5 replies to this topic

[gregoryk]

Lonnie,I already have some questions.the rules state (p.ix):

"The Game Turn length remains six minutes (equivalent) for daytime Game turns and three minutes for nocturnal Game Turns where the actual tactical combat period tended to be short and very violent. Hardcore shellbacks, of course, are welcome to use three minute Game Turns for both day and night actions."

[ol][li]What exactly does this mean? Is damage doubled for an equivalent three minute movement?[/li][li]Is this the same as was done in the original GQI/II rules?[/li][li]How do you use three minute turns?[/li][/ol]Thanks — game looks great!Cheers,Gregory

[Martin Jerred]

I'm pretty sure it just means that you have twice as many turns in a game-hour. So outside of campaign-linked events it won't have much meaning.In effect each turn is shorter and therefore the gunnery is twice as violent (especially as ranges are very short). But I don't think you'd double the damage as that would actually be equivalent to quadrupling it!The original had the 3 minute move / 6 minute gunnery in a 6 minute turn day and night.Not sure if that helps but it's how I read itZippee

[Jim O'Neil]

No, I think what is being said is the Turn is 6 minutes, but you can only do 3 minutes worth of firing or other actions. The reason is that gamers tend to be far more sure of their actions and much less concerned about ammunition, fuel and ship loss, than the real commanders were. A BROOKLYN class Light Cruiser can theoretically fire 1080 shells in a 6 minute turn (at rapid fire), but in reality, this is about a third of it's total ammunition supply ... the captain is just not going to waste ammunition like that. But A Gamer would do that every turn if you allowed him to...

[Cpt M]

GQ 1/2 and now GQ3 use 3 mns as the base for determining fire and movement (100 yds per 1 knot of movememt works out to 20 turns per hour or 3 mins). The 6 min turn links in with the campaign rules which defines an hour as 10 turns. The way I've always looked at this was that a lot of activity can happen in a turn, but not in every turn (there's a lot of dead time that gamers rarely, if ever, model). Also, ships rarely make their full book rated speed due to a host of reasons, so a built in reduction is not unrealistic (although 50% may be a bit much, its not totally unreasonable; many PT boats with a book speed of 42kts were lucky to make 20kts after awhile in the SOPAC). So the use of 6 mins per turn takes these points into consideration. For campaigns I've run, I'll sometimes count each tactical turn as 3 mins and each campaign hour as 20 turns (but I also use an ammo limit rule so too bad for you if you shot off all your ammo and I cut back the top speeds by normally 15%-20%). For stand alone (non-campaign) games, as Zippee pointed out, it really has no impact. Mike

[Lonnie Gill]

The General Quarters Game Turn is modeled on three minutes for both movement and gunnery as several of you have already noted. This is consistent with the original General Quarters. Simulating six minutes in a daylight engagement is simply a painless way to emulate the fact that in the real world not everybody is doing every possible action all the time - unlike wargamers! Any one whose been in the military is far too familar with hurry up and wait. Careful reading of the accounts from the WWII era discloses numerous small delays and pauses that reduced the effective rate of fire and other actions taken. Temporary loss of contact, delays in reloading, a momentary bit of sea mist that blocks the LoF, an order to check fire... the list goes on. The point is the pace of action in historical daylight engagements was far slower over time than what a ship could mathmatically have done in that time period.Nocturnal Game Turns are kept at three minutes to better simulate the short, violent nature of those clashes. Scan the accounts of Pacific night battles for example. Actual combat seldom exceeded ten minutes.The only real effect of all this is in a campaign where it may be important to determine the amount of simulated time expended in an engagement. Nearby units may be able to intervene over time. Think of it as a one hour Campaign Turn having ten three minute Game Turns. If you are not comfortable with this bit of abstraction, consider daytime Game Turns three minutes each with 20 to a one hour Campaign Turn. The choice is yours.

[Martin Jerred]

Ah, so this time around the gunnery is also calibrated to a 3 minute turn. This isn't immediately obvious from the rules (probably because i'm coming from GQI/II - newcomers probably wouldn't read that in to what is written).Happier with that, thanksZippee