For tips sense you asked. Deck armor protects from plunging fire which is bullets at a high enough angle to hit your deck and not you belt. You do not need that much deck armor for this time period especially on your battleship. Plunging fire hurts but it needs to be at very long range. The guns simply can’t shoot that far yet
Glad you finally decide to touch this game. I think that battle was a victory but a really big learning curve. I don't play this game I just watch watch videos on youtube on this game so what Ill say probably won't be accurate. I think once an enemy ship has been identified if you click on that ship, you know everything about her. So you see damage, gun number and size and so on. You probably want another class of TB. This one focused on guns. So maybe 2 torpedoes plus 2-4 guns? Maybe? If you go to research I think you set priority on what you want and other things. I would love to see a series on this but I need to finish watching your previous one.
It's very nice to see UA:D content from a new player. UA:D veterans tend to fall prey to meta-gaming/hindsight when building their ships - which is only logical since they know what works and what doesn't - which makes ships follow design principles which were only discovered through years of experience IRL, and in gameplay translates to player-made ships often being significantly better than what the AI has to oppose them with.
For crew training, tech and transports. Crew is most important unless you are very much struggling with money then it’s transports. Tech is nice to have but can be toned down if there is budget problems. If you can try to keep all of these at max but it will cost a lot.
Honestly id be very interested in watching a series of this. Ive been interested in this game for a while and this is the perfect excuse to look at it in depth and throw money at it
Loving your content mate. I just binge watched both age of sail playthroughs and your videos actually inspired me to buy the game lol. I've been playing dreadnaughts for a long time and I've found that a really successful strategy for me in the early game (once the dreadnaught hull is unlocked) is to build small to medium sized battleships with 3 stages of fire-power. 12 or 13 inch mains, 7 or 8 inch secondaries to deal with cruisers and ideally a third battery of 5 inch for the lighter ships and slap 2 or 3 inch guns wherever they fit on the superstructure. Build them in bulk and hold onto them for as long as you can to assist with naval invasion tonnage in the late game. Just be sure to keep modernising them. After a few engine upgrades you can usually squeeze 25 knots or more out of the older hulls. Late game battleships take 2 to 3 years to build.
Love to see someone just go into this game blind. Your torpedo boat swarm was a lot of fun - and worked pretty well. Now - better 1890's ships... Generally you're going for maximum size ships - not always the best plan. As you noticed they don't turn so well. It will be a while before you get better steering and screws...but you can give them unbalanced rudders. Also watch those balances, especially with smaller ships. Keep them as low as possible for accurate shooting. You will miss a lot and a 5 or 6 inch will penetrate most aft and fore belts of enemy BB's. Lots of mid-sized secondaries is a viable BB tactic until maybe 1910? Specifics... More armor on your battleships. 12 inches is a nice target for main belt. In the 1890's you won't have much plunging fire, so deck (and you should have a citadel covering deck so that's cool) maybe 2 inches, 3 max. In 1890's big guns are not that great, on a BB, 10 or 11 inches fire faster and will punch through the bad armor. Heavy Cruisers. 9 inch guns are lovely. Heaviest armor you can manage. Light Cruisers. Smaller guns. Balance them. Long 3.9 inch guns have been doing me good service. TB. Make em tiny and fast - 26 -27 knots? 1-2 torps. Though your swarm tactic and big TBs may be a viable alternative.
@@CmdrTyrael Oh, honestly i'd be happy to see either :) Japan i think adds a bit more of a challenge, but if you are fresh to the game USA still isn't a cakewalk for your first game either
Out of Curiosity, Every played Rule the Waves? (the latest version being Rule the Waves 3, its even on Steam) I get the feeling this game was HEAVILY inspired by that game, and yet..... No Offense to Dreadnaughts but alot of its systems feel very.... Half Assed. Like you feel like you have ZERO control over alot of things, I know your "the Admiral of the fleet" but your President/Kiasar/Emperor will still want your imput on the matter. Other then that, it really is Rule the Waves with 3D graphics, Minus the Aircraft Carrier Era and now Missile Era (early cold war) that got added in RtW3.
So I’ve never played this game personally but though you came out sinking the fleet and killing more you still lost this batttle badly as I’m sure you’ve seen you have a limited crew pool and funds one of the things I see most is everyone goes all on tech and crew training and about 90% on transports and try’s to stay at peace until they think there ready but overall good start make sure to always work on tech and expanding shipyards
You know, I was going to binge the British age of sail campaign, but I think that this takes precedence. This is actually the third UA:D campaign I have to keep tabs on, and this is the first campaign where it's not a veteran UA:D player doing the run. Things right now, in 1890, are understadably primitive, but it gets absolutey insane late game. Early game, deck armor isn't really that important, the ranges are often too short for any plunging fire, that is, shells coming in at a sharp angle to hit the deck instead of the belt. First battle, the Chinese have some pretty terrible designs, average A.I. designs tend to be kinda bad to be honest, and yes, AP is white, HE is yellow. All in all, a good first battle, considerable losses, but they were mostly torpedo boats, so it wasn't too bad. You may want to invest in some tech, maybe engines and big guns to improve the range and accuracy of your guns to fight at a longer distance.