A Penguin Plays RULE THE WAVES

[bluepencil]

Yes, more money.
Give me always more money

That is always the solution.



Now we have TWO destroyers.


Have you considered jalapeños?



Ugh, the Austrian Navy is such pants. Is it too late to pick a fight with them instead?
They don't have any colonial properties for us to take when they lose the war though. It would just be a waste of my money.

Oh and lives too I suppose.

Civilians care about those things, if I remember correctly.



That's East Asia.
We don't care about East Asia, it's South-East Asia that is our swimming pool.





Sadly, I must refuse.
We already have four excellent armored cruisers, it's about time we thought about something that carries heavier than 8 inch guns.



Looks good. We could afford this on a month to month basis, but...

Incidental first build costs mean an extra 3.6 million before even starting construction.

We DON'T HAVE 3.6 million.



So let's just put down this mess of light warships and once they're done we're good to go to the war.

 

[bluepencil]

We are going full xianxia over here!

DO NOT BLAME ME FOR BEING IMPOLITE, JUNIOR!


WE HAVE EYES BUT FAILED TO RECOGNIZE MOUNT TAI!


Ooh! Pseudo dreadnought time is a go?!



Let's check what we're up against.
Italy's not building any more battleships either. Odd.

They seem to be concerned about their Armored Cruiser fleet though.


Welcome to the Fleet, Adon'tbe!

>> CA ADONTBE> ♪ A don't be mad, a don't be sad, life can be so eaasy...! ♪

... I have made a terrible error.


And with that, another year has passed.

What have you got for me, 1904?

 

[bluepencil]

Excellent. Give me.
Our cash flow is positive anyway.


But even if we have the secret to STS, it's not like we can be as lavish as the US and construct all their ships entirely out of what other countries consider armor quality steel.


(strikes and labor unrest delays construction)

YOU BUNCH OF INGRATES!


Why is our unrest level so high?!
It wasn't near like this the last time around!


What, did you think that somehow robbing the nobles blind as a phantom thief wouldn't have unintended consequences?

 

[Kuja]

Quick, have Adontbe set up an idol tour. Gain funds and lower unrest simultaneously.

 

[bluepencil]

All right, fiiine.
Let's get some bribery public employment going on here.



It didn't work!

Well at least they're no longer burning you in effigy?


Hmm. In theory, shouldn't main battery wing turrets be able to fire forward?
If they can only fire broadsides, then we're better off just having a single third centerline turret.


... my budget has increased.
Why.


... wait, so pumping money into the military-industrial complex also benefits the economy?
Is this... is this karma?


600-ton DDs are fine.
Don't worry about it.


Now this. THIS IS THE TECHNOLOGY WE NEEDED!

Man it feels good to be good.
I am the bodhisattva of naval patronage.

 

[bluepencil]

We have the funding. We have the technology.
Let's see what we can build.







Poot.



I don't actually have Wing Turret technology.

... despite being able to put up to 10-inch guns in them... if we had them.

Let's just roll next month and see what happens.
















































AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

[Hatter]

Even if it isn't the overwhelming super power of post WWII, isn't the US still one of the largest industrial powers in this game?

And then we have the USA. And this whole game is going to be about NOT picking a fight with the USA and their infinite wall of steel and guns.

Click to shrink...

Yep, mentioned in the intro. Really lucked out.

 

[Laundreu]

As I understand it, training is a one-and-done affair. You tell your guys to practice whatever, and at the end of the 12 months that's the bonus they get. If you retrain, or select different options, you lose the previous bonus, and then have to wait 12 months for the new replacement bonus to kick in.

 

[Estro]

I am worried that "saving on defence expenditures" will cut down on your attempts to get a giant steel island of yellow in the sea, but you can't do a proper semi-dred yet, so that seems excellent

 

[bluepencil]

I AM HITTING AGREE LIKE THE FIST OF AN ANGRY GOD.



I AM INTO THIS SO DEEP WHOEVER PULLS ME OUT SHALL POSSESS THE POWER OF THOR!




FRIENDS WITH MANY BENEFITS!



Whoa, the USN have Battlecruisers already?!



16,500 tons of fast battleship.
I don't actually know the parameters of a Battlecruiser, guess we'll just have to see later.

The British already have a proper post-dreadnought battleship.
But as long as we don't stir with their bottom line, our military alliance with the US should keep things from getting out of hand.



Man, even Austria-Hungary has a bigger budget than us.

I wonder how long it will take before the USN's budget eclipses the RN?



One more turn and we can start building Battleships.

 

[bluepencil]

HELLO DUCKIES!

Good to have you around at last.
Armored Cruisers and Destroyers don't really get along as much as DDs and BBs because CA tend to feel like they can do everything by themselves.

BBs meanwhile need a screening force against torpedo runs and scouting so they can use their big guns.

>> DD DESTRUCTOR> To be fair, that's mostly because our battleships were so slow at 19 knots and Short ranged so they couldn't take part in strategic maneuvers.


6x 12" / 6x 8" / 8x 5" should be a balanced enough loadout.

Again with the numerology.

At 18,000 tons we are going for a proper BB that is among the heaviest ships afloat. Even the RN's BB's are only 17,200 tons.
We could have gone with 8x six-inchers, but eight-inch guns are strong enough for anti-Cruiser work, we have a nine-gun long-range broadside against ships faster than us.

 

[Goat]

165 rounds for each main gun? I'm not that familiar with how long a fight can go in this game, but you must want to never run dry.

 

[Ithillid]

165 rounds for each main gun? I'm not that familiar with how long a fight can go in this game, but you must want to never run dry.

Click to shrink...

High round counts are most important in the early game, because even with a hundred and sixty five rounds for each gun that is maybe twenty to thirty hits total. And ships usually take quite a few hits to sink. Later game, between improved optical aiming systems, radar directed fire control, and bigger and better guns, the needed round count goes down towards 100 because you don't need as much to kill any given ship.

 

[bluepencil]

Blargh.

This is why I don't like building costly ships - it forces us to go all-in to one design.
We can't play around with variations since new build costs eat up equivalent to months of yardwork.



Good. Good.

Go back and do it again. And again.
Until we have the skills to actually launch torpedoes.



We need monies and so what if the French get better torpedoes for their Jeune Ecole philosophy.


*gasp*

*wheeze*

This better not be fucking Corona.




We really need that war to happen soon.


This is unsustainable.
Who can I rob next?

 

[HolyDragoon]

This is why I don't like building costly ships - it forces us to go all-in to one design.
We can't play around with variations since new build costs eat up equivalent to months of yardwork.

Click to shrink...

Sort of. There are limits inside which you get a discount on the development cost for a ship made from an already existing design, so you can put a general design out and then fine-tune it on following iterations.

 

[bluepencil]

I don't need to lose any more Prestige and there's no point kissing any more ass with the US.


...






Our Destroyers are now in service.
I am not going to check out what that French Cruiser is just in case it turns out to be another penis ship.


LUPAN! LUPAAAAN!!!

I will kill you.

Once more...
my sword has cut
another worthless object.



If this gets us to war, fine.
If it doesn't we give Dorito 3 time to finish construction and working up and that's fine too.


(looks at all the 12,000 ton Armored Cruisers in the naval base)
Look at all these fatties.

*sounds of boilers being angrily fired up*


Ech. We are not at war yet.
Gran Britanya also didn't like that.

Nor did the CSA.
To which I say: GOOD.


And with that we've someone managed to pass five years without getting our teeth kicked in.
1905, what have you got for me?

 

[bluepencil]

Wow. That's...that's pretty dang good, 1905.


> An unknown nation steals industrial secrets from us
> The CSN suddenly announces they are now capable of building 12-inch guns

Gee. I wonder who it could be.


Perfidious Albion liked that.
If the US gets distracted by things in their own back yard, they might be too busy to start things over this side of the pond.

At least it lowers tensions with us since the RN have never seen us as a threat anyway.
Also, since they are building our Battleships we don't want to give them a reason to stop.



Holy shit what.

A Baraco-class costs SIXTY million, but this is fine. This is more than fine.

Now that we can build up to 15,000 tons in our own yard we might consider building our own native battleship - but we lack Center or Wing turret technology, so that would make those pocket battleships lacking in throw weight pretty quickly.


GUERRA TIME IS NOW! COME ON!

























































Wow.
That... that is a miracle.

Are you actually going to allow me time to finish building my Battleships?

 

[W33b4m1n3]

Oh me oh my! Is it time??

 

[cryptoam]

Are you actually going to allow me time to finish building my Battleships?

Click to shrink...

Knowing how lets plays go in this game: No.

 

[bluepencil]

Why would the US, with a Two-Ocean Navy, even have tensions against Italy, a Mediterranean Sea power that can be locked off by the Strait of Gibraltar?

I have absolutely no idea.

Did the Mafia try to assassinate the President or something?


Ach, that is so expensive.

-520 thousand per month would have been extremely sustainable,
-2.8 million per month will need us to pause construction not even halfway through.



Let's have a look at the world's first Dreadnought then.


Huh.
And you were all so proud about having 14-inch guns and yet still build them out of 13-inchers.

I know you cracked 14" guns way back in 1903.


That doesn't make it much different to the French COLBERT-class though.

The French ship is two knots faster at cost of three thousand tons more and has an extra half-inch belt, but that's about it.
It's also still in the yards.

I'm actually surprised that
a) my spies managed to give me full intel on this, and
b) it's not another penis ship.


Excellent.
This is exactly what we needed for our 8-inchers.



Man, another Resolution class instead of refitting for 14" guns?
Maybe their guns are still at -1?

They're not really sparing the pounds here, got to keep the floating tonnage advantage.



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

[bluepencil]

So apparently Great Britain has decided to double down and now they're building TWO BBs of the RESOLUTION class simultaneously now. That's, what, six million going down every month while a rebellion is going in Ireland?

I suppose they think it's not going to be too costly to take care of business just a short hop away.



I could just pause construction here, but I'll keep the build going to have as much of it done before I need to save money or build some AMCs at wartime.



Better torpedoes.
Although this would still force our Destroyers to close in to 1000 to 3000 yards, which in meters would be .9 to 2.7 km.

Still too short-ranged to be useful.


And Great Britain's putting down another BB after already having a BB and a BC in the works.
That's nine million down the hole, I expect.

113 million /24 is a four million monthly budget, I estimate.
What are you doing in this time of crisis, Great Britain?

... wait.

We are paying them 4.6 million for two BARACO-class Battleships.

So they only have to pay about 4 million out of their own pockets.

... We are directly bankrolling their naval development!

You magnificent bastaaards!



Let's see what that looks like.


Wait, THAT'S WHAT A BATTLE-CRUISER IS?!

How DARE you call this ship INVINCIBLE.


Adobo could kick your ass!

>> CA ADOBO> 25 knots.

Tch.
That is dangerously fast.

We'll have to prepare for when people start building more of these murder-suicide boats.

>> CA ADOBO> Just make me faster.
>> CA ADOBO> Their asses are mine to kick.


Aaand tensions lowered with Italy.
Should I really just allow them to finish building their battleships so I can have my own?





Well now what is this brinksmanship tool before me?

 

[Estro]

Hopefully america won't break their treaty with you for that.

 

[bluepencil]

Hmm.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are what used to be called Hispaniola.
They're sandwiched in between Spanish territories anyway.

It feels realistic to me to try something since it's just a short hop away from Cuba, and if the USN wants basing rights or to play at nationbuilding, then just buy it from me.


It's a 50/50 coin toss if this works or not.


Bleargh.


But this is what I wanted to happen anyway!


LET'S GET IT ON!

 

[Hatter]

2 CA vs 1 BB + 6CA + 6CL doesnt look that good. Even assuming poor design and maneuvering on part of the AI. Of course, I'm not that familiar with the game.

 

[Goat]

I think the CAs are probably on par with the B and individually superior to the enemy CAs. But he has no units to match the CLs and I don't think I've ever seen a Let's Play where the minesweepers showed up on the battlefield?