Post by aeson on Aug 21, 2017 3:04:38 GMT -6
For this game, I will be playing Frederick W.'s Chin China custom nation on historical budget and very large fleet size. Because I wanted to have a fleet which is imbalanced towards cruisers so as to represent the loss of most capital ships during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and at the peace conference ending it as well as a lack of interest in constructing replacement capital ships between then and game start, I have manually built the legacy fleet, which will be discussed at the end of this post.
I would prefer for this to follow in the pattern of parrot's Subpar Porte game in which various forum members take on the role of lead designer for various shipyards in the countries of the world and submit designs to meet the requirements issued by the Imperial Chinese Navy (me), assuming there is sufficient interest. I may occasionally ask for ships to have a broadside "equivalent to" N guns of caliber C, and will consider a broadside of n guns of c caliber to be equivalent if n * c3 >= 0.9 * N * C3; heavy secondaries will be included in the broadside for semidreadnought battleships (and semidreadnought battlecruisers/armored cruisers, should any such designs be submitted). I will not however be scoring designs in any way other than tracking which shipyards built what ships. I expect tensions with Japan will normally be relatively high, so Japan may not be the best state in which to place your shipyard. Nevertheless, at game start the tensions are highest with Great Britain (4) and lowest with Japan (2). As the domestic shipbuilding industry can only build ships of 4000 tons and the domestic armaments industry can only produce guns of up to 8" in caliber, it is likely that contracts for capital ships and large cruisers will not be awarded to domestic yards for at least the next few years.
I may also from time to time request the participating forum members (and any others who wish to comment) to provide an opinion on current affairs or to advise the Naval Minister (also me) on certain decisions which the Navy may need to take.
Now, onto the fleet:
Chen Yuen was built for us over the past three years in Great Britain. Disputes over payment for the vessel delayed its delivery by nine months and are responsible for the greater tensions with Great Britain than with the other European powers. Powerful though Chen Yuen may appear, this is our only battleship - first class or otherwise - and we do not have any currently on order, so our battle line is the least powerful in the world and will be for some time into the future.
Ning Hai and her incomplete sister ship Ping Hai, currently under construction in the USA and expected to be delivered in February of 1901, are two of the fastest and most powerful first class cruisers in the world. They were designed with an innovative armor scheme which promises superior protection over critical areas of the ship (narrow belt with uniform B/BE thickness), but as this comes at the cost of protection in less critical areas naval experts question its suitability for the close-quarters actions expected in the present period.
The six active Fu Hsing-class second class cruisers are our largest domestically-built warships. With their 23kn speed and their eight 5" guns, they are expected to have an advantage over the slower Japanese cruisers which are primarily armed with lighter 4" guns. A further two Fu Hsing-class cruisers are being built for the fleet in Chinese shipyards, and are expected to be delivered within the year.
The six Cheng Ho-class third class cruisers are, like the Fu Hsing-class cruisers, domestically built. Unlike the Fu Hsings, however, these ships are expected to serve as raiders and as such form a key part of our offensive strategy for any coming war. A further two Cheng Ho-class cruisers are being built for the fleet and are expected to be delivered within the year.
Rounding out the fleet, we have 12 torpedo boats of the Sui Ching class, supposedly ocean-going but really only suitable for operations in home waters due to their short range and their cramped crew quarters, and 13 coastal gunboats of the Chen Yuan type.
Politically, our relations with Japan are quite good despite lingering anger over the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Our relations with most European states and with the USA are somewhat worse due to disputes over their merchants' involvement in the opium trade, and our relations with Great Britain have been further soured due to the contract and payment disputes which delayed the delivery of the Chen Yuen. Financially, the Navy has reserve funds of almost ¥16M and is running a surplus of about ¥100k/month, with 10% of the annual budget being put towards research. Larger docks are currently under construction and expected to be ready by January 1901, though domestic dockyards will still only be suitable for the construction of second class cruisers or lighter warships once the work is completed. As the Ministry of the Navy and the Foreign Office do not foresee Chinese involvement in any major conflict for the next year, it is not currently intended to initiate any advanced training programs for our fleet.
I will probably play through the first year of the game on Wednesday and then post a summary of any interesting occurrences, and if enough interest has been shown in this I'll also post a set of design requirements at that point, probably for at least one new battleship and maybe for some other ships.
I would prefer for this to follow in the pattern of parrot's Subpar Porte game in which various forum members take on the role of lead designer for various shipyards in the countries of the world and submit designs to meet the requirements issued by the Imperial Chinese Navy (me), assuming there is sufficient interest. I may occasionally ask for ships to have a broadside "equivalent to" N guns of caliber C, and will consider a broadside of n guns of c caliber to be equivalent if n * c3 >= 0.9 * N * C3; heavy secondaries will be included in the broadside for semidreadnought battleships (and semidreadnought battlecruisers/armored cruisers, should any such designs be submitted). I will not however be scoring designs in any way other than tracking which shipyards built what ships. I expect tensions with Japan will normally be relatively high, so Japan may not be the best state in which to place your shipyard. Nevertheless, at game start the tensions are highest with Great Britain (4) and lowest with Japan (2). As the domestic shipbuilding industry can only build ships of 4000 tons and the domestic armaments industry can only produce guns of up to 8" in caliber, it is likely that contracts for capital ships and large cruisers will not be awarded to domestic yards for at least the next few years.
I may also from time to time request the participating forum members (and any others who wish to comment) to provide an opinion on current affairs or to advise the Naval Minister (also me) on certain decisions which the Navy may need to take.
Now, onto the fleet:
Chen Yuen was built for us over the past three years in Great Britain. Disputes over payment for the vessel delayed its delivery by nine months and are responsible for the greater tensions with Great Britain than with the other European powers. Powerful though Chen Yuen may appear, this is our only battleship - first class or otherwise - and we do not have any currently on order, so our battle line is the least powerful in the world and will be for some time into the future.
Ning Hai and her incomplete sister ship Ping Hai, currently under construction in the USA and expected to be delivered in February of 1901, are two of the fastest and most powerful first class cruisers in the world. They were designed with an innovative armor scheme which promises superior protection over critical areas of the ship (narrow belt with uniform B/BE thickness), but as this comes at the cost of protection in less critical areas naval experts question its suitability for the close-quarters actions expected in the present period.
The six active Fu Hsing-class second class cruisers are our largest domestically-built warships. With their 23kn speed and their eight 5" guns, they are expected to have an advantage over the slower Japanese cruisers which are primarily armed with lighter 4" guns. A further two Fu Hsing-class cruisers are being built for the fleet in Chinese shipyards, and are expected to be delivered within the year.
The six Cheng Ho-class third class cruisers are, like the Fu Hsing-class cruisers, domestically built. Unlike the Fu Hsings, however, these ships are expected to serve as raiders and as such form a key part of our offensive strategy for any coming war. A further two Cheng Ho-class cruisers are being built for the fleet and are expected to be delivered within the year.
Rounding out the fleet, we have 12 torpedo boats of the Sui Ching class, supposedly ocean-going but really only suitable for operations in home waters due to their short range and their cramped crew quarters, and 13 coastal gunboats of the Chen Yuan type.
Politically, our relations with Japan are quite good despite lingering anger over the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Our relations with most European states and with the USA are somewhat worse due to disputes over their merchants' involvement in the opium trade, and our relations with Great Britain have been further soured due to the contract and payment disputes which delayed the delivery of the Chen Yuen. Financially, the Navy has reserve funds of almost ¥16M and is running a surplus of about ¥100k/month, with 10% of the annual budget being put towards research. Larger docks are currently under construction and expected to be ready by January 1901, though domestic dockyards will still only be suitable for the construction of second class cruisers or lighter warships once the work is completed. As the Ministry of the Navy and the Foreign Office do not foresee Chinese involvement in any major conflict for the next year, it is not currently intended to initiate any advanced training programs for our fleet.
I will probably play through the first year of the game on Wednesday and then post a summary of any interesting occurrences, and if enough interest has been shown in this I'll also post a set of design requirements at that point, probably for at least one new battleship and maybe for some other ships.