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[Lardness]

I've also put this question into the GQ3 forum as it covers the same topic & that forum may have more readers.....

I've been using the FAI rules for a few months & yesterday was playing solo with a flotilla of RN DDs against a division of HSF BBs (3rd BS, 5th Squadron).

This was mainly to try if RN DD tactics work, ie approach at about 30 degrees on the enemy bow & fire torpedoes at 3-5000 yards.

Clearly, the HSF BB secondary & tertiary armament would come into play. 

SMS Konig ship's drawings show 7 x 5.9" on each side, with 1 facing  directly for'd, 1 aft & the other 5 as broadside.

The tertiaries are 3 on each side, 2 facing for'd & 1 broadside.

The ship log for Konig has 4 secondary boxes for each side (each box representing a pair of guns, even though there were 7 historically, not 8). What would their arcs be... clearly the for'd 5.9" can definitely fire for'd & the aft definitely can't. The remainder will have a partial for'd arc.

How are these firing arcs be represented in the game? It would be fairly critical if launching a DD attack fine on the BB's bow with limited secondaries able to fire for'd?

Also, the tertiary battery is represented on the log is a single red box- does this mean because it was open sights it was pretty much useless at anything but the shortest range & mainly had AA ammunition??

[Brooks Witten]

A bit late to the party, but I hope this reply helps.
Shipboard casemate guns are generally restricted to a 150 degree arc.  This is fairly represented by the 'broadside' on the arc of fire.

As to tertiary batteries.  Certainly they were used in actual combat, but their effect was minimal.  Just read the first-person accounts of Grand Fleet destroyer-men speaking about the ineffectiveness of the High Seas Fleets torpedo boats 88mm (3.5") guns.
Playability has to be taken into account.  But that's one of the joys of "home-rules" games, you can add them in if you like.
 

As to the Konig-class dreadnoughts having 4 boxes representing 7 actual guns while other nations with the same broadside have only 3. . .   Well, that may be a deliberate design bias. 

During the era of Fleet Action Imminent, the German arrangement of secondary shell and powder hoists was found to be superior to other navies. 
While the 'theoretical' rates of fire are similar, those are calculated with 'ready-use' ammunition.  If it was brought up from the magazines, as would be necessary in action, the rate of fire slowed to a bit more than half that rate in every other navy.
So in actuality the High Seas Fleet was putting out a much greater weight of fire from their secondaries.

I've found that the end results are a fairly accurate representation of the actual effects in trying to close with a German dreadnought.