Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2021 11:20:54 GMT -6
Welcome back gentlemen, it is time once again for my flagship thread. (<- Get it?)
I know it's been two years since the last one, but what with everything going on I haven't had much time for Rule the Waves.
This thread is NOT going to be an AAR thread, but more of a forum for discussion about ship design and use.
If I do write up any AAR's I will post them in their own threads and link them here, unless it can be covered in a single post.
So, to start with, what is all this about anyway? Well, instead of simply playing the game and designing the absolute best ships I can, I will instead play the game and endeavor to design and build historically accurate ships, no matter what the result on my campaign will be. The game mechanics do not normally reward this sort of gameplay, as the AI will inevitably build larger, faster, heavier, and more heavily armed ships than you do. It's akin to placing handicapping shackles on yourself for the purpose of knowledge and fun. What can I say, I play the 1968 campaign in Cold Waters as the Skipjack Class. Apparently I am quite the masochist.
So on to the structure of the thread itself, I have completed building my legacy fleet, and with the fleet size set to the largest size it took about three different attempts to actually get all the designs down and saved. Each post will either detail one ship, or several ships of the same type. Pictures of the info box will be posted, a short historical description will follow, then will come design notes and my rationale for any deviations from the historical design.
I have 49 ships on active fleet, with 11 more under construction at the game start. This represents my legacy fleet, and I also have some small room in my budget for ordering additional construction.
The vast majority of my fleet are either veterans of the Spanish-American War, or participants in the Great White Fleet.
My campaign is structured as follows:
Fleet size is at it's maximum.
Historical resources are turned on.
Technology progression is set to 60% to allow time for designs to mature.
Aircraft development is set to slow because I haven't played RTW2 yet.
My ship design philosophy is as follows:
First I set the ship class and displacement, using the 'loaded' figure wherever possible.
I then set the range and speed according to the ship's historical role and either it's design speed, or trial speed. I.E. a 'Coastal Defense Battleship' will only have short range, because that's what it's designed for.
Then I establish the main armament, using the historical gun layout wherever possible. Deviations from main armament are the result of game limitations or ship class changes. I.E. No 12 inch guns allowed on an Armored Cruiser.
I then set the secondary and tertiary armament with decisions weighted towards layout first, then gun caliber second. For example, if the game doesn't allow me to use 8 inch guns in double turrets at game start, I use 7 or 6 inch guns instead etc.
Finally I set the armor scheme and layout using whatever information I have available. I.E. if a ship is known to have a narrow belt, it will have narrow belt, even if I have enough displacement to avoid it. However, I will not compromise armor layout in the name of freeing up displacement. So if I have to make the armor thinner than it's historical values so be it. I did try to approximate the intention of the armor scheme when few information was available, I.E. making the immunity zone practical in game terms.
Remember: This is about making historical designs that are USEFUL in game, not just replicating historical designs. Some decisions have been made to make the campaign more playable.
With that all said, I'll post more later. See ya.
I know it's been two years since the last one, but what with everything going on I haven't had much time for Rule the Waves.
This thread is NOT going to be an AAR thread, but more of a forum for discussion about ship design and use.
If I do write up any AAR's I will post them in their own threads and link them here, unless it can be covered in a single post.
So, to start with, what is all this about anyway? Well, instead of simply playing the game and designing the absolute best ships I can, I will instead play the game and endeavor to design and build historically accurate ships, no matter what the result on my campaign will be. The game mechanics do not normally reward this sort of gameplay, as the AI will inevitably build larger, faster, heavier, and more heavily armed ships than you do. It's akin to placing handicapping shackles on yourself for the purpose of knowledge and fun. What can I say, I play the 1968 campaign in Cold Waters as the Skipjack Class. Apparently I am quite the masochist.
So on to the structure of the thread itself, I have completed building my legacy fleet, and with the fleet size set to the largest size it took about three different attempts to actually get all the designs down and saved. Each post will either detail one ship, or several ships of the same type. Pictures of the info box will be posted, a short historical description will follow, then will come design notes and my rationale for any deviations from the historical design.
I have 49 ships on active fleet, with 11 more under construction at the game start. This represents my legacy fleet, and I also have some small room in my budget for ordering additional construction.
The vast majority of my fleet are either veterans of the Spanish-American War, or participants in the Great White Fleet.
My campaign is structured as follows:
Fleet size is at it's maximum.
Historical resources are turned on.
Technology progression is set to 60% to allow time for designs to mature.
Aircraft development is set to slow because I haven't played RTW2 yet.
My ship design philosophy is as follows:
First I set the ship class and displacement, using the 'loaded' figure wherever possible.
I then set the range and speed according to the ship's historical role and either it's design speed, or trial speed. I.E. a 'Coastal Defense Battleship' will only have short range, because that's what it's designed for.
Then I establish the main armament, using the historical gun layout wherever possible. Deviations from main armament are the result of game limitations or ship class changes. I.E. No 12 inch guns allowed on an Armored Cruiser.
I then set the secondary and tertiary armament with decisions weighted towards layout first, then gun caliber second. For example, if the game doesn't allow me to use 8 inch guns in double turrets at game start, I use 7 or 6 inch guns instead etc.
Finally I set the armor scheme and layout using whatever information I have available. I.E. if a ship is known to have a narrow belt, it will have narrow belt, even if I have enough displacement to avoid it. However, I will not compromise armor layout in the name of freeing up displacement. So if I have to make the armor thinner than it's historical values so be it. I did try to approximate the intention of the armor scheme when few information was available, I.E. making the immunity zone practical in game terms.
Remember: This is about making historical designs that are USEFUL in game, not just replicating historical designs. Some decisions have been made to make the campaign more playable.
With that all said, I'll post more later. See ya.