Mobile Torpedo Stations and 7.946 update: issued

[el cid again]

I have prepaired but not uploaded a 7.946 update for RHS scenarios.

These all have added a peculiar form of AD = destroyer tender for IJN to solve the problem of reloading torpedoes on destroyers. This is possible at a Level 8 port - and that means vast areas aer not able to reload at all. IJN did not have destroyer tenders - so I didn't want to create any - and some ports were not fully rated - so we mitigated this issue in 7.945 - but there is still a problem in vast areas for a long time (some places can be built up eventually).

It was suggested we have torpedo stations at some naval bases - presumably fleet HQ bases - in the form of stationary ships. This is clever - but as Dewey Dry Dock reveals - there is no really stationary ship. So I modeled these AD on the Axis Tug and Barge combination - but instead of 4 tugs and 12 barges - you get only 1 tug and 3 barges. These units move very slowly - cruising speed = 5 knots, top speed only 6 knots = 1 hex per phase. They can use the tug and barge art - showing one tug and 3 barges. In this conception the tug is the tow vessel,
barge 1 is the residence barge (barracks, office and galley), barge 2 is the maintenance barge (including oxygen generation equipment) and barge 3 is the storage or warehouse barge where various models are carried when not under active maintenance. Barges 2 and 3 have cranes to permit moving the torpedoes between them and around them. These are simple torpedo handling booms - and probably tiny 12 inch narrow gage tracks with trucks as well. These naval units are not combat units and are "armed" only with a single 7.7 mm AAMG on the tug.

These units are modeled on the historical (and somewhat larger) Mobile Repairs Sections of IJN - teams of technical specialists and their equipement that could be moved from naval base to naval base to repair ships, modify ships or even build new ships.

All scenarios get these units at Cam Rhan Bay, Bako, Palau and Kwajalein. EBO gets one at Mutsu for Northern operations. They are called simply No 1 (2, 3, 4 or 5) Torpedo Station and the "class" is "Mobile Torpedo Section".

[el cid again]

EOS family scenarios have modified I-9 so it appears as a J-3 type submarine vice an A-1 type submarine. Both are HQ submarines with an aircraft, but keeping a common class cheapens production and the J-3 works slightly better weapons wise = it is slightly more effective.

EBO converts I-10 also to the same form - and gives it a seaplane.

This means - at this time - 7.946 can be a microupdate involving just class file, ship file and comment file.

Any other ideas for enhancements or possible eratta should be posted here.

[el cid again]

Since no comments were made, I will issue this file set - as a courtesy for new game starts, on the occasion of leaving for vacation
This is a non critical non comprehensive update that requires 7.945 files be installed first. It is uploaded to the primary distribution list and not otherwise available at this time.