Tweaking fleets to historical ratios


  • @JonnieMav

    Correct!
    Just got away with my own game in which the whole SZ on the British North-East Coast is named “Firth of Forth” including Scapa FLow.
    Sorry for confusion!


  • @oztea:

    What about this?

    Austria-Hungary
    •   Sea Zone 18: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    Russian Empire
    •   Sea Zone 12: 1 Battleship, 1 Sub, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 21: 1 Cruiser, 1 Submarine
    Germany
    •   Sea Zone 5: 1 Submarine
    •   Sea Zone 7: 2 Submarines
    •   Sea Zone 10: 2 Battleships, 2 Cruisers, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 11: 1 Submarine
    •   Sea Zone 24:  1 Cruiser
    France
    •   Sea Zone 15: 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 16: 1 Submarine, 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    British Empire
    •   Sea Zone 2: 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 9: 2 Battleships, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 19: 1 Battleship, , 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 29: 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    •   Sea Zone 4: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser
    •   Sea Zone 8: 1 Transport
    Ottoman Empire
    •   Sea Zone 20: 1 Cruiser, 1 Submarine
    Italy
    •   Sea Zone 17: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
    United States
    •   Sea Zone 1: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser

    Turkey has a sub and England has none? I don’t think so. the Turks had only a single sub the entire war. Britain had 74 subs when the war started. England HAS to have some subs represented.

    The ratio of UK Dreadnaughts to Germans should be 3:2

    Kim


  • "Britain did not have twice as many Dreadnaughts as Germany.

    Kim"

    Hi, Kim,

    Yes, that’s true. It was more like 3-2 in August 1914 (34-21).  But they had almost twice as many pre-Dreadnaught battleships (41-22).  It all depends on how much you want to weigh pre-DN vs. post-DN for combat power.  I arbitrarily assumed a pre-DN to be about 60% as effective as a post-DN.


  • @almashir:

    "Britain did not have twice as many Dreadnaughts as Germany.

    Kim"

    Hi, Kim,

    Yes, that’s true. It was more like 3-2 in August 1914 (34-21).  But they had almost twice as many pre-Dreadnaught battleships (41-22).  It all depends on how much you want to weigh pre-DN vs. post-DN for combat power.  I arbitrarily assumed a pre-DN to be about 60% as effective as a post-DN.

    England pulled out most all her pre-dreads from first line service (though they did get used in the med). At Jutland, the Germans did bring 6 PD’s, but there expected value was so low they were called “5 minute ships” because that’s what they considered there life expectancy in a stand up fight.

    A PD usually only had 4 main guns compared to the 10-12 guns on a Dread. At best, considering there very slow speed and inferior armor (and useless secondary guns) I would only represent them as a “battleship” at about 20-25% (and that’s a gimme).

    If you figure at that, the ratio would be more like 8 to 5 or 9 to 5, which would be around a 3.5 to 2 ratio.

    For play balance, you need to make that 3 to 2.

    I would put UK at 3, Germany at 2, and everyone else at 0-1 (considering some US ships in the Pacific). For sure the French DO NOT have more then the Germans!

    Kim


  • UK:
    Dreadnought 22
    Pre-Dreadnought 40
    Battle-cruiser  9
    Armored Cruiser  34
    Protected Cruiser  52
    Other Cruiser  35
    Destroyer  221
    Submarine  73

    Germany:
    Dreadnought  15
    Pre-Dreadnought  22
    Battle-cruiser  5
    Armored Cruiser  7
    Protected Cruiser  17
    Other Cruiser  16
    Destroyer  90
    Submarine  31

    62 to 37


  • @Imperious:

    UK:
    Dreadnought 22
    Pre-Dreadnought 40
    Battle-cruiser  9
    Armored Cruiser  34
    Protected Cruiser  52
    Other Cruiser  35
    Destroyer  221
    Submarine  73

    Germany:
    Dreadnought  15
    Pre-Dreadnought  22
    Battle-cruiser  5
    Armored Cruiser  7
    Protected Cruiser  17
    Other Cruiser  16
    Destroyer  90
    Submarine  31

    62 to 37

    You need to include battlecruisers in with the total of “battleships” as these are just fast dreadnaughts.  A pre-dreadnaught is a floating tin can that is as obsolete as a bi-plane was in WWII.

    Kim


  • Okay, so it’s a matter of what the proper scale should be.  Are we all agreed on the following?

    1.  The British should have more battleships than the Germans - roughly 50% more if you are ignoring pre-DNs, and maybe 60-70% more if you aren’t.  All the British DNs were stationed near the British Isles, and since these would have comprised the vast majority of ships involved in a Jutland-style scenario, the 2-3 German-British ratio should hold in sea zones 9 and 10.  As for the British pre-DNs in the Med, they could perhaps be represented by a cruiser, if that is necessary for balance and/or historical aesthetics.  :-D

    2.  The Germans should have at least one more battleship than the French.

    3.  Everyone (except Turkey) should have at least one battleship.

    4.  The Germans had more cruisers than anyone except the British, and the British had about 3 times as many as the Germans.  The French had about half as many as the Germans, but about twice as much as anyone else (except the US, although half the US cruisers would be in the Pacific).

    Okay, so let’s work on the ratios.  Turkey gets one cruiser.  Assume Russia, Austria, Italy, and USA each get 1 battleship and 1 cruiser.  France would then get 1 battleship and two cruisers.

    So this means Germany gets 2 battleships and 3-4 cruisers (with one of the cruisers starting in the South Atlantic).  Let’s call it 3 for now.  So in Sea Zone 10, Germany has 2 battleships and two cruisers, with another cruiser in Sea Zone 22, 23, or 24.

    This means Britain gets 3 battleships in Sea Zone 9.  At a 3-to-1 ratio to German cruisers, this would mean 9 British cruisers.  For the moment, let’s call the British pre-DNs in the Med a cruiser instead of a BB.  So that makes 10 cruisers.  Now it’s just a matter of where to put them.  Maybe:

    Sea Zone 9:  3 battleships, 4 cruisers, and 1 sub
    Sea Zone 19:  3 cruisers
    Sea Zone 29:  2 cruisers
    Sea Zone 2:  1 cruiser

    I would also cut the German subs down to 2-3.  The British started with more than twice as many subs as the Germans had.  However, I only gave them 1 sub because of the paragraph below.

    http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/british_submarines_and_the_.htm
    “Nine submarine flotillas were established in 1914 and based on the east coast of Britain. Four of these flotillas were patrol flotillas while the other five were used for coastal defence. Out of Britain’s 86 submarines at the start of World War One, 76 were used for coastal defence (including a number built specifically for overseas ventures). That they stayed as coastal protection vessels was an indication of just how much the powers that be both in the Royal Navy and the government feared invasion.”


  • Well just let German subs to move farther than 4 spaces from original starting port. The others are stuck with 2 or 3 spaces from original port. Also, give a discount -1 for German subs and increase the effect they have with USW…again just them.


  • This should be in the House Rules section.


  • yep

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