Tornade wrote:
southernskies wrote:
ChiggyVonR wrote:
So I ask, is raking a ship modeled correctly?
Website houserule maybe?
"You may only rake at Range=5 or less".
actually 5 hexes seems rather over generous
while there dont seem to be a lot discussion on game scales and such which seems kind of suspect to me...maximum gunnery range is 10 hexes
now i suppose this would be considered EFFECTIVE gunnery range...not simply how far a gun can throw a ball...also since the size of the gun is not really reflected in the range limitations except as gunnery factors it is very difficult to arrive at any kind of determination as to how big a hex actually is
it is possible to extrapolate that since the ships themselves take up two hexes the we could assume that a hex is perhaps one cable in width
(200 yards)...this would account nicely for normal station keeping practices of following at distances of one cable...
making this assumption of course casts a lot of doubt on the fouling rules as presented in WSIM but that is another topic entirely
so if we assume that a hex is one cable across...then that will equate to an effective gunnery range of about 2000 yards which is about right for some of the bigger guns...18, 24 and 32 pounders...raking fire effectiveness dropped off dramatically as the range increased much beyond two cables...so in that context a rake should only be effective at ranges of two hexes or less...not 5 hexes and certainly not 10
Your hex size estimation seems reasonable. A maximum effective range of 2,000 yards is pushing the limits of most of the guns, but it does make the numbers work well. The only other option would be to assume that the hexes are scaled to the ships (which would support the fouling rules). Unfortunately, that would make a hex only 35 to 50 yards across, and give a maximum gun range of less than 500 yards; clearly ludicrous.
Given your assumption that a hex is 200 yards, the game would force ships in line to have an interval of just under 2 cables, not 1. This would be typical of later period French or Spanish formations. Otherwise the analysis is excellent.
Also, there “dont seem to be a lot discussion on game scales and such” because AH avoided that with WSIM. In all probability, the design effort was for a “look and feel” result, rather than any historic accuracy.
