|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 27, 2019 16:31:25 GMT -6
"Please, I have no idea what I'm doing!" he barked, as they continued to shove him towards the battleship. "You can swim, and you speak German; that's good enough for us" the Prime Minister replied. "Plus the Kaiser didn't like your predecessor; hopefully you last longer." "B-B-But I've never been on a naval ship before!!" the new Admiral screeched. "They'll tell you what to do" the Defence Minister explained "They have to, you are the new head of the navy!"
Welcome to the adventures of Admiral Moron. an AAR by me, Teddy.
We'll be following the adventures of the new chief Admiral of the Austrian navy, Horst Ludwig Georg Hermann Friedrich von Arnulfsfeste-Großvenediger-Stubenberg, otherwise simply known as 'Admiral Moron' who will be played by me, Teddy, in my struggle to learn what the heck I'm doing while playing this game.
We will be playing with Very Large fleets, non-historical resources, and normal technologies; but with techs set to 80% of the normal development speed, as we will be carrying on beyond 1925.
The objective will be to play my best; and, by playing so very badly, get the help I need to play better! Hopefully by the end of the game I can be holding some colonies!
Game will start either tonight or tomorrow, and be full of detail, pictures, and a description of events.
|
|
|
|
Post by sittingduck on Apr 27, 2019 16:58:31 GMT -6
Well, this is gonna be good!
Heaeven helfen Sie uns, er lernt auf dem Job!
|
|
|
|
Post by aeson on Apr 27, 2019 19:03:45 GMT -6
"B-B-But I've never been on a naval ship before!!" the new Admiral screeched.
|
|
|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 28, 2019 5:03:47 GMT -6
JAN 00
Dear Diary. This January was tough. I learned so much about our navy! We have 9 Battleships. Three of the Budapest class, and 6 of the Wein class. We have a total of 13 Cruisers, but their displacements vary widely; as such I've divided them into Heavy and Light. Our 6 Heavy Cruisers are made up of 2 Kaiserin und Konigin Maria Theresia class, and 4 Sankt Georg class. In terms of Light Cruisers we have 2 Zenta class and 5 Szigetvar class, for a total of 7. For Destroyers, we have 6 Tiger class, and 4 Boa class, for a total of 10. We are building 4 additional destroyers of the Kigio class, and 5 of the Cobra class. We have two Heavy Cruisers under construction, one each of the Leitha class and Frundsberg class, and are building one new Kaiser class Battleship.
One of the first things of use I was able to do was order an increase in the research budget to be 10% of our total budget. I also learned our crews are not undergoing regular training; but our budget is so tight at this time that we can't afford to do training. I am also expected to find money for any intelligence activities; but with most of the budget going to construction, I am going to hold off on that for the time being. Interestingly, the coastal fortifications are under my command. I've taken to making "inspection visits" when rough weather is expected to cut down on the amount of time I spend being seasick. Relations are fairly good with most other nations at the time, but two are notable as being different. Our relations with Germany are quite good, while we have some issues with Italy.
I've attached some clippings to help me remember what these different classes of ship are on the next page (IE in the next post).
|
|
|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 28, 2019 5:14:18 GMT -6
saved clippings: i.imgur.com/Hgp3z3s.png scrawled note "hopefully someone can help me understand which of these ships are good, which are bad, and why" |
|
|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 28, 2019 5:24:29 GMT -6
housekeeping note: for the early part of the game, or, during wars, I'll likely be doing one month at a time. I'll try to always give 24 hours for folks to get feedback in before going to the next month; but I won't always do what you suggest at certain points - for example, I do not like designing a ton of ships in 1900, and even in 1901 I don't like designing every single type; but will try to be open and honest that my answer is "not now" and NOT "not ever"
regardless, I open the floor to feedback and suggestions as to what Admiral Moron should do! When I re-load the game, I will advance to the next month (February of 1900) with all my January decisions already made. I will then do what you guys suggest / what I think is best for Feb, make another antry, save the game, and come back for advice for March, before advancing straight into March, and implementing any decisions. Hopefully that makes sense.
I'll also be sure to include at least one image for each entry, so if you want to see something in particular, please let me know and I'll snap a screenie of it.
|
|
|
|
Post by hmssophia on Apr 28, 2019 7:59:17 GMT -6
Those battleships are suffering incarnate. Even the new build ones. The armoured cruisers ain't half bad though.
|
|
|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 28, 2019 8:22:25 GMT -6
Those battleships are suffering incarnate. Even the new build ones. The armoured cruisers ain't half bad though. What's so bad about em? What would a better battleship look like? |
|
|
|
Post by hmssophia on Apr 28, 2019 9:17:55 GMT -6
Those battleships are suffering incarnate. Even the new build ones. The armoured cruisers ain't half bad though. What's so bad about em? What would a better battleship look like? The nine inch guns are the real bad bit about them. 19 knots is fine and the armour belt is.... survivable for now. But 9 inch guns on a B? you want 11 at least really (does AH only start with 10?) |
|
|
|
Post by fredsanford on Apr 28, 2019 9:51:19 GMT -6
Take a look at the almanac and see what the stats look like for other nation's ships. Especially Italy and France.
|
|
|
|
Post by thenewteddy on Apr 28, 2019 11:00:39 GMT -6
 alright, why not peak at what's up! so what I'm hearing is Primary Guns, Armour, and Primary Guns; also speed of 19. So with that in mind... (looking at numbers) [disclaimer: from time to time I may use 'tag's, or, short form names of countries, from the game HoI4. ENG for example is "England" or Great Britain. It simply helps me write quickly and thus not lose my train of thought] ENG, USA, FRA, RUS, all have universal 4X12 gun setups. Italy has some 12's and some 10's but always 4. Germany has some 10's and some 11's, but also, again, always 4. I seem to be the only one with 3's, or using 9's. I can build with 11's, so I think I will do that. As for speeds, I see numbers of 17, 18, and 19 across the board. As for belts, I see 7, 7.5, and 9. I think I now understand. Thank you! I will probably design a new battleship in Feb, and, despite my earlier 'rules' make an adjustment of cancelling the battleship, and starting training, before January is out. |
|
|
|
Post by hmssophia on Apr 28, 2019 11:32:03 GMT -6
It might also be worth building B's in another countries yards as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by aeson on Apr 28, 2019 12:13:27 GMT -6
housekeeping note: for the early part of the game, or, during wars, I'll likely be doing one month at a time. I'll try to always give 24 hours for folks to get feedback in before going to the next month; but I won't always do what you suggest at certain points - for example, I do not like designing a ton of ships in 1900, and even in 1901 I don't like designing every single type; but will try to be open and honest that my answer is "not now" and NOT "not ever" regardless, I open the floor to feedback and suggestions as to what Admiral Moron should do! When I re-load the game, I will advance to the next month (February of 1900) with all my January decisions already made. I will then do what you guys suggest / what I think is best for Feb, make another antry, save the game, and come back for advice for March, before advancing straight into March, and implementing any decisions. Hopefully that makes sense. I'll also be sure to include at least one image for each entry, so if you want to see something in particular, please let me know and I'll snap a screenie of it. Personally, I would suggest that you play until something interesting happens or until you have funds available to lay something down rather than creating a post for every turn. Not much really happens and there's no real need to make any decisions on most turns, especially in peacetime. Battleships: Counting Kaiser, you have ten second (or possibly third) class battleships and zero first class battleships, and furthermore your second class battleships combine fairly light armament (total armament on any one of your battleships isn't much better than the secondary battery of a typical contemporary first class battleship) with fairly light armor and small size (for a battleship), which may make them relatively inexpensive but also leaves them relatively nonthreatening to other battleships while at the same time being relatively incapable of absorbing damage. This is not ideal, as it means your battle line is likely in a very poor position to fight the Italian or especially French battle lines, which will likely contain a similar total number of ships but will be comprised mostly or entirely of first class battleships.
Basically, if you're going to use second class battleships, you want to do at least one of several things with them: - Have enough of them to simulate a much more powerful fleet. This will probably allow you to blockade another power and may convince the computer to decline a reasonable number of engagements. I doubt if your ten battleships is enough for this even against Italy.
- Have enough of them to overcome qualitatively-superior opponents through superior numbers. Again, I don't think your ten battleships is enough for this even against Italy. - Mix them with first class battleships to boost the size of your battle line while leaving funds available to spend on more or better ships elsewhere. Helps prevent blockade and may spread out fire during fleet battles. You don't have any first class battleships to mix into your battle line right now, and your second class battleships' combination of small size, relatively light armor, and light armament is something of a poor fit for this anyways, because they're not really durable enough to take fire very well and they don't really have the firepower to punish an enemy's battleships for ignoring them.
- Use them for station tonnage in sea zones where they'll probably be the heaviest ship in theater. You're playing Austria-Hungary and so have no reason to use a heavy colonial ship. - Use them as an invasion squadron. The ships you have probably don't have long range and you don't really have enough of them to spare some from the Mediterranean on a long shot like colonial invasion in time of war if you want to avoid being blockaded, but on the other hand your battle line probably isn't good enough to fight the French and Italian battle lines and you might not have enough ships to prevent a blockade in a war with France or Italy anyways.
- Have enough of them to prevent blockade but otherwise try to avoid using them in battle and let your other ships do most of the fighting.
There are probably some other uses for second class battleships, but these are probably the main ones.
First Class Cruisers: Kaiserin und Konigin Maria Theresa, Leitha, Frundsburg Kaiserin und Konigin Maria Theresa and Frundsburg are decent enough, if a bit small, though personally I'd rather have a larger main battery than the relatively large and heavy secondary battery that the two of these have, and I'd also want them to be a bit faster as 20 knots is a bit slow.
Leitha I consider to be a bit more suspect; it's a bit like the historical Monmouth- (or County-) class cruisers of the Royal Navy, of which Admiral Fisher said "Sir William White designed the County-class but forgot the guns." Most large first class cruisers carry two to four 9" or 10" guns and a secondary battery about as large and as heavy as Leitha's main battery without any real compromises on armor. Leitha, as a result, is in the somewhat awkward position of being a bit weak for fighting comparable contemporary warships while at the same time being overkill against the second and third class cruisers that its armament suggests it's designed to fight. Its speed is also a bit awkward; without a range advantage, a 21-knot first class cruiser is likely to have some trouble defeating the better second and third class cruisers that it might actually be worth using against simply because it'll have trouble catching them.
Second Class Cruisers: Sankt Georg, Szigetvar Nothing really notable here, though Sankt Georg is quite possibly compromised by its 2" turret faces; it'd've been much better cutting a bit of belt armor and making the turret faces more capable of excluding 6" shells. Regardless, both of these are decent enough second class cruisers.
Third Class Cruisers: Zenta Nothing really notable. The main battery is small and light, which will be problematic if it comes up against a more heavily armed third class cruiser (the computer sometimes builds similar 5" cruisers, and the 2x1x6" + secondaries cruisers of similar displacement that the computer often builds may also be dangerous), but it should be okay for a fleet escort, fleet scout, or raider, and if you end up with colonies outside of the Mediterranean the Zenta-class cruisers may also be a decent low-investment choice for station tonnage.
Torpedo Boat Destroyers: Boa, Tiger, Kigio Nothing noteworthy. Tiger, with its extra 3" gun, is probably slightly better than the others despite being a knot slower, and all of them might've been better off specializing themselves more towards being fast gunboats; the computer tends to be very conservative about its use of torpedoes when it doesn't have that many to play with and so two tubes aren't really that much better than one.
Torpedo Boats: Cobra Nothing noteworthy. My experience is that the computer's very stingy with torpedoes if it has fewer than six of them to play with, so if you're not playing in Captain's Mode I wouldn't expect great things of these.
I will add that Austria-Hungary is quite possibly the power best suited to taking advantage of the tonnage savings of Short Range and Cramped Accommodations at the start of the game; Austria-Hungary has no commitments outside of its home sea zone and so the downsides of Short Range and Cramped Accommodations can be more or less ignored. These can reduce costs or allow you to more capability into a given displacement, either of which is useful for a relatively poor power with relatively small dockyards like Austria-Hungary. Might still want to keep the cruisers on Medium Range as Short Range prevents a ship from being used as a raider and reduces the likelihood of intercepting a raider, but for other ships it's not really needed.
|
|
|
|
Post by rimbecano on Apr 28, 2019 17:40:19 GMT -6
"B-B-But I've never been on a naval ship before!!" the new Admiral screeched.
I realized overnight that this and Gangsta/Amish Paradise have more or less the same meter. What is heard cannot be unheard. |
|
|
|
Post by dorn on Apr 29, 2019 1:08:20 GMT -6
I am much more in line with aeson opinion.
Battleships I suggest mix of first class battleship with the second / third class ones. The first class should have heavier 12" guns, a little better armour and large secondary armamament.
Your battleships is more the second / third class battleships. In case of designing this type of battleships I would suggest to maximalize cost efficiency. From the picture I can see every detail as extended armour or armour scheme but I would suggest saving another money using only 1" deck armour and decrease casemates armour to 2" probably. These ship is not expect fo face more powerfull ships alone.
Armoured cruisers Leitha class
You build quite large armoured cruiser of Leitha class but there are slow and not have adequate guns. You should as yourself which ship she will fight? First class armoured cruisers? They usually has 4x9 or 4x10" guns with speed 21-23 knots, so she cannot escape and cannot win gunfight and costs almost same as real first class cruiser. You should put main armament to 4x10" guns, have only lightly armoured secondary 6" guns armament. The 2" deck is completely overkill against armoured cruisers, 1" deck armour is enough. These all savings allow you to have real main guns and higher speed.
Armoured cruisers Frundesberg class (Kaiser Karl VI is similar)
There are slow too much. They cannot catch any cruiser but on other hand they cannot face battleship. So what is they purpose? They have 2x1x10" guns however from my experience it is much better to find space to have 2x2x10" guns arrangement.
Armoured cruisers Sankt George class Who these ships will face? Armoured cruisers? Probably not with only 6" guns armament. So more likely they will face protected cruisers. For that purpose they need speed, reasonable firepower and good armour. Sankt George class has reasonable firepower (but even some protected cruisers would have better firepower as 3x2x6" guns have significant ROF penalty), uninspired speed and too heavy armour. I would suggest to decrease deck armour to 1" as 2" deck armour is strong even against 12" guns and this ship has no intention to fight battleships, use it for speed and probably 2 pairs of 6" guns. I would consider as aeson suggested better protection of 6" guns as one unlucky hit even from 6" guns can blow your ship.
Protected cruiser Szigetvar class Quite decent cruiser but I would suggest more speed (23 knots), or better belt armour over 2" of deck armour.
Protected cruiser Zenta class What is purpose of that cruiser? Does it have long range to be raider? If not she is quite weak. As raider she can be good but I would suggest lower armour protection and increase speed. The armour protection helps to protect but her only 4" armament is quite light to help. Speed could be more handy.
|
|
