"Official" FAQ

[Renko]

Hi Ladies and Gents. Over on the Facebook Group (The Dock Office) we collated some questions about CS and passed them to Warlord with their cooperation. They’ve responded with the attached FAQ doc so I thought it would be useful to share it here as I appreciate there are some who may not use FB. I’ve included the text below and downloaded the doc for those who would prefer to print it out. Hope this helps.

Dear Sirs
Over on the Cruel Seas Dock Office Facebook Page the users have a number of questions about the game. We were hoping you could answer and explain. I’ve split them into three broad groups, Rules, Data, and Design

1 Rules Questions
1. What happens when a ship sinks? Is it removed instantly or does it remain on the table as an obstacle or something else?

It’s Removed – Unless you want to replace it with an optional wreck counter as an obstacle/cover

2. Should the -2 full speed to hit modifier really be applied to all craft? Or was it intended only for high speed craft? Seems strange that it is easier to hit an e boat at 14 knots than a tanker going 12 knots
Yes, the -2 to hit should be applied to all craft – this modifier is applied to the ‘shooting’ boat, ie the shooting boat gets -2 to it’s to hit roll if it’s travelling at full speed.
In your scenario:
E-boat is the target from a big gun on a merchant – (assume it’s in normal range) 5 base to hit, -2 for inexperienced crew [3], -2 as merchant is at full speed [1], -1 as the e-boat is doing over 24cm = [0] i.e. the merchant cannot hit the E-boat.
Merchant is now the target of the E-boat – (assume it’s in normal range) 5 base to hit, regular crew [5], -2 as E-boat is at full speed [3] plus a further -1 as it is travelling over 30cm [2], no modifier for target speed (merchant does 15knots) [2], +1 for target size (large) = [3] i.e. the E-boat needs a 3 or less on the D10 to hit the Merchant

3. Torpedo reloads. How do they work?
They take 1 turn to reload, but this can only be done by regular or Vet crews whilst at slow or stopped speeds.

4. Flak: unless the ship is veteran and getting slow/stationary bonus, it can never hit a plane (tiny, fast and over half range mods) is that the intention?
YES

5. Larger calibre guns produce plumes that can aid in targeting. Can you fire those weapons first, so the rest of the weapons on the same boat can potentially benefit? Or is all shooting simultaneous?
Ooh, crafty. I would say Yes you can, although I would suggest you fire the big guns after your first third of movement then the rest after the second third. (remember you must declare all your guns targets in one go, so if you sink it with the big guns the rest will continue to pour their firepower into the wreck and cannot change target.)

6. Aircraft: how do veteran aircraft attack more than one target with only one bomb/torpedo?
They don’t with a single torpedo, but we assume they carried more than one bomb. Watch this space for more detailed aircraft stats in the future

7. if you are shooting and your vessel is at Full Speed (a -1 modifier) and it’s over 30cm (a -2 modifier), do both modifiers apply? Or only just one?
Both apply

8. What do semi-auto guns do? Is it +2 damage overall, +2 damage per die, +2 dice of damage, what?
As it says on the tin, +2 damage. So, a 6pdr gun does 5D6 damage if it’s been upgraded to semi-auto then it will add 2 to the 5D6 result.

9. Magnetic and pressure mines are described as having an 8cm radius around them. Is this for each individual mine or the field as a whole? Or is this intended to reflect individual lose mines like the German parachute mines dropped in estuaries?
Each individual mine, to reflect the individual loose mines parachuted/laid in estuaries

10. Can the single roll to pass through a minefield count if it is mixed contact/pressure/magnetic?
Yes but… the roll is for the pre-laid field not the individual pressure or magnetic mines (these will still need to be rolled for)

11. Do critical hits always apply. It seems strange that some hits which would be significant to a small boat like an MTB should also be devastating to a Destroyer. Particularly Crew hits where the chance of incapacitating the whole crew with a single 20mm hit seems excessive.

As this game is focused on the MTB size vessels we drew the line at limiting MGs and HMGs on larger vessel damage.

2 Data questions

12. Why are there no points for speed when it is such an important factor in the rules?
I do not know – I blame Richard
The speed was factored in when we initially placed the points values, with many variation’s and approaches possible to this we finally went for factoring this in with the hull values. (RC)

13. When making stats for other ships how do you calculate hull points? Is there a calculation \ formula that can be applied?
Yes (RC)

14. Why are Bronekaters rated as having only 57mm guns when they have 76mm (3” guns) in real life. – is this an error or deliberate?

This was deliberate when you take into account the effectiveness of a T-34s 76mm compares to an 88mm

15. Why do Bronelaters only have one main gun when they (Project 1124s) had 2?
? We’ve listed 4 different variants. The 4th entry down on the Soviet Navy lists on page 99 show the Bronekater P1124 which has 2 main guns.

16. Can we please have a definitive indication of the larger ships that are immune to torpedoes because of shallow draft?

Not at this time as it varied immensely, depending on load e.g. a landing craft tank when empty would be shallow but once loaded with tanks and equipment etc it is not. We suggest common sense and research applies here.

17. What is the correct size of the Fubuki?
H – Huge

18. Are the points for the LCI(L) correct?
No – 65 points and it should be a L – Large vessel

19. What constitutes an “Armoured Wheelhouse”? So far only E Boats can have this even though other ships have similar armour. How much (if any) points does this cost?
Generally a MTB that had specifically designed armour and not a field modification. If you have a ship in your collection you think deserves this addition, then it would be 10 points.

20. Which ships have diesel engines? Should the same rules apply to steam driven ships?

Broadly when it came to MTBs Allied had petrol and Axis had diesel, Steam ships, no.

21. The Japanese T14 is listed as carrying “Long Lance” torpedoes. Historically the Long Lance was never carried by MTBs. Is there a reason for this?

This seems to have been changed from our final checks – it should have standard torpedoes not long lance

3. Design \ Product questions

22. Are they planning on releasing official card packs for each nation including some blank cards, be nice to have cards just for things in the book
Yes, & Yes

23. Fire directors – are these meant to represent centralised control or just good gunners? Why no Soviet?

Centralised control, the Russians equipment was not to the same technical standard as other navies

24. Both book and website talk about MO/BMO but it’s not in the game – is it to follow later?

Yes

25. What about aircraft, most aircraft have guns be it heavy machine guns or cannon. Why not have aircraft strafe as well as torpedo \ bomb? (particularly important to the Beaufighter which cannot at the moment attack shallow draught ships).

Yes they do, but this is a boat game and we didn’t want aircraft to dominate (that’s what you play Blood Red Skies for). Essentially, each nation has a plane that does an attack. We realise that payloads differed greatly in all nations, but we needed (for clarity) to give an aircraft an attack effect.

The beautiful Beaufighter may be modelled with bombs but it can be classed as having a torpedo. Try not to be too literal.
In hindsight we should have included both types of ordinance on the aircraft equipment stat line where they could have either. (RC)

26. Why does using a searchlight at night only illuminate the user to the target, and why for only one gun?

The Searchlight should add spotting chances/modifiers to both host and target ship, from my point of view you could cheerfully let it effect all guns, just agree with your opponent first.

May all your battles be victorious and your crews home safely for Tea – JS

Attachments:

1. Cruel-Seas-QA-V1-23.01.2019.docx

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