Panama Canal

[The Wombat]

It seems to me N. and S. America face a troubling decision at the start of their game... "do I split my fleet to cover both coasts or hope I get lucky and commit to one ocean. Yes S. America can take the southern Route but N. America doesnt even have this avaliable to them. I am suggesting openning up the Panama Canal for travel.

[Kuth]

How long does it take a ship to pass through the entire canal system?

WWIII would be long over before anyone was concerned with battle group A being on the other side of central america.

[rawera]

Kuth is right, it's not like entire fleets can pull a Magellan and round Cape Horn while traveling around South America in such a short period of time...oh wait, they do do that.

That said, I don't really favor having the Panama canal as passable, just because you'd have to add the option of nuking it to take out its capacities to move ships which would open the door (locks) to all manners of "special" buildings and targets.

[Spacemonkey]

In my central america map, i had to have the Panama Canal open for travel, otherwise I got a node map error. However I would prefer not to, as the canal is a long system of locks and gates, it would take ages for a ship to get through, and i think a carrier or battleship would be far to big anyway.

[Useful Dave]

And nukes take ages to arm before they can be dropped from Bombers? DEFCON Isn't that realistic.

[Clee-Saan]

And nukes take ages to arm before they can be dropped from Bombers? DEFCON Isn't that realistic.

Well, no, it's not realistic. Do you realy think africa could face United States in a nucléar war ?

[Mighty Santa]

Panama canal should be a valid travel option. It should also be a 'special target', and one that the South American player/his allies can only use.

Its a good option, although the pathing might be tricky to figure out.


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Hell, I'd even be open to the suez canal being open for Africa, why not ? Oh yes, the ships would look a right mess in the med. I guess that is out.

In any case, Bering straight, AND panama canal look like good features to use.

[Kuth]

And nukes take ages to arm before they can be dropped from Bombers? DEFCON Isn't that realistic.

Even so...

Before you guys complain about making Panama passable, how about opening up the Mediterranian sea? Currently it's unsailable, and that's a lot of ocean. Heck, the Russians even had naval operations in there!

I mean... compare a 14 kilometer strait to a canal that spans a width minimum of 91.5 meters.

So if you guys want Panama sailable, I want Gibraltar and the Mediterrainian sailable since it's a wider gap that leads to a strategicly important area. Some might argue the Mediterrainian is a lot more important than passing through panama, since one could hide subs in there for a nasty surprise.

[flatrick]

panama should be open. period.

[almo]

panama should be open. period.

No, it shouldn't.

[xander]

panama should be open. period.

No, it shouldn't.

Agreed. Panama should not be open.

xander

[Radiant Caligula]

A "generic" battleship (a WWII class ship) is way too big for the Panama canal anyway and so are all the major carriers that NA has operational in real life.
So even if the canal was open in the game only subs could pass through. And that would be completely pointless as it would strip subs of their stealth advantage.

So my vote should be fairly obvious...

[Lekdevil.NL]

A "generic" battleship (a WWII class ship) is way too big for the Panama canal anyway

I beg to differ...

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Missouri_panama_canal.jpg:

USS Missouri (BB-63)

In the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, 13 October 1945, while en route from the Pacific to New York City to take part in Navy Day celebrations. Note the close fit of the ship in the locks. The beam of battleships of this era was determined by Panama Canal lock dimensions.

[Radiant Caligula]

ok, I surrender. =)

But carriers ARE too big for the canal, so you could (according to your picture) only transfer a bunch of BBs through while sending the carriers the long way around. Fleet assembly would be pretty pointless if you tried to form operational batallions.

But nuff bullshit. I dont think the Panama canal should open either way. The divide between the At and the Pac makes an interesting game.
Priorities creates tensions....

[Tsoman]

I think if you make the panama canal passable, you should also make it destructible, as a strategic target

Once hit with a nuke or two, you can no longer pass