VAS rules clarification

[Captain Kremmen]

Critical hits. When rolling your AD's I presume that it is only natural 6's that you then re-roll and get a critical on 4,5,6

OR for a SAP weapon do you reroll on a 4,5,6. i.e. is it a resultant 6+ or a natural 6.


I notice main destroyer guns, 5inch etc (Secondary weapons) are not able to fire at aircraft. although not strictly accurate I presume this was a simplification thing?

 

[DM]

1) Yes

2) Yes, a simplification. We had a "Dual Purpose Secondaries" trait which allowed ships equipped with DP and HA batteries to use some or all of their secondary ADs for AAA fire but it was binned.

 

[Soulmage]

1. Don't you mean DD?

2. I've heard of 5" guns being fired at aircraft. Can anybody explain to me how they actually hit anything? Even the deck machine gunners seemed to have a hard time hitting, how can a slow-pivot turret track an aircraft effectively, and how do they aim it since they don't have somebody standing behind it, and I presume they didn't have any of the fancy electronic stuff we have today for that kind of thing?

 

[DM]

Actually they had lots of fancy electronics later in the war (including radar directors and VT fuses). In some cases "barrage fire" was used, where shells were fired with timed fuses into the expected path of enemy aircraft with the intention of producing a curtain of fragments through which they had to fly. Fragmentation patterns were fairly large so extreme accuracy wasn't required.

 

[Taellik]

Thought it was the Damage Die rolls that when attempting to penetrate armour that result with crits on a roll of "6", not the initial attack die rolls.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

Sorry, yes I meant DD not AD.

So chance of a critical is only half what it was in ACTA. I thought they were more common in VAS

Ta

Andy

 

[Chernobyl]

OK, so my local group had a two on two game last night, IJN vs USN.

some questions:

1) There appears to be no way to disable the torpedo launchers on board a ship. They don't apear on the critical hit chart, and don't get reduced when crippled. Suggest either a) 4+ to wreck when crippled as with turrets or b) reduce half AD when crippled, as with AA/Secondary.

2) As in ACTA, ships that are speed 0 can be selected to move, correct? my players (who aren't familiar with ACTA) don't see this as fair/realistic)

3) There's noting in the rules describing what happens when two or more flights dogfight 1 enemy flight (2 on 1 or 3 on 1, etc...) Currently, we're going with the straight D6 each, but defending flight can only kill 1 max, and hope to live against other flight.

4) When planes and spotters are launched and placed on the edge of the ship counter, are they eligible to be attacked by enemy fighters, if they don't get to move away from the ship (ie, move second)? While i concede they're in the air, I can't imagine they'd really want to dogfight at such a low altitude. (hit the water, can't use parachutes....)

 

[Arleigh_Burke]

OK, so my local group had a two on two game last night, IJN vs USN.

some questions:

1) There appears to be no way to disable the torpedo launchers on board a ship. They don't apear on the critical hit chart, and don't get reduced when crippled. Suggest either a) 4+ to wreck when crippled as with turrets or b) reduce half AD when crippled, as with AA/Secondary.

3) There's noting in the rules describing what happens when two or more flights dogfight 1 enemy flight (2 on 1 or 3 on 1, etc...) Currently, we're going with the straight D6 each, but defending flight can only kill 1 max, and hope to live against other flight.

I had my first game today and had the same questions. I found this post after a quick search and didn't see a reply.

I favor the 4+ destruction of torp tubes if crippled and allow for random torp mount destruction if WEAPONS critical #5 Turret Destroyed is rolled up. Just include torp mounts as additional turrets. I would not reduce torp AD by -1. Torp mounts are integrated equipment and represent 'salvo' effects.

We handled multi-flight dog-fights in the same manner as originally posted. All flights roll one die. Hits are applied by defender. In other words... 1 flight Zero vs. 3 flights Wildcats. Zero rolls one die and wins dogfight vs. each of 3 Wildcat dice. One Wildcat flight loses a DP, USN player's choice.

--AB

 

[Court Jester]

OK, so my local group had a two on two game last night, IJN vs USN.

some questions:

1) There appears to be no way to disable the torpedo launchers on board a ship. They don't apear on the critical hit chart, and don't get reduced when crippled. Suggest either a) 4+ to wreck when crippled as with turrets or b) reduce half AD when crippled, as with AA/Secondary.

3) There's noting in the rules describing what happens when two or more flights dogfight 1 enemy flight (2 on 1 or 3 on 1, etc...) Currently, we're going with the straight D6 each, but defending flight can only kill 1 max, and hope to live against other flight.

I had my first game today and had the same questions. I found this post after a quick search and didn't see a reply.

I favor the 4+ destruction of torp tubes if crippled and allow for random torp mount destruction if WEAPONS critical #5 Turret Destroyed is rolled up. Just include torp mounts as additional turrets. I would not reduce torp AD by -1. Torp mounts are integrated equipment and represent 'salvo' effects.

We handled multi-flight dog-fights in the same manner as originally posted. All flights roll one die. Hits are applied by defender. In other words... 1 flight Zero vs. 3 flights Wildcats. Zero rolls one die and wins dogfight vs. each of 3 Wildcat dice. One Wildcat flight loses a DP, USN player's choice.

--AB

Multiple dogfights is answered by Matt Sorange in this thread.

 

[Hugbiel]

1. Don't you mean DD?

2. I've heard of 5" guns being fired at aircraft. Can anybody explain to me how they actually hit anything? Even the deck machine gunners seemed to have a hard time hitting, how can a slow-pivot turret track an aircraft effectively, and how do they aim it since they don't have somebody standing behind it, and I presume they didn't have any of the fancy electronic stuff we have today for that kind of thing?

The Richelieu have their 6" gun designed to fire at aircraft. They wasn't very effective but they can threat aircraft enought to reduce their ?effectiveness?.
Beeing long range gun the slow turret can track plane a long distance where they don't have to move much, and aim with the turret director. Special amunition help. When you shell make a big boOom, you don't have to be so precise.

 

[DM]

2. I've heard of 5" guns being fired at aircraft. Can anybody explain to me how they actually hit anything? Even the deck machine gunners seemed to have a hard time hitting, how can a slow-pivot turret track an aircraft effectively, and how do they aim it since they don't have somebody standing behind it, and I presume they didn't have any of the fancy electronic stuff we have today for that kind of thing?

Most cruisers and battleships had AA guns of 4-5.5" calibre and in fact they were the principal AA armament due to their range. They wereused in a variety of ways with delayed action fuses. The shells themselves were not designed necessarily to hit the target but exploded and generated showers of fragments travelling at high velocity and it was these that damaged aircraft. The RN used "barrage fire" where the AA guns fired at a set range and generated a curtain of fragments through which attacking aircraft would have to fly. Radar directed AA fire improved the situation - range data was supplied from the AA directors to the guns which was used to set the delay on the fuse. An even more impressive development was the VT, or proximity fuse which detonated a shell when it came close to an air target. Most Allied ships (or at least British and US ships) employed VT fuses from 1943 onwards. The use of the VT is sometimes overstated - ships generally carried 25% VT to 75% conventional fuse (this allowed for use against non-air targets as well, although I imagine a VT shell fusing off of a ship or the sea surface would have generated quite a decent air burst against surface targets as well). I have a copy of a report that breaks down the effectiveness of US AA weapons and IIRC the VT fuse just about doubled the effectiveness of the 5" gun against aircraft.

 

[juggler69uk]

Multiple dogfights is answered by Matt Sorange in this thread.

Thought he had, saved me looking for it Ta CJ