Recruitment ships

Very cool maybe instead of a special pump a electronic water gun could be fitted onto the ship. instead of a tank that would run out you could fit a tube that goes from the gun to the bow. It would help save weight and would make the ship easier to build and maybe cheaper depending on where you buy the water gun.

 

some pictures
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Greetings:
Since I was one of the early agitators for this thread, I was impressed with the boat and the "water cannon". What was the final cost for the ship ? Cutting the sticker shock on the prospective captain is a key issue. Your ship may do just that.
Manuel Mejia, Jr.

 

The boat kit was purchased from battler’s connection for about $200 I think, few years back. The deck and super structure is wood and stuff I already had. You still have to buy speed controller, wire, etc...Have a transmitter and receiver. The bilge pump used for cannon will not work that is shown in the pictures. Going to purchase pump and stuff from harbor models that is used for water cannons on fire boat. So still probably adds up to much, go get people in for cheap. Probably around $400 for all and you still have to do the work and figure out how to do it.

 

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My club (Western Warship Combat Club) has developed a recruitment ship program that works quite well for us.
Our view on this is fairly simple: If you want to attract new people to the RC warship combat hobby, you need to make it easy, quick and as inexpensive as possible for a prospective captain to get his/her hands on the sticks in an actual battle. That means signing them up to a single-event NAMBA waiver, giving them a minute or two of practice (left, right, forward, reverse and stop), a couple of tactical tips (keep your bow or stern pointed at an armed opponent who is trying to sink you), and then COMMENCE FIRE!
This works. It increases the number of "conversions," and decreases the length of time it takes for someone to get "hooked." But there are some tricky challenges that need to be taken into account in order to make this program sustainable. We call it the Club Loaner program: 6 identical cargo ship hulls, all built the same way, with identical equipment installed. Only the superstructures and color schemes differ, so the prospective captain can tell which ship is his or hers. The hulls are fiberglass (available from Strike Models), each has a single motor and a cheap ESC, a waterproofed rudder servo, and a pump that can be plugged in to a dedicated pump battery (optional). The entire one-piece deck with superstructure is the float. The skins of the hulls are duct tape that is available in a variety of colors. The club owns these 6 cargo ships, but each one is "adopted" by a veteran skipper whose job it is to keep the ship ready for combat between events, and to help the recruit who is running it in any given battle. The average time to sink one in our (Big Gun) battles, without the pump plugged in, is around 15 minutes, and it takes approximately 20 minutes to completely "re-skin" a hull. The superstructures are kits from Strike Models, and are indestructible.
In order to make this program work over time, the following requirements need to be met:
First, reliable performance. The recruitment ship must be simple, and almost foolproof when it comes to running "on demand" all day long. It needs to be capable of sinking numerous times in a single day, without a lot of work to get it ready for the next battle. Preferably, the recruit should be able to get it ready for the next battle himself, with just a few minutes of instruction.
Second, low maintenance requirements. The veteran captain who has adopted the ship can't be overly burdened with maintaining it. If it's a big chore to keep it in fighting trim, it will inevitably suffer, as we all need to keep our own combat ships in fighting trim as a first priority. If the recruitment ship is in poor repair at the event, the recruit won't last long enough to truly enjoy it. Therefore, plug-and-play Hobby King radios, servos, inexpensive ESCs, pumps, props, etc. are the key.
Third, commitment. The veteran captain who has adopted the ship has to commit to either bringing the ship to the event, in good working condition, batteries charged, or making sure someone else brings it. Otherwise, the program doesn't work.
The plus side of this program are that there are always ships to shoot at, always ships to loan out, and the emotional cost of handing your own ship over to a perfect stranger is close to zero. New club members can "adopt" these ships and learn to maintain them properly, while leisurely deciding on what ship to build, and spending as long as it takes to build it. Also, these ships can be armed as German raiders or Q ships, to bump them up a notch. We've had this program going for two years now, and it is still going strong.
The red, black and white cargo ship in the center of the photo below is one of our loaner ships in battle at the California Maker Faire this year.
Rob

 

Convoy ships make ideal loaners in Big Gun, because they can fairly easily meet all of the above requirements. However, they rarely show up at Fast Gun events. Why? Fast Gun battles are not built around convoy ships. In fact, convoys only show up in a single battle at Nats, so there is little opportunity for these ships to run. Thus, in order for a ship to be successful at recruiting in Fast Gun, it has to be an armed warship. Those basic requirements of reliability and low maintenance become much harder to meet once you add in cannons, regulators, and other combat systems.

 

Well, as the axiom goes, necessity is the mother of invention. If Fast Gun clubs don't need to recruit, then our cargo ship loaner program would have no value. But if they do need to recruit, and nothing else has worked, then maybe a bit of flexibility in gameplay thinking is in order. This program solves so many problems that it might be worth it.

Rob

 

In that case, our loaner program might work perfectly for other clubs, regardless of the style of play.
Rob

 

I don't know about other fastgun groups, but in the OAF we have several members with many working combat ships. When I first started coming out to battles I borrowed our late club cofounder's Kongo for two years until my own ship was completed. Convoy ships are alright, but they aren't near as exiting to run as a ship with guns.

 

The big gun raider practice for newbies would work well in fast gun. I choose to test the single stern gun dreadnaught with a no frills hull and simple electronics to see if I could make an entry level ship that could actually shoot back while dodging the bigger ships and fast cruisers If it sinks, no major refit required.
Manuel Mejia, Jr.

 

My first armed ship was a Cimarron class oiler with a stern gun. I had a blast with it.
The point of our club loaner program is to have dependable ships available at all of our battles that we can put into the hands of virtually anyone who happens to be there to watch. With no armament, the simplicity factor kicks in, and instant gratification ensues, plus the veteran captains don't have to put much time or energy into keeping them going throughout the day. That's important, because we all just want to have fun, right? Yes, of course, shooting is more fun than running as a target, but I would never hand over the controls of an armed ship to a person who just happened to be at the pond, without a lot more time spent teaching.
Another important aspect of these convoy ships is that we make them extremely important in the game. Each successful convoy run, which consists of making it around a marked course, nets points for the team. Comvoy captains commonly make or break their team's chances of winning - just as was the case in WWI and WWII. It gets pretty exciting for a rank beginner to discover that the game is riding on their ability to stay alive, and to complete runs. They can't do that without intense concentration and excellent teamwork, and even young kids can win the game. It may seems boring to us who "deal in steel," but for the brand new captain, sweating palms and the rush of adrenalin is just as strong as the best day of pummeling the enemy is for us veterans.
This program gets up to 6 ships on the water that wouldn't otherwise be there, and let's face it: a pond full of ships in a battle is much more exciting for everyone - captains and spectators alike. Imagine you only have 6 club members who show up for battle, but each brings a cargo ship in perfect running condition to loan out. You grab spectators and give them a ship to run, and all of a sudden you have 12 ships on the pond.
The next step beyond dependable loaner cargo ships is dependable, low-maintenance loaner combat ships. We're working on that program right now. These are ships for newbies who have mastered the convoy ships, have been around a while, and who are ready to move up.
Rob

 

I have a fully armed and operational battl ... err, fully functional Altmark convoy ship I'd be perfectly willing to loan out at any event I attend.

 

I honestly was introduced to the hobby by my father as a lurker. Neither one of us wanted to try the expense but really liked the idea. I just bought Crazy Ships's Foch because I got a big christmas bonus. This is about 15 years later. I'd say expense was the biggest issue for me. Also, I had no idea about loaner ships because I didn't get networked. I would say advertise the loaner ships more and let the water ships idea go. I wouldn't have tried water gun ships knowing I'd only possibly be saving 80+ dollars (price of 1+ cannon versus squirt gun). I'd rather go all the way. That's why I bought the Foch to learn now and a USS Baltimore kit to build on my own. I'd love to get a LST going in the future if it helps. I plan to introduce my daughter to the hobby after I figure it out. Gotta keep my daughter off the pole.