Hey all, I'm currently building a unarmed ship for MWI, but the rules don't really say what pump rate can be done or speed of the ship, or penetrable area. Current build: HMHS Britannic Knots: 21 Long: 882' Tons: 48158 Thanks for the help.
That's MWCI, right? It says that "convoy ships" go 34 sec/100 feet. Penetrability rules should be the same as for any ship (After all, why should it be any less? I didn't see any mention of pumps, nor have I seen any photos of MWCI transport ships pumping, so I assume they don't have any. The full rules for convoy vessels are in section III of the Campaign Rules of the MWCI rulebook. It's available at: http://www.modelwarshipcombat.com/rules.shtml
Convoys in MWCI, as Carl pointed out, go 34sec/100ft. They are not permitted pumps in MWCI, which sounds harsh, but a surprising number get through. I personally love to run convoy ships and the lack of pump is a challenge I will warn you that big convoys tend to survive less than smaller ones. LSTs and small freighters tend to make it, the big ones draw so much fire that they go down with about the same frequency that they are deployed. I don't want to discourage you from building a ship that you want to build, but big ones draw fire. For regional battles, you usually don't see convoy scenarios, although some areas have started doing one per weekend just to have something different. Is the USS Chicago in your sig line your combat ship? It looks nice!
We have a convoy ship we nickname the "Schoolbus".This merchant ship defies the laws of sinking and just absborbs so much carnage. It actually survived a battle with 3 YAMATOS hunting it down.
Convoys in MWCI have 3 forms of protection: 1) Friendly warships acting as escorts 2) Look unimportant (best defense of the 3) 3) If an enemy warship TOUCHES a convoy, the enemy warship has to go to shore for 30 seconds, penalty period to begin when it reaches shore. This means that a convoy captain can play a dangerous (but fun) game of chicken with warships. I had a great time with Charley Stevens' lil tiny tramp freighter (15" long) getting pursued by a french destroyer. Every time he got close, I'd either pivot in place (lil short boats can do that), or veer towards him, bump him and say "Bad froggie, go home!" He was a little unhappy about that. Made my forward and return trips with no holes I LOVE convoy.
I like that 30 second rule with an enemy ship bumping a convoy ship. Craig maybe we can implement something like that for the anchored blocker ship, enemy ship from either side touches it they are sent to the shore for 30 seconds or better yet they cannot return fire or fire upon enemy ships for 30 seconds. Hmm this may work.
Alternative is to build a mid-size convoy ship and let the enemy sink it right in front of the shore targets you're defending.
