The Mechanics of Combat in WISC
In WISC, players represent squadron and fleet commanders (admirals
and commodores) rather than the captains of individuals ships.
Therefore, they make decisions about the tactics of the fleet, but
do not control individual ship movements. (This is necessary to
allow the battles to resolve in one turn). During a WISC battle,
players must make six decisions; whether to initiate, accept, or
evade battle, whether to fight at range or at close quarters,
whether to aim at enemy propulsion or hulls, whether to maintain
line ahead or attempt to break the enemy's line, and whether to
break off battle and, if they are in coastal waters, whether to run
to harbor or to open sea. Based on those decisions, combat occurs,
the loser must flee, and ships are damaged or sunk, This document
explains the mechanics of WISC combat and how the orders players
send affect what happens in a naval battle.
Note; this document is largely, but not entirely, adopted from NWOL.
Some changes between NWOL and CWOL may not yet be included, and some
of what is here may not yet be implemented in the code.
Joining battle
At the start of the battle, ships have the chance to initiate
battle, accept battle, or evade it. No battle occurs unless at least
one ship selects "Engage" or "Run Past" for its combat order to
bring on battle. In harbors and coastal waters with onshore wins,
any ship can engage any other ship. In sea areas and in coastal
waters not with onshore winds, a frigate cannot engage an enemy ship
of the line, nor an enemy transport group if there is a ship of the
line allied to the transport group present. If any ship does engage
another, then WISC determines which ships, if any, fight in the
battle. There are three special situations for evasion:
- In a battle between wooden ships, if only one side has
ironclads present, the wooden ships of that side can take
shelter among their ironclads, neither fighting nor leaving the
area. (This probably doesn't work correctly on rivers yet.)
- In a battle with transports present, if one side has more than
twice as many warships as the other, the transports on the
smaller side cannot evade at all.
- In a battle in a harbor or river mouth, evasion is not
possible.
If none of the special cases apply, then evasion is determined as
follows. Ship with "Evade" selected for its combat option attempt to
evade; ships with "Accept","Engage", or "Run Past" selected do not.
- If one side entirely wants to evade and the other side has at
least one ship that wishes to fight, then the evading ships
attempt to evade as a group; either all will evade, or none
will. The chance depends on whether the evaders are to windward
or to leeward. The chance of evasion is much higher if they are
to leeward, unless the battle is coastal waters of a port and
winds are onshore, in which case the chance is low. It also
depends on ship quality and on winds (evasion is more likely in
light winds). (The wind modifier is probably gone for CWOL.)
- If at least one ship on both sides is fighting, then there are
individual rolls for each ship trying to flee. If the number of
ships fighting on the side of an evading ship is at least half
the number fighting on the other side, then evasion is
automatic. Otherwise, the chance of evasion is determined as
above.
Determining battle positions
Once the ships that will fight are decided, WISC then determines the
range at which the battle will occur,which side will be to windward,
and whether ships will fight in lines, or lines will be broken.
Battles in harbors are always at close quarters. Otherwise, if all
ships want to fight at range or at close quarters, then it is done.
If all ships on one side want to fight at range and some or all on
the other side want to fight at close quarters, then those wishing
to close may try. The chance is high if the closing ships have
windward gauge and low if they have leeward gauge, and also depends
on ship quality. If both sides have at least one ship trying to
close, then if a side has at least half as many ships closing as the
opponents, then its ships fighting at range do so automatically,
otherwise the opponents have the above chance to close with the
ships fighting at range in addition to those fighting at close
quarters.
In most battles, the ships are in two groups, one to windward and
one to leeward, in which case the group to windward fights from
windward. In some cases, groups of ships are in a variety of
positions from windward to leeward. For example, if two groups of
Union ships and two groups of Confederate ships all arrive at a
coastal waters, it may be that a Union group is furthest to
windward, a Confederate group next furthest, the second Union group
next, and the second Confederate group furthest to leeward. In such
a case, whichever side has the group furthest to leeward is the one
that fights from leeward, and the other side fights from windward.
Once range and wind position are established, ships at close
quarters which want to break the enemy line may do so as long as
each side has at least three ships at close quarters. If all ships
on both sides are trying to break the line, then the battle becomes
a general melee and no adjustments occur. If not, then each side
that has at least three ships trying to break the line gets a chance
to do so. If they succeed, the combat power of the ships breaking
the enemy line is increased 50%; if they fail, their combat power is
decreased 50%.
Battle outcomes
Once the tactical situation is established, we calculate total
strength on both sides. Ship strength is determined by:
Base strength of 135 for IC, 100 for RI, 50 for FR, 40 for SL, 25
for GB or RG, 0 for TR or RT
If crew is below 70%, reduce strength by 2.5% for each 1% below,
falling to 0 at 30% crew
If at close quarters, add 15% if the ship is ram-equipped
Quality modifier: -30% for Very Poor to +30% for Excellent, doubled
at close quarters
Experience modifier: Bonus is square root(experience)/10 +0.6 at
range, doubled at close quarters (that is, square root(experience)/5
+ 0.2). Examples: 0 = -40%, 1 = -30%, 4=-20%, 9=-10%, 16=0%,
25=+10%, 36=+20%, and doubled at close quarters
+10% for aiming hull, +10% for windward, -10% for closing
Pre-existing hull damage: -10% for 1 point, -20% for 2 points, -40%
for 3 points, -60% for 4 points
Pre-existing propulsion damage: -5% for 1 point, -10% for 2 points,
-20% for 3 points, -40% for 4 points, -60% for 5 points
+33% if breaking the line has succeeded, -25% if it has failed, no
modifier if the ships could not close
Run Past orders: -66.7%
Naval batteries have a base strength of 80 per battery or 80 per 100
men, whichever is less. A 300/3 NB has a base strength of 240; a
300/2 NB has a strength of 160; a 250/3 NB has a base strength of
200 (80*2.5)
They are then modified as follows:
Rifled guns are worth +33%.
Batteries on high hills are +150%; batteries on low hills are +50%.
Quality modifier: -30% for Very Poor to +30% for Excellent
Experience modifier: Bonus is square root(experience)/10 + 0.8
Examples: 0 = -20%, 1 = -10%, 4=0%, 9=+10%, 16=+20%, 25=+30%,
36=+40%, and doubled at close quarters
If fatigue is above 6, strength is multiplied by (6/fatigue)
The amount of damage and crew loss depends on the total strength of
both sides and the fraction of ships at close quarters (more damage
likely in close quarters battles). The chance of a ship being
captured depends on how much damage it has taken, with propulsion
damage counting more than hull damage, the amount of propulsion
damage the opposing fleet has taken, whether it has Run Past orders,
and on whether the battle was fought at close quarters.
Page maintained by Stephen Schmidt. Last updated 12/25/18.