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My 9,000 km march to Moscow was largely an exercise in managing and re-designing a huge, largely barren region. I complicated the task by becoming very anal about turning white and green territory into U.S. blue territory. Recon units were invaluable in traversing the wide open spaces of Siberia and the Russian steppe. I used them to create blue corridores to divide Russia into huge "island" sections. I would then fly in an airborne ECB and have them establish a military fortress or airfield in the center of this "island". My hope was that this new supply source would blossom, push my borders of control and eventually overlap with adjacent "islands":



Part of the reason for this land aquisition mania was that I was constantly mindful of China, and how I lost Eastern Russia to her in my last game. China did DOW me twice during the mission, but quickly accepted a peace treaty on both occasions.

The most practical part of nationalizing Westen Russia was to lock up her rich Siberian oil fields and capture her relatively few oil/gas facilities. I am always amazed by how little oil development the AI accomplishes. Just look at Russia and Saudi Arabia - vast petroleum rich resources and the only reason that they have any oil/gas fields there is that these were provided by the designer of the map.

This was another foolish effort and I really knew better - it just caused Russia to sell more bonds. See my description here:

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=15900&start=15

All of this capture of Russian oil and fabs sounds good but it needs to be taken into consideration that the more of Russia the U.S. forces occupied and the more of their units that were destroyed, the less the Russian need for oil and regional protection.

On the actual combat mission I would capture dozens of Russian military facilities both large and small. Once I had out-distanced the last barracks or air-field I would stop and construct new ones. This also gave my damaged units time to recover in the "hospital". You are not permitted to die in my army and I quickly pull any wounded unit off the line and send it for repair.

But repaired bases and fabs left in the rear could not just be abandoned. They needed to be garrisoned to protect them from China and later from Russian guerrilla forces. And since I had modded Garrison units to be ineffective, I had to leave dozens of my Airborne and Marines behind to do the job. This made my transport network of helos and cargo planes indespensable.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

Russian air became increasingly effective, especially with the arrival of harassing Werewolf attack helicopters. Aircraft that were surpressed in the East fled to the West and seemed to build up into a stronger and stronger force.

The really annoying thing about Russian attack aircraft (mostly Foxbats) was that they did not seem to know when to quit. When faced with my light-to-medium AA, they would not break off their attacks, but would persist until badly damaged.

This may be partially due to my modding, in which I reduced the number of AA batteries per unit from 20/40/70 to just 20 each. I thought it unfair that AA squads would out-number the number of attacking aircraft and units of 70 MOPADS is just silly.

Russia had some land attack missiles, but I don't recall any aircraft firing any. Russian missile attacks were so infrequent that it was a total surprise each time they occured. Towards the end of the campaign I had strong, long-range AA in place, so incoming Russian missiles were just neutralized.

The AI has a big problem with in-appropriate missile load-outs of its platforms. None of its platforms specialize, so that less than 1/3 of their loaded missiles is appropriate for a hard land target. I can't imagine an AI attacking fortifications, so 1/3 of its loadout is useless. The other third is for naval targets - again not much use defending the Russian interior.

Although it is very hard to tell through all of the explosions from the attacks, I would say that my most of my losses in the Russian campaign were from missiles and aircraft. There was really no alternative - the U.S. would just have to "suck it up" and sustain the damages.

Regardless of how dire their military situation became, Russia never launched a nuclear strike.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

At the beginning of this game I took pains to surround Russia and China with my allies. This made for some strange "bed-fellows", including Kazakhstan. KS was also at war with Russia. Russia had pushed KS back East-ward from the Caspian Sea to the Aral Sea, some 335,000 square km of KS territory. KS was eager to get this territory and its loyal citizans back. KS doesn't have many resources (units) but it is a huge region. And what few units it does have are very persistent.

The problems started when my forces got to the North-West KS border - from then on I was in competition with KS for Russian facilities and territory.

The first real problem started when I had units inside North-West KS. I was attempting to take some Russian gas/oil fields near there. To my astonishment, as I started to move my units West out of KS, I started dragging the KS border with me. From then on, everywhere I went in Russia, KS tanks would follow me, often dragging their regional border with them.

See the map here:



The U.S. is in blue and Russia in purple. To the right in green is KS. Center left is a barracks/air-field that was in heavy contention. Bottom left is the green section of "New Kazakhstan" that I helped to create.

In the main game KS was just a pest. However in a replay of the Battle of Moscow I attempted to nail down some important military bases that I had lost to Ukraine and Latvia, prior to taking Moscow and Russia. In this replay KS actually cut my main body off from Moscow, leaving a strip of KS territory between me and the Russian capital!

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

This long 9,000 km march had U.S. forces constantly looking for relief from Russian air attacks. At each point along the route they looked forward to neutralizing each successive Russian air hub. However each such conquest brought them that much closer to the next one. The introduction of large quanties of long-range AA late in the campaign went a long way towards rectifying this situation.

U.S. units losses were kept artificially low by pulled out each one that had sustained more than 30% damage. This provided a constant pool of newly repaired units that could be rotated back to the front. Personal casualties however were high with the U.S. suffering 143,000 casualties. That is enough personnel to man over 2000 units.

Since U.S. artillery was largely ineffective (except on a scale of days), land-launched missiles became increasingly important.
Towards to latter part of the campaign the U.S. had accumulated a large stockpile of missiles.

Early in the game the U.S. traded with China for the design for its super-long-range WS-2 MLSR/launcher. By the end of the Russian campaign, captured Russian land fabs had produced large number of them, With the introduction of WS-2 MLRS/launchers onto the battlefield on-coming Russian armored units and Engineers could be plinked off fairly easily.

The U.S. modded missiles were even capable to striking and destroying Russian AA units.

The following were the most important U.S. units in the Russian campaign:

Infantry

Marines
Engineers
M2A4 Bradley IFV
Airborne ECB engineers
M113A2 APCs
IFV-1 Crow laser equipped Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

Recon

M1242-RV Molnar

Tanks

M1A1 Abrams
M1080/M1090 FCS

Artillery

WS-2 400mm MLRS/Launcher
M109A2
M1211A2 125mm Mortar
HIMARS
M270A1

AA
Avenger
MIM-204 MEADS
MIM-210 THAAD ERINT

Air
F-16c Falcon
F/A 18 Hornet
F-22 Raptor
B-2 Bomber

Transport
C-5A
C-17A

Transport helos

UH-60A Blackhawk

Patrol

Satellites
E-10A Constellation

Missiles

M47LG-ATAMCS (modded)
AGM-154 APW JSOW (modded)

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

Oct 11, 2023

The Volga River is over 2000 km long, but the portion that we are dealing with here is just a 700 km stretch along the path of the U.S. advance towards Moscow. This important section was heavily defended at three points - in the North at the air/barracks complex at Yelabuga, at the land/fab/barracks at Ul'Yanovsk (South of the road to Moscow) and further South at the land fab/barracks at Tatishchevo, near the river city of Saratov.

A third land fab/barracks/air-field in the North, across the river from the Russian city of Perm and a fourth land fab/barracks/airfield further South at Volgograd could both easily be by-passed, were it not for the fact that they guarded an oil/gas fields. The same was true for the Tatishchevo base. In addition, it is never a good idea never to leave your flanks exposed (and always cover your 6).

A screenshot of the battle is here:



Russia is in purple and the U.S. in blue. Right of center, surrounding the U.S. territory wraps the Volga River. As you can see, the U.S. has already sent a small force take the air/barracks complex at Yelabuga and across the river to capture an important bridge. At top-right is the base-complex/oil field at Perm. Right of center is the fab/barracks complex at Ul'Yanovsk. Bottom-center is Tatishchevo and bottom right is green re-taken Kazakhstani territory. Left-of-center is the super-base at Pavlovo and to the far left (fittingly) is the U.S. main objective - the Russian captial Moscow.

There are no sea-piers or defensive Russian naval vessels on this section of the Volga. The nearest one is in the far South at Rostov-na-Donu on the Sea of Azov.

The Order of battle:

In total Russia had 28 Military facilities, bases and air-fields along the entire lenght of the Volga.

The U.S. had 330 units in theatre, with 257 in the rear-echelon and 31 units enroute in the "pipeline" from CONUS. World-wide the U.S. had 880 units deployed and 2403 in reserve. They also had 3124 (modded) hard-attack land-launched missiles and 452 air-launched. The U.S. now has dozens of super-long range WS-2 MLRS, all loaded with powerful modded anti-armor missiles.

Out of 1606 total units deployed, Russia has 167 covering the Volga, including 12 combat AC. Not counting soft-target missiles they had 60 land launched missiles and 430 air-launched.

The Russians have no tanks guarding the Volga, but a few are on-call from points West. The U.S. has tanks - a lot of tanks: M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams and M1080 FCS.

At this point in time the U.S. has destroyed 2528 Russian units (including garrisons). Russian MAR is at 31%, despite the fact the they have suffered 2.56 million casualties in battles with Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mongolia, China and the U.S.

The U.S. main-body is split into one large (105 units) Northern force opposing Perm and a second one (95 units) in the South opposite Ul'Yanovsk. Numerious other small groups of units are probing the length of the river.

Most of the U.S. strong-points (captured Russian bases) are far behind them to the East.

There are the six newly captured air-fields in the South hosting FB-22 Raptors, F/A 18C Hornets, F-15E Strike Eagles, F-16c Falcons, F-112 Blackbird II and a eight B-2 bomber aircraft. In the North a barracks/air-field complex South-East of Perm is hosting 7 F-12 Interceptor aircraft.

The UH-60 Blackhawk helo-taxi service is running to air-transport Marines and Airborned units to air-transport hubs full of C-5A and C-17A transport planes. Air-drops are also very dangerous due to the Russian air-superiority and are only used to drop airborne units onto Russian gas/oil fields.

Each large land unit group has a single E-10A Constellation air patrol plane up. But air-patrol of the Russian front is a dangerous business due to the long-range Russian S-400 Triumf AA units and the vicious Russian air-cover. The U.S. reconnaissance satellite web is nearly complete.

Intelligence reports that the four main targets are defended on the ground largely by "soft" units such as artillery and AA. The U.S. campaign and Russia's constant other wars have taken a serious toll on Russian armor. And the U.S. now controls six of the former Russian land fabs.

But each major target on the Volga is associated with a defeniding airbase, equipped with plenty of attack aircraft. Also each Russian industrial facility and town has at least one armored unit or Engineer defending it. These can quickly be called in to defend the larger base.

December 7th, 2023

The second U.S. move is to take the Volga bridge at Balakovo so as to group and supply across the river just North-East of the target

complex at Tatishchevo. One 50 units of the Southern body breaks off and heads South-West across the Volga. U.S. missile launcher units pound the Tatishchevo land fab/barracks complex until it is totally defenseless, except for its garrisons. The nearby town of Saratov is also bombarded. The Russian oil/gas field lies between U.S. and Russian forces, also undefended:



U.S. forces quickly snap up the oil/gas field and quickly roll into the target land fab. Their three MIM-210 repels the air-attack from the associated Russian airbase and soon the AB is captured too. The U.S. has successfully crossed the Volga and is on the direct road that leads to Moscow.

This allow a smaller U.S.force to drive East and capture the road to Mosocow.

Meanwhile the remaining half of the Southern force crosses the Volga at Znigulevsk and quickly take the Russian air-field at Syzran. They re-group, wait for supply and drive North-West across-country and take the land fab/air complex at Ul'Yanovsk. This successfully completes a three-point capture of the central Volga River and the gateway to Moscow.

In a simular manner a portion of the large Northern U.S. body Enters the Russian city of Perm, crosses the Volga and after a pitched battle captures the third target land fab at Krasnokamsk. They then roll West and capture the two oil/gas fields there.

So ends the Battle of the Volga River. On to Moscow.

But before taking the Russian capital there is one thing standing in their way - the super-base at Pavlovo.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

Jan 14, 2024

Pavlovo is located on a Northern tributary of the Volga River, 544 km North-East of Moscow. It is one of Russia's two remaining super-bases. The other is at Apatity, located in far Northern Russia on the Kola Pennisula. Pavlovo is the site of a large air fabrication complex with a large land fab complex across the river at Nizhniy Novgorod.

Surprisingly, Pavlovo is also an inland sea-port with a sea-pier, a naval fab, combat ships, transport ships and even submarines.

Here is a screenshot of U.S. units approaching Pavlovo:



Russia had nearly exhausted its supply of tanks, but still held air-superiority over its own territory. However by this time the U.S. has plenty of long-range AA protection. Since Russia has strong LRAA as well, there exists an air-standoff at the Battle of Pavlovo.

Order of Battle:

Russia had approximately 281 units including:

6 Engineers
24 Infantry
7 Recon
0 Tanks
13 ATs
20 MLRS range 70 km
69 Artillery
97 AA (7 SA-20 - range 200 km)
32 Bridging Units
1 Attack Helo
3 Blackjack Bombers
5 Transport AC
5 Patrol AC,
6 Transport ships and
6 submarines
2 CGN range 22 km

Land-launched Missiles:

20 Stone anti-fortification
51 Stone soft-attack
22 hard-attack
140 Scuds
27 Nukes


U.S.

212 units from the Eastern group and and additional 95 from the SE group, including:
8 Engineers
20 Misc. Infantry
55 IFV-1 Crow Laser fighting vehicles
26 Tanks
25 ATs
16 Misc. MLRS
31 long range (302 km) WS-2 400mm MLRS
14 long-range (61-km) Artillery
18 short-range (24 km) Mortars
11 long range (71 km) Mortars
14 Long-range mid-air capable AA
8 short-range close-air AA
17 supply vehicles
24 Fighter/Bombers (not used)
8 Interceptors (not used)

Land-launched missiles:
830 (modded M44 ATACMS)

At the start of the battle, Russian MAR was just 13%. The U.S. started hoping for a surrender.

Although it is not evident from the unit numbers, this battle was a total mis-match in the favor of the U.S. Russia possessed about twice as much artillery, however its average range was just 34 km, compaired the U.S. long-range mortars and guns with ranges of about 70 km.

Russia possessed MLRS with ranges of 70 km but they all clustered North and were out of range of the U.S. units. The U.S. on the other hand had more MLRS, many of which were WS-2 MLRS/launchers with super-long with ranges of 302 km.

The U.S. had many tanks and Russia has none on-site.

The U.S. had twice Russia's infantry and most of the U.S. units sported laser weaponry.

The predominate Russian unit type was the AA unit, none of which did it any good, because the U.S. will not risk it aircraft against such heavy AA. The role of Russian aircraft is unknown, except that many must have been destroyed when their air-field was captured.

The two arms of the U.S. main body arrived and waited for supply. They then arranged themselves in standard formation just outside of Russian artillery range- armor at the front with artillery behind and AA behind Artillery. All units were ordered to entrench and this policy was rigidly enforced. Supply trucks were set to patrol back and forth between the battle-front and better-supplied areas to the rear.

Russia kicked off the engagement with a volly of missiles, which bounced off the U.S. AA cover. This was followed by a series of suicide probes by Russian Recon units and Engineers.

The slow attrition of soft Russian units under the bombardment of U.S. artillery was quite evident. The U.S. advantage was not readilly evident so U.S. forces settled in for a long battle and began to pick armored targets for its precision land-attack missiles. 830 missiles may seem like a lot but, although the U.S. used them sparingly, they quickly ran out. This left the operation to wait for a trickle of new missiles to come off the assembally line.

Eight Russian tanks quickly arrived from the West, but within one week Russia had 6 engineers and 6 tanks in hospital.

Any U.S. units that seemed to be suffering from damage from Russian artillery were relocated back one hex and re-entrenched. Eventually the battle grew static, except for the constant exchange of artillery.

Most of the U.S. main body had arrived and formed up South of the river. This left dozens of units to distant from the front to be effective. So the U.S. begain slowly moving combat units from the rear across the the river to form a second battle-front and to more completely surround Pavlovo.

As the battle stretched on day after day the U.S. finally decided that Russian defendes had been sufficiently weakened to risk a closer approach. With 212 units, re-deployment is not an easy task but hex by hex armor and them artillery were advanced and re-entrenched nearer and nearer to Russian occupied hexes. Most of the Russian front-line units were soft AA and artillery and were quickly damaged by the closing U.S. infantry units. The real risk for the U.S. was approaching withing effective range of Russian artillery.

Once it became clear that the defending artillery was inflicting significant damage to U.S. forces the decision was made to stage a mass attack on Pavlovo. This was a stunning success and the superior U.S. laser fire-power quickly became eveident. Dozens of IFV-1 Crow laser units inflicted heavy damage on the largely soft Russian super-base formation.

Well-supplied U.S. tanks took out Russian Engineers and BMP armor. U.S. artillery continued to hammer away at the Russian formation and its newly sprung garrison units. Damaged U.S. units are quickly identified, withdrawn and sent to the rear for repair.

Near the end the U.S. commits transport aircraft to re-supply the hungry U.S. armor.

February 4th, 2024

The battle is over and U.S. units have taken up defensive positions prior to the big attack on Moscow. Many U.S. units are under repair in the unit "hospitals".

Russia has lost 373 units, including garrsions. Its MAR is down to just 7%. The U.S. has lost just 12 units, but with 22,475 casualties.

For the final journey to Moscov the enemy barracks/air complex at Ivanovo will threaten the U.S. right flank and it will need to be neutralized. But aside from this, only 13 Russian armored unit stand between U.S. forces and the Russian capital at Moskva.

Stay tuned...

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

March 20th, 2024

Russia is a shadow of its former self. It has nearly exhausted its tanks and is protected mainly by BMPs. Its MAR is just 7%. It only has about 54 oil/gas fields left, all in Armenia.

Of its 27 land-launched nukes, it only has launchers for 8 of them. It has 4 air-launched nukes, 12 sea-launched and 18 sub-launched.

They maintain five major military complexes in the North, five in the South and two West of Moscow. They still maintain air-superiority over territory that they still control.

Its treasury is $5,752 million and it is $258,683 million in debt. However they continue to have good credit and are existing on newly sold bonds to pay for petroleum.

It was high time to end this. Russia was beginnig a strong Gurrillia campaign to re-take her lost ore and coal mines and of course oil/gas fields.

Russia's casualty figures to date are blurred due to Russia's on-going wars with Kazakhstan and Ukraine

Here is the screenshot of the BOM:



Each Russian flag represents a site guarded by maybe one armored unit or an Engineer, plus its obligatory garrisons. This puts about 15 combat units between U.S. forces and the Capital. They have no tanks. Their artillery will do them little good if the U.S. rushes them.

The U.S. main body consists of 293 units.


March 28th, 2024

The U.S. rushes them - end of Russia.

There was no desperate nuclear retaliation.

Russia lost 135 units at battle of Moscow and approximately 8100 casualties. The U.S. lost 16 units.

Total Russian units lost to the U.S. in the Russian campaign -4010 (U.S. 146).
Total Russina casualties - 3 million (U.S. 143,498).

Russia's includes garrisons, the U.S. figure do not.

Now what do we do about China?

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

March 28th, 2024

All of that work for so little gain. This Supreme Ruler is in it for the spoils of war - no "Units Eliminated when Region Falls" check-mark for me!

With Russia I expect to get great tanks, AA, aircraft, attack helos and submarines. I got very little of this this time. The U.S. and her nearby allies burned up nearly all of Russia's tanks, except for about 12 Black Eagles. Her aircraft are nearly all out-date Foxbats and other cold-war crap. I did keep some Blackjack bombers.

All of her naval assets except for a few submarines stranded in the Volga river were taken by Latvia and Ukraine. Latvia quadrupled in territory and took the entire Kola pennisula, which had a loin's share of Russia's remaining goodies. I did get the naval complex at Arkhangelsk BUT NOT ITS SHIPS.

Ukraine took Russia's Black sea ports and ships and all of Russia's Western border bases, completely replacing Belarius' Eastern border with Ukraine territory.

Kazakhstan was restored to its former glory.

Surprisingly the U.S. got a small, pleasent river delta and military complex in the Northern tip of the Caspian sea at Astrakhan, due to its occupation of Russian oil/gas fields there. I got (earned) all of Russia's oil fields.

I did get quite a few Werewolf helicopters, a bunch of excellent SA-20 S-400 Triumf long-range AA units and some really nifty bridging units.

I also expect to get bases, fabs and facilities. Those I got, but most I had already taken months ago in Eastern Russia. I did get the two fabs located West of Moscow and over one million un-needed military personnel.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

April 5th, 2024

During the Russian campaign both Mexico and China repeatedly DOWed me.

Mexico is in this weird repeating cycle where their Provocation and C.B. build up due to the U.S.'s high MilCap. They DOW and I make peace again. And Again. They DOW'ed once in 2020 and I was able to make an immediate peace
treaty.

During my Russian Vladivostok deployment I deployed my Mexican border units but then placed them all in reserve again, leaving no active ones to guard my extensive network of fortifications and modded gun emplacements.

By January 2022 their Provocation was back up to 22%. By June of 2022 their C.B. is back up to 35% - a "Medium" likelihood of war. C.B. seems to equal Provocation - what is with that?

By January 2023 they really have a hard-on for me - 47%. They have never come down in DEFCON since their first out-burst - they remain at a very expensive DEFCON 2.

March, 12, 2023

I was busy in a battle on the Russian steppe when Mexico DOW'ed me again. That war siren/war noise always makes me jump. But I quickly forgot about them and put off making peace again. Later I discovered that Mexico had over-run my amphibious base in Chula Vista, california and my patrol air-field on the Gulf. Luckily the amphib base was empty due to my Russian amphibious invasion. I just let them have the bases and arranged another quick peace treatyBut this time I left active units to guard the border.

By January, 2024 their C.B. was again up to 36%. By now own C.B. against them is 100%, which is a good thing for the future.

February 26th, 2024

By December of 2024 they are back up to 30% C.B. The third time that they DOW'ed me I took more serious punitive measures. This time I took back Chula Vista and both of my bases. Then I took all of their border towns including their large city of Cudad Juarez and their sea-pier in Ensenada. Nice place, good food.

Then I made peace again.

February 10, 2025

Mexico is really starting to annoy me. This fourth time that they DOW me I called out my Gulf navy - six submarines, three P-2C Orion aircraft, two DDGs, an FFG and one LCS frigate.

In a previous flare-up Mexico had launched an amphibious invasion directed at New Orleans. This time the one troop ship, one LPD and four cargo ships are still there, parked South-West of New Orleans by one of my oil platforms. I quickly repelled the attack with two P-3Cs armed with modded Harpoon missiles.

Next I went after their Gulf navy. They had 6 Tsunani frigates, one Spruence-class destroyer and a bunch of partol boats.

The screenshot is here:



And finally I took 18 of their gulf oil platforms.

They staged a large tank attack from Monterrey on Brownsvill, Texas. I repelled this with two WS-2 missile launchers and modded ATACMS missiles.

This time I left missile launchers and entrenched infantry at all important border points. I set the launchers on automatic so they they could neutralize Mexican attackers without my intervention.

I did not bother to try for peace this time. I will just let Mexico burn up its armor attacking the border and then take Mexico at my leisure.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

June 26th, 2024

China DOWed shortly after the U.S. started invading Russia in 2021 and again one year later. Each time the U.S.

easily obtained a peace treaty. They DOWed us again in early 2024 and this time refused to make peace. But they
did not actively pursue the war.

And lucky for us - the U.S. had 473 active units far West around Moscow and just 362 active units in Asia. This
against China's 3.67 million active soldiers and 2400 units. China was busy warring with all of her other neighbors except for its ally Myamar. This had taken its toll on her military.

Thus she had just 30 un-damaged tanks and 40 damaged ones, most of which were in the tank "hospital".
Over half of its active units were that crappy towed AT and AA artillery. But they did have 147 WS-2 long-range MLRS with over half of them loaded with missiles. They had no large missile stockpiles such as would be required for a sustained battle.

They had about 18 usable land-launched nukes. The other half did not have launchers.

They had 120 operational combat aircraft and helos.

They had a large 200 ship navy, about 1/2 of which (92) are submarines. This is probably because their enemies could not target them and because they never left the safety of their harbor. China had just 12 remaining surface combat ships and five amphib transports. The other 83 are all patrol boats.

The U.S. was partially protected in the South by South Korea, who is waging a constant, fierce battle with China. I sent SK a lot of free weapons which they seemed to all have deployed around their Capital at Soul. Along the rest of the U.S. border with China I could only spot three dangerous units - missile launchers loaded with mostly anti-ship missiles. There was no Chinese armor to be found anywhere near the U.S. border.

China's GDP was just $6,474. Her treasury was $24 billion and owed just $4 billion in debt. Its MAR was 64%. Unit morale and efficiency were both very high.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

April 4th, 2024

Fortunately taking Russia has not placed unreasonable demands upon my Production resources - food, water, consumer goods are all, well - good.

But I am losing money - my treasury is $1,097,896 and falling. Not bad but I need to find the cause of the $ billion
deficit and fix it. My biggest expense is "Preparedness" - $8 billion PER DAY. I check my DEFCON and find that I
have been running at DEFCON 1! I don't know how it got that high - I never set it above 3. I lower that to DEFCON 3
immediatly, since I am technically at war with China. This reduces the preparedness cost to just $2 billion per day.

But wait - it just jumped to DEFCON 1 again. I check the settings on my Defense Minister - Masssive Minitary Buildup, Increase Efficiency, Build/Research Missile units. Oh, there it is - the DM has control of military spending and so he keeps kicking my DEFCON up to 1. I'll put a stop to that!

With three million military presonnel and about 3000 units I no longer see any need for a massive military buildup either.

I check in on the Production department. It is costing me more to produce fresh water than to buy it, so I stop production and start buying it.

Here is another shocker - It seems that my Production Minister has been making entirely too much electricity - I have 7.6 million megawatt-hours in stock. But the shocking part is that he is BUYING ELECTRICITY! But wait - he is locked out of dealing with electric power. Imports is set to automatically purchace eletricity - that is the problem. I switch this off and put the PM back in charge of EP.

BTW, the Electric Power display is labled in megawatts but it actually shows kilowatts. How you stock electric
energy, I don't know.

The PM can't sell it properly because he always sets the asking price above the market price. I start a massive sell-off of electricity manually, 140 MWh at a time and begin making between $60-100 billion per day. Hey - we're makin' money again!

Tax rates are 48% with 2% rates for all non-income taxes.

Social spending is OK - every aspect 80% or greater. I increase it 20%.

My GDP is a respectable $41,692, inflation 2% and unemployment 5.6%.

My tech level is now 134 but research is not fully funded. I have 37 research facilities.

My space program has 100% Communications and Reconnaissance coverage but Missile Defense is just starting to build.

So all is good on the home front. Now let's do something about China.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

June 26, 2024

I have moved my main body of about 540 units East from Moscow and have parked them on China's Northern border, 1280 km from Bejing.

The U.S. ally South Korea is successfully battling China with 827 deployed units. Much of their armor is in the "hospital", but may be deployable by the time we attack Bejing. SK's battle-front is just 500 km from Bejing and is heavily armed with weapons that the U.S. donated to them. China only has about 500 units in the local area - 71 of which are ships.

The U.S. Defense Minister suggests - "Why don't we send military advisors to SK and let them take Bejing?" Most of
their forces are clustered around Soul and elsewhere in South Korea instead of being up North fighting China. What
if the U.S. just gives them some guidance and lets them do the heavy lifting?

The plan is quickly approved.

Here is SK's deployment prior to the U.S. intervention:







China is to the left, the U.S. is to the right.

After some strong diplomatic pressure from the U.S., the Korean deployment changes radically:






July 11th, 2024

Details of the actual attack are sketchy, however it is known that SK's supply line was slow to keep pace with its swift AA and artillery. Its armor lagged far behind.

Here is the screenshot of Bejing after SK takes it:




The effect of the SK attack on China is fatal. But the geo-political ramifications for the U.S. are disappointing, due to its hidden agenda.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

July 12th, 2024

From: Supreme Ruler

First my congratulations to Defense and State departments for the excellent job that you performed in engineering a
successful conclusion to South Korea's long war with our most deadly foe - the People's Republic of China.

However your work is not yet completed. It is vital to our future plans for world domination that the U.S. possess
its own bases in South-East Asia.

Following the fall of the corrupt regime in Beijing, large portions of former China fell under the control of India,
Mongolia and other smaller players in S.E. Asia. In particular, the unexpected aquisition of a large section of China between Vietnam and Taiwan by India deprives us of the vital sea port at Guangzhou. Also, Thailand's take-over of Hainan Island and the adjacent mainland around Qinzhou is unexpected and undesirable. See attached photo:



Furthermore, South Korea's sudden expansion in both territory and military power has raised suspicions in many
quarters that South Korea is planning an end to our alliance and will soon declare war on the U.S. Imperium. N.S.A. intercepts have now confirmed this.

Therefore, I am ordering the C.I.A. to conduct covert operations within the South Korean government to hasten this action. If we can provoke South Korea into declaring war at a time of our choosing then the first strike can actually be our own and the diplomatic repercussions will be against SK, not the U.S..

Furthermore, the D.O.D. is hereby ordered to redeploy its units now located along South Korea's new Northern border. These units will instead take up positions along SK's Western border with Mongolia and India. This move will assure that when SK falls the U.S. will take control of all of its current territory.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

August 17th, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

White House, Washington D.C.

Yesterday our ally South Korea announced that it was breaking all diplomatic relations with the United States Imperium. Today, in a shocking turn of events, South Korea delared war against the Imperium.

Although any armed conflict is reprehensible, we assure the citizens of the Imperium that we have taken steps to protect U.S. interests in the region. We expect this regretable situation to be resolved in a short period of time and as peacefully as possible.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012

August 17th, 2024

RESTRICED ACCESS

Department of Defense Briefing - 2130 hours

Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.

As many of you are aware, last month the Supreme Ruler ordered the D.O.D. to make preperations for an armed response to a possible South Korean offensive. It seems that our Ruler's judgement has once again proved to be wise and far-seeing.

On his orders, the main body of U.S. forces in Asia are currently deployed along the 3,000 kilometer Western border of greater South Korea, in the host countries of Mongolia, India and Vietnam.

His strategic goal is two-fold - first quadriple U.S. military strength in Asia by wresting control of SK military assests and of former Chinese assets. The second goal is to gain U.S. ports in South-East Asia. It is hoped that a strong U.S. military presence near Taiwan will spread its influence South, displacing the new Indian control of the vital sea port at Guangzhou. Failing that the U.S. will at least have the large but more Northerly port at Fuzhon.

Could we have those photos please?

This first one was taken yesterday and is of the U.S. deployment along the India/Mongolia/SK border:



This second one is of U.S. units along the new Indian border on the Strait of Formosa, opposite Taiwan:



Tactically, U.S. units are deployed at 100 to 150 kilometer intervals from Northern Mongolia South-East to Taiwan.
Their orders are simple - advance and take sufficient South Korean territory to assure control of all of greater South Korea when the regime in Soul is defeated. Combat with South Korean mobile units is to be avoided, however due to the heavy garrisoning of the settlements in the area casualties among these SK troops are un-avoidable.

A a swift, surgical strike at the South Korean capital is planned so U.S. casualties in this conflict are expected to be minimal. So go now, do your jobs. We fully expect this to be over in about a week.

Thank you for your attention.

End of briefing

_________________
"War is merely the continuation of politics [diplomacy] by other means"
General Carl von Clausewitz - 1832

"Defense: De ting dat keeps de cows off de road."
Catatonic - 2012