| |
BATTLEFLEET 1900
PRE-DREADNOUGHT NAVAL WARFARE:
1890-1905
|
Design
Formulas |
These formulas were used to establish all of the basic
values shown in the Battlefleet 1900 Ship Values pages. Note that
despite these guidelines, some ship values may vary slightly due to the complex
nature of period naval architecture and the scarcity of information on many
vessels. If the numbers seem to vary too much, or there are just too many
unknown factors about the design you want to re-create, make sure to have some
of the more common technical sources available for reference. These include
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860 - 1905 as well as the Arco
Publishing reprint of Jane's Fighting Ships 1905-1906. Both of these titles
have some errors in them, but the amount of valuable information they contain
far outweighs the minor issues.
SCALES & SIZES
Ship
size – Normal displacement multiplied by .004. Values of larger vessels
(over 25) are rounded, usually to nearest 5.
Speed – Quote actual
vessel's speed in knots (nautical miles per hour). The Scales Page supplies formulas for converting actual
ship's speed to game scale speed. The game scale speed is not quoted in the
ship values lists because there are several different game scales
available.
Stability – Either Good or Poor. A vessel is usually
considered good unless it was known to have poor stability.
Seaway –
Either Normal or Poor. A vessel is usually considered normal unless unless
known to be poor for its size. Players should not automatically
give small vessels a poor rating, because the seaway effects table (see
Optional Rules) already takes vessel size into
account. So a typical torpedo boat should still be listed as normal so long as
it is normally seaworthy for a torpedo
boat.
ARMOR
Thickness Modifiers
Krupp (6" and
over only) 1.25
Nickel Steel 1.00
Steel 0.90
Compound 0.70
Wrought Iron 0.50
Armor Values
The two numbers used to
express a vessel's armor rating represent the protection for vitals and
upperworks respectively. Original armor values used to establish these ratings
are all in inches. The various factors used to calculate the final numbers are
defined below:
BLT = Thickest belt value
SLP = Average slope
thickness of armored deck, only when it slopes down to bottom edge of belt.
Vessels without sloping side AD should omit the SLP value.
MAIN = Averaged
Thickest Turret and/or Barbette/shield. Do not include thin shields which are
50% or less in thickness compared to the barbette. See optional rule #502.
AMID = Average thickest secondary turret/shield and/or
casemate/battery/upper belt. In some cases where there is thick armor over a
very small area there are two options: Use half the thick armor value (average
with 0) and adjust the upperworks protection accordingly, or use the full
thickest armor values instead of averaging and bump the upperworks protection
rating down one level from what it otherwise might have been. Check probable
combat chart results for most satisfactory combination. Example of later method
is USS Albany which gets full benefit of its 4" gun shields but has a "none"
upperworks protection.
LowAD = Lower armored deck below the belt. Used on
French designs which included better protected machinery and magazine spaces.
Notes:
Rounding for final armor value of x.2 or over is always up.
A vessel whose final calculation total is 15.2, rounds up to a 16. A value of
15.19 rounds down to 15. Minimum armor for both values in all ships is a 1.
Unarmored areas of all vessels are a 1/2. Barbette ships with no sloped AD (IE
- AD on top of belt) should use formula similar to #4, ignoring the SLP
addition. Protected cruisers which have some or all of the largest armament in
heavy (4" +) gun shield should have those values included in the Vitals value
and as a result, those guns must be considered as mains, not secondaries.
Otherwise, general unshielded or lightly shielded weapons grouped in single
mounting will usually be considered as secondaries.
| Armor Formulas |
| Type |
Vitals Formula |
% |
| #1 Barbette battleships with wide (10'+)
belts |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .50]
+ [MAIN x .50] |
1.00 |
| #2 Barbette or large turret battleships
with narrow (7') belts |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .45]
+ [MAIN x .50] |
0.95 |
| #3 Turret battleships with narrow (7')
belts and sloped AD |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .45]
+ [MAIN x .45] |
0.90 |
| #4 Turret battleships with narrow (7')
belts and top AD |
[BLT x .45] + [MAIN x
.45] |
0.90 |
| #5 Turret battleships with narrow (7')
belts and LowAD |
[BLT + (Lower ADx3.0) x
.45] + [MAIN x .45] |
0.90 |
| #6 Central redoubt ships |
[BLT x .45] + [MAIN x
.45] |
0.90 |
| #7 Armored cruisers with large main
turrets |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .45]
+ [MAIN x .45] |
0.90 |
| #8 Armored cruisers with medium main
turrets |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .45]
+ [MAIN x .40] |
0.85 |
| #9 Armored cruisers with small main
turrets/casemates |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x .50]
+ [MAIN x .35] |
0.85 |
| #10 Armored cruisers with no
turrets |
[BLT + (SLPx1.5) x
.75] |
0.75 |
| #11 Protected cruisers w/armored
mains |
[(SLPx1.5) x .55] +
[MAIN x .20] |
0.75 |
| #12 Protected cruisers w/o armored
mains |
[(SLPx1.5) x .60] |
0.60 |
| |
|
|
| |
Upperworks Formula |
|
| All vessels |
[AMID] |
1.00 |
PROTECTION
RATINGS
There are two "category" modifiers used to help control a
vessel's level of protection under fire. They jointly cover the crucial areas
of waterline and upperworks protection, and the assignment of each has a fairly
important impact on a ship's performance during battle. Below are the
guidelines used to establish the use of these ratings.
| Upperworks |
| Type |
Guideline |
| Great |
Ships with two full
decks of battery armor or;
Ships with one full deck of battery armor
and entirely casemated/turreted secondaries |
| Good |
Ships with one deck of
battery armor and some casemated secondaries or;
Ships with less than one
full deck of battery armor but turrets or entirely casemated secondaries |
| Poor |
Ships with less than one
full deck of battery armor or;
Casemate/battery/turret protection for some -
but not all - secondaries |
| None |
Ships with no battery,
casemate or secondary armor to speak of. Guns with shields do not count toward
next higher level, although their full armor value may still be used. |
| Flood |
| Type |
Fore & Aft Waterline
Belt |
Fore Waterline Belt
only |
| Great |
4 inches or more |
— |
| Good |
2 to 3 inches |
4 inches or more |
| Poor |
No |
2 to 3 inches |
| None |
No belt
amidships either ----------------------------> |
ARMAMENT
Size
– Original shell weight in pounds divided by 14. Values of larger guns are
then rounded to nearest 5 or 10 to speed game play. Most shell sizes under 15
use actual value without rounding.
Rate of Fire – This is a
somewhat abstracted figure based loosely on a gun's theoretical rate of fire
combined with the probable rate of fire during a battle.
| Rates of Fire |
| ROF |
Types |
| 2 |
Light and medium-light
QF (quick fire) weapons.
|
| 1 |
Medium and large
all-round loading
Medium-light caliber BLR
|
| ½ |
Large caliber end-on
loading
Medium-large caliber BLR
|
| ¼ |
Very large BLR
(breeching loading rifle)
Old MLR (muzzle loading rifle) |
Gun Assignments
Main vs
Secondary – Some light vessels that have little or no armor above the AD
as well as no real armored main gun positions may have their main gun positions
assigned secondary position status. Care must be taken when assigning main,
secondary and tertiary weapon status to a ship armament list because it has a
dramatic effect on how the vessel sustains damage. However, by manipulating and
adjusting these assignments, players have a powerful tool for relating many
different types of ship designs.
Boat Guns – Total all light guns
of 12pdr or less according to weight and divide by 12. Sum is the number of
boat guns. For example: A vessel with 2-12pdr and 8-6pdr light guns would have
six boat guns for game play.
Penetration
Equals average
penetration of nickel steel at 2000, 5000 and 8000 meters range. Many guns
posted in existing Battlefleet lists will match guns of ships not yet posted,
so these are good places to hunt for gun values if penetration data seems
otherwise unavailable.
|
|
|
