Ever want to design an Iowa? Here is your chance! Alright, Let's get the record straight once and for all. I don't like these quadrant rules. But If I'm going to play, I need to play by the rules & that means designing the weapons for the Iowa before it becomes a problem. From what I understand, You can only have two operational cannons in either of the side quadrants at any one time. You can have as many in the front or back quadrant (+/- 15% from centerline) as your units allow. So, I have 9 legal cannon mounts.I have 8 units, one obviously has to go to the pump. Which leaves 7 units for weapons. My requirements are: I want to control all cannons by one radio stick. I only have two hands & refuse to be flying all over the radio like a keyboard. (too complicated) They can be rotational or pivoting -NOT fixed! (I will not have a fixed cannon boat) My current plan is: 3 cannons mounted in the back turret, which will pivot. "Pivot" means rotate within the "back quadrant" & never leaves. Two cannons B Turret rotates 180+ degrees Two cannons A Turrent rotates 180+ degrees Use a electric switch on the radio to toggle fire control between turretA & turretB So Fight operation would be: I begin fighting with turretA / turretB is fixed @ center & will not fire turretA runs out of shells I move turretA back to center Throw this "mystery switch" & now turretB responds like turretA did & turretA is fixed @ center & will not fire Don't worry about "You don't have that many channels"; as of yesterday I do. Is this legal?
I guess the other option is Turret A responds to rotate to (less than -15degrees) command & Turret B responds to rotate to (greater than 15degrees) commands. (I believe this is dead easy with my current electronic hardware) Or Turret A & B are 180 degrees opposite each other. So at stick = center: turret A is -90degrees turretB is +90 degrees.
The more I think about it; the more I like: Turret A responds to rotate to left position (less than -15degrees) & Turret B responds to rotate to right position(greater than 15degrees). I will have to play with this this weekend. But I think it would be dead easy using hardware I already have... But using this scheme, I will be following the rules to the letter & the ship won't look like a silly flip floping monster! [}]
That's not nearly as cool as my idea for towing a raft of carpenter ants behind my ship as a boarding party...
Actually, I think it'd be a lot simpler to make one rotate turret with 2 cannons in it, using the extra units as magazine space in the one turret. Achieve the same end, but with less complexity. It's also 2 less cannons to tweak. Also, both of your rotatable cannons can be placed in B turret, giving a much better down-angle, which is always nice for sidemounts.
I don't think that's legal Tuggy, that was my original design but was told that we couldn't break 1 unit cannons into 1/2 units. The only cannons that are legal are 1/2 1 1+1/2, not 2 so I can't "double up" either.
I saw nowhere in the MWCI rules that prohibits using extra units as magazine space. I _have_ seen some discussions on the MWCI mailing list that a lot of people are opposed to doing what you're suggesting. Didn't make sense to me (the opposition) since as far as I'm concerned, it's not like you'd have 4 port (or stbd) sidemounts firing all at once, but a fair number were very negative about that idea. If you want to do it, it's your boat, and if someone tries to pass a rule to ban doing what you're saying, I'll certainly vote against the rule.
I'm not sure why they would ban it, or even not like it? The two forward turrets would never leave cross into the opposing quadrant? Turret A would go from left to front, and Turret B from right to front. But neither would ever "cross over". Seriously, what would they have a problem with?
The way it got explained to me in person (since I thought it was stupid and asked for clarification) is that people feel it would circumvent the rule limiting how many cannons can fire on one side. If you want, post the question on the MWCI mailing list, worst that'll happen is that you hear what I heard. Best case, some people change their minds. Personally, I think a number of rules are rediculous, like limiting number of sidemounts based on length, vice width. No one can tell me (truthfully) that a skinny class 4 BC is going to roll less than a 8 or 9 inch wide tubby 3.5 unit Dreadnought. The rules on that definately need changed, and allow the wide ships (that will roll less) to mount sidemounts. (sorry to b**ch and get off topic)
I understand your frustration here. I must point out that both types of ships a tubby class 4 and a long skinny large battlecruiser will both roll. However a tubby class 4 tends to roll a lot under it's own momemtum. Add some mild chop on the water and zigagging and your tubby class 4 will roll much more quicky and continue to roll with each turn of the rudder. A large class 4 will not roll as quickly during maneuvers. Yes they will roll if they are sitting still and are the water is choppy, particulary if they are beam on. I have seen these ships behave diffenrently when teh conditions on the water are different. Small class 4s will roll more than a large skinny class 4. The length of the ship balances out the high center of gravity to a degree. Small short fat models don't have that luxury. South Carolina is pretty stable but and the Espana is pretty good. Any thing smaller than them like the Michigans, will roll a lot. Heck even the Nassau Class ships roll a lot and they sit low particulary if the guns are mounted in the wings contributing to thier roll. MWCI is that small gun or Biggun?
small guns, Curt. Keep in mind that the 3.5 unit DN I spoke of will at most have one sidemount BB cannon on each side. Not a lot of power to roll an 8" wide 20 pound ship. Most of the firing for them is at low speed, up close, so wave motion is not such a factor. If it was big guns, it'd be a lot more force from the increase in cannons, but with just one BB cannon...
Generaly the cannon and quadrant rule mean for the entire battle. So you can't fire more than the aloted guns into a quadrant throughout the battle. So no it would not be legal. You can however, pivot the cannons anyway you want in a side arc, and rotate the side cannons into the bow or stern arcs. Also, as a practial note, you won't hit much if your cannons are fully propotional. The rotating systems that seam to work best are those with several fixed locations. (Locations 1, 2 and 3) Several people have tried the fully propotional systems, only to find limits on their abilty to drive both ship and turrets at once. Perhaps a Jedi master could do it.... but normal mortals have not yet been able to.
MWCI is small/fast gun. Something that I have wondered is how much the overall high speed of the fast gun ships plays into how much they roll. That's one of the things I plan to look at with my Treaty ships is how the slower speeds impact stability. Right now, I am of the belief that with slower speeds, the ships will be less inclined to roll in calm waters. Mike D
The sidemount limits for MWCI and IRCWCC are not really due to roll condiderations, except with regard to cruisers. It is realy more as a regulation on reltive fire power. The most powerfull ships get more sidemounts, as well as units. It seams to work out well enough to keep the game playable. Ship roll seams to depend on several factors- Hull shape, Center of gravity, and controll inputs- there are others, but of lesser importance. It is not really a critical issue anyway.
