More info on the ship designer subprogram please

[DiFool6]

This for me is the main selling point. I will assume right off that all of the tradeoffs we saw in say the various treaty BBs will be present here: fuel capacity vs. boiler capacity, gun caliber vs. gun weight, etc. I'd expect to see the advantages and disadvantages of all-forward armament as in the Nelsons and Richelieus modeled. In addition there should be all sorts of armor schemes to choose from (all-or-nothing vs. what the Bismarck had), and the little stuff like whether to go with dual-purpose secondaries should certainly be there.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can cobble together a better treaty BB than what we saw historically (North Carolinas are the ones to beat IMHO). It would be very cool if we could upload our designs here for others to use, as well. Just some screenies would be sufficient.

[Stratos]

Very interesting post, maybe we can also create things like very heavy cruisers or reinforced destroyers...

[tony_glazebrook]

This for me is the main selling point. I will assume right off that all of the tradeoffs we saw in say the various treaty BBs will be present here: fuel capacity vs. boiler capacity, gun caliber vs. gun weight, etc. I'd expect to see the advantages and disadvantages of all-forward armament as in the Nelsons and Richelieus modeled. In addition there should be all sorts of armor schemes to choose from (all-or-nothing vs. what the Bismarck had), and the little stuff like whether to go with dual-purpose secondaries should certainly be there.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can cobble together a better treaty BB than what we saw historically (North Carolinas are the ones to beat IMHO). It would be very cool if we could upload our designs here for others to use, as well. Just some screenies would be sufficient.

Hey Stratos - the ship design engine does fully cater for 'trade-offs' at a certain level. This is the whole point of the engine - increase armour or guns or speed or other things and a lot else has to increase to compensate.

The engine has been deliberately designed with the non-grognard in mind. Nevertheless, there are well over 2 million design possibilities, and it allows you to create your own or modified design in seconds.

I think though that you will find that SAS has a whole lot more to tempt you than the ability to design your own ships.

SAS is a lot lot more than a campaign simulator that strings together loosely coupled semi- historical scenarios. It is a fully dynamic game engine . One you start or create a campaign you will find that you can play this baby at numerous levels of detail,. The intricacies of ship design can be just one of many many levels of detail you may want to deal with.

Believe me. I started with ship design as one of the main foccusses. Now, it is just one of a huge number of game play choices.

The " selling point" for buyers will vary obviously; but never forget SAS is is a strategy and operational gane that also lets you make significant tactical choices.

I am getting excited as this baby nears the end of its development cycle. Thank you so much for your continued interest :-)

[Ed Rotondaro]

This for me is the main selling point. I will assume right off that all of the tradeoffs we saw in say the various treaty BBs will be present here: fuel capacity vs. boiler capacity, gun caliber vs. gun weight, etc. I'd expect to see the advantages and disadvantages of all-forward armament as in the Nelsons and Richelieus modeled. In addition there should be all sorts of armor schemes to choose from (all-or-nothing vs. what the Bismarck had), and the little stuff like whether to go with dual-purpose secondaries should certainly be there.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can cobble together a better treaty BB than what we saw historically (North Carolinas are the ones to beat IMHO). It would be very cool if we could upload our designs here for others to use, as well. Just some screenies would be sufficient.

Hi:

There are some authorities who feel that the South Dakota class was actually the best of the Treaty battleships since it was actually protected against its own armament, unlike the North Carolina class. But both classes proved highly effective in combat (Washington sinks Kirishima and Massachusetts clobbers Jean Bart).

[asnrobert]

Hi:

There are some authorities who feel that the South Dakota class was actually the best of the Treaty battleships since it was actually protected against its own armament, unlike the North Carolina class. But both classes proved highly effective in combat (Washington sinks Kirishima and Massachusetts clobbers Jean Bart).

But it should be noted (and let me mention I'm a Big Mamie fan as I had a family member serve aboard her) that the Jean Bart was in port with only half of her main armament installed, so she was little more than a floating gun battery at the time.

[tony_glazebrook]

This for me is the main selling point. I will assume right off that all of the tradeoffs we saw in say the various treaty BBs will be present here: fuel capacity vs. boiler capacity, gun caliber vs. gun weight, etc. I'd expect to see the advantages and disadvantages of all-forward armament as in the Nelsons and Richelieus modeled. In addition there should be all sorts of armor schemes to choose from (all-or-nothing vs. what the Bismarck had), and the little stuff like whether to go with dual-purpose secondaries should certainly be there.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can cobble together a better treaty BB than what we saw historically (North Carolinas are the ones to beat IMHO). It would be very cool if we could upload our designs here for others to use, as well. Just some screenies would be sufficient.

Let me give you some more info on the ship design sub program.

There are 5 types of naval ships: aircraft carriers, battleships & battlecruisers, cruisers, escorts, and submarines.

The design program applies to all but carriers - where you will be limited to either choosing historical types or a 'standard' escort or fleet carrier.

For the other types, the design program kicks in.

A ship design is represented by 8 main variables: 'size', main gun calibre, number of main guns, quantity of secondary/tertiary armament, armour, structural strength (including compartmentation and light armour plating on superstrusture), max speed and endurance. (Submarines replace some of these with oine suited to them , such as underwater speed, number of torpedoes etc).

The range of possible values for these variables mean that for each type of ship you can have nearly 400000 different designs. To take the battleship class as an example, you can design a small raider like the Graf Spees through to the enormous 130000 tonne H Class. Gun calibres can vary from 11 through to 20 inch. Cruisers can range from very small ships not much bigger than escort leaders through to very large heavy cruisers a bit over 20000 tons - which means that there is some cross over with the samll BBs, but the large cruisers will be a bit faster (finer hull form) and less well protected against torpedoes. Escorts range from very small sloops of just a few hundred tons to super detroyers like the Volta - even a bit bigger if you want them. Escorts also have an additional variable indicating whether they are general purpose or specialised for ASW, AA, mielaying or as torpedo attack vessels. So there are well over a million possible escort designs. This is just a quick summation.

The game engine knows, when you select an historical ship, what its main gun distribution was - the Nelsons and Richlieu's all forward, for example. But for your own designs, the design engine distributes the armament equally where possible fore and aft or with a bias forward where equal distribution is not possible - eg where there are nine main guns, the engine distributes them in the standard 3 turret, two forward arrangement.

It takes just a few seconds to set the 8 or 9 main variables. So the program will be attractive to players who want to model the main trade-offs without having to decide where the washrooms should go! The design program is not meant to be the equivalent of a ship design program like springsharp.

The program does not allow you to make some of the choices you mentioned - like choice of armour scheme for example. (You can vary the thickness but not the type of armour scheme). But you will find you have more than ample ability to design unique, extravagantly powerful or unorthodox designs and in that way find out for yourself their value in combat and whether the set of trade-offs you made has been a good one.

I hope this helps.

[DiFool6]

Thanks for all that Mr. Glazebrook. I do hope to see some more CV options later on down the road tho, guess I'll be happy in the meantime to be pushing Midways out the door by mid-44...

[Saffron]

pushing Midways out the door by mid-44...

That sounds like a campaign slogan:

Vote for me and I'll have Midways out the door by mid-44!

Or a song ...

Pushin' Midways out the door ...
By mid-44...
Then we can bomb the enemy...
Right down to the floor...

Oooh

Pushin' Midways out the door...
By mid-44...
We'll keep pushin', pushin', pushin'
'Till the Japanese know the score...

[tony_glazebrook]

Thanks for all that Mr. Glazebrook. I do hope to see some more CV options later on down the road tho, guess I'll be happy in the meantime to be pushing Midways out the door by mid-44...

The only time I am called "Mr Glazebrook" is in the Doctor's waiting room! "Tony" sounds much better :-)

[tony_glazebrook]

That sounds like a campaign slogan:

Vote for me and I'll have Midways out the door by mid-44!

Or a song ...

Pushin' Midways out the door ...
By mid-44...
Then we can bomb the enemy...
Right down to the floor...

Oooh

Pushin' Midways out the door...
By mid-44...
We'll keep pushin', pushin', pushin'
'Till the Japanese know the score...

You are truly a man of many talents!

[William Miller]

Tony,

Umm, Saffron is actually one of the (too) few women we have on our boards...

[Akmatov]

This project looks like it will be a LOT of fun to experiment with. I realize the ship design capability is just one part, but I think it will be unique.

Very much looking forward to it coming out the door.

[tony_glazebrook]

Tony,

Umm, Saffron is actually one of the (too) few women we have on our boards...

Oops! :o My apologies to Saffron!

[tony_glazebrook]

This project looks like it will be a LOT of fun to experiment with. I realize the ship design capability is just one part, but I think it will be unique.

Very much looking forward to it coming out the door.

We appreciate your support William.

Cheers

[Saffron]

Oops! :o My apologies to Saffron!

No worries, Mr. Glazebrook. :D

[tony_glazebrook]

No worries, Mr. Glazebrook. :D

Very good! I love your wit :D