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Thread title: Let's Play Wargames: Naval War: Pirates, Parrots and Plunder



Hello and welcome to the Tortuga faction thread of the naval wargame "Naval War".
If you're not a player of the tortuga faction, please use the Spectator and recruitment thread instead.
If you want to join, you can do so anytime! You might not have the full decision making rights from the get go if you join later.

What is the purpose of this thread?
This is the faction specific thread for the modified game of "Naval War", a tabletop wargame for ships set in the WW2 period. Players have voted for a faction/colour and yellow won.
Yellow was linked to a pirate faction with a neat description text by Bacarruda.
This thread serves as the faction hub with decisions and communications taking place here.

Bacarruda" post="468331785 posted:

Tortuga
In treacherous seas of this world, there be three things sailors fear. Typhoons, tsunamis, and the Black Flag of Tortuga.

We be descended from pirates exiled from the Old World. We Tortugans live by the same pirate creed our forefathers did: if it isn’t nailed down, steal it!

Now, we Tortugans ain’t a “nation,” really. We be more of a…partnership. There be a half-dozen pirate clans, each sittin’ on the Pirate Council. They vote on fightin’ wars and makin’ deals and such. If ye joins the Tortugans, and yer cunnin’ and ruthless enough, I reckon you could lead one of these here pirate clans.

See, we don’t really have a “navy.” If we be fightin’ a war, we hire privateers and such. And each pirate clan got their own fleet o’ ships. We likes fast ships ye can pack to the gills with cutlass-wielding buccaneers. All the better for snatching up fat merchant men, eh?

We’ve got a standin’ offer to every nation out there. Ye can pay us money to protect yer shippin’. It’d be a shame if somethin’ happened to yer ships… Or yer gonna have to face the Black Fleets. And ye wouldn’t be wantin’ that now, would ye?



What are the rules? Do I need to know everything?
Rules are modified Naval War rules from the official site. They are changed though yet the basics still remain the same.
You don't need to know everything and you can't know everything. Vague orders are certainly okay and I'll try to interpret them as best as I can. How thorough you want to be is your choice, this certainly gives you more control.
If you have any questions, just ask.

Some things good to know is the basic ship card.

On the top is the name (HMS Pixelfregatte) and the class (Armored Fregatte) of the ship.
Below that to the left are the systems from engines to rudder with possible states of function. These are abstracted and engine in a sailing ship can mean sails. Once a system is in red, it can't be repaired on the seas and requires a drydock for repairs.
  • Engines: damaged engines mean less movement, engines in red are destroyed and no more movement is possible.
  • Rangefinder: a damaged rangefinder means only half of your guns can shoot, a destroyed rangefinder has no further penalty.
  • Engineering: your ability to repair damage and put out fires on the ship is lessened when the engineering systems is damaged. A destroyed system increases the difficulty further.
  • Rudder: your steering ability is influenced and you can't turn or are stuck in one position. You can still move straight but only can turn in the crossed out direction.

  • To the right of that is the Hull Points area. Hull Points are basically hit points and show the life left in the entity. Each damage received crosses one icon off, from left to right from top to bottom. Round icons are nothing special but on crossing one diamond off, a command check is made.
    A command check is a test for the ship and shows the morale of the ship. If it fails, the ship leaves the squadron and flees from the battle - a rally check is then availabe to get the ship to come back under your command. The more diamonds are crossed off, the harder the check becomes.

    Below systems and HP are the ship properties.
    The crosshair icon is the "to hit check". It shows how big a target it is or how easy it is to hit. If attacks are made against this ship a roll(1d6 per attack) needs to be equal or better to this value, thus a bigger number is better.
    The shield icon is the armour of the ship. Attacks need to have a certain penetration value to be able to damage the ship, this AP needs to be equal or greater than 1d6+armour. A bigger number is better.
    The three persons icon is the crew of the ship. It has a size and experience represented by the stars. When the crew size falls below a certain point the ship is not fully capable of combat anymore.
    The oil barrel icon is the fuel and range on the strategic map for the ship. You lose one fuel point for entering a zone.

    To the right is the ship icon as seen on the battle map.

    In the lower left corner are the weapon systems. The type says what it is, all weapons of the same type are used on one target, no splitting of fire is allowed. The range is in hexes, the Rate of Fire (RoF) tells how many attacks are made. Weapon systems can be damaged and then function less optimal. Armour penetration (AP) tells how good this fares against armoured targets, this value needs to be equal or better than the modified armour value (armour+1d6) to do damage. Special is the modification from the normal rules.

    To the right of the weapon systems are the ship specialities. A fleet always has a fleet flagship and each squadron (team of ships) has a flagship. A player always commands a squadron with his flagship.
    A ship has a certain size, this modifies how far it can see and be seen, and what size of dockyard it needs for repairs.
    Special rules list the specialities of the ships. In this case a "sailing ship". This one takes no fuel to move around the map but has penalties sailing into the wind and is more receptable to damage on the sails.

    I want to be a pirate, what will I be doing? What is the goal of this game?
    As a member of the "Pirate Council" of Tortuga, you will take on management roles and decide on what kind of ships to build, that includes the supposed role, the armament and protective measures and systems, and where to set the focus on the research and understanding of new technologies.
    In battles you will command your ship/s and lead them to victory and riches. Give orders where to sail, scout out the enemy, select the best target, bombard cities, coordinate with your team mates, bring damaged ships out of danger and back to a safe port.

    How involved you want to be in this process is up to you - not everyone has the time to show up regularly and that is fine. Draw orders on the map for every turn, record voice orders or give me some concepts to work with and check back once in a while to adjust them, for example "ship 1 aggressive and target battleships with torpedos, ship 2 wait cautiously as screen in battle line and target small advancing ships".
    A regular participation, while not an absolute must, helps to keep this kind of game going - if you only want to vote, design ships or draw pretty pictures, that's fine too!
    Decisions and planning will be made in the thread. Battle orders, maneuvers and communication during battle with team mates will be submitted via email to me. This is a huge point and I want it to reflect the limitations and confusing situations of naval warfare. I don't care what kind of email service you use, as long as you can read replies and write back to me. There will be no player to player emails or PMs requirement belonging to this game and apart from mine, no email addresses will be made available to other players, as I'll act as a sort of mail box and distribution service.

    The goal of this game is to bring Tortuga to victory - paint the map to your colour, sink the most ships, accrue the most booty, plunder all the riches, have the mightiest fleet and humiliate the great nations.

    --------------------
    Overview:

    The populace sees you as corrupt idiots.
    The leaders of the land forces are slightly annoyed at you.

    You have 1 research station with 2 teams
    You currently don't have a focus set.

    You have 3 small and 2 medium sized dockyards
    You currently don't build or repair any ships.

    You currently earn 1000 construction points (CP) per month and 6000 extra for december
    You have 5000 CP available.

    Possible construction orders:
    1. Buy 1x sold for inexplicable reason by Kaiserlande for 5000 CP
    2. Buy 2x sold for scrap by Tsardom of Vodstkojek for 3000 CP, they say these are robust ships and we should be proud to have them
    3. Buy 3x sold by High Imperium of Shindu for 4000 CP, they say these are good to know more about fishing
    4. Buy 6x sold by Freehaven for 3000 CP, they say these are good coastal defense ships
    5. Build additional dockyard 1000 CP
    6. Increase small dockyard to medium 2000 CP
    7. Increase medium dockyard to large 3000 CP
    8. Scrap, refit or repair ship

    Research:

    Basics of current applied technologies are not yet understood, set a research team to study newest technology and trends in construction techniques. More teams increase the possibility for early successes in the field.

    Missions:
    You have 1 mission available:

    You have received worrying reports that one of the cities that currently enjoys the protection of your fleets shows signs of resistance and refuses to pay the due fees. This is an independent city which belongs to no nation.


    This campaign starts in the year 1903 and you are a member of the 'Pirate Council of Tortuga'. Your responsibilities are:
  • send a parrot to katznmausSA @gmail.com with your forums handle, nobody else of the pirate council will know your address, all messages will run through me.
  • decide what to do with the money
  • plan for the proposed mission