It will be interesting to see if Germany can get a leg up by getting out the door first, or if their commitment to slow conventional engines will see them left in the dust by the Japanese and Russians. Mechanically of course it isn't likely to make a lot of difference since it will take such a long time for anyone to find useful rocks to colonize, assuming Luna and Mars end up being divvied up between all four players anyways, but politically there will be much made of every small gain beyond an opponent's reach.So far, out of character, I suspect that the Germans will be behind in the space race due to their commitment to the Entdecken-class and the conventional engines. As a player, I want to give each nation a chance to get ahead of the others. But I do agree regarding that, in the mechanics, it doesn't change too much.
The Entdecken-class designers are likely to receive a stern reprimand from their Space Kreigsmarine superiors once someone realizes that they placed too much fuel and not enough crew quarters into their design. :o Unless they are saved by the bell and receive better armor materials to use instead which will make some extra space on board for more life-support facilities.
It seems the space Kriegsmarine didn't notice that one! Nor did I to be honest! I'm not sure what more crew quarters would do for the ship. Personally, I use fuel storage/engineering spaces as a way to get to target tonnage numbers. I am out of the loop on what more crew quarters would do.
Many questions remain to be answered...
I am going to be cutting down on the granularity of what is posted in the reports. It's getting exhausting to post and check what each nation is researching/building.
I must admit some curiosity about American involvement in this timeline. It does seem they've successfully been distracted by meddling in other countries' affairs, but the lack of a historical US space program is curious, though I suppose not entirely inexplicable if all the ex-#### rocket scientists have been retained by the other powers for the purposes of building TN spaceships, particularly if many have chosen to remain in Germany in this timeline.In my headcanon of this setting, the Soviets were able to get some of the rocket scientists. Some of the scientists fled to the United Kingdom and stayed there after 1945. Many more stayed in western Germany to finish Projekt Duranium. I was considering to spacemaster in the United States as a later entry into the game.
The last few updates are quite ominous and I await the resolution eagerly.
In my headcanon of this setting, the Soviets were able to get some of the rocket scientists. Some of the scientists fled to the United Kingdom and stayed there after 1945. Many more stayed in western Germany to finish Projekt Duranium. I was considering to spacemaster in the United States as a later entry into the game.
Now with Vietnam as a proving ground it will be interesting to see what conclusions the different powers draw about their own TN military techs. We may see a covert arms race for bigger and heavier weapons rather than just bigger TN armies.Especially with the neutronium/TN material shortages that are impacting the world economy!
I have a minor gripe about terminology. In the UK, we have the British Army not the Royal Army (dates back to the Civil War in the 1600s).Ill fix that right now! I had no clue, to be honest! I appreciate being informed about the proper phrasing.
The second one is that in the time period in question, the the "base" unit that would be created would be the regiment (normally consisting of 2-3 battalions and 1+ Territorial Army (home defense/reserve) battalion(s)), unless you coinsider the TN forces to be specialists that would be distributed to other units on a more as-needed basis, in which case something like "Royal TN Corps" would be more appropriate.Would the Regiments be organized into divisions? Or would Regiment be the highest formation? If the regiment is the highest formation, then I can just keep the current organization and move a few battalions around. This is VERY insightful and good to know!
Please dont take this as a critisism of the AAR as a whole (its good and I want to read more :) )Ofcourse! Thank you for your constructive feedback and knowledge! Im also going to be giving names to these regiments, seeing how the British name theirs in real life!
I take mild amusement from the fact that a CMC was established all the way out on Io a year before humans colonized the moon. This could certainly be read as a triumph of capitalism over the spirit of adventure, and I have no doubt the Soviets are privately furious about this.Ill be sure to add in how the Vietnam War is going! The last report was mostly about the colonization, didn't help that I accidentally deleted my notes of 1959-62. But all is well!
I would like to know more about how the TN equipment in Vietnam is performing and what lessons the clandestine (or not) participants are learning from the reports filtering back to their government offices.
Would the Regiments be organized into divisions? Or would Regiment be the highest formation? If the regiment is the highest formation, then I can just keep the current organization and move a few battalions around. This is VERY insightful and good to know!
Would the Regiments be organized into divisions? Or would Regiment be the highest formation? If the regiment is the highest formation, then I can just keep the current organization and move a few battalions around. This is VERY insightful and good to know!
Not to preempt the proper Britishmen in the thread, but by the end of WWII the British had an organization for which the terminology was a bit wonky, but broadly a "regiment" would be a supporting element of a division or brigade. British divisions still used the brigade nomenclature with 3x infantry brigades and 1x artillery brigade plus supporting units. However, the infantry brigades were in turn made up of 3x infantry battalions plus supporting units, while the artillery brigades were made up of several regiments instead (though battalion-size equivalent).
In general the regimental system had fallen out of favor by WWII due to the horrendous effects on the British population during WWI, so you still see the regimental terminology survive in some formations but at least for the infantry and armo(u)r it was phased out in favor of battalion/brigade nomenclature.
Post-WWII I can't speak to with any real knowledge, but as WWII is the point of departure here this is a reasonable starting point.
words
The way I have been RPing it in my games is to form 2-3 battalions per regiment, and keep 1-2 on my homeworld with the remaining one deployed to another body.words
To clarify, I think it is important to differentiate between talking about the British administrative or mobilization scheme versus their orders of battle. At least in WWII, British divisions were not organized by regiments but rather with brigades made up of battalions - at least for the infantry and armoured elements, as artillery and some others were listed as regiments in the OOB. The latter is what I'm talking about, as I think it is the more relevant for Aurora since mobilization in Aurora is highly abstracted if not arguably nonexistent entirely due to how GU production works.
That said I am thankful for clarifications on the matters of British mobilization as I was admittedly unclear on their role under the (administrative) corps. I know the British Army reformed the use of the regimental system in the aftermath of WWI due to the localized devastation to some regions but I seem to know less than I ought about the subject.
Ill be changing how I currently organize the British Army in the Duranium Curtain game. Currently, in the game, a regiment consists of 3-5 battalions in the British Army.No, Im afraid not. So it depends on if you want to RP the non-deployed battalions. If you dont want to RP them, you would probably get away with renaming battalions to regiments (and abstract the non-deployed battalions as the battalions switch automatically w/out player involvement) and renaming your regiments to brigades. If you want to include them, it becomes much more complicated and much more micro-intensive.
Regiments will act as division headquarters. The built regiments will be renamed to battalions and the battalions will be renamed to brigades.
If I am understanding this, this organization nomenclature would be correct?
Now with Vietnam as a proving ground it will be interesting to see what conclusions the different powers draw about their own TN military techs. We may see a covert arms race for bigger and heavier weapons rather than just bigger TN armies.Especially with the neutronium/TN material shortages that are impacting the world economy!
July 1962
The Soviets, Germans, and the Japanese have finished their survey of the Sol System.
A memoir from an ARVN soldier details the destructive power of the United States Automatic Kinetic Machinegun:
"Pressing down the trigger of the machine gun destroys whatever I am aiming at. Tree, bush, or Viet-Cong. My platoon was armed with four of these machine guns. More destructive power than an anti-material rifle from the first Indochina war... I fear that the wrong people have access to this power and potency."
Pictured: the 1st Guards Regiment TO&E
Vendarite is in high stockpile throughout most nations (besides the United States) the mines have run dry, however. Corundium and Neutronium supplies and mines are dwindling.Now with Vietnam as a proving ground it will be interesting to see what conclusions the different powers draw about their own TN military techs. We may see a covert arms race for bigger and heavier weapons rather than just bigger TN armies.Especially with the neutronium/TN material shortages that are impacting the world economy!
Would this have a major impact? The ground units principally use Vendarite I think, a mineral I for one can never seem to use up at any great rate...