Underwater damage

Chernobyl

Cosmic Mongoose
does anybody think its worth adding to torpedoes that the damage caused by hits to the hull below the waterline would produce enough drag to slow the ship, even without causing critical damage?

Chern
 
Given the scale of the game and simplicity of the rules, I don't think it would add enough to the game to justify the added complexity. It would be yet one more thing to keep track of.

BS
 
Chernobyl said:
does anybody think its worth adding to torpedoes that the damage caused by hits to the hull below the waterline would produce enough drag to slow the ship, even without causing critical damage?
Slowing the ship down IS critical damage. That's what it represents.

Wulf
 
wulf, I disagree...just about any torpedo hit is going to mangle up the side of a ship, no matter if it hits the torpedo bulge, hits the chain locker, or whatever. Critical hits are talking about mechanical systems that are damaged - rudder, screws, turbines, etc...
In some cases ships can be damaged by torpedoes and greatly slowed by the mangled hull, even if the ship is still relatively intact. In some cases with carriers, they may not be able to make enough speed to perform flight operations.

Chern
 
IMO, critical damage means having your bow sliced right off, or having the superstructure reduced to unusable flaming scrap, or having a magazine explode in a ultra-hot infernous fireball, or or or....

So, crit damage should do a lot more than just slow a ship down. But how would you represent an underwater crit in VAS? The only thing I can think of is the ship sinking outright, which might be a bit much...
 
Well, I was thinking more along the lines of

1) for the first torpedo strike/template, there is an automatic speed loss of 1 inch. This wouldn't stack with a torpedo hit from the other side, and won't drop the ships speed to 0, unless the hit is in the bow arc.
2) for second torpedo hit to the same side, speed drops by 1 again, and may go to zero. Also, a second succesful hit to the bow arc reduces the speed immediatly to 0, and a +1 target number.

Chern
 
You're effectively asking for torpedoes to do more damage: I agree insofar as torpedoes currently don't do the damage they historically should, or at least don't against larger ships.

I think the way to deal with this is to increase the amount of damage a torpedo does in the first place, or increase it's chance of causing a critical hit (or do both). Then the existing game mechanics will cause the effect you're asking for by getting to Crippled status more quickly or by racking up more Crits (Engines or Steering) without adding additional rules. Remember, not every torpedo hit blew off a bow or warped a hull to prevent steerage, or knocked out engines to leave a ship DIW.
 
granted, but torpdeos ought to be deadlier. Some are really nasty anyway, the the torpedo bulge really nerfs them, and it shouldn't more than once or twice.

Chern
 
I've used a system in other naval rules where you dice for the location of the hit (torpedo side protection systems didn't run the entire length of the ship). Something like this may work:

1 - torpedo hits the bow. Normal damage plus speed reduced by 1
2-5 - torpedo hits the side protection system. ttacker rolls a d6. If the die roll is less than than the torpedoes DD the weapon does normal damage, otherwise invoke the "torpedo belt" rule
6 - torpedo hits the stern. Normal damage, and Roll a d6: 1= props damaged, speed reduced by 1, 6 = steering damaged, turn number reduced by 1.
 
Chernobyl said:
granted, but torpdeos ought to be deadlier. Some are really nasty anyway, the the torpedo bulge really nerfs them, and it shouldn't more than once or twice.

Chern

I agree with Chern, torpedoes are nerfed. I think the problem is that the game has hit a grey area, trying to please the historians and gamers alike.
 
Meh. . . more complication that doesn't add much in the way of fun to the game.

If you feel that torpedoes are nerfed by the torpedo bulge, you should just change the torpedo bulge rule and keep it simple.

For instance, maybe a torpedo bulge gives -1 to rolls for torpedoes to confirm criticals?
 
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