[X][RUN] Curse of Enzo Ferrari: 1900 Italy start, considerable tech variation, very large fleets, computer build of legacy fleet -- at the end of each decade, I must try to have the fastest capital ship, cruiser, and light ship in service or under construction, and I must always prioritize speed in events and airplane design.
Know I inflict Italy upon you with the heaviest of hearts, Jenny.
[X][RUN] Curse of Gottleib Daimler: 1890 Germany start, considerable tech variation, very large fleets -- All my ships must be built with engines optimized for Speed, and I must prioritize seizing territories with oil.
[X][RUN] Curse of David Brown: 1935 Britain start, slight tech variation, very large fleets -- I must always support British espionage (including spying on at least four world powers), and all new ships I build must have Spacious accommodations.
[X][RUN] Curse of David Brown: 1935 Britain start, slight tech variation, very large fleets -- I must always support British espionage (including spying on at least four world powers), and all new ships I build must have Spacious accommodations.
[X][RUN] Curse of Enzo Ferrari: 1900 Italy start, considerable tech variation, very large fleets, computer build of legacy fleet -- at the end of each decade, I must try to have the fastest capital ship, cruiser, and light ship in service or under construction, and I must always prioritize speed in events and airplane design.
Head rotating in a a counterclockwise direction. Chanting. SPEED IS ARMOR. SPEED IS ARMOR.
Scheduled vote count started by Jenny on Jun 10, 2024 at 8:59 AM, finished with 8 posts and 8 votes.
[X][RUN] Curse of David Brown: 1935 Britain start, slight tech variation, very large fleets -- I must always support British espionage (including spying on at least four world powers), and all new ships I build must have Spacious accommodations.
[X][RUN] Curse of Enzo Ferrari: 1900 Italy start, considerable tech variation, very large fleets, computer build of legacy fleet -- at the end of each decade, I must try to have the fastest capital ship, cruiser, and light ship in service or under construction, and I must always prioritize speed in events and airplane design.
[X][RUN] Curse of Gottleib Daimler: 1890 Germany start, considerable tech variation, very large fleets -- All my ships must be built with engines optimized for Speed, and I must prioritize seizing territories with oil.
I start this game with several relatively lightly-armored 20-knot battleships (and some better-protected 17-18 knot ones as well), with various cruisers topping out at 23 knots for the 4"-gunned Partenope and 6"-gunned Calabria class protected cruisers, and with a good-sized destroyer force, including 400-ton 31-knot destroyers. That's just about enough to be tied for fastest capital ship and destroyer... but not for fastest cruiser, as Spain has a 24-knot armored cruiser. In order to stay on top of the speed race, I decide to prioritize Machinery research above all else.
As ships from my predecessor finish construction, I design a new protected cruiser to match the Spanish cruiser:
But just fifteen months into the game, I go to war with Austria-Hungary. A few battles here and there, plus another seven months of blockading the Hapsburgs, and Italy wins the war, taking Dalmatia. Nice easy conflict to start things off, right?
In 1902, I modify the Liguria into the faster Urania-class cruiser, and design a fast mixed-battery battleship thanks to some early technical developments:
I also acquire better 5" guns from the Spanish -- if I prioritize machinery first, I'll need to get better guns from abroad rather than researching them myself. With a bit of a cruiser gap starting to emerge with Austria-Hungary (and with France), I start designing a plethora of new armored cruisers over the next couple years.
In 1905, I'm asked to build two new battleships, and initially plan to push the da Vinci class a bit faster... but technical developments lead to reworking the design to incorporate steam turbines and torpedo defenses, and then tweaking one unit further to have better 12" guns when they become available shortly before evaluation time. Wing turrets, naturally, develop a month after that, and the dreadnought race is on!
An early coastal raid goes well, and a fleet battle sees me savage the Austrian scouting force, but the war continues, even with our unrelenting blockade. With the new steam turbines, I design a 28-knot cruiser, and my 'battlecruisers' fight their first battle of the war, a successful fleet action. My first dreadnought has a less auspicious debut. Meanwhile, Spain, then Japan, then Germany all join in against the Austrians; I agree to alliances with the first two, but hold off on allying with Germany to avoid upsetting France.
With triple turrets and heavier guns developed, I design a faster battlecruiser:
1909 also sees me design a 700-ton 33-knot destroyer, and then a 900-ton 32-knot destroyer. The war drags on into 1910, at which point:
I have the fastest known capital ship under construction, the Ammiraglio Saint Bon-class (Japan has the fastest built capital ship, the 26-knot Katsuragi-class BC)
I have the fastest known cruiser under construction, the Spezia-class (the US has the fastest built cruiser, the 27-knot St. Louis-class CL);
and I am tied for the fastest known destroyers under construction, the Insidioso-class (France has the 33-knot Commandant Lucas-class destroyer in service).
By 1910, Austria-Hungary's first 'battlecruiser' has entered service... and swiftly left it in May, thanks to my own. Still, it's another five months before the Hapsburgs fall to Communist revolutionaries in October, finally ending the war.
And with that, I'll call it an update.
***
Sorry for the delay, two wars in 10 years (one of them running just shy of three years) takes longer than I thought.
Another destroyer design follows in 1913, as does a dreadnought with 15" guns:
In 1914, I design a fast batttlecruiser with 14" guns, and refuse an offer from the Germans to sell an aging armored cruiser -- I'm slowly scrapping my own dross, why would I buy theirs? The Panama Canal opens this year as well... but in March 1915, instability in Panama (plus its obvious strategic value and my newly-completed medium-ranged Regina Elena-class battleships) leads me to organize a pro-Italian coup, which the Americans are only a bit miffed about. Still, I could use a medium-ranged battlecruiser, now that I have distant overseas territories, so I develop this:
The main foreign policy issues of 1915 revolve around Austria-Hungary, still, and by early 1916 Italy is at war again, thanks to our alliance with Japan. I expect it to go easily; instead, it goes... embarrassingly, in part due to the large Austrian battlecruiser force. I lose the Ammiraglio Saint Bon to multiple torpedo hits, and mines sink the cruiser Taranto and damage the battleship Romain a battle I only narrowly win. Still, the blockade stays up, and our surviving proper battlecruiser (and our last pre-dreadnought), supported by a Japanese light cruiser squadron and even our airships, sinks an Austrian dreadnought outright, leading to peace:
After the war, I design yet another fast light cruiser, along with a series of destroyers, including a 1500-ton destroyer with six torpedo tubes. But by December 1919, it's evaluation time again!
We have the fastest capital ship under construction, the 29-knot battlecruiser Italia; we are tied for the fastest in service with the Russians and Americans.
Russia has the fastest light cruiser, the 30-knot Avrora class.
We have the fastest destroyer, the 34-knot Giuseppe Missori class.
