[William Sheil]

I think stretching “+2 points of damage to a single damage roll” to apply to every dice in the roll is a bit much. It may be intended but it’s not at all obvious.

Although snipers have their own extreme range/accuracy factors to consider, the entire existence of machineguns in modern warfare, from their very inception, is precisely to increase the likelihood of hitting targets not to hit the same targets with multiple rounds (which is usually fairly pointless).

For an obvious wargame example Bolt Action increases accuracy by increasing the number of hit dice rolled with high RoF weapons and then distributing the hits amongst target models. Models don’t get multiple hits, the hits are distributed so effectively high RoF -> more models affected which is (statistically) increased accuracy.

For Cruel Seas firing is single model to single model without a multiple roll RoF mechanic so it could be interpreted either way (increase accuracy or increase damage). But with multiple barrels already adding damage then an accuracy bonus for autofire could have provided a complementary mechanism.

[William Sheil]

There’s a common convention in wargames to model higher rates of fire as improved hit chance rather than damage although statistically one equals the other in the long run. Although the shells approximately follow the same path they are not wholly simultaneous so there is still a level of fine resolution that makes more shots in the same period more likely to hit when trying to track a target in non-ideal circumstances.

In any case though the discussion is that the +2 modifier appears paltry for the points cost when applied to (for example) a 4D6 weapon – and in this game absolute damage is the factor rather than there being any non-linear damage factors that would make small increases significant. If the shots were truly following the same path then it would be expected that there should be a substantial multiplier to the hit damage values.

[William Sheil]

IIRC the section on critical hits also specifies they occur on “natural sixes”.

Was hoping to see a “To Hit” modifier pop up in the QRF but no such luck.

[William Sheil]

Generally I think points system has been tagged on as a concession for those used to Beer & Pretzel and/or casual club play. I don’t really hold much stock in it. Even if the inexperienced point costs were balanced the flat cost for regular and veteran crews would mean that those levels were not balanced. And the T-14 is a good example of a vessel that is overpriced at all experience levels and roles.

I do actually appreciate that the game is intended more for “scenario-driven… strong narrative” play but I think at the moment we could do with a wider selection of scenarios (e.g. book scenario 8) so people can get the asymmetric matches together.

It also wouldn’t also be too difficult for someone to sit down and re-point the vessels at different experience levels to help with some level of casual or tournament play.

[William Sheil]

This was also my interpretation. Curious to know whether this needs a clarification.

[William Sheil]

It has just occurred to me that the red “pipe” (or piping) might refer to the stripes visible on either side of the cabin in the image on the cover of the S-Boat painting guidebook:

Shipcraft 6: German S-Boats

[William Sheil]

A couple more questions to avoid starting a new thread…

3) Tiny Boats – in the Damage paragraph on p49 it is stated that these vessels have 12 Hull Points. In the Ship Rosters tables on p94+ All the Tiny Boats are listed as having 5 Hull Points.

4) The 3 pounder is mentions in the charts on p10 & p11 but missing in the chart on p28 and p103.

5) Plumes (more curiosity). On p26 it is stated that Plumes are added on misses from guns of 37mm/40mm (or 3pdr I assume) or larger. In the official playthrough video, however, Plumes were being liberally scattered around on misses from 20mm guns as well. Was this a mistake or playtesting revision?

My feeling is that with not many guns of that size on the table the mechanism is rarely going to be relevant at least in the current smallboat meta unless 20mm shots are included.

6) Still cannot find any night visibility rules to accompany the star-shell/searchlight rules.

[William Sheil]

Hi John. There are two questions from my first post that haven’t been directly addressed by the Errata (probably submitted too late, I know).

1) Now that Minefields have now been properly costed and defined is it correct to assume that the minefield rules specifically apply to Contact Mines, whereas Magnetic and Pressure Mines, which have their own hit chance and (8cm) area of effect, are intended to be defined (in some manner) at discrete individual mines rather than in area minefields?

2) Are smokescreens intended to obscure lines of fire that pass through the 3D6 diameter (not circumference) area rather than (as is actually written) representing the fact that shots to the rear of the emitting vessel are obscured regardless of the position of the smoke?

[William Sheil]

The original Beaufighter I think was intended as a pure cannon platform and as a maritime craft they were often tasked with suppressing Flak in support of torpedo/bomb attackers. Later variants reintroduced torpedoes (previously one of the roles of the Beaufort predecessor) and rockets. Coastal command used the cannon and torpedo variants in combination to some effect.

[William Sheil]

Here are my takes on these questions:

1) The rules refer to firing at a different enemy for each “guns” for hit allocations so I assume they can be allocated separately.

2) I would say “yes” they can shoot in different phases as the rules make a point of specifying that each can fire once “per activation” as if that’s the main restriction. However this could require some fore-planning as you have to declare all targets before firing the first weapons.

3) As mentioned tiny, small and medium craft are immune to torpedoes (unless players agree) and get bonuses for torpedoes and crossing shoals and sandbanks.

4) It looks like collisions aren’t dodged but intentional ramming can be (by the defender)… but I would probably argue that the defender (only) should also get the chance to dodge an ostensibly accidental collision.

5) Yes, I think so. Some crit efefts also self-repair e.g. Crew.

6) I think Hull points will need to be extrapolated for undocumented vessels.

7) Rules certainly seem to be deficient in this area. We have star shells, searchlights and radars rules telling us how far we can see at night when we have these items but nothing telling us how far we can see without them. Maybe just say 30cm but a ship that fired in its last activation can be seen/targeted at 60cm with everything obscured unless under a star shell or searchlight?

8) Mine damage is listed in the text but the hit chance chart is AWOL. See my own thread for further questions here.

9) The rules say “A Fleet Dice”, not one of the dice from the bag, so like a boat you keep an extra dice on hand for the plane and then introduce it to note activation when the aircraft arrives. Thereafter it goes in the bag with the others. I expect this is the same as any units arriving from off the table. The “Pulling and Issuing Fleet Dice” section on p8 specifically talks about putting dice for the vessels “in play” into the bag. Off-table aircraft and reserves are not yet “in play” at the start of the game so their dice do not start in the bag. Planes arrive and are activated at the start of the turn.

10) I think “bombs” are generally a simplification for non-torpedo aircraft attacks so for beaufighters they represent the aircraft strafing with cannons .

11) I would expect so. I cannot see what column they would use but I assume it would be the Tiny, Small and Medium ship column in the table on p93.

[William Sheil]

P26 Orphaned Torpedoes.

If the firing ship ship is destroyed the torpedoes are moved at the start of each round (before activations).

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