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Post by noshurviverse on Mar 23, 2019 11:14:11 GMT -6
Since the game will apparently include airships to some extent, will they have value, either as AI units in the tactical game or as indirect assets for ASW and trade warfare in the strategic game in the same way as submarines are handled. Will the player design them or, like submarines chose a general type of airship ("patrol airship") and just build them?
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Post by Adseria on Mar 23, 2019 13:30:14 GMT -6
Speaking of airships, any chance of some form of Hindenburg-esque event that somehow limits use of airships?
Possibly, either you stop using airships/have less than a specified number or you get a budget cut? Obviously, you'd have to be able to disable an event like this, like you can with the WNT.
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Post by corsair on Mar 23, 2019 18:54:39 GMT -6
Speaking of airships, any chance of some form of Hindenburg-esque event that somehow limits use of airships?
That would open up the question as to whether the different kinds of airships are modeled, e.g. non-rigid (blimp), semi-rigid, or rigid (zeppelin), and the lifting gas used, (hydrogen or helium).
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Post by rob06waves2018 on Mar 23, 2019 19:10:03 GMT -6
Speaking of airships, any chance of some form of Hindenburg-esque event that somehow limits use of airships?
That would open up the question as to whether the different kinds of airships are modeled, e.g. non-rigid (blimp), semi-rigid, or rigid (zeppelin), and the lifting gas used, (hydrogen or helium).
I would argue that only hydrogen blimps are within the scope of RTW. Rigid airships were mainly used as bombers or aircraft motherships over land so not much naval application there. Blimps were widely used for reconnaissance though. Helium airships would be practically impossible during the airship time period. Helium was rare and only the US had a large reserve. Export was strictly limited. Hydrogen was the only way and a major part in the eventual failure of airships.
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Post by triggerhappypilot on Mar 23, 2019 19:24:27 GMT -6
That would open up the question as to whether the different kinds of airships are modeled, e.g. non-rigid (blimp), semi-rigid, or rigid (zeppelin), and the lifting gas used, (hydrogen or helium).
I would argue that only hydrogen blimps are within the scope of RTW. Rigid airships were mainly used as bombers or aircraft motherships over land so not much naval application there. Blimps were widely used for reconnaissance though. Helium airships would be practically impossible during the airship time period. Helium was rare and only the US had a large reserve. Export was strictly limited. Hydrogen was the only way and a major part in the eventual failure of airships. The Zeppelin shown in the screenshot had parasite fighters, so that would suggest a rigid airship as large as the Akron/Macon Class is already ingame. Helium may be limited to a "tech tree" upgrade that significantly reduces airship flammability (although not overall fatality rate, as both Akron and Macon were lost due to loss of control in high winds). Reasonably speaking, any nation with access to oil/natural gas can begin to develop a helium stockpile, since helium is captured through cryogenic distillation of these gases. It was simply that the US was heavily invested in airships (and had ample access to oil and natural gas) during the 1920s/1930s that they began to build up a strategic reserve that was ultimately unused.
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Post by Adseria on Mar 24, 2019 4:20:33 GMT -6
I would argue that only hydrogen blimps are within the scope of RTW. Rigid airships were mainly used as bombers or aircraft motherships over land so not much naval application there. Blimps were widely used for reconnaissance though. The Imperial German Navy airship fleet flew nearly 1000 recon missions over the North Sea alone. Compare to the ~50 strategic bombing missions carried out by all German airships.
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zoomar
Junior Member
Posts: 60
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Post by zoomar on Mar 29, 2019 8:25:37 GMT -6
That would open up the question as to whether the different kinds of airships are modeled, e.g. non-rigid (blimp), semi-rigid, or rigid (zeppelin), and the lifting gas used, (hydrogen or helium).
I would argue that only hydrogen blimps are within the scope of RTW. Rigid airships were mainly used as bombers or aircraft motherships over land so not much naval application there. Blimps were widely used for reconnaissance though. Helium airships would be practically impossible during the airship time period. Helium was rare and only the US had a large reserve. Export was strictly limited. Hydrogen was the only way and a major part in the eventual failure of airships. Actually, the ability to develop helium resources could be considered one of the US special qualities. This presumably would have an advantage in making airships less easy to destroy, either by direct player action or AI actions. The single airship with parasite fighters shown in the screenshot is probably a rigid airship. I would suspect this would be a relatively late improvement to the airship research tree, and one that could only be implemented if the player had already developed rigid airships. This raises the question if airship-launched planes could also take on offensive roles. Probably not, since airships are clearly not the main focus of this simulation, but it would be cool. BTW, zeppelins were very well suited for naval tasks, as shown by both the German zeppelins in WW1 and the US Navy zeppelins in the interwar period. In fact that is the main reason they were built.
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