Merchant Raider II was a play-by-email game inspired by (but not really based on) the war at sea in WWII. There were two campaigns in 2002. Merchant Raider III builds on that experience.
There are ten players, divided into five permanent alliances of two players each. Depending on your temperament (and the reliability of your ally), you can play as a team or as individuals.
Every game has a "gimmick", and this one is no exception. Ships are constructed by bolting together modules: guns, radar, engines, armour etc. Some modules are produced locally, but the bulk will be imported from other islands. So the essence of the game is to strike a balance between warships and merchants, between fleet action and commerce raiding.
Victory points are awarded to players as follows:
The game ends when one player has reached 30 victory points.
Kudos to:
Each player will start with eight ships: four armoured cargo ships (AABBEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHR), two shipyard ships (AABBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) and two specials, designed by himself.
Players are encouraged to coordinate their activities by email, and urged to keep me informed of their plotting. (I like a laugh, and it never hurts to keep the Gamesmaster in a good mood.) Public proclamations like insults, challenges and manifestoes are very much a part of the game.
Each week you will receive a turn sheet showing the results of the previous turn. You will then issue your orders for the next turn. Turn sheets will arrive by email and you reply the same way. The deadline is Wednesday at 2000h, my time. If you are playing outside New Zealand, be aware that the time difference works against you. (And NZ daylight saving makes it worse.)
When I receive your turns, I have to type them in by hand, and sometimes I make mistakes. Therefore I send you a receipt, which shows exactly what I typed in. If you submit your orders in good time, you will be able to check the receipt and point out my mistake before the turn is run. Once the turn is run, there is no redress: no compensation and no reruns.
Each alliance has two players. Each player must give me:
Each turn simulates one week of operation. Simulation takes place in 5-minute segments. In WWII, time of day had decisive influence on combat effectiveness. This is not simulated here.
Alliances are permanent, which means you can't change your ally. Allies automatically share radar information and don't shoot at each other. So working as a team is a distinct possibility. On the other hand, victory points are awarded to individual players, and you can work independently if you prefer.
A number is written as a finite sequence of decimal digits, eg 12.
The word ship covers seagoing vessels but also shore facilities, which are just ships without engines. Shore facilities can be sunk! Each ship has a quantity of fuel for her engines, ammunition for her guns and torpedoes for her tubes. A ship with holds may carry a product as cargo.
Each ship has a string of module codes describing her structure, eg AABBEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHR.
Each ship is identified by a name of up to 12 letters, eg Scuttle. The first letter of the ship name is used to mark the ship on your map, so it is best if you have ship names with different first letters. Ship names must not clash with those of other ships or with names of islands.
A product is something that can be created, stored, transported and used. There are two kinds of product: consumables and modules. Products are carried from island to island in the cargo holds of ships. The quantity of product a hold can carry is called a unit. Units are also the standard measure of factory production.
A product is identified by a one-character code (a letter eg G for modules and a digit eg 2 for consumables) and a name of up to 10 letters.
Contrary to previous games, players do not own their islands. That's just where their shipyards are. Islands have products for use or export. These are known as island stores. A player can import stores from any island, including islands where other players have shipyards.
Each island is identified by a name of up to 10 letters, eg Corsica.
A grid point is a point on the two-dimensional surface of the world. A grid point is specified as a pair of four digit numbers (easting and northing) punctuated as 4567E5678N.
A location is a ship, island or grid point .
When a command such as sail refers to a location that is a ship, this means to sail directly towards that ship, constantly adjusting the direction as that ship moves. This happens even if the ship is an enemy and is not visible on any radar! It is thus possible to hunt down any ship, even a U-boat, if you know her name. This is a departure from previous games. If the ship is sunk during the turn, all missions referring to that ship are aborted.
Each island has one or two factories, which produce units of product and add them to island stores at the end of the turn. Factories are not named and cannot be created or destroyed. A dedicated factory produces 7 units of a specific product each turn, the same product every turn. The code name or number for this product appears on the map next to the island name.
A general factory produces 7 units a turn, but what products are produced depend on what stores already exist at that island. This is a little complicated.
To begin with, the factory produces products of which there are currently no units in store. If there is not enough capacity to produce all these products, a selection is chosen at random.
If there is any production capacity left, the factory produces products of which there is currently only one unit in store. This may include products that have already been produced once this turn. If there is not enough capacity to produce all these products, a selection is chosen at random. If there is any production capacity left, the factory produces products of which there are currently only two units in store. This may include products... etc.
You can induce general factories to produce what you want by using up or carrying off the existing supplies. Since all ships load up on fuel and ammo every time they dock, much of the world's general production will be channelled into these products anyway. A general factory is indicated by a ?; instead of a product code.
All players have excellent credit ratings, so money is irrelevant.
Non-allied ships and players are deemed to be enemy.
A ship sees an enemy ship if that ship comes within her radar range. A ship knows of all ships seen by herself and her allies.
A ship has effective guns if she has guns, ammo and control. A ship has effective torpedoes if she has tubes and torpedoes.
A ship is armed if she has an effective weapon. Otherwise she is deemed to be unarmed.
Shells and torpedoes miss more often than they hit. Which shots are hits and which are misses is determined at random, subject to the specified probabilities. (This is a normal die roll.) As with any truly random process, large deviations can happen. A player can have a run of good luck or a run of bad luck, where the number of hits scored is much less or much more than the expected average.
Some players object to this, so I have invented "magic dice", which almost eliminates the random variation. Using magic dice, if the expected number of hits in a turn is ten, the actual number of hits will be no fewer than nine and no more than eleven. The magic die remembers past rolls and spreads the hits evenly. Each player may choose which dice ("normal" or "magic") to use for his shots.
During combat, a ship may suffer a hit. When this happens, a number from 1 to 20 is chosen at random, and the module in this position is ruptured. (If a ship has fewer than 20 modules, the ruptured module might not be there at all, in which case no damage is done. This makes smaller ships harder to sink.)
Ruptured modules are destroyed. If the ship survives, her capabilities will be permanently reduced. Depending on the type of module, consumables or cargo may be lost.
A ruptured module is marked with a + on the ship's structure code. Ruptured modules cannot be repaired, but they are jettisoned automatically when the ship reaches an island. When a ship has more ruptures than buoyancy modules, she sinks. A ship also sinks if she has fewer than 10 unruptured modules. Sunk ships are lost forever.
Fuel is used in engines to move the ship. One unit of fuel takes a ship 2000 km, regardless of speed.
Ammo is used in guns to damage enemy ships. One unit of ammo is 50 shells.
Torpedoes are used in tubes to damage enemy ships. One unit of torpedoes is 10 torpedoes.
Every ship is composed of 10 to 20 modules, which determine the ship's capabilities.
When a ship comes under gunfire, armour reduces the number of incoming shells that get through. However, armour is not effective against torpedoes.
Buoyancy modules allow a ship to survive ruptures.
The range at which a ship's guns are effective is determined by how many control modules she has. Each control module contributes 2 km to the control range.
The speed of a ship is determined by how many engines she has. Each engine contributes 2 km/h. Ship travel in straight lines, and never collide with islands or each other because they don't take up any space. Each engine also contributes half a unit to the fuel storage capacity. When an engine is ruptured, 1000 km of fuel is lost.
The rate at which a ship can fire shells is determined by how many guns she has. Each gun fires 5 shells per segment.
For each shell, the probability of a hit is:
probability_of_hit = (6%) / (1 + total_armour / 2)
The effective range of guns is determined by the number of control modules. Each gun also contributes 1 unit to the ammo storage capacity. When a gun is ruptured, 50 rounds of ammo are lost.
Each hold also contributes 1 unit to the cargo storage capacity. When a hold is ruptured, 1 unit of cargo is lost.
Radar is used to detect, identify and analyse enemy ships.
Detect means to see the ship, where she is, and the fact that she is enemy , but no more. However, once a target has been detected, any allied ship can attack her. A ship does not need her own radar to attack.
Identify means to determine her name and owner.
Analyse means to determine her structure (modules).
Each radar module contributes 100 km to the detection range, 70 km to identification range and 50 km to analysis range. (But see "U-boat" module.) Your turn sheet includes an "End of Turn Contact Report" which lists all detected ships and what is known about them.
The rate at which a ship can fire torpedoes is determined by how many tubes she has. Each tube fires 3 torpedoes per segment. For each torpedo, the probability of a hit is 15%, regardless of armour. Torpedoes have an effective range of 4 kilometres. Each tube also contributes 1 unit to the torpedo storage capacity. When a tube is ruptured, 10 torpedoes are lost.
A ship with U-boat modules can submerge to reduce her radar visibility. Each such module reduces the range at which she can be detected, identified and analysed by a factor of 0.707. (Every two modules halves the range.) The table below gives the number of U-boat modules needed to get within 16 km and 4 km without being detected by radar.
| Radar modules | U's for 16 km | U's for 4 km |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | 9 | 13 |
| 4 - 5 | 10 | 14 |
| 6 - 7 | 11 | 15 |
| 8 - 10 | 12 | 16 |
| 11 - 14 | 13 | 17 |
| 15 - 20 | 14 | 18 |
The U-boat does not give away its position when it attacks.
You need a ship with at least 5 shipyard modules to build and rebuild other ships.
Every mission is a command to a ship. Each ship can perform only one mission per turn.
BUILD new-ship-name with module-codes
The acting ship builds the specified new ship using modules from island stores. The acting ship must be at an island, and must have at least 5 shipyard modules. There must be at least 10 and no more than 20 modules in the module code. Construction takes place at the end of the turn, and any modules that are not available then are simply left out. If this results in a ship with fewer than 10 modules, the new ship is not built at all.
CARRY number-of-units units of product-name from source-island-name to destination-island-name
The acting ship sails to the specified source island and unloads any product she is carrying to island stores. She then loads the specified number of units of the specified product from island stores and sails to the specified destination island. Finally, she unloads the product to the destination island stores. When two or more ships try to load the same cargo simultaneously, the cargo is divided between them.
DISBAND at island-name
The acting ship sails to the specified island and (immediately on arrival) is broken up into her component modules, and consumables. These are added to the island stores and may be used later in the same turn for construction, provisions or export.
REBUILD ship-name with module-codes
The acting ship (which must be a shipyard) breaks down the specified ship, recovering its resources, and then acts like the "Build" command. The ship to be rebuilt may be enemy. If so, it becomes yours when you rebuild it.
Note: Contrary to MBII, the rebuild command is performed by a shipyard, not by the ship that is being rebuilt.
Note: Contrary to MBII, the break down and rebuild both happen at the end of the turn. Both ships must be at the same island then. The ship to be rebuilt may perform other tasks during the turn, so long as it gets home in time for the refit.
SAIL to location [then second-location]
The acting ship sails directly towards the specified location, keeping it dead ahead for the whole turn. If she gets there (within 100 metres) she goes on to the second location, if there is one. Then she stops.
The acting ship sails to the specified ship. Then, if the specified ship is an enemy , the acting ship boards her and takes her over. Regardless of that, the towed ship abandons her mission. Finally, the acting ship tows her to the specified location at half the acting ship's normal speed and twice the normal fuel consumption per km.
With each command, you may specify an engagement option, which tells the ship what to do if it meets an enemy. This controls movement, not firing, and obviously has no effect if the ship is immobile! A ship meets an enemy if it knows of an enemy within engagement range (50 km). Unless the engagement option is ignore the ship will interrupt her mission to respond to the enemy threat. During engagement, a ship may travel far from her intended course. If and when the engagement is broken off and there is no new target, she resumes her normal mission. The following engagement options are available:
The ship simply ignores enemies and continues her mission.
The ship will get close enough to attack the nearest known enemy, but not much closer. To be specific, she will close to 1 km less than the greatest effective range of her effective weapons. The idea is that the target ship might not be able to retaliate at this range. Pursuit will be broken off if the target gets to disengagement range (100 km), or a closer target comes into view. If or when the pursuing ship becomes unarmed, she will shadow instead.
The ship will try to keep 40 km from the nearest known enemy. Shadowing will be broken off if the target gets to disengagement range (not likely, unless she runs away), or a closer target comes into view.
The ship will try to get to disengagement range from the nearest known enemy, and then continue on her way.
Ships will carry out their commands if possible. But sometimes other factors will intervene. Standing orders tell the ship what to do when that happens.
If a ship runs out of a consumable while she is at an island, she immediately takes on as much as she can. This happens at once, even in the middle of a salvo, so not a single firing opportunity is lost. Note that this gives a considerable combat advantage to ships docked in port.
When a ship arrives at an island mentioned in her mission, or happens to be there at midnight, she:
If a ship meets an enemy she interrupts her mission and follows her specified engagement option (unless it is ignore).
Regardless of any of the above, if a ship knows of at least one enemy ship she can attack, she will attack the closest. She will continue to attack that target (and no other) with all effective in-range weapons as long as she can.
Repeat for each segment within the turn:
At the end of the turn: