Do pocket battleships and dreadnoughts turn better than the larger battleships and cruisers because of their short fat aspect ratio? How do you measure the speed? Like, what does "26 seconds" mean?
Yeah, shorter fatter ships turn better. Speed is measured as time it takes to travel 100 feet, so lower numbers are faster. (ie a 26 sec boat should take 26 sec to go 100 feet, a 24 sec boat would be 2 sec faster) The speeds, at least for fast gun, are based on hydrodynamic scaling so they ships behave hydro dynamically similar to the real thing, look up the Froude number if you're curious. It basically comes down to the longer the boat the faster it goes with the exception of cruisers and destroyers. It works pretty well from a game play perspective.
Does it make since to have two pumps and one less gun, or is it best just to have as many guns as possible? Do multiple pumps really help?
seems the best is one pump set up and the rest as guns, remember that 2 pumps use up more battery power! And it seems that a person that has 2 pumps take more damage then a person with one pump.Your ship is worth so many points depending on type ,for sinking and most groups score the holes in the side also with the sink points. So after so many holes you start to take too many points damage and that can add up very quickly and suddenly it would have been cheaper to let it sink rather then stay afloat.
Would a pocket battleship be a good starter ship? I like the idea of speed, and I want something maneuverable enough to make up for my somewhat wanting ship driving skills!
I've heard pocket battleships are considered to be good boats for beginners. They are class 3 ships giving you 2 cannons and 1 pump with very good speed, but armament options are limited. If you are looking for something a little more effective in the long run, most people recommend a class 4 or 5 ship for beginners. These categories cover battlecruisers and dreadnoughts of the WW1 era. Battlecruisers are probably more popular novice ships since they offer pretty good firepower, pretty good maneuverability, and pretty good speed (though slower than the pocket battleships). They also have more internal volume than class 3 ships which is helpful for a beginner learning how to fit everything inside. Good options include the British Invincible and Lion and the German Moltke and Von Dar Tann.
If you are completely clueless on anything RC, a pocket battleship might be a good idea. Thats why i have one. But if your a bit more knowlegeable, go with a class 4 ship, usually small, not very complex, and with sidemounts, fun!
Maybe a dreadnought then... three/four guns, one or two pumps, and better maneuverability. I can't wait until I can actually SEE the ships at a battle... they said the first one would be in April!
I think 3 guns, one pump would be the most simplistic set up for having fun. Maybe a VDT or Andrea Doria from Battlers Connection.
Or 2 sterns and one sidemounts. However you want. Your idea (1 stern, 2 sidemounts p+s) would work best. Lots of fun too.
Usually, but beam to length ratio and number of shafts also play highly into maneuverability. How well you build it is the number one factor though.
If the ship has four or more units, is it legal to have a bow gun that can traverse between quadrants? like a sidemount that can fire forward and switch sides? This might make less gun more usable because, like you said you could have dual sterns and one sidemount that can cover both sides. The MWCI rules thingie says that if the ship has four or more units, sidemounts are allowed and that guns can swivel through multiple quadrants, just so long as there isn't more than one gun on each side at a time.
Yes and no. If you have a 4 unit ship you can have 2 sidemounts. One off each side, unless that ship is over 720'(?) like the Kongo. Then you can have two sidemounts on the same side but not in the same turrent. For Example: Kongo can have a stern gun, a fixed sidemount and a sidemount that flips sides. Or she can have 3 fixed sidemoutns. Or 2 fixed sidemounts and 1 that flips. Or twin sterns and a fixed sidemount. Or twin sterns and a fliping sidemount. Or a stern gun and 2 fixed sidemounts. Did I miss any? A class 4 ship less then 720' like Tiger, Lion, VDT, Moltke, Derflinger, AD... can have almost the same thing. A stern gun and two sidemounts that flip to opposite sides at the same time. Or twin sterns and a fixed sidemount. Or twin sterns and a fliping sidemount. Or a stern gun and 2 fixed sidemounts. I'm pretty sure you can make more then one gun rotate as long as when they flip they follow the number of guns over one side. You also need to keep one of the 4 areas open at all times. Either the stern, bow or one of the sides. Most times it's the bow since bow guns suck. It's easier if you let us know what kind of ship. Then we can tell you the typical way the guns are set up.
Oh boy. That's almost as bad as probability in algebra class. On the advice of people on these forums and a desire for more killing power than a light cruiser can offer, I will probably be building a British or German battle cruiser. Probably Moltke or Lion, but I still haven't decided which side to go with. So basically, it is legal to have a gun in the bow that can bear left, right, and forward, with a stern gun in the back. Just so long as no two guns are on the same side at the same time. I haven't been to any meetings of the Front Range Battle Group yet, so I wont decide what to build until I see what other people have. Thanks for the clarification! P.S. Why do bow guns suck?
Oh Dave, wait until trigonometric identities is pre-calc, its soo much worse. And bow guns are bad, for a number of reason: your bow is open, its harder to run away and in many ships its hard to get belows with them.
A Moltke is best set up with two stern sidemounts in the 2 aft turrets and a stern gun in the port wing turret. If you must have a rotate on your first ship, that will only cause pain, build a Lion with twin stern guns and a 75 mag rotate in A turret. If you don't like pain Lion with twins sterns and a fixed gun in A. If you like patching two bow sidemounts in A & B and a single stern gun. I know of 3 people I have meet since 1998 that have had rotating guns. One on a Bismarck that never worked well. One on a KGV that worked pretty good. One on a Derflinger that also did not work well. They just don't work that well in combat. Why do bow guns suck? Read all of these and be enlightened. http://www.scrapcombatships.com/commodore/tactics/tactics.html
I just made it back from London for a week, I got a tiny Lord Nelson figure at a shop to put in my ship for good luck. Still haven't heard from anybody when the first battle will be in Denver... Anybody know? Also, why do the rotate guns not work too well in combat? Are they mechanically difficult to get working smoothly, or are they actually hard to use in battle? All I want to do is get one to flip sides, effectively giving me two sidemounts for the price of one, no tricky aiming or anything.
