Tactics

[Solarisjock]

So I played my first game of leviathens last night, have to say I love how quick and easy it was to learn the rules and start playing.  So now I am thinking tactics, what are some people who have played a bit more then me preffered styles of play?

[Trenchknife]

I'm right there with you...played only once so far, and I'm now gaming out tactics in my head.  To me it looks a LITTLE like Warship tactics in Battletech. 

Get as many ships as you can to lay fire into your main threat while limiting how much return fire can be brought to bear. 
If you can, put enemies on as many of your fire arcs as you can...if your a Lev with lots of guns that is, otherwise give them your nose as it's harder to hit.

[Solarisjock]

from the starter ships, it looks like a viable tactic for the brits would be to send the destroyer as a sucide unit to try and get behind the french cruiser to try and disable as much of its engines as possible, thats what ended up happening in my game, but it was a pure luck thing then any real stratagey

[agustaaquila]

For the French, the main tactic is to cross the T as much as possible.  For those not familar with this, put your port or starbord across their bow (or their stern if your lucky) and open up.  This is extremely effective in real life, and no less so with flying ships.

When I played the Brits, I got lucky and had both my destroyer and cruiser against the french destroyer.  I try and keep my ships close together, and cross the T if I can.

I expect crossing the T will become more effective as more ships are added, but the French ships crossing the T is a thing to be feared in the Lt. rules.

[Weirdo]

That French DD with the 135mms? That's a fun one for T-crossing. Also good for plonking enemy DDs, from any aspect.

[StCptMara]

Since the turret rules are not in the Lt's Manual, the french, with their 4 gun broadsides,
crossing the T on the British can put the Brit Light Cruiser down, while their Destroyer, with
its two guns on the bow, lets itself take the victim of the british 1-gun broadside to try and hit the British Light Cruiser in the side. Turrets in effect gives the french light cruiser a 6-gun
pounding into the brit, and the destroyer only gets 2-3 guns fired on it...If the French can pull it off, chances are the british ship is going to be a sitting duck after that turn...though
it will take a few more turns of pounding to sink the british ship...(Seriously! the Light Cruiser
was not likely to be sunk on anything less then 10-12 destroyed sections!)

[ravehnhuhrxt]

One thing to keep in mind for when we get to the full rules, the French like their torpedoes...alot. 

[pianobar]

Based on the currently released Lt. Rules versus the rules played at GenCon, the required tactics will change.

I think it will be very interesting to see the threads evolve as the various rule levels get released...especially when we account for elevation, skills, and all of the other Captain's level items, as based on Randall's blogs and current FAQ data.

[Toolian]

When is was playing the British, my friend was trying to keep me as close the edge as possible. Basically trying to corner me without an escape. That a terrible dice rolling on my part gave the french an easy victory.

Only damaged one ship one time. Never seen so many 1s 

[Meatshield]

In a battle between the starter lieutenant manual forces, it's a tough match for the British. They're best off staying in a formation where one ship will cover another, and trap one French ship at a time for fire from multiple arcs. If you can get rear shots on their engines, fantastic.

Otherwise, it'll be about staying bricked because you're going to get outmaneuvered by the far more agile french ships.

[Tonbo Karasu]

Go on then, prove it:  I've got a British Light Cruiser just waiting for a Frenchie to tangle with in the Creative Commons folder.

 

[Solarisjock]

So I was looking through James Fighting Leviathens, and realized that the new British cruiser is kind of brutal, the twin 7.5in up front, even disregarding the turret part of it, can pretty much devestate any of the french ships from well outside of the majority of return fire, only the 138mm's can really hurt it out side of point blank range. I think the french would have to rush strait at it, doing there best to limit fire from whatever escort it might have, and try and take it out as quick as possible, otherwise I just see those big guns ripping things to pieces, anybody see anyother tactics to take it out?

[Meatshield]

HMS Courser (Destrider-class) is a lot, lot scarier than HMS Herthfordshire (County-class), and is a real gunboat beast for her size. She isn't in the starter of course, but a lot of the heavier English warships are much better able to hold their weight with larger guns.

[blackbrunswicker]

Oddly enough, HML Courser hasn't performed all that well in both the games I've played with her. She may be faster than than HML Hertfordshire, but she's sluggish on the helm and has no stern armament. In both games she wandered off on her own and was repeatedly raked by Pontbriend's four battery broadside and sunk (dropped?). I haven't had the chance to use this ship yet. I'd like to try to keep her protected by the other ships and use her 7.5 inch guns for sniping. The star for the brits in my games has been HML Raven. I love that little ship!

[pianobar]

The Courser is harder to play without escort in my games as well. She can get there fast, but without extra protection you want to give yourself as many chances to hit with those longer range guns as possible, because once something nimble is behind you...-shudder-

With some extra maps for range, it can make a great backup for the smaller faster British ships though. She'll follow behind at close to the same speed and can help pound them a pathway as well as draw fire away from them due to the larger gun size and "easier" target.

[edit - spelling]