Steel Castles sourcebook in the yards!

[MarkG88]

I think I know what I want to do, I just need to test it out. Assuming it works as I think it will, I'll be able to move forward promptly from that test.

Looking forward to your solution. I am a big fan of this Dreadnought era VBAM adaptation

[MarkG88]

1911, Royal Sovereign, Dreadnought, DV 17, AS 14, AF 6, CR 8, CC 4
1905, Dreadnought, Dreadnought, DV 16, AS 10, AF 2, CR 7, CC 3
1911, Queen Mary, Battlecruiser, DV 13, AS 11, AF 4, CR 8, CC 4
1906, Invincible, Battlecruiser, DV 10, AS 10, AF 3, CR 7, CC 3
1916, Courageous, Cruiser, DV 6, AS 9, AF 5, CR 7, CC 3
1904, Warrior, Cruiser, DV 10, AS 6, AF 2, CR 6, CC 3
1917, Carlisle, Light Cruiser, DV 4, AS 3, AF 1, CR 3, CC 2
1913, Arethusa, Light Cruiser, DV 5, AS 2, AF 1, CR 3, CC 1

I will probably need to either recalculate AF for light cruisers, or simply given them a blanket exception that would allow them to use AS against light craft since their primaries are 6" guns (or smaller). There are also a couple of Cruiser classes that are only armed with 6" guns (Diadem and Monmouth) that will also need that taken into account.

I vote for giving the Light Cruisers AF + AS vs Destroyers (fighters) since this class tended to be used as destroyer flotilla leaders (flagships in the real world) and as escort vessels (in the spaceborne setting) they would be specializing in anti-destroyer tactics.


I mulled over doing A VBAM setting similar to this. My adaptation had three classes of ships: capital, cruiser, escort with three classes of weapons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary weapons (only) could affect "first class" ships (battleships). Secondary weaponry could affect "second class" and below ships and of course tretiary weapons only affected escorts (third class).


I was giving battleships high primary (PA) and secondary (SA) ratings ( 10+) and minimal tertiary (TA) ratings (3 or less). Borrowing Charlie's stats for illustrative convenience, my version of ships would have been:

Class Type Size DV PA SA TA
Dreadnought DN 1 16 10 15 2
Invincible BC 2 10 10 15 3
Courageous CA 2 6 9 9 5
Carlisle CL 2 4 3 3 6


To represent both the size and armor of modern battleships (DN class) vs the more thinly armored battle-cruisers we have Invincible hitting as hard as the Dreadnought, but going to take more damage when hit by a BC or DN (size 2 vs SA 15). Dreadnought class ships and battleships are size 1 and may only be affected by Primary weapon ratings (first rates with best armor and weapons available), Cruisers are size 2 and take damage from Secondary weapons and destroyers/torpedo boats/subs are size 3 and get damaged by TA attacks. Subs (the original and still most effect stealth weapon) would have had stealth or cloak rating and cruisers would have the recon ability.

[Charles Lewis]

Interesting notion, and if I weren't trying to "Standard VBAM" I might be inclined to pursue it further, but I'm definitely going to be tweaking the light cruisers to make them more effective against destroyers (by allowing use of their primaries against them) as is appropriate.

[PaulB]

Anything new to report?

[Charles Lewis]

Had a long layoff due to life with a special needs kid, but I have finally gotten started on the Germans.

Here's a comparison:

Nassau Dreadnought DV 17 AS 14 AF 5 CR 7 CC 3
Dreadnought Dreadnought DV 16 AS 10 AF 2 CR 7 CC 3

Germany's response to the Dreadnought clearly ups the stakes. It wouldn't be until the Orion class (with 4 classes in between!) that Britain produces something equivalent. However, the British make up for that with quantity.

[PaulB]

Very cool.
I just started that Castles of Steel book by Massey, should be good.

[Charles Lewis]

Sorry for the long silence. Among other things has been a move from St. Louis to Des Moines. The dust has now just about settled from that, and I'm returning to this project. The British and German fleets have been converted. Here is a first pass at a portion of the map, that which would directly pertain to Britain vs. Germany:



Entirely too...technical...but it's a start and it shows in general what I intend to show on this map. The squares represent the various seas and bodies of water around Europe. The circles are significant ports. In VBAM terms, the squares will be empty space; they can't be controlled but they can be dominated. The ports effectively function as VBAM colonies, but each can only be accessed via a sea zone and not directly to each other. The intended focus of the setting will be domination of the sea zones, as with those power can be directed wherever it is needed. VPs will be scored on dreadnought strength and domination of sea zones.

Next steps include sorting out the economies (and establishing build costs and maintenance costs), and then I intend to put a test pack together for people to start monkeying around with while I expand the map and convert more fleets.

[murtalianconfederacy]

Interesting concept. I've thought about ways to model a sea-type setting in VBAM but never got anywhere (it might be because I tried to do a 'total-war' setting with fleets and armies).

[BroAdso]

I'm really glad to see that work on Steel Castles is moving on forward! It's a neat and creative application of the ideas of the system, and it's sent me down many a wikipedia hole looking at all the neat ships you're using as source material.

[PaulB]

Hey Charles,

What reference, if any, are you using for shell penetration of various weapons versus different thicknesses of armor. I was curious about weapon penetration at different ranges for a game idea of mine, and downloaded a program off TMP that uses some complicated formulas off another webpage but was wondering if there was a resource that did the work for me. One guy mentioned something called brasseys naval annual from 1923 and it's pretty cheap online but it's like 700 pages and with no room on my bookshelf already, didn't want to commit to buying it right out of the gate.