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Mayan Storyline War

Started by Kaiser Kirk, August 06, 2022, 08:36:58 PM

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TacCovert4

Hey, battles are like the Spanish inquisition.
His Most Honorable Majesty,  Ali the 8th, Sultan of All Aztecs,  Eagle of the Sun, Jaguar of the Sun, Snake of the Sun, Seal of the Sun, Whale of the Sun, Defender of the Faith, Keeper of the Teachings of Allah most gracious and merciful.

Kaiser Kirk

As it's shaking out, there's a bit of misunderstanding which looks to change the circumstances of the "small".
So I'm just working on a new ship tracking form for the battles.

At this point I'm thinking I will try to work one battle out of the way, and
next weekend we'll finish the "month".

What's going to be key is I'll have to insist on clearer orders with more alternatives built into them upfront.
This back and forth takes far far to much time.
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

TacCovert4

Not a problem.   Last huge wargame I was in, we had 2 to 3 opportunities in a battle to make adjustments to the plan.
His Most Honorable Majesty,  Ali the 8th, Sultan of All Aztecs,  Eagle of the Sun, Jaguar of the Sun, Snake of the Sun, Seal of the Sun, Whale of the Sun, Defender of the Faith, Keeper of the Teachings of Allah most gracious and merciful.

Kaiser Kirk

I'm learning my lessons too.

One there is a fair amount of background things I have to do to just for it.
I delayed dealing with orders while I worked through that - big mistake on my part.

I also really expected (for whatever reason) skirmishing to be the main thing the first month.
Combats between a couple squadrons are fairly easy to do.

But as we add ship classes, different gun types, and armor penetration to the mix they get more complex.
Much of that is self inflicted, as I try to blend SeeKrieg IV with our tech chart and  Springsharps and choose to use Logi's ballistics tool for tailored gun types.
But heck, this a naval game, whats' the point of designing cool unique ships....if I just generic them for SeeKrieg. So I find that time well spent.

But the 'big' or potentially so is the Aztec are currently chasing Mayan Destroyers towards Mayan Cruisers. There's a bunch of different ship classes right there...with potential to add more.

I think it's really important not to have a result where a player is horrified saying "I never wanted them to do THAT"
But at the same time I just can't be stepping through things a sighting report at a time.
I've got to find a better way. Or someone else can find one and tell me.

Longer term :
I need to send the Intelligence tips depending on the month's die roll as early as possible, and ask for the orders back sooner. Like Weds.
That way I can ask questions /clarification THEN. 

I also need the orders to be structured with not just a mission....but also what to do if they meet the foe.
Plus they need to be the primary task for the month.

'unit X goes and scouts here'....isn't' enough.   I need to know what you intend to do if it finds something, without stepping through each sighting report.

Basically, the Admiralty (player) needs to give enough  guidance for the Captain (me) to run for weeks on the orders given...not hours.

If something that comes up thats way out of what's given, then I can go back to the player.

Example : Monthly Goal : 5th Cruiser squadron tries to make a nighttime run and lay a floating minefield outside Port X , then Y, Then T
                 10 Cruiser will follow in distant support
                                                      1. If encounter equal or lesser forces, lure back to 10th cruiser and fight.
                                                      2. If encounter superior forces, scatter in the dark, regroup at 10th Cruiser
                                                      3. Both Abort and support BS1 if potential large enemy fleet engagement

Unit X goes to scout this area... etc


Oh, I added the missing Acapulco and a Mayan naval station at Carmen.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/9qFgX2Z
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

TacCovert4

When you've submitted your tactical plans and are nervously awaiting the results:

His Most Honorable Majesty,  Ali the 8th, Sultan of All Aztecs,  Eagle of the Sun, Jaguar of the Sun, Snake of the Sun, Seal of the Sun, Whale of the Sun, Defender of the Faith, Keeper of the Teachings of Allah most gracious and merciful.

Kaiser Kirk

#110
ROFL,

I do apologize, I did not manage the order flow properly.
Further, I expected I could do the pre-work in phases, but to even try to run the potential battles I've found myself trying to prepare.

On the plus side, I *finally* got around to creating a formula to evaluate TDS system effectiveness, based on a table of various TDS systems and the test charge they withstood.
Unfortunately they weren't tested to failure, so what we know is they withstood that charge intact.  So I took the best performance, and I'll use a safety factor on top. As that best is
clearly superior to others, I'm speculating it's closer to the limit and so a fair proxy.

While I detail my TDS internals, that is fluff, I will presume people are using the most effective design available (mixed void/liquid), so system depth and TDS armor matter.

But I needed that to be able to the effects of various torpedo types.... not that anyone plans on using torpedoes in this war (looks at the three players ) oh, no, they would never
complicate my life that way...


Off Topic :
For some reason my mind goes back ~35 years to playing 'Federation War' and 'Star Fleet Battles'.  We had spent points to modify the basic ships pre-game, and then trundled off to a grand war. My  buddy Tom had the Kzinti Fleet kitted to double or quadruple their missle control and was launching enormous, overwhelming waves of 'Drones'.
Even playing the Lyrans, who have the best drone defenses, he had enough to saturate and overwhelm my ships.  Unfortunately for him, I had devoted resources to improving my long range disruptor power, giving me sufficient firepower to ...detonate... his forward frigates, which had a lovely secondary effect of eliminating any drones in their vicinity. And damaging his forward shields...making the next ship(s) easier to pop. 
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Kaiser Kirk

Today I was able to start the major battle off Veracruz. 85 ships, 24 different classes.
There was a long lead up and now a large fleet action I plan to finish tomorrow.
Then hopefully wrap up the rest of the fights on Sunday
and get back on the schedule on Monday.... ?
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The Rock Doctor

Or you can get your weekend back by just ruling, "Rocks fall, everything sinks."

Kaiser Kirk

Admittedly an option, and if I simply had no time I'd come up with something and then send draft results to Snip, or if he wasn't available an uninvolved party, and with that review, go for it.
But volunteering to resolve the naval combats is how I wound up falling down the rabbit hole to mod-dom.

Fortunately I have sufficient time to play, and the reason I *have* seekrieg and played Star fleet battles is I like wargaming and fleet actions. 
This battle is stretching the limit for size, and I am modifying elements to make it easier.
Otherwise I think I'd be setting aside a chunk of today for video games :)

I'll be working in other tasks as I mosey through the day, and have college football on.
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The Rock Doctor

Not gonna lie, I look forward to when we need Starfleet Battles rules.

Kaiser Kirk

The Veracruz write up has been sent to the players.
They can share their version, or ask me to post the entire long thing.
I still need to itemize the damage to the remaining vessels and report it to them.

But figuring out the result off Puerto Armuelles is the current task.
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The Rock Doctor


Kaiser Kirk

Quote from: The Rock Doctor on September 18, 2022, 01:01:55 PM
Well done, Herr Kaiser.

This always bring up the question of if I should post the results for all to see,
or just leave it to the players to post their excerpts.

The China war was an exception as the Chinese were trying to get the word out.

But I'll leave it to the players to share.

..
Veracruz was interesting. Didn't quite work as either party wanted, the Aztec plan was working better up and chewing up the Mayans until the fleet movements led to the range changing and several heavy shells hitting their cruisers, fair amount of damage in a narrow window.

At least 133 hits, I discarded the first sheet, and some of the mutiple hits on DDs I didn't track as they
had too little flotation to take that..I just 'X' off the DD on the squadron marker.

Puerto Armuelles - the goals and orders of the two players resulted in little fighting.
A very long range shot managed a superstructure critical hit, did not pass through, and so wrecked a funnel, causing a reduction in speed.

I have PM'd the two the synopsis of the battle and the skirmish. 
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The Rock Doctor


Jefgte

#119
We are working...

There is no Tsushima.

;)
"You French are fighting for money, while we English are fighting for honor!"
"Everyone is fighting for what they miss. "
Surcouf