Longest/Most Ridiculous Wars

[perfectpastrami]

What are some of the longest wars you ever had? My personal record is something around 25 years at least. Basically what happened is that i had a small early game war as the US in order to take Canada. Or such was the plan, anyway. At first it worked, but then the UK decided to send its fleet over. It wasnt big enough to blockade, but i didnt have ships left over to blockade them either. The UK from there on decided that actually fighting the war was not a thing it was about to do, so even when carriers became a thing (And im sure you can all confirm that early on torpedo bombers, due to the sheer amount of ammo they can put out and the lack of enemy AA/CAP, are hella OP) i didnt actually ever get to air strike anything because at best id have a cruiser engagement. The UK didnt feel like negotiating either, and somehow, neither nation collapsed under the strain of several decades of uninterrupted war.

[thorthemighty]

I think my Longest War was something like 4 years against the Soviet Union before they finally collapsed. 

[bfuixc]

I fought like 5 wars with the Soviets in a ten year period, it was basically my Imperial Japanese Navy crushing everything the Soviet had. For example, in the first war I manage to sunk basically all of the capital ships the Soviet Navy had in 1932 (3BBs, 2CV, 5CVLs and around 8CAs), then it was just small engagements involving DDs and KEs. The Soviet Navy never had anything larger than CLs surviving after each war.

[gornik]

Not the longest, but the most ridiculous war I ever had was war between Japan and Italy. Italians lost Eritrea to rebels, and I don't have any bases outside the Pacific, so only pair of cruiser actions happen. Somehow, at the same time Army managed to won massive land battle and turn another one into "the stalemate" before compromise peace was achieved! And of course, they were glorified, while Fleet only lost some subs, money and prestige (no major battles)!

[ieshima]

Not my longest war, or the funniest, but i did have a game in RtW1 playing as the Qing Chinese in which I drove the Japanese to revolution four times over the course of the full 50 years.  Of course, these revolutions came after I reduced almost their entire navy to various scrap and kindling, so i never got any of their ships as compensation.  I still have that save file.  23 Japanese capital ships sunk by Chinese gunfire and torpedoes.  

[perfectpastrami]

I know i'm necroing my own thread right now, but i just figured i'd add this one to the thread. Another ridiculous war i fought was germany v france in the 1920 start, no treaty of Versailles active. In case you didn't know, germany is pretty OP in the 1920 start without it. You essentially get a fleet around the size of what france has, but no colonial possessions you have to guard, so you're free to blockade them in northern europe if the UK stays out of it.

So around 1930, the war eventually comes. After a short time, a big fleet battle around the Helgoland Bay comes up. I accept, of course, hoping to get a few of those precious battleships killed with my carriers. Now, landing several battleship kills with carriers isn't that uncommon in this period in my experience. This is usually right around that time where all but the most modern battleships are next to defenseless if you manage a somewhat organized torpedo attack. Most older ships don't have AA guns or torp defenses at all, and the ones that do certainly cannot withstand 20 torpedo bombers lining up an attack.

This battle however was different. I have several screenshots of battles where early carriers took down several battleships with torpedo bombers, but in this one, the french fleet was all but decimated. They lost pretty much all the heavy components of their fleet in one battle, and those that survived were picked off in the months that followed. I infact decimated the french fleet so hard, towards the end, they only had one or two destroyers left. That was a fun war.

[Deleted]

1905 - playing as Germany. Starts war with France. France gives me some serious reparations after 18 months of war and removal of half of their navy.
1908 - Starts war with Italy. USA proposes alliance.
+1 month - USA joins war
+8 months - Italy failed in 8 naval invasion battles (1 yeach month, dunno how they can do that, player nation certainly cannot)
+12 months - France decides out of nowhere to join the fight... ON MY SIDE. Guess they were afraid of another Calais steam ship massacre.
+15 months - Russia proposes an alliance, accepted, yet doesnt join the fight.
+18 months - Italy is blockaded for 6 consecutive months.
+22 months - Japan heard that there is a fight and decided to join on my side.
+25 months - GB heard there is a fight and decided to join on my side.
+26 months - Italy collapses after 14 months of blockade.
+27 months - everyone is pissed at me because I took almost all of Italy´s colonies.

[ludovic]

Not very long in comparison, but my most ridiculous was:
-- As Germany or France, got into a war with Japan. Proceeded to dominate battles and blockade them.
-- Italy jumped in on Japan's side. Points reset. Had to steam back to the Mediterranean as I didn't have enough ships to blockade them both.
-- I beat down Italy over the course of almost a year, until ...
-- Austria-Hungary jumped in on Italy's side. Points reset.
-- In 2 months, the coalition surrenders to me, giving me large reparations, without a single shot fired by the Austrians.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2021 17:28:00 GMT -6 ludovic said:

Not very long in comparison, but my most ridiculous was:
-- As Germany or France, got into a war with Japan. Proceeded to dominate battles and blockade them.
-- Italy jumped in on Japan's side. Points reset. Had to steam back to the Mediterranean as I didn't have enough ships to blockade them both.
-- I beat down Italy over the course of almost a year, until ...
-- Austria-Hungary jumped in on Italy's side. Points reset.
-- In 2 months, the coalition surrenders to me, giving me large reparations, without a single shot fired by the Austrians.

Yeah, had a war with Italy in 1906 playing as USA. I bored them almost to death, they surrendered at the last possible moment, after mindbreaking 33 months of nothing...

[ac204]

I just finished what must have been my most ridiculous war ever. Playing as Germany, I manage to make le french very angry and we go at it. It is quite an even match, I have 6 modern BBs vs. their 10, my first carrier conversion is just working up and theirs has just launched. No other tensions are above 3, so it seems like a simple war. Well, I spend 2 years not getting any large enough battle to force negotiations they would accept. 5 of their BBs sink, none of my big ships dissapear, but this will be the highpoint of my fleet: 6 BBs, 16 CAs, 16 CLs, 152 DDs, 24 SSs. From that point on, mines and torpedoes make life living hell.

at 25 months i have 143 DDs and 24 subs in service, i have over 33000 VP vs their 16000
at 28 months, with no ship lost to battle, there are 125 DDs left and 35000 VP vs 18500. I start War Emergency programs to build lots of replacements out of a fear that they will all disappear, but can only afford 12 at once
at 29 months my subs (23 left) sink 3 liners in one turn and GB is livid. They join, VPs get reset. This gives me more cash, and crucially, bigger battles again.
at 32 months, i have a fleet battle. My 6 BBs face off against 15 of the allies, but especially my 8x18 gunned most modern vessels wreak havoc. I sink 4 BBs in an horrible weather, short range slugfest. I win the day, but it costs me 15 DDs and 2 AA-CLs.
at 36 months, only 87 DDs remain. Battle losses and mines/torpedoes shrink the fleet by roughly 5 ships every turn. 36 new DDs and 4 AA CLs are under construction.
at 39 months, my first new DDs commission into a fleet of 6 BBs, 4 CAs, 12 CLs, 78 DDs, 28 KEs and 13 SSs, just after yet another cruiser battle ate 6 DDs to save my 4 CAs from combined Air and DD attack.
at 41 months, a fleet battle happens off Norway. Again, my gunnery is giving me success, but this time, the enemy has 2 carriers which disrupt the work sometimes, meaning that i can only get 3 more BBs sunk along with 4 CLs and 3 DDs. This costs me only 1 DD, VPs are at well over 65000 for me vs 11000 for them.
at 42 months, with only 1 BB, a few CLs and lots of DDs in the active fleet, another fleet battle triggers unexpectedly. I curse and run, managing to keep away from their large fleet units. But BB "Deutschland" is unable to leave the combat radius of enemy shore based aircraft and as day begins, not even the sacrifice of my DP-armed DDs can stop her from 20 torpedoes launched against her in one turn. She evades all but 3, but after 2 hours of this, she - and 6 DDs - sink. Only a pair of scouting CLs make it away.
at 43 months, BB "Baden" hits a mine and sinks. So do more DDs Peace is offered, but negotiations fail
at 48 months, the fleet stands at 4 BBs, 4 CAs, 16 CLs, 50 DDs, 23 KEs and 1 SS. But U-342, the last remaining sub ON FLEET SUPPORT, sinks a liner...seriously...

This, combined with the Führer talking nonsense, makes the Russians join. So starts a long period of me declining 2/3rds of all battles, because no way am I going into the baltic. and of course, with VPs reset, this makes prestige decline as peace with harsh terms against us is proposed thrice.

at 53 months the next meaningful battle takes place. I trade 2 of my CAs and 4 DDs for 2 of their BBs. New DDs come online, meaning that for the first time in a long time their numbers increase: 64 DDs are in service at this moment.

at 55 months, I sink another BB in a night skirmish.
at 56, they return the favour doubly in a fleet battle, but only after I manage to sink 5 of their big gun ships as well as large numbers of smaller ships. Only possible because the battle took place inshore of Helgoland and my airforce ate them all alive.
at 57 months, a mine of all things changes my fleet composition to following: 0 BBs, 2 CAs, 9 CLs, 47 DDs. things stand at 120000 VP for me vs 32000 for them.
for 8 months, no battle is proposed.
at 65 months, a cruiser battle is offered, but they decline
at 66 months new DDs and 4 CAs launch -> I have 6 CAs, 8 CLs, 68 DDs
at 67 months, 2 more CAs commission -> 8 CAs, 8 CLs, 66 DDs
at 68 months, a cruiser battle finally happens. I face off against 30 year old BCs, slower and less well protected than my wartime emergency CAs. For the low low price of one DD, I sink 4 BCs in a nighttime battle.
at 72 months, peace is finally offered again, but negotiations derail even with me picking the most peace loving option. After 6 years at war, I have lost more than 3/4 of my original tonnage, sunk 24 enemy BB/BCs, but still, peace seems impossible. My fleet continues to sink to mines and submarines.
at 75 months, the next event of note occurs. 36 subs laid down over a year back after Russia joined, start coming online. I made the error of over - ordering, so another 24 are mere months. Immediately, I go to unrestricted warfare.
at 77 months, the Führer makes it total war by holding yet another stupid speech. Internal unrest hits 8 from constant blockade.
at 80, with yet more subs on order, the existing ones sink 80 merchants in one turn

at 81, peace is concluded. I get 5 points for new posessions

In this war alone, I went from the 3 largest fleet in the world to the smallest. The month after peace happens, I have 7 CAs, 8 CLs, 51 DDs and 23 KEs. I had 6 BBs, 16 CAs, 16 CLs, 164 DDs, 24 SS, launched 8 CAs, 12 CLs, 64 DDs and 72 SS during the war...and got 5 points.

[w2c]

Well.... Ouch. lol

[reactorcowboy]

Not a long war, but a ridiculous one...

Playing as Imperial Russia in 1903, tensions have risen sharply and unexpectedly with Great Britain. A Russian armored cruiser explodes and sinks while cruising in the Gulf of Finland. Luckily, cooler heads prevail and Russia's lead admiral, Georgi Alexandrovich Romanov (Nikolai II's younger brother), decides to lead an inquiry rather than jump to conclusions. Apparently this was unnecessary, as Britain declared war the next month.

A squadron of the British navy invests Russia's Pacific coast, squaring off against a smaller Russian squadron bottled up in Vladivostok. The main theater of the war is Europe, where Russian fleets frequently raid the English coastline and attack convoys, and every few months, the British fleet tries to force the Gulf of Finland. The plucky Russian fleet manages to forge one victory after another. Throughout over a year of war, they lose only two ships, the CA that sparked the conflict, and a DD sunk by a British submarine. In return, they sink massive amounts of British merchant shipping and a steadily rising toll of British cruisers and destroyers. Engagements between Russian and British battleships are inconclusive but bloody.

Intelligence reports that Great Britain is crumbling internally. The Russian raiding effort has led to widespread hunger, a lack of raw materials for shipbuilding, and a dearth of fuel for existing ships. British workers are rioting and calling for communist revolution. Half the Royal Navy has mutinied. Their armies desert the front. By every metric (victory points, if you will), Russia is winning the war.

And so, of course, the next month Russia collapses to communist revolution and is forced into a harsh peace with no warning. Half of our navy was taken as war reparations, all of our ships in production were scrapped, and we are limited to 10,000 tons displacement for future shipbuilding. Great Britain has taken possession of the Russian far east as a colony.

This is an insanely frustrating outcome for a war that I was winning against all odds. It honestly doesn't feel "fair", although I get that there's a great degree of randomness in this game. It doesn't make sense for Great Britain to be teetering on the brink and then for the revolutionaries in Russia to conveniently come out of the woodwork and take over just before Britain can fall. I'm kind of upset, but also kind of disillusioned to see the rough edges of the simulation.

[rob06waves2018]

Dec 9, 2021 21:04:19 GMT -6 reactorcowboy said:

Not a long war, but a ridiculous one...

Playing as Imperial Russia in 1903, tensions have risen sharply and unexpectedly with Great Britain. A Russian armored cruiser explodes and sinks while cruising in the Gulf of Finland. Luckily, cooler heads prevail and Russia's lead admiral, Georgi Alexandrovich Romanov (Nikolai II's younger brother), decides to lead an inquiry rather than jump to conclusions. Apparently this was unnecessary, as Britain declared war the next month.

A squadron of the British navy invests Russia's Pacific coast, squaring off against a smaller Russian squadron bottled up in Vladivostok. The main theater of the war is Europe, where Russian fleets frequently raid the English coastline and attack convoys, and every few months, the British fleet tries to force the Gulf of Finland. The plucky Russian fleet manages to forge one victory after another. Throughout over a year of war, they lose only two ships, the CA that sparked the conflict, and a DD sunk by a British submarine. In return, they sink massive amounts of British merchant shipping and a steadily rising toll of British cruisers and destroyers. Engagements between Russian and British battleships are inconclusive but bloody.

Intelligence reports that Great Britain is crumbling internally. The Russian raiding effort has led to widespread hunger, a lack of raw materials for shipbuilding, and a dearth of fuel for existing ships. British workers are rioting and calling for communist revolution. Half the Royal Navy has mutinied. Their armies desert the front. By every metric (victory points, if you will), Russia is winning the war.

And so, of course, the next month Russia collapses to communist revolution and is forced into a harsh peace with no warning. Half of our navy was taken as war reparations, all of our ships in production were scrapped, and we are limited to 10,000 tons displacement for future shipbuilding. Great Britain has taken possession of the Russian far east as a colony.

This is an insanely frustrating outcome for a war that I was winning against all odds. It honestly doesn't feel "fair", although I get that there's a great degree of randomness in this game. It doesn't make sense for Great Britain to be teetering on the brink and then for the revolutionaries in Russia to conveniently come out of the woodwork and take over just before Britain can fall. I'm kind of upset, but also kind of disillusioned to see the rough edges of the simulation.

This has happened to me a few times. It's immensely frustrating unless you just but a a role-play hat on. In your case: Tsar mistakes grumbling in the British press for a disintergration of their war support and demands further pushes. The Russian peasants, however, see no possible victory against the Royal Navy and resent the strains of wartime drafts and production. They then rise against the Tsar and view the Russian navy and the Far East as small price to pay for the end of serfdom. This narrative also has the added benefit of being semi-historically-accurate, albeit 14 years too early!

[garrisonchisholm]

This actually lasted 96 months, a war against Italy England and America. There is a more extensive summary in my old gaming thread, but for the price of the loss by invasion of my Caribbean colonies I won a White Peace with a devastated economy and navy. 80% of the heavy lifting in the war was performed by 3 torpedo squadron in NW Spain. They should have been elite but their losses were too high and too constant to maintain experience levels.

[garrisonchisholm]

Dec 9, 2021 21:04:19 GMT -6 reactorcowboy said:

Not a long war, but a ridiculous one...

Playing as Imperial Russia in 1903, tensions have risen sharply and unexpectedly with Great Britain. A Russian armored cruiser explodes and sinks while cruising in the Gulf of Finland. Luckily, cooler heads prevail and Russia's lead admiral, Georgi Alexandrovich Romanov (Nikolai II's younger brother), decides to lead an inquiry rather than jump to conclusions. Apparently this was unnecessary, as Britain declared war the next month.

A squadron of the British navy invests Russia's Pacific coast, squaring off against a smaller Russian squadron bottled up in Vladivostok. The main theater of the war is Europe, where Russian fleets frequently raid the English coastline and attack convoys, and every few months, the British fleet tries to force the Gulf of Finland. The plucky Russian fleet manages to forge one victory after another. Throughout over a year of war, they lose only two ships, the CA that sparked the conflict, and a DD sunk by a British submarine. In return, they sink massive amounts of British merchant shipping and a steadily rising toll of British cruisers and destroyers. Engagements between Russian and British battleships are inconclusive but bloody.

Intelligence reports that Great Britain is crumbling internally. The Russian raiding effort has led to widespread hunger, a lack of raw materials for shipbuilding, and a dearth of fuel for existing ships. British workers are rioting and calling for communist revolution. Half the Royal Navy has mutinied. Their armies desert the front. By every metric (victory points, if you will), Russia is winning the war.

And so, of course, the next month Russia collapses to communist revolution and is forced into a harsh peace with no warning. Half of our navy was taken as war reparations, all of our ships in production were scrapped, and we are limited to 10,000 tons displacement for future shipbuilding. Great Britain has taken possession of the Russian far east as a colony.

This is an insanely frustrating outcome for a war that I was winning against all odds. It honestly doesn't feel "fair", although I get that there's a great degree of randomness in this game. It doesn't make sense for Great Britain to be teetering on the brink and then for the revolutionaries in Russia to conveniently come out of the woodwork and take over just before Britain can fall. I'm kind of upset, but also kind of disillusioned to see the rough edges of the simulation.

I know this is poor consolation, but so long as a defeat doesn't get me sacked I rather enjoy trying to kit out a navy under harsh surrender restrictions.  It is quite a challenge, and encourages innovative design.

But yes, it does suck when your huge VP lead is suddenly worthless.  It could happen though, and for as many times as I've been frustrated, I keep coming back to what the game offers that no other does.