8.2.2 Hand-to-Hand Combat

To win a naval conflict in the 18th and 19th centuries the commanders of the fleets had to sink the enemy fleet, or attempt to disable them through long-range combat then close and board the enemy ships with their marines in order to capture them.

To capture enemy warships your ships must close, board the enemy and engage them in hand-to-hand combat.

At the beginning of each hand-to-hand combat round each one of your ships will choose two possible target ships, one enemy of the same class and an enemy 1 class lower or higher. Class three warships can board class four and five warships.

Non-boarded ships will be chosen in preference to ships that have already been boarded, but if no unengaged ships remain then some ships will be boarded by two ships. Your ship will then attempt to board either target ship if it has not been boarded itself, with a 50% chance of boarding each unengaged enemy and a 90% chance of boarding an already engaged enemy.

At the end of the first hand-to-hand combat round there is a 10% chance of the ships separating.

The combat points of both sides will be calculated as follows:

CP= (marines x z(1.2))/6

The enemy will lose one man per combat point. These losses will be calculated for both sides simultaneously.

This attack will be repeated three times during each combat round.

At the end of each attack the program will check if one side has more than three times the number of marines compared to its enemy. In this case the ship with fewer men will be captured and the remaining marines of the victor will be divided between both ships. However, if enemy battalions are present on the captured ship it will not be captured but will be sunk instead.

The following symbols will appear on the print-out to indicate the outcome of combat:

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