Status: U From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Remember the Maine Someone posted a message about Remember the Maine a few weeks ago. (Eric Pass?) The basic statement was that the naval system didn't work because it allowed the Spanish to get away too easily at Santiago. Having since gotten my own copy of the game, I tried the naval scenarios myself, and have a couple of observations to offer. First, on the choice between whether the range table or the example in the rules is correct. The difference between the two is actually quite small, since both sides can always try to change the range (i.e., if the Spaniards manage to open the range, the US can try and close it on the same turn), and the smaller chance of the faster fleet is balanced by the smaller chance of the slower. The table gives a bit higher chances for the faster fleet to get away than the example (about 45% as opposed to 41% on a single try, if my experimentation is correct). Second, I think the chance of getting away from a slower foe is actually just about right. What's not right is the notion that fleets maneuver as monolithic blocks at the speed of their slowest ships. At Santiago IIRC, both fleets split up, the faster Spanish ships ran and the faster US ships ran after them and eventually caught up (i.e., in game terms the Spaniards escaped to "sight" range, but did not get disengagement and instead were hauled back to long range). Accordingly, I propose the following houserule: ==== Either player can, at any time, split his fleet at a desired point and declare that these ships are running away. They must continually try to open the range and disengage, if possible. The other player has the choice of splitting his fleet as well (anywhere along its line). Ships in the corresponding groups on both sides maintain their relative positions (in other words, if you have two fleets of six ships each, directly opposite each other, and the first fleet splits in the middle, the second fleet cannot chase the three van ships with its two rear ships, or disengagement would be automatic). All ships behind the battleline must go with one of the groups. They must remain in one group, and the group they go with must be the closest to them in terms of slowest speed (the slower one if two qualify). Once a fleet has been split into multiple squadrons in this manner, it cannot be recombined during the battle, and if a squadron's opponents are all sunk or manage to disengage, that squadron cannot reenter the battle with another enemy squadron (by the time they get back, everything has been decided anyway or the other enemies have gotten away). === I hope this is not totally confusing. If I look at the two tiny naval scenarios included, the following happens when one plays them using my rule fix: At Santiago, assuming the US puts Iowa in the van and the Spaniards the Cristobal Colon, then Colon running away alone would win the scenario. But there's about a 50% chance that Iowa will hit Colon on the first turn, which appears acceptable (Colon could still escape if it's slowed down to the 5 speed of Iowa, but its chances will be greatly reduced). Likewise, for the other ships, chances are that at least one will be hit and slowed down to the 4 of the slower US ships. Doesn't make for a lot of excitement if the question is decided on the first two turns, but acceptably close to history *if* you accept that the Spaniards had any hope of getting away at all, which I do. In the second scenario, should the Spaniards decide to flee, there's nothing the US fleet could actually do to stop them, but if I look at the speed ratings of the ships, that actually seems to make sense (a monitor, even a 1890's monitor, trying to chase after an 1890's cruiser would be an odd sight indeed). The scenario obviously only makes sense if the Spaniard accepts the battle (which is not unreasonable given that his ships are fewer but individually much better than most of the assorted US vessels). Comments are invited. Side note: Charles Vasey's Tsushima game (similar to the Jutland game from Command) deals with the same era and would make a great tactical system instead of the one included, except that the squadrons are really small here and (like Jutland) a more detailed damage record is needed to interface with the strategic game. Markus