From the East - Qing China 3D AAR

[mycophobia]

Nov 2, 2021 3:58:07 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

I can't wait for the Akos/Myco collab where Myco digitizes all the ships, sends off a FtD file and Akos prints and paints them. Should only take you guys about 4 months per post if you quit your jobs, so get to it!



But seriously, it might just be that I haven't seen them for a while but these look amazing, approaching true replication and not just an anime version. Awesome work Myco.

To be honest Akos already does everything I do with the 3D modelling and screenshots of his own, granted, if collabing will make Akos update twice as often I'd gladly go cash in my unemployment benefit 

Now more seriously, thank you for the kind words, though I believe the improve of model quality owes more to the FTD version update than any particular improvement on my parts. Let's hope they get better as I get used to the new stuff added in the new version 

[mycophobia]

Sui Ching (綏靖 - Appeasement) Class Torpedo Boat (1896-1897)

Number of Ships in Class: 18

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Overview
China had long favored torpedo as a cheap alternative to make the most out of their limited budget. Prior to the Sino-Japanese war, Chinese regional navies would each have their own class of torpedo boats, varying wildly in size, quality, and uses. With Beiyang navy having previously experimented with torpedo boats carried into battle on battleships, before being deployed at the start of battle.

With Admiral Ding's process to standardize the regional navies and procure modern equipment, a vast order for modern torpedo boats are placed. As the name of the class suggests, its very conception is a an act of appeasement to the regional navies, with all 18 being ordered from shipyards in Jiangsu and Fujian. That is not to say that they were built without foreign expertise, with the cooling of relationship with Britain, German and Austro-Hungarian expert were consulted in the construction of these vessels, and the resulting ship 

A squadron of Sui Ching Class on maneuver.

The Sui Ching Class are lightly armed with two british 12 pounder guns and carries two whiteworth torpedo on swivel mounts midship. It has an impressive speed of 27 knots, by virtue of abandoning operational range beyond the bare minimal. They are fairly stable in coastal waters but are not build for the high seas, and would struggle to travel the open ocean even if they were able to carry the supply to operate at longer ranges.

As is, they are very budget designs and made to be expendable, potentially trading against much more valuable ships by virtue of their high speed and torpedo armament. Dueling other crafts of similar role is definately an afterthought.

With 18 vessel spread across different regional navies, each adopts different naming conventions, so despite being officially addressed as Sui Ching class by virtue of the first ship of the class, serving with the Beiyang Fleet, those serving in the Fujian Navy would all go by the "Fu" prefix (福, fortune, also the first character of Fujian)，where as the Guangdong Navy follows their prior naming convention for torpedo boats by simply naming them with the prefix “Lei” (雷，torpedo) and then numbering them based on the Zodiacs.

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Managed to cook this small DD up fairly quickly, I could not figure out what the generated name Sui Ching actually meant as the character 靖 is actually pronounced as "jing“ in modern chinese   . According to Wiki there is a ship by this name (a gunboat), and it really did use the word for appeasement.

Well, here is hoping this class will appease, if not, they will certainly die trying. 

[mycophobia]

Ding Yuan Class Battleship (1898)

Ships In Class: Ding Yuan (定远- Far Reaching Peace) , Zhen Yuan (镇远- Far Reaching Awe )

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Overview
Ding Yuan and Zhen Yuan were two ironclad battleship of the Beiyang navy during the first Sino-Japanese War, in which the Japanese navy had little answer to the pair's nigh impenetrable armor and powerful firepower. Despite this, it is clear by the last decade of the 19th century that the pair is clearly outdated. Admiral Ding reluctantly ordered the scrapping of the two venerable warships, but not before ordering their replacement from AG Vulcan, builder of the original Ding Yuan and Zhen Yuan

Battleship building had came a long way since the 1880s, and Admiral Ding is set on once again obtaining the largest and most powerful battleship in Asia, just as he had a decade ago. Unfortunately, the price of these battleship had also grown significantly, and what reparation the Qing managed to obtain from the Japanese had long since been spent. In the end, some compromises had to be made, and admiral Ding's dream of owning the largest battleship in the Far East was quickly quashed when the Japanese ordered a pair of 14500 ton battleship of the Hatsuse class, equipped with 12" guns.

Nevertheless, the two Ding Yuan class remained highly modern and well constructed ships, even if some sacrifice in size armament had to be made.

Weaponry

As much as one would hope to argue that the choice of using the 240mm SK/L40 guns was a logistical decision to keep the ammo used by the battleship and armored crusiers consistent, it is really a limitation from the German builders. At the time of their order, the 240mm SK/L40 were the most advanced weaponry the German are willing to share with their Chinese customers. While the German navy's newest Brandenburg Class battleship, launched in 1899, would sport 280mm guns, the Kaiser at the time did not felt comfortable in offering the Chinese their most cutting edge weaponry.

Therefore, the Ding Yuan would be equipped along the line of the older Schwaben class battleship, with 4 240mm SK/L40 guns in two twin turrets, which are almost exactly the same turret as the one found on Chao Yong class, but with thickened armor. This firepower is woefully inadequate against modern battleship, though at the time of their design, China's main enemy, Japan, did not have any modern battleship at all. 


What Ding Yuan lacked in main battery firepower, she tries her best to remedy with a massive battery of 16 150mm SK/L40  guns in armored casemates, clustered around her superstructure, and 14 88mm/L40 guns on her upper deck and also as casemates in her hull. This gives her a massive volume of fire, which had proven quite effective in the Sino Japanese War as many ships were simply shelled into submission by quick-firing guns. 

To further make up her somewhat lacking heavy guns, Ding Yuan has a pair of submerged torpedo tube just fore of the aft turret, giving her some much needed ability to take on heavier ships.

Armor
The Ding Yuan class, as with many other German battleships, are very well protected designs, the main armor belt range from 4" to 8.5" thick and covers the entire length of the waterline, backed by a sloped deck 2" thick. While this is not the thickest armor found on battleships, it offers very comprehensive protection. This means while the Ding Yuan can't punch above its weight, it is more than well equipped to take a beating.

The clustering of so many 6" secondary guns midship would be a hazard if not for the fact that each of these are armored with 4" of plates as well, meaning that nothing short of a battleship main gun hit will take these out. As a result, these casemates essentially serve as additional armor for the superstructure of the ship.

All this armor topside does mean that the Ding Yuan sits a bit low in the water, while not bad enough to cause serious concern, the lower 88mm casemates does tend to get swamped very often in bad weather. 

Ding Yuan and Zheng Yuan steaming in formation.

Speed
powered by three set of triple-expansion steam engine, Ding Yuan can manage a speed of 18 knots per hour, standard for German battleships at the time. This speed, while perfectly adequate for the time of their design would ultimately fall short of the latest Russian and Japanese battleships, both capable of forming a 19 knot battleline.

While in reality a victim of limited budget and progression in ship design, the fact that China's main battleship fell so short in speed and firepower compared to that of her most likely rivals, Russia and Japan did not sit well with admiral Ding. Fortunately, the Empress Dowager is also not pleased that her enemies possesses ships larger than her own, and in a rare stroke of decisive action, took the matter into her own hands and ordered Prime Minister Li Hong Zhang to arrange for the procurement of another class of battleship to supplement the Ding Yuan class.

This lead to the construction of the Yong An class. Alas, displeased with the Ding Yuan, the Empress decide to seek more "Diverse" opinion as she shops for her latest warship.

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Phew, the battleships sure takes plenty of times to bake, but thats one down and last one to go before the AAR can start.

[garrisonchisholm]

Wow, that top-most picture is especially beautiful. Bravo.

[mycophobia]

How an RTW Design Get's Made in FTD

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As a bit of an aside, here is a little "Update Journal" of sorts kinda explaining how I go about making RTW designs in FTD. I have taken a rather long hiatus and is also "re-learning the ropes", so to speak, so I thought it might be helpful to recollect a bit of the process in which I build a ship in FTD, and it may help those who are a interested in giving FTD designs a try themselves. Otherwise I at least hope this can be a some what entertaining banter  


First thing being lay the keel of the ship, so two speak. Based on the RTW desgin, I try to set up the hull shape of the ship, make rough sub-divisions of what goes where. It is important to get key element such as magazine, turret ring, and funnels right so things don't look too out proportion, and I can still get things to function. (I.E a hit into the turret barbette will wreck the turret, even if I can fit the turret on deck level with nothing below it and still have it work.)

It is also at this stage that I will make some final adjustment to subdivision, and possibly hull shape as those become much harder to change later on, and seeing how much freeboard an empty hull gets helps me decide if the ship may need a bit more draught or beam.



From there I begin to build up deck by deck until I have reached the top level. Other than the citadel with all the juciy bits, other decks generally don't get any internal detail unless a torpedo room, case mate, or funnel needs to pass through them. (So I can do a ship in hours to days instead of months  )

At this point finish building the main turrets in their entirety, which helps me decide how to best build the superstructure. I use the RTW superstructure for reference but don't stick to it too zealously, the bottom line is to make things interesting/look good in FTD, as the RTW top down view is somewhat limited as things like turret/casemate placement can't really be adjusted. Still, they serve as a useful guideline to plan the topside layout of the ship.


Next up is building up all the major structures and in particular the secondary weapons. Too many times before have I build beautiful pagodas only to realize I have got no space left to fit my casemates.   So the icing on the cake comes after the cake is ready. Despite most of the ship that "matters" are done at this point, the ship do tend to look very barren at this point nonetheless.

So the next and most fun part for me is the decoration of the ship. This is also where I try to consult historical vessels the most, add small details like capstan, boats, assorted deck chattles and riggings can really bring the ship to life. Ironically other than shaping the hull this part also tend to take up the most time, especially with things that require pushing FTD a little to get working properly, such as setting up rigging with mimics.


So at this point it is also often a matter of when to call it "Good Enough". A good balance I find is that if the deck looks suitably busy enough that I don't get massive area that is completely empty for no good reason. From here on the ships is ready for filming and actin 

[mycophobia]

Nov 11, 2021 0:36:44 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

Wow, that top-most picture is especially beautiful. Bravo.

I have the new FTD's massively impressed shadow, lighting, and water graphics to thank for that, it really gives a massive improvement to the ship's look. 

To think once upon a time I turn shadow off in games because I thought they looked odd 

[prophetinreverse]

Were their main guns but two inches wider, they would be the terror of the East Pacific, and every other power with interests in the region would need to keep three battleships on station for good measure. Alas…

[mycophobia]

Yong An（永安 - Eternal Peace) Class Battleship (1899) 
Ships in Class: Yong An（永安 - Eternal Peace), An Ding (安定 - Stability）

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Overview
The Ding Yuan class, while otherwise a competent design, is let down by its small main gun. While her superior armor layout and good amount of secondary guns may give a good account of themselves, there is no avoiding the fact that her 9" gun puts her in a position no better than some armored cruisers, without the speed. With neighboring Japan procuring battleships armed with 12" guns, the Empress Dowager for once turned from her gaze from her garden and palace to steam and iron. No naval architect herself, the Empress Dowager nevertheless decided Admiral Ding's preference with German shipyards are not to be trusted.

Taking advantage of a situation to sway the Qing Empire away from their old enemy, the French entered a bid for a battleship that they say would easily outmatch their Japanese counterpart. Thus the order for two Yong An class battleship was placed with the direct decree of the Empress herself, named after the famous Yong An Palace of Han Dynasty Empress Dowagers, this is to be her majesty's new palace at sea.

The resulting ship is indeed impressive on paper, displacing over 2000 tons more than the Ding Yuan class, and most importantly armed with French Made 305mm/Model 1896 Guns. 

Weaponry
Made to address the firepower issue of the Ding Yuan Class the 305mm guns of the Yong An certainly packs a punch. With 7.1" of armor penetration at 5000 yards, Ding Yuan as over 50% more armor penetration over the German 240mm guns, not to mention the added range and weight of the much larger shells. Instead of a mix of 5" and 3" guns, Yong An also has a powerful secondary battery of 12 6" and 12 5" guns, with the 6" innovatively housed in 6 dual turrets mounted along the tumblehome hull to give it a great angle of fire, the heavier secondary guns can also contribute fire towards heavier targets.

This arrangement is not without problem however, the tumblehome made it difficult to place the casemate 5"s lower in the ship, and the 6" suffers from poor traverse rate due to cramped mechanics and very heavy armor.  All these heavily armored turrets and guns also makes the ship top heavy, though somewhat compensated by her slight tumblehome hull. The last design issue, 4 5" guns mounted very close to bow are practically unworkable in any kind of speed even in good sea states, yet they do make for an impressive and imposing front view. 

The only area of firepower where the Yong An would be inferior are its torpedo armaments, equipped with 2 instead of 4 midship launchers, designed more to finish off crippled opponents than to carry out serious torpedo attacks.

Armor

While Ding Yuan was more than adequately protected, the Yong An cannot be seen as inferior in that regard, and is thus at least as heavily armored as the Ding Yuan in all areas, and her tumblehome hull adds further to close range protections. The biggest improvement are her 6" plated secondary turrets, making them practically impervious to secondary fire (In fact, these turret can resist a hit from Ding Yuan's main gun at normal combat range). Though one could argue that in the end the Yong An really isnt better protected in areas that matters when compared to Ding Yuan, despite its larger size.


Speed/Utility
The Yong An can match the Ding Yuan with a decent speed of 18 knots, and her tumblehome is not all that pronounced for a French design, making her overall decent at seakeeping. While not truly cramped, the secondary turrets and tumblehome does limits her internal space somewhat, which affected her ammo capacity, resulting in only 360 rounds carried for her main gun, which is a concerning amount for long engagements.

All things considered the Yong can certainly holds it own in a battleline against any other nation's battleship, and her 305mm guns much needed firepower. Yet one cannot help but think whether the same budget could be used to acquire an even better design.

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And there we have a long overdue updates, work has been absolutely brutal the last two weeks, and probably will remain so for awhile. Nevertheless, thought I'd at least spare the time to wrap up this last ship for the legacy fleet. My biggest regret is I didnt tumblehome nearly enough   , then again, not sure if I can truly captivate the beauty of the humblehome in ftd 

Now with all the ships done I sit at a junction as to start the campaign or wait for the DLC to drop, while I cannot help but be tempted to wait a bit, once work frees up later next month I probably will dive into the campaign, and see how things goes. (If I dont get the new RTW dlc at least I have the new FTD patches to play with  )

Until next time

[prophetinreverse]

A worthy flagship for the Great Qing! These two ships are exactly what China needed - a counter to anything the Japanese can get for a while, and a deterrent to European aggression. Now a few cruisers and a second-rate battleship or two is not going to cut it for the country that seeks another concession - an entire first-rate battleship squadron plus supporting units from home would be needed, and there is a good chance several of them will be sunk or disabled past the point of easy repair on the other side of the world from a suitable dry dock that can hold them. The expenditures would be horrific for their treasury, their rivals in Europe given an opportunity, and their public has more of a chance to turn against the whole venture. This is the salvation from external forces that the Qing needs… now to handle the internal ones.

[rs2excelsior]

Love the new battleships - I'm excited to see the Qing navy's development!