The Flux Capacitor

At last, a real post.

The image above is the flux capacitor, it's what makes this work.  The two-tiered hex map above enables me to put together the rules of D&D with those of the war game Wooden Ships & Iron Men (WSIM).  It is the invention of the "ship hex."

The smaller hexes in the image above are standard combat hexes, 5 feet in diameter, just as I've been using for all my combat posts going back well before the start of this blog.  My online characters and those who have read my campaigns are familiar with these.

The larger white hexes are "ship hexes," 20 feet in diameter and juxtaposed with the combat hex.  Most important is this: a ship that is moving 1 knot per hour will cross a ship hex in the space of one combat round, in my game 12 seconds.  This makes the movement of the ship fully compatible with the movement of individual combatants during the naval battle.

1970s Artwork

Compare the image on the right from the original wargame.  The ships depicted here are from the late 18th to early 19th century, much bigger than the ships of my world would be, 150 years earlier.  And I don't have ships with cannon, so picture vessels smaller still.  The ships as shown are moving through game hexes ~ ship hexes for me ~ and on a time frame that WSIM doesn't explain.  But, with the two-tier hex system I'm proposing, the ships can move through the ship hexes just as shown, while at the same time the individual people can move through the standard combat hexes, firing at other ships with bows and ship's weapons, throwing lines to grapple over actual space and fighting boarding battles, while the ships themselves move independently of the characters aboard them.

When the ship turns, it will follow the ships hex, NOT the combat hex ... this will enable the game to be managed without having to figure out the fiddly hell of figuring out the ship's movement using scores of tiny little hexes.  It will make writing out the orders practical.  Orders?

I'm adopting a five-round game-term for the ships's movement called the "sequence of play," which will be staggered and simulataneous, encouraging collisions.  At the beginning of round 1, just as in WSIM, the captains will write out their orders, which will then take place over the next five rounds.  Then the combat rounds will be played out one at a time; there should be room for the players to pick off crew, load and fire weapons, reducing the success of a ship's maneuvering ... while each round the ships will move part of their pre-written movement orders.  Depending on speed, turning, the effectiveness of the crew to follow the orders (which I'm putting in even though it isn't there in WSIM), a ship may move quickly out of range or it may suddenly turn and collide.

PLUS, as I have rules for galley combat that can be fit into the system, I can mesh the systems WSIM and Trireme, since the Turks were still using galleys ~ and in a world without cannon, perhaps a galley is still a terrifically effective sea weapon.

If the reader is familiar with war games, it should be seen how seamlessly this can be made to fit together ... though of course it will need playtesting.  I'm looking forward to getting there.

There's just one little thing about ship movement that is plaguing me.  All the ships in WSIM and Trireme are only two hexes long.  And I have ships that could be potentially nine hexes long.  Here's the question ~ and I expect Sterling can answer it:

If a ship nine hexes long makes a right hand turn at 4 knots, swinging it's bow 20 feet to the right, does the back end of the ship remain "in its lane" or does the back end swing out opposite the bow?  And if it does swing out, by how much?

Any sailors, please weigh in.  I'll listen.  I promise.