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“The history of sea power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests between nations, of mutual rivalries, of violence frequently culminating in war. The profound influence of sea commerce upon the wealth and strength of countries was clearly seen long before the true principles which governed its growth and prosperity were detected. To secure to one's own people a disproportionate share of such benefits, every effort was made to exclude others, either by the peaceful legislative methods of monopoly or prohibitory regulations, or, when these failed, by direct violence. The clash of interests, the angry feelings roused by conflicting attempts thus to appropriate the larger share, if not the whole, of the advantages of commerce, and of distant unsettled commercial regions, led to wars. On the other hand, wars arising from other causes have been greatly modified in their conduct and issue by the control of the sea. Therefore the history of sea power, while embracing in its broad sweep all that tends to make a people great upon the sea or by the sea, is largely a military history...” ― Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence Of Sea Power Upon History Let's Play:  Rule the Waves is a naval arms race simulator in the time of the massive ironclad dreadnought battleships. In the game we'll play as head of a nation's admiralty, design ships, manage the construction of a fleet, and ultimately fight wars with them. The game's graphics are bargain-basement, but under the hood there's a somewhat-faithful simulation of shipbuilding, naval artillery, and dreadnought steam battles. The game was developed from the similar title Steam and Iron, which focuses on the real-world events of the Great War at sea. Note that we'll be playing as an Admiral, and our ultimate goal is to accumulate personal prestige (and not get fired) rather than lead the nation to peace and prosperity. While the historical outcome of the Great War between the Double Alliance and the Triple Entente may seem inevitable, in fact the political situation in 1900 was fluid. Germany and Russia had recently broken off a secret alliance, but many in St. Petersburg hoped for a renewal of the Russo-German "Reinsurance Treaty." France, diplomatically isolated with no allies, simultaneously seethed with revanchist feeling at Germany and colonial ambition directed at Great Britain. Britain and France had narrowly avoided war over the Sudan in 1899, and Britain and Russia were facing a colonial showdown in northern China when the Boxer Rebellion intervened to break up the crisis. As late as 1902, the British and German cabinets were in talks to seal an Anglo-German Alliance. The year is 1900. In Kiel, the Kaiser has commissioned Grand Admiral Alfred Tirpitz to construct a new German battle fleet to rival the royal navy and secure Weltmach, or World Power status for Imperial Germany. British diplomats plead with the Kaiser's government while an alarmed National Assembly in Paris authorizes new battleship construction against the growing threat. And in the Mediterranean, Admiral John Fisher is inventing a new kind of warfare at sea. The stage is set for the greatest arms race the world has ever seen... ---------------------------------------------- The player can choose a nation as which to play: Great Britain  "The supremacy of the British Navy is the greatest security of the peace of the world." -- John Arbuthnot Fisher, First Sea Lord The undisputed ruler of the seas, Great Britain dominated the mid-19th century military, economically, and technologically. Her immense naval power allowed her to follow a strategy of Splendid Isolation, pursuing colonial interests around the globe while ignoring Continental politics. By the late 19th century, however, Britain's contemporaries had begun to catch up and in some ways surpass the small island nation. Britain was still rich, powerful, and dominant at sea, but as technological progress and international trade spread to other, more populous nations, numbers began to tell against her. With a peacetime army of barely 300,000 men (compared to millions under arms on the Continent) Great Britain is totally reliant on the Navy to maintain its empire. The strategic policy of the British Admiralty is known as the "Two-Power Strategy": to at all times maintain a fleet powerful enough to defeat the next two powerful navies at the same time. Consequently Great Britain's naval budget is three times larger than most other powers. Great Britain is an interesting power to play, as long as you don't set the game to Historical Budget. You are at the forefront of shipbuilding technology but have to build to restrictions on how small and cramped your ships can be. You have to maintain a powerful fleet in Northern Europe to fight off France and Germany, but have far-flung colonial possessions to worry about. However the game can be a bit easy, as your massive budget allows you to just spend rivals into the ground, even with the budgetary boosts other nations get on game budgets. We'll be playing as Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher, the innovative First Sea Lord of the Admiralty who dragged the Royal Navy kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Fisher was godfather of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, the RN submarine program, aerial reconnaissance, bigger guns and better tactics, but he was also a bulldozer of a man who piled up enemies nearly as fast as he piled up accolades. He was possibly the only First Sea Lord of whom the King has said, "He ought to have been hanged from the yardarm..." Imperial Germany  "The primary responsibility of a battleship is to remain afloat." -- Alfred Tirpitz The German Empire in 1900 holds 60 million subjects, produces twice the steel of Great Britain, and possesses the second-largest merchant fleet in the world. The young, mercurial, and insecure Kaiser Wilhelm II aspires to World Power and a fleet to rival his grandmother Victoria I. To that end he has lifted Admiral Tirpitz to political heights not usually attained by an Admiral and rammed two Navy Laws through the Reichstag, guaranteeing construction of 22 battleships without interference from the legislature. Imperial Germany is an interesting game but focused; Germany lives under Britain's shadow and ultimately you either beat the Royal Navy or eventually succumb to blockade should Britain ever enter a war against you. Germany has the third-largest budget in the game and relatively few overseas possessions; the blockade means a German game will be focused on cranking out the best battleships possible and sinking every other navy in Europe. If you do defeat Britain, you may find your battleships optimized for war in the North Sea are useless for constructing a worldwide empire. However, ton for ton, Germany constructs the best battleships on the planet. Given time to build her fleet she is perfectly capable of sinking every other navy afloat in Northern Europe. And that's fun. We'll play as Alfred Tirpitz, the monomaniacal career Navy man who cares only for constructing a battle fleet. That this fleet will needlessly antagonize the nearby Royal Navy is of no concern to him; he once told the alarmed Foreign Minister: "I build ships, the diplomacy is up to you." Aware that Germany did not have the budget to compete with the Royal Navy Tirpitz determined to build his ships with Teutonic precision and no interference from politicians; the result was a fleet that unquestionably possessed the finest fighting units on the planet. (At Jutland, the German fleet inflicted casualties at a 3:1 ratio on the Royal Navy and won its enemies admiration for the precision of its gunnery and fleet maneuvers.) The French Third Republic  "You French fight for money, while we British fight for honour." "Sir, a man fights for what he lacks the most." a British officer with Robert Surcouf In 1900 France was diplomatically isolated, possessor of a large colonial empire, and seething with revanchist feeling towards the German Empire which had shelled Paris into submission and seized the Rheinland provinces Alsace and Lorraine in 1870. France possessed the second-largest navy in the world, but subscribed to the Jeune Ecole theory of naval warfare dominated by cruisers and torpedo boats (and later submarines) rather than battleships. In consequence of this doctrine French battleship development lagged significantly behind English and German efforts; France did not finish construction of a "modern" pre-dreadnought battleship fleet until 1908, two years after HMS Dreadnought made such ships obsolete. French navy programs were constantly subject to political interference; the Liberté class order was halted mid-construction while the National Assembly debated whether to change her propulsion system. In the end half the battleships of the class went to sea with French engines, half with British turbines, and all with a mix of British and French boiler tubes. The class -- obsolete before they were completed -- predictably suffered engine maintenance problems throughout their brief careers. As it was cursed with two coastlines to defend, the belligerent German Empire on its land border, and turbulent defense policy, the French navy never was able to get the resources it needed to defend the homeland much less the colonies. France is probably the most interesting nation to play. With the fourth-largest naval budget you can build a respectable battleship fleet and compete in the colonial game, but you'll never have quite enough resources to do everything you'd like. You have to manage the Mediterranean skilfully while holding enough ships up north to compete with the two great European naval powers, fret about how many cruisers you can spare for the Indochinese and African theaters, and always steal from one construction program to fund another. A victorious game as France feels like a real accomplishment, but you still start out with enough resources that you're never quite out of the competition. We'll take the part of Louis-Emile Bertin, founder of the Naval Academy in Paris, proponent of the Young School cruiser and torpedo boat doctrine, and also strangely enough godfather of the Japanese fleet. Unfortunately torpedo boats were removed from Rule the Waves for balance reasons, so the Young School doctrine isn't quite simulated, but we can make up the difference with lots of small, fast, short-ranged destroyers. The United States of America  "A good navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace." -- Theodore Roosevelt By the year 1900 the United States was the economic giant of the Western world, with a naval budget to match. Theodore Roosevelt would drag the nation onto the world stage with his expansionist foreign policy and extravagant battleship building program. Free of the constraint of actually having to fight wars and flush with cash, the United States Navy happily experimented with new technologies and new doctrines. American ships departed from their European counterparts in turret design, armor layout, and engine technology; when it came time to redistribute the German fleet in 1918, the Americans were uninterested because the ships were too old and technologically backwards to have any place in their fleet doctrine. The United States is the easiest nation to play. You have the second-largest budget in the world, usually rising to the largest budget by the 1920s. However without a European alliance you have no fleet bases in Northern Europe or the Med, leaving you without many opportunities to use your fleet. A US campaign will usually be focused on snapping up colonial possessions from the European powers. If you do ever get involved in a European war, both sides will struggle to base enough ships in the enemy's home waters to have much of an effect. If you ever ally with a European power and fight another together, you're almost guaranteed to crush them. If you like building lots of big advanced ships and not losing them the USA is for you. We'll be playing as Admiral William Sims, president of the Navy College and advocate of improved big gun tactics. Sims was the only US admiral to see action in WWI. The Empire of Japan  "I am firmly convinced that I am the re-incarnation of Horatio Nelson." -- Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō Coming up from nothing in the mid 19th century, Japan was eager to position itself as one of the Great Powers on par with Europe. This desire, combined with Japan's island geographical situation, made a modern navy of armored warships imperative. In 1900 the Imperial Japanese Navy was little more than a squadron of modern ironclad cruisers, but it was full of European and European-educated officers who were eager to build the fledgling navy into a world-class power. Japan's cruiser squadron had defeated the larger and heavier Chinese Beiyang Fleet only two years ago. Japan will continue to order large European warships and develop the feared and famous IJN. Japan is a second-rate power, but its position in East Asia make it stronger than it seems. Even the naval giants Great Britain and America will have trouble stationing enough battleships in Asia to compete with the Japanese Navy, and Japan can trounce for example the Russian fleet. Like America, Japan's game is mostly about snapping up European colonies, but Japan has to go about it more carefully. We'll take the role of Tōgō, hero of the Battle of Tsushima. Tōgō enlisted in the Royal Navy as a cadet in his teens as one of many Japanese missions to the west to absorb western technology and knowledge in the mid 19th century. At Tsushima, he delivered a crushing blow to the Russian fleet (badly in need of repair and running out of food and fuel though they were) and the legend of Japanese invincibility at sea was born. Tōgō would go on to rise to the top of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Kingdom of Italy  "Potete trovare tutte le citazioni sulla Regia Marina Italiana?" -- Vittorio Cuniberti, probably In 1900 the fledgling Kingdom of Italy drifted uneasily between the power blocs of the Great Powers. Though never really Great, Italy possessed potent natural defenses, a modern if small army, and a navy capable of dominating the Mediterranean should France and Great Britain be preoccupied. Italy is however in no position to expand beyond Mare Nostrum. Italy is a fun little game building Mediterranean battleships, beating up the French and Austrians when nobody's looking, and hiding whenever Britain gets mad. You might as well play the game zoomed in on the Med since you'll never do anything outside of it, but there's plenty to grab from France (or Britain if you dare) right in there. Play your alliances cleverly and you can crush France or seize every British possession in the Med while the High Seas Fleet and Grand Fleet square off far away in the North Sea! We would play as Vittorio Cuniberti, an Italian Regia Marina officer and ship designer who first published the idea of the all-big-gun battleship. (At the time, British and American naval planners were also drafting designs for such ships.) Cuniberti eventually rose high in the engineering side of the Regia Marina but never actually took over the organization. The Russian Empire  "We are among those nations that, as it were, are not members of mankind but exist only to give the world some terrible lesson." -- Pyotr Chaadayev The Russian Empire in 1900 is the largest land power in the world. Its principal antagonist is the British Empire, with which it competes for South Asian and Far Eastern possessions. Russia's geographical position is abominable for sea power and its navy is a shambles of half-funded experiments. In 1904 Japan will show the world just how awful the Russian Navy is. But the Dreadnought era offers Russia a chance back into the world of naval power: suddenly all other nations' warships are just as obsolete as her own. Russia is a difficult and frustrating game. The Russian fleet is locked into the Baltic Sea by the largest and third-largest naval powers on the globe, saddled with a low budget and if that were not bad enough, primarily tasked with defending assets on the far side of the planet. A successful game means beating the British or German navy, which is a very tall order even with the boosted naval budget the game gives you. Expect to be blockaded; expect not to be able to break out. We'll play as Stepan Makarov, Vice Admiral of the Far Eastern Squadron. Makarov was an innovator and explorer. He charted two rivers and personally designed a new type of armor-piercing warhead. He trained his crews to a peak of efficiency not before seen in the Russian Fleet, whose primary responsibility was to exist in port. Like most of his fleet, Makarov was sunk by the Japanese. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary  "Should the worst happen Australia would rally to the Mother Country to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling" -- John Fisher, MP ---------------------------------- As you can probably tell, this LP aims to be more informative (and less interactive) than Grey Hunter's LP as France which he's just wrapping up. However, I'd like to pause here to ask the thread two questions: First: Which nation should we play? Second: What fleet doctrine should we build to: The Never-Mind-Maneuvers-Go-Straight-At-Them traditional Royal Navy approach of instant attack in any situation? John Jellicoe's cautious, concentrated sea dominance, seeking the decisive battle and only the decisive battle? Emile Bertin's Young School doctrine, spreading commerce raiders around the world and driving torpedo boats at 30 knots into the enemy line? Fleet-in-being doctrine, building ships but never touching the tactical battles at all? Periodically, I'll check in with the thread to see what kind of fleet doctrine I should actually play with. But mostly, this thread is going to be an informative SSLP about the game and the time period. Next 24 hours decides who I will play as! Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 05:34
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Updates 1900 1901-1903 1904 1905 January-August 1906 September-December 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 ---------------------- Post-Season Exhibition Updates: 1926-1929 1930 1931 (yes I fixed the jpeg artifacting) Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Dec 15, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 05:35
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There's only one real option here. Since Grey Hunter couldn't sink the Royal Navy, we should play as Britain and do it from the inside!
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Nov 13, 2015 05:45
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Japan Onward to torpedo town!
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Nov 13, 2015 05:47
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It is only right that we start were we finished, Austria-Hungry.
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Nov 13, 2015 05:51
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Nation: Germany Strategy: gently caress Maneuvering, Full Speed Ahead! I wanna see some dead brits.
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Nov 13, 2015 05:52
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The only problem with Britain is that it's easy. Seriously, you don't have to worry about poo poo, your budget is always the biggest, your ships are always the most numerous, you almost always have the best tech. USA's similar, but no one gets quite the budget Britain does. France, Russia, Germany (and CSA) are the medium difficulty games. Italy, Austria-Hungary, Japan (and Spain) are hard mode. I'll have to ask for this style: The Never-Mind-Maneuvers-Go-Straight-At-Them traditional Royal Navy approach of instant attack in any situation Usually what this means is you make cruisers that can kill other cruisers, battleships that kick the stuffing out of opposing battleships, battlecruisers that are dedicated hunters rather than fleet-role players, and a bazillion torpedoes on everything you can. The other approaches are, dare I say, boring. As for nation, Germany.
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Nov 13, 2015 05:53
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Hungry Australia
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Nov 13, 2015 05:54
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Russia Let's do hard mode. Slow research, terrible shipbuilding, and you tend to either have to fight Germany/the UK in fleet engagements you get crushed in or travel to the other side of the world when the Japanese punch you in the dick 
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Nov 13, 2015 05:55
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I'm surprised you didn't include  and  as options.If you somehow do an Italy or Austria-Hungary game, I could spice things up a bit and fix up my Ottoman Empire scenario a bit and then use those files to create them as another opponent instead of the arguably useless (in a game of Mediterranean Domination) America. Sure the Sick Man of Europe is not exactly the best naval power around, but their absence in a Mediterranean focused game feels wrong. Galaga Galaxian fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 06:01
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The United States of America The Never-Mind-Maneuvers-Go-Straight-At-Them Let's see if our budget can keep up with this.
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Nov 13, 2015 06:02
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Germany!
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Nov 13, 2015 06:04
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Galaga Galaxian posted:I'm surprised you didn't include I do not have CSA as an option since I have my/our/your China installed over it.
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Nov 13, 2015 06:14
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I never did get back to reworking China. I can provide you a stock CSA file if you want. Alternatively that USA Nation file I made where the CSA is an opponent, cause giving us the option to play but not the option to trounce is wrong. (and it would make playing the US slightly less boring)
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Nov 13, 2015 06:18
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Sorry, I'd prefer not to go off the alt-history deep end since that conflicts with doing an informative LP about dreadnought era politics and naval policy.
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Nov 13, 2015 06:21
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Yeah, fair point. Though speaking of that sort of stuff, are you gonna be building stuff thematically or ruthlessly efficient? Either way is fun.
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Nov 13, 2015 06:23
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'Murica 
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Nov 13, 2015 06:25
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Also Voting Italy  but only because Grey Hunter already did France.
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Nov 13, 2015 06:30
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Galaga Galaxian posted:I never did get back to reworking China. 
Crowsbeak fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 06:34
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He already shot that down since he wants to do a historical focus. But if you feel like drowning some rebels in their own Ironclad Coffins...
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Nov 13, 2015 06:41
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Germany and Go Straight At Them
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Nov 13, 2015 06:47
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Galaga Galaxian posted:Yeah, fair point. Though speaking of that sort of stuff, are you gonna be building stuff thematically or ruthlessly efficient? Either way is fun. It's kind of hard to build something in the game that somebody wasn't building somewhere or that Jackie Fisher didn't draw in bed at 3 AM. Italy built a battlecruiser in 1902, the RN and France both invested in quadruple turrets, turret layouts got creative, the Americans did the 3-2-2-3 gun layout that the AI likes, you got some ships with superfiring and crossfiring turrets, tiny cruisers, super-cruisers, torpedo cruisers... The more I read about the era the less I think anything in particular that the player can do is unfaithful to simulation.
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Nov 13, 2015 07:02
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sullat posted:Hungry Australia Australia-Hungary is the obvious choice. (In all seriousness I'd like to see Japan primarily, with my backup vote being the USA) I also suggest Heavy Armor and Big Guns. TehKeen fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 07:15
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Germany and Decisive Battle!
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Nov 13, 2015 07:18
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Germany and British doctrine sound like the best option, let's sink us some Brits.
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Nov 13, 2015 08:37
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sheep-dodger posted:Germany and British doctrine sound like the best option, let's sink us some Brits. Let's take other people's colonies!
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Nov 13, 2015 09:17
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Night10194 posted:Japan
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Nov 13, 2015 09:59
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Austro-Hungary, Royal Navy doctrine.
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Nov 13, 2015 10:30
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Japan with loads of
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Nov 13, 2015 10:39
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Bacarruda posted:Japan with loads of Think you mean Kitakami here. Wouldn't want KTKM to "accidentally" fire one of those Long Lances at you now, would you? Voting Japan, btw. Wanna see some KanColle style botes as actual ships and have it go better for some of them... As for tactics, Young School seems like it'd make the most sense for Japan, what with torpedo dominance and all that, but I kinda also want to see them giving no shits and doing the Never-Mind-Maneuvers-Go-Straight-At-Them approach with whatever battlewagons you design. GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Nov 13, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 10:56
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'murica, go straight at them.
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Nov 13, 2015 11:37
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Japan, Young School doctrine.
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Nov 13, 2015 13:31
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Japan, Jellicoe style decisive battle
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Nov 13, 2015 14:50
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Russia, full speed ahead doctrine To be the best, we must beat the best. Humiliate Berlin and London so much that they join Stockholm in armed neutrality.
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Nov 13, 2015 15:06
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I will chip in a vote for Germany and Whatever Strategy Makes It Most Likely We'll Actually See A Fleet Battle And Not Have Every War Be An Unending Monotonous Succession Of Cruiser Fights
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Nov 13, 2015 15:57
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Japan, I don't really have a doctrine but I feel we should have to take India from the British.
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Nov 13, 2015 15:58
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Mukaikubo posted:I will chip in a vote for Germany and Whatever Strategy Makes It Most Likely We'll Actually See A Fleet Battle And Not Have Every War Be An Unending Monotonous Succession Of Cruiser Fights Grey was playing the original version of the game. The version I'm playing has has auto-resolved raider battles.
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Nov 13, 2015 17:24
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How do those work anyway? Does the faster ship actually try to flee or does it go "I can totally take this BC that's several knots slower than I am"? I'm interested to see how this goes, since I'm pretty terrible at this game.
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Nov 13, 2015 17:37
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Faster ships will generally run away no matter if they're raiding or patrolling; slower weaker ships get killed most of the time. Equivalent ships are a tossup.
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Nov 13, 2015 17:48
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Germany's fleet will always go straight at our enemies! 
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Nov 13, 2015 17:54
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