New Ship type in WPO

[Tankerace]

Just to let you know, we are introducing a new ship type in WPO, the torpedo boat!

These replace the DE, and are in effect lightly armed destroyers (although very lightly armored).

These are shown by the "TB" designator, and you'll also notice that in the ships screen, the DD/DE filter is replaced by a DD/TB filter.

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

These are shown by the "TB" designator, and you'll also notice that in the ships screen, the DD/DE filter is replaced by a DD/DE filter.

Eh?

[Tankerace]

haha typo. Its replaced by a DD/TB filter.

[showboat1]

Sweet, I still can't wait to try this out. The anticipation has been overwhelming.

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: showboat1

Sweet, I still can't wait to try this out. The anticipation has been overwhelming.

You said it. I'm still holding back from starting any more WitP PBEMs just so I can save time to take up a WPO PBEM or two.

[DuckofTindalos]

If only Matrix would come back from cannonball-polishing camp...[:(]

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

If only Matrix would come back from cannonball-polishing camp...[:(]

What's a cannonball-polishing camp? [&:]

[DuckofTindalos]

To polish the cannonball, as opposed to firing it, means to procrastinate, i.e. wait unnecessarily. I was trying to insert some black humour here...[:)]

[Captain Cruft]

Nice. Do they behave like PTs or like DDs? Or indeed have their own new behaviour?

[DuckofTindalos]

They're basically DE's. The term "destroyer escort" didn't exist back then, obviously, but think of them as DD-lights.

[Captain Cruft]

Ah I see. The string "DE" has just been replaced by the string "TB" ...

[DuckofTindalos]

Exactly. It's all to set the proper historical mood, y'see...

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

To polish the cannonball, as opposed to firing it, means to procrastinate, i.e. wait unnecessarily. I was trying to insert some black humour here...[:)]

I hope Matrix doesn't wait too long. [:(] I really am looking forward to playing this game. [:)]

Gary

[Tankerace]

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Terminus

To polish the cannonball, as opposed to firing it, means to procrastinate, i.e. wait unnecessarily. I was trying to insert some black humour here...[:)]

I hope Matrix doesn't wait too long. [:(] I really am looking forward to playing this game. [:)]

Gary

Believe me guys, I wish it out as oon as you guys (if not sooner [;)]). The game is pretty much done, just some graphic tweaks, post production (I guess that's what you'd call it), and some minor tweaks. Also, this delay is in a way a good thing, as all of the new WitP air fixes are getting put in WPO and won't require a nice string of post release patches.

I can't give a firm date on when it will be done, but I honestly don't see it taking longer than November. With luck, I should have a firmer estimate this week.

[DuckofTindalos]

Personally, I don't think WPO needs the new pilot code; I mean, there aren't that many pilots in it. That could easily have been pushed back to post-release.

But, obviously, that's above my paygrade...

[Tophat]

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Terminus

To polish the cannonball, as opposed to firing it, means to procrastinate, i.e. wait unnecessarily. I was trying to insert some black humour here...[:)]

I hope Matrix doesn't wait too long. [:(] I really am looking forward to playing this game. [:)]

Gary

Believe me guys, I wish it out as oon as you guys (if not sooner [;)]). The game is pretty much done, just some graphic tweaks, post production (I guess that's what you'd call it), and some minor tweaks. Also, this delay is in a way a good thing, as all of the new WitP air fixes are getting put in WPO and won't require a nice string of post release patches.

I can't give a firm date on when it will be done, but I honestly don't see it taking longer than November. With luck, I should have a firmer estimate this week.

As of tomorrow or in approx 14hrs it will be November. Really,if you just release it as a digital download for now i'm almost dumbfounded in what appears to be 2 months delay. Just interms of marketing getting this puppy out well before Christmas so people still have some disposeable cash should be pushing things. And please no labor of love,we want it perfect statements. We all love and have stuck with the game this far,just do it!

[DuckofTindalos]

Couldn't agree more. Like Tanker said, we're basically done at our end...

[Tankerace]

Slightly back on topic [;)] From Wiki, a fairly accurate summary of what a torpedo boat is:

And for the record, things are starting to pick up behind the scenes. Hopefully, more details to come later.

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and heavily armed ship by speed and agility.

During the late 1800s, the development of metal-hulled ships of large size, and the use of gyroscopes to even out the motion of waves, allowed for the rapid development of the very large gunship, which soon became known as battleships, later dreadnoughts. These were fiendishly expensive, so only the largest and richest nations could afford to continue in the race to build such ships.

But at the same time, the new weight of armor slowed them, and the huge guns needed to penetrate that armor fired at very slow rates. This allowed for the possibility of a small and fast ship that could attack the battleships en-mass, at a much lower cost. The introduction of the torpedo provided a weapon that could cripple, and sink, any battleship.

In the late 19th century, many Navies started to build torpedo boats - relatively small ships, about 30 to 50 m in length, armed with up to three torpedo launchers and small guns. They were powered with steam engines and developed speed of 20 to 30 knots (37 to 56 km/h). They were relatively inexpensive and could be purchased in quantity, allowing for mass attacks on larger fleets. While some of them would undoubtedly be lost to the guns of the larger ships while they ran into firing range, their cost was so low that sinking even one battleship in return would be a victory.

It is commonly acknowledged today that the very first torpedo boat was the Royal Norwegian Navy's HNoMS Rap—the name meaning 'fast'—ordered from Cheswick, England in 1873. The first recorded launch of torpedoes from a torpedo boat (which itself was launched from a tender) in an actual battle was by Russian admiral Stepan Makarov on January 16, 1877, who used self-propelled Whitehead's torpedoes against a Turkish armed ship "Intibah" during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

The introduction of the torpedo boat resulted in a flurry of activity in the fleets around the world, as smaller and faster guns were added to existing ships to ward off the new threat. Eventually an entirely new class of ships, the torpedo boat destroyer, was invented to counter them. These ships, today known simply as destroyers, were just enlarged torpedo boats, with speed equal to the torpedo boats, but including heavier guns that could attack them before they were able to close on the main fleet. Destroyers were also armed with torpedoes. Considerable effort was put into designing fleet actions that would allow the destroyers to operate far enough from the main "van" to keep the torpedo boats away, while still remaining close enough that they couldn't be "picked off" by an opposing fleet.

Destroyers appeared so useful and universal ships, having better seaworthiness, than torpedo boats, that they eventually replaced most torpedo boats. Until World War II, classic torpedo boats remained only in a small number in some navies, e.g. German and French. By that time, they were ships 70 to 100 m long, armed with a 2 to 3 guns typically 100 mm (4 in) and torpedo launchers. After the war they eventually disappeared.



DEs and DDs, in game act pretty much the same (as they should), and TBs and TBDs act pretty much the same, so I felt it was a small, if somewhat necessary name switch.

[Tankerace]

As an example of the difference, here is the USS Mackenzie, Torpedo Boat #17, c1908.

[Tankerace]

Whereas here is the USS Bainbridge, Destroyer #1, c1918 (built in 1900).

Note the size of the two, but that they are inherently very similar, the TB being more related to the DD than to a PT boat.