SINK sink the Raiders.

[Hardlec]

I have played this scenario about 20 times. I am 0-20. I think it is brutal and cruel.  Totally unbalanced.

 

I am supposed to build "a number" of 1900 era ships to defend 2 transports.  The most tonnage I have been able to build is 20,000 spread around 4 5,000 ton ships.  The Raiders have 3 12,500 ton battlecruisers.  Twice my displacement.  Considering the performance of the Raiders, I believe they have 1920's tech.  (Yeppers.  I'm expected to sink 3 ships totaling twice my displacement and with a 20 year tech advantage.)

A single big battleship may have 11 inch guns, but otherwise the ships are limited to 6-7 inch guns. Only underwater torpedo tubes are allowed. Firepower is extremely limited. (If I build the battleship, the Raiders simply hover out of range until time runs out.)

Fire control is abominable.  (My ships are hard pressed to score 0.1% hits.  The Raiders typically score 3.1%.  Raiders score 31 hits to my 1.)  

If I pick the option of "Speed,"  my ships can't have any firepower or protection to speak of.  Without building ships with high speed, the Raiders will simply sit out of range until the game times out.  There is no way to defeat this.  When I build ships for speed, they have little protection from the raiders big guns, and they do not have the firepower to do more than annoy the raiders.  

Not that most of that matters.  About 60% of the time, the first time I "spot" the raiders is when one of my transports is sunk.  (Game over, I lose.  I never spotted the Raiders.  ++unfun.)

If I want to win all the "academy" scenarios, I must win all the lower level scenarios before I can unlock the higher level scenarios. I really can't just bypass this. 

 

I won this scenario in an earlier version by building a number of small, fast ships covered with multiple torpedo tubes.  That was when the Raiders and the computer had equal technology.  You didn't intend to erase my history.  But you did. 

 

UNCLE.  I can't win this scenario.  

[admiralsnackbar]

My ship for this scenario [won on the first attempt] 

- boost firepower

- battleship 3

-8/8 inch belt, 2/1 inch deck

-2 twin 10 inch mark 3 main guns 3 twin mark 3 7 inch secondaries, coincidence range finder III

- max displacement speed 29 kn, multiple expansion

- heavy shells, increased ammo [optional], enhanced reload, white powder explosives.

I don't think light torpedo armed ships are good for this scenario given the low torp tech and how fast the enemy ships are, you need reasonably heavy guns to do it. 

[Cpt.Hissy]

This was my solution some time ago, but now it's overweight for whatever reason. Had 11" vertical armour al around though, i think by dropping this and maybe speed a little i can get it working again. Will try.

[Cpt.Hissy]

Yep, speed down to 20, belt down to 10
Easy win. Raiders had 9" guns max and this ship happen to be almost invulnerable for them.
Lobbed shells at the closest one from around 8 km, while manoeuvring in such way as to keep my battleship between raiders and transports, and seriously damaged it. Then the rest two tried to sneak past me, or cross my T, so I turned hard to port and said hello to their leader from ~6.5km, he really liked it and fell behind with most engines knocked out. Last undamaged raider quickly went down, while his turrets became rockets, and from there it was just mopping up remaining hulks one at a time.

First time i got spawned behind the transports and got insta-fail  when one of them sank. So you kind of need to reroll starting positions until your warship becomes priority target on start. Or you may get lucky and have your transports hide behind your warships before enemy scores a fatal hit on them.

 

Had many many many internal fires after superstructure hits, i wonder, if it's caused simply by "thin" deck and stupid deck pen stats we've discussed some time ago, or there is some special coding for this, to imitate collateral damage or fires going down vents.
Hope it's latter.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Cpt.Hissy

[Hardlec]

On 4/7/2021 at 6:39 PM, Cpt.Hissy said:

Easy win. Raiders had 9" guns max and this ship happen to be almost invulnerable for them.

Sorry.  Raiders I face typically have 11 inch or bigger guns, and at 20kts they'll just hover out of range and time me out.  

[Hardlec]

On 4/7/2021 at 6:39 PM, Cpt.Hissy said:

Easy win. Raiders had 9" guns max and this ship happen to be almost invulnerable for them.

Duplicate please delete

Edited April 17, 2021 by Hardlec

[Hardlec]

On 4/7/2021 at 5:58 PM, Cpt.Hissy said:

This was my solution some time ago, but now it's overweight for whatever reason. Had 11" vertical armour al around though, i think by dropping this and maybe speed a little i can get it working again. Will try.

The last update does indeed make life easier for the computer raiders.

 

[Hardlec]

On 4/7/2021 at 2:08 PM, admiralsnackbar said:

My ship for this scenario [won on the first attempt] 

- boost firepower

- battleship 3

-8/8 inch belt, 2/1 inch deck

-2 twin 10 inch mark 3 main guns 3 twin mark 3 7 inch secondaries, coincidence range finder III

- max displacement speed 29 kn, multiple expansion

- heavy shells, increased ammo [optional], enhanced reload, white powder explosives.

I don't think light torpedo armed ships are good for this scenario given the low torp tech and how fast the enemy ships are, you need reasonably heavy guns to do it. 

I can't build a ship to those specifications.  Battleship III carries nothing but engines at speed 29.  Certainly not 7 inch secondary batteries.

[Cpt.Hissy]

Trying it more
I don't know how is this a cruiser, looks like gunbarge to me. But again, all 8" guns.

 

Many bulkheads, 30 knots speed, basically no armor. Some torpedoes and secondaries. Normal cruiser, just stupid lot of guns.

* correction. These were two classes as turned out. One had less bulkheads but 9" centerline guns, other more bulkheads but all 8" guns, otherwise very close.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Cpt.Hissy

[admiralsnackbar]

56 minutes ago, Hardlec said:

I can't build a ship to those specifications.  Battleship III carries nothing but engines at speed 29.  Certainly not 7 inch secondary batteries.

What build setting do you select when you start, I already said i selected boost firepower. UAD for whatever reason doesn't let me take screenshots of it but i can definitely build a ship as i describe. If you don't have access to those modules it's probably because of the settings you selected for the mission. 

[Cpt.Hissy]

@Hardlec could you show your raiders please?
Now trying this battle multiple times, I notice that my raiders are almost the same every time.

[madham82]

4 hours ago, admiralsnackbar said:

What build setting do you select when you start, I already said i selected boost firepower. UAD for whatever reason doesn't let me take screenshots of it but i can definitely build a ship as i describe. If you don't have access to those modules it's probably because of the settings you selected for the mission. 

Use your print screen key on your keyboard. Then goto paint or something similar in windows and paste. Best way to get screens short of a dedicated capture app. 

[admiralsnackbar]

Just now, madham82 said:

Use your print screen key on your keyboard. Then goto paint or something similar in windows and paste. Best way to get screens short of a dedicated capture app. 

I tried that. For whatever reason it takes pictures of my desktop instead. 

[Cpt.Hissy]

Win10? It does that
[Shift]+[Win]+[S] and see the magic unfold.
Or [win]+[G] for different kind of magic.