DLC, an Italy AAR

[garrisonchisholm]

June
Mansions of The Abruzzi

Ammiraglio d'armata Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, stood at his windows gazing disapprovingly at the lawn.

“Pietro! The grass! It must be nearly 6 centimeters!” he bellowed.

A sharp but distant “Sir!” skittered down the long hall and through the open door. The Abruzzi then pondered the place on the lawn where the man had lain some months before. There were sometimes flowers there, as there were now.

'Why flowers...' he mused to himself.   He'd been a loud man. Why would you leave flowers for a loud man.

He turned slowly and sat down again in front of his guest. He detested aviators. And admired them for the same reason. They were so damnably confident. His exclamation had been as much an attempt to rattle him as making a complaint.

Sadly, he could see he hadn't.

“My congratulations are overdue. 30 now. You nearly caught Baraca,” he said to his guest.

“Thank you,” Fulco replied coolly, then curled a lip. “I am fortunate le Conducteur gave me another chance.”

“Yes. Well, the whims of fate you know, I'm sure. ...I presume you found the Aeronautica's equipment more to your liking than ours?”

“Oh Gods yes,” he laughed. “Most of the machines you have are an utter joke.  ... Objectively, you understand.”

Luigi smiled without mirth.

“It is fortunate you made it out of Sardinia before it fell. Strange that you were the only one.”

“I was the only one who could dance between the falling shells.”

An ice cube would have begun to feel uncomfortably cold in the room about now.

“...Cognac?” Luigi asked.

“Certainly, so kind of you to offer.”

Luigi thought about calling for Bianca but found he was already halfway to the sideboard. He delivered the glass, before again sitting down.

“I will get to the point. -”

“I wish you would,” Fulco replied, taking a sip.

“...I understand you were involved with delivering 'Scalata'.

Fulco quirked a brow and silently snorted.

“I don't know anything about a Scalata, but I know if I did I would also know that no one in the navy would have a reason to know about a Scalata.”

Luigi smiled, saying “The House of Savoy is not so large that the left hand does not talk to the right.”

Fulco pondered a moment.

“Alright, suppose I did know something about this Scalata. What of it?”

“Last September. The French lines needed to be crossed? The front had never moved so much in 4 years that it needed to be a long flight, yet the delivery required a special aircraft.” Luigi rolled his quick Rs with relish.

Fulco gazed on, not yet disagreeing with any of Luigi's details.

“I am concerned. Scalata clearly did their job. Enough of France screamed for Napoleon that the nation ground to a halt and sued for peace. But I do not like not knowing all the participants in such a vigorous affair.”

Fulco continued listening, waiting for part of Luigi's speech that he would need to contest.

“...Good. So, presuming you might have known a Scalata, I would like to know how they we- ...might have been delivered to you.”

Fulco swirled his drink, deciding he could play this game.

“Alright. If, IF, a Scalata showed up at my aerodrome in the middle of the night, they might have been brought by a government car.”

Luigi leaned in.

“Government, ...not milit'ry or civilian?”

Fulco only nodded.

Luigi smiled then, a rather mild but genuine one at last, and leaned back in his chair.

“Good... yes, that will be enough for me. I appreciate your participation, my dear Prince.”

Fulco nodded again, clearly entirely unenlightened about the conclusion of Luigi's inquiry, and set down his drink on Luigi's desk.

For another 10 minutes they then discussed lighter matters, or so they now seemed; the recovery of Sardinia and annexation of Corsica and St. Jacques, and the therefore soon necessary expansion of the air forces. Luigi then signaled the interview was concluded by rising and walking to the door, wishing Fulco a pleasant trip back home.

It would not take Luigi's circles long to uncover that the vehicle in question had been the official car of one former, and now returned, Prime Minister Antonio Salandra; majordomo to the King, rumored consigliere of Benito Mussolini.

Luigi watched Fulco's car drive away, then pulled on his gloves.

“Pietro! I will be at the Custodian's Shed!”

“Sir! I rang him, honest! He's not in yet!”

[cv10]

Ah...The tawdry world of clandestine affairs...Good on you for confounding the enemy's politics! Are the Bonapartes back? If they are, vive le Empereur!

Hopefully the Chamber of Deputies is not too harsh in slashing the budget for peace. I've had a few wars with severe losses and almost ended up wishing the enemy had held on for another year so I could get the new construction well on its way before the politicos took a paring knife to the naval estimates.

[garrisonchisholm]

The end of the war brought thousands of soldiers sailors and servants of all stripes flooding home. The navy breathed a sigh of relief now that it could catch its breath and enforce its new lessons. The first step after the armistice was to order the Aquila designed some months earlier. The carrier arm would be developed further once the Aquila had been in service and and stretched its legs a bit, but before that time there was other desperate construction that needed accomplishing.

Firstly it was abundantly clear that the AAA of the fleet needed extensive augmentation. A new class of destroyer was designed which focused on this aspect along with ASW.



A new light cruiser design was also penned, the first named after the Captain Brivonesi who went down with his ship in his 23rd battle against England, and the second named after the brave captain of the Claudio Druso, which ship saved many of the survivors of the Regina Elena by interposing itself before the French, and who died as a result.



There was reasonable belief that in the ensuing few years a goodly number of these ships would be built.

Additionally the battleship arm was addressed given their profound mistreatment by the war, though there was no practical way to begin wholesale construction immediately. The first new design was actually drawn up after the 1st Battle of Derna, but it was shelved as it was seen as both unlikely to be completed before war's end and untimely, inked before the lessons of that disaster could be processed. As the war ended 6 iterations of two types of warship were evaluated, and the two preferred designs of each drawn up and a service evaluation of each ordered that summer.



The first ship was a relatively conventional battleship, the Calabria, though 15,000 tons heavier, by a narrow margin the heaviest vessel Italy had ever built. This ship would mount a reduced weight of broadside to the Regina Elenas, though with weight savings that would go into protection and speed. Turret and deck armor were identical to the Reginas, though the belt armor would be increased to 13 ½ inches while making 30 knots. The ships were quite well balanced and carried a significant anti-aircraft suite.



The second ship to be drawn-up was an unconventional battle-cruiser, Elba. She carried a profound anti-aircraft system with carrier escort in mind, and 8 15” guns in 3 turrets. The armor was a newly conjectured system called Magazine Box. The protection was at its listed maximum over the magazines, however the remainder of the citadel was only armored to ½ that thickness, producing great weight savings. The initial draft was actually discarded due to battlefield lessons, as it did not show an improvement in belt protection. The accepted design does increase the non-magazine belt over that of the Reginas marginally, and with the undeniable improvements in other areas and high projected speed it was deemed worthy of trial.

It is a testament to the growth and power of the Italian economy that ordering evaluation battleships is seen as a viable procurement methodology.

The Navy also finally accepted a new fighter, as Breda had not been willing to pursue continuing development of the '84 and the new CANT model offered improvements in range and speed that could no longer be ignored.



Foreign affairs were not smooth for every nation to be sure. Germany had lost 4 dreadnoughts and over a quarter million soldiers in the war, but still had its alliances with Italy and lately also the USA. Political turmoil was rife East and West, and French seditionists tried to use the Italian frontier as their safe harbor. Their dictator seemed to be cracking down successfully on the monarchist movement, but time would tell who would win out.

Given all these foul undercurrents of disorder many considered it a near miracle that matters had in fact turned out as well as they did for Italy. But many in the Fatherland were discontent, as the war had been hard on all sectors of society. The economic health to rebuild the fleet was not a sure thing, and The Abruzzi began spending more time talking to politicians than was his wont.







(that will be all for a little bit, I've translated 2 days of game into 2 pages of results over 6 days. I hope I haven't been a mere deluge. I will probably play quite a little bit and not write again until there are ship or domestic developments that I think would be interesting)

[garrisonchisholm]

May 24, 2022 17:10:20 GMT -6 cv10 said:

Ah...The tawdry world of clandestine affairs...Good on you for confounding the enemy's politics! Are the Bonapartes back? If they are, vive le Empereur!

Hopefully the Chamber of Deputies is not too harsh in slashing the budget for peace. I've had a few wars with severe losses and almost ended up wishing the enemy had held on for another year so I could get the new construction well on its way before the politicos took a paring knife to the naval estimates.

If the government had collapsed I had actually decided I would edit in Napoleon VI (or Napoleon Regent) as their leader, but the state is still fascist with le conducteur so my interpretation is that he had done what he needed to do to stay in power.  He is definitely on thin ice though!

Yes, I just wrote up some rather ambitious plans, we'll see if they come to fruition.

[prophetinreverse]

There is something about the Calabria that appeals to me on an aesthetic level. It seems like such a beautiful and functional ship - but then I expect such marriages of form and function from the Italians.

[garrisonchisholm]

I actually thought it reminded me of Derflinger, at least in balance, though of course it is far heavier. Some of the library is closely based on historical ships, while others are hypothetical ships designed to fill a niche that a particular country never filled. But seeing as this is only a 'lightly' modified ship I will share your appreciation with our Art Department!

(...he will laugh at that)

[zederfflinger]

May 25, 2022 16:27:10 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

I actually thought it reminded me of Derflinger, at least in balance, though of course it is far heavier. Some of the library is closely based on historical ships, while others are hypothetical ships designed to fill a niche that a particular country never filled. But seeing as this is only a 'lightly' modified ship I will share your appreciation with our Art Department!

(...he will laugh at that)

I'm pretty sure that the turret layout is actually based on the Francesco Caracciolo. Derfflinger has that space between the rear turrets, but not the front ones.

[garrisonchisholm]

May 25, 2022 17:26:29 GMT -6 zederfflinger said:

May 25, 2022 16:27:10 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

I actually thought it reminded me of Derflinger, at least in balance, though of course it is far heavier. Some of the library is closely based on historical ships, while others are hypothetical ships designed to fill a niche that a particular country never filled. But seeing as this is only a 'lightly' modified ship I will share your appreciation with our Art Department!

(...he will laugh at that)

I'm pretty sure that the turret layout is actually based on the Francesco Caracciolo. Derfflinger has that space between the rear turrets, but not the front ones.

Agreed.  I didn't even cycle through all the options, the first offering was quite appealing.  I just had to tweak some little bits to make it mine, along with the deck color.

[beagle]

I have been enjoying your AAR since you started it, and it has really whetted my desire for the upcoming dlc, now to be RTW3. I didn't read your missive of May 24 until yesterday, and have been salivating over those four magnificent works of art that are to be the new additions to your fleet since then.

I have a couple of stupid questions that I hope you don't mind too much. You indicated that these were stock designs from the game's "art department", which I assume from williammiller's announcement is John Smith, that you tweaked to make them like you wanted. Does that mean an idiot like me who can't draw an RTW or RTW2 ship design to save his life will be able to use a stock design and arm and armor it like I want and come close to having ships nearly as good looking as yours?

Your BC has mag box belt armor (you notice I say armor instead of armour. That probably gives a hint as to which side of the Atlantic Ocean I live on). I think I read earlier you said that was for economical reasons. I tried that once several months back, then set up a training engagement against the battleships I used as the basis of the mag box design. The mag box ships received several quick speed loss hits, and that scared me off from using mag boxes on capital ships. I admit that a sample size of one, doesn't come close to being a statistically valid sample size. Have you had better experience with using a mag box armor scheme?

[garrisonchisholm]

May 30, 2022 14:12:01 GMT -6 beagle said:

I have been enjoying your AAR since you started it, and it has really whetted my desire for the upcoming dlc, now to be RTW3. I didn't read your missive of May 24 until yesterday, and have been salivating over those four magnificent works of art that are to be the new additions to your fleet since then.

I have a couple of stupid questions that I hope you don't mind too much. You indicated that these were stock designs from the game's "art department", which I assume from williammiller's announcement is John Smith, that you tweaked to make them like you wanted. Does that mean an idiot like me who can't draw an RTW or RTW2 ship design to save his life will be able to use a stock design and arm and armor it like I want and come close to having ships nearly as good looking as yours?

Your BC has mag box belt armor (you notice I say armor instead of armour. That probably gives a hint as to which side of the Atlantic Ocean I live on). I think I read earlier you said that was for economical reasons. I tried that once several months back, then set up a training engagement against the battleships I used as the basis of the mag box design. The mag box ships received several quick speed loss hits, and that scared me off from using mag boxes on capital ships. I admit that a sample size of one, doesn't come close to being a statistically valid sample size. Have you had better experience with using a mag box armor scheme?

I will happily answer stupid questions, because they are deprived or their stupidity once asked!  And I am glad you've appreciated the work.

I cannot be utterly specific about the ship graphic design page as of yet (for a couple quite positive reasons), but I think this will answer your question.  The ship graphics are sorted by era with some appropriate overlap.  When you request a design the game will load ship designs for your nation or from a generic "universal" set (possibly also for a foreign building nation but do not quote me) and you will be able to look through them and make your choice.  You will then be able to alter all the stats for that ship and keep the graphics, and everything should scale appropriately with a little help.  However, you will also be able to use those ship graphics as-is without devoting any time to it at all; it is entirely optional.

For instance, the design I used for the Calabria had a large open space in the middle to accommodate a potential Q turret, so I just filled in the details and added a funnel since I didn't want to use that.  The details came (and will come) from a database of ship parts, so no tiny minute player-pixel sowing required.  I think I spent less than 10 minutes on Calabria's graphics.  Also the cruiser design?  That too is from the BB database, I just reduced the tonnage a lot and, well, changed everything about it as far as stats.

Regarding magazine box.  Yes, I've been bitten by it too, somewhere on these pages quite famously when a super-SUPER-battleship failed to survive even a dozen hits (the humor thread maybe?).  However I am allowing myself some dramatic leeway.  It is a bit "meta" (honestly we all modify our games based on previous games to a lesser or greater degree) but I seriously doubt these BCs will ever do more than escort CVs, so I am not worried about a prolonged engagement against a 16" gunned foe.  Also, it is named after Elba who went up in smoke tragically.  This ship's magazines- good golly.  I will eat my hat on video if one of these ships has their magazine cook off.  Given the citadel *is* better armored than the original Elba (ok, 10" to 9.5", but hey that IS more ) I wanted to go with the design for interest's sake.  My overall game-lesson matches your though; if you are building a battle-line, magazine-box isn't a great choice.

& Welcome to the Forums!

[garrisonchisholm]

Alrighty, so my plan will be to summarize events until we get to more action rather than a blow-by-blow saga for each year. Some unexpected things happen but I think by-and-large folks are interested in seeing how ever more modern ships perform in combat. I will make the first post by Monday.

[garrisonchisholm]

The Best Laid Plans

In October of 1931, Il Duce attempted his long planned popular coup.



Seizing upon post-war discontent in the ranks of the unemployed and underprivileged he lead a rag-tag movement into Rome demanding an audience with the King. Although aided and abetted by Prime Minister Salandra in their entry to Rome, they were met and dispersed by the Royal Guard, supported by marines. The marines however were not ordered out by The Abruzzi, but rather Admiral Galleani, hero of the Battle of Derna. Luigi had remained silent during the March, feeling he had so used his political capitol that it would be unwise to risk his position by making a statement regarding popular leadership. Admiral Galleani was grossly offended at this perceived failure of moral fiber and resigned immediately upon the resolution of the public discord, causing a rift in their relationship that would never be mended.



Il Duce faced a rather farcical trial that filled the press for months, finally being sentenced to 5 years home confinement. The bulk of his more violent supporters faced worse, though the core of his movement was simply deported. It seems a good few thousand of his toughs actually belonged in France, which goes to partially explain how it was that the monarchist movement there was able to cause such trouble for Le Conducteur. How their departure from France was arranged was not publicly determined.

The post-war political environment was one of mostly global relief, with a great deal of mutual security treaties arising by the next year. However as Italy labored to complete its 3 new capital ships on its diminished war-recovery budget numerous international fractures slowly eroded such arrangements, until such point as tensions seemed again to be escalating.




In February 1935 the first rumblings of an International Disarmament Treaty were made, oddly by The Abruzzi himself. The United Kingdom had approached Italy seeking an alliance, which Luigi saw as simply a subliminal attempt at getting the Kingdom of Italy to ratify their ownership of Malta and Gibraltar. So instead the counter-proposal was made to consider global naval disarmament as a means to ensure peace. Luigi actually did not want such a treaty, at least until Aquila, Calabria and Elba were finished. His attempts to forestall a conference in 1935 were successful, though in the Summer of 1938 Great Britain again forced Luigi's hand, but his yards were now empty of large warships. Given that empty encouragement the negotiations proceeded and a formal Conference was convened in Geneva.











Not entirely desired, not entirely detested, Luigi signed the new treaty along with all the world's nations. Vast swathes of ships under construction were broken up by all the signatories, and in some cases dozens of ships eliminated to make the new limitations. The Abruzzi would need to take stock of the fleet and decide which of his own ships would need to be eliminated, and as well the new battleship and battlecruiser programs be entirely re-evaluated, given he had in hand a grand total of one unit each.

[maxnacemit]

I see a special condition of "no more than half the tonnage for capital ships" here, and I know there probably are "no submarines" and "no carriers" clauses inherited from RTW2. Are there any other conditions in treaties you can tell us about?

[rs2excelsior]

Very cool - good to see a glimpse at the new treaty mechanics. I’m glad to see there will be more interaction than just hoping the politicians come up with something reasonable!

[garrisonchisholm]

Jun 6, 2022 10:08:23 GMT -6 maxnacemit said:

I see a special condition of "no more than half the tonnage for capital ships" here, and I know there probably are "no submarines" and "no carriers" clauses inherited from RTW2. Are there any other conditions in treaties you can tell us about?

Sometimes it includes a no-submarines clause, but in this case it did not- which due to an error between the screen and the keyboard will cost Italy some light cruisers ( >.< ).  The tonnage demands will be made clear (I hope) in my next post, but the expanded treaty system allows much greater influence over affairs.