They all do with holes and water in them. I think this is a good discussion and I believe a rule proposal would be a great idea for those who want to battle cruisers. Monk, since you were at our Nats and are a member in good standing, you could run with this as far as you like. I personally would sign on. As Marty said, I don't think anyone would mind a few faster cruisers out there. We have been trying to change rules to encourage more ships built and this could be one of those. I also like the idea of cruiser captains from MWC coming to play and not having to alter their ships. []
I will do some research see how far I can carry it but I’m still bringing a battle ship next year. I won't be the guy with a knife at the gun fight in 09 [] Being the good father I am I will send my kid to swim with the sharks []
If you were running 28 seconds you were sold a bill of goods! Your ship is over 600 ft so it could go 26 seconds.
No, you don't understand, his boat still does 28 seconds because that's all they can fire the boilers up to get out of her []. Danny, you have a year, maybe we can see 27 seconds????
It's just that everything seams to work better when she is running 28. I kept playing with the props and finally got a pair that STAYS ON. I've tried soldering them on and still lost one. So if it aint really that broke why fix it. She aint no spring chicken either! I even tried adjusting the pitch (which I have no idea what it is set at). She didn't do something right so back to 28. I know I haven't been challenged in speed since it went to 26. Only chickens run away and I don't run. Ask young Mr. Graham, As he would tell you I didn't move when founded me hiding at NATS. Danny
You sure did not move! But... you could have parked better! He parked with his port side to the pier, and young graham just lined up his three forward guns and layed into him. I arrived too late to help much but did get some side guns into his attacker and chased off the other one.
When the cruisers and DDs became 1 sec faster, it signifigantly improved the usefullness of cruisers. When cruisers were slow they were fast battleship food. Most captains could not keep them afoat. When they gained that 1 sec, enough of a edge in speed was avaible to either make an escape (often) or get in position to make a good stern gun attack(less often) However, they have not become any kind of "super ship". A fast battleship can still kill a cruiser, but only under certain conditions- The cruiser captain needs to have made a bad error, or the cruiser was being hunted by several fast battleships. One fast battleship might get a cruiser, but it would take an entire battle, and the battleship would stand a good chance of just sucking up all the cruisers stern guns. As far as fast cruisers attacking battleship- they(cruisers) are a nusance. The dammage they do tends not to be critical, but it adds up, and is a pain for the battleship captains. It should be considered an accompishment for a cruiser to sink a battleship. It can (and has) been done, but not often. Once you have fast cruisers, it make things interesting in fleet battles. Fast battleships, cannot just run away anymore when they want to. A dammaged fast battleship running to cruiser-zone is likly to very unhappy- death by a thousand cuts and all that. Of course a cruiser, no mater how fast, will want to think twice before being the last ship on the water. If there are too many fast battleships with guns left on the other side, things can go very badly.
Other thoughts on speeding cruisers: 1. if the ship is top heavy it will roll over in a high speed tight turn (some do it now) 2. they become more lethal as a ramming device 3. faster reflexes needed or any of the above could happen plus let's include beachings I'm not downing the idea of speeding up cruisers, just looking at the bonus in fun points we may get to see. Danny
Valid points all, Danny. In the 22 and 23 second cruisers, good weight management and ballasting is critical, lest a captain wishes to entertain with an unseaworthy sink I've gone quite mad with it in building the Australia; time will tell how she maneuvers at speed! I'm using very thin fiberglass board for the decks in a bid to minimize topweight.
The difference in speed in not enough to have any noticable effect on ship roll. Ramming another ship with a cruiser almost never causes dammage- the bow is the wrong shape. The only way to cause dammage if the tip of the bow gets under the other ships deck rim. BTW 23 sec is about scale speed for 31. knots. and 22 sec is about 33 knots. 21 sec is about 34 knots. So the ships are just moving at a more scale speed. If that means anything.
The faster cruiser speeds have been in use in MWC for a while now. If there were any problems with excessive ramming, rolling, or beaching, they would have shown up by now. I've seen one cruiser that rolled excessively. I suspect that it would roll even if it was going 24 seconds. I'm curious...how many cruisers was at the last IRC Nats? MWC Nats had 14 primary cruisers (30% of the primary ships) and 5 secondary cruisers (71% of the seconadry ships). I don't think there would have been that many cruisers at the MWC Nats if cruisers were 24 seconds. Of course, I'm just guessing. heh.
We usually have one or two cruisers per Nats. I agree that the number would be more if they were a little more effective. people want to battle them.
So... bring the topic back to the Yahoo group and make a rule proposal (just need two to agree to it) and it will be on next years ballot. marty
I think that, that may be a good rule change. Im no expert, but adding some variety to NATS cant hurt, right?
I know that some of our older members have enjoyed their cruisers as they feel less like lifting a battleship from the pond. Can't say as I blame them, although I'll probably go with predreads when I get to that point.
