I am impressed with unit artwork and detail.

[GiveWarAchance]

T28 is quite dangerous so be careful.
There was one in the final battle of Allied Corp campaign for fighting the Russians and it could wipe whole T-34 units and evil IS-122s with a single pop.

[bru888]

T28 is quite dangerous so be careful.
There was one in the final battle of Allied Corp campaign for fighting the Russians and it could wipe whole T-34 units and evil IS-122s with a single pop.

Look, I'm not afraid of any overgrown pile of junk! Why, I'll . . . [weeeooooooooo, BOOM! sssssssssssss . . . ]

[GiveWarAchance]

Bru, how is the Melbourne adventure going?
Did the super tanks clash?

[bru888]

Bru, how is the Melbourne adventure going?
Did the super tanks clash?

I'm only about half-way through. As I did with Tokyo (the second time), I looked at the map and the secondary objectives and chose to do something unconventional. That is, I landed my core away from where the devs intended perhaps and easily took one objective that would help me while sacrificing another (based on time limit). I built up my forces and cleared Melbourne Bay to enable my army to safely embark, sail across, and invade the other side of the bay. Now I hope to take Melbourne in a pincer movement.

I don't think it's going to be easy, however. The devs have made Melbourne into a large city on the map (it's remarkable how this game can accommodate maps of various scales) and you know how infantry and towed artillery can lurk unseen in city tiles. Including THE DOOM TURTLE which I flew over and that is why it was revealed to me; I have marked the location.

You know this by now but I will mention that across the arc of a campaign, you need to be updating your units as much as possible. That is what I have done here and fortunately they give us a good amount of resources at the beginning of this campaign, plus those carried over from previous scenarios, to do so. I now have all 1945 Marines, the latest Zero versions, and my four tanks are all Pzkw VI tanks purchased from the Germans (from the Yanagi Missions specialisation). Plus I have that Super Heavy Tank I/O which I don't know where it came from. That thing is a waste, though. I had to move it out of a port city because it was being decimated by gunfire from a PT boat!

[GiveWarAchance]

Really? YOu have Tiger tanks as the Japanese? That is weird. They were making new models in latewar historically but unfortunately the US didn't invade Japan itself so they never used them. I would like to try out some advanced Japanese tanks, though most probably they are about the equivalent of a Sherman or Panzer IV.

Why don't you move that super heavy tank to Melbourne to fight the dreaded Doom Turtle?

I want to hear about that Melbourne urban brawl. Do you have the Yamato BB? That beast must be deadly for fire support.

[bru888]

Really? YOu have Tiger tanks as the Japanese? That is weird. They were making new models in latewar historically but unfortunately the US didn't invade Japan itself so they never used them. I would like to try out some advanced Japanese tanks, though most probably they are about the equivalent of a Sherman or Panzer IV.

Why don't you move that super heavy tank to Melbourne to fight the dreaded Doom Turtle?

I want to hear about that Melbourne urban brawl. Do you have the Yamato BB? That beast must be deadly for fire support.

Yes, Japanese Panzer Tiger tanks. Here's one next to the aforementioned super heavy tank.

Screenshot 1.jpg (141.77 KiB) Viewed 4865 times

Don't forget that Rising Sun becomes increasingly fictional as the campaign goes on. Obviously so, since I am invading Australia which never happened, of course. During this campaign there are pop ups about how the Allies are losing the war in Europe, for example.

So, as I mentioned, there is a specialisation that allows you to purchase Pzkw VI tanks as a result of the Japanese alliance with Germany. I believe the idea here was to equalize armored strength for late in the war and for a land campaign that never took place. As far as I know, even the best, most modern Japanese tanks ever developed were not a match for American Sherman tanks, much less the Pershing model (at least one of which is in this scenario - I pounded it into submission with cruiser fire and bomber raids but it took a long time).

Forget about the Chi-Ha models; before converting to Panzers, one of my tanks was this Type 5 Chi-Ri which may be the strongest "real" Japanese tank in the game (relatively "real" that is; it was still being designed and only one prototype unit had been build by the end of the war). Still, I was embarrassed to have it go up against a Sherman and I can only imagine what would happen if it had to battle a Pershing one-on-one.

Screenshot 2.jpg (45.21 KiB) Viewed 4865 times

No battleships for me this time. Too expensive, slow, and vulnerable. I get more clout from multiple cruisers in a scenario like this one.

[bru888]

Oh yes, there are all sorts of goodies waiting for me as I approach Melbourne. Thanks to my trusty Aichi scout plane that I have been using for "years" and somehow miraculously has never been shot down, I detected this Matilda II Hedgehog which sports a 7-chambered spigot mortar in an armoured box on the rear hull, faithfully rendered in the game:

Screenshot 2.jpg (160.44 KiB) Viewed 4856 times

I also spotted this guy, the Sherman M4 Calliope, armed with 60 4-6" rocket tubes mounted above the turret. I am interested to see if the developers animated the Calliope raising its rocket launcher; I am sure they did. The Hedgehog seems to have its mortar already in firing position.

Screenshot 1.jpg (130.16 KiB) Viewed 4856 times

So this is what I face when I get close enough to this ugly customer!

T-34-rocket-launcher-France.jpg (38.07 KiB) Viewed 4856 times

By the way, I will periodically repeat my warning about spoilers in this thread. I am very conscious of this possibility and I hope that I don't inadvertently ruin anyone's fun. I hope people would catch on anyway and stop reading if they are concerned about that.

[GiveWarAchance]

The Japanese Tiger looks nice and has some oppressive looking stats.

The Japanese shouldn't be underestimated for their mechanical abilities. Their new tanks were more advanced than people give them credit for.

The Chi-to tank was waiting to greet the Americans when they visited the Japanese homeland. It is designed to take on Sherman tanks. It seems like a nice tank and has a 75mm cannon and two machine guns.



The brutish Chi-Ri was a stronger, more beautiful tank still in prototype phase in real war, made first with 75mm cannon, but later was going to look like a Tiger with 88mm gun on turret, two machine guns and a 37 hull-mounted cannon for extra fun.

Kanji symbol on turret 'yoi' means good.
This would be nice to have in that Melbourne adventure.

[bru888]

The Japanese shouldn't be underestimated for their mechanical abilities. Their new tanks were more advanced than people give them credit for.

Heh. Not in this game! Here is the long-awaited duel between THE DOOM TURTLE and my Super Heavy Tank I/O.

This is me attacking. The odds don't look good:

Screenshot 5.jpg (176.75 KiB) Viewed 4851 times

Here is the result of my attack:

Screenshot 6.jpg (126.31 KiB) Viewed 4851 times

And this is after the T95 swatted the fly in its turn:

000700.jpg (139.03 KiB) Viewed 4851 times

[bru888]

This was how I finally killed the beast. I surrounded him with four panzer tanks, cutting off his supply, one tank after another blasting away until its armored defenses were finally overcome. (This thing had a defense rating of 28 against mechanised attack!)

Screenshot 10.jpg (93.41 KiB) Viewed 4849 times

Screenshot 11.jpg (102.83 KiB) Viewed 4849 times

Screenshot 12.jpg (92.49 KiB) Viewed 4849 times

[GiveWarAchance]

Oh! That is an epic boss fight. The Doom Turtle did not disappoint. Brooklyn is probably where the US makes its T28 super tanks so it was fighting on home ground.
Was that the final battle of Melbourne? Was there a lot of house to house infantry fighting?

Your super heavy fluff tank looks like the Chi-Ri tank if you look at it closely. It has the tiny 35mm cannon in the hull and the spindly 75mm main gun instead of the 88mm that was planned for later so it's little rounds were just bouncing off the doom turtle.

[bru888]

Oh! That is an epic boss fight. The Doom Turtle did not disappoint. Brooklyn is probably where the US makes its T28 super tanks so it was fighting on home ground.
Was that the final battle of Melbourne? Was there a lot of house to house infantry fighting?

Your super heavy fluff tank looks like the Chi-Ri tank if you look at it closely. It has the tiny 35mm cannon in the hull and the spindly 75mm main gun instead of the 88mm that was planned for later so it's little rounds were just bouncing off the doom turtle.

Yes, it's over and I won but I will not say "of course." On medium difficulty, it was a challenge. The "end around" maneuver that I described earlier (attacking east instead of north, then halting and transferring 3/4ths of my force back west to approach Melbourne from the other direction) cost a lot of time and 100 turns went by quickly.

As you have seen, you will need to maximize your resources and command points in all of land, sea, and air to win this scenario. Modernize as much as possible and get the best armored units that you can. Don't forget that the panzer tanks are available only if you acquired the Yanagi Missions specialisation. You are going to need them, I believe.

There are a couple of other surprises that I will not mention because I have already revealed too much! But I think you will enjoy this scenario very much and you should look forward to it.

Now, for me, it's on to Winter War. When I first hooked up with OOB, I played through U.S. Pacific and a bit of Morning Sun. I put the game aside for a while (who knows what I was thinking?) but when patch 2.9.9 came out, I saw that it had addressed some issues of interest. So I started playing again and have not stopped since: U.S. Pacific (second time), U.S. Marines, Morning Sun, and now Rising Sun. Of those four, I would say Rising Sun is the best.

But I've never played Winter War, have not even looked at Blitzkrieg despite having purchased it, and now there is Kriegsmarine due out soon! So please excuse me while I get back to playing OOB!

[GiveWarAchance]

Were there navy fights too in Rising Sun? I never heard anyone talk about it.
I don't have it yet though and not Pacific campaign either yet.
I finished Morning Sun and I like the large-scale ground battle aspect of it, especially with Japanese army to try out.
You can also play Eriks version of Blitzkrieg. I've been waiting for the bugs to be ironed out of it and maybe it can be played through now.
I did the first mission of Finland campaign. I think I will continue that one next.

[bru888]

This, this is the vaunted Soviet artillery that I have heard so much about?

I brushed this popgun aside as I advanced in Ladoga Karelia:

Screenshot 3.jpg (177.07 KiB) Viewed 4809 times

Regimental_gun_76mm_1927_front.jpg (74.44 KiB) Viewed 4809 times

And this gun, which looked (and sounded?) more impressive, is actually weaker than the other one!

Screenshot 4.jpg (149.76 KiB) Viewed 4809 times

I laugh at Soviet artillery! Do you hear? Laugh, laugh, laugh!

[Famous last words.]

[GiveWarAchance]

That's a cute little cannon made for children to play with. Probably just bounces its little shells off Finnish forts like jingle bells.

That louder 76.2mm gun is only 0.2mm bigger than the children's cannon which is about the same as the width of a strand of human hair which is 0.18mm. I doubt the extra hitting power from the power boost of a width of a strand of hair will be noticeable.

[bru888]

I thought this plane looked familiar! It's a Polikarpov I-15, the same make (less one model number) as the fighters that were flown by Soviet pilots in one of the Morning Sun scenarios (see my post in the first page of this thread). It makes sense - wherever the Soviets were trying to influence matters (China, Spain) or directly doing battle (Mongolia, Finland), this airplane would have been in use.

Screenshot 1.jpg (172.03 KiB) Viewed 4781 times

640px-Polikarpov_I-15bis.jpg (69.14 KiB) Viewed 4781 times

[bru888]

Oh baby! Just what the doctor ordered. My very own T-26 tank to do battle with the red one that is tearing up my Finnish ski troops down on Lake Whatchamacallit.

000703.jpg (77.51 KiB) Viewed 4777 times

T26_parola_1.jpg (159.77 KiB) Viewed 4777 times

[GiveWarAchance]

I wonder what armament that little Polikarpov plane has? A machine gun in the nose? I wonder if the plane is related to the chess player Karpov?
We got to use that little T-26 in Morning Sun too. I think it is very slightly more anti-tank than the Japanese tanks but weaker at mopping up infantry with less machine guns.

[bru888]

I am very grateful for my Dornier Do-17 bombers. I am putting them to good use, as you see here.

Screenshot 1.jpg (162.8 KiB) Viewed 4741 times

However, I am wondering if they and the other German-made bomber available to the Finns, the Junkers Ju-88, are a bit of an anachronism. From what I read, Finland did not turn to Germany for military aid until after the Winter War (see "Military history of Finland" in Wikipedia). The two countries then cooperated in the run up to Operation Barbarossa, and war between Finland and the Soviet Union broke out again shortly thereafter (the so-called "Continuation War") with Germany openly aiding Finland.

The other plane that I have is the Fokker D.XXI (and it's in a bit of trouble right now). From the name "Fokker," I thought that might be German, too, but it turns out that this fighter originated in the Netherlands! I knew that Germany flew Fokker fighters in World War I but what I did not know is that they bought them from Anthony Fokker, a Dutch aircraft manufacturer.

Screenshot 2.jpg (132.52 KiB) Viewed 4741 times

This led me to search for a real picture of the Fokker D.XXI. I was quite surprised by this one, however, as these planes are sporting swastikas! I was not aware that the Finnish Air Force from the beginning had used a blue swastika on a white background as their insignia (see "Finnish Air Force" in Wikipedia). They used it until the end of World War II.

Fokker_D.XXI.jpg (80.97 KiB) Viewed 4741 times

As we have discussed elsewhere, the developers have chosen not to use this hated symbol in the game, and I fully agree. This is one instance in which I am glad that they were not so meticulous with their artwork.

[GiveWarAchance]

The Finnish campaign includes the follow up war so there is German equipment included.