RJW: Ships detach and reattach on their own?

[andyhall]

I was playing a self-created RJW scenario based on one called "Perfidious Albion" and distributed (PDF) by the Naval Wargames Society in the UK. It supposes that the British Channel Fleet received orders to intercept and stop the Russian Second Pacific Squadron off Spain in the aftermath of the incident with the British trawlers in the North Sea.

In this game, the Russians were heavily outgunned (eight battleships to four), and under AI control they quickly turned north and began what would prove to be a long, all-day stern chase. My British battle division executed a "turn together" movement and began pursuing the the Russians in line abreast formation, better to give the British battleships a clear field of fire for their forward guns. My flagship began lagging far astern, and in the middle of the afternoon six of the eight battleships in that division detached themselves and began pursuing the Russians independently. As they were damaged or lost sight of the Russians, one by one they turned back and re-attached themselves to the division command as they had been at the beginning of the scenario. Such as:

   02 15:27 B Mars Turret back in action!
   02 15:27 B Hannibal detaches to move independently against close enemy
   02 15:28 B Illustrious fires 2 6in guns at B Borodino-class! Target straddled! 0 hits
   02 15:28 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Magnificent!
   02 15:28 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Victorious!
   02 15:28 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Illustrious!
   02 15:28 B Illustrious detaches to move independently against close enemy
   02 15:29 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Victorious!
   02 15:29 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Magnificent!
   02 15:29 B Borodino-class opens fire at B Majestic!


And:

   02 18:20 B Magnificent has lost sight of target
   02 18:20 B Magnificent has lost sight of target
   02 18:20 B Victorious has lost sight of target
   02 18:30 Game autosaved
   02 18:30 B Magnificent has reattached to British First Battle Division
   02 18:33 B Mars has reattached to British First Battle Division
   02 18:36 B Jupiter Turret back in action!


I don't think this is necessarily inaccurate, and it really suggests to me that Admiral Lord Beresford hoisted "General Chase."

But it does seem odd. Is there a specific explanation for this phenomenon in game terms?

[randomizer]

This seems to happen occasionally during short-ranged melee type actions or situations where visibility may be marginal or variable (haze or mist). I do not recall seeing it occur in medium to long ranged fights in clear weather and daylight but that's hardly decisive. Ships seem to like to keep targets in their "A" arcs particularly if the hit probabilities are significant and some independent manoeuvring can facilitate doing so. There is a fair bit of randomization built in to ship behavior in the SAI franchise and Fredrik will have to weigh in on specifics. That said, once you eschewed the battle line for a line abreast pursuit your AI captains might feel a bit more inclined to use their initiative.

[andyhall]

Thanks.

That said, once you eschewed the battle line for a line abreast pursuit your AI captains might feel a bit more inclined to use their initiative.

"In case signals can neither be seen or perfectly understood, no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."

-- Nelson