Sunday multiplayer Game Feb 15

gascan

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Scenario: Channel Raid
British fleet consisted of 8 BB, 3 BC, 9 PDN, 4 AC, 2 CL, 2 FL, 26 DD, and a second force of 3 CL, 1 FL, 12 DD to the southeast
German fleet consisted of 5 BC, 4 BB, 6 CL, 27 DD
Wind: 15 knots WNW
Sea state 3
5:10PM, 19 June, 1916

The Graf von Spee had the modern battle line, I had the old line, while Kotori took the battlecruisers and escorts. Rich M had the southeast forces, HMSWarspite had the armored cruisers up front, and simjockey had the escorts for the modern battle line.

2 hours, 23 minutes
Debatable Defeat: British 23768/130736 vs German 33194/187236
British: of 69, 2 heavily damaged, 19 lost (Benbow, Indefatigable exploded, Inflexible took a block-shot at the waterline but survived)
German: of 42, 16 lost

That covers the setup and ending from the British perspective. I'll write up a more thorough description of the action, along with some screenshots and my thoughts on the action probably sometime tomorrow. I'd be interested to hear the German perspective, and anything from other British players.
 
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I crashed out before the main engagement but my units seemed to be in two places at once so I'm not completely sure that what I saw was the same as what everyone else was seeing.
 

gascan

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Sorry for the delay guys, school is getting in the way. I'll write it up tonight after my evening class. ANav, you wrote up a good report for the mailing list, would you like to post it here as well?
 

Paladin851

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I crashed out before the main engagement but my units seemed to be in two places at once so I'm not completely sure that what I saw was the same as what everyone else was seeing.
Was more then a little surprised to see both the XVII and XVIII half flotillas pass my cruisers and head straight for the British battle line and there doom at 30 knots. I was seeing the same thing anav was. Some kind of synhc problem maybe ??
 

gascan

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I need to go to sleep, so I have the photos up but not the full report. I'll edit it in tomorrow.

Initial positions and the turn north.


Aftermath of a major collision within the German battle line, and the approach of some of the light forces.


The situation at 5:46. The modern British battleships (far left) have turned east, and the older predreadnoughts attempt to cut the corner and get closer to the main group.


A view from the German perspective. British battleships heading east find their T neatly crossed by the German war machines, and their older predreadnoughts are too far away to help.


HMS Benbow plunges into the depths after exploding.


Some of Bryn's lag-invincible destroyers, and the immediate change after he dropped.


HMS Indefatigable explodes and sinks. The battleships continue south while the destroyers press home their attack, causing chaos in the German line.
 

gascan

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The British dreadnoughts break away from four German destroyers to prevent a torpedo attack. The old battleships open fire and drive off the destroyers. These are the first shots of the predreadnoughts.


Overview of the situation at 6:45, showing the British line regrouping. Inflexible is disengaging to focus on repairs, and the dreadnoughts are opening up on Lutzow. Meanwhile, the German capital ships begin to regroup.


Temeraire's rudder got jammed to starboard and nearly collided with Hindustan, though no damage was dealt.


The final situation at 7:32 when we all finally signed off. The German line is turning to disengage and abandon Lutzow to sink. The British are regrouped into a single line of battle and ready for another fight. British light forces are skirmishing with the Germans, trying to slow them down so the main line will be able to catch up.


For the most part, I had fun. Despite mistakes, I thought everyone got things figured out and did well.

Lessons Learned

Communication
We had some trouble communicating at first, that took a little bit to clear up. Lesson: make sure you are clearly able to tell when you receive a message, so you can respond quickly.

Sea Room
When escorts are too close to their charges, they can interfere with the maneuvers of the bigger ships, especially if they are under control of two different players. Lesson: in battle, destroyers should stay about a turning radius away from battleships, which allows the less maneuverable ships enough room to maneuver and give the destroyers some extra time before they need to respond. I've heard this called sea room. Can anyone tell me what a battleship's turning radius is?

Destroyer Defenses
At one point, four destroyers at about 10km caused the modern dreadnoughts to turn away for fear of a torpedo attack. The predreadnoughts opened fire and drove them off with significant damage. Lesson: battleships can fight destroyers, and sometimes it is worthwhile to target destroyers instead of other capital ships.

Turn to the South
While Simjockey sent in his destroyers, I suggested that the capital ships turn south. This allowed us to disengage and regroup for continued action, but left Simjockey unsupported. Thinking back on it, we could have continued north and regrouped while he was attacking, and been in position to continue the fight immediately. This would may have allowed my predreadnoughts to get into range.

Action Level
I spent from 5:10 to 6:40 without firing a shot. Perhaps I'm more action oriented than other players, but I would have had more fun if I had been able to fight much sooner. I'm going to rework my scenario the Battle of the Broad Fourteens so that all forces can enter the action sooner. I will also release some other scenarios I've been working on with the idea of getting into action sooner.
 
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