[Enioch]

The suggested cutoff date (I.e. the point where the game tells you "this is the historical time where the Battleship started declining") is 1925. And the game asks you: Do you want to stop?

You can say "no", and continue up to 1950, which is the hard cutoff point because of hardcoding limitations.

[StarSlayer]

Actually I was wondering are the AI factions having there own conflicts in the background or are all conflicts player based?

[Enioch]

To my knowledge, the latter. At least I've never seen an AI war. The only times whn AI fleets fight is when you are in an alliance and war is declared- at which point your ally will attack your enemy.

Likewise, if you allow tensions to rise too high with two opponents simultaneously, they will ally against you.

But I've yet to see a war where the player isn't the instigator somehow.

Note that there are possible hidden tension stats behind the scenes- AI countries hate and like each other. It's safe to say that by antagonizing Germany you can usually make a friend in the British.

So, there's  potentially a system to base AI wars on. Possibly in RTW 2?

[Enioch]

The Germans had learned from the last war and had already moved their capital ships out of their East Asian bases before they delivered their ultimatum. The Japanese Admiralty were aware that it would be impossible to perform a surprise attack and had not based their hopes on it.

Hostilities were opened with Germany attempting to take a page off Japan's book and conduct a coastal raid against the Sasebo installations and the local sea traffic.



Unfortunately for the Germans, Yaeyama was on-station, with a destroyer flotilla of Asanagis and Asanagi-Kais providing screening elements; the Japanese captial ships had already left their moorings and taken to the high seas in anticipation of exactly such a maneuver; and, finally, the Germans committed only limited forces to this raid.



At 09:22, the destroyer Mikazuki reported sighting an enemy cruiser, due North of Sasebo and bearing WNW, away from the Japanese installations. Yaeyama, anticipating either a long chase (if the enemy should prove to be a light cruiser task force) or a frantic retreat (if the enemy should prove to be an armoured cruiser) proceeded to intercept, at a leasurly 16 knots, so as not to foul her grates or exhaust her stokers.



A drawn-out game of cat-and-mouse ensued, with the enemy ship slipping in and out of fogbanks, not daring to commit. Finally, at around 16:30 in the afternoon, Yaeyama got her first good sight of her quarry, as the enemy cruiser sought to chase down an isolated merchantman leaving Sasebo.



The lookouts identified the German as a Niobe-class: a small, lightly-armored light cruiser, more than 2k tons lighter than Yaeyama, with a smaller-caliber broadside, but with equal speed. This should prove... interesting.



Yaeyama proceeded to pin the enemy against the islands north of Sasebo, but did not risk closing the range and exposing herself to a torpedo attack. Long-range fire was exchanged, with Yaeyama's 6'' rifles giving her a distinct advantage, but only a few hits were scored on the enemy given the poor weather and the limited visibility.



Hope for a decisive resolution was kindled when the Asama reported her presence in the area. Unfortunately, the Japanese heavy cruiser could not properly position herself to intercept the fleeing German before nightfall; the Niobe managed to sneak away under the cover of darkness, suffering only minimal damage.





While not a victory measured in ships sunk, this was still a clear Japanese victory. Intercepted German wireless signals allowed the Japanese Admiralty to determine that the Niobe was operating as a scouting element for a squadron of two German heavy cruisers. The three ships, working in tandem, would have caused severe problems to the Japanese defenders; but the prompt response of Yaeyama and the ominous presence of Asama had sent the German heavies packing. No losses whatsoever were inflicted on the Japanese merchant shipping and the harbour installations had not even been scratched; the German 'surprise attack' had utterly failed to achieve its goals.





The Japanese Navy jumped into action along well-rehearsed contingency plans. The modernised 'Maru' fleet cast off from dozens of small harbours and coaling stations; their ammo and coal stores filled to the brim for long-range patrols.



The Unebis also cast off, following their pre-planned raiding courses and seeking targets of opportunity. All German maritime traffic in the South China Sea and near their Korean bases would be hit very hard during the upcoming months.





Finally, the Silent Service also set off for their assigned patrol zones. Unfortunately, the submarine fleet, limited by its short range, would give a relatively meager showing during the early months of the war.





By the end of April, the Admiralty had a good idea of the German forces stationed in the region. The two heavy cruisers were hitting Japanese shipping; the light cruiser had yet to make an appearance; there were reports of at least two German capital ships being transferred from the Baltic to the Eastern theatre of operations. Intelligence were confident that one of them was the Von der Tann, the newly-commissioned German battlecruiser. The German reinforcements were estimated to arrive in two or three months; the Admiralty sought to engage the existing forces before then and defeat the Germans in detail. Ikoma lay in wait, while a task force comprised of Izumi and Naniwa dangled themselves as bait near the German hunting grounds.





Unfortunately, either forewarned or savvy, the Germans declined battle.





Taking advantage of their absence, Unebi and Yaeyama went on the prowl themselves. By the end of the month, 26k tons of German shipping, including a massive coaler and an ammunition ship were resting at the bottom of the ocean.
 


And then, that accursed Niobe made its presence known again - this time by attacking a massive Japanese tanker convoy, carrying precious, precious fuel, traveling from Sumatra to Tsingtaou.

A convoy only escorted by a small destroyer flotilla, of second-rate Asanagis.



Welp.

[Spoon]

Round 2, lets go.


(I love that subtle ikoma abyssal face in the first picture of the part 3 post)

[Enioch]

*snip*
Round 2, lets go.

(I love that subtle ikoma abyssal face in the first picture of the part 3 post)

She's a hunter and they have her on a short leash. She's understandably frustrated.

[Enioch]

As promised, spice added.

[Enioch]

Immediate checking of the chronometers. Sunset is two hours away; at that point, it would be suicide for the Niobe to push the convoy. Given the visibility ranges in the dark, if you're spotted, you're well within torpedo range and pushing against destroyers under those circumstances is brain-dead.



Yep, confirmed. It's the Niobe. That thing has as many guns as my entire destroyer escort force combined.

The wise choice, to preserve the DDs for the upcoming war, would have them abandon the convoy and use their superior speed to escape to Tsingtaou. That's what the Germans had done ten years ago, when Izumi had savaged their convoys.



**** that.

The DDs have one job, and that's to defend the convoy. Signals are raised, to the lead convoy transport: "Head to closest port" and "Escorts will engage the enemy", followed by Asanagi raising the flags for "Tennōheika Banzai", a signal repeated by all escorting DDs and, shortly after, by the entirety of the convoy.



The DDs take up screening positions, between the raider and the convoy and accelerate to flank. The Niobe can either try to snipe at them from a distance or risk closing to a more effective range and eating torpedoes; neither of which is a good option.



Fourty-five minutes after first contact, the German finally decides on the latter, accelerates to attack speed and charges the destroyer line. Asanagi is hit, and the shell buries itself in the engine room, knocking out one boiler, killing twenty-three of her crew and dropping her speed to 19 knots. The German cruiser has now entered torpedo range, but the destroyers hold their fire.



Shimakaze takes over lead for division A and holds her course; as the Niobe continues to close, Hatakaze and Hayate peel off in a mad torpedo run on the enemy. The Niobe immediately switches her fire, scoring a hit on Hatakaze's funnels, that sends red-hot shrapnel scything across her deck.



Hayate is the second ship to be hit; the Niobe takes out her centreline torpedo mount. Her torpedoes go off in a massive explosion, that vaporises all nearby crew and rips of more than half of the ship's superstructure. However, her engines are only minimally affected and somehow, impossibly, she's still in the fight.





40 minutes to nightfall. Shells and tracers scream in both directions.





20 minutes to nightfall. Shimakaze's starboard torpedo mount is hit and the torpedo explodes. The funnels and superstructure guide the explosion away from the ship, but a massive hole is ripped out of her hull above the waterline and her uptakes are clogged with debris. Seventeen crewmembers, including Captain Sukarnoputra die in an instant.



Hayate shakes her ass in front of the enemy and cuts her speed to 25 knots. Captain Xuang orders his crew to make smoke intermittantly, to give the Germans the impression that she's hurt more than she really is. The Niobe takes the bait and follows the destroyer away from the convoy, just as the sun slips under the horizon.



At which point Hayate speeds back up and curves around to meet up with her division leader. The destroyers move to rejoin the convoy at cruise.

Then, an hour later-







YOU MOTHERF-



The Niobe steams out of the dark at flank speed, trains her guns on the Shimakaze and blows her out of the water in a perfectly executed broadside. Asanagi eats two shells that punch through holes in her bow, letting in water.

The Niobe turns and fades into the dark yet again. There is little the destroyers can do beyond regroup, pick up survivors and rejoin with the convoy.

Asanagi is lost, less than four miles from Tsingtaou, the flooding finally overcoming the crew's efforts to keep her afloat. Hayate picks up her survivors.







The battle was immediately claimed by the Germans as a victory; but the Japanese knew it was a hollow one. The valiant sacrifice of Shimakaze and Asanagi enabled the entirety of the convoy to reach Tsingtaou safe; Tsukuba would take over escort duties for the rest of the trip and no German ship risked facing her.



Take notes, Gaijin swine. That is how you defend a ****ing convoy.



Now we really have to win the war.



In May, the R & D department brought yet another improved torpedo design on the table. The response of the Admiralty was grim satisfaction. 3,8k yards at 30 knots? Yes PLEASE.



The Silent Service and the Japanese raiders continued to reap a surprisingly non-bloody toll. Prize rules were in effect - German crews were allowed to abandon their ships and were often given supplies and directions to the nearest harbour. That said, more than 50k tons of German shipping were lost in a single month.



The enemy response was...anemic in comparison.



In May, the Japanese laid down a revolutionary new battlecruiser; the design was codenamed Kongo. She was an A-XY 'runner', with three triple 12'' turrets, two of them pointing aft. She was more lightly armoured than Tsukuba and Ikoma and her secondary batteries were lighter (only 8'', with a 6'' tertiary battery), but she could (in paper) reach a staggering 29 knots, as fast as the Itsukushima light cruisers. She was primarily meant to hunt down and destroy enemy raiders, but her main guns were big enough to allow her to contribute in the line of battle, if necessary.



The initial costs were a bitter pill to swallow, but the Admiralty felt certain that Kongo would be a valuable investment.





The 'Maru boys' bloody delivered again, nailing two German submarines that tried to sneak into the Tsingtaou - Sasebo convoy route.

Also...





I should laugh that much, but holy crap was that cathartic.

And then, finally...

[The E]

This thread is good thread

Also, godDAMMIT Enioch, teasing out Ikoma's first deployment like that is cruel beyond measure.

[Enioch]

This thread is good thread

Also, godDAMMIT Enioch, teasing out Ikoma's first deployment like that is cruel beyond measure.

  

[StarSlayer]

Though to be fair I fangirl Tsukuba since she's the People's Champion.

[Enioch]

OOC: I'm not that evil. But I'm not giving you the entire war in a single post. I'll just post the introductions, for now.

--------------------------



On the 17th of June, at 16:18, the destroyer escort of Convoy Z16 detected an inbound enemy force, a few hours after their departure from Tsingtaou to Sasebo. Fortunately for the convoy, Ikoma and her own destroyer screen were patrolling in Tsingtaou waters and responded immediately.







The Asama did a scouting run and immediately identified the enemy as a battlecruiser, closing fast. The Japanese fleet was under attack by the Von der Tann.



Admiral Noguma, on board the Ikoma immediately signalled "Flagship will engage the enemy independently", followed by "Provide fire support when opportune" and maneuvered to close the range.



Ikoma opened fire at 16:51 and with her opening salvo scored a hit on the Von der Tann.





Her followup salvo struck the Von der Tann's midships turret and jammed it on its bearings. The German battlecruiser, now heavily outgunned,  immediately reversed course and attempted to open the range.







Night would fall soon and, under the cover of dusk and a smokescreen laid by her destroyer escort, the Von der Tann quickly faded from view. Not wanting to risk his ship against a nighttime destroyer ambush, Noguma ordered the Ikoma to rejoin the convoy and dispatched his DDs to screen their rear, just in case the enemy tried a followup attack against the convoy.



Tachikaze led her three-ship squadron on this scouting run, but could not track down the enemy. By 21:00, the destroyers had rejoined the convoy and the entire force was moving in good order towards the North, in a big 'hook' away from the main shipping lanes, to foil any German subs.





This was by no means a major victory. The Von der Tann had only been lightly damaged - her jammed turret would need less than a week to repair. However, what raised the Japanese spirits considerably was the insane accuracy of the Ikoma, whose rangefinders had, strangely, been unaffected by her own coal-fired smoke, despite the wind heavily disfavouring her in this engagement; also, it was worth noting that, despite the wind heavily favouring them, the Germans had not scored a single hit on the Japanese ships.



The Germans would try again, however.  And again. With slightly more...significant consequences.

[Spoon]

Rip underaged boats

[Lorric]

I wonder how I will feel though if he gets into it with Great Britain... hopefully it won't happen.

[Enioch]

*snip*

I wonder how I will feel though if he gets into it with Great Britain... hopefully it won't happen.

Spoiler:

It won't. I'm not stupid. At this point in time, the British have 4 dreadnoughts (and another two building) and 4 battlecruisers (and another two building), not to mention their 21 predreads 

[Droid803]

;w;7 little DDs
Though that armored cruiser starving itself to death was quite amusing.

[Lorric]

Does this game have a victory condition/s?

[Enioch]

Does this game have a victory condition/s?

Not exactly. Does a real life dreadnought race have a 'winner'?

It's a high-score attack, with your prestige being your score.

Among the playerbase, a Prestige of ~50 around 1925 is a good result for a minor power.

[AdmiralRalwood]

Among the playerbase, a Prestige of ~50 around 1925 is a good result for a minor power.

So what's the Prestige value at right now?

[Enioch]

As in, 1912? 41.

Note that you START at 20 and LOSE at 15.