Rule the Waves, consistently making too few ships, with the germans!

[TortugaGreen]

True, but my 11" guns aren't better, only smaller.

 

[bdun140]

True, but my 11" guns aren't better, only smaller.

Click to shrink...

Your 11 inch guns are at -1 as well?
Scheisse.

 

[Cavalier]

I wouldn't bother armoring secondaries of 5" or 6" with more than 4 inches of armor, sufficient to fend off equivalent guns. The risk of a flash fire with those guns is minimal. That can save a lot of weight.

Conversely the Conning Tower should be the most heavily armored part of the ship. It doesn't cost much weight comparatively and a critical hit that takes that out causes all kinds of problems. Don't be afraid to add more tonnage to displacement for more armor there and reserve bouyancy. Steel is cheap, as it were, and excessive corners-cutting doesn't pay off if it leaves the ship vulnerable to risks and enemies it can reasonably be expected to face.

 

[TortugaGreen]

I wouldn't bother armoring secondaries of 5" or 6" with more than 4 inches of armor, sufficient to fend off equivalent guns. The risk of a flash fire with those guns is minimal. That can save a lot of weight.

Conversely the Conning Tower should be the most heavily armored part of the ship. It doesn't cost much weight comparatively and a critical hit that takes that out causes all kinds of problems. Don't be afraid to add more tonnage to displacement for more armor there and reserve bouyancy. Steel is cheap, as it were, and excessive corners-cutting doesn't pay off if it leaves the ship vulnerable to risks and enemies it can reasonably be expected to face.

Click to shrink...

all fair points, but, well, they're already in production:
========================================================================
Today, I am starting out my text with the construction of the first of the B-class, the Baker…



IT WAS THE BEST NAME I COULD HAVE COME UP WITH. B doesn't have very many good words to name ships.

The turn after it, the US comes asking for the rights to making High tensile steel, and I refuse. I'm not in a bad situation financially, so it's not something I need to do.





My torpedoes got somewhat better too, so yay. Better torps are always nice.

Not much else happens this turn, besides I notice my Unrest dropped by 1. That's nice.

Next turn, and WOOH THOSE TENSIONS.



Nothing else, because BORING BORING, but on the turn after that almost all my minesweepers are finished, as well as the second to last A-class to be built.





Nothing more happens now, so I move along to the next turn.



Huh, I have the income to fully finance another B-class. Might as well.

I now have more battleships building and in service than: the US, Japan, Russia, and Italy. I will point out though that Italy has one more battleship *in service*, but I have 2 more battleships than them building.

Next turn, and the last of my Minesweepers is completed, one month after the rest of the class.





I also get more money from the Kaiser, due to Italy being angry. More cash is always nice, and I might be able to fund more cruisers or something with this.

I also get this message



Which I am going to accept to try to decrease the possibility that I might end up in 2 wars at once. Also, more research is always nice.



And I immediately get this. Well, thanks Britain for the quick sciencing delivery! Hopefully the research agreement continues to be useful like this.



Huh, that extra budget is a good bit more than I thought. I might even be able to make another battleship with the cash from that. Actually, why the heck not, another battleship it is.



I named it after what allowed me to build it. I wonder how much I will get questioned by the rest of the government for this.

… And this is the current situation numbers-wise:



I'm ahead in armored cruisers and battleships, but behind in light cruisers and roughly on-par in destroyers. I have way more Minesweepers than everyone else, but they're pretty small, sooo… eh.

On another note: look at this ship, the brits have:



(They have 2 of these and they're building 1 more)

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA this "battleship" has fewer, weaker main guns than my armored cruisers, AND WEAKER ARMOR TO BOOT. Also, one knot lower speed. And now I know why Britain has so many battleships… they're making bad ones. (Or at least, they have a few bad ones. They actually also have a pretty good modern battleship too, with dual 13" guns, but still).

Alright, moving on from that, next turn, in which my docks finish:



Considering, if I have enough money later, building some sort of one-off super-pre-dreadnought, for the lols, and to make use of the extra dock space.

Also, guns can fire faster now,



Subs get more reliable,



And I put orders in for MORE CONSTRUCTION in the docks, so that I can make even more huge ships later.

Not much else for this turn.

 

[bdun140]

Just wait until you go to war. That's when things will get REALLY stupid.

 

[TortugaGreen]

New turn, new stuff, and



MY FIRST SUBS ARE DONE! WOO! Very nice thing to happen, I approve.

Also, with the budget freed up from those first subs, I'm going to ORDER MORE U-BOATS. Because you can never have too many. Woop woop.

Next turn, my second batch of subs gets finished:



And I also get better aiming in my Fire control system.



Not quite director firing, but still nice. I'm thinking refitting some of my battleships with it. I don't have the money for another full battleship, but I can refit what I have.



First two of the FC-improved ships are in for rebuild, with another half an inch of turret top armor just to burn spare weight.

Next turn, and



MORE SUBMARINES FOR ME! I won't be getting anymore for a year or so, but these ones now are fine at the moment.

Is it bad that I'm up to more than 20 subs and it's still 1903? I think not. Why? More submarines are better.


Well, moving on, Britain helps me more in researching, with some stuff for my engines this time. I'll take the help, as more research is always nice,



As well as quality control to make sure the armor I get isn't crap. Nice stuff coming in this turn…



…and bugger. Not too bad, just a bit irritating, but bigger DDs would be nice, though I have yet to build any 600 ton DDs, so I'm not sure I can complain. Though I am. Huh.

I don't do anything this turn, so on to the next one!

As is always nice, bigger docks are provided by the economy.



Also, this:



Going to swallow that budget cut and take the last option, even though I am currently losing money, because I am currently a bit unnerved by that persistent 2 unrest.



Next turn, and the industrialists want more industry, and will bribe the Admiralty to get it. I'm, of course, going to refuse, especially because Ooo shiny prestige. Yeah, foregone conclusion, I'm not that kind of admiral.

I also get improved boilers,





And the FUDGING SPAGHETTIS STEALIN MAH STUFF! Dang it Italy, why do you have to do this instead of DOING YOUR OWN SCIENCE, LAZY ITALIANS.

Nothing more happens this turn, so MOVING ON.



I get this right at the start, and choose the second option, because I don't want anyone to go off too badly (especially when I have no idea who), and I get budget either way.

Furthermore, my maximum cannons can be bigger now:



Which is nice, but I can't make something to sue them at the moment.

Anyway, I am done for this post (but not done for today, I got more to go).

 

[TortugaGreen]

New turn, LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENS. What a disappointment, but eh. Might as well move on a turn.

Also, apparently the Russians have slightly better 5" guns that us, which is irritating, but not too bad.

The next turn is more decent though, with a 1000 ton boost in dock size.



Also, while nothing major happens, Britain looks to be having some unrest issues.



Nice, as Britain's tensions have just increased. They're at orange now, so that's a bit worrying.



I have to halt construction on the first of the B class and the last A class while the two A class ships in rebuild are finished.

Not much else happens this turn, or the next, so moving on to when stuff starts happening again.

Back in the region of things happening, I just got this:



Nice, if I want to make any early dreadnoughts, if a bit dodgy, but meh. I don't really mind, as I think this upgrade is in the neighborhood of 3 centerline turrets, which is going to be an awesome development.

I also get better AP shells, for penetrating weak pre-dreadnought armor,





And my unrest has finally ticked back to Zero, which is a wonderful development.

Next turn, and useless at the moment oil is found



In a pretty useless place. Also, more money for me!





My docks also get bigger, though at the moment the increase is pretty pointless, as I can't have more than four main guns, and there's only so much you can get from making more secondaries and armor.

Also, because it's apparently Christmas (in febuary), one of the two ships I put in for rebuilds is done:





And Britain (who currently hates my guts) just gave me some help in tech…



…which I get immediately. Nice job British scientists. On a less British-aided note, my torpedoes improve:



Also, 1 more turn until my other A-class finishes reconstruction…

And there it goes, though I didn't record it accidentally.





I also get more British research aid, even though there's probably some drama in the research lab over the current state of relations. Nothing immediately provided from this development though.

NEEEEEEEEXT!



The economy appears to be doing a thing at the moment, which will probably allow me a bit more money for ships and stuff… APPARENTLY NOT. Nothing changes in my budget this turn, and nothing changes elsewhere either.

Next turn, though, is when my next submarine batch finishes, so that'll be nice if nothing else.





This shows up at the end of the turn messages, demonstrating that I am apparently the only nation who has their populace's support.

Also, apparently, I have now 1.5 million dollars in net money stored increase per turn, so I might order something built soon.

 

[TortugaGreen]

So, I decided, that with the extra money I had coming in, I would build some sort of oversized pre-dreadnought, that would be ridiculously over-armored and hard to penetrate for enemy guns, and came up with this:



One Tanky ship, with 4 13" guns, 14 5" guns, and 4 3" guns, with a BELT EXTENDED that can step 12" shells, and a pretty decent speed for a Battleship of this period. I considered putting the secondary armament in dual turrets on the deck, but that turned out to be a net loss in DPS if I did 16 guns in dual turrets instead of 14 casemate guns. Overall, one probably overbuilt ship, but I have the cash and can't improve the guns, so I may as well improve the armor. I only intend to build one, but it'll be tanky as heck. Unless you have torpedoes. Then it's screwed. But nobody can do any better, so not as much of a problem.

Just noticed, I am currently building NOTHING BUT BATTLESHIPS. Not a problem, but a note.



Also, 30 months. Dreadnoughts are going to be coming out right around then. Hopefully the armor will be able to mitigate their bullet spam though, so I'm OK with that time.

Next turn, nothing happens, so moving on.



The French want to sell us some tech. I'm going to accept, because TECH IS GOOD.



Also, Great Britain continues to be nice. Not complaining.



…what. I have already made 30 of them and you're telling me you don't know how to make them yet? Such stupidity.

Next turn, aaand:



My CA guns are better now! This is a truly quite useful development, as I always use 10" guns in my CAs.

Nothing more happens, so I guess moving on.



Huh, was this ever a question? Of course I want it finished with Central Firing. Why wouldn't I?



…darn it scientists, what am I even paying you for?

Also, apparently someone just stole my tech:



Probably the bloody Italians.

Also, check out what the brits are doing:



…what the heck is this, and why do I suspect it'll blow up like a firework when hit? Somewhat imposing, but still pretty weird as a design, what with 10" SECONDARIES! Bloody hell Britain, you're weird.

Next turn, I get this:



Making my guns faster than they were before, thanks to using machinery to haul your thousands of pounds shells to the cannon.

Also, this:



3 CENTERLINE TURRETS WOOOOOOOOP HECK YEAH.

Still need wing turrets, but Dreadnoughts here I come!

And right after that wonderful discovery, I also get another very useful bit of research:



My scientists really did well this turn with research.

 

[AtlanticShipping]

Crossdecking does allow you to have the equivalent of four gun broadsides early on, which can be quite handy. Build at least one design with it this early, just to experiment (and do what Germany did historically)

 

[TortugaGreen]

Crossdecking does allow you to have the equivalent of four gun broadsides early on, which can be quite handy. Build at least one design with it this early, just to experiment (and do what Germany did historically)

Click to shrink...

but I can't do that, as cross-deck firing assumes you have wing turrets to cross-deck fire, which I don't, so at the moment, it's a bit useless.
also, post:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Today we interrupt the regularly scheduled Rule the Waves to bring you this: the "Making Side View setups" special update!

First, my battleships:

First, the A-class, which is fairly simple in design, and has not too much superstructure, like most pre-dreadnoughts.



Next, the B-class, which has more boats on the superstructure, a different mast arrangement, a somewhat different conning tower, and more prominent tertiary casemates. Not too different, but still a bit different if you look closely.



Finally, the only ship of its class, the Braunschweig:



It has a markedly bigger Conning tower than the preceding classes, but otherwise the same. Also, the rear protrusion on this class does not stick up like the B class, but is flush with the superstructure deck.

Next, the armored cruisers:

I only have one class of these, the Duala class:



Effectively a scaled down battleship in appearance and design, this ship looks a bit like a smaller, less secondary spam-heavy B-class, with the similar superstructure shape and hull form.

Now for my Gefion class CLs:



A bit of an odd ship, and the only largish ship I have that lacks a ram, this ship is notable for the smokestack-supported masts and prominent lifeboat cranes, and is frequently used in parades, due to its rather large quantity of turrets, if nothing else.

Finally, the V1 class DD:



Not much to see here, tiny DD is tiny.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Now back to your regularly scheduled Rule the Waves!
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

So, I've decided that with the new technology I got this turn, I'm going to build a destroyer. I poked around a bit and settled on this design:



With 31 knots and all centerline 4" turrets, it's faster and heavier armed than its British counterpart, but has half as many torpedo mounts, though only 3 of the British DD's 4 torpedoes can be trained on a target at one time. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this design. I will start building some of them later once my battleships finish building (besides the Braunschweig, that'll be a while).

Anyway, next turn, as nothing yet has happened.



ONE TURN UNTIL THE LAST A-CLASS IS DONE!!! That'll free up like 1.5 million of the budget for other things, which will always be nice, like my new DDs. Otherwise, nothing of note to point out.

…



AND THERE WE GO! Last of a now-obsolete class is done! Very nice to have for the budget, that.

Also, the French appear to want some of my technology:



Yeah, nope. I want as much of a tech advantage for the future, and this would partially nullify that, even if the technology is bad on its own.



And to just help me even more, I just got steam turbines! Not quite as significant of an increase as I would expect, but still nice.

I also get some fire control improvement which thankfully does not need any refits to put on ships,



And also the possibly most significant upgrade in damage control in the game:



Torpedo protection.

Now my ships will actually be able to take a hit from those things, and still go, which they couldn't before, and was a big limitation on what I could reasonably build.

Another really profitable turn for me, it appears.

Using this new technology, I have decided something: while I can't make a proper battleship with only 3 dual turrets, and no wing turrets, I think I can make a fine battlecruiser, which, while being a bit smaller than I'd like, and only 24 knots, it should do for now. Also, as far as I can tell, it, while being a bit under-armed for a battlecruiser, it'll still be more heavily armed than most things other navies will field, so I'll save the design for building, but not build it yet, as I want to consider the ship before building it.

Here's the design:



Opinions?

 

[bdun140]

Turrets pointing inwards at the super-structure bother me even more than guns of -1 quality, but again, it's the best you can do.
As for the 10 inch secondary guns on that British vessel, that's actually what a normal Pre-dread looks like. Dreadnaughts may be defined in-game by their primary guns, but in real life it was a combination of that and scaled down secondary guns that made HMS Dreadnaught such an innovation. Who'd have guessed that moving beyond "BIGGER GUNS ARE BETTER GUNS" would have lead to such a revolution in ship design?

 

[TortugaGreen]

I know that pre-dreads actually looked like that, but still. seems like having that big of secondaries is going to be pretty explosive.

 

[TortugaGreen]

OK, while I think over and get feedback on the Battlecruiser there, I'm going to go ahead and move on, to other areas of the game. Next turn!

Immediately into this turn, I get this message:



Well there go my chances of building anything other than battleships for the immediate future, so I might just build that battlecruiser a bit early, thanks to THE BLOODY PUBLIC.

I also get this message:



I might actually accept, because I'm going to need the money to build that next battleship/battlecruiser. I'm going to do that because, while I'll lose a bit of my tech lead, I'll get more money from it, which I can use to make that battlecruiser, which will hopefully wreck some enemies when built.



…apparently I DON'T need to make another battleship, because the maximum forced battleships under construction is 3. Nice job, politicians, you gave me a target to do that I'm already doing. Heck, I could even cancel one of my B class ships and they wouldn't mind. Because this game.

In any case, I'm building that battlecruiser anyway, because I can and I have the money to do so. So yay for sitting on like 55 million dollars.



And it's in construction. We'll see how it'll do when it's built.

And a turn has passed, and…



I'm going to "politely" suggest they stand down, because all of my major ships are already in active service, and I want to see what happens.



…huh. So they were just conducting maneuvers. Interesting. Also, that's a very nice thing for them to do.

Well, new turn, and



Better armor technology apparently. Nice to have, I guess.

Also, Britain just laid down a battleship. Well, crap.



I have also decided to make a rebuild design for the old gefion class, as I should probably improve them to keep them relatively modern, and also because they are and always have been far too slow.



That's the new design I plan on using. It should do for now.

Nothing more to do this turn, so time to hit the next turn button.



First, I get an offer to upgrade two of my B-class ships with the newest fire control, which I take, because better fire control is always good.



Also, the steel companies want more business, and try to bribe me for it. Of course, I refuse, as I am not that corrupt, and refusing gives me prestige.

Also, I get some new science:



First, my submarines of the future get better operating range, which is a cool bonus,



And my HE shells get more explosive, which will help with anti-DD attacks, but not much else, which is disappointing, but OK.



2 turns until 2 of 3 of my B-class will be done! I hope the build requirement expires before then, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I can just order another Z-class or something if needed.

 

[TortugaGreen]

New post, new turn, and I just got this popup:



Of course, I accept, because who would refuse something like that?



Also, the Americans appear to be poking around my stuff a bit much, which I don't like, so I'm going to call them out on it.

Oh, and screw you, spaghettis.



Also, as my build requirements show no sign of letting up, I'm going to order another Z-class in 1 turn so that I keep the requirements met.

-turn break-



…and never mind, apparently. I guess I'll just use the budget freed up on destroyers and cruisers. And subs, because we need those.

Also, I get some nice tech in the form of a superimposed X turret,



While I still have yet to get bloody wing turrets! It looks like the game just decided to toss me a solid "screw you" in that regard, but at least once I get 4 centerline or triple turrets I'll be able to get that many guns on target without wing turrets.

Also, apparently my torpedoes can be better now, so yay:



On another note:



Britain is literally *this* close to declaring war on me, so the next turn or so is going to be "fun" one way or the other.

Welp, let's see what happens.



Well, first thing is that 2 of the 3 B-class are finished, after far too long, with much excitement and fanfare.

Also,



I get this offer. I'm going to refuse, because HOLY CRAP BRITAIN HAS A LOT OF SHIPS, and I might piss off Britain by doing this.

Apparently, it only calmed down Italy by refusing that, but not Britain the Pipe Bomb (not a time bomb; I have no idea when it will explode).



But moving on, my scientist apparently are having minor issues with figuring out how to improve my shell hoists. I don't mind though, because I know they'll get it done eventually, even if that event is in a while.



They make up for their failings though, by giving me better AP shells, which I am very excited about.



Dang it France. I'll go with the second option, as I don't like their actions, but I might need the alliance. I am especially annoyed, as its ship design, and there are always only a few, but very important, developments in that area, so whatever France got, it was big.

And now, on to ordering construction on my new light forces setup:



First, I want 12 DDs, of the new V27 type:



I also need to design a new heavy cruiser class, for backing up my battleships, but that will come later, so I'm done for today.

 

[TortugaGreen]

So, I've messed around with the ship editor a bit, but was unable to design anything that met my desires for a heavy cruiser, with adequate armor and armament (making use of the new option of a third turret), while retaining half-decent speed. Thus, I have decided to not bother making a new heavy cruiser class at the moment, as doing do will likely result in something rather dodgy and bad.

I was, however, able to design a relatively advanced new CL, using new technology, but thanks to how the armor schemes work, I couldn't give it more than 2 centerline turrets.



I gave it at least torpedo protection 1 because it really sucks when a CL gets sunk thanks to getting hit by no more than 1 torpedo.

Next turn, and the last B-class is finished, opening up more money for things like cruisers and the like.



This also comes up:



I know pretty much for a fact that all of the options but the last one could easily set Britain over the edge, which would be very bad for me. I also need to be very careful with the last option, because if I'm not careful, I could set someone else off, while Britain is still at maximum tension, causing potential for the multi-war situation, which would be very bad. I'm going to give Russia the screw you, as they're the lowest tension enemy that I am comfortable with pissing off, and can piss off. Well, let's see what happens.

Turns out nothing explodes, which is nice, but I do get more tech too:



Better accuracy? Nice!

…

You know how I said nothing exploded?



Yeah, I lied. Wonderful.

And I already have a battle to do on my doorstep.



I'm uncomfortable with that one BC there, but it's probably just a really fast pre-dreadnought. Well, we'll see what happens. (Also, crap. I've only cot A-class ships, which have only 11" guns rather than the more modern 12" and 13" the B class and the rest of the world has). Well, let's jump in and see what sort of crap is going to happen now.



What. I have like, 2/3 of the battleships they do, and generally fewer of everything else, and they still refused? I can only imagine what the British admiralty is thinking right now.

Next battle!



If I do a jutland, at jutland… I will laugh so much. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.



Well, looks like they accepted. And the entirety of the A-class is here, so this'll get interesting, especially considering like 90% of my stuff here is from 1899, so I don't have much confidence in their quality.



Well they appeared closer than I expected.



First, I accelerate all of my ships to full and have the armored cruisers loop around to behind the enemy ships to close them in.



5 minutes in and it's ALREADY a massive unintelligible mass of what the heck.



The British battleships have, it appears finally come into visual sighting range, and the list of confirmed ships in the enemy battleline is:

2 Sutlej class basically armored cruisers,

2 repulse class battleships, from 1899,

1 Revenge class battleship, with the huge secondaries of sudden exploding

At least 3 more battleships of unidentified class, likely repulse and revenge class, maybe Royal Sovereign class (basically repulse class ships with fewer secondaries and lower speed).

Total: 8 battleships, likely average 12 inch guns, slightly more modern than my 8 A-class.

 

[AtlanticShipping]

>Battle of Jutland

>IT BEGINS.jpg

 

[TortugaGreen]

Update:

2 repulse class

2 revenge class

2 sutlej class (bad)

This:

And 3 more likely battleships. In total 10 ships with guns big enough to make my day very bad, if I'm not careful.



To hopefully move around to the rear of the enemy battleline, I have my battleships start turning northwards in the opposite direction of the rear of the enemy battleline.



… What is going on here? Doesn't really matter, but still. What.

Further update:

5 revenge class

3 sutlej (the whole class)

The HMS redoubtable

2 repulse class

1 Royal Sovreign class

Total: 12 ships

THE ENTIRE OF THEIR BATTLESHIPS IS HERE.



Turns out, the A-class are surprisingly torpedo resistant. Interesting note, but not too useful in this battle.



The battle at the moment, zoomed out to reduce clutter.



Hey, first ship sunk of the battle is British! Nice!



Interesting. It looks like the revenge class have a stern torpedo, as one of my battleships got torp'd while immediately behind a revenge class, with no other enemy ships in torpedo range.

I'm going to start retreating, as the battle really isn't going in my favor, and also, look at this:



Yeah, the Attacker is done for.



OH FOR… MORE TORPEDOES? GAH! At least British torpedoes are ridiculously bad.



God damn it.
FYI, I spent the rest of the battle running the heck away.

the most brave thing one of my ships did this battle:

Hela the sacrificial CL.
I think why I got so utterly wrecked here is that AI autodesign is actually half decent with pre-dreadnoughts and early dreadnoughts for armor, if nothing else.

 

[bdun140]

Ouch.

 

[AtlanticShipping]

Oh wow, you got wrecked.

 

[TortugaGreen]

Yeah, yeah I did.
turns out torpedoes on battleships, even when only submerged, can be quite deadly

 

[AtlanticShipping]

Yeah, yeah I did.
turns out torpedoes on battleships, even when only submerged, can be quite deadly

Click to shrink...

They are when its this early, and ships this slow. Also you fought a night battle at close range, against ships with more bigger and better guns. This wouldn't end well no matter what.

 

[TortugaGreen]

the results for that battle. I think I'll be able to get up a regular update in a bit.

 

[TortugaGreen]

Alright. In the aftermath of that battle, I lost 3? Prestige, from the battle itself and the Kaiser being disappointed in me. I'm just going to order 3 more Frauenlob class CLs, to spend the extra budget from there being a war on.



I am naming the next Frauenlob after the Hela, in honor of Hela's sacrifice to allow the rest of the fleet to get away.

At least, after that horrible turn, I get this:



Better guns are nice, though I would have preferred better 13" guns. But eh. Researcher are going to research what they want.



At least my submarines are working well for me.



France gives me a pittance of VP, which helps exactly none.

Now onto the battle offers, which I am (predictably) uncomfortable with:



First, a DD action, which I think might be OK, so why not, in I go. I refuse to let Jutland stop me.



Alright, 6 DDs, which isn't bad. Let's hope the brits don't have anything CL or bigger.



Alright. Night battle. Point blank range.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY



With roughly equal numbers. Just gets better and better.

The British ships have more torpedoes than mine (from what I know of their DDs) but consistently have smaller/fewer guns, and I believe that at this period, torpedoes can be pretty bed. On the other hand, Jutland. Well, I'll remain cautious, but I won't run away or anything.



The current conditions. According to this, my torpedo range is slightly longer than my sighting range, and the enemies likely have a similar situation. Which means something wonderful: I'LL ALWAYS BE IN TORPEDO RANGE. Yaaay. At least it's hard to miss with guns at this range too.

And the conditions get worse:





I'm trying to stay out of the enemy's torpedo arcs, while still stay in a vague broadside so my ship's 4" guns can do their thing.



OK, the enemy ships are largely Cherwell class DDs, with at least one ness class, and maybe some others.

Cherwell class:



Ness class:





Update: two Ness class, 3 cherwell class, and one unidentified.



The last unidentified turns out to be another Cherwell, and my DD's (for once) fire their torpedoes.



With my ships having expended their torpedoes, and the British refusing to fire theirs, the battle has devolved into just a gun duel, which is likely going to result in a win for me, considering my focus on gun armament for destroyers.



Yeah, I have no idea where the enemy destroyer squadrons are.

-rest of battle happens, gets caught up in it and forgets to take screenshots-



Well, I won, thanks to managing to hammer the enemies with 4" shells until they sink.



It appears that, though Britain is able to stomp all over me in naval actions, their unrest is pretty high. They're also apparently Russian brits.

 

[TortugaGreen]

Also, the B-class ships finish their work-up period, letting my battleship forces help recover from that terrible terrible battle.



My submarines also try to help (and succeed surprisingly well), which is nice, if not much of a bonus.

Also, I get a battle offer for a battle off Kiautschou bay, which I accept, as Northeast Asia is the only place where I have significant numerical advantage.



My forces: 2 CAs, 1 CL, a few DDs.

British forces: one confirmed CA, maybe more? Intel is pretty bad sometimes.



Hey, at least I'm engaging at decent range this time.



Nice job Britain. You made a CA that has smaller main guns AND is slower than my CAs. While Britain's battleship force is at the moment darn good, their cruisers are definitely bad compared to mine. Either half as many main guns or main guns that are way too small.

ANYWAY!



Aaand first blood goes to my CL, the Ariadne. Excellent job Ariadne.

 

[TortugaGreen]

And the Argonaut starts really returning the favor, with 6 solid hits on the Ariadne, but fails to destroy anything critical.



But, my CAs have finally caught up too, so now the Argonaut has to deal with 2 CAs in addition to Ariadne.



The Argonaut is certainly putting up a good fight for what I expected of it, but I doubt it can take on both of my CAs and my CL.



Thanks to Ariadne's rudder being taken out, she is now effectively out of the fight for a while, so it's only my CAs that the Argonaut has to deal with, making its situation somewhat better.



Finally, my CAs start landing hits on the Argonaut, after far too many misses for my comfort.



After a bit more time, of hammering the Argonaut into the sea, this happens. Yep, the Argonaut was British.



On the return trip, my cruisers run into another British ship. Well, time to beat on more baddies.



The enemy cruiser is identified, as this: a Cressy class. More reasonable than the Argonaut, this ship still has underwhelming main guns, but also has this: 16 secondary guns, which are 6". Pretty impressive of a ship actually, as much as it pains me to say it.



Sadly, thanks to the area becoming dark, I lose sight of the target, so I have my ships continue on their current course, so hopefully one will catch sight of the enemy again.



Oh, hi.



I manage to get a hit on it at point blank range, though I have to maneuver creatively to do so.



Thanks to being basically the same speed, the battle dissolves into a weird chase, trying to stay close enough to keep the Cressy in sight, while trying to stay near with the Cressy maneuvering wildly. My forward CA and the Cressy start exchanging hits, though, thanks to having more main guns, my CA gets more, so hopefully the Cressy loses steam soon, so I can stop this frustrating stern chase.



During the chase, I light the Cressy on fire, which will help with my gradually taking down the (frustratingly durable enemy ship).



Eventually this shows up, even though I hadn't hit the ship for a while now. Not questioning it though.



Well, that worked out pretty well for me.



Working back towards a decent VP value compared to Britain!