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Post by oldpop2000 on Jan 9, 2018 19:36:43 GMT -6
I got creative this evening. I started setting up for another episode in my Japan At War i.e another game. However, I am in my second virtual window playing it. In the other virtual window I am playing the full theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's great, what background music for RTW.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Jan 10, 2018 10:28:16 GMT -6
I am starting to built 2100 light cruisers, I am playing Italy now. We will see how it works. I've already won a war against the French. They only came out once to fight, and no action occurred. I am also using the second desktop which can be added using the Windows Key and tab. Once the game is going, I can Window key + Tab to the other desktop and do my other stuff. I've also experimented with building over fifteen or more fortifications during the initial build the fleet period, I've built them for Sardinia, Eritrea, Sicily and Italy. We will see if it has any positive effect.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Feb 22, 2018 16:14:13 GMT -6
An absolutely successful game as Austria-Hungary. Prestige at the end was 36, which is great for my way of playing. I had one war with, of course, Italy. They lost one armored cruiser, one heavy cruiser, six light cruisers, eleven destroyers, two minesweepers, sixty-four transports and seven submarines. AH lost one heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, two destroyers, fifty transports, and fourteen submarines. My economy was booming, for AH.
All in all, a very successful game with a security agreement with Britain at the end.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 2, 2018 20:23:22 GMT -6
I wasn't going to continue with this thread but I have changed my mind. I am not going quit using it, but I am going to put my ideas, knowledge of the game dynamics, strategies and historical analysis with regards to game play. I've decided to start using RTW for testing ideas about ship building, strategy, operations, tactics etc. I probably will not finish games, just use it to test. Prestige is going to remain meaningless to me. Fun, Fun Fun.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 12:00:01 GMT -6
My first game in my new testing regimen Italy. Italy is a mountainous peninsula with the Alps blocking any real trade north/south Europe except through Brenner Pass, and two others towards France and Eastern Europe. This is very important in regards to trade warfare. She does control the Straits of Sicily so that gives her an edge against Britain attempting to use the Mediterranean as a trade route to the Middle East and through the Suez Canal to India and the Far East. It can be useful against Austria-Hungary but she has Railroads and roadways that can eliminate this problem so, in theory, she isn't as vulnerable. However, in the game, she is. I think this is wrong. I think this and other issues as far as geography need to be reviewed. I will be writing information about economics, geography etc. in these reports about any new games. This new regimen will be analytic.
Anyway, we will see how this goes. We are starting with a small fleet, historical resources and I will manually build a fleet. I am going to review my books and documents on Italy and its situation at the beginning of the 20th Century for more accuracy.
Accuracy and realism will rule my gaming, as far as it can go. This will be, for me, virtual history.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 13:25:25 GMT -6
Economically, after the unification of 1871, the Italians had hoped that this act would end poverty but that was not to be. The north did better but not the south. In 1867, Brenner Pass was opened so this would help trade to Europe. Essentially, in 1900, the time of the game, Italy was a weak nation and the majority of its people poor and many emigrated to the US. (My grandparents for one along with 7.5 million.)
This brief explanation leads me to believe that to play the game accurately means small fleet, historical assets which is what I am using. In my first war, I don't see much success as I can only build one armored cruiser, one light cruiser and about fifteen destroyers. My best strategy would be to avoid major engagements and try to get submarines as fast as possible. I don't see much hope without an alliance such as the one she entered into with AH and Germany, the Triple Alliance.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 18:04:12 GMT -6
With the limited funding for my fleet at the beginning I chose to build one armored cruiser and only had enough funding for one light cruiser and about fifteen destroyers. I immediately began building a new light cruiser design and raised my research on submarines, torpedoes, fleet tactics and light tactics to better use that limited fleet.
My first war was with A-H, no surprise there. My battle strategy was to avoid fleet engagements, and simply run from cruiser engagements which I did. That was successful. My best strategy was to attack his coastal shipping and did that with great success. The war ended with A-H in revolt, which is normal.
My lesson's learned were 1. Don't begin by building an armored cruiser, I don't have the funds. I will focus on light cruisers and destroyers. 2. Avoid wars early, which was a mistake in this game and try to use trade warfare.
For a nation without real economic power and poor industrialization, this seems to be the best strategy and to try to get alliances with more powerful nations. We will see how this works.
For now, I will probably either scrap the armored cruiser or just mothball it to gain funds.
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Post by klavohunter on Mar 6, 2018 20:36:35 GMT -6
A Small fleet size game with a third-rate naval power's budget! You're going to have an odd game.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 20:39:24 GMT -6
A Small fleet size game with a third-rate naval power's budget! You're going to have an odd game. No, actually it will be a realistic game for that period for Italy. That was the goal of my game playing.
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Post by fredsanford on Mar 6, 2018 21:52:38 GMT -6
A Small fleet size game with a third-rate naval power's budget! You're going to have an odd game. No, actually it will be a realistic game for that period for Italy. That was the goal of my game playing. You are misinterpreting what "small fleet" means in the game. Small fleet just scales down everyone's navy and budgets- take a look at the Royal Navy in your game, it will be tiny compared to reality. If you wanted to replicate what Italy was able to deploy in real life from 1900-1925, Very Large fleet with historical budgets would come closest, but still smaller that the real thing.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 22:14:08 GMT -6
No, actually it will be a realistic game for that period for Italy. That was the goal of my game playing. You are misinterpreting what "small fleet" means in the game. Small fleet just scales down everyone's navy and budgets- take a look at the Royal Navy in your game, it will be tiny compared to reality. If you wanted to replicate what Italy was able to deploy in real life from 1900-1925, Very Large fleet with historical budgets would come closest, but still smaller that the real thing. Ok. That is something to consider to make this more realistic. Here are the final results. Well, its July 1910 and Italy now has two alliances, one with Britain and one with France. This is perfect and what Italy in its economic position needs for assistance. Well, I've been sacked. With the small fleet and almost no budget that eventually just could not be managed with the economic resources. Interesting and I have to investigate the real events of the Italian navy prior to World War 1.
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Post by fredsanford on Mar 6, 2018 22:34:33 GMT -6
Taking a quick look at Wikipedia, the Italian Navy of 1900 consisted of: 3 B (Re Umberto class) + 4 B under construction (2 Ammiraglio di Saint Bon + 2 Regina Margherita class), along with 6 older ironclad battleships of negligible value (the Re Umberto's are pretty iffy, too). 3 CA (1 Marco Polo and 2 Vettor Pisani) + 3 Giuseppe Garibaldi under construction 13 CL + 1 CL under construction 14 "torpedo cruisers" that would be hard to duplicate in RTW. About 10 DD under construction
If you are attempting a "realistic" Italian navy, I suggest you take a look at how @slim did his US navy AAR- basically he attempted to design and produce a replica US navy to the extent the game makes possible.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 22:45:20 GMT -6
Here is a simplified explanation for the Italian budget for 1900. Italian naval spending dropped from its 1889 high to less than two-thirds as high by 1895. By 1900 the Italian Navy had dropped from third place in the world to seventh and almost all battleships built before 1895 were obsolete. Most of the Naval industries were centered on the West Coast. There were too few harbors on the East Coast. Most of the bases, shipyards, arsenals and ports were on the West Coast. The Italians did build six dreadnought battleships before 1914. This started in 1909 with the Dante Alighieri. She was not finished until 1913. Now, I've started a new game as Italy, following Fred Sanford's advice. Here are the initial results. This is a real chart of Military Expenditures by countries in 1900 UK pounds. Attachments:
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Post by fredsanford on Mar 6, 2018 22:53:39 GMT -6
Btw, prestige has budget implications. Higher prestige = more political capital to get funding.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Mar 6, 2018 22:55:20 GMT -6
Btw, prestige has budget implications. Higher prestige = more political capital to get funding. I am certain that is true, but is that realistic. I don't think it is.
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