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THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN KILLING YOUR ENEMIES
1. Integration of Your Ship's Various Abilities There are more ways to fight ships than there are ships to fight. Each captain develops his own style from battle experience. The ship he fights will cause him to tend toward certain habits because of the limitations or enhancements in various functions of the ship. He needs to think about the abilities and vulnerabilities his ship possesses by its design, those of his enemy, and the other unique aspects of the battle. High winds can upset aim or drive a ship off target. Moss on the water's surface can foul props, and if that happens, the captains needs to know if his pumps can handle the damage his ship is likely to incur while he works to free the props. How does the ship's alignment with the target affect the captain's ability to bring all gun to bear? How far out to sea can he travel and still see well enough to aim effectively? Is it likely that a friendly will get in the way of the next volley? Rotation and depression of the main guns give a captain greater flexibility in his shots. He can create firing situations that are just not possible with fixed gun ships. When he has a foe trapped, the captain can swing his mounts to fire off his impenetrable stern. Or he can swivel his guns so that all main turrets fire at an extreme angle off the bow. This allows him to give indirect pursuit, fire all guns, and maintain a low correctional target area. A 6 foot battleship can reduce its target area to near 3 feet when its guns are aimed this way. And when you consider that the curve of the stern forms a tight angle for his enemy, the actual exposed penetrable length can shrink to 2 feet or less. But sometimes captains get lost in all the fancy gadgetry and spend more time playing with setting up the "perfect shot" than maneuvering. Their reliance on the mechanics of the guns alone leads them to expose more hull to attack then is necessary. Rotation and depression are superior functions, and are even more so when combined with proper steerage. How? Let's say your ship is about to pass over the stern of an enemy vessel. He is moving across your bow from right to left. You attempt to track the ship with your guns. As you approach the "perfect shot", with guns angled off the port bow, your enemy, who is steaming off at an angle of 25 degrees suddenly heels hard to port. His move surprises you, and you miss your shot. Now his forward guns have been brought to bear on your port side. He shoots, and his full firepower is sent your way. But his turn also moved him out of your arc. This leaves you with the choice of either continuing your track and taking a hit, rotating your turrets and trying to steer, or turning away to protect your side. You may attempt to turn to regain the track, but the results are hard to predict; he is still in a turn, changing the bearing to target, and your turn to port may not be quick enough to line up your guns, giving him even more time to setup. The best bet in this scenario would be to set your turrets to an angle that is too wide to port, leading the target. This angle enhances your effective speed, allowing you to overtake the target with the reach of your guns. If he continues, you will line up on him in a matter of moments. If he steers port, he drives his ship directly into your line of fire, with the wide angle giving you time to react. And if he steers starboard, you do the same. Your ship is already to the right of him with respects to turning arcs, so even if you have a slower rate of turn, you have the lead and can cut him off. It is also likely that his guns are rotated to port and aft. A starboard turn will force him to bring his guns around, and that may take more time than he has. Concentrate on the next 10 seconds or so, and make predictions. Set your guns so that you may limit maneuvering to a minimum, and maneuver to limit manipulation of your guns. The key to maximizing your punch, and minimizing your exposure is careful integration of your ships abilities. Play offense and defense at the same time if possible. Remember though, the other guy can steer to set up a shot just like yours. Be prepared to slow down and turn harder to port. Make this move after you have sent your shells on their way. This way you will be able to reduce your target area after having taken the initiative. The trick is to shoot before he sets up his own shot. It isn't likely that you will come away with the better end of the deal if you allow him to set up first. It is seen over and over that a R/C Combat ship with rotating guns generally has the advantage, unless the other captain has a ship with superior speed and maneuverability. (Some aircraft carriers with their forward and rearward fixed guns steer very tight). In this case, the battle conditions are in constant flux, with one side taking the advantage, and then the other. At this point, the ship with rotation can take advantage of "tying up" the other. Pull up close along side if possible. Depress and shoot as quick as the rules allow, and break off when your enemy's superior steerage comes into play. With maneuvering room reduced, the mechanized boat will thrash the other. In a long range battle, the fixed gun ship needs to constantly steer in order to track. But even while doing so, he never has a constant bearing on any other target. And while he is working on shooting his quarry, he provides a wonderful easily tracked target himself. Don't be too proud to enlist the efforts of a team mate. One of your buddies can stand off and work as an artillery position. You can seduce your foe into following you into a prearranged killing area. Here your side can overwhelm him with firepower not previously thought to be a problem. In Big Gun, the energy of the 1/4" ball bearings results in great damage to ships of light construction. This being the case, the rate of fire has a limitation placed on it. The main guns can fire only once every 8 seconds, the secondary guns (including tertiary guns for purposes of this article) may spit their venom once every 4 seconds, and torpedoes may fire only once every 30 seconds. (In some clubs, each of the 4 calibers are given different rates of fire, 8, 6, 4, and 2 seconds, from largest caliber to smallest.) Aside from keeping damage to a lesser level, (your tolerance for pain and balsa glued to your fingers may be different than mine. :) ), this interval allows for a very important aspect of Big Gun battling. Reloads. The timing simulates guns reloading. While the reload is happening, captains plot their next shot, steer into or out of the enemy's fire, and assess damage. These practices can place captains at risk: A destroyer fires on a cargo vessel, whose escort is ready to return fire. The can's .177" rounds can be fired every 4 (or 2) seconds. But his guns don't have rotation (the smaller ships are more difficult to outfit with anything other than fixed guns), and he must either keep a constant track to maintain his aim, or break off the direct approach periodically to avoid answering fire from the escort. Since destroyers have little or no pumping capacity, any raid can be disastrous. Suppose that the can accumulates 3 hits at waterline. If he is near port, he may stay in the fight a while. But if he is far out to sea, he might not have time to get home before he sinks, even if he breaks off immediately and heads home at top speed. It's a captain's call as usual. With the reload cycle driving captains' decisions, you can see how this practice of fire intervals creates a need for strategic thinking. There are no long spurts of gun fire allowed, and no machine guns. :) While a single broadside doesn't always send a ship to the bottom, it has happened. Ribs and blast shields have been blown away, and gaping holes below the belt line appear just enough in this game to keep captains thinking about the costs of their actions. Your ship's individual limitations will dictate how you fight. Imagine this, your 28 knot battleship just put a serious hurt on two freighters, but is now threatened by 2 33-knot cruisers. You are far from home and running all out. But the enemy is making use of the 5 knot difference to close the gap and pull along side for a torpedo attack. You decision to press home the attack on the freighters required a time investment. It also gave time to the enemy. Now he hounds you. Speed affects your timing, and the smart captain is always plotting intercepts and run-times. This brings up the issue of thinking ahead. You can stay afloat only so long with major damage. It takes a definite amount of time to get back to shore from any point on the lake. If the later is longer than the former, you're sunk. Even being close to shore is no guarantee that you'll get home. Fouled props can stretch your stay on the water indefinitely. Even worse is the wide-eyed captain caught up entirely in the battle. With his side screaming and yelling for him to turn for home, he sinks anyway. The fighting was obsessive, and he couldn't break away for a small matter such as flooding. Timing is important in deployments, also. Your convoy ships leave port to make the run around the buoys. Their safe return home is important because of the points they rack up. But if you allow them to leave before there is a proper escort, they can be cut up. It is a good idea to coordinate convoy deployment with the repair activities of combatants on the worktables. You may even want to send out a fast cruiser force to reach the enemy port quickly. There, one or more ships can attempt to tie up the expected response when your convoy sets to sea. If the enemy is deceived into thinking that your attack is serious, he won't be in a position to field enough strength to attack your convoy, which is now leaving with a heavy escort force. A carrier has just sent a cruiser to the bottom after a drawn out skirmish. In the battle, he absorbed more damage than he thought he might from several well aimed volleys, and some not-so-well-aimed. The carrier's captain noticed that a few long range salvos from a battlewagon on his side came to a stop inside his hull. The incoming water then threatening his ship came partially from holes his buddy made. Friendly fire is a fact of battle, but its effects can be blunted. Standing on shore with your radios in your hands, you and your team mates should be exchanging thoughts on what you are doing. If you have an "Admiral" coordinating the action, let him know if you are going to break orders, so that you don't get in the way. (He may shoot you anyway for disrespecting him, but that's another matter). Either way, you can limit the damage from your own side by not allowing yourself to get tied up in one little aspect of the action. Periodic "assessments" of the rest of the lake are generally all that is needed. No matter how good you are at hammering away close up, you should still keep an eye out for the Mailman. The Mailman is that guy who lobs in long range shots. If the battle is fierce enough, his shots can get into the middle of things without anyone knowing. You can avoid airmail deliveries by periodically and regularly looking up, and catching an idea of how the lake looks. It's just like defensive driving, watching your mirrors, except here, it's all in front of you and not reverse imaged. Keeping an eye on the lake not only helps you, but your team mates. You can warn them of approaching danger, or rush to the aid of a convoy left unprotected when its escort decided to hunt for shellfish. Look up occasionally from your battle, to see if some other situation is worse than your own. Or, if you are currently not engaged, study the look of the lake and try to predict where the action will lead. Position yourself where you can do the most good, and hammer away.
Things to Remember While we take our battling seriously, we do keep other things in mind...
Welcome to the world of Big Guns, where the ships are brave and the fish are scared. |