Grates: Cleaning, Fouling, etc.

[alant]

Could someone please explain how grates work in RtW2? I understand what they are, just not how they work within the game.

Neither "grates" nor "cleaning" appear anywhere in the RtW2 game manual, at least not the version I have (116). There also doesn't seem to be a "Grates" thread.

More specifically, what do you need to do to clean them? What do you need to do to avoid or at least delay fouling them?

Could this info be placed in the next manual?

[f105d]

Sept 27, 2020 20:38:37 GMT -6 alant said:

Could someone please explain how grates work in RtW2? I understand what they are, just not how they work within the game.

Neither "grates" nor "cleaning" appear anywhere in the RtW2 game manual, at least not the version I have (116). There also doesn't seem to be a "Grates" thread.

More specifically, what do you need to do to clean them? What do you need to do to avoid or at least delay fouling them?

Could this info be placed in the next manual?

Its essentially to my knowledge certain components with in the boiler that should they get clogged up can cause problems(boiler explosions or catastrophic failures of boiler components). And you can't clear them yourself its rather an activity the crew has to do to maintain the ship even in combat. Though its more of a problem at higher running speed for those ships so at cruise they can turn on and off boilers with out affecting the speed to clean the ones that need it. But at combat speeds or just in a pursuit the amount of fuel, etc going into the boiler speeds up this process across multiple boilers. 

Sort of like overheating an engine in a piston powered aircraft or maintaining the transmission on a tank. It's not fun and it can affect the combat performance for the unit if said aircraft or tank can't participate due to maintance. But as a commander you just kind of got to roll with it.

[hawkeye]

Yeah, you can treat it as fluff-text, put in so you know _why_ your ship suddenly is slowing down.
I mean, this _was_ an issue IRL, but since there is nothing you can do about it...

Edit:
Also it gives you a reason to not go full speed all the time.

Treat full-speed as a kind of never replenishing stamina supply - once it runs out, it has run out.

[alant]

In real life "clinkers" (coal that doesn't burn fully) foul the grates (reduce air flow), at least that is my understanding.


This question is really about GAME MECAHNICS. In the game what do you need to do to clean the grates?

I assume it requires so many minutes of running at something less than full speed. There may well be a random factor involved. But what speed, and for how long??? Does slowing down more reduce the time it takes to clean/unfoul?


Does running at a lower speed extend the time you can go before needing to clean grates?

For example, you have a coal powered ship with a maximum speed of 22 knots. If you run at 21 knots will it take longer to foul than at 22 knots?


Situation: My two Light Cruisers have a speed of 22 knots. They are being stern chased by 3 Light Cruisers with a max speed of 21 knots. I got out of gunnery range and then slowed to 21 knots. Now both of my ships need to clean their grates. I suspect the enemy cruisers are in the same situation. HOW DO I CLEAN THE GRATES??? Should I slow down and if so to what extent?

[hawkeye]

Good questions - I have no clue about the answers, unfortunately.

Oh, one thing.
I'm pretty sure the speed you go influences how long it takes for the grates to foul up.
In 1900, cruising speed is mostly 14 knots. Going to the target area of a coastal raid at 16 knots doesn't seem to foul up the grates even if it takes several hours but it seem (and I can't stress the SEEMS enough as this might just as well be confirmation bias) to reduce the time you have at combat speed until the grates are fouled up.

[director]

In the game, to clean the grates you need to end the scenario (mission). Your grates will all be clean and ready by the next action (mission). But to my knowledge there is nothing you can do within the battle (mission) but live with it and plan around it. It is like stoker exhaustion... but it does seem less common as engines improve.

As hawkeye said, I also believe that running at 16 knots for a long time will reduce the amount of time you can run at full speed. I have no proof, but it seems right.

In general, if my cruisers have a top speed of 22 knots I operate them (in formation) at 20-21 knots. And I have lost more than one scenario by seeing an enemy slip away from me, or by my own ship losing speed until overtaken. There are a lot of actual historical examples of this - it's just something you have to work around until oil-firing.

[rimbecano]

I don't know exactly how it works in game, but considering how it worked in real life will probably be instructive. Even there I'm not sure of all the details, but the grates are inside the boilers and clog up with the unburnable solids in the coal over time. This means that a given boiler will give less power over time until it is extinguished and cleaned. A thorough cleaning probably requires sending men into the furnace, so it will need to be allowed to cool, and after cleaning the grates, you'll need to wait while the boiler is reheated. All of this probably takes several hours. At cruising speed, you won't need all your boilers, so you can keep them in rotation. At higher speeds, you'll have more boilers accumulating ash, and fewer available to be cleaned, at any given moment, so it will be harder to keep enough boilers clean and lit to maintain speed. At full speed, all boilers will be in operation, so you won't be able to do any cleaning at all (except maybe by sticking a poker in through the firebox door and trying to knock stuff loose), so performance will quickly degrade.

Modern industrial boilers will have things like chain-conveyer-belt grates that extend out of the firebox so that coal can just be shoveled onto the grate, and then brought into the furnace by the movement of the grate. These can probably be cleaned effectively with the boiler in operation, but I don't know if they ever got to be a thing with naval boilers.

[vasious]

Manual says 1.0 under changes from SAI
* Grates fouled now escalate to 'Stokers
exhausted' after 300 minutes in coal fired
ships, with 2 knot speed loss.

So did some quick testing

Start as the RN and do a fleet exercise

This could be wrong but

Running a Coal burring ship at max speed (or is it just above cruising?) will lead to Exhausted stokers and suffering a 1 knot speed loss

Slowing to cruising or below, and the Exhausted stokers recover

Sustaining max speed (or is it just above cruising?) will see another drop of 1 knot of speed, so 2 knots total and still show as Exhausted stokers, until you slow down to allow the stokers to rest then it will show fouled grates and you will have a loss of 1 knot

I think ran the ships at 5 knots for a while and the fouled grates were cleaned and full speed was available.

So it seem there are two levels of "stamina" loss for coal fired ships

Both give -1 knots speed
Each is cumulative

Exhausted stokers is applied first and removed first
Fouled Grates is applied second and removed second.

I didn't test what speed removes fouled grates or exhausted stokers but seems to be cruising speed or less

[fleet5]

With coal fired ships you can easily have fouled grates, exhausted stokers and overheated bearings. To remedy, I would suggest sailing at cruising speed until you meet the enemy.

[director]

Very interesting! I've never seen grates get cleaned inside a mission, but then when I need full speed for an extended run I'm either not willing or not able to slow to 5 knots.

Thank you for testing and providing empirical proof.

[wlbjork]

vasious, can you check running ships until you get the "grates fouled" message, then simply run at cruising speed for a period (I suggest minimum 20 mins game time) before trying top speed again? Pretty sure that I've had that partially clear the grates - that is you get full speed back but the "grates fouled" message comes up a lot more quickly.

The longer you run at reduced speed the greater the period of time before the "grates fouled" message reappears - up to the maximum allowed for the design. Strongly suspect that slower speeds cause the grates to be cleaned more rapidly as well.