Pregame Design Phase of Turn 3:Mikken Fire Control System
Jan Mikken, for which the Mikken Fire Control System is named, is a visionary in the field of naval gunnery. He added speaking tubes and telegraph wiring to his ship, allowing him to receive rangefinding information from the mast, calculate a firing solution, and then coordinate his ship's main guns so that they all fired at once. Now, admittedly, he was the captain of a fishing boat, so this wasn't super relevant, but we liked the idea anyway.
The MFCS uses coincidence rangefinders (mounted as high on a ship as possible), the operators of which transmit (by either electrical wiring (telegraph-esque) or speaking tubes, depending on the size and layout of the vessel) their data to the fire control hub. There, with the aid of a plotting chart, a maths wiz or two, and a mechanical calculator that handles some of the more time-consuming calculations (doing so much faster than a human), a firing solution is calculated (for the ship's main guns). Subsequently, the director (colloquially known as the 'Mikker') communicates the appropriate numbers to the commander of each gun simultaneously. The order to fire is also communicated simultaneously, ensuring that all guns (of a given calibre) fire at the same time. The collection of splashes thus generated can be observed by the rangefinders, and once again communicated to the hub- the cycle continues as needed.
Key innovations of the Mikken system:
-Centralised control hub, connected to both guns and observers
-Mechanical calculators handling some of the calculations
-A director giving the order to fire simultaneously
All in all, the Mikken system is expected to bolster accuracy on our ships by a significant amount.
Effectiveness: 6 | Cost: 2 | Bugs: 6
(What is it with you rolling a 2 on cost?)
Jan Mikken, a long time fisherman and captain elected by his crew through request to the Fisher's union who saw his promise, has made quite the curios little system for his fishing ship. While originally, the method was meant to better coordinate finding the buoys for hook fishing and when they'd come up, and the madman decided to get what was essentially a grapple hook launcher to be able to get the lines faster and with less diversion. While the idea is sound in theory, in practice it's a bit less so, mainly due to the launcher itself and the calculator, and it was much more effective to just take the detour to get close enough to catch the line with a properly thrown hook. Luckily for us, his cousin, also a captain but in our navy, took his idea and presented it to the navy. And with some minor modifications of the general idea alongside a military budget to get a proper mechanical calculator, it was tested on one of our older warships. Initial testing showed that it was a significant increase in firing accuracy. And regardless of it's humble and admittedly somewhat strange origins, it works quite well. By setting up a modest rangefinder at the top of the ship, and the creation of a detailed mechanical calculator placed in a nice space on the bridge dedicated to our firing and a team working on the calculator. From there, the data can be transmitted by the 'Mikker' to our main armament and then slowly get the right elevation for the firing solution through adjustments made by watching the splashes. Sadly, this won't work for our light armament, but it's a good first step regardless. There is, of course, a drawback to this effectiveness...Cost...As it turns out, the complexity of a mechanical computer takes time, and so too does the glassmaking involved for the rangefinder...Then again at this stage it'd be more surprising if something didn't cost a arm and a leg for the quality with our track record. Even so we at least have quality down over quantity.
It is now the Revision Phase of Pre game Turn 3. You have 3 dice remaining to spend on Designs, ships, or simply Save for the next turn.
Naval
Early 7/9/10/12 inch guns
QF 2/3/4/5/6 M1895 guns (Somewhat expensive. Rifling wears out faster than ideal. 20k max range estimate for 6 inch version.)
Basic Surface Single Torpedo Launchers
Advanced Triple-expansion engines.
Decent Boilers
Early coal/oil hybrid firing.
Steel hull construction.
Single Casemates.
Single and Double gun turrets.
Early Rangefinder
Early Central Fire Control
Möser-Fokker Cemented Armor
Basic Damage control techniques.
Cordite Draadkruit Smokeless Powder
Zeeslang Torpedo (Somewhat Unreliable Torpedo with 28 knot speed and 1000 yard range)
Marines & Installations
Defensive guns (Uses same calibers as naval guns)
UVW T92G (Basic Bolt Action Rifle)
UVW T88R (Basic Revolver)
Veenland National School of the Navy (Costs 20 PP to maintain)
7,000 Displacement Dry docks.
Author
Topic: Refit and Repair 2. Veenland, Spring, 1896, Revision&Refit Phase. (Read 18457 times)