Noname's Russia AAR

[Noname117]

Noname117's Russia AAR


So I've been wanting to do a Rule the Waves AAR for awhile now, and now that I've got an itch to play the game again I thought I'd try one for this campaign. I'm just going to be reporting what happens rather than work with any character development, simply because I suck at coming up with historically appropriate names.

So without further ado, let's get this started.



Chapter 1: January 1900 (setup)

So to start the AAR off, here are the settings I'm playing on:


I set my tech progression up as this:


Yes, I know, setting everything to "high" just means nothing is, but this here has a nice 2-tier setup which should trend towards getting me cheaper and better battleships and cruisers over time at a slight cost to my lighter ship and submarine development.


The Fleet
So I guess it's time to discuss what I set my fleet up as.


Please excuse the bottom of my screen. I'll do a better cropping job in the future. Or not have an open tab visible behind it all.

And, of course, the ships currently under construction:



And now I should probably go through the ship designs individually with my thought processes on each of their designs.

Ship classes January 1900

Imperator Petr Veliki class battleship

Ships in class: 2
Imperator Petr Veliki (NE)
Pervenets (NEA)

The Imperator Petr Velikis are designed to be smaller defensive battleships for protecting Russia's' 2 main coastlines. These ships are not designed to move from their designated ocean (and can't really, with their short range), but can still support the fleet in that area in the event of a war.


Imperator Nikolai I class battleship

Ships in class: 3 (+2 under construction)

Imperator Nikolai I (NE)
Tsesarevich (NE)
Evastafi (NE)
Retvizan (due August 1901)
Imperator Pavel I (due January 1903)

These battleships are designed to make up the main battle-line of the Russian navy, sailing to whichever coastline the war requires them to be on. They're designed to be compatible with the Imperator Petr Veliki class battleships in terms of speed.


Gromoboi class armored cruiser

Ships in class: 3
Gromoboi (NE)
Pamyat Azova (NE)
Rossiya (NEA)

These armored cruisers are designed to be cheaper, lighter armored cruisers still capable of putting up a fight. They aren't the best, and they aren't numerous, but they should be good enough for Russia's interests.


Vityaz class armored cruiser

Ships in class: 1 under construction
Vityaz

Vityaz is designed as an uparmored and faster version of the Gromoboi. It should be more competitive with the other armored cruisers of the world.


Avrora class protected cruiser

Ships in class: 6
Avrora (NE)
Pallada (NEA)
Diana (NE)
Flora (NE)
Pamyat Merkuriya (NE)

The Avroras are general purpose protected cruisers. They are decently well armored for protected cruisers, relatively cheap, and capable of serving as scouts for the fleet. Their 21 knot speed will eventually require replacement though.


Vladimir class protected cruiser

Ships in class: 2 under construction
Vladimir
Vesta

The Vladimirs are little more than upgunned Avroras.


Boiki class destroyer

Ships in class: 12 (+4 under construction)
9 in NE
3 in NEA

These make up the destroyer force of the Russian navy. A heavier importance is placed on torpedoes rather than gun armament or speed.





This shows how we're doing compared to other navies. We have an edge in battleships compared to everyone but the US and Britain, although if war were to break out right now we could only sortie 4 defensively on a single coast, or 3 offensively.
In terms of numbers and tonnage our cruiser and destroyer departments seem OK, on par with or slightly less than most other nations.


Upon hitting the turn button, I'm met with a message telling me that our scientists are currently baffled by the problems of trying to build a pressure hull for a submarine. Might be a little while before we get those then. Sigh, no turn 2 halfway to submarines technology.

Germany lays down a new CA and Britain lays down a new battleship.

In the next month I'll look at what ships other nations have and formulate a game plan on what I'm going to need to build going 5 years in the future. Hopefully then in March I'll be able to pay to increase my dock size, as I spent a bit too much on my starting navy.

[boomboomf22]

Nice to see this. Ship designs seem pretty good for what they are, but both the AC and PC designs seem a bit slow

[Noname117]

Speed is expensive, and these ships will rapidly become obsolete anyways.

[boomboomf22]

True. However the faster they are the longer they can serve before nessesitating replacement.

Chalk it up to differences in design philosophy.

[bramborough]

Looking forward to this. I've played most nations by now; only Italy and Spain remaining (lol, Spain in particular may remain unplayed). Thus far, I am a bit surprised that Russia has been my favorite (perhaps tied with Japan).

One question: For both AC and PC, the two classes are so similar to each other. What was the reason for going with two classes, rather than just picking one or the other of the two solid designs and going with a single class for each? I don't see enough differentiation for the classes to fulfill different roles.

In contrast, there's clearly a meaningful operational difference between the two battleship classes. I kinda like what you did there, it's an interesting idea. Will see how it works out if/when you have to send a fleet over to NE Asia against Japan.

[Noname117]

Dec 31, 2017 20:53:46 GMT -6 bramborough said:

Looking forward to this. I've played most nations by now; only Italy and Spain remaining (lol, Spain in particular may remain unplayed). Thus far, I am a bit surprised that Russia has been my favorite (perhaps tied with Japan).

One question: For both AC and PC, the two classes are so similar to each other. What was the reason for going with two classes, rather than just picking one or the other of the two solid designs and going with a single class for each? I don't see enough differentiation for the classes to fulfill different roles.

In contrast, there's clearly a meaningful operational difference between the two battleship classes. I kinda like what you did there, it's an interesting idea. Will see how it works out if/when you have to send a fleet over to NE Asia against Japan.

They're mostly incremental improvements to begin countering future ships, so I wind up with a gradual high-low mix of ships of the classes.

[Noname117]

Chapter 2: Febuary 1900

No, I don't intend on making every month it's own chapter. But I do need to examine the fleets of other nations and come up with a plan for the future of the Russian navy.

So up first is the German navy. They are one of the enemies I would most likely face, as we share the same home zone, and their navy is usually one of the more medium-sized ones.


So in terms of battleships we have them countered. We can bring 4 battleships out and have advantages in firepower and speed over their 4 (their line's top speed would be 17 knots, although Hertha is capable of 20 knots).

The German ACs are a huge problem though.




Hansa (and her future sister) are faster than my Gromoboi class cruisers and as fast as Vityaz. They also appear to be as well armored, probably better armored in areas other than the main belt, as my armored cruisers, and their armament is more powerful.
Vineta and her sister are, of course, faster. The belt armor is a little worse, but I would bet the rest of the ship is equally or better armored than the Gromoboi class cruisers. And, of course, they have the same armament as Hansa.
Thankfully all of these cruisers seem to be on colonial duty currently.

These 4 cruisers are very scary, and will necessitate a counter once Vityaz is completed. Probably something more along the lines of a proto-battlecruiser and eating up the funding I'd usually put in to get another battleship.


In terms of protected cruisers, the situation is actually better than it first appears. They do have a large number of 21-22 knot protected cruisers, but most of these are only armed with 4 or 5 inch guns. Niobe and Amazone look the most dangerous, with their 6" weaponry and 22 knot speed.





Wait a second, both of these images show 21 knot speeds.

If the placards are true, then Niobe and Amazone might actually just be equals to my Avroras and inferior to the Vladimirs on the production line. The Germans do have 2 4" armed protected cruisers capable of 22 knots, but I'm not too scared of them.

In a war against Germany, it seems we can outright beat them in terms of battleships and out-quality them in terms of protected cruisers. However, the German armored cruisers would have a significant advantage over ours.



Now on to Austria Hungary

An early war with Austria Hungary will likely result in not much happening. I'd have to offensively attack the Mediterranean and they'd have to strike in Northern Europe.
Their Kaisers are small, although rather large for legacy Austrian battleships, and their armored cruisers are also tiny. The protected cruisers may prove a threat (or they could be like Germany's and not actually capable of 22 knots), but, again, I doubt we'd meet much in war.





So naturally Britain has a much stronger navy than us in both quality and quantity. I don't expect to get into wars with them without allied support, and it really doesn't matter how I built up my fleet; we'd either have to get blockaded or not have the quality ships to stand a chance at sinking more ships than we take in losses.




The French navy is another navy in which a war with them would be a contest. The French battleships are better than ours and they have as many of them as we could muster against them, but they aren't better to a massive degree. A fleet battle could come down to location, tactics, and training.
The Gueydon armored cruisers are the scariest they have. Our armored cruisers have better main guns, but these French ACs are better in about every other aspect. The rest of the French AC force is small and not really scary though.
And it seems the French really didn't believe in producing a lot of protected cruisers.



Just like in actual history, Japan is another nation we could find ourselves fighting and do have to prepare for. Although their 2 battleships are dangerous, once we'd get our squadron down there we'd have twice the number they do. The Japanese armored cruisers, despite being larger than ours, are only armed with lighter 6" guns. I shouldn't underestimate them, but they might not be too much of a threat. Their light cruisers also seem weaker than ours.





A war with the US would probably be very similar to a war against Austria Hungary, except with no opportunity for us to be offensive outside of maybe in the Pacific. They, of course, have larger amounts of decent-quality stuff than I do and I'd want to avoid war with them unless I have an ally or two backing me up.


So, we should probably start by building our navy to counter those of the Germans, the French, and the Japanese. They are the navies where our quality of ships, quantity of ships, and our fleet makeup matter the most in deciding the fate of the war. France and Japan currently aren't too scary, but I would like to get a larger and faster armored cruiser or two and a faster set of protected cruisers started on construction within the first 2 years of the game.


Turn events:
Germany lays down 2 destroyers and a Wettin class battleship Weissenburg. Britain lays down a destroyer. The USA lays down the Wyoming class battleship Ohio. And one of our destroyers, Veseli, is delayed.


With the next chapter I'll try to go until the end of the year. I'm thinking of doing full reports on the navy on every year ending with a 5, at the start of a war, and either every January in war or every year the war has gone on. And, of course, after the end of the war.

[bramborough]

I've found over time that the early CA's are primarily a huge resource drain; in more than one campaign, I've been bemused to discover that a CA can cost more in monthly maintenance (and build cost) than a typical B. I look at those high-tonnage powerful German CAs, and just see dollar (or Reichsmark) signs draining away from the Kaiser's naval budget. Instead of countering CA-for-CA, maybe use the money in an asymmetric response. Of the options you mentioned, I like the idea of some faster CL's. Otherwise, one might consider going with a *lot* of DD's. Dollar-for-dollar, the cheapest strategic points available for determining who blockades (or does not blockade) whom...which in turn decides who racks up VPs more consistently over the course of a war.

Lol, not trying to tell you how to play the game, you probably have more RTW experience than me anyway. Just sharing what goes through my head as I read through your excellent post on the other navies.

One random thought that occurs to me regarding Britain. Until I actually played the Royal Navy, I didn't realize how much tonnage they have to dedicate to mollifying the colonials. Over 100,000 tons. So, in event of war, the amount of "discretionary" tonnage they can bring to bear against you isn't as high as first appears (although admittedly, still plenty high enough). Not saying you should go picking a fight with Jacky Fisher, but if it happens, not quite as scary as it looks.

Most importantly...Happy New Year! Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2018. And that goes for all denizens of this forum! :-)

[rimbecano]

Jan 1, 2018 3:23:46 GMT -6 bramborough said:

 I look at those high-tonnage powerful German CAs, and just see dollar (or Reichsmark) signs draining away from the Kaiser's naval budget. Instead of countering CA-for-CA, maybe use the money in an asymmetric response.  

I'm too much of a battlecruiser admiral to see things that way. I try very hard to build my early CAs to stand in the line as much as possible.

[Noname117]

Whelp, I just tried to type a post then lost all of it in trying to put an image in the post. It seems like there is a glitch in Proboards where if you drag the link to the image it greys out the whole site and wants you to drag and drop attachments in. Without an obvious way to get back to the post, other than to reload. So yeah, I just lost a bit, and am now kind of angry. Not sure if I'll be able to get this next chapter done now or if it will have to wait for a few hours.

[Noname117]

Chapter 3

So I basically lost several paragraphs of text which I had nicely formatted and was OK with and really don't want to retype, especially with the risk of losing it all again. So I guess I'll do a fast version of this chapter.


March 1900

My bank account goes broke from building larger docks. I've also been placing events and AI ship building in the wrong month, so the stuff from February is actually the stuff which happened in March.


April 1900

Admiral Makarov is sitting at his desk when the Tsar's mail deliverer enters with a letter from the Tsar. He slams it on the desk and runs out the door.
Makarov opens the letter. It reads:

    Admiral Makarov,

    North Korea in chaos.
    We can invade
    Japan will be angry
    May try to war

    Want to do it?
            -Tsar Nicholas II

Makarov thinks then begins writing letters to Tsar and the fleets.


This top part was originally written up decently well. It was still bad writing, but at least it was something. And I don't want to bother writing it again. So there, have that.





So we take North Korea





And Japan is angery. They could try to war. So I decide to send some ships there.





The battleships Tsesarevich and Evstafi, the armored cruiser Pamyat Azova, the protected cruisers Avrora and Pamyat Merkuriya, and 3 destroyers will sail to reinforce the Pacific fleet in the event of Japan trying to war.


The status of my fleet:



Britain lays down 2 Usk class DDs and a new armored cruiser named Cressy. France lays down the Lalande class protected cruiser Cosmao. The USA lays down 2 Paulding class destroyers and the Wyoming class battleship Delaware.



May 1900

I begin spying on Japan (only on low settings). I also decide it is time to build 2 6in coastal batteries in NEA in case war breaks out with Japan.



Britain lays down an Usk class DD and a Moy class DD. The USA lays down 2 Roe class DDs. Germany commissions the destroyer G12, while Britain commissions the destroyers Garry, Gala, and Usk.



June 1900

Tensions with Japan decrease. It looks like they don't want to war, at least for now.





Because of this turn of events midway through their trip I turn most of my fleet around. Evstafi, Avrora, and Bedovi continue to Northeast Asia while the rest of the fleet heads back to Northern Europe. Spying funding on Japan is decreased to none again.






Britain lays down 2 Moy class destroyers and commissions the destroyer Welland. The USA lays down 2 Roe class destroyers and the Flint class protected cruiser Tucson, also commissioning destroyers Lamson and Paulding. Germany commissions destroyers S17 and G9

Problems in the delivery of equipment delay the construction of the destroyer Gromki.

July 1900

Tensions with Austria Hungary drop.

The USA lays down 2 Mayrant class destroyers. Germany commissions the destroyers S13 and S14.


August 1900

Private shipbuilding expansion increases dock size. Yay!





Yeah, I'll take that prestige and tension reduction for a little bit of my barely existent bank account.




With tension levels lowered and with both of my forces finally arriving at their destinations (NE and NEA), I reduce my fleet readiness to save additional monies.


Germany has laid down a S19 class DD and the Medusa class CL Medusa. Britain has laid down the Phaeton class CL Calliope.
The USA has laid down 2 Mayrant class DDs and the Flint class CL Galveston.


September 1900




Don't really need the crew experience right now, and I do want to hold onto some funds.



Germany has laid down 2 DDs of the S19 class. France has laid down Lalande class CL Troude.



Problems in the delivery of equipment have delayed the construction of CL Vesta.
And more delays in getting my ships



October 1900

The 6 inch coastal batteries finish construction

Germany has laid down 2 DDs of the S22 class. Britain has laid down Renown class B . Britain has commissioned DD Foyle. USA has commissioned CL Flint.



Unexplained delays have affected the building of DD Gromki.


November 1900

Great Britain has laid down a Moy class DD and the Barfleur class B . USA has laid down a Mayrant class DD.
Germany has commissioned DD S18. Britain has commissioned DDs Liffey and Itchen.



There are rumours that Japanese scientists are having trouble mastering the principles of active mine warfare.


December 1900

We finally get our first new addition to the navy. The destroyer Gremyashhi is commissioned, with all 3 of the other destroyers ordered with her currently delayed.


With much of my fleet back into the reserves and the 6 inch batteries completed in NEA, I actually have some funding back. Vladimir will be completed next turn. Vesta will follow the next month. And then Vityaz will follow her the month after that.

With that much funding becoming available again in the next 3 months, I can start on the super-cruiser I want to build.





The 16000 ton Bayan will be the largest ship in the Russian navy when completed, and will be capable of 24 knots. For its time it is well armored for an armored cruiser, and sticks with the 9" guns found on the Gromoboi and Vityaz classes. The 10" guns are of lower quality, and are thus not being used. Bayan's secondary battery is where the fun begins, with 12 6" guns and 6 4" guns per broadside, Bayan should chew through anything with light to no armor, and do massive superstructure damage to the ships with heavier armor such as battleships. Bayan will likely be unbeat as far as the armored cruisers of other nations go, and she may rule the seas for 2-4 years after her commissioning, at which point proper battlecruisers start getting built.

With my current funding, Bayan will put me a bit into the red every month, but Vladimir being completed will very quickly offset that.




The initial costs of building the ship are a bit high for what I have in my bank account, but I do accept, and begin building the ship.




Current status of ships under construction. I'll get quite a few pretty soon, and that might allow me to give Bayan a sibling. The priority immediately after that will be two 23-24 knot protected cruisers, probably being built once Retvizan is complete.


Great Britain has laid down a Moy class DD. Germany has commissioned DD S15. Britain has commissioned DDs Moy and Arun. France has commissioned CA Chanzy.
USA has commissioned DDs Sterett and Drayton.





And that's it for this post. I had hoped it would be a bit more fancy, but the forums worked against me on that one. Anyways, I hope you all have a happy new year, and the next post will come whenever I feel like playing the game a bit more. So hopefully this evening.

[boomboomf22]

I'll echo what others have said vis-a-vis lost posts. Try writing out your posts in a word doc a head of time than copy pasting them over to avoid the headache of post loss

[director]

I recommend cranking up the Intelligence level on Japan while building forts at your Pacific port and moving more of your fleet that way. Annoy them now, fight them now.

[garrisonchisholm]

Those are the best starting Austrian battleships I've ever seen!! 13,000 tons? They may nit be great, but Austria not starting with terrible battleships is real news.

Are you playing with the stock map, or aeson 's modded map? Transit time to Pacific from Baltic is 5 months then, not 3 (just fyi).

[Noname117]

Stock map. But it certainly seems like 5 months here. I wonder if the lack of a canal is hurting that or not.

I also currently don't have word or a similar program installed on my computer so that's not as much of an option.