Post by ccip on Aug 3, 2015 14:22:13 GMT -6
Since RTW allows us to experiment, I thought it would be interesting to take it to the limit and see whether we could, indeed, make some ahistorical and bizarre designs with the game and still play through the campaign. So, armed with a set of completely arbitrary rules, I started up a British campaign (with historical resources and manual build of existing fleet) and created my head of the Admiralty, Lord Chickener. For, you see, Lord Chickener is no ordinary character - for religious reasons, he is vehemently opposed to innovations in naval technology such as centerline turrets, torpedoes, submarines, weapon mounts with more than one weapon, and other nonsense. At the same time, paradoxically, Chickener also did not believe in cruisers that were slower than 28kt even at the beginning of the century, let alone later. Other nations be damned, he will follow his own path and create his perfect ships in his own image. And thus, the Badnoughts were born.
The Badnoughts, which made up the entirety of the British navy for the game, follow Lord Chickener's 7 commandments:
So, with these restrictions in mind, I set off on a game, expecting a likely disaster... and the monstrous and ridiculous ships that were created certainly looked nothing like I was used to!
They had a very unique and menacing (and also completely ridiculous) look to them
These ungainly beasts, much to my surprise, quickly began revealing some good qualities - they had an inherent toughness and their guns were difficult to silence even with repeated hits.
Badnought BCs proved to be particularly deadly and resilient, often able to absorb impressive amounts of punishment and never blowing up (in what seemed to be a break with British naval tradition).
Badnought battleships ranged from the oldest...
...to the intermediate (note the absurdly large secondary battery)...
...to truly gargantuan
Badnought cruisers likewise quickly proved themselves useful
They could chase down any inferior ship, and run away from any superior ship
What's more, because of their large displacement from the start, they proved easy to rebuild and upgrade over the course of their lives
Not a single Badnought cruiser was scrapped or retired over the course of the entire game.
Nothing was quite as absurdly heavy a shooter as the final Badnought battlecruiser design, though:
They quickly proved themselves capable of blowing any comparable BC out of the water
As for Badnought destroyers, well, the less is said the better!
...at least they looked kind of neat!
And even the AMCs followed the Badnought aesthetic of "ugly, ugly and more ugly":
Between 1900 and 1925, Lord Chickener's fleet of Badnoughts fought a full 5 wars - 2 against France and the US respectively, and one against Germany. Had I stopped at 1925, I might have come away thinking that despite how ludicrous they might have looked, they actually fared a lot better than expected...
But I kept playing, and then came that dark day of March 28th, 1926!
A storm was blowing off the US Eastern Seaboard, as an impressive force of Badnoughts set out to attack a US convoy.
They bumped into the enemy at close range, in poor visibility, in the midst of a blowing gale. And it was here that Lord Chickener's 4th Commandement, "Thou shalt only build battleships with low freeboard." proved to be the Achilles heel it always was!
...long story short, the Badnaughts got badly mauled by a US squadron that had no problems with bad-weather performance, while the low freeboard doomed the British fleet and led to a day that was to live in infamy.
Now, it wasn't the whole fleet that was lost, but it was at that point that I looked at my game and said "you know, this is really stupid!"
I then declared the Badnought odyssey over, having proven that it was not the smartest idea after all, but it was definitely an enjoyable game.
And, as a takeaway, I kept a full list of every ship built during my game with Lord Chickener, preserved for posterity and available for your viewing here:
THE BADNOUGHTS: a complete list
the end
The Badnoughts, which made up the entirety of the British navy for the game, follow Lord Chickener's 7 commandments:
- Thou shalt not have ANY centerline armament on ANY ship.
- Thou shalt not have any more than one weapon of any type per mount.
- Thou shalt not have any torpedo armament on any surface surface ships, except two wing mounts allowed on a destroyer.
- Thou shalt only build battleships with low freeboard.
- Thou shalt build no cruiser of any type slower than 28kt.
- Thou shalt have smokestacks at the bow and stern ends of your ship only, no closer to midships than the 2nd mount.
- Thou shalt always add a false bow and stern to any ship, and the stern may never be wedge-shaped.
So, with these restrictions in mind, I set off on a game, expecting a likely disaster... and the monstrous and ridiculous ships that were created certainly looked nothing like I was used to!
They had a very unique and menacing (and also completely ridiculous) look to them
These ungainly beasts, much to my surprise, quickly began revealing some good qualities - they had an inherent toughness and their guns were difficult to silence even with repeated hits.
Badnought BCs proved to be particularly deadly and resilient, often able to absorb impressive amounts of punishment and never blowing up (in what seemed to be a break with British naval tradition).
Badnought battleships ranged from the oldest...
...to the intermediate (note the absurdly large secondary battery)...
...to truly gargantuan
Badnought cruisers likewise quickly proved themselves useful
They could chase down any inferior ship, and run away from any superior ship
What's more, because of their large displacement from the start, they proved easy to rebuild and upgrade over the course of their lives
Not a single Badnought cruiser was scrapped or retired over the course of the entire game.
Nothing was quite as absurdly heavy a shooter as the final Badnought battlecruiser design, though:
They quickly proved themselves capable of blowing any comparable BC out of the water
As for Badnought destroyers, well, the less is said the better!
...at least they looked kind of neat!
And even the AMCs followed the Badnought aesthetic of "ugly, ugly and more ugly":
Between 1900 and 1925, Lord Chickener's fleet of Badnoughts fought a full 5 wars - 2 against France and the US respectively, and one against Germany. Had I stopped at 1925, I might have come away thinking that despite how ludicrous they might have looked, they actually fared a lot better than expected...
But I kept playing, and then came that dark day of March 28th, 1926!
A storm was blowing off the US Eastern Seaboard, as an impressive force of Badnoughts set out to attack a US convoy.
They bumped into the enemy at close range, in poor visibility, in the midst of a blowing gale. And it was here that Lord Chickener's 4th Commandement, "Thou shalt only build battleships with low freeboard." proved to be the Achilles heel it always was!
...long story short, the Badnaughts got badly mauled by a US squadron that had no problems with bad-weather performance, while the low freeboard doomed the British fleet and led to a day that was to live in infamy.
Now, it wasn't the whole fleet that was lost, but it was at that point that I looked at my game and said "you know, this is really stupid!"
I then declared the Badnought odyssey over, having proven that it was not the smartest idea after all, but it was definitely an enjoyable game.
And, as a takeaway, I kept a full list of every ship built during my game with Lord Chickener, preserved for posterity and available for your viewing here:
THE BADNOUGHTS: a complete list
the end
