kotori87
Member
Hey, folks. In celebration of me fixing my confusing networking problems (even the experts couldn't solve it, but a $10 network card did), I played a pair of multiplayer games on Sunday. I also took some video, which I edited and posted on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLFdhewl83M
The first battle I played was the scenario The 3rd Battle Squadron, with Paladin and Anav. I took the 3rd BS, Anav took the Harwich Force, and Paladin played the 1SG.
The battle began with the 3rd BS coming into contact with the scouts of the 1SG. Anav and I figured that our only chance to take on the German BCs would be to unite our two groups, and then charge in for a battle at point-blank range. I turned my squadron South-Southeast, and Anav turned his forces west to meet mine. I also began to slowly reform my armored cruisers into a single unit, but the temptation of shooting light cruisers with HE guns with bigger ships that couldn't be hurt was too great. I sent my armored cruisers chasing off after the distant light cruisers, secure in the knowledge that they couldn't hurt me, and I could always turn and run if things got bad.
Here was the disposition of the fleets at the end of the cruiser action:
Silly me, I forgot that Battlecruisers are faster. After 10-15 minutes of pounding on scouting cruisers at long range, one of my armored cruisers spotted a battlecruiser. The result was predictably devastating to my armored cruiser:
All the while, poor Anav and the Harwich Force had to sit back and watch my Armored Cruisers get chewed through one by one, as the battlecruisers raced closer and closer to the ancient battleships of the 3rd Battle Squadron. I turned my battleships away to keep the range open and give Harwich Force more time to close; then, seeing that even turning away wouldn't be enough, I ordered one of my escorting destroyer squadrons to close for torpedo attack in the hopes of forcing Paladin's battlecruiser line to turn away for a little bit. Once again, the decrepit machines of the 3rd Battle Squadron failed me, as I realized too late that their outdated torpedoes had very short range. Paladin intercepted the destroyer strike with his own cruisers and destroyers, and in the end only two torpedos were fired at all, of which the single hit proved to be a dud.
The 3rd Battle Squadron ran for as long as possible, trying to meet up with the Harwich Force and gain the weather gauge, but at 17 knots vs the approximately 24 knots of the First Scout Group, it was only a matter of time before they caught up. At 20,000 meters, I ordered a sequential turn straight towards the battlecruisers. At 19,000 meters, I realized that would put the wind against me, so I ordered a simultaneous turn for an intercept course on the battlecruisers. Then, reconsidering, I changed the order into a sequential turn. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as my whole line fell into chaos moments before the battlecruisers opened fire.
The entire amoeba-shaped blob of battleships (it could no longer be called a line) advanced towards the enemy at an average of 9 knots, and ships began to drop left and right. Dreadnought began firing as soon as possible, and the other battleships joined in around 14,000 meters range. They slogged on like true british, shrugging off the German shells so they could fire their own. They took a serious beating, and lost several ships, but in return they took down the lead battlecruiser in the German line. Paladin soon changed his mind about charging towards the advancing brits, and reversed his course. By this point, it was practically over. Most of the 3rd Battle Squadron was reduced to burning, sinking wrecks, and the rest either exploded as the Germans retreated or had already sunk.
Anav changed course of the Harwich Force, this time on an intercept with the German forces and not the soon-to-be-ex-3rd-battle-squadron. Unfortunately, just as Anav's forces began to engage Paladin's screening elements, another player wandered into the Jutland chat room looking for a game, and we elected to end the game early because the outcome was, for all practical purposes, already decided. The end was declared a humiliating defeat for the British, with 22 ships lost out of 35, vs the German 2 ships lost and 16 damaged out of 27.
Once everyone had exited the game and re-entered the chatroom, we saw that the player who had wanted to join a game had left, saying he'd come back later. Anav said he didn't have time for another game, so he left. It was down to Paladin and me. I asked Paladin if I could check if my computer could host, and I created a game with the custom scenario Red Sky at Morning. Paladin successfully joined, and I launched the game.
I hadn't played the Red Sky at Morning scenario for a while, so I decided it would be safe enough to leave my ships be until they came in contact with the enemy, and set about FRAPSing some video. Just as my first scene was coming to a close, Paladin's scouting force suddenly appeared out of the murk and opened fire. It took me a few seconds to turn off the recording and react to the attack, and by the time I had issued all my orders, my destroyer was in a bad way. I set my scouting group on a course back towards my battleships, but the destroyer was hopelessly slowed down and unable to escape. It put up a grand fight, but soon went down.
While the destroyer was putting up its last stand, I checked up on the wind and weather. I estimated that my best bet for victory against the battleships I knew Paladin had would be to position myself almost due east of his own capital ships. I started paying close attention to what he did with his light forces, observing when he turned his ships back and what direction they took. I figured that my biggest hint as to the whereabouts of his battleships would come when his scout group encountered my battleships, and that they would most likely (after the initial panic) sail straight back to their own "big brothers." And so, I set about to make it so.
The planned encounter between Paladin's scout group and my battleships was a little shorter than I had planned. After only a few broadsides, his cruiser was a burning wreck, and the destroyer was quickly headed away. My own cruiser was a little out of position, but I sent it racing in pursuit. Several more tense minutes passed as the distance opened between my cruiser and his destroyer, and then the destroyer passed beyond sight. I chose to keep going, hoping that I'd be in position, and turned my battleships to follow. The steadily rising sun increased visibility, and a short while later, the destroyer came back in sight, followed by two British battleships. I ordered my cruiser into a U-turn, but it was too late, and my last scout disappeared in a hail of 13.5" shells. But my plan had worked: my battleships were practically perfectly positioned. The wind was blowing the smoke away from their gun sights, and the rising sun was almost directly behind them. The two battleship groups spotted each other, and turned south for a long-range gunnery duel.
Damage quickly accumulated on both sides. One of my battleships suffered several full broadsides right at the waterline, and the other one lost three of its six turrets. The British were even worse off. I'm not sure if it was a lucky magazine hit or the benefits of wind and sun, but by the time I looked at Paladin's forces there was only one ship remaining. It got several more nasty hits in on my lead ship, but soon it was reduced to sinking condition. At that point, I took a look at my ships and saw that both had extensive flooding and fires. Although Paladin was sinking faster, my ships would eventually be lost too. The battle ended when Paladin's last ship slipped beneath the waves, and the computer agreed with my conclusion that my own ships were totalled. The end result was a draw, with both sides losing all four ships.
These two battles were a glorious tribute to the greatness of multiplayer gaming. I'd played a lot of single-player games before this, but none of those could compare to the heightened challenge of having an intelligent human controlling the other side, making human decisions and human mistakes. I eagerly look forward to the next big game this Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLFdhewl83M
The first battle I played was the scenario The 3rd Battle Squadron, with Paladin and Anav. I took the 3rd BS, Anav took the Harwich Force, and Paladin played the 1SG.
The battle began with the 3rd BS coming into contact with the scouts of the 1SG. Anav and I figured that our only chance to take on the German BCs would be to unite our two groups, and then charge in for a battle at point-blank range. I turned my squadron South-Southeast, and Anav turned his forces west to meet mine. I also began to slowly reform my armored cruisers into a single unit, but the temptation of shooting light cruisers with HE guns with bigger ships that couldn't be hurt was too great. I sent my armored cruisers chasing off after the distant light cruisers, secure in the knowledge that they couldn't hurt me, and I could always turn and run if things got bad.
Here was the disposition of the fleets at the end of the cruiser action:
Silly me, I forgot that Battlecruisers are faster. After 10-15 minutes of pounding on scouting cruisers at long range, one of my armored cruisers spotted a battlecruiser. The result was predictably devastating to my armored cruiser:
All the while, poor Anav and the Harwich Force had to sit back and watch my Armored Cruisers get chewed through one by one, as the battlecruisers raced closer and closer to the ancient battleships of the 3rd Battle Squadron. I turned my battleships away to keep the range open and give Harwich Force more time to close; then, seeing that even turning away wouldn't be enough, I ordered one of my escorting destroyer squadrons to close for torpedo attack in the hopes of forcing Paladin's battlecruiser line to turn away for a little bit. Once again, the decrepit machines of the 3rd Battle Squadron failed me, as I realized too late that their outdated torpedoes had very short range. Paladin intercepted the destroyer strike with his own cruisers and destroyers, and in the end only two torpedos were fired at all, of which the single hit proved to be a dud.
The 3rd Battle Squadron ran for as long as possible, trying to meet up with the Harwich Force and gain the weather gauge, but at 17 knots vs the approximately 24 knots of the First Scout Group, it was only a matter of time before they caught up. At 20,000 meters, I ordered a sequential turn straight towards the battlecruisers. At 19,000 meters, I realized that would put the wind against me, so I ordered a simultaneous turn for an intercept course on the battlecruisers. Then, reconsidering, I changed the order into a sequential turn. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as my whole line fell into chaos moments before the battlecruisers opened fire.
The entire amoeba-shaped blob of battleships (it could no longer be called a line) advanced towards the enemy at an average of 9 knots, and ships began to drop left and right. Dreadnought began firing as soon as possible, and the other battleships joined in around 14,000 meters range. They slogged on like true british, shrugging off the German shells so they could fire their own. They took a serious beating, and lost several ships, but in return they took down the lead battlecruiser in the German line. Paladin soon changed his mind about charging towards the advancing brits, and reversed his course. By this point, it was practically over. Most of the 3rd Battle Squadron was reduced to burning, sinking wrecks, and the rest either exploded as the Germans retreated or had already sunk.
Anav changed course of the Harwich Force, this time on an intercept with the German forces and not the soon-to-be-ex-3rd-battle-squadron. Unfortunately, just as Anav's forces began to engage Paladin's screening elements, another player wandered into the Jutland chat room looking for a game, and we elected to end the game early because the outcome was, for all practical purposes, already decided. The end was declared a humiliating defeat for the British, with 22 ships lost out of 35, vs the German 2 ships lost and 16 damaged out of 27.
Once everyone had exited the game and re-entered the chatroom, we saw that the player who had wanted to join a game had left, saying he'd come back later. Anav said he didn't have time for another game, so he left. It was down to Paladin and me. I asked Paladin if I could check if my computer could host, and I created a game with the custom scenario Red Sky at Morning. Paladin successfully joined, and I launched the game.
I hadn't played the Red Sky at Morning scenario for a while, so I decided it would be safe enough to leave my ships be until they came in contact with the enemy, and set about FRAPSing some video. Just as my first scene was coming to a close, Paladin's scouting force suddenly appeared out of the murk and opened fire. It took me a few seconds to turn off the recording and react to the attack, and by the time I had issued all my orders, my destroyer was in a bad way. I set my scouting group on a course back towards my battleships, but the destroyer was hopelessly slowed down and unable to escape. It put up a grand fight, but soon went down.
While the destroyer was putting up its last stand, I checked up on the wind and weather. I estimated that my best bet for victory against the battleships I knew Paladin had would be to position myself almost due east of his own capital ships. I started paying close attention to what he did with his light forces, observing when he turned his ships back and what direction they took. I figured that my biggest hint as to the whereabouts of his battleships would come when his scout group encountered my battleships, and that they would most likely (after the initial panic) sail straight back to their own "big brothers." And so, I set about to make it so.
The planned encounter between Paladin's scout group and my battleships was a little shorter than I had planned. After only a few broadsides, his cruiser was a burning wreck, and the destroyer was quickly headed away. My own cruiser was a little out of position, but I sent it racing in pursuit. Several more tense minutes passed as the distance opened between my cruiser and his destroyer, and then the destroyer passed beyond sight. I chose to keep going, hoping that I'd be in position, and turned my battleships to follow. The steadily rising sun increased visibility, and a short while later, the destroyer came back in sight, followed by two British battleships. I ordered my cruiser into a U-turn, but it was too late, and my last scout disappeared in a hail of 13.5" shells. But my plan had worked: my battleships were practically perfectly positioned. The wind was blowing the smoke away from their gun sights, and the rising sun was almost directly behind them. The two battleship groups spotted each other, and turned south for a long-range gunnery duel.
Damage quickly accumulated on both sides. One of my battleships suffered several full broadsides right at the waterline, and the other one lost three of its six turrets. The British were even worse off. I'm not sure if it was a lucky magazine hit or the benefits of wind and sun, but by the time I looked at Paladin's forces there was only one ship remaining. It got several more nasty hits in on my lead ship, but soon it was reduced to sinking condition. At that point, I took a look at my ships and saw that both had extensive flooding and fires. Although Paladin was sinking faster, my ships would eventually be lost too. The battle ended when Paladin's last ship slipped beneath the waves, and the computer agreed with my conclusion that my own ships were totalled. The end result was a draw, with both sides losing all four ships.
These two battles were a glorious tribute to the greatness of multiplayer gaming. I'd played a lot of single-player games before this, but none of those could compare to the heightened challenge of having an intelligent human controlling the other side, making human decisions and human mistakes. I eagerly look forward to the next big game this Sunday.
