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Post by HolyDragoon on Jun 16, 2019 19:21:14 GMT -6
Well then, there was one last nation I had to cover before I moved fully to RtW2. There's not much to say, this was one of the Custom Nations I enjoyed playing with the most. It was also one of those playthroughs that I always wanted to do, and had the idea of following something more narrative. Of course, I kept delaying it because I felt all I could do would pale before director 's own story. Still, I wouldn't be at ease if I didn't try it, so... here we go! (Settings are medium fleets, 20% research Rate, Variable tech) - Steel Gray and Royal Purple: A Byzantium Rule the Waves Playthrough Byzantium, the empire that managed to weather the storm of centuries of history, sometimes by just one very fine thread. Nevertheless, by the end of the 19th century the empire managed to have a stable presence in the lands between the Anatolian Peninsula and Egypt, effectively controlling most of the eastern tip of the Mediterranean. Said stability was only conquered in the 19th century, and though the industrialization promoted by Alexios VII and his son John X ensured that Byzantium had a solid industrial base for the future, there was the sober realization that the empire needed to improve on several fields if it was to keep up with their Mediterranean neighbours at the very least. Though the Army was well furnished and trained, fruit of the permanent vigilance over the Ottomans on the eastern part of Anatolia, the Navy had been relegated to a secondary priority, having just enough to have a convincing defence but requiring a fast and vigorous program to bring it to the standards of the age of the ironclad, though said program would unfortunately need to come after whatever requirements the Army might have. Ships were ordered from foreign shipyards, as the Byzantine sent their brightest to study shipbuilding abroad, so that they could learn and return to kickstart the construction of Byzantine ships for the Byzantine navy. By 1900, the docks were still rather small, though enough to build smaller ships, but the basics for a modern navy were already there. The year of 1900 is also the beginning of the tale of the Manuel Theodoros, who had just become the minister of the navy, the new name for the ancient position of megas doux. However, he wasn't a complete newcomer to the ministry; for the past two years, Manuel stood as a close second to the elder Navarch Leo Prodromus, preparing everything to make the transition as smooth as possible. And so, in the evening of the 1st of January 1900, Theodoros sat down and reviewed the current state of the Byzantine fleet. Most of the ships were either designed or were already in service before the transition period started, though the battleship and an armoured cruiser being constructed were ordered after the appointment of the new minister as the successor of Navarch Prodromus. The Basileus-class was the first 'modern' battleship design ordered by Byzantium. Ordered in Italy, the battleship only lags behind French and British designs, though recent reports suggest that some modifications should be made in the next major refit. All in all, Manuel considered the design perfectly adequate for the immediate needs of the navy. The Justinian was currently under construction in Great Britain. This ship matched the largest designs of foreign navies and offers a decent balance between protection and firepower. The Chandax was a small armoured cruiser design. With relatively thin armour and a main battery of two 10'' guns, this class was nevertheless needed to plug the gap between the lighter cruisers and the battleships until better ships are constructed. The Athina class was a 'light armoured cruiser' design, built for speed and with a primary battery geared towards the destruction of enemy protected cruisers. Though Manuel finds the concept interesting, he was nevertheless worried about the survivability of the ship against some foreign armoured cruiser designs, though standing orders for the captain of the Athina are to use its speed to disengage in such cases. The latest armoured cruiser design, the Boukellarion carries a lighter primary armament compared to the Chandax-class, mainly due to problems with the originally proposed double 10'' turret design at the time of its planning. However, recent observations of foreign ships suggest that its low freeboard design might become a liability. This, together with the fact that the problems with the 10'' turret were solved once a couple of months before, made Manuel ponder ordering a new design instead of building further ships of this class. The Basilisk was a protected cruiser class from the late 1880s, and the first experiment into domestic large ship construction. Its age shows in its design already, but the number of ships constructed turned this class into the backbone of the empire's cruiser fleet. The second generation of cruisers, the Harpy-class is an enlarged Basilisk with some extra armour, heavier main battery and a one knot advantage. Overall, this class proved the Basilisk design to be a decent starting point, though there are already several noted sent by the design teams suggesting a new class with some added improvements. In regards to lighter ships, there was not much to tell. 13 destroyers were currently in service, including two of a class that became infamous for its cramped accommodations. Stories tell of a displeased Basileus, mentioning quite clearly that he would not stand for his sailors, "who risk life and limb in such small ships, to have quarters where they can only rest like fish in a tin can!" Of course, adequate or not, such ships were needed until a new design was created, though the design teams were having a lot of issues with fitting an adequate balance of speed and firepower in the small 500t ships. In fact, Manuel's first order to his researchers was to focus their attention on the light forces, having in mind the reactions of Turbinia's demonstrations just three years earlier. Eyeing the clock hanging on the wall, Manuel chided himself for staying up so late. Tomorrow he was expected at his office, and a good night's rest after the New Year's celebrations would come in handy. Closing the dossier with the latest reports on foreign fleet compositions, he turned off the lights, and left for his room. -- And there we go, this is just the introduction. It is a bit dry, but then again, with nothing happening apart from a lineup description...
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Post by director on Jun 16, 2019 20:40:03 GMT -6
I am so happy to see you doing this! The title is simply perfect. And thank you for the shout-out. I confess I like this custom nation and just finished my own playthrough.
But... 20% tech rate? My goodness, you are an optimist, aren't you!
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Post by aeson on Jun 16, 2019 23:04:07 GMT -6
Personally, I'd be a bit leery of the Athina class; I haven't found 2" turret faces and gunshields to be satisfactory on CA second class cruisers when I've used them as it feels as though 6" CAs suffer flash fires and blow up a lot more than similarly-armored 6" CLs do. I would recommend using well-armored turrets if you're going to build second class cruisers as CAs within the game.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Jun 17, 2019 8:08:42 GMT -6
I am so happy to see you doing this! The title is simply perfect. And thank you for the shout-out. I confess I like this custom nation and just finished my own playthrough. But... 20% tech rate? My goodness, you are an optimist, aren't you! England might lay a dreadnought down by 1910!
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jun 17, 2019 14:50:53 GMT -6
director : By now, it's a standard of all my playthroughs. The only difference here is that I let the computer build my legacy fleet and went from there. aeson : well, I blame the computer, though as you will see, the mountings on that ship are awful. Let us resume where we left off last time.
As the new month began, Theodoros quickly started distributing priorities: research would work mainly on the lighter ships and try to figure out something that came from the recent technological innovations, dockyard capacity would need to be expanded, and the design teams were already at work to define exactly what would be improved for the next protected cruiser class. Both the Justinian and the Boukellarion were still a year away from completion, so there was still time for studies and planning without forcing the shipyards and foundries to stay idle. April saw the visit of the Byzantine Navy to a Fleet review organized by the German Kaiser and attended by several nations. The Basileus Demetrios II (succeeded John X in 1896), who personally attended to the ceremonies, hosted an event aboard the Dominus, the sister ship to the Basileus. During that event, a situation cause by a member of the British committee escalated quickly, ending up with the entire delegation being invited to leave the party. Though the commotion raised some talk about it, the Byzantines decided not to push the matter further and the return trip to Constantinople included a stop in London at the invitation of the British Crown, leading the public to believe the earlier incident as something minor that was blown out of proportion by the newspapers at home. July brought the first major crisis. A Greek statesman, Georgios Mastrotis, was murdered at home, near Athens. Mastrotis was an important figure of the pro-Byzantine faction in Greek politics, and once the details of his murder became known, the empire... expressed, in no uncertain terms, that the ones behind the crime should be arrested and dealt with harshly. This comment from Byzantium went poorly with the governments at Rome and Madrid, which had their own interests in Greece, and in their turn they accused the Byzantines from staging the murder themselves in hopes of expanding their colonial ambitions, something that was not taken lightly and led the empire to raise their intelligence efforts inside the two countries. September brought a delegation from Krupp, offering to sell an improved version of their 9'' guns, that was previously purchased to fit the Boukellarion. After a meeting between the council members, the proposal was accepted and the new gun designs were licensed, as the new guns compared favourable to the heavier 10'' guns that the Minister of the Navy would prefer to use on any future armoured cruisers. This was also the month where the first draft of the new protected cruiser project, development name ' Minotaur', was elaborated. Theodoros approved the general design, but left instructions to refine the design until the end of the year, when the budget would allow the Navy to lay the keels for two ships of the new class. October saw yet another crisis, as a native warlord uprising in the Spanish zone of influence in Morocco led to stranded imperial citizens. The Imperial Navy immediately ordered the Athina to sail out for the rescue, an act criticized by the Spanish government, though their words fell on deaf ears. "Let them complain," said Manuel at the weekly council meeting, "in the end, their own lack of action forced our hand. They should take a good look at the mirror and stay silent on the subject." In January 1901 the Justinian finally left the yards and began its working up. Two Minotaur-class were started with the monthly balance that was freed up by the battleship's completion. A small ship class was also ordered, mainly for coastal patrol and defence in wartime. The Minotaur-class was a sizeable jump in terms of tonnage compared to the classes that it was designed from. With an extra 1000t of displacement and no secondary armament, the extra space was spend improving the armour on the ship, mainly the previously unprotected uptakes of the ship. In February, and as a result of the investigation on the murder of the Greek politician, Bulgarian elements of the underworld with ties to some member of the government are implicated. In response, the Bulgarian government makes comments that were taken as a threat against Greece. The Byzantine government immediately offered his support to the Greeks, raising tensions across other Mediterranean countries and Russia. In April, the Boukellarion was completed. Researchers, studying possible applications of the recoil mechanism observed in the latest French 75mm gun, managed to successfully adapt the mechanism for warship gun use. Meanwhile, the situation with Italy continues to worsen. Communications between the two countries become more tense, and the Council admits that war might be closer than they expected, or wished for. Theodoros discreetly calls his design teams and inquires about their current efforts at designing larger destroyers. Unfortunately, said teams are still running into several issues, forcing the minister to ask them to review the actual 500t class for ordering in the very close term. The result is the Dromon-14, a design geared towards gunfights, though due to weight constraints and compromises between gun and torpedo armament, it was only able to fit 3'' guns. February 1902 sees an incident where a small trawler runs aground on the coast of Albania during a maritime survey. Local press immediately confuses the all-metal hull as belonging to a cruiser, and the incident quickly turns international. Theodoros, somewhat amused at the whole charade, allows international 'observers' to study the ship. Said observers were not amused when they saw what kind of ship had in fact ran aground, with the Spanish insinuating the Byzantines had replaced the cruiser with something else, despite the sheer foolishness of the idea. In response, a group of officers, part of the unofficial 'Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare', suggest a retaliation by arranging for an 'accident' to occur on a ship of the Spanish Navy, a suggestion that is approved, though the Minister knows that if they are found out, the Basileus will reprimand him harshly. A couple of months later, the armoured cruiser Vizcaya suffers an explosion while anchored at Guantanamo Bay. Spanish inquiries on the matter point to an accident caused by a spark inside the power magazine, caused by faulty wiring. The members of the DUW are seen in Constantinople with Mona Lisa smiles. Though no formal meetings occur between them and the Minister, Theodoros knows all he need to know from their smiles, and privately arranges for a quality bottle of wine from his private cellar to be sent to the enterprising officers, with a note attached: "For Valour in Discretion, from a grateful admirer." April sees changes in the parliament. While the Basileus has plenty of power, matters referring to legislation and economy are usually taken to the parliament for discussion, with elections being held every four years. With the new session in power, where the Greens had taken the majority, discussions were started about state-sponsored social initiatives, mainly in the matter of factory workers. Of course, funding for said initiatives had to come from somewhere, and the Navy was on the chopping block. Though sympathetic to the plight of the workers, Manuel could not let his budget be ravaged to the extent the Greens wished it to be, and negotiated with their leaders to accept a more modest version of their plans. The past months saw a tense Council discussing the latest developments in the relations between the Empire and Italy and Spain. The two Mediterranean neighbours were rattling their sabres harder, and there was the concern they might ally to wage war against Byzantium. To mitigate the issue, talks were conducted with Great Britain, and in August a formal treaty was signed. In November, and after the capture of an Italian trader caught stealing technical details on Byzantine machinery, Italy declared war. The first conflict of the twentieth century would now begin. The first engagement was off the coast of Egypt, where a Italian protected cruiser squadron met the Byzantine armoured cruisers and their escorts. The fleet had received information from local merchant ships reporting movements, and following a course towards the sighting locations, the protected cruiser Harpy spotted the Italian fleet to the southwest, tentatively reported as three armoured cruisers and other unidentified ships, which would, as both fleets turned Northwest, be identified as cruisers of the Bari-class. Boukellarion, leading the armoured cruisers, was unlucky enough to see its front turret suffer a malfunction as it prepared to start firing at the enemy. Meanwhile, the destroyer escort of the Chandax, which was running slightly behind the other cruisers, failed to notice the indications to turn. In fact, said failure in correctly acknowledging and executing flag commands would plague the Byzantine formation through the whole battle, as the screening cruisers turned into bearings opposite from the one the Italians, now obviously heading back to friendly waters, had taken. As night fell, the Boukellarion's aft turret had jammed. However, the Italian fleet seemed to have ran into the same command problems as the Byzantines did, and two of their light cruisers turned the opposite way from the rest of the fleet. At the current course, the armoured cruisers would cut straight between both groups, hopefully isolating the smaller ships. However, the Italian's own armoured cruisers turned towards their isolated elements, forcing the Byzantines to reposition themselves, losing the initiative that way. As night fell, the fleet pursued the Italians in their flight Northwest, shooting at the tail end of their formation until one of their protected cruisers veered off course, wounded and losing speed. The tip of the formation kept pursuit, while the rest of the fleet, lagging behind from the earlier command mistakes, took their turns shooting at the now-burning cruiser. However, their chase of the rest of the fleet ended up allowing the cruiser to escape and survive the battle, albeit with heavy damage. In the end, local forced reported that two small trawlers had been lost, making the engagement look like a successful Italian raid with no losses. Upon return to the docks, the damage was surveyed. Only the Boukellarion and the Athina had suffered damage, the larger cruiser taking three minor hits, and the Athina losing the aft turret from a 5'' shot. Most importantly, and like the Boukellarion, the 6'' turrets suffered repeated jams over the course of the battle. The next month, the Italian navy refuses to meet the full Byzantine fleet in operations in the Ionian sea, in preparation for an Adriatic raid by Boukellarion, Athina and the two infamous destroyers. The division had no opposition during their raid, managing to take out three merchants near Brindisi and suppressing a shore battery there, before making their retreat under the cover of the night, all of this for some damage on the Boukeillarion, courtesy of a 6'' shot at the waterline of the extended belt armour. Once again, the captain of the Athina reported several jams during the bombardment, to the point of having every single turret jamming at least once during the course of the operation, despite not suffering any kind of damage whatsoever. Without any signs of Italian opposition, the coastal raids continued. In December, a division composed by the Olympus, the Chandax and the Athina raided Sicily, sinking a couple of merchants, though one lone destroyer did manage to score a torpedo hit on the Olympus, that turned out to be a dud. Thanks to the alliance with Great Britain, the Italians are blockaded, and despite the war being barely started, news of their product shortages are already reaching the Byzantines, something that is confirmed by a first attempt by the Italian government for a compromise peace in the beginning of 1903, which failed in the negotiation phase.
One big yawn of sorts. I am avoiding larger battles with Italy's cruiser force, and the Italians are avoiding battles with my battleships, so this is a stalemate that I'm winning with small operations and the ongoing blockade.
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Post by director on Jun 17, 2019 18:57:08 GMT -6
I find it telling that, even when the odds are pretty even, the Italians run. It certainly does help to have the Royal Navy on your side - I always love that alliance when I can get it.
Your Byzantium is of course different from mine - I incorporated Greece from the start - but I find it very interesting. Using Greece as a source of political tension is very reasonable and realistic but somehow did not occur to me.
I also like your use of the historical 'colors' from chariot racing as labels for political parties.
Very nice; looking forward to more.
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jun 17, 2019 19:10:50 GMT -6
It made a lot of sense, at least in the fight where I let that cruiser get away instead of abandoning chase to finish it off: take down how many ships you need to accomplish the objective, and if you don't feel like risking your fleet on a straight engagement, retreat. It's pretty similar to how I play that kind of missions myself.
As for Greece... well, it is there as a neutral territory, might as well make the best of its existence for plot purposes. Using it for political conflict between the Med powers just sounded like the perfect excuse. Wonder if I'll ever get the chance to glomp it, though.
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jun 28, 2019 8:04:02 GMT -6
Last chapter, we got into a slapfight with Italy. Now they're blockaded. Let's see how this goes.
In January, and with the completion of one of the new Minotaur-class protected cruisers, Theodoros order another ship to be commissioned, along with four destroyers. An order for another battleship is pondered for the next months, as the other cruiser and the second batch of destroyers nears completion. Near the end of February, the Italian fleet sorties against the Byzantine one in the Ionian sea, in an attempt to stop the raids on the Italian coast. The armoured cruiser Chandax is the first to report the sighting of the enemy vanguard. However, with them being too far to reliably identify, the cruiser force advances to get a better grasp on the situation. The Italian forces turn Southwest, a move that is matched by the cruisers. The battleships, who were around ten miles behind, turn shortly after to meet the cruisers. With no aggressive movements from the Italian fleet, the Byzantine fleet does not attempt to make a first strike either, or at least not until the heavier ships arrive for fire support. The situation would soon change, as the Carlo Alberto picks the Athina as its target. The other Byzantine armoured cruisers quickly prepare to close the range to give their reply to the Italian challenge. Despite not being hit, the Athina is once again plagued by turret jams, rendering its starboard turret temporarily inoperable. However, spotters report a hit on a Bari-class cruiser which was trailing behind the lead Italian ship. Despite the fact that no damage is sustained, having the Athina on the front of the cruiser line is considered to be too much of a risk. As it turns to port to disengage, the Italians follow, leading the rest of the Byzantine line to turn port as well to give their broadsides. Meanwhile, more to the North, the enemy battleline approaches... The Italian destroyers attempt to approach for a torpedo attack on the Boukellarion, but the screening of the Byzantine light cruisers means their attack is repelled and one of their number sustains heavy damage. Mindful of their mistake months earlier, the Byzantine fleet does not ignore it for other, larger ships and eventually, the two fleets run out of gun range from each other, with no significant damage so far suffered on each side. This means the lone Italian destroyer is the sole target in range of the Byzantine cruisers, and its fate is quickly sealed. On the meanwhile, Destroyer Division 11 completely fails to interpret the flag messages sends and plots a course back home. The rest of the fleet, proceeding in the same direction as the enemy's last known bearing, fails to find anything before they're ordered to retreat. In the end, though no decisive results were achieved, the Byzantine Navy can call this encounter a Victory, as only the Chandax took some damage from the debris of a shell that failed to penetrate the belt armour, and that damage was fixed before the ship returned to port. Back home, an inquiry is held on the destroyer division who returned to port. While the destroyer captain's head would be on the chopping block if the investigation was completed on that month, future events would show this was more of a doctrine problem than lack of courage of the crews and commanders, and that given the circumstances, no fault could be found on the captain and the crew. The next month, the Minotaur is completed, and is quickly sent to its sea trials. The Byzantine fleet also finds itself under Italian attack on a night battle that sees the two vanguards almost at knife-fight range. The main fleet also comes under attack by a secondary force, whose destroyers successfully torpedo the Olympus, which turns out to be fatal for the armoured cruiser. The battle itself is utter chaos as the two halves of the fleet meet. An Italian destroyer, suspected to be the same one that fatally wounded the Olympus, is sunk in the melee, but sightings of the enemy ships are few and far between. Half of the fleet also loses orientation and is left sailing south. Upon seeing that his vanguard is off to god-knows-where, the flag officer aboard the Justinian orders the rest of the fleet still with him to follow the same course and disengage. Battles at night were a danger and Byzantium got its lesson the hard way. Though the loss of an armoured cruiser was painful for the Imperial Navy, intelligence from Italy showed that either they made do with the loss and proceed to order a new Justinian-class, to try and plug the gap that seemed to be growing between the two forces in terms of battleships, or they allow that gap to grow to build an interim -untested and potentially a dead end- armoured cruiser class. Ultimately, the Minister opted for the new battleship. April also saw the response from the Byzantine cruiser force: The remaining armoured cruisers, along with lighter escorts, sneaked through the straits of Otranto and attempted another coastal raid on the Italians under the cover of the night, their target being an arsenal near Bari. Though the senior officers thought the idea to be sheer folly, they nevertheless gave their blessing to the plan: a daring move might be just what they needed. And daring it was: forcing their way through the defending Italians, the Byzantine fleet's heavy cruisers destroyed their target at dawn. The explosion was heard miles away. Also, the Italians abandoned all pretences of battle upon the destruction of the arsenal: their cruiser forces retreated to the port, leaving only a squadron of destroyers to harass the Byzantine forces, that spent the rest of the day roaming around, claiming two merchant ships. As the Imperial forces retreated, they transmitted their taunt: 'The Sea is Purple'. The next month, a new raid in the straits of Otranto. In this battle, the efforts of the Byzantine Navy finally bore fruit: the Italian Vettor Pisani, a veteran armoured cruiser, was isolated and sunk in a night action by the Chandax and the Boukellarion while their escorting destroyers kept the rest of the Italian force at bay, losing Dromon-17 in the process. This lighted a fire under the Italians, and in early June, the Italian fleet sortied to face its Imperial counterpart. However, as soon as they engaged the Imperial battleships, the whole fleet turned away and set course directly to port. The repeated incidents of the type along the war would confuse both Byzantine and British admirals for decades, and military historians are still trying to puzzle out the situation that led to this turn away with a superior force. Even more bewildering was what followed: according to Italian reports, a misinterpreted signal flag led to an armoured cruiser and a battleship to detach and return south after they passed the port of Olbia, leading them directly into the arms of the Byzantine battleline. In the end, the battleline could not capitalize the opportunity it was given, and the Italian battleship retreated with relatively light damage. Less luck had yet another of Italy's armoured cruisers, who was the victim of two torpedoes and eventually sank along with four other destroyers for the loss of a single destroyer for the Byzantine navy. The battleship Justinian was hit by a torpedo, but the flooding was controlled and the ship returned home by itself, needing almost no time in the yards to fix the torpedo damage. The beginning of September sees the first attempt at peace, though the Italian proposal was ultimately rejected by the Basileus. That month also saw an inconclusive engagement in the straits of Otranto, with the Italian force turning away and refusing to engage. In November, the ship design teams finally solve the final issues with larger size destroyers. An emergency design using the new hull is quickly drawn up. With two additional tubes on the sides, along with 4'' guns, an order for a squadron to be built quickly reaches the shipyards in the next month. As it turns out, the destroyer's machinery - a new, domestically designed system, turned out to suffer from severe teething issues that left it producing less power than expected, which crippled the destroyer's speed. The year of 1904 begins with another fleet battle where the Regia Marina loses yet another destroyer. The stream of signal flag misinterpretations by the Byzantine destroyer divisions strikes again however, and a flotilla attack on an isolated battleships turns into a retreat from battle for the light forces. While the protected cruiser Lamia tried to pick up the slack with a brave, close-range move, it was ultimately unable to lock on a proper firing solution and the two capital ships managed to reach the safety of their port. To add fuel to the fire, an invasion prepared by the Imperial Army is repealed with heavy losses. Fingers are pointed around, though Theodoros is safe from criticism due to the simple fact that no Army planner even thought about requesting the Navy to escort the invasion ships. The next months were a repeat of the previous, with small skirmishes between both sides without significant results, at least until September 1904 when the Chandax, attacking an enemy convoy with the Boukellarion, was hit by a torpedo at night and sunk in heavy seas, marking the second capital ship lost in this way by the Byzantine Navy. Once again, they were back to the initial problem, only now is more critical than ever, especially after the armoured cruisers turned out to be used very often in operations. A talk with the ship designers led them to dig out concept designs that were created for internal discussions, and a specific design, project name ' Bosphorus', quickly found its way into the shipyards. Sporting twin 10'' mounts and a lighter secondary battery of 5'' guns, coupled with improvements with a speed of 22 knots. While not an ideal design by all means, it was what was currently available in the short term. In February 1905, the first dock dedicated to submarine construction is finally ready. Theodoros will reserve his judgement on the effectiveness of this type of weapon, but nevertheless orders an early run for further testing. However, this testing would not occur in the current war, as in March the Italian government, beleaguered by the vocal opposition of populace and at the urging of the King, approached the Byzantine government with a peace proposal. The terms were generous, and upon study of the geography, taking one or both Italian dominions in Northeastern Africa would mean that Byzantium would extend its control to the Red Sea, effectively having a foothold on both sides of the Suez Canal. This war also had an effect on how both Navies saw each other, and according to historians, that view on the other side could be described with one line for both sides (though a Byzantine would say that the line only applied to Italian destroyer crews, as the rest of the fleet was too busy running away): 'They're insane!' Said holdings would grow in July, when the Sultan of Muscat died in strange conditions (later found out to be from illness rather than foul play) and the situation was close to escalating to violence. Byzantium, at the request of one of the heirs of the Sultan, swooped in and took the whole territory under its protection. The Treaty of As Sib was signed shortly after, granting autonomy to both the Sultanate and the Ibadis to manage the country's affairs together, though both would still be under the dominion of the Basileus. The Great Powers objected, of course, Spain and France among them (something that puzzled analysts, as Spain had no interests in that area whatsoever), but the parts involved in the treaty were satisfied with the outcome, as Byzantium was known for the freedom of religion it offered to its subjects ever since Jerusalem was taken back from the Mameluks in the decades following the victory at the doors of Constantinople. With the new colonial holdings, the Basilisk protected cruisers were converted to house a permanent detachment of Marines to provide an overseas security force. On the meanwhile, some destroyers and the Athina were assigned to the area as an interim measure.
Finally, glad this war is over. Also the Athina must have some lucky star or something, all it gets are jammed turrets during battles. I don't think it spent even a month in port during the whole war? Must also remember to make notes on which screenie goes where, there's a non-zero chance I messed up along the way because I forgot to write down the screenshot location in the text.
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Post by director on Jun 30, 2019 0:42:59 GMT -6
I enjoyed you account of those actions. Sorry you had to lose an 'Olympos' to torpedoes too - perhaps that name is just unlucky.
Increased tension with Spain is not a bad thing, in my opinion.
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jul 1, 2019 11:44:49 GMT -6
So, back where we left off. Oman is ours now, and some countries are not too happy about us right now. Including some that have no fingers whatsoever in that particular pie. Torpedoes scare the crud out of my ships. Also things took a turn for the weird, then turned again for the weirder and ended up... well, it is weird.
August sees Italy holding a regatta between the European nations. Though Italy is seen as having an exceptionally strong ship, the Minister believes the Byzantines can do even better, and in a telegram to the crew, encourages them to do their best, which they do, earning them the stink eye from the Italians. Also, Great Britain publicizes their newest ship under construction, calling it 'the next generation of battleships'. With the technical details shrouded in secrecy, Theodoros can't give the Council an accurate evaluation of the ships potential, though he does mention his thoughts on how the new ship's design might be inspired by Cuniberti's article from a few years before. In October, an incident with a member of the Imperial technology mission currently at the STT led to Austria-Hungary accusing the Byzantines of spying on them. Theodoros personally talks to his Foreign Relations counterpart to ensure that the member has the full backing of the Empire, even though it results in worsened relations between the two powers. Tensions would rise further in the next month, as an Austrian fishing boat was shot at during a Byzantine fleet exercise near Rhodes. The Minister of the Navy, upon review of the reports, refused to budge an inch in regards to his position: The boat had been warned and made no motions to vacate the area. If they got shot at, it's entirely their fault. In December, the Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare leaves a Christmas gift to Navy: plans on a Spanish battleship from the Intrepido-class. The size of the secondary battery of 9'' is immediately noted, as well as it's speed and armour protection, surpassing the one found on Byzantine battleships. The Ship design bureau immediately gets to work to study the purloined schematics and devise a counter. The next few months see yet another crisis in Greece, with Austria-Hungary trying to further its own influence, only to be met with a simple, but meaningful declaration from the Empire stating their support for Greek sovereignty. While it would be seen as a perfectly normal outside context, the timing left the Dual Monarchy foaming from the mouth in rage once again. In March, and less than a month before the elections, the parliament approves a bill raising funding for the military in response to the situation with Austria-Hungary. Reactions over the bill would range between approval between the military forces and disdain over an obvious attempt to buy votes among the opposition, although the Blues, the major opposition party, wisely kept their silence over this situation, having supported the bill as well. April's Council would see an unusual proposition to the Minister, with some of the other members asking him about the feasibility of new cruisers to cover the roles of the older Basilisk-class, given their new role in the Red Sea. Manuel reminds them that there's already one armoured cruiser nearing completion, but also mentions that he sees no issue in the commission of a couple more protected cruisers. Soon enough, orders for three more Minotaur-class cruisers reach the Imperial shipyards, which are only too happy to see assured work for the next months. This same month also sees an unusual offer from former foes: Italian companies, with the backing of the King, inquired about possible technological cooperation. While the Council was sceptical, and despite the poor showing of the Regia Marina, hearsay suggested that the Italians were slightly ahead of the Empire on the technology field, and the proposal was ultimately accepted, which would bear fruits for the Byzantines over the next few months. One of those fruits would come in August, where the old issue with 12'' guns, which forced the empire to outsource construction of battleships to foreign yards, was finally solved with the successful testing of a new (and odd, at least compared to their foreign counterparts), 46-calibre gun. By the end of 1906, tensions spiked between the European countries once again. First, Britain had a serious diplomatic incident involving France. Theodoros urged the Basileus to state his support for their allies, which ended up with the French having a bad taste in the mouth every time they talked about the eastern great power. At the same time, an Austrian was found with plans that weren't supposed to be accessible outside the military. With the earlier event at the STT in mind, the Byzantine government criticized Austrian hypocrisy, escalating tensions once again and leaving both countries inching very close to war. France was intent on not being thrown to the sidelines, and in January threw an ultimatum against Byzantium: call off the alliance, or fight a new war. The Basileus sent the French diplomat back home with a simple message: 'The Sea is Purple'. Once again, Byzantium mobilized for war. That same month, a French scout force was repelled by destroyers in the Ionian Sea, with no significant damage for either side. The situation would repeat itself during the following month. Meanwhile, the opening of hostilities motivated a massive response among Imperial subjects, and funds were raised for a new battleship. Taking advantage of the new guns, whose planned refit to existing battleships was delayed by the needs of the war, Theodoros orders the commission of a third Justinian-class. May sees a force of Byzantine destroyers slipping past the defenders off the coast of Tunisia and bagging two merchants in the process before retreating at nightfall with no damage sustained. Fact of the matter was that, where Italian ships usually retreated, even if their odds were slightly better, the French fleet simply refused to engage at all, resulting in much wondering among the Byzantine Navy on what exactly was going on with their opponent. The next month would see a knife fight in the dark where the Bosphorus and a French armoured cruiser would score a mutual kill with torpedoes. The sinking of the latest model of armoured cruiser on its first outing, Theodoros would later write on his memories, would leave the Minister with a sour disposition for weeks after the battle. The loss of the cruiser would also mean that the workhorses of the Italian War were once again on the spotlight. It was a seething Byzantine Navy that would do a full fleet raid on early August. Soon they found the opposing fleet. A trio of attacking destroyers quickly found their numbers reduced after one of them had a close encounter with the battleline's secondary battery, and while the protected cruisers raised havoc among the local sea traffic, the battleline and its escorts followed the French fleet Northwest, pelting them with fire. Over time, one of the French armoured cruisers strayed from the main fleet, and the Imperials capitalized on the fact, letting the French battleline slip south before starting to close the distance the smaller French ship. Though the cruiser would fine his way back to friendly lines, this also meant the French were now stuck between the coast and the Byzantine fleet. One of the Ocean-class battleships would eventually be picked apart from the rest of the line and faced against all four Byzantine battleships. ... with mediocre results. Despite the volume of fire directed at the French ship, delivered at close range, the four battleships only managed to sink the enemy battleship after a long time, leaving a burning wreck in its place. The Basileus also was struck by a torpedo near the machinery spaces, cutting its speed to 6 knots in addition to the flooding, though it would eventually manage to raise its speed to 11 knots and return home safely after firing two torpedoes at the sinking Ocean-class on its way out. In the end, and despite the loss of four destroyers, two of them to minefields, the news of the outcome were received with joy. Taking down one of the battleships of what was considered the second best fleet in Europe also benefited Theodoros, which saw his reputation rise as the planner of the fleet. The Minister himself, however, had other concerns on his mind. He had seen the newspapers talking about the newest British battleship, yet he knew Byzantium didn't have the means to build such a ship yet. This by itself wouldn't be a problem, but there were rumours that the French were building a ship of that type (which was now being referred to as ' Resolution-types') themselves. October would see a planned Army invasion of Djibouti fail with heavy casualties after the colony was found to be well-defended by motivated (if poorly equipped) troops. This time, however, the Navy was forewarned, and the second wave had both Marine and naval artillery support. Though once again the defences were formidable, the combined assault and the superior resources the Byzantines could bring to the field allowed the Imperial troops establish a foothold and eventually take control of the whole colony in around six weeks. Britain, who also heard the rumours about French ship construction, offered to sell the technology behind their battleship, which Theodoros promptly accepted. Soon, shipbuilders were meeting with their Imperial colleagues to transmit their know-how. It was this communication between the two countries, alongside with design proposals from the Italian firm currently working with Byzantium, that also sparked the idea of adding heavy main battery turrets on the sides of the ship, and soon the Ship design teams were busying themselves with plans for their Resolution-type, which would eventually be presented for review with the project name of ' Nike'. The beginning of 1908 saw a peace offer from France that benefited the Empire. In the end, among some smaller concessions, Algeria became the latest Imperial territory, strengthening their hold in the Mediterranean. Though the conversations between both powers revealed that the French were willing to part with more territories, the idea of not overextending the Empire's reach for pride's sake prevailed. Both the Basileus and the Council agreed on this: it was still too soon for the double-headed eagle to stretch its wings further. The next few months would see a return to normalcy: ships were sent to the yards for defouling and general maintenance, and the older battleships finally saw the gun replacement that was meant to be done before the French had forced those plans to change. October was an interesting month, as Russia approached the Empire with schematics for their version of a mechanical computer for central fire control. The Russian computer was built in a way that, according to the representative, 'even a peasant can learn to use it in a week', but testing quickly showed that it was comparable to the one invented by the British. The license was purchased, and two versions were ordered into production: the original which would be at the Naval Academy to introduce the cadets to the fire control discipline, and a version without the teaching add-ons that would be installed on every ship in the fleet that could fit it. July 1909 brought what was seen as one of the most important purchases of the year: Austria-Hungary, who took a very conciliatory position towards Byzantium after the war between the Empire and the French, offered to sell their plans for triple turrets, something that really lit a fire under the Ministry of the Navy to secure the funds to purchase the technology. The plans for the 'Nike' were now back to the drawing board to take advantage of the new purchases. Another attempt at an armoured cruiser design was made, mostly as a test-bed to the new triple mountings. More importantly, a new class of bigger destroyers was also on the yards, which were also considered the first 'proper' class of destroyer to come out, in the sense that it didn't come to be due to pressing needs, but as part of a natural evolution process. While the amount of guns and torpedo tubes were reduced in comparison to the previous class, there was a noticeable increase in speed, which was one of the problems of older classes when compared to their foreign counterparts. Besides, the weaponry was all mounted on the centreline, effectively giving the new destroyer the same broadside then its predecessors with a more efficient arrangement. Months went by with nothing too relevant happening, until a fateful morning of August 1910. On that day, a Byzantine minesweeper suffered a catastrophic explosion at Mers-el-Kebir, which immediately raised questions since the ship did not carry anything that could create that sort of explosions. Investigations quickly painted the Spanish as the main suspect behind the mining. The Imperial response was quick and chilling: either the Spanish dealt with the agents involved, or the Empire would come and do it for them. Once again, Byzantium was at war.
A short chapter before another slugfest. It would be longer if the French didn't refuse all the larger engagements, both before and after losing their battleship. Otherwise, it is just a filler chapter, with a lot of dead months before things get exciting again... Only they don't, because reasons.
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Post by director on Jul 6, 2019 12:59:59 GMT -6
Congratulations on several major victories: the taking of land is important, but the technologies acquired perhaps more so. The loss of Bosphorus is regrettable, but you are entering into an era of rapid technological progress and equally rapid obsolescence. Perhaps you will be able to build new and better ships to replace her.
I do note that you are inferior to Spain in capital ships and armored cruisers. My hope is that the superiority of your designs and crews will make up the difference. Spain's overseas empire can make you rich, so my advice is to press for all you can get.
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jul 8, 2019 8:10:09 GMT -6
I thought the first war with Italy was the pits. This chapter proved me wrong. I legit quite without saving for the simple reason that apart from a few moments, nothing worth writing about, be it good or bad, happened at all. I eventually threw my hands up and decided that whatever happened, I'd keep running the turns and stop when I felt I had enough to call a chapter. Among the things that were lost in the first runs, I recall a huge jump in destroyer size tech, straight from 700 to 1500 tons, and light cruiser armour configuration, both unlocked before the year this chapter's run ended. So yeah, if those two weren't enough to weave a tale, you can imagine how mind-numbing boring those years were. Finally, my choices here are what I feel it fits more this version of Byzantium given the quirks of the nation. Sometimes they don't really match my own actions in a game where I'm left to my own devices. Without anything else to say for now, let us proceed. This time we start with Spain as our victim.
The first thing the Navy noticed is that this was shaping up like a repeat of the French War: the larger Spanish forces simply refused to engage, leaving most engagements to be solved by the light forces. In October, a force composed by both Byzantine armoured cruisers and their light cruiser escorts find and destroy an enemy protected cruiser. The next few months are, once again, lacking in events. Several small-scale engagements are fought, but no important blows are made. Most importantly, the Spanish feel the British breathing down their necks, and so refuse to let their numbers in the Mediterranean dwindle any more by turning away from any area where Byzantine ships are sighted. In the middle of all this, the destroyer side continues to increase. The British sell their information on 900t destroyers to the Empire, who sees the increased size as an opportunity to test an idea of theirs. On a test platform, double torpedo tube mounts are fired in a series of tests that prove their feasibility. This would change mid-November. During yet another raid on the Spanish coast, the two fleets are forced into a night action where the Byzantine battleline finally achieves their primary objective, annihilating their Spanish counterpart, composed mostly by smaller ships but led by an Intrepido-class. In one night, the Spanish Navy lost half of its battleship force, with very minor losses to the Imperial Navy. Once again, the star of the Minister rises, and Theodoros takes the chance to order Byzantium's first Resolution-type. The 'Nike' design had grown ever since its first iteration, and now it barely fit on the biggest Imperial shipyard. Using a lot of the latest technological improvements, the Nike sported decent speed and armour protection, coupled with twelve 12''/46 cal guns, distributed in a rather unconventional mix of double and triple turrets. The reasoning was simple: the designers had not forgotten the troubles that the Athina suffered in its early days, and the mix of turrets was meant to make sure that even if the new triple turrets failed, the doubles would still provide some firepower to the ship. Of course, there were voices against it: many considered the Nike to be a white elephant, burning through funds that could be better used improving other areas. August would see the end of the war: even though Theodoros advised against it, the Basileus ultimately decided that now that the Spanish had now felt the taste of Byzantine retribution and came to the Empire admitting their defeat, peace would allow an honourable outcome for both sides: Spain would retain its territory ('At least this time', the Basileus had said to the Council), but would have to pay reparations to the Empire. February 1913 also sees Great Britain expressing its interest to extend the alliance, which is quickly accepted by the Imperial government. Also, a new 13'' gun is developed in the Imperial foundries, though there are several issues yet to be solved that led Theodoros to hold off on that gun calibre. October sees the French joining the Anglo-Byzantine alliance, while another armoured cruiser leaves the yards. The fact that it was named after the Olympus raised some eyebrows, given the track record of the name and how often were armoured cruisers lost to torpedo hits. March 1914 sees some technology purchases: French technicians arrive at Constantinople to share their insights on cross-deck fire at the same time the British, who were sharing their insights on superimposed aft turrets. The following months also saw a fleet reorganization: The Basilisk-class, who had served as the colonial service fleet, were slated to be replaced by the two Harpy-class ships, ending their remarkable career as both fleet cruisers and colonial support ships along three wars. The old ships, initially slated to be scrapped, were instead purchased by minor nations in South America and Europe, as a budget solution to their own ageing fleets. December saw a slip-up from the Army, with the Strategos (the Army equivalent to the Minister's own position) making controversial remarks while on a party hosted by foreign dignitaries. Theodoros chose not to publicly involve himself in the problem, but the Strategos would quietly be invited to enjoy his retirement and replaced by someone more mindful of what to say and where to say it. July 1915 says the Spanish announcement of an ambitious naval rearmament program. Theodoros is not impressed, and among other things, openly wonders how would the Spanish pay for it, which gets a negative reaction from the Iberian country. The next month, Russia presents a 10'' gun design for sale. Upon testing, the gun reveals itself to be superior to the Byzantine model, and Theodoros quickly moves to purchase license rights for the gun. On the meanwhile, a new battleship class had been ordered. The Komnenos-class was an attempt at making a more rational design, but ended up integrating several technological advancements, as well as thicker armour to face off against the growing capabilities of armour-piercing projectiles. Besides the aft superimposed turrets, an early version of a torpedo defence system was also integrated from the very beginning, while the speed was set to be the same as the Nike. A series of incidents with Italy over the first half of 1917 brought the two countries close to war. This was a bad time for this, as the fleet reorganization was still underway after several failed destroyer design experiments, but tensions decreased after Theodoros vetoed the idea of supplying arms to Serbia in the wake of an internal conflict. The Empire was not interesting in provoking the other Great Powers right now, and to poke an hornet's nest like the Balkans was asking to get stung. September also saw the decommissioning of the old Athina and the Boukellarion, two ships that despite their flaws, had served with distinction and survived where their fellow cruisers had been lost. Unfortunately, age and constant usage demand for them wore them out a lot and a refit was deemed not to be worth it for the two ships. December saw the rise of a new Italian leadership with a strong stance on military matters. Byzantium was concerned, but the events of the next month made more than a few people scratch their heads, as the Italians had the gall to request the Empire to curb their program 'in the interest of stability'. This, coming from another nation which wasn't once at war with Byzantium, could be seen as understandable. Coming from Italy, which had invested on capital ships heavily in the past few years, was seen as a blatant attempt to cripple the Imperial Navy. However, their bait ended up having interesting side effects, as the Minister's response suddenly brought a lot of third parties to the issue: "Very well, let us organize a summit for all nations to discuss the issue, for the interest of stability in Europe, of course." Unwilling to concede anything on their side, and seeing the lack of interest from other nations, Italy quietly dropped their proposal and the summit ended with no actions taken. February came, and once again, the test design for a new destroyer class turned out to have several issues. By this time, and given it was the third time in a row that this particular project turned out to have problems, the Minister was getting pretty sour at the amount of failures that piled up at the docks. The bad news didn't end here, though: a destroyer exploded for no apparent reason, and preliminary investigations pointed to Italy being the culprit. Once again, the situation had escalated and Theodoros saw himself thrust into another war. The war opened with an Imperial first strike: the cruiser forces, who were at sea following a re-gunning of the Hellas-class armoured cruisers, were on the right spot for an attack of opportunity into an Italian convoy. The Olympus and the Hellas quickly moved towards the Italian escorts, leaving the actual convoy shooting to the protected cruiser forces. With the escorts abandoning the transports to escape from the two 12'' equipped cruisers, the lighter forces did their job on the transports quickly sending them , along with one escorting destroyer that was crippled to the bottom of the Mediterranean. One thing that was quickly noticed by the crews was how strange - and fast - the Italian cruiser designs were. One of the lookouts confessed that he had mistaken the cruisers for armoured cruisers, thanks to clearly visible three centreline turrets, and during the battle, those cruisers were outrunning even the Byzantine destroyers, though that wasn't surprising, giving the chronic speed issues suffered by that particular type of ship in Imperial service. The war would go on without other clashes of note in terms of naval engagements. However, the Army had manage to establish a beachhead in Sardinia, though they would never manage to attempt to occupy the isle as Italy, blockaded by the French and the Byzantines (and recalling the effect it had on the first Byzantine War), would request a peace with status quo ante bellum, which was accepted by the allied countries. The Minster, who saw this war as a pointless detour to what was the true needs of the Imperial Navy right now, wasn't terribly bothered about how the conflict was solved.
Eugh, finally done with this chapter.
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Post by director on Jul 18, 2019 17:49:56 GMT -6
I view the repeated use of 'Olympos' name as typical Byzantine stubbornness LOL. "Who cares if the last one sank? Build another!"
And I feel your pain as to destroyer engineering plant failures. My last Byzantium play-through offended Poseidon so much that every single design came up short on speed - battleships, battlecruisers, light cruisers and destroyers - for the best part of ten years straight. At one point I scrapped an entire light cruiser class; after the first one came up short (again) I knew it would take more money and time than I could afford to rebuild them, so I scrapped the completed ship and broke up the three on the stocks.
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Post by HolyDragoon on Jul 18, 2019 18:29:33 GMT -6
'ere we go again, let's see if this last chapter is less boring than the previous one. Yeah, I let the computer name the ships for me. I found it amusing that among all the names, 'Olympus' was among the ones picked more than once.
March sees an extension to the alliance with France. The relationship, initially created due to the presence of Britain in the alliance, had shifted into a relatively amicable relationship between the two countries, despite the earlier war. In May, a set of changes to the current triple turret mountings was successfully tested, providing the Empire with a relatively simple way to improve the reliability of the mount without massive overhauls to already existing ships. In March 1920, the project for a new set of oil-firing ship machinery was accepted by the Ministry of the Navy. This came from the increasing availability of this resource through trading, and the new machinery turns out to be slightly more efficient weight-wise than the coal-fired one. Of course, said upgrade will only apply to future ships, and the ship design bureau quickly points out the flaws of using oil as fuel in the protected cruisers. June sees another project coming in, this time a design for a 1500t destroyer project. Considering the failure that was the 900t project, Theodoros quickly approves the design and sends it to the shipyards for construction of a test unit. Said destroyer would come out of the yards after a few uneventful months without any issues whatsoever, suggesting an end to the destroyer curse that plagues the Empire all this time. New orders are placed, and the new destroyer model is quickly slated to replace all existing destroyers in the near future, as budget allows for their construction. 1922 comes with a new extension with the treaty with France. In August, the issue of oil firing on protected cruisers is finally solved with a simple solution: downsize the armoured cruiser profiles to create a 'light armoured cruiser'. To prove the concept, project 'Medusa' is developed. Medusa would be the biggest light cruiser designed for the Imperial Navy, sporting the same broadside throw weight than earlier classes with less guns required. While 27 knots is relatively slow when compared with their foreign counterparts, it is believed that the armour protection and the volume of fire compensate for that. August 1923 sees a new proposal by the Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare, this time against Italy. Unfortunately, it doesn't come nearly as well as it did against Spain, and through a comedy of errors by the Imperial operatives involved, they only manage to sink a dredger, missing the entire Regia Marina stationed at anchor on the other side of the harbour. Even worse, the lack of competence of said operatives meant that they paid only lip service to the concept of operational security, which ended up implicating Theodoros himself in the mining of the ship, earning him the reprimand from the Basileus he feared so many years back, and thrusting the Empire into yet another war with Italy. The two navies had sailed out to meet each other in battle, and in the Sea of Sicily the two fleets found each other almost at arm's length. The Imperial battleline, though still using the old battleships along with the new ones, still managed to force the Italians to turn north and hug the coast of Sicily while trying to escape eastward. Still, one of the Italian battlecruisers lagged behind. Though one of the old battleships, the Anastasius, was hit by a torpedo, the Italian capital ship was also hit and subjected to point-blank fire from the rest of the battleline. A squadron of Italian cruisers who had turned to support their beleaguered companion were also subjected to the tender mercies of the Imperial Navy, all of them being sent to the bottom of the sea along with the ship they sailed out to defend. While ultimately the Anastasius was lost, and the Italian battlecruiser was later identified as one of the first generation ones, the trade-off was more than worth it to the eyes of the Navy. Theodoros' star recovered a bit of the lustre lost with the sabotage fiasco. The Strategos, however, would see this as an opportunity to slip the proverbial knife on the Navy, and lambasted the Minister in the press for losing a battleship in very uncertain terms, raising speculation which made some eye Theodoros with some mistrust, something that a later statement stating all the facts to clear the picture still did not manage to dispel. (A/N: Win battle, gain one prestige, then this happens:) (Make up your goddamn mind, seriously!) Political games in the midst of a war, however, were dimly viewed by the Basileus and the Council. The Strategos found himself losing his job very fast, as his actions were seen as very close to a betrayal. With the option of either taking the gentleman's way out or being dishonourably discharged, the former leader of the Army was found dead inside his quarters the day after his (invited) resignation. Once again, the war was full of episodes where the Regia Marina simply retreated as soon as Imperial forces were spotted in the same area. Different, however, was the presence of their remaining battlecruiser, foiling several coastal raids by the Byzantine armoured cruisers. This lasted until December, where the Byzantine's new type battleships staged a convoy strike with cruiser and destroyer support. The Italians failed to notice the enemy fleet until the last moment, but their fighting spirit did not falter: their skilled destroyermen managed to strike the protected cruiser Minotaur with a torpedo, triggering a magazine detonation. This, predictably, lit a huge fire beneath the Imperial Navy, and the battleline picked the Italian battlecruiser as the target of their fury, their fire marking the way for the light forces. Though the battlecruiser would take six torpedo hits, all of them were deemed to have been inflicted past the point of no return, as by this time the ship had lost basically everything over the hull, from turrets to the conning tower, to battleship fire. The battle would take another turn with the arrival of an Italian battleship and a torpedo hit on the Strategos. Taking the preservation of the wounded ship as the higher priority, the leadership of the Imperial fleet ordered a retreat south, losing the Italians in the dead of the night. The peace proposal that the Italians submitted after the battle was a telltale sign that the battle had left a big mark on their confidence to wage this war. The Basileus refused the proposal, though, so Theodoros once again sent his ships into the breach. The raid itself would be a failure however, as the armoured cruisers found themselves unable to reach their intended target due to the large minefield laid by their opponents, but did manage to terrorise the sea lanes by taking on several auxiliary craft. (Bombardment targets inside minefields strike again!) The next month's bombardment mission was fairly successful, with the involved ships fighting the local defence forces before taking out their target and leaving relatively unharmed. Even better would be the month of March, as the submarine UT-25 managed to sneak into Italian waters and return home with a new red bar on their Jolly Roger: they claimed to have sunk an Italian battleship, which was later confirmed to be the nameship of the 33,200t Napoli-class. Once again, things would fall into a pattern of occasional raids amongst Italian refusal to engage unless it had to. Byzantine ships would use their chances to engage their elusive adversary to chip away at their battle strength whenever possible. Eventually, the Italians once again sued for peace in March 1925, a proposal that was accepted this time. Italy would cede the island of Sardinia to Byzantium, expanding once again the holdings of the Mediterranean power. But everything had to come to an end, and as peace was celebrated on the streets of Constantinople, Theodoros announced that he intended to retire by the end of the year. Though rather young when the assumed the role of Minister of the Navy, he was now past 65, and now that Byzantium seemed stronger than ever, he reckoned it was time for him to step down and enjoy his remaining years watching what had become of the Empire. And so it was. For the rest of that year, the Minister did not start any large constructions, instead opting to keep building destroyers to replace the lighter classes, something that by now had become a running joke in the Navy as something always seem to happen every time they wanted to tidy up the fleet. As his legacy, Theodoros would leave a Navy that had found its place among the big ones. As with everything, fortunes would ebb and flow, but naval history enthusiasts would recognise the name Manuel Theodoros as both the man behind the modern Byzantine navy, and the name of the first Byzantine supercarrier in the 1980s. But that... that's another story, one that would take a lot more to take than this, admittedly short, tale of a country and its steps and missteps on the path to history, one that that can be mostly described with the very same words used by the Imperials to taunt their foes a long time ago... "The Sea is Purple."
And so it ends this tale. Not the best it could be, but I think I can take one big conclusion on this: Don't try to build a narrative in a 20% game, half of the game-related glue that lets you build the plot doesn't happen. Overall, it wasn't a terrible game, last war shenanigans aside, and I sure didn't expect that my predreads would be useful up to so late in the game! So... with all this said and done, I must ask what tickles my mind... any chance of the Byzantine navy ruling the skies as well in the future?
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Post by director on Jul 19, 2019 11:19:30 GMT -6
Well, I have been waiting for RtW2 to 'settle' a bit. But assuming the 'custom nation' process isn't too different from that of RtW1, I think you can assume Byzantium will emerge in RtW2, also.
A nice game with some tense moments. The smaller fleet sizes certainly made every loss felt. I did think I had 'tidied up' the missions to prevent bombardment targets from being too deep inside minefields, but since a lot of the missions were lifted whole from other nations, I guess I missed some. Sorry for that!
Your Strategos found himself letting his envy of the Navy's success get in the way of doing his job and he paid the price... Never go against the Navy when Death is on the line!
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