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Post by tbr on Sept 5, 2022 9:00:11 GMT -6
Erik Ruins on the Matrix site just posted that the first group of testers has been chosen, and emails have been sent. I imagine that priority will most likely be given to the existing testers, and then a handful of new ones. I applied at Matrix, but I'm almost certain I didn't make the cut since I've never been a prolific poster either here or at Matrix. Anyway, congrats to those who made it, and I know you all will be instrumental in making a quality product for the rest of us. That means I haven't been chosen either. I confess to being disappointed...
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Post by tbr on Sept 3, 2022 3:24:39 GMT -6
I don't believe the beta playtest has begun yet. Thank you for the information, I’ll just sit tight! I'd bet the overwhelming majority of us has applied...
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Post by tbr on Sept 2, 2022 13:55:51 GMT -6
Not at this time...adding proper workshop functionality takes a significant amount of work, so it is something that is a major job to add. We have entertained the possibility of having an 'override' folder or something like that for mods, but that would be later if it was to be added. Thanks. I am now copying the original data folder and switch with the modded for updates, "reinserting" the separetly stored modded files after the update manually. However, this is tedious. If we had an "override folder" where any files in there would override the original files this would be a lot easier. Adn workshop integration would be a snap. There are several games I own on steam which work that way, i.e. they have a "mods" folder whose files override/ add on to original game files and the workshop functionality add on to that. Only hassle is that workshop mods are stored by steam separately and tracking them (and retrieving the mod files for your own modding) can be a bit tedious.
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Post by tbr on Aug 31, 2022 9:32:47 GMT -6
I see you corrected your earlier post about ASMs to all strike planes carrying HASMs. What advantage will MBs have? After all, in real life planes have only started carrying heavy ASMs like the P-800 in the 1990s and 2000s...
double the weight, almost 40 years earlier. The "star effector threat" of much of Red Storm Rising...
And such missiles would only be suitable for MB types in RTW classifcation.
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Post by tbr on Aug 26, 2022 17:45:19 GMT -6
Historically a lot of the early cruisers (1900s) have mixed batteries of 6" MA with assorted 3-5" SA and often 2" or 3" TA... This was largely to combat the threat from Torpedo craft which was much talked up at the time. The game leans into this with modifiers which is a nice touch. Once fire control and torpedo ranges improve though it is much more efficient to have a universal 5.9/6 inch battery (generally considered the largest calibre that could be hand loaded in sustained fire?)... Until semi-automatic and then automatic setups for turrets with integrated elevators became the norm there was quite some spread in the definition of the highes "light" calible. German (Kaiserliche Marine) doctrinal definition was "light" can be handled manually, "medium" needs machinery support (elevators, tackles, trolleys etc.) for the projectile even when projectile and charge are separate, and "heavy" needs machinery support for bot the projectile and the charges (plural).
On the lower end of the upper limit of "light" in this sense you had 5.5inch (14cm), which the RN appreciated as being capable of a higher ROF than 6in QF but practically equivalent gain in performance (range/power) over 4in. The IJN used 5.5in/14cm as their light cruiser calibre since their personnel were, on average, not able to achieve as high ROF with manually loaded 6in as "Western" navies. The RN went to turreted 6in guns after using the 5.5in guns on only five ships, two of which were confiscated export builds. The Germans considered 17cm guns as the highest manually loaded calibre but only used it as MA on the "Braunschweig" and "Deutschland" classes, going back to 15cm with the Nassau's.
Of course there is also the abomination of the 5.25in and the relatively widespread 4.7in/12cm, but those are subtypes to the 5in "class"...
Lateron the "light" definition got modified some and "light" guns were those using fixed ammunition of a weight suitable for true automatic fire. In theory this was 5inch and lower, in practice one could argue 100mm and lower (based on the practical experience with certain 5in and 4.5in gun/turret systems).
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Post by tbr on Aug 22, 2022 13:55:18 GMT -6
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Post by tbr on Aug 15, 2022 11:28:50 GMT -6
In genral, the "invasion" scenarios need far higher VP rewards for sinking the transports, in sum about 1,5 to 2 times the 80k VP the attacker gets for the transports reaching the disembarkation point. As is the defender "looses" even if all invasion transports are sunk after reaching the disembarkation point. IRL that would be a catastrophe for the attacker. IRL even the sacrifice of some medium-high value capital ships would have been worth that. I think they should be worth more than they are currently. But I don't think it should be almost an auto lose if your transports are sunk after reaching their destination. It would be a disaster if the navy has no further beach assault ships and the army has not captured an intact port, but that will not always be the case. Plus, having to guard invasion ships over an arbitrary point during daylight should not be necessary. It would be another story if you got to take control of the transports once they unloaded their cargo: you could then shepherd them back to a port if you could while darkness still held. Actually I thought of another idea. How about making the transports be worth as much as you say -- if they are sunk before they disembark their passengers. If 6 of the invasion transports unload successfully, but another 6 get sunk with all equipment and many men lost, then that would be a disaster. It takes a lot of time to disembark any invasion force, this is not a commando raid. To get the division+ amount of troops in most scenarios, their materiel and supplies ashore across a beachhead would take well more than 24 hours, with pre 1944 or so tech/doctrine we are talking days, plural.
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Post by tbr on Aug 14, 2022 15:10:48 GMT -6
E.g. the IJN should (would) have been willing to "trade" a Kongo for 1st Mar Div...
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Post by tbr on Aug 14, 2022 15:09:05 GMT -6
In genral, the "invasion" scenarios need far higher VP rewards for sinking the transports, in sum about 1,5 to 2 times the 80k VP the attacker gets for the transports reaching the disembarkation point. As is the defender "looses" even if all invasion transports are sunk after reaching the disembarkation point. IRL that would be a catastrophe for the attacker. IRL even the sacrifice of some medium-high value capital ships would have been worth that.
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Post by tbr on Aug 14, 2022 15:04:54 GMT -6
You should be able to glitch the game with the KE designation to allow it Great, How do I glitch the game to do that. I've tried adding 8 inch guns to KE's but it does no good. Is there a document that someone has developed to explain the ships designs? You need to exceed the KE specs when designing (e.g. by adding a torpedo tube) and then hit "no" when the deigner ask to reclassify. The design will nevertheless be saved and you will be asked to finance its development...
This also works (kinda, with limits) for CL and CVL.
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Post by tbr on Aug 14, 2022 14:59:02 GMT -6
One thing I would like to see is the option to "sponsor" fast liners. Their building would enhance GDP, their "sponsoring" generate prestige and, for times of war, the "fast liner count" would go up for large AMC or direct conversion to CVE/CVL. NB: we need a variable "fast liner count" that is trackable from one of the basic game screens, at the moment the only place you (sorta) can track (and mod) it is the save file. "Fast Liner Count" would go up/down with variable events (player notifications) and the player would have the "sponsor" option to enhance this (either with a relatively common event ot a chooseable but limited (e.g. to two a year) option in one of the game screens.
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Post by tbr on Aug 7, 2022 16:10:48 GMT -6
My bet is Microprose. They do a lot with Indies and need a title for release in q1 2023 since their high profile new games have been delayed somewhat.
The most impressive released new Microprose game, High Fleet, is very much an Indy work of love in its origin.
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Post by tbr on Aug 6, 2022 11:05:45 GMT -6
Two minutes is much faster than I would have expected, although I have to wonder about their fire control quality with that short of a setup time. Accurate surveys including the gun positions and the fire control equipment was usually a requirement for coastal guns. A ~3" gun could be mostly effective under local or basic rangefinder control through most of its useful range band, but that's not so true for a ~6" gun. Does the museum mention the method of control for their 2 minute emplacement? Yes - the guns were controlled by "Arte-719" radar FCS with on-mount ballistic computer with backup laser and TV sensors. Computer featured automatic parallax calculation relative to guns positions, so that solved the problem of gun position survey. Data from radar was automatically fed to the computer and to the zero-pointer devices on the guns, which were aimed according to the information fed. In case of emergency, aiming using on-mount optical sights was possible. In 1980s Arte-719 has been replaced with solid-state semiconductor based Arte-727 which was mainly used with new 120-mm mobile coastal guns which were in use until 2005. Also, an interesting note - swedish mobile coast batteries were usually mixed gun-missile ones, with one battery of mobile guns and one of mobile AShMs. Yes, all true. But the Swedish Coastal Artillery is and was focussed on the Schären. That means their targets are smaller vessels in very restricted waters, which is reflected in the relatively small calibre of their guns and their very lightweight AShM (e.g. modified Hellfire). They are not the "classic" coastal defense vs. high seas combatants and large scale amphibous landings with massive naval gunfire support. Today that is more the provice of medium/large AShM's on TEL's and some specialized SPG's in Russia:
And then there is something very special:
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Post by tbr on Jul 23, 2022 1:48:54 GMT -6
It is possible that there was something more useless than depth charges on a WW2-era light cruiser, but if so I'm not aware of it. Only depth charges on a WW2-era aircraft carrier (seriously, some japanese carriers had depth charges and mortars fitted by design). Oh, one could make the point that AA rockets were even more useless, after all they did not even work as a weapon system, regardles of on what class of ship they were installed. There was even some concern that they might have been the cause of HMS Hood's loss. They only were of use insofar as they were developed into artillery and air-to-ground rockets...
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Post by tbr on Jul 23, 2022 1:42:58 GMT -6
Thank you - I was pretty sure the US missile cruisers had some ASW capability; was not sure about the ships of other nations. I appreciate the info. DASH was the light helicopter - remotely piloted? - that in practice was pretty much a failure. From what I recall, DASH conversions mostly kept the helipad and lost the copter. DASH conversions did not get a suffiently large "helipad" to operate helicopters, it was a VERTREP point at best. Yes, the USN was not very successful with DASH, the JMSDF however made it work. DASH was always considered an inferior solution to ASROC that consumed less space&weight.
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