Breaking the Keel

[gnoodlemeier]

I was running a playtest last week and a question came up in breaking the keel.

The attacking player immediately rolls 2DRed (even if this occurs the middle of resolving fire),...

The "(even if this occurs the middle of resolving fire)" makes this sound like it is outside of normal fire resolution rather than part of regular critical damage resolution.  The only reason I can think of that it would be singled out like that would be if a broken keel takes effect instantly, instead of at the end of the round like all other damage and critical damage.  This is important because the keel was broken before the ship could return fire that round.  I ruled that because all fire is instantaneous, the destroyed ship gets final shots before the damage takes effect.

If breaking the keel results in instant destruction, there need to be rules for determining firing order (I have been having the player who lost initiative resolve all fire from all ships then having the other do the same).

This may sound nit-picky, but I'm a linguist and seeing something singled out like that makes me think it is special.

Aaron

[First Sea Lord Randall Bills]

I was running a playtest last week and a question came up in breaking the keel.

The attacking player immediately rolls 2DRed (even if this occurs the middle of resolving fire),...

The "(even if this occurs the middle of resolving fire)" makes this sound like it is outside of normal fire resolution rather than part of regular critical damage resolution.  The only reason I can think of that it would be singled out like that would be if a broken keel takes effect instantly, instead of at the end of the round like all other damage and critical damage.  This is important because the keel was broken before the ship could return fire that round.  I ruled that because all fire is instantaneous, the destroyed ship gets final shots before the damage takes effect.

If breaking the keel results in instant destruction, there need to be rules for determining firing order (I have been having the player who lost initiative resolve all fire from all ships then having the other do the same).

This may sound nit-picky, but I'm a linguist and seeing something singled out like that makes me think it is special.

Aaron

First, thanks for running demoes...love to see that!

As to your question, no, it's not instantaneous damage. The reason I singled it out like that was so it would not be forgotten at the end of the turn. Imagine a game of 4 or more ships on a side and in a turn you end up with 2 or even 3 Breach Rolls to a side...trying to remember who and what they were for at the end of the turn would be far too much of a pain. At the same time because it 'does' interrupt movement, some players may feel you should wait. Wanted to try and avoid that end of turn confusion by clarifying you make the roll right away to get it out of the way and move on.

Does that clarify the situation?

Thanks!


Randall

[gnoodlemeier]

I have been treating it as an extension of the normal critical hit rules, which are done during damage resolution, so it looks like I ruled it correctly.

More demos soon.  I really want this game to succeed.

Thanks,
Aaron

[Welshman]

Also it saves on rolling. If the ship is dead, then the rest of the declared fire on it can just be skipped. One of the things our Sea Lord beat into us early was, "Fast! I want these games to be playable in 30-60 minutes!"

[StCptMara]

Also it saves on rolling. If the ship is dead, then the rest of the declared fire on it can just be skipped. One of the things our Sea Lord beat into us early was, "Fast! I want these games to be playable in 30-60 minutes!"

Is it bad then, that me and one of my BT veterans took an hour and a half for a Demo (with turrets in use) game with the surviving ship on the british side(the Type 1) shot to heck, but the french both "sunk"?

[Alius]

Yeah, if you fight to the last ship, things get interesting. And, there's no accounting for bad luck. I had one game that took hours because every dice roll just wasn't enough to do anything. Maybe one or two breaches, and a lot of maneuver. After, like, 20 turns, it got called.

[First Sea Lord Randall Bills]

Also it saves on rolling. If the ship is dead, then the rest of the declared fire on it can just be skipped. One of the things our Sea Lord beat into us early was, "Fast! I want these games to be playable in 30-60 minutes!"

Is it bad then, that me and one of my BT veterans took an hour and a half for a Demo (with turrets in use) game with the surviving ship on the british side(the Type 1) shot to heck, but the french both "sunk"?

I'd say the only way that's bad is if you run 4 to 6 identical forces/deployment games and are getting that result the majority of the time. If you find that it's 1 out of 5 or more...well, we did keep dice in the game and they're always going to play havoc with things now and then.


Randall

[Weirdo]

The Breaking the Keel roll is a nail-biter for sure, especially when you game boils down to a single French destroyer with barely any engines and only a couple functional guns, but simply refuses to die.

Of course, I can see things going the other way too, where a lucky opening salvo puts two rounds into the same spot, and the breach roll is spectacular. Magazine hit, anyone?

[Lord Cameron]

The Breaking the Keel roll is a nail-biter for sure, especially when you game boils down to a single French destroyer with barely any engines and only a couple functional guns, but simply refuses to die.

I seem to remember that game.... 

Of course we were using 1dblack instead of 2dRed for breaking keels.....

[Weirdo]

Yeah, but some ships popped pretty easily with that, too.