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#1
Computer Gaming / Re: I'm looking for a single p...
Last post by Gusington - Today at 06:26:10 AM
+1 for Sid Meier's Pirates. No port or city building in that game, though.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag is a great pirate game with fantastic single player naval combat. I still go back to it regularly.

Attacks against Spanish coastal forts are particularly awesome.
#2
Current Events / Re: RUSI article on Attritiona...
Last post by GDS_Starfury - Today at 12:21:48 AM
I'll state as simple as I can.  the stock of people that the US draws from to fill NCO slots are always going to be better then anything thing the russians or chinese can scrape together.
I'll take a 3 month US Sgt over a conscript russian one with maybe 3 weeks of actual training over the course of their 2 year conscription.
#3
Current Events / Re: RUSI article on Attritiona...
Last post by Uberhaus - Yesterday at 11:23:23 PM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on Yesterday at 06:18:17 PMI don't think you need a degree from the War College to know that the west has no tolerance for and is entirely unprepared for attritional warfare. It's a weakness of all democracies and one that our enemies are keen to exploit.

Never again after the devastation of the First World War, I've heard many second hand accounts of the Lost Generation.  However, that democracies must value their populations doesn't make us so craven that we have never stood up to autocracies with little value for human life.

Quote from: GDS_Starfury on Yesterday at 07:05:23 PMI take particular issue with this line:

QuoteHowever, as a war progresses past a one-year mark, front-line units will gain experience and an improved NCO corps is likely to emerge, giving the Soviet model greater flexibility.

why wouldn't a NATO or US military gain the same experience?  isn't this pretty much exactly what happened in WW2, Korea and Vietnam?  just because some poor shmucks get hazed and raped in a russian conscript garrison doesn't mean they'll adapt quicker or better and a long term war.  Ukraine is proving that.

Without me having to reread the article and quoting it directly, I think the author was suggesting that the NATO professional officer and NCOs take years to train and educate, so (my example) they can pull off Air-Land Battle and smash the Iraqi army twice, in a few weeks with manoeuvre warfare.  In attrition warfare that cadre will be depleted and the replacements will not have the time to be trained or learn everything needed for the high level of performance and co-ordination for modern Western way of war.

You made me reread it and here is the quote: 
QuoteIn attritional war, this method has a downside. The officers and NCOs required to execute this doctrine require extensive training and, above all, experience. A US Army NCO takes years to develop. A squad leader generally has at least three years in service and a platoon sergeant has at least seven. In an attritional war characterised by heavy casualties, there simply isn't time to replace lost NCOs or generate them for new units. The idea that civilians can be given three-month training courses, sergeant's chevrons and then expected to perform in the same manner as a seven-year veteran is a recipe for disaster. Only time can generate leaders capable of executing NATO doctrine, and time is one thing that the massive demands of attritional war do not give.

While with the conscript, minimally trained armies those who can and do survive have no where to go but up, having learned valuable lessons in how to survive and beat an enemy in an attrition war, not in a manoeuvre warfare environment.  I think the article gives the example of the Soviets at the end of the Second World War, still harshly disciplined and taking brutal casualties, but not the Soviet Army of 1941 and able to grind down the late war Wehrmacht.

Anyway, I think the author would include the Ukrainians in experiencing this gain, only having had a few years (a decade?) of intensive NATO training, but the article isn't focusing so much on them.  It doesn't name them in the article nor the problems they are experiencing with attrition.  It definitely has relevant examples drawn from Ukraine, like pursuing political and territorial objectives rather than annihilating the enemy while conserving your own as was done last summer.  Personally, I think the article is a warning to current NATO members.

Another comment I'll touch on, but I'm not sure where I read or saw it (Zeihan, RUSI, ???)  Ukraine may be able to make great innovations on the local level, but they usually stay local, not disseminating far.  This is while   Russia, while not making many innovations, with the top-down autocratic leadership, any lesson learned is erm, institutionalized.
#4
Computer Gaming / Re: Computer Wargame Market
Last post by Bardolph - Yesterday at 11:07:00 PM
You can compare those stats to the ones here:

http://steamdb.info/sales/

Sorted for wargames here:

https://steamdb.info/charts/?tagid=4684
#5
Computer Gaming / Re: Floating up the Hudson
Last post by Bardolph - Yesterday at 10:41:51 PM
That thing flew over the 125th anniversary reenactment of 1st Manassas back in 1986 and my buddy Ron jumped out of formation, pointed at it and yelled "RODAN!!!" and ran off into the woods.
#6
Computer Gaming / Re: I'm looking for a single p...
Last post by ArizonaTank - Yesterday at 10:23:18 PM
Windward is a low cost possibility.

Also, the old Sid Meir's Pirates still holds its own.
#7
Current Events / Re: The Houthi Thing
Last post by Uberhaus - Yesterday at 10:19:13 PM
Quote from: Gusington on Yesterday at 07:50:20 PM^Wow, that last sentence really resonates. Luckily the Houthis can fire but are still quite ineffective. Hoping they are slow learners.
They may have had a lot of help but they have competent engineers and unfortunately a lot of technical know how.   Going back a few years https://gwynnedyer.com/2018/yemeni-missiles-ssdd/
QuoteJane's Information Group Ltd, established in 1898, is the world's leading independent provider of intelligence and analysis on defense matters. Here is what Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa Editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said about Yemen's rockets in 2017 in Jane's Intelligence Review.

"The Burkan-2 appears to use a new type of warhead section that is locally fabricated. Both Iran and North Korea have displayed Scud derivatives with shuttlecock-shaped warheads, but none of these match the Yemeni version. The range of the Burkan missiles also appears to have been extended by a reduction in the weight of their warheads."

I think Dr. Dyer has come around to accepting that presently Iran is supplying the Houthis, but he is arguing against that in this older article and questioning the US administrations motives in saying that they were.
#8
Computer Gaming / Re: Floating up the Hudson
Last post by Gusington - Yesterday at 07:54:09 PM
Up here in semi-rural NY there is a lot of interesting airplane traffic from Stewart AFB as well as helicopter traffic from West Point and even Camp Smith, mostly over the Hudson as well. I can see a big swathe of the river from my office window. Always a great view, no matter the time of year.

In colder winters there is Coast Guard ice breaker traffic as well, but not since 2021 I don't think.
#9
Current Events / Re: The Houthi Thing
Last post by Gusington - Yesterday at 07:50:20 PM
^Wow, that last sentence really resonates. Luckily the Houthis can fire but are still quite ineffective. Hoping they are slow learners.
#10
Current Events / Re: RUSI article on Attritiona...
Last post by GDS_Starfury - Yesterday at 07:24:20 PM
while not a bad article is does seem to limit itself with how the Ukraine/russian war is going as it sticks almost solely with ground combat.  its a good read for nation states with basic air forces and navies.