New Reality Seeds

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

Logistics: I don't think you can really sneak a giant ship into a harbor, so either there's some technique for hiding ships from detection by enemy forces with 1940's technology that I'm unaware of (possibly due to mistaken assumptions about how vigilant people are about unexpected ships approaching major ports), or the kamikaiyō vessels would need

The easiest way I can think of would be to build giant submarines (historically, the Japanese built three 400 ft submarine aircraft carriers). Heck, depending on how big the explosive is, you could have the big submarine fire a big manned torpedo. It wouldn't need to travel.

[ronwit]

If this does not work out as planned, I would hate to be Japan at the end of this war.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by TGLS

The easiest way I can think of would be to build giant submarines (historically, the Japanese built three 400 ft submarine aircraft carriers). Heck, depending on how big the explosive is, you could have the big submarine fire a big manned torpedo. It wouldn't need to travel.

In some cases the military harbor and civilian harbor are next to each other. So for some you can just have it in a freighter that veers off course a bit. I can't quickly find WW II maps showing relative positions to tell which.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

... but if Japan sent troops to support their Canadian allies in invading the USA (which is a bizarre sentence, I realize)

As a player of Hearts of Iron IV, it sounds pretty legit to me.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

I recently heard about an early concept for a nuclear bomb, from before people realized they could enrich uranium and get a critical mass small enough to transport by air. Basically, you take a crapton of uranium and heavy water, load it on a ship, sail it into port, and activate the bomby systems that I forgot to mention to make the mass supercritical so it blows up the city and surrounding area.

If you're using real nuclear physics, this idea has a pretty bad problem. It was created by people who didn't understand crucial details.

You can't get a proper nuclear explosion this way, because unenriched uranium can't go "prompt critical", no matter how much of it you have. The U-238 that makes up over 99% of it absorbs neutrons, rather than fissioning.

You can build a nuclear reactor this way and have it melt down, but that gets you a steam explosion, and an amount of fallout that depends on how large the reactor is and how long it has been running. If it's small enough to be moved on a ship, it has to have been running for weeks or months for the fallout to have more than local effects.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

The Prime Minister of England Henry John Temple 3rd Viscount Palmerston hated the USA. He hated slavery and the slave trade, but he hated America more. It was only the problems with the Greek Monarchy and the Eastern Question on one hand, and the threat of revolution on the other that kept Palmerston out of the war. However on this Q6 Low Manna world Centrum has worked hard to make sure that Palmerston has a free hand. So when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation Palmerston had a free hand to send the British fleet to reduce New York to ruins and stop what he claimed to see as an incipient race war.

However, the British fleet hadn't counted on the USS Monitor. They, like the Confederates laughed at the "Cheesebox on a raft." Until it started sinking their mainline battle ships and they saw their cannonballs bounce off the Monitor's armor. In three engagements the USS Monitor sank forty wooden warships. Palmerston was disgraced and the British Navy went home with it's tail between it's legs.

Lincoln demanded peace or he'd take Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. The Brits gave him peace. However, now Homeline and Centrum both have a massive problem.

The short humiliating naval war could totally derail the Anglo-American rapprochement of the later 19th century. Centrum and Homeline both don't want the risk of another Reich parallel. So, how to heal Britain's wounded pride and an American sense that they delivered God's just wrath on a foolish nation?

Basically, a tricky delicate espionage and diplomacy game. Mainly carried on in settings with overrefined social customs and mores.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Centrum and Homeline both don't want the risk of another Reich parallel.

I don't remember there ever being any indication that Centrum cares about Reich parallels. In fact, there's a passage in the IW book where they are barely even aware of the concept and see it as a useful tool against Homeline.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

I don't remember there ever being any indication that Centrum cares about Reich parallels. In fact, there's a passage in the IW book where they are barely even aware of the concept and see it as a useful tool against Homeline.

Yeah. Centrum would probably try to wedge the US and Britain further apart. US conquers British North America? Sweet, help out Napoleon in Mexico and to drive the US further in the world government route. Britain wins? Push Britain towards technocracy and keep the empire expanding.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

I don't remember there ever being any indication that Centrum cares about Reich parallels. In fact, there's a passage in the IW book where they are barely even aware of the concept and see it as a useful tool against Homeline.

Okay, they don't want a nearby Reich parallel. Also they don't want Britain having to fight both Germany and America in the late 19th century. Also, if an Anglo-German alliance took down America in the 1890's America might want to return the favor in the 1914-1918 period.

[awesomenessofme1]

If you want a justification for Centrum here, then you could just go with them not wanting a nationalistic rivalry between the two largest English-speaking world powers. Ideally, they'd be bringing them closer together, ideally to the point of outright union, not pushing them apart.