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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Jul 24, 2023 14:47:14 GMT -6
Week 83 - A chance encounter
Machinations continue among the warring nations. Greece has joined against us, while a new Russian offensive has begun. Their provisional government, above all Kerenskiy, have staked their reputation upon its success - lest the Russian peace mongers gain more credibility.
Time for a quick fleet review - there has been much action and a step back would help clear things up. First the scouting forces, that have been such workhorses:
I. AG. (12") | V. AG. (14") | Light Forces | Hindenburg Lutzow Derfflinger Seydlitz Moltke Goeben von der Tann | Mackensen Graf Spee Prinz Eitel Friedrich Furst Bismarck | 7 Light Cruisers 2 Fast Minelayers 44 Destroyers |
And the main fleet:
7 LSD. (8x15") | 5 LSD. (10x12") | 6 LSD. (10x12", cdf) | 1 LSD. (12x12", hex) | 2 LSD. (12x11", hex) | 3 LSD. (4x11") | 4 LSD. (4x11") | Light Forces | Bayern
Baden Sachsen Wurttemberg Salamis | Konig Grosser Kurfurst Markgraf Kronprinz | Kaiser Prinzregent Luitpold Kaiserin Konig Albert Friedrich der Grosse | Ostfriesland Thuringen Helgoland Oldenburg | Posen Rheinland Nassau Westfalen
| Preussen Hessen Lothringen Deutschland | Pommern Schleswig-Holstein Schlesien Hannover | 4 Light Cruisers 1 Seaplane Carrier 45 Destroyers |
Overall, things aren't looking so bad. The Royal Navy is certainly on the back foot, but they are not beaten yet. The geographic realities of the situation mean the British must be completely crushed if we are to open sea lanes to foreign exporters and rid ourselves of mercantile hardship. For now, the repair lists are long for both sides, so that planned 'decisive battle' will have to wait.
Work for the workers.
The plan this week is a battlecruiser-covered mining operation near the Norfolk banks. Meanwhile, the 4th half-flotilla will make a sortie from the Flanders coast - its been quiet down there for a while. They have an open-ended task of harassing any response to our mining op from Harwich. For the first time our newer battlecruisers are in the van, now that flag facilities have been transferred.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Jul 28, 2023 14:46:34 GMT -6
Week 85 - a brief brief
It is mid September and things are starting to quieten down a bit at sea, if not on the continent - Riga has fallen, Ribot is out for Painleve in France, and there's been a failed coup in Petrograd.
I've ordered a long-due organisational change: the cruisers Rostock and Regensburg have been placed into the cruiser divisions with the rest, rather than acting as destroyer leaders. They never made much difference in the previous role, and add some redundancy when refits come about since I believe less than three scouts ahead of the main line is near reckless. In other news, work gangs at Zeebrugge have begun enlarging the waterways there to permit housing of larger ships, in the hope we can base some minelayers there in future. This will take some time, however.
The plan is to lay low and send a cruiser-escorted mining force to Dogger Bank, while drills continue in port. The age of our pre-dreads is showing, as most of them are in refit for a month or two. Their crews will prove useful manpower in the meantime.
Nothing came of the trip, bar a new minefield. Let's hope the Brits find it the hard way.
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Post by zederfflinger on Aug 1, 2023 14:17:19 GMT -6
Looks like things are progressing well! It will be interesting to see if you can wittle down the British faster then they can receive reinforcements.
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Post by ewaldvonkleist on Aug 10, 2023 17:06:49 GMT -6
Thanks for the detailed AAR, will continue to follow if you continue to write :-)
Would it have been possible to order the destroyers via role setting or manual control to form a screen in front of your cruisers? This way you may have been alerted to the presence of the enemy fleet and been able to run away with your cruisers.
(in RtW3 the DD roles are quite dysfunctional/broken and you have to lead DDdivs manually to get much value out of them, so curious how this works SAI)
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Aug 11, 2023 10:46:42 GMT -6
Yes, a destroyer screen would have been prudent in hindsight! Its a miracle we only lost one ship really. Laziness on my part, as I tend to whack every DD flotilla on 'support' when picking my force.
I think RTW3 works similarly to its great-grandparent, from my experience in SAI 'support' keeps the destroyers out of the way till you order a flotilla attack (if you have a good enough position for one anyway), and 'screen' keeps them in a tight semicircle in front of the van, which is what I could have done with. They seem to work well enough on AI control for me, though I haven't tried RTW3 yet.
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Post by ewaldvonkleist on Aug 12, 2023 3:33:51 GMT -6
Yes, a destroyer screen would have been prudent in hindsight! Its a miracle we only lost one ship really. Laziness on my part, as I tend to whack every DD flotilla on 'support' when picking my force. I think RTW3 works similarly to its great-grandparent, from my experience in SAI 'support' keeps the destroyers out of the way till you order a flotilla attack (if you have a good enough position for one anyway), and 'screen' keeps them in a tight semicircle in front of the van, which is what I could have done with. They seem to work well enough on AI control for me, though I haven't tried RTW3 yet. In RtW3, the screen usually dissolves the moment enemy ships are spotted. Which makes sense in preparation of long range artillery fights, but with short visibility leaves heavy ships alone. RtW3 DDs also generally don't defend their superior capital ship division against enemy destroyer attacks, instead preferring to stay behind their lead division or on the far side of the action.
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Post by vonfriedman on Aug 12, 2023 9:35:27 GMT -6
How nice it would be if each of us could play some other campaign, for example the Guadalcanal or the Mediterranean campaign, with the game mechanics of RTW2/3....
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Aug 12, 2023 10:00:27 GMT -6
How nice it would be if each of us could play some other campaign, for example the Guadalcanal or the Mediterranean campaign, with the game mechanics of RTW2/3.... I'd love that, the operational scale of SAI with choice of force and mission applied to those would be amazing.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Aug 12, 2023 10:45:11 GMT -6
Week 91 - In Passing
A new batch of light cruisers is arriving - the 29 knot Ersatz Köln class. Meanwhile, capital ship repairs are beginning to wrap up, such that readiness is quite high. Only two battlecruisers are not fit for action. Furthermore, work at Zeebrugge has completed, meaning there is now a berth for a light cruiser down in Flanders. I may decide to send one down when we have enough, as it would make a useful minelayer and destroyer leader down there. Overall, things look good, though more American ships are rumoured to be arriving.
For now, I have enough OPs for another battlecruiser raid, if unsupported. Brass have asked for it, so I will follow orders, adding a raid by the A-boats as a distraction.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Aug 15, 2023 14:53:25 GMT -6
Operation Stettin
The operation begins successfully with a merchant falling victim to our A-boat raid in the Channel. The boats are harassed by aircraft from Harwich as they withdraw, but it is only pot-shots and nothing comes of it.
That night, the battlecruisers reach positions off the English coast, and, with no sign of the enemy at sea, once again prepare to shell their targets. There is no contest - the heavy guns of the scouting group quickly silence those of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The crews have become used to coastal bombardment missions like these, with spotting the HE hits on land being a slightly different game to spotting shell splashes at sea.
After all is over, we retire east and await what may come to find us. The time drags on with nothing to show for it, and I decide to withdraw before the weather gets much worse. Two successive successful raids paints a bad picture for the British - is this a symptom of their losses, or are they choosing to bide their time, refusing to engage, until more reinforcements have arrived for one last decisive battle?
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