Chinese Ship Designs

[TacCovert4]

That 0.79 kts, is it worth it?

That would be my question.  Is it worth 10mm of deck and 40mm of belt armor?  240mm belts won't be proof against an BB caliber gun at most practical ranges, and some heavier cruisers will be punching through at what would be a 'normal battle range'. 

But the extra speed could allow the ship to escape where it might not otherwise be able to.  So it's a definite trade off.  Just a question of if the tradeoff is worth it to you and your combat philosophy.

[Desertfox]

I notice that both Designs F and G lack a torpedo bulkhead. Is this wise?

It is most wise!

[Guinness]

I lack the tech for a torpedo bulkhead unfortunately. I thought about waiting, but decided it was worth it to go ahead.

[TacCovert4]

I lack the tech for a torpedo bulkhead unfortunately. I thought about waiting, but decided it was worth it to go ahead.

It's a calculated risk.  Do you want to wait until you can get a proper TDS, or do you want a warship now and hope and pray that you can situationally keep it from getting torpedoed?

[Guinness]

IC the Chinese are confident based on recent experience, that their nets will protect them at low speed, and high battle speeds will protect them otherwise, hence the lack of TDS (which they haven't even thought of anyway).

[The Rock Doctor]

I'd lean towards F for its sturdier belt.

[Kaiser Kirk]

That 0.79 kts, is it worth it?

That would be my question.  Is it worth 10mm of deck and 40mm of belt armor?  240mm belts won't be proof against an BB caliber gun at most practical ranges, and some heavier cruisers will be punching through at what would be a 'normal battle range'. 

But the extra speed could allow the ship to escape where it might not otherwise be able to.  So it's a definite trade off.  Just a question of if the tradeoff is worth it to you and your combat philosophy.

Looking at the numbers I've generated for the Parthian guns, 240mm belts won't stop any of my modern 300mm+ guns at 10km-, and my dreadnaught 345mm+ at 14km-... so trying 'annoyance' shots could be fatal. 280mm at least gives you down to about 12km.

Against my 10" armed ACs, it's proof down to about 9km, so working there.

Deck armor, folks continue to vastly overestimate how much they need. The primary role of deck armor is to keep large diameter shell splinters from penetrating to the vitals.
True, 1918 FC  isn't far off with a massive range expansion from spotting so these things will change rapidly...all part of the fun :) Of course hit rates will be miserable out there.

My real problem with trading elements to push speed is that you don't get enough to catch my AC or PCs (though I suppose right now China would hopefully be more concerned with other than Parthian ACs/PCs), and as engines evolve the 'cost' of speed keeps dropping. So I'm more a fan of avoiding existing things bigger than you.

[TacCovert4]

That's one reason I'm still fiddling with protected decks right now.  The PD gives you splinter protection behind your belt, not much but it will make your ships tougher at closer ranges.