I am trying to plan and outfit my 5.5 unit battlecruiser the best way possible. Does anyone have any recommendations as to how many units I should utilize for pump/armament/magazines, etc?
Which format? What ship is it? Very important questions that will help someone give a good answer to your original question.
Being that you are not allowed dual sidemounts (same turret) and you are allowed 3 sidemounts. I would say a rotating single unit gun in each forward turret with dual stern guns and a 1.5 unit pump. My logic is that you don't want to put all your unit forward where you might be inclined to over use them and leave your bow exposed to much. The dual stern guns because with more speed than most all large ships you can use "cruiser tactics". Then a 1.5 unit pump so that you have a pumping capacity on par with battleships your same size. Mike Butts
Yup. Look at the Washington Treaty Combat section and then under the rules set topic. Do yourself a favor and read it in it's entirety. Study the parts that deal with the construction of your ship so that you can try to do things right the first time and minimize the cost and frustration of rework. Mike Butts
I agree with most of what Mike has said, although I'd avoid the rotates. I'd just fix the guns in place, rotates never work as well as you'd think they should.
I have seen rotating cannons be very reliable in big gun combat. This would give him the ability to have two firing cannons cover a single side. I don't believe the idea of a rotating cannon has been very well developed in fast gun. Most efforts I have seen have innate weak points. Using a cheap easily replaced sealed bearing for rotation is a pretty crucial imho. Then use a well prepared servo that will not be likely to fail once immersed in water. I would recommend a standard servo sized sail winch. Then attach them with a loop of whatever works (hose, oring, wire, etc). make sure you are able to adjust tension and that your ratio of winch wheel size to driven wheel size is correct. However, if you are relatively new to the hobby I would not recommend it. The single fixed gun on each side will be faster and help you get the ship on the water. It is also well accepted to do this setup. I was functioning more in the concept of an "ideal" setup. You will basically be a like a N. Carolina with one less stern gun and 4 extra seconds of speed Mike Butts
The problem with rotates are that captains spend more time playing with the rotates then they do maneuvering the ship. In Big gun since things develop slower, this isn't as much of an issue. In small gun, windows of opportunities to take your shots are smaller, and because the ships are moving faster more attention is required for said maneuvering. I ran a rotate in small gun. It worked flawlessly, never jammed and did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was however, a distraction.
