4 replies to this topic

[Jahan]

Hello, a question came up regarding damage to ships where the damage is either redundant or no applicable. Ie: damage to tertiary guns or torpedo tubes when the ship doesn't have any, or main armament damage when the armaments are already damaged. In the past I have re-rolled damage that didn't apply but I haven't found anything in the rules to address this. Should redundant damage just be ignored? I am hoping to get an answer prior to Thursday evening when our game is scheduled, thanks in advance.

[Cpt M]

Hello, a question came up regarding damage to ships where the damage is either redundant or no applicable. Ie: damage to tertiary guns or torpedo tubes when the ship doesn't have any, or main armament damage when the armaments are already damaged. In the past I have re-rolled damage that didn't apply but I haven't found anything in the rules to address this. Should redundant damage just be ignored? I am hoping to get an answer prior to Thursday evening when our game is scheduled, thanks in advance.

Yes, redundant damage or damage to non-existent systems is ignored. There are many examples of this happening. During Bismarck's last battle, many additional hits to hit her main battery were observed long after they had been destroyed. (The slang term used in the military for this is "bouncing the rubble".)

[Aman]

I did post my own on this, with less hurry since we already played our game on December 7th, "A Saturday that will live in Infamy!" featuring a night fight in the Solomons.

The observation by some of the very experienced gamers is that the table becomes more and more forgiving to the target and it is hard to finish off a ship since less than half the hits or so involve "sinkable affects". So once my DD has lost its searchlights and TT's and DCs etc, it effectively has a 50% "armor save" since the hits HIT but with no additional effect.

Personally, my observation is that in reality it is hard to sink a ship with 5" gun fire and that torpedoes would normally be used to finish off a friendly ship that needed it.

[pyruse]

You always have exactly the same chance to get a sinkable effect. It doesn't get harder; it stays exactly the same.

[Aman]

correct, but as the hits cause no damage, it's like an armor save.

 

Personally, i think it is fine - it wasn't easy to sink a ship with gunfire, altho you could trash it to the point of combat ineffectiveness.  A torpedo is what you really needed to sink something usually.

 

Critical hits to the ammo storage aside, of course!