"Bulged"

[Adseria]

I have 3 questions about this, all interrelated.

1: What exactly does this do? I assume it means torpedo bulges? If so,

2: How is it different to torpedo defence? And

3: Why can it only be added during a rebuild, and not during the initial design/construction of a ship?

In case it's not clear, I'm talking about the checkbox marked "Bulged" that appears underneath the "Colonial Service" checkbox when designing a rebuild.

[skyhawk]

All I know is that it offers some sort of torpedo defense and reduces your vessels speed by a seemingly set percentage.

In my experience it tends to drop 2 knots off your speed and doesn't seem to help with torpedoes much.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could weigh in.

[aeson]

1: What exactly does this do? I assume it means torpedo bulges? If so,


2: How is it different to torpedo defence?

It does mean external torpedo bulges. My experience with torpedo bulges makes me think that they're roughly equivalent to one to two levels of torpedo protection in addition to whatever internal torpedo protection is on the ship, and - while I am not completely certain - I think that this holds even when the effective torpedo protection exceeds the normally-attainable levels of torpedo protection using internal systems. Unlike internal torpedo protection systems, external bulges do not cost tonnage but instead reduce a ship's service speed by 10% of the design speed (with standard rounding, though note that it appears as though the minimum speed loss is two knots, if you happen to have some extremely slow ships that you're considering bulging; also, it's possible that the speed lost is 10% of the pre-refit service speed rather than 10% of the design speed, but as the speed lost is identical unless you have a ship designed for 24kn/34kn that achieved 25kn/35kn in service or vice versa and I cannot recall ever bulging such a ship I could not say).

I personally tend to value a ship's speed over the torpedo protection offered by bulges; I don't choose design speeds on a whim, and replacing the engines in a rebuild to offset the speed lost to bulges is in my opinion too expensive to be worthwhile except possibly when under treaty restrictions or maybe for a small number of major units whose only serious flaw compared to more modern major units is lackluster torpedo protection. I would additionally suggest that particularly fast ships, such as battlecruisers, may be better protected against torpedo attack by having them run at high speeds than by adding torpedo bulges to them during a refit.

3: Why can it only be added during a rebuild, and not during the initial design/construction of a ship?

Probably because external torpedo bulges were generally added to ships during refits rather than being included in the designs used to build the ship.

[ieshima]

Feb 2, 2019 20:50:43 GMT -6 Adseria said:

I have 3 questions about this, all interrelated.

1: What exactly does this do? I assume it means torpedo bulges? If so,

2: How is it different to torpedo defence? And

3: Why can it only be added during a rebuild, and not during the initial design/construction of a ship?

In case it's not clear, I'm talking about the checkbox marked "Bulged" that appears underneath the "Colonial Service" checkbox when designing a rebuild.

1. It adds torpedo defense.  Yes, they are torpedo bulges.

2. The torpedo bulge or blister was sort of the progenitor to the inbuilt torpedo defense system.  While a TDS is part of the ship's hull, a bulge was not integral and was often added after the ship was completed.  It was effectively a large sponson welded to the side of the ship and half filled with water or whatever the shipyard had on hand at that moment, which could range from wood to spare piping.  The basic idea was that a torpedo would hit the bulge and flood the outer air filled section while the closer prefilled section would dissipate the shockwave and splinters. 

Out of the water it looked like this:

For the most part they worked well, and in some cases were preferred over an inbuilt TDS, mainly because it would be easier to repair if it got damaged and they added extra buoyancy to a ship, which could be useful if it was taking on water. 

Unfortunately, because they drastically increased the width of the hull, the addition of a bulge inevitably dropped the speed of the ship. 

3. Basically think of it as an after market TDS for ships that weren't built with it.  The only ships who would need it are ships that don't have it, and they were very rarely, if ever, included in the original construction of the ship, so the only way to get it would be in a rebuild. 

[skwabie]

Iirc bulge in RTW is not an entire plus to tps, while the first couple torps do minimal damage to ships with bulge, the 3rd or later hits will completely explode the ship, regardless of ship's original tps.
As a result it's pointless to use it on ships with tps 2+, it'd just make them worse off.

[noshurviverse]

Feb 3, 2019 9:13:40 GMT -6 skwabie said:

Iirc bulge in RTW is not an entire plus to tps, while the first couple torps do minimal damage to ships with bulge, the 3rd or later hits will completely explode the ship, regardless of ship's original tps.
As a result it's pointless to use it on ships with tps 2+, it'd just make them worse off.

That seems rather out of character for RtW, where did you get this impression?

[garrisonchisholm]

I am with noshuriverse- in my games I have sometimes built ships with extra speed and the intention to send them straight back in for bulges. I can't recall *ever* losing a TPS 3 or 4 ship with Bulges, except for the 'submarine sinks ship' event, of which I am not sure how closely it looks at the target; I rather think it just picks it from a list on a die roll.