Now that ship viewer is out, I intend to play more games of VaS. One thing I've noticed in the couple of games I have played, though, is that concentration of fire seems to be the order of the day. Is there some mechanism I'm not understanding that prevents each fleet from focusing all fire on one ship to completely destroy it? I'm iffy on the exact details of target selection in WW2 battles, but it can't have been that extreme, and I know in WW1 firing was done by pairing up with the corresponding ship in the opposing line. Maybe the problem is the battle I was playing was too close to a WW1 style engagement, and VaS is just designed for very mixed fleets?
Anyways, would it work to use, and what would be a reasonable way to introduce modifiers for:
1. Firing for multiple consecutive turns at the same target while it's in the same range modifier bracket (long/extreme/no modifier). Presumably +1 on the second or later turns although if too many other positive modifiers end up being added it could be -1 on the first turn of firing (which might actually be more realistic anyways). Alternatively, bonus only for having scored a *hit* the previous turn, even if no damage?
2. A bonus for the shooting of a ship that is NOT taking fire, if you want to get more complex not taking fire from something of similar size or larger. This might be tough with the VaS alternating system of one-by-one declaration. Presumably would have to be based on the previous turn instead of the current one.
3. A penalty for firing at a ship that has already been engaged by other ships with similar sized shells, cumulative based on the number of ships firing. How much you divide the 'size' of shells I'm not sure, does one of the real naval history buffs who frequents this site know how close in size a shell would have to be to mess with adjusting aim based on splashes? I was thinking Super Large (16"+), Large (10" to 15.9"), Medium (6" to 9.9"), and Small (anything up to 5.9"). I admit with the D6 and difficulty hitting already I'm also worried the penalty could get too high, maybe you only start the penalty at 3 ships shooting at one?
If somebody was going to introduce a WW1 version of VaS these would also need to be resolved, so there seems a certain added incentive to figure it out :wink: And if somebody says "If you don't like it, go play something else!" OK, give me a link to something else
Seems easier to just make a few changes to VaS, and probably a lot more appealing to Mongoose
Thanks for your thoughts.
Anyways, would it work to use, and what would be a reasonable way to introduce modifiers for:
1. Firing for multiple consecutive turns at the same target while it's in the same range modifier bracket (long/extreme/no modifier). Presumably +1 on the second or later turns although if too many other positive modifiers end up being added it could be -1 on the first turn of firing (which might actually be more realistic anyways). Alternatively, bonus only for having scored a *hit* the previous turn, even if no damage?
2. A bonus for the shooting of a ship that is NOT taking fire, if you want to get more complex not taking fire from something of similar size or larger. This might be tough with the VaS alternating system of one-by-one declaration. Presumably would have to be based on the previous turn instead of the current one.
3. A penalty for firing at a ship that has already been engaged by other ships with similar sized shells, cumulative based on the number of ships firing. How much you divide the 'size' of shells I'm not sure, does one of the real naval history buffs who frequents this site know how close in size a shell would have to be to mess with adjusting aim based on splashes? I was thinking Super Large (16"+), Large (10" to 15.9"), Medium (6" to 9.9"), and Small (anything up to 5.9"). I admit with the D6 and difficulty hitting already I'm also worried the penalty could get too high, maybe you only start the penalty at 3 ships shooting at one?
If somebody was going to introduce a WW1 version of VaS these would also need to be resolved, so there seems a certain added incentive to figure it out :wink: And if somebody says "If you don't like it, go play something else!" OK, give me a link to something else


Thanks for your thoughts.