Shark7
Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007 From: The Big Nowhere Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Local Yokel Some background on what I am attempting to achieve may not be amiss. This is a personal mod that makes a number of minor changes, many purely cosmetic, to Treespider's mod, itself based on Da Babes. Primarily, it features a few extra ships so that I can indulge my penchant for naval artwork – thus you get new versions of Teia Maru (ex Aramis) and repair ship Asahi, and a few ships you don't get in other mods: Kotobuki Maru (ex Conte Verde), and armoured cruisers Iwate and Izumo. Most of these were to be found in WitP CHS, so I'm a bit surprised some didn’t make it into AE. My alterations to the Yamato class ships reflect the longstanding niggle I have had about the dates on which these ships complete their construction. For example, if not accelerated Yamato appears in the game on 20 May 1942, five months after her historical date of completion and acceptance into the Imperial Navy on 16 Dec 1941. That's an extra five months' artificial expenditure of naval construction points in the building of a ship that actually finished building within 10 days of the outbreak of hostilities. Yes, I know about the problems with Yamato's gunnery that are said to be the pretext for this delay in her completion in the game. Rather than charge an economic penalty for making good these shortcomings I have adopted a different approach. I have introduced a new device, the 46cm/45 Type 94-Kai to form the initial main armament for both Yamato and Musashi. This has the same data as the original Type 94, save that its accuracy has been halved from 18 to 9. I assume that this change would go far to simulate the historical shortcomings in the gunnery department, but the Japanese player's remedy is simple: upon completion of either battleship, authorise an immediate upgrade of its main armament from Type 94-Kai to Type 94, thus restoring the original accuracy rating of 18. This upgrade involves a delay of 60 days, which I consider a reasonable reflection of the time required to iron out the gunnery snags and work up each of these ships. The ships themselves now appear on their actual dates of acceptance into the Navy (16 Dec 41 and 5 Aug 42), but the Japanese player is well advised to proceed immediately with the upgrade that restores the full capability of their main battery. Thereafter the upgrade path for these ships follows the usual course. If anyone can suggest a better way of simulating these factors, I would be pleased to hear it. In the case of Shinano a different approach was needed to reflect the fact that her completion as a carrier was prompted by the Japanese reverse at Midway: a disaster that seldom seems to take place in the game but which has nevertheless always been assumed in its data. What I have done is to assume that Shinano's construction proceeded in battleship form, and that it would have been completed within the timescale suggested by JWE's posts on building slip usage, as mentioned by oldman45. Thus, in my mod Shinano is completed as a battleship and if not accelerated arrives on 1 Apr 1944, armed with the 'defective' Type 94-Kai in her main battery. She also comes with the modified AA fit of 10 cm/65 Type 98 weapons in the place of the Type 89s. Upon Shinano's arrival, the Japanese player has a choice: he can retain her as a battleship and upgrade the main battery to Type 94, or he can convert her to a carrier. The carrier conversion will cost him an additional delay of 244 days, in order to postpone Shinano's effective service introduction until the historical date in November 1944 when this took place. This conversion is only available whilst Shinano carries her 'defective' armament, so the Japanese player really needs to decide upon her final configuration as soon as the vessel completes. I have made no change to Shinano's capacity of 47 aircraft, which my researches suggest is an accurate count for her intended integral airgroup. Unfortunately I see no likelihood of the game ever simulating the Japanese 'fortress carrier' concept (which was probably a very bad idea anyway), so I think she has to be accepted as a heavily protected vessel but one carrying only a weak punch. Again, if anyone can suggest a better way of simulating the choices that were open to the Navy's constructors as regards Shinano, I'd be pleased to hear it. I hope, however, that the reduction in the construction cost for Yamato and Musashi may provide some incentive for the Japanese player to accept the challenge of producing a third super-battleship rather than following what seems to have become the conventional wisdom for the game's first turn: stop the Shinano! I agree with your solutions, both of them. Yamato and Musashi do not end up costing build points that are far better spent elsewhere, and they have their defects which limits their usefulness until you do the upgrade that simulates the extended trials. As to the Shinano, I have always been frustrated with having only the carrier option available when in truth I have never once experienced a 'Midway' in any game I've played. I always end up halting Shinano to build more useful Unryu class carriers. At least with the BB option, I could use her to intercept invasion fleets or to carry out bombardments. In truth, I will probably end up cancelling Shinano in the end anyway, but at least your system leaves the option of build as BB, Build as carrier, or don't build at all completely up to the player.
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Distant Worlds Fan 'When in doubt...attack!'
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