Re:Identifying and exploiting weaknesses (Score 1)

An 18" cannon is not that much bigger than 16". Our rules (biggun) are 15" or more = 1/4" CO cannon.

All the equipment other than the outer skin is well protected from damage. There is no realistic prospect of "damaging props or rudders". You kill another boat by knocking holes in its skin. Equipment failures are common but the equipment is simply too expensive to leave exposed to cannon fire.

With engagement ranges (for good effect) at under 10 feet (though some ships have been sunk at 30 feet range or more this is very rare) and a SoDak moving at about 2.5 feet per second, the "danger space" to run into engage is quite small. We are also talking about battleships here, they can take a lot of punishment. I would be happy to go toe to toe with a Yamato at a meter or so for 1 or 2 minutes or until my pump output stream got to its full extent and still be confident of getting home. A broadside positioned just right will sink a Sodak or Yamato in seconds (more seonds for the Yamato thats true) but broadsides positioned just right are very rare, normally the damage just slowly adds up till it reaches a critical point when your pump (simulating the subdivision of the hull and damage control parties) can't keep up and she will start to settle and sink - often quite quickly.

A Sodak will sink a Yamato by outmanovering her, but maybe not with repeated passes, slashing attacks are normally what fast, less manouverable ships use against Sodaks rather than the other way round. Normal Sodak tactics are to try and suck someone into a turning duel, then pick the position you want to fight at relative to the other ships and manouver to hang in there for dear life.

Regards

Richard
www.ausbg.org