Campaign Report- 2 years in

[Faolind]

Just a fun report of how things are going in the tech race.

I chose random/random and the initial outlay was as follows-

My battleship was 2,000 lighter than theirs, they had 10"+6" broadside and I had 12"+4" broadside. I also had quad 6" Chasers so the strategy developed was to close rapidly from the flank (12+6 vs 10+6), cross their stern, and broadside their rear from close range. Initially this worked well- the opposing BB had ammo detonation problems and one BB of mine took out 3 successively (in separate engagements), however the 3d left her bruised badly. In the 4th fight I realized what was going on- the enemy crew training was rising rapidly, and now, faced with a crew 3 steps above my own, now only was damage quickly repaired, but the enemy 6" was also much more deadly. In the 4th, mine died. I think I have lost 2 overall.

For Armored Cruisers we were identical, almost like we had copied plans, though the armor and some other small thing were a little different. Dual 9" with a pair of 2" chasers. Rudimentary, slow (or, standard for the time), and reliable enough. Nothing noteworthy happened in the interplay, they were too similar. However, I was better able to cover the weaknesses of this design than the AI. I have no idea how many I have lost, but I don't think its more than 5

My Light Cruisers were unarmored gunwagons with side mounted torpedo tubes and a slights swiftness in their build. The 2 I started with proved useless: too weak to incoming fire, not fast enough to bring the 6",3",2" array to bear. I did not build more. One has died.

Their light cruisers, I have nicknamed "ghosts" for their tendency to slip away and vanish. Often they will flee the moment a battle turns, and, if alone, may surf just out of range, infuriatingly defying any attempt to end the fruitless battle. They are sirens, and the enemy loves to build them. Thankfully, though fast, they have barely any armament, a single 5", a pair of 3" chasers. They have landed lucky hits on me before, but their critical quality is their own elusive nature, denying me VP at every opportunity.

When it comes to Torpedo boats, the enemy knew how to do it well- fast boats with 2 tubes, 2 torpedoes per tube. 4" gun. Minimum everything else. Deadly to any ship I care about not losing. They are a bane on my existence. Thankfully, my nation decided to give me the counter for free- my nation's TB is more aptly a GB, a gunboat, bristling with 3" and 2" guns, just as fast, with a single torpedo to its name, it may not kill a cruiser, but it will kill the torpedo boat screen, and it will also kill that cruiser's engines. These things are amazing. I love them. Its the only AI design I built more of (many more). I believe I have lost 5.

The war situation did not develop well for me. The Battleship situation, which looked under control, quickly fell in the enemy's favor. Their Light cruisers swamped me, and their torpedo boats were a great threat whenever I did not have my own at hand (and the reverse was not true- I had the advantage only when we *both* deployed TBs).

In response, I developed the following-

A fast Battleship (20kts, with the top speed in theater being 23), with new 11" Mk2 guns, and a 4" broadside. She carried a rear torpedo tube as a balancing agent, but it could also be useful when in need of escape, or in breakthrough. I built 2 initially, but after one successfully defended a convoy from 6 enemy cruisers by herself (3CA/3CL, 2 CA dead, 1 CL dead), I built 2 more. Its been amazing so far, out speeding everything that could give her trouble except torpedoes, and being able enough to dodge those so far. The increase in accuracy specifically should give her great performance versus the enemy battleships, but I am unsure, as they have yet to face one, I think. However, it matches theirs in size, at least. Against cruisers she is a terror.

An Armored Cruiser to go along with the Battleship, 20kts as well, armed as a charger, with frontal dual 9"s and chasing 4"s, and only a single 9" on the back. She has an experimental armor scheme, similar to all-or-nothing: 7"belt, nothing else. She bristles with 2", especially from the rear castle. This gives her a sort of "assault duck" look, which I have grown fond of with her stellar performance. Similar to the battleship, she is well able to control engagements now with her speed (except against ghosts, grrr), but with her "charger" configuration, bristling 2", and 4 torpedo tubes (all directions), she performs well "in melee". I use them as linebreakers often, and this has only resulted in the loss of 1 so far. Notably, they are good at dissuading TBs from approach. One saved an entire mission by forcing the last Torpedo laden boat to flee (with rapid 2" and 4" hits) with its already disabled fleet, leaving my own smoking flotilla alive and victorious. It destroys their cruiser, their light cruiser (if it gets close), and dissuades TBs. What's not to love? This cruiser has become my mainstay, and of the 8 I built, I have lost only 1.

As of recently, I have risen from a 2,000 VP deficit (before new ships) to a 2,000 VP lead.
Fleets are now:
Me: 6BB/16CA/1CL/11TB
AI: 6 BB/6CA/13CL/20TB  (they have lost a LOT of CA recently)

Edited November 30, 2021 by Faolind
lore additions after checking

[llib]

Speed+protection+torpedoes rather rule.

With the torpedo boats, two variants: One is gunboat, this works wonders against unprotected designs (such as contraption light cruiser with 10x5-in guns, but only 4x3-in gun secondaries and no torpedoes. Transports are likewise eaten alive by those.)

On the other hand, against heavy cruisers and battleships, gunboat variant sucks, because it doesn't have speed to close quickly into torpedo range, maneuver/flank etc. There I find speedboats much better - single 2-in gun, single torpedo tube, 27+ knots speed(which at that point is waaay faster than anything computer does). AI does not compartmentalize that much, and this means even single torpedo usually means crippling damage (particularly in loss of speed, which results in more torpedo boats closing in for the kill).

In the first campaign, AI has put torpedoes on their cruisers. In the second, it has not, and overall the desings were weaker. They were also cheaper, which meant early on they had numerical advantage and this did translate into more transports lost in calculations. However I have turned that around with better ships and it's just been going downhill with Germany.