SDN World 3 Commentary Thread III

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Fin, did you just spent two times your entire budget or is there something I am not getting?

Eh? The total budget is 570 points. However, Steve allowed me to use the research points I accumulated in the last year as surplus which I am spending slowly.

[Thanas]

Fin, did you just spent two times your entire budget or is there something I am not getting?

Eh? The total budget is 570 points. However, Steve allowed me to use the research points I accumulated in the last year as surplus which I am spending slowly.

Ah, that explains it. Of course, that is only fair, those should not go to waste.

Oh, and I think your budget is actually 572 points.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Fin, did you just spent two times your entire budget or is there something I am not getting?

Eh? The total budget is 570 points. However, Steve allowed me to use the research points I accumulated in the last year as surplus which I am spending slowly.

Ah, that explains it. Of course, that is only fair, those should not go to waste.

Oh, and I think your budget is actually 572 points.

Ah gah.. Lemme take at it later.

[RogueIce]

Well Steve threatened Modnir if we didn't bring ourselves up to at least Q3 1926 and you were just a well intentioned neutral providing services so naturally we let Steve mediate...he became you for a hot minute.

Well I'm sure I would have been able to come up with something equally good. But hey, the US still gets the IC credit so I'm good.

Unrelated but if you are on AIM tonight we need to sort out California.

I'll be around.

[Lascaris]

Well Steve threatened Modnir if we didn't bring ourselves up to at least Q3 1926 and you were just a well intentioned neutral providing services so naturally we let Steve mediate...he became you for a hot minute.

Well I'm sure I would have been able to come up with something equally good. But hey, the US still gets the IC credit so I'm good.

Unrelated but if you are on AIM tonight we need to sort out California.

I'll be around.

You can all let Britain have California in order to avoid problems between you I'm certain.

[RogueIce]

You can all let Britain have California in order to avoid problems between you I'm certain.

Don't make me break out my apprioprately themed mod-like weapon on you.

Speaking of mod stuff, we made an update to build times, albeit a minor one:

10-25,000T Displacement: 15 months construction, 9 months trials.

(It was originally 16 build, 8 trials)

Essentially it's a minor difference only (it'll still take 2 years to enter service) and we did it for ease of the build queues. Now it is in times divisible by 3, ie quarter years which is how we tend to track it anyway.

Note this is not retroactive by force; any 10kt - 25kt ships already being built will keep their old construction times. This only applies to brand new construction.

EDIT: This would apply to new 10kt - 25kt ships started in Q4 1926. If you have such a ship that began construction Q3 1926 or earlier it will not affect you.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Researching to the next level is multiples of 50.

3 to 4: 200 IBPs over 2 years

...Great. That means I've thrown away 245 IBPs over the first seven quarters. Spending 60 per quarter for two years when all I needed was 25... What to do now...

[Steve]

Well, you can gripe about it, or you can appeal to me for permission to re-do your queues for the last two quarters to compensate?

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Well, you can gripe about it, or you can appeal to me for permission to re-do your queues for the last two quarters to compensate?

Actually, I'll just address it here, because I also have a few questions regarding the revised tech upgrade rule.

60 points a quarter for one year is 240 points total, more than necessary to get up to level 4. Seeing as I started upgrading as soon as 1925 began, I just wait all through 1926 before I'm able to reap the benefits of my new tech, right? Even if the 180 IBPs I've spent on upgrades all through '26 get freed up, what happens to those other 40 IBPs that I blew back in '25?

[Steve]

You get them back as well.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

You get them back as well.

Actually, all those figures I gave earlier should be doubled, as I was performing simultaneous tech upgrades on both my army and air force. In any case, I hope I interpreted your ruling on that matter correctly with regards to my construction queues.

[Steve]

Lonestar! You bastard!

Those poor dolphins.

[Steve]

Baerne, Lascaris, we do need to discuss at least a quick recount of the state visits to Paris and London (also, Thanas and I will probably put something up for the visit to Madrid with MoP gone).

Raesene, Fin, I should have the first segment of a joint post done soon.

[Thanas]

Two new monsterposts churned out. I think I can deal with my Q3 issues tomorrow and then move on to Q4 easily.

[Steve]

As lightly detailed as it was, there's something appealing about how short, brief, and sweet Baerne's post is.

[CmdrWilkens]

As a "by the way" moment because of the weird time warp that the Panamanian War ran in to the ceasefire was affected on roughly the 22nd of August 1925 and formal negotiations began in Havanna on the September 8th (no way the Mexicans would agree to have negotiations start then be interrupted by Labor Day (well Labor Day for the US and Canada but with the US as negotiator/mediator... yeah) So the actual treaty was agreed to in principal some time around late February/Early March and because there was a sick sense of humor amongst those present the actual signing date was 15 March 1926.

Mexico ratifies on 2 July 1926 (the government pushed it through as the last bit of business before the weekend and a two week recess) while Gran Colombia ratifies ... whenever Ryan wants them to ... though I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 20 July. Anyway the peace treaty is fully in effect by that point.

[RogueIce]

So, did I read that right? German BCs to be stationed in the Caribbean? The first rate ones?

[Thanas]

So, did I read that right? German BCs to be stationed in the Caribbean? The first rate ones?

No, you did not read that right. Here is the situation:

Our closest ally Spain has a small Navy for such a widespread empire. They have got only 4 BBs and 2 BCs that can be called first rate. And of those ships, 2 BBs are already in the Caribbean. That means they have got less than a full squadron with which to guard their shore. (not counting the Espanas, which are only good as convoy escorts/cruiser killers)
As Germany is depending upon Spain to guard its trade routes in the caribbean and in the southwest atlantic (like we do for Spain in the Pacific and North sea), with them serving as a deterrent in the mediterranean as well....how are they going to accomplish to be any kind of deterrent with such a small force (granted, they will get 4 new BBs and 2 new BCs built in Germany, but these will not enter service before Q4 1927).
Germany however has a lot of old BCs hanging around. These include the 3 - Derfflinger class BCs, the two Moltke class, SMS Seydlitz and SMS von der Tann. The latter is now a special service/training ship. The others are not fit to stand in the line of battle anymore, at least not to German standards - they are armed with 12"/50 guns only and can not achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots, which is the standard for German BCs. Furthermore, their most likely enemy, the British, have 15" armed BCs. So Germany is sending those ships where they might do something good - serve as additional deterrent and help guard the spanish coast. And this also clears up space in German harbors, which is needed to accomodate the new ships entering service.


Or the tl;dr version: They are second rank battlecruisers and only one (the SMS Derfflinger) is going to the caribbean. The rest will train with the Spanish Navy and help guard their coast.

[Ryan Thunder]

As a "by the way" moment because of the weird time warp that the Panamanian War ran in to the ceasefire was affected on roughly the 22nd of August 1925 and formal negotiations began in Havanna on the September 8th (no way the Mexicans would agree to have negotiations start then be interrupted by Labor Day (well Labor Day for the US and Canada but with the US as negotiator/mediator... yeah) So the actual treaty was agreed to in principal some time around late February/Early March and because there was a sick sense of humor amongst those present the actual signing date was 15 March 1926.

Mexico ratifies on 2 July 1926 (the government pushed it through as the last bit of business before the weekend and a two week recess) while Gran Colombia ratifies ... whenever Ryan wants them to ... though I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 20 July. Anyway the peace treaty is fully in effect by that point.

Oh, the treaty would probably get pushed through in a week or so. The limiting factor would be how long it took my officials to make it through the terrible French.

[RogueIce]

Or the tl;dr version: They are second rank battlecruisers and only one (the SMS Derfflinger) is going to the caribbean. The rest will train with the Spanish Navy and help guard their coast.

Ah, ok. I thought I read it as their going to the Spanish coast, but I wasn't sure. Hence why I asked. Thanks for the clarification.

[Akhlut]

I'd like to continue playing, but, I don't know. I'm having a hard time giving a shit, honestly, and without Afghanistan and Shepistan doing anything, either, I have a hard time doing too much. Plus, with the Soviet-Manchu War apparently fizzling into nothingness and China still sitting on their thumbs, I'm kind of out of luck. I have no navy to go do stuff with, no real diplomatic clout outside of my little region, and my few attempts at rabble-rousing with the Bloody Baron have gone nowhere, because I don't want to presume to make an affect on another player's country and no one's using his book to make stuff happen, which might goad him into doing more things.

Plus, I don't particularly care for the research rules. I had just enough patience for the current point system we had, and now I just don't particularly want to get involved with that sort of thing.

Sorry if I'm rambling a bit, but the point remains: I'd like to do more, but, I am having some extreme motivational problems at the moment. Not really anyone's fault, but it's there. If I were a bit more motivated, even the lack of stuff in Mongolia's region wouldn't be as big of a hindrance, but, my lack of motivation combined with no action for me to react to is essentially making me drop the game de jure after this long de facto drop.

[Thanas]

why not take over the soviets?

[Steve]

Hrm. Well, Bluewolf thought the game was dead and hasn't been paying attention, Beowulf is very busy apparently, and Russia is an NPC.

Want to try your hand at Brazil? Brazil and Angola are open. Haven't heard from Raj so I can't say anything about Chiletina. Portugal is also open I think - don't remember if Norade requested it be reserved for him to return to or not. Sorchus has been MIA so the Sudanese Empire is available as well.

[Siege]

Although if you pick the Sudanese I'd appreciate if you were to coordinate your take-over with me, considering my force disposition is heavily dependent on the informal understanding I had with Sorchus vis-a-vis our immediate surroundings in the south.

[Steve]

Open countries are, to my knowledge:

Siam
Poland
Brazil
Sudan
Angola
Russia/Soviets (I had in mind some potential for political upheaval over the Manchuria War)
Sudan

Countries not declared open but with players who have failed to post in any sufficient quantity as of late:

Chiletina
China
Japan
Spain
Portugal
Madagascar (Somewhat, I know Ma Deuce has been around a bit, not sure of his status)

Note that in the latter cases, especially in the cases of China and Japan, I would be open to new players because Bluewolf and Zor have basically freaking disappeared.