So, There I Was...

[Yamato hugger]

ORIGINAL: mlees

In the stock game, there are little "pop up" messages that occur while the turn is running. (For example, I noticed that when there is an Ops loss, a pilot may be forced to bailout, and is moved to a WIA/MIA/POW status, the pop up will state "Maj. Boyington has BAILED OUT, and is CAPTURED.") 

Do these random events (collisions, ammo handling accidents, etc, a.k.a. "Ops losses for ships") also have "pop up" messages?

Yes.

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

Can those accidents be turned off, if they become too annoying?

No.

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger

ORIGINAL: mlees

In the stock game, there are little "pop up" messages that occur while the turn is running. (For example, I noticed that when there is an Ops loss, a pilot may be forced to bailout, and is moved to a WIA/MIA/POW status, the pop up will state "Maj. Boyington has BAILED OUT, and is CAPTURED.") 

Do these random events (collisions, ammo handling accidents, etc, a.k.a. "Ops losses for ships") also have "pop up" messages?

Yes.

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

Can those accidents be turned off, if they become too annoying?

No.

Has the rate been calibrated?

[Dili]

Shortly before midnight the flagship PHILADELPHIA leading Column One had noticed that LETICIA, the lead vessel in Column Two was not responding to proper instructions and was veering off course. The BUCK was ordered to drop astern of the first column before coming back up the second and alongside the ship to correct its course, communicating by means of a bullhorn in order to maintain radio silence.

Instead of dropping back as ordered, the BUCK reversed direction, passing alongside the Philadelphia's port hull with the apparent intention of crossing under the battle cruiser's stern and on through the column in order to bring the LETITIA within hailing distance.

Suddenly out of a fog bank the sharp prow of the AWATEA emerged within a hundred feet of BUCK'S starboard (right) side as she attempted to cross in front of her. The big troopship swung violently to starboard as she tore into the BUCK'S starboard aft quarter section, almost cutting her keel in half.

The AWATEA gave several mighty shudders accompanied by the tortured screech of grinding metal followed by a series of explosions. Those of us on the deck's port side remained transfixed as several huge pieces of debris from the stricken ship's stern drifted alongside, banging and clattering against the troopship's hull, punctured by screams and cries for help from crewmen trapped inside while shipmates scrambled over the injured in attempts to free them. The BUCK had detached herself from the wreckage of AWATEA'S prow and was drifting off her stern when a depth charge rolled off the destroyer's deck primed to explode one hundred feet below, disabling her remaining propeller and rendering the engines useless.

Immediately following the collision, the INGRAHAM, some 700 yards distant on the convoy's port side, was directed "at speed" to assist the badly damaged destroyer. She quickly reversed course, passing through several dense fog patches en route. While attempting a wide pass under the stern of the damaged AWATEA in order to reach what remained of the BUCK, the tanker CHEMUNG suddenly emerged from a fog bank, ramming the INGRAHAM amidships and flipping her on to her side. Seconds later, her munitions magazine exploded with a thunderous roar and a huge fireball lit up the night sky for miles around as the destroyer blew up and sank immediately, taking 238 souls with her. The force of the explosion tossed 11 severely injured survivors clear of the hull and into the ocean .

The collision had set fire to the forward deck of the fully loaded tanker and was in danger of spreading aft. Her captain reversed engines so that she was moving stern into the wind. This kept the flames at bay while the BRISTOL, which had arrived to pluck INGRAHAM'S 11 survivors from the water, broke out her hoses and assisted in getting the fire sufficiently under control for a tow rope to be secured between them.

Logged entries by eye witnesses on accompanying ships placed the time of the first collision at 1100.27 ; the second at 1100.33.

Within a space of 6 minutes, one US destroyer had been sunk with the loss of 238 lives, another had almost been cut in half with the loss of 7 crew members; a 25000 ton tanker fully loaded with bunker oil had been set on fire, severely injuring another7 crew members including her captain; and a troopship carrying 5000 Canadians had a gaping hole where her bow used to be, which extended some forty feet back to the forepeak bulkhead and down to the wateline, leaving the ship in perilous danger of sinking.

[witpqs]

Holy buckets!

I have a question about terminology in the quotation:

Logged entries by eye witnesses on accompanying ships placed the time of the first collision at 1100.27 ; the second at 1100.33.

Within a space of 6 minutes...

So 1100.27 is 6 minutes apart from 1100.33. Could someone explain to me how that works? Prior to seeing this passage I would have expected to see something like "1127 and 1133" being 6 minutes apart.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: herwin
Has the rate been calibrated?

Yes, you should lose no more than one capital ship per month to random collisions. Just kidding, really these are very rare. I've never seen a collision, I knew they were possible but Terminus' report is the first once I've seen that confirms they're working.

[Yamato hugger]

Actually the first few runs of AE I was under the impression the DDs at HK ALWAYS hit one another. I got to the point where I would send all 3 in different directions to avoid it. But that was long long ago in a galaxie far far away. I did see 1 collision between one of my ships and one of Trees a few months back. And I have a CL currently limping home because something happened to her boilers recently.

[Dili]

So 1100.27 is 6 minutes apart from 1100.33. Could someone explain to me how that works? Prior to seeing this passage I would have expected to see something like "1127 and 1133" being 6 minutes apart.

It should be an error. From narrative that was not possible since the second destroyer was called after the first hit.

Btw Queen Mary had several accidents and this was the worse:

On one of these voyages the ship had the worst collision of her career. When she was approaching the Clyde the Queen Mary required an anti-aircraft escort, amongst these was the cruiser HMS Curacoa. On 2nd October the escort ships were sighted. The Queen Mary was steaming at 28 knots in zig-zag pattern whilst the Curacoa, whose best speed was 26 knots, kept as close as possible. The Queen Mary overtook its escort and then the zig-zag pattern of the two ships converged and Queen Mary collided with the Curacoa close to its stern and sliced straight through the smaller ship. Out of 430 crew members on the cruiser, only 101 survived. Although there was damage beneath the waterline the Queen Mary was able to continue. With over 11,000 troops on board the Queen Mary could not stop to assist and she sailed straight to the Clyde. A long legal battle between the Admiralty and Cunard eventually laid the blame equally on both vessels.

Less one CLAA cruiser...

[jwilkerson]

There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ship accidents in WWII - our frequency will be a tiny fraction of reality. The only reason to be annoyed will be because we have made the frequency of occurance too low.
[:)]

[Ron Saueracker]

I like this extra bit o detail big time. Is there a higher frequency during combat or bad weather?[X(]

[Grotius]

I like this too, and I'd be in favor of a higher rate of mishaps in bad weather. Although that might require a modification of the weather system...

Glad to hear ships can run aground, too. Um, because in my sailing experience, I've never ever run aground, I swear. [8|] So um I'm curious what it's like.

[RevRick]

Probably no worse than having a newbie OCS grade FUBAR his first approach to a pier and cost the deck gang several days painting over the side.

In these random events generator, do we have anything out there that could approach the loss of three DD in Halsey's typhoon? Also, could we have a hint about what type of critical hits have been added. Magazine explosions were not the only things that could be bad. How about other events, such as losing a boiler, having a shaft run a bearing, etc., etc., or would these just fall under the heading of Miscellaneous Engineering Casualty?

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: RevRick

Probably no worse than having a newbie OCS grade FUBAR his first approach to a pier and cost the deck gang several days painting over the side.

In these random events generator, do we have anything out there that could approach the loss of three DD in Halsey's typhoon? Also, could we have a hint about what type of critical hits have been added. Magazine explosions were not the only things that could be bad. How about other events, such as losing a boiler, having a shaft run a bearing, etc., etc., or would these just fall under the heading of Miscellaneous Engineering Casualty?

Some related posts with respect to "random naval events":

fb.asp?m=1653907

fb.asp?m=1884024

fb.asp?m=1960759

[pad152]

I'm not a big fan of "random" ships blowing up in port,[8|] can we turn off random events?

I can hear the screaming now the first time it happens to a carrier sitting in port. Random events have a funny habit of not being all that random in the long term.

[Yamato hugger]

ORIGINAL: pad152

I'm not a big fan of "random" ships blowing up in port,[8|] can we turn off random events?

Nope, it isnt an option.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: pad152

Random events have a funny habit of not being all that random in the long term.

Could you explain that to those of us who are not superstitious?

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: RevRick

Probably no worse than having a newbie OCS grade FUBAR his first approach to a pier and cost the deck gang several days painting over the side.

In these random events generator, do we have anything out there that could approach the loss of three DD in Halsey's typhoon? Also, could we have a hint about what type of critical hits have been added. Magazine explosions were not the only things that could be bad. How about other events, such as losing a boiler, having a shaft run a bearing, etc., etc., or would these just fall under the heading of Miscellaneous Engineering Casualty?

I'm hoping that all magazine explosions do not cause the loss of a ship. Like New Orleans, her forward magazine blew but she did not sink as Tassaforonga.

[Don Bowen]

There is almost no chance of any incidental damage to a ship that is not "doing something". There are varying (but low) chances of some incidental damage when steaming at sea (especially at high speed), engaged in combat, fueling, rearming, repairing, loading, or unloading. Under some of these there can be collateral damage (to facilities or other ships).

None of the events will specifically sink a ship. They will add random damage of appropriate type(s) to the ship. Accumulated damage may cause the ship to sink, or create a condition where progressive damage (fire, uncontrolled flooding) may cause the ship to sink. Based on randoms there is some chance that a ship can immediately sink from the damage of the event.

Size and type of ship are important, as is cargo. Accidents with stuff that burns or goes boom - very bad.

As a player of AE, you will be presented with "disruptions" to your grand plans that mimic real life events. Probably much less frequency (who knows with random) but I'm sure it will come at just the wrong moment....

But any good fleet commander should be able to handle such things. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

As a player of AE, you will be presented with "disruptions" to your grand plans that mimic real life events. Probably much less frequency (who knows with random) but I'm sure it will come at just the wrong moment....

But any good fleet commander should be able to handle such things. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

Amen. This is simply one more "like-it-really-was" feature. In WW2, did both sides lose ships to accidents while in port or under way? Yes. Was it frustrating to the real-life commanders? Yes. So do what they did - grit your teeth and work around it.

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen


There is almost no chance of any incidental damage to a ship that is not "doing something". There are varying (but low) chances of some incidental damage when steaming at sea (especially at high speed), engaged in combat, fueling, rearming, repairing, loading, or unloading. Under some of these there can be collateral damage (to facilities or other ships).

None of the events will specifically sink a ship. They will add random damage of appropriate type(s) to the ship. Accumulated damage may cause the ship to sink, or create a condition where progressive damage (fire, uncontrolled flooding) may cause the ship to sink. Based on randoms there is some chance that a ship can immediately sink from the damage of the event.

Size and type of ship are important, as is cargo. Accidents with stuff that burns or goes boom - very bad.

As a player of AE, you will be presented with "disruptions" to your grand plans that mimic real life events. Probably much less frequency (who knows with random) but I'm sure it will come at just the wrong moment....

But any good fleet commander should be able to handle such things. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

Cool, so if a fully loaded AE like USS Pyro is hit by a torp, there is a greater chance of a grave explosion than say an empty Liberty ship. Bang on guys![:)]

[Ron Saueracker]

I wannit, I wannit, I wannit!!!!!!!!!