From: KarlLaskas@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 14:10:06 EDT Subject: Q&A for Great White Fleet To: admin@grognard.com X-Mailer: 7.0 for Windows sub 10681 Alan, I recently answered a number of questions about the tactical system in Great White Fleet. Here were my answers. Please post this to Grognards. -------------------------------- Hi Alex: You asked about how to deploy for battle in the GWF rules. Because I realized that gamers would be using different size maps to play out battles using this system, we did not choose to create a standard deployment. However, here is a guideline for setting up the battles. Fleets should enter the play area from map sides corresponding to the direction from which they entered the Great War at Sea map square. Players may wish to set up at maximum sighting range, depending upon current weather. (Take the GWAS figures in hexes and multiply by eight.) However, this may require too large a play area, and there will be no effect on game play if fleets set up at a reduced range. I'd recommend approximately 1.5 times the maximum gunnery range. That will be equivalent to a range of 24 hexes given perfect conditions. You also asked about a rule to allow ships to break contact and avoid total destruction. Such a rule will appear in our dreadnought rules out later this year. For these rules, try this threshold approach. For each 10% of the victory point value of its capital ships lost by one side, assign a base 10% chance per turn that the admiral will break off the combat. Thus, with 20% of the value lost, a die roll of 0 or 1 will cause the admiral to abandon the combat. Optionally, do not begin rolling until 20% of the victory point value has been sunk. I hope these answers are helpful. Best regards, Karl Laskas -------------------------------- Hello Rich: Recently your GWF questions were forwarded to me. I apologize for the delay of several days in responding. 1. I assume that a ship MUST roll on the damage control table if it has anything that could be remedied by the table. Is this correct? YES. 2. I interpret that gunfire is halved due to a FIRE result only the first turn after it received. How about for additional FIRE results if a ship already has one FIRE? Your interpretation is correct. Subsequent FIRE results will cause the ship to incur the penalty on the turn a later FIRE result is received. The idea is that the gunnery fire has occasioned some incendiary result that may cause distraction in the target ship's gunnery fire, or perhaps divert personnel into firefighting functions, or cause some other dislocation that creates a temporary dislocation in gunnery fire. 3. Rule 7.2 says there is a +1 to the hit die roll if a torpedo is fired one hex away. Is this meant for only the 1904-05 period as the charts indicate? Yes. 4. If a ship gets two hits on a target in the same turn and both are FLOODING results, does the ship sink immediately, or must the second FLOODING result be a LATER turn? It would sink immediately. 5. Is there any difference between a DUD and an NE result? Not in game terms. It merely serves to provide additional color and illustrates the correct hit probabilities for this period. A result of NE is a miss result. A DUD result means that the gunners did hit the target, but the shells were deficient in some way. 6. What is the rationale for the +1 to the damage roll if the FIRING ship was hit more than once during the turn? Should this be the TARGET ship? Yes, there is a misprint. It should say TARGET. 7. What armor must be penetrated to get a critical hit? May any gun achieve a critical hit, even tertiary guns? Armor, if any, must be penetrated to cause a critical hit. Some of the critical hit results reflect stray, random attacks that could be accomplished even by tertiary guns. 8. I assume that the armor must be penetrated to get a FIRE result? Is this correct? No. During this period, many fires were caused when on-deck items caught on fire. These might be guns, but not always. The Spanish decks were loaded down with wood items that made excellent kindling for fires.