Rule the Waves 3 - Dev Blogs - The Battle Generator in RTW3
The battle generator is an aspect of the game that has generated some discussion I will take the
opportunity to explain some of the decisions behind it.
The aims of the battle generator is to generate:
* Battles that are realistic compared to actual historical encounters.
* Different types and sizes of battles.
* Battles with a variation of ship types, rewarding a balanced fleet with ships for all missions.
* Variations in battle conditions, mostly day and night, but also general weather conditions.
* Reasonably equal and playable battles. (Few players want to fight to fight a lot of lopsided battles
where they easily crush the AI.)
The battle generator can generate some frustration for players, but remember that real admirals were
often frustrated by things not turning out as intended. Navies desired the decisive battle for years, and
often it never occurred.
Real naval battles in history were few and far between. Historically, there were really only two full fleet
battles in the period covered by RTW3, Tsushima and Jutland. Most sea battles were minor actions, and
battles were often broken off after a few salvoes. RTW will actually generate far more battles than
historical naval campaigns. Having it deliver battles at a rate that closely follows history would have led
to a more uninteresting game, so the chance of battles happening has been increased over what would
have been historical to increase playability and fun factor.
Real navies could not expect to fight battles with their ideal ships where they wanted under the
conditions and force levels they wanted. Battles were often fought by second line ships in unexpected
locations and circumstances. RTW tries to recreate this. Some players seem to expect that if they have a superiority of ships in an area, any battles fought should reflect the overall force balance. That however, is not how real naval battles worked. Actions were often fought between forces that happened to encounter each other, and the defeat of the enemy fleet often had the character of a gradual attritional wearing down of the enemy fleet, with the larger fleet often eventually winning the naval war.
RTW also tries to simulate that navies needed to be balanced, and contain ships for different missions.
You cannot just build battleships, you need cruisers for scouting and cruiser warfare, you need destroyers to escort your major units, and to protect your merchant shipping from submarines. If you are deficient in one ship type, it can lead to imbalanced forces or an inability to field a force in some battles in RTW3.
The battle generator in RTW3 will start out with a type of battle, and a ship type suitable for that type of battle. Cruiser battles for example will try to generate a force centred on CA or CL (or possibly BC). If there are no ships available of the desired type, it will sometimes try with similar ship types present in the area. The number of ships in the force will be randomised, but is modified by the number of ships
of the type available in the area. Thus, there is a chance, but not a certainty, that the larger fleet will get more ships of the type. Tonnage is also taken into account, so a navy building very large ships of a type may get fewer ships than a navy with smaller ships.
The only battles in RTW3 that will put your entire fleet in action are fleet battles. A fleet battle will
generate a force with most battleships present in the area with their supporting forces, perhaps with
some ships missing due to technical and operational reasons. Note, however, that the AI also has a
chance to decline battles. If it feels it does not have enough forces in the area to contest the battle, it will stay in port. One thing that was added in RTW3 compared to earlier versions of RTW is the permanent division organisation. This was added due to player feedback. In previous versions of RTW, ships were automatically grouped in divisions when battle occurred, based on speed and characteristics. However, players understandably wanted more control over which ships would fight together. The division editor gives the player the possibility to build a permanent organisation for their fleet. The ships in the same division will be grouped together in battle, supported by the ships defined as supporting them, provided they are deployed in the same sea area of course. Some randomness is still applied as ships might be absent due to technical or operational reasons.
Another thing that has been requested by players is a more detailed operational setting for the battles,
with the player selecting the force for a particular mission or task, similar to how it worked in the
campaign game of our earlier game Steel and Iron. However, that required a system where the player
pays to activate a number of ships for a mission (otherwise the player would obviously sortie the entire
fleet for every operation). It also required simulating the base infrastructure available and a detailed set
of AI plans and courses of action for all possible mission sets. All of these had to be worked out and play tested. That was feasible for a limited and relatively stable theatre, like the North Sea, the Adriatic or the Baltic, but it would have required an unrealistic amount of work and data to create and playtest similarly detailed operational prerequisites for hundreds of potential battle sites over the whole world. Add to that the fact that in RTW possessions will change owners, which can dramatically change the conditions for any operational courses of action. That is why the battle generation system in RTW3 is considerably more streamlined.