/v/ - Video Games

>>16845290

I don't think we've ever played as France in one of these before, so that would be interesting. And the only modifier I usually bother with is varied tech.

Can you choose Cape Verde? I've wondered how a tiny island nation would manage.

>>16845362

Currently all of the pictures from previous games are on my old computer, which is at my old house. I can try and swing by and get it though. In the meantime, I do have a picture of a semi-dreadnought built in the first Japanese play-through. She sadly was forced to be scrapped due to an arms limitation treaty.

>>16845346

Too small to maintain any navy past a couple destroyers or gunboats in any reasonable scenario. Portugal itself only had a handful of cruisers and supporting ships at this point.

>>16845324

A vote for France and varied tech.

>>16845350

A vote for varied tech as well.

>>16845287

>>16845347

we already did italy did we not? I agree doing france and varied tech

Can someone upload the game to vola?

>>16845487

>>16845554

A vote for both France and Spain, as well as one for Harsh Peace Deals. With essentially universal support for Varied Tech as well.

Shall we go for France?

Let's first take a look at the world as it exists in 1900. As you can see, France holds many colonies across the world that must be attended to by the Navy, lest they get out of hand. For now, only territories that closely neighbor rivals are at any significant risk, but that can change. As far as our naval presence, it is rather middling, with us sitting at 3rd place in global budgets. Generally, we hold advantages in some areas over other nations, while being outright superior to a few others. Only Germany and Great Britain currently outstrip us, while the German numerical superiority may not translate to quality.

>>16846336

Failed to attach the image

Finally, here is our current doctrine settings and research priorities. Would anyone care to offer input on how these should be altered?

As requested, subs are placed as a research priority. In addition, to bolster the battle line an order for two additional Marango-class battleships are placed, with an offered third declined. However, it would appear the armchair admirals are stirring.

How do we respond?

Five Coetlogons are laid down, as is an Abloux. The budget increase was not quite enough to offset the cost in production, so a Marengo is cancelled. I've also elected to implement some low level espionage into our neighbors, just to keep eyes on them. Sure enough, we quickly get insight into the next series of three armored cruisers (CA) that the USA is constructing.

Of course, it only takes a single month for the budget to get even tighter. An opportunity to gain some of it back may be presenting itself though, but it'll cost us some of our reputation…

Someone somewhere pisses off the Italians, and as a precaution some of our forces in Northern Europe rotate into the Med. A month later we get ahold of plans for the newest Italian battleship under construction. A strange beast, dual turret 4" guns take a heavy RoF penalty at this stage in history. But the naval secretary is pleased with our construction. And finally, a dignitary from the US makes us an offer.

Should we accept?

>>16846439

Night fighting has been added to our training priorities, although it will take a year before the effects are truly felt.

The agreement is entered and a rather quiet Christmas passes. But the new year brings new issues. Our answer?

Also, did we wish to invest in any coastal fortifications?

We get a pair of research advancements and Italy reacts rather poorly to our gunboat diplomacy. Small fortifications are ordered in the areas nearest to Italian territories and an increase in our intelligence efforts are undertaken.

But at the same time, things are not going well with our new 'friends'.

Relations with the US are kept cordial, as we continue to focus on Italy. More forces are redirected into the Med, while any ships in reserve are brought up to active status.

However, we may have a chance to cool things down. Should we take it?

Tensions with Italy continue to mount. Our scientists must be feeling the pressure too, because they bring several breakthroughs to the table. As of now, Italy slightly outnumbers us in the Med, but we can still rotate forces out of Northern Europe.

This brings up a question, should we go about designing some new ships? We could construct larger DDs, as our legacy versions were limited to 500tons before, but we could also design a battleship or heavy cruiser with a large caliber secondary battery.

>>16846593

I feel like we should put off new battleships until we get a better main battery at the very least. I'd go full Jeune Ecole and concentrate on destroyers for now.

>>16846606

>>16846604

We have a couple options. On one hand, we could create a short range ship with a modest gun battery, but extremely fast and with a good torpedo complement. On the other, we could create a simply upgunned version of earlier models.

Which appeals more, or would we like something else?

Our crews achieve proficiency at night fighting at last. A fast torpedo boat is designed, then for good measure we also add in a small minesweeper. Both will take a month to finalize the designs, but for now we've got another choice to make. Options to shittalk are Italy, Germany and Austria.

>>16846659

Shittalk Italy.

Tensions with Italy continue to worsen, but our new cruisers are only a few months away from construction. But perhaps a more sinister enemy is rising from within…

Is there any download that's managed to bypass the DRM? Frankly I like the game but I'm not going to pay full-price for essentially a fucking aircraft carrier mod to the first game

All of our cruisers, with the exception of one manage to launch in the same month, which combined with our rejection of the libcucks in our government further raises tensions with Italy, but also brings Austria-Hungary into the conflict picture. It's possible that in the near future these nations might set aside their historic differences and form some sort of defensive alliance.

But for right now, shall I assume that Italy is our answer, or do we want to perhaps ease back on the sword rattling?

As war with Italy seems imminent, perhaps it is a good idea to examine their fleet in some detail. Their battleship lineup is lacking in both power and numbers, with the next addition over a year from likely delivery. Their cruiser force is a much larger threat though, the Marco Polo-class is both well armed and armored, although it's speed is somewhat middling. The light cruisers are however all quite average.

We do have some issues at home to work on though. Our budget is quite excellent right now and we are running a rather decent surplus. On the other hand, that high spending is resulting in some tension with the population, and our unrest is already at 5, a rather surprisingly high number. A potential risk for this war might be that Italy might attempt to use it's cruiser force as massed raiders, as the loss of merchant shipping might be enough to push our government to enter peace talks.

Well then, this is an interesting situation. What do?

Also, I still need names for new ships. And in unrelated news, Japan ordered it's new armored cruiser…from Austria.

We've reached what should be the breaking point, but no declarations have been made just yet. And right on time, we get the tech needed for submarines. Perhaps we should blow a significant part of our budget on a fleet of subs, unreliable as they may be?

Going to have to call it for the night, consider this a cliffhanger. Will answer questions if they come, though.

>>16846807

+1 for FSS Spunked Wine.

>>16846622

Is our fleet doctirine up to scratch for destroyer 'wolf pack' tactics? if production allows it, we could forgo larger ships and just churn out both destroyer variants. May let us keep a few bob in our pocket, especially if all these cruisers other nations are pumping out are susceptible to large amounts of D.

>>16846724

Early subs are the worst subs. Who wants a long stiff shaft full of seamen anyways?

January marks our largest order of ships yet, with 17 submarines and 10 of our newest destroyer design ordered from shipyards across the country, while the previous run of ships begins to hit the waves. The Japanese place an order for a new battleship from the Americans, but that won't be any factor for us to worry about.

War has steadily refused to break out with Italy, despite tensions being maxed out with them. Both sides stare daggers at one another but no-one, yet, has pulled the trigger. But now this next choice has some further reaching complications. If Rhodes successfully bucks Italian rule, we can't seize it from them in the case of a won war. On the other hand, fuck Italy.

What choice shall we make?

The arms shipments were the final straw. War breaks out with the Italians, and on the morning of April 27th, 1902 the first naval action takes place. The majority of the French fleet takes to the sea and sets off for the Ligurian Sea. Our forces are in a rather standard formation, with an advance force of heavy cruisers, followed by a line of screening cruisers and finally the main battle line. As dawn breaks, FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS suddenly becomes aware that her division, under the cover of night has steamed within gun range of the Italian's fleet. The two ships quickly turn their broadsides to the Italian battleships, which decide to attempt to close the distance and charge them.

>>16846996

Looks like you have a textbook pincer counterattack in your hands.

remove lasaga

The Italian battleships continue their charge, prompting our cruisers to turn back towards the main body of our fleet, while our nearest destroyer division rushes forward to attempt an attack. It is then that Homelette du Fromage takes the first hit of the war, as a shell rips into her superstructure.

>27 04:44 7 in 4240 yds Superstructure hit *

A couple of our DDs take near misses, but the Italian battleships back off, with FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS paying the rear one back with a 7" shell. Both sides advanced elements back off and reform with the main fleet. As the distance closes, Eiffel's Penis pulls off a small miracle of gunnery, and places an 11" shell on an Italian cruiser at nearly 10km on her very first salvo.

>>16847031

are we winning?

After the initial exchange of gunfire, the Italian fleet turns tail and runs for port. We follow at a steady pace, but the rather slow speed of our battle line prevents us from closing the distance, leaving us rather incapable of doing anything more than shadowing them. A rather disappointing first battle, but somewhat typical of the predreadnought era.

Back to the strategic map, we gain some insight into American guns, and we should consider what territory we should focus eventual invasion plans on.Both the Italian island of Sardinia and their colony of Libya are possible options, while Sicily is not capable of being attacked at this time.

>>16847270

>>16847369

>>16847422

An invasion of Sardinia, depending on how long it takes to organize, would likely run us somewhere between 600-1,000 'units' of money a month. Benefits to capturing the island would be increased economic income, as well as basing for future operations, both at sea and in the air. As far as the budget, we're breaking roughly even with a large construction program underway, but our newest battleship is about to hit the seas, which will free up over 1,000 a month. We also have a significant reserve, about 15,000 naval funbucks.

In any case, next month brings another action at sea. Off the Western coast of Corsica, a task force of our battleships, cruisers and escorts encounters a similarly sized Italian force. We have equal numbers of battleships, but ours are rather more heavily armed. On the other hand, it appears the Italians have brought a larger proportion of their cruiser fleet. We could try and force an engagement, or perhaps simply retreat to port. For now, an oppurtunity presents itself, as the Easternmost Marco Polo-class is rather isolated from the Italian force and may be able to be seperated by a rapid advance of our own cruisers.

The Marco Polo-class proves to be rather less than cooperative, and shortly after Galilee lands a hit upon it she responds with a major one in return. With her engines having been rendered partially inoperative, she's detached and ordered to return home. The Italian main body also manages a reasonably quick turnaround and the situation is unfavorable enough for our CAs that they are forced to return.

The situation begins to look a bit dicey. While our battleships certainly outmatch theirs, their CAs are a serious combatant that can't be discounted even at range. At this point it's looking more favorable to simply break off and head home.

You remember when I said:

>your flagship signals your escorts to screen the main force against enemy torpedo attacks, but the division leader misreads it as "suicidally charge the enemy battle line"

Yeah, that's happening. The DD Belier sails directly at the entire enemy force as shells splash all around her. She takes several hits but seems rather bizarrely resilient for a 600 ton DD. And that's when I notice something rather interesting.

Our 600t torpedo boat design, the Baliste-class called for a speed of 30kts, which for 1902 is very fast. But it would appear that the Baliste-class not only meets that speed, but exceeds it, having a top speed of 31kts.

But to return to the battle, each side exchanges a series of hits, but it's just past four in the afternoon when the situation takes a slight turn for the worst. The secondary battery of an Italian battleship chooses FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS as her target:

>25 16:01 7 in 6071 yds Critical hit *! Conning tower hit!

In an instant, the command staff of FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS is killed, and at that point it becomes that retreat might be a better option. As we turn to the North, however, it is seen that one of the Italian battleships is falling out of line and appears rather slowed. Sensing a possible opening, the DDs Carabine and Baliste move forward to see if a possible torpedo attack is feasible. While that doesn't seem quite possible right now, the Italian line does fall into some confusion, allowing us to reengage and a fair number of hits to be scored. But it would seem that FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS is the favorite target of the Italians and once again:

>25 16:43 10 in 3122 yds Turret G hit T * Turret destroyed

I make the choice then to call off the engagement and we steam North again. But as we reach port, night begins to fall. Deciding to give one more effort, we briefly engage in a short ranged duel, scoring several hits for none in return, showing the value of our night fighting training.

>>16847522

That ship really seems to piss the Italians off, I can only imagine why

But in the end, once again no ships are sunk by either side. Despite landing a rather decent amount of hits on the Italian capital ships, their armor proved capable of defeating our projectiles. Of course, a similar phenomenon took place on our ships, but their gunners seemed rather more capable of hitting weak points such as conning towers. However, even though most of our shells failed to penetrate, the minor accumulated damage does give us the technical win for this scenario, even though it changes essentially nothing about the larger strategic picture.

A new battleship of ours is launched, which also gives us a pretty hefty budget surplus. And it would seem that we have a chance to attack a target that isn't well armored, should we take it?

The Italians elected to cancel the convoy, giving us a nice little boost in victory points, but immediately afterwards get forced into a battleship engagement. This time we've got a pair of our heavy gun battleships and a healthy complement of cruisers as well. When the enemy comes into view it appears to be 3B, 2CA, 4CL and a DD. I think we can claim a bit of an advantage in this engagement, so we'll push harder for a fight.

>>16847539

Since the Ottoman Empire isn't represented in-game, I think it's assumed that it collapsed early, thus letting Italy take over Libya a decade early. Personally, I think Sardinia is the safer option, as we have ports directly next to it we can retreat to if things go poorly.

>>16847567

Invasions generally follow a trend of first gaining sea superiority (manual says 4:1, but I think that's outdated), then invading. So the invasion will take some time to prepare for.

>>16847581

Fortune appears to be on our side in this battle, as the Italian CAs split off from their main force. This gives us a rather good opportunity, as we can force our forces in between as a wedge. While in later years this might be considered suicidal, in 1902 this actually works quite well and the CAs seem largely unable to press us. Of course, nothing good comes without something to ruin it a bit, and a misunderstood signal brings the DD Framee too close to those CAs we split off.

>06 13:59 9 in 3195 yds Engine room hit B *

>06 14:02 3 in 3984 yds Hull hit BE *

>06 14:08 7 in 6005 yds Superstructure hit BE *

TL note: Format for these is [date] [time] [caliber of incoming round] [distance from firing ship] [location hit/armor hit], with an asterisk indicating a successful penetration

The first hit rendered her dead in the water, but the enemy cruisers don't seem to linger on her and, barring a rupturing of one of her bulkheads, she may be able to limp back to port. In a tit for tat response, Le Fagguette Baguette's secondary battery lands a hit on the sole Italian destroyer, instantly bringing it to a halt. Within a few minutes the ship slips beneath the waves, the first victory for our Navy.

The chase continues, causing the Italian fleet to become even more broken up, with a pair of light cruisers falling behind. The weather turns worse, and high winds and seas slow our DDs enough that they cannot race to cut off the Italian battleship's retreat. Thus, the decision is made to call off that chance and instead run down the two separated light cruisers. The weather turns even worse, becoming an all out gale, and the sun begins to set. But by that time, we've caught up to them and trapped them between two cruiser divisions. By the time night sets, we've closed the distance and it seems inevitable that the two Italian cruisers will be doomed.

But then things suddenly go to hell.

>>16847660

Thankfully, the flooding caused by the torpedo hit turns out to be rather minor and damage teams quickly have the flooding under control. Trafalgar Was an Inside Job is detached and sent home with an escort, while the remainder of our forces focus on the finishing the job. During the chaos, one of the CLs, Nino Bixio, manages to slip our sight lines, but the Ancona is not so lucky. Shot up, torpedoed and what does her in eventually? Heavy seas. Still, a kill is a kill.

Back to the strategic map, we get some tech breakthroughs and a rather insulting peace offer. I'm already going to assume we reject.

With budget increases and our construction projects wrapping up, it's high time we started finding something to do with all this cash in our pockets. Here are three possible designs with our current tech, if anyone would like to provide anything else please do.

Calling it for tonight, tomorrow should have much more consistent uploads.

>>16847729

that battleship's secondaries make me cum

>>16847729

I believe the 12" main and 10" secondary of that third option will make aiming very difficult for the crew. When the two options are close together in caliber it gives an aiming malus to the ships guns because it's difficult to tell where the splashes from shells apart. On the other hand, it may have just enough dakka that it doesn't matter.

Name a DD Dagos Dismay

Design studies are placed for both the battleship and armored cruiser, which should be ready in a few months time. Our numerical superiority in light cruisers and battleships allows us to declare a blockade of Italy, which should put some steady pressure on them from now on. In response a few of their cruisers have take up merchant raiding, which will be an annoyance we don't quite have a great response to, given the fact that most Italian cruisers either outrun or outgun our own.

Our construction programs are going quite well, money will not be a problem for us to build two, perhaps three of our newest designs once they are ready. Distracted with the war on her western shore, Italy fails to quell her colonial issues and Rhodes breaks free.

Once again, we're forced into an unexpected battleship engagement off of Corsica, with a typical arrangement of ships. I must say, this is a rather unusual occurrence. I haven't seen any destroyer raids or coastal attacks offered yet. Also, 8kun is acting very strangely, up until a minute before this my desktop did not see any post after >>16848028 even though my phone browser did.

>>16848526

As we meet and form battle lines with the Italians, Belier once again misunderstands orders and rushes into battle, dragging Carabine with her. But this time things are a bit different. The Italian battleships once again close the distance, but in doing so they place themselves roughly between our main fleet and the splinter group. By continuing to press the destroyers advance, the Italian ships are forced to turn back towards our main line to try and avoid a torpedo attack. But to do so would mean sailing directly into the hornets nest, so they sort of waffle around in uncertainty. And that's when a weakness of the Italian designs becomes apparent. Both the Italian battleships and heavy cruisers have 7" guns as secondaries, but these guns are extremely poorly suited to engaging fast-moving destroyers, even at close range. That leaves only the tertiary 3" battery, which there are six of on each side of a ship. On paper that sounds alright, after all that would mean these three ship pictured have 18 defensive guns, but in this scenario, where the Italian ships are violently maneuvering while under fire, reliably hitting a target moving at 35mph is very difficult.

Thus, Belier and Carabine manage to close to 700 yards before Belier sinks two torpedoes into the armored cruiser. Dashing through a gap in the line and passing less than 100 yards behind the trailing Italian battleship, she fires her last one at it but misses.

>>16848579

The Italian battleships finally figure out how to aim their guns though, and Belier is quickly hit with multiple rounds, tearing her upper structure apart. Within a few minutes it becomes apparent that this was a one-way trip for Belier and she is declared lost. Carabine however, is unharmed and pressed home the attack, forcing herself between the two battleships. Somehow, despite taking 8 hits within a few minutes, she lands a torpedo on not just the trailing battleship, but it's division leader as well. Almost immediately afterwards her engines are knocked out by the defensive guns of the battleship and with heavy flooding it becomes obvious she too will be lost.

But the loss of these two ships is a small price to pay for the benefits. The Italian armored cruiser Belier hit slowly moves to the south, likely doomed, while one of the battleships Carabine torpedoes sits dead in the water and the other tries to limp off to the west.

From this point onwards the Italian force lacks the power to challenge our force. The next several hours involve our force herding the remaining Italian ships, with them lacking the ability to put up much more than token resistance. A light cruiser of the Italians is hit quite badly and is assumed to have been sinking. The destroyer Arc returns to the site of the battleship torpedoing and pulls over 140 people from the water, a rather impressive feat considering she has a standard crew of 71.

The remaining Italian battleship shows of a surprising amount of resilience and it actually takes until dusk for her to be finally put down, as the destroyer Baliste lands two more torpedo hits on her, one of which fails to detonate. Convinced that our job is done and with night having fallen, our fleet turns back to return to port. In the night however, we do encounter a lone, heavily damaged armored cruiser. Rather surprisingly, this turns out to be the ship that Belier hit with two torpedoes, still sailing. Our own cruisers briefly engage her, before Baliste's divsion swings by and lands another torpedo hit upon her. This time the results are immediate, as her main gun's magazines detonate, blowing the ship apart in an instant.

The battle finished, we finally manage to return to port, although Baugette has some troubles. The end result is a complete victory, with over 42,000 tons of Italian ships sunk for only two destroyers of our own. This battle essentially secures domination of the Med for this war, although it also increases the chance that the Italians might switch to purely raider warfare.

>>16848607

Pour out a glass of Paul Masson for the captains and crews of Belier and Carabine. Let's hope Arc managed to pick most of them up. Must have been quite the sight when Arc returned to port with with three times its complement of sailors.

A very uneventful coastal raid takes place with us sinking a pair of merchants, but coming back to the main screen greets us with some very good news. Our current battleship fleet has always mounted 11 or 12" guns, but 14" guns are a serious upgrade. Even though our newest battleship was laid down a month ago, it may be worth looking into yet another design, as we're going to be running a pretty much break even budget once our submarines finish building.

With the seas under our rather tight control, we also begin preperations for an invasion of Sardinia. Our armored cruisers are placed on patrol to try and hunt down some of the Italian raiders, one of which is forced to destroy itself. On the border, our troops manage a minor victory, although it's impact on the war at large is rather insignificant.

Spunked Wine and Eiffel's Penis, along with some light cruisers and escorts, intercept an Italian convoy passing by Malta, escorted by the sole remaining Italia-class and a light cruiser. Our battleships and theirs begin dueling, with the Italian proving a rather capable foe, with one of her shells smashing Spunked Wine's primary rangefinder in an early salvo. But after only a few minutes of combat fires begin to spread across the Italian's superstructure. Meanwhile, our light cruisers move into the convoy and get in some good gunnery practice.

By the time dusk arrives, the Italia is a flaming hulk and the convoy is gone, aside from a single ship that managed to avoid being caught in the massacre. The lone cruiser also managed to slip out, although badly damaged.

As requested, a fleet comparison. We also have a significant force of DDs that aren't shown here. Also keep in mind that the speed values for the Italians are usually rather sketchy, so don't take them for granted. I've also placed our submarines on "Fleet Support", as merchant hunting is a pretty poor role for them right now.

A rather un-noteworthy Italian raid occurs and is repelled, only managing to sink a single small merchant before being forced to retreat. The blockade starts to take effect, as well. I chose to create a simple in-game generated side picture of our cruiser currently under construction, the Escargot Fuck Yourself.

With April brings better weather and the date for the initial landings on Sardinia is set. April 26th, 1903. Escorting our transports in is a mixed force of battleships, cruisers and escorts.

The invasion is actually 'incredibly underwhelming, as the cruisers the Italians sent forward to defend Sardinia can only really sit just out of gun range of our battleships and watch as our troops land. Perhaps the occupying forces took this as a sign, because our forces had barely established a beachhead when the Italian garrison surrendered the island to us. Real talk here, I've played this game for years and never once have I seen a 0-turn invasion victory. Of course, that just means we get to move onto Libya next.

Unless of course, we'd like to humor the Italians peace offer?

>>16848792

>sit just out of gun range of our battleships and watch as our troops land

The standings with everyone else don't appear too horrible and that sort of cucking out is pretty shameful.

Aaaand of course the diplomats fuck us, despite us having a massive advantage at sea. If we'd like, we can seize Italy's colonies, or we can take the points as reparations, giving us a boost to our economy and therefore budget for the rest of the campaign. Alternatively, we can split the difference.

At least we didn't get screwed as hard as Japan in the real-life Russo-Japanese War

>>16848843

Libya or Eritrea?

Libya is taken as a concession, as are some reparations. The rest of the year plays out rather quietly, aside from some technology advances, ship launching and the expiration of our treaty with the USA. As we enter the fourth year of the century, what should our eventual goals be? Is there someone we should be picking fights with or adjustments to tech priorities anyone would like to see?

Gotta call it there for tonight. I work tomorrow, so I'll be starting this late.

>had post half written from hours ago and forgot

>manage to add reply to it that starts with same wording

>>16849173

8kunt works in mysterious ways

>>16848526

>Also, 8kun is acting very strangely, up until a minute before this my desktop did not see any even though my phone browser did.

If 8kun is acting up and you can't see the last posts, hit the little "last 50 posts" button and you should be able to see them. Site fucking sucks.

Well then, it would appear we ahegao'd Italy so hard they now want to cuddle up with us.

Y/N?

When will I be able to reenact the USS Liberty incident?

Given that an allied Italy does not particularly benefit us, I've elected to turn down their offer. We research Central Firing, so we'll begin rotating ships into refits to improve their combat effectiveness immediately. Just before sending them in for refits, the British offer to sell us plans for improved 11" guns, the Marengo-class's main battery. Given that the costs of doing so are rather manageable within the budget and the increase in penetrative power decent, I've chosen to have them re-gunned with the improved designs. A technology sharing agreement is once again reached with the United States. And finally the Japanese approach us with an offer to sell us upgraded 8" guns. It would appear that Escargot Fuck Yourself will be sent in for a main gun swap almost as soon as she joins the fleet.

>>16849862

As the rest of the year goes by quietly and with tensions having fallen considerably since the end of the Franco-Italian War, the most interesting thing was the constant rotation of ships in and out of refit. But now we have the chance to play a bit of empire building.

Y/N?

The occupation of Angola goes perfectly fine, providing us another base within Africa. But soon afterwards, another choice.

With a hefty amount of money in our coffers, we buy some technology of dubious quality and are still waiting on the results of that gamble. Our battleship with the secondary armament of a large cruiser is commissioned, which begs us to take a look at our fleet as a whole. Other than our newest CA, which is undergoing a gun refit, we have nothing in construction and a major budget surplus. The Navy, of course, is "use it or lose it" when it comes to money.

Some of our possible choices for spendings:

>mass submarine construction

A somewhat dubious choice, as we currently only have access to short range coastal subs of a somewhat unreliable nature

>battleship expansion

With 14" guns, we could create a line of battleships that would likely stand superior to any other

>heavy cruisers

Armored cruisers are currently an area we lag far behind. It may well be worth investing heavily in them now

>light raiders

By keeping armament and armor to a minimum, we could create a line of fast, long range cruisers that would allow us to wage a raiding war against nearly any foe. Of course, if we blockade an enemy these ships would become rather worthless.

>destroyer swarms

While we can still only build 600t models, we could build alot of them, and we've seen what they can do.

Do any of these options appeal to the Admiralty?

calling it for tonight

This thread sounds fun.

>>16849862

You're keeping an eye on the British, yes? They've been a bit too friendly and they hold Gibraltar last I checked.

>>16850650

It's a grand slow burn.

>tech trade falls back in our lap

>gifted japanese steel

I find it quite humorous that it seems about everyone hates Italy this go around, what did they do to everyone?

>>16849918

>that map

Damn son, you got busy.

>>16849945

There aren't a lot of long rangers in the fleet, but it may be a bit of a fluke. I also love me some cruisers.

Never forget the Belier and Carabine, the sea-est of dogs to ever hunt.

>>16850810

We played as Italy itself as well as Japan, and I don't think Italy owns any pacific territories, so it never came up.

I mean, I know what happened with WWI Italia, but this is ponderous.

>>16850815

Yeah, I think it's just kind of lost on me because most of it was funposting dares.

>>16850840

>in a break room for an hour

Paid detention or not? Like another anon said, it's like Cthulhu brushed up against those in management.

I wasn't that concerned for Italia but gratefully accept the information.

So, next step? We wait it out or go aggro?

A pair of new armored cruisers are laid down. Slightly enlarged versions of the previous class, this version boasts slightly improved armor protection to auxiliary locations, expanded ammunition capacity and a faster speed. We also get a rather major breakthrough, with main battery turrets being unlocked. With this, it becomes possible to create battleships mounting more that just the traditional pair of fore and aft dual guns. And only a month after that, our gun manufactures announce they have a working 15" gun!

Now, here's the issue. The minimum tonnage to mount wing turrets of 15" is 24,000t, which currently is beyond our dock size. We are 4 month away from being able to mount 14" wing turrets to a design though. Alternatively, we could maintain our current gun sizes and create a smaller, but more lightly armed all-big-guns battleship with those.

>>16851116

I have laid out four possible routes we could take for our next capital ship, if we so desire to lay one down now.

>Proposal 1

This proposal mounts 8 14" guns in four twin turrets, with six being able to fire to each side. She is rather well armored, but has a short range, only able to operate in Northern Europe and the Med.

>Proposal 2

Proposal 2 strips some of the armor off of the previous design, redistributing the weight to improved crew quarters, longer range and a faster speed. A bit more well-rounded than the other, if I do say so.

>Proposal 3

The best defense must be a good offense. The armor is reduced even further in order to accommodate another pair of turrets, bringing the total broadside to 8 guns. The range and accommodations are also sacrificed, and the speed is middling.

>Proposal 4

A battleship cruiser, this design reduces the armor yet again, but take on a different form of protection, speed. This design can make 27 knots, with the usual restrictions most of the other designs share.

Do any of these designs satisfy? I'll leave it to the Admiralty to debate for the evening and will return in the morning to see if any conclusion has been reached about what design is most suitable for our purposes.

>>16851237

>You posted the third design twice

welp

We lay down our first dreadnought, the Blanq Flag I must apologize, I meant to name the ship class "Blanq Chevallier", but forgot the "Blanq" part, so you get a ship class and a name for the same ship. Parliment then instantly takes away a portion of our budget, which means we're now running a bit of a deficit. It isn't a major loss, but I place some of our larger ships in reserve for now. The Germans sell us some new shell fillings, which should quite improve the results of our hits from now on. Other nations are laying down their own dreadnoughts as well, as Germany begins work on the Hannover, Britain the Hood, Italy the Napoli, Japan the Yashima as well as a battlecruiser known as the Tsukuba and finally the United States with the Illinois. And we also get another size increase to our destroyers, which will allow us some serious improvements in our light forces capabilities. I'll include a couple potential designs.

First design gives three 3" guns to a broadside as well as three torpedo tubes, a minor increase in speed compared to our previous line of destroyers and the range to conduct operations abroad. Second design increases the speed a bit more, but sacrifices a torpedo tube in order to upgrade the guns to 4". This design could reach 33kts if made short range and with cramped quarters.

>>16851470

Yes, but I don't have much to say on it, even though poor impulse control caused me to shell out for the early access. I am following Task Force Admiral quite closely though, since it's offering a level of autism a bit more authentic and that appeals to me.

Well isn't that great. We've just laid down our new capital ship when we get a major research breakthrough. Fantastic. At the very least we've got a run of five new destroyers laid down. In the next two months though, two separate rebellions take place, one affecting the United States and one in our own newly conquered liberated African colony. For a variety of reasons, Austria is also getting antsy. A quick look at their Navy shows that, while their battleship fleet is rather pathetic, they do posses a rather imposing armored cruiser lineup, in designs that closely mirror some Italian models.

Two good things happen to use in quick succession; the British sell us the rights to improved torpedoes and the people of France band together to buy us a new battleship! Now, did we want to lay down a second Chevallier-class, or a new design that can incorporate the improved technology such as a passive torpedo defense system?

>>16852251

Let's see if we can save money by making a small battlecruiser, something like pic related. We can save a lot of tonnage by dropping the main battery to 11" since it's unlikely to ever encounter an actual dreadnought, and we don't need TPS or a large secondary battery because the enemy destroyers can barely even keep up with it.

This would certainly be doable. We could also drop the wing turrets and maximize the caliber.

Given the lack of response, I will go with the original suggestion. Despite Austria's small size, it's cruiser fleet evidently has some officials worried about the future. What should we suggest to calm them down?

>lay down expensive hull that we can't cancel

>scientists figure out massively important tech next month

At the very least our newest line of destroyers has begun finishing production.

Our renewed efforts on espionage prove fruitful, as we manage to look up the Hannover's skirt to see what she's packing. While her armament is small in caliber, she does mount it all on the centerline, so she's rather weight efficient. Boy, it would sure be nice if our colonial troops had anywhere near the same motivation. You would think that with half the fucking Navy sitting off-shore they'd manage to put down some guerrillas, but no. Just to rub it in, the intel community pulls plans on the Japanese battlecruiser as well.

back to the cagie for me

As our two new armored cruisers have finished construction, our budget has opened up quite a bit as well. Here are three possible options for new large ship designs.

>Prop 1, 12" battleship

With the same tonnage as our previously laid down BB, this one exchanges the 14" guns for 12" ones, but as a result manages to fit more in a broadside.

>Prop 2, 14" battleship

This design stays with the 14" guns, but with our new center-line mounting tech we can reduce the tonnage by about 2,000 while improving it's survivabilty.

>Prop 3, 8" armored cruiser

For only a 3% increase in tonnage compared to our last class of armored cruisers, our recent tech advances can let us add another set of guns, beef up the armor and increase the speed to 27kts.

So, do any of these desi-oh what's this, word from our intelligence agency?

Back to the designs.

Okay, having incorporated the modifications, the 12" battleship became much smaller, while the armored cruiser managed to fit normal engines rather than speed-focused ones. Now, do any of these appeal?

And of course a choice in how to spend the money that rightfully belongs to us.

We go with a pair of the small 14" variants, as having extra hulls in the water means less eggs in one basket. Intelligence lets us in on the Japanese dreadnoughts currently building, and the British are the first to launch a dreadnought, the Hood, that closely mirrors the historical Dreadnought. Tensions across Europe and the world are increasing as the arms race continues, so it is of little surprise that we're soon asked who we expect to have to cross swords with.

Our answer?

An improvement to our DDs, oil engines and triple turrets greets us, while tensions with Austria get to nearly the breaking point. Of course, the Prime Minister decides that now is the best time to weigh in on his opinion of Austrian wine and women. Of course, he's completely right.

The Austrians appear to have reacted rather poorly to our assertions that "Austrian girls fuck Turks". Hostilities officially begin the 1st of March, and three days later a sizable force of our fleet, with the newly minted Blanq Flag at it's core, approaches the Austrian port of Cattaro for a bombardment. Running behind schedule, they are approaching the coast later in the afternoon than hoped, but the mission is continued, until ships are spotted on the horizon. The armored cruisers Baguette Launcher and Jamal De Bourbon set off in prusuit, and while FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS attempts to follow:

>04 16:15 Engines are giving trouble due to extended high speed steaming!

As the sun begins to set it becomes apparent that pressing this battle as of now isn't the smartest idea. Instead, the fleet breaks off contact and steams for Italy's Eastern coast. We spend the night touring that, and as dawn breaks move back towards the target, even though a couple destroyers get lost in the night.

Also, for reference, the most up to date info on the Austrian Navy.

Seeing as how FUCK OFF PIZZANIGGERS is incapable of making more than 17kts, she is detached and ordered to return home. Once again a ship is spotted and our armored cruisers close in for the kill, but their first victory is rather underwhelming, a small and essentially unarmed patrol boat. As the land target comes into view, our heavy ships form a firing line and reduce it to rubble over the course of an hour or so. A rather leisurely retreat then occurs, with no further contact with the enemy.

At this point a formal blockade is established, as there's clearly no feasible way for merchant traffic to pass out of the sea. Thus, the submarine arm of our Navy is regulated to fleet support and raids into the Adriatic are planned. Seeing as how the Austrian battleship fleet is weaker than some of our cruisers, we send a large force of those.

calling it, have someone to pick up at the airport tomorrow morning

>>16853316

Not really, going for barrel count over caliber is feasible, but triple turrets are annoyingly unreliable at this stage. Place a ship with 3 double turrets against a ship with 2 triples and the doubles ship will generally have more rounds going downrange at any given point. But it's a very good way to save tonnage.

testing because once again this piece of shit website is showing me the thread as it was a week ago

Our cruiser fleet soon encounters an Austrian response force, consisting of a variety of both armored and light cruisers with accompanying escorts. The Austrian Lissa-class is a serious combatant. While it can't match the speed of our cruisers, it packs a heavy armament and solid armor that we would have to close the distance to under 6,000 yards to reliably penetrate. But the question of whether to try that isn't answered by our own force, but rather the unexpected arrival of three of our blockading capital ships, led by the Blanq Flag.

>>16853579

>>16853404

Added to my list

>>16853700

Technically I think only the building country needs access, but you risk a fuel shortage if you don't have access yourself.

>>16853756

wrong image

The captain of the Blanq Flag is a aggressive commander and quickly takes up the role as the spearhead of our raid. The Austrians begin a rather disorganized retreat, although their destroyers attempt to cover them, forcing even the headstrong Blanq Flag to turn back to avoid a potential torpedo attack. But it would seem we don't have to worry about enemy torpedoes half as much as our own. At 10:46 the Baguette Launcher spots a torpedo heading directly for her, from our side of the battlefield. A rapid demand to know who has fired a torpedo is signaled throughout the fleet, revealing the culprit: Ndongo Bonaparte.

A court martial will surely follow soon after the action is over.

>>16853779

The torpedo narrowly misses our cruisers, passing in between the lead ship and it's followers to no harm. As the Austrian fleet continues to retreat, we pick off any obvious targets that present themselves. Several merchants are dispatched, and after our supporting capital ships soften it up, our cruisers move in to bombard a coastal battery. It lands a few hits on Baguette Launcher, but her armor holds. All in all, this proves to be a rather modest victory, but it's a victory that will add up.

But perhaps more interesting than what's happening on the sea is what will soon be occurring above it.

Our gun manufacturing base is relentless, and we have a practical 16" gun before the decade is out. Now, we might not have a suitable hull for such a gun for another half decade, but if we wanted to go with a minimal amount of barrels it would be possible.

Another action occurs, this time off the coast of Greece. With the relative positioning of our forces and the superior speed of our armored cruisers, it is a rather simple affair to cut off the retreat. Soon, a Minerva-class begins to fall out of line and after a protracted battering, the DD Plaisir Anale moves in to deliver a final blow.

In the process of dispatching the Minerva-class, Baugette Launcher took roughly a dozen hits, but none of them save a fire control hit are particularly damaging. Another Minerva is pinned to the island of Kefalonia and gunned down, with Le Fucklle finishing it off. While the Minerva-class might have been a decent combatant when introduced, it is horribly outdated against comparatively rapid fire 8" guns en-masse. Heavy rains follow the dispatching of the second Minerva, so to avoid a potential close-range torpedo exchange our force withdraws.

On the plus side, we've eliminated two armored cruisers from the Austrian Navy. However, these were rather outdated models, not the new Lissa-classes that actually pose a significant threat. I find it unlikely that we will see much of the Austrian battleships, as they are horribly undergunned and are actually weaker than most of the cruisers fielded by either side.

We're even more unlikely to see them now that the Austrians are asking for peace. How do we respond?

The Austrian's appear to know what's good for them, and after only four months of war agree to a peace. A rather short and uneventful war, but Austria is usually bullied in such a way. Now, do we want to take Dalmatia or demand muh reparations?

>>16854056

Never forget the Belkan War

>>16854071

Absolutely never

With our victory we seize a significant portion of the coastline, gaining ownership over three ports. If any future war erupts with Italy, this would permit operations along their East coast. If we build airbases along here, any war with Italy is going to have non-stop air combat as our bases raid each other Tensions across Europe settle as peace is renewed, although our budget suffers with it. Still, with a few ships placed in reserve and with a major ship nearly finished we should be fine.

However, lets talk about our light cruiser forces. We currently have three models of cruiser, the Coetlogon14, Abloux, and Surcouf. Now, the Surcouf's are pretty much useless, they've just been holding down the colonies. The Coetlogons and the Ablouxs have been present in most of our engagements however, and seem to be workable, if not fantastic, as of right now. But the problem is that each year, the average ship is getting faster, and while 22kts was perfectly good in 1900, in 1909 it's only average. In 5 years or so it'll be poor, and 5 after that these ships will almost certainly be a liability, not an asset to our fleet.

So what can we do? Well, lets look at the Coetlogon. If we replace the engines we can bump the speed up to 26kts, which will be decent for a decade or so. We can replace the main guns with improved models and improve the fire control as well. While it wouldn't make it a top-tier ship, it would be rather on-par with most other medium-caliber light cruisers. All this would cost about 14,000 units of cash. Now here's the problem: if we simply take the design, hand it to a shipyard and say "build this, but with all the advances of modern hull construction, form and armor" we can have all of the exact same stats, but also change the armor configuration from a protected cruiser to a turtleback for those unaware, a turtleback armor configuration means that an incoming shell has to penetrate both the armored belt AND the deck in order to hit an engine room or magazine. And this entire process would cost just over 15,000 units. For the Abloux, a similar story plays out, but with the costs being 20k for a rebuild, 24k for a new ship.

And of course, we have all the other avenues of naval construction to worry about as well. We're doing alright as far as capital ships, but we don't hold any decisive edge over anyone other than Austria really. Destroyers we lead in, but we also haven't designed any of the 900t models we can. And finally, there lies the question of what we do with the predeadnought battleships in our fleet.

So, for the Admiralty's consideration, what should be done with our construction programs over the next few years?

A small set of light cruisers is laid down. Once completed, they should nicely serve as fleet scouts and general defensive ships. We'll go ahead and decommission a couple of the ships they'll be replacing, since that'll save us some costs. Bermuda breaks free from the British after only a couple short months of fighting that I failed to mention. And our first battle-cruiser sets sail…and immediately proves to be a disappointment.

Well then. We could send it it to have the engines replaced, or just accept it as a 25kt ship. But while that's being debated, there's another choice to be made. One of our ships might be saved from the scrapyard, do we want to preserve her?

Our spies pull the plans for the US battlecruiser, she is a rather mighty beast, and probably has the ability to bring all of her guns to bear on a single target. Soon afterwards, the US sells us the rights to some pretty major tech. Painfully though, construction costs have burned through our cash reserves, so they'll be slowed down a bit. But, we could intentionally increase the tensions by waving our dick at Africa a bit. Shall we?

>>16854306

>>16854299

While we probably will, the cost to do so is roughly 30,000. With 2BB and 3CL in construction during a period of low tensions, that's outside of our budget.

Between some dickwaving and persuasion, we manage to make up a bunch of the budget. Such imperialism in the African territories does raise tensions among the other European nations, most significantly Italy and Austria, who could be gearing up for a round two. In fact, by the beginning of 1911 it appears that we might be thrust into a conflict with Italy again. How should we respond.

Oh, and we also get cross deck fire, although at a period where it's essentially useless to us.

Medium range submarines are researched, which are much more effective than the coastal varieties we currently employ. Our last BB in construction finishes, and in the same month Italy approaches us with an offer of reducing tensions.

Now, here's something interesting. If we suggest that a disarmament conference takes place, that could, in theory, result in the forced scrapping of 15 capital ships, but none of ours since they've all finished construction.

Alternatively, we could tell them to go fuck themselves.

Forgot to include a fleet image

War with Italy seems to be confirmed. Our first series of practical airships reaches usable status and I've ordered the construction of airbases in France, Tunisia and Dalmatia to give us eyes on the Italians no matter where the action takes place. With tensions so high, our budget is well in the black, but what should we be spending it on? Again, I've included several proposals for consideration.

that's it for tonight

>>16854494

Submarines are much more abstracted. There's little reason not to keep the coastals in service, but I have laid down 10 medium range subs, for a cost of 2,000 a turn.

>>16854514

>>16854535

An upgunned DD that's still practical would look something like this. It would probably dominate other DDs and even pose a minor threat to light cruisers.

>no idea what I'm doing

Good. That's exactly how I like Rule the Wa/v/es to work. Game is no fun when you play it full meta.

>>16854931

We have three classes of B, each with strengths and weaknesses. The Marengos and Friedlands cost the same to maintain, Le Gros Penis costs about 50% more.

At perhaps the worst possible moment, the economy slides back. I presume we will tell the government that we need cash to remove more Lasagna, but I'll wait to hear any further input.

A Q-ship is an AMC (Armed Merchant Cruiser, essentially a civilian cargo ship with some guns slapped on it) with hidden gun ports used to bait submarines into attacking them before dropping the ruse and gunning the submarine down. Debatably, some consider them to be war crimes, but this isn't represented in-game.

We get an early breakthrough that will essentially eliminate the need to mount wing turrets. Currently, our BBs are in the low 20,000 ton range, armed with a small number of 14" guns. To compare to other nations:

>Austria

A lone 18,200t BB armed with 6 12" guns is all they have for BBs right now. However, they do have two 24,000t BCs, Triols, in production, details unknown.

>Italy

A 19,200t BB armed with 6 13" guns, along with a BC variant that is much faster and with thicker armor. In all likelihood it has short range to offset that. They also have a 21,700t BC armed with 10 13" guns, 8 of which can fire on broadside, with another in production.

>Germany

The Germans have built up, they have four Hannover-classes, each at 18,300t, but only armed with 6 11" guns. They are very well protected, with a 13.5" belt. Next on their production line is a set of 3 Lothringen-classes, each with 10 12" guns. And finally, a Helgoland-class is being built. While the details are unknown, it is expected to be the largest ship when it launches, at 27,100t. They also have a pair of 6x12" BCs.

>Great Britain

Four Hood-classes, at 20,200 and with 10x12" make up their current BB fleet. A lone Victorious-class is in construction, 24,300t. Two Invincible-class BCs, at 21,200 are in construction, as well as a 22,500t one of the Australia-class.

>Japan

While we don't really have much to fear from Japan, they do have four Yashima-class BBs at 20,600t and armed with 12 11" guns. They've got a Shikishima-class BB of 23,800t building, and the Tsukba-class BC is their sole BC, armed with 8 11" guns as well.

>USA

Three Illinois-class BBs, 20,100t, 10x12" guns. Two Minnesota-class BBs at 27,100t are in construction. As far as BCs go, they have four Saratoga-classes in the water, at 20,900t and armed with 10 12" guns. Finally, their newest BC, the 26,300t Independence-class is building.

So, with all this in mind, we can do several things to try and improve our capital ship game. We could follow Germany and the US's mindset and go big, creating the largest and most powerful ship possible. Or we could keep with our relatively small but efficient ships. And what do you know, suddenly the Prime Minister is on board with a naval expansion!

>>16855198

All our current heavy hitters are slow as shit. I prefer big guns.

>>16855198

>>16855208

I have drawn up designs that seem to meet each of your preferences, while doing my best to keep them consistent with our lines.

>>16855212

Sadly, no.