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Darth Khyron

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Everything posted by Darth Khyron

  1. That 's just me, of course. I am feeling a bit uncomfortable with that, something some of us Germans do. I am also uncomfortable playing Moaist China, Soviet Russia or American Confederate States. Yes, Scharnhorst was a beautiful ship, I do not find the flag beautiful at all. Again, that is just me, I don't want to Tell others what to play or to feel. 😀
  2. I guess this was a fun question. Simply Put, I would discontinue playing.
  3. Uh, Sounds really good, but I really hope there are no swastikas on late German flags.
  4. Yeah, most Doomstacks are made of of old warships, so dealing with them or outrunning them is usually not a problem. For high-end PCs, that is. Medium-Range or low-end systems have a hell of a lag in such large battles, if they start at all.
  5. Puh, encountered some...bug? My fleet besieged austria-hungarian waters. It was harrowed for three months by enemy submarines, until I destroyed them. Then suddenly, Italy joined the war and attacked my fleet (two significantly large BBs, four light cruisers, twelve ddestroyers (eight of them little more than glorified minesweepers) and two torpedo boats) with his main fleet. I do not call it Doomstack, because these were reserved for the AU fleet with three BCs and 129 light cruisers, but a significant force centered around three BBS and twelve BCs. All of inferior technology, so I was confident to at least take a lot of them with me. As I entered the battle I discovered that none of my ships had any ammunition left. None. Zero. Only the torpedo boats and some destroyers carried ONE torpedo, each. Okay, so my fleet is at thirty knots and enough fuel left, so...RUN. Of course, the italian BBs are faster and their fleets came into range long before the timer ran out. I decided not to delay the inevitable and leave the battle. And, yes, i was defeated. Two of my light cruisers and three destroyers were sunk. But I managed to sik three BCs, two light cruisers and four destroyers. So, some questions here : With what did I sink the enemy ships? Rammed them? And...why no ammo left? I get it that the destroyers and light cruisers were out of depth charges and I used some ammo to chase off or destroy the enemy subs. But main gun ammo? Unless I used up all 420mm ammunition with Tauchgranaten, i see no reason for this.
  6. Yeah. Develop nuclear shells, radar device and win instantly. While not unrealistic in later game stages, it would be a no-go. Crude guided missiles perhaps, but no nuclear weapons. Not ever. Please.
  7. Hey. I noticed that in custom battles, I can only play with the full complement. So, I HAVE to use BBs, BCs, CAs, CLs and DDs or their TB equivalents. I can not put only BBs against each other or play ambush scenarios like 12 DDs against one BB or something.
  8. So, I decided to come back and try out the new mod. Hm. Basically, I applaud the inclusion of the world map and all, but I am dissapointed in the perpetual state of war and the scarcity of generated missions. First I played with Japan, got quickly involved in a war with Russia and China. But except torpedo boats raiding the occassional convoy, nothing ever popped up. So I went back to Germany, because it is located in the middle of things. Rather quickly, I got engaged in a war with the US. And Russia. And Italy. And China. And Russia. And Austria Hungary. And Spain. Only France and Great Britain stayed out. Well, many an enemy, many honors to be found. But I must wonder, why the game is not called "Ultimate Admiral : Torpedo Boat", instead. Torpedo boats chasing down transports. Torpedo boats chasing down enemy torpedo boats. Torpedo boats ambushing enemy armored cruisers. Over the years I was at constant war until about 1924. With Russia alone I fought umpteen wars. I beat them, using mines and submarines to damage their units. Once in a while, a battle involving some battleships on my side and a massive number of enemy battleships, cruisers and destroyers pops up. Usually when my own task group returns to port to refuel and rearm, so my vessels are slower than normal. I had two big battles between 1890 and 1924, against Italy and Autria-Hungary and three other battles involving more than one battleship on my side. Almost all battles, I chase an enemy than turns and runs once the battle is joined. And even with much faster ships it is uncertain to catch them. I still do not know how to generate a battle and there were many frustrating occassions. In one, I placed some torpedo boats at the panama-canal harbour, which I took from the US some time earlier. The US did not like this and declared war. I began moving a more powerful squadron from Germany to this base, but the US were faster, catching my torpedo boats. But I escaped, the TBs making thirty knots, the fastest US ship making twentyfour knots. The next month, my group moved closer, the same battle popped up again. I again escaped. The next month, the same battle popped up again, I escaped again. The next month, the same battle popped up again, I had to escape manually. Then my powerful squadron arrived...take this, americans...buuuuut, who would have guessed? No battle. In another occassion, I was at war with russia (again). I blocked the straight of Tsushima with submarines and surface forces and moved in from the north with other squadrons. Submarines were over the place and sure enough, they got to attack the enemy (I wish I could decide to evade when only facing destroyers). Russia repeatedly moved entire task forces through the straight (Japan was my ally at the time, but did not engage Russia herself). The same was true in the baltic sea, when I took the baltic states and finland from russia, basically mining the entire approaches to their only remaining port, blocking it with subs and surface forces. No problem for them to pass through. Same is true for the Panama Canal, which I now own. Enemy vessels can pass through without any difficulties, it seems. Same could be true for the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal, but I am a bit unsure of this. When my forces are weak, though, the enemy can attack at will. I never got any port-bombardment missions. I had entire generations of dreadnoughts and battleships serving without seeing any action at all, though I was embroiled in constant war. Also troublesome is the miraculous recovery of some countries. I defeated Russia for the Xth time, but when they attack me some month later, I agan face battleships, battlecruisers or armored cruisers. All, again against destroyers or small cruisers. Economy is a small riddle to me. As of 1924, I own significant parts of the pacific, africa and the baltic states and finland. I have eight battleships, four battlecruisers, 8 light cruisers, 23 destroyers, two torpedo boats (nostalgia, I with I could construct them until 1940s) and 12 submarines. I have 200% transport capabilties and always decided to put GDP first. Research is at 70%, Recruitment at 80%, yet I am losing massive amounts of money. A bit problemematic for a world-spanning empire that is constantly fighting across the globe. Other contries have much bigger fleet. Yes, their admirals are constantly remprimanded and replaced or banned from their countries, but their fleets remain. I was also very dissapointed that formations are still not fixed. Since most battles are small, this is not a big issue, but the few battles involving larger amounts of ships, this is really bothersome. Divisions are formed not along classes, but types. So battleshis with a speed of 30 knots (yep, got the modern BB hulls already) are mixed with those doing 25 knots. Same is true for other ship classes. So you have to sort them out. This is almost impossible if "Avoid Collisions" is activated and only serves to completely confuse your formation before the enemy engages. Slowing formations causes the first to decelerate, causing the following ships to veer away, often into the range of enemy torpedo boats. There are some issues with building, for example not being able to fit some larger guns on german ship hulls or some casemates not fitting on some semi-armored cruisers, but these are minor problems, I have learned to use a maximum caliber of 420mms on battleships and I am fine. Subs are cool additions, I like them and armed merchant cruisers with torpedoes were a rude surprise, so thumbs up. Torpedoes are now...difficult. While essential in the early stages of the campaign, I feel they are almost useless around 1910s and on. So many torpedoes veer off, are duds are fire in the opposite direction. But the same is true for the AI, I guess. Overall, I am now playing again and the new stuff is generally cool, but the old problems need to be fixed. Ah, yes. Crashes, especially when battles with submarines are involved, are now frequent again. I have to return to the home screen and start the campaign anew. What I find a bit strange : A turn is one full month. Travelling time seems to be a bit long for many distances, but okay. What is, however, a problem is the long reload and refuel time. Yes, taking on coals is a long and ardous process and heaving heavy shells is a pain, but taking up to FOUR MONTHS to refuel a squadron? That seems to be a bit odd and I would suggest to reduce and reload and refuel situation to one month. AAAAnd another thing regarding torpedoes : Even at "safe" firing setting, my destroyers seem to launch their eels whenever they can and almost never, any torpedoes run close to their targets. Since the AI keeps turning away from torpedo carriers, sometimes doing multiple 360 degree turns, anything misses. But when holding back my torpedoes by turning the launchers off, they usually cannot turn fast enough to launch at all. Again, this is an old, yet annoying, thing.
  9. Ah, tried to start a new campaign. Constructed my ships. Game could not leave the shipyard, so all designs are lost. hm. Since formations do not seem to be any better, I am out for a while until these are a bit more fixed.
  10. Please, could you fix the collision mechanics? For the nth time, one of my damaged battleships automatically transferred into another division (why it does, I do not know, but it happens all the time). During the process of maneuvering into position behind the second division ships, it rammed the sinking wreck of an enemy battleship and received massive damage, enough to sink it. This happens all the time. The lead ship evades when on "Evade Ships" orders, the following vessels blissfully ram and obstacles. Mostly, these are torpedo boats, but this time it was really annoying. First the involuntary transfer, then the completely unnecessary loss of an entire, albeit light, battleship.
  11. I am playing a long campaign now, from 1890 on. Now is the year 1925. Happy to finally have gas turbines with oil firing (just researched full oil :)) for my modern battleships :). But research is more or less okay in my eyes. I think shipyards are growing too slow currently. My problem, aside from perpetual war, are two things : France seems to be knocked out for good fairly easy, it ceased to exist in 1901, being ganged up by all other four countries. That happened in three campaigns now. Also, I cannot assign a harbour for my ships anymore. I have my first modern battleship IIs and Is under construction, but, despite scrapping a lot of my old BBs, I cannot assign harbours to them. In addition, I took Ireland, Gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta, as well as Corsica (which I lost when France was dissolved). It would be very nice to use these harbours and assign new homeports for the ships. It would be very helpful for defending transports in the mediterranen or the irish sea in case of a war. Ah, almost forgot. I am still having events converning france, for example prisoner exchange and the like, even if france is no longer around.
  12. Same here. I defended a convoy against a superior enemy, they lost some vessels, then retreated. I could end the battle, music played and the screen went black.
  13. Uh, I have a curious thing happening right now. I "lost" a war with italy (though winning all but one battle). My government asked to surrender and I accepted. They ceded Gibraltar (which I took from Britain in one of the war before). Also, four destroyers were transferred to the italian navy. A month thereafter, Italy ceased to exist due to economic collapse. Now the destroyers were stationed in Kiel. They were still highlighted green (italy's colour). However, I was able to move them, no problem. So...they are now part of one of my battlegroups during the now fifth war with britain. An...guess what? They are hostile. I cannot identify them, they are a kilometer away from the battle line and are packed with 15cm guns and torpedoes :). Update : I sank them all, but they are counted as MY losses. hm XD. Another thing: When taking provinces from an enemy, they also cede ports and often ships within these ports. These ships are not friendly, sometimes I can move them. They should be removed to enemy ports AND it would be really nice to be able to use these ports.
  14. Many things have been said already, overall the new update is a step in the right direction. I still find formations still broken. Various ships of different properties are mixed together needlessly. For example, eight battleships are on the board, four heavier with a speed of twenty knots, four light with a speed of 26 knots. The AI mixes three of the former with one of the latter. The second formation consists of two fast and one slower BB and a single fast BB is grouped as a seperate formation. Same is true for other ships. Grouping them before the contact with the enemy is nearly impossible, especially when "Evade Ships" is active. This feature is also a bit problematic. When I sink an enemy vessel, it is seemingly removed as an obstacle. I have formations sail past, the first ship, which I can control, evades, but the following ships blissfully ram the sinking wreck, often sustaining serious damage in the process. The enemy does not spam torpedoes anymore. Yeah! BUUUUT. It spams torpedo carriers. In the current campaign, I had a battle agains the french (4BB, 4 CA, 4 CL and 4 TBs on my side against 4 BB, 26 CLs, 13 DDs and 88 TBs on the other and against the italians (8 BB, 4 CA, 4 CL, 4DD and 8 TBs on my, 3 BB, 7 CA, 13 CL, 4 DD and 64 TBs on the other). It is...hard...to deflect the tsunami of torpedo boats. Challenging, three hour (real time) battles are cool, make no mistake, but the AI is seemingly still very much in love with torpedoes Another note : Recently, ships on "Escort" order tend to flee from the enemy, leaving their charges to fend for their own. The escorts stay at range and fire on enemies, regardless of the disposition of the units they escort.
  15. Please, if it is not too much to ask at this moment, could you answer the questions regarding later war inactivity by the enemy and how battles are generated? In the first phases of a war, the enemy tries to knock you out with vast fleets. Once you can defeat them and get your fleet to levels to bring the fight to the enemy, the AI refuses to battle. Your fleets are all over the places, but they cannot intercept roaming enemy task forces, yet these are able to pounce on your own small forces at will. Also, later in a war, despite having lots and lots of ships in harbours, the enemy just refuses to go to war with you. They sink your transports and despite vast power projection advantages, they are not blockaded. Answers would be nice, as some people have these problems and they were asked repeatedly. Thanks in advance.
  16. Engine efficiency seems to be better now, enemy ships do not spam torpedoes anymore (but torpedoes still fire to the other side) and guns are much better than before. Tech progression and shipyard enhancement is good (and you can get ahead of the AI). Good job. 😀 Only thing, as mentioned above, is the lack of progress of fuels. Unfortunately, the enemy in a campaign is still...strange. Even on highest difficulty (as germany), I handily defeat france in battles, despite them trying to run away. Britain intervenes in the war but...they do nothing. They get VPs by destroying my transports, but they do not engage or can be engaged, despite my fleets being all over the north sea. After two battles, france also does nothing. So I am asking for the last time and hope to get an answer : What am I doing wrong? How can I generate a battle or force the enemy to engage or something? I form battlegroups, these control the entire area of operations (green circles). Enemy battlegroups are moving freely without being engaged (even with higher speed vessels on my side in the area). Yet, when I move single ships, say in the baltic, enemy forces pounce with superior numbers, but no enemy group is in range (or even near the theater). This is not the first time and it is super annoying. When the enemy cannot deliver a knockout blow, they are simply evading forever. Please, I have asked before, but to my knowledge, no answer as of today, at least I have not found it. One would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
  17. hmm...there is something curious. In the current battle, two of my battleships are 6.5kms away from the enemy battlecruiser. Their (BBs) main guns are 420mm L/50s equipped with TNT-IV and Tube Powder III rounds. The BCs armor is 18.5cms thick in it's belt. But for the sake of god, my guns do not penetrate and do an average damage of 40 or so. Is this intended?
  18. I can confirm problems with own accuracy. The enemy seems to do just fine, even at range. But, yeah, had two battles where the fleets parted with damage, but no substantial losses because the ammo ran low. What I am curious about: Enemy ships are now zigzagging constantly. Yet, they do seemingly not suffer from accuracy loss.
  19. I do not want invasion (at least as of this point of time of game development), but more options. In the end, I had a battlegroup sitting in front of each british harbor, yet I could not intercept any fleet slipping through (and they did slip through, as they pounced small group of ships moving through the baltic, also ignoring my guard ships in the Kattegatt. I deliberately risked my fleet near the enemy coast, yet only a pair of escorts in these surface groups saw combat against coastal convoys. At least on the high seas there should be a chance to intercept enemy groups striking our, sallying to or returning from one of the above-mentioned attacks.
  20. Oookay...so I just played twenty years of war. The campaign did not conclude, it would have gone on and on and on, but I decided enough is enough. Campaign startet 1900. 1.) In the beginning, there were two random events. One basically was "The french are angry at you. Pay up or face war." The second basically was : "The british are angry at you. Pay up or face war." Well, I did not pay and soon after, we were at war. I managed to get good relations with the italians and austria-hungaria, but they did not enter the war. So just germany versus the Belle Entente. In the first few turns, the british threw everything they had against me, resulting in very lopsided battles. BUT I was able to win all of these, albeit not without losses. The french never bothered to attack. But as the campaign progressed, I was able to outproduce the british and my battlegroups surrounded the british isles, each consisting of four battleships or battlecruisers, four armored cruisers, four light cruisers and between 16 to 35 escorts of different kinds. But no more battles except "Convoy" or "Meeting". Convoy actions pitted two of my destroyers or old torpedo boats against a greater number of british vessels. Meeting engagements only occured, when I moved small forces around (after repairing damaged escorts or moving newly-built ships to their intended locations). Here, the AI pounces with superior numbers and often capital ships and tries to engage my smaller warships. And that's it. The war went on for twenty years. The british are blockaded, but...hey...nothing happens. Surrounded by all sides, yet my forces do not have any upper hand. No bombarment missions, no peace offers, nothing. The french had far superior numbers, easily outstripping my forces by three to one. But their technology was so far behind, they never, ever engaged my forces. Needless to say that I am very dissapointed in the current campaign design. What is the use of battlegroups if you can only use a fraction that the AI determines? What use is the total domination of the seas, if the enemy refuses to fight without any consequences? What use is the moving of forces, if the AI totally decides what battle is generated or not? I wanted to try out a campaign at a later date, but reading that funds are so severally limited, I rather don't.
  21. oi, me again. Some more issues I found in the campaign. I started in 1900 and it is now 1912 and the campaign is still going. No large battles, just some skirmishes with torpedo boats and destroyers, sometimes an enemy ambush. The british blockaded me for a while (with 4900 power projection against my 69000). Only now I am able to blockade the british. No significant changes in provinces or politics. France has a gigantic fleet of over 500 ships, I am at war with them, but they are severally lacking technology, so they do not engage me. Torpedoes...well...hmm...yes...but no. At first I was very positive about the changes in torpedo behavior, especially in early battles, where torpedoes were more prone to breakdowns or being duds. However...imagine the following situation : A large battle. Smoke everywhere, dreadnoughts firing everything they got against their enemies. Escorts trying their best to avoid the big guys while trying to prevent enemy torpedo carriers from closing...yet a german squadron of large torpedo boats manages to break through. The smoke clears and they make out their target, the british modern dreadnought Indomitable, hero of half a dozen battles, victor over the older dreadnought Kaiser Karl der Grosse. It is now or never. The british rule the waves and they show it. S-87 is hit by the behemoth's main guns and quickly loses speed, explosions wrack the hull. S-84 is hit soon thereafter, veerig off, firing it's puny 105mm guns in an act of defiance. Now...S-94 is close enough, firing their 105mm and 50mm guns, hoping to keep british crews down and boosting the own morale. On the bridge, the torpedo officer checks his watch, then the rangefinder, turns to his commander. "Jetzt, Herr Kapitänleutnant!" The commander nods back, turn and yells "Torpedos los!!!" The crews at the four twin launchers...botch it completely and S-94 fires...to the opposite side. Indomitable is on the starboard side, yet all eight torpedoes are fired to port. Now, the hapless KaLeu cannot even curse his bad luck, as another salvo disintegrates his puny vessel. WHAT? That happened twice now. Veering torpedoes are another thing. Two of my destroyers were speeding to catch an enemy convoy. Out of nowhere, several enemy torpedo boats appear and fire their torpedoes. My lead destroyers turns into the oncoming eels, braking to avoid being hit. And it would have worked...but one of the torpedoes veered off, striking my destroyer. Coincidence? Probably. Other torpedoes only reach half of their intened range and many salvoes are so completely off, that I suspect drinking on duty. As stated, I am in a twelve year war (europe is probably a wasteland by now). I have researched Dreadnought III hulls, yet can only place three main guns on the centerline. Research is probably capped there, but I find progress to be extremely slow, even with 100% reasearch funds (except the year of blockade). I find that money in this campaign (hard difficulty) is no problem, but the lack of decisive battles, the complete and total control of the AI over battles (by now, the brits have no battleships or armored cruisers left, yet I am not able to use my 23 battleships to shell a single harbour) and the lack of random events make it a bit...boring.
  22. I know, I know, me again... buuuut...there are still some things. For example: Friendly fire. In several custom battles and one of the very few larger engagements in the campaign, my own forces torpedoed my screening vessels. In the first custom battle, I had a lone of battlecruisers torpedoing two light and one heavy cruiser, severally damaging them. These sailed some two miles away from the BCs and went straight in line, so they did not maneuver into the torpedo salvo or something. Also, speaking of the larger battle...can someone explain to me how I can create a battle in the campaign? When I start a campaign, there are several large and lopsided battles. When I win these, only some small enagagements pop up, pitting two or three TBs or DDs against four to six of the same type. Regardless of what I do or where I move the larger fleets. I move adjacent to enemy ports, blocking four of them with four BBs and support....nothing. I spread out over a larger area...nothing. Only when I split my forces into tiny bits, the enemy strikes with superior forces. I am suspecting that the AI always decided when a battle is joined and as a player, you have absolutely no say in this, regarldess what one does. Can anyone explain, please?
  23. PS: Yep, AI seems only to generate battles, when in superior position. I am now fighting with four BBs, four CLs, four DDs against 6 CLs, 24 DD and 71 torpedo boats. Piece of cake...
  24. So, me again with a bit more : Formations are still broken. Vessels following the lead ship still overtake these or swing from side to side so not to ram the lead vessel. That is mitigated by always being at flank speed (though the issue is not eliminated). Trying to get your fleet into a decent formation is nearly impossible before engaging the enemy, even when switching off the „Avoid Collision“ button, often resulting in a mixed-up fleet that presents a wonderful target for enemy torpedo storms. Luckily, you can now turn into torpedoes, often resulting in "dud torpedoes", but given the AIs preferrence of torpedoes, that only helps a bit. Torpedoes now explode spectaculary when hit. Cool :). Yet, why does this always happen to my launchers and even the underwater-mounted ones...? Building a ship that is balanced is almost impossible, even more so in early ages. Many ships roll and pitch heavily, resulting in unstable firing platforms. Side-mounted torpedoes in later-year light cruisers is next to impossible, for the ship rolls so heavily, that it cannot hope to frequently hit with it's guns. Building a later-year german battlecruiser with a high-efficiency engine is impossible, for the more efficient funnels can only be mounted on the hull, not the superstructure. Mounting them on the hull not only looks ugly, be also elongates the superstructure, resulting in a higher pitch. Also, 15 inch guns 8or larger) of the latest tech can no longer be mounted even on the largest bridge module, something that was possible in the earlier version. Yes, one can mount a 37.9cm gun, but I find that a bit disturbing. The addition of citadels seem to be a nice feature, at least to this point. Nice. Adjusting calibers is a two-edged sword. I find it really cool to be able to now mount 88mm AAA or 420mm main guns, but the AI now mounts strange calibers, like 392mm guns, hindering my immersion. Also, the ability to adjust caliber length is nice, BUT a 420mm gun with 20% higher length is a devasting and extremely accurate thing, even at extreme range, potentially unbalacing the game. In a custom game, my german BB with 20% longer 450mm guns one-hittet a russion super BB with 112000 tons. And, no, it was not paper-thin armored. Really, it one-hittet it, resulting in an ammo- detonation which ripped it apart. Ah, it was the first salvo. When playing the campaign, I have to restart the game after each turn. When clicking „Next Turn“, the screen says „Building Ship“, switching to „Adjusting Relationship“, reverting to „Building Ships“ and doing nothing. I can return to the main menu, an continue the campaign, but after clicking next turn, I have to repeat the same thing. I still do not get how battles are generated. At the beginning of the war, the AI hits me with everything it got, resulting in a lopsided battle. Yes, I usually win this one. Now, after researching the dreadnought hull and creating to strong fleets...nothing. These patrol the enemy coast, I am switching between „Sea Control“, „Invade“ and „Protect“ orders, but no battle. Once I split the fleet into smaller forces...BAM! A battle pops up against stronger enemy forces. So the enemy always seems to control the initiative, regardless of what I do. I am also very disspointed that modding the game is no longer possible. I understand that from a designer point of view, bug reports are a problem, but it severally limits the fun especially when playing in later years. To satisfy devs and players, could you perhaps add a selection screen to adjust shipyard size and starting money? When an event pops up involving enemy admirals, there seems to be a problem with his nationality. I have seen admiral Togo being an austrian-hungarian admiral or Miklos Horthy a german one. Fleets spawn in strange locations. Worst was when four of my AH armored cruisers spawned in the midst of a far superior italian fleet. Fun fact : My cruisers sported a lot of torpedo tubes. While ultimately losing the battle and all four were sunk, I took six battleships, two armored cruisers, two light cruisers and three destroyers with me. But, well, you get my point. Gun dispersion seems to be much better now, shelly landing nearer to the targetted vessels. Ah, speaking of being blind. I cannot seem to spot the enemy before the AI can spot me, regardless of what I do and how I build my ships. I thought that it would be a problem with German towers being inferior, but the same happens when I play other nations. Since the AI loves to plaster it's ships with small-caliber guns, and therefore adding signature, I do not know why this happens. That is a lot of negatives, I know and I am sorry for that. I like the game and I want it to succeed. I understand that you guys are in a difficult situation and I hope you are safe.
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