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Castle

2018-05-01T18:51:43Z

2600:1006:B126:DF85:3059:1FE7:BF68:76E7: /* Parts of a Castle */

A '''Castle''' refers to a medieval European fortress (though the term is also applied to a variety of non European fortresses as well), usually used as the residence and seat of power of some [[noble]] household. Castles are distinct from fortified towns and cities with walls, though towns often grew around castles and castles called citadels were sometimes constructed in or near cities to protect them. The word comes from the Latin ''castrum'', referring to the fortified bases in which the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] stationed their legions.

Naturally most GrimDark fictions don't show one of the keep roles of Castle, protecting [[peasant]]s during wars. After all if they all die who's going to man the farms which feed your troops?

== Parts of a Castle ==
*Walls - Designed to keep those filthy barbarians from breaching your stronghold. Can be made from a wide variety of hard materials, ranging from wood to stone. Smart architects would use multiple concentric walls, with the outer walls being lower than the inner walls, allowing for archers and defensive weapons on the inner wall to fire over the outer wall for the double the amount of defensive projection.
*Gates - Allows entry and exit from your castle and usually well fortified to prevent the enemy from using it during an attack.
:*Portcullis - an added defense to the gate in the form of an iron grill that can be raised or lowered. Some gatehouses used two of them as a means to trap would-be intruders.
*Moats - A body of liquid that encircles the outer perimeter of your castle, designed to prevent enemy troops from assailing your walls by forcing them to either cover up the moat or deploy specialized siege engines to quickly cross it. Traditionally, moats are simply filled with water with the occasional ferocious animal thrown into the mix, but fantasy settings typically fill them with nastier things, such as acid or toxins.
*Turrets - Tall towers that give your sentries full view of your castle and also gives your archers or siege engines an elevated, defensive position to shoot at the enemy from.
*Keep - The heart of your castle. This is usually where the commanding officers of the castle reside in. Thus, taking the keep is as symbolic as taking the entire castle itself.
*Armories - A place to store all the pointy sticks and lumps of sharp metal that your troops will use to give it to the enemy good.
*Granaries - Your castle's central food storage. An army fights (and defends) on its stomach, so be sure this place is always stocked up and safe from sabotage.
*[[Dungeon]]s - Usually the underground level of your castle where prisoners are tortured for information, punishment, and/or just for fun.
**Some of the dungeons that went overboard with the torture equipment could easily have been [[/d/]]ungeons.
*Traps - More defensive emplacements designed to bleed your enemy's forces. This ranges from a wide variety of hidden emplacements spike pits, pots of boiling oil that spill over, spiked walls that force the enemy to be deliberate with their movements, or rigged trenches.
*Kitchens - Where your cooks prepare food for consumption. Be sure to have good cooks, otherwise your army may think of revolting against you.
*Trophy Room - A place to store all the mementos concerning your castle's achievements. This can be anything from a personal commendation by the king, to kill trophies from slain opponents.
*Rest room - Knights needs to poop, you know?
*Parapets - A low wall on the roof, more cover for your archers.
*Basements sometimes led towards the larva room (if you ever play resident evil 4).

== Types of Castles ==
*'''Motte and Baily''': A fairly basic type of castle in the Dark Ages. A hall of either stone or wood (the Baily) is built on top of a hill, a basic wooden wall is put around it, at the base of the hill was built some stabled and similar which were also walled off. In some cases the wall (the Motte) circled both, in other cases there were two rings of walls around both the hall as well as the support structures, with a walled off corridor between them. Some of these would be upgraded to have stone walls as time went on.
*'''Concentric Castle''': A castle with two or more walls, with the walls getting increasingly taller as you go in. This allows for archers on the higher inner walls to fire down on enemies if they captured the outer walls. Despite the name they did not have to be circular.
*'''Bastion Fort''': The widespread application of gunpowder in warfare was generally unfriendly to medieval-era castles. Tall walls, which used to be a massive advantage, would now be death traps as cannons could easily knock them down, with taller walls merely adding more rubble to potentially collapse on you. So a bunch of renaissance Italians came up with bastion forts, also known as star forts- these are low to the ground and instead of towers have pointy "arrows" called bastions at the corners to prevent enemies from having a place to take cover from and allow the bastions to support each other. Relatively easy to fortify, many went for a simple sloped hill to absorb cannon fire, but you could also build redoubts in between the bastions to add another layer of defense.
{{Stub}}
[[Category: History]]

Warship

2018-05-01T12:58:39Z

2600:1006:B126:DF85:3059:1FE7:BF68:76E7: /* Ship Types */

{{stub}}

Unlike [[Tank]]s or [[Combat Aircraft]], warships have been around forever. Great naval battles are remembered throughout history books as far back as boats bigger than a canoe existed. This article covers the types of ships and their strategies throughout the ages.

==Pre-Modern==
Ships at this time were restricted to rivers or coastlines, partly because they could not endure rough conditions on ocean seas, but also because primitive navigation techniques restricted ships to remain in sight of land. As a result, most battles wouldn't take place far from major ports or routes. Before the invention of the cannon, there were really only a few ways for ships to fight each other:
*Boarding
*Firing various missiles at the enemy (arrows, javelins, catapults)
*Ramming
*Setting them on fire

The last two in particular had a high probability of getting your own ships destroyed, so naval combat was kind of a crapshoot.

===Ship Types===
*'''Galley''': Sailships that came with long rows of oarsmen to help give the ship an extra boost of speed. Very useful for maneuvering against the wind, or gaining speed to ram the enemy. The most common ones used two rows of oars (known as the bireme), but some of the larger warships could have as many as five, and some sources claim that some flagships had as many as ''ten''. The Romans had a special version that used a spike to lock ships and allow their marines to board, as they found that if they fought better on land than on sea, then they'll just apply the same tactics onto boats. Because of the extra manpower needed to operate them, galleys had a grim reputation for needing large numbers of slaves (though this only actually applied to galleys from the 16th century and after). They were still in use until the 19th century by the Barbary pirates, when they were finally defeated for good by more modern navies.
*'''Fire Ships''': Usually made from suprlus ships or even rafts, sometimes one navy would try to set the enemy on fire by setting one of their own boats on fire, and hope that it drifts into their ships. At the very least, it could create panic, as the enemy would try to steer the hell away from them.
*'''Longship''': A Viking galley that was long and narrow, allowing it to enter shallow waters for amphibious deployment. They had a characteristic large square sail and the sides were typically lined with shields.

==Age of Sail==
When shipbuilding technology allowed ships to navigate the open seas, they became formidable powerhouses, especially when armed with a long row of guns. Broadside barrages were now the dominant tactic, as a ship would attempt to strafe the enemy within range of the side-mounted cannons. This is the type of warfare you normally think of whenever you think of pirates. And with newly developing sea trade routes appearing around the world, the importance of a powerful navy became a key factor in empire-building. The Royal Navy began categorizing warships on the Rating System, which was defined by size and number of guns (hence where we get the term "first-rate")

===Ship Types===
*'''Carrack''': The first ocean-going large (by-then standards) ship capable of long voyages. The Carrack had "castles," or raised decks for archers to shoot from, until they eventually started carrying cannons.
*'''Galleon''': Evolved from the carrack, galleons were armed merchant ships that acted as auxiliaries to the navy. The high castles of the medieval Carrack were no longer needed, but the same general shape was kept. Even after Ships of the Line were introduced, galleons were still the primary merchant vessel used until the 19th century. And because of that, they were also the ship type most commonly used by [[pirate]]s.
*'''Ship of the Line''': A ship that belong to the first three rates. These ships had three decks (two for third rate) full of guns, and got their name as they formed the main offensive line in battle, much like a line of riflemen in terrestrial battles. The winner was typically whoever brought the most cannons to the fight, hence they could go upwards of 90 cannons on the largest ships. The 74 gun ship was the most common, as it had the right balance of speed and power. Ships of the line continued to be built in steamboat versions until Ironclads took over.
*'''Frigate''': A ship of the fifth or sixth rates. A Great Frigate belonged to the fourth rate. These smaller ships were not part of the line, but could be used as scouts, convoy escorts, or to protect the flanks from other such ships.
*'''Sloop of War''': A ship below the 20-gun threshold, and was thus "unrated."
*'''Junk''': In the Far East, the Junk was the most popular type of ship for both warships and treasure fleets. They came in a very large variety of sizes, but all used square sails that folded accordion-style. The most famous example is the fleet of Chinese Admiral-Explorer Zheng He, who sailed a massive treasure fleet with many specialized junks, including water tankers, supply and repair ships, etc.

==Modern==
When ships became self-powered, they also could become armored and better armed as well. New strategies began to emerge, especially now that navies could fight below the water with submarines, or above them with naval aircraft.

Some ship designs adopted an "All or Nothing" approach when it came to armor. Because excessive armor would slow down a ship and make it less able to maneuver in combat, it was decided that certain parts would be more armored than others, until they eventually decided to dispense with armor except on the most critical parts (I.e. Engine room, ammunition stores, etc). This allowed ships to stay fast and mobile while avoiding sinkage.

===Ship Types===
*'''Ironclad''': The first modern ship that one would recognize as being distinct from Age of Sail ships; Ironclads were steamboats that were covered in a layer of iron that could block most cannonballs. They were invented during the early 19th century with England and France locked (as ever) in a dick measuring contest over who had the best fleet. The french were losing so they created the first ocean going ironclad: ''Gloire''. But it was during the American Civil War that Ironclads had some of there first 'field tests'.' experiments against another full industrial nation (during the first Opium war the British Ironclad ''Nemesis'' went to down on the Qing dynasty navy). Iron Clads were used extensively during the American Civil War and it had the first battle between two Ironclad ships: the Confederate CSS Virginia, which was a conversion of a pre-existing ship (the frigate USS Merrimack) that had been converted simply by adding some metal armor with a sloped dome over the deck, and the Monitor, which was a purpose-built design featuring a rotating turret with two guns rather than the standard broadside gun arrangement. The clash between two at the Battle of Hampton Roads war showed something two things that interested naval designer: namely that the two ships could not hurt each other as they mostly just bounced shells off each other's armor and secondly that the Virginia (Merrimack but there is some skub about the names) rammed and sunk another ship USS Cumberland. The end result was that it was though that armor had exceeded guns and that the best way to destroy another ironclad was to ram it, almost upto world war one battleships had rams on them, though as gun improved the rams were obvious dropped as a weapon, though as the Occasional U-boat learned, a few thousand tons of ship can do a lot of damage on impact!
**'''Moniter''': on the subject of the Monitor, Monitor class warships are somewhat lightly armored ships but with really big guns. First used in the US Civil war, monitor class warships were a type of ships built for coastal waters, often with one or two rotating turrets.
*'''Torpedo Ram''': the torpedo ram dates from an odd part of naval history when Torpedos were first invented, were powerful, but were very short ranged. The ram's job was to use high speed and it's low profile to get up to a target and jam a torpedo down it's throat, while they were still in the harbor. To do so it had to first ram through harbor defense, hence the name. Needless to say, Torpedo Rams were not even all that well liked even when they were being built and so no designs survived past the 19th century. The most famous Torpedo ram is the Fictional "HMS Thunder Child" which fought the Martians in the War of the Worlds.
*'''Fast Attack Craft''': Small warships that mostly fight in coastal waters. This typically includes Patrol boats, Gunboats, Missile Boats, or Torpedo boats.
*'''Corvette''': The smallest "proper" warship, as in, being able to survive combat in open water. They are used as convoy escorts, or light Helicopter carriers.
*'''Frigate''': Better armed than a corvette, Frigates are escort ships designed mainly for protecting convoys in heavy combat. Most modern navies use mostly frigates, especially if they lack aircraft carriers.
*'''Destroyer''': A fast escort ship designed to intercept Torpedo boats, there original name was 'torpedo boat destroyer' and was just shortened to 'destroyer'. Nowadays as light ships they also get anti submarine dutys. If the [[wikipedia:Zumwalt-class_destroyer|USS Zumwalt]] is anything to go by, they may be the first ships armed with functional rail gun technology. They are also one of the few ship classes outfitted with stealth technology (aside from the smaller Corvettes).
*'''Cruiser''': Smaller than a battleship, the cruiser is used mainly for air defense and shore bombardment. After the (mostly) retirement of the battleship, the Cruiser is the largest warship still in use (not counting Supercarriers). In the form of Guided Missile Cruisers. As there is still no better way to deal with targets on land, sea or in the air by firing a crap-ton of rocket propelled explosive ordinance at them.
*'''Q-Ship''': A warship disguised as a merchant vessel in order to lure enemy submarines.
*'''Battleship''': The typical gun-armed capital ship of a navy. Battleships declined in use as aircraft carriers became more feasible, and with smaller ships taking their place as the main source of artillery. Still, they are far from useless and they were dragged of retirement and upgraded during the late stages of the Cold War, as a counter to the Kirov-class battlecruisers. The Iowa was the last to see action during the Gulf War to destroy Iraqi missile and anti air encampments on the Gulf Coast. [[/pol/|There is also a minority of morons who want to bring them back again]], despite the fact that their guns would have no ammo and would be useless in modern surface combat, given that missiles can strike far, far beyond the range of even the largest naval gun. Replacing the guns with [[wikipedia:Vertical launching system|VLS]] and the maintenance costs alone would be more expensive than building a whole new aircraft carrier. While their armor would be devastated by Sabot rounds, anti-ship missiles and large improvised weapons such as the bomb that damaged the USS Cole, the only thing a battleship does better (though they do it much better) is shore bombardment, which comes up so infrequently that it's not worth bring them back just for that: at least either naval railguns become a thing or near perfect enough point defense to ward off missiles.
*'''Battlecruiser''': A halfway step between battleships and cruisers. They were of similiar size to battleships, but made design tradeoffs that battleships didn't. Typically this meant carrying similar guns and having equal or greater speed at the cost of armor, however many WW1 German ships carried battleship grade guns and armor at the expense of speed. Their traditional role was to outrun and destroy enemy frigates and older battleships, while the actual battleships did the bulk of fighting.
*'''Dreadnought''': A large battleship where all of its guns are at maximum caliber. This not only increased its firepower, but also simplified both logistics and firing solution complexity, as all guns would have the same range and angle of fire. These were popular in WWI as many navies competed on who could build the biggest dreadnought. They were eventually made obsolete as they were massively expensive and could be outdone by aircraft.
*'''Aircraft Carrier''': A giant floating aircraft strip, the very best in force projection. These ships need to be massive to give fighters enough runway space, even with specialized launching systems such as the CATOBAR catapult system. By no accident, these ships are often called "floating cities." Besides their physical size and large crew, they are high-endurance self-sufficient ships; many aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered, allowing them to endure long deployment without refueling. Their aircraft also provide them with all they support assets they need, between strike capabilities and early warning craft to cargo transports and refueling craft. Supercarriers are even more massive, carrying a plethora of aircraft. The carrier itself has little weapons outfitted, mostly point-defense guns and AA missiles. But when one can get a dozen or even a hundred combat aircraft (for the very big ones) in the air quickly, a couple of big guns wouldn't change much. Death from above!
*'''Amphibious Assault Ship''': These look like small aircraft carriers, but realistically they can only deploy helicopters and VTOL fighter jets. However, they can also deploy boats and amphibious craft, as they can include a sea deck below. Just like their bigger sisters they carry little weapons, but it is their payload in helo's or smaller boats that does the job indirectly.
*'''Attack Submarine''': Submarines designed specifically to attack enemy ships and subs using torpedoes. These optimize speed and stealth, and are among the smallest subs.
*'''Cruise Missile Submarine''': Submarines designed mainly to fire long-range cruise missiles.
*'''Ballistic Missile Submarine''': Submarines used in strategic nuclear warfare rather than direct combat. Think of "The Hunt for Red October" on why this is a big deal. These subs are some times also called "Boomers", and since there armed with nukes the reason should be self apparent.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

Warship

2018-05-01T12:48:15Z

2600:1006:B126:DF85:3059:1FE7:BF68:76E7: /* Ship Types */

{{stub}}

Unlike [[Tank]]s or [[Combat Aircraft]], warships have been around forever. Great naval battles are remembered throughout history books as far back as boats bigger than a canoe existed. This article covers the types of ships and their strategies throughout the ages.

==Pre-Modern==
Ships at this time were restricted to rivers or coastlines, partly because they could not endure rough conditions on ocean seas, but also because primitive navigation techniques restricted ships to remain in sight of land. As a result, most battles wouldn't take place far from major ports or routes. Before the invention of the cannon, there were really only a few ways for ships to fight each other:
*Boarding
*Firing various missiles at the enemy (arrows, javelins, catapults)
*Ramming
*Setting them on fire

The last two in particular had a high probability of getting your own ships destroyed, so naval combat was kind of a crapshoot.

===Ship Types===
*'''Galley''': Sailships that came with long rows of oarsmen to help give the ship an extra boost of speed. Very useful for maneuvering against the wind, or gaining speed to ram the enemy. The Romans had a special version that used a spike to lock ships and allow their marines to board, as they found that if they fought better on land than on sea, then they'll just apply the same tactics onto boats.
*'''Fire Ships''': Usually made from suprlus ships or even rafts, sometimes one navy would try to set the enemy on fire by setting one of their own boats on fire, and hope that it drifts into their ships. At the very least, it could create panic, as the enemy would try to steer the hell away from them.
*'''Longship''': A Viking galley that was long and narrow, allowing it to enter shallow waters for amphibious deployment. They had a characteristic large square sail and the sides were typically lined with shields.

==Age of Sail==
When shipbuilding technology allowed ships to navigate the open seas, they became formidable powerhouses, especially when armed with a long row of guns. Broadside barrages were now the dominant tactic, as a ship would attempt to strafe the enemy within range of the side-mounted cannons. This is the type of warfare you normally think of whenever you think of pirates. And with newly developing sea trade routes appearing around the world, the importance of a powerful navy became a key factor in empire-building. The Royal Navy began categorizing warships on the Rating System, which was defined by size and number of guns (hence where we get the term "first-rate")

===Ship Types===
*'''Carrack''': The first ocean-going large (by-then standards) ship capable of long voyages. The Carrack had "castles," or raised decks for archers to shoot from, until they eventually started carrying cannons.
*'''Galleon''': Evolved from the carrack, galleons were armed merchant ships that acted as auxiliaries to the navy. The high castles of the medieval Carrack were no longer needed, but the same general shape was kept. Even after Ships of the Line were introduced, galleons were still the primary merchant vessel used until the 19th century. And because of that, they were also the ship type most commonly used by [[pirate]]s.
*'''Ship of the Line''': A ship that belong to the first three rates. These ships had three decks (two for third rate) full of guns, and got their name as they formed the main offensive line in battle, much like a line of riflemen in terrestrial battles. The winner was typically whoever brought the most cannons to the fight, hence they could go upwards of 90 cannons on the largest ships. The 74 gun ship was the most common, as it had the right balance of speed and power. Ships of the line continued to be built in steamboat versions until Ironclads took over.
*'''Frigate''': A ship of the fifth or sixth rates. A Great Frigate belonged to the fourth rate. These smaller ships were not part of the line, but could be used as scouts, convoy escorts, or to protect the flanks from other such ships.
*'''Sloop of War''': A ship below the 20-gun threshold, and was thus "unrated."
*'''Junk''': In the Far East, the Junk was the most popular type of ship for both warships and treasure fleets. They came in a very large variety of sizes, but all used square sails that folded accordion-style. The most famous example is the fleet of Chinese Admiral-Explorer Zheng He, who sailed a massive treasure fleet with many specialized junks, including water tankers, supply and repair ships, etc.

==Modern==
When ships became self-powered, they also could become armored and better armed as well. New strategies began to emerge, especially now that navies could fight below the water with submarines, or above them with naval aircraft.

Some ship designs adopted an "All or Nothing" approach when it came to armor. Because excessive armor would slow down a ship and make it less able to maneuver in combat, it was decided that certain parts would be more armored than others, until they eventually decided to dispense with armor except on the most critical parts (I.e. Engine room, ammunition stores, etc). This allowed ships to stay fast and mobile while avoiding sinkage.

===Ship Types===
*'''Ironclad''': The first modern ship that one would recognize as being distinct from Age of Sail ships; Ironclads were steamboats that were covered in a layer of iron that could block most cannonballs. They were invented during the early 19th century with England and France locked (as ever) in a dick measuring contest over who had the best fleet. The french were losing so they created the first ocean going ironclad: ''Gloire''. But it was during the American Civil War that Ironclads had some of there first 'field tests'.' experiments against another full industrial nation (during the first Opium war the British Ironclad ''Nemesis'' went to down on the Qing dynasty navy). Iron Clads were used extensively during the American Civil War and it had the first battle between two Ironclad ships: the Confederate CSS Virginia, which was a conversion of a pre-existing ship (the frigate USS Merrimack) that had been converted simply by adding some metal armor with a sloped dome over the deck, and the Monitor, which was a purpose-built design featuring a rotating turret with two guns rather than the standard broadside gun arrangement. The clash between two at the Battle of Hampton Roads war showed something two things that interested naval designer: namely that the two ships could not hurt each other as they mostly just bounced shells off each other's armor and secondly that the Virginia (Merrimack but there is some skub about the names) rammed and sunk another ship USS Cumberland. The end result was that it was though that armor had exceeded guns and that the best way to destroy another ironclad was to ram it, almost upto world war one battleships had rams on them, though as gun improved the rams were obvious dropped as a weapon, though as the Occasional U-boat learned, a few thousand tons of ship can do a lot of damage on impact!
**'''Moniter''': on the subject of the Monitor, Monitor class warships are somewhat lightly armored ships but with really big guns. First used in the US Civil war, monitor class warships were a type of ships built for coastal waters, often with one or two rotating turrets.
*'''Torpedo Ram''': the torpedo ram dates from an odd part of naval history when Torpedos were first invented, were powerful, but were very short ranged. The ram's job was to use high speed and it's low profile to get up to a target and jam a torpedo down it's throat, while they were still in the harbor. To do so it had to first ram through harbor defense, hence the name. Needless to say, Torpedo Rams were not even all that well liked even when they were being built and so no designs survived past the 19th century. The most famous Torpedo ram is the Fictional "HMS Thunder Child" which fought the Martians in the War of the Worlds.
*'''Fast Attack Craft''': Small warships that mostly fight in coastal waters. This typically includes Patrol boats, Gunboats, Missile Boats, or Torpedo boats.
*'''Corvette''': The smallest "proper" warship, as in, being able to survive combat in open water. They are used as convoy escorts, or light Helicopter carriers.
*'''Frigate''': Better armed than a corvette, Frigates are escort ships designed mainly for protecting convoys in heavy combat. Most modern navies use mostly frigates, especially if they lack aircraft carriers.
*'''Destroyer''': A fast escort ship designed to intercept Torpedo boats, there original name was 'torpedo boat destroyer' and was just shortened to 'destroyer'. Nowadays as light ships they also get anti submarine dutys. If the [[wikipedia:Zumwalt-class_destroyer|USS Zumwalt]] is anything to go by, they may be the first ships armed with functional rail gun technology. They are also one of the few ship classes outfitted with stealth technology (aside from the smaller Corvettes).
*'''Cruiser''': Smaller than a battleship, the cruiser is used mainly for air defense and shore bombardment. After the (mostly) retirement of the battleship, the Cruiser is the largest warship still in use (not counting Supercarriers). In the form of Guided Missile Cruisers. As there is still no better way to deal with targets on land, sea or in the air by firing a crap-ton of rocket propelled explosive ordinance at them.
*'''Q-Ship''': A warship disguised as a merchant vessel in order to lure enemy submarines.
*'''Battleship''': The typical gun-armed capital ship of a navy. Battleships declined in use as aircraft carriers became more feasible, and with smaller ships taking their place as the main source of artillery. Still, they are far from useless and they were dragged of retirement and upgraded during the late stages of the Cold War, as a counter to the Kirov-class battlecruisers. The Iowa was the last to see action during the Gulf War to destroy Iraqi missile and anti air encampments on the Gulf Coast. [[/pol/|There is also a minority of morons who want to bring them back again]], despite the fact that their guns would have no ammo and would be useless in modern surface combat, given that missiles can strike far, far beyond the range of even the largest naval gun. Replacing the guns with [[wikipedia:Vertical launching system|VLS]] and the maintenance costs alone would be more expensive than building a whole new aircraft carrier. While their armor would be devastated by Sabot rounds, anti-ship missiles and large improvised weapons such as the bomb that damaged the USS Cole, the only thing a battleship does better (though they do it much better) is shore bombardment, which comes up so infrequently that it's not worth bring them back just for that: at least either naval railguns become a thing or near perfect enough point defense to ward off missiles.
*'''Battlecruiser''': A halfway step between battleships and cruisers. They were of similiar size to battleships, but made design tradeoffs that battleships didn't. Typically this meant carrying similar guns and having equal or greater speed at the cost of armor, however many WW1 German ships carried battleship grade guns and armor at the expense of speed. Their traditional role was to outrun and destroy enemy frigates and older battleships, while the actual battleships did the bulk of fighting.
*'''Dreadnought''': A large battleship where all of its guns are at maximum caliber. This not only increased its firepower, but also simplified both logistics and firing solution complexity, as all guns would have the same range and angle of fire. These were popular in WWI as many navies competed on who could build the biggest dreadnought. They were eventually made obsolete as they were massively expensive and could be outdone by aircraft.
*'''Aircraft Carrier''': A giant floating aircraft strip, the very best in force projection. These ships need to be massive to give fighters enough runway space, even with specialized launching systems such as the CATOBAR catapult system. By no accident, these ships are often called "floating cities." Besides their physical size and large crew, they are high-endurance self-sufficient ships; many aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered, allowing them to endure long deployment without refueling. Their aircraft also provide them with all they support assets they need, between strike capabilities and early warning craft to cargo transports and refueling craft. Supercarriers are even more massive, carrying a plethora of aircraft. The carrier itself has little weapons outfitted, mostly point-defense guns and AA missiles. But when one can get a dozen or even a hundred combat aircraft (for the very big ones) in the air quickly, a couple of big guns wouldn't change much. Death from above!
*'''Amphibious Assault Ship''': These look like small aircraft carriers, but realistically they can only deploy helicopters and VTOL fighter jets. However, they can also deploy boats and amphibious craft, as they can include a sea deck below. Just like their bigger sisters they carry little weapons, but it is their payload in helo's or smaller boats that does the job indirectly.
*'''Attack Submarine''': Submarines designed specifically to attack enemy ships and subs using torpedoes. These optimize speed and stealth, and are among the smallest subs.
*'''Cruise Missile Submarine''': Submarines designed mainly to fire long-range cruise missiles.
*'''Ballistic Missile Submarine''': Submarines used in strategic nuclear warfare rather than direct combat. Think of "The Hunt for Red October" on why this is a big deal. These subs are some times also called "Boomers", and since there armed with nukes the reason should be self apparent.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

ZSU 23-4 Shilka

2018-04-30T17:26:51Z

2600:1006:B126:DF85:3059:1FE7:BF68:76E7: /* IRL */

[[File:Shilka .jpg|300px|right|thumb|DAKADAKADAKADAKA]]

The '''ZSU 23-4''' is a SPAAG made by the Soviet Union. Its basically a light tank with 4 autocannons to shoot down aircraft and any infantry unlucky enough to be in it's sights.

It's NATO designation is: "Shilka", although the west has occasionally called it "Zeus", inspired from it's Soviet designation.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Shilka Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]

The Shilka is the only soviet SPAAG in Team Yankee at the moment (Yet we have literally 3 SAM (Surface to Air Missile) vehicles), and is quite a decent little machine. Like all SPAAGs, the Shilka gets the Dedicated AA and Radar Rules, which means that it can engage aerial threats with its full ROF out to a range of 40"/100cm without adding +1 to hit. Presumably, the doubling of the effective range of the 23mm 2A7 AA gun comes from the radar taking over aiming when the target is in the sky rather the gunner using the Mk. 1 eyeball on the ground.

The Shilka is <s>okay at dealing with ground targets</s> comparable to an autocannon on steroids. Despite AT6 making M113s and IFVs a tough nut to crack, 6 shots with a 5+ FP are enough to comfortably defeat most APCs, vehicles, and infantry in the open. For a comparable amount of firepower, most countries would be paying double the points! Though with an all-round armor rating of 1, don't expect them to do well against things like the .50 cal that almost every American tank has bolted to the top, or anything bigger than that. You should be using this thing to defend your tanks against attack helicopters though, not putting large numbers of small holes in APCs and other light vehicles.

This thing is arguably the best anti-air unit in the game due to its brutal cost-efficiency thanks to the sheer volume of firepower it can bring to bear. The fact that this unit can engage ground targets with vicious results makes it an auto-include; nothing is safe from its 4 barrels of hell (apart from tanks).

Shilkas can be taken in by East German and Soviet Armies for 2 points, in a platoon of 2 or 4, for 2 or 4 points respectively.

==IRL==
[[File:Shilka IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|DAKADAKADAKADAKA (note that this image is actually from a Shilka taken by the US, those are marines on the top of it)]]

The ZSU is one of the more popular armoured fighting vehicles made by the Soviet Union, traditionally armed with a quad-linked 4x23mm autocannon array, a search light, and radar equipment. Its primarily designed to shoot down low-flying aircraft like helicopters and occasional fighter craft, but its guns were also powerful enough to tear through lightly-armored vehicles and infantry aswell. Infact it was a common practice for Soviet soldiers to bring ZSUs whenever possible in anti-infantry operations due to their sheer lethality. That said, the ZSU was never meant to be a front-line vehicle, so it's armor is woefully light, even concentrated heavy machine gun fire to it's flimsier side and rear armor could potentially wreck it's day, which is understandable as it was designed doctrinally to avoid direct ground combat.

That said: the reason for the high rate of fire is that by the 1960's aircraft move ridiculously fast, going from world war 2's "''ludicrously fast''" to "there is a mosquito-shaped hole in my teeth". You have seconds to shoot at a target, so you need as high a rate as fire as possible to try and ensure you get at least one hit and at those speeds one hole in the air frame will do the trick to down a target by itself. This means that the whole concept of cannons or machine guns against aircraft from the ground is a bit of a flawed concept. Missiles do better due to their ability to track a target. However the ZSU has served with all Soviet states and their allies as the go-to SPAAG from its inception until today. It is mainly used today only by armies unable to field better equipment, though it can definitively ruin the day of any helicopter due to their lower speeds and operational altitudes. They’re also what you want to use guns instead of missiles on, since any low-flying vehicle is difficult to get a proper target lock on.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{East German Forces in Team Yankee}}