01/17/17

The Tuesday Interview – Hubert Cater Talks Strategic Command, and more

Hubert Cater of Fury Software joins us this week, to chat about Strategic Command, and his other projects ~

Author, 16 January 2017

So, if you’re not working on your own games, what are you likely to be found playing on a night off?

Oddly enough I haven’t played PC (or otherwise) games for probably 10 years now, well at least as a regular escape or attempt at relaxation. Possibly a bit unexpected for a game developer, but after staring at code all day I’ve found that if I can turn off my brain completely in the evenings I’m that much better off for it.

These days my typical escape is to try and get out and play ice hockey 1 to 2 times a week (I am Canadian so it is my duty to fulfil that stereotype), or to go mountain biking during the warmer months. Luckily I live near a conservation area and watershed that has some nice trails and I can ride out from my house and be on the trails in less than 5 minutes which is great for a quick ride.

Lately though, and now that my kids are a bit older, often the evenings are just blur spent racing from activity to activity while I still try and sneak in a few of my own.

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01/8/17

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 8 Part 2

Now that the holidays are in the rearview mirror, Airboy’s battles through the Pacific continue ~

Avery Abernethy, 8 January 2017

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Scenario 8 – Saipan, continued

It took several turns to concentrate my artillery and take the heights in Central Saipan. But after that the Marines were a steam roller over the rest of Saipan. Fortunately the Japanese launched a late Banzai charge. It is easier to kill the Japanese out in the open while attacking than it is to dig them out of holes or root them out of hidden positions in the jungle. Southern and Central Saipan has much better defensive terrain than North Saipan which also helped the Marines.

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01/7/17

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 8 Part 1

Now that the holidays are in the rearview mirror, Airboy’s battles through the Pacific continue ~

Avery Abernethy, 7 January 2017

click images to enlarge

Scenario 8 – Saipan

Saipan is huge compared to the Marshall and Gilbert Island targets. I used two landing zones because the city in the middle was too tough to take on D-Day. My initial objectives are: 1] link up the two landing zones; 2] seize the southern airfield; and 3] secure all Southern Saipan so I could fight on only one front. But achieving these three objectives was not easy. I continue my strategy of concentrating my forces and landing my artillery in a second wave. The Japanese make multiple counter-attacks including several led by armor. It takes many turns to seize the southern airfield and land air support. It takes even longer to eliminate the Japanese snipers and infantry in Southern Saipan. The infantry allocated to eliminating resistance in the South never catch up to the main battle until the issue is decided. Much of my heavy artillery was allocated to the South and had to be shipped north. Central Saipan is mountainous which is excellent defensive terrain. The heights must be secured by infantry and the going was slow until I got all of my heavy artillery up from South Saipan.