but sometimes you don't have a spare airfleet to send near the front to scout. If the enemy places his airfleet many (5 or more) hexes away from the frontlines, you couldn't spot them right away, but you can discover their positions forcing them to intercept a ground bombing run. Remember that long range tech increases spotting range for planes, and that bombers have a slightly better spotting range than airfleets. You have a chance to attack polish airfleet on the ground on turn one, but there's no way to do so with french air (Are you sure it has been destroyed on the ground? I believe it was fought in the skies by the luftwaffe), but some players tend to disband their french airfleet to buy armies or an hq, so it doesn't really matters.. I suggest to turn every option 'on', leaving only War in Siberia off; experience settings (+1 and +2) are often the only way to have a fun experience against AI (i found easier to win as allies against axis +2 than as axis against allies +2, but that's just because of the bad response of AI against allied invasions during its late-barbarossa); +50% and +100% settings only affect plunder, free french chances and siberian transfer, so aren't really big changes, as +1 or +2 are. As for other wargames.. i enjoyed panzer general 2 and 3 (while i found allied general and panzer general 1 too dry), and sure you can find many golden oldies around like the V for victory series at www.the-underdogs.org I hope I have been helpful! [ October 01, 2003, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Piumarcobaleno ]

Maybe there could be a fixed % that an unit gets new (already researched) equipment, on a basis similar to tech chits: If you have tank tech 3, a unit with 0 has 15% to go to lev 1 each turn, a unit with 1 has 12% to go to lev 2, a unit with 2 has 9% to achieve lev 3 each turn, free of mpp expense. Then you could have the option to do it 'the MPP way', paying for the upgrade, and getting it istantaneously. Sure, actual numbers would have to be tested, to avoid a too lenghty auto-refit, or the opposite..

I believe, Jersey, that this is not the point: i noticed that when the sc oppo finder forum was created several days ago, a link to it was on the main forum listing page (in the same group of Sc main and Sc Tech), and now that link is no more. I thought Dragonheart was wondering about that link, not about Comrade Trapp's post regarding it.

There is the link no more on the main list, but the forum is still up (i had saved the link in the internet explorer menu). http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=21 it should work. By the way, why has the link disappeared from the main page?

Hi Logan, could you send me the scenario via e-mail? captm@libero.it Thanks! (This sounds like a bloody scenario, i'd like to try it!)

Sure, Italy kept Sud Tirolo (the italian name for the region) and Trieste after WW2, and these were gains from WW1, but lost Istria and Fiume to Yugoslavia (these WW1 gains, too), and obviously the african colonies (1908 and 1936 gains); Istria was filled with italian dwellers, that were pretty much slaughered by the Yugoslavian regime (and thrown, sometimes alive, in 'foibe', aka the particular cracks in the earth tipical of that region). On his part, Italy had to cope with Sud Tirol's originary people, that had no desire to live under the italian banner, and brought up a war of terrorism for several decades. In the end, the only nation that got a real land expansion as WW2 peace treaties had been URRS (which, by the way, i almost find as a result from many of my SC games, where half europe is painted in red). At least Italy wasn't divided between the two parts of the allied faction, as germany ended up to, also mainly because it wasn't worth the effort CC Baxter Ok, tnx for the explanation, no grudge! [ September 21, 2003, 08:59 PM: Message edited by: Piumarcobaleno ]

Well, i 1st world war italy had a defensive pact with the central powers, and considering that they started the war, she has not left an alliance, she simply wasn't forced by the pact to help nor germany nor austria in case of a war declared by them; Italy did not get any loot at all with peace treaties after WW2, instead she lost what she gained in WW1 (Istria\Fiume). I believe UK\USA HQs were more happy to fight a war of liberation in italy, for propaganda's sake, so i believe italian switch-side was a bit obliged..

Xwormwood, what's wrong with my statement? When i say that every murder is still a murder, i'm speaking on a ethical\philosophical level, not counting how many deaths have there been, or how many could have been (or simply have been) avoided with an action instead of another. In my opinion it would have been far better if war never broke out, but since that happened, what's wrong in being sad because of men's murdering nature? It's a thing that makes me sad, this animal side of human mind, "i'll kill you if i fear you'll kill me" and so on. Is it that strange to put things on the philosophical\ideological level, that everyone misjudges my posts? And just a question: you refer to Italy as to a nation that has changed many times the side during a war; when this happened, outside WW2? Italy as a nation was founded in 1850 ca., and since that year she hasn't fought many wars, and by now i can't remember any of them during which she changed side willingly. And during WW2, well, sure, she changed side, but has she many choices? German troops weren't there to defend Italian soil, but to guard their own interests (Italian-German alliance had never been on a equal level since the outbreak of the war), so Italy was already invaded by German troops, when an allied army was ready to attack Italy, too, were there many choices different from a surrender? I take italian switch-side as a treaty request from allied powers, more than a self-wanted treacherous act. No nation in modern warfare has ever fought to final defeat, sometimes you HAVE to surrender.