Fast Battleships

[matnjord]

Greetings you lovely Rule the Wavers!

I have a couple of questions regarding Fast Battleships:
-First, what is the cut-off speed for a BB to be treated as a 'fast' BB. I seem to remember it's at 27 knots but would like some concrete confirmation.
-Second, how does the game treat Fast Battleships? I'm under the impression that once a BB is considered 'fast' it is allowed to participate in battles typically restricted to BC, like Cruiser Battles and whatnot. Is this correct? Are there other things I'm missing?

Any answers will be welcome 

Also I'm currently running a Succession Game over at the RPG Codex, feel free to check it out if you want a more humorous and zany take on the game filled with murderous back-stabbing admirals. And visionary Rats too.


 

[akosjaccik]

- It is, yes, 27 kts. Some forumites like to design for 28 kts to keep the potential issues at the trials in mind.
- I have no official confirmation in hand, but as far as I am aware, this is exactly the case, they get treated as a battlecruisers at selection.

[matnjord]

Jul 8, 2019 2:47:15 GMT -6 akosjaccik said:

- It is, yes, 27 kts. Some forumites like to design for 28 kts to keep the potential issues at the trials in mind.
- I have no official confirmation in hand, but as far as I am aware, this is exactly the case, they get treated as a battlecruisers at selection.

Excellent, good to know that i didn't saddle my successors with a 170 000 Wavesbucks boondoggle!

[rodentnavy]

Jul 8, 2019 2:47:15 GMT -6 akosjaccik said:

- It is, yes, 27 kts. Some forumites like to design for 28 kts to keep the potential issues at the trials in mind.
- I have no official confirmation in hand, but as far as I am aware, this is exactly the case, they get treated as a battlecruisers at selection.

Well from my experience this seem to be the case. 

[mycophobia]

From my experience (Only 2 late game where I used fast BBs in significant number, about 20~ battles involving FBB/BCs).

When you have both fast BB and BC, BC seems to still be the go to pick for battle generator. BC appear two to three times as often as FBBs, and when FBBs appear the BCs are usually also there.

I think there might be a higher battle size threshold for FBBs to get involved compared to BCs, which results in this discrepancy. But this is just my personal observation.

Otherwise than the frequency issue, I've definitely see FBBs appearing in any position that I'd normally expect a BC. Although I am not certain if they can become part of the fast "Scout Squadron" in a fleet battle, which seems to always be BCs.

Then again, If you have no BC at all I imagine situation would be different, but I usually retain a couple older BC into the late game, so I cant speak about this situation.

[JagdFlanker]

i never build BCs and the battle generator sometimes gives me BBs in medium or larger cruiser battles when they are slower than 27kts - but more often it gives me DDs only

which is fine with me - i usually win the battles when i get BBs, and i can run away when i have DDs only for the draw

[sloanjh]

Jul 8, 2019 12:31:27 GMT -6 mycophobia said:

From my experience (Only 2 late game where I used fast BBs in significant number, about 20~ battles involving FBB/BCs).

When you have both fast BB and BC, BC seems to still be the go to pick for battle generator. BC appear two to three times as often as FBBs, and when FBBs appear the BCs are usually also there.

I think there might be a higher battle size threshold for FBBs to get involved compared to BCs, which results in this discrepancy. But this is just my personal observation.

Otherwise than the frequency issue, I've definitely see FBBs appearing in any position that I'd normally expect a BC. Although I am not certain if they can become part of the fast "Scout Squadron" in a fleet battle, which seems to always be BCs.

Then again, If you have no BC at all I imagine situation would be different, but I usually retain a couple older BC into the late game, so I cant speak about this situation.

This aligns with my experience.  In my first play-through I eventually succumbed and said "yes" if it wanted me to reclassify my BC as (fast) BB.  After that they pretty much were showing up in the "core" main battle group, rather than in "BC" divisions.

[Blothorn]

Same here. I think that if you build primarily fast BBs you should probably reclassify BCs eventually--in my experience old BCs are far more survivable in the main battleline than as a scouting force facing modern BCs.