I tend to build 'fast-gun' ships that are quirky and attractive to me versus great combat models. I've run some 'fodder' ships including Courageous and Hood, and have a Furious hull that I may build for Treaty combat. Courageous is like a big cruiser with sidemounts and has to be used like one, running and gunning and staying on the fringes of the action. My Hood never saw much action, being completed around the time the NABS club split up but was obviously not going to be a good combatant. Even the larger rudders allowed now for these ships would not do much for their performance. I've built some effective sluggers: Espana and Warspite, the latter being my best combat model. It teamed up with Marty Hayes' 1930s version of the same ship at a few CANNATS and we were usually the last Allied ships afloat. Espana wasn't fast enough so rarely got to shoot at other NABS ships once they discovered how effective she was at close range. Being the only 28 sec ship in the fleet at the time didn't help. That's why she was replaced by Warspite. I've yet to complete a 'bait' ship but have HMS Rodney and Vanguard partly built. Construction stopped several years ago due to the lack of local RC warship combat activity. The plan is to complete them after I retire in 2016 and can travel to competitions in the US. Pesky ships have been my favorites. SNS Canarias was great in a run and gun role and defeated battleships on points a few times when teamed with another heavy cruiser. HMS Gorgon is probably the worst pest with it's small target area, stern gun and incredible manueverability (4' turning circle). It could easily escape into shallow water or behind large rocks at the NABS battle site and would dart out to attack disabled ships. Krasni Krim/Profintern is another pest under construction as a base defence ship for IRCWCC Campaign Lite. It's designed to attack stationary battleships shooting at shore targets. It will have 4 x 1/2 unit spurt guns in the 4 main armament bow casemates, located close to the waterline. Alternatively it can run as a conventional CL with stern guns in the aft casemates. I'm starting the hull mold for the Frobisher Class CAs and that will be my next run and gun pest. Should be more effective than the Canarias due to the aft guns being a deck lower. I keep thinking about buying one of Ralph Coles superb Indefatigable hulls or his new version of the QE hull for my next 26 sec slugger. I have a 3.5 unit HMS Minotaur which wasn't too bad, being similar to a predreadnought but with no casemates. Now that predreadnoughts can have sidemounts it's going to be replaced by an Imperator Pavel.
A lot of ships are what you make them. 24 second BCs can be big cruisers or fast sluggers depending on where the guns are. Knowing what you like to do in a battle helps. I like to slug. I don't have a great amount of patience. I like Pagodas. My favorite ships have been my Nagato and the Fuso. Nagato can be built and battled as a big cruiser if that's your flavor. Same ship but with the more traditional gun layout and it becomes a fast sidemount ship. Very good on the offensive side of the house, less so on taking damage. With 2 pumps and all those sidemounts it is a slugger royale, but not nearly as useful at long range. Fuso is a good slugger too. Back dat rear up and haymake (then run when you go dry). In general as you go up the speed you go down on raw turning. Ships in the middle are compromises. They turn pretty good and are faster than some things. A lot of the ww1 BCs fall here. They are great all rounders. They have enough speed to be useful in a chase but can't run down a fast ship by themselves. They also have enough maneuverability to dance in the melee. The refit US battleships are also here. Again, fastish and maneuverableish with hull volume galore. Been to a few nats and lots of other battles, here's how they typically start and carry on: 1)Fast sidemount ships skirmish, waiting for an opportunity to corral a straggler or exploit their speed. Use ammo more slowly at first. 2)Slow sidemount ships start a melee, trying to lure other sidemount ships to a haymaker-ey death. Generally expend ammo quickly at the start. 3)Cruisers circle the outside, peppering one another, trying to line up shots on sidemount ships or break enemy cruisers off of friendly sidemount ships. As the battle progresses, typically roles reverse. As slower/melee ships run low on ammo they call '5' and become targets for the enemy fleet. Usually one or a group of fast sidemount ships will try and sink them. Friendly sidemount ships try and prevent this. General sidemounting ensues! Cruisers continue to do cruiser stuff and (unless the make a mistake) run off their '5' only being threatened by other cruisers or the occasional bored fast sidemount ship. Does it always happen this way? Nope, but this is just a summary. Is each role different? Sure. Can some boats perform more than one role? Yup. Would I make a crappy cruiser skipper? Oh yeah! Was this helpful? Sure, I guess so...
I was waiting for some one to mention a SoDak. I have run one for years now and have had a ball with it. It is a tough ship, even heard axis captains complain that it is a tough nut to crack.
Warspite was a very effective slugger, often went side to side with Curt Stokes' Bismarck but didn't fare too well next to his Yamato with dual sidemounts. Over the years I've become more attracted to 'running and gunning' with cruisers. Canarias was quite effective in that role and once teamed with HMAS Canberra to beat Bismarck on points; I'm in the process of refurbishing Canarias for sale back to Larry Dingle in SC (for the second time!). The next project is heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland using the same fiberglass hull as Canarias but with a cutdown quarterdeck like HMS Suffolk, which will allow closer range hits with the dual stern guns. Another cruiser under construction is Soviet CL Profintern/Krasni Krim. She's faster than Cumberland or Canarias and has main armament casement guns low down on the hull, fore and aft. Two rudders too - should be an effective runner and gunner.
speaking of Warspite.. I was amazed last weekend at the amount of punishment Port Polar Bear's QEs were able to take and dish out. They, along with most of the other heavy combatants, were running two pumps each, and spent the battles I managed to watch just parked up next to each other, smashing away. One of them finally went down, but after taking something like 60 belows(I don't remember the total, but it was far in excess of what seemed reasonable). meanwhile, there I was in my first battle just watching in horror and realizing that my Texas had nowhere near the staying power of any of the club's heavies. I spent most of my time on the edge of that mess, either pestering the cruisers or *attempting* to take potshots (read: I landed two solid hits before sinking). After talking with the guys, they explained that the majority philosophy of the club was brawler-based, with a few cruisers. Due to having only one pump, I suspect that I'm going to have to be pretty skittish around the pond with these guys to avoid becoming fodder. Though at some point, perhaps after a bit of experience is accumulated, I hope I can make myself and my boat more useful. But good gravy, watching a Nagato, Kongo, three QEs, and an Iron Duke throwing up double streamers and slugging away while an NC, I-boat, Alaska, and a couple of cruisers skirted the edge was utterly fascinating.
The different roles or threats are not the real issue in fastgun. I relaized this NATs that not the boat nor the guns or pumps matter. It is more about how well the ship is built and how good the captain fights the boat to it's strengths.
