Anti-Ship mines that do damage to the ship

Foamy

 

The Foamy is wrapped around the outside under the firing pins.
Makes for a nice firm grip below the sharpened rods.

“Thy holy hand grenade is held in thy left hand...”
Ops I digress...

 

The real problem will be to get a ship to be able to deploy these!

 

Yea, youve got a point there. You'd have to find the largest mine deploying ship ever to do it.
Maybe make a Titannic that leaves a trail of mines, even if it isnt legal, youll have the room and wieght.

 

Perhaps they could be put in before battle? another thing is, you would have to mark where they are. If you do though, then other ships could see and avoid it.Also, i still think it should be a blunt end, that makes dents through the balsa into the ship.

 

If my thumb, my drill handle, and other objects can make a hole then a small diameter rod that has a blunt end certainly could.

 

Yepper, the rods should round just like the ball bearing that are fired.

 

yea it would be safer to have the ends rounded to protect anyone retrieving them. next problem, Remebering where they are? if u mark them everyone will see them. Also would it be tethered? if not it might just push it self away. not to mention float to some far end of a pond.

 

Boy, that sounds like what actually happend.
I have thought of having them all attached to a "Drag Line".
First, I need to just build one that works.

 

OK, I have changed them to bullet shapped.

As for them being seen, That is fine with me.
With the wide turning arc I have seen, and the confusion from the other ships on the pond.
I imagine that accidental contact with a mine would be very possible.

A lone large warship trying to avoid an attacking squadron of ships may find it's self in a mine field.

 

Yea. good idea. . what if the drag line gets caught in a prop though?

 

That's hard to do if the drag line is hung underneath each mine, rather than on top. Then if you're still worried, you can use something like a 1/8" or 1/4" rope that they use on sailboats, which is nowhere near flexible enough to really get tangled up in a prop. And if you're STILL worried, hey: it's still a lot better than the "minefields" we used to be using.
The minefields we used to use were 10-foot lengths of fishing line (with the occasional float, to keep it on the surface) that was specifically designed to get tangled in props. it was highly effective in this role, and could bring a battleship to a screeching halt, leaving it a sitting target for anyone nearby. When used in large numbers, it could effectively trap a whole fleet in one section of the pond, allowing the other team free reign of the rest of the pond with transports and other point-scoring ships. But in the end we decided it was TOO effective, and banned the use of prop-tangling minefields. Coming up with a reasonable alternative to that is what this thread is all about. I hope Knight's design works out, because mines do add an interesting dimension to the game.

 

With my new draft, it shows a ring under the mine to attached sinkers and/ or a drag line. So prop tanglement is not a factor.

 

Wow, I have been away for a long time. I like where knight is going. I'm gettin back in the swing of things so i should be visiting this more often.

If the radio idea is used, a flag can come up showing the mine's location. To secure the mine, you could just have a fishing weight on a string. Use an umbrella rig to seperate the mines and have a square pattern.

 

Would this work?

It would be a steel ball with 8 spikes.
The dowel rod would be jammed into the bottom of the pond.
A ship would run into the mine and punch a hole into its own side.
The hitting of the mine would not always garantee th sink of the ship, just like a real mine.
To retrieve it you would grab the dowel and pull it out of the bottom of the pond.
Also the deployer would more than likely remember where they place it so the is little likely hood of lossing the mines.
The ends of the 8 rods would be rounded.
Note that I may have miss spelled som of the words.

To see a photo of it go to the File Manager and find the link that says Mine.bmp
Note that the over head is srunk to fit. The mine would be a round ball with spikes.

 

I agree, sharp pokey things are generally not a good idea. Furthermore, you've got a slight problem in that Big Gun ships would simply bounce off. And since Big Gun is the only ruleset that allows mines, you'll quickly find that people won't really care about hitting them.

Take my word on this. I spent several battle days trying to sink people with the ram bow on my VU. Even on a perfect hit, perpendicular and full speed on a ship with an extra-low penetrable area, and I bounced right off. The only time the ram bow worked was when Gascan pinned my ship against a tree branch so it couldn't absorb the impact.

PS: don't worry folks, I wasn't trying to ram-sink people during combat. Only before and after the battles, and mostly with willing participants

 

Sorry that I have not added anything recent to this discussion. I have been too busy with my Bis/tirp build to devote time to the mines.

I did work up a six rod system with bullet shaped pistons. I was working on a powerful coil system that would be quick enough to where the ship/mine would not have time to bounce.

Going back to the drawing board again....