AA50: Battleships and the hit that never was

[allboxcars]

OK sure they can take a whack of damage BUT is it just me or is there something cheesy about assigning a hit at the end of combat knowing the auto-fix rule will make it go away?

Thinking after combat 1/2 dead BBs ought to roll d6.
1-3 auto-fix like the good book says
4-5 DAMAGED (use SBR token with “Damage” side up)
6 CRIPPLED (use a SBR token ugly side up)

Both Damaged and Crippled BBs have only 1 hit left in them and get fixed by taking them to the sea zone adjacent to an Allied IC and expending d6 IPCs.

Difference is that Crippled BBs fight at 2 and limp along at Move 1.
So then you have to ask yourself… do I divert assets to pick off the straggling enemy BB? Do I assign a DD to escort it back to dry dock? Or hey do I just let it fight on and repair later….

just a thought…

[Imperious Leader]

too complicated.

If it gets one hit its not fixed. Roll D6= cost for repair. if you roll a 6 then roll a second time and add both results (considered major damage)

Repair must be done at sea zone adjacent to factory. You only have to move to that sea zone and you can expend the other MP to move out of the sea zone if you have remaining MP left.

[allboxcars]

not as complicated as I must have made it sound.

Anyway, your house rule leaves the repair bill as the only the random outcome of the combat result.

[Imperious Leader]

AS it should be. Damage is a variable. Sometimes its critical damage and sometimes its light. It also presents the decision to repair or not. Also your ship is not tied to dock for a turn, but just has to TAG the ‘port’ in order to repair because these turns are 4-6 months and repair can be completed in the same turn, rather than wait a turn. Otherwise the Battleship becomes an even worse buy in the game.

[allboxcars]

@Imperious:

AS it should be. Damage is a variable.

But in your house rule it isn’t - $$ are - and the BB remains perfectly functioning… it just isn’t at full health.

Anyway, just an idea for the Forum to consider.

[Imperious Leader]

The damage has a variable cost. If you take away the abilities of the BB if it gets a hit, the BB is worth less as a purchase. The whole point if to maintain the genetic template of the units and leave them intact. The issue to solve becomes ONLY the problem of free repairs, where the damage means nothing to a BB because it just auto repairs. The a cost should exist to repair and this cost should be variable. The unit itself should not suffer because then who is gonna buy the BB? The cost of 20 IPC is BASED on it not changing its values if it gets hit. When you house the game you try to avoid as much as a footprint and just make small changes to make it somewhat realistic and balanced. If the BB with one hit now is a 2-2 unit, its cost of 20 IPC is useless. People will never buy them. The goal is to maintain the integrity of each unit and make is desirable to buy in various situations.

[allboxcars]

@Imperious:

The goal is to maintain the integrity of each unit and make is desirable to buy in various situations.

Well that’s why I’m suggesting that 50% of the time the unit would autofix. Just like the OOB rules.

[Jennifer]

A)  I have never seen the hit taken at the “end” of combat, it’s usually the first hit in the game.  But that’s just me.

B)  I agree your house rules are a bit on the lengthy/confusing side.  Just my opinion here, but I think all house rules need to be a one step process that is very easy to remember and does not lend itself to needing to be referred back too by those using them for the first or second time.

Back on point:

I like two different rules for BBs that are damaged:

1)  Damaged BBs stay damaged until they return to a home port (not just an allied IC, but one that the nation owning the battleship owns.)

or

2)  Roll a D6 and that’s the IPC cost that has to be paid IMMEDIATELY to repair all damaged battleships.  If insufficient funds are available to repair the ship, the ship is sunk.  Since you collect income at the end of your turn, this should not be a problem.  If you are damaged while attacking, you may use the money you collect at the end of your turn to repair the ship.

ie:  America attacks with 1 battleship and damages it.  They roll a die and get a 4.  Since they spent all their money in the buy new units phase, they elect to pay for the repairs out of their end of round income.  So instead of collecting 48 IPC, they collect 44 IPC.

Later, Japan attacks and again damages the Battleship, since America has not gone yet, they must immediately pay the 3 IPC the Japanese player rolled to repair the ship.

Note:  You may only elect to sink the ship if you do not have the money needed to repair it.  Sailors are not suicidal, they will not jump into the water and swim across the ocean just because you feel inconvenienced. hehe.

example 2:

England attacks the Italian Battleship damaging it and rolling a 6 on the die.  Italy only has 4 IPC left because they damaged their BB previously and had to pay to repair it.  Since they cannot afford to repair the ship again, it is lost and sunk with only the one hit.

[allboxcars]

@Cmdr:

B)  I agree your house rules are a bit on the lengthy/confusing side.

:-D then you must have REAL issues with some of the rule sets I see posted here… I’m thinking there must be a supplement from WOTC that comes with an A&A accountant and 1000 chips!

[Cobert]

Jennifer’s second rule is the best.  I always see people either using the first, or a combination of the two (having to pay at a port) but I always thought that nobody would be willing to move a battleship out of their naval campaign to repair and would rather just use it until it dies before building another (if necessary).

I do, however, think that you should be allowed to choose not to pay and allow the battleship to sink.

[allboxcars]

@Cobert:

…I always thought that nobody would be willing to move a battleship out of their naval campaign to repair and would rather just use it until it dies before building another (if necessary).

I’m guessin’ in the cozy confines of the Med or Atlantic it’d probably be more likely than the Pacific… but still even with one hit the BB is totally The Henway.

[WILD BILL]

I wouldn’t even consider a house rule that would sink a battleship after only 1 hit because you don’t have the $, or just don’t want to repair it right after a battle. They’re to expensive. A 2 hit ship should take just that 2 hits. It should be your option to port BB for repairs or keep it at sea as a 1 hit ship (w/damage marker). You could also say damage rolls @ 2 or less are miner repairs that can be done at sea, and 3-6 must be done at port. I also like IL’s in and out of port if you have movement pts, keep those bad boys at sea. Allboxcars idea of reducing a BB’s dice roll from 4 and movement of 2 is logical, but I think it pushes to far from OOB rules.

[Imperious Leader]

All the thing needs is after one hit it will cost a D6 to repair. If you roll a 6 you COULD force another roll of D6 to reflect substantial damage ( you add both dice)

Secondly you cant damage a second BB before you sink the first BB. That makes more sence, so these auto hits actually cost a BB if you really want to sink it you can.

Lastly, a damaged BB can only be repaired by moving into any sea zone where you or an ally has an adjacent factory. You can just move into the SZ and then move to another SZ.

Thats the only thing you need and anything more is too complicated for this type of game.

IMO

[allboxcars]

@Imperious:

Secondly you cant damage a second BB before you sink the first BB. That makes more sence, so these auto hits actually cost a BB if you really want to sink it you can.

IMO, not seeing the realism or sense in that. And whenever a rule dictates where the owner takes his casualties it’s a step not taken lightly.

[Imperious Leader]

Well its true that when warships fight they select their own targets. Also the BB had longer range guns and could pick off targets before they themselves got in range.

A true combat system would have each defending ship laid out in a row and the attacker matching his ships against the ship he wants to fight, extra ships by either side can be rearguard or double up against one or more ships. It is not realistic to assume i have my battleships ignoring enemy battleships which have the same range as my main guns and instead firing against destroyers, when the Battleship is far more potent to me.

but to keep it KISS, in terms of damage the idea that players take a hit because ITS CHEAPER to do that is hardly realistic at all. SO if you got 3 BB and 3 DD and i got 2 BB and 3 CA and get 3 hits you can potentially not lose any ships at all and still have maximum firepower even though you only got 9 hit points and i took out 3… your fighting capacity was reduced by 30% and your still at 100% makes no sence at all.

At least KISS would say: you take the three hits as follows:  one BB sunk one DD sunk, which is 30% damage and not cheated under the OOB.

[WILD BILL]

Yea that makes sense. I’ve also used house rules that any time you roll a 1 you choose casualties for enemy. That way you have have a chance to take out a BB or other units. More targeted.

[allboxcars]

@Imperious:

Well its true that when warships fight they select their own targets……It is not realistic to assume i have my battleships ignoring enemy battleships which have the same range as my main guns and instead firing against destroyers, when the Battleship is far more potent to me.

Setting aside the principle of owner casualty selection, your comment would be valid in a battle that unfolds as a single head-on set-piece confrontation.
But a BB cannot select what they cannot “see” and the scale of engagement doesn’t get into formations, relative position, line of sight, initiative, time of day, toast of the day, etc. so who’s to say what targets were where when?

@Imperious:

…your fighting capacity was reduced by 30% and your still at 100% makes no sence at all.

Well, of course, the original proposed House Rule that started this thread would not automatically keep my fighting capacity at 100%… right?  :wink:  Exactly.

[Imperious Leader]

Setting aside the principle of owner casualty selection, your comment would be valid in a battle that unfolds as a single head-on set-piece confrontation.
But a BB cannot select what they cannot “see” and the scale of engagement doesn’t get into formations, relative position, line of sight, initiative, time of day, toast of the day, etc. so who’s to say what targets were where when?

In nearly ever sea battle involving surface ships, when ships are sighted for targeting decisions they do decide which target is more important. They identify exactly which ships they are shooting at and decide which once in range they want to fire at. Its not happening in such a manner where nobody knows anything and they are just firing guns at anything and have no information of what they are engaging.

You must be confusing the targeting capabilities of modern weaponry which uses advanced naval radar and sonar and sends missiles against targets 50 miles away. IN WW2 Everything is ‘sighted combat’…

[allboxcars]

@Imperious:

In nearly ever sea battle involving surface ships, when ships are sighted for targeting decisions they do decide which target is more important. They identify exactly which ships they are shooting at and decide which once in range they want to fire at. Its not happening in such a manner where nobody knows anything and they are just firing guns at anything and have no information of what they are engaging.

You must be confusing the targeting capabilities of modern weaponry which uses advanced naval radar and sonar and sends missiles against targets 50 miles away. IN WW2 Everything is ‘sighted combat’…

Sorry but Incorrect.
Midway is an example where the combatants did not just line up to present themselves for targeting.

Rest assured I am not confused. Perhaps you’re confusing WW2 with the Wooden ships era when all warships kept within sight of each other for C3I 24/7?

Also you have to remember a turn is not a single engagement but a series of engagements over a period of time when not all forces will be equally in harm’s way.

I agree that the defender choosing casualties has its weaknesses but the degree of detail you’re demanding is simply not in keeping with A&A’s scope.

[Imperious Leader]

Sorry but Incorrect.
Midway is a fine example where the combatants did not just line up to present themselves for targeting.

Rest assured I am not confused. Perhaps you’re confusing WW2 with the Wooden ships era when all warships kept within sight of each other for C3I 24/7?

Also you have to remember a turn is not a single engagement but a series of engagements over a period of time when not all forces will be equally in play.

I agree that the defender choosing casualties has its weaknesses but the degree of detail you’re demanding is simply not in keeping with A&A’s scope.

Midway was not a surface naval battle. We are talking about naval combat between surface naval ships . WE are not talking about carrier based planes taking off and sinking carriers… So the only naval combat that EXISTED was lone planes attacking ships. IN the game this would be modeled like the Hawaii attack except both combatants were too far away to attack with ships, so they used planes. IN both cases this battle would be modeled by using one carrier from each side attacking the other. This would be keeping in the scale of AA. The other hundreds of ships that also participated would be in a sea zone behind the Carriers.

Carriers since they are the fastest ships moved alone to maximize the impact of the carrier strike and present the maximum range for this weapon.  The slower Japanese battleships and cruisers were far in the rear and never got in the battle.

The example again for your edification was stated as : battleships and other surface warships fighting each other. I am not aware of this form of sea battle at Midway.

IN a realistic game between just surface ships the longer ranged guns of the battleship get preemptive fire to model the fact that they are using this to their advantage. The only way to model this is to allow preemptive fire for these units.

Second, that ships are always sighted in surface naval combat and pick their own targets. AS is describe earlier, a realistic solution is to line up the players fleet with less ships and the attacker matches up his ship with the defender and must at least match up each defending ship, before he can allocate any additional ships to ‘double up’ on the defender.

If planes of both combatants are used then air dogfight occurs using my lower air combat values… when one side has planes and the other side does not the extra planes hits are now targeted hits.

Now in the actual game to make it KISS you do this:

1)Allow BB preemptive fire (unless another Battleship is present- E.G. assuming both sides have battleship groups negates the advantage.

2. If a BB rolls a one it can select the hit on the defender. Could be any unit

3. If you got a hit on a BB, it now costs money to repair =D6, if you roll a 6 consider it a critical hit which means you roll a second D6 and add result as the cost of repair of damage

4. If you got more than one BB you cant assign hits on all the BB’s… instead you must select to either sink the BB, or sink a new ship. When a BB is hit its new combat value is 2.

5. BB is repaired by moving to any sea zone next to a factory ( yours or allies). If you spend one MP to do this, you can use the last MP and keep moving.

6. When planes are involved they fight at aerial combat values

7. when one side has planes, these hit at normal values.

8. alternatively, you can have a player declare that if he rolls a one in defense he can declare that a enemy plane is eliminated ( only if he does not have planes)- This would need play testing. I have played the other rules for years.