Engine hits too common?

[Buffer54]

Am I alone in thinking that the Critical Hit probabilities favour the Engines category rather too strongly? As written, nearly half (44%) of all critical hits will fall in that area, which would seem to be generally well protected within the ship.

I'm inclined to assign rolls of 3-6 to Crew, and 8-11 to weapons. That makes crew losses more of a consideration, and loss of guns and turrets more common, as historical accounts would seem to suggest.

 

[MongooseMatt]

If you read action reports of real ships fighting, you will see that slowing down is one of the major aspects of damage. In VaS, we call this an engine critical though you can assume it is really anything from a direct hit to the turbines, to exterior damage to the hull causing drag. It is the overall effect that is being modelled, without going into minute detail.

 

[Buffer54]

I understand what's being modelled, and I have indeed read many battle accounts. Bismarck, for example, continued to move for some time after her guns were out of action. That is very unlikely to happen in a VAS game, using the current hit distributions.

Thanks for the reply, though.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Remember, Speed penalties do not stack. . .

 

[ebar]

The Battle of the Denmark Strait gives a good a example of speed being the first thing to start to fall away. Although she ended the battle fully combat worthy she lost several knots to engineering damage and flooding.